to the matter?" they heard one
of the Germans remark, as they crawled up close to the building.

"Yes, I'll do it," answered Tony Duval. "But I'll be running a big
risk."

"Not if you are careful," said another of the Germans.

"And don't forget that you are being well paid for your work," added a
third German, "and that you are doing this for the country in which your
mother was born."

"I should not want to be caught," grumbled Tony Duval. "If I was, the
authorities might hang me."

"Poof! be not so chicken-hearted," said the German who had first spoken.
"Now it is all arranged, be careful that you do not disappoint us," he
added sternly.

The three cadets had listened to this talk with intense interest. Now
Jack could not resist the temptation to peer in at one corner of the
window. He saw one of the Germans returning a wallet to his pocket, and
saw Tony Duval take up several bank bills from the table and place them
away in his hunting jacket. All of the Germans were on their feet, and
now turned to the door, which one of them flung wide open.

"It's all over; get back as far as you can to the woods," whispered the
oldest Rover boy, and led the way with the others at his heels.

When the cadets gained the shelter of the trees they saw the Germans get
into the sleigh once more, and a few seconds later they drove away, Tony
Duval watching their departure.

"Now what do you make of that, Jack?" questioned Gif. His face showed
that he was puzzled.

"It looks to me as if those fellows were up to no good," returned Jack.

"Did you notice what they said about Tony Duval's mother?" cried
Spouter. "That seemed to me as if his mother might have been a German
woman."

"That's the way I took it, too," returned Jack. "And then, don't forget
what Duval said--that the authorities might hang him if he was caught.
That sounds as if they were asking him to do something which was against
the law."

"Yes, and a big crime at that," put in Gif.

"I wonder where the Germans live?"

"Most likely at a distance. Otherwise they wouldn't be using a sleigh."

"We ought to look into this, and without delay," said Jack decidedly.

"Let us make it our business to find out all about the Germans
to-morrow," said Gif. And so it was decided.

When the three arrived at Cedar Lodge they found the others were already
there and had uncovered the goods hidden by Glutts and Werner under the
hay in the barn. There they likewise found t