hen, clinging together in their pain and woeful state, they told
each other what had happened--Roger and Bob relating how they had
been cut off and captured, and Jimmy telling of his leading the rescue
party, only to be betrayed into going in the wrong direction, deceived
by the call of some Hun whose English was good enough to do the trick.

"And now we're here," sighed Bob. "What's to become of us?"

"I think they'll take us before some officer and question us," said
Jimmy. "They'll wait until morning, though, to give us a longer taste
of misery."

"Morning!" gasped Roger. "Will morning ever come to a hole like this?"
and his eyes tried to pierce the blackness.

"There may be a window to it, or some way of letting light in, unless
it's away down underground," Jimmy went on. "I couldn't tell what it
was from the outside."

"Me, either," admitted Bob. "Well, this sure is tough luck!"

"Don't be downhearted!" advised Roger. "Our boys may attack in a few
hours and rescue us."

"Yes, they may," assented Jimmy, and this cheered them up for a time.

How long the hours seemed! Would morning ever come, and would they see
a gleam of light when it did? Or would they still be in blackness?

This question was answered for them some time later, when, after being
sunk in painful silence, they were aroused by a faint gleam coming in
through what proved to be a small opening in the roof of the dugout.
It was a little gleam of sunshine, and it cheered the boys almost as
much as if it had been news from home.

"We're not in an underground dungeon, anyhow," said Jimmy.

The light grew stronger, and presently the door of their prison was
opened. "I hope it's breakfast," gasped Bob. "Even if it's only a
glass of water."

But it was not even that. Several burly, brutal Germans leered in the
faces of the boys, and one, who spoke fairly good English, ordered
them to come out.

"Where are you taking us?" demanded Jimmy.

"You'll see," was the enigmatical answer.

They did not have long to wait, for, presently, they were taken before
a German officer, whose rank they were unable to determine, though he
seemed to wield considerable authority.

He was seated at a table in a dugout most comfortably fitted up.
Before him was a mass of papers, and at his side stood a bottle of
wine from which he poured a glass now and then, as he puffed at a
pipe. There were several others in the room, some officers and others,
clerks or secretar