hat's what happened!" he cried. "Somebody picked me up and robbed me,
and then left me in that field under the trees. Good gosh! I'm broke,
and I'll need money to get to England. I...."

Dave stopped short again as he saw the smile on the Colonel's face. This
time it was a different kind of smile. There was nothing pleasant or
fatherly about it. It was a cold, tight lipped smile, and Dave shivered
a bit in spite of himself.

"You are not going to England ... yet!" the German said slowly. "There
is something very funny about all this, and I mean to find out what it
is. Yes, it is rather strange, I think."

"For cat's sake, why?" Dave blurted out. "We simply got lost in the
dark, and that's all there is to it!"

"Exactly!" Freddy Farmer spoke up. "It is the truth. We are not even old
enough to be soldiers ... unfortunately."

The German officer scowled so that his heavy black brows formed a solid
line across the lower part of his forehead.

"Your sharp tongue may get you into more trouble than you think, my
little Englisher!" he growled. "You had best take care. Now, we will ask
some more questions. You both left Paris this morning, eh? You saw
troops and tanks and things on the march?"

"Millions of them!" Freddy Farmer said quickly. "And airplanes, too. I
never saw so many soldiers, or so much military equipment."

"So?" the German breathed. "You saw which way they were heading, of
course?"

"Naturally," Freddy said. "They were going into Belgium, of course. And
not just French troops with tanks and guns, either. There were thousands
of British and Canadians. And there were more thousands from Australia
and New Zealand, and South Africa. And the sky was filled with R.A.F.
and French planes. And...."

The German's booming laughter stopped Freddy. The big man shook like
jelly and he was forced to blow his nose before he could speak.

"I must say I admire you, my young Englander," he said. "I suppose now
we should become very frightened and order a general retreat at once,
eh?"

"You will be forced to, shortly," Freddy said stiffly.

The laughter faded from the German's face and his eyes became brittle
and hard.

"Germans never hear such an order, for it is never given!" he snapped.
"But, I see you want to treat this all as a little joke, eh?"

"Do you expect us to give away military information?" Dave demanded.

"It would help you a lot, boys," the officer said slyly. "You two want
to get to England, d