ith dread.

"I dare not say you nay, Max, my son," she said tremulously, after a
long pause, "for I should feel that I was setting my own wishes against
what is, perhaps, your duty to your country, and still more your duty to
your dear father's name. Go, then--only do not--do not run unnecessary
risks. Be as cautious as you can--and come back to me often."

"We will be as cautious as we honourably can, will we not, Dale?" cried
Max, appealing to his friend. "It is stratagem that we shall use in
making our war--not force. We have thought it all out together, and hope
to give a good account of ourselves without giving the Germans a chance
to pay us back with usury."

"Yes," replied Dale cheerfully, "we are not going to give the enemy a
chance. Why, you have no idea how cautious and full of dodges Max is. He
just bristles with 'em, and I think we shall give Schenk and his friends
a warm time."

Madame Durend sighed deeply. "It seems terrible to me to think of two
such boys returning to that dreadful place to do battle unaided with
those men. How I pray that you may come safely back!"

"No fear of that," cried Dale confidently, and Max gazed into his
mother's face and nodded reassuringly.

The next day they left the hospitable streets of Maastricht and arrived
safely in Liege, still in their disguises as Walloon workmen. A visit to
a clever hairdresser before they left had completed their disguise.
Their fresh complexions were hidden beneath a stain that darkened the
skin to the tints of the swarthiest Walloons of the Liege district.

Max, as he was by far the better known and ran the greater risk of
detection, had, in addition, his brown hair dyed a much darker hue and
his eyebrows thickened and made to meet in the centre. A few lines
skilfully drawn here and there about his face gave him the appearance of
a much older man than Dale, and enabled them to pose as brothers aged
about twenty-eight and twenty respectively. Their hair was allowed to
run wild and mat about their brows and ears; hands and wrists were left,
much to their discomfort, to get as grubby as possible, and in the end
they were ready to meet the gaze of all as Belgian workmen of the most
out-and-out kind.

The necessity for the constant renewal of their various disguises was
not overlooked, and the hairdresser was prevailed upon to part with a
supply of his dyes and to tell them exactly how and when to apply them.

Max of course could maintain th