ning away from the farmhouse into the woods on the other side. I
got the picture of him in my mind, but I didn't have time to think
about it just then, for we were making a rush for the house. Then
other things crowded it out of my mind altogether. But it came back to
me on the way home this afternoon."

"What did the man look like and how was he dressed?" asked Billy
eagerly.

"He had on an American uniform," replied Frank slowly, as he tried to
make the picture clear in his own mind.

"Perhaps it was Tom!" cried Bart.

"No, it wasn't," said Frank positively. "The uniform was smart and
newer than ours. Tom's must be in tatters and you remember the girl
said it was. Then, too, I'd know Tom's gait among a thousand just as
you would. No, it wasn't Tom, worse luck."

"Who was it, then?"

"I think it was Nick Rabig," replied Frank.

"Nick Rabig!" the others cried together.

"Mind, I only say I think," repeated Frank, looking around to see that
no outsider was within hearing. "I wouldn't be willing to swear to it.
But the motions were Nick's--you know he runs like a cart horse--and
you know that Nick has been togged out in a new uniform since he came
back from that queer captivity of his among the Huns."

"Nick Rabig there," mused Bart perplexedly, as he began to pace up and
down. "What on earth could he have been doing there?"

"Say," put in Billy with agitation, "could he have done anything to
Tom? Suppose he went there, no matter for what purpose; suppose he
found that German crowd dead to the world; suppose he found Tom
upstairs bound and helpless. You know how Nick hated him."

"Keep cool, old man," counseled Frank, though there was a trace of
anxiety in his own voice. "No, I don't think anything of that kind has
happened. If it had we'd have found some traces of it. I think we can
leave that out of our calculations."

"I'm only too glad to," said Billy. "But what was Nick's reason for
being around that farmhouse anyway?"

"What have always been Nick's reasons for being where there are
Germans, or where he expects there will be Germans?" said Bart.
"Suppose--just suppose--that Nick knew--had a tip, let us say--that a
certain German lieutenant on a certain day would be in a certain place,
ready to receive and pay for any information about the American forces
that Nick had been able to gather. Do you get me?"

"I get you, all right," answered Frank, "and from what we know of Nick
we've go