hine-gun station, and old Fritz certainly played
hob on our boys with it," answered the sentry. "But we wiped that out
the other day, though I guess the dugout is there yet, or whatever is
left of what they used to house their barker in. The two fellows I saw
were heading for that spot."

"Is that between the lines?" asked Joe.

"Just about, yes, though there aren't any of our trenches, or theirs
either, near there now. What trenches there were have been knocked into
smithereens. That's No Man's Land down there. It belongs to whoever can
keep it, but just now nobody seems to want it. I'm here to report if
there's any movement on the part of Fritz to take up his station there
again."

"As it is now, could we go down there?" asked Joe eagerly.

"Well, if you wanted to take a chance, I s'pose you could," answered the
sentry slowly. "I wouldn't stop you. You don't belong to the army,
anyhow, and we've been instructed that you're sort of privileged
characters. All the same, it might be a bit dangerous. But don't let me
stop you."

"Come on!" exclaimed Joe, starting down the slope that led across the
bullet-scarred and shell-pitted ground.

"Where are you going?" asked Charles Anderson.

"Across No Man's Land," answered Joe grimly. "I'm going to see if we can
get back those stolen army films. If they were ours, I wouldn't be so
anxious about them. But they belong to Uncle Sam. He hired us to take
them, and it was our fault they were lost."

"Not exactly our fault," put in Blake. "We couldn't help being gassed."

"No, but excuses in war don't go. We've got to get back those films!"

"That's right!" exclaimed Charlie. "I'm with you!"

"Oh, for the matter of fact, so am I," said Blake quickly. "I feel, as
you do, Joe, that it's up to us to do all we can to get back those
films. I'm only trying to think out the best plan for getting them."

"Go right down there and make that traitor Secor, and that submarine
Dutchman, give 'em back!" cried Charlie.

"Yes, and perhaps make such a row that there'll be a general
engagement," said Blake. "No; we've got to go at this a little
differently from that. I'm in favor of getting the films away from those
fellows, if they have them, but I think we'd better try to sneak up
there first and see what the situation is. If we march down there in the
open we'll probably be fired on--or gassed, and that's worse."

"Now you've said it, Buddy!" exclaimed the sentry. "I've had both happe