"What do we know about Cusick?" he asked, finally.
"One of the best men we've got. They've fired his place once, and
he's keen to get them."
"You're anxious to go?"
"I'm going," said Pink, cheerfully.
"Then I'd better go along and look after you. But I tell you how I
see it. After I've done that I'll go as far as you like. Either
there is nothing to it and we're fools for our pains, or there's a
lot to it, and in that case we are a pair of double-distilled
lunatics to go there alone."
Pink laughed joyously.
Life had been very dull for him since his return from France. He
had done considerable suffering and more thinking than was usual
with him, but he had had no action. But behind his boyish zest
there was something more, something he hid as he did the fact that
he sometimes said his prayers; a deep and holy thing, that always
gave him a lump in his throat at Retreat, when the flag came slowly
down and the long lines of men stood at attention. Something he
was half ashamed and half proud of, love of his country.
* * * * *
At the same time another conversation was going on in the rear room
of a small printing shop in the heart of the city.
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