e was no time for either lad to draw his revolver. Chester's hand
went to his pocket, even as he ran, but he did not wait to extract the
weapon. With his hand still in his pocket, he pointed the muzzle of his
revolver at the Austrian and pressed the trigger. The bullet sped true
through the cloth, and the Austrian dropped his rifle and toppled over
to the ground.

"Good work, Chester!" shouted Hal, not pausing in his stride toward the
horses.

He had all six horses untied in a jiffy, and passing the bridle of one
to his chum, leaped lightly into the saddle. Chester did likewise. The
other horses stood still.

"No use leaving them here for the enemy to pursue us with," decided
Chester.

He rode his own horse among the others, and with several quick blows of
his cap, started them on ahead of them.

At that moment, the Austrians who had been scouring the woods for the
fugitives, attracted by the sound of the shot, came into sight and
dashed toward the lads, their revolvers spitting fire as they ran.

"Come on!" cried Hal to Chester.

It was no time to hesitate, nor to fight back while there was a chance
of getting away. Putting spurs to their horses both lads were soon out
of range.

"Now," said Chester, "we shall have to keep a sharp lookout for other
Austrians in front; for it is certain all of our pursuers didn't enter
the woods after us."

"Right you are," replied Hal.

They rode forward at a quick trot, and soon were out of sight of the
enemy behind. For perhaps fifteen minutes they continued on their way
without interruption, and then a band of horsemen bore down on them.

"Austrians," said Chester briefly. "What shall we do?"

"Go straight ahead," replied Hal quickly. "Perhaps they will not
recognize us. We still have our Austrian uniforms. It may be they will
take us for some of the searching party."

They drew nearer the approaching horsemen. The latter reined in their
mounts.

"Did you find them?" Hal called out.

"No," came back the reply; "did you?"

"No," said Hal, "they must have given us the slip."

The horsemen came closer and Hal and Chester kept their faces averted as
much as possible, for they knew that a close scrutiny would betray their
identity.

"Well," shouted Hal, "we will look a little farther on. You search the
woods. Perhaps your eyes may be better than ours."

"All right," was the reply, and the boys rode on slowly so as to give
their mounts a rest. Some moments later