ation before fate forced my hand.

First of all, I had a look round my immediate surroundings. I was well
sheltered, as all the walls were standing, and there was most of a roof
over my head (the last being a point of some importance in case any
aircraft chanced to make a flight in this direction). It is true that
the door was gone, but even here I seemed fortunate, for another small
building, also dilapidated-looking but in somewhat better condition,
stood right opposite the open doorway and hid it completely. This
little building still had a dishevelled door which stood closed, and
for a moment I half thought of changing my shelter and taking
possession of it; and then I decided that where fate had directed my
steps, there should I abide.

The next thing obviously was to overhaul my motor-cycle, and this I set
about at once, though all the time my thoughts kept working. In the
course of an hour or so I had located the trouble in the carburettor
and put it right again, and I had also begun to realise a few of the
pros and cons of the situation.

I now ate a few sandwiches, had a pull at my flask, lit a cigarette,
and put the case to myself squarely.

"With a motor-cycle, the whole island at my disposal, and daylight in
which to search it through, I can surely find a hiding-place a little
farther removed from inquisitive neighbours," I said to myself. "So
the sooner I am off the better."

But then I answered back--

"On the other hand it may take me some hours to find a better spot than
this, and a man tearing about the country on a motor-cycle is decidedly
more conspicuous in the early morning than in the middle of the day or
the afternoon when cyclists are natural objects.

"But again, if I do think of leaving this place I certainly ought not
to be seen in the act of emerging from a ruinous house pushing my
cycle--not, at least, if I wish to be considered a normal feature of
the landscape. I have a chance of escaping now unobserved; shall I
have such a chance later in the day?"

Finally I decided to compromise. I should stay where I was till the
hour when all the farmers had their midday meal. Then I might well
hope to slip out unobserved, and thereafter scour the country looking
for the ideal hiding-place without attracting any particular attention.
But whatever merits this scheme may have had were destined never to be
tested.

From my seat amid the nettles I could see right through the open door,