reatest job. And since I have made free to
tell you all this, you may be certain it is his last trip across the
lines. He reports that the German High Command is getting a bit
suspicious, and he dare not trust his luck much further."

McGee, who had been listening with intense interest, exhaled audibly as
Cowan finished his narration. "Well!" he exclaimed. "I'll never jump to
conclusions again. Now I know why that fellow has always acted like he
was answerable to no one but himself. And I thought him yellow! And next
I thought he was a spy. Well, I was right about that--but the wrong way
around. I take my hat off to him! It takes nerve to fill his job."

"It does indeed!" Cowan agreed fervently. "Perhaps you recall how I
bawled him out for cutting formation over Vitry that day when we were on
our way up for our first action? And how I sent him over the lines on a
mission to locate von Herzmann's Circus?"

McGee nodded. "I certainly do remember it. You sure said plenty!"

"Hokum! All hokum!" Cowan said. "Actually, he was going over on a
daylight mission of an entirely different nature, and what I said in
your presence was merely to mislead you. Unfortunately, you happened to
see him running the Archie fire and saw the signals which he had used
again and again in crossing over. When you reported to me, we feared the
cat was out of the bag. There seemed to be only one way out--to pledge
you to secrecy and lead you to believe that we were simply waiting for
the proper time to bag him. I knew you would keep your word, and that is
another reason why you are here--as a sort of reward. You are the only
one who has ever had any such suspicions."

Larkin laughed, mirthlessly. "That makes a lot of chuckle-heads out of
the rest of us, doesn't it?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Lieutenant. But you did make life rather hard
for Siddons. He was afraid to form close friendships. Poor Hampden was
the only one he was ever very close to, and Hampden was as ignorant of
the facts as any of you. Siddons had to be careful. He knows that the
Germans also have spies. Should they get proof of his duplicity, he
would be a doomed man."

"Well," McGee sighed again, "he can have my share of that kind of
service. I prefer to meet mine without any blindfold over my eyes. I'll
make my apologies to him, and admit to his face that he has more nerve
than most men I know. But there is one thing I can't get through my
head, Major. How could he keep fool