l, and I should not be surprised if the sham
English 'brass hat' who upset them last night were that
scoundrel, Van Drissel, whom I nearly shot."

He got thus far, the Alsatian corporal standing rigidly at his elbow,
when he became aware of a bustle at the table, and looked up.

A French _liaison_ officer had just arrived, and was explaining his
mission to the group, while the commandant read a dispatch he had
brought.

Dennis sprang to his feet, and the laugh which brought the corporal's
grip on to his collar again turned every eye towards him.

"Good morning, mon Capitaine!" he cried. "Will you be good enough to
tell the commandant the circumstances under which we met last night, and
why I came to your headquarters with a message?"

"My dear lieutenant," said the _liaison_ officer. "Enchanted to meet you
again! But what in the name of heaven has happened to you?"

"Nothing to what was going to happen in a few minutes if you had not
arrived," replied Dennis, unable to repress the triumph he felt at the
consternation in the faces of his judges.

"_Ciel_, mon Commandant!" exclaimed the _liaison_ officer. "It is a very
fortunate thing for you that I came in time. If you had shot this young
Englishman, Father Joffre would have had something to say about it."

In a few words he established the prisoner's identity beyond any shadow
of doubt, and the good-hearted fellows were round him in a moment,
clamouring out their apologies, while the commandant, with tears
rolling into his beard, kissed him on both cheeks.

Dennis was ashamed that he had called him a pork butcher, for the poor
man was pathetically apologetic, and trembled like a leaf at the thought
of what might have been.

"You certainly gave me a very tight squeeze for the moment," laughed the
lad. "But it was a string of extraordinary coincidences that might have
deceived anyone."

"Then our general's reply has not reached your headquarters?" queried
the _liaison_ officer.

"Unhappily not," said Dennis. "It is somewhere among the wreckage of the
car and the remains of those two poor fellows."

"Never mind," said his preserver. "We will let you into a little secret.
The dispatch you brought to us was a request that this division should
join with your nearest brigades in a raid on the enemy's lines. The
Allied artillery is even now lengthening its fuses, and we are on the
point of giving the Germans a surprise. Will you find your way back,
or---