CHAPTER XVII.
SOME GRAVE FEARS.
And now, as the reader will readily understand, I must continue thestory as it was afterwards related to me.
Myra, the General, and Dennis sat up and waited for me till theearly hours of the morning, but I did not return. The young people didwhat they could to assure the old man that my sudden and unexpecteddisappearance had been entirely voluntary, and Dennis, who had foundmy note, as soon as he put on his cap to stroll out casually, and seewhere I had got to, gave him subtly to understand that it was reallypart of a prearranged plan, and Myra at length persuaded him to go tobed at midnight.
When I failed to put in an appearance at breakfast-time, however, eventhey began to be a trifle alarmed, but they did their best to concealtheir fears. They scoured the hillside and then went down to thelanding-stage. Dennis had reported the previous night that themotor-boat was still in its place when he saw Hilderman off, and itnever occurred to Myra that I might make my departure in the_Coch-a-Bondhu_.
"He hasn't gone by the sea, any way," Dennis announced again, as heand the girl stood on the landing-stage.
"You mean the _Jenny_ is still there?" she asked.
"Yes," said Dennis, "she's just where she was when we arrived fromGlasnabinnie in Hilderman's boat yesterday."
"Mr. Burnham!" Myra cried suddenly, "is there another boat, a brownmotor-boat, anchored just out there?"
"No," said Dennis, realising how terribly handicapped they were byMyra's inability to see.
"Are you sure?" the girl asked anxiously.
"Quite sure," said Dennis positively. "There is one motor-boat here,and that is all."
"I suppose he took that to put Hilderman off the scent," Myra mused,"and in that case he is probably quite safe. I daresay he's gone tolook for our friend von What's-his name's yacht or his house at LochDuich."
Dennis clutched at the opportunity this theory gave him to allay herfears, and declared that it was ridiculous of him not to have thoughtof it before, and he gave Myra his arm to the house. But he was not atall satisfied with it, and, as it turned out afterwards, Myra was notvery confident about it either. Dennis knew me well enough to knowthat I should never have set out with the deliberate intention ofstopping away overnight without leaving some more definite message formy _fiancee_. However, their thoughts were speedily diverted, for theyhad hardly reached the house before a strange man made his waytowards them through the heather.
"Mr. Ewart, sir?" he asked.
"Do you wish to speak to Mr. Ewart?" Dennis asked cautiously.
"I have a parcel and a message for him from Mr. Garnesk," said thestranger, a young man, who might have been anything by profession.
"Oh, indeed," said Dennis, his suspicions aroused at once. Garnesk, heknew, had only arrived in Glasgow the night before.
"I see you are wondering how I got here and why I came down the hill,instead of up a road of some sort," said the youth with a smile.
"Frankly, I was," Dennis admitted.
"Then, perhaps, I had better explain who I am and how I come tobe here. My name is McKenzie. I am employed by Welton and Delaunay,the Glasgow opticians, makers of the 'Weldel' telescopes andbinoculars. Mr. Garnesk has a good deal to do with our firm in thematter of designs for special glasses to withstand furnace heat, forironworkers, etc. He arrived at the works last night in a car, and,after consulting with the manager, they kept a lot of us at work allnight on a new design of spectacles.
"I was sent with this parcel in the early hours of the morning.There was no passenger train, but Mr. Garnesk got me a military passon a fish train, and here I am. I was to deliver the parcel to Mr.Ewart, or, failing him, to Miss McLeod. When I saw this lady withthe--er--the shade over her eyes I thought you were probably Mr.Ewart, sir."
"I'm not, as a matter of fact," said Dennis. "But where have you comefrom, and why didn't you come up the path?"
"Mr. Garnesk gave me instructions, sir, which I read to the boatmanwho brought me here. Mr. Garnesk said I would find several fishermenat Mallaig who had motor-boats, and would bring me across. He alsogave me this paper, and told me on no account to deviate from thedirections he gave."
Dennis held out his hand for the paper. He glanced through it, andthen read it to Myra.
