The road was rising a little, enough for them to feel the added pull in propelling their wheels. And now, at the crest of the little rise, they saw that the officer had dismounted. He had unstrapped a box from his machine and was setting it up. In a few minutes, as they reached him, he had set up a tripod-like machine, not unlike a surveyor's instrument, and was flashing a small mirror. "Hello!" he said. "Field heliograph kit. Ever see it before?" "No, sir, but I know about it," said Frank, while Henri looked on admiringly. "I know the Morse code, too." "Do you? Good! Then watch those answering flashes. Check off the message for me." Harry obeyed, having spotted in that moment the answer of a similar instrument on a hill perhaps five miles away. He read off the Morse signs carefully, and the officer nodded. "And that's all right," he said, with a sigh of relief. "They'll have an escort here for us as quickly as it can ride over. I suppose you know I signalled for that?" "Yes, sir." The officer was plainly puzzled by Frank and Henri. He could not quite understand what they were doing in what was decidedly disputed ground. But he had not the instinct that would have prompted a French, and more especially, a German officer, to question them and, if he was not fully satisfied, to put them under restraint. "All right. We'll be getting on," he said. "Ride along, now. I'm going back. Don't get out of touch. And if I'm not around when we get to the road where we are to turn off for Guise, stop them. They know you're guiding us." He went off, with a great sputtering of his engine, and Frank and Harry rode along quietly. But Frank felt a strange uneasiness. "I feel as if there was something wrong around here," he said. "What do you mean, Frank? Everything's quiet now. Even the firing is not as heavy as it was." "I know, but just the same, that's how I feel. As if there was something in the air. What's this--a village we're coming to?" "Yes, and the crossroads where the 'buses must turn, for Guise is just beyond here, too." "Doesn't look much like war, does it?" said Frank. "Look at that church. I suppose it's been there for centuries. But the clock looks new, doesn't it?" "Yes, and it's stopped, too," said Henri, with a laugh. "I suppose they are so excited about the war that they've forgotten to wind it properly." "The time of day doesn't matter much just now," said Frank. "I think--" He stopped short, staring as if fascinated at the clock. Then with a cry to Henri to wait for him, he turned and pedalled furiously back in the direction the officer had taken. "Who is the commander?" he called to the soldier driver of one of the 'buses. "Capting 'Ardy," replied the man.