Bob Hunt in Canada | Page 6

in a large room in which there were many desks with officers seated and busily writing. Gold lace, silver spurs, bright officer's swords, red caps, and the air of discipline and business that characterized the whole room did not fail to have its effect on the boys. Nor did they fail to notice that each of the doors was guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets standing at attention. The Tommy who was escorting them took them up to one of the desks and said,
"Captain Davidson, I have here under arrest, this young man with these two others as witnesses."
"Of what are they accused?" asked the officer, as he glanced sharply at the three of them.
"Of espionage," said the soldier.
"Of espionage?" said the officer. "That is a serious offense."
"I know it is but that is the term under which the offense comes," replied the soldier.
"This must be taken up by the Commandant himself," said the Captain, as he touched a bell at his side. Immediately a young officer appeared.
"Captain Abercrombie, tell Major-General Norris, the Commandant, that we have here a prisoner accused of espionage."
The orderly saluted and was soon lost to view behind a door at one end of the hall. He was back in a few minutes. During that time, our three adventurers stood and watched with interest the varied scene that was taking-place before them.
"This is some lark," said Bill to Bob in a low tone.
"No communication between the prisoner and witnesses," said the Tommy at once, as he moved nearer as if to enforce his demands. Pud looked over at Bill with a sort of reproach in his eyes, for he had heard the remark. Bob kept his eyes front for he was very much interested in the comings and goings of the officers, orderlies and soldiers that came and went throughout the hall.
"Captain Davidson," said the orderly as he returned, "the Commandant requests that you send in the prisoner and witnesses to him at once.'
"Very well," said the Captain. "Here they are and I hand them over to you together with Private Watkins, who arrested them."
They were then marched into the next room where they found a big white-haired man sitting at a desk busily engaged. The orderly stopped his charges at a respectful distance. The Commandant kept on writing for a few minutes but suddenly he turned around and gave a sharp and piercing look at the young Americans.
"Americans," said he, in rather a relieved tone. "Captain Abercrombie, let me know the gist of this affair."
"Major-General Norris, I shall have to ask Private Watson to give you the details at first hand, for as yet I know nothing about the matter, except that one of these young men is accused of being a spy."
"Private Watson, give me the details of the matter."
"Your Excellency," said Private Watson, "I know nothing more than that as I stood at my post on the Ramparts, near Gun No. 145, I saw this young man (pointing to Bill) suddenly produce one of those very small German cameras and try to take a photo of the gun and its location."
"Young man, is this so?" asked the Commandant in a serious voice.
"It is so, except that I did not intend to do any harm; the gun seemed very picturesque to me and I wanted a photo of it," said Bill.
"Were you not told that you should leave cameras of all kinds with the gateman?" asked the Commandant.
"No," said Bill. "We came in a carriage and nothing was said to us."
"Then, you were given a card and asked to read it, were you not?" continued the Commandant.
"Yes," said Bill, "but to tell the truth, I didn't read it carefully."
"Where is that card?" was the next question.
Bill fumbled in his pocket and in a moment held it out.
"Private Watson, kindly show the prisoner the order relating to cameras," said the Commandant.
Private Watson then came forward and, taking the card, he showed Bill the paragraph stating that all cameras must be left at the gate.
"I am very sorry, sir, that I was so careless," said Bill. "I did not think that anything I could do would get me into trouble here and I didn't think it necessary to read the card. There were so many things to see that I just put it in my pocket."
"That is not much of an excuse," said the Commandant in a stern voice. "You must remember that you are here in a military fortress and that we can't be too strict in some matters."
"I recognize that now, but I assure you that I had no motive whatever in taking the picture except to get a unique photo," said Bill humbly.
The Commandant for the next ten minutes put the three boys through a regular third degree examination. They told him who