PURSUIT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20656, 30 August 1930, Page 14 (Supplement)

PURSUIT.

BYj BOLAND PERTWEE. Author of " Seein' Reason," " Swank," " Esturn of Imry," etc.

CHAPTER I.

" I know lio'll be all right Vith you," she. had said. You must not lightly roh a woman of that kind of conviction. It, loft Hurley no choice. Ho had made a show of willingness and the tiling was done. With the knowledge that her brother's posting to .007 Siego Battery was an accomplished fact something of terror in Paula's eyes was lulled to sleep. That in itself was no great reward, but went somo way toward lifting tho few extra pounds of weight the boy's coming would add to the burden of Hurley's responsibility. It was not a war to wage in the company of friends. The odds' were too heavy. With all the will in the world a man cannot brash u shell aside nor turn the sniper's bullet.

If Harley Trevelyan had any fixed purpose on tho last clay of his leave it was •to shut himself away, as far as possible, from tho war and all that pertained ■(hereunto. A hopeless ambition, for in London the war intruded itself upon the imagination even moro insistently than at tho front. It roared at ono from tho pavement, buses, in cubs, bars and theatres. There was no escaping it. Rosters, hoarding—even the wares in shops were saturated in its word or livery. Perhaps that was why a notice in the windows of a Bond Street gallery, "Modern French Painters," drew Harlc-y irresistibly. Here, at least, a new element was offered. He remembered, too, that I'awlk, his O.C-, had been elegiac in his praises of tho exhibition, urging him, with that characteristic stressing of certain words, which had brought so many men to the verge of mutiny, "On no account must you miss it." Also lie had said: "My dear Trevelyan, it's very instructive—very revealing. Help to clear your mind of outworn fetters." Even though he might not agree, it. would provide something to argue about when ho got back to tho ba.tery. That was inducement enough. A new opinion on any 'subject was as rare as it was worth having in France. One came to know tho limits of a man's horizon with such deadly precision—a few stock phrases '—a threadbare jest—silence and the gramophone-. Harley, pushed open tho swing doors and entered. A young man seated behind a table looked at him coldly and dispassionately and switched on some lights. Feeling absurdly hostile, Harley began his toui'y of inspection. The Cezannes and a single Van Gogh interested him and annoyed him equally. The " Font St. Martin"® by Utrillo captured and held his imagination from the first glance, as also did a Manet with its insolent disregard for academic convention—its quality of " essentialism"—the almost shocking bluntn'ess of its statement, and its vitalisation of subject. „ Reluctantly he felt himself admitting the argument of these rebels against the pretty-prettiness of the Victorians. Reluctantly because ho had no inclination to agree with tho case Fawlk had advanced /in their favour. Arbitrarily he vould have preferred to quarrel with Fawlk on any matter involving taste. But it couldn't be helped. He foresaw agreement rather than argument. It was disappointing. It was dusk when he came out. into the street again. What to do next.'/ His few duty calls had already been paid. His friends were scattered over the fighting fronts of Europe, Until dinner there was nothing to do— no one to setf—only time to kill. To-morrow he would be back in France. Even that was better than loafing idly by oneself, although,- after nearly three years, his enthusiasm for war had staled into an unconscious efficiency. A mood of half resentful loneliness descended upon him. His nerves, trained by all the circumstances of war to indifference-. were snapping and tightening unpleasantly. " lime enough for a game of souasli at the Bath Club," he thought. " Then I'll thaw myself out in the Turkish Bath." The treatment was - only partially remedial. The pro. gave him a game and ran rings round him. " Don't seem to he keeping your' rnind on tlie game, sir," he complained. Harley wasn't and admitted it. He loafed through the rooms up an nscending scale of temperatures, was lathered and pummelled and finally delivered head-first through the cold plunge into the embraces of an immense towel, cigarettes and a shave. lie had avoided thinking of Paula Drayton and there v.as no sign .of .her when, after a stretch along the Mall, he walked into ,the Palm Court and looked about him. His watch and the chick in the foyer were m disagreement. The larger and presumably more reliable timepiece informed him that ho was a-qnarter of an hour too soon for their appointment. Time enough fn- a cocktail before facing the ordeal tlint awaited him. . It, was strange that the thought of din. ;ng with Paul i should appear an ordeal. > n her men'"-" eyes would visit and dwell noon rhe table at which they sat together. r l he blue black sweep of her short hair—h'T dark grave eves and long white face were magnetic of attention. Slic did not for beauty. It was her earnestness that-yawed him—the undeviating concentration upon himself that, without deliberate effort, he inspired in her. Most men would have found it flattering, but not Harley. It made him awkward, embarrassed. It robbed him of humour, of gaiety, and set his lingers crumbling bread or fiddling with the winder of his watch. She-'was loud of him, of course, useless to deny that. She loved him, likely '•nough, in that smouldering wav of hers that was at once slavish and possessive. ]t seemed mean and cavalier to award her f>;eadfi!>t an .ration with nothing more than tho brand ot friendship he was able to offer. for a man to love a woman hopelessly is all in the day's work and the night.'.- sorrow, but an inversion of the principle puts him in a graceless position. He couldn't tell the truth—be honest about, bin leelings At best he must pretend not t'. be a ware. And what use was oretence against a woman like Paula, whose every nerve was tuned to the vibrations of an ininct j ve. tin.h rstanding. 'I he situation would be funny if it were riot, tragic, funny because in her company he felt shy as a schoolboy—tragic because her sincerity was so deep. What little he had done and was doing in the war she magnified to a dimension 1 hat. would have made anv man wish medals hail never been struck. It was hard to dodge a few decorations in the third year oi the war. Thicker than bullets th e v fell in certain areas and s-tnici: a man over the heart, with a good deal more precision. Ife wished, perhaps disloyally, that. Paula had refused Ins invitation to dine. "It was the 1a..!, night of his leave—the last night, perhaps, I hat he would ever spend in England. In a way it, would lave been prepvable, and maybe less haimJul, to gel quietly drunk and forgetful. "*i et when he had a-l;ed her to dine he «i" ild no! be duel enough to omit enthusiasm from the invitation. She would want, to talk about, her brothers, of • oursc, that adored young brother whose eighteen l h birthday had brought him to J. taught era i ,|e age. With a bit of wangling Ilarley had l'o( the youiiL'-ter posted to his own battery, lie would have i;ivcu much to jivoai d ling that. Nn sane man wilfully J •' 111' 11 tr, his i espouMbilit es in France. It- w;e, hard enough to steer one-elf ' htoiigh tbe I 111 -ine V, it ho.it keeping a j f'-ee hand for aim: her fellow's t ilh r. Not | that He re was anything wrong with young I Drayton. I here was good stuff in the l liny—real quality—even though he shared with Paula rather more temperament than warfare can conveniently jn-conilimdate. I don t want you to do it, if you'd lather not," Paula'had said. hat could he answer? She knew he ■could pull a f ( . w strings at, the "War House—" that he had 'influence. And !n* ™ V P aVKI D,a >' h "' Pit'i iselL " e *>stonec—outside him-

