wilderness of South London.

The little pleasurable excitement which Merriman had experienced when
first the trip had been suggested had not waned as the novelty of the
idea passed. Not since he was a boy at school had he looked forward
so keenly to holidays. The launch, for one thing, would be a new
experience. He had never been on any kind of cruise. The nearest
approach had been a couple of days' yachting on the Norfolk Broads, but
he had found that monotonous and boring, and had been glad when it was
over. But this, he expected, would be different. He delighted in poking
about abroad, not in the great cosmopolitan hotels, which after all are
very much the same all the world over, but where he came in contact
with actual foreign life. And how better could a country be seen than
by slowly motoring through its waterways? Merriman was well pleased with
the prospect.

And then there would be Hilliard. Merriman had always enjoyed his
company, and he felt he would be an ideal companion on a tour. It was
true Hilliard had got a bee in his bonnet about this lorry affair.
Merriman was mildly interested in the thing, but he would never have
dreamed of going back to the sawmill to investigate. But Hilliard
seemed quite excited about it. His attitude, no doubt, might be partly
explained by his love of puzzles and mysteries. Perhaps also he half
believed in his absurd SUGGESTION about the smuggling, or at least felt
that if it were true there was the chance of his making some coup
which would also make his name. How a man's occupation colors his mind!
thought Merriman. Here was Hilliard, and because he was in the Customs
his ideas ran to Customs operations, and when he came across anything
he did not understand he at once suggested smuggling. If he had been a
soldier he would have guessed gun-running, and if a politician, a means
of bringing anarchist literature into the country. Well, he had not seen
Madeleine Coburn! He would soon drop so absurd a notion when he had met
her. The idea of her being party to such a thing was too ridiculous even
to be annoying.

However, Hilliard insisted on going to the mill, and he, Merriman, could
then pay that call on the Coburns. It would not be polite to be in the
neighborhood and not do so. And it would be impossible to call without
asking Miss Coburn to come on the river. As the train rumbled on through
the rapidly darkening country Merriman began once again to picture the
details of th