could hardly be of
really great importance whatever happened, that bothered Paul. It was
the fact that by this sudden sweep of the German left he and Paul were
again in the enemy's country, and almost hopelessly cut off from
reaching the Belgian lines. For a moment he was almost ready to give
up in despair. But that was not his style at all, and he soon
recovered his spirits.

"There's no use in sitting here and wishing that things were
different," he said, at last. "Come on! Let's get back to the road!
If we can't go behind our own lines, let's go behind the Germans, and
see how far we can get. They may be too busy to pay much attention to
us, anyhow. Oh, I wish we had some way of getting around except by
walking! We're losing all this time. That's what is going to ruin
everything for us, just when it seemed that we had a chance to do
something."

They got back to the road from which they had turned to avoid the
enraged peasants of Hannay, and went along mournfully. Once they heard
a loud crackling, and dodged immediately into the shelter of the hedge
along the road. A German soldier, mounted on a powerful motorcycle,
sped by; but he went so fast that they might have stayed in the road
without attracting his attention. He came from behind them, from the
direction of Hannay, and Paul groaned as they went out into the road
again.

"They must be in force in that direction, too," he said. "That shows
that it probably wouldn't have done us much good to go back around
Hannay to try to strike another road. We would only have run into a
lot more Germans, I suppose, if we had."

"There seem to be Germans everywhere," said Arthur. "How can there be
so many of them?"

"That is the way they go to war. It is their plan always to have more
men than the enemy. It is a good way, too. A thousand brave men
cannot beat five thousand, no matter how brave they are. The weight of
numbers has won many a battle."

"Listen," said Arthur. "Do you hear that? It sounds as if another
motorcycle might be coming from behind us."

They were climbing a stiff little grade, and were near the top. Paul
stopped, and listened.

"No," he said. "That's not a motorcycle, but an automobile. I
wonder--" He stopped and thought for a moment. "It's still half a
mile or so away. It's worth trying! It would be a chance! And it can
do no harm. Arthur, do you remember how we stopped their motorcycle
when those two officers wer