Why can I not go to Gumbinnen ?" The officer took the paper and, when he had read it, told the soldier.
They seemed to find Fred's explanation plausible, and his writing had passed muster.
"Here is a fine mess!" said the lieutenant.

"Poor boy! I feel sorry for one with such an affliction! And is he not between the devil and the deep blue sea?
In Gumbinnen there will be Russian cavalry by to-morrow--and at Insterberg, I suppose, the first real battle will be fought!" Fred caught his breath.

He was getting what he wanted now, certainly! If only he did not betray himself! If the officer would only go on and tell him a little more! And he did go on, almost as if he were speaking to himself.
"If his people have any sense, they will have cleared out of Gumbinnen before this.

He knows someone at Insterberg, perhaps, but if it is the plan to let the Russians come so far without fighting and then strike while they are there, the population will have been ordered out.

And they have been unloading troop trains at Insterberg, too--so that the Russians would not find out how many men we had here.