e muttered. For
aught he knew, he soon would get worse. A sentry was posted at the
door and Francois was informed that if he tried to escape he would be
shot then and there.

"The guard house also was used to store equipment in. There were, as
he observed, many rifles stacked in rows and heaps of knapsacks,
helmets and blankets. The only light in the cell-like room into which
he had been thrust came in through a narrow window high up and far
out of his reach, a window small like those in a prison cell.

"It was not a pleasant situation in which little Francois found
himself, but what fears he had were for the people of his village and
the French troops there. He already had used his eyes to good
advantage, and now had a very clear idea of the size of the German
force and its equipment. 'I shall make my escape and hasten back to
tell our brave captain what I have seen,' he promised himself.

"Escape, however, was not so easy. The window was too high by several
feet for him to reach and to go out through the door meant that he
surely would be shot or bayoneted. His bright little eyes swept the
room and instantly he saw a way of escape.

"'The bags!' he exclaimed, and straight-way began piling the knapsacks
and blankets underneath the window. The pile grew slowly. At last it
was high enough to permit the boy to reach the window sill with his
finger tips by standing on tip-toe on the pile he had built up.

"He drew himself up easily, for Francois was strong, and peered out.

"'It is well that Francois is little, for the window is small even for
a dog to squeeze through,' he muttered.

"Peering out to see what lay before him, he saw a garden in the rear
of the building and beyond that fields with hedges and bushes, but
there was not a soldier in sight on that side. The Prussians were busy
on the other side of the building preparing for action.

"'All is well,' said Francois. A new idea came to him. He would take a
German rifle and helmet with him as souvenirs and to prove to the
French captain that Francois really had been in the camp of the
Prussians. He helped himself to a rifle and a helmet, both of which he
threw out into the garden. After a keen, sweeping glance about, the
boy crawled out head first and let himself go. Francois nearly broke
his neck in the fall to the ground, landing as he did on his head and
shoulders. For a moment he lay where he had fallen, then staggered to
his feet, dizzy and a little weak