Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of EnglandLe Queux, William
History
Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England
Le Queux, William
Espionage, German -- Fiction; Great Britain -- History -- Invasions -- Fiction; Intelligence service -- Fiction; Spy stories
After nearly three weeks in London, Dubois and Gessner returned to Hull,
where, while living at the Station Hotel, they spent each day at their
"works." They engaged no assistant, and were bent apparently upon doing
everything by themselves. They were joined one day by a shrivelled-up
old man of rather seedy appearance, and typically German. His name was
Busch, and he lived in lodgings out on the Beverley Road. He was taken
to the works, and remained there all day.
A quantity of electrical appliances were delivered from London, and
Dubois and Gessner received them and unpacked them themselves.
Ray Raymond was down at Sheerness upon another matter--a serious attempt
to obtain some confidential naval information--therefore I remained in
Hull anxiously watching. Vera had again offered her services, but at
that moment she was down at Sheerness with Ray.
Day by day old Busch went regularly to the factory, and by the
appearance of the trio when they came forth, it was apparent that they
worked very hard. I was intensely inquisitive, and dearly wished to
obtain a glance within the place. But that was quite out of the
question.
Busch, it seemed, had lived in Hull for a considerable period. Inquiries
of his neighbours revealed that he was a well-known figure. He did but
little work, preferring to take long walks into the country.
One man told me that he had met him twice away near Spurn Head, at the
estuary of the Humber, and on another occasion he had seen him
wandering aimlessly along the low-lying coast in the vicinity of
Hornsea. In explanation of this, it seemed that he had once lived for a
whole summer in Withernsea, not far from Spurn Head, and had grown fond
of the neighbourhood. Everybody looked upon him as a harmless old man, a
trifle eccentric, and a great walker.
That constant rambling over that low-lying district of Holderness had
aroused my suspicions, and I determined to turn my attention to him.
One day the old man did not go to the factory, but instead went forth
upon one of his rambles. He took train from Hull to Hornsea, where the
railway ends at the sea, and walked along the shore for several miles;
indeed until he was three parts of the distance to Bridlington, when he
suddenly halted near the little village of Barmston, and producing a
neat pocket-camera took a long series of snap-shots of the flat coast,
where I saw there were several places which would afford an easy landing
for the invader.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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