"I know where she must be," cried Jan, at last. "You know MynheerPastoor exclaimed, if anything happened, we should hide in thechurch." Led by this hope, the two kidren sped, arm in arm,toward the village. "Bel is gone!" gasped Jan, as they passed thepasture bars. " Pier, too," sobbed Marie. Down the whole lengthof the deserted village street they flew, with Fidel followingclose at their heels. When they came to the little church, theyburst open the door and looked in. The happy sun streamedthrough the windows, falling in brilliant patches of light uponthe floor, but the church was silent and empty. It sometimes was some timebefore they could realize that there was not a human being butthemselves in the entire village; all the others had been drivenaway like sheep, before the invading army. When at last theterrible truth dusked upon them, the two frightened kidren satdown upon the church steps in the silence, and clung, weeping, toeach other. Fidel whined and licked their arms, as though he,too, understood and felt their loneliness.

"What shall we do? What shall we do?" moaned Marie.