e oldest Rover boy's suggestion and going up
a ladder nailed to one side of the barn. Randy and the others followed,
Fred being the last.

At the top of the ladder was an opening to a large loft. Here there was
more hay, and also some old farm implements which had evidently been
hoisted there by means of a block and tackle.

"Hush now," warned Gif, and the five cadets tiptoed their way toward the
hay, bent upon secreting themselves should it become necessary to do so.

The Germans carried two lanterns, for it was now quite dark in the barn.
They were talking volubly in their native tongue, so that the cadets
could understand very little of what was said. One man, a tall, burly
individual, who was evidently more prosperous than the others, was
addressed as Herr Bauermann, and he was the man mentioned by the woman
who had refused to open the door and let Jack and Gif in.

Herr Bauermann had come out to inspect the contents of the packing cases
brought in by Herman Crouse. He had the two other men open the cases and
take out layers of excelsior so that he might look at what was
underneath. He gave a grunt of satisfaction and nodded his head
approvingly, at the same time continuing to speak in German.

All of the cadets were anxious to see what the boxes contained, and
looked cautiously down the ladder opening and through some cracks in the
loft flooring. All they could make out was some machinery, apparently
electrical and similar to that in the other cases. There was also a
large round package covered with heavy bagging, and this was found to
contain more coils of wire of various sizes.

While the men were looking around one of them suddenly stooped and
picked up something from the floor. He passed this to the others, at the
same time making some remark which, of course, the lads could not
understand.

"He's got a glove," whispered Jack.

"It's one of my gloves! I dropped it when we climbed the ladder,"
returned Randy in sudden alarm.

The finding of the glove interested the Germans very much. They looked
all around the barn, and for a few minutes the cadets were fearful that
they would come up in the loft. But then they evidently concluded that
the glove had been dropped by Herman Crouse, and placed it on a shelf.

It was a good half hour before the Germans left the barn and returned to
the house, and by that time the five cadets in the loft were almost
frozen. They had been unable to move around and thus keep