They know, however, how contrary these summary executions are to the spirit of justice, and they sometimes attempt to lay a false trail. Read, for example, the chapter devoted by Dr. Sven Hedin to the "francs-tireurs." The great Swedish geographer, of whose wonderful Asiatic journeys every one has heard, made a tour along the Western front. He therefore visited the occupied portion of France and Belgium, and wrote an enthusiastic book on the German Army, _Ein Volk in Waffen_. In the course of this work, he describes the manner in which an inquiry is held into the circumstances of an attack by "francs-tireurs." Everything is done as regularly as possible, and the affair ends in an acquittal. Was the tribunal authentic, or was it merely a parody?[18] It matters little; the essential thing for us is that it was desired to prove to Dr. Hedin that the Germans are not barbarians, and that they observe the forms of justice even while on campaign. _Mentality of an Officer charged with the Repression of "Francs-tireurs."_ Let us now compare with the account of Dr. Hedin that of a German officer entrusted with the repression of "francs-tireurs." Captain Paul Oskar Höcker gives a few curious details in his interesting book, _An der Spitze meiner Kompagnie_. He had to clear of "francs-tireurs" a portion of the territory comprised between the German frontier and the Meuse. His mission consisted in this: to present himself at houses, to ask if there were arms, and in case of a reply in the negative, to search the house; if arms were discovered the householder was shot on the spot; in case of resistance the house was burned (p. 83). The first farm he visits is Jungbush, near Moresnet; the inhabitants assure him they have no arms. They are told that if they are hiding one rifle they will be punished with death; they repeat that they have none. And now the soldiers bring up a boy of fifteen who was hiding under the straw with a Belgian rifle and five cartridges. He is shot without further inquiry (p. 26). It is permissible to ask whether it would not have been juster and more humane to have looked into the matter a little more closely. The remainder of the book instructs us as to the psychology of Captain Höcker. At the house of the vicar of Thimister, where he passed the first night in Belgium, his bedroom door did not lock, and this was enough to make him shake with fear (p. 29). On the following morning he had a pigeon shot, which he suspected of being a carrier of despatches to "francs-tireurs"; "and in truth," he says, "the pigeon bore a stamp on the left wing" (p. 30). This proof is perhaps somewhat slender in a country where all pigeons which take part in matches have a mark of this kind. He confiscates all the small-arms and parts of arms in the establishments of the innumerable armourers of the district, and smashes everything in their workshops. On one such occasion he burns a house whose owner does not consent with good grace