een scrambling down the heights in broad daylight; so they
waited for the night, regaling themselves out of the "furious profusion"
of grapes of which there seemed enough to make an ocean of Rhenish wine.

It was dark when they reached the river bank and explored the shore for
some means of getting across. At last they discovered a float with
several boats attached to it and a ramshackle structure hard by within
which was a light and the familiar sound of a baby crying.

"We've got to make up our minds not to be scared," said Tom, "and we
mustn't _look_ as if we were scared. You can't make believe you're not
scared if you are. Let's try to make ourselves think we're really German
soldiers and then other people will think so. We've got to act just like
'em."

"If you mean we've got to murrderr that baby," said Archer; "no sirree!
Not for mine!"

"That _ain't_ what I mean," said Tom. "You know Jeb Rushmore at Temple
Camp? He came from Arizona. He says you can always tell a fake cowboy no
matter how he may be dressed up because he don't _feel_ like the West.
It ain't just the uniforms that do it; it's the way we _act_."

"I get you," said Archer.

"I wouldn't do the things they do any more than I have to," Tom said;
"and I don't know exactly how they feel----"

"They don't feel at all," interrupted Archer.

"But if we act as if we didn't care and ain't afraid, we stand a
chance."

"We've got to act as if we owned the earrth," Archer agreed.

"Except if we should meet an officer," Tom concluded.

In his crude way Tom had stumbled upon a great truth, which is the one
chief consideration in the matter of successful disguise. _You must feel
your part if you would act it_. As he had said, they did not know how
German soldiers felt (no civilized mortal knows that!), but he knew that
the Germans were plentiful hereabouts and no novelty, and that their
only hope of simulating two of them lay in banishing all timidity and
putting on a bold front.

"One thing, we've got to keep our mouths shut," he said. "Most people
won't bother us but we've got to look out for officers. I'm going to
tear my shirt and make a sling for my arm and you've got to limp--and
keep your mind on it. When you're faking, you limp with your
brain--remember."

The first test of their policy was successful beyond their fondest
dreams, though their parts were not altogether agreeable to them. They
marched down to the float, unfastened one of the b