The passage ended abruptly in a luxurious bomb-proof shelter, where electric light was burning. There was a carpet on the floor marked with the white chalk prints of many boot soles, and several comfortable arm-chairs told a story of loot. There were pictures on the walls, and various doorways indicated the existence of quite a suite of apartments.
The place was full of the blue haze of cigar-smoke, and there were three officers standing there, all talking at once.
As Dennis clicked his heels again and saluted with his back to the entrance, his heart beating sixteen to the dozen, one of the officers turned towards him and scowled sourly.
"Zo! You have condescended to come at last, miserable hound!" he snarled—a bald-headed man with a general's shoulder-straps.
"Take this message on to the machine in duplicate." And he pointed to a corner of the dug-out, where there was a telephone board and a stool; and on a Louis XV. table, with beautiful brass mountings, stood a typewriter.
Dennis seated himself with alacrity, thanking his stars that he had learned typewriting in an odd moment, without any distinct idea of it ever being any good to him.
And somehow at that moment there flashed through his mind the recollection of Ottilie von Dussel and the carbon in the pay-book, which had enabled her to escape with her notes.
"Why not a third copy?" he thought. "If I ever get back to H.Q., who knows what use it might not be to us?"
Opening the box beside the machine, he quickly inserted two carbons and three sheets of typing paper; and without a second glance at him the general began to dictate:
"'To Colonel Schlutz, commanding the 307th Bavarian Battalion.—Immediately upon receipt of this order you are to entrain your men with the 89th Ersatz Battalion for transportation to Péronne. Five Prussian regiments will relieve you here to-night, to fill up the gap in our third line of defence. You are to be as sparing as possible of ammunition, both for the rifles and the machine-guns, as we are warned that the supply may be interrupted. You will use the bayonet on every opportunity.' Have you done?"