y he dodged the sergeant,' breathed Chippy.

'Yes; it's plainer and plainer every instant,' said Dick.

Chippy nodded. 'Wot do we do?' he asked.

'We must stop him, somehow,' replied Dick. 'He might do the greatest
harm to our country. It's a scout's work to collar such people. B.-P.
himself has caught four foreign spies at different times in England.'

Chippy jerked his head towards the bank, and began to crawl back. Dick
understood that he was going to see what the man was at now, and
followed.

Albert still sat under the steep bank, pencil in hand, and a fresh
sheet of paper on his knee. Chippy nudged Dick, and made signs to him
to duck down, as Bardon boys say.

'I'm off to get a bit closer and see wot he's a-doin',' breathed
Chippy. 'Stop 'ere an' "pewey" if he shifts.'

Dick nodded, and Chippy slid away as quietly as a snake.

Six or seven minutes passed before Dick saw his companion again. Then
he caught sight of the Raven's head as Chippy appeared round the trunk
of the pine which grew on the steep bank of the pit.

Little by little Chippy crept on, until his head was thrust over the
brink, and he was looking straight down on the concealed man, the
latter now drawing lines on his sheet of paper. His head was bent low
over his work, and Chippy craned out farther and farther to glance over
his shoulder. The man sat up and began to fold this paper as before,
then reached out his hand for the boot which lay beside him, and deftly
unscrewed the heel once more. As soon as the paper was stowed away and
the heel refastened, he took the boot in hand to put it on his foot.

Suddenly he looked up. Either he had caught Chippy's shadow, or he had
felt that he was watched. He looked up, and saw the boy hanging over
the brink.

Chippy's main purchase was on a root of gorse which cropped up at the
edge of the pit. He aimed to swing himself back with all his might,
depending on his grasp of the root. The root snapped short off close
to the ground, and Chippy went tumbling and sprawling head-long into
the pit, landing at the man's feet.

CHAPTER XIV

CHIPPY AND THE SPY

The latter sprang up with a savage cry that was not English. 'Ach
Himmel!' cried he, and again, 'Ach Himmel!'

At that moment of immense surprise, his native tongue sprang to his
lips before any other, and he leapt upon Chippy, and seized him with
hands that trembled.

The leader of the Ravens was not hurt, and his coolnes