t had been hastily strung to guard against a possible
night attack by the American forces.

Up and down in front of this a stalwart sentry was pacing. He stopped
and looked sharply at Frank, as the latter approached. When he was ten
feet distant the sentry presented his bayonet and called:

"_Halt_! _Wer da_?"

"_Ein freund_," responded Frank.

"_Losung_," demanded the sentinel, asking for the countersign.

"America!" answered Frank, and hurled his revolver full in the sentry's
face.

The heavy butt of the weapon landed plumb in the middle of the German's
forehead. He had opened his mouth to shout, but no sound came forth.
The rifle fell from his hands and he went down like a log.

With a leap Frank got through the gap in the wire and started running
like a deer toward the American lines.

There were startled shouts behind him, hoarse commands, a rushing of
feet and a crackling volley of shots. The bullets whizzed and zipped
close to him and he felt a sharp sting as one of them grazed the lower
part of his left arm. Once he stumbled and fell headlong, but he
scrambled hastily to his feet and ran on.

But now a new peril was added. Behind him a star-shell shot up,
followed by another and another, together with strings of "blazing
onions," until the broken field over which he was making his way became
almost as bright as day. In that greenish radiance his flying figure
stood out sharply, and the firing which had been wild now became more
accurate. At the same time, a look behind him showed that a troop of
men had been hastily organized and was rushing after him.

This, however, gave him little concern. A bullet might catch him, but
these heavy Germans, never!

But just as he was comforting himself with this thought he tripped and
went down with a shock that jarred every bit of breath out of his body.

He struggled to get up but could not move. His lungs labored as though
they would burst. His legs refused to obey his will. He felt as if he
were in the clutches of a nightmare.

And all the time he could hear the pounding of his pursuers' feet
drawing closer and closer. Would he never be able to breathe again?

Little by little, during seconds that seemed ages, his breath came back
to him, in short gasps at first but gradually becoming longer, until at
last he rose weakly to his feet.

He started out again, slowly at first, but, as his wind came back to
him, gathering speed at every stride.