"Why not?" inquired Macaroni, with rather a belligerent air, as befitted
one in the midst of war's alarms. "Why not go and ask this fellow what
he means by spying on us?"
"In the first place, if we could confront him, which I very much doubt,"
answered Blake, "he would probably deny that he was even so much as
looking at us, except casually. Those fellows from Scotland Yard, or
whatever the English now call their Secret Service, are as keen as they
make 'em. We wouldn't get any satisfaction by kicking."
"Then let's fight!" suggested Charlie. "We can protest to the officer
who told us to wait here for our permits to go to the front. We can say
we're United States citizens and we object to being spied on. Let's do
it!"
"Yes, we could do that," said Blake slowly. "But perhaps we are being
kept under surveillance by the orders of that same officer."
"What in the world for?"
"Well, because the authorities may want to find out more about us."
"But didn't we have our passports all right? And weren't our papers in
proper shape?" asked Charlie indignantly.
"As far as we ourselves are concerned, yes," said Blake. "But you must
remember that passports have been forged before, by Germans, and----"
"I hope they don't take _us_ for Germans!" burst out Charlie.
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