Over There with the Canadians at Vimy Ridge

  "I am instructed by Col. Evans to make this statement to you as comingfrom him," Irving announced early in the interview: "He desires all theinformation you can give him regarding your program that was to havebeen followed if you had succeeded in making your way beyond the enemylines. He has certain plans in view, the success of which will dependlargely on the correctness of your information. If you should misinformhim, through us, those plans undoubtedly would fail. Moreover, if anyenemy spy should get a tip through you or anybody else, that theinformation supplied by you was being used to attain important ends,those ends probably would never be reached.

  "What we must have from you, therefore, is the truth, and the wholetruth. To insure his receiving this, Col. Evans has asked me to informyou that the only thing that can save you is the success of his plan.If the plan fails, he will assume that the blame is yours and you willbe shot."

  Irving paused a moment, and Hessenburg seized the opportunity offered tointerpose thus:

  "You mean to say that he will have me shot for something for which I'mnot the least responsible?"

  "Not at all," Irving replied. "You will be shot for being a spy, whichhas already been proved against you. But if you're careful to tell usthe truth, even though I don't cover some of it with my questions, yourchances to escape that penalty are good."

  "I understand," said the spy. "Fire away. I'll do the best I can."

  The three were seated about a small table in a small room selected forthe purpose. The door was closed. Irving drew a note-book and pencilfrom his pockets and prepared to jot down reminders of the informationreceived by him.

  "First," he said, "we'll all talk in low tones to prevent, if possible,anybody's overhearing us. Now, begin by telling me what was the extentof your acquaintance with spies in Canada and their system ofoperations."

  "My acquaintance with those people and their affairs was very limited,"Hessenburg replied. "I can't even say that my uncle was, or is, a spy,although it would be natural to suspect him. Government agents watchedhim pretty closely, and it's possible that he didn't actually doanything that would call for his arrest. But I'm pretty certain he knewa good deal more than I did. I think he knew all about my affair andapproved of it. To tell the truth, I believe that it was through himthat the spy organization learned that my sympathies were treasonableand decided to approach me on the subject of making a spy agent out ofme.

  "It was the man with whiskers at the hospital who first broached thesubject to me: You seem to have a pretty complete report of that affair.That man was a physician, and I got acquainted with him while makingbusiness trips to the hospital for my uncle. He learned that I was anart student, and one thing led to another, until he knew I wantedEngland and France to be defeated and was willing to do anything I couldsecretly to bring that about. After that it didn't take him long topersuade me to be the bearer of a tattooed message on my arm intoGermany. The other fellow who helped tattoo the message was the artist,an architectural draftsman with considerable skill at free-handdrawing."

  "What are their names?" asked Irving.

  "Dr. Adolph Marks and Jacob L. Voltz."

  "What is your uncle's name?"

  "Ferdinand J. Hessenburg."

  "What does the 'J' stand for?"

  "Johan."

  Irving put a long string of questions of this kind, and thus obtainedmuch detailed information regarding the spy and his family connectionsand home surroundings, also concerning the art school he attended inToronto. He made copious notes of the answers, so that the process ofquestioning the confessed enemy agent was necessarily much slower thanit otherwise would have been.

  "I'm up against one difficulty that I'd like to clear away," theinquisitor mused in the course of his examination of the wounded "secondlooie"; "and that is the fact that this fellow is an artist and I amnot. Suppose when I get over in Berlin, some wise fellow, full ofinformation from Canada, should ask me to paint a cubist picture. Whatwould I do? I must find out if there's any danger of my being asked todo anything of that sort to test my identity."

  He continued his questioning thus:

  "Did those two men who tattooed that picture on your arm know that youwere an art student?"

  "Oh, sure," Hessenburg replied. "That's how they happened to suggestthe art method of conveying the message."

  "And how about your credentials, your identification when you got intoGermany? How were the German officials to know who you were, that youweren't a fake?"

  "By the message itself."

  "You think your instructors believed that was enough?"

  "Yes, they said so. We had that question up for discussion. I raisedit myself."

  "How did you raise it?"

  "I wanted them to get word to Berlin by another route to look out forme, but they said that would involve a danger that they were trying toavoid by the tattoo method. If they tried to get a wireless codemessage to Berlin, it might be intercepted and deciphered, and then athorough search would be made for me."

  Irving was much relieved by this statement. There was no reason tosuspect Hessenburg of trying to deceive him in this regard. The spycould have no grounds to suspect that his inquisitor was planning totake his place and carry an altered copy of the cubist message to thewar lords of the enemy.

  "I guess I'm safe enough in that regard," he told himself. Then headded aloud:

  "You think they have no information regarding you in Berlin?"

  "Yes--I don't see why they should. I was informed that the contents ofthe message would be all the credential I'd need, that it would make meso popular among the high-ups that I could have anything I asked for."

  "But they wouldn't tell you what was in the message?"

  "I didn't ask. I knew better. The plan we were working on was directlyopposed to my knowing the information I was to carry."

