It had stopped snowing during the night, and the weather was clear and cold. They rode in silence, no sound being heard but the regular dull beating of their horses' hoofs on the snow-covered ground. They drew out of the wood and saw the frozen surface of the Rhine before them, the sun dazzling their eyes with its reflected light upon the ice. With one accord the party reined in their horses and sat motionless, looking at the glorious sight of the ice-bound river. Karl von Waldenmeer was the first to break the silence. Pointing with his gloved hand toward the opposite shore he said:-- "There, gentlemen, is France, and my road ends here." Tournay merely made an inclination of the head in assent. He was thinking sadly of Edmé standing by the window in the cheerless old salon at Falzenberg; but as he looked out over the river towards his own land he remembered the army on the other side of the Vosges; the prospect of the impending campaign caused his spirits to revive, and he replied:-- "We owe you thanks, Colonel von Waldenmeer, for the kindness you have been pleased to show us. When we meet again it will doubtless be upon the field of battle, but I shall not even then forget your courtesy of to-day." "It will always give me pleasure to meet you again, under any circumstances, Colonel Tournay," said the Prussian, "and if it be on the field, to cross swords with you. A brave foe makes a good friend, and I shall be glad to count you as both of these. And now, gentlemen, we will relieve you of our escort; there lies your way over that bridge, just below here. We return to Falzenberg." "Let us cross upon the ice," said Gaillard to Tournay; "it will bear our weight easily." They rode down the bank. At the brink their horses drew back, but being urged by their riders, went forward, feeling the ice daintily with their forefeet with cat-like caution. Seeing that the ice was quite safe, the Frenchmen put spurs into their horses and the animals swung into a gallop, their iron-shod feet cutting into the ice with a pleasant, crunching sound. Reaching the further side, they rode up the steep bank, then reined in their horses and looked back. The declining rays of the sun tipped the snow-clad hemlock trees on the other side of the river with crimson, and against the dark outline of the forest behind, the figures of Colonel von Waldenmeer and his officers sat motionless as statues. Each party gave the military salute, and the Prussians rode back into the wood, while Tournay and Gaillard sat looking after them until they were no longer in sight. "We are on French soil once more," exclaimed Tournay, "and now to join General Hoche and fight for it." "I had best return to Paris," said Gaillard. "I fear to have you return there now, after having put your head in danger by assisting me," said Tournay anxiously.