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Rh down the road, and the van of the raiding force swept noiselessly by on the other side of the heavy privet hedge separating the lawn from the road.

"German mounted bicycle troops! Impossible; absurd!" But Bronson had been trained to clear thinking and quick action. There flashed into his mind the startling headlines of the afternoon papers, announcing the purchase of St. Thomas.

But this would be war before war was declared. True; yet there was the precedent of Japan's attack on Port Arthur.

Bronson slipped quietly back to the house and burst in upon his astonished host: "Quick, tell me, is there any road by which I can cut around into the main road—any path, cattle-track, anything on which a wheel can turn? Don't stare at me like that, man! Here, come to the window—see those lights sweeping by? It is the German army moving on Washington. I must warn