etain the train any longer, guard,
although I'll ask you to drop my gear on the platform."

Still protesting vehemently but ineffectually, the detective was
unceremoniously hustled into an ante-room, used since the outbreak of
the war as a guard-room for the military in charge of the line. The
door was locked upon him. He heard the train rumble out of the station.

CHAPTER XIV

A Fruitless Quest

From their places of concealment Ross and Vernon watched the boat train
run alongside the steamer. At last the weary vigil was a thing of the
past. All fatigue was forgotten at the prospect of witnessing the
capture of one of the active members of the German spy system at work
in this country.

For a quarter of an hour everything was in a state of bustle. There
was a continuous stream of passengers and porters, the latter bending
under the weight of trunks and boxes as they hurried up the steeply
sloping gangway.

At length the throng thinned. As yet there was no sign either of von
Ruhle or of Detective-inspector Hawke.

A man with his coat collar turned up ran through the driving rain and
entered the shed. It was Ferret.

"Something's gone wrong," he declared. "I've just had a telephone
message from my colleague. I'm off to the post-office. If you want me
during the next ten minutes you'll find me there."

Hawke had at length managed to get a word with his former
fellow-traveller, who happened to be a staff-officer of the Eastern
command. The detective had been under a misapprehension. The officer
had good reason for ordering his arrest; but the comedy threatened to
take a serious development. Even when the detective showed his
credentials the officer was not satisfied. He proposed telegraphing to
Scotland Yard, but Hawke, mindful of a former failure, induced him not
to do so. The detective, who had occasion to contrast unfavourably the
summary powers of arrest under the Defence of the Realm Act with those
allowed by the Civil Power, was eventually allowed to communicate with
his brother officer at Parkeston Quay. And then the military
authorities required a considerable amount of convincing. It looked as
if Detective-inspector Hawke would have to remain under arrest until
next morning.

While Ferret was losing time and patience in his efforts to release his
confrere, Ross and Vernon noticed a man hurrying along the quay. He
was short and thick-set. He wore a long mackintosh, the collar of