"What's that?" queried Harry. "It looks brand new. I wonder what it can be! Oh, I know!" he cried. "It's a military phone line!"
"That's nice!" Jimmie laughed. "Hello, Central! Oh, look!" he continued, "see the nice big buzz-buggy coming, and no officer near!"
All the boys turned to look down the road at an automobile tearing along at a rapid pace. It struck a hole, wrenched an axle, lurched heavily to one side and then stopped just before toppling over. Several men in the uniforms of officers jumped quickly from the machine.
One of the men at once produced from the auto a case from which he took a set of field telephones. Stepping to the side of the road and attaching a clamp to the wire Jimmie had discovered, he pushed a pin into the ground and began a conversation. Harry touched Ned's arm.
"Get ours out, Harry," exclaimed Ned. "Maybe we can get some information. I don't know, though, whether our phone would work here!"
Although the instruments seemed to be wound to the same resistance, Ned could make out but little of the conversation.
"It is in German," he said, "and all I could get was the last part. The fellow said something about 'Uhlans,' and I know they are the light cavalry of Germany. Possibly he is sending for a troop!"
"Must be some dignitary if he can get a troop of Uhlans whenever his auto breaks down!" mused Jimmie. "Say," he continued, "that bunch out there look hungry! Suppose we ask 'em to have breakfast!"
"Go as far as you like," Ned agreed. "There are lots of eggs!"
In a moment Jimmie was racing down the road. The boys saw him give the Boy Scout salute, and then point toward their resting place. After a short conference the entire party made their way to the spot where Jack and Harry were preparing new "stoves" and had already set a pot of coffee boiling. Another can of bacon was opened to supplement the chicken stew which Jimmie had been preparing.