第 15 页

between them, unobserved, on such a night as this."

Major Tempe hesitated for a while.

"It would be too hazardous," he said. "We know nothing of the

ground over which we should have to crawl, and it would be hardly

possible for thirty men--with our accouterments, and firearms--to

crawl along without snapping sticks, or striking rifles against a

stone and giving the alarm.

"No, the sentry at the entrance of the village must be silenced."

So saying, the commandant turned to the men who were standing

round, and explained briefly the purport of the whispered

conversation which he had had with Ralph. He then chose two active

young men, and told them to take off their cloaks, belts, and

accouterments of all kinds; and to leave them, with their rifles,

with the men who were to remain at the spot at which they then

were--to cover their retreat, if necessary. They were to take

nothing with them but their sword bayonets--which were not to be

used, except in case of necessity--and a coil of light rope.

Definite instructions were given them as to the manner in which

their attack was to be made.

They then took off their boots, and set off noiselessly upon their

enterprise. They went on rapidly, until they were within plain

hearing of the footsteps of the sentinel; and then very cautiously

and, crouching almost to the ground, so as not to bring their

bodies on a level with his eye, they crept up foot by foot to the

end of his beat. Here they waited a short time, while he passed and

repassed them, unthinking of the deadly foe who, had they stretched

out their hands, could have touched his cloak as he went past them.

At last, the second time he passed them on his way towards the

village, they rose together behind him. In an instant one had

garroted him--with a choking grip, that almost strangled him, and

prevented him uttering the slightest sound--while the other grasped

his rifle by the lock, so as to prevent the possibility of its

being fired. In another instant, the rifle was torn from the grasp

of the almost stupefied man; cords were passed tightly round his

arms and legs; a handkerchief was thrust into his mouth, and

fastened there by a cord going across the mouth and tied behind the

head and, before the bewildered man fairly knew what had happened,

he was lying bound and gagged by the roadside.

One of the franc tireurs now ran back, to tell the commandant that

the men could advance; while the other--selected specially because

he understood a little German--put on the spiked helmet of the

captured sentry, and began to walk up and down, in readiness to

repeat the cry of "All well," should it be passed round.

The whole company were now moved up. Ten men were left at the point

where the sentry was posted, to cover a retreat; or to assist the

sentry, in case of any party coming out to relieve guard, and so

discovering the change which had taken place. The others, led by

the commandant, proceeded forward until opposite the priest's

house, in which lights were still burning; for it was not, as yet,

ten o'clock.

Major Tempe, accompanied only by two men--and by Ralph Barclay, to

interpret, if necessary--now went cautiously up to the house. The

light was in a room on the ground floor. To this Major Tempe

advanced and, looking in, saw the priest sitting reading, alone. He

tapped very gently at the window; and the priest, looking up, gave

a start upon seeing an armed man looking in at the window.

Major Tempe put his finger to his lips, to enforce the necessity

for silence, and made signs to him to open the window. After a

moment's hesitation the priest rose from his seat, came to the

window, and unfastened it; taking great precautions against noise.

"Are you French?" he asked, in a whisper.

"Yes; a commandant of franc tireurs."

"Hush, then, for your life," the priest said, earnestly. "The

village is full of Prussians. The officer, with a soldier as his

servant, is upstairs. He arrived in a state of fever; and is,

tonight, quite ill. The soldier is up with him. I believe the

sergeant, who is at the inn, is in command for to-night. A soldier

was dispatched, this evening, to ask for another officer to be sent

out.

"What can I do for you?"

"I only want you to tell me in which house the schoolmaster lives.

He is a traitor, and has betrayed us to the Prussians. It is owing

to him that they are here."

"He has a bad name, in the village," the priest said; "and we had

applied to have him removed. He lives in the third house from here,

on the same side of the road."

"Has he any Germans quartered upon him?"

"Twenty or thirty men," the priest said. "The schoolroom is full of

them."

"Do you know which is his room?" Major Tempe asked. "It would be a

great thing, if we could get at him without alarming the enemy. I

have thirty men here, but I do not want to have a fight in the

village, if I can help it."

"I know his house," the priest said. "The schoolroom is at the side

of the house, and his sitting room and kitchen on the ground floor

of the house itself. There are three bedrooms over. His room is in

front of the house, to the right as you face it."

"Thank you," Major Tempe said. "Have you a ladder?"

"There is one lying on the ground by the wall, to the left. I hope

you do not intend to shed blood?"

"No," Major Tempe said, grimly. "I think that I can promise that

there will be no blood shed--that is to say, unless we are attacked

by the Prussians.

"Good night, and thank you. I need not say that--for your own

sake--you will not mention, in the morning, having seen us."

The commandant now rejoined his party, and they advanced to the

house indicated. He then chose ten men to accompany him; ordering

the rest to remain at a distance of twenty yards, with their rifles

cocked, and in readiness for instant action. The ladder was then

brought forward by the men selected, and placed against the window.

Major Tempe had, before starting, provided himself--from the

carpenter of the village--with an auger, a small and fine saw, a

bottle of oil, and a thin strip of straight iron. He now mounted

the ladder and, after carefully examining the window--which was of

the make which we call, in England, latticed--he inserted the strip

of iron, and tried to force back the fastening. This he failed in

doing, being afraid to use much force lest the fastening should

give suddenly, with a crash. He had, however, ascertained the exact

position of the fastening.

Having, before mounting, carefully oiled the auger and saw, he now

applied the former; and made a hole through the framework at the

junction of the two sides of the window, just above the fastening.

