"I was pressed into service as a chauffeur. This car was needed near the front, and there was no one to drive it. I deceived them wholly, with my uniform, and my motorcycle. And so they forced this car upon me! My plan was to use it, instead of my cycle, to get past their lines."
"But you are riding straight to Gumbinnen—and they are near there in force!"
"No, they have retreated from there. They know that we are too strong for them, and they do not care to fight."
"Yes, and do you know why? Because they have been bringing troops up secretly to Insterberg, and are planning to fight a great battle there on their own grounds! You were wrong, Ivan, in the information you sent."
Wasting no words, he quickly told of what he had learned that evening. And Ivan smote his hands together for he was deeply troubled.
"And I thought I knew all their plans!" he said, savagely. "If the staff had acted upon my information, we should have marched into a trap!"
"Now I must get to the wireless," said Fred. "That was what I meant to do when you frightened my horse there in the road."
"Come, I will drive you back. It will not take long, and your work is more important than mine now. It is safe, too. You can be hidden in the car in case we encounter any Germans. But that is not likely. They are not as thick in this district as they were forty-eight hours ago."