"Take a motor-boat from Mallaig to Invermalluch Lodge," he read. "Tellthe man to cross the top of Loch Hourn as if he were going to Glenelg,but when he gets well round the point he is to double back, and landyou as near as he can to the house, but to keep on the far side of thepoint. You are on no account to be taken to the landing-stage at thelodge. When you arrive at the lodge insist on seeing Mr. Ewart, orMiss McLeod personally, if Mr. Ewart is not there. Then rejoin yourmotor-boat, and go on to Glenelg. Wait there for the first boat thatwill take you to Mallaig, and come back by the train. Do not return toMallaig by motor-boat."
"Those are very elaborate instructions, Mr. Burnham," said Myra. "Itwould seem that Mr. Garnesk is very suspicious about something."
"Evidently," Dennis agreed. "You'd better let Miss McLeod have thatparcel," he added to McKenzie. The youth handed him the parcel, and atMyra's suggestion Dennis opened it. Topmost among its contents was aletter addressed to me. Dennis tore it open and read it.
"Miss McLeod is to wear a pair of these glasses until I see her again.She will be able to see through them fairly well, but she must notremove them. The consequences might be fatal. The three other pairsare for you and Burnham, and one extra in case of accidents. It willalso come in handy if you take Hilderman into your confidence. Wearthese glasses when you are in any danger of coming in contact with thegreen ray. I have an idea that they will act as a decided protection.I also enclose one Colt automatic pistol and cartridges, the onlyone I could get in the middle of the night. If you decide to askHilderman's help tell him everything. I am sure he will be very usefulto you. Keep your courage up, old man! The best to you all. Inhaste.--H.G."
"We're certainly learning something," said Dennis, as he finished."Obviously Garnesk is very suspicious of somebody, but it's notHilderman. He writes as if he were pretty sure of himself. Probably hehas proved his theory about Hilderman being a Government detective."
"I have a message for Mr. Ewart, sir," the messenger interrupted.
"You had better tell it me," Dennis suggested.
"I'd rather Miss McLeod asked me," McKenzie demurred. "Those were Mr.Garnesk's instructions. He said 'failing Mr. Ewart, insist on seeingMiss McLeod.'"
"Very well," laughed Myra. "I quite appreciate your point. May I knowthe message?"
"Mr. Ewart was to take no notice whatever of anything Mr. Garnesk saidin his letter about Mr. Hilderman. He was on no account to trust Mr.Hilderman, but to be very careful not to let him see he was suspected.The gentlemen were always to wear their glasses whenever they were insight of the hut above--Glas.--above Mr. Hilderman's house."
"Whew!" Dennis whistled. "But why didn't he----? Oh, I see. He wasafraid the letter might fall into Hilderman's hands."
"I wonder where Ron can have got to?" Myra mused wistfully.
"We're very much obliged to you for all the trouble you have taken,Mr. McKenzie," said Dennis. "You've done very well indeed."
"Oh, Mr. Garnesk also said that Miss McLeod was to put on her glassesby the red light."
"Yes; that's important," Dennis agreed. "We'll go up to the house now,shall we, Miss McLeod?"
"Yes," said Myra, "and Mr. McKenzie must come and have a meal and arest, as I'm sure he needs both after his journey. I'll send Angus tolook after the boatman." So the three strolled up to the lodge.
"By the way," said Dennis, "of course it's all right, and you'vecarried out your instructions to the letter, but how can you be surethis is Miss McLeod, and how do you know I'm not Hilderman?"
"Mr. Garnesk described everybody I should be likely to meet," McKenziereplied, "including Mr. Hilderman and Mr. Fuller. I know you are Mr.Ewart's friend because you have a small white scar above your lefteyebrow. So, being with you,
and wearing a shade and an Indian bangle,I thought I was safe in concluding the lady was Miss McLeod."
"Garnesk doesn't seem to miss much!" Dennis laughed.
"He made me repeat his descriptions about twenty times," saidMcKenzie, "so I felt pretty sure of myself."
