The store-room was very dark, but the two men did not come inside with me. They sat down outside where I could hear them talking. I felt around the walls of the room and touched several boxes and barrels. Then I sat down on one of the boxes to think about my difficulties.
The old man and his friends would soon return and recognize me. They would remember the roadman because I was still wearing Turnbull's clothes. I could guess their questions: why were the police looking for a roadman? Why was he found twenty miles away from his job? They would remember Marmaduke Jopley too, I thought, and probably Sir Harry. I could not continue to deceive these foreign enemies and I would be alone with them here. My chances of escape were not very great.
Suddenly I grew angry and hated these German spies in Britain. I would not sit in this dark place and do nothing. I had to attack them or try to escape.
I got up and walked around the room again. The boxes and barrels were too strong for me to open, but then I reached a cupboard in the wall. It was probably locked because I could not open it. But there was a crack in the door. I pushed my fingers through the crack and then pulled hard. The door of the cupboard broke open.
There were some strange things inside. The first things I found were half a dozen electric lamps. They were in good condition too, and I shone a light around the cupboard.
There were bottles and small boxes and some dusty yellow bags. I found a box of detonators which were complete with long fuses. I took out the detonators and fuses and laid them carefully on the floor. At the back of the cupboard I found a strong box. At first I thought that it was locked. But it opened quite easily, and it was full of sticks of dynamite.
I could destroy the house with this dynamite. I had often used it in Rhodesia and I knew its power. It could very easily destroy me too! This was clearly a chance of escape, and it would probably be my only chance. So I decided to take it.
I found a crack in the floor near the doorway. I pushed a stick of dynamite into the crack and fixed a detonator and fuse to it. Then I moved one of the boxes until it stood over the crack.
I sat down near the cupboard and lit the fuse. I watched the fire as it moved along the fuse. The two men were still talking quietly outside the door ...
Suddenly there was a terrible noise, and great heat and light rushed up from the floor. They hung for a moment in the air, and then clouds of dust took their place. Thick yellow smoke filled the room, and at first I could not see anything. But there was light in the room now. A great hole had appeared in the wall, and I ran towards it. The air outside was also full of smoke and dust, and I could hear the sound of voices.
I climbed through the hole and ran forward. I was in the farmyard at the back of the house. About thirty yards away there was a high stone bird-house. The building had no doors or windows but there were many little holes for the birds. And the roof seemed flat.
If I could reach that roof, I should be safe. They would not look for me up there, I thought.
I ran through the smoke to the back of the bird-house. Then I began to climb. It was hard work, and I went up very slowly. But at last I reached the top and lay down behind a low wall.
The dust and smoke had made me sick, and I felt very tired. But I was safe up there and soon I fell asleep.
I probably slept for several hours. When I woke up, the afternoon sun was very strong. I could hear men's voices again and the sound of a motor-car. I raised myself a little and looked over the wall.
Four or five men were walking across the farmyard to the house. The old man was with them and he was clearly very angry. He pointed across the fields and said something in German to the servants. The thin dark fellow was there and the fat one too.
I lay on the roof of the bird-house all the afternoon. I was very thirsty. There was a little river beside the farm and I could hear the sound of water. I felt the money in my pocket. I would have given forty pounds for a glass of water if I had had the chance!
Two men drove away in the car. A little later another man rode to the east on a horse. The search was beginning, but they were all going the wrong way!
I sat up on the roof and looked around. At first I saw nothing specially inter esting but then I noticed a large circle of trees. These trees were half a mile from the house, and there was a flat green field inside the circle.
'That must be an airfield,' I thought. 'It's a wonderful place for a secret airfield.'
It would deceive anyone who did not know the place. A small plane could land there and no one would see it. The field was completely hidden from the ground. Anybody would think that the plane had flown over the hill. No one would guess that it had landed among the trees.
Then I noticed a thin blue line far away to the south. It was the sea. So our enemies had this secret airfield in Scotland, and they could watch our ships every day. The thought made me very angry.
It made me nervous too. If the plane came back, the pilot would easily see me. But I could do nothing until it was dark.
I lay and waited on the roof of the bird-house. About six o'clock a man came out through the hole in the store-room. He walked slowly towards the bird-house, and I felt quite afraid for a moment. But then we both heard the plane at the same time. The fellow turned immediately and went back into the store-room.
The plane did not fly over the house, and I was glad about that it flew around the trees once and then landed. Some lights shone for a moment or two, and ten minutes later I heard voices. After that everything was quiet, and it began to grow dark.
I waited until nine o'clock perhaps. Then I climbed down from the roof and reached the ground safely. I crawled away from the bird-house on my hands and knees.
I went first to the little river where I lay and drank the cool water. Then I began to run. I wanted to get as far away as possible from that terrible house.