et on board? Probably the
beastly things did not stop once in a hundred miles, and Stumm would
get me long before I struck a halting-place. And even if I did get a
chance like that, how was I to get permission to travel?

One step was clearly indicated--to get down to the river bank at once.
So I set off at a sharp walk across squelchy fields, till I struck a
road where the ditches had overflowed so as almost to meet in the
middle. The place was so bad that I hoped travellers might be few. And
as I trudged, my thoughts were busy with my prospects as a stowaway.
If I bought food, I might get a chance to lie snug on one of the
barges. They would not break bulk till they got to their journey's end.

Suddenly I noticed that the steamer, which was now abreast me, began to
move towards the shore, and as I came over a low rise, I saw on my left
a straggling village with a church, and a small landing-stage. The
houses stood about a quarter of a mile from the stream, and between
them was a straight, poplar-fringed road.

Soon there could be no doubt about it. The procession was coming to a
standstill. The big tug nosed her way in and lay up alongside the
pier, where in that season of flood there was enough depth of water.
She signalled to the barges and they also started to drop anchors,
which showed that there must be at least two men aboard each. Some of
them dragged a bit and it was rather a cock-eyed train that lay in
mid-stream. The tug got out a gangway, and from where I lay I saw half
a dozen men leave it, carrying something on their shoulders.

It could be only one thing--a dead body. Someone of the crew must have
died, and this halt was to bury him. I watched the procession move
towards the village and I reckoned they would take some time there,
though they might have wired ahead for a grave to be dug. Anyhow, they
would be long enough to give me a chance.

For I had decided upon the brazen course. Blenkiron had said you
couldn't cheat the Boche, but you could bluff him. I was going to put
up the most monstrous bluff. If the whole countryside was hunting for
Richard Hannay, Richard Hannay would walk through as a pal of the
hunters. For I remembered the pass Stumm had given me. If that was
worth a tinker's curse it should be good enough to impress a ship's
captain.

Of course there were a thousand risks. They might have heard of me in
the village and told the ship's party the story. For that reas