st one, and then you
won't have to go."

"Oh, yes, I would; Margaret would send him after me in that
awful-looking, unwashed Ford runabout of his," answered the girl.

"And then you WOULD go," said Barney.

"You bet I would," laughed Victoria. "I'd go in a wheelbarrow with
Bert."

But she didn't have to; and after she had driven off with her chum,
Barney and Butzow strolled down through the little city of Beatrice
to the corn mill in which the former was interested.

"I'm mighty sorry that you have to leave us, Butzow," said Barney's
partner. "It's bad enough to lose you, but I'm afraid it will mean
the loss of Barney, too. He's been hunting for some excuse to get
back to Lutha, and with you there and a war in sight I'm afraid
nothing can hold him."

"I don't know but that it may be just as well for my friends here
that I leave," said Butzow seriously. "I did not tell you, Barney,
all there is in this letter"--he tapped his breastpocket, where the
foreign-looking envelope reposed with its contents.

Custer looked at him inquiringly.

"Besides saying that war between Austria and Serbia seems
unavoidable and that Lutha doubtless will be drawn into it, my
informant warns me that Leopold had sent emissaries to America to
search for you, Barney, and myself. What his purpose may be my
friend does not know, but he warns us to be upon our guard. Von der
Tann wants me to return to Lutha. He has promised to protect me, and
with the country in danger there is nothing else for me to do. I
must go."

"I wish I could go with you," said Barney. "If it wasn't for this
dinged old mill I would; but Bert wants to go away this summer, and
as I have been away most of the time for the past two years, it's up
to me to stay."

As the three men talked the afternoon wore on. Heavy clouds
gathered in the sky; a storm was brewing. Outside, a man, skulking
behind a box car on the siding, watched the entrance through which
the three had gone. He watched the workmen, and as quitting time
came and he saw them leaving for their homes he moved more
restlessly, transferring the package which he held from one hand to
another many times, yet always gingerly.

At last all had left. The man started from behind the box car, only
to jump back as the watchman appeared around the end of one of the
buildings. He watched the guardian of the property make his rounds;
he saw him enter his office, and then he crept forward toward the
building, ho