THE ENDING OF WAR
before him, they fired together and shot him through the head.
The upper part of his face seemed to vanish.
"Shoot them!" cried the man who had been stabbed. "Shoot them all!"
And then his light went out, and he rolled over with a groan at the feet of his comrades.
But each carried a light of his own, and in another moment everything in the barn was visible again. They shot Peter even as he held up his hands in sign of surrender.
Kurt and Abel at the head of the ladder hesitated for a moment, and then plunged backward into the pit. "If we don't kill them," said one of the sharpshooters, 'they'll blow us to rags. They've gone down that hatchway. Come! . . .
"Here they are. Hands up, I say! Hold your light while I shoot. . . ."
§ 8.
It was still quite dark when his valet and Firmin came together and told the ex-king Egbert that the business was settled.
He started up into a sitting position on the side of his bed.
"Did he go out?" asked the ex-king.
"He is dead," said Firmin. "He was shot."
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