e
bank slopes easy enough to allow of it."

"Eet could be done, Messieurs!" allowed the guide, who was even more
alarmed, it seemed, than Tubby himself, since the prospect of falling
into the hands of the dreaded Uhlan raiders began to assume greater
proportions, now that the peril no longer lay in the dim distance, but
was close at hand.

"Then let's hurry and see what it looks like under the bridge," advised
Rob.

Just as they figured, it proved easy enough to lead their horses down
the bank, which was covered with grass and growing weeds, for since the
war began all really unnecessary work on roads and railways had been
stopped. And those horses would have willingly gone anywhere if there
only seemed a prospect that they might rest a spell, for they seemed
tired all of the time.

"Listen to them shouting, will you?" Tubby complained as they were going
down amidst the bushes that promised to screen them from the party on
the other side of the little stream across which the massive bridge had
been built.

"I'm afraid they must have seen us," Merritt said, "and that will mean
they'll soon be across the bridge again to find out what we're doing,
and who we are. What's the program, Rob?"

"We must act as though our only object in coming down here was to water
our horses," replied the patrol leader; this idea having possibly come
into his mind as he noticed the way his mount put its ears forward, and
commenced to whinny--as horses invariably do when they scent water, and
are thirsty.

"Come on, here, what's ailing you, Dobbin?" demanded Tubby, jerking at
the reins when his animal displayed an inclination to hold back.

"He acts kind of queer, doesn't he?" Merritt said when, after
considerable fussing, Tubby managed to coax his horse to once more
advance, though the animal seemed to be snorting, and trembling. "If we
were on the cattle range right now I'd be half inclined to think he
smelled a rattler near by."

"My stars! I hope they don't have such pests over here in Belgium!"
exclaimed Tubby, beginning to himself show immediate signs of
nervousness.

"Not the least danger," declared Rob. "But, all the same, my horse seems
trying to hold back, just as yours did, Tubby."

"They're sure a cantankerous lot all through!" grumbled the fat scout,
looking carefully where he expected to plant his foot next; for, in
spite of Rob's assurance, he was not quite so certain that the
undergrowth beneath the bridge might