remarking."

"You remark a whole lot on the style of Anthony Stubbs, if you ask me," declared Chester. "Come on, let's go into the hotel."

Hal made sure that his revolvers were ready in his pockets before he followed Chester through the door. Both lads kept their caps well over their eyes, for while there was little danger of their being suspected, their countenances lacked the heavy sluggishness of the Germans—a fact which should it be noticed, might call for questions.

At one side of the small lobby was a desk. Chester approached it. A man rose to greet him.

"We want a room for the night," said Chester gruffly in German, using the commanding and ill-bred tone always affected by German officers in talking to inferiors in rank or civilians.

The man threw wide his arms.

"I'm sorry, Herr Captain," he said humbly, "but all the rooms are occupied."

"What!" said Chester angrily. "I said that my friend and I desire a room, and a room we will have if we have to trundle your guests out into the street."

"But——" protested the hotel clerk.

"Silence!" thundered Chester. "Now answer me. You have a room of your own, have you not?"

"Yes, Herr Captain, but——"

"Silence!" cried Chester again. "Your key, if you please."

Again the man seemed on the point of protesting, and Chester stepped quickly toward him.

"Your key," he said again, and extended his hand.

The clerk's hand reached to his pocket, and he extended a key to Chester.

"Yes, Herr Captain," he said humbly.

"Now lead the way to our room," commanded Chester, "and in future know that when an officer of the emperor commands, it is for you to obey."

"Yes, Herr Captain," said the man as he led the way toward the rear of the hotel.

There he preceded Hal and Chester up a flight of stairs and turned to the left. They walked down a long hall until they reached a door at the extreme end. Here the guide stopped, turned to Chester and opened his mouth to speak.

"Silence!" said Chester sharply. "Open the door."

The hotel clerk shrugged his shoulders in a manner that meant he washed his hands of the outcome and tried the knob of the door. The door swung inward and the clerk stood aside to allow Hal and Chester to pass.

It was dark in the room as the lads stepped across to the threshold. But hardly had they set foot in the room when a brilliant light shot forth.

For a moment the lads were blinded, but they were conscious of a startled ejaculation from the hotel clerk, who still stood without.

"Ha!" he exclaimed. "I thought so. Now for it, my dear Herr Captain."

When the lights flared up, Hal and Chester both dropped their hands to their revolvers. But before either could produce a weapon, a shrill voice cried in German:

"Hands up, there!"

There was nothing for the lads to do but obey. They still had not had time to accustom their eyes to the sudden light so were unable to distinguish the owner of the voice. But gradually their vision cleared.

Chester glanced sharply at the man who had stopped them. He sat up in bed and in both hands he held a revolver squarely levelled at the two lads.

Chester gave a sudden start. At the same moment the man in the bed gave vent to a queer sound and his revolvers wavered.

Chester leaped forward and possessed himself of the two revolvers with several quick movements. One of these he levelled at the man in the bed.

"Hands up!" he commanded sharply. The man in the bed opened his mouth to speak. "Silence!" cried Chester. "Not a word." He turned to Hal, who for the moment had been staring in open-mouthed wonder. "Explain to the clerk, Hal," said Chester, "that we will take possession of this room, also of its occupant. It might be well to tell him that he should have informed us his room was occupied. We will discuss that later."

"But I tried to tell you, Herr Captain," declared the frightened clerk. "You would not listen, Herr Captain!"

"Silence!" commanded Chester. "Leave the room, and not one word about this matter as you value your life. We shall take charge of your other guest here. I've no doubt we shall all be good friends in the morning."

Still the clerk hesitated, but Hal settled the argument. He stepped quickly toward the clerk.

"Get out!" he commanded sharply.

The hotel clerk vanished.

In the meantime the man in the bed had been gazing at the two lads in astonishment. With his captured revolvers still in his hands, Chester approached him.

"Well," he said, "and what are you doing here, if I may ask?"

"By George! I don't see that it is any business of yours what I am doing here," was the reply in English. "I might ask the same of you."

"And you might get the same answer, Mr. Stubbs," said Hal. "Threatened to shoot us when we came in, didn't you?"

"And why shouldn't I?" demanded Anthony Stubbs, war correspondent of the New York Gazette and companion of Hal and Chester on many a perilous venture. "When a man breaks into another man's room the first thing the man in the room naturally thinks about is something with which to protect himself. I had those guns under my pillow and when I heard you come in, I pressed the electric light button and grabbed the guns."

"Well, it's fortunate you didn't use 'em, Stubbs," said Hal. "If you had shot me and I had found it out, I'd have had to lay you across my knee."

"You would, eh?" grumbled Stubbs. "I guess you would find that quite a job."

"Come, come, Stubbs," said Chester: "and you, too, Hal. We're in a ticklish position and there is no time for foolishness. What are you doing here, Stubbs?"

"Well," said Stubbs, "I'll tell you; but as you'll have to spend the night here, make yourselves comfortable. Sit down."