day would be bright and cheerful.

Helen was upstairs getting her things together, while the others sat
about in the parlor. Suddenly Hal dashed into the house. There was an
expression of alarm on his face. The others jumped to their feet
excitedly.

"Now what's the matter?" exclaimed Chester.

"Oh, nothing much," said Hal, "only that about fifty thousand Bulgarians
have nabbed my aeroplane."

"What?" exclaimed the others.

"Exactly," said Hal, "and that's not the worst of it."

"My goodness!" exclaimed Stubbs. "What can be worse than that?"

"Well," replied Hal, sinking into a chair. "On the other side of us I
made out about a million Serbians advancing."

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Chester. "You mean we are in between them?"

"Precisely."

"Oh, my," groaned Stubbs. "This will be the last of us for sure."

"Quiet, Stubbs," said Hal sharply.

Now Ivan had a remark to make.

"There don't happen to be a million Serbians," he said calmly.

"Well, I wasn't talking literally," said Hal. "I don't know how many
there are, but they look like a million."

"And what are we going to do?" moaned Stubbs.

"It looks to me as though we should have to stop right here," said
Hal quietly.

"And be shot to pieces?" This from Stubbs.

"You might go outside and try running a bit," returned Chester. "I have
no doubt you would be killed a bit quicker."

"I'll stay here," said Stubbs.

At this moment Helen came into the room. She was heavily attired and
carried a small satchel.

"Well, I'm ready," she said, smiling. "Did you think it would take me all
day to dress?"

"You might just as well go back and get unready," said Stubbs in a
faint voice.

Helen gazed at the serious faces about her queerly.

"Why, what on earth is the matter?" she asked anxiously.

"Matter?" echoed Stubbs. "Everything is the matter. The Serbians and
Bulgarians are coming to shoot us full of holes."

Helen turned to Hal for an explanation.

"It's true, Miss Ellison, though not as Mr. Stubbs expresses it," said
Hal quietly. "We are between two fires. The Bulgarians are less than half
a mile from us and they have seized my airplane. The Serbians are
advancing. There will undoubtedly be a battle and we will be somewhere
about the middle of it."

"But can't we leave now and hurry toward the Serbians?" asked Helen.

"I had thought of that," said Hal; "but the Bulgarians are too close. If
they saw us fleeing, they would probably shoot us dow