"They murdered my brother. Did I tell you? They hacked him to slivers with their bayonets. I've settled the reckoning down in the gas there—their own green gas, damn them! You don't understand what I say, do you? He was my brother——"
A frightful explosion blew in the oubliette; the room rattled and clattered with shrapnel.
The airman swayed where he stood in the swirling smoke, lurched up against the stone coping, slid down to his knees.
When his eyes opened the little bell-mistress was bending over him.
"They got me," he gasped. All the front of his tunic was sopping red.[pg 260]
"They said it meant the cross—if I made good.... Are you hurt?"
"Oh, no!" she whispered. "But you——"
"Go on and play!" he whispered with a terrible effort.
"But you——"
"The Brabançonne! Quick!"