Down went the book-satchel, but not in fear this time. Billy Hastings had called--called excitedly--and Billy was known to furnish nearly all the third-grade thrills there were. So the next moment Louise was stooping her way under the hawthorn boughs in answer to her playfellow's summons. Billy was not alone in the green grotto in which Louise presently found herself, for nearly half the third-grade members were there. There was wide-eyed Tinsie Willis, with her little frilly skirts bristling with excitement, with Mamie Moore swallowing to keep back hysterical tears, and Sadie and Lallie Raiford, with their backs to each other for safe-keeping. And there were boys, a whole mob of boys! The children were huddled together in suppressed excitement, and were whispering all at the same time. It was plain that something terrible, something menacing, had happened. "You know that new boy that came to school this morning--?" began one. "That 'Rudolph Kreisler'?" put in another. "Sh-h-h!" interrupted a third wildly. But Billy Hastings thrust his red, round face close to Louise's and announced in a blood-curdling whisper: "_Rudolph Kreisler is a German spy!_" Louise's legs crumpled under her, and she sat down in a heap. Again they were all talking at the same time, and this time at her. "He's got his trousers' pockets just _full_ of something!" exclaimed Pete Laslie. "And he's watching, _watching_!" put in another. "Didn't you see him sitting off there by himself looking at us while we played ball?" "Spying!" hissed Luke Musgrove over Billy Hastings's shoulder. The children started and looked about apprehensively. Luke's words always carried weight by reason of the fact that he had been two years in the third grade and ought to know what he was talking about if he didn't. "Yes," chimed in Billy, coming close to Louise again and speaking in his most dramatic tone. "Just you dare to draw a deep breath, and he'll tell the Kaiser on you!" Louise gasped--a short, a curtailed little gasp. Never till the Great War should be over would she breathe from her diaphragm again! "Oh-o-o-o, _Louise_!" from round-eyed Tinsie Willis. "_What?_" "You've left your book-satchel out there in the path! Just suppose he were to come by and see it!" There was a moment of consternation, of wild chattering, in which everybody poked his head out to see, but nobody would venture far enough to get the incriminating satchel. Then Tommie Warren had an inspiration. Snatching a crooked-handle umbrella from Ella Vaiden, he flung himself flat on the grass and reached for the tell-tale satchel with the crook. "It's a good thing Ella brought that umbrella!" exclaimed Tinsie. And all looked at Ella, who stood up very straight in spite of the low-dipping boughs. The next moment Louise had her beloved book-satchel hugged close to her pounding heart. "Sh-h-h!" suddenly came from a self-constituted sentinel. "_What?_" "_He's coming!_"