André reached wildly for Patchou and ran headlong with him into the field toward the nearest building he could see--the stone barn. The blast of another shell threw André onto his face in a hail of debris. And Patchou twisted with a wild jerk and broke away. André leaped to his feet, shrieking, “Patchou! Patchou!” But Patchou had disappeared! And while André called wildly, another voice shouted, “Here, kid! Come here! The barn! Run, kid--_run_!” The scream of another “88” from the sky brought André to his senses. He saw a figure in the half-open door of the barn waving to him frantically. André raced up to the entrance and threw himself into the arms of the tall soldier who had called. The door banged shut and the bolt was shot. Immediately a patter of machine-gun bullets rattled against the broad iron hinges. The hail of bullets whined and thudded steadily. Another voice in the barn shouted angrily, “_Where_ are the reinforcements, Lieutenant Ouvarski? Our ammo isn’t going to hold out much longer.” The strong arms that had pulled André in set him on his feet, and he caught a glimpse of a lieutenant’s shoulder bars. The lieutenant said gently, “It’s all right, boy. But what were you doing in the battle area?” André could only gasp for breath. After a moment he stammered, “I--I didn’t know I was so close to the line. Patchou? Can I get him soon?” The light, from broken places in the roof high overhead, was dim. André caught glimpses of shadowy faces stationed at windows and small breaks in the walls. Rifles cracked, and a bazooka at a far window flamed. “We’re in a German trap,” the lieutenant explained to André hastily. “I sent out for help. I hope it comes. You get over in that manger, kid, and keep down.” Then the lieutenant turned to shout orders and warnings to his men. “Don’t show yourself above that window again, Donovan! You _want_ to get hit?” “Two Heinies edgin’ around that wall,” screamed an unseen rifleman. “Watch it, Lieutenant!” After a shattering fusilade of machine-gun fire against the old stone walls, a sudden silence fell. And outside, a German voice called, “Do you giff up, or do we take you, vun by vun?” Silence fell again. And then the bark of the lieutenant’s automatic. Six rapid shots. “There’s your answer, Fritzie boy!” Lieutenant Ouvarski growled. The voice outside did not speak again. The lieutenant wiped his face on the sleeve of his shirt. André thought, “I hope my mother and father and Marie are in a deep stone cellar.” Then suddenly he was too tired to remember why he was there. He did not even hear the corporal say, “What does old Dobie think he’s doin’ about those reinforcements he promised? Sendin’ ’em by way of Alaska?” CHAPTER SEVENTEEN _Patchou on the Battlefield_ A few minutes after André left Victor, Captain Dobie, Weller, their colonel, and his aide were poring over a map. They were hidden under trees, a mile and a half from the stone barn.