“He won’t trouble you. I’ll arrange that.” He took from his coat pocket the documents captured from the Emperor’s messenger and held them up so that Udo von Winden could see them.
“I must leave you for a while, Udo. Awfully sorry, but it’s most urgent.” He laughed. “You won’t mind, will you? Or try to make things difficult?”
He turned quickly and while both the girl and the prisoner wondered what he was about to do, he went to the tin box in the corner, brought out a new candle, lighted it and held the papers so that the prisoner could see them.
“Do you observe what I am doing, Udo? Miss Mather will sit here upon the opposite side of the cave. If you attempt to get up from your bed, she will burn the papers. Simple, isn’t it? Also quite effective. She doesn’t want to shoot you, Udo—nor do I. And of course if the papers were burned, it wouldn’t hurt England a great deal. As long as the papers are in Germany, my capture may throw them into German hands, nicht wahr?”
Udo von Winden’s head moved slightly from left to right.
With an auf wiedersehen thrown over his shoulder at Udo, Hammersley went outside the cave, where Doris followed him. She was on the point of tears, but she succeeded in a smile.
“Don’t worry, Doris, old girl. Just going down for a stroll about.”
“But why, Cyril?”
“Goin’ to throw ’em off the scent,” he whispered.