When those of the British troop who had gone forth with the two lads
returned to their own regiment, and the lads, with Captain Anderson, took
their departure, they raised three lusty cheers for each of the officers
in farewell.

The three, accompanied by Stubbs, immediately made their way to the
headquarters of General French. Here Hal, Chester and Captain Anderson
were at once admitted, but Stubbs was forced to remain without, being
told that Sir John French had no time to waste upon war correspondents.

"Well, what do you think of that?" Stubbs ejaculated. "A newspaper man
refused admittance! I never heard of such a thing before."

Nevertheless he was forced to cool his heels on the outside until his
newly found friends should come out, and this is what he proceeded to do.

General French greeted the two lads with a smile.

"Back so soon?" he exclaimed. "I hardly expected you before to-morrow.
And was your mission a success?"

"Well, General," replied Hal, "we didn't go as far as we could have gone.
We were fortunate enough to come upon Captain Anderson, who had just
escaped from the Germans, and knows more of the situation there than we
could possibly have learned. We figured that it was not necessary to
sacrifice lives foolishly."

"You did exactly right," replied General French.