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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I--THE OPENING OF THE GAME
CHAPTER II--THE FIRST TRICK
CHAPTER III--THE SECOND TRICK
CHAPTER IV--IN NEUTRAL TERRITORY
CHAPTER V--A CLOSE CALL
CHAPTER VI--THE OLD MILL
CHAPTER VII--A HORNET'S NEST
CHAPTER VIII--A FIGHT IN THE MILL
CHAPTER IX--IN THE TRENCHES
CHAPTER X--BROKEN THREADS
CHAPTER XI--THE CENTRE ARCH
CHAPTER XII--A FIGHT WITH A ZEPPELIN
CHAPTER XIII--THE GREAT GUNS
CHAPTER XIV--HUNTED
CHAPTER XV--HUNS AT PLAY
CHAPTER XVI--THE CARETAKER
CHAPTER XVII--A BARMECIDE FEAST
CHAPTER XVIII--RUNNING THE GAUNTLET
CHAPTER XIX--'A LONG, LONG WAY----'
CHAPTER I--THE OPENING OF THE GAME
At nine o'clock on Tuesday morning, August 4, Kenneth Amory walked into the private office of the head of the well-known firm of Amory & Finkelstein, gutta-percha manufacturers, of Cologne. Max Finkelstein, the head of the firm, swung round on his revolving chair, moved his hand backward over his brush-like crop of brownish hair, and looked up through his spectacles at Kenneth, his stout florid countenance wearing an expression of worry.
"I sent for you to tell you to pack up and get away by the first train," he said, in German. "Things are looking very black; the sooner you are home, the better."
"Our dear Max is jumpy," came in smooth tones from the third person in the room, the ends of his well-brushed moustache rising stiffly as he smiled. He was tall and slim--a contrast to his cousin Finkelstein, who had reached that period of life when good food, a successful business, and Germanic lack of exercise, tend to corpulence. "I tell him he need not worry," the speaker went on. "It will be as in '70."
"Provided that England----" Finkelstein was beginning, but Kurt Hellwig broke in with a laugh.
"Oh, England! England will protest a little, and preach a little, and take care not to get a scratch."
"Don't you be too sure of that," said Kenneth, rather warmly.
"No? You think otherwise?" Hellwig was smiling still. "Well, we shall see. Perhaps you have private information?"
