"What did you tell him?"

"Nothing. I said, 'Don't you wish you knew?' And he got angry,
and said he didn't care."

"It wasn't any of his business. You did right," said Harry.

They had to wait a few moments to see Major French, who was
exceedingly busy. They need no one to tell them what was going
on. At the platform trains were waiting, and, even while they
looked on, one after another drew out, loaded with soldiers. The
windows were whitewashed, so that, once the doors of the
compartments were closed, none could see who was inside. There
was no cheering, which seemed strange at first, but it was so
plain that this was a precautionary measure that the boys
understood it easily enough. Finally Major French, an energetic,
sunburned man, who looked as if he hadn't slept for days, came to
them. They handed him the papers they carried. He glanced at
them, signed receipts which he handed to them, and then frowned
for a moment.

"I think I'll let you take a message to Colonel Throckmorton for
me," he said, then, giving them a kindly smile. "It will be a
verbal message. You are to repeat what I tell you to him without
a change. And I suppose I needn't tell you that you must give it
to no one else?"

"No, sir." they chorused.