too busy with each other to pay
much attention to the little boat, Chester steered quickly to the center
of the river. There, as the bullets sped overhead, he felt safer.

Turning to view the scene, Hal for a moment relaxed his vigilance over
the prisoner, and in that moment the latter sprang upon him. He launched
himself in a desperate spring, and Hal, taken unprepared, was borne back
to the bottom of the boat, almost being hurled overboard.

Chester immediately released his hold upon the wheel and sprang to Hal's
assistance.

The boat, now with no guiding hand upon the wheel, staggered crazily
about, heading first in one direction and then in the other, as the
struggling figures gave it impetus, first toward one shore and then
toward the other.

As the boat heeled over, Chester hurled himself upon the German, who had
succeeded in clutching Hal by the throat and was slowly strangling him.
He seized the German by both shoulders, and, putting his knee in his
back, pulled with all his strength.

The pain was unbearable, and the man was forced to loosen his grip on
Hal's throat. But so fierce had been the pressure of his fingers, that
for a moment Hal was unable to go to Chester's assistance, and lay
panting and gasping for air.

The German, who was much larger and more powerfully built than Chester,
turned upon his second opponent. By a quick shift of position, he grasped
the lad's throat with his left hand and with his right aimed a hard blow
at his face. This the lad struck up with his left arm, and before the
German could repeat the blow, let drive with his right.

There was a loud smack, as his right first crashed into his opponent's
face, and a stream of blood poured from the German's nose. Hal now had
regained his wind, and jumped to aid his chum.

All this time the battle between the two skirmish lines of the armies
continued. Both sides had perceived the struggle in the boat, but both
were fearful to fire for fear of wounding friend as well as foe--for the
very fact of the struggle proved that there were men of both armies in
the boat. Gradually the fire of both sides slackened, as the troops
peered intently toward the fighting figures in midstream.

The lads' prisoner, raising his left arm to ward off a blow delivered by
Chester, accidentally caught the lad under the chin with his fist. The
blow was a hard one, and, before the lad could recover his balance, the
prisoner had delivered another resounding