this field hospital,
most of the wounded were Frenchmen.

She was glad to see so many visitors daily bringing comforts for the
men; but of all those who came she noted particularly the
peculiar-looking Nicko, the chocolate vender. Daily he came, and Ruth
always observed both his comings and goings.

Never did he fail to go into a particular ward--one of those in which
the more seriously wounded patients lay--Hut H. She sometimes saw him
going through the aisles at his funny, wabbling gait, offering his
wares to the soldiers. The latter jeered at him, or joked with him, as
their mood was. He wore an old battered hat, the brim of which flopped
over his face and half masked his features.

One afternoon Ruth met the strange fellow at the door of Hut H. She
was going out as he was coming in. The man backed away from her,
mumbling. She threw a coin into his basket and took a small package of
chocolate.

"_Bien oblige, Mademoiselle_!" he was startled into saying, and bowed
to her. It was not the stiff, martial bow she had before noted, but
the sweeping, ingratiating bow of the Frenchman. Ruth walked on, but
she was startled.

Finally she turned swiftly and went back to the door of Hut H. The
nurse on duty had just come from the end of the ward. Over her
shoulder Ruth saw Nicko halt beside one of the cots far down the line.

"Who is that Nicko converses with?" Ruth asked idly.

"Oh, his friend, the Boche. Didn't you know we had a German officer
with us? Cot 24. Not a bad fellow at all. Yes, Nicko never fails to
sell our Boche friend chocolate. He is a regular customer."

"Cot 24--Hut H," Ruth repeated in her own mind. She would not forget
that. And yet--did it mean anything? Was there something wrong with
Nicko, the chocolate peddler?

CHAPTER X

DEVOURING SUSPICION

She had been at the field hospital for a week. It seemed to Ruth
Fielding at last as though she could not remain "holed up" like a
rabbit any longer.

At Clair she had been used to going out of the hospital when she liked
and going anywhere she pleased. Here she found it was necessary to
have a pass even to step out of the hospital compound.

"And be careful where you walk, Miss Fielding," said Dr. Monteith, as
he signed her pass. "Do not go toward the battle front. If you do you
may be halted."

"Halted!" repeated Ruth, not quite understanding.

"And perhaps suspected," he said, nodding gravely. "Even your Red
Cro