" 1 was an ass to do it," he told himself, and yet did not regret that ho had been an ass. With luck he could give the boy a leg up over the first few stiles at which so many reinforcements stumbled badly. Things like keeping mum before the men and not letting 'em realise one's abysmal ignorance. Oh! That ignorance. How it hurt! Hnrley descended to tho cocktail bar and found himself alongside Freddie Miller in whose company, during tho days of their youth, many wild nights had been spent. It. was two years since last they met.

" Not dead ?" Freddie crowed ecstatically. " How very strange and beautiful. Have ono of these littlo scamps," and he held up his glass. The barman, a prominent member of tho Secret Service, in defiance of tho No Treating Order, conveyed ico to tho shaker and smiled a welcome.

" Where have you been ?"'Harley asked, eyeing with suspicion a number of mysterious foreign decorations that adorned his friend's tunic.

" A Christmas party at the Savoy Hotel," tho young man replied. " I was pipped in Gallipoli and they gave me three month's Home Duly, showing the Tower Brigade and Madame Tussauds to distinguished neutrals. These," he tapped his breast with pride, " came out oi the crackers. 1 daresay 1 should have collected more, but the Baron, my noble and loving sire, thought it was time Fritz had another packet at me. I rejoin my unit as from to-morrow and the funeral is fixed for Saturday. There will be no flowers." He finished his drink and called for more.

" What, unitHarley asked. " Still the old lot?" Freddie Miller blushed.

