them, outside the open windows, were the trees of the
embankment, and beyond, the Thames, blocked to the west by
the great shadows of the Houses of Parliament, lit only by
the flame in the tower that showed the Lower House was still
sitting.

"I'LL give you an idea for a rag," whispered Ford. "One that
is risky, that will make the country sit up, that ought to
land you in Jail? Have you read 'The Riddle of the Sands'?"

Bellew and Herbert nodded; Birrell made no sign.

" Don't mind him," exclaimed Herbert impatiently. "HE never
reads anything! Go on!"

"It's the book most talked about," explained Ford. "And what
else is most talked about?" He answered his own question.
"The landing of the Germans in Morocco and the chance of war.
Now, I ask you, with that book in everybody's mind, and the
war scare in everybody's mind, what would happen if German
soldiers appeared to-night on the Norfolk coast just where
the book says they will appear? Not one soldier, but dozens
of soldiers; not in one place, but in twenty places?"

"What would happen?" roared Major Bellew loyally. "The Boy
Scouts would fall out of bed and kick them into the sea!"

"Shut up!" snapped his nephew irreverently. He shook Ford by
the arm. "How?" he demanded breathlessly. "How are we to do
it? It would take hundreds of men."