Five
Commander Haydock turned out to be a most genial¹ host. He welcomedMr. Meadowes and Major Bletchley with enthusiasm, and insisted onshowing the former “all over my little place.”
Smugglers’ Rest had been originally a couple of coastguards’ cottagesstanding on the cliff overlooking the sea. There was a small cove² below,but the access to it was perilous³, only to be attempted by adventurousboys.
Then the cottages had been bought by a London businessman who hadthrown them into one and attempted halfheartedly to make a garden. Hehad come down occasionally for short periods in summer.
After that, the cottages had remained empty for some years, being letwith a modicum⁴ of furniture to summer visitors.
“Then, some years ago,” explained Haydock, “it was sold to a man calledHahn. He was a German, and if you ask me, he was neither more or lessthan a spy.”
Tommy’s ears quickened.
“That’s interesting,” he said, putting down the glass from which he hadbeen sipping⁵ sherry.
“Damned thorough fellows they are,” said Haydock. “Getting ready eventhen for this show—at least that is my opinion. Look at the situation of thisplace. Perfect for signalling out to sea. Cove below where you could land amotorboat. Completely isolated⁶ owing to the contour of the cliff. Oh yes,don’t tell me that fellow Hahn wasn’t a German agent.”
Major Bletchley said:
“Of course he was.”
“What happened to him?” asked Tommy.
“Ah!” said Haydock. “Thereby hangs a tale. Hahn spent a lot of moneyon this place. He had a way cut down to the beach for one thing—concretesteps—expensive business. Then he had the whole of the house done over—bathrooms, every expensive gadget⁷ you can imagine. And who did heset to do all this? Not a local man. No, a firm from London, so it was said—but a lot of the men who came down were foreigners. Some of them didn’tspeak a word of English. Don’t you agree with me that that sounds ex-tremely

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