" As a fighting man my stock is a bit down. They've gone and shoved me in the A.S.C. I imagine they were influenced by my passion for kidneys and tho fact that before the war I was summoned twenty-four times for furious driving." Harley queried. Freddie shook his head.

" Ammunition. They tell me," ho added, " that it. is much more dangerous than it ought to be. Still, the Millers are a fearless crowd. Nothing gets 'em down. Remember that night after the match wi'li Cambridge, when we turned four compo's of the special train into sjloon and how you up and said to the. guard. ' I did it with my little hatchet.' Harley grinned lamely. Those old Varsity rags! What a way off they seemed. The alarms and excursions of war had robbed Freddie Miller of none of his incomparably gav disposition. But that night Harley found it hard to enter into his companion's mood. Tho shadow of Paula was upon him. " If you go by the 7.40," he said, " we might travel together. My leave's up too."

" I thought you were a bit low," said Freddie. " But why part, from each other at this stage? 1 don't want to boast about it, but I'm dining at home to-night. Come along too. My mother's a complete entertainment and Joan, though I say it of my own sister, would make, the winner of a beauty competition look like rice pudden." It was no idle boast. A few months before Harley had seen a portrait of Joan Miller in the pages of a periodical. " Sorry." he said, and was sorry. "I'm dining here with Paula Drayton. Her brother's joining my battery in a few days. I've made a sort of promise to shelter the boy.' • ■

" You would,' was the answer. " That's just the kind of damn siHy—what's the word—altruism you would be guilty of. The only thing I ever had against you was your habit of carrying other people's pigeons. I know Paula, and if anything happens to that young brother of hers, the whole nation and you in particular will be held answerable. Now Joan—" Hut llarley had finished his drink and backed out through the crowd that gathered round the bar. He arrived at the Palm Court as Paula Dravton came through the south door. She was wearing a black cloak and hold the collar of white fox tightly over tbf> lower half of her face. A noisy group of officers and girls at a table on the left stopped talking to watch her pass. Seeing llarley she moved swiftly and trailed out a long while arm to him. lie asked if she wanted a cocktail, but she shook her head. " Then let's go in to dinner. I've ordered a table." She had no views as to the choice of food and for some minutes, conscious of her eyes, llarley stared irresolutely at the menu. " If Monsieur would leave Ibis to mo I shall arrange something nice," the waiter suggested. " Yes, go ahead,' said llarley, fumbled for meat coupons and ordered, " some of that Bollinger I had yesterday." " lii&n, monsieur." Then silence —an effort to smile—an effort to resist fiddling with things—an effort to look glad and happy—all failures. And Paula's black eyes were boring holes into him. " It was good of you to bear me company to-night," he managed to say at last. " No," she answered. 11" looked up questioningly. " No," she repeated, with her low 'cello-like quality of voice. " Just selfish. All dav I've been urging myself to let you off, but I couldn't." " hut what nonsense," lie said. " All day I've been looking forward " She would not allow him to finish the lie. Her finger tips touched his mouth to silence it. " I know—l know what you feel—better than yo.i do, llarley. Hut somehow 1 couldn't deny myself." " Paula, don't talk like that." "Why not? You aren't used to shameless ness, are you? I'm quite shameless. With you and David it must always be the 1 rutii. My feelings won't shut themselves up inside—there, s no loom for them. 'lbis is the last night of your leave and all the doors are wide open." He said nothing. What could lie say? Paula went on. " Why reproach yourself for not loving me? There's no reproach. Love isn't compelled by politeness. You have it or you haven't. Hut why be sorry I love you? Why fed responsible? I'm not. asking anything. I make no demands. Can't you be vulgar enough to be glad you matter to a woman, even though she rnav mean less to you than a smile from a girl across the footlights?" " I am glad —who could fail to bo, Paula, only—" " Only you wish to heaven I'd have the dccencv to keep mv feelings to myself " " No. No." Hut 1 understand that well enough. Men have loved me—men I cared nothing for, and I have hated them for the

A GRAPHIC AND THRILLING STORY OF DEEP INTEREST.

