ugged hillside one could reach this house without entering the
hamlet at all.

"If I dared, I'd make the break," said Tom.

"Suppose they should be Gerrmans living therre?" Archer suggested. "I
wouldn't risk it. Can't you see therre's a German flag on a flagpole?"

"That's just it," said Tom. "If I knew they were French people I could
show them Frenchy's button. If I was sure this uniform, or whatever you
call it, was all right, I'd take a chance."

"It's all right at a distance, anyway," Archer encouraged; "as long as
nobody can see yourr face or speak to you."

It was a pretty risky business and both realized it. After three days of
successful flight to run into the very jaws of recapture by an
ill-considered move was not at all to Tom's liking, yet he felt sure
that it would be equally risky to penetrate into that dark wilderness
which stretched away toward the Swiss border without first ascertaining
something of its extent and character, and what the prospect was of
getting through it unseen. Moreover, they were hungry.

Yet it was twilight and the distant river had become a dark ribbon and
the outlines of the poor houses below them blurred and indistinct in the
gathering darkness before Tom could bring himself to re-enter the haunts
of men.

"You stay here," he said, "and I'll go down and pike around. There's one
thing, that house is very old and people don't move around here like
they do in America. So if I see anything that makes me think the house
is French then probably the people are French too."

It was a sensible thought, more dependable indeed than Tom imagined, for
in poor Alsace and Lorraine, of all places, people who loved their homes
enough to remain in them under foreign despotism would probably continue
living in them generation after generation. There is no moving day in
Europe.

CHAPTER XV

HE WHO HAS EYES TO SEE

It was quite dark when Tom scrambled down and, with his heart beating
rapidly, stole cautiously across the hubbly ground toward the
dilapidated brush fence which enclosed the place. The disturbing thought
occurred to him that where there were sheep there was likely to be a
dog, but he would not turn back.

He realized that he was gambling with those hard-won days of freedom,
that any minute he might be discovered and seized. But the courage which
his training as a scout had given him did not forsake him, and he
crossed the fence and stealthily approached the house, w