Tom Tiddler's Island, стр. 69
“Hadn’t thought of that,” Colin admitted gloomily.
“Leven and the tec are on the premises?” Northfleet asked.
“Yes. Been having a chat. Didn’t agree with Leven, by the looks of him. Don’t know what it’s all about. All I heard was a phrase of the tec’s: ‘I’ve seen your letters,’ or something like that. And I rather think one of them said ‘Extradition.’ Anyhow, Leven looks a damned sight sorrier for himself than he was for the girls. Funny, isn’t it?”
Northfleet made no comment on this.
“We’ll have to hurry up now,” he said. “I promised to deliver the first instalment of gold to these swine in an hour and a half, and time’s getting on. We need Leven and the tec to help. Rout them out, will you? while I get the stuff.” Colin obeyed, while Northfleet went into the laboratory and returned with something which he carried as though it were fragile.
“You take the lead, Trent. Carry four of these rockets with you. Leven, these bamboo sticks are your share. You follow on Trent’s heels. Now you, what’s your name? Wenlock? Well, we could manage without your help, but——”
“I’d rather not be left out,” the detective assured him with a certain eagerness. “It’s my left shoulder, and it’s really not so bad now. I I can stagger along if you’re not going too fast.”
“You’ll be useful,” Northfleet said. “We’re short-handed a bit. Now here’s the plan of campaign. We make a detour round Wester Voe and come out in the pine spinney beyond the gardens. Once we get there I’ll fix the rockets ready for setting off. You, Trent, will make your way through the gardens and round the house until you get into cover somewhere near the girls’ window. Your business is to mark the patrolman and knock him out when the first rocket goes off. No matter what happens, you mustn’t show yourself until the rocket goes. We must act absolutely synchronously or the whole affair’s a wash-out. Understand that, all of you?”
“O.K.,” Colin acquiesced. “I do nothing till the rocket goes up. After that my job’s to knock the sentry out, as quick as possible, eh?”
“Yes,” Northfleet agreed. “Now the next thing. One of you two”—he turned to Leven and the detective—“will have to stay and fire the rockets and join us after that, if he can. The other one comes with me through the gardens towards the house. Whoever comes with me runs the bigger risk.”
“I’ll come,” Leven volunteered in a toneless voice, as though the decision meant nothing to him.
Colin saw the detective give Leven a quick glance, as though not quite sure of something.
“Very well,” Northfleet agreed. “You’re better able to get about than Wenlock is. Now remember, no matter what happens, no squibbing off your pistols till the first rocket goes. Then each man for himself.”
“I’ve no pistol,” Wenlock reminded him.
“It may not come to shooting at all,” Northfleet answered. “Still you’d better have one. Get him one, if you have it,” he ordered Leven. “And a flash-lamp for each of us, too. You’ve plenty of them in stock, I suppose. I saw you using them that night the yacht put in here.”
Leven went off obediently and procured the things. He seemed indifferent to the events around him, obeying mechanically while wrapped in Jus own thoughts.
“Don’t show the least glimmer of light till the first rocket goes off/’ Northfleet warned them. “After that nothing matters much.”
“Better be a bit clearer, hadn’t you?” Colin suggested. “What’s the general idea of the scheme?”
Northfleet made a gesture of apology.
“The fact is, I’ve been brooding over it so much in detail that I clean forgot I hadn’t explained it to you all. It’s simple enough. These swine will be assembled in the lounge—three of them. One of them’s so drunk that he’ll give us little trouble. I’m going to give them a preliminary shake-up by firing these rockets through the windows, and then Leven and I drop in on them. I don’t think we’ll have much trouble. Meanwhile, you knock out the sentry. You see why it all has to be synchronised? And Wenlock here, if he can struggle down after firing the rockets, will act as reinforcement for Leven and me.”
“A nifty enough scheme,” Colin admitted. “But I think you’re expecting too much from the rockets, myself. Tough lot, Master Leo and his pals. A few fireworks will hardly phase them.”
“We’ll see,” said Northfleet curtly. “Now off with you. We’ve no time to waste.”
At the thought of action at last Colin’s spirits were rising. He picked up the bundle of rockets and set off cautiously for the gate, stepping carefully to avoid the trip-wires. In his mind he went over the route which promised the best results: along the path to near the lupin field; then up to the right through the heather, so as to avoid the house; then west again until they reached the outskirts of the pine spinney beyond the gardens.
“Slower,” ordered Northfleet’s voice, as Colin set off briskly. “We must keep in touch at any cost, and I can’t hurry, with this thing I’m carrying.”
Colin slackened his pace and took care not to outrun his companions. The wind had dropped now, and the rain was thinner. Through it, far ahead, glowed the lighted window in Wester Voe, and in his mind’s eye he could see the two girls up there in the room, helpless, waiting in agonised suspense for the next turn of events. Well, before long things would be settled one way or another. In some curious way, Northfleet had succeeded in spreading a feeling of optimism. He seemed so certain that things would work out as he had planned. Colin, feeling the heads of the heavy rockets as he tramped along, admitted to himself that they were formidable weapons. One of these