When they got up to the lodge, and the messenger's requirements hadbeen administered to, Dennis unpacked the parcel. The spectaclesproved to be something like motor goggles; they fitted closely overthe nose and forehead, and entirely excluded all light except thatwhich could be seen through the glass. The only curious thing aboutthem was the glass itself. Instead of being white, or even blue, itwas red, and the surface was scratched diagonally in minute parallellines. Myra and Dennis hurried upstairs, and lighted the lamp in thedark-room. When the girl came down again she declared that she couldsee beautifully. Everything was red, of course, but she could seequite distinctly.
"Have you any idea why these glasses are ruled in lines like this?"Dennis asked McKenzie.
"I couldn't say for certain, sir," the youth replied. "But I shouldthink it was because Mr. Garnesk thought the glasses would be so nearthe eye as to be ineffective. In photography, for instance, you can'tprint either bromide or printing-out paper in a red light. But if youcoat a red glass with emulsion, and make an exposure on it, you canprint the negative in the usual way. I don't know why it is."
"Perhaps there is no space for a ray to form," Myra suggested.
"You must tell Mr. Garnesk how deeply grateful we all are to him,"said Dennis. "I'll give you a letter to take back to him. It has beena wonderfully quick bit of work!"
"I should think he has got some hundreds of the glasses finished bythis time," said McKenzie, "and he has already asked for an estimatefor fifty thousand of them."
"Whatever for?" Myra exclaimed.
"I couldn't say at all, but Mr. Garnesk probably has it all mappedout. He always knows what he's about."
A couple of hours later McKenzie left for Glenelg, with ample time tocatch his boat, and the others sat down to lunch. Myra was delightedthat she could see, even though everything was red. Just as they hadfinished lunch a telegram was delivered to Dennis. It was handed in atMallaig, and it read: "Don't worry about me. May be away for a fewdays.--EWART."
"Oh, good!" exclaimed Dennis. "A wire from Ron. He's all right. 'Don'tworry about me. May be away for a few days.' Sent from Mallaig. He mayhave got something he feels he must tell Garnesk about, and has goneto Glasgow."
"I expect that's it," Myra agreed. "I'm glad he's wired. I do hopehe'll write from wherever he is to-night. Do you think I shall get aletter in the morning?"
"Certain to," Dennis vowed, laying the telegram on the mantelpiece."He's sure to write, however busy he is."
Though Myra was disappointed that there was no personal message forher, she tried to believe that everything was all right. Dennis wenton what he called coastguard duty, and watched the sea and shores withthe untiring loyalty of a faithful dog. That night, after dinner, hewent out to keep an eye on things, and left Myra with her father. Shehas told me since that she felt miserable that I had not wired to her,and went to fetch my telegram in order to get what comfort she couldfrom my message to Dennis. She held the telegram under the light, andread it through. The words were: "May be away for a few days.--EWART."She made out the faint pencil writing slowly through the red glass.She read it twice through, and then suddenly collapsed into anarmchair in the horror of swift realisation. "Ewart!" she whispered,"Ewart! He would never sign a telegram to Mr. Burnham in that way. IfRonnie didn't send that wire, who did?"
In a moment she jumped to her feet. She must act, and act quickly.
She ran into the den, and picked up the revolver and cartridges whichGarnesk had sent, and which she had put carefully away until I shouldcome and claim them. She loaded the revolver, and tucked it in thepocket of the Burberry coat which she slipped on in the hall. Then shetore down to the landing-stage, and made straight for Glasnabinnie inthe _Jenny Spinner_. She had got about half a mile when Dennis, comingup to the top of the cliff on his self-imposed coastguard duties, sawher and recognised her through his binoculars.
He ran down to the landing-stage, putting on his red glasses as hewent. His horror was complete when he found there was no craft of anykind about, not even a rowboat. Alas! I had idiotically allowed thedinghy to drift away. He ran along the shore, every now and thenlooking anxiously through his binoculars for any sign of any kind ofboat that would get him over to Glasnabinnie in time to fulfil hispromise of looking after "Ron's little girl."
