f the hangars, it happened; and none of the many helpers and
attendants could possibly overhear what was said, with all that clatter
constantly going on.

"I guess it's perfectly safe for me to talk here, Jack, and not give the
thing away. You know it does seem that the German spies are able to
penetrate nearly everywhere, and pick up all sorts of valuable
information, to send across the line in any one of a dozen different
ways."

"Yes. But go on, Tom."

"It seems there is need of some one to go to-night to a particular place
far back of the German lines--in fact, close to the fortified city of
Metz itself. In a certain place, inside a hollow post, will be found a
paper marked in cipher, and containing much valuable information which
has been collected by one of the ablest of the French spies. He is
really a native of Alsace-Lorraine, and well thought of by the Germans.
As it is utterly out of the question for him to report in person, he has
adopted this way of getting his news to General Petain. And as there is
a scarcity of pilots capable of doing this work our captain has selected
me to undertake it for the cause."

"But Tom, I should have thought he would have picked out some one more
familiar with the ground back there. How can you find your way to that
particular place, if you've never been there before?"

"I've been given directions that are bound to take me right," Tom
assured his worried chum. "There was a man they used for this purpose,
and several times he's brought back the papers; but on his last trip he
had the misfortune to run into a bunch of cruising Fokkers, and they
brought him down. He fell fortunately inside the French lines, so his
papers were saved; but Francois will never handle the controls of a
plane again. He was killed."

"Then there is danger in the game!"

"Certainly there is. But in these times who could dream of passing so
far back of the German front without expecting to be in constant peril?
The papers will be put in a little box previously prepared. Should
disaster overtake us, it will be flung overboard, and before it reaches
the ground everything will have been consumed by the fire that follows."

Jack's eyes began to glitter.

"Just so, Tom! But I notice that you used the plural pronoun when you
spoke. Then you do not go on this mission alone?"

"No, that's right. I have been given permission to pick out my one
companion, for there will be two of us aboard the plane to-