f the
burgomaster of Antwerp, that once again they were allowed to proceed.

Rob could easily see, however, that considerable doubt had arisen in
the mind of the officer as to whether he should permit three boys to
head into such a disturbed country as that lying beyond.

Like the lieutenant, he shrugged his shoulders, and dismissed the matter
of responsibility from his mind. Indeed, there were too many other
serious affairs to be considered just then to bother about a party of
tourists fairly wild to say they had gazed upon actual battlefields;
for, doubtless, he concluded this was the real reason why these
venturesome boys elected to take chances in the war zone.

So long as they were not spies in the service of the enemy it was all
right; only he wanted to warn them that they were apt to meet with some
roving detachment of Germans at almost any time, since they were
overrunning most of the country, appearing suddenly at villages, and
demanding food and wine, or surprising isolated stations poorly guarded,
so as to hold some important bridge for the coming of a column.

"Look what's coming whizzing along ahead there!" Tubby called out a
short time after this encounter.

There was a little cloud of dust, and they could see that it was caused
by someone mounted on a bicycle, who was bending down over the
handlebars and working his feet very rapidly.

"Give him the road, fellows; he seems to be in a big hurry!" ordered
Rob.

A minute later and the bicyclist shot by them. As he did so he
straightened up in the saddle, and to their surprise gave them a
regulation scout salute. Then he went tearing down the road in that
cloud of dust.

"Did you see that?" cried Tubby. "Why, he was a Boy Scout as sure as
anything! Now, what in the wide world was he in such a terrible hurry
for? He acted like he might be late for his breakfast."

"Just now the Boy Scouts in Belgium have a good many other things to
bother them besides missing an occasional meal," explained Rob. "They
have been taken over by the military authorities and are doing splendid
work in heaps of ways."

"Yes," added Merritt, as they rode on again, "I noticed a number of them
while we were in Antwerp, and they seemed to be on the jump constantly.
Every fellow had a badge on his left arm with the letters 'S. M.' on it.
You remember, Rob, when you asked what they stood for, you were told the
letters meant 'Service Militaire,' and showed that the boys were wor