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nuisances they were. Rut 1 told them the truth. 1 didn't insult them by treating their love with courtesy." Tho sullen embers in her eyes blazed into fire. " Dont you—don't you dare to do that, Harley. He brutal—caddish—cruel as you like, and I won't complain, but don't treat my lovo for you with polite condescension." Hurley pushed back his plate half angrily. " Pfcula," he said, "if you can tell nie what a man is supposed to say or do in a case like this l'li try to say it and do it—but if you can't then for pity's sake—" " Shut up? " " Yes," he replied finally. " That's better," said Paula. " Thank you, Ilarley. It clears the air. I will shut up, and pack up, and clear out. But it. was better to let you know how things stood. You are woman blind. Too ignorant and too gentlemanly to realise facts that stare you in the face." She rose and he rose too. " No, don't follow me —if you follow 1 shall hit you in the mouth before everyone. You've been wonderful to tako on David —perhaps you fathomed why l'vo wished him o:i to you—well, that wasn't the only reason—it existed, yes, but 1 wanted him to be with tho man 1 admire more than anyone elso in the world. And you'vo made mo happier than I ever hoped to be. Bless you, darling. God bless and keep you for —for whomever it may be." Ho watched, in gloomy bewilderment, as she swept out of tho restaurant. "Madame has gone? " said the waiter, arriving with the fish. Harley nodded. " Yes, gone. Take that stuff away and bring me a steak." CHAPTER 11. Havlev did not linger over (lie meal. His solitary table inspired too much speculation from other guests. He felt ho had emerged from one of the toughest engagements in which the war had involve;! him—and oiio in which ho had acquitted himself ingloriously. Calling for his accumulated bills of the last ten days, ho paid them by cheque and drifted aimlessly into the gloom of Haymarkct. A crescent moon and a night sequiued with stars lit the roadway moro brightly than the blackened arc standards. Above liini whito pools and rods of light wandered inquiringly across tho heavens.

What a dark ominous place this London of the war had become. Willi no set purpose he walked into Piccadilly, up Bond Street and left to Berkeley Square. A friend, Paul Knighton, had put him up in Curzon Street, but it was only ten o'clock and Paul, who worked in tho Censorship Department, seldom reached home before midnight. A dull finish to a mail's leave to sit in an empty house and watch a firo burn out. He paused by tho railings of tho square debating whether ho should try and get into a show of some kind, and had almost resolved to do so when a maroon was fired and a branch of red and green star.; burst into flower above the loof of Devonshire House.

Air raid. The first London air raid ho had experienced; A man who has been continually under shell fire for more than two years does not expose himself moro than occasion demands to enemy attacks, even though they may be no more than a casual dropping of bombs upon a city under cover of darkness. The maroons and rockets were an invitation to tho wise to get under cover—an invitation which, from bitter experience, Londoners had conm to respect. Tho curiosity and exhilaiation inspired by the early Zeppelin raiders had long since degenerated into a kind of sullen caution expressed by emptv streets and crowded underground stations.

Almost before the reverberations had died away tho busy pavements were deserted and tho noise of traffic ceased. A lean black cat, Harley Trevelyan and a special constable, on duty by the corner of Lansdowno Passage, were tho only visible creatures in tho square. One or two ears flew away from the doors of the Berkeley Grill and a hush of expectation fell over tho city. From the east and south, faint but gathering in volume, came, the pulsing rumble of gun fire and simultaneously countless searchlights held up long protesting arms against the invisible raiders. For a better view, Ilarley moved from the shelter of tho trees that overhang tho square to the pavement opposite. He had scarcely reached it, when a window was thrown open and the silhouette of a gill's head and shoulders appeared against the dimly lit room beyond. "That's right," said a voice, "don't worry yourself about regulations, old thing, get us all jugged for signalling to the enemy." A switch clicked and the, room was plunged into darkness. Followed a trickle of fluid laughter and tho man's voice again saying, " Bag all the room, that's the way." The words were scarcely spoken when, with a stinging crash that set window frames rattling, a battery of guns in Green Park opened fire. " Toddy's lot," said the girl. "Toddy's always the first to let fly. Ho does it for my sake. He can't have gut a target vet."

A spent shell whined downward dismally and fell with a " womp " in the roadway. Involuntarily Harley moved a few steps nearer the railings of the house and lit a cigarette. In doing so ho was seen by the two at the window. " Soldier," said the girl, for it was too dark to tell whether he was officer, noncommissioned oilier or man, "soldier! Hadn't you better come inside?" Something in her voice made tho invitation sound good.

