“Well, I don’t know,” confessed Chester.  “I was just thinking.”

“Think while you have a chance,” said the colonel with a slight grin.  “Looks like our thinking days were about over.”

Chester’s eyes roamed about the tent.  His eyes sparkled.

“We might as well have a little fun, anyhow,” he remarked.  “How hard do you think you could hit a man with that chair you are sitting on?”

Colonel Anderson felt the chair carefully with his fingers.

“Well, pretty hard, I guess,” was his reply.  “What’s the idea?”

“Think you could hit him so hard he wouldn’t have time to cry out?”

“Yes; if I was particular how I handled it.”

“Well, we’ll have a try at it then,” declared Chester.

“Try at what?  What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you.  I’ll step out of the tent.  The first guard in sight will order me to get back inside.  I’ll protest.  Then he’ll put me in.  When he lets loose of me, you whack him over the head with that chair, and be careful how you do it.”

“Yes, but the other guards?”

“I guess we can work that all right.  I have noticed that no two of the guards are in front of the tent at the same time—­they are walking around all the time.  When you have disposed of the first man, we’ll work the same trick on the other.”

“And then what?”

“Why then,” said Chester simply, “we’ll put on their uniforms and walk out of here.”

“By Jove!” ejaculated the colonel.  “Now I wonder—­”

He broke off and for some moments was lost in thought.  Then he got quietly to his feet, determination written upon his strong features.

“It may work,” he said.  “We’ll try it.  But we’ll have to move quickly and silently; and we shall have to don the uniforms almost in a single jump.”

“All right,” said Chester.  “Ready?”

“All ready,” replied the colonel with a nod.

He picked up the heavy chair and swung it once about his head.  Then he took up a position at the side of the tent, just out of view from the entrance.

Chester walked boldly from the tent.

“Get back in there,” came a harsh command in Austrian.

Chester paid no heed and continued to gaze straight ahead into the rapidly descending darkness.

“Get back in there,” came the command, and still Chester made no move.

The Austrian soldier came up to the lad, and taking him by the shoulders, thrust him within the tent.  Chester threw out an arm and succeeded in drawing the man in after him.  Then he released his own hold, and with an effort shook off the grip of his captor.  At the same moment he jumped lightly aside and called in a hoarse whisper: 

“Now!”

There was a rush of air as the heavy chair descended, followed by a dull thud, and a second impact as the soldier fell to the ground with a crushed skull.  Colonel Anderson was over the unconscious form in a moment, ready to choke an outcry should his blow not have been true.  But there was no need for this.  His aim had been true, and the man was unconscious before he fell.