Part 13 (1/2)

The snow had all gone, except in patches in the deep hollows The ground was like a full sponge, and a cold rain drifted in e the trees thinned, and presently I caround cloaked in dwarf junipers And there beforeriver

I sat down and looked dismally at the prospect The exhilaration of one I had stue, for I could not use it Hilda von Einereat secret, was probably living in soet anything out of her as to be asked to dine with the Kaiser Blenkiron , but where on earth was Blenkiron? I dared say Sir Walter would value the inforo on to Constantinople, running away from the people who really pulled the ropes But if I stayed I could do nothing, and I could not stay I o on Every course seele as any man ever stumbled into

For I wasdrop I knew too ed his pride He would beat the countryside till he got er But hoas I to get over the border? My passport would be no good, for the nu ere this have been wired to every police-station in Germany, and to produce it would be to ask for trouble Without it I could not cross the borders by any railway My studies of the Tourists' Guide had suggested that once I was in Austria I ht of having a try at the Tyrol and I also thought of Bohe way off, and there were several thousand chances each day that I would be caught on the road

This was Thursday, the 30th of December, the second last day of the year I was due in Constantinople on the 17th of January Constantinople! I had thoughtway from it in Berlin, but now it see sullen river in front of ht by a curious sight On the far eastern horizon, where the water slipped round a corner of hill, there was a long trail of smoke The streamers thinned out, and seemed to come from some boat well round the corner, but I could see at least two boats in view Therefore therein tow

I looked to the west and saw another such procession co river steamer-it can't have been es I counted no less than six besides the tug They were heavily loaded and their draught must have been considerable, but there was plenty of depth in the flooded river

Aat Once Sandy, in one of the discussions you have in hospital, had told us just how the Gern They were pretty certain of dishi+ng Serbia at the first go, and it was up to theuns and shells to the old Turk, as running pretty short in his first supply Sandy said that they wanted the railway, but they wanted still more the river, and they could s of barges, loaded up at the big factories of Westphalia, were h the canals from the Rhine or the Elbe to the Danube Once the first reached Turkey, there would be regular delivery, you see-as quick as the Turks could handle the stuff And they didn't return empty, Sandy said, but caarian beef and Rue, but there was the proof of it before nashed ly off to the eneive our poor chaps hell in Gallipoli And then, as I looked, an idea cahth part of a hope

There was only one way for ood coh If I travelled to Turkey, for instance, in the Kaiser's suite, I would be as safe as the mail; but if I went on et my passport inside Ger powers And there was the kind of caravan before uessed that uarded as old Hindenburg's health All the safer, I replied tofor a deserter you don't seek hii the places you'd be apt to leave unsearched would be Scotland Yard

It was sound reasoning, but hoas I to get on board? Probably the beastly things did not stop once in a hundred -place And even if I did get a chance like that, hoas I to get peret down to the river bank at once So I set off at a sharp walk across squelchy fields, till I struck a road where the ditches had overflowed so as almost to meet in the ht be few And as I trudged, hts were busy with et a chance to lie snug on one of the barges They would not break bulk till they got to their journey's end

Suddenly I noticed that the steaan to move towards the shore, and as I cae with a church, and a se The houses stood about a quarter of a ht, poplar-fringed road

Soon there could be no doubt about it The procession was co nosed her way in and lay up alongside the pier, where in that season of flood there was enough depth of water She signalled to the barges and they also started to drop anchors, which showed that there ed a bit and it was rather a cock-eyed train that lay in way, and fro so-a dead body Someone of the crew must have died, and this halt was to bury hie and I reckoned they would take sorave to be dug Anyhow, they would be long enough to give me a chance

For I had decided upon the brazen course Blenkiron had said you couldn't cheat the Boche, but you could bluff hi to put up thefor Richard Hannay, Richard Hannay would walk through as a pal of the hunters For I reiven h to impress a shi+p's captain

Of course there were a thousand risks They e and told the shi+p's party the story For that reason I resolved not to go there but toto the boat Or the captain ot the number of my pass, in which case Stuht be an ignorant felloho had never seen a Secret Service pass and did not knohat it meant, and would refuse me transport by the letter of his instructions In that case I ht wait on another convoy

I had shaved and ure before I left the cottage It was my cue to wait for the men when they left the church, wait on that quarter-ed the captain lad to observe, seemed very eby my observations, very few of them stayed at ho the grave, for I waited near the road in a clump of cherry-trees, with my feet in two inches of mud and water, till I felt chilled to the bone I prayed to God it would not bring back my fever, for I was only one day out of bed I had very little tobacco left in my pouch, but I stood myself one pipe, and I ate one of the three cakes of chocolate I still carried

At last, well afterThey marched two by two and I was thankful to see that they had no villagers with theuard, carrying h as I kne

'Where's your captain?' I asked, and a man jerked his thumb over his shoulder The others wore thick jerseys and knitted caps, but there was one man at the rear in uniform

He was a short, broad man with a weather-beaten face and an anxious eye

'May I have a ith you, Herr Captain?' I said, hat I hoped was a judicious blend of authority and conciliation

He nodded to his companion, alked on

'Yes?' he asked rather impatiently