you
shot, but we should save ammunition. And I might send you back to
Germany, to be confined in a fortress, but that would mean that we
should have to feed you. If I let you go through the lines toward Huy,
will you promise not to come back?"

"Yes, sir," said Paul, heartily. He was amazed, by the prospect of
release, but he realized, of course, that while he and Arthur knew what
dangerous enemies they had already proved themselves, the colonel did
not.

And so, to their surprise and Paul's relief, they were soon being
escorted through the German lines, their direction being southwest, in
the general direction of Huy, the Belgian city nearest to Liege of the
border line of fortresses. Huy, though not as strong as either Liege
or Namur, was a link in the chain, having been designed chiefly to
supply a base for the centre of an army resisting the advance of an
invader, with its wings resting on the more powerful fortifications of
Liege and Namur.

Their escort was the same good-natured soldier who had taken them
before Colonel Schmidt, and he paid little attention to them. Perhaps
he thought that there was no need to watch them closely; perhaps he was
simply negligent. But, whatever the reason, Paul was able to discover
the composition of the force upon which they had stumbled with a good
deal of exactness. He learned to what regiment their escort belonged,
and he also saw numbers on helmets and other identifying marks that
supplied him with much other information. Neither he nor Arthur knew
the real meaning of what they saw, but both boys knew that if they
reached the Belgian lines they would find officers of the intelligence
department to whom such facts would be valuable in the extreme. It was
important, as both knew, for the Belgians and their allies to know
something of the German plan.

Paul, indeed, had spoken of that very point to Arthur after their
arrest.

"If we see what regiments are here, others can use what we tell them to
determine what army corps are being used in this attack, and perhaps
what the general plan is," he had said. "Then the French will know
where to mass their troops."

"Last stop!" said the soldier, finally. Some time before they had
passed a sentry and for nearly a mile they had seen only outposts. "I
must go back now. You are all right. We have passed the last of our
posts. The next soldiers you see will be Belgians, unless we have
cavalry in this direction. Perh