“We came over to explain about the wire’s being cut,” said Jack.  “Dick’s all right.  He’s here with me.  Where are you?  We’ve got to see you just as soon as we can.”

“In London, but I’m coming down.  I’m going to try to get a motor car, too.  I’m in a lot of trouble, Jack — it’s Graves.”

“Come on down.  We’ll walk out along the road towards London and meet you.  We’ve got a lot to tell you, but I’m afraid to talk about it over the telephone.”

“All right!  I’ll keep my eyes open for you.”

Getting a motor car was not easy.  A great many had been taken by the government.  But Harry remembered that one was owned by a business friend of his father’s, an American, and this, with some difficulty, he managed to borrow.  He was known as a careful driver.  He had learned to drive his father’s car at home, and Mr. Armstrong knew it.  And so, when Harry explained that it was a matter of the greatest urgency, he got it — since he had established a reputation for honor that made Mr. Armstrong understand that when Harry said a thing was urgent, urgent it must be.

Getting out of London was easy.  If a search was being made for him — and he had no doubt that that was true — he found no evidence of it.  His change of clothes was probably what saved him, for it altered his appearance greatly.  So he came near to Bray, and finally met his two friends.

Chapter XVI

The Cipher

“What happened to you?” asked Jack and Dick in chorus.

Swiftly Harry explained.  He told of his arrest as a spy and of his escape.  And when he mentioned the part that Ernest Graves had played in the affair, Jack and Dick looked at one another.

“We were afraid of something like that, said Jack.  “Harry, we’ve found out a lot of things, and we don’t know what they mean!  We’re sure something dreadful is going to happen tonight.  And we’re sure, too, that Bray Park is going to be the centre of the trouble.”

“Tell me what you know,” said Harry, crisply.  “Then we’ll put two and two together.  I say, Jack, we don’t want to be seen, you know.  Isn’t there some side road that doesn’t lead anywhere, where I can run in with the car while we talk?”

“Yes.  There’s a place about a quarter of a mile further on that will do splendidly,” he replied.

“All right.  Lead the way!  Tell me when we come to it.  I’ve just thought of something else I ought to never have forgotten.  At least, I thought of it when I took the things out of my pockets while I was changing my clothes.”

They soon came to the turning Jack had thought of, and a run of a few hundred yards took them entirely out of sight of the main road, and to a place where they were able to feel fairly sure of not being molested.

Then they exchanged stories.  Harry told his first.  Then he heard of Dick’s escape, and of his meeting with Jack.  He nodded at the story they had heard from Graffer Hodge.