of her shells was spread--in
fact I noted several things; and then it occurred to me abruptly that I
stood a remarkably good chance of having a wall at my back and a
handkerchief over my eyes if I lingered in this open road much longer.
And the plea that I was enjoying the excellent gun-practice made by
H.M.S. _Blank_ would scarcely be accepted as an extenuating
circumstance!

I glanced quickly round, and then I realised how wonderfully luck was
standing by me. At the summit of that hill there were naturally no
houses, and as the descending road on either side made a sharp twist
almost immediately, I stood quite invisible on my outlook tower. The
road, moreover, ran through a kind of neck, with heather rising on
either side; and in a moment I had hauled my cycle up the bank on the
landward side, and was out of sight over the edge, even should any
traveller appear.

After a few minutes' laborious dragging of my cycle I found myself in a
small depression in the heather, where, by lying down, I could remain
quite out of sight unless some one walked right into me--and it seemed
improbable that any one should take such a promenade with the good road
so close at hand. By raising myself on my knees I could command the
same engrossing view I had seen from the road, only I now also saw
something of the country that sloped down to the sea; and with a thrill
of exultation I realised that this prospect actually included our
rendezvous.

V.

WAITING.

What I saw when I cautiously peered over the rim of that little hollow
was (beginning at the top) a vast expanse of pale-blue sky, with fleecy
clouds down near the horizon already tinged with pink reflections from
the sunset far off behind my back. Then came a shining glimpse of the
North Sea; then a rim of green islands, rising on the right to high
heather hills; then the land-locked waters and the grey ships now
getting blurred and less distinct; then some portions of the green land
that sloped up to where I lay; and among these fields, and not far away
from me, the steep roof and gable-top of a grey, old-fashioned house.
It was the parish manse, the pacific abode of the professional exponent
and exemplar of peace--the parish minister; and yet, curiously enough,
it was that house which my eyes devoured.

The single ship had now ceased firing and anchored with her consorts,
the fleet had grown too indistinct to note anything of its composition,
and there was nothin