behind him, and he guessed they had occurred in the middle
of the rearmost of his escort.

The crowd scattered in all directions. Max followed those who fled
towards the open country, and in a few minutes he was on the outskirts
of the town. Hardly turning to right or left, he sped on at top speed.
It was his own safety he had now to look to, his own race to win, and he
put out all the energy he possessed.

Out of the town and up the heights into the open country he ran, and it
was not until he was practically beyond pursuit that he slackened and
looked about him. Only one solitary figure was in sight, a quarter of a
mile behind, and he was clearly not a soldier. In fact, as Max slowed
down and looked back, the man waved a hand. It was Dale, and with a
feeling of tremendous joy and gratitude Max dashed back to meet him.

"By George, Max--you are no end of a sprinter!" Dale gasped as they met.
"I had no idea--you were such a hot man on the track."

"Ah! Wait until you are under sentence of death and see what speed you
can work up to. I am glad--I can't tell you how glad--to get away from
there. And you are a brick, Dale, a real brick."

"Nonsense, old man, the boot is on the other leg altogether. I am still
fathoms deep in your debt."

"Come out of the road into the wood here where we shall be safer. What
about Dubec--he was in it, of course?"

"Yes; and _he_ has been a brick, if you like. It was he that got us the
hand-grenades--Schenk has just started making them--and he was one of
those who pitched them into the middle of the Germans. Ha! Ha! Schenk
will know that they were his own grenades when he hears about it. I
guess it will not improve his temper."

"Is Dubec following?"

"No, he is safe at home, I expect, by now. He will be all right. They
have nothing against him, and he is not going to the Durend yard again.
He is going to apply for work at the mines instead."

"Good! then we can be off?"

"Aye--though we haven't fixed up where we are to go. We were too busy
over the rescue to think about anything else."

"Well, we ought to give Liege a rest. Let us go for another trip into
the Ardennes until this affair has blown over and we can return to the
attack once more. We have earned a rest, and I for one feel I need it."

"Hear! hear! I've got my wind again, so let us make tracks before the
Germans send out patrols to hunt about the countryside. It would be too
bad to be captured after hoodwinking th