"Ah," said Doctor Lorquin, laughing, "do not forget Master Jean-Claude's advice. Be careful. One German more or less in a hundred thousand would not make much difference in our affairs; whereas if one or the other of you came back to us injured, you would be replaced with difficulty." "Oh, fear nothing, doctor: we shall have our eyes open." "My boys," replied Materne, haughtily, "are true hunters; they know how to wait the moment and profit by it. They will only fire when I call. You can rest assured! and now, let us start; we must be back before night." They departed. "Good luck to you!" shouted Hullin, while they mounted the snow in order to avoid the breastworks. They soon descended toward the narrow path, which turns sharply on the right of the mountain. The partisans watched them. Their red frizzy hair, long muscular legs, their broad shoulders, and supple, quick movements,--all showed that in case of an encounter, five or six "kaiserlichs" would have little chance against such fine fellows. In a quarter of an hour they had reached the pine-forest and disappeared. Then Hullin quietly returned to the farm, talking to Nickel Bentz. Doctor Lorquin walked behind, followed by Pluto, and all the others returned to their places round the bivouac fires. CHAPTER XII THE LANDLORD OF THE "PINEAPPLE" Materne and his two boys walked for some time in silence. The weather had become fine; the pale winter sun shone over the brilliant snow without melting it, and the ground remained firm and hard. In the distance, along the valley, stood out, with surprising clearness, the tops of the fir-trees, the reddish peaks of the rocks, the roofs of the hamlets, with their icy stalactites hanging from the eaves, their small sparkling windows, and sharp gables. People were walking in the street of Grandfontaine. A troupe of young girls were standing round the washing-place; a few old men in cotton caps were smoking their pipes on the doorsteps of the little houses. All this little world, lying in the depths of the blue expanse, came, and went, and lived, without a sound or sigh reaching the ears of the foresters. The old hunter halted on the outskirts of the wood, and said to his sons: "I am going down to the village to see Dubreuil, the innkeeper of the 'Pineapple.'" And he pointed with his stick to a long white building, the doors and windows of which were surrounded with a yellow bordering, a pine-branch being suspended to the wall as a signboard. "You must await me here. If there is no danger, I will come out on to the doorstep and raise my hat; you can then come and take a glass of wine with me."