s sound to
their ears, after having been deprived of this familiar company for days
at a stretch, since abandoning their machines at the home of a woman
market gardener, who had later on brought them to the city, concealed
under a load of produce.

They kept as close together as safety allowed, with Rod as usual in the
lead. Well did the other two know they could always depend on him to
steer them aright. Rod carried a little map of the country with him.
Besides, he had studied it so thoroughly that in most cases he could
tell the lay of the land without consulting the chart.

"This is the life!" called Hanky Panky, who brought up the rear,
squatted in his saddle something after the manner of a huge toad; for
Hanky had a peculiar "style" of his own, entirely original, which he
claimed to have as many good points as a horse jockey's method of riding
on the neck of his mount.

"Pity our two poor chums who had to set out for home so early!" added
Josh, who was in a sense fairly hugging himself on account of the
wonderful possibilities for excitement looming up above the horizon just
then.

"Well, their machines went with them," said Rod over his shoulder, "and
they say 'where ignorance is bliss 'tis a folly to be wise.' Right now
they may be over in England, pitying us for being left behind in the
land of the Great War."

"This is a hunky-dory road, all right!" ventured Hanky Panky shortly
afterward. "Why, we seem to be gliding along as smoothly as if on a
parlor floor. We could go twice as fast, if we wanted to."

"No need of that," said Rod, hearing the remark, which was, however,
intended only for Josh; "we'll pass through Ostend and Dunkirk, reaching
Calais in short order. Then, like as not, we'll have to spend the rest
of the day there, and to-night in the bargain."

"Shucks! what's the use of all that, Rod?" demanded Josh, for he was
fairly wild to get near the firing line again, and witness more of those
wonderful sights that had thrilled him to the bone a short time back.

"We'll have to give an account of ourselves, most likely, and get
written permission to go into France," he was told.

"Say, fellows," called out Hanky Panky just then, "there's a car
whirling along right now in a cloud of dust, with two men aboard.
Wouldn't it be a joke on us if that was the Jules Baggott the woman
spoke of, and that he was chasing after us, bent on making us give up
the paper she entrusted to Rod here?"

CHAP