I gave him first aid; I apologized for not being able to do more, and I told him that towards evening it might be possible to carry him to Arlon, where he would receive all necessary care. I returned to my aunt's house; I found her in tears; they had just taken away her son, my cousin Jules, on the pretext that he had fired on them. It was a piece of stupidity, for there was nothing in the whole house but one revolver, and I was carrying that on me. I had had it on me all the time I was at the ambulance. I hastened to hide it under a chest, and I decided to go and demand my cousin of the Germans. I speak their language a little, and I was so convinced of my cousin's innocence that I imagined a few words of explanation would make them give him up. I soon found him, tied to a tree, beside other prisoners. I began to parley with a German officer. He replied that there was nothing to do for the moment, that the prisoners would be sent to Arlon, and that he was convinced that if I followed them I should be able, at Arlon, to obtain justice for my cousin. We set out for Arlon; I was beside the prisoners. At a determined spot we were handed over to other soldiers. I was greatly astonished, at a given moment, to see that I had become a prisoner myself; I was no longer accompanying my cousin, to save him; I was sharing his fate. We arrived at Arlon; we were lined up against a wall. There were with us, notably, a woman, with two young children of nine and ten, an old villager with his son, and other people whom I did not know. An officer on horseback approached us. He was, it seemed a judge. He turned to the soldiers and asked, pointing to each of us: "Did that one fire?" And the soldiers always replied in the affirmative. Now it should be noted that these soldiers had seen nothing, and could have seen nothing, for they were not those who seized the prisoners in the village in which they were arrested. The head-dress of the troops was entirely different; the first had helmets, and the second caps. When the officer had finished pointing at us, we were informed that we were all condemned to death. An old man was seized; I myself was seized; and we were pushed to one side, to be shot. The old man's son rushed towards him and tried to drag him away from the soldiers. The result was that the son was seized, to be shot with the father. This is how things happened: The two were put against a wall; a platoon of soldiers commanded by an officer took up their position in front of them. The officer commanded all their movements with a deliberation calculated to increase the torture of the victims. "Load!"... Then a pause. "Take aim!"... Then a pause. "Fire!"... The two unhappy men fell to the ground, groaning.