When the lights flared up, Hal and Chester both dropped their hands to their revolvers. But before either could produce a weapon, a shrill voice cried in German: "Hands up, there!" There was nothing for the lads to do but obey. They still had not had time to accustom their eyes to the sudden light so were unable to distinguish the owner of the voice. But gradually their vision cleared. Chester glanced sharply at the man who had stopped them. He sat up in bed and in both hands he held a revolver squarely levelled at the two lads. Chester gave a sudden start. At the same moment the man in the bed gave vent to a queer sound and his revolvers wavered. Chester leaped forward and possessed himself of the two revolvers with several quick movements. One of these he levelled at the man in the bed. "Hands up!" he commanded sharply. The man in the bed opened his mouth to speak. "Silence!" cried Chester. "Not a word." He turned to Hal, who for the moment had been staring in open-mouthed wonder. "Explain to the clerk, Hal," said Chester, "that we will take possession of this room, also of its occupant. It might be well to tell him that he should have informed us his room was occupied. We will discuss that later." "But I tried to tell you, Herr Captain," declared the frightened clerk. "You would not listen, Herr Captain!" "Silence!" commanded Chester. "Leave the room, and not one word about this matter as you value your life. We shall take charge of your other guest here. I’ve no doubt we shall all be good friends in the morning." Still the clerk hesitated, but Hal settled the argument. He stepped quickly toward the clerk. "Get out!" he commanded sharply. The hotel clerk vanished. In the meantime the man in the bed had been gazing at the two lads in astonishment. With his captured revolvers still in his hands, Chester approached him. "Well," he said, "and what are you doing here, if I may ask?" "By George! I don’t see that it is any business of yours what I am doing here," was the reply in English. "I might ask the same of you." "And you might get the same answer, Mr. Stubbs," said Hal. "Threatened to shoot us when we came in, didn’t you?" "And why shouldn’t I?" demanded Anthony Stubbs, war correspondent of the New York Gazette and companion of Hal and Chester on many a perilous venture. "When a man breaks into another man’s room the first thing the man in the room naturally thinks about is something with which to protect himself. I had those guns under my pillow and when I heard you come in, I pressed the electric light button and grabbed the guns." "Well, it’s fortunate you didn’t use ’em, Stubbs," said Hal. "If you had shot me and I had found it out, I’d have had to lay you across my knee." "You would, eh?" grumbled Stubbs. "I guess you would find that quite a job."