That Rabig had caught sight of the paper was evident, for he stopped his pacing and turned his eyes on the door. Then he looked stealthily about him. The nearest sentry was some distance away, and the boys were well hidden by the trees. Then Rabig made a complete circuit of the little hut, as though to make sure that no one was lurking about. Having apparently satisfied himself on that point, he returned and resumed his pacing until he was directly in front of the door. Here he paused and drew out his handkerchief and wiped his forehead. But as he went to put it back, it dropped from his hand so that it lay close by and almost upon the protruding piece of paper. He was stooping to pick it up, when he caught sight of a sergeant coming in his direction. Instantly he straightened up, and as he did so the butt of his rifle knocked against the door. The paper disappeared as though it had been drawn swiftly back from the inside, just as the sergeant came up. "Gee!" gasped Tom. "Prisoner all right, Rabig?" inquired the sergeant. "Yes, sir," replied Rabig. "He seems to be keeping pretty quiet. I looked in a little while ago and he was lying asleep on the bench." "Keep a close watch on him," counseled the sergeant. "What he tried to do to Raymond yesterday shows that he's a desperate character. But I guess that by this time to-morrow he won't need any one to watch him." The sergeant passed on and the boys looked at each other with speculation in their eyes. "What do you think of it?" asked Frank thoughtfully. "Think?" snorted Tom. "I think that Rabig is a bad egg. What else is there for any one to think?" "It certainly looks suspicious," said Bart with a little wrinkle of anxiety creasing his brow. "One thing is sure," declared Billy. "It was a note that was being pushed outside that door. The fellow inside was trying to get into communication with Rabig." "True," assented Frank. "But that in itself doesn't prove anything. You or I might be on sentry duty and a prisoner might try to do the same thing to us." "Yes," agreed Billy. "But we wouldn't act the way Rabig did. We'd have picked up the note and given it to the sergeant of the guard." "And we wouldn't have sneaked around the hut to see if any one was near by," said Tom. "Why did he drop his handkerchief, except to have an excuse for picking it up and copping the note at the same time?" "And his rifle butt didn't hit the door by accident," put in Billy. "That was a tip to the prisoner that some one was coming. Did you see how quickly the note disappeared?" "I hate to think that there's a single man in the regiment who's a disgrace to his uniform," remarked Frank, "but it certainly looks bad. That fellow Rabig will bear watching." "I told you he was a Hun," declared Tom. "His body's in France, but his heart's in Germany." CHAPTER VIII COLONEL PAVET REAPPEARS The Army boys thought over the situation in some perplexity. "What do you suppose we ought to do?" asked Bart.