ans, we are carrying with us a letter that has up to now always
passed us."

This was the signal for Merritt to produce the passport written for them
by the obliging burgomaster of Antwerp. The lieutenant received the
paper gravely. He was evidently puzzled to know how much of Rob's
strange story to believe; for it seemed remarkable that three boys
should take such a dangerous mission upon their shoulders.

When he had read the short recommendation through, and saw the signature
at the bottom, the officer uttered an exclamation of satisfaction.

"You could not have chosen a better sponsor than the worthy burgomaster
of Antwerp," he said warmly. "I have met him more than once, and he is
held in high respect throughout the land, as is Burgomaster Max of
Brussels. Let me return your paper safely. It is worth keeping."

"And you will allow us to go on when we choose, then?" asked Merritt
eagerly.

"There is no occasion for your detention," he was informed, "but if I
sought your best welfare I should order that you turn back, and give up
this foolish mission, for there is hardly one chance in ten that you can
escape capture at the hands of the enemy, since they are everywhere. But
you know best, and I shall not interfere. It must be a serious motive
that brings you into this wretched country?"

"It means a great lot to my family that I find this man, Steven
Meredith," Merritt told him, possibly with a faint hope that the
lieutenant might recognize the name, and admit that he knew the person.

Rob had noticed several things. For one, that the taller prisoner was
certainly badly wounded, since he stood on one leg, and had his teeth
tightly clinched as if to keep from betraying any weakness that might be
deemed unmanly.

One of the Belgians also carried a bandage, roughly fastened, possibly
by a clumsy comrade, around his arm. It showed traces of blood, and Rob
could guess that a speeding bullet fired by the spies at bay probably
had caused the wound.

"I notice that a couple of men here have been wounded," he ventured to
say to the lieutenant, "and, as you must know, Boy Scouts are taught
something of field surgery. Would you mind if I and my friend here
looked at them? We might stop the flow of blood, anyway, and perhaps
make the men a bit easier."

The Belgian officer hesitated for a brief time. He looked at Rob, and
seemed to be considering. Then he nodded his head.

"As we have to stay here until my superior o