CHAPTER XI.
A BREAK FOR LIBERTY.
Chilled to the bone by their cold swim the boys marched along with chattering teeth. Their clothes froze to them until they were stiff, and the lads moved with difficulty.
"Where are you taking us?" asked Hal, shaking with cold.
"To my quarters right now," was the reply, "where I shall let you warm up a bit before taking you before General Steinbach."
It was a long walk to the quarters of Captain Eberhardt, for as such the captain later gave his name, and when they reached there both lads were blue with cold.
Captain Eberhardt's condition was just as bad, and once inside the hut all three shed their frozen garments and drew close to the fire. Here they thawed out quickly, and the German officer motioned them to seats.
"You are both brave lads, as I learned a long time ago," he said, "and it pains me that I must turn you over to my commanding officer. I bear you no grudge for anything you have done against me, and if I could do otherwise I would. But my duty is clear. The necessity of war demands that you be tried by court-martial."
"Tried by court-martial!" exclaimed Chester. "What for?"
"You were found within our lines in civilian clothes. Had you been in uniform you would have been treated as prisoners of war. As it is—"