“You can’t walk, that’s certain!” said the German.  “You’ve got pluck, boy!  There’s a nasty break there.  You need a surgeon!  Well, I’ll have to do what I can for you until we can find one.  Can you stand a little more pain?  Niehoff, give me your emergency kit.  You have the splints?  So!  I shall see what I can do.”

He was busy for a moment.  Then with a sergeant, evidently his second in command, he withdrew to be out of Boris’s hearing.  But as it chanced, his movement brought him to a point where it was easier than ever for Fred to hear everything he said.

“There is something deuced queer about this business!” said the officer.  “I think this boy is telling the truth, but we saw two officers in the front seat of that car.  That much was certain.  They were not ground into powder in the accident, you know.  If they had been killed, there would be something left of them.  They got out all right—­that’s evident.  And they made themselves scarce.  They must have known we would come, and if they have gone so quickly, it is because they did not want us to see them at close quarters.”

“Spies, you think?” asked the sergeant.

“Evidently!  But how they got here I’d hate to guess!  They came from a quarter where we are in complete control.  Yet they stole one of our cars, and a couple of uniform coats and helmets, at least!”

“We can look further for them,” said the sergeant.

“Yes—­and one might look a long time in a haystack before one found a needle!  However, let the men spread out along the road and see what they can find.  Give the order!”

Fred sighed with relief.  He had been right in his decision to stay where he was, as he understood fully when he saw the soldiers go off down the road, looking for some trace of the passing of the two imaginary officers.  Meanwhile the officer went back to Boris.

“We’ll take this lad back with us,” he said to the sergeant.  “He needs attention, and I prefer to give someone in higher authority a chance to talk to him.  This is a very mysterious affair, all around.  It is too much for my brain!”

“And for mine, too!” grumbled the sergeant.  “If I had my way, we would have orders to shoot all suspicious characters first and find out whether they deserved it or not afterward.  I thought we should stop that automobile when we saw it coming.”

“And I did not,” said the officer, sharply.

The sergeant said nothing more.

Soon the men returned from their fruitless search.  Then a litter was improvised and Boris was placed upon it and taken away.  Fred had been very fearful for it had seemed more than likely to him that a sentry would be left to watch the wreck.  If that had been done, it would have complicated his position, because he could scarcely have hoped to get out of his shelter without making some noise.  But this was a precaution that apparently did not suggest itself to the Germans.