‘I don’t drink that Flemish piss.’

‘We have beer.’

The sergeant spat contemptuously. ‘That’s even worse.’

The farm was small so the search was short-lived. The soldiers didn’t stand on ceremony. Barging into the house, they began to look in every room. Outraged at the sudden invasion, the farmer’s wife and son came hurrying out to protest. He waved them into silence. While their home was being subjected to a rigorous search, the barn was also inspected along with the outbuildings. The hens were disturbed in their coop and the cows complained bitterly when soldiers burst into their byre. The old horse, munching hay in the stable, was offended when two men poked into every corner of its domain. Only the pig remained unruffled, head still deep in its trough.

‘Don’t you ever clean that sty out?’ asked the sergeant, wrinkling his nose. ‘It stinks to high heaven.’

‘You get used to it,’ said the farmer.

‘How can anyone get used to that stench?’

The question hung unanswered in the air because soldiers came out of the house and shook their heads. Those who’d searched the barn and the outbuildings had also done so in vain. Remounting their horses, they waited for orders. The sergeant was angry and frustrated.

‘He must have come this way,’ he insisted. ‘Spread out and make for the river. He might have made it that far. And whoever catches him,’ he added, curling a lip, ‘keep him alive until I get my hands on him. I want to make him suffer.’

The patrol galloped off and the farmer’s wife was able to give vent to her fury. She swore at the departing horsemen then told her husband what they’d done. Her husband went into the house and saw the mess. Chairs had been overturned, cupboard doors wrenched open and cooking pots swept aside so that someone could peer up the chimney. It was the same story upstairs. In all three of the tiny rooms, beds had been propped against the wall, chest lids had been lifted and their contents had been scattered everywhere. The trapdoor to the attic had been left dangling. Everything stored up there had been ruthlessly trampled on.