t on rims as
you can on rubber tires!"

"That was fine! I never thought of doing that!" exclaimed Arthur. "I
do believe it's going to save us, too. We can't be more than a mile
and a half from Boncelles now."

"We'll get there--unless our gasoline gives out altogether before that,
Arthur. And it may. The engine is certainly missing all the time,
now. Oh, if it will only hold out!"

Their speed was greatly reduced now. And from behind the other motor
started again.

"I admire those Germans!" said Paul. "A good many people wouldn't keep
at it the way they're doing. It's no joke to ride on a motorcycle with
both tires gone. They'll remember to-night for some time, I think!
They'll be sore and shaken to pieces before they're done."

"They'll be better off than their machine," said Arthur,
philosophically. "There won't be enough of that left to sell for junk
if they ride it very far in that condition."

"Well, I don't believe they'll care about that, if they only catch us
and get the plans--"

It was a sudden lurch of the machine, accompanied by a sputtering and a
stopping of the motor, that interrupted him. The two scouts sprang off
just in time, steadying the machine.

"Drop it! Into the fields here!" cried Paul. "We can't run any
longer. We must try to elude them by tricking them. Come on!"

And so they were obliged to abandon the machine that had served them so
well, leaving it lying in the road. They ran across a ditch that
bordered the road, and into a field where they managed to conceal
themselves in a hedge. They could still see the white road, and the
collapsed motorcycle, but there was a chance, even if it was a slim
one, that they themselves would not be seen.

Arthur wanted to run across the field, but Paul stopped him.

"That's what they'll expect us to do, isn't it?" he said. "And,
besides, they could see us. There's no shelter for a long way. Here
they may overlook us, just because we're so close--and it's the only
chance we have, anyhow."

"Here they come!" cried Arthur, and crouched down, staring. For a
moment it seemed that the pursuers might ride straight by, and Paul
groaned suddenly.

"We ought to have dragged the machine in here with us!" he said. "Then
I don't believe they'd have known we had stopped for quite a distance!
I never thought of it, though, and now it's too late!"

It was too late, indeed, for the other machine stopped within a few
feet of the overt