So they left the soldiers still waiting for their comrades to come along with a superior officer in charge. The lieutenant had taken quite a sudden fancy for Rob and his two chums; but then that was not strange, Tubby told himself, since the patrol leader always had a knack of making friends wherever he went.
They soon arrived at the stone wall, and to Tubby's satisfaction found a break where they could actually pass to the road without once more climbing the barrier.
The last they saw of the field was when the lighted lantern was being waved in a way that looked as though the lieutenant might be signaling to others. In the opposite quarter only darkness was to be seen. Rob wondered what had become of the operator of the Taube aëroplane; whether he had indeed come crashing to the earth, or managed to sail away to safety. But they were never fated to know.
CHAPTER XV.
CHASING A JACK-O'-LANTERN.
"I wish you could tell me we were nearly at that old village, Rob. Seems to me we've been trudging along for hours, and I own up to feeling just a little bit tired."
Tubby had a beseeching way about him that was hard to resist; and so Rob really felt sorry that he could give him no joyful news.
"I would like to be able to tell in the worst way, Tubby," he told him, "but you see we're making this turn only on hearsay. None of us knows a single thing about it. There must be some sort of a place ahead of us, because several times I've heard dogs barking, and I even thought I could hear people calling."