“Prisoner,” continued the chief, “your name!”

“Chester Crawford,” was the lad’s firm reply.

“And what are you doing in Belgium in these troublous days?”

“I am attached to the staff of the Belgian commander at Liege,” was the boy’s prompt response.

“But what are you doing in Louvain?”

“I came here with dispatches.”

“So?  And yet you are not a Belgian, I take it; nor yet, French.  What, then?  An Englishman?”

“No; I am an American,” said Chester proudly.

“An American!  Then how comes it that you are fighting for the enemies of Germany?”

“I am proud to be fighting for what I consider the right,” said Chester simply.

“The right!” exclaimed the chief, in a loud voice.  “Well, you shall soon see that you would have been better off had you stayed on the other side of the Atlantic.”

Chester did not reply.

“Do you know what we are going to do with you?” continued the chief.

“No, and I don’t care,” was the lad’s reply.

“We are going to kill you,” said the chief calmly.  “But first you will be given a hearing.  We do not put even our enemies to death without a fair trial.”

Chester laughed mockingly.

“A fair trial by such as you?” he exclaimed.  “That is a joke.  But go ahead with the farce, and let’s have it over with as soon as possible.”

The reply was a subdued growl.

“Why are you here, in this room?” he demanded, at length.

“To learn the details of a plot that would deliver Louvain into the hands of its enemies,” replied Chester calmly.

“How did you learn our rendezvous?”

“By listening to the conversation of two of your members who were so indiscreet as not to remember that the walls of their room might have ears.”

“So?  That shall be looked into.  Such indiscretion is not to be tolerated.  But how comes it that you were able to discover the knock of admittance; how comes it that you have a mask exactly like the rest of us?”

“You are asking a good many questions,” said Chester, “but as this probably is my finish, I don’t mind telling you.  I followed one of your members here, and overheard him knock.  Then I waylaid the other and took his mask, clothes, and credentials away from him.”

The chief looked at him in surprise.

“And you a mere boy,” he exclaimed.  “You are a bold lad and ’tis a pity you have fallen into our hands.  But that is enough.  You admit, then, that you entered here to spy upon us?”

“Certainly, with the greatest of pleasure,” said Chester.  “Why shouldn’t I admit it?”

“Enough!” cried the chief, and turned to his men.

“You have heard the confession of the prisoner,” he said.  “Number One, what is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” replied Number One, in a solemn voice.

“Number Two?” called the chief.