creened-up thing?" Olive
asked, strolling towards the framework-covered edifice.

Conyers shrugged his shoulders.

"Can't disclose Government secrets! Between just us four--our friend
Thomson isn't here, is he?" he added, smiling,--"we are planning a
little Hell for the submarines."

They glanced curiously at the mysterious erection. Granet sighed.

"Secretive chaps, you sailors," he observed. "Never mind, I have a pal
in the Admiralty who gives me a few hints now and then. I shall go and
pump him."

"Don't you breathe a word about having been board the _Scorpion,_"
Conyers begged quickly. "They wink at it down here, so long as it's done
discreetly, but it's positively against the rules, you know."

"Righto!" Granet agreed. "There isn't a soul I'm likely to mention it
to."

"I'll come over to the 'Ship' as soon as I can get away," Conyers
promised.

They raced across the mile of broken water to the landing-stage. They
were all a little silent. Olive was frankly disappointed, Geraldine
was busy with her thoughts. Granet's gaze seemed rivetted upon the
_Scorpion._ Another pinnace had drawn up alongside and a little company
of men were boarding her.

"I only hope that they really have hit upon a device to rid the sea of
these cursed submarines!" he remarked, as they made their way across the
dock. "I see the brutes have taken to sinking fishing boats now."

"Ralph believes that they have got something," Olive declared eagerly.
"He is simply aching to get to work."

"Sailors are all so jolly sanguine," Granet reminded her. "They are
doing something pretty useful with nets, of course, in the way your
brother was beginning to explain to me when Major Thomson chipped in,
but they could only keep a fixed channel clear in that way. What they
really need is some way of tackling them when they are under water. Here
we are at last. I hope you girls are as hungry as I am."

They lunched in leisurely fashion, Olive in particular glancing often
towards the door, and afterwards they sat about in the lounge, drinking
their coffee. Granet had seemed to be in high spirits throughout the
meal, and told the girls many little anecdotes of his adventures at the
Front. Afterwards, however, he became silent, and finally, with a word
of excuse, strolled off alone. Olive looked once more at the clock.

"Ralph doesn't seem to be coming back, does he?" she sighed. "Let's walk
a little way down to the landing-stage."

The two girls