"One moment, old boy. You have nothing to do with bringing down anyone; all you have to do is to keep a look-out and see what is going on. Frantz and Kasper can remain armed; but for you, I know you, and you must leave your carbine here, as well as your powder-flask and hunting-knife." "What for?" "Why, because you will have to go into the villages, and if you were taken armed, you would be shot on the spot." "Shot?" "Not a doubt of it. We are not regular troops; they do not take us prisoners, they shoot us. So you will proceed on your way to Schirmeck, with a stick in your hand, and your sons will accompany you and keep at a distance under shelter of the hedges, and within gun-shot. If any marauders attack you, they will come to your assistance, but if it is a column or a squadron, they will let you be taken." "They will let me be taken!" indignantly exclaimed the old huntsman; "I should like to see that." "Yes, Materne; and it will be the best way, for an unarmed man they will let go; an armed man they will shoot." "Ah! I see, I see. Yes, yes, that's not a bad thought; I never thought to part from my carbine, Jean-Claude, but in war time we must obey orders; there, there is my gun, and my flask, and my knife. Who will lend me his blouse and stick?" Nickel Bentz handed him his blue smock-frock and felt hat. When they had changed clothes, any one might have taken the old huntsman, in spite of his thick, gray moustaches, for a simple peasant of the mountains. His two boys, quite proud of belonging to this first expedition, examined the priming of their carbines, each with its bayonet used for hunting the wild boar straight and long as a sword. They felt the edge of their hunting-knives, threw their game-bags across their shoulders, and assured themselves that everything was in good order, casting flashing looks around them. "Ha, ha!" said Doctor Lorquin, with a smile, "don't forget the advice of Master Jean-Claude. Prudence! A German more or less among a hundred thousand would not make much difference, whilst if either of you came back to us out of marching order, we should find it difficult to replace you." "Oh! fear nothing, doctor; we shall keep our eyes open." "My boys," replied Materne, formally, "are true hunters: they know how to wait, and take advantage of the right moment. They will not fire unless I call." "Good luck to you!" shouted Hullin after them, as they ascended the snowy sides of the mountain, to avoid the felled trees. After a quarter of an hour's walking, they turned round by the fir forest, and were out of sight. Then Hullin quietly returned to the farm, talking as he went with Nickel Bentz. Doctor Lorquin walked behind, closely followed by Pluto, and all the others went back to their places around the camp-fires. [Illustration] CHAPTER XIII.