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ON HAZARDOUS SERVICE.

BY MERVYN LAMB.

CHAPTER VI.-PRELIMINARY MEASURES.

WE left "soldat " Jean Bart of the French Army and Lieutenant Archer of the British Flying Corps making their way in the moonlight as fast as possible from the German exercise-ground, where in one of the trenches lay the two dead German soldiers.

By the time they had reached the friendly shelter of the hedges, it was quite obvious that the encampment on the far side of the ground was humming like a nest of angry wasps, and parties of Germans with lamps were already on their way down to the trenches to investigate the shots which had been fired by Jean Bart to warn the aeroplane not to land. It was only a matter of minutes before they would discover the bodies of their dead comrades.

"They will see at once from the knife wounds that the aeroplane did not do the trick," said Jean. "To make quite certain that they should not suspect the inhabitants, I left my 'kepi' in the trench, so we may expect a tremendous hue and cry after a hidden French soldier. We'll get back to the caves' in my village

as possible, but it won't be safe to stop there long. Come along!" It was

now past midnight, the August dawn would be breaking in three hours, and they had eight miles to go. Jean led the way at a great pace, avoiding with the almost uncanny instinct of the smuggler the numerous parties of Germans which were already scouring the country round the exercise ground. However, once through them, they made their way without serious delay to the wood, in which was the ruined shrine and the hidden entrance to the caves," and by daylight were safely installed in their hiding-place, close to the foot of the stairs leading up to the room in Adrienne's house, where the German Feldwebel was sleeping audibly.

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There's nothing more to be done now till about eleven o'clock, when we shall hear Adrienne sweeping out the German's room," said Jean, "and then we must decide our future plans. In the meantime you had better go to

sleep."

Shortly after eleven Adrienne's broom could be heard banging the furniture above, showing that the Feldwebel had gone out to his lunch. Jean mounted the steps and gave the signal, when they

heard the chest of drawers on the trap-door being removed, and Adrienne's pretty face appeared, framed in the opening, as it seemed to Archer, like an angel of light.

After their previous experience they decided not to go up into the house, but that Adrienne should make her way round by the wood and come in by the secret entrance, where Jean would meet her, and an hour later the three were in solemn conclave in the "caves."

Jean told Adrienne how they had saved the British aeroplane, but that the hunt for Jean was likely to be hot and furious, and that they must get Archer out of the country as soon as possible. This would take a good deal of arranging, and meantime he did not at all like the idea of their staying where they were, as much on Adrienne's account as on their own. The secret of the caves" might be given away at any time by one of the many inhabitants who were in the pay of the German police.

Adrienne admitted that there was much truth in this, but protested vehemently that her safety should not be considered. "France has need of men to fight for her," said she. "There is little enough that a poor girl can do, and if I could be the means of sending back two soldiers to fight against our enemies, even though I perished in doing so, France would greatly gain and I should in

deed be proud. I have no fear, and I will not fail you."

She went on to say that the alarm was already abroad, as the Feldwebel, who worked at the Kommandatur, had told her that morning that an urgent order had been received cancelling all passes which permitted any inhabitants to go more than two miles from the village, and this would surely be followed by a houseto-house search. Also a reward of 5000 francs had been offered for information leading to the capture of an English aviator or a French soldier believed to be hiding in the neighbourhood.

On the strength of the Feldwebel's moral support in the matter of the last visit from the police, she had thought it wise to improve relations with that official. "He is a kindhearted old man for a German, and thinks only of the end of the war and of getting back to his family and his music shop, and within reason I think he would help me at a pinch," said Adrienne. "And he's very useful in keeping me informed of what the Security Police are doing, so far as they know this at the Kommandatur."

"Ma foi!" said Jean, "that gives me an idea. Where should we be so safe as in my own house, the office of the Kommandatur, if only it could be worked! There is plenty of room for us in the double roof where we used to keep the tobacco, and no one would

ever think of looking for us in the Kommandatur itself. The question is, can we get there unobserved, and once there, can we get out again when we want to? It all depends on what rooms the Germans are using, and whether they are occupied by day or by night."

Adrienne smiled, and remarked that the same idea had occurred to her.

In answer to Archer's inquiries Jean explained the situation as regards his house.

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It had four rooms on the ground floor similar to Adrienne's house, two on each side of a centre passage, and one big attic above, reached by a staircase from the centre passage. The special feature was the double roof· a cunning arrangement for concealing tobacco smuggled across the frontier in bulk until it could be disposed of in detail. like the "caves," its secret was known to no one outside Jean's actual band, who were all to be trusted. One of the side walls of the house was double, and in it were the steps by which the space between the two roofs could be reached. The entrance was covered by the false back to a large press, fixed into the corner between the fireplace and the double wall. On the other side was a similar press concealing nothing. Archer would remember that steps led up from the caves to the floor of Jean's house, and these came out under the staircase in the central passage.

