Germans. I did. Then I was discovered."

"How?" demanded Chester.

"I was caught in the act of taking papers from my superior's coat,
which he had laid aside. I was court-martialed and ordered put to
death. Through the connivance of another who was associated with me in
this piece of treachery I managed to escape. He is high in the
confidence of General Joffre."

"His name?" demanded Hal quickly.

The wounded man was silent for some time.

"I have never betrayed a comrade," he said at length, "but I am at the
door of death. I must make what reparation I can. His name is General
Emil Tromp."

"What!" exclaimed Hal and Chester in a single breath.

"It is true," continued the wounded man. "But listen," and his voice
grew fainter. The end was not far off now. "Listen! Will you do me one
favor, you whom I have tried to kill?"

Hal and Chester nodded their heads in assent.

"Then do not tell my mother of my treachery. Tell her that I died in
battle, fighting for my country, and that I was game to the end, as
you Americans say. Will you do this for me, one who has sought your
death?"

"We will," promised Hal and Chester in a single voice.

"Promise," said the dying man feebly, as he raised himself on one
elbow.

"We promise," said both lads solemnly.

The man fell back with a groan of thanks, and Hal bent over him,
thinking that he was dead. But the voice came again:

"I wouldn't have her know for all the world. I was always wild, but
who would have thought that I would be a traitor to my country? When
you see General Joffre, tell him at once what I have told you
concerning the traitor. Immediately, do you understand?"

"We understand," said Hal.

"And my mother, you will do as you have promised?"

"We have promised," said Chester simply.

"Then I may die in peace," said the wounded traitor.

He lay back on the ground at full length, shuddered, once, twice, and
lay still.

Hal rose from his kneeling posture, and lifted his cap from his head.

"He is dead," he said quietly. "May he rest in peace."

"Amen to that," said Chester, also standing with bared head. "And his
mother. He is right. It would break her heart. We must see that she
does not know."

"And so we shall," declared Hal. "It will be a lie for which I am sure
we shall be forgiven."

CHAPTER XV.

ATTACKED BY THE ENEMY.

"What shall we do with him?" questioned Chester. "We can't go away and
leave him here like this."

"No,