German accent. "They must be here. We
found the bicycles a short distance from this house, and have scoured
the woods. They must be here."

"I say they are not," came the woman's voice, raised in anger.

"Well, I must search the house, at any rate," said the German, "and,
if I find that you have been aiding the enemies of Germany, it will
go hard with you. Stand aside, please."

"I tell you there is no one here," cried the woman.

"Stand aside!" came the German's voice again, and there was the sound
of a struggle, followed by the voice of the German: "Search the house,
men."

Then came the sounds of heavy feet tramping through the house. Hal and
Chester were both wide awake now and lay silent, listening. For an
hour the heavy footsteps continued to ring through the house, and
there was the sound of slamming doors and moving furniture.

And finally came the voice of the woman again: "I told you there was
no one here."

But apparently the German officer in command was not yet satisfied.

"Have you searched the attic?" he demanded of his men; "and the
cellar?"

"There is no one in the cellar," came a voice in reply, "and there is
no attic."

"I'll have a look for myself," came the reply, and heavy footsteps
ascended the stairs into the room directly beneath Hal and Chester.
There came to the lads' ears the sounds of heavy blows against the
floor on which they lay. Evidently the German officer was making sure
that there was not an opening in the ceiling of the room below. But
after a while he desisted. The boys heard him descend the stairs, and
a few moments later the sound of his voice:

"There is no one up there."

Both lads drew a breath of relief. A moment more and a slamming door
gave evidence that the Germans had departed.

"I was afraid he would locate the trap-door," said Hal to Chester,
after they had gone.

"Same here," replied Chester. "But I wasn't going to let them take me
without a fight. Only one man could get up here at a time, and we
could certainly dispose of him."

"Yes, but they could starve us out, or set fire to the house or
something, which would be worse than being captured. Besides, we
couldn't let the woman who has aided us come to harm."

"No, that's so, too," agreed Chester. "I hadn't thought of that."

Further conversation was interrupted by a sound of some one at the
trap-door. Chester and Hal both jumped to their feet, and stood ready
above the opening in the floor to se