“Now what do you think of that!” he ejaculated.
The little woods in which they found themselves could not have been ten rods in width or in length. The lads had simply jumped from the train in a little clump of trees. It would be but the work of a very few minutes for the German guards to surround the place and then close in on the fugitives.
“Well, that’s what I call pretty hard luck,” declared Hal. “And here comes the enemy. Hear ’em?”
Footsteps approached from behind.
“Surrender,” replied Hal quietly. “We can’t afford to let them kill us, you know, much as we might like to fight. While there’s life there’s hope that we may still be successful.”
“Right,” Chester agreed. “Well, here they are.”
As the first German hove in sight, the man put his rifle to his shoulder and fired. The bullet passed between the two lads, who stepped quickly back.
“Wait!” called Hal before the man could fire again. “We surrender.”
He raised his hands, as did Chester.
By this time other Germans had appeared and they rushed the lads angrily.