“Let’s hope none of them think it worth while to stick a sword in here to see what’s under all this stuff,” ventured Amos. “I hardly think they’ll go to any bother,” his companion observed. “You see, when these Uhlans are riding over hostile territory they are always in a big hurry to cover as much ground as they can. They stir up a hornets’ nest wherever they go, and the quicker they change base the better for them. I reckon a couple of the officers will climb up here with their field-glasses so as to take an observation. Then they’ll be off again, and only hit the high places as they ride away.” “They can tell easily enough that there’ve been warm times around this windmill a short time back,” suggested Amos. “Let’s hope their powerful glasses show them a bunch of the British forces moving this way. That would help hurry them along, according to my notion.” “’Sh! keep still now, because they’re getting close up. Use your ears all you want to, but say nothing even in a whisper.” Thrilled by the fact that danger was hovering over them, the boys crouched there in their place of concealment and waited to ascertain what would happen. Although Amos did not claim to possess such acute hearing as his chum, he too could by now catch the thud of many horses’ hoofs beating on the earth. The sound grew in volume constantly, showing that the Uhlan party must be heading directly toward the site of the Dutch windmill, just as Jack had figured would be the case. Suddenly the heavy beat of many hoofs ceased, and the concealed boys could hear a clanking of accoutrements, accompanied by snorts of horses brought to a standstill. Jack nudged his comrade to signify that the crisis had arrived. Then they caught the sound of heavy voices, and the guttural nature of the utterance, so different from French or even English, told them it was German, though as yet no word came distinctly to their ears. Some one was undoubtedly climbing the ladder that led to the top of the concrete and stone foundation of the windmill; Jack could tell this from the slight quivering sensation that he felt. As he had anticipated, the Uhlan meant to utilize the windmill as a lookout. He only hoped that a short confinement in their uncomfortable quarters might be the whole extent of the experience to which he and Amos would be subjected. Louder came the voices. The speakers were now close at hand, and had evidently succeeded in gaining the flat top of the structure without any accident on account of the shaky ladder giving way under their weight. It happened that both boys had a smattering of the German language. On the way over they had spent many hours on deck brushing up their knowledge from books secured with that very idea in view. Hence they could make out fairly well what was said, though at times the translation might seem a little hazy, and subject to doubt.