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“And make a mess of the case,” finished “Captain” Grace. “Pardon me.”

“Military information of a vital nature is percolating to the enemy. Of course an army always has and always will have traitors in it, enemy subjects, I mean, but we thought we had stopped all the leaks. It appears that we haven’t.”

“It is an impossible task, Captain,” observed Grace.

“So long as there are wars there will be spies,” added the general. “All that we can do is to do our best to minimize the evil and deal sternly with those we catch. Our people in Washington have not been in sympathy with stern measures and the enemy knows this. The result is they have been very bold. It was Mrs. Gray, I understand, Captain, who was responsible for the capture of the spy André.”

“And Madame de Beaupre,” added Captain Boucher.

“Oh, you know about it, then?” exclaimed General Gordon.

“Yes.”

“Suppose we change the subject,” suggested75 Grace, her face flushing. “I never did like to hear myself talked about. May I ask if we are using carrier pigeons on this march?” she questioned innocently.

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“Not to speak of. We have them, of course, but our lines of communication are so open that birds are not needed. We have sent out a few in an experimental way; but that is all.”

“In which direction did they fly, sir, if I may ask?”

“Westward, of course. Why do you ask?” demanded the captain, bending a keen glance on the face of the Overton girl.

“I wondered.”

“Will you be good enough to tell us, Mrs. Gray, why you appear to be so interested in carrier pigeons at this moment?” urged the Intelligence officer.

“Yes, what have you to suggest?” added the general.

“That you watch the skies in the early morning. Pigeons are being flown from this army in the early morning, and, sir, they are flying to the eastward,” Grace Harlowe informed them in a quiet tone.

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