CHAPTER VII

OFFICERS GET A SHOCK

Every eye was fixed on Grace Harlowe’s face mid a tense silence. General Gordon was the first to break the silence.

“Ah! I was certain that you had something in mind,” he said.

“I think you must be mistaken, Mrs. Gray,” objected Captain Boucher. “What you probably saw was a bird and--”

“Yes, sir, it was a bird,” agreed “Captain” Grace amid much laughter.

“Did you see the bird, or did some one tell about it?” persisted the Intelligence officer.

“I saw it, sir.”

“Describe its manner of flight, if you can, please, and the point where you saw it.”

“The bird spiralled up after a little apparent uncertainty, then taking a direct line, streaked it to the eastward. Two others followed it at regular intervals. That was at Etain, and the birds were flown from a little patch of woods to the south of the ruined village. I have seen many pigeons flown in this war, Captain Boucher, and I am familiar, in a way, with their methods of operating.”

“You surely have described it properly. You only saw three birds go up?”

“That was all I saw at Etain.”

“You have seen some since?” asked the general quickly.

“Yes, sir. Three more were liberated from a field just at break of day this morning. They too went east.”

“Most remarkable,” declared the major gazing at her admiringly. “Our Intelligence Department is obtaining some real intelligence.”

“Yes, here’s a job for you, Captain. I’ll warrant you are up at break of day to-morrow morning,” chuckled the general.

“This is a serious matter, General,” reminded the captain. “It doesn’t seem possible that a thing like that could be pulled off under the very eyes of the army. However, if your information is correct, we shall catch the culprit. May I ask you to take an early observation again in the morning, Mrs. Gray?”

“I shall be pleased to do so. If I may make a suggestion, I would urge you to discuss nothing of this before the Chinaman. I observed that the general sent him away before we began speaking; else I should not have told you what I have,” said Grace.

“You suspect that the Chinese are involved in this? I hadn’t considered that at all.”

“No, Captain, I do not--that is, I do not know, but it is well to be cautious. I understand that the Chinese labor battalion was recruited from a very bad element in China. They are great gamblers, as you all know, and for a little money those fellows would go to any lengths. Fertile ground for the Huns, sir.”

General Gordon nodded his approval of the sentiment.

“Boucher, would it not be well to make contact with a Chinaman and have him watch his fellows?” asked the general.

“Afraid we can’t trust them. We shall have to adopt other methods, which we shall do at once.”

“Perhaps I may be able to assist you somewhat. I know one of them, and I know that he knows of the flights of the birds. He knows that I saw them; how, I can’t say.”

“Who is he?” demanded the Intelligence officer sharply.

“I should prefer not to say just now, and I hope you will not press me on that point. I am asking that, believing that I can obtain information from the man better than you can. What I learn from him may not be very definite, but it may be an indication.”

“Better allow Mrs. Gray to operate in her own way, Boucher. That is my advice,” urged the general.

Captain Boucher nodded.

“We will leave this particular Chinaman to you, Mrs. Gray. When you have any information I trust you will advise me immediately, for moments may be precious. I hope they send out other birds, desiring to have the confirmation of my own eyes.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“You have not spoken to any one about what you saw?” questioned the Intelligence officer.

“No, sir.”

“That is well. Please do not. Pardon me, I am well aware that you are too clever a woman to do that. I may need your assistance in other matters when we get into enemy territory. If I may say so, you would make an excellent secret service agent.”

“Thank you, but I have no ambitions in that direction. My great ambition at the moment is to finish with this miserable business and go back to my home in the States with my husband, Captain Gray of the engineers, and my adopted daughter who is now at school in Paris. Believe me, gentlemen, when I do get back I shall be perfectly content to stay at home, even on election day.”

“We all feel as you do,” agreed the general, “but you, like the rest of us, will be in the thick of things even then. One can’t get the fireside habit immediately after having spent months on the western front. I suppose you are thinking of getting back to your billets?” suggested the general politely.

“Yes, if you please, sir. I am most grateful for this pleasant evening and the excellent dinner. The bacon tastes like that which we have at home.”

“Straight from the States,” the general informed her. “This, unfortunately, is the last of it, and we shall live on army chow hereafter, unless the Germans see fit to give us something more worth while. The pleasure this evening has been wholly ours, Mrs. Gray and Miss Briggs, and we thank you for coming. I am in hopes of meeting your husband one of these days. I wish to tell him what I think of his wife,” added the general.

