[CHAPTER XVI]
Yanks
Ask Corporal Stapley to report here, Sergeant.” A bluff Irishman, late of the regular army and now attached to the marines for his experience, saluted his Captain and turned to obey. A few minutes later he returned with the non-com.
“What luck, Stapley?” asked the Captain.
“Couldn’t find them, sir,” was the reply.
“That’s bad. Made every effort, I suppose.”
“We did, indeed. Jennings, of the Police, was with us and we scoured around thoroughly. A Red Cross ambulance is pretty easy to spot and we landed half a dozen, but they were all O. K.”
“Haven’t the least idea where those fellows could have gone?”
“Not the least. Case of mysterious disappearance. We thought they might have gone back to the base and we telephoned there to be on the lookout for them, and you may wager they are. We called from LaFerté again later, but they hadn’t seen them. Jennings ’phoned both the Meaux and Paris police to be on the watch.”
“Unfortunate. Well, you did all you could. Say, a little more personally: I see, by the records, that you are a Brighton Academy boy; is that right?”
“I am; class of 1919, but I don’t know what year we’ll get through now.”