The lads, with the man still between them, started on again.

After some walking they made out in the distance a stream of water.

It was the Aisne, and the lads, realizing that upon the opposite side lay safety, increased their pace.

Some distance back, on both sides of the stream, the opposing armies were drawn up in force.  Occasional raids had been made by first one side and then the other, but there had been no real change in the situation for days.  Now the French, by a bold assault or a night attack, would gain a foothold upon the German side, only to be driven back again; and now the Germans would gain a foothold on the French ground by a bold attack, but would also be forced to retire.  This give-and-take game had continued for weeks.

Feeling secure in the company of their prisoner the lads did not hesitate, but marched straight through the German line to the very edge of the river.  The German officer spoke to several others, as they made their way along, but Chester kept his revolver pressed against him, and he did not once offer to raise an alarm.

The three descended the sharp incline to the water’s edge.  There they were fortunate enough to find a small motor boat, apparently having suffered much usage by the Germans in their travels forward and backward across the river.  Into this they forced their prisoner to climb, and then quickly jumped in after him.

“Head down the river, Chester,” ordered Hal.  “If we put off straight for the opposite shore they are likely to suspect something and open fire on us.”

Chester, at the wheel, guided the boat down the stream, keeping close to the German shore.

But this plan also was fraught with danger, for a French sentry on the opposite side, espying the boat, opened upon it with his rifle.

The first shot attracted others to the scene, and several more rifles were brought into action.  The Germans, seeing the boat with a German officer and apparently two friends in it, immediately opened upon the French.  The latter turned from the boat and opened upon these new foes.

“Great Scott!” exclaimed Hal.  “This is more than I bargained for.  We’ll have to get out of here, or we shall wind up at the bottom of the river.”

Seeing that the French and Germans were too busy with each other to pay much attention to the little boat, Chester steered quickly to the center of the river.  There, as the bullets sped overhead, he felt safer.

Turning to view the scene, Hal for a moment relaxed his vigilance over the prisoner, and in that moment the latter sprang upon him.  He launched himself in a desperate spring, and Hal, taken unprepared, was borne back to the bottom of the boat, almost being hurled overboard.

Chester immediately released his hold upon the wheel and sprang to Hal’s assistance.

The boat, now with no guiding hand upon the wheel, staggered crazily about, heading first in one direction and then in the other, as the struggling figures gave it impetus, first toward one shore and then toward the other.