"A minute or two ago there was a ring at the bell, and I heard someone go to the door. I was afraid that some friend of these fellows had discovered the lancers and come to give warning; but it can't be that, because all is quiet."
"Still, he may be a friend, and that will mean that we have six men to deal with instead of five."
"It doesn't matter, now the wire is cut. We had better creep out again, go round by the field, cross the bridge, and join the lancers in an attack on the house."
"Suppose the lancers haven't come!"
"We have to reckon with that possibility, of course; but it's not probable. I'll just reconnoitre again; then we'll get back. If the lancers have not arrived, we must get the assistance of some stout fellows from the farm. I'm determined that these Germans shall not escape."
"Let me go," said Kenneth. "You don't know German; I do; and I might overhear something worth making a note of."
"That's a good notion. We may get on the track of other operations of theirs. Take off your boots; I'll tie them to mine."
A minute later Kenneth tiptoed in his stocking feet along the dark passage. Through the closed door of the kitchen on the left came the sounds of some one moving about. On the other side he heard the voices of the men in the dining-room, the door of which was ajar. Grasping his revolver, he bent his ear towards the opening. At the first words he caught he started. The voice was only too familiar to him. It was the voice of Kurt Hellwig.
Was he there before, Kenneth wondered, or was he the newcomer whose ring Pariset had heard? In a few seconds the point was cleared up.
"Yes," Hellwig was saying, "I had intended to give you the word by wireless myself. But the chief wanted me to come through and see that all was ready. The wire is fixed?"