“How long have you been on duty?” Jeremy asked.
“Only an hour,” the special constable replied. “I slept at the station all night on the floor.”
“Like old times in billets, what?” Jeremy remarked pleasantly, observing a silver badge on the man’s right lapel.
“No.... Oh, no.... I wasn’t ever in the army really. They invalided me out after three days. I’m not strong, you know—I’m not fit for this sort of thing. And we didn’t get any proper sleep.”
“Why not?”
“We were afraid we might be attacked,” said the special constable darkly. “Nearly all the police are out. There was only an inspector and a sergeant at the station besides us.”
“Well, who else is out?” Jeremy asked.
“The railwaymen came out yesterday, and the ’busmen last night. All the miners are out now. And the printers, too. They say the electrical men are out, too, but I don’t know about that.”
“Looks like almighty smash, don’t it?” Jeremy commented. “Where are all those troops going?”
“I don’t know,” said the special constable. “Nobody really knows anything for certain.”