L. Frank Baum

“ The others likewise shook their heads.
"He got me out of the way, stole the launch, and is half way to Ostend by this time."
"Alone? And wounded—still an invalid?"
"Doubtless Maurie is with him. The rascal can run an automobile; so I suppose he can run a launch."
"What puzzles me," remarked Patsy, "is how Lieutenant Elbl ever got hold of Maurie, and induced him to assist him, without our knowing anything about it."
"I used to notice them talking together a good bit," said Jones.
"But Clarette has kept Maurie a prisoner. She wouldn't let him come back to the ship." ”

“ The only incident that enlivened this period of stagnation was the capture of Maurie. No; the authorities didn't get him, but Clarette did. Ajo and Patsy had gone into the city one afternoon and on their return to the docks, where their launch was moored, they found a street urchin awaiting them with a soiled scrap of paper clenched fast in his fist. He surrendered it for a coin and Patsy found the following words scrawled in English:
"She has me fast. Help! Be quick. I cannot save myself so you must save me. It is your Maurie who is in distress." ”

“ I admit I ducked, crawling under the ambulance, and the Germans were so surprised that they beat a quick retreat.
"And now it was that Gys made a fool of himself. He tore off his cap and coat, which bore the Red Cross emblem, and leaped right between the two lines. Here were the Germans, firing as they retreated, and the Allies firing as they charged, and right in the center of the fray stood Gys. The man ought to have been shot to pieces, but nothing touched him until a Frenchman knocked him over because he was in the way of the rush. ”

“ Clarette smiled grimly.
"When Henri escapes me, he always gets himself into trouble. He is not so very bad, but he is careless—and foolish. He tries to help the Germans and the French at the same time, to be accommodating, and so both have conceived a desire to shoot him. ”

“ Said they had no record of a Belgian named Maurie and had never heard of him before. I couldn't figure the thing out, and they couldn't; so finally they let me come back to the ship."
"Strange," mused Uncle John; "very strange!"
"I was so stupid," continued Carg, "that I never thought of Elbl being at the bottom of the affair until I got back and found our launch missing. Then I remembered that Elbl was to have been turned over to the prison authorities to-morrow and like a flash I saw through the whole thing."
"I'm blamed if I do," declared Mr. Merrick. ”