Free Fatal Venture by Freeman Wills Crofts

by sleeper and saving two days?”
    “I’m open to consider any properly worked out suggestions. This, again, would be ideal: and again perhaps impracticable. Suppose the ship is going south. Your tender leaves her some time in the morning and catches, for argument’s sake, a good train at Holyhead. It then hurries to Fishguard and meets the contingent which has left London in the morning. It puts them on board. It follows the ship and the next morning puts a party ashore to get the London train at Penzance, steams on to Plymouth and takes aboard those who have come from London that day. You see the idea?”
    “I see it, sir. I think it’s splendid. But it would scarcely work for the Orkneys or the Hebrides.”
    “I agree. But that’s where you come in. Your first job will be to make a scheme for the whole coast. You will first make a list of convenient ports with good rail connections, then you’d better go and see them all, so as to be sure that they’re suitable from the transshipment point of view. You follow me?”
    “Yes, sir. Clearly.”
    “You will get your expenses from Whitaker. Note that, Whitaker. Then make a provisional timetable for all ports at which the
Hellenic
might happen to call.”
    “Am I limited to one tender?”
    “No, you’re not limited to anything, though naturally I want to keep expenses down. But I want to run practically in all weathers. Therefore your tender must be a good size. There you’ll have to consult the captain. Don’t forget it may be too big for some of the smaller ports. Remember also that the
Hellenic
will come to the most convenient places to meet the tender, and can fill up time by making circuits.”
    “Yes, sir, I think I’ve got all that clear. I’ll get on with it at once.”
    “Then when that’s done you may consider stores. They’ll have to go out by the tender, and enough time will have to be allowed for transferring them to the ship.”
    “What about coaling?”
    “She uses oil fuel and you’ll have to arrange times for fuelling. The oil tanker and the tender might lie alongside at the same time, one forward and one aft. Or, if the weather permitted, at opposite sides. Something of that kind: think it out. You’ll have to discuss that also with the captain. Any other questions?”
    “I don’t think so, sir.”
    “Good. Then there’s the point Bristow raised, which may affect your arrangements. In order to avoid a gaming prosecution under the British law, we shall have to adopt certain precautions. Tell them, Meaker, will you?”
    “Eh? Yes.” The solicitor woke up to life. “Formalities, you know.” He nodded, twinkling his little eyes. “Can’t risk being run in, eh? There are only three; all very simple. First, the ship must be foreign owned. Next, she must keep outside British territorial waters: means more than three miles from the coast. Third, if she should want to come into a British port, the gaming rooms must be sealed before she enters the three-mile limit, and kept sealed till she leaves it again. That clear, eh?”
    Morrison nodded, but before he could speak Stott chimed in. “Naturally I don’t want the nuisance of sealing the rooms unnecessarily, so she must be kept as much as possible out of ports. That’s why you must use a tender and have stores and oil transferred at sea. Any questions about that?”
    “No sir; it seems quite clear.”
    Stott nodded. “Then we needn’t keep you, Morrison. Get ahead with your enquiries, and if you get up against any snags, let me know.”
    Morrison would have liked to hear what was still to be discussed, but after so pointed a dismissal he dared not remain. He was disappointed at being left out of the inner counsels, but he felt he could later get any information he wanted from Bristow.
    There now began one of the most delightful periods of his life. He was his own master, free from the routine of the office and able to plan without let or hindrance his comings and goings. His new