They were thinking of slipping out at a quiet stretch of the road, and taking their chance of bolting across the fields, when the wagon was met by another Uhlan patrol, who after questioning the trooper, wheeled their horses and rode alongside. "You are just in time, Schmidt," said one of the newcomers. "What for?" asked the trooper, who evidently belonged to the same regiment. "To see how we reduce the population. There’s a big farm in a hamlet a quarter-mile up the road. Rumpelmeyer was shot near there, so we routed out all the men in the place except the farmer, who escaped. As soon as he is rounded up we are going to shoot the lot." They rumbled on into the hamlet, and pulled up at the gate of the farm. The terrified villagers were penned up like cattle in the farmyard, guarded by a dozen Uhlans. A few women at the wall, imploring the Germans to have mercy, were answered with brutal jeers. "A dirty herd!" said the trooper on the wagon. "Why don’t you shoot them at once?" "The Wachtmeister thinks that would be too good for them. First dinner, and then sport, says he. He is a humorist, our Wachtmeister. Here he is." "Thank goodness I needn’t go any further on this lumbering wagon," said the trooper. "Is the whole regiment coming up from Spa?" "In the course of the day. Fifteen of us came in advance. Two are hunting for the farmer." "Well done, Schmidt," said the sergeant, coming up to the wagon. "You’ve a good load there." "Shall I unload, and give the horses a feed?" asked the trooper. "They can wait. There’s a hot dinner ready, prepared by our kind friends the Belgians. They entertain us; afterwards we shall entertain them. Poor Rumpelmeyer has gone. But a dozen Belgians are waiting yonder to join him. A dozen Belgians are not worth one good German, but it’s something to go on with. We shall find others; it would be a pity to leave too many to bother us when the country is ours." Kenneth, under the hay, was squirming. Pariset, knowing no German, was not aware of what was coming, but his apprehension was all the greater for his ignorance. Kenneth whispered that the wagon was not to be unloaded yet; he dared not say more at the moment, with so many enemies within hearing. The sky was becoming overclouded. The wagoner took the horses out, and led them to loose boxes in the stables. The trooper Schmidt had sprung down and entered the house, where all the Uhlans except three left on guard over the prisoners had assembled for the good dinner prepared by the women of the farm under the eye of their truculent visitors. The wagon having been left standing at the gate, Kenneth ventured to repeat to Pariset the gist of the conversation he had heard. The Belgian swore under his breath. "We must get out while they are at dinner," Kenneth whispered. "Those three brutes would see us," said Pariset, eyeing the three Uhlans savagely through his peephole.