stood a "Beware of the Trains" notice. There was no sign of activity
about the place, and the gates through which the siding entered the
enclosure were shut.

Hilliard stopped and stood looking over.

"How the mischief are we to get near that place without being seen?"
he questioned. "It's like a German pill-box. There's no cover
anywhere about."

It was true. The country immediately surrounding the depot was
singularly bare. It was flat except for the low bank, four or five
feet high, on which lay the railway tracks. There were clumps of
trees farther inland, but none along the shore, and the nearest
building, a large block like a factory with beside it a cottage,
was at least three hundred yards away in the Hull direction.

"Seems an element of design in that, eh, Hilliard?" Merriman remarked
as they turned to continue their walk. "Considering the populous
country we're in, you could hardly find a more isolated place."

Hilliard nodded as they turned away.

"I've just been thinking that. They could carry on any tricks they
liked there and no one would be a bit the wiser.

They moved on towards the factory-like building. It was on the
inland side of the railway, and the lane swung away from the line
and passed what was evidently its frontage. A siding ran into its
rear, and there were connections across the main lines and a signal