"I suppose the explanation would be simple enough if we only knew it," answered John.
"I don't like it, sir. I was pretty wild that morning, thinking some of these young recruits had been messing about, but the same thing had happened to number six and eight." He pointed to a lower platform, beyond where the sentry was passing. "They went wrong that same morning," he continued.
"And got right again in the same mysterious way?" inquired John.
"You don't think any of your cleaning squad had a hand in it?" inquired John.
"No, sir; I talked pretty straight to them, but it wasn't them."
"Perhaps you have an enemy in the fort, Ewins?"
"I don't know about that, sir," he said; "but everybody seems pretty friendly with me. I have been here a long time, sir."
"I don't think anybody in the fort, sir," Ewins went on, "would do a dirty trick on me like that. You see, sir," he said, in a voice of intense seriousness, "it put us out of Action."
John was silent for a moment. For the first time the full gravity of what had happened struck his consciousness.
"I'll swear it wasn't an accident," continued Ewins, emphatically. "Old 'Crumbs' said it was; but he don't know anything about guns."
"I beg pardon, sir; I meant Private Sims, the baker."
"He said it was an accident?" pursued John.
"Yes, sir. I lost my temper that morning, and when I come here and found how things were, I gave one of the squad a bit of a push."
"Oh, no, sir; he come in to bring me a lump of cake." Ewins looked sheepish a moment. "You see, sir, I am partial to cake, and he generally hands me a bit at odd times. He was in the gun chamber when I got here, sir, looking for me, with a bit of cake in his hand."
"But it was five o'clock in the morning!"
"It was new cake," said Ewins; "he'd just baked it."
"But you weren't supposed to be on duty."
"Wouldn't 'Crumbs'--Private Sims--know you were off duty?" probed John.
"He don't know much about soldiering, sir; they never do."
John had further talk with the chief gunner, which talk grew more and more technical as Ewins noticed John's interest in his work. But after a good many questions it still seemed to John that "Crumbs" walking about with cake at five o'clock in the morning showed an excessive benevolence. He felt he wanted to make the acquaintance of "Crumbs." And before going back to the Colonel in the mess-room, he looked in at the bake-house, a single-storied building next to the kitchen.