endship. We'll sink or swim together, boys. And Merritt,
please don't ever tell us again you're feeling sorry for letting us come
along."

"If that man is to be found, we're going to corner him!" declared Rob,
with his lips taking on the firm lines that marked them whenever he was
making up his mind to hammer away persistently, like Grant did before
Richmond; "and when we go back to the other side, we hope to be carrying
that precious old paper your grandfather let get out of his possession
in such a queer way."

"This seems like a pretty warm day to me, even for summer," observed
Tubby irrelevantly.

"Now, we can give a pretty good guess, Rob," ventured Merritt smilingly,
"that Tubby has a sly meaning back of that remark."

"Yes," added the patrol leader, "and the chances are three to one it has
something to do with feeding."

"You are champion guessers, both of you," Tubby informed them, without
seeming to be in the least ashamed of the confession. "I'm consumed by a
violent thirst right now; and I bet you the milk in that shiny brass can
that those two tired dogs have been dragging all over Antwerp this
afternoon will have a lump of ice in it. Anyway, I'm going to test it;
come along and let me stand treat."

Laughing at his earnestness, the others followed the fat scout across
the street, where the old woman with her dog team was apparently
resting, and observing the remarkably interesting sights around her.

Just then there were loud cheers that attracted the attention of the
three boys.

"Something else coming along that's worth seeing," Merritt announced.
"Better curb that fierce thirst of yours for a minute or two, Tubby,
while we watch what's passing."

"Oh! well, I guess the milk won't sour while we're waiting," admitted
the fat boy with a sigh of resignation, as he wheeled so as to face the
street.

"What do you call that, I wonder?" remarked Merritt, as he looked. "It's
got the wheels of an automobile; but say, notice how the body of the car
has been built up with steel sides, will you? And as sure as you live
there's a quick firing Maxim mounted behind that bullet shield."

"Now I know what it is," Rob hastened to say.

"Then tell us, please," urged Tubby helplessly.

"They call them armored cars," said the patrol leader. "I've read about
how some of these reckless Belgians have fitted up cars in this way.
Nearly every day they start out to raid through the country, where they
expect to run