“Let’s go and see the general,” said Chester.

Colonel Anderson offered no protest to this and a few moments later Chester put his request to General Ferrari.

“H-m-m,” said the general, musing for a while.  Then he gave his decision.  “All right,” he said; “but first, I want to impress one thing upon you.  Your work of trying to release your Uncle John, as you call him, must be a secondary matter.  The mission you are undertaking will permit of no delay.  Do you agree to that?”

“Yes, sir,” replied both lads, without an instant’s hesitation.

“You say you hold commissions in the Belgian army?” asked the general.

“Yes, and I can vouch for the fact that they were both attached to the staff of General Sir John French,” put in Colonel Anderson.

“Very well, then,” returned the general.  “You may go, and my only instructions are that the work be done with the greatest possible haste.”

“It shall be done, sir,” declared the colonel.  “Come, boys.”

The three saluted and made their way from the general’s quarters.

In Colonel Anderson’s tent they talked over their plans.

“Just what is it we are supposed to find out?” asked Hal.

“First, the enemy’s strength at this point,” replied the colonel.  “The lay of the land, the strength of the enemy’s position, how his army is laid out, and, lastly, the feasibility of a quick dash over the Alps.”

“Not such a little job, after all,” commented Hal dryly.

“And,” said Chester, “just how do you figure we are going to get within the Austrian lines?”

“That’s the problem,” said the colonel.  “We’ll have to figure that out.  One thing, we’ve got to get there, and at least one of us has got to get back again.  Luckily, I speak German fluently.  I don’t believe Austrian will be necessary.”

“Not much difference, is there?” asked Hal.

“Some.  But German will do us.”

“Well,” said Chester, “one thing is certain; we shall have to discard our uniforms.”

“In which event,” said Hal, “we shall be shot if captured.”

“That can’t be helped,” said the colonel.  “We’ll have to don civilian garb.”

“But how to get across?”

“Say, look here, I’ve got a plan,” said Chester.

“Let’s have it,” said Hal.

“Listen, then.  We’ll put on civilian clothes.  We’ll tell the Italian officer in command of the farthest outpost what we are about to do.  We’ll get horses and we’ll have a squadron of Italian cavalry chase us, shooting—­but over our heads.  That will attract the enemy, and they’ll come forward to help us.  Then we’ll get there.”

“But what reason will we give for wanting to get into the Austrian lines?” asked Hal.

“I’m coming to that.  Before we start, we’ll draw up a couple of maps of supposed Italian positions—­which, of course, will be directly the opposite of how things are here; we’ll take down false figures of the Italian strength and other such things.  We’ll tell the Austrian commander, when we are taken before him, that we are German secret agents, and we’ll get away with it.  Fortunately, I think we know the phrase that will get us by.”