Tom Walton could have shouted then and there from sheer happiness, for he recognized in John Big Bear the equal in strength, courage and swiftness of action, of any six Germans who could be picked from the Kaiser’s crack Prussian Guards. But instead of shouting, or even by any other utterance or slightest sign, permitting John Big Bear’s proximity to become known, Tom simply flashed back a look of understanding, to which John Big Bear vouchsafed but the slightest nod, and then the match went out, darkness again closed them in, and the Indian scout was left to the rear, still perched in the tree to which evidently he had climbed the better to observe the numerical strength of the enemy he had heard approaching. It was perhaps a hundred yards further on, and while they were still hugging closely to the shadows of the wood, that Tom had an opportunity, a few quickly whispered words at a time, to impart a knowledge of what he had observed to Ollie. And a little later Ollie, by the same guarded process, informed George Harper. They were now prepared for any eventuality, for they felt absolutely certain that John Big Bear, to whom all three had been friendly on more than one occasion, never would permit them to be taken prisoners to the German lines without some brave effort at rescue. The question agitating the minds of the three lads was whether he would attempt this alone, or by assistance which he might procure from the nearest detachment of Americans. Knowledge of John Big Bear’s nature made it more than an even supposition that he would try it without going far afield for other assistance, and especially did the lads believe this to be true now that he was certain that they knew of his proximity; for once he launched his plan, whatever it might be, he could count upon their assistance to carry it through. Naturally, therefore, they were keenly on edge, and at the slightest untoward sound, even so slight that the Germans themselves did not seem to notice, they were ready either for a wild dash for liberty, a running fight, or a man-to-man struggle right upon the spot. But the lads themselves, expectant as they were, hardly were prepared for the wily Indian warfare of John Big Bear. They were in a particularly shadowed spot when Tom thought he heard the slightest grunt, or it might have been a suppressed hiccough, from the German not two feet away from him and acting as their guard upon the right. There wasn’t anything at all unusual about the sound. Tom turned a merely casual glance in that direction, and but for a slight nudge from a lithe form which had carried the German speechless and motionless to the ground, he would have come to a sudden halt. John Big Bear was at work! And already he had disposed of one Boche—or was at that instant disposing of him—and without a single one of the other Germans realizing that anything had happened.