e will land the Count in a
field near here, let him alight, and then take off again and proceed to
this 'drome. The Count, left alone, will doubtless make his way into the
woods bordering the field, where he will promptly be nabbed. That little
drama should be taking place now. For your information, the credit for
this coup goes to Lieutenant Siddons."

McGee and Larkin stared at each other, scarce believing their ears.

"Well what do you know about that!" McGee's half audible remark was the
trite expression so commonly used by those who are staggered by a sudden
revelation.

"I know _all_ about it," Cowan said, actually laughing--the first
time either of the others had ever heard him even so much as chuckle. "I
know all about it, and I've called you here for two reasons: I think
you, McGee, are entitled to see the next to the last act in this
little--ah--tragedy, I suppose it should be called; and I want Larkin to
be present when his uniform reappears. I might need him for purposes of
identification."

"But--"

Cowan lifted a protesting hand. "Don't ask questions. Better let me tell
it. The story will have to be brief, and a bit sketchy, for time flies.
The things you don't know about all this would fill a book. Perhaps I
had better start at the beginning:

"In 1914, when the war first broke out, the man you know as Siddons was
living in Germany, with his father and mother, and was in his second
year in a Berlin university. He was born in America, of German-American
parents. For your information, his right name is Schwarz, not Siddons."

"I always thought he looked like a German," McGee said.

Cowan merely nodded. "Naturally, he does. His father, who had come to
America in his youth to escape four years military service with the
colors, developed into an exceedingly shrewd business man and had been
sent back to Germany as the Berlin representative of one of our large
exporters. Though he had become an American citizen, he was, quite
naturally, genuinely sympathetic with Germany as against England and
France. But when it began to be almost a certainty that America would be
drawn into the war, the Schwarz family held a family conference and the
old man declared himself as being loyal to America, his adopted country,
if war actually came.

"During the months of strained relationship between our country and
Germany, the Schwarz family had to keep their mouths shut and saw wood.
Then, suddenly, America declared w