beat.

A moment later the door to the council room opened. A smooth-faced,
blond young man stood at stiff salute in the doorway--dressed in the
uniform of an English officer!

For a long minute he stood at salute while the four at the table eyed
him studiously. Then the hand came down, and a quick smile spread over
his face as he stepped forward into the brighter light of the room. He
carried in his hand one of the swagger sticks so commonly used by
English officers.

"Well, _Herr Hauptmann_," he addressed the officer at the head of
the table, "do you find my disguise, and my English, sufficiently
correct?"

"Correct, yes," the heavy-jowled officer replied in German, "but not
pleasing, Count von Herzmann. _Himmel!_ How I hate the sight of the
Englander's uniform and the sound of his thin, squeaky tongue. And I say
to you again that this wild plan of yours is a fool's errand. I would
forbid it, had you not gained the consent of the General Staff. I do not
understand it. You are too valuable to the cause for the General Staff
to permit you to take such a chance. I say again, it is a fool's
errand."

Count von Herzmann smiled reassuringly. "Fool's errand, _Herr
Hauptmann?_" he responded in German. "Is there anything more precious
to our cause than to learn just now where this next blow is to be
struck? For the past ten days all of our secret operatives have sent us
conflicting reports. The English and the French are too quiet on their
fronts. It presages a storm. As for the Americans, we need not worry.
They are still boasting of their victory at St. Mihiel. They will not be
ready to strike again before late Fall--perhaps not until Spring. We
must--"

"Speak in English," interrupted one of the other officers. "Much as we
hate it, we must see to it that it is perfect."

"Right you are!" von Herzmann replied with the perfect accent of a
well-bred Englishman. "My three years' schooling in England was not for
nothing, sir. Accent top hole, eh, what! Rawther." He smiled at his own
mimicry. "I was saying," he went on, "that we must discover where the
English will strike next. Victory depends upon it."

"_Ja_, _das ist richtig_" spoke up the stolid
_Oberst-leutnant_, who had been listening without comment as his
grey eyes, deep set under stiff, bristling eyebrows, appraised the
confident von Herzmann. "_Ja_, we must learn where the swine strike
next. But must it be you to take the chance? You know the cost--should
yo