"Not as bad as that, I hope. It looks encouraging to be told to wait and
come in."
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."
"In custody!" cried the three at once. And Blake a moment later added:
"On what grounds?"
"That I am not at liberty to tell you, exactly," the officer replied.
"You are arrested under the Defense of the Realm Act, and the charges
will be made known to you in due course of time.
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