There was a gate in the wall about a hundred yards further along the curve. Riddell walked quickly, carrying himself erect in proper military fashion, and reached the gate.
He passed through, head down. The man on duty didn't seem to notice that anything was wrong. But as Riddell started to enter the city, the guard said, "Just a minute, Corporal."
Riddell whirled, then got control of himself. "Yes?"
"I forget to ask you something," the soldier said. He was a private. He was staring full into Riddell's face, and if he knew that the corporal was an impostor he wasn't revealing anything. "The Major wants to know if any prowlers were around while you were on duty."
"No," Riddell said uneasily. "No, there wasn't any trouble at all. What's up?"
"Trouble from Center City," the guard said. "Seems a couple of kids got through our lines last night and slipped into the city. We caught one, but the other's still around somewhere. Funny you hadn't heard about it."
"I've—I've been on leave," Riddell improvised. "Just came back on duty a couple of hours ago, and I guess they didn't fill me in." Without waiting for any further discussion, he turned and moved onward.
Northburg looked peaceful enough, he thought. They had rebuilt pretty well, though the telephone lines still seemed to be down, at least in this part of town, and hardly any of the rubble-heaps had been cleared.
The townsfolk were going about their business. It might well have been Center City—except for the men in blue uniforms patrolling the streets, and the beaten, harried look on the faces of the people. There was hope on people's faces there in Center City. In Northburg, Riddell saw fear.