Chavasse shook his head. “Too dangerous. Don’t forget Steiner knows about the place. I should imagine he’ll have it checked.”

“But not straightaway,” Hardt said. “If I go there as soon as we reach Hamburg, I should be well ahead of the police. After all, there’s no particular urgency from their point of view.”

Chavasse nodded. “I think you’ve got something there.”

“Then there remains only one thing to decide,” Hardt said, “and that is what you are going to do.”

“I know what I’d like to do,” Chavasse said. “Have five minutes alone with Schmidt – the sleeping-car attendant who served me that coffee. I’d like to know who he’s working for.”

“I think you’d better leave me to handle that for the moment,” Hardt said. “I can get his address and we’ll visit him later. It wouldn’t do for you to hang about the Hauptbahnhof too long when we reach Hamburg.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

Hardt seemed to be thinking hard. After a while, he appeared to come to a decision. “Before I say anything more, I want to know if you are prepared to work with me on this thing.”

Chavasse immediately saw the difficulty and stated it. “What happens if we find the manuscript? Who gets it?”

Hardt shrugged. “We can make a copy.”

“And Bormann? We can’t copy him.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Chavasse shook his head. “I don’t think my Chief would see things your way.”

Hardt smiled coolly. “The choice is yours. Without my help, you’ll get nowhere. You see, I have an ace up my sleeve. Something which will probably prove to be the key to the whole affair.”

“Then what do you need me for?” Chavasse said.

Hardt shrugged. “I told you before, I’m sentimental.” He grinned. “Okay, I’ll be honest. Things are moving faster than I thought they would, and at the moment I haven’t got another man in Hamburg. I could use you.”