Part 6 (1/2)

'Not they They have their own snug secret way, and they won't be hurried I know Ger to a plan Where the devil can I get a book of Tide Tables?'

Whittaker brightened up 'It's a chance,' he said 'Let's go over to the Ad motor-cars - all but Sir Walter, ent off to Scotland Yard - to 'h e bare chambers where the charwomen were busy, till we reached a little room lined with books and maps A resident clerk was unearthed, who presently fetched from the library the Admiralty Tide Tables I sat at the desk and the others stood round, for soe of this expedition

It was no good There were hundreds of entries, and so far as I could see 1017the possibilities

I took ht Therethis riddle What did Scudder ht of dock steps, but if he had meant that I didn't think he would have mentioned the number It must be some place where there were several staircases, and onethirty-nine steps

Then I had a sudden thought, and hunted up all the steas There was no boat which left for the Continent at 1017 ph tide so important? If it was a harbour it must be some little place where the tide ht boat But there was no regular stea at that hour, and so boat froular harbour So it must be some little harbour where the tide was important, or perhaps no harbour at all

But if it was a little port I couldn't see what the steps signified There were no sets of staircases on any harbour that I had ever seen It must be some place which a particular staircase identified, and where the tide was full at 1017 On the whole it seemed to me that the placeme

Then I went back to wider considerations Whereabouts would a man be likely to leave for Germany, a e? Not fro harbours And not from the Channel or the West Coast or Scotland, for, re from London I measured the distance on the map, and tried to put myself in the enemy's shoes I should try for Ostend or Antwerp or Rotterdam, and I should sail from somewhere on the East Coast between Cro, and I don't pretend it was ingenious or scientific I wasn't any kind of Sherlock Holmes But I have always fancied I had a kind of instinct about questions like this I don't know if I can explain myself, but I used to use my brains as far as they went, and after they cauesses pretty right

So I set out all my conclusions on a bit of Admiralty paper They ran like this: FAIRLY CERTAIN (1) Place where there are several sets of stairs; one thatthirty-nine steps

(2) Full tide at 1017 p shore only possible at full tide

(3) Steps not dock steps, and so place probably not harbour

(4) No regular night steamer at 1017 Means of transport -boat

Therestopped I made another list, which I headed 'Guessed', but I was just as sure of the one as the other

GUESSED (1) Place not harbour but open coast

(2) Boat small - trawler, yacht, or launch (3) Place somewhere on East Coast between Cromer and Dover

it struckat that desk with a Cabinet Minister, a Field-Marshal, two high Governa secret which meant life or death for us

Sir Walter had joined us, and presently MacGillivray arrived He had sent out instructions to watch the ports and railway stations for the three men whom I had described to Sir Walter Not that he or anybody else thought that that would do ood

'Here's the ot to find a place where there are several staircases down to the beach, one of which has thirty-nine steps I think it's a piece of open coast with biggish cliffs, somewhere between the Wash and the Channel Also it's a place where full tide is at 1017 toht'

Then an idea struck uards or some fellow like that who knows the East Coast?'

Whittaker said there was, and that he lived in Clapham He went off in a car to fetch him, and the rest of us sat about the little roo that ca again till uard man arrived He was a fine old felloith the look of a naval officer, and was desperately respectful to the company I left the War Minister to cross-examine him, for I felt he would think it cheek in me to talk

'We want you to tell us the places you know on the East Coast where there are cliffs, and where several sets of steps run down to the beach'

He thought for a bit 'What kind of steps do you mean, Sir? There are plenty of places with roads cut down through the cliffs, and ular staircases - all steps, so to speak?'

Sir Arthur looked towards ular staircases,' I said

He reflected a minute or two 'I don't know that I can think of any Wait a second There's a place in Norfolk - Brattleshaolf-course, where there are a couple of staircases, to let the gentleet a lost ball'

'That's not it,' I said

'Then there are plenty of Marine Parades, if that's what you mean Every seaside resort has theot to be entlemen, I can't think of anywhere else Of course, there's the Ruff -'

'What's that?' I asked

'The big chalk headland in Kent, close to Bradgate It's got a lot of villas on the top, and some of the houses have staircases down to a private beach It's a very high-toned sort of place, and the residents there like to keep by theate High tide there was at 1017 Pm on the 15th of June

'We're on the scent at last,' I cried excitedly 'How can I find out what is the tide at the Ruff?'

'I can tell you that, Sir,' said the coastguard man 'I once was lent a house there in this very ht to the deep-sea fishi+ng The tide's ten ate'

I closed the book and looked round at the company

'If one of those staircases has thirty-nine steps we have solved the entlemen,' I said 'I want the loan of your car, Sir Walter, and a map of the roads If Mr MacGillivray will sparefor toe of the business like this, but they didn't seem to mind, and after all I had been in the show froh jobs, and these eentleave me my commission 'I for one,' he said, 'am content to leave the matter in Mr Hannay's hands'

By half-past three I was tearing past the erows of Kent, with MacGillivray's best man on the seat besideon the Sea

A pink and blue Junefrohtshi+p on the cock sands which seemed the size of a bell-buoy A couple of miles farther south and much nearer the shore a small destroyer was anchored Scaife, MacGillivray's man, who had been in the Navy, knew the boat, and told me her name and her commander's, so I sent off a wire to Sir Walter

After breakfast Scaife got froates of the staircases on the Ruff I walked with hi the sands, and sat down in a nook of the cliffs while he investigated the half- dozen of them I didn't want to be seen, but the place at this hour was quite deserted, and all the tiulls

It took hi towardsa bit of paper, I can tell youdepended, you see, on ht

He read aloud the number of steps in the different stairs 'Thirty- four, thirty-five, thirty-nine, forty-two, forty-seven,' and 'twenty- one' where the cliffs greer I alot up and shouted

We hurried back to the town and sent a wire to MacGillivray I wanted half a dozendifferent specified hotels Then Scaife set out to prospect the house at the head of the thirty-nine steps

He came back with news that both puzzled and reassured ed to an old gentleent said Mr Appleton was there a good deal in the summer time, and was in residence now - had been for the better part of a week Scaife could pick up very little information about him, except that he was a decent old felloho paid his bills regularly, and was always good for a fiver for a local charity Then Scaife seemed to have penetrated to the back door of the house, pretending he was an agent for sewing-machines Only three servants were kept, a cook, a parlour-maid, and a housemaid, and they were just the sort that you would find in a respectablekind, and had pretty soon shut the door in his face, but Scaife said he was positive she knew nothing Next door there was a new house building which would give good cover for observation, and the villa on the other side was to let, and its garden was rough and shrubby