It was in German.
"U-boot auf Aermelmeere heute Abend. Zeigen Licht auf
Berry Head."
Pamela backed away cautiously towards the ladder. Just as she reached it
her uncle turned round and called to her.
"Give me a hand, Pam! Don't feel--very well to-night," he stammered
thickly. "Got to go out, too. Must go home and get the car. Little store
of petrol they don't know about! And I shan't tell them either!" (He
hinnied at his own joke.) "Give me your hand."
He leaned heavily on his niece, and she helped him down the ladder. She
watched him as he stumbled along the narrow path in the darkness. He
called to her, but she did not follow him to the cottage. Instead, she
went to the palings and scrambled over into the high road. She surmised
that she had surprised a most important secret, one which she felt must
be communicated at once to head-quarters. It was absolutely necessary
that Captain Harper should know of this. By warning him in time she
might prevent some great disaster. She must get to the Camp as quickly
as possible. It was late, long past eleven o'clock (Mr. Hockheimer had
had no compunction in keeping his niece out of bed to mind his
business), and the night was moonless. Pamela shuddered as she thought
of the long, lonely walk before her. Could she find the Camp in the
dark? A sudden inspiration struck her. She would hurry to the Watsons
instead and ask one of the boys to go on a bicycle. She ran almost all
the way along the familiar road to Walden. She found the house shut up
and the family gone to bed, but she made a rat-tat with the knocker that
soon roused them.
"What is it?" cried David out of the window.
"It's I--Pamela! I've brought news!" she gasped.
The Watsons were downstairs directly. They listened breathlessly to the
story she had to tell. David and Anthony hurried to the outhouse for
their bicycles, and set off at once for the Camp to find Captain Harper.
Who could say how much might depend on their speed?
Pamela watched them go with a feeling of intense relief. Her part of the
business was finished; she had now set the machinery in motion that
would accomplish the rest. The reaction after the intense strain was so
great that she burst into tears.
"I must go home!" she sobbed. "Mother will think I am lost!"
"Daphne and I will go with you. I can't let you walk back alone at this
time of night," said Mrs. Watson kindly. "If you'll take my advice,
dear, you'll tell your mother everything now. She ought to know."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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