Sir Walter had joined us, and presently MacGillivray arrived. He
had sent out instructions to watch the ports and railway stations for
the three men whom I had described to Sir Walter. Not that he or
anybody else thought that that would do much good.
'Here's the most I can make of it,' I said. 'We have got to find a
place where there are several staircases down to the beach, one of
which has thirty-nine steps. I think it's a piece of open coast with
biggish cliffs, somewhere between the Wash and the Channel. Also
it's a place where full tide is at 10.17 tomorrow night.'
Then an idea struck me. 'Is there no Inspector of Coastguards or
some fellow like that who knows the East Coast?'
Whittaker said there was, and that he lived in Clapham. He went
off in a car to fetch him, and the rest of us sat about the little room
and talked of anything that came into our heads. I lit a pipe and
went over the whole thing again till my brain grew weary.
About one in the morning the coastguard man arrived. He was a
fine old fellow, with the look of a naval officer, and was desperately
respectful to the company. I left the War Minister to cross-examine
him, for I felt he would think it cheek in me to talk.
'We want you to tell us the places you know on the East Coast
where there are cliffs, and where several sets of steps run down to
the beach.
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