this
officer, Sir, to be identified. He says he is a Canadian chaplain but
I should like to make sure on the point." I stood there feeling rather
disconcerted. The Colonel called to his adjutant who was sleeping in a
bed in the next room. He came out in a not very agreeable frame of
mind and began to ask me who I was. I immediately told my name, showed
my identification disc and engraved silver cigarette case and some
cablegrams that I had just received from home. The Colonel looked up
with bleary eyes and said, "Shall I put him in the guardroom?" but
the adjutant had been convinced by my papers that I was innocent and
he said, "I think we can let him go, Sir." It was a great relief to
me, because guard-rooms were not very clean. I was just making my way
from the garden when out came the young despatch rider. I bore him no
malice for his patriotic zeal. I felt that his heart was in the right
place, so I said to him, "You have taken the part of this unknown
officer, and now that you are sure I am all right, may I ask you what
you know about him?" "I don't know anything", he said, "only that I
met him and he asked me the way to the Brigade, and as I was going (p. 086)
there myself I told him I would act as his guide." "Well", I said, "we
are told that there are spies in the neighbourhood reporting the
location of our batteries to the Germans, so we ought to be very
careful how we give these locations away." "I tell you what, Sir," he
replied, "I'll go and examine his wheel and see what the make is; I
know a good deal about the wheels used in the army." We went over to
the wheel and by the aid of my flashlight he examined it thoroughly
and then said, "This is not an English wheel, I have never seen one
like it before. This wheel was never in use in our army." The despatch
rider now got an attack of spy-fever. It was decided that he should
ride on to the Brigade Headquarters and find out if an Indian officer
was expected there. He promised to come back as soon as possible and
meet me in the road. We trusted that the bottle of whiskey in the
Colonel's billet would cause sufficient delay for this to be
accomplished. The night was cool and beautiful and the sense of an
adventure added charm to the situation. I had not gone far down the
road when to my horror I heard a wheel coming behind me, and turning,
I saw my spy coming towards me as fast as he could. I was not of
course going to let him get past. The added information as t