So now, instead of staying under the hedge, but still in the road, they crept through a gap in the hedge, tearing their clothes as they did so, since it was a blackberry row, and went along still in sight of the poles and the wire, but protected by the hedge so that no one in the road could see them. "There!" said Jack, at last. "See? You were right, Dick. There’s the place–and the wire was cut, too! It wasn’t an accident. But I was sure of that as soon as I found the line wasn’t working." Sure enough, the wires were dangling. And there was something else. Just as they stopped they heard the voices of two men. "There’s the break, Bill," said the first voice. "Bli’me, if she ain’t cut, too! Now who did that? Bringing us out of our beds at this hour to look for trouble!" "I’d like to lay my hands on them, that’s all!" said the second voice. "A good job they didn’t carry the wire away–’twon’t take us long to repair, and that’s one precious good thing!" "Linemen," said Jack. "But I wonder why they’re here? They must have come a long way. I shouldn’t be surprised if they’d ridden on bicycles. And I never heard of their sending to repair a wire at night before." "Listen," said Dick. "Perhaps we will find out." "Well, now that we’ve found it, we might as well repair it," said the first lineman, grumblingly. "All comes of someone trying to get a message through to Bray and making the manager believe it was a life and death matter!" "Harry must have tried to telephone–that’s why they’ve come," said Jack. "I was wondering how they found out about the break. You see, as a rule, no one would try to ring up anyone in Bray after seven o’clock or so. And of course, they couldn’t tell we were trying to ring, with the wire cut like that." "Oh, Jack!" said Dick, suddenly. "If they’re linemen, I believe they have an instrument with them. Probably we could call to London from here. Do you think they will let us do that?" "That’s a good idea. We’ll try it, anyway," said Jack. "Come on–it must be safe enough now. These chaps won’t hurt us." But Jack was premature in thinking that. For no sooner did the two linemen see them than they rushed for them, much to both lads’ surprise. "You’re the ones that cut that wire," said the first, a dark, young fellow. "I’ve a mind to give you a good hiding!" But they both rushed into explanations, and, luckily, the other lineman recognized Jack. "It’s the vicar’s son from Bray, Tom," he said. "Let him alone." And then, while their attention was distracted, a bullet sang over their heads. And "Hands oop!" said a guttural voice. CHAPTER VI–A TREACHEROUS DEED