"He must be worse hurt than we think," said Franz solemnly. "Is there any way out of this hole?" "There is one if it hasn't been closed by the explosion," answered Jimmy. "Wait until I get my bearings. This is the main German dugout for this section of trench--that is, it was," he added significantly. "Now from here, as I recall it, there ran a tunnel into another bomb-proof. If we can dig our way to that we may be saved yet. And we've got to dig our way out, fellows. We may be buried alive, but it's up to us to dig our way out. But first we'd better get Iggy some water, if we can find any. I'm afraid he's in a bad way." And while the five Brothers are trying to solve one of the many hard problems that came to them during their war career, I will take a moment to inform my new readers something of the lads themselves. They were called the "Khaki Boys," and they were first introduced in the volume named "The Khaki Boys at Camp Sterling." Jimmy Blaise, otherwise known as James Sumner Blaise, the son of wealthy parents, Roger Barlow, an orphan who had tried various ways of making a living, Robert Dalton, who after the death of his parents had become a "cub" newspaper reporter, Franz Schnitzel, and Ignace Pulinski, had established a Brotherhood during their preliminary camp training. They had many thrilling times together during the early days of the participation of the United States in the big conflict, and they formed friendships that meant much. They started for France together, and in the second volume, "The Khaki Boys on the Way," their experiences on the water have been detailed. Being torpedoed was only one of many thrilling things that happened to them. Eventually the five Khaki Boys reached the actual fighting ground, and in "The Khaki Boys at the Front," will be found set down their experiences as real fighters. In that book may be learned how Jimmy earned the reward of five thousand francs by disposing of the "tiger man." And it was this reward, or rather, his share of it, that Iggy sent to his "mothar," as he called her. In the fourth volume, entitled, "The Khaki Boys Over the Top," are related the details of some rather curious happenings. Jimmy had entrusted his five thousand francs to the care of a friend, Sergeant Maxwell, and, after a certain skirmish, when the five Brothers went over the top, the sergeant was reported missing. The five thousand francs also disappeared. What effect this had on the Khaki Boys, and how, later, they were saved from almost sure death by a strange officer, and how they denounced this officer as a spy--all this will be found in the fourth book. At the close, the boys, after many hardships, were united again, and they were waiting for the resumption of the heavy fighting where we find them at the opening of this present tale.