left the room. The women heard him drive their ambulance out from shelter, crank up the engine, and run it for five minutes to get it thoroughly heated. Then he turned the engine off, and put a blanket over the radiator, tucking it well in to preserve the heat. "Let's put what we need into the car," suggested Mrs. Bracher. [85] [85] They picked up their bags, and went toward the ambulance. It was pleasant to do something active under that tension. They stepped out into a night of chill and blackness. They could not see ten feet in front of them. It was moon-time but no moon. Heavy clouds were in possession of the sky, weaving a thick texture of darkness. "There they start," said the Commandant. Shell fire was beginning from the north, from the direction of the sea. "They are covering their advance," he went on. "Those are 21 or 28 Point shells. They are falling short about 1800 yards, but they are coming straight in our direction." They walked past their car and down the road. They looked across the fields into the black night. Straight down the road a lamp suddenly shone in the gloom. It moved to and fro, and up [86]and down. There was regularity in its motion. A great shaft of answering white light shot up into the night from the north. [86] "They are signalling from inside our line here," said the Commandant, "over there to the enemy guns beyond Ramskappele. Some spy down here with a flash-lamp is telling them that we're out of ammunition." "But can't we catch the spy?" urged Hilda. "That light doesn't look to be more than a few hundred yards away." "That is further away than it looks," answered Jost; "that's all of a mile away. He's hidden somewhere in a field." Mrs. Bracher seized Victor by the arm, and faced the Commandant. "I know where he's hidden," she cried. "Let me show you."
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