“Which, it is to be hoped, will protect our great secret?”
“Here is what I want you to agree to, sir,” Frank told him. “We will turn this man over to the civil authorities of Dunkirk to be considered solely in the light of a sneak thief who meant to steal something from our hangar and dispose of it so as to buy food. He has papers to show that he is by birth a Swede, but an American citizen by adoption.”
“Ah! yes, but those have undoubtedly been stolen, and are being used for a purpose anyone can understand,” declared the soldier.
“Yes, that is what we believed, sir,” said Frank. “At the same time if he were shot it might raise an unpleasant tension between my Government and the Allies. As I look at it, the main thing you want to do is to so arrange it that this spy can in no manner communicate with any of his fellows. Am I right there, Major?”
“Yes, yes; that is the principal thing we must consider now, Frank.”
“All right, that can be done just as well if he is shut up as a thief, and at the end of three days, after the raid is a thing of the past, allowed to take his departure from Dunkirk with a warning that if caught again he will pay the penalty with his life.”
Again the soldier pondered. He did not like to let the spy off so easily, for like most bluff fighting men, Major Nixon felt an aversion for those clever secret agents who could block the plans of generals through securing information in advance.
Finally he gave a sigh and smiled at Frank.
“My word! but you know how to handle matters, Frank,” he observed. “Of course I can see just how you and your fine chums must feel about this thing; and on the whole I do not blame you. Yes, I give you my promise again that it will be done as you say. We will take the man to a place of security where he cannot find a chance to communicate with his kind in any possible way. He will be known simply as a suspected thief on the records. And after the raid is over with, I myself will see that he is led to the outskirts of the town, and let go with a warning. Is that sufficient, Frank?”
“Yes, sir, for I know your word is as good as your bond,” Frank told him. “I feel I have done my duty without being instrumental in sacrificing a life.”