CHAPTER IX
AN ADVENTURE ON THE HILLS
"I WISH to goodness that sister of mine wouldn't do such erraticthings," remarked Eric Greenwood.
"Oh!" rejoined Tressidar, with a veiled attempt at inconsequence."What has she been up to now?"
The conversation occurred two days after the loss of H.M.S. "Pompey."The officers and men of the destroyed cruiser were temporarilyberthed in a hulk that had been towed round from Chatham some monthspreviously for use as a dep?t-ship.
Mr. Greenwood had returned to Devonshire, declaring that the eastcoast of Scotland was a little too lively for a man of his matureyears and sedentary habits. Doris, of course, remained at theAuldhaig sick-quarters.
"Going for lonely walks when she's off duty," explained the A.P. "Whyon earth she doesn't get one of the nursing sisters to go with her Icannot imagine. When I proposed to accompany her, she promptly chokedme off. This afternoon, she tells me, she's taking the train as faras Nedderburn, and is going to tramp back over the hills. From allaccounts it's a rotten, unfrequented road."
"It is," agreed the sub.
"Yes," added Eric. "And I would insist upon going with her, in spiteof her objections, only I am booked for the preliminary inquiry atthe Senior's Officer's quarters. That's the penalty for keeping one'sshorthand up."
Ronald Tressidar kept his plans to himself, but one of the firstthings he did was to consult a railway time-table. In it he foundthat the earliest train the girl could take was at 2.45 p.m. Thatmeant that she would probably set out on her return at a quarter pastthree, since Nedderburn was only nine miles from Auldhaig and therailway journey took twenty minutes.
His next step, immediately after lunch, was to go ashore and pay avisit to the local garage.
"Sorry, sir," replied the proprietor in answer to the sub.'s requestfor the hire of a two-seater car. "I've nae ain in the place; but Ihae a bonnie leetle motor-cycle and side-car."
"Suppose that will have to do," said Tressidar dubiously. "She'lltake the hills all right, I hope?"
Receiving an affirmative reply, the sub. concluded negotiations forthe hire of the unaccustomed mount, but before he was clear of thetown he found that he had something fairly powerful under his controland also something that was not so very difficult to steer.
For the first two miles the road skirted the northern shore of thefirth, then ascending a steep hill by means of a series ofwell-engineered zig-zags, it swept across a bleak upland. For themost part the country on either side consisted of sheep-pasture,rough stone walls taking the place of the hedges so common in thesouth. Here and there were thick clusters of gorse, growing to aheight of nearly six feet. There were also clumps of gaunt pines thatswayed mournfully in the stiff breeze.
After a while the road began to descend with a long, easy gradient.Away on his right he could just discern the galvanised iron roofs andtall brick chimneys of the Sauchieblair Munition Works. It was onlyfrom this part of the road that any distant view could be obtained ofthe magazines without climbing any of the surrounding hills. Justbeyond this spot was a fairly extensive wood.
"I'll bring up here and have a pipe," thought the sub. "I am inplenty of time, and it's only a few miles to Nedderburn."
Leaving the cycle and side-car, he paced up and down the road, forthe air was much too keen to stand still. Then, having assuredhimself that there was plenty of petrol in the tank--experience hadtaught him that there are such things as leaking carburetters andpetrol pipes--he restarted.
Less than a mile from the outskirts of the little village ofNedderburn he espied a trim figure walking briskly in his direction.It was Doris Greenwood.
Presently Tressidar's fears gripped him.
"Hang it!" he soliloquised. "What possible excuse can I have forcoming out here?"
With a motor-cycle travelling at twenty miles an hour there is littletime to decide upon any matter, but by the time the sub. slowed downhe had framed some sort of excuse which might or might not holdwater.
"Hulloa, Doris!" he exclaimed in well-simulated surprise. "Whateverare you doing in this unfrequented road?"
"Merely walking for exercise," she replied.
"To Auldhaig? It's a long way. Can I give you a lift?"
