CHAPTER XV.
TREASURE TROVE.
"In the very probable event of an invasion," asserted Mr. Croucher, addressing a group of four Sea Scouts who had gathered at the lookout station on the sea-front, "in the very probable event of an invasion, we are totally unprepared and defenceless. As I was saying to Mrs. Daplin-Gennery only the other day, we ought to have big guns stationed at intervals all along the coast. A few newly-enlisted Territorials are billeted in the town; but what good will they be when the Germans come over here in force?"
"They could give the alarm, sir," suggested Ned Quester, whose brother was a Territorial.
"Give the alarm?" repeated Mr. Croucher with contempt. "And what then? No amount of alarm would repel an invading army. We want guns—guns, and men who can handle them. Civilians are not allowed to take up arms. Look at what has happened in Belgium! We ought to have realised long ago that the Germans intended to make war on us. They've been planning it for years. My argument is that we ought to have batteries posted all along the coast."
"Aren't warships, that can move about, as good as fixed batteries, sir?" questioned Darby Catchpole.
"Warships are no good against Zeppelins," declared Mr. Croucher. "Take my word for it, the enemy have got many more airships than we've any idea of; and every one of them capable of carrying a company of soldiers with heavy artillery. Then they have their flat-bottomed barges; hundreds of them, which they will use as transports."
"But we have our battleships and submarines, sir," interposed Mark Redisham, "and it isn't at all likely that the enemy can get past them."
"Don't be too sure, Redisham," urged Mr. Croucher. "Don't be too sure. They can slip past them in a sea mist and land troops here on Haddisport beach. And when they do, we shall be annihilated. It's no good thinking that our dwelling houses are any protection. One shell from a German cruiser, one explosive bomb from a Zeppelin, would smash any of the houses along this esplanade. I wonder people are so callous as to live in houses that are little better than targets to be aimed at from both sea and air!"
Darby Catchpole ran his eye along the exposed dwellings.