Quickly Hal picked fifty men.
"Clear away those bodies," he said, pointing to the German dead that blocked the doorway.
It was the work of but a few minutes.
"Now," said Hal, "when we go out the door, I want half of you to go around the house to the left. The others follow me."
He divided the men into two squads.
"We'll catch the fellows who got behind us by surprise," the lad explained. "They are still engaged with the men at the windows above. We can't afford to be surrounded. We must drive them off."
Silently, the men filed from the house.
The strategy of Hal's plan was at once apparent. The Germans who had circled the house, after dividing after the grand assault, still were unaware of the retreat of their fellows. They did not know that this support had been lost to them. Therefore, they were sure to be at a great disadvantage when attacked from a position that they believed to be held by their comrades.
Above, the defenders still continued to fire rapidly, seeking to keep up the delusion.
There was only one thing that worried Hal—one thing that he felt possibly might bring disaster following his surprise attack. He knew that the Germans who had recently retreated from before the farmhouse would understand his plan the minute he led his men from the farmhouse. This would mean another grand assault. The question in Hal's mind was whether he could get his men back inside the house before the main force of the enemy could advance and cut him off.