Читать книгу Two American Boys with the Allied Armies онлайн

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The officer looked at him keenly. He was not yet wholly convinced, though the air of candor with which Jack spoke went far toward making him feel less harshly toward the pair of lads. Besides, with his own eyes and through his field glasses he must have witnessed the abrupt descent of the German machine; and the boys had certainly come from that direction.

He turned and talked with his officers in low tones. Some of them seemed to be ready to believe Jack’s story, while others looked skeptical.

Seeing this, Jack realized that it was time to make a move on his own account in order to shift the tide his way. He quietly drew out a little pocket case of morocco leather in which he carried several papers that were of especial value. One, which was already well thumbed, he selected. The colonel was watching him curiously, and that gleam of suspicion had not vanished entirely from his heavy, florid face.

“Would you mind glancing over this paper, sir?” remarked Jack, apparently in a careless manner. “It will explain who we are to some extent. Perhaps the name at the bottom, an old friend of my chum’s father, may be of interest to you.”