Another long silence.
"Well, make up your mind!" their captor grunted finally. "We ain't got all night, you know. Do you come quiet, or do I have to blow us all to smithereens?" He waved the package in his hand menacingly.
Major Coggleston threw up his hands in a gesture of defeat.
"You win!" he snapped. "If I were alone, I'd say blow and be damned. But my friends deserve a better fate."
"You're smart," the other reported approvingly. "Come on!"
Slowly, the trio moved forward.
"Hurry up!" grated the red-head. And then, to the professor: "You skinny, get a move on!"
For the gaunt savant was distinctly lagging. He had dropped back until he was a full yard behind Henry and the major, and only a step in front of the spy.
"Hurry up!" the Nazi repeated, his eyes suddenly cold and menacing.
"Joseph! Come on!" urged Henry, his teeth chattering. "Don't make him mad! Please, Joseph!"
"I'm coming," grunted the scientist. "I certainly can't be blamed if the pebbles and twigs hurt my feet, can I?"
And with that, he sprang.
Like a human octopus, all long arms and legs, he launched himself at the spy. His hands clutched at the redhead's throat. His legs wrapped around the man's waist and dashed him backward to the ground.
"Help!" screamed the spy. With a wild motion he hurled the package from him in a long arch.
Bang!
But the explosion was the crack of a detonating cap, not the thunderous roar of a heavy charge of powder.
Major Coggleston lunged forward. His fists beat a meaty tattoo on the spy's face.
The next instant the crackle of military commands and the thud of footsteps burst upon them. The four—Professor Paulsen, Major Coggleston and the spy, in a heap on the ground; and Henry Horn, wide-eyed and trembling, standing near at hand—were illumined in a powerful flashlight's beam. Half a dozen soldiers rushed up.
"Major! We heard that shot! Are you all right?"
The officer struggled to his feet, trying hard to preserve the dignity of his rank despite his nudity. In the light of the flash he looked even more than before like an overgrown kewpie doll.
"Of course I'm all right!" he puffed. "What's more, that red-headed rat on the ground is the spy and murderer we've been looking for. Take him away, men!"
He turned to Professor Paulsen.
"Joe, this is one time I don't know what to say. If it hadn't been for you that devil would have made a clean get-away."
"Forget it," retorted the gaunt scientist. "It's little enough I can do for my country at my age."
"Honestly, Joseph, I can't see how you got the nerve to do it!" marveled Henry, still wide-eyed. "Just think, we might all have been killed—"
The professor glared.
"What do you mean, we might all have been killed?"
"Why, the explosive in that package, and the detonator—really, Joseph, it was terribly dangerous—"
"Dangerous!" snorted the savant. "The only dangerous part was that he might have hit me over the head with it."
"But—the explosive—"
"Explosive, my eye!" And, again glaring: "Do you mean to tell me you can't understand why that stuff he had
