"Oh, Jan," whispered Marie clinging to him, "there are so many
people! How shall we ever find Mother? I didn't know there were
so many people in the whole world."

"It isn't likely that we'll find her by just standing here,
anyway," answered Jan. "We've got to keep going till we get
somewhere."

He slung the bundle on his shoulder and whistled to Fidel, who
had gone down the steps to bark at a homeless cat.

"Come along," he said to Marie. And once more the little pilgrims
took up their journey. At the first corner they paused, not
knowing whether to go to the right or to the left.

"Which way?" said Marie.

Jan stood still and looked first in one direction and then in the
other.

"Here, gutter-snipes, what are you standing here for? Make way
for your betters!" said a gruff voice behind them, and, turning,
the children found themselves face to face with a German officer
dressed in a resplendent uniform and accompanied by a group of
swaggering young soldiers. Too frightened to move, the children
only looked up at him and did not stir.

"Get out of the way, I tell you!" roared the officer, turning
purple with rage; "Orderly!" One of the young men sprang
forward. He seized Jan by the arm and deftly kicked him into the