"That's quite an accomplishment, all right," offered Jack.

"Agreed!" announced Jimmie. "But," he went on, "we're losing time and I'm losing flesh while you argue about it. Leave Dave alone, now.

Can't you see him blushing over the praise you're giving him? Let's hustle about and get some eats started. I'm hungry, I tell you!"

"All right, Jimmie, your wants shall be supplied. We'll make another pot of coffee and all hands will take a cup with you for luck."

"This all happened so suddenly," said Ned, as the five lay about the fires waiting for the cooking to be finished, "that I haven't had a chance to ask you a question nor tell you how overjoyed I am to have you with us again. But I'm really delighted. How did it happen?"

"Well, they took us with them after Dave knocked over one of their tents," began Jimmie, with a sly look at his companion. "If it hadn't been for that plucky kid over there, I most likely would have lost my temper two or three times and tried to whip the whole German army."

"Oh, I say, you know," declared Dave. "He's putting it on too thick!

I really wasn't much help at all. It was Jimmie who got the Kaiser into a good humor and then saved his life!"

"Go on, go on!" urged Ned, excitedly. "Tell us about it quickly!"

In response to the invitation, Jimmie and Dave together told the story of their adventures since last seeing their chums. Jimmie was in turn told of the exciting scenes through which the three boys had pa.s.sed, and to him also were made known the circ.u.mstances through which Dave had joined the party. As the boys finally drew their narratives to a conclusion, Jimmie, who had followed the tales of his comrades with interest, turned to Ned and said:

"And so you were on the point of rescuing me when that fellow shot the rope by which Dave was hanging and you thought it was all off!"

"You are right, we thought things were going wrong with us then."

"And after that you pretty nearly got into a trap yourselves."

"Yes and we were compelled to exchange our perfectly good uniforms for some old rags that would disgrace a wharf rat!" was Ned's indignant response. "Then we simply took the privilege of putting on these garments. They are not what we would have chosen, but they match yours."

"They fooled Dave and myself, all right," laughed Jimmie. "We thought that we had caught a mess of German soldiers."

"That simply goes to show us, boys," gravely commented Ned, "that we ought to be extremely careful about our outward appearance. It's so easy for others to mistake us for what we are not."

"Hands up!" the boys heard a rough voice say. They turned to see a rifle muzzle showing through a clump of bushes.

CHAPTER XXIII

TABLES TURNED

"What's coming off here?" asked Jimmie, jumping to his feet.

"Halt!" cried the voice from the shrubbery again as Jimmie rose.

"Who's there?" asked the lad, wheeling toward the low undergrowth which concealed their visitor. "Come out into the open if you dare."

"Ach, yes!" replied the other. "I dare come out. You will all stand--and in a line, please. Aber you don'dt, I shoot!"

"What's this," asked Ned, "a hold-up or a joke?"

"Nein," the newcomer replied. "Aber you don'dt line up dere you find oudt it is no joke, not. Beside yourself stand, quick!"

"This is enough to make anybody fairly beside themselves!" Jimmie declared, unable to repress his tendency toward a joke.

"Come on out, you Dutchman," taunted Jimmie in a moment. "I can see you crouching there and see your uniform. Come on out!"

As the faces appeared, Jimmie gave a gasp of astonishment.

"Otto! Fritz!" he almost shrieked. "We left you guarding that old barn up there. How does it come that you are here?"

"My post I deserted," he began, stepping from the bushes, but with his rifle still cautiously pointed toward the lads. "This country is familiar to me, for that house was my uncle's. Many times have I in this brook waded and swam. Today I thought of it when we over the hill came and when we had put you in the barn I came right here to see the beautiful brook once more and hear the birds singing in the trees."

"Otto, open your left hand and let me see what you have in it!"

commanded Jimmie, as the other finished speaking.

"Nothing have I in my hand," declared Otto, opening and extending the member palm outward. "See, nothing in there is!"

"Oh, I thought you had the spark plugs from the Eagle," remarked the lad. "You know you took them out. Where did you put them?"

"In my pocket have they gone," answered Otto, simply as if stating the most casual fact. "They are all there safe and sound."

"So I see," acknowledged Jimmie. "That's very obvious. What are you going to do now that you and Fritz have returned?"

"We shall take you back to the barn and put you in the loft once again," declared Otto in the same tone of voice he might have used in commenting on the fact that the sun was shining.

"Oh, you shall, shall you?" almost sneered Jimmie. "All right, but you wouldn't put us back there hungry, would you? We were just about to eat a little lunch. This won't be quite as good as you used to get at d.i.c.k Stein's place, but it's eatable at any rate. If you think you could eat a bit, we'll ask you to join us."

"I can not eat now," replied the other. "I must guard you as prisoners. But if you are hungry, we will let you eat."

"Oh, I say," protested Jimmie, "you'll have at least a cup of coffee with us! That isn't sociable to stand and hold a gun at a fellow's head while he's eating. It looks rather rough, too!"

"You are now prisoners," replied Otto, shaking his head.

"Why, of course, we are!" admitted the boy with an attempt at a laugh.

"We're prisoners in more ways than one. You have the spark plugs and we couldn't make a decent get-away if we tried. Besides, you two fellows have your rifles and we are unarmed."

"I guess you've got us dead to rights," put in Dave.

"Sure you have," resumed Jimmie. "Now, I'll tell you what," he went on, "you sit here," indicating a position between the fire and the aeroplane, "and we'll sit on the opposite side of the fire. You may have your rifles across your laps or ready at your side. If we break and run for it, you may shoot as fast as you please."

"That's fair enough," urged Ned. "It isn't just the square thing to take us prisoners without letting us get some food."

"See here," continued Jimmie, reaching out a hand toward the coffee pot bubbling over the tiny flame and lifting the lid, "did you ever smell better coffee in your life? That's worth drinking, I say!"

"Dot's goot cooffee!" announced Fritz, solemnly. "I take a cup."

"Sure, you'll both have a cup!" declared Jimmie.

"That's a real compliment, Otto," laughed Jimmie, winking at Dave as he spoke. "When a German admits that any other nation on earth can make good coffee it is going some. The Germans can make real coffee!"

"We generally let Dave pour the coffee, because he's an extra boy in the crowd and we make the newcomers do all the heavy work, but he's awkward at it yet owing to his just recently coming off a cattle ranch in Canada, where he had to la.s.so a lot of cattle every day. This time I'm going to pour the coffee myself."