e other village, Tubby
expressed fervent thanks.

"I'm still able to put one foot in front of the other," he remarked in a
hushed voice, for Rob had cautioned them against speaking aloud, as it
might draw unwelcome attention to the little party.

"Wait up a minute, please," whispered Merritt, and there was that about
his mysterious manner that gave Tubby another bad shock.

"What's the matter, now, Merritt?" he asked softly but solicitously.
"Hope you haven't got a stone bruise on your heel. Did you hear anything
suspicious? Are we going to be held up by a patrol? Oh! dear, why don't
you hurry and tell us the worst?"

"What do you make of that flickering light over there, Rob?" asked
Merritt. "It seems to be in an open field, as near as I can understand.
Just watch how it keeps on jumping up and down, then sideways."

"Why, it caught my eye just about the time you spoke, Merritt," came the
reply from the patrol leader. "It must either be the work of some crazy
person, or else a way of signaling by lantern."

"Say, I honestly believe you've struck the truth that shot, Rob," broke
in Tubby, who had, of course, immediately turned toward the spot
indicated. "See the way he swings the light around and makes all manner
of figures in the air with the same. Why, that was the letter N, as sure
as you live. And there goes E, followed by W and S. What does that spell
but NEWS? Hey! we're on the track of a discovery!"

"Will you keep still, Tubby, and let's see if he begins again?" said
Merritt eagerly.

"That must have been the last word of his message," remarked Rob
quickly, "but chances are he'll repeat it. Stand ready to spell it out
as well as we can. Three scouts accustomed to reading the Myers code of
fire signaling ought to---- There, that was C; and after that O, A, S,
T--which means COAST."

Slowly, and somewhat laboriously, the boys spelled the message, letter
for letter, their previous training proving of the greatest help; and
this was the result:

"_Coast clear--safe landing here--important news!_"

CHAPTER XII.

THE MEETING BETWEEN THE LINES.

"Good for us! We're the ones to read a message! But say, was that in
German, or French, or English, I want to know?" and Tubby seized his
chums each by an arm, as he asked this question in a husky whisper.

"When you come to making dots and dashes in the Morse code, or what
answers for the same with the heliograph, or a torch, or signal flags, I
guess