He banked again, cursing the heavy clouds that obscured the stars, as he sailed low over the black belt of trees fringing the eastern end of the Park. Then he switched on his landing light and planed down towards his old landing ground outside the gates.
They came down with a horrible bump which made their teeth rattle in their heads, bounced up, sailed on and hit the ground again. There was the sound of rending fabric as the plane crashed to a standstill. One of its wing-tips had caught a pylon bearing the electric cables of the grid system.
‘Gawd!’ exclaimed Rudd, grabbing the zip fastener of the emergency exit at the top of the cabin.
‘To hell with the plane,’ Gregory shot back, flinging open the door and tumbling out.
Rudd was after him in a second, and they were running again, towards the lane. They had landed within a hundred yards of the east gate of the Park. Gregory seized the ironwork and pushed it violently. The gate swung open. They slipped through, jumped a fence that divided the drive from the fields, and ran on over the ground which Gregory had covered in his first visit.
Panting for breath they reached the coppice where Gregory had lain hidden, thrust their way through it, and came out upon the other side into the open space before the house.
Gregory gasped with relief as he saw no sign of imminent departure about the fleet of planes. A few men stood near them but many more were gathered in little groups, talking quietly, in front of the house. They were waiting for something; Gavin perhaps, but orders might be given for the pilots to fly their machines back to France at any moment. There was not a second to be lost.
Gregory shouldered his way back into the undergrowth and, with Rudd following him, crossed the drive; then slipped round to the back of the house. The front windows had been lit but here all was dark and silent.
At the far end of the building they turned again, stole swiftly between the outhouses, and came to the servants’ quarters: Gregory drew his gun and approached the door. It was unlocked; so he entered it and tiptoed down the passage to the housekeeper’s room. That was in darkness too but, as he thrust open the door, a faint whimpering came from one corner.
Pulling out his torch he switched it on and flashed it in the direction of the sound. Milly was crouching there wide eyed and shivering. She did not recognise him behind the glare of the torch which blinded her and thrust out her hands as he approached seeking to fend him off.
‘Don’t be frightened,’ he whispered. ‘It’s Gregory Sallust and Rudd.’
With a little sobbing cry she sprang up and flung herself towards him grabbing at his coat with her hands.
‘Oh thank God it’s you,’ she wailed. ‘Terrible things have been happening here—terrible. They’re killing people and if they find me they’ll kill me too.’
The muscles in Gregory’s cheeks twitched in a spasm of fear. Killing people: that meant Sabine. He was too late after all. But he must keep his head and quiet this hysterical girl. Perhaps she was mistaken.
‘Steady Milly,’ he said gripping her firmly as she clung to him; shivering with terror. ‘Pull yourself together my dear and tell us about it. Please! It’s frightfully important we should know everything without the least delay. Where’s Mrs. Bird?’
‘They—they locked her in her room,’ Milly sobbed, ‘about twenty minutes ago and I—I daren’t go up and let her out in case I meet some of them on the stairs.’
‘Who have they been killing then?’ His voice trembled a little.
‘Gerry’s men. Poor Mr. Simmons and—and his two friends. I crept out to—to let them know what was happening and I found them in a heap beside the drive. Oh it was horrible!’ Milly burst into a sudden hysterical wailing and, fearful that her cries would draw some of Gavin’s men to that wing of the house, Gregory muffled her face against his chest.
‘Steady now! steady, for God’s sake,’ he pleaded. ‘Finding them like that must have been a frightful shock. But try and tell me what started the trouble.’
For a moment the girl’s slender shoulders shook with uncontrollable sobbing, then she choked back her fear and stuttered: ‘We—we’ve been worried all day: ever since that awful row Lord Gavin had with Mademoiselle Szenty this—this morning. I telephoned to Gerry…’
‘Yes, I know that. Gavin locked her up in her room and you were able to tip us off about hearing him speak to the Limper of Eastchurch Marshes. That was fine work, but go on. What happened this afternoon?’
