ly designed by Providence to
annihilate the whole German army and open a clear path to an Allied
march all the way to Berlin!

Then silence came--a silence that seemed to brood over the scene of
hostilities as might a sea fog drifting in along the coast and baffling
the most skillful of flyers.

Jack had discovered a stick that was some three feet in length and
remembering an old and often tried trick known to frontiersmen away back
in the Kentucky days of Daniel Boone, he meant to try it out in order to
see if the ammunition of the besieged man had run out on him or
not--something that was really essential he should know before
proceeding to extremes and breaking into the fortress that was holding
himself and Perk so persistently at bay.

Removing his leather cap with its dangling earlaps, he perched it on the
point of his stick and proceeded to elevate the contrivance so that it
might be seen by the vigilant eyes within.

The result was all that he could have asked, showing that this venerable
Indian trick was just as workable as in the days of old.

A single shot sounded dully within the shack--there was a tinkling sound
as if a speeding bullet had bored a hole through a pane of glass and
down fell his helmet. Jack picked it up and chuckled to find he could
poke an investigating finger through a hole that had certainly not been
there before. What great luck his head had not been inside that helmet,
he was telling himself on thus learning the wonderful accuracy of the
marksman.

Things were again at a standstill, for as long as the half demented
Kearns was able to make such excellent use of his firearm it would be
suicide for either of them to try and break into the shack.

One thing Jack had managed to discover with that brief peep back of the
friendly bunch of orange leaves--there was a little heap of papers in
the fireplace, also the precious book he yearned to possess--yes, and he
could even make out a smudge as though a match had been used to start a
conflagration but owing to some puff of contrary air the blaze had
fizzled and gone out--an especially providential favor in their behalf
Jack had told himself.

Still, at any moment now the man with the crooked mind was apt to notice
how his purpose had been baffled. Then he would make a second and
possibly more successful attempt to destroy all incriminating evidence
as to his connection with the smuggling of rum, aliens and precious
stones into the count