"I am commissioned, Commander, to offer you the honours of war, if you surrender this position. You have no provisions--we know it. In a few days, at latest, you will be compelled to lay down your arms. The esteem the General-in-Chief feels for you has alone decided him to propose to you these honourable conditions. A longer resistance would lead to no good. We are masters of the Donon; the body of our army has passed into Lorraine; it is not here the campaign will be decided--you have, therefore, no interest in defending a useless position. We wish to spare you the horrors of famine upon this rock. Come, Commander, decide!" Hullin turned to his followers, and said to them simply: "You have heard? For my part, I refuse but I will submit if every one else accepts the proposition of the enemy?" "We all refuse!" said Jerôme. "Yes--yes, all!" repeated the others. Catherine Lefévre, hitherto inflexible, happening to look at Louise, seemed touched; she took her by the arm, and turning to the envoy, she said: "We have a child with us; would there be no means of sending her to one of our relations at Saverne?" No sooner had Louise heard these words, than throwing herself into Hullin's arms, with a sort of terror, she exclaimed: "No--no! I will stay with you, Papa Jean-Claude. I will die with you!" "'Tis well, sir," said Hullin, quite pale; "go tell your General what you have seen; tell him that the Falkenstein will remain with us till death! Kasper, Frantz, lead back the envoy." The officer seemed to hesitate; but as he was opening his mouth to speak, Catherine, quite livid with rage, exclaimed: "Go--go! You are not yet where you think. It is that brigand of a Yégof who has told you that we had no provisions, but we have enough for two months; and in two months our army will have exterminated you all. The traitors will not always have it their own way. Woe be to you!" And, as she was getting more and more excited, the officer judged it prudent to retire. He turned towards his guides, who replaced the bandage, and conducted him to the foot of the Falkenstein. That which Hullin had ordered on the subject of the provisions was executed on that very day; each one received his half-ration for the day. A sentinel was placed before the cavern of Hexe-Baizel, where the provisions were kept; the entrance was barricaded, and Jean-Claude decided that the distributions should be made in the presence of all, in order to prevent injustice. But all these precautions could not preserve these unfortunate creatures from the horrors of famine. For three days provisions had completely failed at the Falkenstein, and Divès had not given signs of life. How many times, during these long days of agony, had the mountaineers turned their eyes towards Phalsbourg! how many times had they listened, thinking they heard the steps of the smuggler, whilst the vague murmur of the air alone filled space!