Free The Man who Missed the War by Dennis Wheatley

to interfere with his purpose in coming to America. Soon after his arrival there the ‘Pact of Steel’ had been entered into by the Berlin-Rome Axis, and for those who had eyes to see there were plenty of indications that Hitler now had the bit between his teeth.
    Philip soon discovered that, for the smaller size and number of rafts that his revised scheme required, it would be more economical to place the whole contract in the hands of a New York builder than to float great rafts of lumber all the way down the coast from the mouth of the Saint Lawrence. Having put the contract out to tender with a number of firms, he closed with one that undertook to deliver the whole string, complete with cargo containers, sails, beacons and cables ready for sea, by July the 20th. It irked him that the earlier part of the year hadslipped away without his being able to make any of these physical preparations, as he would have preferred to attempt his first crossing in June; but he consoled himself with the thought that, even if he could not get off till the beginning of August, he should still have at least eight weeks of good weather ahead, and with the aid of the sails he hoped to accomplish the voyage in something less than that.
    His next concern was the purchase of a suitable sea-going motor launch and, having examined a number, he settled on a broad-beamed forty-footer with sleeping berths for six and diesel engines. On delivery it was brought across the Hudson to the New Jersey bank so that he could give Jean and Lexie and their friends evening picnics up-river or downstream past Ellis Island in it; and he spent many hours taking the engines down and going over every part of them with meticulous care so that there should be no likelihood of one of them breaking down once he was out in the open ocean.
    On one of the rafts he intended to ship the most miscellaneous selection of cargo he could find, in order to test the effects of a voyage of six weeks to two months by raft on as great a variety of goods as possible. But he was also anxious to obtain cargo for the other nine rafts, if only he could persuade some firm to trust him with it, as he felt that for all ten to make the voyage fully loaded would provide a much more telling trial than if nine out of the ten had to go over in ballast. Accordingly, he inserted an advertisement in a New York shipping paper offering cut rates for cargoes to any port in Great Britain, to be shipped by escorted raft, period of voyage six weeks to three months.
    The immediate result was a visit from a reporter, one Jeff O’Dowd, who worked on the shipping paper to which the advertisement had been sent.
    ‘What’s the big idea?’ Jeff wanted to know. ‘What’s all this about escorting rafts to Europe?’
    Philip had not bargained for his idea being given to the world through the Press, but he was quick to realise that, as he could not prevent them from printing anything they chose, the wisest course would be to give the rakish-looking Mr. O’Dowd a correct account of his intentions.
    Having adjourned to a nearby drug-store, where Philip partookof a pineapple sundae and Mr. O’Dowd indulged in a somewhat more sustaining refreshment, they discussed the matter for half an hour before parting with mutual satisfaction. Jeff had his story, and Philip had succeeded in steering clear of any inference that this new commercial venture of his was actually being undertaken with the hope of being able in time of war to save his country from starvation.
    The next issue of Jeff’s paper carried a three-column headline on its main page, running: ‘ ENGLISHMAN TO HARNESS GULF STREAM ’; and Philip read the article below with considerable satisfaction, since he felt that, while his small ‘ad’ might have passed unnoticed by many readers, few people could remain ignorant of the new cheap cargo service he was offering after the appearance of the main page splash.
    The same afternoon he received a telephone