It was so swift and sudden that it scarcely seemed real to John, but there were the dead bodies lying ghastly in the road, and there stood Julie, as pale as death, but not trembling.  The leader of the Uhlans pushed his helmet back a little from his forehead, and looked down at John, who had been disarmed but who stood erect and defiant.

“It is odd, Mr. Scott,” said Captain von Boehlen, “how often the fortunes of this war have caused us to meet.”

“It is, and sometimes fortune favors one, sometimes the other.  You’re in favor now.”

Von Boehlen looked steadily at his prisoner.  John thought that the strength and heaviness of the jaw were even more pronounced than when he had first seen the Prussian in Dresden.  The face was tanned deeply, and face and figure alike seemed the embodiment of strength.  One might dislike him, but one could not despise him.  John even found it in his heart to respect him, as he returned the steady gaze of the blue eyes with a look equally as firm.

“I hope,” said John, “that you will send back Mademoiselle Lannes and the nurses with her to her people.  I take it that you’re not making war upon women.”

Von Boehlen gave Julie a quick glance of curiosity and admiration.  But the eyes flashed for only a moment and then were expressionless.

“I know of one Lannes,” he said, “Philip Lannes, the aviator, a name that fame has brought to us Germans.”

“I am his sister,” said Julie.

“I can wish, Mademoiselle Lannes,” said von Boehlen, politely in French, “that we had captured your brother instead of his sister.”

“But as I said, you will send them back to their own people?  You don’t make war upon women?” repeated John.

“No, we do not make war upon women.  We are making war upon Frenchmen, and I do not hesitate to say in the presence of Mademoiselle Lannes that this war is made upon very brave Frenchmen.  Yet we cannot send the ladies back.  The presence of our cavalry here within the French lines must not be known to our enemies.  Moreover, I obey the orders of another, and I am compelled to hold them as prisoners—­for a while at least.”

Von Boehlen’s tone was not lacking in the least in courtesy.  It was more than respectful when he spoke directly to Julie Lannes, and John’s feeling of repugnance to him underwent a further abatement—­he was a creation of his conditions, and he believed in his teachings.

“You will at least keep us all as prisoners together?” said John.

“I know of no reason to the contrary,” replied von Boehlen briefly.  Then he acted with the decision that characterized all the German officers whom John had seen.  The women and the prisoners were put in the carts.  Dismounted Uhlans took the place of the drivers and the little procession with an escort of about fifty cavalry turned from the road into the woods, von Boehlen and the rest, about five hundred in number, rode on down the road.