hen into the street and somewhere--no matter
where--so long as it is out of the way of spying eyes."

They did so with an unhurried celerity that might have deceived a
smarter man than the supposed spy. Soon they were clear of the town and
in the open country beyond, and it was not till then that they felt as
though they could talk unrestrainedly together.

"Now what shall we do, Max? Walk to the next station out from Bingen and
see if we can get a train for home?" enquired Dale, not too hopefully.

"No, old man; we must keep clear of railways and railway stations. Let
us make tracks for the frontier as we are, and go all out."

"It will be dark in another hour."

"Never mind. We must foot it all night. We have no time to lose, and we
must not throw away a single hour. In fact, it is hardly safe for us to
be about in daylight anywhere. You look as English as they are made, and
I'm not much better."

"All right! I'm game for an all-night tramp. Come on."

"We have about seven hours of darkness before us, and I reckon we ought
to be able to do four miles an hour. That gives us about thirty miles.
It's less than that to the frontier, and we ought to be able to manage
it, even if we have to leave the road and cut straight across country.
Come along; we'll keep to the road while we can, but if too risky we
must go helter-skelter, plumb for the frontier."

That night march neither of them is ever likely to forget. For an hour
or so they tramped along the road unmolested. Then they began to find
soldiers and policemen very much in evidence, and, fearing to be
questioned, they left the road and took to the fields and open country.
It was desperately rough going in many places, and instead of doing four
miles an hour they could oftentimes do no more than two. But they stuck
gamely to their task, and plodded steadily on all through the night,
realizing more surely with every step they took that it was a plain case
of now or never.

For every time they neared a road they found it alive with soldiers, all
marching steadily in one direction--towards the Belgian frontier. The
still night air resounded with the tramp of innumerable feet, and now
and again they could catch the distant rumble of heavy guns.

When day broke they were still in Germany, but near the frontier, and in
a sparsely peopled district. They were both nearly dead-beat, covered
with mud from head to foot, and with their clothes torn half off their
backs.