"Yes, sir," said the captain.
"Then I shall leave them to you. I will return for them to-morrow some time."
"Very well, sir."
The German bade the lads good night and took his departure. The German captain addressed them.
"Kindly follow me, sirs," he said.
The lads did so. Along a long hall they were led. Then they turned into a large room at the far end of the hall. Inside were a dozen or more German officers. The captain led the way toward a door across the room. All eyes were turned on the lads as they stepped across the room.
Suddenly there came an exclamation from a man who sat near, as Hal and Chester passed. A chair scraped the floor and a man sprang up and confronted them. Hal and Chester looked into the eyes of General Knoff, the German general whose daughter Chester had befriended in Sedan some weeks before.
"So," said the general confronting the lads with a gleam of anger in his eyes, but his gaze resting particularly upon Hal, "so you made fools of me in Sedan, eh?"
Hal smiled. He was perfectly safe now and he knew it. Not a man there nor in the German lines any place for that matter would dare harm the officer who had piloted the German envoys back from their tryst with Marshal Foch.
"It had to be done, General," said Hal, still smiling.