he shoulder--Geraldine, who had never willingly hurt
and insect.

"Ralph," she sobbed, "thank God! Thank God you did it!"

CHAPTER XXXIV

It was towards the close of an unusually long day's work and Major
Thomson sighed with relief as he realised that at last his anteroom was
empty. He lit a cigarette and stretched himself in his chair. He had
been interviewed by all manner of people, had listened to dozens of
suspicious stories. His work had been intricate and at times full of
detail. On the whole, a good day's work, he decided, and he had been
warmly thanked over the wires by a Brigadier-General at Harwich for his
arrest and exposure of a man who had in his possession a very wonderful
plan of the Felixstowe land defences. He lit a cigarette and glanced
at his watch. Just then the door was hurriedly opened. Ambrose came in
without even the usual ceremony of knocking. He held a worn piece of
paper in his hand. There was a triumphant ring in his tone as he looked
up from it towards his chief.

"I've done it, sir!" he exclaimed. "Stumbled across it quite by
accident. I've got the whole code. It's based upon the leading articles
in the Times of certain dates. Here's this last message--'Leave London
June 4th. Have flares midnight Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's steps,
gardens in front of Savoy. Your last report received.'"

"'Leave London June 4th,'" Thomson repeated, glancing at his
calendar,--"to-day! 'Have flares,'--Zeppelins, Ambrose!"

The clerk nodded.

"I thought of them at once, sir," he agreed. "That's a very plain
and distinct warning in a remarkably complicated code, and it's
addressed--to Sir Alfred Anselman."

A smouldering light flashed in Thomson's eyes.

"Ambrose," he declared, "you're a brick. I sha'n't forget this. Just
find out at once if the Chief's in his room, please."

There followed half an hour of breathless happenings. From the Chief's
room Thomson hurried over to the Admiralty. Here he was taken by one of
the men whom he had called to see, on to the flat roof, and they stood
there, facing eastwards. Twilight was falling and there was scarcely a
breath of air.

"It's a perfect night," the official remarked. "If they start at the
right time, they'll get here before any one can see them. All the same,
we're warning the whole coast, and our gun-stations will be served all
night."

"Shall we have a chance, do you think, of hitting any of them?" Thomson
asked.

The sailor winked.