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The two important points to discover then were, firstly, whether the trap-door under the stairs could be opened from below without assistance from above, since it had not been used for several years. There was also the possibility that the Germans might be using the cupboard under the stairs in which was the trapdoor for storing kit. The second point was, whether the room in which was the entrance to the steps leading to the roof was accessible at any time during the day or night.

To Archer's surprise Adrienne quietly observed that she could answer the questions at once. Whilst they had been away she had taken an opportunity to make a thorough reconnaissance of Jean's house. How had she managed it? "Oh, bien simple," she replied. “I hid the Feldwebel's razor, and of course he was in a terrible state of mind about it. Then, after he had gone to the Kommandatur, I found it, so naturally I had to hurry round to tell him. I looked in all the other downstairs rooms before I found him in the back room, but I could not go to the attic nor look under the stairs.

"Then I told him that the house belonged to a relative of mine, and that Grandmère' was very anxious to know if it had been much damaged, and might I just see so as to reassure her.

"Well, I did see, and the cupboard behind the stairs was full of kit-bags, papers, &c.,

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"Mademoiselle is wonderful," he replied, and the enthusiasm with which he said it brought a faint blush to her cheeks.

"So far so good," Jean said; "but how are we to get into the house? It is evidently no good trying to sneak in at night, as we should certainly be arrested before we got there. We've got to go in in daylight," and Adrienne agreed. Finally a plan was settled upon, which was to be tried in two days' time, and Adrienne left shortly after to make the necessary arrangements, which required a certain amount of working out. In the meantime they were to burn their uniforms that night in the depths of the wood, and on

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the second day to remove all traces of occupation from the caves." The hiding of the ladder to the trap-door was also to be arranged for, as Adrienne was positive that the secret was certain to be given away as soon as the reward became generally known.

In that case, the fact that the Feldwebel had been in constant occupation of the room might, it was foreseen, prove very useful to establish Adrienne's innocence of any connection with the secret passage.

Next day both Adrienne and Grandmère complained of terrible earache. As they explained to the Feldwebel, when he inquired sympathetically, it was more or less hereditary. He need have no anxiety as to its being contagious, and Adrienne hoped that he would not dream of leaving the house. They had not had an attack for a very long time, and attributed it now to poor feeding.

If they could visit a certain doctor, who lived at Valenciennes, Adrienne thought that he would give them immediate relief; but that raised the question of getting passes.

The Feldwebel expressed a thousand regrets, but pointed out that all passes were stopped owing to the mysterious murders in the neighbourhood, and that he did not think there was any chance that the Town Major would make an exception in their case. Adrienne suggested that if there was no improvement to-morrow, per

haps with Monsieur's assistance it might at least be worth while to make the attempt. After all, the worst the Town Major could do would be to refuse.

The Feldwebel rather unwillingly agreed, and Adrienne returned to her fomentations, whilst Grandmère groaned audibly in the bedroom behind the kitchen; but the distressing complaint did not prevent Adrienne a little later from handing down a bundle of clothes, which she gave with whispered instructions and much suppressed laughter. When opened out, Archer discovered that one bundle contained a selection of Grandmère's clothes, apparently for Jean, and the other a similar assortment of Adrienne's for himself.

Next day Grandmère was confined to bed, but Adrienne, much of her face swathed in bandages, assured the Feldwebel that they would both be able to visit the Kommandatur during the afternoon, when he was to try and get them a pass. He still maintained that it was a forlorn hope, but Adrienne was firm in her intention to try. Would he not escort them from the house, as Adrienne was shy about going to the Kommandatur alone? And he eventually agreed to take them between four and five o'clock.

By midday Jean and Archer were in the back room, and when the Feldwebel arrived he found Adrienne, still bandaged,

waiting for him in the kitchen with Grandmère, the latter also heavily bandaged, under her poke sun-bonnet, whilst a shawl round her neck partly covered her mouth. The old lady was evidently very shaky, as she tottered down the road leaning on Adrienne's arm. The Feldwebel addressed a remark or two to her, getting no reply; and Adrienne explained that she herself heard with difficulty, and that "Grandmère " was practically stone-deaf for the time being.

Shortly after their departure a similar pair left by the back entrance and made for the rear of the Kommandatur, behind which they arrived as the Feldwebel and his party entered the front entrance, where the flying sentry passed some jocular remark to the Feldwebel about the beauty of his lady friends, which evidently rather annoyed that gentleman.

The Feldwebel knocked at the door of the Town Major's room, entered it, and shortly afterwards called to Adrienne and "Grandmère" to join him; but in the meantime a commotion had arisen outside.

Adrienne raised the alarm inside the house by shouting out that the garage was on fire, and as the Feldwebel, followed by the Town Major, came out into the passage, it was indeed only too obvious that one end of the barn was alight.

Immediately the whole place

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