"I am not at all happy about this," said Pariset, after a brief silence.
"We haven’t learnt very much, certainly," said Kenneth.
"I don’t mean that. We have learnt enough if that is your man. But I see no means of preventing the destruction of the bridge."
"We might fly to Charleroi and send a squadron of lancers back. There are only five men to deal with, apparently."
"That’s not the difficulty. The point is that at the first sign of molestation they would fire the mine. You may depend upon it that they are picked men, with resolution enough to do their job, even at the cost of their lives. It would not be much use to capture them after the mischief was already done."
"The mine is to be fired on receipt of a marconigram."
"You didn’t tell me that. It may happen at any minute, then. They must have wireless rigged up in the mill-house. We might have cut a wire, but with wireless we are helpless."
"Unless we could get into the mill," Kenneth suggested.
"Ah, if we could! But there’s no chance of it. The fellow is on the qui vive: I don’t like the way he looked after us."
"Wouldn’t the old miller, as the landlord, have a right to go in?"
"I daresay, but the old man couldn’t do anything. Even if he knew anything about wireless or mines, he would only get flustered; he certainly would quite fail to do any damage."
"Perhaps he could tell us of another way into the mill, so that we could do it ourselves."
"That could only be in the darkness, and they may fire the mine before night. I see nothing for it, after all, but to bring some cavalry from Charleroi and take care the men don’t escape. We can do that, if we can’t save the bridge."
"Why not wait a little? If the order to fire the mine comes suddenly, any time before night, we can’t prevent it. But if it doesn’t come before night, we still have a chance. In any case we ought to get some lancers over, to be in the neighbourhood at nightfall. It won’t take long for one of us to get into Charleroi and back."
"That would be risky after that fellow’s question about the aeroplane. The best course will be to send in a message by the drayman. I’ll write a note as soon as we get back."
The drayman readily agreed to carry Pariset’s note to the commandant of the Charleroi garrison. When he had departed, the miller was taken into consultation.