"Lie down by this wall. We can see them, there, and they cannot see us."
It was well that they did so for, in another minute, they heard a tread quite close to them; and a Prussian soldier passed, within a yard of where they were lying. They could dimly see that his hood was over his head, and hear that he was humming to himself a scrap of some German air. They lay there until he had again passed the spot; and thenhaving found out the direction of his beatthey crawled noiselessly away and, in five minutes, had reached the edge of the forest.
They did not enter it, as it would have been impossiblein the dense darknessto have made their way without running against trees, and snapping off boughs, which would have given the alarm. They therefore skirted the edgeknowing that, with the trees behind them, they would be invisible at the distance of a yard or twoand in ten minutes reached the place where their company was awaiting them. As they approached the spot, they gave a short, low whistle; which was the agreed sign, among the band, for knowing each other on night expeditions. It was answered at once and, in another minute, they were among their friends.
"What has happened?" Major Tempe asked. "We were getting very anxious about you. I sent Favarts to reconnoiter, ten minutes ago; and he has just returned, saying that he can hear someone pacing backwards and forwards on the road, and that he believes it to be a sentry."
"He was quite right," Ralph said; "the village is full of Germans. There mustas far as we can seebe seventy or eighty of them, at the very lowest; and there are probably a hundred. We have been prisoners, or something very like it, and have had a monstrously close shave of it.
"But I will tell you all that, when we have time. Do you still think of carrying out your plans?"
"Certainly," Major Tempe said, "that schoolmaster I am determined to have, even if we fight our way in, and shoot him in bed. Have you found out where he lives?"
"No, sir, but we have found out where the priest lives. It is this end house: the end of the village, on the left-hand side as you come out."
"Are the sentries very close together?"
"They are pretty close, but not too close to prevent our crawling 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 menwith our accouterments, and firearmsto 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 wereto cover their retreat, if necessary. They were to take nothing with them but their sword bayonetswhich were not to be used, except
in case of necessityand 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 himwith a choking grip, that almost strangled him, and prevented him uttering the slightest soundwhile 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 otherselected specially because he understood a little Germanput 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.