“What kind of game have you been cooking up behind my back?” asked Jack.
“As desperate as the other, I guess you'll call it,” answered Tom. “But something has to be done.”
“Yes, something has to be done,” agreed Jack. “Now what is it?”
Tom arose and went to the door. He opened it, looked carefully up and down the hall, evidently to make sure no one was listening, and then came back to join the circle of his friends.
“I'm going to speak of something that very few know, as yet,” he said, “and I don't want to take any chances of its getting out. There may be German spies in Paris, though I guess by this time they're few and scattering.
“I'm not going to tell you how I know,” he said, “but I do know that soon there is to take place a big battle—that is, it will be big for the American forces that are to have part in it. There has been a conference among the Allied commanders, and it has been decided that it's time to teach the Germans a lesson. They've been despising the American troops, as they despised General French's 'contemptible little army,' and General Pershing is going to show Fritz that we have a soldier or two that can fight.”
“You mean there's to be a big offensive?” asked Jack.
“No, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a general engagement like that. It's to be kept within the limits, of the sector where the United States troops are at present,” said Tom. “That is where you and I are located, Jack, and that, as you know, is almost opposite the prison where Harry and the others are confined.”
“I begin to see what you are driving at!” cried Nellie, her eyes shining. “But are you sure of this?”
“Yes,” went on Jack, “how did you bear of this when it's supposed to be such a secret?”