herself, "and tell me what you have done with Ronnie--Mr.
Ewart."

"I must admit you've caught me, Miss McLeod!" Hilderman replied. "I
can only assure you that your _fiance_ is safe."

"Where is he?" Myra asked.

"He is quite close at hand," Hilderman assured her, "and quite safe.
What do you want me to do?"

"You must set him free at once," said Myra quietly.

"And if I refuse?"

"I shall shoot you and anyone else who comes near me."

"Now look here, Miss McLeod," said Hilderman, "I may be prepared to
come to terms with you. If you shot me and half a dozen others it
would not help you to find Mr. Ewart. On the other hand, it would be
awkward for us to have a lot of shooting going on, and I have no wish
to harm Mr. Ewart. If I produce him, and allow you two to go away, are
you prepared to swear to me that you will neither of you breathe a
word of anything you may know to any living soul for forty-eight
hours? I think I can trust you."

Myra thought it over quickly.

"Yes," she said, "if you will----"

But she never finished the sentence. At that moment someone caught her
wrist in a grip of steel, and wrenched the pistol from her.

"Come, come, Miss McLeod," said Fuller. "This is very un-neighbourly
of you."

Myra looked round her in despair. There must be some way out of this.
She cudgelled her brains to devise some means of getting the better of
her captives. Fuller laid the pistol on the table and sat down.

"You need not be alarmed," he said. "We shall not hurt you. You will
be left here, that is all. And we shall get safely away. After this we
shall not be able to leave your precious lover with you, but Hilderman
insists that he shall not be hurt, and we shall take him to Germany
and treat him as a prisoner of war."

Then Myra had an inspiration. She turned her head towards Fuller, as
if she were looking about two feet to the right of his head.

"You may as well kill me as leave me here," she said calmly.

"Nonsense," said Hilderman. "If we leave you here, and see that you
have no means of getting away by sea, you will have to find your way
across the hills or round the cliffs. There is no road, and by the
time you return to civilisation we shall be clear."

"That's very thoughtful of you," said Myra. "You bargain on my falling
over a precipice or something. A blind girl would have a splendid
chance of getting back safely!"

"Good heavens!" Hilderman cried. "I thought you must be able to see.