Myra has since admitted--and how proud I was to hear her say it--thatshe forgot about everything and everybody except that I was in danger,and probably Hilderman knew something about it. Her one thought was tohold the pistol to his head and demand my safe return.
She came ashore a little beyond the house, having made a rather widedetour, so that she should not be seen. She knew the best way to thehut, and there was a light in it. She thought Hilderman would bethere. She had passed well to seaward of the _Fiona_, and noticed thatshe was standing by with steam up. Myra climbed the hill to the hutwith as much speed as she could.
Hilderman was standing below the door of the smoking-room talking tothree men. She knew that she would have no chance, even with arevolver, against four men. She might hurt one of them, but sherecognised, fortunately, that the others would overpower her.
Eventually Hilderman went into the hut, and two of the men stayedoutside talking. The other went down the hill. It was in watchingthis man that Myra saw the sight that had astonished me, thecontinuous stream of lights down the bed of the burn. She waited, soshe said it seemed, for hours and hours, before she could see a realchance of attacking Hilderman.
Indeed, neither she nor Dennis can give any very clear idea preciselyhow long it was that she waited there, but it must have been aconsiderable time. At last Hilderman was alone. Myra crept to the edgeof the little plateau on which the hut stood, and then made a dash forthe door. She thrust it open and stepped inside, pulling it to behindher. Hilderman sprang to his feet with an oath as he saw her.
"Heavens!" he cried. "You!"
Myra drew the revolver and presented it at him.
"Put up your hands, Mr. Hilderman," she said, with a calmness thatastonished herself, "and tell me what you have done with Ronnie--Mr.Ewart."
"I must admit you've caught me, Miss McLeod!" Hilderman replied. "Ican only assure you that your _fiance_ is safe."
"Where is he?" Myra asked.
"He is quite close at hand," Hilderman assured her, "and quite safe.What do you want me to do?"
"You must set him free at once," said Myra quietly.
"And if I refuse?"
"I shall shoot you and anyone else who comes near me."
"Now look here, Miss McLeod," said Hilderman, "I may be prepared tocome to terms with you. If you shot me and half a dozen others itwould not help you to find Mr. Ewart. On the other hand, it would beawkward for us to have a lot of shooting going on, and I have no wishto harm Mr. Ewart. If I produce him, and allow you two to go away, areyou prepared to swear to me that you will neither of you breathe aword of anything you may know to any living soul for forty-eighthours? I think I can trust you."
Myra thought it over quickly.
"Yes," she said, "if you will----"
But she never finished the sentence. At that moment someone caught herwrist in a grip of steel, and wrenched the pistol from her.
"Come, come, Miss McLeod," said Fuller. "This is very un-neighbourlyof you."
Myra looked round her in despair. There must be some way out of this.She cudgelled her brains to devise some means of getting the better ofher captives. Fuller laid the pistol on the table and sat down.
"You need not be alarmed," he said. "We shall not hurt you. You willbe left here, that is all. And we shall get safely away. After this weshall not be able to leave your precious lover with you, but Hildermaninsists that he shall not be hurt, and we shall take him to
Germanyand treat him as a prisoner of war."
Then Myra had an inspiration. She turned her head towards Fuller, asif she were looking about two feet to the right of his head.
"You may as well kill me as leave me here," she said calmly.
"Nonsense," said Hilderman. "If we leave you here, and see that youhave no means of getting away by sea, you will have to find your wayacross the hills or round the cliffs. There is no road, and by thetime you return to civilisation we shall be clear."
"That's very thoughtful of you," said Myra. "You bargain on my fallingover a precipice or something. A blind girl would have a splendidchance of getting back safely!"
"Good heavens!" Hilderman cried. "I thought you must be able to see.Fuller, this means that that fellow Burnham came with her, and isclose at hand. What in the name----"
But he, too, was interrupted, for a great, gaunt figure flashed likesome weird animal through the window. A long bare arm reached overFuller's shoulder and snatched the pistol.
