a
secret method of getting the notes across at little or no cost. And as
a blind, Willis felt that nothing better could be devised. The scheme
visualized itself to him as follows. Somewhere in France, probably in
some cellar in Bordeaux, was installed the illicit printing-press. There
the notes were produced. By some secret method they were conveyed to
Henri when his lorry-driving took him into the city, and he in turn
brought them to the clearing and handed them over to Coburn. Captain
Beamish and Bulla would then take charge of them, probably hiding
them on the Girondin in some place which would defy a surprise Customs
examination. Numbers of such places, Willis felt sure, could be
arranged, especially in the engine room. The cylinders of a duplicate
set of pumps, disused on that particular trip, occurred to him as an
example. After arrival at Ferriby there would be ample opportunity
for the notes to be taken ashore and handed over to Archer, and Archer
"could plant stuff on Old Nick himself."

The more he pondered over it, the more tenable this theory seemed to
Inspector Willis. He rose and began pacing the room, frowning heavily.
More than tenable, it seemed a sound scheme cleverly devised and
carefully worked out. Indeed he could think of no means so likely
to mislead and delude suspicious authorities in their search for the
criminals as this very plan.

Two points, however, think as he might, he could not reconcile. One was
that exasperating puzzle of the changing of the lorry number plates,
the other how the running of a second boat to Swansea would increase the
profits of the syndicate.

But everything comes to him who waits, and at last he got an idea. What
if the number of the lorry was an indication to the printers of the
notes as to whether Henri was or was not in a position to take over a
consignment? Would some such sign be necessary? If Henri suspected he
was under observation, or if he had to make calls in unsuitable places,
he would require a secret method of passing on the information to his
accomplices. And if so, could a better scheme be devised than that of
showing a prearranged number on his lorry? Willis did not think so, and
he accepted the theory for what it was worth.

Encouraged by his progress, he next tackled his second difficulty--how
the running of a second boat would dispose of more notes. But try as he
would he could arrive at no conclusion which would explain the point.
It depended