It was then that André put forward his own plans. He watched Victor’s look of shocked surprise anxiously. Suppose Victor would not let him go? “But,” Victor said, “you know I cannot accompany you into St. Sauveur now. Surely you comprehend that!” André said firmly, “I did not expect it, Victor. I go on with Patchou only. Captain Dobie is near here, so I won’t be alone.” Even as André said this, he began to doubt whether Captain Dobie would welcome him. He also began to wonder whether he could find the captain’s new post. As he and Victor drew nearer St. Sauveur, André began to notice that the sound of firing came from many directions. He turned his eyes from north to south and counted several rising pillars of smoke. Sometimes the ground shuddered and rocked the cart. “It will not be easy to enter the city,” he thought. But after he and Victor had talked a minute, Victor agreed to let him go. “However, you must use good sense,” Victor said, as André climbed down from the cart. “Do not approach a single German, even if he looks kindly. You must recall that not all Nazis are like our Papa Schmidt.” After this good advice, he added, “You are quite right to seek your mother. I shall no doubt get along without you well enough.” With this, he clacked the reins and drove off. André and Patchou skirted the jumbled rubble that had once been the village of Pont l’Abbé. They continued on through bypaths and across fields. “If you stay close to me, you may walk,” André told Patchou. Patchou trotted along obediently, his trembling shoulder pressed tightly against André’s leg. André looked at the skyline ahead. As he stared, new blazes broke out. Billowing smoke hung over St. Sauveur beyond the hills. After a moment he realized that the city was being bombarded by big guns. “We may as well get as close to Maman as we can,” he murmured. “Come along, Patchou.” He could see a file of soldiers, hugging the roadside and straggling toward the city. He led Patchou into a cowpath and they trudged on. Twice André pulled Patchou down into a ditch as rifle and machine gun fire broke out in near-by villages. After the second dive into a ditch, André sat thoughtfully silent. It would be better to go back, he knew. But then he thought of his empty house-- “Come on, Patchou,” he whispered. “When we get across the main road to St. Sauveur, just over there, we will try to find somebody to tell us how to find Maman in the hospital.” They scurried across the tree-lined highway. Where they crossed, the road seemed deserted. André could not see far in any direction. Back in the fields a stone barn stood among shredded trees below a hill. A château stood on the hilltop, almost hidden by trees. Just as André looked up, a shell arched down from the sky a hundred yards away. Before André could grab Patchou’s collar the explosion showered them both with stones and mud. [Illustration]