General Crandall, in whom incredulity was beginning to give way to the first faint glimmerings of conviction as to the possibility of truth in the informer's tale, rallied himself nevertheless to combat an aspersion cast on a British officer. "Suppose the Germans have a spy in my signal tower or anywhere here," he began argumentatively. "Suppose they learn every nook and corner of the Rock--have the caliber and range of every gun in our defense; they couldn't capture Gibraltar in a thousand years." "I don't know what they want," Capper returned, with the injured air of a man whose worth fails of recognition. "I only came here to warn you that your Captain Woodhouse is taking orders from Berlin." "Come--come, man! Give me some proof to back up this cock-and-bull story," General Crandall snapped. He had risen, and was pacing nervously back and forth. Capper was secretly elated at this sign that his story had struck home. He stilled the fluttering of his hands by an effort, and tried to bring his voice to the normal. "Here it is, General--all I've got of the story. The real Woodhouse comes down from somewhere up in the Nile--I don't know where--and puts up for the night in Alexandria to wait for the _Princess Mary_. No friends in the town, you know; nowhere to visit. Three Wilhelmstrasse men in Alexandria, headed by that clever devil Cook, or Koch, who calls himself a doctor now. Somehow they get hold of the real Woodhouse and do for him--what I don't know--probably kill the poor devil. "General, I saw with my own eyes an unconscious British officer being carried away from Koch's house in Ramleh in an automobile--two men with him." Capper fixed the governor with a lean index finger dramatically. "And I saw the man you just this morning received as Captain Woodhouse leave Doctor Koch's house five minutes after that poor devil--the real Woodhouse--had been carried off. That's the reason I took the same boat with him to Gibraltar, General Crandall--because I'm loyal and it was my duty to warn you." "Incredible!" "One thing more, General." Capper was sorely tempted, but for the minute his wholesome fear of consequences curbed his tongue. "Woodhouse isn't working alone on the Rock; you can be sure of that. He's got friends to help him turn whatever trick he's after--maybe in this very house. They're clever people, you can mark that down on your slate!" "Ridiculous!" The keeper of the Rock was fighting not to believe now. "Why, I tell you if they had a hundred of their spies inside the lines--if they knew the Rock as well as I do they could never take it." Capper rose wearily, the air of a misunderstood man on him. "Perhaps they aren't trying to capture it. I know nothing about that. Well--I've done my duty--as one Englishman to another. I hope I've told you in time. I'll be going now." General Crandall swung on him sharply. "Where are you going?" he demanded.