But he still found time to imagine Bolitho in these circumstances. The mental picture of that impassive face helped to steady him and he said in a level voice, “Bear off and head for the rocks. But not a sound, any of you!”

One by one the boats moved inshore, and when almost hemmed in by dark-fanged rocks the first men leapt slipping and cursing into shallow water.

There was no point in trying to split the party into groups now, Herrick decided. It would take too long, and they had taken enough chances already. He watched the three boats move clear and then snapped, “Mr Maynard, come with me. McIntosh will take charge down here.” He groped through his mind to remember the carefully listed names. “Allday and Martin follow me!”

Allday seemed a capable man, and Martin, who’d once earned a rare living as a Dorset poacher, was as nimble and quiet as a rabbit.

As they climbed in silence up the steeply sloping cliff Herrick again thought of Bolitho and his dashing attack on Mola Island. There he had had to deal with every sort of danger, yet he had succeeded at the cost of his own life. Compared with Mola Island this escapade was nothing, he thought grimly.

And why had he made a point of suggesting an alternative to the attack? Was he perhaps already preparing to slip away to the waiting Phalarope without even attempting to complete the mission?

He stumbled and almost fell to the rocks below, but a hand seized his wrist and he heard Allday say, “You must watch this sort of cliff, sir! It feels secure, but the stones are only caked in soil. There’s no real grip in them.”

Herrick stared at him. Of course, Allday had been a shepherd as well as a sailor. After Cornwall’s rocky cliffs and hills this was probably child’s play to him.

As if reading his thoughts Allday murmured, “Many’s the time I’ve been down this sort of thing after a wandering lamb.”

They both froze into silence as Martin hissed, “Sir! There’s a sentry up yonder!”

Herrick stared. “Where? Are you sure, man?”

Martin nodded vehemently. “Thirty yards or so over there! I heard his boots. There!” His eyes gleamed excitedly. “Did you hear ’em?”

“Yes, I did.” Herrick sank down on a ledge of wet grass. A sentry up here. What was the point of it? No man could see much beyond the edge of the cliff at night-time. He said, “We’ll crawl closer and take a look!”

Holding their weapons clear of the treacherous stones they wriggled across the side of the headland, their eyes smarting from straining and watching.

Herrick said at length, “Martin, get away to the left. Allday, take the seaward side.” He watched them crawl away. “We’ll push on up this slope, Mr Maynard. I feel that something is not quite right here.”

Allday came back first, his body bent double as he ran quickly from bush to bush. “The Andiron’s there right enough, sir! She’s just on the other side of the point. She’s in complete darkness. Not a light or a sound from her!”