Their stories were much like his. Some had been wounded, and others had dropped behind in the retreat totally exhausted, or so sore of foot that they were unable to move another step. The Frenchmen had been picked up for the most part in one body. They had been engaged in a running fight with some German infantry, and the British soldiers, drawn irresistibly to the spot by the sound of firing, had joined in the little battle with good effect, enabling their French comrades to get away with only the loss of two of their number. These had fallen wounded, and it was asserted in the most positive manner that the German soldiers had been seen to smash them to death with the butt-ends of their rifles the moment they came upon them. Such an episode as this did not improve the feelings of either the British or French soldiers towards their German foes, and went far to explain to Max and Dale the keenness and zest of the men for yet other encounters, notwithstanding that their foes now had all the points of the play so strongly in their favour. In their turn Max and Dale told the story of their fight against the Germans; how they had waged an industrial, but equally open, war upon them, and had inflicted damage that had had a high moral as well as material effect. The story was not without its effect even upon men who understood most the warfare of bullet and bayonet, and Max and his friend were viewed with an increased respect as men of action as well as interpreters and guides. One thing struck Max forcibly in the little band of which he had to all intents and purposes now become a member, and that was the fine spirit of discipline and camaraderie among them. Corporal Shaw was the only non-commissioned officer present, and the French soldiers accepted his lead as unhesitatingly as their British comrades. All food obtained was rationed out equally, and turns were taken with the carrying of the half-dozen rifles. In spite of the careful and rapid way in which the retreat from the dangerous neighbourhood of the former haunts of the band was carried out, it seemed that they were not to escape unscathed. In crossing a road, little more than a track, about four miles from the railway, they must have been seen by a German soldier, himself unseen, on the look-out, for they heard a loud shout of warning, and almost immediately after the tramping of horses' hoofs as though a body of cavalrymen were hastily mounting. "Guns to the rear!" ordered Corporal Shaw curtly, and the six men carrying rifles, three British and three French, dropped to the rear of the little party and spread out in open order on either side of the line of retreat. "If they're cavalry hadn't we better retreat through the most broken country we can find?" enquired Max suggestively.