adets take hold of his
coat and that belonging to his cousin.

"No, you don't, you rascals!" he cried loudly, as he bounced off the
cot. "Leave those uniforms alone!"

The interruption came so unexpectedly that both Werner and Glutts were
dumbfounded. As Jack pounced on Gabe from the rear, Glutts, muttering
a cry of terror, plunged through the opening of the tent by which he
had come and fled down past the other nearby shelters at top speed.

"Let go of me!" hissed Gabe Werner, as he turned swiftly to find
himself in Jack's embrace.

The flashlight had dropped to the ground and rolled under one of the
cots. The young captain and the ex-lieutenant began to wrestle, and in
doing this fell over on the cot occupied by Lieutenant Blake just as
this lieutenant and Fred were awakening.

"Hi! what does this mean?" spluttered Tom Blake, as both Jack and
Werner came down on top of him.

The combined weight of the three brought the cot down with a crash. In
the meantime Fred had jumped up.

"Say, what's all this row mean?" he demanded quickly.

"Here is a fellow who was going to play a dirty trick on us!" shouted
Jack. "Grab him! Don't let him get away!"

He said this because in the tumble his hold on Gabe had been somewhat
lessened, and in the mix-up Werner was now endeavoring to slip out of
his grasp. All had fallen to the ground, and the ex-lieutenant kicked
out vigorously with his heavy shoes, landing one blow in Blake's
stomach, and the other on Jack's knee.

It was so dark in the tent that but little could be seen, and as Fred
made a leap forward he fell over somebody's legs and went down. Then
in the mix-up Blake got in the way, and both Jack and Fred grabbed
him, each by an arm, thinking he was the intruder.

"Give in!" cried Jack sternly. "If you don't, it will be the worse for
you."

"You've got the wrong man, Captain!" cried Blake. And then, as he was
released, he added: "Wait until I make a light so that we can see what
we are doing."

A lantern was hanging at the front of the tent, and, striking a match,
Blake lit this. In the meantime, however, Fred saw a form disappearing
through the hole in the back of the tent.

"There he goes!" he yelled to Jack.

"Stop him!"

This suggestion was unnecessary, for Fred was already crawling through
the opening. But, being aroused from a sound sleep so suddenly, he was
still somewhat dazed, and by the time he had got on the outside of the
tent and was on his fe