He still kept his face from me, looking the way he had come. For a moment he was silent, and then he spoke in the bitter, drawling voice which had annoyed me at Fosse Manor.
“How do you reconcile this business with your principles, Mr Brand? You were always a patriot, I remember, though you didn’t see eye to eye with the Government.”
It was not quite what I expected and I was unready. I stammered in my reply. “It’s because I am a patriot that I want peace. I think that.... I mean....”
“Therefore you are willing to help the enemy to win?”
“They have already won. I want that recognised and the end hurried on.” I was getting my mind clearer and continued fluently.
“The longer the war lasts, the worse this country is ruined. We must make the people realise the truth, and—”
But he swung round suddenly, his eyes blazing.
“You blackguard!” he cried, “you damnable blackguard!” And he flung himself on me like a wild-cat.
I had got my answer. He did not believe me, he knew me for a spy, and he was determined to do me in. We were beyond finesse now, and back at the old barbaric game. It was his life or mine. The hammer beat furiously in my head as we closed, and a fierce satisfaction rose in my heart.
He never had a chance, for though he was in good trim and had the light, wiry figure of the mountaineer, he hadn’t a quarter of my muscular strength. Besides, he was wrongly placed, for he had the outside station. Had he been on the inside he might have toppled me over the edge by his sudden assault. As it was, I grappled him and forced him to the ground, squeezing the breath out of his body in the process. I must have hurt him considerably, but he never gave a cry. With a good deal of trouble I lashed his hands behind his back with the belt of my waterproof, carried him inside the cave and laid him in the dark end of it. Then I tied his feet with the strap of his own knapsack. I would have to gag him, but that could wait.