"Du meine zeit! Himmel! Hund vot you are! I am drowning!" cried the German, choking.
"Ha! ha! I have put out ze fuse! I have quenched ze dynamite cartridge! Ze tree shall not be blown to atoms! I will drape it wiz my country's flag."
From his coat the French professor drew the tri-colored flag, which he draped over the lowest branches of the old tree. Then, as the red fire died out, the boys saw the German make a spring for his enemy.
"Come on, fellows!" softly called Jack. "We'd better skip while they're at one another."
They glided from the bushes, while at the foot of the tree, in the dying glow from the red fire, could be seen two shapes struggling desperately together. From the midst came such alternate expressions as:
"Ach! Pig-dog! Frog-eater! Sauerkraut! Maccaroni! Himmel! Sacre! La Fayette!"
"Oh, but aren't they having a grand time!" said Nat as he hurried along at Jack's side. "It worked like a charm. But who would have thought that Socrat would have brought along a pail of water?"
"Couldn't have been better," admitted Jack, "if I do say it myself."
"But won't they find out who did it?" asked Bony.
"They may suspect, but they'll never know for sure," said the perpetrator of the trick.
"How about the bundle of papers you left in the tree?"
"Nothing but newspapers, and they can't talk. But I guess we've livened things up some. Anyhow, they've spoken to each other."
"They sure have," admitted Sam, as from the darkness, at the foot of the tree, came the sounds of voices in high dispute.
The next day Professor Socrat passed Professor Garlach without so much as a look in the direction of the German, but when he got past he muttered:
"Pig-dog vot you are! To destroy dot secret of history!"
Jack and his chums awaited rather anxiously the calling of the French and German classes that day, but neither professor made any reference to the happenings of the night previous. All there was to remind a passer-by of it were some shreds of a French flag hanging to the limbs of the tree.
"They must have ripped the flag apart in their struggle with each other," said Sam as he and Jack passed the place.
Matters at Washington Hall went on the even tenor of their ways for about two weeks. The boys buckled down to study, though there was plenty of time for sport, and the football eleven, of which Jack was a member, played several games.