teach that gentleman that dealing with a Frenchman was very different to making money out of Dutchmen or "braves ་ Belges." It was a physical impossibility for Jean to sit quietly in one house for any length of time, and Archer did not see much of him for the next two days, though he imagined he was carrying out his intention of learning the ropes. On the third day he gave Archer the result of his investigations, which were to the following effect. The Dutch frontier was about nine miles away, and the intervening country was dead flat, mostly grass land, and much cut up by water - channels of every size and description. To approach within five miles of the frontier was absolutely forbidden, without going through formalities which were out of the question for them. On the frontier itself were two wire fences 100 yards apart, the intervening ground being quite bare. There were German pickets every 400 yards, searchlights about every half-mile, and worst of all, the farther fence, which was six to eight feet high, was electrified, and to touch it meant certain death. There were, however, ways of dealing with it, and the simplest seemed to be to throw two planks hinged together over the fence, so that the hinge rested on the top and the planks touched the ground on either side. Slats nailed across the planks would enable them to walk up and so over, and he had all preparations in train, so they ought to be able to start the following day. On that night a party of young Belgians were going to try and rush a German picket. If it came off it might help them, but he had no great confidence in these Belgians. That night Archer told François that they were going to try to get across, as they could not wait for his party, and asked him what he would consider fair remuneration for the services he had rendered them, reaching an amicable settlement with unexpected ease, once the grocer saw that they really meant going with or without his help. He was evidently anxious to keep on good terms with the British, as he begged Archer to tell their Intelligence Service that he was always ready to serve them, and that he knew of many excellent "tips" for getting messages across the frontier; which confirmed the impression already formed by Archer, that the aforesaid Intelligence Service carried a good deal of weight in those parts, and gave him confidence that they would meet with no further difficulties on their way to England once they got across into Holland. CHAPTER IX.-OVER THE TOP. Next afternoon a farm cart full of straw from a local threshing - machine made its way out of St Nicholas and along a narrow poplar-bordered road leading to the frontier village of La Clinge. At one point it stopped, and our friends under the straw had some anxious minutes; but evidently the driver was a well-known local peasant, for after a perfunctory prod or two into the straw with a bayonet, one of which just missed Archer's leg, the cart was allowed to proceed. After jolting along the road for about two hours it turned into a field, stopped near some ricks, and the driver removed some of the straw off the cart, when Jean and Archer emerged, very red in the face and picking straw out of their necks. Keeping a sharp look-out on the road, the party then proceeded to empty the waggon, last of all pulling out a hinged plank, which they hid in a water-cut near by, and then they reloaded the waggon with corn for the return journey to St Nicholas. Archer took stock of his surroundings, and found that they were to the east of the road leading into a village which, as Jean informed him, was St Gilles Waes. In every direction the country was cut up by parallel drainage channels, and he saw they were not going to have an easy job to make their way to the frontier in the dark, even with the aid of a compass, which Jean now produced and with which he took a bearing. They waited impatiently for several hours until it was nearly dark, and then commenced a wearisome tramp across the lush meadows, using the plank for crossing the smaller channels, which occurred almost every 100 yards, and heading for the line of searchlights, which flashed at intervals away to the north. After what seemed like several hours of slow progress they reached a fair-sized canal, which they had to swim, and Jean whispered that they were now quite close. Archer looked at his watch, and saw that they still had nearly an hour before the Belgians were supposed to be going to try and rush the post at La Clinge, and then they crawled cautiously forward till they reached the first wire fence, where, wet and shivering, they lay hidden in the long grass. When the searchlight came round he could see that Jean's description had been correct, for in front the grass was cut fairly short, whilst beyond it the sinister electrified fence, with its thick power-cable along the top and the bare insulated wires below, stood out bright and gleaming against the blackness beyond. Archer timed the searchlights, and found that they alternated from side to side every two minutes. Theoreti- crawled round through the cally they apparently were meant to be swung round together, so that the fence was always lighted; but in practice he noted that they were being carelessly worked, and that often for as long as half a minute the fence was in darkness. La Clinge was about half to three-quarters of a mile to their left, whilst 200 yards in the same direction was a picket of three men, and another picket about the same distance to their right, both fairly close up to the electrified fence, no doubt to enable them to fire towards Belgium rather than into Holland. Presently a mounted man came along, probably an officer going his night rounds, and