is led them in a north-easterly direction,
threading a way through pyramids of rubbish, until with the wind in
their teeth they came out upon the river bank at a point where the shore
shelved steeply downwards. A number of boats lay on the shingle.

"We're pretty well opposite Greenwich Marshes," said Jervis. "You can
just see one of the big gasometers. The end boat is George's."

"Have you searched it?" rapped Kerry, placing a fresh piece of
chewing-gum between his teeth.

"I have, sir. Oh, he's too wise for that!"

"I propose," said Seton briskly, "that we borrow one of the other boats
and pull down stream to where that short pier juts out. We can hide
behind it and watch for our man. I take it he'll be bound up-stream, and
the tide will help us to follow him quietly."

"Right," said Kerry. "We'll take the small dinghy. It's big enough."

He turned to Jervis.

"Nip across to the wooden stairs," he directed, "and tell Inspector
White to stand by, but to keep out of sight. If we've started before you
return, go back and join him."

"Very good, sir."

Jervis turned and disappeared into the mazes of rubbish, as Seton and
Kerry grasped the boat and ran it down into the rising tide. Kerry
boarding, Seton thrust it out into the river and climbed in over the
stern.

"Phew! The current drags like a tow-boat!" said Kerry.

They were being drawn rapidly up-stream. But as Kerry seized the oars
and began to pull steadily, this progress was checked. He could make
little actual headway, however.

"The tide races round this bend like fury," he said. "Bear on the oars,
sir."

Seton thereupon came to Kerry's assistance, and gradually the dinghy
crept upon its course, until, below the little pier, they found a
sheltered spot, where it was possible to run in and lie hidden. As they
won this haven:

"Quiet!" said Seton. "Don't move the oars. Look! We were only just in
time!"

Immediately above them, where the boats were beached, a man was coming
down the slope, carrying a hurricane lantern. As Kerry and Seton
watched, the man raised the lantern and swung it to and fro.

"Watch!" whispered Seton. "He's signalling to the Greenwich bank!"

Kerry's teeth snapped savagely together, and he chewed but made no
reply, until:

"There it is!" he said rapidly. "On the marshes!"

A speck of light in the darkness it showed, a distant moving lantern on
the curtain of the night. Although few would have credited Kerry with
the vi