At highest tension Jeb waited, until he felt not only sure of their strength but reasonably certain that no others remained in the lower strata of catacombs; because they rested at frequent intervals, implying a state of exhaustion, and this, in turn, indicated an absence of relief shifts. Fifteen men in all were there, besides the sentry. On the street level their rifles had been stacked. The hole--a machine-gun redoubt--in which they dug was about five feet deep; the sides were steep; the only weapons near at hand were picks and spades. Tingling with excitement, he stole carefully back to the ruined door and entered, bringing with him a stout club picked from the debris. The girl's arms flew about him at once, and the wan voice whispered tremulously: "Oh, Monsieur, if you had not come!" "But I did come," he took her again upon his lap, seeming in a much better humor than when he had gone out. "We're about to get away, little one; are you big enough to do just what I say?" There was a look of reproach in her eyes which he could not, of course, have seen, but he felt her arms tighten. "Everything," she whispered. "Can Monsieur carry the little sisters?" "Monsieur can, but he isn't going to," he muttered fiercely. "They'll have two-legged horses to ride, and so will you. Now, I'm going over by the door, and when I get there I want you to give a loud cry." "Oh, Monsieur," she trembled, "he will come and--and----" "I want him to come, but he won't do any more than that. We're going to take those men and punish them for a lot of things they've done." "Capture them, Monsieur?--by Monsieur's own self?" "By Monsieur's own self," he gave her a squeeze, then sat her back upon the ground. "Now, when I get close to the door, cry!--then you may close your eyes until I say look; but don't cry again, whatever happens." Picking up the club he took a position in the deepest shadow and waited. Spartan little soldier that she was, she now sent a wail into the night that would have brought a dozen sentries; then, as before, everything was silent. Also, as before, hurried, angry steps soon were heard; yet this time, as the sentry passed close outside the rear wall, he talked. Jeb at first thought that it might be the mumbling of an enraged man, but he took a tighter grip upon his club when another voice laughed a reply.