induced the engine-driver
and fireman to perform their offices, and the train moved out from the
platform to the tune of suppressed cheers from its delighted occupants.
The two miles to the frontier were covered in a few minutes, and with a
cheer, no longer suppressed but full of heart-felt gladness, the
fugitives saw the last outpost of their enemies flash by. They were now
in a friendly country and had only to play their cards with care and
moderation to find themselves once more on the way to their native
lands.

Presently Max ordered the train to be brought to a standstill. They were
now well into Holland and there were no line guards, and, at that hour,
none to mark their doings. All rifles and bayonets were handed out and
dropped into a muddy ditch. Then the journey was resumed until they
reached a siding into which the train could be run.

The driver and firemen were gagged, bound hand and foot, and left in
charge of their empty train while their captors marched on foot across
country _en route_ for Rotterdam. They were stopped and questioned many
times, but on each occasion they were eventually allowed to proceed.

At the great Dutch port Max and Dale took leave of their soldier
friends. Max, now that he had brought the band to safety, wished to seek
out his mother and sister, and Dale, of course, must go with him.

On the deck of a ship bound for England the two friends said good-bye to
Shaw and his stanch command, and when they trod the gangway back to the
shore of Holland the cheer that went up brought all the Dutchmen and
German spies about the dock hurrying to the scene. Huzza after huzza
rent the air, and, when the ship drew away out into the stream on its
way to the ocean, the strains of the Marseillaise and Rule Britannia
could be heard high above the throb of engines and the clank and rattle
of the busy port.

"Fine fellows, those," remarked Dale with more than a suggestion of
regret in his voice.

"None better," replied Max emphatically. "And how well the men of the
two races worked together. I think it must be an earnest of the way
France and Britain will work together in the great alliance."

"Aye. And what part are _we_ going to play, old man?" asked Dale
eagerly. "'Pon my word I feel all on fire to get to work and strike a
few good blows for England."

"So we will, but we have earned a rest, so let us go to Maastricht and
stay quietly with my mother and sister for a little while. Then we