“I am grateful to you for the information,” said the captain in a low tone, for the Chinese servant had just come in, though the general sent him out immediately to order the car for the visitors.

Good nights were said, and a few moments later the Overton girls were on their way to their billets.

“You surely gave those army gentlemen a genuine shock, Loyalheart,” declared Miss Briggs. “It was all news to me. How you can keep things in the back of your head, and never say a word to your next best friend, is more than I can understand. When did you see all you told them about?”

“While you were in dreamland, my dear. If you will rise early enough to-morrow, you may see something too.”

“No, thank you. My desire to sleep is greater than my curiosity. You may do all the sleuthing you choose, J. Elfreda prefers her beauty sleep. I wonder what Mrs. Smythe would say were she to know that we had been dining with a general. I’ll venture to say that she does hear about it; then look out for squalls. Here we are.”

The car came to a stop before their billets, and as it did Grace observed that some one was standing leaning against the wall of the house. She could not make out much more than that in the darkness. Perhaps it was some one seeking protection from the chill wind that was sweeping up the street, and under which both girls were shivering a little.

Grace stepped up on the walk, went up to the man standing there, and peered into his face.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“Me Won.”

“Indeed! What are you doing here so late, Won?”

“Me watchee.”

“Watching what?” Grace was puzzled.

“Watchee Missie Glay’s slatchel,” the Chinaman informed her, pointing to something standing against the side of the building.

“Elfreda, will you look here?” called Grace. “Our belongings are out here on the street.”

“You don’t say! What can have happened?”

“I should say from the appearance of things that we had been evicted. Who threw these things out, Won?”

“Number one boss woman.”

“Who?”

“Blig boss woman. Tlow everything all over, a-la.”

“Do you mean Mrs. Smythe?” demanded “Captain” Grace.

“Les.”

“I--I begin to understand,” gasped Miss Briggs. “She threw our belongings into the street, eh?”

“Les.”

“Oh, for a place where I could practice law for one little half hour,” raged J. Elfreda.

“Why did she do that, Won?” questioned Grace Harlowe, though suspecting the truth.

“Not know.”

“Is she in there?” pointing to the cottage.

“Les.”

“Thank you, Won. It was very kind of you to watch our belongings. Don’t go away yet, I may need you.”

Grace tried the door and found it barred. She called, but there was no answer.

“This is provoking!” she exclaimed, now thoroughly exasperated.

“What are you going to do?” asked Elfreda.

“Wake up the house,” she replied shortly, stepping out into the street and feeling about on the ground. “I think this will do it,” she observed, returning to the sidewalk with a rock in one hand. It was a sizable rock, a big cobblestone, with which the street was paved, except for the holes that had been dug by German shells.

“Hulloa the house!” shouted Grace.

There was no response from within. Grace drew back the rock and banged it against the door, but still no response. Now began such a banging as awakened sleepers in the cellars all along the street, a banging that attracted the attention of M. P.’s (military police) and that split a board in the door itself.

“Hulloa the house!” repeated the Overton girl.

“What do you want?” demanded a calm voice from within, in a tone that convinced Grace Harlowe that its owner had not been asleep at all.

“I wish to get into my billet, if you please.”

“Then go to your billet,” suggested Mrs. Smythe.

“These are our billets, Mrs. Smythe. If you wish to stay in them, you are welcome so far as we are concerned, but you will please open the door so we may come in.”

“You are mistaken. These are not your billets; they are the headquarters of the welfare supervisor. You will be good enough to go away before it becomes necessary for me to call the police.”

“Be so kind as to open the door!” demanded Grace evenly.

“You threw our things into the street,” shouted Elfreda.

Grace begged her to be quiet.

“Will you go away?” demanded the supervisor, raising her voice.

“Where shall we go? We have no place to sleep. You have thrown our kits out, and we are very cold. I ask you once more to let us in.”

“That does not concern me, driver. I am not interested in your domestic affairs. Go away or I shall scream for the M. P.’s.”

“Save your breath, they are coming now,” answered “Captain” Grace as she heard men running toward them from two directions, and a moment later half a dozen military police with drawn clubs came rushing on the scene.