face.

The four men leaned over and began reading, but Pee-wee and I didn't
because they didn't ask us and Boy Scouts don't butt in.

"I bet it tells all about German spies and everything, and now he's
going to make a full confession," Pee-wee said; "maybe our names will
be in the New York papers, hey?"

"They'll be more likely to be in the fly-paper," I said; "there's
something funny about this."

"I bet he was going to blow up some ships," Pee-wee said.

"I bet he'll blow us up in a minute," I told him; because I could see
that he was saying something to the men while they all looked at the
book, and that the whole four of them were laughing--especially
Mr. Ellsworth.

"It was the elder boy who discovered it," I heard him say, smiling all
the while.

"Good night!" I said to Pee-wee, "I thought we had a German in custody,
but instead of that. We're in Dutch!"

"Will they send us to jail?" he whispered.

"I think we'll get about ten merit badges for this--not," I said; "he's
no spy."

Well, the men didn't pay much attention to us, only strolled over to one
side of the room and began chatting together, and Mr. Donnelle got a box
of cigars and they each took one.

"I wouldn't smoke one of those cigars," Pee-wee said, "they might be
bombs. The Germans are pretty tricky--safety first."

Then Mr. Ellsworth came over to us, smiling all over his face. "Well,
boys," he said, "I'm glad to say that our spy quest has gone up in
smoke. Mr. Donnelle is one of the best known authors of America. He is
writing a story of the war and our dark memorandum is just a little
literary note of his about a spy among the American forces. I think
we shall find it a most interesting story when it is finished. It is
full of German intrigue and you will be glad to know that the imaginary
spy is caught and court-martialled. You have done a fine thing by your
discovery, for Mr. Donnelle has become greatly interested in the Scouts,
and especially in our young scout author." Then he gave me a funny look.
"So you see our dark memorandum was not so dark after all."

"G--o--o--d night!" I said; "it was a kind of a pale white."

"And I dare say," Mr. Ellsworth said, all the while slapping me on the
shoulder, "that our deep-dyed villain is going to prove a very good
friend."

"Even if you're deep-dyed," said Pee-wee, "sometimes the colors will
run and you won't be so deep-dyed after all. My sister had a skirt and
she dyed it a deep--"