“I seem to be just standing here,” Bob replied pleasantly.
“Oui. You stand here now, but what for you stand here?”
“You ought to know that,” Bob grinned “You seem to have been responsible for it. I was lying down until you came along.”
“I tink you follow us. Try hear what we say, oui? You know what we do to spies here, huh?”
“I’m a pretty good guesser,” Bob replied with an ease which he was far from feeling. “But what makes you think I’m a spy?”
“You tink we one fool?” the man cried angrily. Then turning to his companion, he said,
“We tak’ heem wid us. Come.”
Still keeping a firm hold on Bob’s collar he pushed the boy in front of him and ordered him to march. Knowing that it was useless to resist at present Bob did as he was commanded. He could tell by the sound that the smaller man was following close on the steps of his captor. The going was very rough as the underbrush was thick. Bob’s mind was working rapidly. He knew that if he did not escape it was almost certain to go hard with him and he was by no means sure that his life was not in danger. They had proceeded but a short distance, though it seemed to Bob that they had been walking a long time, when he bumped into a log which was lying across their path and some eighteen inches from the ground. As he climbed over it a plan flashed into his mind. It was a chance and he determined to risk it. He stepped over the log and his captor followed still keeping a firm grasp on his collar. As soon as the man was clear of the log he stopped and said to his companion,
“Look out dat log.”
Bob waited a moment until the man ordered him to go ahead. Then with a sudden jerk he wrenched himself free and turned so as to face his captor. The Frenchman, taken by surprise, stepped back at first and then, with a cry of fury, reached for the boy. And at that instant Bob struck. It was too dark for him to see more than the outline of the man’s head but, trusting to luck, he put all the strength of his vigorous young body behind the blow. And it landed just where he had hoped that it would, squarely on the point of the chin. With a grunt the man fell backwards, staggered for a moment, and then crashed over the fallen log carrying the smaller man down with him.