"It was not a pleasant situation in which little Francois found
himself, but what fears he had were for the people of his village and
the French troops there. He already had used his eyes to good
advantage, and now had a very clear idea of the size of the German
force and its equipment. 'I shall make my escape and hasten back to
tell our brave captain what I have seen,' he promised himself.

"Escape, however, was not so easy. The window was too high by several
feet for him to reach and to go out through the door meant that he
surely would be shot or bayoneted. His bright little eyes swept the
room and instantly he saw a way of escape.

"'The bags!' he exclaimed, and straight-way began piling the knapsacks
and blankets underneath the window. The pile grew slowly. At last it
was high enough to permit the boy to reach the window sill with his
finger tips by standing on tip-toe on the pile he had built up.

"He drew himself up easily, for Francois was strong, and peered out.

"'It is well that Francois is little, for the window is small even for
a dog to squeeze through,' he muttered.

"Peering out to see what lay before him, he saw a garden in the rear
of the building and beyond that fields with hedges and bushes, but
there was not a soldier in sight on that side. The Prussians were busy
on the other side of the building preparing for action.

"'All is well,' said Francois. A new idea came to him. He would take a
German rifle and helmet with him as souvenirs and to prove to the
French captain that Francois really had been in the camp of the