"If we are pursued, you'll soon see."
"I don't think we shall be. But the hour has come, my boy."
He added after a short interval, whilst he pretended to listen: "Come up whilst we lay some plan of campaign."
"You see below the village of the Minières?" asked M. Ulrich, as Jean's head appeared above the branches and turned towards the west.
"Yes."
"In spite of the mist and the darkness, can you make out that on the other side the mountain is covered partly with fir- and partly with beech-trees?"
"I guess it."
"We are going to make a half circle to avoid the gardens and fields of the Minières, and when we are just opposite that spot, you will only have to descend two hundred yards and you will be in France."
Jean made no answer.
"That's the spot I marked out for you. See that you recognise it. Over there round Raon-sur-Plaine, the Germans have kept all the forests for themselves; the barren lands they have left to France. On the opposite side, facing us, there is an extensive strip of meadow land which is French territory. I even saw a deserted farmhouse, abandoned before the war, I suppose. I'll go first."