the depths of the beautiful forest. He and Jules had become theclosest of friends, and with Yvette, whose winning personality seemed tobind him to her more closely day by day, they made up a happy houseparty. They were looked after by a capable old peasant woman who wasthe devoted slave of all three, but whose admiration for Yvette seemedto rise almost to the point of veneration.
On the day following the conversation recorded above, they weresurprised to receive a visit from Regnier himself--an alert, dark-eyedman who seemed seriously perturbed.
"There is no time to be lost," he declared. "I hear to-day from Gastonthat he has managed to get a near view of the new German machine. Hesays it rose apparently from the flat roof of a house standing in itsown grounds outside Spandau. He happened to be near and caught sight ofit just in time. Of course it was dark and he could see no details.But he is positive that the machine rose nearly straight up from theflat roof at an angle far too steep for any of our machines. That aloneis sufficient to show that the Germans have got hold of something newand valuable. He waited for a long time, and finally saw the machinereturn. He declares it landed again on the roof. Evidently, MonsieurManton, they have found out something along the lines of your invention,even if they have not actually got your secret."
"How far away was Gaston when he saw it?" asked Dick.
"It must have been at least a quarter of a mile," replied Regnier, "asthe grounds are very extensive. Gaston dared not venture an attempt toget inside; the high fence is utterly unscalable, and the two lodgegates are always kept locked and there is a keeper at each."
"And he heard the engine?"
"Yes, he says so specifically," replied the Chief.
"Well," said Dick, "at any rate we are ahead of them to that extent. Ifit had been my machine he would not have heard the engine at all at thatdistance."
"However," he went on, "it is evidently time we acted. Now, MonsieurRegnier, Mademoiselle Pasquet has told me what you want. I am willingto go. But I shall have to take the Mohawk. How are we to hide it? Ican get over and back at night safely enough, but to hide the machine inthe day-time will be another matter."
"Gaston can arrange that," the Chief declared. "You know he has a farma short distance outside, Spandau. There is a big barn there with nosides, and your machine can be easily dragged into it and concealedduring the day. You know Gaston is passing as a German farmer. He hasacted for years for us in this way and has never even been suspected.But you could not stay long."
"Very good," said Dick. "I think the best plan will be for Jules to goby motor and for Mademoiselle to go separately by train. They must findout somehow exactly where the German plane is lodged and, if possible,where the plans are likely to be kept, and I must act accordingly. Inany case, there will be no difficulty in smashing up the machine, butunless we destroy the plans as well they will be building another toosoon to suit us. I will go to Verdun and wait there with the Mohawkuntil the time comes for me to fly over."
Jules and Yvette left the next day. Jules' car was quite an ordinaryone, but it had one important detail added. In the hollow flooring wascunningly concealed a small but powerful wireless telegraph set, thepower for which was supplied by the engine. It was highly efficient,but had one serious drawback; it could only be used while the car was atrest owing to the necessity for running an aerial wire up some tallstructure, such as a building or a tree. This, in a country where everyone was specially suspicious of spies, was a serious peril.
Three days later seven mysterious dots began to excite the ungovernablecuriosity of the wireless world!
Jules and Yvette, on arrival in Berlin, had taken rooms adjoining oneanother at the "Adlon," the big cosmopolitan hotel which is alwayscrowded with visitors from every country under the sun. Yvette posed asa school teacher on an educational tour, but her position was one ofgreat danger. It was impossible to disguise her face, and although shehad done what she could to destroy her French individuality by wearingpeculiarly hideous German clothes, there was the ever-present dangerthat she would be seen and recognised by some of the many German agentswho during the war had learnt to know her features, and who had goodreason to remember her daring exploits in Alsace.
At the same time, in order to have a possible retreat in a humblerneighbourhood, Yvette had hired a room in one of the mean quarters ofthe town, putting in a few miserable sticks of furniture and giving outthat she was a sempstress employed at one of the big shops.
She and Jules had decided never to speak in public. It was essential,however, that they should be able to communicate freely, and through thewall between their rooms Jules had bored with a tiny drill a holethrough which he had passed a wire of a small pocket telephone. Theycould thus talk with ease and with the doors of their rooms locked theywere absolutely safe from detection so long as they spoke in a whisper.
It was on a dark night, the sky obscured by heavy masses of clouds, thatDick rose in the Mohawk from the Forest of Fontainebleau and headed forVerdun. A couple of hours' flying brought him over the fortress and hedescended in a clearing in a dense wood where he was welcomed by CaptainLe Couteur, the chief engineer of the military wireless station.Covered with big tarpaulins, the Mohawk was left under the guard of adozen Zouaves, and Dick and Captain Le Couteur motored to the citadel.
Here the Captain took Dick directly into the steel-walled chamber deepunder the fortifications which was the brain of the defences of Verdun.It was the nucleus of the entire system of telegraph and telephone wireswhich, in time of war, would keep the commander of the troops in thedistrict fully informed of everything that was happening in every sectorof the defences. The innermost room of all, where none but the Captainhimself had access, contained the secret codes which dozens of foreignagents would have willingly risked their lives to possess. Theirefforts--and they knew it--would have been in vain, for the chamber wasguarded day and night by a band of picked men whose fidelity to Francewas utterly beyond the possibility of suspicion.
"Your messages have already started--the seven dots at intervals ofseven seconds," said Captain Le Couteur when they were comfortablyseated in the innermost room. "I got half a dozen test calls last nightand everything seems to be working well. I expect they are arousingsome interest, for operators all over Europe will be mystified. Therewill be another call about nine o'clock and in the meantime you hadbetter get some sleep. I will call you if anything happens."
Dick stretched himself on a couch and slept peacefully. Nine o'clockfound him with Captain Le Couteur seated in the innermost room at atable covered with delicate wireless apparatus. Turning a switch, theCaptain lit up the row of little valves, put the receiving set inoperation, and assuming one headpiece himself, handed another to Dick.
He placed his hand upon one of the ebonite knobs of the complicatedapparatus and slowly turned it. Then he turned a second condenser verycarefully.
"We are on the ordinary six-hundred-metre wave-length now," the Captainexplained, "and shall remain so until we get our seven dots. I am boundto keep the machine so or I should miss other messages I ought to hear.But we will change as soon as we get your signal."
Presently they came, sharp and clear, dot-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot.Immediately Captain Le Couteur made some swift adjustments.
"Now listen," he said, "we are on a three-hundred-and-fifty-metrewave-length."
A moment later came three M's--three pairs of dashes.
"That's Code Five," said Captain Le Couteur. "Now we shall get the realmessage."
It came in what to Dick was a gibberish of letters and figures, butCaptain le Couteur wrote it down and then, decoding it, read it off withthe skill of the expert. It ran:
"M M M begins Have located the machine stop Apparently entirely new type stop Tell Manton to be ready stop M M M ends."
"That's our newest code," the Captain explained, "and this is the firsttime it has been used. Jules learnt it only just before he left. It isvery unlikely that the message has been picked up by an
yone else, as thewave-length is quite low, but even if it was, no one could decipher thecode from such a short message. They would want one very much longer,and even then it would probably take at least a week or ten days of veryhard work by a lot of experts."
And he paused.
"I think it would be well now for one of us to be constantly here," hewent on. "Perhaps, too, you would like to overhaul your machine so asto have it absolutely ready to get away at a moment's notice. Myfellows will give you any help you want and they are all absolutely tobe depended upon not to talk."
Dick soon had the Mohawk ready; indeed there was not much to do aftersuch a short trip as the flight to Verdun. The rest of the day he spentchatting with Captain Le Couteur, finding him a delightful companion