itnessing the agility of these three unbidden passengers who now
joined it. Indeed, the extraordinary and unexpected, if not masculine,
agility of the lady would have simply and metaphorically floored any
German official. But there was none to see, in the first place,
because darkness flooded the scene; and, secondly, because no gaping
official was on this special. Reaching a carriage and ensconcing
themselves in a corner, Henri and his friends were presently whirled
from the tunnel and swept on over the ground they had so recently
covered, and in due course they ran through the station where the
inspector, the station-master, and the unfortunate manager of the sugar
factory were standing. Henri gave vent to an exclamation of
astonishment, and then to a loud chuckle, while of a sudden he gripped
his two friends by the arms and bade them lower their heads.

"It's all as clear as daylight now," he said. "I have been wondering
how on earth these Germans discovered our whereabouts and our
disguises; but that makes the whole matter perfectly transparent. The
manager of the factory spotted the fact that his office had been
entered, and that certain garments had been purloined. The police were
called in, and then the station-master gave information of our arrival,
and of our boarding the train. It's as clear as a pikestaff. Hurrah!
How we've nonplussed them!"

"And if the hue and cry is all up the line, what happens to us?" asked
Stuart, with a grim smile, some little time later, when the train had
whirled them perhaps a couple of dozen miles onward. "We can't go on
like this indefinitely. This train is bound to stop somewhere, and
when it stops we are up against the same old difficulty again.
Moreover, knowing our disguises, realizing that we have baffled them in
some way, the police will be telegraphing all over the country, and may
even guess that we are on this train. Common sense tells a fellow that
the whole scheme must be pitched overboard and a new plan entered upon."

It was indeed a serious difficulty, for at any moment the train which
carried them on so swiftly, so luxuriously one may say, might stop, and
twenty or more gaping officials might investigate it. For all Henri
and his chums knew, telegrams were already passing over the wires which
flashed beside them as they ran through the country--telegrams warning
officials, hungry for their capture, to be on the look-out, to be on
the qui vive for thre