ey
to be allowed to go to their homes when they come off their shifts?"

"I have thought of that and weighed both sides. It will be safer to
let them go home as usual. If we locked them all up in the dockyard
till the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ were both safe away, there would be
no end of curiosity and gossip. What so very special, people would
ask, could be going on in the yard that no one was allowed out for two
days. I don't want wives and families and neighbours to come smelling
round those dockyard gates. They might see the spotting tops of the
cruisers inside. Of course there is a regular forest of masts and
gantries showing, and a couple of spotting tops more or less might not
be noticed. But my general idea is to concentrate attention on those
dear old dummies down at Picklecombe Point. They are the centre of
interest, the eye of the picture--the cynosure, as a scholar would
say. I am not a bad scholar myself. I passed the seventh standard, and
went to school all the time I was in the Red Marines. I was a
sergeant, which takes a bit of doing. But see here, Froissart,"
exclaimed Dawson, looking at his watch, "it is five o'clock, and we
must get quick to bed so as to be bright and lively in the morning."

Dawson carried out his programme. Though a strict teetotaller, he
passed hours at public houses, especially in the evenings, listening
to the talk of the port. It was all about the disaster in the South
Seas, the heavy casualties suffered by the Three Towns, and the rotten
ill-luck of the avenging battle-cruisers running upon the German
mines. Not a whisper could Dawson hear of suspicion that the ships
beached under Mount Edgcumbe were other than the genuine article. The
salvage steamer with her big arc lights glowing through the darkness
had been the last artistic touch which brought complete conviction.
Gold-laced officers, including the Commander-in-Chief himself, had
been coming and going all day; the acting of the Navy had been
perfect. Dawson blessed the four bones of old Jacquetot, who, when he
tackles a job, does it very thoroughly indeed. "I should not be
surprised," thought he, "if the Mountain, as that young Jackanapes
called him, came trotting down here himself just to make the show
complete." And sure enough he did, accompanied by the Fourth Sea Lord
who had worked out all the convincing details. Dawson was ordered to
meet them in the Admiral's quarters of the _Intrepid_. He went,
looking a very di