dge. Ken caught the flash of sun on a
lancehead bearing straight down upon him. He sprang aside, the lancehead
missed him by inches, then the shoulder of the horse caught him with
stunning force and hurled him to the ground.

Before he could pick himself up, three of the troopers were off their
horses, and had flung themselves upon him. He was hauled roughly to his
feet, his rifle snatched from his hand, and his cartridge-pouch torn away.
A few yards away, Roy, his face bleeding, was the centre of another group
who were disarming him in spite of his struggles.

Ken glanced at his captors. He saw that they were Turkish constabulary,
and his heart sank. These men, trained by Germans, paid by them, and
soaked in their brutal tenets, were among the small minority of Turks who
had really come to share the German hatred of the British.

They glared fiercely at their prisoners.

'British swine!' growled one, and spat in contempt.

'They are spies,' said another. 'We find them three miles behind our
lines. Why do we waste time taking them prisoners? Let us hang them and be
done with them.'

'Why not let them run and ride them down?' suggested another. 'Sticking
with a lance is a fit fate for hogs.'

But the sergeant, a tall, swarthy faced man with a pair of fierce black
eyes, pushed his way forward.

'Fools, these are the men who escaped last night from Captain Hartmann. We
have his orders to bring them before him. It will go hard with you if you
disobey. Shackle them both, and send them to him under guard.'

He flung down two pairs of handcuffs, and one of the men who was holding
Ken picked them up, while another seized his wrists.

It was on the tip of Ken's tongue to protest fiercely against this
indignity, but he checked himself. It would be better, he remembered, that
these men should not know that he spoke their language.

Roy was fighting like a fury. Three of the troopers had their work cut out
to hold him. As it was, he managed to get one hand loose, and before the
others could seize it again one of their number lay insensible on the
ground with his nose broken and flattened against his face.

'Steady, Roy!' cried Ken. 'These swabs are no better than Germans. They'll
only frog-march us or something equally beastly if we resist.'

'But handcuffs!' roared Roy in a fury. 'D'ye think I'm going to be
handcuffed like a common criminal?'

'They think we're spies,' Ken answered. 'They're going to take us to
hea