"Where are you going, I say? Answer!" roared the Uhlan.
But Fred only smiled and pointed first to his ears and then to his mouth. By pantomime he pretended to be deaf and dumb. And when the officer came up, Fred was still smiling—and silent. He knew he had never seen this officer before.
CHAPTER XIII
THE ESCAPE
"What's the matter with him, Schmidt!" asked the officer.
Fred knew enough of German uniforms by this time to place him as a lieutenant of the lowest grade, and was thankful that he did not have an experienced man to deal with.
"Deaf and dumb, I think, Herr Lieutenant," said the man. "I rode up behind him, calling to him and making a good deal of noise, but he did not even know I was coming until I was on top of him."
"Well, he can't go this way!" said the lieutenant. "How are we to make him understand that?"
"If I dismounted and turned him about, he might perhaps understand," said the soldier.