"I guess we might as well go down," he replied at length. "I don't
believe there is any likelihood of their coming back. Besides, it's too
cramped and stuffy up here for comfort."

Accordingly both boys descended from their refuge, and a few moments
later were sitting in the living room with their hostess.

"We can never thank you enough for what you have done for us," Chester
told her, after she had related her experiences with the Germans.

"No, indeed; we can never thank you enough," agreed Hal. "Had it not been
for your kindness we should have been in the hands of the Germans right
now, and there is no telling what they might have done to us."

The good woman waved aside their thanks.

"Pooh! pooh!" she said. "And why shouldn't I help you? Surely no thanks
are necessary because I did my duty."

"But women--" Hal began, when she interrupted him.

"I have a son of my own in the war," she said, her voice growing very low
and tears dimming her eyes.

"And I hope," said Hal gently, "should he ever be in a situation similar
to ours, that another good woman may be the means of saving his life, and
that some day he may return to you."

"Just so he does his duty I shall be satisfied," said the woman, who now
introduced herself as Mrs. Madeline Dersi. "He has been a very wild boy,