hat is a
good Servian name, as I suppose you know. But you must have guessed
before that I am Servian, or you would not have spoken to me in my own
language. How is it that you, an American, over here for the first time,
speak our language so well?"

"How is it that you know so much about me?" countered Dick, really
amazed. "I never saw you until this morning, in Hallo's place."

"Nor I you," said Stepan. "But it was my business to know all about
everything that Hallo was doing. He is a very important man just now,
and especially for us Servians. He has a great deal to do with the
government here. He will supply many of the things the Austrian soldiers
will need in the war, and there was a chance that by working for him I
might be able to gain a great deal of valuable information. There are so
few of us Servians, you see, and especially after the wars, that boys
have to do the work of men."

"I see," said Dick, vaguely, though he was a long way from a clear
understanding yet.

"That was why I listened to what you had to say to Hallo," the Servian
went on. "Anything might be important, you see. But I soon understood
that this was a different matter. And then I remembered things I had
heard, or had just happened to stumble on, since I had been in his
office, and then I knew all about you, and how he had cheated your
family--the scoundrel!"

"You do know a lot!" said Dick. He was beginning to be tremendously
impressed by this Servian lad, no older than himself, who nevertheless
was serving his country in such a dangerous and delicate capacity.

"Oh, I just jumped at the chance of putting a spoke in Hallo's wheel,"
said Dushan. "It hasn't been the easiest thing in the world working for
him, obeying his orders, I can tell you. He treats those who work for
him like a dog. You would think he was a noble, instead of a shrewd
peasant who has made money."

He laughed.

"I ought not to talk like that," he said. "In Servia we are all
democrats, and a peasant is as good as the next man. But still it was
hard with this Magyar swine! My father--you know my father is in our
army, a general of brigade. I shall be in the army, too, when I am old
enough, if there is to be more war after this. And in the meantime I do
what I can. I am a Boy Scout."

"A scout? So am I!" exclaimed Dick.

They had found a common tie when Stepan Dushan said that, and for a
little time they forgot everything in a discussion of scouting and of
the