doing anything about it. Quite suddenly, they were moving very fast indeed, the engine note deepening into a full- throated roar and only then did he pull back the control column.
They lifted into the evening sky, climbing fast and behind them on the beach, the Artillery sergeant watched them go, awe on his face.
16
Coming in low over the coast, von Bayern tapped Chavasse on the shoulder and pointed down to the old stone jetty below, the power boat moored beside it. There was no need for words. Chavasse took out the revolver Harrison had given him, emptied it and replaced the cartridges one by one.
The land beneath them seemed very green after the rain and, beyond, the sun dropped down towards the mountains and the valleys were filled with purple shadow. They went over a rise and dipped into Glenmore and there was the house beside the stream, the improvised airstrip flanked by poplar trees, the windsock lifting slightly in the breeze on the flagstaff at one end.
It all looked exactly the same as when they had left it and for a wild moment Chavasse had a strange feeling that nothing had happened in between at all-that time was a circle turning endlessly on itself, getting nowhere, and then von Bayern turned the Beaver into the wind and dropped her down.
He taxied all the way to the poplar trees before cutting the engine and when the propeller had stopped turning, the silence seemed unnatural.
Von Bayern turned with a slight smile. 'Last lap, Paul.'
Chavasse nodded. 'Are you armed?'
Von Bayern's eyebrows went up and he chuckled. 'My God, I was forgetting. I used a rifle back there on Fhada.'
Steiner, who still carried his machine pistol, produced the revolver he had taken from Murdoch on the tower and passed it over.
'If the colonel will permit me?'
'My pleasure.' Von Bayern hefted the revolver in his hands. 'No sense in taking unnecessary risks at this stage. Work your way round the house and come in from the courtyard, Steiner. Mr. Chavasse and I will take this side.'
Steiner was first out through the cabin door and they watched him move along the line of poplar trees and disappear.
'A good man,' Chavasse said.
Von Bayern nodded. 'The best.'
He led the way to the low wall beyond the poplar trees and they looked across to the terrace at the rear of the house. It was still and quiet, the windows like empty eyes and Chavasse noticed a splash of colour towards the far end.
'What's that?' he said.
'God knows. Cover me and I'll take a look.'
Von Bayern ran through a flower bed, keeping to the shelter of a yew hedge, crossed the terrace and crouched against the wall. Chavasse watched him work his way along to that splash of colour. When he reached it, he paused for a long moment, then raised an arm and beckoned.
Ruth Murray stared up at the sky, her face strangely peaceful in death, the red housecoat spread around her, covering her broken body.
Von Bayern's face was grim. 'He is a butcher, this man.'
Chavasse leaned down to touch the cold cheek. 'I'd say she's been dead for seven or eight hours.'
A French window opened farther along the terrace and as they swung, crouching, Hector Munro appeared, Steiner at his back.
'Where did you find him?' Chavasse said.
'In the courtyard beside the body of his son. And I found Benson, the driver you left with Miss Svensson, in the garage.'
'Dead?'
'I'm afraid so.'
Hector Munro looked his age for the first time since Chavasse had known him, lines of anguish notched deeply into his face, great shoulders bowed in grief.
'What happened, Hector?' Chavasse asked quietly.
There were tears in the old man's eyes. 'He killed my son, Mr. Chavasse-he killed Rory.'
'Who did?'
'Stavrou. He killed Rory and he killed the soldier you left here with the girl.'
'What did he do with her?'
'Took her away to Loch Dubh.'
'To the island?'
'That's right. I followed them. When he came back, he was on his own. I kept out of his way, I had to. God help me, if I could only have laid hands on a gun.'
'Where is he now?'
'That devil Donner arrived maybe twenty minutes ago. They had a deal of conversation in some language strange to me and then they left.'
'Did they go to the loch?'
'They took that direction.'
'The old castle on the island I told you about-Stavrou must have left the girl there and returned to wait for Donner. That's where they'll be.'
'But if Donner's feelings for Miss Svensson are as strong as you say, he's hardly likely to harm her,' von Bayern pointed out
'I wish I could be sure of that.' Chavasse shook his head. 'This is the end of the road for him-he must know that by now. Who can say what a desperate man might do in such circumstances?'
'A good point.' Von Bayern nodded. 'Then it seems we must go into action again.'
'You've done enough-all that anyone could expect-this bit is personal.'
Chavasse turned to move away, there was a quick step behind him, a hand on his shoulder.
Von Bayern sighed. 'I am something of a card player, my friend, and there is one inflexible rule which all good gamblers must obey. Never leave a hand half-played. I have no intention of relaxing that rule now, and, as Sergeant-Major Steiner's superior officer, I can assure you that neither has he. Shall we go?'
It was quiet in the deep hollow there between the hills and the heather seemed to flow down into the loch to be swallowed up by those still black waters. Beyond, through the desolate light of gloaming, the mountains were streaked with orange and a small breeze lifted across the hillside, touching them coldly.
They could see the motor boat moored beside the wooden jetty below the castle wall and Chavasse turned and looked along the shore towards the sandbank from which he had fished a thousand years ago.
'The collapsible boat I mentioned should be somewhere under those bushes.'
They went down through the heather to the shore and Steiner pointed suddenly. 'Look there!'
The boat, or what was left of it, lay on the sand, slashed and torn in a dozen places.
'The Munros,' Chavasse said. 'I might have known.'
'A fine evening for a swim.' Von Bayern looked towards the island. 'Two hundred yards-just about my limit.'
He started to unbutton his military tunic. Chavasse pulled his polo sweater over his head, kicked off his shoes and moved down to the water. Steiner followed him in shirt and pants, his machine pistol slung from his neck.
As von Bayern joined them, Chavasse pointed to the other end of the loch. 'See where the river emerges.
