figure seated at the desk,
his face still largely in obscurity, but the eyes plain to be
seen--light, steely, penetrating--the eyes of a master of men.

A few minutes later Bob heard two of the officers, with whom he had
been previously brought into contact, conversing in their own tongue:

"It was unlike him to give an audience to a subaltern like that," said
one.

"Yes," was the reply; "but he said he was dissatisfied with the reports
of the spies; he wanted to see England's position through English eyes.
I wonder what the young cuckoo said to him."

Still between his guards, Bob walked away from the house where he had
been for more than an hour; he was oblivious of the fact that he was
passed from sentry to sentry, from guard to guard; his mind was full of
the strange scene in which he had taken part.

The figure of the lonely man at the desk, who was thinking and working
while others were asleep, haunted him, and he wondered.

As he came to the tent from which he had been led more than an hour
before, he again saw the officer who had given the command which had
ended in the scene we have just described.

"Whom have I been speaking to?" he asked, as the officer entered the
tent with him.

"Didn't you recognise him?"

"I fancied I did, but I dared not think I was right."

"You've been speaking to the Emperor of Germany," was the reply.

"I'm glad I spoke my mind," Bob said.

CHAPTER XX

During the three days which followed the one on which he was captured,
Bob's experiences were difficult to explain. He found himself being
moved farther and farther away from the English lines; but he knew
nothing of what was taking place, neither could he understand why he
was treated with such kindness and consideration.

He had expected to be immediately forwarded to some dirty German
prison, where he would suffer the same fate as many of his English
comrades. Instead of which, however, he might almost have been a guest
of honour.

For this reason he could not help coming to the conclusion that this
special treatment was for some purpose.

On the second day after the interview mentioned in the last chapter, he
was closely questioned by some German officers. They evidently
believed that he was possessed of information which would be valuable
to them, and for that reason did not treat him like an ordinary
prisoner.

Although he knew but little of what was going on in the German camp,
his experience the