The sound of boots on the ladder stopped. They slowly began to climb upwards again. ‘German,’ Silver Hand said. ‘He’s German.’

‘So? He’s harmless,’ Aimee said. ‘He’s a boy. He’s sick.’

‘He could have understood what I said to Benedict,’ the sergeant hissed.

‘He’s too ill.’

‘Better safe than sorry,’ the traitor said. ‘I’m just going to fetch my rifle.’

This time the boots moved quickly. Aimee hurried over to the boy and shook him. ‘Come on, Marius, you have to get out of here.’

Marius groaned and raised himself on an elbow. He rolled on to his hands and knees and began to crawl to the hatch. With Aimee’s help he sat on the edge of the steps. She squeezed past him and guided his feet down one at a time. He swayed and almost passed out, then carried on. He stumbled on the last step and fell to the floor, panting and with sweat running into his eyes. Aimee pulled him to his feet, placed his arm round her shoulder and helped him to the door of the barn. The daylight hurt his eyes. It also showed two men walking towards them.

Sergeant Grimm had no rifle. The officer with him had a pistol on his belt. It was Captain Ellis. Silver Hand was jabbering and pointing. ‘There they are, sir. The spies. Give me your pistol, sir, and I’ll shoot them now.’

Captain Ellis looked at him with some disgust. ‘We don’t shoot enemy soldiers in cold blood, Sergeant.’

‘Ah no, sir, but he isn’t an enemy soldier. He isn’t in uniform. He’s dressed like a French peasant to fool us – to spy on us, sir. Army rules, sir. Any enemy soldier caught out of uniform has to be shot.’ Silver Hand added in a low voice with menace, ‘And you can’t break army rules, can you, sir?’

The captain looked unhappy. ‘I can’t. But he must be executed in the proper manner. By firing squad. At dawn.’

‘I can arrange that, sir,’ Grimm said eagerly.

‘No, I’ll do it. It’s an officer’s job. You have the boy held in the barn and get someone to stand guard.’

‘Yes, sir. And what about the girl, sir?’

‘What about her?’

‘She is guilty of giving shelter to an enemy spy. She has to be shot too, sir.’

The captain was impatient. ‘Sergeant, we would need a trial to prove that she helped him. We are in a battle zone. We have more important things to do than set up a trial. The girl lives. The boy will be shot at dawn. The girl is French. We don’t shoot our allies.’

Grimm looked disappointed. ‘Yes, sir.’ He took Marius from Aimee’s shoulder and bundled him back into the barn before pulling the wide door shut.