The answer to these vexed questionings came with the swift clarity of a lightning flash. Another rift in the dust-clouds revealed the upper part of the Cross, and the moonbeams shone on a gilded scroll. Dalroy knew his Bible. "And a superscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew: 'This is the King of the Jews.' And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, 'If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us.'"
From that instant one God-fearing Briton, at least, never again allowed the shadow of a doubt to darken his faith in the divine if inscrutable purpose. He had passed already through dark and deadly hours, while others were then near at hand; but he was steadfast in doing what he conceived his duty without seeking to interpret the ways of Providence. "If Thou be Christ?" It was the last taunt of the unbeliever, though the veil of the temple would be rent in twain, and the earth would quake, and the graves be opened, and the bodies of the saints arise and be seen by many!
A harsh command silenced the singing. An officer had reined in his horse, and was demanding the nature of the errand which brought a squad of men from Visé.
"Sergeant Karl Schwartz, _Herr Hauptmann_," reported the leader of the party. "An Englishman, assisted by a miller named Joos and his man, Maertz, has killed three of our officers. He also wounded Herr Leutnant von Huntzel, of the 7th Westphalian regiment, who has recovered sufficiently to say what happened. The general-major has ordered a strict search. I, being acquainted with the district, am bringing these men to a wood where the rascals may be hiding."
"Killed three, you say? The fiend take all such _schwein-hunds_ and their helpers! Good luck to you.--_Vorwärts!_"
The column moved on. Schwartz, the treacherous barber of Visé, led his men into the lane. There were eleven, all told--hopeless odds--because this gang of hunters was ready for a fight and itching to capture a _verdammt Engländer_. And Joos's "safe retreat" had been guessed by the spy who knew what every inhabitant of Visé did, who had watched and noted even such a harmless occupation as Léontine's bilberry-picking, who was acquainted with each footpath for miles around, from whose crafty eyes not a cow-byre on any remote farm in the whole countryside was concealed.