"Gambetta did not say anything, then; but when I left him, an hour afterwards, he remarked:
"'If you hear of those young fellows you were speaking of having returned, send them to me, Tempe.'"
Ralph looked at Percy, and checked the offer to go which he saw was on his brother's lips.
"I think it might be done, colonel," he said, quietly; "but it is a serious matter, and we will think it over, before we give an opinion."
Ralph then changed the subject, and they talked over the events which had happened in the Vosges, the strategy and maneuvers of General Michel, the arrival of Garibaldi, the doings of the franc tireurs, etc.
"By the way," the colonel said, "there was a telegram in, this evening--just as I left the office--that the Germans occupied Dijon, yesterday."
"You don't say so!" the boys said, jumping from their seats. "Was there any fighting?"
"Yes, some Mobiles and franc tireurs made a very plucky defense, outside the town. Owing to some gross mismanagement, the great bulk of the troops had been withdrawn, only the day before. After two or three hours' fighting, our men fell back; the Prussians, as usual, shelled the town; and the authorities surrendered."
"The fighting could not have been our side of the town," Ralph said, thoughtfully.
"No, just the other side," Colonel Tempe said. "As my wife is still at home, and our place is not many hundred yards from yours, that was the first thing I thought of."