They were ushered into the presence of Captain Bedell, who greeted them, not with a smile, as he had always done before, but with a grave face.
Instantly each of the boys, as he admitted afterward, thought something was wrong.
"There's something out of the way with our passports," was Joe's idea.
"Been a big battle and the British have lost," guessed Macaroni.
Blake's surmise was:
"There's a hitch and we can't go to the front."
As it happened, all three were wrong, for a moment later, after he had asked them to be seated, Captain Bedell touched a bell on his desk. An orderly answered and he was told:
"These are the young gentlemen."
"Does that mean we are to get our permits?" asked Joe eagerly.
"I am sorry to say it does not," was the grave answer. "I am also sorry to inform you that you are in custody."