CHAPTER XXIV
THE TRAP IS SPRUNG
IT must have been fully half an hour later when Grace Harlowe’s straining ears told her that the conversation was ended. Hearing footsteps on the stairs she snapped her fingers sharply.
“Quietly, Elfreda!” she warned, slipping out to the floor about the time that Captain Boucher rose from the floor before her. “Any luck?” she whispered.
“I should say so. I must speak with you. Go to headquarters directly and I will meet you there. Two blocks below here on the Schutzenstrasse you will find a drosky. The driver is one of our operators. Hand him this card and tell him to take you to the office. If you get there before I do, tell the orderly to summon General Gordon in my name for an immediate conference.”
The Overton girls slipped into their blouses, after which Grace crawled under the bed and replaced the carpet. This done she opened the window, all this without making a sound likely to attract attention. Elfreda climbed out first, followed by the captain, then Grace herself. The window was lowered and three persons were swallowed up in the darkness of the night, the captain going to the left, the girls to the right.
Grace and Elfreda found the carriage and quickly reached headquarters, where Grace delivered her message. General Gordon came in about the time that Captain Boucher arrived, and looked his amazement at finding the Overton girls there.
“What’s wrong, Boucher?” he demanded.
“Nothing except that our very good friend, Mrs. Gray, has run down the plotters. I haven’t all of the story yet, but I have this evening listened to one of them giving the plans for blowing up the second ammunition dump and sacrificing the town for the sake of smoking the Americans out. This includes a desperate attempt to fire the barracks so that many men must perish. It’s damnable!”
Captain Boucher then related briefly all that had occurred that evening.