IV
The Parson pulled aside the hanging mattress, and peeped seaward.
"Come here, boy. I want to show you the lie of the land. D'you see that chap in blue knickers in the shade of the sycamores?—he's the Gap Gang sentry. They're camped somewhere behind the knoll, the main of them. That's their smoke you see among the trees."
That roaring chorus still rang in the boy's ear.
"The drain runs to the right of the knoll, and out into the creek bang opposite the Wish. Half-way down it there's a man-hole."
An icy pang pierced Kit's heart.
"It's quite small, and a bush grows over it. It's a million to one they know nothing of it. Still you should—er—watch it."
The Parson was gnawing his under-lip.
"I'll watch it," said the boy, the waves breaking white about his face.
It must be somewhere just about the man-hole that Fat George and Co. were camped. Still he wasn't going to let this soldier know he was afraid.