“Miles,” he confessed, as he entered the sitting room, “there are some things I will never make fun of again. Have you a personal enemy here?”
“Not one,” replied Furley. “The soldiers, who are all decent fellows, the old farmer at the back, and your father and mother are the only people with whom I have the slightest acquaintance in these parts.”
“The bridge has been deliberately sawn through,” Julian announced gravely.
Furley nodded. He seemed prepared for the news.
“There is something doing in this section, then,” he muttered. “Julian, will you take my job on?”
“Like a bird,” was the prompt response. “Tell me exactly what to do?”
Furley sat up, still nursing his leg.
“Put on your sea boots, and your oilskins over your clothes,” he directed. “You will want your own stick, so take that revolver and an electric torch. You can’t get across the remains of the bridge, but about fifty yards down to the left, as you leave the door, the water’s only about a foot deep. Walk through it, scramble up the other side, and come back again along the edge of the dyke until you come to the place where one lands from the broken bridge. Is that clear?”
“Entirely.”
“After that, you go perfectly straight along a sort of cart track until you come to a gate. When you have passed through it, you must climb a bank on your lefthand side and walk along the top. It’s a beastly path, and there are dykes on either side of you.”