when he had returned towards La Clinge the anxious watchers saw the Germans begin smoking, and then one after another lie down. There was still no sign of any Belgian attack from the direction of La Clinge, though it was now considerably overdue, and as it was well past 1 A.M. it was high time for action. After a whispered consultation they decided to try and rush one of the pickets, as being easier than tackling two coming from opposite directions; also to their right was an old watercourse which had been badly filled in and which gave a certain amount of cover, running as it did from their fence to within ten yards of the picket on their right front and on its far side. Cautiously they grass to the end of the depression, and as the lights went off, got through the fence and lay down until the beam had again passed and gone. In the next dark interval they got half-way across, Jean leading, pistol in one hand and the hinged end of the plank in the other, whilst Archer carried the rear ends. The next advance took them to within thirty yards of the picket, which still showed no signs of having observed them, and they waited breathlessly for their final rush until the light had gone. It passed, but as they rose shots rang out to their left, and a confused babel of voices from the direction of La Clinge told them that the Belgian "push had started. Instantly the picket jumped up and seized their rifles, and round came the searchlight on the right, fortunately full in the eyes of the Germans, who had already turned to meet the unexpected attack. Jean's pistol barked and one went down, and then as he and the remaining two Germans fired simultaneously, a second German fell, whilst Jean's pistol was shot out of his hand. "Run for the plank!" said Jean, and when Archer returning threw it over the fence, he saw three more Germans about 300 yards away on the right running towards them, and Jean struggling with the third man of the first picket close to the fence a few yards away. As Archer was on the point of going to his assistance, Jean, brothers-in-arms were content with a mighty heave, hurled to have exchanged for the the big German against the decorations which they received electric wires. There was a at a private investiture a week blinding flash, and the German later. crumpled up in a sickening fashion. "Over you go,' shouted Jean, and as Archer made the perilous ascent, a bullet and then another whistled past his head. Had the Germans not stopped to fire at Archer they might have made certain of Jean, but as it was, the latter got over with a bullet through his coat and a sprained hand, giving a final derisive shout of "à bas les Boches!" as he reached the ground and made off into Holland. When they related their ex"periences to "le Commandant " at headquarters, there was only one point on which they could not and never have been able to agree; for whilst Archer considers that the Belgian "push" actually helped them, Jean is most emphatic that the unpunctuality of "les braves " nearly cost the two their lives. Only the spoils of war in the shape of two planks and one damaged pistol remained in the hands of the discomfited Germans, and these the two But then, Jean's view is perhaps distorted by recollections of a certain half-bred Belgian grocer, who had the impertinence to call himself a brother smuggler, whilst Archer, on the other hand, has tender memories of the courageous and kindly folk who helped him in his great need. IN THE LITTLE NEW COUNTRIES. BY MAJOR LINDSAY BASHFORD. I. By the time I arrived at large and able French Military that shabby, excitable, out- Mission-at times some four at-elbows, but still proudly hundred officers strong-had romantic city which is Warsaw, been at work for many months all menace of capture by the in Poland with but niggardly Bolshevik was over. appreciation. When Poland, as a nation newly-fledged, launched out into warfare with Bolshevism, the flamboyant buccaneer who fights eternally with the romantic dreamer in the Polish temperament ranged paramount. Poland resuscitated, cried these unpractical people, could do everything; they would just show the regarding world what they were capable of. It was kind of you to come, said Poland in effect to their very war-worn and experienced French advisers, but we are historically a nation of warriors and can tackle these little matters ourselves. We are accustomed to acting as bulwark of Western culture. We are word-perfect, and can dispense with the prompter. He had come dangerously near, and in outlying suburbs his wrath had been let loose. The thunder of his guns, had he possessed enough of them, might well have shattered the not too clean windows of the Bristol Hotel, with its throng of staff officers, journalists, Semitic army contractors, and spies. His aeroplanes, had he possessed any petrol to be spared from generals' and commissaries' motor - cars, might have created due panic in those narrow cobbled streets or amongst the gilded youth lunching valorously at Brühls' and getting no nearer the front than the luncheon table. Fortunately, at the emergency, the Poles, all but done for, had swept, as that strange riddle the Slav temperament will do at times, but erratically, from the heights of self-satisfied enthusiasm to the levels of common-sense. They had turned for advice to the French, and the French did not fail them. Poland demanded the limelight, and by its aid Bolshevism came within an ace of destroying Poland. Yet throughout Poland I found a marvellous store of patriotic devotion and ardour. Those wholesome country youths, scantily and This must remain unforget- shabbily equipped, who tably to French credit, for a marched through the Warsaw |