Having used up about all the time he had figured on, Jack suddenly drew his companion down to the ground. “We’re safe enough here,” he gasped. “Now watch and see what happens!” He had hardly spoken when there came a tremendous shock, such as both of them had felt when a violent burst of thunder followed close on the heels of a flash of lightning during an electrical storm. “Whee!” ejaculated Amos as, looking backward, he saw the windmill being hurled skyward in many fragments. [Illustration: Saw the windmill being hurled skyward in many fragments.--_Page 34._] They heard the patter of the scattered parts falling back to earth. Then came a heavy thud of horse’s hoofs from a point not far distant. “There, you see he was riding back to make sure of his work,” said Jack, meaning, of course, the trooper to whom had been assigned the task of rendering the windmill useless as a conning tower for the Allies. “When those Germans get an order they believe in carrying it out, no matter the cost.” “I hope he’s satisfied now,” remarked the second boy. “It seems that he didn’t glimpse us running either, which I count a lucky thing.” “Yes, because he might have chased after us, and thought it fun to jab us with the sharp tip of that lance he carries,” chuckled Jack. “These Uhlans make me think of certain Western Indians I used to meet up with when on the ranch. For the life of me I can’t understand what use they make of such an old-fashioned weapon as a lance in these days of Maxims and modern firearms. Still, they know what they’re doing.” “Nothing to keep us from skipping out now, is there, Jack?” “Surely not, and we’ll write down the adventure of the windmill as a stirring memory of this war business. Come on, Amos.” “I see you’re heading toward the east, and I take it you mean to strike that bunch of British making for the front? Everywhere we go we keep on asking for information concerning one Frank Bradford; but so far we don’t seem to have met with any great good luck. Still, I’m hoping for the best. With such a chum as you at my right hand, a fellow would be silly to despair.” “It’s a long lane that has no turning, remember,” remarked Jack, as they commenced to walk along at a smart pace. “My brother simply told me in one of his short letters that he had taken that name because it belonged to our mother, who was a Bradford. I’m certain it was under it he must have enlisted. Just how he could get a berth in the British army, being by birth an American, puzzles me; but then he may have hoodwinked them about that; and they were in such need of likely fellows as Frank, they shut their eyes and took him on.” So they conversed as they walked along. Half a mile was soon covered. Jack had learned to keep his eyes about him constantly. It was the education of the ranch that caused him to do this more than any suspicion of threatening peril. So it came about he again made a discovery that Amos failed to note.