"Only at a culvert a few miles back," said Frank. He described the fight there as best he could, and the officer looked a little worried.
"As far as that, eh?" he said. "We hadn't heard of their being in that quarter at all. H'm!"
Then he rode on ahead, to what had, until a few moments before, been the rear of his train.
"He's doing well enough, now that he knows his way," said Frank in an undertone to Henri. "But I think he was in a bad way. I've got an idea that the Germans are behind us. Do you know what I think? It's funny for a supply train like this to be here without any escort of troops, isn't it?"
"Yes. I thought of that, too."
"Well, I believe he was supposed to meet a guard, and missed it. Suppose he'd run into the Germans?"
"Yes, that would have been a nice mess! I suppose some English soldiers would have gone hungry to-night!"
The road was rising a little, enough for them to feel the added pull in propelling their wheels. And now, at the crest of the little rise, they saw that the officer had dismounted. He had unstrapped a box from his machine and was setting it up. In a few minutes, as they reached him, he had set up a tripod-like machine, not unlike a surveyor's instrument, and was flashing a small mirror.
"Hello!" he said. "Field heliograph kit. Ever see it before?"
"No, sir, but I know about it," said Frank, while Henri looked on admiringly. "I know the Morse code, too."