‘Nothing; nothing much. We sat about wondering what was going to happen. Half a dozen strange men turned up about tea time and one of them asked Aunty the quickest way down to the post office because he had to send a telegram. After dark they all set out in different directions from the house to—to patrol the grounds, I suppose. It must have been then they caught Simmons and his friends at their different posts. Aunty wanted me to go up to bed at half past ten but I wouldn’t because I thought I might be useful to take a message. You see, I didn’t know—I didn’t know then that poor Simmons was dead.’
‘It was brave of you to want to do that,’ Gregory said quickly as the girl showed signs of collapsing into another fit of hysterics. ‘You’re going to be brave again now, aren’t you, and hang on to yourself until you’ve told me all you can?’
She gave herself a little shake and stared up at him with tear-dimmed eyes. ‘Two of the men came back to the house. The others stayed in the grounds I suppose. It was half past eleven when Aunty left me here to go and have a look round outside. When she came back she said that three bright lights were shining from the top of the steel mast above the Bell tower. There have never been any lights there before as far as we know. She—she said she thought we ought to let Simmons, or one of the others know—in case they hadn’t seen them—so that they could telephone Gerry at Scotland Yard.
‘I slipped upstairs to get a coat, because it’s turned so chilly, and it was from my bedroom window that I saw the men in the grounds were walking about with torches. They seemed to be laying out lines or something.’
‘What time was this?’ Gregory asked.
‘Just on twelve.’
‘They were setting up them flares for their planes to land by,’ murmured Rudd.
‘Go on,’ Gregory urged the girl, ignoring the interruption.
‘I was just coming down the stairs again when I heard the telephone ring. It stopped and, almost immediately afterwards, one of Lord Gavin’s men came running out of the room below. He leapt up the stairs three at a time. I’ve always been terrified of these people; before he saw me I’d slipped back on to the landing and behind a heavy curtain. He rushed past me and I was just coming out from behind the curtain when I caught a glimpse of the other fellow. He was standing in the hall staring up the stairs—so I stayed where I was.’
‘I reckon it’s well you did,’ Rudd muttered. ‘That telephone call must have been the one the Limper made; warning them the game was up.’
‘After a moment,’ Milly went on breathlessly, ‘the first man came back to the landing with Lord Gavin. They all seemed terribly angry and excited. The man at the bottom of the stairs called up to them “that—that slut of yours has squealed on us”. The two men started swearing then in the most frightful way. But Lord Gavin banged his stick on the parquet floor and silenced them. Then he said—he said something like this:
‘ “You stupid fools. Why do you waste time blaspheming. Nothing is lost yet. We only have to keep our heads. The police spies who were set to watch us here have been dealt with. Sallust, Wells, and the Flying Squad, if they have called it out, are miles away on Sheppey Island. We’re safe here for a good half-hour. The planes are due at 12.15, so they will be in any moment now. Once they’ve landed their human freight will separate. Arrangements have already been made for that. We shall leave again by them immediately for France. Go and get Mrs. Bird now. She knows nothing of what’s been going on but she might prove troublesome. She’s still up because I saw a light in her room only ten minutes ago. Take her up to her
bedroom, truss her up, and lock her in there. Then, on your way downstairs, you can deal with the Szenty woman. Tie her up too and take her out to my plane. Get a large stone and lash it to her feet. We’ll drop her overboard when we’re half-way across the Channel,” ’ Milly moaned. ‘His voice was icy—terrible but that’s what he said as well as I can remember.’
‘And then?’ snapped Gregory. ‘Go on, quick.’
‘I remained there till they had dragged Aunty, struggling up the stairs, past me. Directly they’d gone I rushed down and out of the house by the back way. I hadn’t understood then what Lord Gavin meant when he spoke of the police spies having been dealt with. Then I found them all in a—all in an awful heap—there in the driveway only fifty yards from the house. I heard aeroplanes coming in as I stood there, feeling sick and faint, and saw through the trees that a lot of bright flares had been lighted on the lawn. I—I was so horrified at the sight of those dead men I don’t know what I did next. I think my brain must have gone blank but I suppose I ran back here. The next thing I knew was that I was crouching in the corner shivering with terror when you came in and flashed your light on me.’
