ake me,
and as inconspicuously as the gods would permit. Unhappily I was far
too great an object of interest to that nursery of heroes. Every boy
scout is an amateur detective and hungry for knowledge. I was followed
by several, who plied me with questions, and were told that I was off
to Bradfield to hurry up part of the cinema outfit. It sounded lame
enough, for that cinema outfit was already past praying for.

We reached the road and against a stone wall stood several bicycles. I
selected one and prepared to mount.

'That's Mr Emmott's machine,' said one boy sharply. 'He told me to keep
an eye on it.'

'I must borrow it, sonny,' I said. 'Mr Emmott's my very good friend and
won't object.'

From the place where we stood I overlooked the back of the battle-field
and could see an anxious congress of officers. I could see others, too,
whose appearance I did not like. They had not been there when I
operated on the megaphone. They must have come downhill from the
aerodrome and in all likelihood were the pursuers I had avoided. The
exhilaration which I had won in the air and which had carried me into
the tomfoolery of the past half-hour was ebbing. I had the hunted
feeling once more, and grew middle-aged and cautious. I had a baddish
record for the day, what with getting Archie into a scrape and busting
up an official cinema show--neither consistent with the duties of a
brigadier-general. Besides, I had still to get to London.

I had not gone two hundred yards down the road when a boy scout,
pedalling furiously, came up abreast me.

'Colonel Edgeworth wants to see you,' he panted. 'You're to come back
at once.'

'Tell him I can't wait now,' I said. 'I'll pay my respects to him in an
hour.'

'He said you were to come at once,' said the faithful messenger. 'He's
in an awful temper with you, and he's got bobbies with him.'

I put on pace and left the boy behind. I reckoned I had the better part
of two miles' start and could beat anything except petrol. But my
enemies were bound to have cars, so I had better get off the road as
soon as possible. I coasted down a long hill to a bridge which spanned
a small discoloured stream that flowed in a wooded glen. There was
nobody for the moment on the hill behind me, so I slipped into the
covert, shoved the bicycle under the bridge, and hid Archie's
aquascutum in a bramble thicket. I was now in my own disreputable
tweeds and I hoped that the shedding of my most conspicuous gar