"Why, you are going in exactly the opposite direction," declared thegirl laughingly. "And to find you riding with an empty side-car,Ronald. Now, what does it mean?"
"I'll deal with your question," replied Tressidar, striving to gaintime to find a suitable explanation to meet her previous remark. "Icouldn't hire a car and I can't ride a motorbike solo, so I had tohire the side-car to keep me balanced. It's quite true that I wasgoing in the wrong direction, but there's no reason why I shouldn'tturn the affair round."
"If you are riding with a set purpose," continued Dorisremorselessly, "I wouldn't think of detaining you. You evidently aremaking for somewhere."
"Yes, I am," admitted Tressidar boldly. "I came along here to meetyou. It's no use mincing matters. Look here, what do you say to a runout as far as Tuilaburn? It's only seven miles further, and the roadacross the moors is simply top-hole. We'll be back at Auldhaig wellbefore lighting-up time."
Doris assented. She was not one of those irresponsible young ladieswho coyly pretend not to be able to make up their minds. She reallyadmired the tall, bronzed naval officer who had handled the dutysteamboat so magnificently in going to the aid of the doomed"Pompey." It was not without ulterior motives, which were now beingrealised, that she had "choked off" her rather too attentive brother.
Before the girl took her place in the car Ronald assisted her to donhis oilskin coat--the same that she had worn on that memorable tripin Auldhaig Harbour. It formed an ideal protection from the bitingwind.
Almost before they were aware of it, they ran into Tuilaburn. Herethey had tea and talked--of many things. It was close uponlighting-up time when the return journey began.
"By Jove! the little engine does pull well," remarked Tressidar asthe motor-cycle ascended the long gradual rise out of Nedderburn."We'll be in Auldhaig before it's time to light up, you see if wewon't."
The words were hardly out of his mouth when, with an ominoussuccession of bumps, the back tyre punctured.
"The result of boasting," declared Doris cheerfully, as the sub.dismounted and examined the outer cover.
"A nail," he announced. "That's good. It will save me from searchingfor a small puncture. I'll mend the inner tube in less than tenminutes."
Once again his optimism was at fault, for the cover was an obstinateone to remove. The tube, a butted one, was then patched and replaced.By the time they were ready to resume their journey it waslighting-up time.
For nearly ten minutes Tressidar attempted to get the head-light toburn. It stubbornly refused duty. Examination showed that the carbidewas already saturated and useless for illumination.
"We'll risk it," declared the sub. "It's a hundred to one chance thatwe meet anyone on this unfrequented road, especially a policeman."
"I should not like to see our names figure in a police-court report,"remarked Doris.
"No; but they might appear in a very different sort of document,"added Tressidar boldly.
Doris made no reply. It was now too dark for her companion to noticethe expression on her face. Vaguely he wondered whether he hadbungled again.
"What's that glare over there?" asked the girl as they emerged from alittle wood on the crest of the hill.
"Only the munition works at Sauchieblair," replied Tressidar. "It'srather strange that a Government factory should show such an amountof light."
"It's out," exclaimed Doris ten seconds later. "What does thatmean--a Zepp. warning?"
"Shouldn't wonder," answered her companion. "It's just the sort ofnight--dark and practically no wind.... Oh, bother!"
The back tyre was again bumping on the ground.
"I vote we abandon ship," suggested Tressidar. "We'll push the thingjust off the road and walk the rest of the way. I'll tell the man tosend for it in th
e morning, Hope you don't mind the tramp, Doris?"
They alighted. Tressidar was in the act of urging the heavymotor-cycle upon the slight rise by the roadside when with a rush andsubdued roar a powerful motor-car with obscured lights flashed by.Well it was that the cycle was clear, otherwise there was everypossibility of its being run down by the reckless road-hogs.
"Three red lights," exclaimed Doris, indicating the rear lights of thedisappearing motor. "That's rather unusual."
