"I have been given leave I did not ask for: somebody must have asked it for me. This "someone" is the chief spy, already in touch with Vinson, or the chief spy at Verdun, who has been warned of Vinson"s arrival: the post card I received from an unknown individual has nothing on it but the indications of a route already known to me, that from Verdun to the frontier. I shall follow that route as a pedestrian, and I look forward to meeting some interesting persons on the way."
Surrounded by the noisy disorder of the barrack room, amidst men rising hastily that they might not be reported missing at the morning muster, which would shortly take place in the courtyard, Fandor-Vinson dressed quickly. He put on his sword-belt, ascertained that his servant had sufficiently polished the bra.s.s b.u.t.tons on his tunic, his sabre, and other trappings. The adjutant for the week entered.
"You are off at once, Vinson?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good! I will arrange for the fatigues--very pleased to! Ah, you are new here, are you not? Well, I will give you a bit of good advice. Be in the barracks on the stroke of the hour. Remember, men on leave must not play tricks with punctuality."
"Right, sir!"
The adjutant turned sharp about and went off.
"He is jolly amiable, that"s sure!" was Fandor"s comment.... "I wonder, if by chance."...
Since Fandor had so rashly mixed himself up in this spy business, he was inclined to see everywhere traitors and accomplices; but he reminded himself that he must beware of preconceived ideas.
It was on the stroke of seven when Fandor showed his permit to the sergeant at the gate of the barracks.
"Here"s one who"s going to amuse himself," grumbled the sergeant.
"Pa.s.s, Corporal!"
Fandor smiled joyously: but the smile did not express his real feelings.
Instead of making directly for the road to the frontier, he strolled about the town, went by roundabout ways, returned on his steps, a.s.suring himself that he was not being shadowed.
The day was fine; a slight violet haze lingered in the hollows; the air, fresh but not chill, was deliciously pure. Fandor walked along the high road at a smart pace. He turned over in his mind certain warnings given him by Vinson.
"When an individual knows he is going to a rendezvous he makes a point of talking to every person he meets whom he thinks likely to be the individual he is to have dealings with."
But Fandor did not see a soul to speak to. The highway was deserted, and the fields lay empty and desolate as far as an eye could reach.
Not a toiling peasant was to be seen.
He had been walking for over an hour, quite determined to carry this adventure through to the end, when, from the top of a hill he caught sight of a motor-car drawn up on one of the lower slopes of the road.
"They may, or may not, be the individuals I am out to meet," he thought: "but I am glad enough to meet some human beings.... I shall stroll near their car, which seems out of action: it will help pa.s.s the time."
He went up to the motor-car. There were two people in it; a man clad in an immensely valuable fur coat, and a young priest, so m.u.f.fled up in rugs and wraps and cloaks that only his two eyes could be seen.
Just as he got up to them, he heard the priest say in a tart voice to the man in the fur coat, now standing in the road:
"Whatever is the matter? What has gone wrong with your car now?"
The priest"s smart companion exclaimed in a tone of comic despair:
"It is not the right front tire this time: it is the back tire, the left one, that is punctured!"
"Ought I to 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."...