"I shall let you pick the men," said Hal to Lieutenant Anderson, when he was again back in the latter's quarters, "and, so far as they know, you are in command."

"Very well," was the reply; "but remember that it is not so. On this expedition I waive my rank, and will act under your orders."

Half an hour later Chester and Hal inspected the men selected by Lieutenant Anderson, to whom the boys were introduced as scouts. A likely body of men they were, strong and st.u.r.dy, and not a man of them under six feet in height.

"Look like they could give a good account of themselves," muttered Chester to himself.

At length all were piled in a great motor truck, and a second later, in response to Hal's directions were speeding southward.

CHAPTER XXI.

ACROSS THE MARNE.

For two hours the great motor truck continued its journey southward at top speed. Then Hal called a halt.

Quickly the men clambered out, and with Hal in the lead marched in the direction of the river.

The place where Hal had ordered the men from the car could not have been better selected, for, on the opposite side of the river, though Hal did not know it then, there was a considerable open s.p.a.ce between the German forces.

The troopers followed the lad to the bank of the river, and then, as there was not a shot from the opposite side, all walked boldly along the sh.o.r.e. At length they came upon a number of small boats, evidently having been placed in readiness by some of the British forces.

"We'll appropriate these," said Hal. "Luckily they were here or we should have been forced to swim across."

The men piled into the boats, and pushed off. They reached the opposite side without discovery, and hastily clambering up the bank were soon hidden from sight in a clump of trees. Here Hal called another halt, until he was able to decide upon his next move.

The boats had been pulled into the trees, to be used for their return trip. The driver of the auto truck was ordered to remain where the party had left him. All in readiness for a hasty retreat, Hal now bethought himself of a way to successfully accomplish their mission.

After a consultation the party moved forward, keeping as much as possible in the shelter of the trees. As they approached the edge of the little woods they came suddenly upon three German hors.e.m.e.n.

The latter had not seen them, so quietly had they crept along. Hal, Chester and Lieutenant Anderson were upon them before they knew it, their men right behind them. Seeing that they were far outnumbered, the Germans did not put up a fight.

The hands of all three immediately went into the air, and one of them called out in German:

"We surrender."

"Dismount!" ordered Hal, and the Germans obeyed.

"This is what I call luck," said Hal to his friends.

"What do you mean?" demanded Lieutenant Anderson.

"Why," said Hal, "here we have three horses and three German uniforms. If that isn't luck, I don't know what is."

Quickly the three Germans were stripped of their uniforms, bound and gagged.

When Hal, Chester and Lieutenant Anderson had donned the German uniforms, Hal called three of the British troopers to him.

"You men," he said, "will leave all your weapons here, except your revolvers, which you will hide in your clothes. Then you will accompany us, afoot, apparently as prisoners."

He called a fourth trooper to him.

"Your name?" he demanded.

"Bristow, sir."

"Then, Bristow, we appoint you to take command while we are gone. The rest of you will remain here until we return, or until you find it necessary to retreat across the river."

"Very good, sir," said Bristow, and fell back and informed his companions of the situation.

"Do you realize," asked Lieutenant Anderson of Hal, "that if we are captured in these German uniforms it will mean a spy's death for all of us?"

"Perfectly," said Hal, "but we shall have to take that chance. I believe that having three English soldiers with us, apparently prisoners, will be a means of avoiding detection."

"All right," said Chester, "only we shall have to be careful."

Quickly the three mounted, and marching the soldiers on ahead of them started north, bearing off slightly to the east. For an hour they continued their journey, pa.s.sing now and then a body of German troops.

But they were not molested, not even challenged.

At length they came upon a farmhouse, setting well back from the road.

"Perhaps we can learn something here," said Chester.

Hal called a halt, and all approached the house. The door was opened by a young woman, who started back in dismay at sight of them.

"Have no fear," said Hal, who acted as spokesman of the party. "We are simply tired out and hungry. We thought perhaps you could furnish us with a bite to eat, and also our prisoners here."

Without a word the woman opened wide the door, and motioned for them to enter. The six followed her into the dining-room, where soon a hearty repast was spread on the table.

"We have been on a mission south," Hal said to the woman. "Can you tell me just how far the German staff is from here?"

"It can't be very far," the woman replied, "for some of the officers often come here to eat. They say that they like my cooking better than the regular army fare. I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of them were to come along soon."

"Good," said Hal, aloud, but nevertheless he was seriously alarmed. He did not wish to come into such close proximity with the German staff officers.

Hastily the six bolted their food, and even as they were disappearing around the outbuildings, Chester, glancing back, saw six men, in gold-trimmed uniforms, entering the house they had just quitted.

"Great Scott," he said, "we got out of there just in time. Look."

The rest looked back and saw the cause of his excitement. In the shelter of a clump of trees Hal called a halt.

"There must be something up," he declared, "or the German staff would not be this far south. I don't suppose General French has been informed of this. In some way we must find out what is going on."

"And I wouldn't be surprised," said Chester, "if they were using that farmhouse for a certain purpose."

"By Jove! I never thought of that," said Hal. "I believe you have hit it. That is where they are making their plans. I wonder"--and he grew greatly excited. "I wonder if by any chance the Kaiser could be in that party."