news. But as things
turned out, there was no time. Besides, it wasn't necessary.
It looked hopeful that we might be our own carrier pigeons, or
else--cease to exist.

"What happened was that Herter heard I was alive and in a
hospital not far behind the lines. Just at this time he had got
hold of the very secret he'd come to seek. The sooner he could
make a dash for home the better: but if possible, he wished to
take me with him. He had the impression that to do so would
please his friend Miss O'Malley! How it was to be worked he
didn't see until an odd sort of American bombing machine fell,
between an aerodrome it had attempted to destroy, and Herter's
hospital. They knew it was American, only because of its two
occupants, both killed. The machine was considerably smashed
up, but experts found traces of something amazingly novel, which
they couldn't understand. Herter was called to the scene, because
he had pretended to be up in the latest American flying
'stunts.' The minute he saw the wreckage an inspiration
jumped into his head.

"He confessed himself puzzled by the mysterious details,
thought them important, and said: 'It seems to me this
resembles the engine and wings of the James Beckett invention
I heard so much about. But I didn't know it was far enough
ahead yet to be in use. A pity the inventor was killed. He
might have come in handy.

"Well, they put those words in their pipes and smoked them--knowing,
of course, that I was very much alive and almost
within a stone's throw.

"I had always pretended not to understand German: thought
ignorance of the language might serve my plans some day or
other. The chap they sent to fetch me dropped a few words to a
doctor in my hearing. And so, though I wasn't told where I was
being taken or why I was to go, I'd about caught on to the fact
that I was supposed to have invented the plans for a new bombing
biplane. That made me wonder if a friend was at work under
the rose: and I was ready for anything when I got to the scene
of the smash.

"Fortunately, none of the Bosches on the spot could speak
English fluently, and I appeared more of a fool at French than
German. Herter--entirely trusted by his German pals--was
told off to talk English with me; and a flash of his eye said, _here_
was the friend! It was only a flash, and I couldn't be sure, but
it put me on the _qui vive_. I noti