Part 4 (1/2)

And then I think I became unconscious

My stupor can scarcely have lasted beyond a few seconds I felt led out of the debris to my feet Somewhere behind me I felt fresh air The jaed rent the s out to the summer noon I stepped over the broken lintel, and foundI felt very sick and ill, but I could ered blindly forward away from the house

A small mill-lade ran in a wooden aqueduct at the other side of the yard, and into this I fell The cool water revived h wits left to think of escape I squirreen slih the axle hole into the old ht the seat of my trousers, and I left a wisp of heather- out of use The ladders were rotten with age, and in the loft the rats had gnawed great holes in the floor Nausea shook , while my left shoulder and arm seemed to be stricken with the palsy I looked out of theand saw a fog still hanging over the house and s from an upperPlease God I had set the place on fire, for I could hear confused cries coer, since thisfor me would naturally follow the lade, and I in as soon as they found that my body was not in the storeroom From anotherI saw that on the far side of the et there without leaving tracks I ued that ht I could o seeking me on thechaff behind me to cover my footsteps I did the sa on broken hinges Peeping out, I saw that between round, where no footmarks would show Also it was s froot to the back of the dovecot and prospected a way of ascent

That was one of the hardest jobs I ever took on My shoulder and ariddy that I was always on the verge of falling But I aps in the ot to the top in the end There was a little parapet behind which I found space to lie down Then I proceeded to go off into an old-fashi+oned swoon

I ith a burning head and the sun glaring intime I lay motionless, for those horrible fumes seemed to have loosened my joints and dulledthroatily and the throbbing of a stationary car There was a little gap in the parapet to which I wriggled, and froures coer , and ht of the wisp of cloth on the nail, and cried out to the other They both went back to the house, and brought two ure of ht I made out the man with the lisp I noticed that all had pistols

For half an hour they ransacked theup the rotten planking Then they ca fiercely The servant with the bandage was being soundly rated I heard the with the door of the dovecote and for one horrid ht better of it, and went back to the house

All that long blistering afternoon I lay baking on the rooftop Thirst was ue was like a stick, and to make it worse I could hear the cool drip of water from the mill- lade I watched the course of the little stream as it came in frolen, where it ed with cool ferns and e my face into that

I had a fine prospect of the whole ring of moorland I saw the car speed aith two occupants, and afor me, and I wished the elseThe house stood almost on the summit of a swell of her point nearer than the big hills six ish clump of trees - firs mostly, with a few ashes and beeches On the dovecot I was almost on a level with the tree-tops, and could see what lay beyond The as not solid, but only a ring, and inside was an oval of green turf, for all the world like a big cricket-field

I didn't take long to guess what it was It was an aerodroly chosen For suppose anyone atching an aeroplane descending here, he would think it had gone over the hill beyond the trees As the place was on the top of a rise in theamphitheatre, any observer from any direction would conclude it had passed out of view behind the hill Only a man very close at hand would realize that the aeroplane had not gone over but had descended in the midst of the wood An observer with a telescope on one of the higher hills ht have discovered the truth, but only herds went there, and herds do not carry spy-glasses When I looked from the dovecot I could see far away a blue line which I kneas the sea, and I grew furious to think that our ene-tower to rake our ays

Then I reflected that if that aeroplane came back the chances were ten to one that I would be discovered So through the afternoon I lay and prayed for the colad I hen the sun went down over the big western hills and the twilight haze crept over thewas far advanced when I heard the beat of wings and saw it volplaning doard to its hohts twinkled for a bit and there wasfrom the house Then the dark fell, and silence

Thank God it was a black night The moon ell on its last quarter and would not rise till late My thirst was too great to allow e, I started to descend It wasn't easy, and half-way down I heard the back door of the house open, and saw the gleaby the ivy and prayed that whoever it ould not coht disappeared, and I dropped as softly as I could on to the hard soil of the yard

I crawled on my belly in the lee of a stone dyke till I reached the fringe of trees which surrounded the house If I had kno to do it I would have tried to put that aeroplane out of action, but I realized that any attempt would probably be futile I was pretty certain that there would be soh the wood on hands and knees, feeling carefully every inch before me It was as well, for presently I caround If I had tripped over that, it would doubtless have rung some bell in the house and I would have been captured

A hundred yards farther on I found another wire cunningly placed on the edge of a small stream Beyond that lay the moor, and in five minutes I was deep in bracken and heather Soon I was round the shoulder of the rise, in the little glen from which the , and I was soaking down pints of the blessed water But I did not stop till I had put half a dozen

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Dry-Fly Fisherman

I sat down on a hill-top and took stock ofvery happy, for my natural thankfulness at my escape was clouded by my severe bodily discomfort Those lentonite fu hours on the dovecot hadn't helpedheadache, and felt as sick as a cat Also ht it was only a bruise, but it see, and I had no use of e, recover arments, and especially Scudder's note-book, and then et back to the south It seen Office man, Sir Walter Bullivant, the better I didn't see how I could get ot already He must just take or leave my story, and anyith him I would be in better hands than those devilish Gerun to feel quite kindly towards the British police

