Five minutes passed. Then the corporal gave an order.
"Fix bayonets! We're going to rush the house."
There was a sharp click.
"Charge!"
With a cheer they rushed across the brief space that separated them from the house and up to the open door.
The corporal looked in.
"Put up your guns, boys," he said quietly. "We've got them."
The others crowded after him into the long low-ceiled room. The enemy had been delivered into their hands. There, sprawled over the floor in all sorts of ungainly attitudes among the smashed furniture, were the invaders in various stages of stupor. Some of them opened their eyes at the sudden interruption and stared hard at the newcomers. The lieutenant himself sat at the table on which his head had fallen forward.
But the Army Boys did not tarry long. A word of permission from the corporal and they bounded up the narrow stairs and burst into the room where the girl had said Tom had been left.
The room was empty!