Ralph was at the door in an instant. It had been bolted.

"Do you suppose he did that purposely?" asked Ralph.

"I haven't any doubt of it," replied Alfred, "and now it's our business to fool the old fellow."

"But how?" inquired Ralph, looking about.

It was quite dark within, but they could plainly see the lights of the main street through the vacant space between the houses.

"Let's get up there," suggested Alfred. "Probably we can break away the boards."

Ralph soon found his way to the stringers above and was soon at the crack. They could hear the door of their host's house open and several men stepped out, all of them speaking German. Their host was with them.

"Come up quickly," whispered Ralph. "The old fellow has given us away, sure."

Alfred swung himself into position as the men outside approached.

"I tell you that the young men went out the alley before I went in," said the host.

Ralph nudged Alfred. It was a satisfaction to feel that he was, indeed, a true friend. One of the men ordered the shopkeeper to open the door,45 which he did after some hesitation. A man stepped to the door, flashed a light and glanced in. It was fortunate that the light did not go high enough to reveal their hiding-place on the stringers above.

45

The man gave a sigh of relief, as he said: "I told you they left some time ago."

One of the searchers, evidently an officer, then ordered the other to make a complete search through the village for the two boys. After all had disappeared the boys were in a quandary. They were afraid to leave the little house, at least while the search was going on, so after consideration they decided to remain until their friend should reappear, for they were now satisfied that he would help them out of their dilemma.

They kept their seats on the stringers for fully an hour, but it was getting to be tiresome, although they were afraid to venture down. As they had about made up their minds to venture out, voices were heard. They came closer and soon it was easy to recognize the voice of the neighbor 

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