It was a wonderful starry night, and I had not iven me the lie of the land, and all I had to do was to steer a point or test of south-west to come to the stream where I had met the roadman In all these travels I never knew the names of the places, but I believe this stream was no less than the upper waters of the river Tweed I calculated I hteen et there beforeSo I ure to be seen in the sunlight I had neither coat, waistcoat, collar, nor hat, my trousers were badly torn, and my face and hands were black with the explosion I daresay I had other beauties, for ether I was no spectacle for God-fearing citizens to see on a highroad

Very soon after daybreak I made an attempt to clean e, for I was feeling the need of food The herd ay frohbour for five h she got a fright when she saw me, she had an axe handy, and would have used it on any evil-doer I told her that I had had a fall - I didn't say how - and she saw by my looks that I was pretty sick Like a true Saave me a bowl of milk with a dash of whisky in it, and let me sit for a little by her kitchen fire She would have bathed my shoulder, but it ached so badly that I would not let her touch it

I don't knohat she took lar, perhaps; for when I wanted to pay her for the n which was the s about 'giving it to thely that I think she believed ave me a warm new plaid for it, and an old hat of her man's She showed me horap the plaid aroundie of the kind of Scotsman you see in the illustrations to Burns's poems But at any rate I was ed before midday to a thick drizzle of rain I found shelter below an overhanging rock in the crook of a burn, where a drift of dead brackens htfall, waking very cra like a toothache I ate the oatcake and cheese the old wife had given

I pass over thethe wet hills There were no stars to steer by, and I had to do the best I could from my memory of the map Twice I lost s I had only about ten o as the crow flies, but my mistakes made it nearer twenty The last bit was coht and dizzy head But Iat Mr Turnbull's door The e I could not see the highroad

Mr Turnbull hi more than sober He was primly dressed in an ancient but well-tended suit of black; he had been shaved not later than the night before; he wore a linen collar; and in his left hand he carried a pocket Bible At first he did not recognize in' here on the Sabbath mornin'?' he asked

I had lost all count of the days So the Sabbath was the reason for this strange decoru so wildly that I could not franized ot my specs?' he asked

I fetched theave him them

'Ye'll hae come for your jaicket and westcoat,' he said 'Cos Haud up till I get ye to a chair'

I perceived I was in for a bout of ood deal of fever in ht it out, while my shoulder and the effects of the fumes combined to makeme to bed in one of the two cupboards that lined the kitchen walls

He was a true friend in need, that old roadhter's e he lived alone

For the better part of ten days he did all the rough nursing I needed I simply wanted to be left in peace while the fever took its course, and when ain I found that the bout had o, and though I was out of bed in five days, it took ain

He went out eachthe door behind hi to sit silent in the chietting better, he never bothered me with a question Several times he fetched me a two days' old SCOTSMAN, and I noticed that the interest in the Portland Place murder seemed to have died down There was noexcept a thing called the General asseathered

One day he produced my belt from a lockfast drawer 'There's a terrible heap o' siller in't,' he said 'Ye'd better coont it to see it's a' there'

He never even soughtinquiries subsequent to

'Ay, there was a man in a motor-cawr He speired whae had ta'en my place that day, and I let on I thocht him daft But he keepit on at ude-brither frae the Cleuch that whiles lent me a haun' He was a wersh-lookin' sowl, and I couldna understand the half o' his English tongue'

I was getting restless those last days, and as soon as I felt myself fit I decided to be off That was not till the twelfth day of June, and as luck would have it a drover went past thatsome cattle to Moffat He was a man named Hislop, a friend of Turnbull's, and he came in to his breakfast with us and offered to take me with hi, and a hard job I had of it There never was a rew positively rude when I pressed him, and shy and red, and took the money at last without a thank you When I told hiuid turn deservin' anither' You would have thought froust

Hislop was a cheery soul, who chattered all the way over the pass and down the sunny vale of Annan I talked of Galloway markets and sheep prices, and he made up his mind I was a 'pack-shepherd' from those parts - whatever that avecattle is a mortally slow job, and we took the better part of the day to cover a dozen miles

If I had not had such an anxious heart I would have enjoyed that tiing prospect of brown hills and far green meadows, and a continual sound of larks and curlews and falling streams But I had no mind for the summer, and little for Hislop's conversation, for as the fateful fifteenth of June drew near I was overweighed with the hopeless difficulties of ot some dinner in a humble Moffat public-house, and walked the two ht express for the south was not due till near ht, and to fill up the time I went up on the hillside and fell asleep, for the walk had tired , and had to run to the station and catch the train with two minutes to spare The feel of the hard third-class cushi+ons and the smell of stale tobacco cheeredto grips with my job

I was decanted at Crewe in the shaed into a local train which journeyed into the deeps of Berkshi+re Presently I was in a land of lush water-ht o'clock in the evening, a weary and travel-stained being - a cross between a farm-labourer and a vet - with a checked black-and-white plaid over his arm (for I did not dare to wear it south of the Border), descended at the little station of Artinswell There were several people on the platforht I had better wait to ask my way till I was clear of the place