push
right through to Berlin," observed one young corporal. "They say
Edison's got some new kind of a wrinkle up his sleeve, but believe me,
if he's got anything to beat Paul Revere's compass, he's a winner!"

"Old Piff nearly threw a fit, I heard, when he found out that he was
captured by a kid in the messenger service," another added.

"They may pull a big stroke with Mars, the god of war," still another
said, "but we've got the Big Dipper on our side."

Indeed, some of them nicknamed Tom the Big Dipper, but he did not mind
for, as he said soberly, he had "always liked the Big Dipper, anyway."

As the next day passed the importance of Tom's coup became known among
the troops stationed in the village and was the prime topic with those
who were digging the new trench line northeast of the town. Indeed,
aside from the particular reasons which were presently to appear, the
capture of Major von Piffinhoeffer was a "stunt" of the first order
which proved particularly humiliating to German dignity. That he should
have been captured at all was remarkable. That he should have been
hoodwinked and brought in by a young dispatch-rider was a matter of
crushing mortification to him, and must have been no less so to the
German high command.

Who but Major von Piffinhoeffer had first suggested the use of the
poisoned bandage in the treatment of English prisoners' wounds? Who but
Major von Piffinhoeffer had devised the very scheme of contaminating
streams, which Tom and Roscoe had discovered? Who but Major von
Piffinhoeffer had invented the famous "circle code" which had so long
puzzled and baffled Uncle Sam's Secret Service agents? Who but Major von
Piffinhoeffer had first suggested putting cholera germs in rifle
bullets, and tuberculosis germs in American cigarettes?

A soldier of the highest distinction was Major von Piffinhoeffer, of
Heidelberg University, whose decorative junk had come direct from the
grateful junkers, and whose famous eight-volume work on "Principles of
Modern Torture" was a text-book in the realm. A warrior of mettle was
Major von Piffinhoeffer, who deserved a more glorious fate than to be
captured by an American dispatch-rider!

But Tom Slade was not vain and it is doubtful if his stolid face,
crowned by his shock of rebellious hair, would have shown the slightest
symptom of excitement if he had captured Hindenburg, or the Kaiser
himself.

In the morning he rode down to Chepoix with some dispatches an