“He kicked like a mule,” said Chester.  “Great Scott!  I never had anything hurt like that.”

At that instant there came a groan from the fallen man.

Hal and Chester bent over him.  Dersi’s voice was very indistinct, and the boys at first were unable to distinguish what he said.

Hal placed his ear close to the dying man’s lips.  The voice came faintly.

“Do not tell mother I died like this.  It would break her heart.  She thinks I am a soldier of France.  And so I was,” and his voice became stronger, “until I fell in with evil companions.  Then I began to gamble.  I lost.  I needed money.  When the war broke out, I was offered a chance to cancel all my debts, if I would deliver certain plans to the Germans.  I did.  Then I was discovered.”

“How?” demanded Chester.

“I was caught in the act of taking papers from my superior’s coat, which he had laid aside.  I was court-martialed and ordered put to death.  Through the connivance of another who was associated with me in this piece of treachery I managed to escape.  He is high in the confidence of General Joffre.”

“His name?” demanded Hal quickly.

The wounded man was silent for some time.

“I have never betrayed a comrade,” he said at length, “but I am at the door of death.  I must make what reparation I can.  His name is General Emil Tromp.”

“What!” exclaimed Hal and Chester in a single breath.

“It is true,” continued the wounded man.  “But listen,” and his voice grew fainter.  The end was not far off now.  “Listen!  Will you do me one favor, you whom I have tried to kill?”

Hal and Chester nodded their heads in assent.

“Then do not tell my mother of my treachery.  Tell her that I died in battle, fighting for my country, and that I was game to the end, as you Americans say.  Will you do this for me, one who has sought your death?”

“We will,” promised Hal and Chester in a single voice.

“Promise,” said the dying man feebly, as he raised himself on one elbow.

“We promise,” said both lads solemnly.

The man fell back with a groan of thanks, and Hal bent over him, thinking that he was dead.  But the voice came again: 

“I wouldn’t have her know for all the world.  I was always wild, but who would have thought that I would be a traitor to my country?  When you see General Joffre, tell him at once what I have told you concerning the traitor.  Immediately, do you understand?”

“We understand,” said Hal.

“And my mother, you will do as you have promised?”

“We have promised,” said Chester simply.

“Then I may die in peace,” said the wounded traitor.

He lay back on the ground at full length, shuddered, once, twice, and lay still.

Hal rose from his kneeling posture, and lifted his cap from his head.

“He is dead,” he said quietly.  “May he rest in peace.”