AN ADVENTURE ON THE HILLS
"I WISH to goodness that sister of mine wouldn't do such erratic
things," remarked Eric Greenwood.
"Oh!" rejoined Tressidar, with a veiled attempt at inconsequence.
"What has she been up to now?"
The conversation occurred two days after the loss of H.M.S. "Pompey."
The officers and men of the destroyed cruiser were temporarily
berthed in a hulk that had been towed round from Chatham some months
previously for use as a depôt-ship.
Mr. Greenwood had returned to Devonshire, declaring that the east
coast of Scotland was a little too lively for a man of his mature
years and sedentary habits. Doris, of course, remained at the
Auldhaig sick-quarters.
"Going for lonely walks when she's off duty," explained the A.P. "Why
on earth she doesn't get one of the nursing sisters to go with her I
cannot imagine. When I proposed to accompany her, she promptly choked
me off. This afternoon, she tells me, she's taking the train as far
as Nedderburn, and is going to tramp back over the hills. From all
accounts it's a rotten, unfrequented road."
"It is," agreed the sub.
"Yes," added Eric. "And I would insist upon going with her, in spite
of her objections, only I am booked for the preliminary inquiry at
the Senior's Officer's quarters. That's the penalty for keeping one's
shorthand up."
Ronald Tressidar kept his plans to himself, but one of the first
things he did was to consult a railway time-table. In it he found
that the earliest train the girl could take was at 2.45 p.m. That
meant that she would probably set out on her return at a quarter past
three, since Nedderburn was only nine miles from Auldhaig and the
railway journey took twenty minutes.
His next step, immediately after lunch, was to go ashore and pay a
visit to the local garage.
"Sorry, sir," replied the proprietor in answer to the sub.'s request
for the hire of a two-seater car. "I've nae ain in the place; but I
hae a bonnie leetle motor-cycle and side-car."
"Suppose that will have to do," said Tressidar dubiously. "She'll
take the hills all right, I hope?"
Receiving an affirmative reply, the sub. concluded negotiations for
the hire of the unaccustomed mount, but before he was clear of the
town he found that he had something fairly powerful under his control
and also something that was not so very difficult to steer.
For the first two miles the road skirted the northern shore of the
firth, then ascending a steep hill by means of a series of
well-engineered zig-zags, it swept across a bleak upland. For the
most part the country on either side consisted of sheep-pasture,
rough stone walls taking the place of the hedges so common in the
south. Here and there were thick clusters of gorse, growing to a
height of nearly six feet. There were also clumps of gaunt pines that
swayed mournfully in the stiff breeze.
After a while the road began to descend with a long, easy gradient.
Away on his right he could just discern the galvanised iron roofs and
tall brick chimneys of the Sauchieblair Munition Works. It was only
from this part of the road that any distant view could be obtained of
the magazines without climbing any of the surrounding hills. Just
beyond this spot was a fairly extensive wood.
"I'll bring up here and have a pipe," thought the sub. "I am in
plenty of time, and it's only a few miles to Nedderburn."
Leaving the cycle and side-car, he paced up and down the road, for
the air was much too keen to stand still. Then, having assured
himself that there was plenty of petrol in the tank--experience had
taught him that there are such things as leaking carburetters and
petrol pipes--he restarted.
Less than a mile from the outskirts of the little village of
Nedderburn he espied a trim figure walking briskly in his direction.
It was Doris Greenwood.
Presently Tressidar's fears gripped him.
"Hang it!" he soliloquised. "What possible excuse can I have for
coming out here?"
With a motor-cycle travelling at twenty miles an hour there is little
time to decide upon any matter, but by the time the sub. slowed down
he had framed some sort of excuse which might or might not hold
water.
"Hulloa, Doris!" he exclaimed in well-simulated surprise. "Whatever
are you doing in this unfrequented road?"
"Merely walking for exercise," she replied.
"To Auldhaig? It's a long way. Can I give you a lift?"
