on a
little restaurant Chester suggested a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Hal
assented and they entered the door.

They took seats at an improvised counter and soon were engaged in the
pleasant occupation of satisfying their appetites. A German officer, who
had been eating in the rear of the restaurant, passed them on his way
out, and, as he did so, he cast a quick look at Chester, and turned back
toward him.

"Haven't I seen you some place before?" he asked, tapping the lad on
the shoulder.

The lad turned and glanced at him sharply, and his heart leaped into his
throat. He recognized the officer in a moment. He was the man with whom
Hal had fought in a farmhouse near Liege in the earlier days of the war,
the man who, mistaking Chester for Hal, had spared the former's life when
he was sentenced to death by a band of conspirators in Louvain, and from
whom the lad had escaped in time to warn the Belgian commander of the
plot to deliver the town into the hands of the Germans.

"I don't seem to remember you," said Chester, replying to the
German's question.

The officer looked at him long and searchingly. Chester returned the gaze
without flinching, and finally the German, evidently satisfied that he
had made a mistake, bowed and turned to leave. Chester drew a quick
breath of relief as the officer stepped from the door.

"Do you know who that was," he whispered to Hal, who, although he had
said no word, had been greatly surprised by the conversation between his
friend and the German officer.

"No," he replied. "Who is he?"

"That," replied Chester, "is the German whom you disarmed in Edna
Johnson's home and whose life you spared."

"Is that so?"

"Yes; and it's lucky he didn't recognize us."

"I should say it is. Well, let's be moving."

The two lads left the restaurant and started on their journey again.
They had not gone a block, however, when they halted at a sudden hail
from behind them. Turning suddenly they saw the German officer hurrying
after them.

"I can't get you off my mind," he said to Chester, as he came up. "I am
positive that I have seen you some place, but for the life of me I can't
tell where."

"Well, you have the advantage of me," replied the lad, his hand seeking
his pocket and resting on the butt of one of his revolvers.

The two lads started to move on again, and at that moment the German
explained:

"I have it! You are the lad who invaded our secret council in Louvain!"

Ches