'Well, he's late already.' Smith paused, and a worried frown came over his face. 'You're sure you've got this right?' he said. 'You three go and lay the information, but you don't say anything about Ed an' me. We're the absolute last shot in the locker. If you can't convince 'em any other way at all, you can bring us into it, an' we'll try.'
'I don't see what they could do even if they found out who you are,' said Margaret. 'After all, the term of service in the Legion is only five years, and that's up long ago.'
'If they chalked us up as deserters it ain't over, you bctcha sweet life,' Ed replied. 'Not by a million miles.
And they're just crazy over deserters.' 'There he is,' said Mark suddenly.
Gordon was hurrying along the crowded footpath towards them. He looked hot, moreover, his face suffered from the same varie-colouring as afflicted Mark's. In one hand he clutched a clumsy, cubical leather box, and in the other, a newspaper which he waved at them.
'What's the rush?' Smith inquired, as he came up to the table. 'Seein' you're a half-hour late right now, why bother?'
'Look at this,' Gordon panted, throwing the paper on to the table, and dropping into a chair.
'Good God!' Mark had caught sight of a headline. The four craned over to read:
MYSTERY OF THE NEW SEA and underneath, a lesser caption:
Level Sinks 24 cms. in One Night 'What's that?' said Ed.
' 'Bout nine or ten inches,' muttered Mark, reading ahead.
'The New Sea, which has on several occasions failed to show the expected rate of progress, sprang a new surprise on the experts last night. The engineers in charge of the work were hurriedly summoned from their beds soon after retiring for the night. Upon arrival at the observation station they quickly discovered that the level of the New Sea was dropping rapidly. "It was amazing," said M. Radier, who is in command of the Qabes works, when interviewed by our correspondent. "We have never experienced anything like it before. The level continued to show its usual rise until ten o'clock, and then began to fall. The men left in charge became alarmed, and summoned us to the scene. We at once verified their observations with the gravest concern. The fall continued throughout the night although all the pumps are at work as usual. This morning it had dropped by 23-832 centimetres, at which figure it remains. It is a very serious thing for us, meaning as it does, a loss of many weeks of work.'
Asked if he could offer any reason, M. Radier replied: No. It is inexplicable." At the suggestion that the same thing might happen again, he shrugged his shoulders.
It is impossible to say until we know more," he declared.
'Another responsible official, M. Pont, when interviewed, replied: "The fall must have been caused by a sudden subsidence of the sea bottom." Asked if this was usual, he said: "No, but it does not surprise me. The earth is as full of holes as a sponge." Our interviewer then suggested that so great a volume of water might cause danger, should it reach the internal fires. M. Pont smiled as he replied: "You need have no fear of that; if it had reached the internal fires, I should not be talking to you now." '
There was a great deal more, chiefly repetitive. The four read it through, and looked up at one another. Smith took a drink of brandy, and lit a cigarette with care. 'Poor devils,' he said. 'I guess that's that.' Mark nodded. Ten inches of water over that vast area represented an unthinkable number of gallons. Yes, it was the end. The big break had come. There would be no rescues from the pygmy caves now.
'I wonder if any of them got out?' Margaret said. A few, Gordon thought, probably quite a number of the prisoners had been lucky enough to climb shafts here and there, but the pygmies, no----
'Well,' said Ed, and there was a note of relief in his voice. 'That lets us out. There's no good spinnin' the yarn now, and I don't mind tellin' you folks that I'm gonna be a lot easier in the mind when I'm out of French territory.' 'Me, too,' Smith agreed, 'but where are we goin'?' 'London, of course,' said Gordon. 'Do you mean to tell me that you've forgotten that you are to be members of the board of the Cold Light Company Limited?' Margaret looked round the group.
'Yes. London,' she agreed. 'But there's something much more important than the Cold Light Company. You're going to attend a wedding.'
Smith tossed down the last of his brandy. 'Free drinks?' he inquired. 'Oceans of them.'
He rose, and dragged Ed with him. 'Good news, sister. Lead us to London.'