"Please don't," said Paul. "We can get along all right. There can be no danger now. And I believe that every man in the garrison here will be needed."
"Well—" Du Chaillu hesitated. "Perhaps you are right. I myself cannot see of what use an armed escort can be to you. There is not the slightest real chance of any trouble between here and your home. Good luck to you—and may we meet again in a time when our anxieties and our fears for our country shall be at an end!"
"Good-bye, sir, and thank you!" said Paul and Arthur together.
In the town they got bicycles at a place where they were well known. Du Chaillu had given them the countersign, and they needed it near Boncelles, since they were challenged. They rode swiftly along, and as they neared the house, they saw a bright glare in the sky.
CHAPTER VII
THE FIRE
"That's from a fire, Paul!" said Arthur. "And it looks—"
"As if it came from Uncle Henri's house? It certainly does, Arthur! Oh, but I hope it isn't! That would be dreadful!"
They raced on now, and as they hastened, the sky before them grew ever brighter. They could no longer doubt that the glare they saw came from a conflagration, and it grew more and more certain every minute that it was their own summer home that was burning. There was no other house in that direction that would produce such a splendid reflection were it afire.