“On April 26th Lt. Hill and Lt. Jones left for Constantinople and on April 27th the Commandant sent to inform me[[74]] that having come to the conclusion that they had been mentally affected by their confinement for two years as Prisoners of War he had reported the case to Constantinople and had received orders to send them there.
“(Signed) N.S. Maule,
“Lt.-Col.”
“How did you come to see the letter?” I asked.
“Col. Maule showed it to the Commandant,” said the Pimple, “and the Commandant desires to thank the Spook for controlling Maule into writing in these terms, and for supporting his action in imprisoning the mediums. Kiazim and Maule are now on a more friendly footing.”
“Splendid!” I said. “Now tell me about yourself.”
“I obey the Spook,” said the Pimple. “I am living very austerely. I do not even go to the theatre or the cinema. All my leave I have been studying languages as ordered by the Control. I am studying German, Spanish, and Arabic. I know already French and Turkish, also Hebrew and some English. Do you think that is enough?”
“I don’t know,” I said doubtfully. “The Incas of Peru were great magicians and some of the indigenous American languages might help. I could teach you some Choctaw later on—there’s a lot of Choctaw incantations you should learn some day.”
“What’s Choctaw like?” Moïse asked.
“Hwch goch a chwech o berchill cochion bychain bach,” I said. (Which is “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,” in Welsh.)[[75]]