"No. They may have watched me as I came out, and it will be better for
them to see me return. No one suspects the tunnel yet, but some of these
Germans are clever."

"Right! Well, I know how to get into it now from this end, and that may
help a lot. But I hope that when I use it again Boris will be with me."

He let old Vladimir go out first. Then, after waiting for several
minutes, he went up the gully in his turn, and set out boldly and with
no attempt to hide his movements, for the parsonage.

There was even more activity there now than there had been when he had
first set eyes upon it. There were more automobiles; four of them
altogether. At the wheel of each sat a soldier driver in grey uniform,
and with a cloth covered helmet. Each car was of the same type, a long
rakish grey body, low to the ground. As he neared the house an officer
wearing a long, grey coat came out, accompanied by two or three younger
men. He turned to speak to them, then got into one of the cars, which
immediately drove off. As it went a peculiar call was sounded, more like
a trumpet than an automobile horn. Fred guessed then what he afterward
learned to be a fact; that the automobiles used by the German staff
officers on active service had horns that indicated the rank of the
officer using them.

It seemed to Fred that there were more officers than soldiers about.
There seemed to be only enough soldiers to provide a guard. Sentries
were all about, but there were officers almost in swarms. He walked
along, indifferently rather than boldly, and he was sharply challenged
when he drew fairly near to the house.