en men, Hal, and I'll
start at once."

The men placed at his disposal Chester made ready to go; but, before he
left, he called to Hal:

"By the way, when you leave here don't forget Stubbs. He's lying behind a
tree over there," pointing.

"I'll get him," Hal called back, "if I have to carry him on my shoulder."

Dropping to all fours Chester and his ten men soon disappeared in
the distance.

Feeling sure that he was out of sight in the thick underbrush, Chester
jumped to his feet. The ten men did likewise, and turning to the left all
dashed off through the brambles as fast and as quietly as possible. Among
the bushes it was very dark, and for this reason the little party was
unable to make much speed; but, nevertheless, they pushed on as rapidly
as possible.

Finally, feeling that he had gone far enough, Chester turned once more
sharply to the left, and pushed on in the way he had come.

At length they came again to the road, and, making sure that there was no
German in sight, Chester silently led his men across the highway to the
German side. Here they pushed straight on for a considerable distance,
until the lad felt certain that they had penetrated to the rear of the
German line. He then led his men sharply to the left again.

If his calculations were correct he must now be behind the enemy.

The little band of British crept forward silently now and more slowly. It
was ticklish work, and not a soldier but recognized the fact as, very
cautiously, they pressed on.

Chester halted abruptly. Directly ahead, perhaps fifty yards, he made out
the form of a single figure. Silently the lad crept closer. It was as he
had expected. The man was a German, and undoubtedly one of the force
which had so recently attacked them.

Chester threw his men out in a thin line, the distance between each man
being perhaps twenty yards.

"Fire when I give the word, and not until then," he ordered. "And make
every shot count. If the enemy rushes us give way as slowly as possible;
but if they try a hide-and-seek game, keep your positions behind shelter
as much as you can."

The men repeated this order to show that they understood, and all crept
forward. Three minutes of silent crawling and they came within full view
of the German line. It was still facing the road, across which were the
British. In the faint moonlight the entire force was clearly exposed to
Chester's party.

When Chester believed that he had approached near eno