The young aviators were, in duty bound, compelled to mumble some sort of assurance that they would stick closely to the task set for them. That they failed to keep the agreement proved, strange to say, the fault of Schneider, the very man charged to keep an eye on them. It was the third aërial expedition of the week, and following the same route, without mishap, had no longer the charm of novelty to Billy and Henri, and, it may be stated, the easy sailing had begun, also, to pall on the high-strung warrior with the sorrel hair, now sitting as observer behind the Austrian pilot. At army headquarters, Stanislaws was giving his entire time and attention to checking up the needs of the garrison, and figuring closely on the capacity of the biplanes to carry all that he deemed absolutely necessary to take back to the fortress on this particular return journey. The balance of the crew--the trio who were getting weary of the uneventful freight business--had nothing special to do but wait. "No use of sitting still and twiddling our thumbs; I don't see any harm in looking around a bit." Schneider's suggestion appealed to his companions, and they had no trouble in securing the loan of a pony each from the large number of these hardy specimens of horseflesh browsing around the camp. They were advised by a good-natured member of the commissary department not to venture too far beyond the line of patrols, and Stanislaws gave them to understand that he expected to be ready to start within the next three hours. "We'll be here on time all right, Stanny," called Billy, clucking his pony into a smart canter, following the lead of his similarly mounted friends. The one who was left behind had no reckoning then that he need not have hurried in his packing. The roads traversed by the riders were deep in slush and mud because of a thaw, but the fresh ponies reveled in the going, and it was not long before a tempting range of harder ground extended the gallop further afield. "Say, boys," suddenly remarked Schneider, rising in the stirrups for a survey of their whereabouts, "I think we have gone about far enough, and must take the back-track immediately." "Wait a moment," urged Henri, "there's a man waving to us over there." Schneider, looking in the direction indicated by the boy at his side, saw it was a peasant who was making the friendly motions to attract their attention. "What's the word, my friend?" The peasant spread out his hands in gesture of cordial yet humble greeting. "My house is near" (pointing eastward over the plain). "It is yours." "The sun is yet high, let's go over and see the house of his nobs," gayly proposed Billy. The native shrugged his shoulders, and wore a puzzled look at the words in a tongue evidently foreign to him. Henri supplied the information in German, it being the language in which the invitation had been extended to them.