The general looked at him in surprise.
"Do you mean you intend to go back to-night?" he demanded.
"I thought I would start along about midnight," replied Hal. "I would sleep until that time."
The general was silent for some moments, musing.
"You are a brave lad," he said, at last. "I had figured on sending my answer by another courier; but perhaps your plan is better. You may report to me at midnight, and I shall have the answer ready."
Hal saluted and turned to leave the hut.
"Wait a minute," commanded the general. "Tell me something of yourself. How comes it that you, an American, I take it, have been selected for such perilous work? Why, you cannot be more than eighteen years old."
"Seventeen, general," replied Hal, with a smile; and then he told the
Belgian officer of his experiences since leaving Berlin.
The old general was amazed.
"Remarkable! remarkable!" he repeated, time after time.