"Surely they wouldn't kill two kids like us?"
And he said:
"Killing kids is their chief sport. They can't be too young--from
babies upward."
So it looked pretty putrid in every way, and it wouldn't be true, and it
wouldn't be believed, if I said Cornwallis and me weren't in the funk of
our lives.
But the awful moments didn't last long, for, almost before the padlock
was undone, what should we hear but the well known yelp of Brown!
Our first thought was that the crew of a German submarine had also got
Brown; but even in our present condition we felt that was too mad. All
the same, when he actually appeared, with two other men and the spy, he
looked such a ghastly object, and was so white and wild, that it seemed
clear that he was in a mess of some kind.
What he said when we both appeared in the lantern light was:
"Thank God!"
For the first and last time in his life he was apparently glad to see
us. But after this expression of joy, he instantly became beastly, and,
in fact, so much so, that a man behind him, who did not fear him, told
him not to talk so roughly to us at such a moment.
This man turned out to be no less a man than the great Mr. Foster
himself, and he explained to us that we had put everybody to frightful
anxiety and distress, and that, in fact, he had feared the worst.
This much surprised us, and what surprised us still more was Mr.
Foster's attitude to the spy, for he called him "Joe," and treated him
in a most friendly manner.
We all went back to the motor-boat, and while it tore away to the
landing-place under Mr. Foster's beach, we told our story. During this
narrative, which was listened to very carefully, the man called Joe made
several remarks of a familiar nature, which showed he was not in the
least afraid of anybody, and we found out later that he was an old and
trusted servant of Mr. Foster's, who lived at Daleham, and who managed
Mr. Foster's motorboat, and caught lobsters for him and fish of many
kinds, and was, in fact, a sort of family friend of long standing. It
was admitted, however, that Joe was very queer to look at, and also odd
in his ways. This arose entirely from his peculiar Fate, because Fate
had had a dash at him too, and when a young man, he had once gone out
fishing, and returned to find that during his absence his wife had run
away for ever with another mariner. This was such a surprise to him
that it had quite turned his head for a time, and, in fact, he had been
odd ever since.
Having told our tale, we ventured to ask why everybody had feared the
worst, and Mr. Foster explained the situation, and showed what a
splendid and remarkable bit of work Fate had really done for Cornwallis
and me.
He said:
"What did you intend to do when you left Joe's hut?"
And I said:
"We were going to tear back along the beach, sir, and give the alarm,
because we thought he was a pro-German spy."
Joe gurgled at this, but did not condescend to answer.
"And do you know what would have happened in that case?" asked Mr.
Foster.
"You would have explained to us that we were on a false scent, sir,"
said Cornwallis.
"No, my child, I should not," answered Mr. Foster, "for the very good
reason that I should never have seen either of you again alive. Nor
would anybody else. If you had started to go back by the beach, you
would both have been overtaken by the tide and most certainly been
drowned."
"Crikey!" said Cornwallis under his breath to me.
"Yes," continued the good and great Mr. Foster, "if Joe here, quite
ignorant of the fact that you were trespassing in his store shed, had
not turned the key upon you both, you would neither of you be alive to
tell your story now."
Somehow we never thought we were trespassing, but doing our duty to
England. It just shows how different a thing looks from different
points of view.
"You ought to be very thankful," said Mr. Foster, "and I hope this
terrible experience will leave its mark in your hearts, my boys. You
have been spared a sad and untimely death, and I trust that the memory
of this night will help you both to justify your existence in time to
come."
We said we trusted it would.
Then Brown, of course, put in his oar.
"And if you had used your eyes, Towler and Cornwallis, as I have tried
so often to make you," he squeaked, "you would have seen a notice on the
cliff warning people not to go beyond a certain point, as the tides were
very dangerous."
"We were studying the wonders of Nature, sir," I answered, in rather a
sublime tone of voice, because this was no time for sitting on
Cornwallis and me. And just then the motor-boat came to shore, and it
was found that we could catch the last train back to Daleham. So we
caught it. Of course, all the other chaps had gone back in the brakes
ages ago.
Mr. Foster blessed us, before the train started, in a very affectionate
and gentlemanly way; but Brown did not bless us on the journey back. In
fact, he said that he should advise the Doctor to flog us. We preserved
a dignified silence. He couldn't send a telegram on in advance, as the
office was shut, and therefore, when we arrived at Merivale, it was
rather triumphant in a way, and the news of our safe return created a
great sensation. In the excitement, food for us was overlooked
entirely, until Cornwallis told the matron we had had nothing to eat
since dinner. Food was then provided. The Doctor said very little
until the following day, and then he told the whole story to the school
after morning prayers; and not until we heard it from him did we realize
what a good yarn it really was.
But nothing was done against us, much to Brown's disappointment, and
from the way he hated Cornwallis and me afterwards, I believe he got
ragged in private for not keeping his eye on us.
We wrote a very sporting letter to Mr. Foster, and said we should not
forget his great kindness as long as we lived; and we also wrote home
and scared up ten pounds for Joe, because he had locked us up and saved
our lives. It was an enormous lot of money, and far beyond what we
expected. My father sent five, and the mother of Cornwallis also sent
five; and Cornwallis truly said it showed that my father and his mother
mast think much more highly of our lives than they had ever led us to
believe.
In fact, so excited was the mother of Cornwallis about it that she
couldn't wait till the end of the term, but had to come and see him and
kiss him, and realize that he was still all there. But my father waited
till the end of the term for me.
He is rather a hard sort of man, compared to such a man as Mr. Foster,
for instance; and when I did go home and explained all about what Fate
had done, he said he hoped that I would not give Fate cause to regret
it--at any rate, during the summer holidays.