‘I wonder why they didn’t lock you up too,’ Gregory said suddenly.
She shook her head. ‘I don’t think they even know I live here. Aunty got Lord Gavin’s consent to my boarding with her when she took the place but he’s so particular about her never having visitors we were afraid he might change his mind afterwards. That’s why I’ve always kept out of his sight. They’ve been here very little until the last few days and I’ve never met any of them face to face.’
Gregory’s sharp questions and Milly’s stuttering replies had occupied no more than a couple of minutes, but time had slipped by while Gregory and Rudd were running from the plane, and later creeping round the back of the house. In spite of their well-organised getaway from Hook Quay over half an hour had elapsed since they left Wells staring after them as they raced off into the darkness.
It was now twenty minutes to one and, from Milly’s report of what Lord Gavin had said when the Limper’s message came through just about midnight, the planes had been due to arrive at a quarter past twelve. They must have been there then for over twenty minutes and would be leaving any moment now.
From Gregory’s glimpse of the lawn through the trees, before he had entered the house, he knew that fifty or sixty men at least were gathered there. He might find Gavin’s plane and get Sabine out of it but someone was almost certain to spot him and the odds were hopelessly against his being able to get her away safely.
He almost wished that he had surrendered to the certainty of Sabine’s arrest, given the police the information which he had beaten out of the Limper, and enabled Wells to concentrate the forces of the law here; but it was too late to think of that now. Standing there, grim-faced and silent, he racked his brain for some refuge to which he might take Sabine if only he could deal with the pilot of Gavin’s plane; but every second was precious and he dared not wait to formulate any complicated plan. Suddenly he turned to Milly.
‘Do you know if there’s a spare key to the Bell tower?’
She nodded towards the sideboard. ‘I think there’s one in the drawer on the left. Aunty keeps all the keys in there.’
Rudd wrenched the drawer open. Gregory shone his torch down into it and Milly snatched up a heavy old-fashioned key from among the rest.
‘This is it.’
‘Right,’ said Gregory. ‘Rudd must come with me; I need him. We don’t want you mixed up in the fighting but are you prepared to act like a little heroine?’
‘I—I’ll try,’ she stammered.
‘Bless you! That’s the spirit! Now this is what I want you to do. As they’ve been signalling from the Bell tower the door of it is probably open already. You know the Park and the path round the back from here, across the drive, up to the tower through the wood. That’s well away from the lawn so it’s unlikely you’ll run into anyone. If you hear any of these people you can hide in the woods till they’ve gone past. I want you to get to the tower, see the door’s open, and put this key into the lock on the inside—on the inside remember. That’s what’s so important. Think you can do it? Gerry’ll be mighty proud of you if you will.’
That reference to Gerry Wells was just the psychological touch needed to give Milly renewed courage.
‘All right,’ she said, throwing up her head.
‘Well done!’ Gregory squeezed her arm. ‘Directly you’ve got that key in the door go in among the trees and hide there until the trouble’s over; get as far from the lawn as you can. Blessings on you my dear.’
The three of them left the house together. Milly to skirt its back and make her way through the dark shrubberies; Gregory and Rudd together past the museum buildings and the conservatories, into the coppice which lay to its right front; at the far end of which, they knew, lay the hangar that housed Lord Gavin’s plane.
For tense moments they stumbled through the undergrowth, not daring to show a light, then they emerged cautiously from behind the hangar into the open. Two hundred yards away, on the far side of the lawn, they could see the dark bulk of the other coppice with the Bell tower rising from it. No lights showed at its steel mast now. Its purpose of guiding the planes in had already been served.
