me he had repelled the offer with indignation, and even
threatened to beat up his tempter unless he took himself off. The man
hurried away, and then in the excitement of the order for his battalion
to go over the top, Bertrand Hale forgot all about it.

"From that time on it was nothing but fighting and sleeping for him, so
he had no time even to think of warning you. Then he got into the mess
this morning that finished him. With that arm gone he's done with
fighting, he knows, even if he pulls through.

"It was the sight of me that made him remember, for he said he surely had
seen me with one of you boys several times. And so he confessed, begging
me to get word to you, so that if the unknown schemer did find a tool to
carry out his evil plots you would be on your guard.

"I could not wait after hearing that, but came as fast as I could,
fearing you might have set out again and that something would go wrong
with your plane. That is the story simply told, Tom. Can you guess why
any one should wish to do either of you such a wrong as that?"

"What you tell us, Nellie," said Tom soberly, "clears up one mystery
we've been puzzling over."

Then he rapidly sketched what they had discovered on the preceding night,
when they had arrived at the hangar prepared to go forth with the
raiders, only to learn that some unknown person had been meddling with
their plane.

"So it looks as if Bertrand's refusal to play the dirty game didn't
prevent that man from finding some one who was willing to sell his soul
for money," was the way Tom wound up his short story.

Nellie was appalled. Her pretty face took on an expression of deepest
anxiety, showing how much she cared should ill-fortune attend these good
friends of hers.

"How can such wickedness exist when war had made so many heroes among
our boys?" she mourned. "But you must be doubly on your guard, both of
you. Tell me, can you guess why this unknown person should want to
injure you?"

"Simply to keep me from setting out for America," said Jack bitterly.
"Let me describe my cousin Randolph to you, Nellie; and then tell me if
what Bertrand said about the unknown man would correspond to his looks."

After she had heard his accurate description Nellie nodded her head.

"He saw very little of his face, so he said. Bertrand only said the
other was a man of medium build, with a soft voice that made him think of
silk and then too he had a trick of making gestures with his left