The Ozark spectator., 1916-09-13

 the Cock sands. which looked the size of bell buoy.
 A couple of miles farther south and much nearer the shore small destroy CT was anchored Scatfe, MacGilh vray's man, who had been in the navy. knew the boat, and told me her name and her commanders, so l sent of a wire to Sir Walter.
 After breakfast Scaite got from house agent a key for the gates of the staircases on the Ruff l walked with him along the sands and sat down tn nook of the cliffs while he investi. gated the half dozen of them I didh1t want to be seen, but the place at this hour was quite deserted, and all the time I was on that beach I saw noth ing but the seagulls
 It took him more than an hour to do the job, and when l saw him com ing toward me, coming a bit of paper, l can tell you my heart was in my mouth. Everything depended. you see. on my guess proving right.
  in the different stairs '"Thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-nine, forty-two foy- ty-seven and twenty -one." where the cliffs grew lower. I almost got up and shouted
 We hurried back to the town and sent wire to MacGilfivray. I wanted half dozen men. and I directed them to divide themselves among different specified hotels. Then Scaife set out to prospect the house at the head of the thirty nine steps,
 He came back with news that both puzzled and reassured me The house was called Trafalgar lodge and belong ed to an old gentleman called Appleton "a retired stockbroker, the house agent said
 Mir. Appleton was there good deal in the summer time and was in resi- dence now-had been for the better part of week. Scaife could pick up very little information about him, ex- cept that he was decent old fellow. who paid his bills regularly and was II ity. Then Scaife seems to have pene- trated to the back door of the house. pretending he was an agent for sewing machines,
 Only three servants were kept-a cook, q parlormaid and a housemaid- and they were just the sort that you would find in respectable middle class household.
 The cook was not the gossiping kind and had pretty soon shut the door in his face, but Scaife said he was pos tive she knew nothing Next door there was new house building which would give good cover for observation, and the villa on the other side was to let, and it's garden was rough and shrubby
 l borrowed Schaife's telescope and before lunch went for walk along the Ruff
 l kept well behind the rows of vii las and found a good observation point on the edge of the golf course. There l had a view of the line of turf along the cliff top, with seats placed at in teryals and the little square plots, rail ed in and planted with bushes. whence the staircases descended to the beach
 l saw Trafalgar Lodge very plainly. a red brick villa with a veranda. q tennis lawn behind and In front the ordinary seaside flower garden full of marguerites and scraggy geraniums. There was a flagstaff from which an enormous union jack hung Imply in the still air.
 Presently I observed some one leave the house and saunter along the cliff.
 When 1 got my glasses on him l saw 1t was an old man. wearing white fan nel trousers, a blue serge jacket and 2 straw hat. He carried fieldglasses and a newspaper and sat down on one or the iron seats and began to read Sometimes he would lay down the pa per and turn his glasses on the sea.
 He looked for long time at the de stIover watched him half an hour till he got up and went pack 10 the house for his luncheon, when I re- turned to the hotel for mine.
 l wasn't feeling very confident. This decent, commonplace dwelling was not what I had expected The man might be the bald archeologist of that horri- ble moorland farm, or he might not He was exactly the kind of satisfied old bird you will find in every suburb and every holiday place. If you want ed a type of the perfectly harmless person you would probably pitch on that.
 But after lunch, as sat in the hotel porch, l saw the thing I had hoped for and dreaded to miss. A yacht came up from the south and dropped anchor pretty well opposite the Ruff
 She seemed about hundred and ff- ty tons- and saw she belonged to the