Thomas Yownie spoke. So far he had been silent, but under his
tangled thatch of hair his mind had been busy. Jaikie's report seemed
to bring him to a decision.

"It's gey dark," he said, "and it's gettin' darker."

There was that in his voice which promised something, and Dickson
listened.

"The enemy's mostly foreigners, but Dobson's there and I think he's a
kind of guide to them. Dobson's feared of the polis, and if we can
terrify Dobson he'll terrify the rest."

"Ay, but where are the police?"

"They're no' here yet, but they're comin'. The fear o' them is aye in
Dobson's mind. If he thinks the polis has arrived, he'll put the wind
up the lot.... WE maun be the polis."

Dickson could only stare while the Chief of Staff unfolded his scheme.
I do not know to whom the Muse of History will give the credit of the
tactics of "Infiltration," whether to Ludendorff or von Hutier or some
other proud captain of Germany, or to Foch, who revised and perfected
them. But I know that the same notion was at this moment of crisis
conceived by Thomas Yownie, whom no parents acknowledged, who slept
usually in a coal cellar, and who had picked up his education among
Gorbals closes and along the wharves of Clyde.

"It's gettin' dark," he said, "and the enemy are that busy tryin' to
break into the Hoose that they'll no' be thinkin' o' their rear. The
five o' us Die-Hards is grand at dodgin' and keepin' out of sight, and
what hinders us to get in among them, so that they'll hear us but never
see us. We're used to the ways o' the polis, and can imitate them
fine. Forbye we've all got our whistles, which are the same as a
bobbie's birl, and Old Bill and Peter are grand at copyin' a man's
voice. Since the Captain is shut up in the Hoose, the command falls to
me, and that's my plan."

With a piece of chalk he drew on the kitchen floor a rough sketch of
the environs of Huntingtower. Peter Paterson was to move from the
shrubberies beyond the verandah, Napoleon from the stables, Old Bill
from the Tower, while Wee Jaikie and Thomas himself were to advance as
if from the Garplefoot, so that the enemy might fear for his
communications. "As soon as one o' ye gets into position he's to gie
the patrol cry, and when each o' ye has heard five cries, he's to
advance. Begin birlin' and roarin' afore ye get among them, and keep
it up till ye're at the Hoose wall. If they've gotten inside, in ye go
after them. I trust each Die-Hard t