The major swelled with astonishment and rage. Hellwig, who had fixed his eyes on Kenneth, changed colour, and made a sudden grab for his revolver. But a peremptory voice from behind his chair caused him to sink back and slowly turn his amazed eyes. "Hands up!" The old servingman had suddenly become straight. His hands no longer trembled, his voice had lost its quaver. Covered by two revolvers, taken aback by the suddenness of surprise, the Germans were paralysed for a few moments. The major recovered himself first, and was opening his mouth to shout when Granger deftly slipped a table napkin between his teeth, drew it tight, and knotted it behind. From under the table he lifted several short pieces of cord, and in two minutes the infuriated officer was firmly bound to his chair. Hellwig, meanwhile, whose face was the colour of the soldier’s uniform, had sat limply watching Granger’s quick and dexterous movements. He was dealt with in his turn. "Call the sergeant in," said Granger to Kenneth. The man came at the summons, found himself looking down the muzzles of two revolvers as he entered at the door, and was soon sitting between the others, the third guest at an empty board. The distant sound of trotting horses drew the captors hurriedly to the window, and brought a gleam of hope into the captives’ eyes. "Cavalry, by all the powers!" Granger ejaculated, glancing up the road. "They are sure to visit the house. We have three men still to deal with, and three minutes for the job. The bold simple course, Amory! You must tackle them. Saunter out, don’t hurry." Kenneth, followed by Pariset, walked slowly towards the waiting car. The three men in it stared in surprise. "We arrived this morning," said Kenneth in an easy tone to the chauffeur, "and ate the Herr Major’s lunch--by mistake." The men guffawed; the German soldier does not love his officers. This was a good joke. "That’s a nice little toy you have there," Kenneth went on, pointing to the machine gun. He stepped quickly into the car to look at it. "It is forbidden," said the chauffeur, with an uneasy glance at the window. "Only the crew are allowed in the car." "Yes, yes, one understands. Just a minute!" Before the men could make up their minds to turn him out he had swung round the machine gun to cover them. "Hands up!" he cried. They laughed, thinking it a practical joke, until they saw Pariset covering them with his revolver. "Hands up!" he repeated, imitating Kenneth’s accent as well as he could. But they recognised now that he was a foreigner, and seeing at this moment Granger dragging the helpless form of the important Herr Brinckmann down the steps they surrendered. "Get down, and don’t stir a step for your lives," Kenneth commanded. "Drop your arms." Pariset kept guard over them while Granger bundled Hellwig into the car and Kenneth started the engine.