"Close on a quarter to nine," he said. "We shall just do it nicely if the engine doesn"t stop."
"I hope so," I said. "I should hate to keep a Government official waiting."
We crossed the broad entrance into Queenborough Harbour, where the dim bulk of a couple of battleships loomed up vaguely through the haze.
It was a strange, exhilarating sensation, throbbing along in the semi-darkness, with all sorts of unknown possibilities waiting for us ahead. More than ever I felt what Joyce had described in the morning--a sort of curious inward conviction that we were at last on the point of finding out the truth.
"We"d better slacken down a bit when we get near," said Tommy.
"Latimer specially told me to bring her in as quietly as I could."
I nodded. "Right you are," I said. "I wasn"t going to hurry, anyhow.
It"s a tricky place, and I don"t want to smash up any more islands.
One a day is quite enough."
I slowed down the engine to about four knots an hour, and at this dignified pace we proceeded along the coast, keeping a watchful eye for the entrance to the creek. At last a vague outline of rising ground showed us that we were in the right neighbourhood, and bringing the _Betty_ round, I headed her in very delicately towards the sh.o.r.e.
It was distressingly dark, from a helmsman"s point of view, but Tommy, who had gone up into the bows, handed me back instructions, and by dint of infinite care we succeeded in making the opening with surprising accuracy.
The creek was quite small, with a steep bank one side perhaps fifteen feet high, and what looked like a stretch of mud or saltings on the other. Its natural beauties, however, if it had any, were rather obscured by the darkness.
"What shall we do now, Tommy?" I asked in a subdued voice. "Turn her round?"
He came back to the well. "Yes," he said, "turn her round, and then I"ll cut out the engine and throttle her down. She"ll make a certain amount of row, but we can"t help that. I daren"t stop her; or she might never start again."
We carried out our manoeuvre successfully, and then dropped over the anchor to keep us in position. I seated myself on the roof of the cabin, and pulling out a pipe, commenced to fill it.
"I wonder how long the interval is," I said. "I suppose spying is a sort of job you can"t fix an exact time-limit to."
Tommy looked at his watch again. "It"s just on a quarter to ten now.
He told me not to wait after half-past."
I stuffed down the baccy with my thumb, and felt in my pocket for a match.
"It seems to me--" I began.
The interesting remark I was about to make was never uttered. From the high ground away to the left came the sudden crack of a revolver shot that rang out with startling viciousness on the night air. It was followed almost instantly by a second.
Tommy and I leaped up together, inspired simultaneously by the same idea. Being half way there, however, I easily reached the painter first.
"All right," I cried, "I"ll pick him up. You haul in and have her ready to start."
I don"t know exactly what the record is for getting off in a dinghy in the dark, but I think I hold it with something to spare. I was away from the ship and sculling furiously for the sh.o.r.e in about the same time that it has taken to write this particular sentence.
I pulled straight for the direction in which I had heard the shots.
It was the steepest part of the cliff, but under the circ.u.mstances it seemed the most likely spot at which my services would be required.
People are apt to take a short cut when revolver bullets are chasing about the neighbourhood.
I stopped rowing a few yards from the sh.o.r.e, and swinging the boat round, stared up through the gloom. There was just light enough to make out the top of the cliff, which appeared to be covered by a thick growth of gorse several feet in height. I backed away a stroke or two, and as I did so, there came a sudden snapping, rustling sound from up above, and the next instant the figure of a man broke through the bushes.
He peered down eagerly at the water.
"That you, Morrison?" he called out in a low, distinct voice, which I recognized at once.
"Yes," I answered briefly. It struck me as being no time for elaborate explanations.
Mr. Latimer was evidently of the same opinion. Without any further remark, he stepped forward to the edge of the cliff, and jumping well out into the air, came down with a beautiful splash about a dozen yards from the boat.
He rose to the surface at once, and I was alongside of him a moment later.
"It"s all right," I said, as he clutched hold of the stern.
"Morrison"s in the _Betty_; I"m lending him a hand."
I caught his arm to help him in, and as I did so he gave a little sharp exclamation of pain.
"Hullo!" I said, shifting my grip. "What"s the matter?"
With an effort he hoisted himself up into the boat.
"Nothing much, thanks," he answered in that curious composed voice of his. "I think one of our friends made a luckier shot than he deserved to. It"s only my left arm, though."
I seized the sculls, and began to pull off quickly for the _Betty_.
"We"ll look at it in a second," I said. "Are they after you?"
He laughed. "Yes, some little way after. I took the precaution of starting in the other direction and then doubling back. It worked excellently."
He spoke in the same rather amused drawl as he had done at the hut, and there was no hint of hurry or excitement in his manner. I could just see, however, that he was dressed in rough, common-looking clothes, and that he was no longer wearing an eye-gla.s.s. If he had had a cap, he had evidently parted with it during his dive into the sea.
A few strokes brought us to the _Betty_, where Tommy was leaning over the side ready to receive us.
"All right?" he inquired coolly, as we scrambled on board.
"Nothing serious," replied Latimer. "Thanks to you and--and this gentleman."
"They"ve winged him, Tommy," I said. "Can you take her out while I have a squint at the damage?"
Tommy"s answer was to thrust in the clutch of the engine, and with an abrupt jerk we started off down the creek. As we did so there came a sudden hail from the sh.o.r.e.
"Boat ahoy! What boat"s that?"
It was a deep, rather dictatorial sort of voice, with the faintest possible touch of a foreign accent about it.
Latimer replied at once in a cheerful, good-natured bawl, amazingly different from his ordinary tone:
"Private launch, _Vanity_, Southend; and who the h.e.l.l are you?"
Whether the vigour of the reply upset our questioner or not, I can"t say. Anyhow he returned no answer, and leaving him to think what he pleased, we continued our way out into the main stream.
"Come into the cabin and let"s have a look at you," I said to Latimer.
"You must get those wet things off, anyhow."