German had gone in, Arthur saw that there was still
a light--a light that became visible as soon as the pretended peasant
lighted his lamp. Plainly the door had not been quite closed; the
little streak of light showed that.

Arthur waited breathlessly for some sign that Paul's presence had been
discovered. But none came. He was close enough to the door to hear
the man in the cottage stamping about, and he could guess, of course,
that Paul was concealed in some fashion. He had even the idea of the
cellar but of course he could not be sure that Paul was not above--safe
as long as it did not enter the German's head to climb the stairs. At
any rate, Arthur was grateful for a respite, no matter how brief it
might prove to be. Almost anything was better than the actual
knowledge that his chum had been caught.

"While there's life, there's hope!" he said to himself, grimly.

But it was a good deal easier for him to determine that he would make
some sort of effort to release his chum than it was for him to discover
a practical way of doing so. He had the feeling that at any cost to
Paul he must secure his own freedom; that was the thing that Paul had
impressed most vividly on his mind. At last he determined to risk a
trip to the window by which Paul had made his entrance. He wanted to
look inside; to see, at least, what was going on. Then some means of
helping Paul might suggest itself.

Of course Arthur had seen nothing of the inside of the room, since it
had been dark when Paul had climbed in. Now the first thing he saw
after the man of the house himself, was the trap door that led to the
cellar. He understood at once that Paul must be down there.

"That's why he didn't hear me, of course!" he said to himself. "Now to
get him out!"

Suddenly, just as he was about to leave the window, Arthur was startled
into a stiff and rigid halt by the sound of a heavy knock on the door
of the cottage. The German inside, busy just then in cutting up a huge
sausage that was evidently to be his dinner, seemed to be almost as
startled as Arthur himself. He jumped up, upsetting his chair, and
flung the door open. At once his whole manner changed. He started
back, then stiffened himself and stood at attention. A young man,
dressed in a uniform of a greenish-gray cloth that Arthur had never
seen before, and covered now with dust, walked in. Arthur could
scarcely believe his eyes. Everything about the newcomer pointed to