"And they would seize us in the rear. Are these fellows not hiding in all the woods, have they not spies everywhere among the inhabitants? Our march, which would be immediately betrayed, would be the signal for them to follow us, and we, shut up between two fires, could go neither forward nor backward. Impossible! We will not leave our posts, but we must be doubly on our guard, tonight. Who knows how far the plans and the connections of these bands may extend? Perhaps they design to make a second attack here, and upon us." This reasoning was so convincing, that none sought to oppose it. All were silent. "But yet we cannot calmly look on and see our men march unsuspecting to certain destruction," interposed Doctor Behrend. "No!" said the major decidedly. "The messenger must go. And even were the mountains tenfold more impassable, some possible way must be found." At this moment, Walter Fernow, the only officer who had hitherto taken no part in the discussion, stepped forward, and said: "Herr Major, I know a way out of this difficulty." "And what is it, Lieutenant Fernow?" "We have often enough reconnoitred the mountains. I know them perfectly. You are aware that a week ago I, with five men, undertook a _reconnoissance_ around L. which at that time was occupied by the enemy. We ventured too far, we were pursued by some twenty, attacked and at last dispersed." "Yes.--Well?" "After a few shots, with Corporal Braun, who already had a ball in his arm, I threw myself into a side defile where they lost trace of us. The others escaped in another direction. As we pressed on, we found a narrow path half concealed in a thicket; this we took, as it seemed to lead in the direction of S. It rose gradually to the summit of the mountain, and then ran, for the most part hidden in the forest, along the crest, and at last sank precipitously, to the entrance of that narrow, impassable defile, which lies a quarter of an hour's distance from here to the right of the valley. We had for some minutes wound through dense shrubbery, and then we stood suddenly upon that projecting rocky plateau of the mountain-road, where stands a large, solitary fir-tree. From there we reach L. in a short time." Fernow said all this lucidly and calmly. His manner had nothing of the perturbation of a man who, scarce ten minutes before, had come from an interview which had blighted his whole future. He spoke more gravely and deliberately than usual, and a gloomy calm lay upon his features; the calmness of one who has made a fixed decision. This was no time to lament over a lost love, a lost happiness; he had found a remedy, the speediest, most infallible of all. The officers had listened in intense excitement; but the major's brow remained clouded. "And do you believe that the French fusileers, who are at home in this region, do not know the way just as well, even better than you?" he asked.