"Men were falling out there on the field. Plucking up courage, Lucien went out with some stretcher bearers and helped gather up the wounded, but there were not enough of the stretcher bearers to properly care for the wounded; even stretchers were scarce. In the excitement of the work Lucien forgot his fears. The lad was resourceful and, recognizing the necessity for getting the wounded from the field, began to cast about for some means of solving this problem. "'Ah! A wheelbarrow. The very thing,' he cried. The wheelbarrow belonged to the farmhouse near the field, from which the occupants had run away when the troops came. Lucien quickly possessed himself of the barrow and proudly marched out on the field pushing the barrow ahead of him. By tipping it up on one side he was able to roll a wounded man in, not very gently, but he loaded his man in just the same and, red of face, pushed the vehicle ahead of him and back to the first-aid dressing station, where he slid his passenger to the ground, leaving him for the surgeons to attend to and then trotted back to the field. "Artillery had been brought up by both sides and shells were bursting overhead, though none had fallen near the little Frenchman. "Lucien picked up a wounded man near the edge of the battlefield and began wheeling the victim down the road. The going was better there and he was enabled to make more rapid progress. Pausing for a rest he eyed his passenger suspiciously. "'Who are you?' he demanded. "'I am a Prussian officer.' The officer was so wounded in both legs that he could not stand. "Lucien's face flushed. "'A Prussian officer!' he cried. 'I ought to dump you out and leave you. A Prussian--bah!' "'I am losing strength. Please give me help,' urged the officer. "'Yes, Herr Officer, I'll help you. You are a human being even if you are a Prussian. Here we go again.' Grasping the handles of the barrow, the lad started on a run with the wounded man. "A shell burst in the road just ahead of him. Quickly dropping his homely vehicle, little Lucien ran for a tree and shinned up it without loss of time. His passenger had slid out into the road when the barrow tipped over on its side. "'Herr Officer, who did that?' "'It was a Prussian shell. Take me away before they hit me,' begged the officer. "'Why don't you tell them to stop? It's your people who are shooting at you. They must want to be rid of you. I--' "A shell struck the tree, well down toward its base. The jolt nearly shook the boy from his perch in a crotch of the tree. Very slowly at first, then with increasing speed the tree began to fall. It came down with a mighty crash, hurling little Lucien some distance ahead of it. He was bruised and shaken and for a few minutes he lay where he had fallen, groaning. "Suddenly he sprang to his feet and started to run toward the rear. The faint voice of the German officer called to him to come back, which brought Lucien to a standstill.