and
get his bearings. But the glove must have leaked, for the battery was
dead. The little compass, which was to prove so useful in days to come,
was probably still loyal after its immersion, but he could not
distinguish the dial clearly.

He knew he must go southeast, where the dim woods seemed now to beckon
him like a living mother. Never had the thought of the mountains and the
lonely forest been so grateful to this scout before. If only he had
strength to get there....

"What you _got_ to do--you do," he panted slowly under his breath,
frowning at the compass and trying in the darkness to see which way that
faithful little needle turned. Once, twice, he looked fearfully up
toward that grim building.

Then he decided, as best he might, which direction was southeast and
dragged his aching legs that way until presently he was stumbling in
the water again.

Surely, he thought, the river ran almost north and south, and southeast
_must_ lead on into the mountains. But perhaps he had not read the
compass aright or perhaps he was on the edge of a deep bay, which would
mean water extending still westward. Or perhaps he was on the Alsatian
shore.

For a moment he stood bewildered. Then he tried to read the compass
again and started forward in the direction which he thought to be west.
If he were on the Alsatian shore, this should take him away from that
black, heartless Teuton ruin.

But it only took him into a chaos of broken, shiny rock where he
stumbled and fell, cutting his knee and making his head throb cruelly.

And then Tom Slade, seeing that fate was against him, and having used
all the resource and young strength that he had, to get to the boys
"over there," gave up and lay among the jagged rocks, holding his head
with one bruised hand and thinking hopelessly of this end of all his
efforts.

CHAPTER XX

A NEW DANGER

He did not know how long he lay there, but after a while he crept along
over the slimy rocks and because it was not easy to stand alone he
limped to that grim, threatening structure, and leaned against it,
trying to collect his faculties.

"If he was--only here now," he breathed, half aloud, "I'd let him--I'd
be willing not to be boss--like he said. That's the--trouble--with
me--I'm always wanting to--be----Oh, my head----"

He knew now, what it was a pretty hard thing for one of his indomitable
temperament to realize, that things were out of his hands, that he could
go no farth