It was in the occupation of German cavalry.

Two of them held a little girl of nine or ten, one by her body, the other by her right hand.

An officer stood between them with a drawn sword fronting the terrified child.

He was a horrible, coarse-faced man who looked to me as though he had been drinking.
"I'll teach the young devil to show us the wrong road and let those French swine escape," he shouted, and struck with the sword.

The girl's right hand fell to the ground.
"War as practised by the Germans!" remarked Oro.