At least, I owed it to the British Army to do my best to be
certain the man was all right before I let him go. So I continued to
follow him by myself down the road. The next farm I came to was about
a mile off. There I was halted by a sentry, and on telling my business
I was shown into a large barn, where the sergeant-major of a Scottish
battalion got out of the straw and came to talk to me. He told me that
an officer riding a wheel had passed sometime before, asking his way
to a certain artillery brigade. I told the sergeant-major my
suspicions and while we were talking, to our astonishment, the sentry
announced that the officer, accompanied by a Black Watch despatch
rider, had turned up again, having heard that the brigade he wanted
was in the other direction.

The sergeant and I went out and challenged him and said that he had to
come to the colonel and be identified. The colonel was in the back
room of a little cottage on the other side of the road. I made my way
through the garden and entered the house. The colonel, an oldish (p. 085)
man, was sitting at a table. In front of him was an empty glass and an
empty whisky bottle. It struck me from a superficial glance that the
colonel was the only full thing in the room. He seemed surprised at
having so late a visitor. I told him my suspicions. "Show the man in,
Padre," he said, and I did.

The spy seemed worried and excited and his "rs" were more guttural
than ever. The old Colonel, who had himself been in India, at once put
the suspect through his facings in Hindustani. Then the Colonel came
out to me, and taking me aside said, "It's all right, Padre, he can
talk Hindustani. I never met a German who could do that." Though still
not quite satisfied, I said "Good night," and went out into the garden
to return home. Immediately the young despatch rider came up to me and
said, "Who are you, who are stopping a British officer in the
performance of his duty? I arrest you. You must come in to the Colonel
and be identified." This was a turning of the tables with a vengeance,
and as I had recently laid stress on its being the duty of every
officer to prove his identity whenever called upon, I had nothing to
do but to go back into the presence of the Colonel and be questioned.
I noticed this time that a full bottle of whiskey and another tumbler
had been provided for the entertainment of the Indian Officer. The
despatch rider saluted the Colonel and said, "I have brought in