Berlin recognises the uses of pseudo-clergy in time of war, for quite a number of German village clergy are impecunious and of a distinctly low class, and thus the army is not averse to their imposture. Men of this kind are selected for service in the field, where it is anticipated they can make themselves useful, under the pretext of ministering to the wounded, by extracting information about the movements of troops, etc. It is arranged that, in the event of a retreat, the clerical spy shall convey to the pursuing force detailed information regarding the losses in men and guns of those retreating, the numbers of men still unwounded, and the _moral_ of the troops, by means of signals as detailed above-- broken branches of trees, specially placed stones, and other things. One favourite system of espionage on active service, from the German point of view, consists in the use of the Red Cross van. Under the rules governing international war, the Red Cross van may go anywhere, even into the enemy's lines, to pick up wounded, and the German forces, "making war by all the violent means at their command," have not scrupled to make use of Red Cross vans both for espionage work and as shelter for machine-guns--authentic cases are reported in which treacherous fire has been opened on the troops of the Allies in this way. Another method of obtaining information consists in sending two scouts out with a coil of wire, when in the presence of the enemy. The scouts, bearing one end of the wire, are instructed to approach the enemy's lines, at night, and of course, when they have approached within sight, they are shot. The wire no longer "pays out" from the end kept in the lines, and the length unrolled, when hauled back and measured, gives the artillery-range almost to a nicety. Communications in times of peace are never made direct to headquarters. The fixed spies, as already remarked, employ such agents as they may choose and their rate of pay allows. Their reports are collected by the travelling spies, who are under the control of agents of sections, stationed in Belgium and Switzerland (up to the outbreak of war) but not in Germany. From the agents of sections reports go to the Central Bureau of the secret service at Berlin, where sorting and classification of news supplied is pursued, and all that part of the world which could possibly be inimical to Germany is card-indexed. It is a sordid, sorry, mean business, utterly devoid of the romance and glamour with which the spy of fiction has invested it, and, whatever the fate of German armies in the field may be, the secret service of Germany has done more than anything else to pervert the moral sense of the nation. CHAPTER EIGHT. WOMEN SPIES.