"How about me, cannot I go too?" queried Tom.
"You are to stay here and be good to Ben for a few days and then you are to follow me," answered Dick, dropping his voice to a whisper. "This message that I'm going to carry has got to get through and to insure its delivery a similar message is to be sent and you are to carry it. If one fails the other should succeed. You can follow me as soon as possible, and we may be able to make the last stages of the trip together."
"Sorry I'm out of this," said Ben, "but you can't stop bullets and carry messages at the same time very successfully."
Dick bade him a quiet, but none the less sincere farewell, and hurried over to his quarters to get ready for his trip.
His preparations consisted mainly in a careful examination of the arms he was to carry and his coffee-pot.
He then called to Fritz—the blundering but well-meaning Fritz—with whom the boys had had so many larks, and by a few words startled that individual into incoherent phrases and hurried action. Tom joined him soon afterward and offered his assistance in making ready.
"Hate to hurry you away like this, old man," said Tom, mockingly.
"I am not going to hurry after I start, anyhow," Dick replied. "I'm going to take along an anchor in the form of that ever-slow German, Fritz."