"Yes, Mr. Burnham is with her," said Dennis quietly, as he stood infront of them, stripped to the waist, the water pouring off him instreams, and covered them with the revolver.
Hilderman and Fuller von Guernstein held up their hands as requested.
"This is very awkward," said Fuller. "We shall have to let thatwretched Ewart go."
And then Dennis swayed, threw up his arms, and fell sideways, fulllength on the floor. Myra glanced at him, and threw herself on herknees beside the prostrate form.
"Dead!" she screamed. "_Dead!_"
Hilderman pushed her gently aside, and knelt down to examine Dennis.
"It's his heart," he announced. "Come Hugo. We're safe now, and thegirl's blind. Let's get away."
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE TRUTH REVEALED.
I will here resume my own narrative.
When I came to myself I was dazed and aching, but, so far as I coulddiscover, there were no bones broken. The curious part about it wasthe rapidity with which I recalled my fall into the cavern. When Ifound I could move my limbs freely I sat up, and discovered that I wasin a small cabin on board a steamer. I stood up and stretched myself.I was feeling weak and ill, but that would pass off I thought. Aminute's speculation decided me that I was on board the _Fiona_, inwhich case I was shanghaied.
I knew that if I valued my life I must act at once. I opened the doorof the cabin, and was surprised to find that it was unlocked. Then Icrept cautiously in the shadows of the dawn up the companion-ladder tothe deck. Though I heard voices I could see no one close to me. Istole along the deck and listened. The voices were talking quitefreely in German. Where could we be? And, more important still, wherewere we going?
I looked around me, and saw that we were steaming slowly down a narrowloch, surrounded by mountains which stretched right down to theshores. I looked across the deck and almost shouted out in mysurprise. For there, moving gracefully alongside of us, was asubmarine. There were two officers on the deck of the submarinechatting with Hilderman and Fuller, who were leaning over the rail ofthe _Fiona_. A submarine! A German submarine in a peaceful Scottishloch! Then this was the secret base we had discussed. I looked up atthe wheel-house. In front of it was the very searchlight, with itscurious condenser that I had seen in the cavern.
What could it mean? I decided to slip overboard unseen, if possible,swim to the shore, and get back over the rocks to the mouth of theloch, and give the alarm if I should be fortunate enough to attractthe attention of any passing steamer.
But suddenly an idea struck me. I crept quickly up the ladder to thedeckhouse, threw my arms round the man at the wheel, flung him down onto the deck, and swung the wheel round with all the strength I had inme. There was a dull, crunching sound as the yacht lurched round. Agroaning shiver shook her, and, if I may be pardoned the illustration,it felt exactly as if the ship were going to be sick. There werehoarse cries from the men, and as the _Fiona_ righted herself I lookedastern. There was a frothy, many-coloured effervescence of oil andwater.
The submarine had disappeared! The yacht was nearing the head of theloch. It was now or never. I made a dash for the side, but Fuller wasbefore me. He tripped me up, and I fell heavily to the deck, bruisingmyself badly and giving my head a terrible bump. I put up my arm in alast feeble attempt to defend myself. Fuller's hands closed on mythroat and nearly choked the life out of me, and as I sank back,struggling for breath, a loud cry rang out from Hilderman.
"Guernstein! Guernstein!" he yelled.
Fuller let me go and ran to Hilderman. I lifted myself on my elbow.Somehow or other I would crawl to the side, and get away before hecame back to finish me, but as I looked out over the stern I wasrooted to the spot by the sight that met my eyes. Or was I deludingmyself with the fantastic delirium of a dying man? Not four hundredyards away was a motor-boat. It was Hilderman's _Baltimore II._, andin it were Myra, my poor Myra, and Garnesk and Angus, all wearingmotor-goggles. But, strangest of all, a British destroyer was puffingserenely behind them. No, I must be dreaming. Garnesk had told me hewas sending glasses for Myra. He had mentioned his connection with thenaval authorities. This must be the nightmare of death-agony.
