"Waste no time, Ascher. Say what you have to say quickly, confound you!"
[Illustration: "Say what you have to say quickly--confound you!"]
"It is important, Herr Captain. For some time I have been suspicious of the farmer, as the Herr Captain knows, though he does not condescend to share my doubts. True, the farmer, though a Frenchman, is very obliging" (here the sergeant glanced for a moment at the remains on the table), "but I felt that his amiability was a mere blind, and I watched him."
"Ha! Now what did you see?" said the captain, sitting up. "If there is treachery----"
"Once or twice at night the farmer has gone out towards the wood yonder. I asked myself, why? There is no farm work at night. To-night I followed him. It was difficult, Herr Captain, for he moved very cautiously, stopping and looking behind and around him."
"He made his way beyond the wood, up the hill, and down into the hollow on the other side, and there, Herr Captain, he placed three small lamps on the ground, so." He moved to the table, and arranged three bottles triangularly. "He lit them."
"I thought of doing so, Herr Captain, and of demanding an explanation; but I felt it was a matter for the Herr Captain’s discretion----"
"And you left him! Idiot! They were signals, of course. You ought to have put them out, tied him up, and brought him to me in the morning. Now I lose an hour’s sleep. Idiot!"
Captain Bramarbas was active enough now. He got up, buckled his belt and put on his helmet.
"Come, Schnauzzahn," he said, "we will see to this ourselves."
"Why not send a squad?" suggested the lieutenant.
"Ach! the swine are probably drunk. They are dull fools at the best. Come along! We’ll slip out through the window, to avoid warning the servants."
The two officers and the sergeant climbed out of the window and hastened towards the hill. They had scarcely gone when the servant who had waited on them knocked at the door, and receiving no answer, hearing no voices, quickly opened it and looked in. She glanced from the vacant chairs to the open window.
"Eh, mon Dieu!" she muttered, and closing the door, hurried back to the kitchen.
The three Germans had covered about half the distance to the hill when the sound of heavy firing from the right broke upon their ears. They stopped, and stood for a few moments watching the shells bursting in rapid succession in the neighbourhood of the trenches. The captain swore.