"'Two times they hit me, child--in the shoulder and in the side. It is bad. But never mind, lad, go to the others; they need you more than do I.' "'No, you shall come with me. Let me get my back to yours.' "'You cannot carry me.' "'Jean is stronger than he looks.' With that the lad got the officer to a sitting position and, placing his back against the lieutenant's, his arms under those of the officer, he straightened up. Of course, he was not strong enough to carry the man, but he was able to drag him, and with almost as much comfort to the wounded one as if he were on a stretcher. "In this manner Jean managed to get his friend to the trench, whence the officer was taken to a first-aid station, then later in the day placed in an ambulance and started for a hospital in the rear. "The road over which they were carried, for Jean had remained with lieutenant Andre, was shell swept, the Germans knowing very well that ambulances with wounded men were there. "To the hospital went the two, and there, side by side, they lay in cots, for at last Jean had been struck and wounded by a shell that wrecked the ambulance just before they had reached their destination. The driver was killed but the Little Soldier of Mercy and his friend escaped, with only a shaking up for the lieutenant and a slight wound in the leg of Jean. "Lieutenant Andre, on account of his wounds, was disabled for life, but through his efforts Jean was appointed to the French military training school, and the last I heard of him he was still fighting heroically for France." CHAPTER XI A BRAVE LITTLE COWARD "He was a fine fellow, that Jean," observed Joe Funk, "but for myself I think I should have shouldered a gun and sailed in to get some of the Boches." "That was for the soldiers to do," replied Captain Favor. "Jean's heroism was as great as that of any man who ever went into battle with rifle or sword. Now I will tell you about another hero who was both coward and hero, but, in the last analysis, was all hero. Lucien, he was named, and, though he did not know it, he was a very funny fellow. Listen to the tale of little Lucien." "Lucien's home was in a village not far from Verdun, where such terrible fighting had been indulged in for so many, many weeks. Battles, in fact, had been fought not far from the boy's home, and even now angry Prussian parties were raiding these towns and robbing the inhabitants of whatever appealed to their appetites or their greed. Parties of them had already visited the village and Lucien was in the habit of observing their movements from high up in a tree, which was his favorite hiding place when danger approached. Nor was he partial to any particular tree. Any tree that was handy would answer his purpose.