The Devil's PawOppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
General
The Devil's Paw
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
Detective and mystery stories
“You come to a sort of stile at the end of about three hundred yards,”
Furley continued. “You get over that, and the bank breaks up into two.
You keep to the left, and it leads you right down into the marsh. Turn
seaward. It will be a nasty scramble, but there will only be about
fifty yards of it. Then you get to a bit of rough ground--a bank of
grass-grown sand. Below that there is the shingle and the sea. That is
where you take up your post.”
“Can I use my torch,” Julian enquired, “and what am I to look out for?”
“Heaven knows,” replied Furley, “except that there’s a general
suggestion of communications between some person on land and some person
approaching from the sea. I don’t mind confessing that I’ve done this
job, on and off, whenever I’ve been down here, for a couple of years,
and I’ve never seen or heard a suspicious thing yet. We are never told
a word in our instructions, either, or given any advice. However, what I
should do would be to lie flat down on the top of that bank and listen.
If you hear anything peculiar, then you must use your discretion about
the torch. It’s a nasty job to make over to a pal, Julian, but I know
you’re keen on anything that looks like an adventure.”
“All over it,” was the ready reply. “What about leaving you alone,
though, Miles?”
“You put the whisky and soda where I can get at it,” Furley directed,
“and I shall be all right. I’m feeling stronger every moment. I expect
your sea boots are in the scullery. And hurry up, there’s a good fellow.
We’re twenty minutes behind time, as it is.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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