get out?"

"By no means! Do not stir! I am going to put the lifting-jack under
the car, and shall replace the damaged tire in no time."

Fandor was only a few yards off.

The man in the fur coat, evidently his own chauffeur, half turned
towards the soldier, adding:

"Unfortunately, my jack does not work very well, I doubt if I can
succeed unaided in getting it under the wheel-base."

"Can I give you a lift?" asked Fandor.

The chauffeur turned with a smile.

"That is very kind of you, Corporal.... I will not refuse your help."

From a box he extracted a lifting-jack which, to Fandor's expert eye,
did not seem to function so badly as all that. The chauffeur slipped
it under the car. Fandor lent an experienced hand, and lifted the
wheel, whose tire had just given up the ghost.

"There, Monsieur! These punctures are the cause of endless delays,"
remarked Fandor, for the sake of saying something. The priest
shrugged, and said in a disagreeable tone:

"Our tires have come to grief twice already this morning!"

The chauffeur was busied with his car fiddling with the machinery. He
shot a question at Fandor:

"Are we far from Verdun?"

"Five or six kilometres."

"No more?"

"About that, Monsieur."

The chauffeur stood upright.

"It is Verdun, then, we can see over there?"

"What do you mean?" queried Fandor.

"That belfry in the mist."

"That is not a belfry: it is a chimney, the bakehouse chimney."

"Of the new bakehouse, then?"

"Yes, Monsieur."

"I had an idea it was not finished."...

"It is not finished, but it soon will be--in a matter of six
months."...

"Ah! Good!... Now tell me is there no railway along the route we are
following?"

"No. They intend laying down a line for strategic purposes, but they
have not started on it yet."

The chauffeur smiled approval, while continuing to tinker at his
machine.

"Ah, these projects!" he remarked. "They are long in coming to
anything--these French administrative projects!"

"Well!... Yes."

There was a pregnant silence.

Fandor thought: "This grows interesting: it is quite on the cards that
this tourist may be."...

"Ouf!" exclaimed the chauffeur, suddenly jumping up. "A stiff job
this, Corporal! Will you be good enough to lend me a hand again?"

"Certainly."

"Oh, not just at once!... Let me rest a few moments! Doubled up as I
have been, my back feels positively broken."

The stranger took a few steps along the road. He pointed