" It's all right, thanks," ho said. " 1 was just going home." "You'd have done it too if you'd caught that little souvenir on the dome," she answered. " Freddie, go and haul him in."

Thus adjured her companion removed himself from the window and presently was heard opening the front door. Step in quickly, sir," he sang out, " because I'm not duo to die until Saturday."

" Freddie—Freddie Miller," Harley cried, groping through the unlighted passage."

" You old ass—why couldn't you say who you were," came tho joyous reply, overwhelmed somewhat by tlie activity of " Toddy's lot " at the bottom of the street.

" Hi, Joan. This poor soldier of yours is Harley Trevelyan. The beggar who wouldn't feed with us for fear of doing you out of your butter ration." " Have him along then," sho replied. " Can't leave the window 'cos I'm mad on air raids, but there's room for three ii you don't mind a scrum."

The yellow flashes from Toddy's battery lit up her small close cropped bead as sho spoke, for Joan Miller was a pioneer of the shingle. Ilarley found himself crammed tightly against her with his elbow oil the sill. Her bare shoulder pressed against his was restless with excitement.

On the opposite side of (he road a running man saw them, stopped and pointed.

Footsteps cluttered up tho street. Joan struggled to lie free.

" Me for I lie roof," she cried. " Any one coming?" " No," yelled Freddie.

" I am," said Hardloy, and found her hand in his dragging him toward the door. Like a couple of children (hey raced up the dimly lit staircase. From lielow came the voice of Freddie in a mock whine.

" All right you two, I'll go and wake up mother." " Isn't Freddie an ass? Don't you adore him?" Joan gasped joyously. "Mother always sees 'cm from the bathroom —stand ing on the bath. Foil in once—she did " We've all got out air raid stations. Only one more flight. She had led all (ho way giving him no chance to see her face. And the tup landing was in complete darkness. Joan fumbled and emitted a despairing wail. " There ! He's done it—he said he would last time. Rogers, our butler, lie's taken away (lie ladder. Here, you re tall — stand fast.'.' 110 felt, his wrists seized tightly her warm breath against his cheek and n

satin slipper planted unceiernoniously in the pit, of his stomach. A second later by a route known only (o herself she was balanced perilously upon his shoulders. Somctliing thumped. " That's inv head," she said, straightening up, and in (ho ceiling above, an oblong of night sky fretted with search-

lights sprang into view. The weight on his shoulders was lifting, and a pair of very boyish legs trod t ho air and vanished upward (o a crescendo of roaring artillery. Only the square of night sky remained. Ilarlcy heard himsely crying aloud, " Wait, for me," with tlie pathetic plaint of a Child left behind. Faintly he heard. " Oh, it's gorgeous Stand on the bannister rail and jump." lie hadn't thought of that. lie was no lilondin and the staircase well yawned threateningly, l'ut inducement was running very high. He climbed, rocked a second, crouched and sprang. His head and shoulders plunged through (lie trap and his arms came down flat on the, leads. The rest, was easy. A moment later ho v.as standing beside her among the chimney pots with an arm about her shoulders; while high above them held in the claws of a hundred searchlights throe small cigarette like things floated indifferent lv against, a background of crackling sparks. In tins presence of that strange and awe inspiring spectacle Joan's voice sank to a whisper. " First Zepps I've seen. Always missed 'em somehow. Oh. but isn t it —isi) tit - isn't it marvellous?"

llarley nodded and tightened his grip about her shoulders as the combined antiaircraft defences of London delivered themselves of a whirlwind of screaming

searching shells. Before the venom of that, attack (he invaders rose to a higher altitude and changed their formation —•

one to the north —one south and one hanging motionless and indotorniinato almost, above where they stood watching.

