14/08/2022 – The Naze (14)

Wednesday, 13 February 1935

In the morning, they study maps of the area. Walton-on-the-Naze appears to be the nearest town and there are a lot of moors and few roads. They will have to follow B-roads to get to Walton. Jeziah plans the route while they discuss how they are going to get to Misr House and weather to use the car or travel on house back.

Walton-On-The-Naze

It takes a few hours to drive to Walton, arriving around lunch time. They claim to be tourists when they arrive and hire a guest house for a week Cassandra tries to get some information from a local about getting to the Naze, but he isn’t very helpful as he doesn’t like London types. He does say the area is owned by someone rich from London and they are not particularly liked by locals. There are some foreigners seen travelling that way and occasionally a dodgy-looking type comes into town for supplies.

They resolve to drive along a road that runs east / west below where Naze House should be. There are some small side roads going off to the north, but there are no sign posts to help them navigate. They try one and find it ends in a small, unfriendly looking village in the middle of nowhere.

A Little Lost

Zalkador / George gets out and knocks on one of the doors. Someone opens an upstairs window and asks what he wants. Zalkador asks about travelling north and is told there are mostly bogs to the north. The local has not heard of Misr House. He knows there is a posh manor up north, but they need to use the next side road along, or use a boat.

They depart and Tiger suggests they avoid a boat and stay safe on the road. Zalkador wonders if there is bridge over the river on the map. Jeziah, driving, tries a couple of side road, before finding a road that keeps going north and they can see the walls of an estate ahead. The land around them is lower than the road.

Gates of the Estate

The walls of the estate come closer and they eventually reach it, with a closed iron gate making a gap in the wall, firmly closed. Jeziah uses the horn to get the attention of the gate guard. A dodgy-looking, old Egyptian man comes to the gate and asks what they want in weak English.

Jeziah says they are here to see the Lord of the Manor, of course. Alex says Mr Neville Price and the old man says “No Price.” Tiger gets out of the car and walks to the gates where the old man is. He then grabs for the old man and draws his pistol, but fumbles grabbing the man. Tiger points the gun at him and tells him to open. The old man points to the cottage by the gates and says “keys”.

No Entry

Tiger pauses and considers how climbable the walls and gate are, but they are high and will take a while. Everyone else in the car is embarrassed at Tiger’s sudden escalation. Alex then asks about Neville Price again and the old man goes to the cottage to call the House and ask. Tiger returns to the car in the meantime. The old man comes back saying Lord of Manor not home, no visitors.

They decide to leave and drive away, unsure how to get in now. Tiger offers to climb the wall and open the gates from the inside, which they reject and drive back to Walton.

Back in the guest house, Cassandra is worried that they may have alerted London that unexpected guests have approached the House. There were telegraph poles along the road, suggesting the house is connected to the cottage, but not out of the house. They point out they could not contact London.

Jeziah suggests fish and chips for dinner as they are at the seaside and they buy some decent boots. That evening they leave Cassandra behind and head back to the gates. It is now dark and Jeziah turns the headlights off as they approach and parks up away the gates, out of sight.

Climbing the Gates

They trudge across the empty fields towards a spot on the estate wall where they would not be visible from the gate. Tiger climbs the wall, but on the other side he slips and falls face first into wet mud. He is covered in mud and gets some in his eyes, mouth, down his shirt, in his pockets and eventually into his underpants.

He is now in a bad mood and he stomps to the cottage. He quickly beats up the old man guard and barricades him in a room in the cottage, then opens the gates and lets the others in. Jeziah says he will go back for the motor car, while the others walk on towards what they think is a manor house in the distance.

The house is a couple of miles from the gate and it is long, cold walk in the dark. They cross a river via a bridge and they Jeziah catches up with them in the motor car. He has the headlights off, but is using a hand torch to see the way.

Approaching the Manor House

Jeziah tells them to get on board, but tells Tiger he is too dirty to sit down on his leather seats, he will have to stand on the side plate. Tiger tells them they can be cleaned and sits down anyway. They now approach the house and they can see an avenue of trees with circular road in front for turning vehicles around. There is a Bentley parked in front of the house.

Jeziah parks up short of the house and they proceed carefully on foot. The house has three stories and there are very little lights on at the house, just one on the ground floor.

End of Episode Fourteen