“’Now, one—two—three!’”
“Lieutenant!”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“Go straight ahead and watch out for us. Whistle three times if the coast is clear. Beware of—of anything you see!”
“A peculiar caution in the slope of his shoulders.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
The Lieutenant slunk off, a peculiar caution in the slope of his shoulders and his long, noiseless stride. He rounded the barn and disappeared from sight. There was a moment of suspense. Suddenly he appeared again, his hand raised warningly.
“Sst, sst!” he hissed.
Promptly they skipped behind the woodhouse door. In a moment a man’s footsteps were audible; somebody was swinging by the barn, whistling as he went. He called out to the cook as he went by: “Pretty hot, ain’t it? Hey! I say it’s pretty hot!”