could find, in some instances after first demanding that food and
money be turned over to them. The villagers dared not disobey nor
even raise a voice in protest.

"A captain and several men entered the home of little Pierre, where
there was a wounded French sergeant that the lad's mother had been
nursing and whom the little boy loved very dearly. The sergeant's
wounds were just beginning to heal, but so weak was he that he could
scarcely stand without someone to lean upon. When the Germans burst in
the wounded man was filled with rage, but he knew better than to
attempt to thwart them.

"'Give us food, all that you have. Hold back anything and you die,"
bellowed the Prussian captain, smiting the table with the flat of his
saber.

"Pierre's mother was stout hearted. 'We have only bread and cheese,'
she said. 'You may take it if you will, but I give not to a Prussian,
not even so much as a crumb. Take it if you will, for you are strong
while I am but a weak woman.'

"'Woman, you speak truly; we are strong, and we shall take, but for
this resistance you shall suffer. See what a Prussian does to such
dogs of French as oppose him!'

"With that the captain struck Pierre's mother with the flat of his
hand, hurling her clear across the room. She staggered against the
wall and sank moaning to the floor.

"The captain evidently had overlooked the wounded French sergeant, who