Peter and Henry and John are alone in that way. They have far less to think about. They are not so tied. They needn’t be so anxious.

But I’m not so sure, he continues. In spite of everything, thinking about them at home is a source of strength. It has helped me through the worst risks.

Peter and Henry and John are the men who work with him. He is their leader. He is going to meet them now.

And then I have them as long as I live, he thinks – he is back to Karen and Rascal again. It’s a selfish thought, but he cannot chase it away. I wouldn’t change places with Peter and Henry and John. When they’ve gone they’ll leave nothing behind, except for the work they’ve done. Today he has sent for a fourth man, and the thought is nagging at him the whole time as he walks along.

They have been given a dangerous assignment that has to be carried out immediately. No more dangerous for them than many others they have taken part in, with the exception of young Henry who has not been tested very much yet – but in this case the lives of others, whether friends or enemies, will be endangered. The order has been given and must be obeyed without argument. But Stig has the right to choose who is to carry it out. And he has given way to the temptation to exempt himself and his men, and sent for Stein. Stein is a savage, reckless fellow, careless about everything, filled only with the excitement of the chase. He will enjoy this job. What happens afterwards is none of Stig’s concern.

Stig knows he ought not to have done it. This is something they have no right to unleash. But now it’s too late. Stein will come and be given the assignment, since he was sent for. The one follows from the other.

What am I encouraging? he thinks.

But then we shall avoid it.

Yes, but this struggle is not like that. If we descend so low as to Stein, it’s all up with us. We haven’t a leg to stand on.

He imagines Peter with his white face. He, too, would have gone away and done it, if he had been given the order. How different the whole assignment would have been then. Peter would have tried to rid himself of base motives, and then gone away and carried out this savage, risky mission. But there would have been nothing savage about it, because quiet, taciturn Peter had done it.

But he has been spared.

Yes, or yourself! Don’t you usually draw lots?

He writhes at the harsh voice tunnelling mercilessly.

We do, he admits.

Then what’s all this? says the voice.

He flinches, walks on, and goes underground.

Work is in full swing down there when he arrives. Hope radiates from here around the house, and is met by similar rays from other cellars. They pass through the house like a web, tunnelling through the darkness and the walls, tunnelling down beneath the very centre, on the supposition that the centre will collapse one day. Peter and John are busy, deep down in a safe cellar. Safe up to now at any rate. The pressure from the storm is felt differently here. Here it is quite silent and there is no bewitching light from gilded arrows. But you feel the weight more. The pressure has something fatal about it, in that it reaches them as if in a grave. They feel it whenever a brief silence falls as they work.