The Man who Missed the War by Dennis Wheatley Read Free Book Online Page B

who, detecting the crushing disappointment in his voice, did his best to console him and asked him to dinner the following night.
    When Philip arrived at the Rectory he was still seething with indignation that the examiners had not even considered his idea worthy of a personal letter and a few words as to why they had turned it down. The Canon let him rant for a bit, then turned the conversation to other things over dinner, only reverting to the subject of the Raft Convoy much later that evening.
    ‘Do you consider,’ he asked quite suddenly, ‘that your great scheme, if adapted solely to commercial ends, would prove a paying proposition?’
    ‘I’ve no idea,’ said Philip slowly; then, after a pause, he added more quickly: ‘But, of course, it would! In peacetime there would be no need for a mother-ship. The spare sails and cables could be carried in the tugs. Twelve men apiece would be ample for their crews, and that’s many less than the average freighter carries. The fuel consumption of the tugs would be negligible, and with each convoy one could bring over the best part of a hundred and twenty-five thousand tons of cargo. If a company took it up they would earn terrific dividends.’
    ‘That’s more or less the conclusion to which I came when I was thinking over your setback last night,’ smiled the Canon. ‘Of course, you must remember that you could use your rafts only one way, so you’d have to build new ones for each trip, and newcargo containers, too, unless you shipped the old ones back; but there should still be a very handsome profit. Have you any idea what the building of a hundred-raft convoy would cost?’
    ‘Not the vaguest, but I suppose I could find out by making a series of calculations about the wood and cable and so on that would be needed, and writing to the various firms for quotations.’
    ‘Then, why not do that? When you’ve got your figures you could draft a prospectus with a view to floating a company. You see, if you could only get the thing going as a commercial concern our purpose would be served, as the Government would take it over immediately war broke out.’
    ‘Gosh, yes!’ Philip whistled, then jumped to his feet and began pacing up and down the room. ‘That’s a marvellous idea of yours—absolutely smashing! But the trouble is that it takes money to float companies, and I haven’t any!’
    ‘Do you know what today is?’ the Canon asked.
    ‘It’s the twenty-first of October, isn’t it?’ Philip looked slightly surprised.
    ‘Yes—Trafalgar Day. I’ve always believed that as long as we remember the dead they remember and help us. As you know, I’m not a rich man, but I have a certain amount of private money; and on this day, in memory of our greatest sailor—Nelson—I’m willing to give you a thousand pounds, Philip, to pay the expenses of forming a Company, the ultimate aim of which will be to defeat once more the enemies of Britain at sea.’
    For a moment Philip was speechless, then he stammered: ‘It’s—it’s too good of you …’
    The Canon held up his hand. ‘Nonsense! At the worst I stand to lose my money; at best, I shall come in for some of those handsome dividends on my founder’s shares. That’s a gamble that any man should be willing to take for the sake of his country. You’ll be risking much more, if you accept my proposition, because you realise, of course, that if you succeed in forming this company you’ll have to give up your present job to become its managing director?’
    ‘Yes, I suppose so—’ Philip laughed suddenly. ‘But what an opening for a young man you’re offering me instead. I can hardly wait to get down to making those calculations.’
    Night after night, for the next two months, he worked like ademon at it, and typed scores of letters to engineering and shipping firms in both Britain and America. He had long ago decided that the cheapest and most practical way of securing the large quantities of wood required