uth of the Loire.
We had intended to make a long day of it on Friday and come fight here,
but as I told you it came on to blow a bit off the Coubre, and we could
only make the mouth of the river. We put into a little place called Le
Verdon, just inside the Pointe de Grave--that's the end of that fork
of land on the southern side of the Gironde estuary. On Saturday we
got here about midday, hunted around, found that old wharf and moored.
Maxwell went on the same evening to Spain."

Hilliard paused, while Merriman congratulated him on his journey.

"Yes, we hadn't bad luck," he resumed. "But that really wasn't what I
wanted to tell you about. I had brought a fishing rod and outfit, and on
Sunday I took a car and drove out along the Bayonne Road until I came to
your bridge over that river--the Lesque I find it is. I told the chap
to come back for me at six, and I walked down the river and did a bit
of prospecting. The works were shut, and by keeping the mill building
between me and the manager's house, I got close up and had a good look
round unobserved--at least, I think I was unobserved. Well, I must
say the whole business looked genuine. There's no question those
tree cuttings are pit-props, and I couldn't see a single thing in the
slightest degree suspicious."

"I told you there could be nothing really wrong," Merriman interjected.

"I know you did, but wait a minute. I got back to the forest again in
the shelter of the mill building, and I walked around through the trees
and chose a place for what I wanted to do next morning. I had decided
to spend the day watching the lorries going to and from the works, and I
naturally wished to remain unobserved myself. The wood, as you know, is
very open. The trees are thick, but there is very little undergrowth,
and it's nearly impossible to get decent cover. But at last I found a
little hollow with a mound between it and the lane and road--just a mere
irregularity in the surface like what a Tommy would make when he began
to dig himself in. I thought I could lie there unobserved, and see what
went on with my glass. I have a very good prism monocular--twenty-five
diameter magnification, with a splendid definition. From my hollow I
could just see through the trees vehicles passing along the main road,
but I had a fairly good view of the lane for at least half its length.
The view, of course, was broken by the stems, but still I should be
able to tell if any games were tried on.