“Well, captain,” said the lieutenant, “I shall be obliged to detain you and your men. I will turn you over to the commandant at Pola. But I will see that these young Americans are sent on by rail. If you have money to get to Genoa,” he continued, turning to Sidney, “you will find ships that will take you to England, and from there you can easily get home.” “I think we have money enough for that,” replied Sidney, “and we shall never forget what you have done for us.” “I have done only my duty,” replied the officer as he turned away. “It distresses me, Captain Foster,” said Sidney when they were alone, “to leave you a prisoner.” “That you can’t help, my friend,” replied the captain, “and it is a chance that we took with our eyes open.” “Can’t we take a letter for you to your family?” asked Sidney. “I shan’t give you a letter; that would only get you into trouble; but when you reach London, I’ll be grateful if you will go to see my wife, at No. 18, Southampton Row, Russell Square. You can tell her just what has happened to me, and where you left me, and that will be a great comfort to her.” “I will do that, certainly,” said Sidney. The boys had no further opportunity for conversation with Captain Foster, for men came to take them to a separate room. And in the morning they had only a glimpse of their benefactor before they were put aboard a train at Pola for the Italian frontier, where they would transfer to another train for Genoa. “Gee! Sid,” said Raymond, when they were speeding along in the train, “this beats tramping over the Caucasus.” “It sure does,” replied Sidney, “and I guess we’ve done our last tramping this trip.” “It really looks now,” said Raymond, “as though we were going to see mother, after all. When we were on that raft I thought we never should again.” “And I hope we’ll find father with her in New York,” said Sidney. THE END * * * * * The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS U. S. A * * * * * Transcriber’s Notes: Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are mentioned. Punctuation has been made consistent. Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have been corrected. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Two American Boys in the War Zone, by Levi Worthington Green