"At last, when evening came, the thunder calmed down. If we had wanted we could have broken through, but we had no orders to advance. I suppose that our General wanted Mince to become more worthy still of its title.
"Now, you remember how the Angels of Mons had knocked over ever so many Germans. In Germany, a country ruled by scientific principles, they thought at first that we had employed an unknown gas of poisonous nature. But the Evening News, and in particular Mr. Arthur Machen, gave the secret away. And then the Germans knew all about it.
"Well, to come back to that dreadful day of Mince; night had fallen and I was dozing, when I saw suddenly two men in a red uniform, with black tippets and with a red feather on their red cap. The one had a crooked moustache and the other a very high collar.
"'Father,' said the latter, 'this business does not seem to go exactly as we had calculated. What are we going to do?'
"'Little Silly,' answered the one with the crooked moustache, 'I have lost some of my prestige, but I still know what costume to put on and on what occasion. If the English have called to their help the Angels of Mons, we will answer with a new frightfulness. You see our costumes. Understand that we are going to call the Devils of Mince.'
"'Some frightfulness!!' said little Silly acquiescently.
"'Hither Beelzebub! Hither! Dear devil, quick to our aid!' cried the one with the crooked moustache.
"At once I heard a great voice:
"'Here I am, Monseigneur, Allhighest Superdevil, here I am, Satan!'