"Oh," shuddered Leneli. "I could never be as brave as that. I don't like dark places."
"Peter knew that a tunnel ran underneath the walls of the town and that the other end of it opened by a trap-door into a stable in Lucerne," went on the old man without noticing Leneli's interruption, "and at once he saw that some traitor must have told the Austrians of this secret passage. He crept closer and closer to the group of men, until he was near enough to hear what they said. You may be sure his blood ran cold in his veins when he heard the voice of a man he knew, telling the Austrians just how best they could capture the town! He knew that terrible things would happen in Lucerne that night if the enemy ever reached the other end of the tunnel, and at once made up his mind that he must alarm the town. He dropped on his hands and knees and was beginning to crawl back toward the entrance, when he heard some one coming into the tunnel! He sprang to his feet and tried to run past, but the passage was narrow, and he was caught at once and dragged into the light."
"Oh! Oh!" gasped the Twins, breathless with excitement. "It sounds just like a bad dream."
"It was no dream," said the old herdsman, "for when the traitor, whose name was Jean de Malters, saw Peter, he was terribly angry. 'How did you come here,' he roared, in a voice that made the earth shake.
"'I was asleep on the bank and you woke me up, so I followed to see what was going on,' said Peter.
"'I don't believe you. Some one sent you to spy upon us,' said
Jean de Matters, and he shook Peter. 'Who sent you?'
"'No one,' said Peter. 'I have told you the truth.'
"'You lie,' said his captor. 'I give you just two minutes to tell who sent you, and if you do not tell us then, you shall die!'
"Poor Peter thought of his home and his mother and father, and there never was a more homesick boy in the world than he was at that moment, but though he was terribly frightened, he did not say a single word.
"'He shall die, then,' said Jean de Falters, when the two minutes were up, and Peter had not spoken.