At hearing that Pudge seemed to feel much easier in his mind, for there was a joyful strain to his voice when he next spoke in a husky whisper to Billy.
"That lets me out, Billy, and I'll be able to hunch along better after this. But let me tell you I'll be mighty glad when it's all over with. I'm scraping my knees something awful, and I'll be lame for days after this."
"Well, why complain when you know there are some things a whole lot worse than having scraped knees?" he was told. Apparently this caused Pudge to look at things in a different light, for he closed up.
It continued in this fashion for quite some time, until Frank began to believe they had gone well beyond the danger zone. When he raised his head he could not discover the windmill at all, which was ample proof that there was no longer anything to fear from that quarter.
He was just about to say something along those lines to the others, when he made an unpleasant discovery.
"What are you stopping here for, Frank?" asked Billy, as he and the French aviator came crawling up alongside the leader, and he chanced to observe that Frank was acting rather strangely.
"Because it seems that our further progress is going to be blocked," replied Frank.
"You're staring hard at that bunch of trees ahead where we were hoping to get on our feet again. What's wrong over yonder?" demanded Billy.
"Only that I've seen signs to tell me there are men hiding in among those trees, who have seen us coming, and are waiting to trap us," Frank told him.
"Oh! something is always cropping up to nip our plans in the bud, it seems like," Pudge groaned, on hearing Frank make that unpleasant statement.
"Are you sure they're Germans, Frank?" demanded Billy.
"I couldn't tell from the glimpses I had of them," answered the other; "only they have guns, and are in uniform."
"Of course, I had to go and leave the field glasses hanging in the case with the seaplane," Billy declared. "M'sieu, would you mind letting me look through those binoculars you have along with you?"
Of course, the obliging Frenchman immediately complied with this request, and as Billy focused the glasses on the trees ahead the others held their breath while waiting to hear the verdict.