"There's no law against a fellow having as many red rear lights as hewants so far as I know," said Tressidar. "It's certainly unusual. Isay, I believe the car's stopping. Let's get them to give us a liftinto Auldhaig."
The motor was now on a slight rise almost four hundred yards from thespot where the motor-cycle had been abandoned. It displayed three redlights vertically.
Before the sub. and his companion had walked more than twenty yardsthe three lights were increased by three more, so that there was avertical string of six. At the same time the car was being backedfrom the side of the road on to the sward.
"Doris," exclaimed Ronald hurriedly, "will you stay here a littlewhile?--do you mind? I'm going to see what those fellows are up to.It looks jolly fishy. You're not nervous?"
"Not a little bit," declared the girl. "Only take care of yourself."
"I'll try," rejoined the sub. "Don't make a sound. If--that is,supposing I don't come back, you had better make your way toNedderburn and telephone to the senior officer of Auldhaig; but Ifancy that there'll be no need for that."
Taking to the grass, Tressidar stole cautiously in the direction ofthe stationary car. His footsteps made no sound upon the springyturf. As he approached he bent low, taking advantage of the coverafforded by the numerous gorse bushes.
"So that's your little game," he mused. There were two men with thecar. One, by the aid of the partly screened head-lamp, was consultingwhat was evidently a prismatic compass. The other, acting accordingto the movements of his companion's hand, was slowly shifting the carin its own length.
The mystery of the six red lights was now no longer a mystery. To thesub.'s keen intelligence the whole thing was as clear as daylight.The lid of the tool-box at the rear of the car had been partly raiseduntil it formed an angle of 135 degrees with the back of the body.The lid, being of burnished metal, served as a reflector, so that thethree red lights appeared to be six in a straight vertical line.
And that line pointed in the direction of the Sauchieblair MunitionWorks.
"That will do," said a voice in German--a language of which Tressidarhad more than a general knowledge. "We're right on the exact bearing.Call up Pfeiller and inform him that our position is fixed."
The fellow who had been engaged in manoeuvring the car stepped insidethe coup?. The faint cackle of a low-powered wireless apparatus wasfaintly borne to the sub.'s ear.
"Pfeiller reports all right at his position," announced the man aftera brief interval.
"Let us hope he is sure on the point," remarked the German with thecompass.
"He is a careful man at that sort of work," said the otherreassuringly. "Now comes the worst part of the business--the waiting.Himmel! I t is cold on these hills."
"If she picks up the coast lights without difficulty she ought to behere by eight o'clock," said his companion. "These English havealready had warning. That is why they have turned out the lights. Canyou imagine them, friend Otto, cowering in darkness, waiting for oneof our incomparable Zeppelins to blow them to pieces? And there isnot even a puny, so-called anti-aircraft gun nearer than Auldhaig."
Ronald Tressidar had heard enough. His first impulse was to retracehis steps quietly and make his way to Nedderburn to procureassistance. But upon further consideration he came to the conclusionthat before the spies could be made prisoners the Zeppelin's workmight be accomplished. Prompt measures were necessary.
Creeping away to a safe distance, the sub. removed his heavygreat-coat. To have the unencumbered use of his limbs was essentialto the work he proposed attempting.
Again he stalked the two Germans. Unheard and unseen he gained theremote side of the car, then working round the front he leapt uponthe nearmost of the spies.
Throwing his muscular arms round the fellow's head and applying hisknee to the small of his back, Tressidar hurled him heavily to theground. In falling, the fellow grabbed frantically at the sub.'sankles. The check was but momentary, but sufficient to put the secondTeuton on his guard.
Whipping out a pistol, he fired almost point-blank at the Britishnaval officer.
Whether he was hit or otherwise Tressidar did not pause to consider.Bending low and hunching his shoulders, he charged the armed man, andbutting him in the chest sent him flying backwards a good five yards.The pistol was jerked from his grip and fell in the centre of agorse-bush.
Carried onwards by the momentum of his furious charge, the sub.tripped across the plunging limbs of his opponent and pitchedheadlong on the ground.