.

He would have passed without stopping but Frank spoke to him pleasantly
enough.

"Hello, Nick!" he said. "See you've got back."

"That's plain enough to see," responded Nick surlily.

"Papa's little sunshine," murmured Billy under his breath.

"Huns seem to have fed you pretty well," remarked Frank.

Rabig only grunted and looked at Frank suspiciously.

"Did you see anything of Tom Bradford over there?" asked Frank.

A look of surprise came into Rabig's little eyes.

"No," he answered. "Was he captured?"

"We're afraid so," answered Frank.

"I didn't see him," declared Rabig. "Perhaps he's killed," he added,
almost smacking his lips with satisfaction.

They longed to kick him, but restrained themselves, and Rabig passed on.

"Isn't he a sweet specimen?" asked Bart in disgust, as he looked at
Rabig's receding figure.

"Did you see how his eyes lighted up when he heard that Tom was gone?"
put in Billy. "The only thing that would give him more satisfaction
would be to have the same thing happen to Frank."

"I guess he hates us all alike," said Frank. "Down in his heart he
knows that we believe him to be a traitor. His only comfort is that we
haven't been able to catch him with the goods. But that will come in
time. A little more rope and he can be depended on to hang himself.
But that can wait. What I'm more interested in is that he didn't have
any news of Tom."

"Perhaps he was lying," suggested Bart. "He may have seen Tom over
there, but wouldn't give us the satisfaction of telling us."

"No, I don't think it was that," commented Billy. "I was watching him
closely while Frank was talking to him, and I could see that he was
really surprised as well as pleased to learn that Tom was gone."

"But even if he didn't see him, that doesn't prove that Tom isn't
there," suggested Bart. "He may have been captured by some other
division. Besides, to tell the truth, I don't believe that Rabig was
in a prison camp at all. Did you notice how fat and well fed he
looked? I'll bet that he's been living high on the best the Huns could
give him."

"He didn't look like most escaped prisoners for a fact," assented
Frank. "We'll let his failure to see Tom go for what it's worth. But
there's one thing that's been growing in my mind right along. We're
sure that Tom isn't dead, for the burial parties cleared up the field
and didn't find him. We know too that he isn't on the hospital list.
I got a squi