Then Fuller rushed up the wheel-house ladder and jumped on to thesearchlight platform. Suddenly there flashed out on the grey light ofthe dawn a vivid green ray. So, then, the mystery was solved--but,alas! too late. The green ray was produced by a searchlight, and everyman on the destroyer would be blind. I looked back, and as I did so Iremembered, with an uncanny distinctness, old General McLeod's words,"The rock came to me." The warship seemed suddenly to grow double itssize, and then double that, and so on, growing bigger and bigger untilit appeared to fill the entire loch, and spread out the whole lengthof the horizon. I could even see a gold signet-ring on the finger of ayoung officer on the bridge. I looked round at the details of theboat; it stood out in amazing clearness. If one man on that ship,hundreds of yards away, had opened his mouth I could have counted histeeth. Suddenly I gasped with astonishment as I awoke to the fact thatevery man on board the destroyer was wearing motor-goggles! I had notime to speculate about this new surprise, for then the _Fiona_, leftto her own devices, suddenly crashed ashore. The ship shook andshivered, and Fuller was thrown on his face beside the searchlight,and as I looked again the destroyer had resumed its normalproportions.
Then the crew of the _Fiona_ rushed about the deck in mad terror,until, evidently at the wise suggestion of one of their number, theydecided to wait calmly and give themselves up. Hilderman, closelyfollowed by Fuller, sprang ashore, and made for the mountains. Half adozen shots rang out from the destroyer, and a rifle bullet checkedFuller's progress before he had gone more than a few yards.
Hilderman, however, managed to reach the shelter of a ridge of rock,and I watched him as he scuttled up the mountain side, and madestraight for a long grey rock which protruded from the foot of a steepcrag. And as I looked, and saw him go to the rock and open a door init, I realised that it was really a great, grey, lean-to shed,cunningly concealed. Hilderman had scarcely opened the door when ahuge, dark shadow seemed to fall out of the shed and envelop him. Itwas Sholto. Blind, and half-mad with fury, he sprang at Hilderman'sthroat with the unerring aim of his breed. The wretched man staggeredand fell, and Sholto----.
I turned away from the sickening sight, and looked over the side, andsaw Myra standing up, waving to me, as they drew alongside the wrecked_Fiona_.
And then I'm afraid I must have fainted.
* * * * *
I lay on the sofa in Myra's den, and Myra--God bless her!--waskneeling beside me. Sholto was with us too, looking incredibly wise ina pair of motor-goggles.
"So you see, darling," said Myra, "the glasses cured me completely,and I can see just as well as ever." And I shall not repeat what Isaid in reply to such glorious news.
"Tell me, dear," I asked shortly, "what exactly happened with Dennis?I haven't quite got that."
"Well, he saw me on my way to Glasnabin
nie," she explained, "and wasdetermined to follow. He couldn't find a boat of any kind, so he swam!Angus saw him in the water and ran and told daddy. When they foundthere was no boat they went and fetched the one on the loch, carriedit down to the sea, and called Hamish. Then they pulled across. Then,you see, when Dennis had his heart attack, I thought he was onlypretending. I thought he saw that we should never be able to get awayagain, and that if he pretended to be dead they would leave us alone.So I followed his lead. I was terribly frightened when I couldn't makehim answer me after they had gone, but before I could do anythingdaddy and the men arrived. Angus stopped with me, and told me wherethe _Fiona_ had gone. We took the _Baltimore_ because she is muchfaster than our boat. He must have been a duffer to lose that race wehad. And then daddy and Hamish took Dennis--I refuse to call him Mr.Burnham after this--and brought him here and sent for Dr. Whitehouse."
"I'm thankful he's out of danger," I said fervently.
"But the doctor says he must take it very, very gently for a longtime, and he won't be able to walk much for months. Did he know hehad this heart trouble?"
I had scarcely finished explaining the extent of Dennis's heroism whenGarnesk arrived.
