"Yes, sir," said Harry.

"I shall have messages for you to carry," said the colonel, then.
"Now I want to explain, so that you will understand the importance
of this, why you are going to be allowed to do this work. This
war has come suddenly -- but we are sure that the enemy has
expected it for a long time, and has made plans accordingly.

"There are certain matters so important, so secret, that we are
afraid to trust them to the telephone, the telegraph -- even the
post, if that were quick enough! In a short time we shall have
weeded out all the spies. Until then we have to exercise the
greatest care. And it has been decided to accept the offer of Boy
Scouts because the spies we feel we must guard against are less
likely to suspect boys than men. I am going to give you some
dispatches now -- what they are is a secret. You take them to
Major French, at Waterloo station."

He stopped, apparently expecting them to speak. But neither said
anything.

"No questions?" he asked, sternly.

"No -- no, sir," said Dick. "We're to take the dispatches to
Major French, at Waterloo? That all, is it, sir? And then to
come back here?"

The colonel nodded approvingly.