ts that were drawn by men and women. At
first the sight puzzled him, but then he understood, and he called to
Boris to look.

"They're clearing out the villages toward the border," he said.

Boris only glanced through the glass.

"Yes. They were doing it the day after the war began, too," he said.
"It's better for them, of course. If civilians are about where there is
fighting, they are in danger from both sides. The Germans wouldn't stop
a minute at shelling one of their own villages if we were holding it.
Fred, I think they must be going to send our little lot away, too. There
are soldiers coming along the road--Uhlans."

Fred looked down and saw a picket of lancers approaching, headed by an
officer. And in a few minutes there were signs of great activity in the
village. Soon the exodus began. And then the Uhlans turned at the road
leading up to the great house, and began to climb.

"Coming to warn our people, I suppose," said Boris. "We'll make
ourselves scarce, Fred. Vladimir can talk to them when they arrive."

But Fred did not go without one more sweeping look about him. And it
showed him something that surprised him.

"I've got a curious feeling," he told Boris, when they had slipped into
the secret passage. "I've got what we call a hunch in America--a feeling
that Ivan has been fooled. You didn't see what I did just now. I'm
perfectly certain I saw troops marching on two roads that aren't very
far apart, to the north."

"Marching east or west?"

"East. I think a real trap is being prepared, Boris. And--I'm going to
try to find out the truth!"

"How?"

"I'd better not tell you, Boris. Go back and listen--see what you can
hear at the thin wall. I'm afraid that if we both go we might be heard,
if they are near there. I want to know where those Uhlans come from."

"All right," said Boris, wondering a little. He went off, and Fred, as
soon as he had disappeared, began to make his way very quietly, almost
stealthily, indeed, toward the other end of the tunnel--the one that
gave to the open air.

"He'd never have let me go if I had told him," he said to himself,
feeling the need of justifying what looked like treachery, since his own
conscience was accusing him. "And I didn't lie to him. I didn't say that
I would be there when he came back. I only hope I get out before he
finds I've gone!"

When he reached the opening he felt safe, and there he stopped and wrote
a note to Boris, telling him what he me