"Don't you worry," growled Rabig. "I can take care of myself."
The chums passed on, laughing and talking about indifferent things, until they were out of ear shot.
"We've got him guessing," remarked Billy with a grin.
"We managed to put a flea in his ear," agreed Tom.
"Did you see how red he got?" questioned Bart.
"He sure is wondering how much we know," summed up Frank. "Whether it will make him go straight or not is another question. What we fellows ought to do is to take turns keeping tab on him, so that he can't act crooked even if he wants to." "It's a pity there should be any men in the American army whom we have to watch," said Tom bitterly.
"Yes, but that's to be expected," returned Frank. "There's never been an army in the history of the world that hasn't been infected with traitors more or less."
"Look at Benedict Arnold," remarked Billy.
"To my mind, it's surprising that there aren't more," said Frank. "That's what the Kaiser was counting on. He thought that the German element in America was so strong that we wouldn't dare to go to war with him. Do you remember what he told Gerard? That 'there were five hundred thousand Germans in America who would revolt'?"
"Yes," grinned Billy, "and I remember how Gerard came back at him with the 'five hundred thousand lamp-posts on which we'd hang them if they did.'"