ve are safe. Whatever happens, you must remember that
you are Belgians, and be brave!"

The children clung to her, weeping, as she finished. "There, there,"
she said soothingly: "I had to tell you this so you would be ready to
do your best and not despair, whatever might happen, but be sure, my
lambs, nothing shall harm you if I can help it, and nothing shall
separate us from one another if God so wills. Now, go to sleep!"

She kissed them tenderly, and, quite comforted, they nestled down in
their beds and soon were asleep. She herself slept but little that
night. Long after the children were quiet, she sat alone on the kitchen
step in the darkness with Fidel by her side, and listened to the faint
sounds of distant guns, and watched the red light in the sky, which
told her of the burning of Louvain.

VII

THE TIDAL WAVE OF GERMANS

The next morning dawned bright and clear, and Mother Van Hove and the
Twins went about their work as usual. The sunshine was so bright, and
the whole countryside looked so peaceful and fair, it was impossible to
believe that the terrors of the night could be true.

"To-day we must begin to gather the potatoes," said Mother Van Hove
after breakfast. "Jan, you get the fork and hoe and put them in the
wagon, while I milk the cow and Marie puts up some bread and cheese for
us to take to the field." She started across the road to the pasture,
with Fidel at her heels, as she spoke. In an instant she was back
again, her eyes wide with horror. "Look! Look!" she cried.

The dazed children looked toward the east as she pointed. There in the
distance, advancing like a great tidal wave, was a long gray line of
soldiers on horseback. Already they could hear the sound of music and
the throb of drums; already the sun glistened upon the shining helmets
and the cruel points of bayonets. The host stretched away across the
plain as far as the eye could reach, and behind them the sky was thick
with the smoke of fires.

"The church! the church!" cried Mother Van Hove. "No, there is not
time. Hide in here, my darlings. Quickly! Quickly!"

She tore open the door of the earth-covered vegetable cellar as she
spoke, and thrust Jan and Marie inside. Fidel bolted in after them. "Do
not move or make a sound until all is quiet again," she cried as she
closed the door.

There was not room for her too, in the cellar, and if there had been,
Mother Van Hove would not have taken it, for it was necessary to clos