"I should like to hear of anything, sir, that has aroused your suspicions," said John.
"That's a tall order," answered Hobin. "Everything has aroused my suspicions, and yet, if I put it into words, it may look like nothing to you. Have you ever had the sensation, Treves," he said, "that things were going wrong around you, and yet you could not lay your finger on a thing that is definitely wrong?"
"I have felt that way sometimes," admitted John.
"That's the way I feel now," returned the Colonel. Then, quite briefly, he gave John particulars of the loss of a signal book, which, however, might have been due to carelessness. Other things he told John were also mere surmises and sensations. "I must explain," he said, "that this fort, and Scoles Head opposite, are key positions in our South Coast defences. If we were incapacitated, the enemy would sneak in to —— and wreak the devil knows what damage. Given a big enough concentration of submarines, he could probably get fifty to a hundred ships——"
"It's hardly likely," John answered, "that he will ever be able to sneak in."
Hobin was silent for a minute, looking John over carefully.
"Would it surprise you to hear that we have already been incapacitated?" demanded the Colonel suddenly.
He thrust out his chin truculently as though challenging John to doubt him.
"How was that, sir?"
"For an hour one morning last week the whole eastern side of Upper Fort was out of action. I've been a gunner for thirty years, Treves, and until now such a thing has never occurred in my experience."