low up first," observed the cautious leader; "because we
don't know what we may run on at the top of that hill. It'd be rough on
us to suddenly come face to face with a whole battalion of Germans,
advancing up the other side, and reaching the crown just at the same
time we did."

"Rod, you're right there!" Josh was heard to call out almost instantly;
"look up where we're heading, and you'll see the Germans have got there
even before we did!"

All of them came to a sudden halt, and dropped off their motorcycles in
a desperate hurry.

CHAPTER VIII.

OUT OF THE JAWS OF THE TRAP.

The summit of the low hill was not more than a quarter of a mile away
from the spot where Rod and his two chums had dismounted, to stare
aghast at what was transpiring before their eyes.

The hill was almost devoid of trees near its top, and a minute before
they had taken note of the fact that the bushes stood out against the
sky-line with nothing to interfere with the vision of an observer
perched aloft. But now it seemed as though the whole hilltop were alive
with moving figures. The declining sun glinted from hundreds of polished
guns and bayonets. And clearly could the boys see that these men were
garbed in the dun-colored uniforms distinguishing the Kaiser's troops.

"That settles our hash so far as getting a peek at the fighting goes,"
muttered Josh discontentedly, for he always gave a cherished object up
very lothfully.

"Oh! I wouldn't say that!" declared Hanky Panky; "there are other ways
of doing it, you can wager. That hill yonder isn't the only pebble on
the beach. What'll we do now, Rod?"

"Get out of this, and in a hurry, too," snapped the other instantly.

"We certainly can't keep on going forward, for a fact," admitted Josh,
still filled with gloom and disappointment; "those chaps'd gobble us up
like fun, and it'd be good-bye to our bully wheels."

"Course they'd take us for Britishers, from our khaki uniforms,"
admitted Hanky Panky; "and say, if they once got their hands on us
they'd snatch all our papers away in a hurry. I'm counting on keeping
that one our friend Albert gave us, to show the boys over in old Garland
when we get back home; because they'll never believe half we expect to
tell 'em if we don't have _some_ evidence to prove it."

"Huh! That isn't the worst by a long shot," continued Josh. "Don't you
see our having those papers on our precious persons would make it look
like we might be spies, wo