" said the Captain.

"Yes, sir," I smilingly answered, "and she is just as good as she is
beautiful,--never kicks or falters."

"By Jove!" laughed the Major, "that's a good one. How many messages did
you send them last night, Sergeant?"

"None, sir."

"You don't say! Why I thought I heard you firing. Where is your battery
operating?"

"Oh, we just sent off a few rounds at the crossroads."

"She seems to have been doing her bit today all right."

While conversing with the Major, I noticed the Captain talking with one
of my men about the gun sight and, hastily excusing myself to the Major,
I went over to him. "Pardon me for interrupting. Billy, you had better
go over to the Major and tell him the gun is ready at once for
inspection."

Billy excused himself to the Captain and started off. The officers then
prepared to leave.

"Won't you wait a moment, sir, and see the Major? He will be right
over."

"Well, we will see him on our way back. We're in a kind of a hurry,
Sergeant." And they bade me good night and left.

There was something told me that all was not well with these men, but
the suspicion had not become sufficiently rooted in my head to find
expression, and, consequently, I said nothing at the time.

The very next morning after inspection, orders were read and in the
instructions were explicit descriptions of two British officers who were
German agents and who were making the rounds of the lines, picking up
information wherever they could, and commanding all ranks to be on the
lookout and arrest them on sight, shooting them if they resisted, and
offering a prize of ten pounds to the man who succeeded in effecting
their arrest. "Good Lord!" I thought. "What a miss!" If my wits had been
properly working, I would have been ten pounds the richer, together with
a four-weeks' leave of absence.

These audacious agents had visited all sections and doubtless had
acquired a store of general information, and headquarters urged a most
rigorous search for them. The following night they were spotted in a
French _estaminet_, by a bunch of sharp-eyed Tommies, and, as luck would
have it, the men were chatting about the ten-pound prize for capturing
these same fellows, and their mouths were watering at the picture that
each one of them was painting of what he would do if he only had the
prize.

"I'll tell 'e what it is," said one, "if my blinkers falls on them chaps
I'll wet the whole damned outfit!"

As they e