Becoming annoyed after he had lain there for nearly an hour with closed eyes, and yet no nearer going to sleep than in the beginning, Jack took himself sternly to task, and determined to forget all outside happenings.
His resolution was immediately sorely tried, for had any one been gifted with the eyes of a cat, capable of seeing in the dark, he might have discovered Jack actually sitting up as though listening.
Had Amos awakened just then he might have asked his chum if he thought he heard the squeak of a foraging rat. But Jack seemed interested enough to quietly crawl out from under the covers and silently make his way along to where the largest crack in the floor was to be found.
A short time afterward he was shaking Amos gently, and whispering in his ear.
“Wake up, Amos, and don’t give a peep,” was what he said in the lowest tone possible. “There’s something queer going on downstairs. A man has come in; they opened and closed the door as softly as they could. They are talking together after dropping the bar at the door. I’m afraid these people are either not Belgians or else secretly in league with the enemy. I plainly heard a word in German!”
CHAPTER XVIII.
THROUGH A CRACK IN THE FLOOR.
Amos was no longer sleepy; indeed, the boy had never been more wideawake in all the course of his life. What his cousin had just whispered in his ear was enough to thrill him through and through.
“Can I see, too?” he asked eagerly, as though it would gratify him very much if able to satisfy his curiosity in this regard.
“Yes, but creep along softly, and be careful,” he was instructed by Jack.