in your feet," said Archer admiringly.

"Whenever you see a fallen tree," said Tom, "look out for holes. It
means the earth is thin and weak all around and couldn't hold the
roots."

"It ought to drink buttermilk, hey?" said Archer flippantly, "if it's
thin and pale."

"I said thin and weak," said Tom. "Do you ever get tired talking?"

"Sure--same as a phonograph record does."

So they plodded on, encircling areas of towering rock or surmounting
them when they were not too high, and always working southward. Tom, who
was not unaccustomed to woods and mountains, thought he had never before
traversed such a chaotic wilderness. He would have given a good deal for
a watch and for some means of knowing how much actual distance they were
covering. It was slow, tiresome work.

Every little while he would check their course by the little compass, to
see which he often had to light one of their few precious matches.

"One thing surre, we won't meet anybody up herre," said Archer, as he
scrambled along. "See those little lights over to the east?"

"Don't worry," said Tom, "that's twenty miles away. We're all right up
here. There were some lights further down too and one over that way but
I can't see them now. I guess it's after midnight. Sh-h-h. Listen!"

They stood stark still, Archer gripping Tom's arm.

"It's water trickling," said Tom dully.

"Gee, you had the life scared out of me!" breathed Archer.

A little farther on they came to an abrupt, rocky declivity which
crossed their course and in the bottom of which was a swift running
stream.

"It's running east," said Tom, listening intently. "I can tell by the
ripples."

"Yes, you can!" said Archer contemptuously.

"Sure I can," Tom answered. He held his hand first to his right ear,
then to his left. "The long, washy sound comes first when you close your
left ear, so I know the water's flowing that way. It's easy," he added.

They kept along the precipitous brink, searching for a place to descend
and at last scrambled down and into the shallow stream.

"Didn't I tell you so?" said Tom, laying a twig in the water and
watching it as best he could in the dim light. "What's on the east of
Alsace, anyway?"

"Another parrt of Gerrmany--Baden," Archer answered.

"I was wondering where this stream goes," Tom said; "let's walk along in
it a little way and go up at a different place. They can't track you in
the water."

"I bet _you_ could," said Archer admirin