No, it's not worth while to go back and investigate them.
They're under an inch of snow now."
"Why did you think Germans had made them?"
Weber opened his gloved hand and disclosed something metallic, a spike
from a German helmet.
"This," he said, "had become loosened and it fell from the cap of some
careless fellow. It could have been there only a few minutes, because
the snow had not yet covered it. I think a considerable party has got
behind the French lines under cover of the storm and has passed through
Chastel."
"But they must have gone on. Why would they remain in a ruined town like
this?"
"I see no reason for their doing so, unless to seek shelter for a while
in some buildings not wholly wrecked, just as you and Mademoiselle
Lannes' party have done."
John felt a throb of alarm.
"Has the Hotel de l'Europe escaped their observation?" he asked.
"I think so. I did not notice any light myself when I approached it. But
I had been in Chastel before, and of course knew of the house and its
location. I went there at once, hoping that it had escaped destruction,
and found my hopes justified. Has Mademoiselle Lannes heard anything
from her brother? I did not see his name on the register?"
"He has not come, but the weather has made it impossible. Aeroplanes
can't dare such snowstorms as this.
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