Froc stared at her, and then looked pointedly at Clogston.
‘You’ll have a chance to speak later, corporal,’ said the major.
‘But what exactly have we done wrong, sir?’ said Polly. ‘They should tell us.’
Froc looked at the far end of the row of chairs. ‘Captain?’ he said.
A short officer got to his feet. In Polly’s face, the tide of recognition raced across the mudflats of hatred.
‘Captain Strappi, political division, sir—’ he began, and stopped at the groan from the squad. When it had died away he cleared his throat, and went on: ‘Twenty-seven Abominations have been committed under Nugganatic law, sir. I suspect there have been many more. Under military law, sir, we have the simple fact that they posed as men in order to join up. I was there, sir, and saw it all.’
‘Captain Strappi, may I congratulate you on your rapid promotion?’ said Lieutenant Blouse.
‘Yes, indeed, captain,’ said Clogston. ‘Apparently you were a humble corporal only a few days ago?’
Plaster dust drifted down again as something heavy struck the wall outside. Froc brushed it off his paperwork.
‘Not one of ours, I hope,’ he said, to a certain amount of laughter. ‘Do go ahead, captain.’
Strappi turned to the general. ‘As you know, sir, it is occasionally necessary for us in the political division to assume a lower rank in order to gain intelligence. Covered under the Regulations, sir,’ he added.
The look that General Froc gave him stirred a little teacup of hope in Polly’s breast. No one could like something like Strappi, not even a mother. Then the general turned back to Clogston.
‘Is this germane, major?’ he said testily. ‘We know they disguised themselves as—’
‘—women, sir,’ said Clogston smoothly. ‘That’s all we know, sir. Apart from Captain Strappi’s assertion, and I intend to suggest later that this is tainted, I haven’t yet heard any evidence that they have dressed in any other way.’
‘We have the evidence of our own eyes, man!’
‘Yes, sir. They’re wearing dresses, sir.’
‘And they’re practically bald!’
‘Yes, sir,’ said Clogston. He picked up a thick book, dripping with bookmarks. ‘Book of Nuggan, sir: “It is a Beatitude unto Nuggan that An Woman shall wear her hair short, that the amorous propensities of men be not therefore inflamed.”‘
‘I don’t see a lot of bald women around!’ snapped Froc.
‘Yes, sir. It is one of those utterances that people find somewhat tricky, like the one about not sneezing. I should say at this point, sir, that I intend to show that Abominations are routinely committed by all of us. We have got into the habit of ignoring them, in fact, which opens up an interesting debate. In any case, short hair is Nugganatically correct. In short, sir, and in short hair, the ladies appear to have been involved in nothing more than a little laundry, a kitchen accident and the release of your good self from the cells.’
‘I saw them!’ snarled Strappi. ‘They looked like men and they acted like men!’
‘Why were you in the recruiting party, captain?’ said Major Clogston. ‘I would not have thought one of those would have been a hotbed of seditious activity?’
‘Is that a relevant question, major?’ said the general.
‘I don’t know, sir,’ said Clogston. ‘That’s why I asked. I don’t think we would wish it to be said that these ladies had not been given a fair hearing?’
‘Said by whom?’ said Froc. ‘My officers can be relied upon to be discreet.’
‘Said by the ladies themselves, sir?’
‘Then we must require that they do not speak to anyone!’
‘Oh, I say!’ said Blouse.
‘And how will you enforce this, sir?’ said Clogston. ‘Against these women who, we are agreed, stole you out of the jaws of the enemy?’
There was some muttering amongst the officers.
‘Major Clogston, did you have lunch?’ said the general.
‘No, sir.’
‘Colonel Vester said you become a little . . . erratic when you miss meals . . .’
‘No, sir. I become tetchy, sir. But I think a little tetchiness is called for right now. I put a question to Captain Strappi, sir.’
‘Very well, captain, perhaps you will tell us why you were with that recruiting party?’ said the general wearily.
‘I was . . . investigating a soldier, sir. A non-commissioned officer. Our attention had been drawn to irregularities in his files, sir, and where there are irregularities we generally find sedition. I hesitate to talk about this, sir, because this sergeant has been of some service to yourself—’
‘Hrumph!’ said the general loudly. ‘This is not a matter for discussion here, I think.’
