Part 8 (1/2)

'He purposely put me ashore I don't think I' about boats and the sea I know he could have kept close to me if he had chosen, and I saw the whole place at loater e left those sands on the second day Look at the chart again Here's the Hohenhorn bank that I showed you as blocking the road _[See Chart A]_ It's in two pieces--first the west and then the east You see the Telte channel dividing into two branches and curving round it Both branches are broad and deep, as channels go in those waters Now, in sailing in I was nowhere near either of the straight for the bank itself, at a point somewhere _here_, quite a mile from the northern arm of the channel, and two from the southern I followed by co but breakers ahead How did I get through? That's where the luck came in I spoke of only two channels, that is, _round_ the bank--one to the north, the other to the south But look closely and you'll see that right through the centre of the West Hohenhorn runs another, a very narrow and winding one, so sht before, when I was going over the chart That was the one I stu along the edge of the surf in a desperate effort to gain time I bolted down it blindly, came out into this strip of open water, crossed that aie of the _East_ Hohenhorn, _here_ It was more than I deserved I can see now that it was a hundred to one in favour of one to pieces in three o?' I asked

'It's as clear as possible,' Davies answered 'He doubled back into the northern channel when he hadthat when I last saw hiht_ he had luffed and showed his broadside? I had another bit of luck in that He was luffing towards the north--so it struck h the blur--and when I in my turn came up to the bank, and had to turn one way or the other to avoid it, I think I should naturally have turned north too, as he had done In that case I should have been done for, for I should have had athe north channel, and should have driven ashore long before I got there But as a matter of fact I turned south'

'Why?'

'Couldn't help it I was running on the starboard tack--boom over to port; to turn north would have s were I couldn't risk one It was blowing like fits; if anything had carried away I should have been on shore in a jiffy I scarcely thought about it at all, but put the hel about it, that little central channel was now onwas luck froht to myself, as I tried with my landsman's fancy to conjure up that perilous scene As to the truth of the affair, the chart and Davies's version were easy enough to follow, but I felt only half convinced The 'spy', as Davies strangely called his pilot, ht have honestly mistaken the course himself, outstripped his convoy inadvertently, and escaped disaster as narrowly as she did I suggested this on the spur of the moment, but Davies was i,' he said 'I o back to when I first an by being as rude as a bear and as cold as stone, and then became suddenly friendly I can see now that in the talk that followed he was puaentleman since Morrison left ht the chap was a good sportsman, even if he was a bit dark about the ducks I talked quite freely--at least, as freely as I could with ; how I had been s out all the channels in and out of the islands, how interested I had been in the whole business, puzzling out the effect of the winds on the tides, the set of the currents, and so on

I talked about es in the buoys, the prehistoric rottenness of the English charts He drew ht of what followed I can see the point of scores of his questions

'The next day and the next I saw a good deal of hi went on And then there were o on exploring the German coast just as I had the Dutch His idea--Heavens, how plainly I see it noas to choke ether from that part of the coast

That hy he said there were no ducks That hy he cracked up the Baltic as a cruising-ground and shooting-ground And that hy he broached and stuck to that plan of sailing in company direct to the Elbe It was to _see_ me clear

'He iuess-work I o one better and drown h he held et rid of nificent chance on that trip to the Elbe lightshi+p I expect it struck him suddenly, and he acted on the iht; but the short cut was a grand idea of his Everything was in its favour--wind, sea, sand, tide He thinks I'm dead'

'But the crew?' I said; 'what about the crew?'

'That's another thing When he first hove to, waiting forat sheets

But by the tiain on her course, and no one was on deck but Dollmann at the wheel No one overheard what he said'

'Wouldn't they have _seen_ you again?'

'Very likely not; the weather was very thick, and the Dulce is very sruity of the whole business was striking me Why should anyone want to kill Davies, and why should Davies, the soul of ine that anyone wanted to kill hiive way to a morbid fancy

'Go on,' I said What was hisa bit of Geret rid of hiht to be the spy

Davies winced '_But he's not a Gerlisho on He professed to know very little English, and never spoke it, except a word or t and then to help me out of a sentence; and as to his German, he seemed to e' Davies sighed 'That's where I wanted someone like you You would have spotted hio more by a--what do you call it?--a--'

'General iested

'Yes, that's what Iin his looks and ners And it wasn't only hi and the sea, especially It's true he let ; but, all the same--how can I explain it? I felt we understood one another, in a way that two foreigners wouldn't

He pretended to thinkso far in a saht ring in theht I should never have bothered about it--I'm not cut out for a Sherlock Holmes--if it hadn't been for what followed

'It's rather vague,' I said 'Have you no lish?'

'There were one or two things rather more definite,' said Davies, slowly 'You knohen he hove to and hailed hly what he said I forget the exact words, but ”abschneiden” came in--”durch Watten” and ”abschneiden” (they call the banks ”watts”, you know); they were sih the wind I understood what heI suppose he thought I didn't understand, for just as he was drawing ahead again he pointed to the suth'ard, and then shouted through his hands as a truh sands; follow lish I can hear those words now, and I'll swear they were in his native tongue Of course I thought nothing of it at the tih he had always mis-pronounced the But I needn't say that just then I was observant of trifles I don't pretend to be able to unravel a plot and steer a small boat before a heavy sea at the sa you into the next world he could afford to co else? By the way, how did the daughter strike you? Did she look English too?'

Two men cannot discuss a woman freely without a deep foundation of intimacy, and, until this day, the subject had never arisen between us in any form It was the last that was likely to, for I could have divined that Davies would haveon this ar a little brutal as I sa badly he jointed his cluh now to think how old and _blase_ I felt as the flush warmed his brown skin, and he slowly propounded the verdict, 'Yes, I think she did'

'She _talked_ nothing but German, I suppose?'