But their plans to return to Rome did not materialize. As Hal said: "Luck
was with us."

In a little room in a Marseilles restaurant they had overheard a
conversation between two men, plainly foreigners, that had resulted in
their once more being sent on active service. While they had been unable
to gather all the details, they had learned enough to know that the
German Crown Prince had laid careful plans for an attack on Verdun. They
had taken their information to the French commanding officer in
Marseilles. The latter had been somewhat skeptical, but Colonel Derevaux,
an old friend of the boys, had arrived at the psychological moment and
vouched for them.

Immediately the French officer decided that something must be done. The
plans of the Germans, so far as he knew, had not been anticipated. For
some reason he did not wish to trust the information to the telegraph
wires, and the two lads had volunteered to deliver it in person to
General Petain. Their offer had been accepted, which accounts for the
fact that we find them upon the last leg of their journey to Verdun at
the opening of this story.

Stubbs had elected to accompany them, for, as he said, "I've got to get
the news."

The two lads had seen considerable active service. They had fought with
the Belgians at Liège; with the British on the Marne; with the Cossacks
in Russian Poland and in the Carpathians; with the Montenegrins and
Serbians in the Balkans, and with the Italian troops in the Alps.

They had been participants in many a hard blow that had been delivered by