Part 52 (2/2)
The next day we learned there was to be a murder trial of no less than nine arrison's attention draay fro (it would have been impossible to convince any one, Gerone conclusions) The stars in their courses appeared to be on our side For several nights to come the worst the moon could do would be to show a sliver of silver crescent for an hour or two
Lady Waldon cahly she argued against it at first--and it was iain on our siht with her But Fred wasted no tiument, and took the upper hand
”Take us or leave us, Lady Waldon, as we are! We've an unwritten rule that none of us has ever thought of breaking, that binds us to obey the member of the party whose plan we have adopted On this occasion we have agreed to Mr Yerkes' plan, and you've got to obey him implicitly if you want to have part with us! We will not leave our e the plan by a hair's breadth!
Will you or won't you obey?”
She yielded then very quickly It seemed a relief to her at last to subject her views to those of men whose purpose was merely honest
Will took up the reins at once
”We've talked over buying the boat,” he said, ”but that's hopeless
TheThe Gerot to steal it It's up to you to find out the man's proper name and address, and we'll send him the money from the first British post-office we reach”
”Don Quixote de la Mancha!” she said critically ”Well--we steal the boat and you pay for it afterward The oill think you are crazy, and if the Germans ever discover it they will take the o on!”
”We've plenty of money,” said Will, ”so there's no need to worry about too in with But we'll need scant rations for ourselves and all our ht And we've got to get them on board the dhow secretly The first question is, how to do that”
She told us at once of a path going round by the back of the hill behind us, that would make the trip to the dhow in the dark a matter of over two reed that all three of us should climb to the top of the hill, which was not out of bounds--and study the track next ht wethe sleepy-eyed sentry who kept watch over the Greeks
”We'll talk to Brown of Lu and afternoon march around the townshi+p,” Will went on ”Brown ated iron partition in the jail at night, and have the with them We must be careful to shon just where the dhow is He has been sober quite a while Maybe he'll remenal?” she asked
”Just what I'ht! The next question is, who is to start the fire? We'll need a good one! Yet if we do it, we're likely to be caught by the crowd co to deal with it”
”Coutlass!” she answered suddenly ”Coutlass and his two friends!”
”You'll perhaps pardon me,” Fred answered, ”but none of us would trust those Greeks as far as a hen could swim in alcohol!”
”Yet you lass has run down Letthat I went direct to the seen by you I will tell the you three men in jail and that they will be sent away free as a reward if they will start a fire and charge you afterith arson! I will tell theht, so as to have a really spectacular blaze worth conal,” Will advised ”They ht otherwise fire before ere ready!”
”Very well You ive me the word at midday of the day of the start, and I will spread red, white and blue laundry on the roof of the coh!” agreed Will ”Now one more stunt! We simply must have firearms The Germans have taken ours away and locked thee with one rifle, provided we had lots of ammunition We would rather have one each In fact, the more the ht for several minutes At last she told us that one of the co in a corner of the living-room beside a book-case Whether she could make aith one or both of those without detection she did not know, and she would have to use her wits regarding ammunition It was always kept locked up
”Why not kill an askari and take his rifle and cartridges?” she asked
”The sentry on duty watching the Greeks will be in the way Knock hirinned Will, exchanging glances with us ”We shall have about enough on our consciences setting fire to half the townshi+p
We'll not kill except in self-defense”
”But you won't set the town on fire! The Greeks will do that!”