“Well, I’m blessed!” the superintendent said, slowly, while Major Lloyd gave the suggestion his instant approval.
“Glad you agree, gentlemen,” said French. “Now if we’re to be ready we shall want a few things arranged. First we’ll have to put stones in the crate to equal the weight of the body. Then we’ll want a carpenter to repair the top where Mr. Morgan broke it. He’ll have to make it watertight with pitch or putty or something: I don’t want it to take any water through the cracks. A lorry will also be needed to carry the crate to the bridge and three or four men to lift it over the parapet.”
“Very good,” the chief constable answered. “Nield can arrange all that. Advise him, will you, Superintendent? But you’d better see him yourself, Inspector, and make sure he forgets nothing. Anything else?”
“Yes, sir. We don’t want to lose the crate. We shall want a rope round it and a boat in attendance.”
“You can fix that up, Manners, can’t you?”
“Certainly, sir. I’ll see to it.”
“Good. I’ll come down to watch the experiment. Shall we say nine-thirty at the bridge?”
At nine o’clock next morning two vehicles left the Burry Port police station. The first was a lorry and on it stood the crate, repaired and loaded with the necessary weight of shingle, due allowance having been made for the fact that the wood was now water-logged. Behind followed a car containing French, Nield, and three constables in plain clothes.
The weather was ideal for their purpose. The fine spell had lasted and the sun shone with a summery warmth and brilliance. Not a breath of wind dulled the shining surface of the Inlet, still calm and placid from the turn of the tide. Inland the hills showed sharp against the clear blue of the sky. Out beyond the Gower Peninsula was a steamer going up to Swansea or Cardiff.
The chief constable and Superintendent Griffiths were waiting for them at Loughor. Already the tide was running swiftly, swirling and eddying round the piers of the bridge. Moored to the bank at the east end was a broad-beamed boat with Manners in the stern sheets and two oarsmen amidships.