"Hilderman's dead!" he said. "He made a full confession. It seems heis a German, and his name's von Hilder. He has lived most of his lifein America. He is a brilliant physicist, and has done some big thingswith electricity and light. He was here to prepare the submarine baseyou found, and he also got on with a new invention--The Green Ray. Ofcourse he didn't give the secret of that away, but we have thesearchlight, and I have already tumbled to it partly. It ispractically a new form of light.
"It is formed by passing violet and orange rays through tourmaline andquartz respectively. The accident to Miss McLeod was their firstintimation of its blinding properties, and to the end he knew nothingabout the suffocation part of it. I find by experiment that when thetwo rays are switched on simultaneously the air does not becomede-oxygenised, but when you put the violet ray first it does, and itremains so until the orange ray is applied. The effect that Hildermanimagined, and succeeded in producing, was a ray of light which shouldso alter the relative density of the air as to act as a telescope.He's done it, and it's one of the finest achievements of science.However, I have a piece of wonderful news for you."
"What is it?" we both demanded at once.
"The Secret of the Green Ray is ours, and ours alone. Hilderman hasadmitted that the reason why they did not clear it out at the firstsign of suspicion was that, in their final calculations, they wereunsure of their figures. That means, put popularly, that though heknew what he was trying to do, and how he meant to do it, the actualresult was something of a fluke. It very often is with inventors. Theyhad no drawings that they could rely on to make another searchlightby, so they were bound to take the whole thing back with them. Theycould send no figures, because the relative distances and otherquantities baffled them. They could not take the searchlight back inpieces, because if any piece had been broken they might not have beenable to reconstruct the proportions with critical accuracy, as we say.So what was to have been Germany's hideous weapon of war is now ours.We have a searchlight which acts as a telescope, which will pierce thedeepest fog, and which will dispel the most ungodly poisonous gasesever invented. You can see for yourself that no gas could make headwayagainst the atmosphere you encountered the other day. Armies andnavies will be absolutely powerless to advance against it. The greenray is the fourth arm of military power. So you see what you've donefor your country, you lucky dog!"
"_I!_" I cried. "I like that! I've had less to do with it thananyone. What about you, eh?--coming running up with a gunboat at thecritical moment. How did you manage that?"
"Well," he replied, "as soon as I was in the train on my way back Isolved the problem of the fateful hour--with your help, of course. Youpointed out that only then was the whole of the gorge flooded withsunshine. Now, it struck me that, if it were not electricity, it wouldbe heat or some other form of light. Then it flashed into my mind thatif it were done from a searchlight possessed of some devilishproperties the light would not be visible, but the properties wouldcontinue to act. _Voila!_ Then I had already--also with your help--hadsome doubt of von Hilder; and the hut was _the_ place from which asearchlight would operate on the river. As soon as I got out of thetrain I taxied to my naval chief, under whom I am working throughoutthe war, and simply paralysed him with the whole yarn. I pitched himsuch a tale that he got through to the gunboat to stand by at Mallaig.They were at Portree, nice and handy. I rushed and got the glassesdone for the men, picked up the destroyer at Mallaig, and made roundhere to find out what was happening. Then we sighted Miss McLeod andAngus, and you know the rest. Miss McLeod refused to take the shelterthe warship offered, and Angus refused to leave her, so I stayed withthem. We acted as pilot-boat, and there you are. That's the lot! Areyou satisfied?"
"I'm satisfied, old man," I said, holding out my hand. "Some day I'lltry and tell you _how_ satisfied."
"Oh, that's all right," he laughed, and left us in great spirits toreturn to the searchlight.
And so I was left alone with Myra, who a month ago became my wife. Formy services rendered in connection with the remarkable affair Ireceived an appointment in the Naval Intelligence Department, whilemany of our recent successes on land and on sea have, though the truthhas been withheld from the public, been due to the employment of TheGreen Ray.
THE END.
_Printed in Great Britain by Wyman & Sons, Ltd., London and Reading._
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Minor changes have been made to correct typesetter's errors; otherwise,every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words andintent.
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