"And so we blew their nasty dump to bits; eh, lad?" asked an English lieutenant, or "leftenant," as they are called.
"A little bit of hall right, I call that!" commented a cockney sergeant.
So weak and exhausted were our friends that they had to stay in the English billets several days before they could be sent under escort to their own command. And you may imagine better than I can describe it the joy of Franz and Iggy when they welcomed their Brothers once more.
"It's like having you back from the dead," declared Franz, with tears in his eyes as he held the hands of the three friends.
"Better even, for alife they is!" exclaimed Iggy. "I home a letter will write saying not to read the other what I sent."
"Oh, he wrote one saying you had been captured and that he was going to hike into German territory and find you the first chance he had," explained Franz.
"Sure I would go, but now not," declared Iggy. "I home write annudder letter soon."
"It was good of you to think of us," said Jimmy. "And now tell us about yourselves. Are you all right? Have you done any fighting, and have you heard anything of Maxwell and our missing money?"
"Oh, have a heart!" laughed Franz. "You're worse than an intelligence officer wanting to know the results of a trench raid. But we're all right, as far as that goes."
"Except we wos of broken hearted yes for fears of you," put in Iggy.
"Sure we were worried to death," agreed Franz. "There didn't seem to be a chance for you. As for fighting, well we haven't done much, though I hear there's a big battle about to come off. And as for Maxwell, we haven't heard a word."
It was one afternoon when the five Brothers were in a dugout, awaiting orders to go on duty for the night, that Jimmy bethought himself of the sight they had had of the mysterious captain.
"We didn't tell Franz and Iggy about him," he remarked to Roger and Bob.
"No. Go ahead with the story," said Bob. "Maybe they can throw some light on it."
But Franz and Iggy--though the latter did not say much--could offer no explanation save that put forth by Jimmy and the two lads who had seen what he had seen--that Captain Frank Dickerson was a German spy.
The night passed without incident of moment, except for two false alarms that the Germans were starting a general engagement. And in the morning, after breakfast, the long-looked-for word came.