"
He led me by two flights of stairs up an iron stairway that gave on a
platform, not unlike a ship's bridge, immediately above the barrelled
glass roof of the riding-school. Through a ribbed ventilator I could see B
Company far below watching some men who chased sheep. Burgard unlocked a
glass-fronted fire-alarm arrangement flanked with dials and speaking-
tubes, and bade me press the centre button.
Next moment I should have fallen through the riding-school roof if he had
not caught me; for the huge building below my feet thrilled to the
multiplied purring of electric bells. The men in the school vanished like
minnows before a shadow, and above the stamp of booted feet on staircases
I heard the neighing of many horses.
"What in the world have I done?" I gasped.
"Turned out the Guard--horse, foot, and guns!"
A telephone bell rang imperiously. Burgard snatched up the receiver:
"Yes, Sir.... _What_, Sir?... I never heard they said that," he laughed,
"but it would be just like 'em. In an hour and a half? Yes, Sir. Opposite
the Statue? Yes, Sir."
He turned to me with a wink as he hung up.
"Bayley's playing up for you. Now you'll see some fun."
"Who's going to catch it?" I demanded.
"Only our local Foreign Service Corps. Its C.O. has been boasting that
it's _en tat de partir_, and Bayley's going to take him at his word and
have a kit-inspection this afternoon in the Park.
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