ail-like gait until the first signs of dawn appeared
in the eastern sky. An hour later the lads made out in the distance a
mass of troops. They were still too far away to make out plainly, but
neither doubted that they were French.

But they were doomed to disappointment.

As the machine sped closer, Hal suddenly applied the brakes and uttered
an exclamation of dismay.

"What's the matter?" demanded Chester.

"Matter!" echoed Hal. "Why, we have run right into a nest of Germans!"

It was only too true. The troops whom they were now approaching were the
enemy, and both lads realized in an instant that they must be surrounded
by Germans on all sides. In the darkness they had penetrated through the
rear line, and now were in the very midst of their foes.

Hal thought quickly. So far they had not been perceived. Two men in
civilian clothes were approaching afoot, and as they came up to them Hal
crawled under the machine and began to tinker with it. The men came
closer and stopped to watch.

Suddenly Hal crawled from under the car, and, as the men cried out in
surprise at the sight of his British uniform, he covered both of them
with a pair of revolvers.

"Silence!" he cried, "or you are dead men." He spoke to Chester over
his shoulder. "We'll have to go straight though the line," he said,
"and we can't do it with these uniforms. We'll have to exchange with
these fellows."

In vain did their prisoners protest. Hal kept the two covered while
Chester stripped himself of his own garments and climbed into those one
of the prisoners passed to him. Then Chester covered the men while Hal
made a change and transferred the document given him by General French to
the pocket of his new coat. Then they bound and gagged the two men and
tumbled them into the ditch at the side of the road.

"So far so good," said Hal. "Now, if we simply act unconcerned, we
should have no difficulty in going through the lines. It's when we make
a dash for the other side that the trouble is likely to come; but we
must chance that."

"All right," said Chester, "let's move."

They started off slowly down the road and within the hour were in the
town of Caronne, held by the Germans, but a few miles from the northern
bank of the river Aisne. Here they left the machine to avoid attracting
unnecessary attention.

They lost no time, and made their way through the town as swiftly as
possible. They walked along boldly, and near the outskirts, coming up