"Cheap indeed!" laughed the captain. "Between you and me, old Lumineau will have difficulty in turning our paper into good German money after the war ... Ist es aber entsetzlich--the noise of those swine." The door had just opened to admit an old woman servant bearing coffee. From the adjoining room--the spacious farm kitchen given up to the captain’s men--came a guttural roar. A hundred Germans feeding like one make a variety of unpleasant noises. It is not a mere coincidence, perhaps, that the Prussian loves a pig. The officers took their cups of coffee, lit cigars, and lolled back in their chairs. The door closed behind the servant, reducing the sounds to a muffled hum, not loud enough to disturb the comfort of gentlemen. It was a pleasant hour. The day’s work was done; they were three or four miles behind the firing line; the farm was a snug billet. They had been working late; supper had taken the place of dinner: when they had finished their cigars they might go with a good German conscience to bed. Presently there was a knock at the door. "Come in," said the captain drowsily. A sergeant entered, and stiffly saluted. "What do you want? It is late. I gave you your orders." "Herr Captain, I ask pardon for disturbing you, but----" "Waste no time, Ascher. Say what you have to say quickly, confound you!" [Illustration: "Say what you have to say quickly--confound you!"] "It is important, Herr Captain. For some time I have been suspicious of the farmer, as the Herr Captain knows, though he does not condescend to share my doubts. True, the farmer, though a Frenchman, is very obliging" (here the sergeant glanced for a moment at the remains on the table), "but I felt that his amiability was a mere blind, and I watched him." "Ha! Now what did you see?" said the captain, sitting up. "If there is treachery----" "Once or twice at night the farmer has gone out towards the wood yonder. I asked myself, why? There is no farm work at night. To-night I followed him. It was difficult, Herr Captain, for he moved very cautiously, stopping and looking behind and around him." "That itself is suspicious. Well?" "He made his way beyond the wood, up the hill, and down into the hollow on the other side, and there, Herr Captain, he placed three small lamps on the ground, so." He moved to the table, and arranged three bottles triangularly. "He lit them." "And you? You seized him, of course?" "I thought of doing so, Herr Captain, and of demanding an explanation; but I felt it was a matter for the Herr Captain’s discretion----" "And you left him! Idiot! They were signals, of course. You ought to have put them out, tied him up, and brought him to me in the morning. Now I lose an hour’s sleep. Idiot!" Captain Bramarbas was active enough now. He got up, buckled his belt and put on his helmet. "Come, Schnauzzahn," he said, "we will see to this ourselves." "Why not send a squad?" suggested the lieutenant.