The major had been watching from the far flank, and, as the Staff officers turned to get into their car, he remarked to the sergeant-major:
"I don't quite like the look of those two officers; there's something wrong about them." And he had a look through his glasses.
Some distance along the road there was marching down a company of R.E.'s.
"Call up those sappers (by flag) and tell them to hold up that car."
The sergeant-major repeated the message to the flag-wagger.
"Stop grey car—suspicious."
The R.E. sergeant ran up to the subaltern in charge:
"Battery signals 'stop grey car.'"
"Well, stop it, then," replied the subaltern irritably.
So the grey car was stopped, very much to the annoyance of two Staff officers who were in a great hurry to get back to G.H.Q.