He started to say something in French, and while Thad could not understand its full import, he caught a significant word here and there that alarmed him. One of these was “dispatches,” and another phrase plainly stood for “Life and death!” These things excited the boy. He started across to speak to the American surgeon about it, leaving his comrades beside the officer.
“I wish you would step this way for a minute, sir,” Thad called out, after he had succeeded in catching the busy surgeon’s eye.
“What is it all about, my boy?” demanded the other, laying down his instrument as a patient was lifted from the table and taken in charge by attendants, who proceeded to bandage his wounds.
“There’s an officer just brought in, sir, badly hurt,” explained Thad. “I think he must have been caught in a collision, for he has both arms broken and his head is badly lacerated in the bargain. But he seems to have something terrible on his mind. I imagine he must have been carrying some sort of important papers at the time he was caught, for he speaks of dispatches and acts so wild I thought you ought to know about it.”
The surgeon looked intensely interested.
“Show him to me, please, and I’ll quickly find out what he wants,” he told the scout, who immediately led him over to where the man was lying, waiting his turn at the surgeon’s hands.
The weary doctor bent down and spoke in excellent French. Thad listened, and what little he managed to hear pass between the two gave him a new thrill. Hence he was not as surprised as Allan and Bumpus when the surgeon, rising to his feet, hastened to say:
“You were correct in your diagnosis, son; he is a dispatch-bearer. Even now he has a most important paper intended for the hands of General Joffre himself. He tells me that if it fails to be delivered immediately the most dire results may follow for the whole French army. He begs me most piteously to send some reliable person forward with this dispatch. I hardly know to whom I can entrust it unless you brave scouts will undertake the mission.”
CHAPTER XVIII
MAKING HISTORY
The three chums exchanged looks when the surgeon made this extraordinary request. At least it proved what confidence he had in their ability to carry out the work of delivering the interrupted dispatches. Had there really been any one else handy in whom he could trust possibly the American surgeon would never have thought of imposing such an arduous duty upon Thad and his comrades. It was really a Frenchman’s task and hardly fitted for those who considered themselves neutral in the battle that was going on.