Increase Vigilance Call From New No.2

    What's all this about an increase vigilance call from the new No.2? What's the village got to be afraid of? Who is No.2 afraid of? The village seems to be an idyllic place to live. If you give them what they want, they tend to leave you alone, and look after you, for as long as you live.
   I've seen them, citizens lounging about in bathing suits, bikinis, on the beach sunbathing, and playing beach ball, and around the swimming pool. Not actually in the swimming pool you understand, but in a boat in the swimming pool. Because the triangular swimming pool is made of stone and concrete, filled with water form the estuary, brrrrr that's gotta be ice cold to actually swim in! But the fact of the matter is, citizens of the village do get recreational time, in which to enjoy themselves. It's only those who defy the village administration, those who refuse to talk, that find life in the village hard and difficult. But I'm getting away from the point. Here is an article written by No.2 for The Tally Ho newspaper. Actually it's No.6's copy of the newspaper, you can tell that by the circled word with the question make over it.

   So, judging by what No.2 has written, he was paranoid long before the episode of Hammer Into Anvil came along. No.6 realised that, and simply played on that paranoia.
   "The security of the community must be protected," well that's fair enough, otherwise the way of life in the village might be gone forever. And then what would those citizens, born to the village, do, having known nothing but the village. The outside world would be as alien to them, as the village is for those who are brought there!
    No.2 goes on to say that "We must be constantly on our guard against enemies in our midst." Well who might they be, well No.6 obviously. No.2 also went on to say "We do not necessarily know where our enemies are, or who they might be. Therefore it is the duty of all of us to be on constant look out against traitors who, behind out back, seek to undermine and destroy us." Well No.6 again really. Yet under this description, No.2 finally placed No.14, his loyal assistant, whose only crime was wanting to help, to 'get on' in the village, and possibly achieving promotion to the position of No.2 one day. If only No.2 had placed his trust in the one real man No.2 could trust, No.14, then the outcome might have been different. Certainly an end could have been put to No.6's war of nerves with No.2. Mind you, I did think at one point that this No.2 might have got it right for once. That No.6 was actually a plant. Placed in the village to spy on them. After all John Drake of Danger Man was 'planted' in Colony Three, a typical English village behind the Iron Cutrain, and used for the training of agents to become typical Englishmen and women.

 I have often wondered what happened to this particular No.2, the hammer! Somehow I suspect he was not allowed to leave the village, certainly not in his broken state of mind. It's quite possible that this No.2 ended up residing in the phsychiatric ward of the Hospital!

 I wonder also who he was? Could he have been Thorpe from Many Happy Returns do you think? After all, there was no love lost between the Prisoner and Thorpe, who would, I'm sure at the time, have been an ideal candidate for the position of No.2. So who is to say that Thorpe was not recruited to the village as the new No.2? It might be that Thorpe would have taken great pleasure in being able to  'hammer' No.6!
   The only trouble is, there is no evidence of No.2 being the former Thorpe of a previous episode Many Happy Returns, only the fact that both roles are played by the same actor - Patrick Cargill. But of course there's no-one to stop me from my thinking that Thorpe and No.2 are one and the same. Even if the actor Patrick Cargill was still alive to say one way or the other! Although I do believe that Patrick Cragill understood that Thorpe and No.2 were not suppoosed to be the same character.
I'm Piet Hein