"Why, you are going in exactly the opposite direction," declared the
girl laughingly. "And to find you riding with an empty side-car,
Ronald. Now, what does it mean?"
"I'll deal with your question," replied Tressidar, striving to gain
time to find a suitable explanation to meet her previous remark. "I
couldn't hire a car and I can't ride a motorbike solo, so I had to
hire the side-car to keep me balanced. It's quite true that I was
going in the wrong direction, but there's no reason why I shouldn't
turn the affair round."
"If you are riding with a set purpose," continued Doris
remorselessly, "I wouldn't think of detaining you. You evidently are
making for somewhere."
"Yes, I am," admitted Tressidar boldly. "I came along here to meet
you. It's no use mincing matters. Look here, what do you say to a run
out as far as Tuilaburn? It's only seven miles further, and the road
across the moors is simply top-hole. We'll be back at Auldhaig well
before lighting-up time."
Doris assented. She was not one of those irresponsible young ladies
who coyly pretend not to be able to make up their minds. She really
admired the tall, bronzed naval officer who had handled the duty
steamboat so magnificently in going to the aid of the doomed
"Pompey." It was not without ulterior motives, which were now being
realised, that she had "choked off" her rather too attentive brother.
Before the girl took her place in the car Ronald assisted her to don
his oilskin coat--the same that she had worn on that memorable trip
in Auldhaig Harbour. It formed an ideal protection from the biting
wind.
Almost before they were aware of it, they ran into Tuilaburn. Here
they had tea and talked--of many things. It was close upon
lighting-up time when the return journey began.
"By Jove! the little engine does pull well," remarked Tressidar as
the motor-cycle ascended the long gradual rise out of Nedderburn.
"We'll be in Auldhaig before it's time to light up, you see if we
won't."
The words were hardly out of his mouth when, with an ominous
succession of bumps, the back tyre punctured.
"The result of boasting," declared Doris cheerfully, as the sub.
dismounted and examined the outer cover.
"A nail," he announced. "That's good. It will save me from searching
for a small puncture. I'll mend the inner tube in less than ten
minutes."
Once again his optimism was at fault, for the cover was an obstinate
one to remove. The tube, a butted one, was then patched and replaced.
By the time they were ready to resume their journey it was
lighting-up time.
For nearly ten minutes Tressidar attempted to get the head-light to
burn. It stubbornly refused duty. Examination showed that the carbide
was already saturated and useless for illumination.
"We'll risk it," declared the sub. "It's a hundred to one chance that
we meet anyone on this unfrequented road, especially a policeman."
"I should not like to see our names figure in a police-court report,"
remarked Doris.
"No; but they might appear in a very different sort of document,"
added Tressidar boldly.
Doris made no reply. It was now too dark for her companion to notice
the expression on her face. Vaguely he wondered whether he had
bungled again.
"What's that glare over there?" asked the girl as they emerged from a
little wood on the crest of the hill.
"Only the munition works at Sauchieblair," replied Tressidar. "It's
rather strange that a Government factory should show such an amount
of light."
"It's out," exclaimed Doris ten seconds later. "What does that
mean--a Zepp. warning?"
"Shouldn't wonder," answered her companion. "It's just the sort of
night--dark and practically no wind.... Oh, bother!"
The back tyre was again bumping on the ground.
"I vote we abandon ship," suggested Tressidar. "We'll push the thing
just off the road and walk the rest of the way. I'll tell the man to
send for it in the morning, Hope you don't mind the tramp, Doris?"
They alighted. Tressidar was in the act of urging the heavy
motor-cycle upon the slight rise by the roadside when with a rush and
subdued roar a powerful motor-car with obscured lights flashed by.
Well it was that the cycle was clear, otherwise there was every
possibility of its being run down by the reckless road-hogs.
"Three red lights," exclaimed Doris, indicating the rear lights of the
disappearing motor. "That's rather unusual."
"There's no law against a fellow having as many red rear lights as he
wants so far as I know," said Tressidar. "It's certainly unusual. I
say, I believe the car's stopping. Let's get them to give us a lift
into Auldhaig."
