Scouts would club us to death. I vote we take the back roads
to Morston, and drop in on a lonely Coast Guard. If a Coast
Guard sees us, the authorities will have to believe him, and
they'll call out the navy."

Herbert consulted his map.

"There is a Coast Guard," he said, "stationed just the other
side of Morston. And," he added fervently, "let us hope he's
lonely."

They lost their way in the back roads, and when they again
reached the coast an hour had passed. It was now quite dark.
There were no stars, nor moon, but after they had left the
car in a side lane and had stepped out upon the cliff, they
saw for miles along the coast great beacon fires burning
fiercely.

Herbert came to an abrupt halt.

"Since seeing those fires," he explained, "I feel a strange
reluctance about showing myself in this uniform to a Coast
Guard."

"Coast Guards don't shoot!" mocked Birrell. "They only look
at the clouds through a telescope. Three Germans with rifles
ought to be able to frighten one Coast Guard with a
telescope."

The whitewashed cabin of the Coast Guard was perched on the