In a temporary hush, consequent upon an order to alter the ranges, came a sound which once heard is never forgotten. 'I he worry of an aerial torpedo spinning earthward through thousands of feet of naked space. " Look out." Hurley warned, and shut the 14ir 1 up in Ins arms, his two hands cuppled about, her head. The deep throated hideous roar that followed made the house tremble like a live thing. A blaze, of yellow light enveloped the whole neighbourhood, and from near and far came the tinkle, clink

j and chuckle of falling glass and tilrs. Then again and again— roar following roar I in quick succession splitting the night ' -.vitli tongues of leaping flame. A pall (4' dnst rose and blotted out llic | skv. .A rrd glow on its underside shining | where fires had begun to luini. From the I west Hanging hells of a fire engine drew j nearer and nearer, smothered by a crash louder and more venomous than any that I had gone before I lie wind of that filial I Lurst set them rocking like trees before a I gale. Something light and feat hery—l he I fragment of a sofa cushion fell at. their feet. " That last one—it must have heen just there—hv the. lliiz," said Joan. lie nodded. " Near enough anywav." " I wonder if—" she hegan, changed her mind and said angrily, " 1 hat s j enough from you up there in the sky. j Time we had something to say. .And as if in answer to a command a 1 new sound intruded itself into that devil s I orchestra—t he whine of a plane—clear as 1 the notes of a violin. 1 lie was too high to he seen—the lonely | pilot who policed the air roads of the city ' It must have heen luck lather than judgj nient directed his courses ami the courso of a tracer hullets emptied at close range into the belly of the invader. ! lie had spiralled out. of harms way beI foro the first tongue of flame licked along i the monster's sides. I hose below saw more of his handiwork than he was priviliired to see. " (Jot him," gasped .loan, and her j fingers lightened about llarley s like a ] vice. " ( Jot him !" j Afterwards llarley wondered if any ' other man ever beheld for the first time ; the face of the woman he came to lc.vo | by the glare of a blazing Zeppelin, which I made her seem, as she stood among the ; soolv chimney pots, like a creature of fire. CHAPTER 111. Providence which directs that winds j shall blow and sparrows fall has a knack 'of defending tin*, defenceless. A breeze I stirring from seaward bote (he blazing ; wreckage away from the habitations of i man to fall a charred and twisted skeleton in a plaving lield north of Loudon. Ihe searchlights winked and went out. 'J he guns grumbled and were silent and bugles sounded the " All Clear." llow long Joan and llarley stood watching that awful pageant in the sky, they neither knew, nor cared. 'I he red glow had died down ami the tranquil stars had reappeared before consciousness of themselves returned. Joan gave, an outward breath and shivered. " l'oor hrulrs," she said, " hut thev j asked for it—they did ask for it. 1 'on t you feel awfully hungry? 1 Jo. Let s go dou n —shall we '!" " Let"s," he echoed. As I hev walked across the flat roof her | foot slipped on a shrapnel bullet, (,'i.ite a number of bits and nieces had rained | down upon the, leads. Ihe discoverv made j llarley angry and responsible. What a thoughtless toft] he had been to expose | the girl to such a hazard. Anyone of I those bits might—lie turned and looked I at her. "What's the matter with you?" she. asked. lie was about lo reply when two hands and a face appeared in the black mouth of the I rap door. " 1 say you two," said the voice of Freddie Miihr, " Mother is now vacating the bathroom, and it might be tactful to come down." " We're on the way." llarley replied. " Cood," said Freddie. " lloni soil qui Palais de Dailse and all thai but, ill spile, of an affection lor dog lights, mother is a stout A ielorian and might think it peculiar for Joan to entertain gunner offecs on the tiles." Joan's descent through the trap door showed complete disdain for the interests of the frock she wore, ll is true there was nothing in the world could injure her appearance It was of Ihe kind thai I ra.'iscendcd external adornments. In sackcloth she would liavc lost none of her loveliness. Willi her frock ripped, her hands black and a smudge of soot Upon the tip of her insolent nose she looked even more distract ingly lovelv than (lie most ardent attention to details of the toilet could have rendered her. To assure themselves that Lady Miller had actually vacated the bathroom they entered it. together and all had a wash in the same basin, crossing the water and spitting in il fo> - _ luck and 'gelling easv with each other in consequence. Then thev all dried their hands on one towel and brushed their hair with one brush and since there is no thirstier woik than watc'inng an air raid they all had a drink out of (lie tooth class. Indeed their conduct in the bathroom was distinguished bv a spirit of good fellowship unmarrcd by conventional or hygienic considerations. (To bo continued daily.)

" Behind you," he yelled. " Coming over three abreast. Sock it into 'em, Iw s."

" Oil. Jimminy, and I can't, see," wailed Joan, in an ecstasy of grief, and twisted her head round liko an owl. " Oh, dimn, I can't see and I've cricked iriy neck. Where are they, Mr. Wan?" " Behind you—over and behind."