EMIL GRELIEU No. They are frightened. MAURICE Father, they are flashing the searchlights across the sky like madmen. Look, look! _A bluish light is flashed over them, faintly illuminating the whole group._ MAURICE Right into my eyes! Does that come from an elevation, father? EMIL GRELIEU I suppose so. Either they have been warned, or the water is reaching them by this time. JEANNE Do you think so, Emil? EMIL GRELIEU Yes. It seems to me that I hear the sound of the water from that side. _All listen and look in the direction from which the noise came._ DOCTOR _Uneasily._ How unpleasant this is! We should have started out sooner. We are too late. MAURICE Father, it seems to me I hear voices. Listen--it sounds as though they are crying there. Many, many people. Father, the Prussians are crying. It is they! _A distant, dull roaring of a crowd is heard. Then the crash of shots resounds. Sobs of military horns. The searchlights are swaying from side to side._ EMIL GRELIEU It is they. DOCTOR If we don't start in a quarter of an hour-- EMIL GRELIEU In half an hour, Doctor. MAURICE Father, how beautiful and how terrible it is! Give me your hand, mother. JEANNE What is it? MAURICE I want to kiss it. Mother, you have no gloves on! JEANNE What a foolish little boy you are, Maurice. MAURICE Monsieur Langloi said that in three days from now I may remove my bandage. Just think of it, in three days I shall be able to take up my gun again!... Oh, who is that? Look, who is that? _All near the automobile assume defensive positions. The chauffeur and the doctor draw their revolvers. A figure appears from the field, approaching from one of the ditches. A peasant, wounded in the leg, comes up slowly, leaning upon a cane._ MAURICE Who is there? PEASANT Our own, our own. And who are you? Are you going to the city? MAURICE Yes, we're going to the city. Our car has broken down, we're repairing it. What are you doing here? PEASANT What am I doing here? _Examines the unfamiliar faces curiously. They also look at him attentively, by the light of the lantern._ CHAUFFEUR Give me the light! PEASANT Are you carrying a wounded man? I am also wounded, in my leg. I cannot walk, it is very hard. I must lean on my cane. Are you going to the city? I lay there in the ditch and when I heard you speak French I crawled out. My name is Jaqular. DOCTOR How were you wounded? PEASANT I was walking in the field and they shot me. They must have thought I was a rabbit. _Laughs hoarsely._ They must have thought I was a rabbit. What is the news, gentlemen? Is our Belgium lost? _Laughs._ Eh? Is our Belgium lost? MAURICE Don't you know? PEASANT What can I know? I lay there and looked at the sky--that's all I know. Did you see the sky? Just look at it, I have been watching it all the time. What is that I see in the sky, eh? How would you explain it? EMIL GRELIEU Sit down near us. MAURICE