e man.

For a moment Ned was about to speak. Then he stopped.

"We can't tell you that!" he said in a low tone. "We're not spies!"

CHAPTER XIII

A GREAT SURPRISE

From the tone in which the remark was made Jimmie understood that the
speaker was referring contemptuously to either himself or Dave.

He thought that he recognized the voice, but could not at once
determine the identity of the one who made the statement. Just at the
moment there appeared to be a world of canvas and ropes wound about his
head and body. He gasped for breath.

Struggling to free himself from the entangling mass of cloth that
seemed to be smothering and weighing him down, the lad presently found
an opening, through which he thrust his head. Blinking rapidly as he
cleared his eyes from the dust that had arisen because of the sudden
downfall of the tent, the lad gazed about in astonishment.

"Here, here; cut it out!" he cried as he felt a rough hand laid upon
his ankle. "What do you think you are doing, anyway?"

"Aus!" a rough voice sounded in his ear.

For a moment Jimmie lay without making an effort to rise. He was
trying to regain his sense of location that had been momentarily
disturbed because of his fall and sudden change of scene.

The next instant the hand shifted from his ankle to his collar, and he
was unceremoniously dragged forth from the enveloping folds of the tent
cloth. Without an apology the one who had so effectively taken the boy
from his position set him upon his feet.

"Hands off!" the lad cried with hot resentment at the treatment.
"Leave go of me or I'll start working on you! Who are you, anyway?"

"That will do, young man," spoke a well-known voice, and Jimmie
recognized von Liebknecht. "Why do you enter my tent so rudely?"

"Is this your tent?" asked Jimmie, wrinkling his freckled nose and
blinking at the officer as he sparred for time.

"It was!" came the reply in icy tones, for von Liebknecht was plainly
angered. "Why do you enter unannounced?"

"Well, if you'd ever been on Wall street," Jimmie began, with a twinkle
in his eye, "you'd understand me perfectly when I say that I took a
little flier in aeroplanes. The stock went up rapidly, and I felt the
bottom drop out of the market. When I landed, my surprise was, to say
the least, quite 'in tents'!"

"You speak strangely," von Liebknecht replied. "What do you mean?"

"Sorry if I say things you can't understand," went on the boy,