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swaying, half-inebriated gait of a man who has lived too long with exhaustion. He had difficulty in keeping his eyes open, but he managed to smile as he walked slowly across the room and extended a courteous hand.

"Good evening, sir. Where in the world have you come from?"

"Evening, Colonel." On his feet now, Farnholme ignored the question. "You know of me, then?"

"I know of you. I heard about you for the first time, sir -- just three nights ago."

"Good, good." Farnholme nodded in satisfaction. "That will save a lot of explaining -- and I've no time for explanations. I'll come to the point right away." He half-turned as the explosion of a shell landing very close shook the room, the shock wave of displaced air almost blowing the candles out, then looked back at the colonel. "I want a 'plane out of Singapore, Colonel. I don't care what kind of 'plane, I don't care who you've got to shove off to get me on board, I don't care where it's going -- Burma, India, Ceylon, Australia -- it's all the same to me. I want a 'plane out of Singapore -- immediately."

"You want a 'plane out of Singapore." The colonel echoed the words tonelessly, his voice as wooden as the expression on his face, then he suddenly smiled, tiredly, as if the effort had cost him a great deal. "Don't we all, Brigadier."

"You don't understand." Slowly, with a gesture of infinitely controlled patience, Farnholme ground out his cheroot on an ashtray. "I know there are hundreds of wounded and sick, women and children------"

"The last 'plane has already gone," the colonel interrupted flatly. He rubbed a bare forearm across exhausted eyes. "A day, two days ago -- I'm not sure."

"llth February," Bryceland supplied. "The Hurricanes, sir. They left for Palembang."

"That's right," the colonel remembered. "The Hurricanes. They left in a great hurry."

"The last plane." Farnholme's voice was empty of all emotion. "The last 'plane. But -- but there were others, I know. Brewster fighters, Wildebeestes------"

"All gone, all destroyed." The colonel was watching Farnholme now with some vague curiosity in his eyes. "Even if they weren't, it would make no difference. Seletar, Semba-wang, Tengah -- the Japs have all these aerodromes. I don't know about Kallang airport -- but I do know it's useless."

"I see. I see indeed." Farnholme stared down at the gladstone bag beside his feet, then looked up again. "The flying-boats, Colonel? The Catalinas?"

The colonel shook his head in slow finality. Farnholme gazed at him for long seconds with unwinking eyes, nodded his head in understanding and acceptance, then glanced at his watch. "May I see you alone, Colonel?"

"Certainly." The colonel didn't even hesitate. He waited until the door had closed softly behind Bryceland and the sergeant, then smiled faintly at Farnholme. "I'm afraid the last 'plane has still gone, sir."

"I never doubted it." Farnholme, busy unbuttoning his shirt, paused and glanced up. "You know who I am, Colonel -- not just my name, I mean?"

"I've known for three days. Utmost secrecy, and all that -- it was thought you might be in the area." For the first time the colonel regarded his visitor with open curiosity. "Seventeen years counter-espionage-chief in South-East Asia, speak more Asiatic languages than any other-----"

"Spare my blushes." His shirt unbuttoned, Farnholme was unfastening a wide, flat rubber-covered belt that encircled his waist. "I don't suppose you speak any Eastern languages yourself, Colonel?"

"For my sins, yes. That's why I'm here. Japanese." The colonel grinned mirthlessly. "It'll come in very handy in the concentration camps, I should think."

"Japanese, eh? That's a help." Farnholme unzipped two pouches on the belt, placed their contents on the table before him. "See what you make of these, will you, Colonel?"

The colonel glanced sharply at him, glanced down at the photostats and rolls of film that lay on the table, nodded, went out of the room and returned with a pair of spectacles, a