“Nope. I haven’t quite had my money’s worth yet. Come along.” She felt him move her so that she could touch the wall. Then he had stooped and was guiding her foot on to his bent knee. As he raised her other foot to his shoulder, while she steadied herself against the wall, a twig snapped under his heel, and the hunt was up again. “Quick!” he urged. He straightened up with her standing on his shoulders. “Mind the glass on top. My coat’s up there. Found it? . . . Good. Over you go. Have some beer waiting for me—I’ll need it.” “I hate leaving you.” She could just see a tiny flashing blur of white as he moved a little away from the wall, for she was now nearly over, and she recognised it for his familiar smile. “Tell me that some time when I can make an adequate reply,” he said. “Tinkety-tonk!” Then she was gone—he drew himself up and almost thrust her down into the road outside. The pursuers were very near, and the Saint broke off along the wall with a cheery “Tally-ho!” so that there should be no mistake as to his whereabouts. His job at the moment was to divert the attention of the hunt until the girl had reached safety. He also had a vague idea of taking a look at some of the other rooms of the house—it was only a vague idea, for the Saint was the most blithely irresponsible man in the world, and steadfastly refused to burden himself with a cut-and-dried programme. Again he distanced the pursuit, working away from the wall to minimise the risk of being cornered, and trying to make enough noise to persuade the enemy that they were still chasing two people. Once, pausing in silence to re-locate the trackers, he heard a scuffle not far away, which shortly terminated in an outburst of profanity and mutual recrimination; and the Saint chuckled. In being saved the trouble of distinguishing friend from foe he had an incalculable advantage over the others, although it made him wonder how long it would be before the search became more systematic and electric torches were brought into service. Or would they decide to wait until daylight? The Saint began to appreciate the numerous advantages attached to a garden wall which so effectively shut out the peering of the stray passer-by.