a bog and take to the moors on foot. You can put in a
week among the shepherds, and be as safe as if you were in New Guinea.'

I pedalled diligently up steep roads of hill gravel till the skies grew
pale with morning. As the mists cleared before the sun, I found myself
in a wide green world with glens falling on every side and a far-away
blue horizon. Here, at any rate, I could get early news of my enemies.

CHAPTER FIVE

The Adventure of the Spectacled Roadman

I sat down on the very crest of the pass and took stock of my position.

Behind me was the road climbing through a long cleft in the hills,
which was the upper glen of some notable river. In front was a flat
space of maybe a mile, all pitted with bog-holes and rough with
tussocks, and then beyond it the road fell steeply down another glen to
a plain whose blue dimness melted into the distance. To left and right
were round-shouldered green hills as smooth as pancakes, but to the
south--that is, the left hand--there was a glimpse of high heathery
mountains, which I remembered from the map as the big knot of hill
which I had chosen for my sanctuary. I was on the central boss of a
huge upland country, and could see everything moving for miles. In the
meadows below the road half a mile back a cottage smoked, but it was
the only sign of human life. Otherwise there was only the calling of
plovers and the tinkling of little streams.

It was now about seven o'clock, and as I waited I heard once again that
ominous beat in the air. Then I realized that my vantage-ground might
be in reality a trap. There was no cover for a tomtit in those bald
green places.

I sat quite still and hopeless while the beat grew louder. Then I saw
an aeroplane coming up from the east. It was flying high, but as I
looked it dropped several hundred feet and began to circle round the
knot of hill in narrowing circles, just as a hawk wheels before it
pounces. Now it was flying very low, and now the observer on board
caught sight of me. I could see one of the two occupants examining me
through glasses.

Suddenly it began to rise in swift whorls, and the next I knew it was
speeding eastward again till it became a speck in the blue morning.

That made me do some savage thinking. My enemies had located me, and
the next thing would be a cordon round me. I didn't know what force
they could command, but I was certain it would be sufficient. The
aeroplane had seen my bicycle