Introducing the saw into this hole, he noiselessly cut entirely

round the fastening, with a semi-circular sweep, to the junction of

the window below it; and as he did so, the window swung partially

open, by its own weight. He now descended the ladder again, took

off his boots; and ordered two of the men to do the same, and to

put aside all arms, and accouterments, that could strike against

anything and make a noise.

Then, taking a coil of strong rope in his hand, and followed by the

two men, he again mounted the ladder. The instructions to the men

were that one was to enter at once, with him; the other to remain

where he was, until he received the signal. The major entered the

room noiselessly, and dropped at once on to his hands and knees;

and was, a minute after, joined by his follower. He now crawled

forward--groping his way with the greatest caution, so as to make

no noise--until he found the bed. Then, rising to his feet, he

threw himself upon the sleeping man and, in a moment, had him

tightly by the throat with one hand, while the other was placed

firmly on his mouth.

Paralyzed by the suddenness of the attack, and with his arms

tightly kept down by the bedclothes, and the weight of his

assailant, the schoolmaster was unable to struggle.

"Now, light the light," Major Tempe said, quietly.

His follower at once struck one of the noiseless German

matches--which are used almost exclusively, in these parts of

France--and lighted a lamp which was standing upon the table. He

then came up to the bed, and assisted the major to securely gag and

bind the prisoner--whose looks, when he saw into whose hands he had

fallen, betokened the wildest terror.

"Search his pockets," Major Tempe said. "We may find something of

importance."

In the breast pocket of his coat was a pocket book; and in it among

the papers was a letter, from the colonel commanding at

Saverne--which had evidently been brought to him by the officer of

the detachment, that morning--telling him to come down to Saverne,

on the following evening, to guide the troops to the village in

which the franc tireurs were stationed. The letter also enclosed

ten hundred-thaler notes [a thaler is about equal to two

shillings].

"They are part of our blood money," the major said, grimly. "Bring

them away, they are the fair spoil of war.

"Tell Barre to come in."

The man on the ladder now joined them; and together they quietly

lifted the schoolmaster, and carried him to the window. They then

fastened a rope round the prisoner's body, lifted him out on to the

ladder, and lowered him gradually down to the men below.

They now blew out the light, and descended the ladder. The two men

who had waited at its foot raised the prisoner on their shoulders,

and carried him off to their comrades; while the commandant and the

other two men hastily put on their boots, seized their arms and

accouterments and, in two minutes, the whole party were marching

quietly down the village. No incident, whatever, marked their

retreat. The sentry had been undisturbed, during their absence; and

in a few minutes the whole party were out of the village, without

the slightest alarm having been raised.

They followed the road by which they had come, for about a mile;

and then turned off a side path in the forest, to the left. They

followed this for a short distance, only, into the forest; and

then, when they arrived at a small, open space, a halt was ordered.

The prisoner was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, by the two

franc tireurs who carried him on their shoulders, and a fire was

speedily lighted.

Major Tempe then ordered the prisoner to be unbound and ungagged

and, with a guard upon either side of him, to be placed in front of

the company--drawn up in a semi-circle by the fire. The prisoner

was a man of about fifty-five, with a sallow, cunning face. He

could scarcely stand and, indeed, would have sunk on his knees, in

his abject terror, had not the guards by his side held him by the

arms.

"Men," Major Tempe said, "undoubted as the guilt of the prisoner

appeared to be, we had got no absolute proof; and a mistake might

have been possible, as to the name of the village whose

schoolmaster had betrayed us. This letter found in his coat pocket,

and this German money--the price of our blood--leave no further

doubt possible."

And here the major read the Prussian colonel's letter.

"Are you still of opinion that he merits death?"

"Yes, yes," the men exclaimed, unanimously.

"Prisoner," Major Tempe said, "you have heard your sentence. You

are a convicted traitor--convicted of having betrayed your country,

convicted of having sold the blood of your countrymen. I give you

five minutes to ask that pardon, of God, which you cannot obtain

from man."

The miserable wretch gave a cry of terror, and fell on his knees;

and would have crawled towards his judge, to beg for mercy, had not

his guard restrained him. For the next five minutes, the forest

rang with alternate cries, entreaties, threats, and curses--so

horrible that the four boys, and several of the younger men, put

their hands to their ears and walked away, so as not to see or hear

the terrible punishment. At the end of that time there was a brief

struggle, and then a deep silence; and the body of the traitor

swung from a branch of one of the trees, with a paper pinned on his

breast:

"So perish all traitors."

"Louis Duburg," Major Tempe said, "take this paper, with 'Those who

seek a traitor will find him here,' and fasten it to a tree; so

that it may be seen at the point where this path turned from the

road."

Louis took it, and ran off. In a quarter of an hour, when he

returned, he found the company drawn up in readiness to march. He

fell in at once, and the troop moved off; leaving behind them the

smoldering fire, and the white figure swinging near it.

Chapter 9: A Desperate Fight.

Daylight was just breaking, when Major Tempe marched with his men

into Marmontier; at which place the other three companies had

arrived, the night previously. It was a large village--the chief

place of its canton--and the corps were most hospitably received by

the inhabitants. Had they arrived the evening before, it would have

been impossible to provide them all with beds; and they would have

been obliged, like the majority of their comrades, to sleep on

straw in the schoolroom. The inhabitants, however, were up and

about, very shortly after the arrival of Major Tempe's command; and

his men were soon provided for, in the beds which they had left.

Beds were now a luxury, indeed, as the corps had not slept in them

since they had been quartered at Baccarat, two nights before their

first encounter with the Prussians, near Blamont. It was with great

unwillingness, then, that they turned out when the bugle sounded,

at two o'clock in the afternoon. They partook of a hearty

meal--provided by the people upon whom they were quartered--and an

hour later the whole corps marched out towards Wasselonne, a small