but through his efforts Jean was appointed to the French military
training school, and the last I heard of him he was still fighting
heroically for France."




CHAPTER XI

A BRAVE LITTLE COWARD


"He was a fine fellow, that Jean," observed Joe Funk, "but for myself
I think I should have shouldered a gun and sailed in to get some of
the Boches."

"That was for the soldiers to do," replied Captain Favor. "Jean's
heroism was as great as that of any man who ever went into battle with
rifle or sword. Now I will tell you about another hero who was both
coward and hero, but, in the last analysis, was all hero. Lucien, he
was named, and, though he did not know it, he was a very funny fellow.
Listen to the tale of little Lucien."

"Lucien's home was in a village not far from Verdun, where such
terrible fighting had been indulged in for so many, many weeks.
Battles, in fact, had been fought not far from the boy's home, and
even now angry Prussian parties were raiding these towns and robbing
the inhabitants of whatever appealed to their appetites or their
greed. Parties of them had already visited the village and Lucien was
in the habit of observing their movements from high up in a tree,