CHAPTER VI

I BOARD THE BERLIN TRAIN AND LEAVE A LAME GENTLEMAN ON THE PLATFORM


I was caught like a rat in a trap. I could not return by the way I had
come and the only egress was closed to me. The area door and window were
the only means of escape from the little court. The one was locked, the
other barred. I was fairly trapped. All I had to do now was to wait
until my absence was discovered and the broken rope found to show them
where I was. Then they would come down to the area, I should be
confronted with the man, Stelze, and my goose would be fairly cooked.

As quietly as I could I made a complete, thorough, rapid examination of
the area. It was a dank, dark place, only lit where the yellow light
streamed forth from the scullery. It had a couple of low bays hollowed
out of the masonry under the little courtyard, the one filled with wood
blocks, the other with broken packingcases, old bottles and like
rubbish. I explored these until my hands came in contact with the damp
bricks at the back, but in vain. Door and window remained the only
means of escape.

Four tall tin refuse tins stood in line in front of these two bays, a
fifth was stowed away under the iron stair. They were all nearly full of
refuse, so were useless as hiding places. In any case it accorded
neither with the part I was playing nor with my sense of the ludicrous