‘Well, anyway he’s acted pretty crook, hasn’t he? I don’t think it’s so funny. And if the old dead-beats at home hadn’t been too tired to take notice, perhaps we wouldn’t have been looking so silly now,’ Simon added vindictively. ‘Chaps like Questing ought to be cleaned right up, I reckon. Out of it altogether. What’d they do with them in Russia? Look here,’ Simon continued, ‘I’ll tell you something. The night before the Hippolyte went down there was a light flashing on the Peak. Some of the chaps over at the Kainga, Eru and Rewi Te Kahu and that gang, had gone out in a boat from Harpoon and they said they saw it. Uncle James has seen it since. Everybody knows there’s a reinforcement sailing any time now. What’s Questing doing, where does he go half the time? He’s messing round on the Peak, isn’t he? Why did he try to put Bert Smith under the train?’ Dikon attempted to speak and was firmly talked down. ‘Accident my foot,’ said Simon. ‘He ought to be charged with attempted murder. The police round here seem to think they amount to something. I reckon they don’t know they’re born.’

‘Well,’ Dikon said mildly, ‘what action do you propose to take?’

‘There’s no need to be sarcastic,’ Simon roared out. ‘If you want to know what I’m going to do I’ll tell you. I’m going to stay up at nights. If Questing goes out I’ll slip after him and I’ll watch the Peak. My Morse’ll be good enough for what he does. It’ll be in code, of course, but if it’s Morse he’s using I’ll spot it. You bet I will, and by gum I’ll go to the station at Harpoon and if they don’t pull him in on that I’ll charge him with attempted murder.’

‘And if they don’t care for that either?’

‘I’ll do something,’ said Simon. ‘I’ll do something.’

Chapter 6
Arrival of Septimus Falls