From above, the defenders at the front of the house, also, had done heavy
execution among the enemy below. Again the Germans wavered; then
retreated; and the French mowed them down as they ran.
Suddenly Hal bethought himself of a daring plan. Dashing down stairs he
confided it to Captain Leroux. The latter clapped his hands in approval.
"You shall direct the move," he exclaimed. "I'll take your post and see
that the Germans in front continue to fall back; also I shall be able to
cover you to some extent."
He ran quickly upstairs.
Quickly Hal picked fifty men.
"Clear away those bodies," he said, pointing to the German dead that
blocked the doorway.
It was the work of but a few minutes.
"Now," said Hal, "when we go out the door, I want half of you to go
around the house to the left. The others follow me."
He divided the men into two squads.
"We'll catch the fellows who got behind us by surprise," the lad
explained. "They are still engaged with the men at the windows above. We
can't afford to be surrounded. We must drive them off."
Silently, the men filed from the house.
The strategy of Hal's plan was at once apparent. The Germans who had
circled the house, after dividing after the grand assault, still were
unaware of the retreat of their fellows.
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