‘It was just that according to the files, several officers had helped—’ Strappi went on.
‘Hrumph! Not matters for this court, captain! Are we agreed, gentlemen?’
‘Yes, sir, it was just that the major asked me and I—’ Strappi began, bewildered.
‘Captain, I suggest you learn what a hrumph means!’ roared Froc.
‘So what were you looking for when you rummaged through our stuff?’ said Polly, as Strappi shrank.
‘Mmmmmy cccccoffee!’ said Maladict. ‘Yyyyyou ssssstole mmmmmy cccccoffee!’
‘And you ran away when you were told you were going into combat, you little dog’s pizzle!’ said Tonker. ‘Polly said you pissed your drawers!’
General Froc slammed his fist on the table, but Polly noticed that one or two officers were trying to conceal a smile. ‘These are not matters for this inquiry!’ he said.
‘Although, sir, one or two of them seem to me to be subjects for investigation later on,’ said a colonel, further along the table. ‘The personal belongings of enlisted men may only be searched in their presence, general. This may seem a trivial point, but men have mutinied over it in the past. Did you, in fact, believe the . . . men to be women when you did this, captain?’
Oh, say yes, please say yes, Polly thought, as Strappi hesitated. Because when we talk about how those cavalrymen found us so quickly, it’ll mean you set them on a bunch of Borogravian girls. Let’s see how that one plays in Plün! And if you didn’t know, then why were you rummaging?
Strappi preferred the rock to the hard place. Stone clattered down in the courtyard outside, and he had to raise his voice to make himself heard.
‘I was, er, generally suspicious of them, sir, because they were so keen—’
‘Sir, I protest!’ said Clogston. ‘Keenness is not a military vice!’
‘In moderation, certainly,’ said Froc. ‘And you found evidence of some sort, did you?’
‘I did find a petticoat, sir,’ said Strappi, feeling his way with care.
‘Then why didn’t you—’ Froc began, but Strappi interrupted.
‘I did serve for a while with Captain Wrigglesworth, sir,’ he said.
‘And?’ said Froc, but the officer on his left leaned over and whispered something to him. ‘Oh, Wrigglesworth. Ha, yes,’ said Froc. ‘Of course. Fine officer, Wrigglesworth. Keen on, er—’
‘Amateur dramatics,’ a colonel supplied, in a noncommittal voice.
‘Right! Right! Ver’ good for morale, that sort of thing. Hrumph.’
‘With respect, general, I think I can offer a way through?’ said another man with a general’s rank.
‘Really, Bob?’ said Froc. ‘Oh, well. . . feel free. The record will show that I am yielding the floor to General Kzupi.’
‘I’m sorry, sir, I thought these proceedings were not being recorded?’ said Clogston.
‘Yes, yes, of course, thank you so much for jogging my memory,’ said Froc. ‘However, if we were to have a record, that is what it would show. Bob?’
‘Ladies,’ said General Kzupi, flashing the squad a glossy smile. ‘And you too, of course, Lieutenant Blouse, and you too, er . . .’ he looked quizzically at Maladict, who stared straight back ‘. . . sir?’ General Kzupi, though, was not to be derailed by an eyeballing vampire, even one that couldn’t stand still. ‘Firstly, may I offer on behalf of all of us, I think, our thanks for the incredible job you have done? A splendid effort. But, sadly, the world we live in has certain . . . rules, you understand? To be frank, the problem here is not that you are women. As such, that is. But you persist in maintaining that you are. You see? We can’t have that.’
‘You mean if we put on uniforms again, and swaggered around belching and saying “har har, fooled you all” that would be all right?’ said Polly.
‘Perhaps I could help?’ said yet another voice. Froc looked along the table.
‘Ah, Brigadier Stoffer. Yes?’
‘This is all rather damn silly, general—’
‘Hrumph!’ said Froc.
‘What say?’ said Stoffer, looking puzzled.
‘There are ladies present, brigadier. That is, ahah, the problem.’
‘Damn right!’ said Tonker.
‘Understood, general. But the party was led by a man, am I right?’
‘Lieutenant Blouse tells me he is a man, sir,’ said Clogston. ‘Since he is an officer and a gentleman, I will take his word for it.’