  The quizzing of Hessenburg continued half an hour longer, and Irving andthe lieutenant started back for the colonel's headquarters.

  "Did I omit any questions I should have asked?" the spy-student inquiredafter they had ridden a short distance.

  "You did fine," Lieut. Osborne replied. "I couldn't think of anotherquestion that I would have asked."

  *CHAPTER XIX*

  *LAST PREPARATIONS*

  The next move in Irving's program of preparation for spy work in Germanyhad to do with the tattooing of an altered copy of the cubist artmessage on his arm. The alterations were made by the cryptologist whohad deciphered the original message. He made the changes afterconsulting with intelligence officials, who prepared a system of dotsand dashes that ostensibly conveyed valuable information. This"information," however, was not only misleading, but it was of suchcharacter that the deception could hardly be discovered before the lapseof months and possibly a year or more.

  By the time the spy-student had "completed his course of study" thematerial, instruments, and artist were ready for the pictorialoperation. The instruments had been supplied by a surgeon, the artisthad been discovered after a search by telephone communication with thevarious official headquarters of the regiment, and the material, somepure aniline dye, had been found in a moving laboratory, or automobilechemical outfit, maintained for surgical, sanitation, pure food, andpure water purposes for the army.

  The artist, aided by a surgeon, and the dye and some sharp-pointedneedles, did the work. It was a long and tedious task, and many restswere required for the users of the dye-dipped needles in order to keeptheir nerves steady and their judgment sure in the delicate workmanship.After it was finished, the boy compared it with the salt-preservedoriginal, and decided that the result could hardly have been moresatisfactory for the desired purpose.

  Then Irving had another session with Col. Evans, who gave him his finalinstructions.

  "I haven't given you much of an idea yet what we want you to find outfor us at Berlin, or wherever you can get the information," said thecommander of the regiment.
"We know, of course, that there is anextensive enemy spy organization in both Canada and the United States,and while we are able to get a few of those fellows now and then, stillthey're pretty smart as a rule, and we feel that we have only scratchedthe surface. We want their names, or the name of every leader ofconsequence among them. That's what we're sending you into Germany for.You must realize, therefore, that the mission on which you are beingsent is one of no small consequence. The highest officers in the armyhave been acquainted with the plan and not only concurred in it, butoffered suggestions for its improvement and perfection.

  "You have learned from Hessenburg what you are to do when you land onGerman soil. You will probably be taken to Berlin or some importantGerman military point, and there your message will be read. You will bea hero in the minds of the highest commanders and will undoubtedly begranted any favor you ask. My suggestion is that you ask to be assignedfor study to qualify you for the most confidential and important work inthe enemy secret service. Tell them you wish to return to America as aleader in the work and call their attention to the fact that, as youhave become pretty thoroughly Americanized, or Canadianized, and lostmost of the foreign appearance and accent of your father, you can passsuccessfully as a loyal citizen of the dominion. Then work your wayinto the confidence of those who are directing the spy system of ourenemies and get at their records. Get the names of all the leaders youcan find. You may be able to do this openly, for your own informationwhen you return to take up more important work in Canada and the UnitedStates. Give special attention to the spy activities in the UnitedStates, for we want to show that the pro-German agents in that countryare violating its policy of neutrality.

  "Now, let me tell you frankly why we have selected you for this work inspite of your youth. Any man,--I won't call you a boy, for from now onyou must be a man in every sense of the word,--any man who can puttogether the twos and twos you summed up after your experience withHessenburg, or Tourtelle, and after reading your cousin's letter, is anatural-born investigator. The average person would have been confusedby that evidence; he would not have had the nerve to form theconclusions you formed. I'm not saying this to flatter you. If you feelin the least flattered, you had better say so at once, and give up thewhole scheme, for there is great danger of your failing and being shot.Let me tell you why:

  "The man who has one second's time to entertain a conceited orself-conscious thought, devotes just that much time to the underminingof his own strength. Get me?"

  "Absolutely," Irving replied. "I've told myself that many times,although not in those words."

  "Now," continued the colonel, "I believe you told me that you hadstudied German at school?"

  "Yes, I had one year of it."

  "And Hessenburg said he knew only a little of the language?"

  "Yes."

  "Does he know any Austrian?"

  "No. His uncle and his father, although Austrians by birth, livedmostly in Germany until they emigrated."

  "Good. You will not be under suspicion because of your ignorance of theGerman language. Still, it would be well for you to be able to makeyourself understood and to understand others from the moment you getinto that country. So I'm going to put you under an instructor for afew days."

  In accord with this announcement, Private Ellis talked nothing butGerman for a week with an orderly of German parentage who had enlistedwith the Canadian army to help "get the kaiser." By the end of thattime he felt as if he could hold his own, conversationally, at anythingfrom a kaffee klatsch to a Berliner royal turnverein, and announced thathe was ready to make his "high dive" into the land of the enemy.

