“Of course,” said Bob.
“That explains your position all right,” said Bland. “But I don’t quite understand the others. I should have thought—”
“The soldiers,” said Bob, “have strict orders not to provoke a conflict. I met Henderson just now and he told me so. You remember Henderson, Lord Kilmore? The man I was talking to at the railway station. He’d only had two water biscuits to eat all day yesterday. When I met him just now he told me he’d had nothing since breakfast to-day but one bit of butterscotch. He said he wished we’d fight at once if we were going to fight and get it over.”
“But the police—” said Bland, still trying to get information. “I should have thought the police—”
“They tried to arrest us,” I said. “In fact they did arrest us but they let us go again.”
“I dare say they’d like to arrest us,” said Bob, “but you see we’ve all got guns.”
“Ah,” said Bland, “and the ordinary inhabitants of the city—?”
“They’re in bed,” said Bob, “and we’ve all agreed that they’d better stay there. Nobody wants a riot.”
“Thanks,” said Bland. “If I can get my wire through I’ll let the world know the exact position of affairs.”
“If you are wiring,” said Bob, “you might like to mention that there was jolly nearly being a fight at the gasworks. The military people got it into their heads that we intended to turn off the gas and plunge the town into darkness so as to be able to murder people without being caught. They took possession of the works and put a party of Royal Engineers in charge. Fairly silly idea! But some fool on our side—a fellow who’s been dragging a quick-firing gun about the streets all day—”