Gregory peered out beyond the angle of the hangar. Bright flares still lit the lawn. The planes reposed before them in an irregular row. One or two men, the pilots probably, stood near each but the majority were gathered in a solid crowd on the gravel sweep before the house. At the open front door Lord Gavin’s small hunched figure, supported by two sticks, was silhouetted against the bright light of the hall. He was evidently giving the foreign agitators, whom he had imported, his last instructions before they dispersed to spread anarchy in the great industrial areas.
His plane was already outside the hangar; its nearest wing-tip no more than a dozen yards from the spot where Gregory crouched. For a second the wild thought entered his head of attempting to make off in it; but the men by the other planes were within such easy range it seemed certain he would be shot down before he could scramble on board and get the machine into the air. Besides, he was not sure yet that Sabine was in the plane. If she were not he would have bungled things for good and all.
He turned to Rudd. ‘Got your pocket knife handy?’ he asked in a quick whisper.
‘Yes sir.’
‘Good. We’ll need it to cut her free if she’s there. Don’t wait to be shot at but shoot first if they try to stop us. Ready now? Come on!’
Going down upon his hands and knees he came out into the open and crept swiftly towards the waiting plane. Now, he blessed the friendly darkness and the clouds that hung, low and threatening, obscuring the stars. The nearest men visible in the flickering light from the flares were a good fifty yards away.
With a last crouching sprint Gregory reached the body of the plane and wrenched open the door. The light on the far side of it came through the windows sufficiently for him to see the interior of the cabin. A long bundle lay in the after part of it behind the two rear seats. It was Sabine, a cloth wound round her face, her arms and ankles lashed with rough cords and a couple of weighty iron bars fastened to her feet; trussed ready for Gavin’s men to heave into the sea once they were well away over the Channel.
Swiftly but cautiously Gregory and Rudd drew her limp body out and laid it on the grass. Rudd’s knife bit into the cords. Gregory unmuffled her face, pressing his hand lightly over her mouth to prevent her screaming before she realised that it was he who was manhandling her.
Another moment and they had her on her feet, limp and half-dazed, supported between them.
‘Think you can run, my sweet?’ Gregory said softly.
She flung one arm round his neck. ‘Mon dieu! those cords, they almost stop my circulation,’ she whispered, ‘wait, I will be better in a minute.’
‘Hang on to her,’ Gregory breathed, removing her arm from his neck and gently passing
her to Rudd. Then he went down on his knees again and, creeping forward a little, peered under the nose of the plane. Its pilot, who had been hidden by the bulk of the machine before, was standing within seven yards, his back turned, looking towards the house. A murmur came from the gravel drive and then the sound of crunching feet. Lord Gavin had finished his address to the red servants of evil and the crowd in front of the doorway was breaking up.
There was not an instant to lose. Gregory dived back behind the plane and spoke to Rudd. ‘They’re coming; you’ll have to carry her. Fireman’s lift and gun in your right hand. Too late to make a detour, we’ll have to chance a dash across the open.’
Rudd stooped and threw Sabine across his strong shoulders as though she had been an infant. Without a word he plunged forward straight for the Bell tower. Gregory followed, walking swiftly backwards, ready to fire instantly they were spotted and covering Rudd’s retreat.
Rudd had traversed sixty yards before they were seen; then a cry went up from one of the men by the flares. In a second Gavin’s pilot swung round with a drawn pistol in his hand. He fired from his hip and the bullet sang past Gregory’s head; but Gregory had had him marked already. His pistol cracked, the man’s knees gave under him, and he crashed forward on his face.
Gregory ducked to escape the bullets of the men by the flares. As he did so a series of sharp coughs told him that they were firing at him with pistols which had Mauser silencers attached. Suddenly he sprinted forward, covered fifty yards before he stopped, swung round, and fired again. One of the men by the flares staggered sideways with a scream.
The lawn was full of racing figures now. The scattered group by the house was surging forward in a long irregular wave. Lord Gavin still stood on the doorstep, waving one of his sticks and shouting something which Gregory could not catch. Rudd had already covered two thirds of the way to the Bell tower when Sabine cried: ‘Put me down! I can manage now.’
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