“It's the book most talked about,” explained Ford. “And what else is most talked about?” He answered his own question. “The landing of the Germans in Morocco and the chance of war. Now, I ask you, with that book in everybody's mind, and the war scare in everybody's mind, what would happen if German soldiers appeared to-night on the Norfolk coast just where the book says they will appear? Not one soldier, but dozens of soldiers; not in one place, but in twenty places?”
“What would happen?” roared Major Bellew loyally. “The Boy Scouts would fall out of bed and kick them into the sea!”
“Shut up!” snapped his nephew irreverently. He shook Ford by the arm. “How?” he demanded breathlessly. “How are we to do it? It would take hundreds of men.”
“Two men,” corrected Ford, “And a third man to drive the car. I thought it out one day at Clarkson's when I came across a lot of German uniforms. I thought of it as a newspaper story, as a trick to find out how prepared you people are to meet invasion. And when you said just now that you wanted a chance to go to jail—”
“What's your plan?” interrupted Birrell.
“We would start just before dawn—” began Ford.
“We?” demanded Herbert. “Are you in this?”
“Am I in it?” cried Ford indignantly. “It's my own private invasion! I'm letting you boys in on the ground floor. If I don't go, there won t be any invasion!”
The two pink-cheeked youths glanced at each other inquiringly and then nodded.
“We accept your services, sir,” said Birrell gravely. “What's your plan?”