CHAPTER XXII

THE REFUGEE'S RETURN

Sabatini's attitude of indolence lasted only until they had turned from the waterway into the main river. Then he sat up and pointed a little way down the stream.

"Can you cross over somewhere there?" he asked.

Arnold nodded and punted across towards the opposite bank.

"Get in among the rushes," Sabatini directed. "Now listen to me."

Arnold came and sat down.

"You don't mean to tire me," he remarked.

Sabatini smiled.

"Do you seriously think that I asked you to bring me on the river for the pleasure of watching your prowess with that pole, my friend?" he asked. "Not at all. I am going to ask you to do me a service."

Arnold was suddenly conscious that Sabatini, for the first time since he had known him, was in earnest. The lines of his marble-white face seemed to have grown tenser and firmer, his manner was the manner of a man who meets a crisis.

"Turn your head and look inland," he said. "You follow the lane there?"

Arnold nodded.

"Quite well," he admitted.

"At the corner," Sabatini continued, "just out of sight behind that tall hedge, is my motor car. I want you to land and make your way there. My chauffeur has his instructions. He will take you to a village some eight miles up the river, a village called Heslop Wood. There is a boat-builder's yard at the end of the main street. You will hire a boat and row up the river. About three hundred yards up, on the left hand side, is an old, dismantled-looking house-boat. I want you to board it and search it thoroughly."

1. What were they trying to do?
2. Who has been lazy?
3. Did they go to the water for fun?
4. Why then?
5. Who did he ask?
6. What surprised him?
7. Who was he to find?
8. Where was he to go?
9. How far away?
10. Was that his final destination?
11. What was he to do next?
12. Was it a powerboat?
13. What color was the lazy man's face?
14. How far was he to travel up river?
15. Was his destination on the right?
16. What was his destination?
17. What was he supposed to do there?
18. For what?

Numbered answers:
1. to get to the other side of the hedge.
2. Sabatini
3. no
4. to do a service."
5. Arnold
6. that Sabatini for the first time was in earnest
7. his chauffeur
8. to a village
9. some eight miles
10. no
11. hire a boat
12. no
13. marble-white
14. About three hundred yards
15. no
16. a house-boat
17. search it thoroughly
18. unknown