Page 56 - A Hero of Liége

"You will pardon me, I am sure. Lieutenant Pariset's voucher for you is
sufficient; but in such times as these I should not be doing my duty if I

allowed Mr. Granger to be at large without enquiry. Will you explain that
to him, and ask him to give me a reference to a British authority?"

"Certainly. I am sure you will find things all right."

"The dear man!" laughed Granger when Kenneth told him this. "He needn't
have been so careful of my feelings as to ask you to break it to me. I've no

doubt I can satisfy him."

He mentioned the name of an official high in the British Foreign Office.

"A telegram to that address will bring me a character," he said. "Meanwhile

I am out of work, and a sort of prisoner on parole. I am sorry, because I fear
it means that we shall be separated for a time. You, I suppose, will want to
be up and doing."

"Yes. I've talked things over with Pariset, and he wants me to go with him

in his aeroplane in search of that bridge. But we'll meet again before long.
I'm jolly glad we came across each other."

They shook hands cordially and parted.

Meanwhile Lieutenant Pariset had been in consultation with the
commander of the Belgian Flying Corps. It had been decided that Pariset,
accompanied by Kenneth, should make a reconnaissance in his aeroplane

along the railway lines with a view to discover the bridge that was
threatened. The German monoplane, though faster than his own, was

discarded: it would certainly have been fired upon as it crossed the Belgian
lines. There was no clue as to the direction in which the bridge lay, whether
north, east, south or west of Liege. But it seemed certain that the Germans

would not wish to blow up any bridges on the east. They would rather
preserve them, in order to facilitate their advance. It was more probable that

the bridge in question was on a section of the railway by which
reinforcements, either French or Belgian, might be despatched to Liege. It