Dick soon had the Mohawk ready; indeed there was not much to do after such a short trip as the flight to Verdun. The rest of the day he spent chatting with Captain Le Couteur, finding him a delightful companion and full of enthusiasm on the subject of wireless, of which his knowledge seemed boundless. Dick felt he could never tire of admiring the wonderfully ingenious devices which the other had invented and put into operation in his underground fortress.
Several more messages, chiefly brief reports, were received from Jules, always heralded by the seven dots and begun with the three M’s which signified the secret code number Five. For a few hours everything seemed to be going well. Then, towards evening came graver news, which on being deciphered, read:
“M M M begins Much fear Yvette suspected stop Tell Manton to be ready instant action stop M M M ends.”
It could only mean, they realised, that Yvette had been recognised by a German agent and was being closely watched. The position was dangerous.
Dick spent the next few hours in an agony of suspense. But he could do nothing. His first instinct was to fly to Berlin. But Le Couteur’s iron common-sense showed him clearly enough that to do so would be futile. To keep the Mohawk in Germany, even for a single day, would be risky; to try to hide her there for perhaps a week till they got a chance to rescue Yvette would be suicidal.
A sudden swoop, swift and relentless action, and a quick escape were the essentials of success.
Captain Le Couteur was scarcely less anxious than Dick himself. He had known Yvette since she was a child; they came from the same town in Alsace. But he possessed a brain of ice and restrained Dick’s impetuosity, though guessing shrewdly at its cause.
“The time is not come yet,” he declared. “This is a bit of business which must go to the last tick of the dock. Mademoiselle herself would never forgive us if we spoilt everything by undue precipitation, and, after all, Monsieur Manton, France is of even more importance than Mademoiselle Pasquet, much as I admire her.”
“I know,” Dick admitted. “But when I think of her, with her war record, which they know all about, falling into the hands of those brutes, I can hardly sit still.”
“They have not got her yet and she is very clever,” replied Le Couteur. “Let us hope that she will give them the slip.”