"'You have fired on our men?'
"'No.'
"'You have fired on our men,' insisted the ferocious voice, 'you are to be shot!'
"M. Odent handed his papers to Benoit and shook hands with his companions. He then clasped his hands in prayer, after which he stood with eyes calmly fixed upon the officer. The officer raised his hands, motioning to the soldiers.
"They shot the mayor with their revolvers....
"Afterwards, the officer made a little speech to the terrified men.
"'War is as sad for us as it is for you. It is France and your Poincaré that you must blame—they would have it. We Germans do not make war upon civilians, but those who fire upon us will be promptly shot.'
"These men were then used as guides by the officers, during their occupancy of the town. When no longer of use, they disappeared.
"There were others, too; I do not know how many. There was little Gabanel, the son of the butcher, a merry little chap, known throughout the neighborhood, he disappeared with his father's old white horse and the red, two-wheeled wagon. He was never heard of again... and there was the baker's boy Jaudin, whose mutilated body was found in a field at Villers-St. Frambourg.... There was the hunchback Cottreau, aged seventeen, a harmless cripple who was found hanging in the attic of an inn....
"Arthur Rigault, the stone cutter, Elisée Pommier, aged 67 years....