“Halt! or you are a dead man!”

The little man needed no further warning.  He stopped so quickly that Hal rode on beyond him, while those behind were able to check their horses barely in time to keep from riding over him.

Hal leaped to the ground, and stood over the stranger, who lay panting on the earth where he had fallen the moment he stopped running.

“Who are you?” demanded Hal.  “What are you doing here?”

The little man struggled in vain to reply; but he gasped so wildly for breath that for a moment he was unable to utter a word.  Then, as he still panted, his eye fell upon the uniforms of the British troopers.  He was on his feet in a moment.

“I thought you were Germans!” he exclaimed.  “Great Caesar’s ghost!  I didn’t think I could run another step, but I did; and here I was running from you fellows.  What do you mean by chasing an American citizen down the road?”

He paused and glared at Hal wrathfully.  The latter could control his merriment no longer, and burst into a hearty laugh.  The others did likewise.

The little man drew himself up indignantly.

“I say!” he exclaimed, “what are you fellows laughing at me for?”

Hal ceased laughing, and his face took on a stern expression.

“Who are you?” he asked briefly.  “A spy, eh?”

“A spy!  Me a spy?” exclaimed the man.  “Great Caesar’s ghost, no; I’m no spy.”

“Who are you, then?” demanded Hal.

The stranger drew himself up to his full height—­and he was still almost as broad as he was long, folded his arms and said proudly: 

“I am Anthony Stubbs, sir, war correspondent of the New York Gazette, sir; and I am here in search of news.”

“News, eh?” said Hal.  “It is my belief that you are in search of information to turn over to the Germans.”

“You are mistaken, sir,” replied Anthony, somewhat uncomfortably, the lads could see.  “I assure you on the honor of a Stubbs that I am what I represent myself to he.”

Hal could keep a straight face no longer.  So comical was the little man in his ruffled dignity that the boy was forced to laugh.

“All right, Mr. Stubbs,” he said at last, “I believe you; but tell me, what were you running from when you bumped into us?”

“I wasn’t running, sir,” was the reply.  “I heard a large force of the enemy in a field just out of the woods, and I was merely hurrying to a place where I could get a look at them.”

“Well, you were hurrying at a pretty good gait,” said Hal.  “But tell me, is the enemy in force?”

“I didn’t see any of them,” said Stubbs, “but by the sounds of their horses’ hoofs, I should say they were in force, sir.”

“Where?” demanded Hal, somewhat anxiously.

“Straight ahead, sir,” replied Stubbs, pointing down the road.

“We thank you, Mr. Stubbs,” said Hal, “and we shall now leave you to gather your news while we proceed to reconnoiter.”