"I told you so; _it_ has come." "Yes"--I shivered--"and I think I have had enough of it." "No! say not so! A few more hours and you will grumble at the heat once more, _camarade_! 'Tis a fool who ever complains. Our land had sore need of the rain; the crops will drink this as the mandarin does his Yunan tea. When the sun rises all the earth will rejoice. The voice of the tempest has shut the ears of our enemy to the noisy approach of the _linhtap lanxa_ (European soldier). This time we shall surely surprise the brigands; therefore we should thank our Lord Bhouddah for his great mercy." "What village is before us, friend?" "Yen-Trieu," he answered; "and in it is a _linh-binh_ (sergeant) of the De-Nam with twenty men. They are collecting the taxes, and were to have left it this morning. But they will never leave it," he added, with a low chuckle. "Yesterday the spies came and told the Captain. I was there. Last night they surely feasted, drank much _choum-choum_ (rice alcohol), and smoked many pipes, for the headman is a great traitor, and in secret a partisan of Ham-Nghi." "We shall have much trouble to enter," I ventured, "for we have not brought axes." Tho chuckled again, and said: "Let not that trouble thee. I have advised the _Ong-quang-Ba_ (the Captain--literally, 'Lord of three stripes'), and these fools will open the door themselves; even as I said to him." I turned to chide him for his presumption, but he had glided away silently into the night. The rain had ceased now almost as suddenly as it had commenced, and the smell of the damp earth and vegetation reeked in the nostrils. Turning, I glanced behind me, and saw that towards the east the sky was grey. In a few minutes the forms of my comrades near by could be dimly distinguished. The nearest--he was barely a yard away--was a boy of twenty, an Alsatian. He was fast asleep, his head pillowed on his arm, and dreaming pleasantly, for on his lips, which bore no trace of a moustache, I could discern a smile. Fearing lest the sergeant should find him thus, I awoke him, and he thanked me. It was now so light that a few paces away to the left I recognised our Captain, seated on the ground. He was chewing the end of an unlit cigar. In a low voice he called the sergeant, and talked for some moments to him. Then our "non-com" came from one to the other of us and communicated the instructions he had just received. These were: "Load, and fix bayonets as quietly as possible. Lie still until the signal is given by the Captain with his whistle, then rise at once and rush for the village gateway, and on into the houses beyond; weapons not to be used until resistance is offered; and every effort must be made to capture an enemy alive."