“All checked and correct, sir.”
As Conrad joined Madge, he felt a little puff of hot wind against his face.
“Did you feel that? The storm can’t be far off now.” He looked up at the dark sky. The great black clouds were piling up and beginning to move. “Let’s get back. We don’t want to get wet.”
“They must be safe,” Madge said, speaking her thoughts aloud as they drove back to the hunting lodge. “No one could get through to them, could they, Paul?”
“Don’t worry,” he returned. “I’m satisfied it’s all right. I don’t think an attempt will be made so long as they remain here. Maurer will try to get them when they come into the open. That’s the time we shall really have to be on our guard.”
Thunder was rumbling in the distance as Conrad put the car into the garage, and walked with Madge back to the lodge. Every now and then he caught a glimpse of one of the guards, a police dog at his heels, moving through the trees.
“It’s still some way off,” he said, as they mounted the steps to the verandah. “I’d better grab a slicker before they all go.”
“You won’t be going out again tonight, will you?”
“It’s the only way I can be sure the guards keep on their toes. If they thought I wasn’t going to show up, they’d take cover as soon as it started to rain.”
Conrad saw a dim, shadowy figure sitting on the verandah.