the sounds.

"Must come from somewhere in the woods," he reasoned, and he thought
this rather strange, for he was of the opinion that this portion of
the forest was entirely uninhabited.

Several times after that he heard the strange clanking, and every time
it was followed by a rattle as of chains. Then came a sharp tapping,
as of a hammer on steel, and with this a curious humming sound, as if
some big blowing machine was in action.

"Maybe it's an airship, or something like that," he said to himself.
"That humming sound may be the propellers going around. Maybe they had
an accident and had to come down for repairs."

It lacked ten minutes of the time for the new sentry to go on duty
when Randy, who had come to a halt to learn if the curious clanking
was still taking place in the woods, saw a movement behind some trees
at a distance.

"Must be either an animal or a man," he said to himself.

With strained eyes he watched the location, and presently saw two
slouch hats moving behind the top of some brushwood. Then for a brief
instant he caught sight of the forms of two men as they disappeared in
the distance.

"I wonder if those were the two men who were making all that noise?"
he mused.

At such a distance it had been impossible for him to note anything of
the features of the men. Both wore dark clothing and dark slouch hats,
but beyond that he made out nothing concerning them.

When the corporal of the guard came along to change the detail, Randy
said nothing about the attempt of Gabe Werner to deprive him of his
raincoat, but he did mention the sounds he had heard in the woods, and
also the appearance of the two men.

"Oh, I guess they were a couple of lumbermen," remarked the corporal,
in an offhand way. "They occasionally come here, I suppose, to get a
stick of timber." And not thinking it of any importance, he dismissed
the matter from his mind.

It was not until after the morning drill that Randy got a chance to
speak to his brother and his cousins, telling them of the encounter
with Werner.

"I supposed he would try to get square!" cried Jack. "I'm mighty glad
he didn't get away with it."

Then Randy told of hearing the strange clanking noises and also the
sounds of chains rattling and of some big blower in motion.

"That's certainly curious," remarked Jack. "From what Captain Dale
said, I thought these woods had no one in them. In fact, I supposed
they belonged to the government and were a p