submarine that picked me up that time."

They were both now clad in the semi-military blouses worn by the German
"sausage men" and felt that to a casual observer at least they were
disguised. It gave them a feeling of security even in these unfrequented
highlands. And their little store of food refreshed their spirits and
gave them new hope.

What cheered Tom most of all was his precious possession, the rubber
gloves, a detail of equipment which every gas-engine mechanic is pretty
sure to have, though, he regarded the discovery as a rare find. He was
thankful to have found them, for the terrific deadly current which he
knew rushed through the formidable wire entanglement along the frontier
had haunted him and baffled his wits. It was characteristic of Tom to
think and plan far ahead.

All the next day they journeyed through the hills, making a long detour
to avoid a hamlet, and meeting no one. And at night, under the
close-knit shelter of a great pine tree, they rested their weary bodies
and ate the last of their meat and biscuits.

When Tom roused Archer in the morning it was to show him a surprising
view. From their wooded height they could look down across a vast tract
of open country which extended eastward as far as they could see,
running north and south between steep banks. Converging toward it out of
the hills they had followed, they could see a bird's-eye panorama of the
broadening streams, the trickling beginnings of which they had forded
and drunk from, and their eyes followed the majestic water southward
until it wound away among the frowning heights which they had all but
entered.

"It's the Rhine," said Archer, "and that's the real Black Forest where
it goes. Those mountains are in Baden; now I know."

"Didn't I say there must be a big river over that way?" said Tom. "I
knew from the way that ridge went. It's a big one, huh?"

"You said it! Maybe that twig you threw in to see which way it went is
floating down the Rhine now. They'll use it in the Black Forest to make
a toy out of, maybe."

"I s'pose you'd like to have it for a souvenir."

"If we could make a raft we could sail right down, hey?" queried Archer
doubtfully.

Tom shook his head. "It must pass through big cities," he said, "and
we're safe in the mountains. Anyway, it flows the other way," he added.

It was not difficult now for them to piece out a fairly accurate map of
the locality about them. They were indeed near the eastern ed