With caution the young lieutenant peered down toward the ground and presently made out the figures of two German soldiers.
“They must be after somebody, and most likely they’re after me,” he reasoned. “If they spot me, what am I to do?”
Dave kept quiet for several minutes, and then heard voices in the distance. Presently three other German soldiers appeared, and then the whole five came to a halt directly under the tree in which he was hiding.
CHAPTER XXVII
WHAT DAVE’S CHUMS DID
“Phil, it doesn’t look as if we were ever going to hear of Dave again.”
“Oh, Roger, don’t say anything like that!” burst out Phil Lawrence. “Why, it gives me a cold shiver just to think of it.”
“And don’t you suppose it makes me feel blue?” said the senator’s son, seriously. “Why, last night I hardly slept a wink just thinking about Dave’s disappearance.”
“I can’t help but reach the conclusion that he was captured by the Germans,” put in Ben, who sat near. “If it had been otherwise we would have discovered his body.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” answered the senator’s son. “He may have wandered off further than we suppose. And you must remember the underbrush is very thick in spots and conceals many openings among the rocks. He may have taken a long walk, and then have tried to get back by a short cut and lost his way. If that happened, it would be an easy thing for him to take some dangerous tumble in the dark.”
“And then remember, there are always those holes leading into the abandoned mines,” came from Buster. “He may have rolled into one of those and been unable to find his way out.”