Billy grinned, and walking round to the front of the car, proceeded to start her up.
The hands of the big clock in the stable-yard were just pointing to half-past seven. We had squared our account with the Plough, swallowed down a hasty meal, and strapped our belongings on the grid at the back. Everything, so to speak, was cleared for action, and as we slowly turned out of the yard into the street I could feel my heart beating a little quicker than usual with a pleasant sense of anticipation.
Beyond the fact that we meant to get Mercia out of the house, we had made no particular plans. Somehow or other, we should find a way of breaking in, and, as Billy said, once inside it would take more than a couple of Dagoes to stop us.
We steered our way through the quiet old town, which looked singularly peaceful in the mellow light of the setting sun. There was something delightfully incongruous between these pleasant, well-ordered streets and the wild enterprise on which we were embarking. I smiled to myself at the thought of what the emotions of some of the worthy passers-by would have been if they could have guessed our immediate purpose.
The Hollies lies a mile and a half outside Woodford, on the Orbridge road. Billy, of course, thanks to his two previous expeditions, knew every inch of the land. He halted the car under the shelter of a small plantation of pine trees, about a hundred yards from the house, and then as quietly as possible turned her round.
"She'll be all right here at the side," he said, in a low voice, "but we'd better leave the engine running. Might be in a bit of a hurry when we pick her up."
I nodded my approval, and going round to the back of the car, took out a couple of pieces of stout cord with which we had thoughtfully provided ourselves. Billy, meanwhile, having left everything ready for a flying start, proceeded to equip himself out of the tool-chest with a duplicate spanner to mine.
"We'll work round and up through the shrubbery," he whispered, weighing the implement in his hand. "That brings us out just opposite the back door."
"Right you are, Macduff," I said contentedly; "lead on."
It was already getting dusk, even in the open, and once under cover of the thick trees we practically said good-bye to daylight. Both Billy and I, however, possess a good working knowledge of woodcraft, gained from bitter experience, and I don't think we made more noise than was absolutely necessary. Anyhow, we finally arrived safe, if a trifle dishevelled, at the low railing which separated the back garden of the Hollies from the wood.