Hal had now regained consciousness and sat up just in time to see the effect of Stubbs' charge.
"Good work, Stubbs!" the lad cried. "Now lend me a hand and we'll get away from here!"
Stubbs did as requested and a moment later Hal was on his feet. The lad felt the bump over his eye tenderly.
"Stubbs," he said, "it was rather dark and we were so mixed up on the ground that I couldn't see, but I would be willing to wager a whole lot that it wasn't a German who gave me this crack over the eye. Now was it?"
"Well," said Stubbs, "I—I—"
"Just as I thought," declared Hal. "So you tried to do me up as well as the German, eh?"
"It was an accident," declared Stubbs. "You know I wouldn't have done it on purpose, Hal."
"It came very near being a costly accident, Stubbs. Suppose the German had laid you out? Then what? We would have been nabbed, sure."
"I'll be more careful next time," said Stubbs, apologetically.
"You won't have to be," said Hal. "Next time I'm going to get in the first blow. Then we'll see how you like it. But come. We must be moving away from here. See. The German is regaining consciousness. I don't want to kill him, and we mustn't be here when he comes to. Come now."