llins muttered. "Let's get the things out quickly."

Granet hurried to the back of the car, ripping open the coverings. In a
few moments they had dragged over the side a small collapsible boat of
canvas stretched across some bamboo joints, with two tiny sculls. They
clambered up the bank.

"The creek must be close here," Granet whispered. "Don't show a light.
Listen!"

This time they could hear the sound of an engine beating away in the
boat-house on the other side of the Hall. Through the closely-drawn
curtains, too, they could see faint fingers of light from the house on
the sea.

"They are working still," Granet continued. "Look out, Collins, that's
the creek."

They pushed the boat into the middle of the black arm of water and
stepped cautiously into it. Taking one of the paddles, Granet, kneeling
down, propelled it slowly seaward. Once or twice they ran into the bank
and had to push off, but very soon their eyes grew accustomed to the
darkness. By degrees the creek broadened. They passed close to the
walls of the garden, and very soon they were perceptibly nearer the
quaintly-situated workshop. Granet paused for a moment from his labours.

"The Hall is dark enough," he muttered. "Listen!"

They heard the regular pacing of a sentinel in the drive. Nearer to
them, on the top of the wall, they fancied that they heard the clash of
a bayonet. Granet dropped his voice to the barest whisper.

"We are close there now. Stretch out your hand, Collins. Can you feel a
shelf of rock?"

"It's just in front of me," was the stifled answer.

"That's for the stuff. Down with it."

For a few moments Collins was busy. Then, with a little gasp, he gripped
Granet's arm. His voice, shaking with nervous repression, was still
almost hysterical.

"They're coming, Granet! My God, they're coming!"

Both men turned seaward. Far away in the clouds, it seemed, they could
hear a faint humming, some new sound, something mechanical in its
regular beating, yet with clamorous throatiness of some human force
cleaving its way through the resistless air. With every second it grew
louder. The men stood clutching one another.

"Have you got the fuse ready? They must hear it in a moment." Granet
muttered.

Collins assented silently. The reverberations became louder and louder.
Soon the air was full of echoes. From far away inland dogs were barking,
from a farm somewhere the other side of the road they heard the shout of
a single voice.