The motor was now on a slight rise almost four hundred yards from the
spot where the motor-cycle had been abandoned. It displayed three red
lights vertically.
Before the sub. and his companion had walked more than twenty yards
the three lights were increased by three more, so that there was a
vertical string of six. At the same time the car was being backed
from the side of the road on to the sward.
"Doris," exclaimed Ronald hurriedly, "will you stay here a little
while?--do you mind? I'm going to see what those fellows are up to.
It looks jolly fishy. You're not nervous?"
"Not a little bit," declared the girl. "Only take care of yourself."
"I'll try," rejoined the sub. "Don't make a sound. If--that is,
supposing I don't come back, you had better make your way to
Nedderburn and telephone to the senior officer of Auldhaig; but I
fancy that there'll be no need for that."
Taking to the grass, Tressidar stole cautiously in the direction of
the stationary car. His footsteps made no sound upon the springy
turf. As he approached he bent low, taking advantage of the cover
afforded by the numerous gorse bushes.
"So that's your little game," he mused. There were two men with the
car. One, by the aid of the partly screened head-lamp, was consulting
what was evidently a prismatic compass. The other, acting according
to the movements of his companion's hand, was slowly shifting the car
in its own length.
The mystery of the six red lights was now no longer a mystery. To the
sub.'s keen intelligence the whole thing was as clear as daylight.
The lid of the tool-box at the rear of the car had been partly raised
until it formed an angle of 135 degrees with the back of the body.
The lid, being of burnished metal, served as a reflector, so that the
three red lights appeared to be six in a straight vertical line.
And that line pointed in the direction of the Sauchieblair Munition
Works.
"That will do," said a voice in German--a language of which Tressidar
had more than a general knowledge. "We're right on the exact bearing.
Call up Pfeiller and inform him that our position is fixed."
The fellow who had been engaged in manoeuvring the car stepped inside
the coupé. The faint cackle of a low-powered wireless apparatus was
faintly borne to the sub.'s ear.
"Pfeiller reports all right at his position," announced the man after
a brief interval.
"Let us hope he is sure on the point," remarked the German with the
compass.
"He is a careful man at that sort of work," said the other
reassuringly. "Now comes the worst part of the business--the waiting.
Himmel! I t is cold on these hills."
"If she picks up the coast lights without difficulty she ought to be
here by eight o'clock," said his companion. "These English have
already had warning. That is why they have turned out the lights. Can
you imagine them, friend Otto, cowering in darkness, waiting for one
of our incomparable Zeppelins to blow them to pieces? And there is
not even a puny, so-called anti-aircraft gun nearer than Auldhaig."
Ronald Tressidar had heard enough. His first impulse was to retrace
his steps quietly and make his way to Nedderburn to procure
assistance. But upon further consideration he came to the conclusion
that before the spies could be made prisoners the Zeppelin's work
might be accomplished. Prompt measures were necessary.
Creeping away to a safe distance, the sub. removed his heavy
great-coat. To have the unencumbered use of his limbs was essential
to the work he proposed attempting.
Again he stalked the two Germans. Unheard and unseen he gained the
remote side of the car, then working round the front he leapt upon
the nearmost of the spies.
Throwing his muscular arms round the fellow's head and applying his
knee to the small of his back, Tressidar hurled him heavily to the
ground. In falling, the fellow grabbed frantically at the sub.'s
ankles. The check was but momentary, but sufficient to put the second
Teuton on his guard.
Whipping out a pistol, he fired almost point-blank at the British
naval officer.
Whether he was hit or otherwise Tressidar did not pause to consider.
Bending low and hunching his shoulders, he charged the armed man, and
butting him in the chest sent him flying backwards a good five yards.
The pistol was jerked from his grip and fell in the centre of a
gorse-bush.
Carried onwards by the momentum of his furious charge, the sub.
tripped across the plunging limbs of his opponent and pitched
headlong on the ground.