  *CHAPTER XX*

  *"SECOND LOOIE ELLIS"*

  Meanwhile activities at the front had been progressing in a decisivemanner, although familiarity with the progress and its significance wasrestricted to an exclusive class, consisting of certain officers and anarmy of industrious workers, who might be classed as the moles of modernwarfare.

  The latter were the engineers and workmen whose occupation at times wasa good deal like that of a miner. It had been their duty to tunnel,tunnel, tunnel, until you'd think the whole of the country in thisvicinity must be a system of underground passages that would almostrival the catacombs of Rome.

  This tunneling, or sapping, was one of the most important forms ofstrategy in the war. Undoubtedly in future years, remnants of many ofthese underground passages, preserved for their value as historicalcuriosities, will be inspected by thousands of tourists visiting thescenes of the world's greatest conflict.

  Vimy Ridge, near the end of the historic fight at that long elevation ofearth, was a veritable human anthill. The work of opposing armies intheir efforts to undermine each other is an exceedingly interesting, ifterrible, operation, and Vimy Ridge furnished an excellent illustrationof this.

  Early in the fight for possession of the hill the tunneling began. Atthe beginning of this narrative, when Private Irving Ellis and "SecondLooie Tourtelle" were scouting in No Man's Land, this boring of theelongated mole on the earth's surface was as much of a fencing contestas a sword battle between two seventeenth century Frenchmen. TheGermans held the hill, had taken possession of it and intrenchedthemselves on the eastern slope as one of the strongholds of theiradvanced positions in France. The Canadians and the British inattempting to dislodge the invaders, found themselves at a considerabledisadvantage. There seemed to be only one way to overcome thisdifficulty without a great slaughtering of the forces of the Allies.This was by boring under the hill, mining it with trinitrotoluol,touching off the explosive with electric sparks and blowing thefortified mound into Kingdom Come.

  Who first started the undermining process may never be known, unlessboth kept records of dates and doings along this line. It is probable,however, that it was begun by the Canadians, for the opposing army hadnot as great incentive for haste as had the Allies. Moreover, they didnot have to go back so far to start their tunnels, and theirsubterranean operations were more of defensive than offensive character.

  Statements from authoritative sources since the close of the warindicate that this tunneling contest was somewhat of a "diving" nature.It was a contest of depth as well as progress. The Allied engineersbegan operations at a certain level and went forward. As they advancedthey listened. It was like an American Indian putting his ear to theground to listen for the approach of distant enemy horsemen, or aphysician examining the chest of a patient with a stethoscope for"unfriendly" sounds in the heart and lungs. The engineers carried asort of subterranean stethoscope to detect the approach of enemytunnelers. The instant they heard sounds of Prussian engineers boringtheir way to meet the sappers of the Allies, they stopped operations andwent back to a new starting point and began over again, this time on alower level. This process was repeated many times, the Prussians everplanning to get near enough to the Canadian sappers to enable them tostop their subterranean operations with high explosives, and the Alliedtunnelers purposing to plant enough trinitrotoluol under Vimy Ridge toblow it sky-high.

  Meanwhile, Private Irving Ellis, in preparation for the greatest eventof his young career, was oblivious to all these activities, which weredestined to culminate in one of the biggest sensations of the war. Heknew in a vague way that something was going on under the ground at thefront. He had heard more or less reliable trench gossip to this effectand had enough real information to assure him that there was somethingbehind it. Moreover, it was reasonable, to one of modern warfaretraining, to suspect very extensive sapping activities in positions ofthis kind. However, he would have been greatly astonished if anintimation had come to him of how his own preparations for a plunge fromthe skies were converging in point of time with the preparations of theCanadians for blowing up Vimy Ridge.

  At last the occasion arrived for the carefully planned departure bynight of the "boche spy" with his tattooed message camouflaged in a"spasm of cubist art," as it was characterized by
the architecturaldraftsman who helped copy it on Irving's left forearm. The latter satin the rear seat of the aeroplane from which he had taken his lessons indropping from the sky and which was specially fitted up with anelaborate parachute mechanism of the latest and most approveddevelopment.

  Apparently it was an important occasion in aircraft activities asidefrom Irving's scheduled stunt, for a large squadron of machines waspreparing for flight at the same time. Probably a big raid was about tobe made on the boche lines or some important ammunition or supplystation of the enemy, the boy reasoned. But no information wasvolunteered to him on this subject and he asked none, for it had nothingto do with his affair. He was merely to watch for his opportunity, pickhis own time for taking "French leave," signal the pilot by an agreedtouch on the shoulder, "put up his umbrella," and depart.

  Irving had more than one good cause to feel elated at the manner inwhich circumstances had shaped themselves for an all-around success ofhis venture up to the present time. And not the least of these was thepresentation to him, a few hours before his flight over the boche lines,of a second lieutenant's commission. Accompanying this was a note fromCol. Evans wishing him the "best of good fortune," and concluding thus: