diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 10474-0.txt | 7868 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10474-8.txt | 8291 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10474-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 178545 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10474.txt | 8291 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10474.zip | bin | 0 -> 178450 bytes |
8 files changed, 24466 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10474-0.txt b/10474-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a66fffe --- /dev/null +++ b/10474-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7868 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10474 *** + +THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS + +By + +BENNET COPPLESTONE + + + + +1917 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + + +_WILLIAM DAWSON_ + + +CHAPTER + +I A STORY AND A VISIT + +II AT CLOSE QUARTERS + +III AN INQUISITION + +IV SABOTAGE + +V BAFFLED + +VI GUESSWORK + +VII THE MARINE SENTRY + +VIII TREHAYNE'S LETTER + + +PART II + + +_MADAME GILBERT_ + + +IX THE WOMAN AND THE MAN + +X A PROGRESSIVE FRIENDSHIP + +XI AT BRIGHTON + + +PART III + + +_ SEE IS TO BELIEVE_ + + +XII DAWSON PRESCRIBES + +XIII THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN + +XIV A COFFIN AND AN OWL + + +PART IV + + +_THE CAPTAIN OF MARINES_ + + +XV DAWSON REAPPEARS + +XVI DAWSON STRIKES + +XVII DAWSON TELEPHONES FOR A SURGEON + + + + + +PART I + + +_WILLIAM DAWSON_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +A STORY AND A VISIT + +At the beginning of the month of September, 1916, there appeared in +the _Cornhill Magazine_ a story entitled "The Lost Naval Papers." I +had told this story at second hand, for the incidents had not occurred +within my personal experience. One of the principals--to whom I had +allotted the temporary name of Richard Cary--was an intimate friend, +but I had never met the Scotland Yard officer whom I called William +Dawson, and was not at all anxious to make his official acquaintance. +To me he then seemed an inhuman, icy-blooded "sleuth," a being of +great national importance, but repulsive and dangerous as an +associate. Yet by a turn of Fortune's wheel I came not only to know +William Dawson, but to work with him, and almost to like him. His +penetrative efficiency compelled one's admiration, and his unconcealed +vanity showed that he did not stand wholly outside the human family. +Yet I never felt safe with Dawson. In his presence, and when I knew +that somewhere round the corner he was carrying on his mysterious +investigations, I was perpetually apprehensive of his hand upon my +shoulder and his bracelets upon my wrists. I was unconscious of crime, +but the Defence of the Realm Regulations--which are to Dawson a new +fount of wisdom and power--create so many fresh offences every week +that it is difficult for the most timidly loyal of citizens to keep +his innocency up to date. I have doubtless trespassed many times, for +I have Dawson's assurance that my present freedom is due solely to his +reprehensible softness towards me. Whenever I have showed independence +of spirit--of which, God knows, I have little in these days--Dawson +would pull out his terrible red volumes of ever-expanding Regulations +and make notes of my committed crimes. The Act itself could be printed +on a sheet of notepaper, but it has given birth to a whole library of +Regulations. Thus he bent me to his will as he had my poor friend +Richard Cary. + +The mills of Scotland Yard grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding +small. There is nothing showy about them. They work by system, not by +inspiration. Though Dawson was not specially intelligent--in some +respects almost stupid--he was dreadfully, terrifyingly efficient, +because he was part of the slowly grinding Scotland Yard machine. + +As this book properly begins with my published story of "The Lost +Naval Papers," I will reprint it here exactly as it was written for +the readers of the _Cornhill Magazine_ in September, 1916. + + * * * * * + + +I. BAITING THE TRAP + +This story--which contains a moral for those fearful folk who exalt +everything German--was told to me by Richard Cary, the accomplished +naval correspondent of a big paper in the North of England. I have +known him and his enthusiasm for the White Ensign for twenty years. He +springs from an old naval stock, the Carys of North Devon, and has +devoted his life to the study of the Sea Service. He had for so long +been accustomed to move freely among shipyards and navy men, and was +trusted so completely, that the veil of secrecy which dropped in +August 1914 between the Fleets and the world scarcely existed for him. +Everything which he desired to know for the better understanding of +the real work of the Navy came to him officially or unofficially. +When, therefore, he states that the Naval Notes with which this story +deals would have been of incalculable value to the enemy, I accept his +word without hesitation. I have myself seen some of them, and they +made me tremble--for Cary's neck. I pressed him to write this story +himself, but he refused. "No," said he, "I have told you the yarn just +as it happened; write it yourself. I am a dull dog, quite efficient at +handling hard facts and making scientific deductions from them, but +with no eye for the picturesque details. I give it to you." He rose to +go--Cary had been lunching with me--but paused for an instant upon my +front doorstep. "If you insist upon it," added he, smiling, "I don't +mind sharing in the plunder." + + * * * * * + +It was in the latter part of May 1916. Cary was hard at work one +morning in his rooms in the Northern City where he had established his +headquarters. His study table was littered with papers--notes, +diagrams, and newspaper cuttings--and he was laboriously reducing the +apparent chaos into an orderly series of chapters upon the Navy's Work +which he proposed to publish after the war was over. It was not +designed to be an exciting book--Cary has no dramatic instinct--but it +would be full of fine sound stuff, close accurate detail, and clear +analysis. Day by day for more than twenty months he had been +collecting details of every phase of the Navy's operations, here a +little and there a little. He had recently returned from a +confidential tour of the shipyards and naval bases, and had exercised +his trained eye upon checking and amplifying what he had previously +learned. While his recollection of this tour was fresh he was actively +writing up his Notes and revising the rough early draft of his book. +More than once it had occurred to him that his accumulations of Notes +were dangerous explosives to store in a private house. They were +becoming so full and so accurate that the enemy would have paid any +sum or have committed any crime to secure possession of them. Cary is +not nervous or imaginative--have I not said that he springs from a +naval stock?--but even he now and then felt anxious. He would, I +believe, have slept peacefully though knowing that a delicately primed +bomb lay beneath his bed, for personal risks troubled him little, but +the thought that hurt to his country might come from his well-meant +labours sometimes rapped against his nerves. A few days before his +patriotic conscience had been stabbed by no less a personage than +Admiral Jellicoe, who, speaking to a group of naval students which +included Cary, had said: "We have concealed nothing from you, for we +trust absolutely to your discretion. Remember what you have seen, but +do not make any notes." Yet here at this moment was Cary disregarding +the orders of a Commander-in-Chief whom he worshipped. He tried to +square his conscience by reflecting that no more than three people +knew of the existence of his Notes or of the book which he was writing +from them, and that each one of those three was as trustworthy as +himself. So he went on collating, comparing, writing, and the heap +upon his table grew bigger under his hands. + +The clock had just struck twelve upon that morning when a servant +entered and said, "A gentleman to see you, sir, upon important +business. His name is Mr. Dawson." + +Cary jumped up and went to his dining-room, where the visitor was +waiting. The name had meant nothing to him, but the instant his eyes +fell upon Mr. Dawson he remembered that he was the chief Scotland Yard +officer who had come north to teach the local police how to keep track +of the German agents who infested the shipbuilding centres. Cary had +met Dawson more than once, and had assisted him with his intimate +local knowledge. He greeted his visitor with smiling courtesy, but +Dawson did not smile. His first words, indeed, came like shots from an +automatic pistol. + +"Mr. Cary," said he, "I want to see your Naval Notes." + +Cary was staggered, for the three people whom I have mentioned did not +include Mr. Dawson. "Certainly," said he, "I will show them to you if +you ask officially. But how in the world did you hear anything about +them?" + +"I am afraid that a good many people know about them, most undesirable +people too. If you will show them to me--I am asking officially--I +will tell you what I know." + +Cary led the way to his study. Dawson glanced round the room, at the +papers heaped upon the table, at the tall windows bare of +curtains--Cary, who loved light and sunshine, hated curtains--and +growled. Then he locked the door, pulled down the thick blue blinds +required by the East Coast lighting orders, and switched on the +electric lights though it was high noon in May. "That's better," said +he. "You are an absolutely trustworthy man, Mr. Cary. I know all about +you. But you are damned careless. That bare window is overlooked from +half a dozen flats. You might as well do your work in the street." + +Dawson picked up some of the papers, and their purport was explained +to him by Cary. "I don't know anything of naval details," said he, +"but I don't need any evidence of the value of the stuff here. The +enemy wants it, wants it badly; that is good enough for me." + +"But," remonstrated Cary, "no one knows of these papers, or of the use +to which I am putting them, except my son in the Navy, my wife (who +has not read a line of them), and my publisher in London." + +"Hum!" commented Dawson. "Then how do you account for this?" + +He opened his leather despatch-case and drew forth a parcel carefully +wrapped up in brown paper. Within the wrapping was a large white +envelope of the linen woven paper used for registered letters, and +generously sealed. To Cary's surprise, for the envelope appeared to be +secure, Dawson cautiously opened it so as not to break the seal which +was adhering to the flap and drew out a second smaller envelope, also +sealed. This he opened in the same delicate way and took out a third; +from the third he drew a fourth, and so on until eleven empty +envelopes had been added to the litter piled upon Cary's table, and +the twelfth, a small one, remained in Dawson's hands. + +"Did you ever see anything so childish?" observed he, indicating the +envelopes. "A big, registered, sealed Chinese puzzle like that is just +crying out to be opened. We would have seen the inside of that one +even if it had been addressed to the Lord Mayor, and not to--well, +someone in whom we are deeply interested, though he does not know it." + +Cary, who had been fascinated by the succession of sealed envelopes, +stretched out his hand towards one of them. "Don't touch," snapped out +Dawson. "Your clumsy hands would break the seals, and then there would +be the devil to pay. Of course all these envelopes were first opened +in my office. It takes a dozen years to train men to open sealed +envelopes so that neither flap nor seal is broken, and both can be +again secured without showing a sign of disturbance. It is a trade +secret." + +Dawson's expert fingers then opened the twelfth envelope, and he +produced a letter. "Now, Mr. Cary, if we had not known you and also +known that you were absolutely honest and loyal--though dangerously +simple-minded and careless in the matter of windows--this letter would +have been very awkward indeed for you. It runs: 'Hagan arrives 10.30 +p.m. Wednesday to get Cary's Naval Notes. Meet him. Urgent.' Had we +not known you, Mr. Richard Cary might have been asked to explain how +Hagan knew all about his Naval Notes and was so very confident of +being able to get them." + +Cary smiled. "I have often felt," said he, "especially in war-time, +that it was most useful to be well known to the police. You may ask me +anything you like, and I will do my best to answer. I confess that I +am aghast at the searchlight of inquiry which has suddenly been turned +upon my humble labours. My son at sea knows nothing of the Notes +except what I have told him in my letters, my wife has not read a line +of them, and my publisher is the last man to talk. I seem to have +suddenly dropped into the middle of a detective story." The poor man +scratched his head and smiled ruefully at the Scotland Yard officer. + +"Mr. Cary," said Dawson, "those windows of yours would account for +anything. You have been watched for a long time, and I am perfectly +sure that our friend Hagan and his associates here know precisely in +what drawer of that desk you keep your Naval Papers. Your flat is easy +to enter--I had a look round before coming in to-day--and on Wednesday +night (that is to-morrow) there will be a scientific burglary here and +your Notes will be stolen." + +"Oh no they won't," cried Cary. "I will take them down this afternoon +to my office and lock them up in the big safe. It will put me to a lot +of bother, for I shall also have to lock up there the chapters of my +book." + +"You newspaper men ought all to be locked up yourselves. You are a +cursed nuisance to honest, hard-worked Scotland Yard men like me. But +you mistake the object of my visit. I want this flat to be entered +to-morrow night, and I want your Naval Papers to be stolen." + +For a moment the wild thought came to Cary that this man Dawson--the +chosen of the Yard--was himself a German Secret Service agent, and +must have shown in his eyes some signs of the suspicion, for Dawson +laughed loudly. "No, Mr. Cary, I am not in the Kaiser's pay, nor are +you, though the case against you might be painted pretty black. This +man Hagan is on our string in London, and we want him very badly +indeed. Not to arrest--at least not just yet--but to keep running +round showing us his pals and all their little games. He is an +Irish-American, a very unbenevolent neutral, to whom we want to give a +nice, easy, happy time, so that he can mix himself up thoroughly with +the spy business and wrap a rope many times round his neck. We will +pull on to the end when we have finished with him, but not a minute +too soon. He is too precious to be frightened. Did you ever come +across such an ass"--Dawson contemptuously indicated the pile of +sealed envelopes; "he must have soaked himself in American dime novels +and cinema crime films. He will be of more use to us than a dozen of +our best officers. I feel that I love Hagan, and won't have him +disturbed. When he comes here to-morrow night, he shall be seen, but +not heard. He shall enter this room, lift your Notes, which shall be +in their usual drawer, and shall take them safely away. After that I +rather fancy that we shall enjoy ourselves, and that the salt will +stick very firmly upon Hagan's little tail." + +Cary did not at all like this plan; it might offer amusement and +instruction to the police, but seemed to involve himself in an +excessive amount of responsibility. "Will it not be far too risky to +let him take my Notes even if you do shadow him closely afterwards? He +will get them copied and scattered amongst a score of agents, one of +whom may get the information through to Germany. You know your job, of +course, but the risk seems too big for me. After all, they are my +Notes, and I would far sooner burn them now than that the Germans +should see a line of them." + +Dawson laughed again. "You are a dear, simple soul, Mr. Cary; it does +one good to meet you. Why on earth do you suppose I came here to-day +if it were not to enlist your help? Hagan is going to take all the +risks; you and I are not looking for any. He is going to steal some +Naval Notes, but they will not be those which lie on this table. I +myself will take charge of those and of the chapters of your most +reprehensible book. You shall prepare, right now, a beautiful new +artistic set of notes calculated to deceive. They must be accurate +where any errors would be spotted, but wickedly false wherever +deception would be good for Fritz's health. I want you to get down to +a real plant. This letter shall be sealed up again in its twelve silly +envelopes and go by registered post to Hagan's correspondent. You +shall have till to-morrow morning to invent all those things which we +want Fritz to believe about the Navy. Make us out to be as rotten as +you plausibly can. Give him some heavy losses to gloat over and to +tempt him out of harbour. Don't overdo it, but mix up your fiction +with enough facts to keep it sweet and make it sound convincing. If +you do your work well--and the Naval authorities here seem to think a +lot of you--Hagan will believe in your Notes, and will try to get them +to his German friends at any cost or risk, which will be exactly what +we want of him. Then, when he has served our purpose, he will find +that we--have--no--more--use--for--him." + +Dawson accompanied this slow, harmlessly sounding sentence with a grim +and nasty smile. Cary, before whose eyes flashed for a moment the +vision of a chill dawn, cold grey walls, and a silent firing party, +shuddered. It was a dirty task to lay so subtle a trap even for a +dirty Irish-American spy. His honest English soul revolted at the call +upon his brains and knowledge, but common sense told him that in this +way, Dawson's way, he could do his country a very real service. For a +few minutes he mused over the task set to his hand, and then spoke. + +"All right. I think that I can put up exactly what you want. The faked +Notes shall be ready when you come to-morrow. I will give the whole +day to them." + +In the morning the new set of Naval Papers was ready, and their +purport was explained in detail to Dawson, who chuckled joyously. +"This is exactly what Admiral ---- wants, and it shall get through to +Germany by Fritz's own channels. I have misjudged you, Mr. Cary; I +thought you little better than a fool, but that story here of a +collision in a fog and the list of damaged Queen Elizabeths in dock +would have taken in even me. Fritz will suck it down like cream. I +like that effort even better than your grave comments on damaged +turbines and worn-out gun tubes. You are a genius, Mr. Cary, and I +must take you to lunch with the Admiral this very day. You can explain +the plant better than I can, and he is dying to hear all about it. Oh, +by the way, he particularly wants a description of the failure to +complete the latest batch of big shell fuses, and the shortage of +lyddite. You might get that done before the evening. Now for the +burglary. Do nothing, nothing at all, outside your usual routine. Come +home at your usual hour, go to bed as usual, and sleep soundly if you +can. Should you hear any noise in the night, put your head under the +bedclothes. Say nothing to Mrs. Cary unless you are obliged, and for +God's sake don't let any woman--wife, daughter, or maid-servant +--disturb my pearl of a burglar while he is at work. He must have +a clear run, with everything exactly as he expects to find it. +Can I depend upon you?" + +"I don't pretend to like the business," said Cary, "but you can depend +upon me to the letter of my orders." + +"Good," cried Dawson. "That is all I want." + + +II. THE TRAP CLOSES + +Cary heard no noise, though he lay awake for most of the night, +listening intently. The flat seemed to be more quiet even than usual. +There was little traffic in the street below, and hardly a step broke +the long silence of the night. Early in the morning--at six +B.S.T.--Cary slipped out of bed, stole down to his study, and pulled +open the deep drawer in which he had placed the bundle of faked Naval +Notes. They had gone! So the Spy-Burglar had come, and, carefully +shepherded by Dawson's sleuth-hounds, had found the primrose path easy +for his crime. To Cary, the simple, honest gentleman, the whole plot +seemed to be utterly revolting--justified, of course, by the country's +needs in time of war, but none the less revolting. There is nothing of +glamour in the Secret Service, nothing of romance, little even of +excitement. It is a cold-blooded exercise of wits against wits, of +spies against spies. The amateur plays a fish upon a line and gives +him a fair run for his life, but the professional fisherman--to whom a +salmon is a people's food--nets him coldly and expeditiously as he +comes in from the sea. + +Shortly after breakfast there came a call from Dawson on the +telephone. "All goes well. Come to my office as soon as possible." +Cary found Dawson bubbling with professional satisfaction. "It was +beautiful," cried he. "Hagan was met at the train, taken to a place we +know of, and shadowed by us tight as wax. We now know all his +associates--the swine have not even the excuse of being German. He +burgled your flat himself while one of his gang watched outside. Never +mind where I was; you would be surprised if I told you; but I saw +everything. He has the faked papers, is busy making copies, and this +afternoon is going down the river in a steamer to get a glimpse of the +shipyards and docks and check your Notes as far as can be done. Will +they stand all right?" + +"Quite all right," said Cary. "The obvious things were given +correctly." + +"Good. We will be in the steamer." + +Cary went that afternoon, quite unchanged in appearance by Dawson's +order. "If you try to disguise yourself," declared that expert, "you +will be spotted at once. Leave the refinements to us." Dawson himself +went as an elderly dug-out officer with the rank marks of a colonel, +and never spoke a word to Cary upon the whole trip down and up the +teeming river. Dawson's men were scattered here and there--one a +passenger of inquiring mind, another a deckhand, yet a third--a pretty +girl in khaki--sold tea and cakes in the vessel's saloon. Hagan--who, +Cary heard afterwards, wore the brass-bound cap and blue kit of a mate +in the American merchant service--was never out of sight for an +instant of Dawson or of one of his troupe. He busied himself with a +strong pair of marine glasses, and now and then asked innocent +questions of the ship's deckhands. He had evidently himself once +served as a sailor. One deckhand, an idle fellow to whom Hagan was +very civil, told his questioner quite a lot of interesting details +about the Navy ships, great and small, which could be seen upon the +building slips. All these details tallied strangely with those +recorded in Cary's Notes. The trip up and down the river was a great +success for Hagan and for Dawson, but for Cary it was rather a bore. +He felt somehow out of the picture. In the evening Dawson called at +Cary's office and broke in upon him. "We had a splendid trip to-day," +said he. "It exceeded my utmost hopes. Hagan thinks no end of your +Notes, but he is not taking any risks. He leaves in the morning for +Glasgow to do the Clyde and to check some more of your stuff. Would +you like to come?" Cary remarked that he was rather busy, and that +these river excursions, though doubtless great fun for Dawson, were +rather poor sport for himself. Dawson laughed joyously--he was a +cheerful soul when he had a spy upon his string. "Come along," said +he. "See the thing through. I should like you to be in at the death." +Cary observed that he had no stomach for cold, damp dawns and firing +parties. + +"I did not quite mean that," replied Dawson. "Those closing ceremonies +are still strictly private. But you should see the chase through to a +finish. You are a newspaper man, and should be eager for new +experiences." + +"I will come," said Cary, rather reluctantly. "But I warn you that my +sympathies are steadily going over to Hagan. The poor devil does not +look to have a dog's chance against you." + +"He hasn't," said Dawson, with great satisfaction. + +Cary, to whom the wonderful Clyde was as familiar as the river near +his own home, found the second trip almost as wearisome as the first. +But not quite. He was now able to recognise Hagan, who again appeared +as a brass-bounder, and did not affect to conceal his deep interest in +the naval panorama offered by the river. Nothing of real importance +can, of course, be learned from a casual steamer trip, but Hagan +seemed to think otherwise, for he was always either watching through +his glasses or asking apparently artless questions of passengers or +passing deckhands. Again a sailor seemed disposed to be communicative; +he pointed out more than one monster in steel, red raw with surface +rust, and gave particulars of a completed power which would have +surprised the Admiralty Superintendent. They would not, however, have +surprised Mr. Cary, in whose ingenious brain they had been conceived. +This second trip, like the first, was declared by Dawson to have been +a great success. "Did you know me?" he asked. "I was a clean-shaven +naval doctor, about as unlike the army colonel of the first trip as a +pigeon is unlike a gamecock. Hagan is off to London to-night by the +North-Western. There are two copies of your Notes. One is going by +Edinburgh and the east coast, and another by the Midland. Hagan has +the original masterpiece. I will look after him and leave the two +other messengers to my men. I have been on to the Yard by 'phone, and +have arranged that all three shall have passports for Holland. The two +copies shall reach the Kaiser, bless him, but I really must have +Hagan's set of Notes for my Museum." + +"And what will become of Hagan?" asked Cary. + +"Come and see," said Mr. Dawson. + +Dawson entertained Cary at dinner in a private room at the Station +Hotel, waited upon by one of his own confidential men. "Nobody ever +sees me," he observed, with much satisfaction, "though I am +everywhere." (I suspect that Dawson is not without his little +vanities.) "Except in my office and with people whom I know well, I +am always some one else. The first time I came to your house I wore a +beard, and the second time looked like a gas inspector. You saw only +the real Dawson. When one has got the passion for the chase in one's +blood, one cannot bide for long in a stuffy office. As I have a jewel +of an assistant, I can always escape and follow up my own victims. +This man Hagan is a black heartless devil. Don't waste your sympathy +on him, Mr. Cary. He took money from us quite lately to betray the +silly asses of Sinn Feiners, and now, thinking us hoodwinked, is after +more money from the Kaiser. He is of the type that would sell his own +mother and buy a mistress with the money. He's not worth your pity. We +use him and his like for just so long as they can be useful, and then +the jaws of the trap close. By letting him take those faked Notes we +have done a fine stroke for the Navy, for the Yard, and for Bill +Dawson. We have got into close touch with four new German agents here +and two more down south. We shan't seize them yet; just keep them +hanging on and use them. That's the game. I am never anxious about an +agent when I know him and can keep him watched. Anxious, bless you; I +love him like a cat loves a mouse. I've had some spies on my string +ever since the war began; I wouldn't have them touched or worried for +the world. Their correspondence tells me everything, and if a letter +to Holland which they haven't written slips in sometimes, it's useful, +very useful, as useful almost as your faked Notes." + +Half an hour before the night train was due to leave for the South, +Dawson, very simply but effectively changed in appearance--for Hagan +knew by sight the real Dawson--led Cary to the middle sleeping-coach +on the train. "I have had Hagan put in No. 5," he said, "and you and I +will take Nos. 4 and 6. No. 5 is an observation berth; there is one +fixed up for us on this sleeping-coach. Come in here." He pulled Cary +into No. 4, shut the door, and pointed to a small wooden knob set a +few inches below the luggage rack. "If one unscrews that knob one can +see into the next berth, No. 5. No. 6 is fitted in the same way, so +that we can rake No. 5 from both sides. But, mind you, on no account +touch those knobs until the train is moving fast and until you have +switched out the lights. If No. 5 was dark when you opened the +peep-hole, a ray of light from your side would give the show away. And +unless there was a good deal of vibration and rattle in the train you +might be heard. Now cut away to No. 6, fasten the door, and go to bed. +I shall sit up and watch, but there is nothing for you to do." + +Hagan appeared in due course, was shown into No. 5 berth, and the +train started. Cary asked himself whether he should go to bed as +advised or sit up reading. He decided to obey Dawson's orders, but to +take a look in upon Hagan before settling down for the journey. He +switched off his lights, climbed upon the bed, and carefully unscrewed +the little knob which was like the one shown to him by Dawson. A beam +of light stabbed the darkness of his berth, and putting his eye with +some difficulty to the hole--one's nose gets so confoundedly in the +way--he saw Hagan comfortably arranging himself for the night. The spy +had no suspicion of his watchers on both sides, for, after settling +himself in bed, he unwrapped a flat parcel and took out a bundle of +blue papers, which Cary at once recognised as the originals of his +stolen Notes. Hagan went through them--he had put his suit-case across +his knees to form a desk--and carefully made marginal jottings. Cary, +who had often tried to write in trains, could not but admire the man's +laborious patience. He painted his letters and figures over and over +again, in order to secure distinctness, in spite of the swaying of the +train, and frequently stopped to suck the point of his pencil. + +"I suppose," thought Cary, "that Dawson yonder is just gloating over +his prey, but for my part I feel an utterly contemptible beast. Never +again will I set a trap for even the worst of my fellow-creatures." He +put back the knob, went to bed, and passed half the night in extreme +mental discomfort and the other half in snatching brief intervals of +sleep. It was not a pleasant journey. + +Dawson did not come out of his berth at Euston until after Hagan had +left the station in a taxi-cab, much to Cary's surprise, and then was +quite ready, even anxious, to remain for breakfast at the hotel. He +explained his strange conduct. "Two of my men," said he, as he +wallowed in tea and fried soles--one cannot get Dover soles in the +weary North--"who travelled in ordinary compartments, are after Hagan +in two taxis, so that if one is delayed, the other will keep touch. +Hagan's driver also has had a police warning, so that our spy is in a +barbed-wire net. I shall hear before very long all about him." + +Cary and Dawson spent the morning at the hotel with a telephone beside +them; every few minutes the bell would ring, and a whisper of Hagan's +movements steal over the wires into the ears of the spider Dawson. He +reported progress to Cary with ever-increasing satisfaction. + +"Hagan has applied for and been granted a passport to Holland, and has +booked a passage in the boat which leaves Harwich to-night for the +Hook. We will go with him. The other two spies, with the copies, +haven't turned up yet, but they are all right. My men will see them +safe across into Dutch territory, and make sure that no blundering +Customs officer interferes with their papers. This time the way of +transgressors shall be very soft. As for Hagan, he is not going to +arrive." + +"I don't quite understand why you carry on so long with him," said +Cary, who, though tired, could not but feel intense interest in the +perfection of the police system and in the serene confidence of +Dawson. The Yard could, it appeared, do unto the spies precisely what +Dawson chose to direct. + +"Hagan is an American citizen," explained Dawson. "If he had been a +British subject I would have taken him at Euston--we have full +evidence of the burglary, and of the stolen papers in his suit-case. +But as he is a damned unbenevolent neutral we must prove his intention +to sell the papers to Germany. Then we can deal with him by secret +court-martial.[1] The journey to Holland will prove this intention. +Hagan has been most useful to us in Ireland, and now in the North of +England and in Scotland, but he is too enterprising and too daring to +be left any longer on the string. I will draw the ends together at the +Hook." + +[Footnote 1: Author's Note: This conversation is dated May, 1916.] + +"I did not want to go to Holland," said Cary to me, when telling his +story. "I was utterly sick and disgusted with the whole cold-blooded +game of cat and mouse, but the police needed my evidence about the +Notes and the burglary, and did not intend to let me slip out of their +clutches. Dawson was very civil and pleasant, but I was in fact as +tightly held upon his string as was the wretched Hagan. So I went on +to Holland with that quick-change artist, and watched him come on +board the steamer at Parkeston Quay, dressed as a rather +German-looking commercial traveller, eager for war commissions upon +smuggled goods. This sounds absurd, but his get-up seemed somehow to +suggest the idea. Then I went below. Dawson always kept away from me +whenever Hagan might have seen us together." + +The passage across to Holland was free from incident; there was no +sign that we were at war, and Continental traffic was being carried +serenely on, within easy striking distance of the German submarine +base at Zeebrugge. The steamer had drawn in to the Hook beside the +train, and Hagan was approaching the gangway, suit-case in hand. The +man was on the edge of safety; once upon Dutch soil, Dawson could not +have laid hands upon him. He would have been a neutral citizen in a +neutral country, and no English warrant would run against him. But +between Hagan and the gangway suddenly interposed the tall form of the +ship's captain; instantly the man was ringed about by officers, and +before he could say a word or move a hand he was gripped hard and led +across the deck to the steamer's chart-house. Therein sat Dawson, the +real, undisguised Dawson, and beside him sat Richard Cary. Hagan's +face, which two minutes earlier had been glowing with triumph and with +the anticipation of German gold beyond the dreams of avarice, went +white as chalk. He staggered and gasped as one stabbed to the heart, +and dropped into a chair. His suit-case fell from his relaxed fingers +to the floor. + +"Give him a stiff brandy-and-soda," directed Dawson, almost kindly, +and when the victim's colour had ebbed back a little from his +overcharged heart, and he had drunk deep of the friendly cordial, the +detective put him out of pain. The game of cat and mouse was over. + +"It is all up, Hagan," said the detective gently. "Face the music and +make the best of it, my poor friend. This is Mr. Richard Cary, and you +have not for a moment been out of our sight since you left London for +the North four days ago." + +When I had completed the writing of his story I showed the MS. to +Richard Cary, who was pleased to express a general approval. "Not at +all bad, Copplestone," said he, "not at all bad. You have clothed my +dry bones in real flesh and blood. But you have missed what to me is +the outstanding feature of the whole affair, that which justifies to +my mind the whole rather grubby business. Let me give you two dates. +On May 25 two copies of my faked Notes were shepherded through to +Holland and reached the Germans; on May 31 was fought the Battle of +Jutland. Can the brief space between these dates have been merely an +accident? I cannot believe it. No, I prefer to believe that in my +humble way I induced the German Fleet to issue forth and to risk an +action which, under more favourable conditions for us, would have +resulted in their utter destruction. I may be wrong, but I am happy in +retaining my faith." + +"What became of Hagan?" I asked, for I wished to bring the narrative +to a clean artistic finish. + +"I am not sure," answered Cary, "though I gave evidence as ordered by +the court-martial. But I rather think that I have here Hagan's +epitaph." He took out his pocket-book, and drew forth a slip of paper +upon which was gummed a brief newspaper cutting. This he handed to me, +and I read as follows: + + "The War Office announces that a prisoner who was charged + with espionage and recently tried by court-martial at the + Westminster Guildhall was found guilty and sentenced to + death. The sentence was duly confirmed and carried out + yesterday morning." + + * * * * * + +Two months passed. Summer, what little there was of it, had gone, and +my spirits were oppressed by the wet and fog and dirt of November in +the North. I desired neither to write nor to read. My one overpowering +longing was to go to sleep until the war was over and then to awake in +a new world in which a decent civilised life would once more be +possible. + +In this unhappy mood I was seated before my study fire when a servant +brought me a card. "A gentleman," said she, "wishes to see you. I said +that you were engaged, but he insisted. He's a terrible man, sir." + +I looked at the card, annoyed at being disturbed; but at the sight of +it my torpor fell from me, for upon it was written the name of that +detective officer whom in my story I had called William Dawson, and in +the corner were the letters "C.I.D." (Criminal Investigation +Department). I had become a criminal, and was about to be +investigated! + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +AT CLOSE QUARTERS + +Dawson entered, and we stood eyeing one another like two strange dogs. +Neither spoke for some seconds, and then, recollecting that I was a +host in the presence of a visitor, I extended a hand, offered a chair, +and snapped open a cigarette case. Dawson seated himself and took a +cigarette. I breathed more freely. He could not design my immediate +arrest, or he would not have accepted of even so slight a hospitality. +We sat upon opposite sides of the fire, Dawson saying nothing, but +watching me in that unwinking cat-like way of his which I find so +exasperating. Many times during my association with Dawson I have +longed to spring upon him and beat his head against the floor--just to +show that I am not a mouse. If his silence were intended to make me +uncomfortable, I would give him evidence of my perfect composure. + +"How did you find me out?" I asked calmly. + +His start of surprise gratified me, and I saw a puzzled look come into +his eyes. "Find out what?" he muttered. + +"How did you find out that I wrote a story about you?" + +"Oh, that?" He grinned. "That was not difficult, Mr.--er--Copplestone. +I asked Mr.--er--Richard Cary for your real name and address, and he +had to give them to me. I was considering whether I should prosecute +both him and you." + +"No doubt you bullied Cary," I said, "but you don't alarm me in the +least. I had taken precautions, and you would have found your way +barred if you had tried to touch either of us." + +"It is possible," snapped Dawson. "I should like to lock up all you +writing people--you are an infernal nuisance--but you seem to have a +pull with the politicians." + +We were getting on capitally: the first round was in my favour, and I +saw another opportunity of showing my easy unconcern of his powers. + +"Oh no, Mr.--er--William Dawson. You would not lock us up, even if all +the authority in the State were vested in the soldiers and the police. +For who would then write of your exploits and pour upon your heads the +bright light of fame? The public knows nothing of Mr. ----" (I held up +his card), "but quite a lot of people have heard of William Dawson." + +"They have," assented he, with obvious satisfaction. "I sent a copy of +the story to my Chief--just to put myself straight with him. I said +that it was all quite unauthorised, and that I would have stopped it +if I could." + +"Oh no, you wouldn't. Don't talk humbug, Mr. William Dawson. During +the past two months you have pranced along the streets with your head +in the clouds. And in your own home Mrs. Dawson and the little +Dawsons--if there are any--have worshipped you as a god. There is +nothing so flattering as the sight of oneself in solid black print +upon nice white paper. Confess, now. Are you not at this moment +carrying a copy of that story of mine in your breast pocket next your +heart, and don't you flourish it before your colleagues and rivals +about six times, a day?" + +Alone among mortal men I have seen a hardened detective blush. + +"Throw away that cigarette," said I, "and take a cigar." I felt +generous. + +Our relations were now established upon a basis satisfactory to me. I +had no inkling of the purpose of this visit, but he had lost the +advantage of mysterious attack. He had revealed human weakness and had +ceased for the moment to dominate me as a terrible engine of the law. +But I had heard too much of Dawson from Cary to be under any illusion. +He could be chaffed, even made ridiculous, without much difficulty, +but no one, however adroit, could divert him by an inch from his +professional purpose. He could joke with a victim and drink his health +and then walk him off, arm in arm, to the gallows. + +"Now, Mr. Dawson," said I. "Perhaps you will tell me to what happy +circumstance I owe the honour of this visit?" + +He had been chuckling over certain rich details in the Hagan +chase--with an eye, no doubt, to future enlarged editions--but these +words of mine pulled him up short. Instantly he became grave, drew +some papers from his pocket, and addressed himself to business. + +"I have come to you, Mr. Copplestone, as I did to your friend Mr. +Cary, for information and assistance, and I have been advised by those +who know you here to be perfectly frank. You are not at present an +object of suspicion to the local police, who assure me, that though +you are known to have access to much secret information, yet that you +have never made any wrongful use of it. You have, moreover, been of +great assistance on many occasions both to the military and naval +authorities. Therefore, though my instinct would be to lock you up +most securely, I am told that I mustn't do it." + +"You are very frank," said I. "But I bear no malice. Ask me what you +please, and I will do my best to answer fully." + +"I ought to warn you," said he, with obvious reluctance, "that +anything which you say may, at some future time, be used in evidence +against you." + +"I will take the risk, Mr. Dawson," cried I, laughing. "You have done +your duty in warning me, and you are so plainly hopeful that I shall +incriminate myself that it would be cruel to disappoint you. Let us +get on with the inquisition." + +"You are aware, Mr. Copplestone, that a most important part of my work +consists in stopping the channels through which information of what is +going on in our shipyards and munition shops may get through to the +enemy. We can't prevent his agents from getting information--that is +always possible to those with unlimited command of money, for there +are always swine among workmen, and among higher folk than workmen, +who can be bought. You may take it as certain that little of +importance is done or projected in this country of which enemy agents +do not know. But their difficulty is to get it through to their +paymasters, within the limit of time during which the information is +useful. There are scores of possible channels, and it is up to us to +watch them all. You have already shown some grasp of our methods, +which in a sentence may be described as unsleeping vigilance. Once we +know the identity of an enemy agent, he ceases to be of any use to the +enemy, but becomes of the greatest value to us. Our motto is: Ab hoste +doceri." He pronounced the infinitive verb as if it rhymed with +glossary. + +"You are quite a scholar, Mr. Dawson," remarked I politely. + +"Yes," said he, simply. "I had a good schooling. I need not go into +details," he went on, "of how we watch the correspondence of suspected +persons, but you may be interested to learn that during the three +weeks which I have passed in your city all your private letters have +been through my hands." + +"The devil they have," I cried angrily. "You exceed your powers. This +is really intolerable." + +"Oh, you need not worry," replied Dawson serenely. "Your letters were +quite innocent. I am gratified to learn that your two sons in the +Service are happy and doing well, and that you contemplate the +publication of another book." + +It was impossible not to laugh at the man's effrontery, though I felt +exasperated at his inquisitiveness. After all, there are things in +private letters which one does not wish a stranger, and a police +officer, to read. + +"And how long is this outrage to continue?" I asked crossly. + +"That depends upon you. As soon as I am satisfied that you are as +trustworthy as the local police and other authorities believe you to +be, your correspondence will pass untouched. It is of no use for you +to fume or try to kick up a fuss in London. Scotland Yard would open +the Home Secretary's letters if it had any cause to feel doubtful of +him." + +"You cannot feel much suspicion of me or you would not tell me what +you have been doing." + +"You might have thought of that at once," said Dawson derisively. + +I shook myself and conceded the round to Dawson. + +"It has been plain to us for a long time that the food parcels +despatched by relatives and 'god-mothers' of British prisoners in +Germany were a possible source of danger, and at last it has been +decided to stop them and to keep the despatch of food in the hands of +official organisations. Since there are now some 30,000 of military +prisoners, in addition to interned civilians at Ruhleben, the number +and complexity of the parcels have made it most difficult for a +thorough examination to be kept up. We have done our utmost, but have +been conscious that there has existed in them a channel through which +have passed communications from enemy agents to enemy employers." + +"I can see the possibility, but a practical method of communication +looks difficult. How was it done?" + +"In the most absurdly simple way. Real ingenuity is always simple. I +will give you an example. An English prisoner in Germany has, we will +suppose, parents in Newcastle, by whom food has been sent out +regularly. He dies in captivity, and in due course his relatives are +notified through the International Headquarters of the Red Cross in +Geneva. He is crossed off the Newcastle lists, and his parents, of +course, stop sending parcels. Now suppose that some one in Birmingham +begins to send parcels addressed to this lately deceased prisoner, his +name, unless Birmingham is very vigilant, will get upon the lists +there as that of a new live prisoner. The parcels addressed to this +name will go straight into the hands of the German Secret Service, and +a channel of communication will have been opened up between some one +in Birmingham and the enemy in Germany. Prisoners are frequently +dying, new prisoners are frequently being taken. Under a haphazard +system of individual parcels, despatched from all over the British +Isles, it has been practically impossible to keep track of all the +changes. For this, and other good reasons, we have had to make a clean +sweep and to take over the feeding of British prisoners by means of a +regular organisation which can ensure that nothing is sent with the +food which will be of any assistance to the enemy." + +"That is a good job done," I observed. "Have you evidence that what is +possible has in fact been done?" + +"We have," said Dawson. "Not many cases, perhaps, but sufficient to +show the existence of a very real danger. It is, indeed, one +particular instance of direct communication which has brought me to +you to-day. Orders were given not long since that all new cases, that +is, all parcels addressed to prisoners whose names were new to local +lists, should be opened and carefully examined. Some six or seven +weeks ago parcels began to be sent from this city addressed to a +lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers. There was nothing +remarkable in that, for though we are some distance here from +Northumberland, young officers are gazetted to regiments which need +them irrespective of the part of the country to which the officers +themselves belong. In accordance with the new orders all the parcels +for this lieutenant--which usually consisted of bread, chocolate, and +tins of sardines--were examined. The bread was cut up, the chocolate +broken to pieces, and the tins opened. If the parcel contained nothing +contraband, fresh supplies of bread, chocolate and sardines to take +the place of those destroyed in examination were put in, and the +parcel forwarded. For the first two weeks nothing was found, but in +the third parcel, buried in one of the loaves, was discovered a +cutting from an evening newspaper which at first sight seemed quite +innocent. But a microscopic search revealed tiny needle pricks in +certain words, and the words, thus indicated, read when taken by +themselves the sentence, 'Important naval news follows.' At this stage +I was sent for. My first step was to inquire very closely into the +antecedents of this lieutenant of Northumberland Fusiliers. I found +that his friends lived at Morpeth, that he had been taken prisoner +during the Loos advance of September 1915, and that he had died about +a year later of typhoid fever in a German camp. His friends, as soon +as they had been informed, of the death, had stopped sending parcels +of food out to him. They were not told the object of the inquiries. It +would have caused them needless pain. It was bad enough that their +only son had died far from home in a filthy German prison." + +Dawson's rather metallic voice became almost sympathetic, and I was +pleased to observe that his harsh profession had not destroyed in him +all human feeling. + +"After this you may suppose that the parcels addressed to our poor +friend the late lieutenant were very eagerly looked for. The alleged +sender, whose name and residence were written upon the labels, was +found not to exist. Both name and address were false. It was a hot +scent, and I was delighted, after a week of waiting, to see another +parcel come in. This would, in all probability, contain the 'important +naval news,' and I took its examination upon myself. I reduced the +bread and the chocolate to powder without finding anything." + +"Excuse me," I cried, intensely interested, "but how could one conceal +a paper in bread or in chocolate without leaving external traces?" + +"There is no difficulty. The loaves were of the kind which have soft +ends. One cuts a deep slit, inserts the paper, closes up the cut with +a little fresh dough, and rebakes the loaf for a short time, till all +signs of the cut have disappeared. The chocolate was in eggs, not in +bars. The oval lumps can be cut open, scooped out, a paper put in, and +the two halves joined up and the cut concealed by means of a strong +mixture of chocolate paste and white of egg. When thoroughly dried in +a warm place, chocolate thus treated will stand very close scrutiny. I +did not trouble to look for signs of disturbance in either loaves or +eggs; it was quicker and easier to break them up. I then addressed my +attention to the sardine tins, which from the first had seemed the +most likely hiding-places. A very moderately skilled mechanic can +unsolder a tin, empty out the fish and oil, put in what he pleases in +place, weight judiciously, and then refasten with fresh solder. I +opened all the tins, found that all except one had been undisturbed, +but that one was a blissful reward for all my trouble, for in it was a +tightly packed mass of glazier's putty, soft and heavy, and at the +bottom the carefully folded paper which I have now the honour of +showing to you." + +Dawson handed me a stiff piece of paper, slimy to the touch and +smelling strongly of white lead. Upon it were two neatly made drawings +and some lines of words and figures. "It is just what I should have +expected," said I. + +"You recognise it?" + +"Of course," said I. "We have here a deck plan showing the disposition +of guns, and a section plan showing arrangement of armour, of one of +the big new ships which has been completed for the Grand Fleet. Below +we have the number and calibre of the guns, the thickness and extent +of the armour, the length, breadth, and depth of the vessel, her +tonnage, her horse power, and her estimated speed. Everything is +correct except the speed, which I happen to know is considerably +greater than the figure set down." + +"You have not by any chance seen that paper before?" asked Dawson, +with rather a forced air of indifference. + +"This? No. Why?" + +"I was curious, that's all." He looked at me with a queer, quizzical +expression, and then laughed softly. "You will understand my question +directly, but for the moment let us get on. What sort of person should +you say made those drawings and wrote that description?" + +I am no Sherlock Holmes; but any one who has had some acquaintance +with engineers and their handiwork can recognise the professional +touch. + +"These drawings are the work of a trained draughtsman, and the writing +is that of a draughtsman. One can tell by the neatness and the +technique of the shading." + +"Right first time," said Dawson approvingly. "At present I have that +draughtsman comfortably locked up; we picked him out of the drawing +office at ----" he named a famous yard in which had been built one of +the ships of the class illustrated upon the paper in my hands. + +"Poor devil," I said. "What is the cause--drink, women, or the +pressure of high prices and a large family?" + +"None of them. His employers give him the best of characters, he gets +good pay, is a man over military age, and has, so far as the police +can learn, no special embarrassments. He owns his house, and has two +or three hundred pounds in the War Loan." + +"Then why in the name of wonder has the _schweinehund_ sold his +country?" + +"He declares that he never received a penny for supplying the +information upon that paper, and we have no evidence of any outside +payments to him. He did not attempt to conceal his handwriting, and +when I made inquiries of his firm, he owned up at once that the paper +was his work. He said that for years past he had given particulars of +ships under construction to the same parties as on this occasion. He +admitted that to do so was contrary to regulations, especially in +wartime, but thought that under the circumstances he was doing no +harm. I am not exactly a credulous person, and I have heard some tall +stories in my time, but for once I am inclined to believe that the man +is speaking the truth. I believe that he received no money, and was +acting throughout in good faith." + +"I am more and more puzzled. What in the world can the circumstances +be which could induce an experienced middle-aged man, employed in +highly confidential work in a great shipyard, not only to break faith +and lose his job, but to stick his neck into a rope and his feet on +the drop of a gallows. Reveal the mystery." + +"You are sure that you have never seen that paper before?" asked +Dawson again, this time slowly and deliberately. + +"Of course not!" I said. "How could I?" + +"That is just what I have to find out," said Dawson. He stopped, took +out a knife, prodded his nearly smoked cigar, puffed once or twice +hard to restore the draught, and spoke. "That is what interests me +just now. For, you see, this very indiscreet and reprehensible +swinehound of a draughtsman, who is at present in my lockup, declares +that he was without suspicion of serious wrong-doing, because +--because--the particulars of the new battleship upon that paper +were supplied to YOU." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +AN INQUISITION + +Perhaps I ought to have seen it coming, but I didn't. For a moment, as +a washerwoman might say, I was struck all of a heap. Then the +delicious thought that I--by nature a vagabond, though by decree of +the High Gods the father of a family and a Justice of the Peace--had +to face the charge of being a German spy shook my soul with ribald +laughter. I had been dull and torpid before the arrival of Dawson; he +had awakened me into joyous life. I arose, filled and lighted a large +calabash pipe, and passed a box of cigars to the detective. "Throw +that stump away and take another," said I. "I owe you more than a +cigar or two." He stared at me, took what I offered, and his face +relaxed into a grin. "It is pleasant to see that you are a man of +humour, Mr. Dawson," I observed, when we were again seated comfortably +on opposite sides of the fire. "In my day I have played many parts, +but I cannot somehow recall the incident of unsoldering a sardine tin, +inserting a paper packed in a mess of putty, soldering it up, and +despatching the incriminating product within a parcel addressed to a +late lieutenant of Northumberland Fusiliers. I am not denying the +charge; the whole affair is too delightful to be cut short. Let us +spin it out delicately like children over plates of sweet pudding." + +"You are a queer customer, Mr. Copplestone. I confess that the whole +business puzzles me, though you and your friends here seem to find it +devilish amusing. When I told the Chief Constable, the manager of the +shipyard, and the Admiral Superintendent of Naval Work that you were +the guilty party, they all roared. For some reason the Admiral and the +shipyard manager kept winking at one another and gurgling till I +thought they would have choked. What _is_ the joke?" + +"If you are good, Dawson, I will tell you some day. This is November, +and the _Rampagious_--the ship described on your paper--left for +Portsmouth in August. In July--" I broke off hurriedly, lest I should +tell my visitor too much. "It has taken our friend who put the paper +in the sardine tin three months to find out details of her. I could +have done better than that, Dawson." + +"That is just what the Admiral said, though he wouldn't explain why." + +"The truth is, Dawson, that the Admiral and I both come from Devon, +the land of pirates, smugglers, and buccaneers. We are law breakers by +instinct and family tradition. When we get an officer of the law on +toast, we like to make the most of him. It is a playful little way of +ours which I am sure you will understand and pardon." + +"You know, of course, that I am justified in arresting you. I have a +warrant and handcuffs in my pocket." + +"Admirable man!" I cried, with enthusiasm. "You are, Dawson, the +perfect detective. As a criminal I should be mightily afraid of you. +But, as in my buttonhole I always wear the white flower which +proclaims to the world my blameless life, I am thoroughly enjoying +this visit and our cosy chat beside the fire. Shall I telephone to my +office and say that I shall be unavoidably detained from duty for an +indefinite time? 'Detained' would be the strict truth and the _mot +juste_. If you would kindly lock me up, say, for three years or the +duration of the war I should be your debtor. I have often thought that +a prison, provided that one were allowed unlimited paper and the use +of a typewriter, would be the most charming of holidays--a perfect +rest cure. There are three books in my head which I should like to +write. Arrest me, Dawson, I implore you! Put on the handcuffs--I have +never been handcuffed--ring up a taxi, and let us be off to jail. You +will, I hope, do me the honour of lunching with me first and meeting +my wife. She will be immensely gratified to be quit of me. It cannot +often have happened in your lurid career, Dawson, to be welcomed with +genuine enthusiasm." + +"Why did that man say that he prepared the description of the ship for +you?" + +"That is what we are going to find out, and I will help you all I can. +My reputation is like the bloom upon the peach--touch it, and it is +gone for ever. There is a faint glimmer of the truth at the back of my +mind which may become a clear light. Did he say that he had given it +to me personally, into my own hand?" + +"No. He said that he was approached by a man whom he had known off and +on for years, a man who was employed by you in connection with +shipyard inquiries. He was informed that this man was still employed +by you for the same purpose now as in the past." + +"Your case against me is thinning out, Dawson. At its best it is +second-hand; at its worst, the mere conjecture of a rather careless +draughtsman. I have two things to do: first to find out the real +seducer, who is probably also the despatcher of the parcels to the +late lieutenant of Northumberland Fusiliers, and second, to save if I +can this poor fool of a shipyard draughtsman from punishment for his +folly. I don't doubt that he honestly thought he was dealing with me." + +"He will have to be punished. The Admiral will insist upon that." + +"We must make the punishment as light as we can. You shall help me +with all the discretionary authority with which you are equipped. I +can see, Dawson, from the tactful skill with which you have dealt with +me that discretion is among your most distinguished characteristics. +If you had been a stupid, bull-headed policeman, you would have been +up against pretty serious trouble." + +"That was quite my own view," replied Dawson drily. + +"Who is the man described by our erring draughtsman?" + +"He won't say. We have put on every allowable method of pressure, and +some that are not in ordinary times permitted. We have had over this +spy hunt business to shed most of our tender English regard for +suspected persons, and to adopt the French system of fishing +inquiries. In France the police try to make a man incriminate himself; +in England we try our hardest to prevent him. That may be very right +and just in peace time against ordinary law breakers; but war is war, +and spies are too dangerous to be treated tenderly. We have +cross-examined the man, and bully-ragged him, but he won't give up the +name of his accomplice. It may be a relation. One thing seems sure. +The man is, or was, a member of your staff, engaged in shipyard +inquiries. Can you give me a list of the men who are or have been on +this sort of work during the past few years?" + +"I will get it for you. But please use it carefully. My present men +are precious jewels, the few left to me by zealous military +authorities. What I must look for is some one over military age who +has left me or been dismissed--probably dismissed. When a British +subject, of decent education and once respectable surroundings, gets +into the hands of German agents, you may be certain of one thing, +Dawson, that he has become a rotter through drink." + +"That's it," cried Dawson. "You have hit it. Crime and drink are twin +brothers as no one knows better than the police. Look out for the name +and address of a man dismissed for drunkenness and we shall have our +bird." + +"The name I can no doubt give you, but not the address." + +"Give us any address where he lived, even if it were ten years ago, +and we will track him down in three days. That is just routine police +work." + +"I never presume to teach an expert his business--and you, Dawson, are +a super-expert, a director-general of those of common qualities--but +would it not be well to warn all the Post Offices, so that when +another parcel is brought in addressed to the lieutenant the bearer +may be arrested?" + +Dawson sniffed. "Police work; common police work. It was done at once +for this city and fifty miles round. No parcel was put in last week. +The warning has since been extended to the whole of the United +Kingdom. We may get our man this week, or at least a messenger of his, +but no news has yet come to me. I will lunch with you, as you so +kindly suggest, and afterwards I want you to come with me to see the +draughtsman in the lockup. You may be able to shake his confounded +obstinacy. Run the pathetic stunt. Say if he keeps silent that you +will be arrested, your home broken up, your family driven into the +workhouse, and you yourself probably shot. Pitch it strong and rich. +He is a bit of a softy from the look of him. That tender-hearted lot +are always the most obstinate when asked to give away their pals." + +"Do you know, Dawson," I said, as he went upstairs with me to have a +lick and a polish, as he put it--"I am inclined to agree with Cary +that you are rather an inhuman beast." + +My wife, with whom I could exchange no more than a dozen words and a +wink or two, gripped the situation and played up to it in the fashion +which compels the admiration and terror of mere men. Do they humbug +us, their husbands, as they do the rest of the world on our behalf? +She met Dawson as if he were an old family friend, heaped hospitality +upon him, and chaffed him blandly as if to entertain a police officer +with a warrant and handcuffs in his pocket were the best joke in the +world. "My husband, Mr. Dawson, needs a holiday very badly, but won't +take one. He thinks that the war cannot be pursued successfully unless +he looks after it himself. If you would carry him off and keep him +quiet for a bit, I should be deeply grateful." She then fell into a +discussion with Dawson of the most conveniently situated prisons. Mrs. +Copplestone dismissed Dartmoor and Portland as too bleakly situated, +but was pleased to approve of Parkhurst in the Isle of Wight--which I +rather fancy is a House of Detention for women. She insisted that the +climate of the Island was suited to my health, and wrung a promise +from Dawson that I should, if possible, be interned there. Dawson's +manners and conversation surprised me. His homespun origin was +evident, yet he had developed an easy social style which was neither +familiar nor aggressive. We were in his eyes eccentrics, possibly what +he would call among his friends "a bit off," and he bore himself +towards us accordingly. My small daughter, Jane, to whom he had been +presented as a colonel of police--little Jane is deeply versed in +military ranks--took to him at once, and his manner towards her +confirmed my impression that some vestiges of humanity may still be +discovered in him by the patient searcher. She insisted upon sitting +next to him and in holding his hand when it was not employed in +conveying food to his mouth. She was startled at first by the +discussion upon the prisons most suitable for me, but quickly became +reconciled to the idea of a temporary separation. + +"Colonel Dawson," she asked. "When daddy is in prison, may I come and +see him sometimes. Mother and me?" Dawson gripped his hair--we were +the maddest crew!--and replied. "Of course you shall, Miss Jane, as +often as you like." + +"Thank you, Colonel Dawson; you are a nice man. I love you. Now show +me the handcuffs in your pocket." + +For the second time that day poor Dawson blushed. He must have +regretted many times that he had mentioned to me those unfortunate +darbies. Now amid much laughter he was compelled to draw forth a +pretty shining pair of steel wristlets and permit Jane to put them on. +They were much too large for her; she could slip them on and off +without unlocking; but as toys they were a delight. "I shouldn't mind +being a prisoner," she declared, "if dear Colonel Dawson took me up." + +We were sitting upon the fire-guard after luncheon, dallying over our +coffee, when Jane demanded to be shown a real arrest. "Show me how you +take up a great big man like Daddy." + +Then came a surprise, which for a moment had so much in it of bitter +realism that it drove the blood from my wife's cheeks. I could not +follow Dawson's movements; his hands flickered like those of a +conjurer, there came a sharp click, and the handcuffs were upon my +wrists! I stared at them speechless, wondering how they got there, +and, looking up, met the coldly triumphant eyes of the detective. I +realised then exactly how the professional manhunter glares at the +prey into whom, after many days, he has set his claws. My wife gasped +and clutched at my elbow, little Jane screamed, and for a few seconds +even I thought that the game had been played and that serious business +was about to begin. Dawson gave us a few seconds of apprehension, and +then laughed grimly. From his waistcoat pocket he drew a key, and the +fetters were removed almost as quickly as they had been clapped on. +"Tit for tat," said he. "You have had your fun with me. Fair play is a +jewel." + +Little Jane was the first to recover speech. "I knew that dear Colonel +Dawson was only playing," she cried. "He only did it to please me. +Thank you, Colonel, though you did frighten me just a weeny bit at +first." And pulling him down towards her she kissed him heartily upon +his prickly cheek. It was a queer scene. + +The door bell rang loudly, and we were informed that a policeman stood +without who was inquiring for Chief Inspector Dawson. "Show him in +here," said I. The constable entered, and his manner of addressing my +guest--that of a raw second lieutenant towards a general of +division--shed a new light upon Dawson's pre-eminence in his Service. +"A telegram for you, sir." Dawson seized it, was about to tear it +open, remembered suddenly his hostess, and bowed towards her. "Have I +your permission, madam?" he asked. She smiled and nodded; I turned +away to conceal a laugh. "Good," cried Dawson, poring over the +message. "I think, Mr. Copplestone, that you had better telephone to +your office and say that you are unavoidably detained." + +"What--what is it?" cried my wife, who had again become white with +sudden fear. + +"Something which will occupy the attention of your husband and myself +to the exclusion of all other duties. This telegram informs me that a +parcel has been handed in at Carlisle and the bearer arrested." + +"Excellent!" I cried. "My time is at your disposal, Dawson. We shall +now get full light." + +He sat down and scribbled a reply wire directing the parcel and its +bearer to be brought to him with all speed. "They should arrive in two +or three hours," said he, "and in the meantime we will tackle the +draughtsman who made that plan of the battleship. Good-bye Mrs. +Copplestone, and thank you very much for your hospitality. Your +husband goes with me." My wife shook hands with Dawson, and politely +saw him off the premises. She has said little to me since about his +visit, but I do not think that she wishes ever to meet with him again. +Little Jane, who kissed him once more at parting, is still attached to +the memory of her colonel. + + * * * * * + +Dawson led me to the private office at the Central Police Station, +which was his temporary headquarters, and sent for the dossier of the +locked up draughtsman. "I have here full particulars of him," said he, +"and a verbatim note of my examination." I examined the photograph +attached, which represented a bearded citizen of harmless aspect; over +his features had spread a scared, puzzled look, with a suggestion in +it of pathetic appeal. He looked like a human rabbit caught in an +unexpected and uncomprehended trap. It was a police photograph. Then I +began to read the dossier, but got no farther than the first +paragraph. In it was set out the man's name, those of his wife and +children, his employment, record of service, and so on. What arrested +my researches was the maiden name of the wife, which, in accordance +with the northern custom, had been entered as a part of her legal +description. The name awoke in me a recollection of a painful incident +within my experience. I saw before me the puffed, degraded face of one +to whom I had given chance after chance of redeeming himself from +thraldom to the whisky bottle, one who had promised again and again to +amend his ways. At last, wearied, I had cast him out. He had been +looking after an important shipbuilding district, had conspicuous +ability and knowledge, the support of a faithful wife. But nothing +availed to save him from himself. "Give me five minutes alone with +your prisoner," I said to Dawson, "and I will give you the spy you +seek." + +I had asked for five minutes, but two were sufficient for my purpose. +The draughtsman had been obstinate with Dawson, seeking loyally to +shield his wretched brother-in-law, but when he found that I had the +missing thread in my hands, he gave in at once. "What relation is ---- +to your wife?" I asked. He had risen at my entrance, but the question +went through him like a bullet; his pale face flushed, he staggered +pitifully, and, sitting down, buried his face in his hands. "You may +tell the truth now," I said gently. "We can easily find out what we +must know, but the information will come better from you." + +"He is my wife's brother," murmured the man. + +"You knew that he was no longer in my service?" + +"Yes, I knew." + +I might fairly have asked why he had used my name, but refrained. One +can readily pardon the lapses of an honest man, terrified at finding +himself in the coils of the police, clinging to the good name of his +wife and her family, clutching at any device to throw the +sleuth-hounds of the law off the real scent. He had given his +brother-in-law forbidden information from a loyal desire to help him +and with no knowledge of the base use to which it would be put. When +detected, he had sought at any cost to shield him. + +"I will do my best to help you," I said. + +His head drooped down till it rested upon his bent arms, and he +groaned and panted under the torture of tears. His was not the stuff +of which criminals are made. + +I found Dawson's chuckling joy rather repulsive. I felt that, being +successful, he might at least have had the decency to dissemble his +satisfaction. He might also have given me some credit for the rapid +clearing up of the problem in detection. But he took the whole thing +to himself, and gloated like a child over his own cleverness. I +neither obtained from him thanks for my assistance nor apologies for +his suspicions. It was Dawson, Dawson, all the time. Yet I found his +egotism and unrelieved vanity extraordinarily interesting. As we sat +together in his room waiting for the Carlisle train to come in he +discoursed freely to me of his triumphs in detection, his wide-spread +system of spying upon spies, his long delayed "sport" with some, and +his ruthless rapid trapping of others. Men are never so interesting as +when they talk shop, and as a talker of shop Dawson was sublime. + +"If," said Dawson, as the time approached for the closing scene, "our +much-wanted friend has himself handed in the parcel at Carlisle--he +would be afraid to trust an accomplice--our job will be done. If not, +I will pull a drag net through this place which will bring him up +within a day or two. What a fool the man is to think that he could +escape the eye of Bill Dawson." + +A policeman entered, laid a packet upon the table before us, and +announced that the prisoner had been placed in cell No. 2. Dawson +sprang up. "We will have a look at him through the peephole, and if it +is our man--" One glance was enough. Before me I saw him whom I had +expected to see. He and his cargo of whisky bottles had reached the +last stage of their long journey; at one end had been peace, reasonable +prosperity, and a happy home; at the other was, perhaps, a rope or a +bullet. + +Dawson began once more to descant upon his own astuteness, but I was +too sick at heart to listen. I remembered only the visit years before +which that man's wife had paid to me. "Will you not open the parcel?" +I interposed. He fell upon it, exposed its contents of bread, +chocolate, and sardine tins, and called for a can opener. He shook the +tins one by one beside his ear, and then, selecting that which gave +out no "flop" of oil, stripped it open, plunged his fingers inside, +and pulled forth a clammy mess of putty and sawdust. In a moment he +had come upon a paper which after reading he handed to me. It bore the +words in English, "Informant arrested: dare not send more." + +"What a fool!" cried Dawson. "As if the evidence against him were not +sufficient already he must give us this." + +"You will let that poor devil of a draughtsman down easily?" I +murmured. + +"We want him as a witness," replied Dawson. "Tit for tat. If he helps +us, we will help him. And now we will cut along to the Admiral. He is +eager for news." + +We broke in upon the Admiral in his office near the shipyards, and he +greeted me with cheerful badinage. "So you are in the hands of the +police at last, Copplestone. I always told you what would be the end +of your naval inquisitiveness." + +Dawson told his story, and the naval officer's keen kindly face grew +stern and hard. "Germans I can respect," said he, "even those that +pretend to be our friends. But one of our own folk--to sell us like +this--ugh! Take the vermin away; Dawson, and stamp upon it." + +We stood talking for a few moments, and then Dawson broke in with a +question. "I have never understood, Admiral, why you were so very +confident that Mr. Copplestone here had no hand in this business. The +case against him looked pretty ugly, yet you laughed at it all the +time. Why were you so sure?" + +The Admiral surveyed Dawson as if he were some strange creature from +an unknown world. "Mr. Copplestone is a friend of mine," said he +drily. + +"Very likely," snapped the detective. "But is a man a white angel +because he has the honour to be your friend?" + +"A fair retort," commented the Admiral. It happens that I had other +and better reasons. For in July I myself showed Mr. Copplestone over +the new battleship _Rampagious_, and after our inspection we both +lunched with the builders and discussed her design and armament in +every detail. So as Mr. Copplestone knew all about her in July, he was +not likely to suborn a draughtsman in November. See?" + +"You should have told me this before. It was your duty." + +"My good Dawson," said the Admiral gently, "you are an excellent +officer of police, but even you have a few things yet to learn. I had +in my mind to give you a lesson, especially as I owed you some +punishment for your impertinence in opening my friend Copplestone's +private letters. You have had the lesson; profit by it." + +Dawson flushed angrily. "Punishment! Impertinence! This to me!" + +"Yes," returned the Admiral stiffly, "beastly impertinence." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +SABOTAGE + +Dawson showed no malice towards the Admiral or myself for our +treatment of him. I do not think that he felt any; he was too fully +occupied in collecting the spoils of victory to trouble his head about +what a Scribbler or a Salt Horse might think of him. He gathered to +himself every scrap of credit which the affair could be induced to +yield, and received--I admit quite deservedly--the most handsome +encomiums from his superiors in office. During the two weeks he passed +in my city after the capture--weeks occupied in tracing out the +threads connecting his wretch of a prisoner with the German agents +upon what Dawson called his "little list"--he paid several visits both +to my house and my office. His happiness demanded that he should read +to me the many letters which poured in from high officials of the +C.I.D., from the Chief Commissioner, and on one day--a day of days in +the chronicles of Dawson--from the Home Secretary himself. To me it +seemed that all these astute potentates knew their Dawson very +thoroughly, and lubricated, as it were, with judicious flattery the +machinery of his energies. I could not but admire Dawson's truly royal +faculty for absorbing butter. The stomachs of most men, really good at +their business, would have revolted at the diet which his superiors +shovelled into Dawson, but he visibly expanded and blossomed. Yes, +Scotland Yard knew its Dawson, and exactly how to stimulate the best +that was in him. He never bored me; I enjoyed him too thoroughly. + +One day in my club I chanced upon the Admiral. + +"Have you met our friend Dawson lately?" I asked. + +"Met him?" shouted he, with a roar of laughter. "Met him? He is in my +office every day--he almost lives with me; goodness knows when he does +his work. He has a pocket full of letters which he has read to me till +I know them by heart. If I did not know that he was a first-class man +I should set him down as a colossal ass. Yet, I rather wish that the +Admiralty would sometimes write to me as the severe but very human +Scotland Yard does to Dawson." + +"Does he ever come to you in disguise?" I asked. + +"Not that I know of. I see vast numbers of people; some of them may be +Dawson in his various incarnations, but he has not given himself +away." + +Then I explained to my naval friend my own experience. "He tried," I +said, "to play the disguise game on me, and clean bowled me the first +time. While he was laughing over my discomfiture I studied his face +more closely than a lover does that of his mistress. I tried to +penetrate his methods. He never wears a wig or false hair; he is too +wise for that folly. Yet he seems able to change his hair from light +to dark, to make it lank or curly, short or long. He does it; how I +don't know. He alters the shape of his nose, his cheeks, and his chin. +I suppose that he pads them out with little rubber insets. He alters +his voice, and his figure, and even his height. He can be stiff and +upright like a drilled soldier, or loose-jointed and shambling like a +tramp. He is a finished artist, and employs the very simplest means. +He could, I truly believe, deceive his wife or his mother, but he will +never again deceive me. I am not a specially observant man; still one +can make a shot at most things when driven to it, and I object to +being the subject of Dawson's ribaldry. If you will take my tip, you +will be able to spot him as readily as I do now." + +"Good. I should love to score off Dawson. He is an aggravating beast." + +"Study his ears," said I. "He cannot alter their chief characters. The +lobes of his ears are not loose, like yours or mine or those of most +men and women; his are attached to the back of his cheekbones. My +mother had lobes like those, so had the real Roger Tichborne; I +noticed Dawson's at once. Also at the top fold of his ears he has +rather a pronounced blob of flesh. This blob, more prominent in some +men than in others, is, I believe, a surviving relic of the sharp +point which adorned the ears of our animal ancestors. Dawson's +ancestor must have been a wolf or a bloodhound. Whenever now I have a +strange caller who is not far too tall or far too short to be Dawson, +if a stranger stops me in the street to ask for a direction, if a +porter at a station dashes up to help me with my bag, I go for his +ears. If the lobes are attached to the cheekbones and there is a +pronounced blob in the fold at the top, I address the man instantly as +Dawson, however impossibly unlike Dawson he may be. I have spotted him +twice now since he bowled me out, and he is frightfully savage--especially +as I won't tell him how the trick is done. He says that it is my duty to +tell him, and that he will compel me under some of his beloved Defence of +the Realm Regulations. But the rack could not force me to give away my +precious secret. Cherish it and use it. You will not tell, for you love +to mystify the ruffian as much as I do." + +"I will watch for his ears when he next calls, which, I expect, will +be to-morrow. Thank you very much. I won't sneak." + +"Remember that nothing else in the way of identification is of any +use, for I doubt if either of us has ever seen the real, undisguised +Dawson as he is known to God. We know a man whom we think is the +genuine article--but is he? Cary's description of him is most unlike +the man whom we see here. I expect that he has a different identity +for every place which he visits. If he told me that at any moment he +was wholly undisguised, I should be quite sure that he was lying. The +man wallows in deception for the very sport of the thing. But he can't +change his ears. Study them, and you will be safe." + +Our club was the only place in which we could be sure that Dawson did +not penetrate, though I should not have been surprised to learn that +one or two of the waitresses were in his pay. Dawson is an ardent +feminist; he says that as secret agents women beat men to a frazzle. + +Shortly before Dawson left for his headquarters on the north-east +coast he dropped in upon me. He had finished his researches, and +revealed the results to me with immense satisfaction. + +"I have fixed up Menteith," he began, "and know exactly how he came +into communication with the German Secret Service." The contemptuous +emphasis which he laid on the word "Secret" would have annoyed the +Central Office at Potsdam. I have given the detected British spy the +name of Menteith after that of the most famous traitor in Scottish +history; if I called him, say, Campbell or Macdonald, nothing could +save me from the righteous vengeance of the outraged Clans. + +"It was all very simple," he went on, "like most things in my business +when one gets to the bottom of them. He was seduced by a man whom the +local police have had on their string for a long time, but who will +now be put securely away. Menteith was a frequenter of a certain +public house down the river, where he posed as an authority on the +Navy, and hinted darkly at his stores of hidden information. Our +German agent made friends with him, gave him small sums for drinks, +and flattered his vanity. It is strange how easily some men are +deceived by flattery. The agent got from Menteith one or two bits of +news by pretending a disbelief in his sources of intelligence, and +then, when the fool had committed himself, threatened to denounce him +to the police unless he took service with him altogether. Money, of +course, passed, but not very much. The Germans who employ spies so +extensively pay them extraordinarily little. They treat them like +scurvy dogs, for whom any old bone is good enough, and I'm not sure +they are not right. They go on the principle that the white trash who +will sell their country need only to be paid with kicks and coppers. +Menteith swears that he did not receive more than four pounds for the +plans and description of the _Rampagious_. Fancy selling one's country +and risking one's neck for four measly pounds sterling! If he had got +four thousand, I should have had some respect for him. His home is in +a wretched state, and his wife--a pretty woman, though almost a +skeleton, and a very nicely mannered, honest woman--says that her +husband unexpectedly gave her four pounds a month ago. He had kept +none of the blood money for drink! Curious, isn't it?" + +"It shows that the man had some good in him. It shows that he was +ashamed to use the money upon himself. We must do something for the +poor wife, Dawson." + +"She will easily get work, and she will be far better without her sot +of a husband. She did not cry when I told her everything. 'I ought to +have left him long ago,' she said, 'but I tried to save him. Thank God +we have no children,' That seemed to be her most insistent thought, +for she repeated it over and over again. 'Thank God that we have no +children.'" + +"I hope that you were gentle with her, Dawson," said I, deeply moved. +Long ago the wife had come to me and pleaded for her husband. She had +shed no tear; she had admitted the justice, the necessity, of my +sentence. "Can you not give him another chance?" she had asked. "No," +I had answered sadly. "He has exhausted all the chances." When she had +risen to go and I had pressed her hand, she had said, still dry-eyed, +"You are right, sir, it is no use, no use at all. Thank God that we +have no children." + +"I hope that you were gentle with her, Dawson," I repeated. + +He astonished me by the suddenness of his explosion. "Damn," roared +he--"damn and blast! Do you think that I am a brute. Gentle! It was as +much as I could do not to kiss the woman, as your little daughter +kissed me, and to promise that I would get her husband off somehow. +But I should not be a friend to her if I tried to save that man." + +So Dawson had soft spots in his armour of callousness, and little +Jane's instinct was far surer than mine. She had taken to him at +sight. When I tried to get from her why, why he had so marked an +attraction for her, her replies baffled me more than the central fact. +"I love Colonel Dawson. He is a nice man. He has a little girl like +me. Her name is Clara. Her birthday is next month. I shall save up my +pocket money and send Clara a present. I like Colonel Dawson better +even than dear Bailey." I tore my hair, for "Bailey" is a wholly +imaginary friend of little Jane, whom I invented one evening at her +bedside and who has grown gradually into a personage of clearly +defined attributes--like the "Putois" of Anatole France. Dawson and +"Bailey"; they are both "nice men" and little Jane's friends; she is +sure of them, and I expect that she is right. Children always are +right. + +Dawson, after his outburst, glowered at me for a moment and then +laughed. "I am a man," said he, "though you may not think it, and I +have my weaknesses. But I never give way to them when they interfere +with business. Menteith is in my grip, and he won't get out of it. But +he is a poor creature. He handed over the description of the +_Rampagious_, saw it hidden in the sardine tin, and was ordered to +take the food parcel to the Post Office. The German agent who used him +had no notion of risking his own skin. Then followed the discovery and +the arrest of the draughtsman who had drawn the plan. Those who had +seduced Menteith forbade him to come near them. They slipped away into +hiding--which profited them little since all of them were on our +string--after threatening Menteith that he would be murdered if he +gave himself up to the police, as in his terror he seemed to want to +do. When nothing happened for two weeks, the vermin came out of their +holes, made up the last parcel, and forced Menteith to go to Carlisle +in order to post it. All through he has been the most abject of tools, +and received nothing except the four pounds and various small sums +spent in drinks." + +"You have the principal all right?" + +"Yes, I have him tight. The others associated with him I shall leave +free; they will be most useful in future. They don't know that we know +them; when they do know, their number will go up, for they will be +then of no further use to us. It is a beautiful system, Mr. Copplestone, +and you have had the unusual privilege of seeing it at work." + +"What will your prisoners get by way of punishment?" + +"I am not sure, but I can guess pretty closely. The principal will go +out suddenly early some morning. He is a Jew of uncertain Central +European origin, Pole or Czech, a natural born British subject, a +shining light of a local anti-German society, an 'indispensable' in +his job and exempted from military service. He will give no more +trouble. Menteith will spend anything from seven to ten years in p.s., +learn to do without his daily whisky bottle, and possibly come out a +decent citizen. The draughtsman, I expect, will be let off with +eighteen months of the Jug. We are just, but not harsh. My birds don't +interest me much once they have been caught; it is the catching that I +enjoy. Down in the south, where I have a home of my own--which I +haven't seen during the past year except occasionally for an hour or +two--I used to grow big show chrysanthemums. All through the processes +of rooting the cuttings, repotting, taking the buds, feeding up the +plants, I never could endure any one to touch them. But once the +flowers were fully developed, my wife could cut them as much as she +pleased and fill the house with them. My job was done when I had got +the flowers perfect. It is just the same with my business. I cultivate +the little dears I am after, and hate any one to interfere with me; I +humour them and water them and feed them with opportunities till they +are ripe, and then I stick out my hand and grab them. After that the +law can do what it likes with them; they ain't my concern any more." + +By this time it had become apparent even to my slow intelligence why +Dawson told me so much about himself and his methods. He had formed +the central figure in a real story in print, and the glory of it +possessed him. He had tasted of the rich sweet wine of fame, and he +thirsted for more of the same vintage. He never in so many words asked +me to write this book, but his eagerness to play Dr. Johnson to my +Boswell appeared in all our relations. He was communicative far beyond +the limits of official discretion. If I now disclosed half, or a +quarter, of what he told me of the inner working of the Secret +Service, Scotland Yard, which admires and loves him, would cast him +out, lock him up securely in gaol, and prepare for me a safe +harbourage in a contiguous cell. So for both our sakes I must be very, +very careful. + +"You have been most helpful to me," he said handsomely at parting, +"and if anything good turns up on the North-East coast, I will let you +know. Could you come if I sent for you?" + +"I would contrive to manage it," said I. + +Dawson went away, and the pressure of daily work and interests thrust +him from my mind. For a month I heard nothing of him or of Cary, and +then one morning came a letter and a telegram. The letter was from +Richard Cary, and read as follows: "A queer thing has happened here. +A cruiser which had come in for repair was due to go out this morning. +She was ready for sea the night before, the officers and crew had all +come back from short leave, and the working parties had cleared out. +Then in the middle watch, when the torpedo lieutenant was testing the +circuits, it was discovered that all the cables leading to the guns +had been cut. Dawson has been called in, and bids me say that, if you +can come down, now is the chance of your life. I will put you up." + +The telegram was from Dawson himself. It ran: "They say I'm beaten. +But I'm not. Come and see." + +"The deuce," said I. "Sabotage! I am off." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +BAFFLED + +When at last I arrived at Cary's flat it was very late, and I was +exceedingly tired and out of temper. A squadron of Zeppelins had been +reported from the sea, the air-defence control at Newcastle had sent +out the preliminary warning "F.M.W.," and the speed of my train had +been reduced to about fifteen miles an hour. I had expected to get in +to dinner, but it was eleven o'clock before I reached my destination. +I had not even the satisfaction of seeing a raid, for the Zepps, made +cautious by recent heavy losses, had turned back before crossing the +line of the coast. Cary and his wife fell upon my neck, for we were +old friends, condoled with me, fed me, and prescribed a tall glass of +mulled port flavoured with cloves. My stern views upon the need for +Prohibition in time of war became lamentably weakened. + +By midnight I had recovered my philosophic outlook upon life, and Cary +began to enlighten me upon the details of the grave problem which had +brought me eagerly curious to his city. + +"I expect that Dawson will drop in some time to-night," he said. "All +hours are the same to him. I told him that you were on the way, and he +wants to give you the latest news himself. He is dead set upon you, +Copplestone. I can't imagine why." + +"Am I then so very unattractive?" I inquired drily. "It seems to me +that Dawson is a man of sound judgment." + +"I confess that I do not understand why he lavishes so much attention +upon you." + +"Your remarks, Cary," I observed, "are deficient in tact. You might, +at least, pretend to believe that my personal charm has won for me +Dawson's affection. As a matter of fact, he cares not a straw for my +_beaux yeux_; his motives are crudely selfish. He thinks that it is in +my power to contribute to the greater glory of Dawson, and he +cultivates me just as he would one of his show chrysanthemums. He has +done me the honour to appoint me his biographer extraordinary." + +"I am sure you are wrong," cried Cary. "He was most frightfully angry +about that story of ours in _Cornhill_. He demanded from me your name +and address, and swore that if I ever again disclosed to you official +secrets he would proceed against me under the Defence of the Realm +Act. He was a perfect terror, I can assure you." + +"And yet he always carries that story about with him in his +breast-pocket; he has summoned me here to see him at his work; and you +have been commanded to tell me everything which you know! My dear +Cary, do not be an ass. You are too simple a soul for this rather +grubby world. In your eyes every politician is an ardent, +disinterested patriot, and every soldier or sailor a knightly hero of +romance. Human beings, Cary, are made in streaks, like bacon; we have +our fat streaks and our lean ones; we can be big and bold, and also +very small and mean. Your great man and your national hero can become +very poor worms when, so to speak, they are off duty. But I didn't +come here, at great inconvenience, to talk this sort of stuff at +midnight. Go ahead; give me the details of this sabotage case which is +baffling Dawson and the naval authorities; let me hear about the +cutting of those electric wires." + +"It is, as I told you, in my note, a queer business. The _Antinous_, a +fast light cruiser, came in about a fortnight ago to have some defects +made good in her high-speed geared-turbines. There was not much wrong, +but her engineer commander recommended a renewal of some of the spur +wheels. The officers and crew went on short leave in rotation, a care +and maintenance party was put in charge, and the builders placed a +working gang on board which was occupied in shifts, by night and by +day, in making good the defects. When a ship is under repair in a +river basin, it is practically impossible to keep up the beautiful +order and discipline of a ship at sea. Men of all kinds are constantly +coming and going, life on board is stripped of the most ordinary +comforts and conveniences, there is inevitably some falling off in +strict supervision. Lack of space, lack of facilities for moving about +the ship, lack of any regular routine. You will understand. Just as +the expansion in the New Army and the New Navy has made it possible +for unknown enemy agents to take service in the Army and the Navy, so +the dilution of labour in the shipyards has made it possible for +workmen--whose sympathies are with the enemy--to get employment about +the warships. The danger is fully recognised, and that is where +Dawson's widespread system of counter-espionage comes in. There is not +a trade union, among all the eighteen or twenty engaged in shipyard +work--riveters, fitters, platers, joiners, and all the rest of +them--in which he has not police officers enrolled as skilled +tradesmen, members of the unions, working as ordinary hands or as +foremen, sometimes even in office as "shop stewards" representing the +interest of the unions and acting as their spokesmen in disputes with +the employers. Dawson claims that there has never yet been a secret +Strike Committee, since the war began, upon which at least one of his +own men was not serving. He is a wonderful man. I don't like him; he +is too unscrupulous and merciless for my simple tastes; but his value +to the country is beyond payment." + +"But where in the world does he raise these men? One can't turn a +policeman into a skilled worker at a moment's notice. How is it done?" + +"He begins at the other end. All his skilled workmen are the best he +can pick out of their various trades. They have served their full time +as apprentices and journeymen. They are recommended to him by their +employers after careful testing and sounding. Most of them, I believe, +come from the Government dockyards and ordnance factories. They are +given a course of police training at Scotland Yard, and then dropped +down wherever they may be wanted. Dawson, and inspectors like him, +have these men everywhere--in shipyards, in shell shops, in gun +factories, in aeroplane sheds, everywhere. They take a leading part in +the councils of the unions wherever they go, for they add to their +skill as workmen a pronounced, even blatant parade of loyalty to the +interests of trade unions and a tasty flavour of socialist principles. +Dawson is perfectly cynically outspoken to me over the business which, +I confess, appals me. In his female agents--of which he has many--he +favours what he calls a 'judicious frailty'; in his male agents he +favours a subtle skill in the verbal technique of anarchism. And this +man Dawson is by religion a Peculiar Baptist, in private life a +faithful husband and a loving father, and in politics a strict Liberal +of the Manchester School! As a man he is good, honest, and rather +narrow; as a professional detective he is base and mean, utterly +without scruple, and a Jesuit of Jesuits. With him the end justifies +the means, whatever the means may be." + +"And yet you admit that his value to the country is beyond payment. +Dawson--our remarkable Dawson of the double life in the two +compartments, professional and private, which never are allowed to +overlap--Dawson is an instrument of war. We do not like using gas or +liquid fire, but we are compelled to use them. We do not like +espionage, but we must employ it. As one who loves this fair land of +England beyond everything in the world, and as one who would do +anything, risk anything, and suffer anything to shield her from the +filthy Germans, I rejoice that she has in her service such supremely +efficient guardians as this most wickedly unscrupulous Dawson. There +is, at any rate, not a trace of our English muddle about him." + +"Ours is a righteous cause," cried poor Cary desperately. "We are +fighting for right against wrong, for defence against aggression, for +civilisation against utter barbarism. We are by instinct clean +fighters. If in the stress of conflict we stoop to foul methods, can +we ever wash away the filth of them from our souls? We shall stand +before the world nakedly confessed as the nation of hypocrites we have +always been declared to be." + +"Cary," I said, "you make me tired. We cannot be too thankful that we +possess Dawsons to counterplot against the Germans, and that +personally we are in no way responsible for the morality of their +methods. Come off the roof and get back to this most interesting +affair of the _Antinous_. I presume one of Dawson's men was working, +unknown to his fellows, with the care and maintenance party, and +another, equally unknown, with the engineers who were busy upon the +gearing of the turbines. Many of the regular ship's officers and men +would also have been on board. Had our remarkable friend his agents +among them too? Everything is possible with Dawson; I should not be +surprised to hear that he had police officers in the Fleet flagship." + +"You are almost right. One of his men, a temporary petty officer of +R.N.V.R., was certainly on board, and he tells me that down in the +engine room was another--a civilian fitter. They were both first-class +men. The electric wires, as you know, are carried about the ship under +the deck beams, where they are accessible for examination and repairs. +They are coiled in cables from which wires are led to the switch room, +and thence to all parts of the ship. There are thousands of wires, and +no one who did not know intimately their purpose and disposition could +venture to tamper with them, for great numbers are always in use. If +any one cut the lighting wires, for instance, the defects would be +obvious at once; so with the heating or telephone wires. Nothing was +touched except the lines to the guns, of which there are eight +disposed upon the deck. From the guns connections run to the switch +room, the conning tower, the gunnery control platform aloft, and to +the gunnery officer's bridge. It was the main cable between the switch +room and the conning tower which was cut, and it was one cable laid +alongside a dozen others. Now who could know that this was the gun +cable, and the only one in which damage might escape detection while +the ship was in harbour? At sea there is constant gun drill, during +which the electrical controls and the firing-tubes are always tested, +but in harbour the guns are lying idle most of the time. It was +evidently the intention of the enemy, who cut these wires, that the +_Antinous_ should go to sea before the defect was discovered, and that +her fire control should be out of action till the wiring system could +be repaired. That very serious disaster was prevented by the +preliminary testing during the night before sailing, but the enemy has +been successful in delaying the departure of an invaluable light +cruiser for two days. In these days, when the war of observation is +more important even than the war of fighting, the services of light +cruisers cannot be dispensed with for an hour without grave +inconvenience and risk. Yet here was one delayed for forty-eight hours +after her ordinary repairs had been completed. The naval authorities +are in a frightful stew. For what has happened to the _Antinous_ may +happen to other cruisers, even to battleships. If there is sabotage +among the workmen in the shipyards, it must be discovered and stamped +out without a moment's delay. This time it is the cutting of a wire +cable; at another time it may be some wilful injury far more serious. +A warship is a mass of delicate machinery to which a highly skilled +enemy agent might do almost infinite damage. Dawson has been run off +his feet during the past two days; I don't know what he has +discovered; but if he does not get to the bottom of the business in +double-quick time we shall have the whole Board of Admiralty, Scotland +Yard, and possibly the War Cabinet down upon us. Think, too, of the +disgrace to this shipbuilding city of which we are all so proud." + +"We shall know something soon," I said, "for, if I mistake not, here +comes Dawson." The electric bell at the front door had buzzed, and +Cary, slipping from the room, presently returned with a man who to me, +at the first glance, was a complete stranger. I sprang up, moved round +to a position whence I could see clearly the visitor's ears, and +gasped. It was Dawson beyond a doubt, but it was not the Dawson whom I +had known in the north. So what I had vaguely surmised was +true--Cary's Dawson and Copplestone's Dawson were utterly unlike. +Dawson winked at me, glanced towards Cary, and shook his head; from +which I gathered that he did not desire his appearance to be the +subject of comment. I therefore greeted him without remark, and, as he +sat down under the electric lights, examined him in detail. This +Dawson was ten years older than the man whom I had known and fenced +with. The hair of this one was lank and grey, while that of mine was +brown and curly; the face of this one was white and thin, while the +face of mine was rather full and ruddy. The teeth were different--I +found out afterwards that Dawson, who had few teeth of his own, +possessed several artificial sets of varied patterns--the shape of the +mouth was different, the nose was different. I could never have +recognised the man before me had I not possessed that clue to identity +furnished by his unchanging ears. + +"So, Dawson," said I slowly, "we meet again. Permit me to say that I +congratulate you. It is very well done." + +He grinned and glanced at the unconscious Cary. "You are learning. +Bill Dawson takes a bit of knowing." + +"Have you any news, Mr. Dawson?" asked Cary eagerly. + +"Not much. The wires of the _Antinous_ have all been renewed--the +Admiralty won't allow cables to be patched except at sea--but I +haven't found out who played hanky-panky with them. It could not have +been any one in the engine-room party, as none of them went near the +place where the wires were cut. Besides, they were engineers, not +electricians, and could have known nothing of the arrangements and +disposition of the ship's wires. My man who worked with them is +positive that they are a sound, good lot without a sea-lawyer or a +pacifist among them; a gang of plain, honest tykes. So we are thrown +back on the maintenance party, included in which were all sorts of +ratings. Some of them are skilled in the electrical fittings--my own +man with them is, for one--but we get the best accounts of all of +them. They are long service men, cast for sea owing to various medical +reasons, but perfectly efficient for harbour work. Among the officers +of the ship is a R.N.R. lieutenant with a German name. I jumped to +him, but the captain laughed. The man's father and grandfather were in +the English merchant service, and though his people originally came +from Saxony, he is no more German than we are ourselves. Besides, my +experience is that an Englishman with an inherited German name is the +very last man to have any truck with the enemy. He is too much ashamed +of his forbears for one thing; and for another he is too dead set on +living down his beastly name. So we will rule out the Lieutenant +R.N.R. My own man, who is a petty officer R.N.V.R., and has worked on +a lot of ships which have come in for repairs, says that the temper +among the workmen in the yards is good now. It was ugly when dilution +of labour first came in, but the wages are so high that all that +trouble has settled down. I have had what you call sabotage in the +shell and gun shops, but never yet in the King's ships. We have had +every possible cutter of the wires on the mat before the Captain and +me. We have looked into all their records, had their homes visited and +their people questioned, inquired of their habits--Mr. Copplestone, +here, knows what comes of drink--and found out how they spend their +wages. Yet we have discovered nothing. It is the worst puzzle that +I've struck. When and how the gun cable was cut I can't tell you, but +whoever did it is much too clever to be about. He must have been +exactly informed of the lie and use of the cables, had with him the +proper tools, and used them in some fraction of a minute when he +wasn't under the eye of my own man whose business it was to watch +everybody and suspect everybody. I thought that I had schemed out a +pretty thorough system; up to now it has worked fine. Whenever we have +had the slightest reason to suspect any man, we have had him kept off +the ship and watched. We have run down a lot of footling spies, too +stupid to give us a minute's anxiety, but this man who cut the +_Antinous_'s wires is of a different calibre altogether. He is AI, and +when I catch him, as I certainly shall, I will take off my hat to +him." + +"You say that the _Antinous_ is all right now?" I observed. + +"Yes. I saw her towed out of the repair basin an hour ago, and she +must be away down the river by this time. It is not of her that I'm +thinking, but of the other ships which are constantly in and out for +repairs. There are always a dozen here of various craft, usually small +stuff. While the man who cut those wires is unknown I shall be in a +perfect fever, and so will the Admiral-Superintendent. We'll get the +beauty sooner or later, but if it is later, there may be had mischief +done. If he can cut wires in one ship, he may do much worse things in +some other. The responsibility rests on me, and it is rather +crushing." + +Dawson spoke with less than his usual cheery confidence. I fancy that +the thinness and whiteness of his face were not wholly due to +disguise. He had not been to bed since he had been called up in the +middle watch of the night before last, and the man was worn out. + +"If you take my poor advice, Dawson," I said, "you will cut off now +and get some sleep. Even your brain cannot work continuously without +rest. The country needs you at your best, and needs you very badly +indeed." + +His dull, weary eyes lighted as if under the stimulus of champagne, +and he turned upon me a look which was almost affectionate. I really +began to believe that Dawson likes me, that he sees in me a kindred +spirit as patriotically unscrupulous as himself. + +He jumped up and gripped my hand. "You are right. I will put in a few +hours' sleep and then to work once more. This time I am up against a +man who is nearly as smart as I am myself, and I can't afford to carry +any handicap." + +I led him to the door and put him out, and then turned to Cary with a +laugh. "And I, too, will follow Dawson's example. It is past one, and +my head is buzzing with queer ideas. Perhaps, after all, the Germans +have more imagination than we usually credit them with. I wonder--" +But I did not tell to Cary what I wondered. + + * * * * * + +We were sitting after breakfast in Cary's study, enjoying the first +sweet pipe of the day, when the telephone bell rang. Cary took off the +earpiece and I listened to a one-sided conversation somewhat as +follows:-- + +"What! Is that you, Mr. Dawson? Yes, Copplestone is here. The +_Antigone_? What about her? She is a sister ship of the _Antinous_, +and was in with damage to her forefoot, which had been ripped up when +she ran down that big German submarine north of the Orkneys--Yes, I +know; she was due to go out some time to-day. What do you say? Wires +cut? Whose wires have been cut? The _Antigone's?_ Oh, the devil! Yes, +we will both come down to your office this afternoon. Whenever you +like." + +Cary hung up the receiver and glared at me. "It has happened again," +he groaned. "The _Antigone_ this time. She has been in dry dock for +the past fortnight and was floated out yesterday. Her full complement +joined her last night. Dawson says that he was called up at +eight-o'clock by the news that her gun-wires have been cut exactly +like those of the _Antinous_ and in the same incomprehensible way. He +seems, curiously enough, to be quite cheerful about it." + +"He has had a few hours sleep. And, besides, he sees that this second +case, so exactly like the first, makes the solution of his problem +very much more easy. I am glad that he is cheerful, for I feel +exuberantly happy myself. I was kept awake half the night by a +persistent notion which seemed the more idiotic the more I thought all +round it. But now--now, there may be something in it." + +"What is your idea? Tell me quick." + +"No, thank you, Dr. Watson. We amateur masters of intuition don't work +our thrilling effects in that way. We keep our notions to ourselves +until they turn out to be right, and then we declare that we saw +through the problem from the first. When we have been wrong, we say +nothing. So you observe, Cary, that whatever happens our reputations +do not suffer." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +GUESSWORK + +Cary tried to shake my resolution, but I was obdurately silent. While +he canvassed the whole position, bringing to bear his really profound +knowledge of naval equipment and routine--and incidentally helping me +greatly to realise the improbability of my own guesswork solution--I +was able to maintain an air of lofty superiority. I must have +aggravated him intensely, unpardonably, for I was his guest. He ought +to have kicked me out. Yet he bore with me like the sweet-blooded +kindly angel that he is, and when at the end it appeared that I was +right after all, Cary was the first to pour congratulations and honest +admiration upon me. If he reads this book he will know that I am +repentant--though I must confess that I should behave in just the same +abominable way if the incident were to occur again. There is no great +value in repentance such as this. + +We reached Dawson's office in the early afternoon, and found his chief +assistant there, but no Dawson. "The old man," remarked that officer, +a typical, stolid, faithful detective sergeant, "is out on the +rampage. He ought by rights to sit here directing the staff and leave +the outside investigations to me. He is a high-up man, almost a deputy +assistant commissioner, and has no call to be always disguising +himself and playing his tricks on everybody. I suppose you know that +white-haired old gent down here ain't a bit like Bill Dawson, who's +not a day over forty?" + +"I have given up wondering where the real Dawson ends and where the +disguises begin. The man I met up north wasn't the least bit like the +one down here." + +"A deal younger, I expect," said the chief assistant, grinning. "He +shifts about between thirty and sixty. The old man is no end of a +cure, and tries to take us in the same as he does you. There's an +inspector at the Yard who was at school with him down Hampshire way, +and ought to know what he is really like, but even he has given Dawson +up. He says that the old man does not know his own self in the +looking-glass; and as for Mrs. Dawson, I expect she has to take any +one who comes along claiming to be her husband, for she can't, +possibly tell t'other from which." + +"One might make a good story out of that," I observed to Cary. + +"I don't understand," said he. "Mr. Dawson told me once that I knew +the real Dawson, but that few other people did." + +"If he told you that," calmly observed the assistant, "you may bet +your last shirt he was humbugging you. He couldn't tell the truth, not +if he tried ever so." + +"What is he at now?" I asked. + +"I don't know, sir. And if he told me, I shouldn't believe him. I +don't take no account of a word that man says. But he's the most +successful detective we've got in the whole Force. He's sure to be +head of the C.I.D. one day, and then he will have to stay in his +office and give us others a chance." + +"I don't believe he will," I observed, laughing. "There will be a sham +Dawson in the office and the genuine article will be out on the +rampage. He is a man who couldn't sit still, not even if you tied him +in his chair and sealed the knots." + +We spent a pleasant hour pulling Dawson to pieces and leaving to him +not a rag of virtue, except intense professional zeal. We exchanged +experiences of him, those of the chief assistant being particularly +rich and highly flavoured. It appeared that Dawson when off duty loved +to occupy the platform at meetings of his religious connection and to +hold forth to the elect. The privilege of "sitting under him" had been +enjoyed more than once by the assistant, who retailed to us extracts +from Dawson's favourite sermon on "Truth." His views upon Truth were +unbending as armour plate. "Under no circumstances, not to save +oneself from imminent death, not to shield a wife or a child from the +penalties for a lapse from virtue, not even to preserve one's country +from the attacks of an enemy, was it permissible to a Peculiar Baptist +to diverge by the breadth of a hair from the straight path of Truth. +Hell yawned on either hand; only along the knife edge of Truth could +salvation be reached." + +"He made me shiver," said the chief assistant, "and he drove me to +thinking of one or two little deceptions of my own. When Dawson +preaches, his eyes blaze, his voice breaks, and he will fall on his +knees and pray for the souls of those who heed not his words. You +can't look at him then and not believe that he means every word he +says. Yet it's all humbug." + +"No, it is not," said I. "Dawson in the pulpit, or on the tub--or +whatever platform he uses--is absolutely genuine. He is the finest +example that I have ever met of the dual personality. He is in dead +earnest when he preaches on Truth, and he is in just as dead earnest +when, stripped of every moral scruple, he pursues a spy or a criminal. +In pursuit he is ruthless as a Prussian, but towards the captured +victim he can be strangely tender. I should not be surprised to learn +that he hates capital punishment and is a strong advocate of gentle +methods in prison discipline." + +The chief assistant stared, opened a drawer, and pulled forth a slim +grey pamphlet. It was marked "For Office Use Only," and was entitled, +"Some Notes on Prison Reform," by Chief Inspector William Dawson. + +I had begun to read the pamphlet, when a step sounded outside; the +assistant snatched it from my hand, flashed it back into its place, +and jumped to attention as Dawson entered. He surveyed us with those +searching, unwinking eyes of his--for we had the air of +conspirators--and said brusquely: "Clear out, Wilson. You talk too +much. And don't admit any one except Petty Officer Trehayne." + +"The _Antigone_!" cried Cary, who thought only of ships. "The +_Antigone_! Is she much damaged?" + +"No. Whoever tried to cut her wires was disturbed, or in too great a +hurry to do his work well. The main gun-cable was nipped, but not cut +through. She will be delayed till to-morrow, not longer. I am not +worrying about the _Antigone_, but about the new battleship +_Malplaquet_, which was commissioned last month, is nearly filled up +with stores, and is expected to leave the river on Saturday. We can't +have her delayed by any hanky tricks, not even if we have to put the +whole detective force on board of her. Still, I'm not so anxious as I +was. This _Antigone_ business has cleared things up a lot, and one can +sift out the impossible from the possible. To begin with, the +_Antinous_ was in for repairs to her geared turbines, and the +_Antigone_ for damage to her forefoot. Engineers were on one job, and +platers and riveters on the other. Different trades. So not a workman +who was in the _Antinous_ was also in the _Antigone_. We can rule out +all the workmen. We can also rule out my lieutenant R.N.R. with the +German name who has gone to sea in the _Antinous_. The care and +maintenance party in the _Antigone_ was not the same as the one in the +_Antinous_, not a man the same." + +"You are sure of that?" cried I, for it seemed that my daring theory +had gone to wreck. "You are quite sure." + +"Quite. I have all the names and have examined all the men. They were +all off the ship by eleven o'clock last night. I hadn't one of my own +men among them, but, to make sure, I sent Petty Officer Trehayne on +board at eight o'clock to keep a sharp look-out and to see all the +harbour party off the vessel. He reported a little after eleven that +they were all gone and the ship taken over by her own crew. The damage +was discovered at four bells in the morning watch." + +"Six o'clock a.m.," interpreted Cary. + +"It looks now as if there might be a traitor among her own crew, which +is her officers' job, not mine. I wash my hands of the _Antigone_, but +it is very much up to me to see that nothing hurtful happens to the +_Malplaquet_. The Admiral has orders to support me with all the force +under his command; the General of the District has the same orders. +But it isn't force we want so much as brains--Dawson's brains. I have +been beaten twice, but not the third time. I've told the Yard that if +the _Malplaquet_ is touched I shall resign, and if they send any one +to help me I shall resign. Between to-day, Thursday, and Saturday I am +going to catch the wily josser who has a fancy for cutting gun cables +or Dawson will say good-bye to the Force. That's a fair stake." + +The man swelled with determination and pride. He had no thought of +failure, and drew inspiration and joy from the heaviness of the bet +which he had made with Fortune. He took the born gambler's delight in +a big risk. + +"Then you think that the _Antinous_ and the _Antigone_ were both +damaged by the same man, and that he may have designs upon the +_Malplaquet_?" said I. + +"I don't propose to tell you what I think," replied Dawson stiffly. + +"Still," I persisted, passing over the snub, "you have a theory?" + +"No, thanks," said Dawson contemptuously. "I have no use for theories. +When they are wrong they mislead you, and when they are right they are +no help. I believe in facts--facts brought out by constant vigilance. +Unsleeping watchfulness and universal suspicion, those are the +principles I work on. The theory business makes pretty story books, +but the Force does not waste good time over them." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"This is Thursday afternoon. I am going to join the _Malplaquet_ +presently, and I'm not going to sleep till she is safely down the +river. I'm going to be my own watchman this time." + +"How? In what capacity?" + +Dawson gave a shrug of impatience, for his nerves were on edge. For a +moment he hesitated, and then, recollecting the high post to which I +had tacitly been appointed in his household, he replied: + +"I am going as one of the Marine sentries." + +"It's no use, Dawson," protested I emphatically. "You are a wonder at +disguise, and will look, I do not doubt, the very spit of a Marine. +But you can't pass among the men for half an hour without discovery. +They are a class apart, they talk their own language, cherish their +own secret traditions, live in a world to which no stranger ever +penetrates. You could pass as a naval officer more easily than you +could as a Pongo. It is sheer madness, Dawson." + +He gave a short laugh. "Much you know about it. I have served in the +Red Corps myself. I was a recruit at Deal, passed two years at +Plymouth, and served afloat for three years. I was then drafted into +the Naval Police. Afterwards I was recommended for detective work in +the dockyards, and at the end of my Marine service joined the Yard. My +good man, I was a sergeant before I left the Corps." + +"I give up, Dawson," said I. "Nothing about you will ever surprise me +again. Not even if you claim to have been a Cabinet Minister." + +A queer smile stole over his face. "No, I have not been a minister, +but I have attended a meeting of the Cabinet." + +Cary interposed at this point. "Yours is a fine idea, Mr. Dawson. As a +Marine sentry you can get yourself posted by the Major wherever you +please, and the Guard will not talk even though they may wonder that +any man should want to do twenty-four hours of duty per day. The +Marines are the closest, faith-fullest, and best disciplined force in +the wide world. Bluejackets will gossip; Marines never. You will be +able to watch more closely than even Trehayne, who, I suppose, will +also be on board." + +"Yes. He is coming up soon for instructions. It's his last chance, as +it is mine. He sees that he must be held responsible for the wire +cutting in the _Antinous_, and to some slight extent also in the +_Antigone_, and that if anything goes wrong with the _Malplaquet_ he +will be dismissed. I shall be sorry to lose him, for he is an +exceptionally good man, but we can't allow failures in petty officer +detectives any more than we can in chief inspectors." + +"Where does Trehayne come from? His name sounds Cornish," I asked. + +"Falmouth, I believe. He is quite young, but he has had nearly three +years in the _Vernon_ at Portsmouth and in the torpedo factory at +Greenock. A first-class engineer and electrician and a sound +detective. He has been with me for some twelve months. You will see +him if he calls soon." + +I had been thinking hard over the details of Dawson's plans while the +talk went on, and then ventured to offer some comments. + +"It is fortunate that you have grown a moustache since you were in the +north; you could not have been a Marine as a clean-shaven man." + +"I often have to shave it," said Dawson, "but I always grow it again +between whiles. One can take it off quicker than one can put it on +again. False hair is the devil; I have never used it yet and never +will. So whenever I have a spell of leisure I grow a moustache against +emergencies--like this one." + +My next comment was rather difficult to make, for I did not wish +either Cary or Dawson to divine its purpose. "If I may make a +suggestion to a man of your experience it would be that none of your +men here, not even your chief assistant or Trehayne, should know that +you are joining the _Malplaquet_ as a Marine. Two independent strings +are in this case better than a double-jointed string." + +"I never tell anything to any one, least of all to Pudden-Headed +Wilson. He is loyal, but a stupid ass with a flapping tongue. Trehayne +is close as wax, but, on general principles, I keep my movements +strictly to myself. He will be in the ship, but he won't know that I +am there too. The Commander must know and the Major of Marines, for I +shall want a uniform and the free run of the ship, so as to be posted +where I like. The Marine Sergeants of the Guard may guess, but, as Mr. +Cary says, they won't talk. You two gentlemen are safe," added Dawson +pleasantly, "for I've got you tight in my hand and could lock either +of you up in a minute if I chose." + +A peculiar knock came upon the door, a word passed between Dawson and +the police sentry outside, and a young man in the uniform of a naval +petty officer entered the room. He was clean-shaven, looked about +twenty-five years old, was dark and slim of the Latin type which is +not uncommon in Cornwall, and impressed me at once with his air of +intelligence and refinement. His voice, too, was rather striking. It +was that of the wardroom rather than of the mess deck. I liked the +look of Petty Officer Trehayne. Dawson presented him to us and then +took him aside for instructions. When he had finished, both men +rejoined us, and the conversation became light and general. Trehayne, +though clearly suffering from nervous strain after his recent +professional failures, talked with the ease and detachment of a highly +cultivated man. It appeared that he had been educated at Blundell's +School, had lost his parents at about sixteen, had done a course in +some electrical engineering shops at Plymouth, and when twenty years +old had secured a good berth on the engineering staff of the _Vernon_. +He could speak both French and German, which he had learned partly at +school and partly on the Continent during leave. Dawson, who was +evidently very proud of his young pupil and assistant, paraded his +accomplishments before us rather to Trehayne's embarrassment. "Try him +with French and German," urged Dawson. "He can chatter them as well as +English. But he is as close as wax in all three languages. Some men +can't keep their tongues still in one." + +I turned to Trehayne and spoke in French: "German I can't abide, but +French I love. My vocabulary is extensive, but my accent +abominable--incurably British. You can hear it for yourself how it +gives me away." + +"It is not quite of Paris," replied Trehayne. "Mais vous parlez +français très bien, très correctement. Beaucoup mieux que moi." + +"Non, non, monsieur," I protested, and then reverted to English. + +"Now," said Dawson, when Trehayne had left us, "I must get along, see +the Commander of the _Malplaquet_, and draw a uniform and rifle out of +the marine stores. It will be quite like old times. You won't see me +until Saturday, when I shall be either a triumphant or a broken man. +What is the betting, Mr. Copplestone?" + +I could not understand the quizzical little smile that Dawson gave me, +nor the humorous twitch of his lips. He had contemptuously disclaimed +all use of theories, yet there was more moving behind that big +forehead of his than he chose to give away. Did his ideas run on +parallel lines with mine; did he even suspect that I had formed any +idea at all? I could not inquire, for I dislike being laughed at, +especially by this man Dawson. I had nothing to go upon, at least so +little that was palpable that anything which I might say would be +dismissed as the merest guesswork, for which, as Dawson proclaimed, he +had no use. Yet, yet--my original guess stuck firmly in my mind, +improbable though it might be, and had just been nailed down +tightly--I scorn to mystify the reader--by a few simple sentences +spoken in French. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE MARINE SENTRY + +We had a whole day to fill in before we could get any news of Dawson's +vigil in the _Malplaquet_, and I have never known a day as drearily +long. Cary and I were both restless as peas on a hot girdle, and could +not settle down to talk or to read or to write. Cary sought vainly to +persuade me to read and pass judgment upon his Navy Book. In spite of +my interest in the subject my soul revolted at the forbidding pile of +manuscript. I promised to read the proofs and criticise them with +severity, but as for the M.S.--no, thanks. Poor Cary needed all his +sweet patience to put up with me. By eleven o'clock we had become +unendurable to one another, and I gladly welcomed his suggestion to +adjourn to his club, have lunch there, and try to inveigle the +Commander of the _Malplaquet_ into our net. "I know him," said Cary. +"He is a fine fellow; and though he must be pretty busy, he will be +glad to lunch somewhere away from the ship. If we have luck we will go +back with him and look over the _Malplaquet_ ourselves." + +"If you can manage that, Cary, you will have my blessing." + +He did manage to work the luncheon part by telephoning to the yard +where the _Malplaquet_ was fitting out, and we left the rest to our +personal charms. + +Cary was right. The Commander was a very fine fellow, an English naval +officer of the best type. He confirmed the views I had frequently +heard expressed by others of his profession that no hatred exists +between English and German sailors. They leave that to middle-aged +civilians who write for newspapers. The German Navy, in his opinion, +was "a jolly fine Service," worthy in high courage and skill to +contest with us the supremacy of the seas. He had been through the +China troubles as a lieutenant in the _Monmouth_--afterwards sunk by +German shot off Coronel--knew von Spee, von Müller, and other officers +of the Pacific Squadron, and spoke of them with enthusiasm. "They sunk +some of our ships and we wiped out theirs. That was all in the way of +business. We loved them in peace and we loved them in war. They were +splendidly loyal to us out in China--von Spee actually transferred +some of his ships to the command of our own senior officer so as to +avoid any clash of control--and when it came to fighting, they fought +like gentlemen. I grant you that their submarine work against merchant +ships has been pretty putrid, but I don't believe that was the choice +of their Navy. They got their orders from rotten civilians like Kaiser +Bill." Imagine if you can the bristling moustache of the Supreme War +Lord could he have heard himself described as a civilian! + +Our guest had commanded a destroyer in the Jutland battle, and assured +us that the handling of the German battle squadrons had been masterly. +"They punished us heavily for just so long as they were superior in +strength, and then they slipped away before Jellicoe could get his +blow in. They kept fending us off with torpedo attacks until the night +came down, and then clean vanished. We got in some return smacks after +dark at stragglers, but it was very difficult to say how much damage +we did. Not much, I expect. Still it was a good battle, as decisive in +its way as Trafalgar. It proved that the whole German Fleet could not +fight out an action against our full force and have the smallest hope +of success. I am just praying for the chance of a whack at them in the +_Malplaquet_. My destroyer was a bonny ship, the best in the flotilla, +but the _Malplaquet_ is a real peach. You should see her." + +"We mean to," said Cary. "This very afternoon. You shall take us back +with you." + +The Commander opened his eyes at this cool proposal, but we prevailed +upon him to seek the permission of the Admiral-Superintendent, who, a +good deal to my surprise, proved to be quite pliable. Cary's +reputation for discretion must be very high in the little village +where he lives if it is able to guarantee so disreputable a scribbler +as Bennet Copplestone! The Admiral, fortunately, had not read any of +my Works before they had been censored. When printed in _Cornhill_ +they were comparatively harmless. + +I must not describe the _Malplaquet_. Her design was not new to me--I +had seen more than one of her type--but as she is now a unit in +Beatty's Fleet her existence is not admitted to the world. As we went +up and down her many steep narrow ladders, and peered into dark +corners, I looked everywhere for a Marine sentry whom I could identify +by mark of ear as Dawson. I never saw him, but Trehayne passed me +twice, and I found myself again admiring his splendid young manhood. +He was not big, being rather slim and wiry than strongly built, but in +sheer beauty of face and form he was almost perfectly fashioned. "Do +you know that man?" I asked of our commander, indicating Trehayne. +"No," said he. "He is one of the shore party. But I should like to +have him with me. He is one of the smartest looking petty officers +that I have ever seen." + +We were shown everything that we desired to see except the +transmission room and the upper conning tower--the twin holy of holies +in a commissioned ship--and slipped away, escaping the Captain by a +bare two minutes. Which was lucky, as he would probably have had us +thrown into the "ditch." + +The end of the day was as weariful as the beginning, and we were all +glad--especially, I expect, Mrs. Cary--to go early to bed. That +ill-used lady, to whom we could disclose nothing of our anxieties, +must have found us wretched company. + +We had finished breakfast the next morning--the Saturday of Dawson's +gamble--and were sitting on Cary's big fireguard talking of every +subject, except the one which had kept us awake at night, when a +servant entered and announced that a soldier was at the door with a +message from Mr. Dawson. "Show him in," almost shouted Cary, and I +jumped to my feet, stirred for once into a visible display of +eagerness. + +A Marine came in, dressed in the smart blue sea kit that I love; upon +his head the low flat cap of his Corps. He gave us a full swinging +salute, and jumped to attention with a click of his heels. He looked +about thirty-five, and wore a neatly trimmed dark moustache. His hair, +also very dark, was cropped close to his head. Standing there with his +hands upon the red seams of his trousers, his chest well filled out, +and his face weather tanned, he looked a proper figure of a sea-going +soldier. "Mr. Cary, sir," he said, in a flat, monotonous orderly's +voice, "Major Boyle's compliments, and could you and your friend come +down to the Police Station to meet him and Chief Inspector Dawson. I +have a taxi-cab at the door, sir." + +"Certainly," cried Cary; "in two minutes we shall be ready." + +"Oh, no, we shan't," I remarked calmly, for I had moved to a position +of tactical advantage on the Marine's port beam. "We will have the +story here, if you don't mind, Dawson." + +He stamped pettishly on the floor, whipped off his cap, and spun it +across the room. "Confound you, Mr. Copplestone!" he growled. "How +the--how the--do you do it?" He could not think of an expletive mild +enough for Mrs. Cary's ears. "There's something about me that I can't +hide. What is it? If you don't tell, I will get you on the Regulation +compelling all British subjects to answer questions addressed to them +by a competent naval or military authority." + +"You don't happen to be either, Dawson," said I unkindly. "And, +beside, there was never yet a law made which could compel a man to +speak or a woman to hold her tongue. Some day perhaps, if you are +good, I will show you how the trick is done. But not yet. I want to +have something to bargain with when you cast me into jail. Out with +the story; we are impatient. If I mistake not, you come to us Dawson +triumphant. You haven't the air of a broken man." + +"I have been successful," he answered gravely, "but I am a long, long +way from feeling triumphant. No, thank you, Mrs. Cary, I have had my +breakfast, but if I might trouble you for a cup of coffee? Many +thanks." + +Dawson sat down, and Cary moved about inspecting him from every angle. +"No," declared he at last, "I cannot see the smallest resemblance, not +the smallest. You were thin; now you are distinctly plump. Your hair +was nearly white. Your cheeks had fallen in as if your back teeth were +missing. Your lower lip stuck out." Dawson smiled, highly gratified. +"I took in all my people at the office this morning," he said. "They +all thought, and think still, that I was a messenger from the +_Malplaquet_, which, by the way, is well down the river safe and +sound. Just wait a minute." He walked into a corner of the room, moved +his hands quickly between his side pockets and his face, and then +returned. Except for the dark hair and moustache and the brown skin, +he had become the Dawson of the Thursday afternoon. "It is as simple +for me to change," said the artist, with a nasty look in my direction, +"as it seems to be for Mr. Copplestone here to spot me. It will take a +day or two to get the dye out of my hair and the tan off my skin. I am +going to have a sharp touch of influenza, which is a useful disease +when one wants to lie in. Since Sunday I have only been twice to bed." + +We filled him up with coffee and flattery--as one fills a motor car +with petrol and oil--but asked him no questions until we were safely +in Cary's study and Mrs. Cary had gone about her household duties. +"Your good lady," remarked Dawson to Cary, "is as little curious as +any woman I have met, and we will leave her at that if you don't mind. +The best thing about our women is that they don't care tuppence about +naval and military details. If they did, and once started prying with +that keen scent and indomitable persistence of theirs, we might as +well chuck up. Even my own bright team of charmers never know and +never ask the meaning of the information that they ferret out for me. +Their curiosity is all personal--about men and women, never about +things. Women--" + +I cut Dawson short. He tended to become tedious. + +"Quite so," I observed politely. "And to revert to one big female +creature, let us hear something of the _Malplaquet_." + +"You at any rate are curious enough for a dozen. It would serve you +right to keep you hopping a bit longer. But I have a kindly eye for +human weakness, though you might not think it. I joined the ship on +Thursday afternoon, slipping in as one of a detachment of fifty +R.M.L.I. who had been wired for from Chatham. They were an emergency +lot; we hadn't enough in the ship for the double sentry go that I +wanted. All my plans were made with the Commander and Major Boyle, and +they both did exactly what I told them. It isn't often that a private +of Marines has the ordering about of two officers. But Dawson is +Dawson; no common man. They did as I told them, and were glad to do +it. I had extra light bulbs put on all over the lower decks and every +dark corner lit up--except one. Just one. And this one was where the +four gun-cables ran out of the switch-room and lay alongside one +another before they branched off to the fore and after turrets and to +the port and starboard side batteries. That was the most likely spot +which any one wanting to cut the gun-wires would mark down, and I +meant to watch it pretty closely myself. We had double sentries at the +magazines. The _Malplaquet_ is an oil-fired ship, so we hadn't any +bothering coal bunkers to attract fancy bombs. I was pretty sure that +after the _Antinous_ and the _Antigone_ we had mostly wire-cutting to +fear. When a man has done one job successfully, and repeated it almost +successfully, he is pretty certain to have a third shot. Besides, if +one is out to delay a ship, cutting wires is as good a way as any. I +had an idea that my man was not a bomber." + +"I thought that you scorned theories," I put in dryly. "When they are +wrong they mislead you, and when they are right they are no help." + +Dawson frowned. "Shut up, Copplestone," snapped Cary. + +"We were in no danger from the lighting, heating, and telephone wires, +for any defect would have been visible at once. It was the gun and +gunnery control cables that were the weak spots. So I had L.T.O.'s +posted in the spotting top, the conning tower, the transmission room, +the four turrets, and at the side batteries. Every few minutes they +put through tests which would have shown up at once any wires that had +been tampered with. After the shore party had cleared out about nine +o'clock on the Thursday, no officer or man was allowed to leave the +ship without a special permit from the Commander. This was all dead +against the sanitary regulations of the harbour, but I had the +Admiral's authority to break any rules I pleased. By the way, you two +ought never to have been allowed on board yesterday afternoon--I saw +you, though you didn't see me; it was contrary to my orders. I spoke +to the Admiral pretty sharp last night. 'Who is responsible for the +ship?' says I. 'You or me?' 'You,' says he. 'I leave it at that,' says +I." + +"One moment, Dawson," I put in. "If the shore party had all gone, how +was it that I saw Petty Officer Trehayne in the ship?" + +"He had orders to stay and keep watch--though he didn't know I was on +board myself. Two pairs of police eyes are better than one pair, and +fifty times better than all the Navy eyes in the ship. Of all the +simple-minded, unsuspicious beggars in the world, give me a pack of +naval ratings! I wouldn't have one of them for sentries--that is why +the fifty emergency Marines were sent for." Dawson's limitless pride +in his old Service, and deep contempt for the mere sailor, had come +back in full flood with the uniform of his Corps. + +"I started my own sentry duty in the dark corner I told you of as soon +as I had seen to the arrangements all over the _Malplaquet_, and I was +there, with very few breaks of not more than five minutes each for a +bite of food, for twenty-six hours. Two Marine sentries took my place +whenever I was away. I had my rifle and bayonet, and stood back in a +corner of a bulkhead where I couldn't be seen. The hours were awful +long; I stood without hardly moving. All the pins and needles out of +Redditch seemed to dance up and down me, but I stuck it out--and I had +my reward, I had my reward. I did my duty, but it's a sick and sorry +man that I am this day." + +"There was nothing else to be done," I said. "What you feel now is a +nervous reaction." + +"That's about it. I watched and watched, never feeling a bit like +sleep though my eyes burned something cruel and my feet--they were +lumps of prickly wood, not feet. Dull lumps with every now and then a +stab as if a tin tack had been driven into them. Beyond me in the open +alley-way the light was strong, and I could see men pass frequently, +but no one came into my corner till the end, and no one saw me. I +heard six bells go in the first watch ('Eleven p.m.,' whispered Cary) +on Friday evening, though there was a good bit of noise of getting +ready to go out in the early morning, and I was beginning to think +that all my trouble might go for naught, when a man in a Navy cap and +overalls stopped just opposite my dark hole between two bulkheads. His +face was turned from me, as he looked carefully up and down the +lighted way. He stood there quite still for some seconds, and then +stepped backwards towards me. I could see him plain against the light +beyond. He listened for another minute or so, and, satisfied that no +one was near, spun on his heels, whipped a tool from his dungaree +overalls, and reached up to the wires which ran under the deck beams +overhead. In spite of my aching joints and sore feet I was out in a +flash and had my bayonet up against his chest. He didn't move till my +point was through his clothes and into his flesh. I just shoved till +he gave ground, and so, step by step, I pushed him with the point of +my bayonet till he was under the lights. His arms had come down, he +dropped the big shears with insulated handles which he had drawn from +his pocket, but he didn't speak a word to me and I did not speak to +him. I just held him there under the lights, and we looked at one +another without a word spoken. There was no sign of surprise or fear +in his face, just a queer little smile. Suddenly he moved, made a +snatch at the front of his overalls, and put something into his mouth. +I guessed what it was, but did not try to stop him; it was the best +thing that he could do." + +Dawson stopped and pulled savagely at his cigar. He jabbed the end +with his knife, though the cigar was drawing perfectly well, and gave +forth a deep growl which might have been a curse or a sob. + +"Have you ever watched an electric bulb fade away when the current is +failing?" he asked. "The film pales down from glowing white to dull +red, which gets fainter and fainter, little by little, till nothing +but the memory of it lingers on your retina. His eyes went out exactly +like that bulb. They faded and faded out of his face, which still kept +up that queer, twisted smile. I've seen them ever since; wherever I +turn. I shall be glad of that bout of influenza, and shall begin it +with a stiff dose of veronal.... When the light had nearly gone out of +his eyes and he was rocking on his feet, I spoke for the first time. I +spoke loud too. 'Good-bye,' I called out; 'I'm Dawson.' He heard me, +for his eyes answered with a last flash; then they faded right out and +he fell flat on the steel deck. He had died on his feet; his will kept +him upright to the end; that was a Man. He lived a Man's life, doing +what he thought his duty, and he died a Man's death.... I blew my +whistle twice; up clattered a Sergeant with the Marine Guard and +stopped where that figure on the deck barred their way. 'Get a +stretcher,' I said, 'and send for the doctor. But it won't be any use. +The man's dead.' The Sergeant asked sharply for my report, and sent +off a couple of men for a stretcher. 'Excuse me, Sergeant,' I said, in +my best detective officer voice, 'I will report direct to your Major +and the Commander. I am Chief Inspector Dawson.' He showed no surprise +nor doubt of my word--if you want to understand discipline, gentlemen, +get the Marines to teach you--he asked no questions. With one word he +called the guard to attention, and himself saluted me--me a private! I +handed him my rifle--there was an inch of blood at the point of the +bayonet--and hobbled off to the nearest ladder. My word, I could +scarcely walk, and as for climbing a ship's ladder--I could never have +done if some one hadn't given me a boost behind and some one else a +hand at the top. The Commander and the Major of Marines were both in +the wardroom; I walked in, saluted them as a self-respecting private +should do, and told them the whole story." + +"It was Petty Officer Trehayne," said I calmly--and waited for a +sensation. + +"Of course," replied Dawson, greatly to my annoyance. He might have +shown some astonishment at my wonderful intuition; but he didn't, not +a scrap. Even Cary was at first disappointing, though he warmed up +later, and did me full justice. "Trehayne a spy!" cried Cary. "He +looked a smart good man." + +"I am not saying that he wasn't," snapped Dawson, whose nerves were +very badly on edge. "He was obeying the orders of his superiors as we +all have to do. He gave his life, and it was for his country's +service. Nobody can do more than that. Don't you go for to slander +Trehayne. I watched him die--on his feet." + +Cary turned to me. "What made you think it was Trehayne?" he asked. +This was better. I looked at Dawson, who was brooding in his chair +with his thoughts far away. He was still seeing those eyes fading out +under the glare of the electrics between the steel decks of the +_Malplaquet_! + +"It was a sheer guess at first," said I, preserving a decent show of +modesty. "When I heard how the enemy plotted and Dawson +counter-plotted with all those skilled workmen in his detective +service, it occurred to me that an enemy with imagination might +counter-counterplot by getting men inside Dawson's defences. I +couldn't see how one would work it, but if German agents, say, could +manage to become trusted servants of Dawson himself, they would have +the time of their lives. So far I was guessing at a possibility, +however improbable it might seem. Then when Dawson told us that he had +sent Trehayne into the _Antigone_ and that he was the one factor +common to both vessels--the workmen and the maintenance part were all +different--I began to feel that my wild theory might have something in +it. I didn't say anything to you, Cary, or to Dawson--he despises +theories. Afterwards Trehayne came in and I spoke to him, and he to +me, in French. He did not utter a dozen words altogether, but I was +absolutely certain that his French had not been learned at an English +public school and during short trips on the Continent. I know too much +of English school French and of one's opportunities to learn upon +Continental trips. It took me three years of hard work to recover from +the sort of French which I learned at school, and I am not well yet. +The French spoken by Trehayne was the French of the nursery. It was +almost, if not quite, his mother tongue, just as his English was. +Trehayne's French accent did not fit into Trehayne's history as +retailed to us by Dawson. From that moment I plumped for Trehayne as +the cutter of gun wires." + +Dawson had been listening, though he showed no interest in my speech. +When I had quite finished, and was basking in the respectful +admiration emanating from dear old Cary, he upset over me a bucket of +very cold water. + +"Very pretty," said he. "But answer one question. Why did I send +Trehayne to the _Antigone_?" + +"Why? How can I tell? You said it was to make sure that the shore +party were all off the ship." + +"I said! What does it matter what I say! What I do matters a heap, but +what I say--pouf! I sent Trehayne to the _Antigone_ to test him. I +sent him expecting that he would try to cut her wires, and he did. +Then when I was sure, though I had no evidence for a law court, I sent +him to the _Malplaquet_, and I set my trap there for him to walk into. +How did I guess? I don't guess; I watch. The more valuable a man is to +me, the more I watch him, for he might be even more valuable to +somebody else. Trehayne was an excellent man, but he had not been with +me a month before I was watching him as closely as any cat. I hadn't +been a Marine and served ashore and afloat without knowing a born +gentleman when I see one, and knowing, too, the naval stamp. Trehayne +was too much of a gentleman to have become a workman in the _Vernon_ +and at Greenock without some very good reason. He said that he was an +orphan--yes; he said his parents left him penniless, and he had to +earn his living the best way he could--yes. Quite good reasons, but +they didn't convince me. I was certain sure that somewhere, some time, +Trehayne had been a naval officer. I had seen too many during my +service to make any mistake about that. So when I stood there waiting +in that damned cold corner behind that bulkhead, it was for Trehayne +that I was waiting. I meant to take him or to kill him. When he killed +himself, I was glad. As I watched his eyes fade out, it was as if my +own son was dying on his feet in front of me. But it was better so +than to die in front of a firing party. For I--I loved him, and I +wished him 'Good-bye,'" + +Dawson pitched his cigar into the fire, got up, and walked away to the +far side of the room. I had never till that moment completely +reverenced the penetrative, infallible judgment of Little Jane. + +Dawson came back after a few minutes, picked up another cigar from +Cary's box, and sat down. "You see, I have a letter from him. I found +it in his quarters where I went straight from the _Malplaquet_." + +"May we read it?" I asked gently. "I was greatly taken with Trehayne +myself. He was a clean, beautiful boy. He was an enemy officer on +Secret Service; there is no dishonour in that. If he were alive, I +could shake his hand as the officer of the firing party shook the hand +of Lody before he gave the last order." + +Dawson took a paper from his pocket, and handed it to me. "Read it +out," said he; "I can't." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +TREHAYNE'S LETTER + +I took the letter from Dawson and glanced through it. The first sheet +and the last had been written very recently--just before the boy had +left his quarters for the last time to go on board the _Malplaquet_; +the remainder had been set down at various times; and the whole had +been connected up, put together, and paged after the completion of the +last sheet. Trehayne wrote a pretty hand, firm and clear, the writing +of an artist who was also a trained engineer. There was no trace in +the script of nervousness or of hesitation. He had carried out his +Orders, he saw clearly that the path which he had trod was leading him +to the end of his journey, but he made no complaint. He was a Latin, +and to the last possessed that loftiness of spirit wedded to sombre +fatalism which is the heritage of the Latins. He was at war with his +kindred of Italy and France, and with the English among whom he had +been brought up, and whom he loved. He was their enemy by accident of +birth, but though he might and did love his foes better than his +German friends of Austria and Prussia, yet he had taken the oath of +faithful service, and kept it to the end. I could understand why +Dawson--that strange human bloodhound, in whom the ruthless will +continually struggled with and kept under the very tender heart--would +allow no one to slander Trehayne. + +Cary was watching me eagerly, waiting for me to read the letter. + +Dawson's head was resting on one hand, and his face was turned away, +so that I could not see it. He could not wholly conceal his emotion, +but he would not let us see more of it than he could help. He did not +move once during my reading. + + * * * * * + +_To Chief Inspector William Dawson, C.I.D._ + +SIR, + +Will you be surprised, my friend, when you read this that I have left +for you, to learn that I, your right-hand man in the unending spy +hunt, I whom you have called your bright jewel of a pupil, Petty +Officer John Trehayne, R.N.V.R., am at this moment upon the books of +the Austrian Navy as a sub-lieutenant, seconded for Secret Service? +Have you ever been surprised by anything? I don't know. You have said +often in my hearing that you suspect every one. Have you suspected me? +Sometimes when I have caught that sidelong squint of yours, that +studied accidental glance which sees so much, I have felt almost sure +that you were far from satisfied that Trehayne was the man he gave +himself out to be. I have been useful to you. I have eaten your salt, +and have served you as faithfully as was consistent with the supreme +Orders by which I direct my action. With you I have run down and +captured German agents, wretched lumps of dirt, whom I loathe as much +as you do. Those who have sworn fidelity to this fair country of +England, and have accepted of her citizenship--things which I have +never done--and then in fancied security have spied upon their adopted +Mother, I loathe and spit upon. I have taken the police oath of +obedience to my superiors, and I have kept it, but I have never sworn +allegiance to His Majesty your King, whom I pray that God may preserve +though I am his enemy. To your blunt English mind, untrained in logic, +my sentiments and actions may lack consistency. But no. Those agents +whom we have run down, you and I, were traitors--traitors to England. +Of all traitors for whom Hell is hungry the German-born traitor is the +most devilish. I would not have you think, my friend, that I am at one +with them. Never while I have been in your pay and service have I had +any communication direct or indirect with any of the naturalised- +British Prussian scum, who have betrayed your noble generosity. I have +taken my Orders from Vienna, I have communicated always direct with +Vienna. I am an Austrian naval officer. I am no traitor to England. + + * * * * * + +I spring from an old Italian family which has long been settled in +Trieste. For many generations we have served in the Austrian Navy. +With modern Italy, with the Italy above all which has thrown the Holy +Father into captivity and stripped the Holy See of the dominions +bestowed upon it by God, we have no part or lot. Yet when I have met +Italian officers, and those too of France, as I have frequently done +during my cruises afloat, I have felt with them a harmony of spirit +which I have never experienced in association with German-Austrians +and with Prussians. I do not wish to speak evil of our Allies, the +Prussians, but to one of my blood they are the most detestable people +whom God ever had the ill-judgment to create. + + * * * * * + +I was born in Trieste, and lived there with my parents until I was +eight years old. In our private life we always spoke Italian or +French, German was our official language. I know that language well, +of course, but it is not my mother tongue. Italian or French, and +afterwards English--I speak and write all three equally well; which of +the three I shall use when I come to die and one reverts to the speech +of the nursery and schoolroom, I cannot say; it will depend upon whom +those are that stand about my deathbed. + +When I was eight years old, my father, Captain ---- (no, I will not +tell you my name; it is not Trehayne though somewhat similar in +sound), was appointed Austrian Consul at Plymouth, and we all moved to +that great Devonshire seaport. I was young enough to absorb the rich +English atmosphere, nowhere so rich as in that county which is the +home and breeding-ground of your most splendid Navy. I was born again, +a young Elizabethan Englishman. My story to you of my origin was true +in one particular--I really was educated at Blundell's School at +Tiverton. Whenever--and it has happened more than once--I have met as +Trehayne old schoolfellows of Blundell's they have accepted without +comment or inquiry my tale that I had become an Englishman, and had +anglicised my name. Among the peoples which exist on earth to-day, you +English are the most nobly generous and unsuspicious. The Prussians +laugh at you; I, an Austrian-Italian, love and respect you. + + * * * * * + +When I was sixteen, after I had spent eight years in Devon, and four +of those years at an English public school, I was in speech and almost +in the inner fibres of my mind an Englishman. Your naval authorities +at Plymouth and Devonport, as serenely trustful and heedless of +espionage as the mass of your kindly people, allowed my father--whom I +often accompanied--to see the dockyards, the engine shops, the +training schools, and the barracks. They knew that he was an Austrian +naval officer, and they took him to their hearts as a brother, of the +common universal brotherhood of the sea. I think that your Navy holds +those of a foreign naval service as more nearly of kin to themselves +than civilians of their own blood. The bond of a common profession is +more close than the bond of a common nationality. I do not doubt that +my father sent much information to our Embassy in London--it was what +he was employed to do--but I am sure that he did not basely betray the +wonderful confidence of his hosts. Our countries were at peace. My +father is no Prussian; he is a chivalrous gentleman. I am sure that he +did not send more than his English naval friends were content at the +time that he should send. For in those years your newspapers and your +books upon the Royal Navy of England concealed little from the world. +I have visited Dartmouth; I have dined in the Naval College there with +bright sailor boys of my own age. It was then my one dream, had I +remained in England, to have become an Englishman, and to have myself +served in your Navy. It was a vain dream, but I knew no better. Fate +and my birth made me afterwards your enemy. I would have fought you +gladly face to face on land or sea, but never, never, would I have +stabbed the meanest of Englishmen in the back. + +When I was sixteen years old I left England with my parents and +returned to Triest. I was a good mathematician with a keen taste for +mechanics. I spent two years in the naval engineering shops at Pola, +and I was gazetted as a sub-lieutenant in the engineering branch of +the Austrian Navy. My next two years were spent afloat. Although I did +not know it, I had already been marked out by my superiors for the +Secret Service. My perfect acquaintance with English, my education at +Blundell's, my knowledge of your thoughts and your queer ways, and +twists of mind, had equipped me conspicuously for Secret Service work +in your midst. + +As a youth of twenty, in the first flush of manhood, I was seconded +for service here, and I returned to England. That was five years ago. + + * * * * * + +[I paused, for my throat was dry, and looked up. Cary was leaning +forward intent upon every word. Dawson's face was still turned away; +he had not moved. It seemed to me that to our party of three had been +added a fourth, the spirit of Trehayne, and that he anxiously waited +there yonder in the shadows for the deliverance of our judgment. Had +he, an English public school boy, played the game according to the +immemorial English rules? I went on.] + + * * * * * + +It was extraordinarily easy for me to obtain employment in the heart +of your naval mysteries. Few questions were asked; you admitted me as +one of yourselves. I took the broad open path of full acceptance of +your conditions. I first obtained employment in a marine engineering +shop at Southampton, joined a trade union, attended Socialist +meetings--I, a member of one of the oldest families in Trieste. Though +a Catholic, I bent my knee in the English Church, and this was not +difficult, for I had always attended service in the chapel at +Blundell's. To you, my friend, I can say this, for you are of some +strange sect which consigns to the lowest Hell both Catholics and +Anglicans alike. Your Heaven will be a small place. From Southampton I +went to the torpedo training-ship _Vernon_. Again I had no difficulty. +I was a workman of skill and intelligence. I was there for more than +two years, learning all your secrets, and storing them in my mind for +the benefit of my own Service at home. + +It was at Portsmouth that there came to me the great temptation of my +life, for I fell in love, not as you colder people do, but as a +Latin of the warm South. She was an English girl of good, if +undistinguished, family. Though in my hours of duty I belonged to that +you call the 'working classes,' I was well off, and lived in private +the life of my own class. I had double the pay of my rank, an +allowance from my father, and my wages, which were not small. There +were many English families in Portsmouth and Southsea who were +graciously pleased to recognise that John Trehayne, trade unionist, +and weekly wage-earning workman, was a gentleman by birth and +breeding. In any foreign port I should have been under police +supervision as a person eminently to be suspected; in Portsmouth I was +accepted without question for what I gave myself out to be--a +gentleman who wished to learn his business from the bottom upwards. I +will say nothing of the lady of my heart except that I loved her +passionately, and should have married her--aye, and become an +Englishman in fact, casting off my own, country--if War had not blown +my ignoble plans to shatters. There was nothing ignoble in my love, +for she was a queen among women, but in myself for permitting the hot +blood of youth to blind my eyes to the duty claimed of me by my +country. When war became imminent, I was not recalled, as I had hoped +to be, since I wished to fight afloat as became my rank and family. I +was ordered to take such steps as most effectively aided me to observe +the English plans and preparations, and to report when possible to +Vienna. In other words, I was ordered to act in your midst as a +special intelligence officer--what you would call a Spy. It was an +honourable and dangerous service which I had no choice but to accept. +My dreams of love had gone to wreck. I could have deceived the woman +whom I loved, for she would have trusted me and believed any story of +me that I had chosen to tell. But could I, an officer, a gentleman by +birth and I hope by practice, a secret enemy of England and a spy upon +her in the hour of her sorest trial, could I remain the lover of an +English girl without telling her fully and frankly exactly what I was? +Could I have committed this frightful treason to love and remained +other than an object of scorn and loathing to honest men? I could not. +In soul and heart she was mine; I was her man, and she was my woman. +With her there were no reserves in love. She was mine, yet I fled from +her with never a word, even of good-bye. I made my plans, obtained +certificates of my proficiency in the _Vernon_, kissed my dear love +quietly, almost coldly, without a trace of the passion that I felt, +and fled. It was the one thing left me to do. My friend, that was two +years ago. She knows not whether I am alive or am dead; I know not +whether she is alive or is dead. Yet during every hour of the long +days, and during every hour of the still longer nights, she has been +with me. I have done my duty, but I do not think that I wish to live +very much longer. If death comes to me quickly--and to those in my +present trade it comes quickly--will you, my friend, of your bountiful +kindness write to [here followed a name and address] and repeat +exactly what I now say. Do not tell what I was or how I died, but just +write, "He loved you to the last." There is a portrait in a locket +round my neck and a ring on my finger. Send her those, my good friend, +and she will know that your words are true. + + * * * * * + +I fled as far from Portsmouth, where my dear love dwelt, as I could +go; I fled to Greenock, that dreadful sodden corner of earth where the +rain never ceases to fall, and the sun never shines. At Greenock one +measures the rainfall not by inches, but by yards. Sometimes, not +often, a pale orb struggles through the clouds and glimmers faintly +upon the grimy town--some poor relation of the sun, maybe, but not the +godlike creature himself. For six months, in this cold desolate spot, +among a people strangely unlike the English of Devon, though they are +of kindred race, I laboured for six months in the Torpedo Factory. I +lived meanly in one room, for my Austrian pay and allowance had +stopped when War cut the channels of communication. I could, had I +chosen, have drawn money from German agencies in London, but I scorned +to hold truck with them. They were traitors to the England which +trusted and protected them, and of which they were citizens. I lived +upon my wages and preserved jealously all that I had saved during my +years of comparative affluence at Portsmouth. It was duty which made +me a Spy, not gold. + +One day I was called into the office of the Superintendent, and it was +hinted to me, diplomatically, not unskilfully, that I was desired to +take service with the English secret police. I feigned reluctance, +made difficulties, professed diffidence, until pressure was put upon +me, and I was forced to accept a position which I could never by any +scheming have achieved. Those whom the gods seek to destroy, they +first drive mad--you are a very trustful unsuspicious folk, all except +you to whom I write. But even you did not, I am sure, suspect me at +the beginning. I was sent to Scotland Yard in London to be trained in +my new duties. You saw me there, and claimed me for your staff, and I +came to this centre of shipbuilding and worked here with you. I was +clothed in the uniform of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. + +There are two matters closely affecting my personal honour which will +seem of small moment to you--you who display always a sublime +patriotic scorn of every moral scruple; but to me they are great. I am +of the old chivalry of Italy, and I have been taught at school in +England always to play the game. Though I wore the uniform of the +R.N.V.R., it was as a disguise and cloak of my police office; I was +never attested. I have never, never, never sworn allegiance to +England. I have always kept troth with my own country; I have never +broken troth with England. Had the English naval oath been proffered +to me, I should have refused it at any hazard to my personal safety. +My honour is unstained. + +You have paid me for my work, I have taken your pay, but I have not +spent it upon myself. Every penny of it for the last twelve months +will be found at my quarters. I have lived upon what I saved at +Portsmouth--lived sometimes very scantily. My funds are running low. +What I shall do when they are exhausted I cannot tell. Perhaps, who +knows, they will last my time. As for the rest, that packet of +Treasury Notes which has been my police pay, unexpended, will you take +it, my friend, and pay it to the fund for assisting the English +sailors interned in Holland? I should feel happier if they would +accept it, for I have, as you will presently learn, taken some of +their names in vain. I have not broken any oath, and I have not used +your pay; my honour is unstained. + + * * * * * + +[Again I paused and glanced at Dawson. He had not even winced--at +least not visibly--when Trehayne had held him free from every moral +scruple. He must, I think, have read the letter many times before he +had handed it to me. Cary looked troubled and uneasy. To him a spy had +been just a spy--he had never envisaged in his simple honest mind such +a super-spy as Trehayne. I went on.] + + * * * * * + +Now nothing was hidden from me; I had within my hands all the secrets +of England's Navy. My one difficulty--and it was not so great a one as +you may think--was communication with my country. Never for one moment +did it fail. Years before it had been thought out and prepared. I +varied my methods. At Portsmouth, during the early weeks of the War, I +had employed one means, at Greenock another, here yet another. The +basis of all was the same. It was much more difficult for me to +receive orders from my official superiors in Austria, but even those +came through once or twice. Never, during the whole of the past year, +have I failed to send every detail of the warships building and +completed here, of the ships damaged and repaired, of the movements of +the Fleets in so far as I could learn them. My country and her Allies +have seen the English at work here as clearly as if this river had +been within their own borders. John Trehayne has been their Eye--an +unsleeping, ever-watching Eye. Shall I tell you how I got my +information through? It was very simple, and was done under your own +keen nose. One of the R.N.V.R. who went with your Mr. Churchill to +Antwerp, and was interned in Holland, was a friend of mine at +Greenock, well known to me, I wrote to him constantly, though he never +received and was never meant to receive my letters. They were all +addressed to the care of a house in Haarlem where lived one of our +Austrian agents who was placed under my orders. All letters addressed +by me to my friend were received by him and forwarded post haste to +Vienna. Do you grasp the simplicity and subtlety of the device? My +friend was on the lists of those interned in Holland, no one here knew +where he lodged, the address used by me was as probable as any other; +what more natural and commendable than that I should write to cheer +him up a bit in exile, and that I should send him books and +illustrated magazines? If it had been noticed by the postal +authorities in Holland that my friend did not live at the address +which I used, it would have been supposed that I had made a mistake, +and no suspicion would have been attracted to me. But how did my +letters, books, and magazines containing information, the most secret +and urgent, pass through the censorship unchecked? That again was +simple. My letters were those which a friend in freedom in England +would write to his friend who was a captive in Holland. They were +personal, sympathetic, no more. The books and magazines were just +those which such a man as my friend would desire to have to lighten +the burden of idleness. Between the lines of my letters, and on the +white margins of the books and papers, I wrote the vital information +which my country desired to have, and I desired to give. The ink which +I used for this purpose left no trace and could not be made visible by +any one who had not its complementary secret. It is the special ink of +the Austrian Secret Service; you do not know it, your Censors do not +know it, your chemists might experiment for months and years and not +discover it. I used it always, and you never read what I wrote. Now +you will understand why I wish the small stock of money, my police +pay, which I could not myself have used without dishonour, to go to +the interned sailors in Holland. I feel that I owe to my friend some +little reparation for the crooked use to which I have put his name. + +There is little more to tell. Three weeks ago I received by post from +London a copy of _Punch_. It had been despatched to me unordered, from +the office of the paper in an office wrapper. You know that English +papers may not now be sent abroad to neutral countries except direct +from the publishing offices of the newspapers themselves. It is a +precaution of the censorship, childish and laughable, for what is +easier than to imitate official wrappers? I guessed at once, when I +saw this unordered copy of _Punch_, that the wrapper was a faked one, +and that it had come to me bearing orders from my superiors. I applied +my chemical tests to the margins of the pages and upon the +advertisement of a brand of whisky appeared the orders which I had +expected. I read what was written, and I have not suffered greater +pain--no, not upon that day when I fled from Portsmouth without a +word of good-bye to the woman who possessed my heart. For I learned +then that my country, the proud, clean-fighting Austria, had given up +its soul into the keeping of the filthy Prussian assassins. I was +directed to damage or delay every warship upon which I worked, to +employ any means, to blow up unsuspecting English seamen--not in the +hot blood of battle, but secretly as an assassin. A step in rank was +promised for every battleship destroyed. Had these foul Orders +admitted of no loophole through which my honour might with difficulty +wriggle, I should have taken the only course possible to me. I should +have instantly resigned my commission in the Austrian Navy, and taken +my own life. But it happened that I had an alternative. I was ordered +to damage or delay warships. I would not treacherously slay the +English sailors among whom I worked, but I would, if I could, delay +the ships. My experience taught me that the simplest and most +effective way was to cut the electric wires, and I decided to do it +whenever opportunity offered. I could not do this for long. I was +certain to be discovered. You are not a man who fails before a +definite problem in detection. But before I was discovered I could do +something to carry out my Orders. + +I cut the gun-wires of the _Antinous_. It was easy. I was the last to +leave of the shore party. Then you sent me on board the _Antigone_. +She was closely watched, the task was very difficult, and dangerous; I +was within the fraction of a second of discovery, but I took one chop +of my big shears. The job was ill done, but I could do no better. + +You warned me fairly, that if injury came to the _Malplaquet_, while +under my charge, that I should be dismissed. She was my last chance as +she was your own. But what to me were risks? I had lost my love, and +my country had dishonoured herself in my eyes. I was nameless, +loveless, countryless. All had gone, and life might go too. + + * * * * * + +I am completing this letter before going on board the _Malplaquet_ and +placing it where you will readily find it. I know you, my friend, more +intimately than you know yourself. I am certain that even now you are +in the ship, that you are preparing snares into which I shall in all +probability fall. Your snares are well set. If I fail, it will be +through you; if I am caught, it will be through you. But be sure of +this--if we meet in the _Malplaquet_, the fowler and the bird, it will +be for the last time. You may catch me, but you will not take me. For +a long time past I have provided against just such an outcome as this. +Upon my uniform tunics, upon my overalls, I have fixed buttons, +hollowed out, each of which contains enough of cyanide of potassium to +kill three men. If I were court-martialled and shot, there would be no +disgrace to me, an officer on secret service, but a whisper of it +might steal to Portsmouth and give deep pain to one there. No one will +learn of the petty officer of R.N.V.R. who died far away in the north. +The locket with the portrait is round my neck, the ring is upon my +finger. Both are ready waiting for you who will do what I ask and will +keep my secret from her. + +I have the honour to be, sir, + +Your obedient servant, + +JOHN TREHAYNE. + + * * * * * + +I folded up the papers and returned them to Dawson, who carefully +placed them in his pocket. In the shadows the spirit of Trehayne still +seemed to be waiting. I thought for a few minutes, and then rose to my +feet. "He was an officer on secret service," said I slowly. "An enemy, +but a gallant and generous enemy. In love and in war he played the +game, Requiescat in pace." + +"Amen," said Cary. + +Dawson rose and gripped our hands. "I have the locket and the ring, +and I will write as he wished. It is the least that I can do." + +They buried Trehayne with naval honours as an enemy officer who had +died among us. England does not war with the dead. Though he had +fallen by his own hand, the Roman Church did not withhold from an +erring son the beautiful consolation of her ritual. Cary and I openly +attended the funeral. Dawson was officially in bed, suffering from his +much-desired attack of influenza. But in the firing party of Red +Marines, whose volleys rang through the wintry air over the body of +Trehayne, I espied one whom I was glad to see present. + + + + + +PART II + + +_MADAME GILBERT_ + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE WOMAN AND THE MAN + +If one believed Dawson's own accounts of his exploits--I can conceive +no greater exercise in folly--one would conclude that he never failed, +that he always held the strings by which his puppets were constrained +to dance, and that he could pluck them from their games and shut them +within his black box whenever he grew wearied of their fruitless +sport. He trumpets his successes, but he never speaks of his +failures--he buries them so deeply that he forgets them himself. He +veils his plans, movements, and personal appearance in a fog of +mystery. None, not even his closest associates, know what he would be +at until a job is completely finished, and finished successfully. Thus +when he succeeds, his own small world is deeply impressed--even +nauseated--by the compelling spectacle of a Dawson triumphant; when he +fails, very few know or hear of the failure. He loves the jealousy of +his equals and inferiors even more than the admiration of his +superiors. Thoroughly to enjoy life he must be surrounded by both in +the amplest measure. + +What I now have to tell is the story of a failure--a failure due to +his refusal ever to allow his right hand to know what his left hand +sought to do. He never told me himself one word concerning this story. +I obtained the details partly from Captain Rust, partly from Dawson's +Deputy, but chiefly from the lady who filled the star rôle. Dawson +himself foolishly introduced me to her nearly two years later; he did +not anticipate that we should become friendly, confidential, that we +should discuss him and his little ways over cups of tea, made the +sweeter by the clandestine nature of our frequent meetings. He had not +allowed for the fascinations of the lady--fascinations so alluring +that even I, a middle-aged Father of a Family and Justice of the +Peace, was instantly reduced by them to the softest moral pulp; and he +had not allowed for the Puckish glee with which I welcomed the tale, +rolled it round in my wicked fancy, and bent its ramifications into an +orderly narrative. + + * * * * * + +I very vividly remember my first meeting with the lady. She came one +day, a fortnight after I had returned from Cary's flat to my neglected +duties, heralded by a short note from Dawson. "I shall be greatly +obliged if you will give Madame Gilbert all assistance in your power. +She is one of my team." That was all, but my curiosity was piqued. I +had heard much of Dawson's team of feminine assistants--rudely called +by rivals his "harem"--and I was eager to meet one of them. I ordered +Madame Gilbert to be admitted to my presence. She came, I saw, she +conquered. When I assert that in two minutes she had plucked me from +my chair of dignity, flung me upon the Turkey carpet, and jumped upon +me with her daintily shod feet, I do not exaggerate. + +She was not very young--I put her at two or three years over thirty. +She was, or gave herself out to be, a widow. She was a female +detective; I was a modest gentleman of rigid English respectability, +not without some matrimonial experience in the ways of Woman. There +was nothing in the purpose of her visit to have caused her to come +upon me as a Venus, fully armed, and to have forced me to an abject +surrender. From the feathers of her black picture hat to the tips of +her black velvety shoes she was French-clad, the French of Paris, and +wore her clothes like a Frenchwoman. She was dressed--_bien habillée, +bien gantée, bien coiffée_. Her hair was red copper, her skin--the +"glad neck" of her dress showed a lot of it--had the colour and bloom, +the cream and roses, of Devon. Her eyes were very large and of a deep +violet All these charms of dress and face and colour I could have +gallantly withstood, but the voice of her settled my business at once. +Its rich, full tone, its soft, appealing inflection, the pretty +foreign accent with which she then chose to speak English--I can hear +them now. I have always been sensitive to beautiful voices, and Madame +Gilbert's voice is beyond comparison the most beautiful voice in the +wide world. + +Madame Gilbert made one or two small requests to which I gave an +immediate assent, and then she asked me to do something within my +power but much against my uncontrolled will. "Madame," said I +shamelessly, "as you are strong be merciful; let me off as lightly as +you can." She laughed, and eyed me with interest. My defeat had been +with her, of course, a certainty, but perhaps it took place more +rapidly than she had expected. "I have not asked for much," said she. + +"It is not what you have asked that I fear, but what you may ask +before I get you out of my room," said I. + +She laughed again and let me down very gently. I did not tell her more +than three secrets which I was pledged never to reveal. "That's all," +said Madame Gilbert. "Thank Heaven," said I. + +On the following afternoon, about four o'clock, Madame Gilbert called +again upon me. When her card was brought in I trembled, and for a +moment had in mind to deny myself to her. But I thrust away the +cowardly thought. Be brave, said I to myself, advance boldly, attack +the terrible delightful siren, say "no" to her once, and you will be +saved! She entered, and though my knees shuddered as I rose to greet +her, my mien was bold and warlike. She warmly squeezed my hand, and I +returned the attention with _empressement_. For a few minutes we +exchanged polite compliments, and then she sprung upon me in her +tender confident tones, a request so preposterous that my rapidly +flitting courage was stimulated to return. Be brave, I murmured to +myself, attack boldly, say "No," and you will be saved for ever. + +"I deeply regret, madame," said I coldly, "that it is not possible for +me to accede to your wishes." It was done, and I breathed more freely +though the sweat broke out on my forehead. + +Her eyes opened upon me with the pained surprised look of a deeply +disappointed child. "Oh, Mr. Copplestone," she moaned, "and I thought +that you were my friend." + +I clutched tightly at the arms of my faithful chair and held to my +programme of heroic boldness. + +"You shouldn't have asked me such a question. You really +shouldn't--you know you shouldn't." + +Her eyelids flickered, and the violet pools which they uncovered +glittered with a moisture which was not of tears, and she laughed, +laughed, and continued to laugh with the deepest enjoyment. + +"I wanted to see how much you would stand," said she at last. + +From that moment her spell over me was broken, and we became friends. +I admired her as much as ever, but she was no longer the all-devouring +siren. I could say "no" to her as easily as to the most dowdy and +unbeautiful of female axe-grinders. + +"Will you permit me to offer you a cup of tea so as to wash from your +mouth the unpleasant taste of my brutal refusal?" + +"I will," said Madame Gilbert graciously. + +We issued from my office and betook ourselves to a pleasant shop where +we could drink tea and nibble cakes, and talk without being overheard. +Madame Gilbert, I observed, had a healthy appetite. + +We talked of ourselves and exchanged delicious confidences. "You have +asked me many questions," I said. "May I ask one of you? What are you? +You are not English, and you are not, I think, French." + +"Shall I also learn a lesson from you in unkindness and say 'No'?" she +inquired. "But it would be cruel, for you have really been quite nice +to me. I will reveal the secret of my birth." She put up one hand and +began to tick off the countries which had been privileged to play a +part in her origin and education. "My father was a Swede--one; my +mother was an Irishwoman--two. I was born at Cork in Ireland, but +remember nothing about it, for my father died when I was three years +old, and my Irish mother removed instantly to Paris--three. By the +way, I have observed that the Irish and the Scotch always run away +from their own countries at the first possible opportunity. Why is +this?" + +"It is much pleasanter," I remarked sententiously "to sentimentalise +over the fringes of the United Kingdom from a safe distance, than to +live in them." + +"Oh! Let me see, I had got as far as Paris. When I was old enough I +went to a convent school there. I speak French rather better than I do +the Irish-English which my mother taught me." + +"You speak English most charmingly. There is about it now a delicate +suggestion, no more, of Ireland. When you first came to me your accent +was distinctly foreign, French or Italian. I am afraid that you are a +wicked woman, a deceiver, and that the fascinating accent was put on +for my subduing. It was a very pretty accent." + +"I have found it most effective," said she brazenly. + +"When I was eighteen I was married--to an Italian (Guilberti)--four. I +should have become a Catholic, my husband's faith, but for my mother's +Protestant-Irish prejudices. She was of the Irish Church, my husband +of the Roman, so I compromised. I joined the Church of England, the +High Branch." + +"Your religion is almost as complicated as your nationality." + +"Yes, isn't it?" said she. Her hand was still uplifted; she had paused +at the fourth finger. "We lived in Italy and in France. Two years ago +my husband died, and shortly after the war began my mother died. I had +a little money, I was known to the Embassy in Paris as one who could +pass indifferently as English, or French, or Italian. I wanted to +strike a blow for all my countries, and I was recommended to Mr. +Dawson for"--she looked round carefully, bent her head close to mine, +and whispered--"the Secret Service. So I came for the first time that +I remember to England--five." + +"But what are you?" I asked, with knitted brows; "I am not an +international lawyer." + +"Mr. Dawson says"--I found that she has a childlike confidence in the +redoubtable Dawson--"that by birth I am a British subject. My Swedish +father doesn't count, as I never adopted Sweden when I came of age. My +domicile before marriage was France, but by marriage I became an +Italian. It is no matter; I am of the Entente, and I do my bit. It is +not a bad bit sometimes." + +That was the first of many agreeable tea-drinkings which Madame +Gilbert and I took together. + +Madame Gilbert believes herself to be, as she puts it, a woman of +"surprising virtue," and I am by no means sure that she is not right. +For the doing of her bit has led her into situations from which +nothing but the coolest of hearts and the quickest of wits could have +brought her out untarnished. She has played her part gallantly, +serenely, in the service of the Alliance; I should be a poor creature +if I judged her by British provincial standards. Among other stories +she told me the tale which I will repeat to the reader. Here and there +were gaps which I have sought diligently to fill up until the whole +has been made complete. Madame Gilbert told to me the most intimate +details without a blush, and if in my telling I startle the blood to +the cheek of the very oldest of readers, the fault will rest with me. + + * * * * * + +"I have a notion, Madame Gilbert, which I should like you to follow +up," said Dawson. He was at that time (the Spring of 1915) in his +office in London--he had not yet been despatched on his spacious +pilgrimage to the northern shipyards--and Madame Gilbert sat opposite +to him in an attitude deliberately provocative. She sat back in a +comfortable chair facing the light, her legs were crossed, and she +displayed a great deal more of beautifully rounded calf and perfectly +fitting silk stockings than is usual even in the best society. +Although she did not look at Dawson, she was fully conscious of the +frowning glare which he threw at the audacious leg. + +"Please give me your attention--if you can. I have been out at the +Front lately, at General Headquarters, to advise upon the means of +stopping the flow of information from our lines to the enemy. All the +obvious channels have been stopped--the telephones hidden in French +cellars, the signals given by the hands of clocks, the German spies +dressed in uniforms stripped from our dead, and so on. Lots of them, +all obvious and simple. One can deal with that sort of thing by a +careful system of unremitting watchfulness. We must have caught up +with most of the arrangements made by the Germans before the war, but +they still get much more information than is good for them to have, +and for us to lose. I am convinced--and G.H.Q. agrees--that there are +many officers, especially in the French and Belgian armies, who were +planted there years before the war for the precise purpose to which +they are now put. Even in our own Army, which is expanding so rapidly, +the same thing is possible, even probable. An infantry officer spy can +do little--he knows nothing of the Staff plans, and cannot get into +communication with the enemy at all readily, without arousing +suspicion. I went into the whole thing at the Front, and I put my +finger, as I always do, upon the danger spot--the Flying Corps. Those +who fly constantly over our own and the enemy's lines have complete +information as to distribution and movements, and, if they choose, can +drop dummy bombs containing news for the enemy to pick up. A French, +Belgian, or English aeroplane 'observer' in the enemy's secret service +could convey information to him at pleasure and without the +possibility of detection. I don't suspect our own Flying Corps, except +on the general principle of suspecting everybody and everything, but I +do that of the French and the Belgians. France and Belgium were salted +through and through by the Germans in anticipation of war. There in +the Flying Corps we have a very grave danger which--But I see that you +are not attending, madame," he broke off angrily. + +Her eyes withdrew from the offending leg for an instant, and flashed +at Dawson with a penetrative power which even he felt. + +"Shall I repeat what you have said, word for word?" asked Madame +Gilbert coldly. + +"I am not now dealing with facts, but with conjecture;" went on +Dawson, after begging her pardon. "I have nothing to go upon, but the +Germans have far more of imagination and ingenuity than we always +credit to them. They must see that with the great advance in the +Flying Corps of the Allied armies, and the opportunities which flying +men have for collecting and conveying information, one flying spy +would be worth a hundred spies on foot. For them to perceive is to +act. I therefore conclude positively that they have agents in the +flying squadrons of France and Belgium, and possibly even in our own. +So I told the C. in C., and he agreed with me. He was good enough to +say that he would never have thought of this had I not suggested it to +him. Soldiers are not detectives, madame, and very few detectives are +William Dawsons. If the War Office knew its business, every Assistant +Provost-Marshal would be, not a soldier, but a man from the Yard, and +I should be the P.M. in Chief on the Headquarters Staff. I should wear +a general's uniform and hat." + +"You would look sweet," said Madame politely. + +Dawson, the ex-private of Red Marines, swelled out his chest and felt +himself to be a Major-General at the least. + +"They will do their best to follow up my idea at the Front, and I +shall start a campaign here. For I become more and more convinced that +the head centre of the German secret service is here in London. Paris, +even before the war, was too watchful, and now is as hot as Hell. +London reeked with spies, and though we locked up the worst of them +when war broke out, lots still remain. If you only knew how many we +laid by the heels and keep shut up without any trial, or nonsense of +that sort, you would be surprised. It is only since the Defence of the +Realm Act was passed that England has become a free country. We keep a +drag-net going continually, we have hundreds of agents in all +suspected quarters, but this wilderness of bricks and mortar is too +big even for us. Once an enemy agent has got himself into an English +or Allied uniform, he is horribly difficult to run down. That is where +you, and those like you, come in. Are you sure, my dear madame, that +you can pass without detection as a Frenchwoman or a French-Belgian?" + +Madame Gilbert put up her left hand, and began to tick off her +qualifications. "My father was a Swede, my mother was Irish, I was +educated in France from the age of three to eighteen, I married an +Italian. Brussels I know almost as well as dear Paris. I can be +Parisienne or Bruxelloise--whichever you wish, Mr. Dawson." + +"Good," said Dawson. "What I want of you is this. Whenever here in +London you see a French or Belgian officer wearing the badges of the +Flying Corps, mark him down. Make his acquaintance somehow; you will +know how. Entertain him, fascinate him, let him entertain you; fool +him as you would fool me if I let you; worm out his secrets, if he has +any. If you get upon a promising track, go strong; let the man make +love to you--he will, whoever he is, if you give him half a +chance--intoxicate him with those confounded eyes of yours. If you can +find only one who is in the enemy's service, you will be fully repaid +for all your trouble." + +"It is a largish contract," murmured Madame thoughtfully. + +"There are not so very many flying officers," said Dawson, "and they +are all young. You will work through them pretty quickly. Most of them +will be the genuine article upon whom you need not waste much time. +But the others, those whom I suspect, you must grab hold of and never +let go, whatever happens." + +"I hope," said Madame primly, "that you do not expect me to do +anything--improper." + +Dawson stared at her in wonder. Her big eyes, shining with the lovely +innocence of childhood, met his without a flicker. "Bless my immortal +soul," he muttered, "she is getting at me again." Then aloud, and +gravely--"My assistants are always expected to conduct themselves with +the strictest propriety." + +Madame laughed softly. "I have known many men in my time, Mr. Dawson, +but I have never enjoyed any man so much as I do you." + +"I appear to have rather a roaming commission," Madame Gilbert went +on, after a thoughtful pause. "Can you not give me any guidance?" + +"Not at present. I am testing an idea, that is all. You must be guided +by your own wit and judgment, in which I have the utmost confidence. +Don't waste your time or fascinations on the wrong people. Find out if +among the French or Belgian flying officers, who from time to time +visit London, there are any whose connections and movements will repay +close watching here and at the Front. Sift them out. When you get upon +a track which seems promising, follow it up, and do not be--what shall +I say?--do not be too squeamish. Money is no object. Behind us is the +whole British Treasury, and you can have whatever you want. Will you +take on the contract, madame?" + +"I will do my best," she replied soberly, "and I will not be--too +squeamish. I can look after myself, my friend." + +In another room of the great building upon the Thames Embankment sat +Deputy Chief Inspector Henri Froissart, a French detective officer who +had been "lent" to the English service. Opposite him was sitting a +young handsome man in the uniform of a captain in the British Army. +Froissart was frowning and speaking in savage disrespect of Dawson, +his immediate chief. "This English Dawson, with whom it is my +misfortune to work, is of all men the most impossible. He is clever, +as the Devil, but secretive--my faith! He tells me nothing. He lives +in disguise of body and mind. There are twenty men in his face, his +figure, and his dress. He comes to me as a police officer, a doctor, a +soldier, a priest, even as an old hag who cleans the stairs. He +deceives me continually, and laughs, laughs. He is a reproach and an +insult. I have it in my mind to score off him; what do you say, mon +ami?" + +Froissart spoke in French, and the English officer replied in the same +language. "With pleasure, in the way of business. I have been placed +at your orders, not at old man Dawson's. Go ahead, what is the game?" + +Froissart nodded approval. "I think that you can pass as a French +officer or a French-speaking Belgian. Is it not so?" + +"You should be able to certify that better than I can myself," replied +the officer modestly. "As a boy I was brought up at Dinard in +Normandy. I served two years in the French Army as a volunteer, a +gunner. Then I went to St. Cyr, but England, the home of my father, +claimed me, and I was given a commission in the Artillery. That was +two years ago. I volunteered for the Flying Corps, served in it at the +outbreak of war, but was invalided after that confounded accident +which spoilt my nerve. I fell two hundred feet into the sea, and +passed thirty hours in the bitter water before a destroyer picked me +up. Thirty hours, my friend. My nerve went, and I was besides crippled +by rheumatism of the heart. Then I was for a few weeks liaison officer +on the Yser at the point where the English and Belgian lines met. The +wet, the cold, were too great for me, and again I was invalided. I was +a temporary captain without a job until you met me and asked for me to +be attached to you for secret service. Yes, M. Froissart, I can pass +as a French or a Belgian officer. It needs but the uniform." + +"Good," cried Froissart. "You are English of the English, and French +of the French. You have served under the Tricolor and under the Union +Jack. You are an embodiment of L'Entente Cordiale. You almost +reconcile me to that detestable Dawson, but not quite. He is of the +provincial English, what you call a Nonconformist--bah! He is clever, +but bourgeois. He grates upon me; for I, his subordinate in this +service, am _aristocrat_, a Count of _l'ancien régime, catholique, +presque royaliste_. His blood is that of muddy peasants, yet he is my +chief! Peste, I spit upon the sacred name of Dawson!" + +"You don't seem to be a very loyal subordinate," observed the officer, +smiling. + +"Me, not loyal!" cried Froissart astonished. "I surely am of all men +most loyal to l'Entente. Have I not proved my loyalty? I have left my +beautiful France and come here to this foggy London to aid this +flat-footed _homme de bout_, Dawson, in his researches. Yet he tells +me nothing. He disguises himself before me, and laughs, laughs, when I +fail to recognize his filthy, obscene countenance. But I am loyal, of +a true loyalty unapproachable." + +"I believe you, though you have a queer way of showing it. What is now +the game that you want to play off on the old man as a proof of your +unapproachable loyalty?" + +"He is clever, my faith, clever as the Devil. He discerns the German +plans before they are made. He has their agents within a wire net +which closes whenever he wishes. He has swept London clean of the foul +brood which festered here before the war. I have great, limitless +confidence in this Dawson whom I detest, but to whom I am of all his +assistants the most loyal. He now suspects that contained within the +Flying Corps of us, the Belgians, and the English are observers in the +pay of Germany. It is an idea most splendid. For if it is true, what +greater opportunity could be given to any spies! To fly over our +lines, to learn of everything, and then to convey the news to the +enemy by way of the air! If he had told me of this most perspicuous of +theories, I would have aided him with all the wealth of my genius. But +no, he tells to me nothing. He comes and goes, he spins his web like a +great fat female spider, but he tells me nothing. It is my belief that +he despises me because I am French, _aristocrat_, and _catholique_. +But I will show him; I will, as you call it, score most bitterly off +him; I will do in my way successfully what he vainly seeks to do in +his way. _Conspuez_ Dawson!" + +"This is quite like the old times of the Dreyfus case," said the +Englishman. + +"Dreyfus! But I will speak not of that. It is buried. We French are +one people now, one and indivisible. Though of traitors, the villain +Dreyfus was of the most horrible. Let us speak of _cet homme très +sale_, Dawson. I do not know his plans. They will be shrewd, but +without imagination, without flair. He will watch, with his eyes of a +cat, the French and Belgian flying officers who come to London, but he +will not discover their secrets. For he does not understand, this cold +English Dawson, that secrets which endanger the neck are told only to +women." + +"Yet I have heard that he has a team of women--his harem, as it is +called. I have never seen one of them." + +"Bah! Englishwomen, of the large feet and the so protruding teeth! Who +would tell of his precious secrets to them!" + +"Oh, come, M. Froissart. We have as many pretty women in London as you +have in Paris." + +"It is possible, my friend. All things, the most improbable, are +possible. But they conceal themselves most assiduously. I have not +seen them, these so pretty Englishwomen." + +"Well, well. You are a bit out of date as regards our women. But I +don't want to argue. What is the game?" + +Froissart leaned forward and spoke solemnly, forcibly. + +"If the man Dawson is right, and there are German spies in the French +and Belgian flying services, they will come to London to get their +orders. And they will get them from women, depend upon it, my friend. +From women who are of French education, who appear to be French, yet +who are the deadly, the most dangerous, enemies of France. Let Dawson +watch the men themselves; but watch you such women as I +indicate--women who appear to be French and yet are not French. I will +speak to the Chief, not to Dawson, but to the Great Chief of us all. +You shall be dressed in the tenue of a French flying officer; you +shall avoid French or Belgian officers who might ask questions the +most embarrassing. You shall make the acquaintance of women who appear +to be French, yet who are not French. Grip on to these, my friend, +entertain them, make yourself of the most fascinating and agreeable, +give to them attentions and love of the warmest. And when after two or +three glasses of champagne you repose at ease with your arm about +their waists, get you at their secrets. You are young, handsome, and +your eye is bold. I give you a pleasant task--the deception of +deceiving women. In my younger days what joy would I not have taken in +it." + +Captain Rust became very gloomy during this speech for, though French +in education, he was by instinct an Englishman. + +"I don't like the business at all. It sounds mean and grubby, ugh! Not +quite what one would ask of a gentleman." + +Froissart was genuinely surprised. "What do you say, not for a +gentleman? Am I not a gentleman, I, who speak, a Froissart, a Count of +_l'ancien régime_, a Royalist almost? I offer you a task which +combines business and pleasure in the most delicious of proportions. +And you call my offer mean and grubby, _méprisable et crotté_! I do +not ask you to consort with those of the _demi-monde._ The women who +are of most danger to our countries are not _courtisanes_; they are of +the _monde_, fashionable. They meet officers in society; they humour +and flatter them; they display a melting softness of sympathy and +interest. I do not ask you, my friend, to endanger your English +virtue." + +The tone of wondering contempt with which he ended brought a smile to +Rust's lips. + +"I am not so very virtuous, monsieur. But I am English, and I try, +vainly perhaps, to be a gentleman. It seems to me a dirty business to +make up to women in order to wheedle out their secrets." + +"We have to do worse than that in defence of our country. We have to +plot and counterplot, to lie and deceive. But we do these things, and +you must do them too, if you would be of the Secret Service. Content +yourself. Think always that it is for _la belle France_ or for _le bel +Angleterre_, for _la grande Alliance_. You have qualifications +unusual; you are young, handsome, and French in manner and speech. You +are a soldier; it is for me to command, and for you to obey. Besides, +think you; if success comes to us, picture to yourself the desolation +of Dawson!" + +"Desolating Dawson is more your fun than mine. I have no grudge to +work off on the old man. Since you command, I will obey. I will do my +best, but, to be quite frank, I do not like the job." + +"But you will do it. I think that you English, slow to move, do best +those things which you like least. You despise the Secret Service, +what you call dirty spying, yet you do it to admiration--with a +courage and _sang froid_ most wonderful. You hate to begin a war, and +yet when you fight you are, of all people, the most unwilling to stop. +When we French and the Russians yonder have supped of this war to the +dregs, you English will just have begun to find your appetites. Stop? +you will cry. Make peace? Be content? Why, we have just got our second +wind! It will be the same with you, my friend. You begin reluctantly, +but when the chase becomes hot, you will be on fire with zest. You +will not trouble then that _vous vous faites crottés_." + +"I will do my best; I cannot say more than that." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +A PROGRESSIVE FRIENDSHIP + +Neither Madame Gilbert nor Captain Rust are very communicative +concerning their adventures, until they begin to speak of that day +when first they met one another in the courtyard of the Savoy Hotel. +They both then become voluble. I rather gather--though I did not +cross-examine them at all closely--that they had been a good deal +bored. Their instructions were so very vague, and the best method of +carrying them out so far from clear to their ingenious minds, that +they wandered aimlessly about the resorts most affected by officers on +leave, spent much money, made a good many pleasant acquaintances, but +progressed not at all in their researches. Madame did not meet with +any French or Belgian flying officers who seemed likely to be German +agents, and Captain Rust failed to discover a siren who appeared to be +French and yet was not French, and who aroused any plausible suspicion +that she dwelt in the central web of German intrigue. Madame began to +think that for once the impeccable Dawson had despatched her upon a +wild goose chase, and Rust became convinced that Froissart's vivid +longing to score off the detested Dawson had misled him in the +selection of the means to bring about this much-desired consummation. +They told me little of these wanderings, but when I asked for details +of their first meeting, the one with the other, and their subsequent +rather startling proceedings, they broke into eager speech. It was not +until my keen and curious eye began to penetrate the delicate +mysteries surrounding their surprising week-end visit to Brighton that +Rust again became tongue-tied. He reprehensibly slurred over the most +entertaining details. Madame Gilbert, on the other hand, revealed +everything with that plain-spoken frankness which, in any other woman, +would appear to be brazen. Madame is thirty-two; Captain Rust no more +than twenty-six. He is a modest young man in spite of his French +training; she, I am afraid, is a hussy. But I would not have her other +than she is. + +Madame Gilbert was taking tea alone in the courtyard of the Savoy. She +occupied one place at a table laid for four. It was a fine afternoon +in late spring, motors and taxis ran in and out unceasingly, the +open-air restaurant began to fill up, but none ventured to approach +any one of three empty places at Madame's table. She was, as usual, +perfectly dressed--though she assures me that her clothes cost next to +nothing. "It is the wearing of them, my friend, not the cost which +counts." I fancy that her unshakable temper and her gay humour, like +her beauty, are really based, as she says, upon her complete freedom +from ailments. She loves life, and this, perhaps, is why life loves +her. + +Madame Gilbert, though to the unobservant eye intent upon her tea and +cakes, saw every one who came and went. Many officers were in the +restaurant, but one only attracted her special notice. He was a young +handsome man in the field-service kit of the French Army, and upon his +sleeves and cap were the wings of the Flying Corps. This young man was +looking for a table, but could not find one that was empty. She waited +until he paused not far from her, and then, sweeping her eyes slowly +over the crowded tables, brought them to rest upon his face. He was +quite an attractive-looking young man. There was an appeal in his dark +eyes as they met hers; he was imploring her of her gracious kindness +to permit him to occupy one of her superfluous seats, and she +telegraphed to him an encouraging reply. The French officer +approached, saluted, and bowed: "Is it permitted, madame, to +inconvenience you?" he asked humbly. "The tables are very full, or I +would not venture to intrude." He spoke in careful, accurate English, +and with an accent markedly French. + +"Please favour me by sitting down at once," replied Madame. "I feel +myself to be very selfish with my four places and one small person." +She spoke in careful, accurate English, and with an accent markedly +French. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, seating himself opposite to her, and breaking into +French. "Madame is of my country, is it not so?" + +"But certainly," said Madame in the same language, which was to her a +second mother-tongue. "I am of Paris. If you had not been French I +should not have dared to hint to you that a place at this table might +be taken." + +For a few minutes they talked together in the ceremonious style for +which the French language is the perfect medium, and then dropped into +more easy friendly speech. Madame, when she likes the look of a man, +becomes intimate at the shortest notice, and Rust, like every man born +of woman, succumbed helplessly, instantly, to the wiles of Madame. +Though she had finished tea, she urged Rust not to be hurried; there +was plenty of time, and one did not often have the happiness to meet a +French officer in this dreary London. She enveloped him in her meshes +of kindliness, and he responded by thinking to himself that she was +the loveliest, most friendly creature whom he had ever met. Madame +knows a great deal more of military details than most male civilians, +but when she talked to Captain Rust at the Savoy, her ignorance of the +Flying Corps was absolute. She asked questions, quite intelligent +questions, and he bubbled over with eagerness to answer them. Poor +Rust; I can picture the humbling scene. He made an ass of himself, of +course, but not a greater ass than I always make of myself--and I am +not far from double his age--whenever Madame gets to work upon me. + +Within ten minutes she had wheedled out of him an account of his +accident. "I was out on patrol duty," he explained, "spotting for +submarines between the Straits and Zeebrugge. When the weather is fine +we can see deep down into the water, a hundred feet or so, and quite +easily make out a submerged U boat. I was testing a new plane fitted +with a 90 h.p. R.A.F. engine--" He paused and quickly glanced at her, +for he realised his blunder the instant the slip had been made. Madame +was all eager attention--what did she know of the marques of aeroplane +engines!--"It was a day of rotten luck for me. I spotted nothing, and +late in the afternoon my engine began to overheat and miss fire. I did +my utmost to struggle towards Do----, Dunkirk, but the beastly thing +gave out altogether, and down I dropped into the sea. I had an +ordinary land plane without floats, and was obliged to cut myself +clear and keep up as best I could with my air belt. It was a weary +time, waiting to be picked up, all that night and all the next day; +the cold of the water struck right through me, and I was senseless, +like a dead man, when at last, thirty hours afterwards, one of our +destroyers found me floating there, picked me up, and carried me into +Dover. I was in hospital for six weeks, crippled with rheumatic fever, +and my heart went wrong. It is much better now, and I hope soon to get +back to flying again. I am still on sick leave." + +"Poor heart," sighed Madame, and smiled to herself.... "He looked at +me," she explained long afterwards, "as if there was still life in his +poor strained heart. It was a real kindness to give it some gentle +exercise." + +"And when you are well you will again fly for France?" she inquired. + +"Ah, yes. I yearn for the day when the obdurate doctors will permit me +to fly again--for France.... And you, madame, who are so kind to a +poor crippled soldier, is it permitted to ask--" + +"I am, alas, a widow." She paused, and though demurely looking at her +empty tea cup, saw his eyes light up. ["The silly boy was pleased that +I was a widow," she explained. "As if that mattered."] "My poor +husband fell for France--at Le Grand Couronné. That was eight months +ago, and I am still inconsolable. I love to meet the brother officers +of my dear lost husband. He was killed by a shell, close beside his +general, and I do not even know where he was buried." She delicately +wiped her eyes, and Rust murmured broken words of the deepest +sympathy. Yet he was not sorry to hear that his new friend was a +widow. It must have been a most pathetic scene. + +Madame recovered from her sudden rush of grief--brought on by thoughts +of that unknown grave upon Le Grand Couronné!--and began to pull on +her gloves. "And you, my friend?" she asked gently. + +"No one lives who will grieve for me," he replied sadly. + +"You are young, my friend, and your heart will--recover itself. I am +old, made old by illness and sorrow." She was a picture of glowing +health! "May I ask the name by which I may remember you?" + +He was clean bowled, for he, foolishly, had not prepared a plausible +name. "I am called," stammered he, "Captain Rouille." It was the best +that he could do on the instant--the translation of his uncommon +English name into French. + +"A strange name," she murmured, "though the sound of it is beautiful. +Rouille! It signifies, for the moment, the decay of hopes, a mould of +rust obscuring ambition. But in a little while the steel of your +courage will shine bright once more. I am Madame Gilbert; my husband +was of the Territorial Army--a Captain also." She had thought to have +made him a Colonel on General Castelnau's staff, but refrained from so +risky a flight of imagination. An obscure Captain of Territorials +might well be called Guilbert, and pass unidentified. + +As they pressed hands at parting, Rust hesitated. "May one hope, +madame, to meet you again. Your kindness has been great, and I feel +that I have made a new friend." + +"And I also," sighed Madame. "I often come here to drink the English +tea. It is a pleasing custom of London." + +"To-morrow?" he inquired anxiously. "It is possible," replied Madame, +very graciously. + + * * * * * + +"Well," said I, when Madame had told me of this meeting, "I hope that +you had the grace to feel ashamed of yourself. To deceive an invalided +flying officer with your tale of the Captain of Territorials, blown up +by a shell beside his general upon Le Grand Couronné. It was +abominable." + +"It was the unknown grave which fetched him," said Madame cheerfully. + +"Worse and worse. Why could you not have told him the truth?" + +"Because, my stupid friend, the Captain Rouille interested me, and I +was on duty. What was a captain in the French Flying Corps doing with +an aeroplane driven by a 90 h.p. Royal Aircraft Factory engine +(R.A.F.)? Why should he speak of 'our' destroyers, referring to those +of the British, when he ought to have said the 'English' destroyers as +a French officer would have done? Why again should he hesitate over +his name, and then give so impossible a one as Rouille? No, I had +discerned plainly that M. le Capitaine Rouille, whatever he might be, +was not the man he pretended that he was. He spoke French perfectly, +but he was not in the French flying service. He was English. I +recollected my instructions from the great Dawson--to stick to any one +who excited my suspicions, to let him make love to me if need be, and +to discover his secrets. I am, my friend, a martyr to duty. Besides, +le Capitaine Rouille was a handsome young man, very attractive. I was +not grieved at the thought that he might pursue me with his +attentions." + +"Why," I asked in turn of Rust, "did you begin by telling lies to the +charming Madame Gilbert?" + +"I was in French uniform," said he, "and I had to play my part." + +"And a nice mess you made of it," said I rudely. + +"I am afraid that I did. That slip about the R.A.F. engine was +unpardonable. But then how was I to know that the dear woman knew as +much about aeroplanes as I did myself? She was like Desdemona at the +feet of Othello, and, of course, I lost my head. You are as crazy +about her as I am, with less excuse. Besides, I was on duty. Before +Madame had spoken to me for five minutes, I was certain that she was +not French. She spoke perfectly, but there was a little accent, a +delightful accent, that told me she was Irish. That soupçon of a +brogue which gives so delicate a spice to her English appears also in +her French. My mother was an Irish woman, though I have never lived in +Ireland. You know that all the Irish, especially those of America or +of France, are watched most carefully by the police. Many of them hate +the English, and spy upon us. When, therefore, I perceived that +Madame, though she appeared to be French was by birth Irish, I +recollected my instructions from Froissart. It was my duty to stick to +her, to study her. If necessary to make love to her. It did not seem +wholly disagreeable to me," he added dryly, "to make love to Madame +Gilbert." + +"I forgive you," said I, "though, from what I learn, you somewhat +exceeded your instructions." + + * * * * * + +If I were not a most serious writer, this veracious history of Madame +Gilbert and Captain Rust would tend to degenerate into comedy, +possibly to reach the depths of farce. But, to one of my grave bent of +mind, wasted deception, wasted energies, and, above all, wasted +national money, excite rather to tears than to laughter. What a +spectacle was this which I place before the reader! Here were two +trusted members of the English Secret Service pitting against one +another those treasures of intelligence, wit, and sensibility which +they were employed--and paid--to exercise in the defence of their +countries. It may be conceded that one of them was more or less +honest. Rust, I am convinced, had persuaded himself--he has no marked +ability or attractions of any kind that I can discern--that his duty +impelled him to watch Madame with exceeding closeness of attention. +That his strong inclinations marched with his duty may be allowed him +as a privilege; the plea of duty was not, I believe, merely an excuse. +But what can one say in defence of Madame, one who has stored within +her little copper-covered head enough brains to furnish a brigade, +say, of the Women's Emergency Corps? She had perceived that Rust was +an English officer masquerading as a Frenchman, yet she could not have +thought that he was a German spy. Why did she not ask him point blank +what he was doing in that galley. She has never supplied me with a +credible explanation, She pleads, with obvious insincerity, the +instructions of Dawson, which in the most reprehensible way granted to +her the vaguest of roving commissions. She parades her duty before me +in the most tattered of rags. + +Upon the following afternoon, when Madame Gilbert drove up to the +Savoy in a taxi-cab at half-past four, a young man, in the uniform of +a French officer, opened the door and handed her out. It was, of +course, Captain Rust, who had waited palpitating upon the curb for +some three-quarters of an hour. He led her to a small table which he +had reserved for another charming duet of tea, cakes, and +conversation. + +At this second meeting, Madame bent herself to the deft +cross-examination of Rust "Had the Captain Rouille joined St. Cyr as a +cadet officer, or had he served in the ranks of the French Army?" He +had served in the ranks, and broke into details of his training and +garrison service which convinced her that he really had served. She +became thoughtful. Rust, eager to show off his accomplishments, +explained that he had been recommended for a commission and had joined +St. Cyr. More details followed, all of a verisimilitude wholly +convincing. Madame, who knew France and the French Army up and down, +became more thoughtful and more puzzled. It was plain that Rust had +really served in the ranks of the Army, and had been at St. Cyr. Yet +he was an Englishman and an officer of the English Flying Corps! She +asked further questions, innocent, flattering questions, seeking to +discover what had happened to him after his course at St. Cyr. He did +his best, but he was of inconsiderable agility of mind and deficient +in imagination. He had been, he said, with Maunoury's Sixth Army, +which, emerging from Paris in red taxis, had fallen upon the exposed +right wing of von Kluck. His description was accurate enough, but the +lavish details of former narratives were lacking. He had been +_officier de liaison_ on the Aisne; again the little intimate touches +were lacking. He had joined the flying corps, but omitted to explain +how he had learned to fly. It had been at Farnborough, but he could +hardly admit this, and was, unhappily, quite ignorant of the French +flying grounds. + +Madame's quick mind began to see daylight. "How came it, my friend, +that you were flying upon the coast when you suffered that accident, +so terrible, and paralysed that poor brave heart of yours?" Madame +asked the question in the most natural, sympathetic way. It was a +facer for Rust, who regretted that he had been so communicative at +that first meeting "I was lent to the Naval Wing," he explained, and +avoided to particularise. By this time Madame had sorted out his +service. She was quite sure that he had not been with Maunoury or upon +the Aisne, but that in some manner, as yet not clear, he had left St. +Cyr to pass into the English Army. + +When in his turn Rust sought diffidently to penetrate the mystery +surrounding Madame Gilbert, she overflowed with untruthful +particulars. She resembles her master Dawson in this--it is unwise to +believe one word which she wishes you to believe. Of her early life in +Paris she spoke with emotion. She was the beloved only child of a +French doctor--ah, the most learned and pious of men! He died early +smitten by disease contracted during his gratuitous practice amongst +the friendless poor. A most noble parent! Her mother, too, a saint and +angel, had gone aloft shortly after seeing her daughter, Madame, +happily married to a maker of calorifères (anthracite stoves). "I am +unworthy of those so noble parents," wailed Madame in broken tones. It +was not until they were about to separate that Madame Gilbert herself +threw him a bone of truth designed to test his appetite for curiosity. +"I must fly," exclaimed she; "I am a woman _très occupée_. I work, oh, +so very hard, for my belle France and to avenge the death of my +glorious husband." The blown-up stove maker did not seem to Rust to be +a figure of glory, yet he forced himself again to express the deepest +sympathy. "Yes," went on Madame, "I would avenge him. I work,"--she +glanced round cautiously, and then whispered--"I work for the +_gouvernement anglais_. I am an _agent de police_." + +"Were you not rather rash," I asked of Madame Gilbert, "to give +yourself away so completely? He might not have been so thorough an ass +as you thought." + +"My friend," said Madame calmly, "I had taken tea with him twice, and +had satisfied myself that he was not, what you call, very bright. A +dear fellow, handsome, a gentleman of the English pattern, but not +bright. If I had not helped him to get a move on, I might have lunched +with him, had tea, dined with him, attended theatres, traversed in +motors your pleasant countryside, flirted, until I had become a very +old woman, and there would have been nothing to show for all my +exertions. I remembered the instructions of Mr. Dawson, I recalled to +myself my duty, I was compelled to discover who and what was this +Capitaine Rouille, and I could only succeed by forcing him to reveal +himself--to give himself away. When I said that I was an agent of the +English police, he did not believe me; but he was curious--he watched +me. I gave him much to watch and to imagine that he had discovered. +Then one began to get forward." + + * * * * * + +I am ignorant of the diplomatic pourparlers which led up to the +week-end trip to Brighton, that remarkable trip which ended +_l'affaire_ Rust. It must have been planned by Madame; it bears the +unmistakable imprint of her impish wit; it was, too, a bold +development of her designs for the effective speeding up of Rust. He +would have dallied all through the summer, looking feebly for an +opportunity to ravish a despatch-case which always accompanied Madame +and which had become the inseparable and ostentatious "gooseberry" at +their meetings. Madame declared that it was stuffed with papers the +most secret. "The English Government would be desolated if they passed +for one moment out of my hands." This despatch-case played parts quite +human. It was perpetually provocative of Rust's curiosity, and a +reminder that the agreeable pastime of making love to Madame was not +an end in itself, but a means whereby he might discharge his official +duties. It was, moreover, a visible sign that Madame was a woman, +_très occupée_, and a self-styled _agent de police_; it rested always +silent at her side as a protector of innocence. Rust becomes uneasy +when that case is mentioned, but Madame bubbles over at the thoughts +of her _petite chère portefeuille, cette idée de génie_. She brags of +her genius, of her notion _si lumineuse_, of her _guet-apens si +adorable._ + +While Madame must have planned the Brighton trip, she contrived that +the suggestion should come timidly, deprecatingly, from Rust. She +would have scorned so crude an advance, one, too, falling so far short +of her high standard of womanly virtue, as a direct hint that she was +willing to pass three days in a seaside hotel with a young man! _Mais, +non. Ce serait une bêtise incroyable_! I can imagine her hints, +increasing in strength as she beat against the obtuse heaviness of +Rust's intellect. But I cannot imagine how any one, least of all the +brilliant Froissart, should have conceived that lumpish soldier to be +capable of the finesse needful for the Secret Service. He has since +been returned empty, and I do not wonder at it. + +Madame must have lamented the stuffiness of London during the bright +days of early June, and painted, in her enthusiastic French fashion, a +picture of southern England and the glittering Channel. "_Ma foi, mon +ami_, what would I not give for one hour of peace and rest, away from +this swarming hive of men and women? It is as yet too cold to swim in +that sea which washes the shores of my beautiful France--and bears the +so gallant English soldiers to her help--but I would love to sit upon +the sands and gaze, gaze across the waters towards my poor bleeding +land. But, alas, I am a woman _très occupée_." After a great deal of +this sort of thing, Rust was spurred up to suggest that he also was +weary, and that nothing could be more delightful than to sit beside +Madame upon those sands and to bewail with her the woes of their +common country. The idiot did not reflect that a woman of Madame's +taste in dress does not usually mess up her Paris frocks with nasty +sea sand. Madame sighed. It was a charming picture, but, alas, quite +impossible. Rust still further spurred by Madame--"Le Capitaine +Rouille is not very bright"--at last broke into a proposal delivered +with many hesitations and many apologies. Why should not they travel +to Brighton on the Friday evening and draw solace for their weary +souls from a Saturday, Sunday, and possibly Monday, at Brighton? +Madame became a frozen statue of offended womanhood! What, _mon Dieu_, +had she done that he should conceive her to be a light woman? She, the +never-to-be-comforted widow of the incomparably gallant hero of +anthracite stoves and le Grand Couronné. She had been too +unsuspicious, too trustful; their pleasant acquaintance must end upon +the instant; the too-gross insult which he had put upon her could +never be pardoned. Rust was borne away and overwhelmed in the flow of +her sad reproaches. Abjectly he grovelled: He regard the ineffable +Madame Guilbert as a light woman! Perish the thought! He, to whom she +had been an angel of kindness and discretion! He cast a slur upon the +shining brightness of her reputation! Rust had never in his life been +so eloquent. Madame listened with satisfaction. She might in time, +after long years, forgive him, but not yet. The insult, however +unintended, was too fresh and her heart was desolated! She scorched +and scarified Rust during two whole days, for their meetings continued +unbroken, and at last, as an undeserved concession and as evidence of +her soft forgiving heart, she consented to go to Brighton on the +Friday. "We must regard closely _les convenances_. You men, so rash +and so stupid, you do not understand how infinitely precious to us +poor women is the spotless bloom of our reputation." Rust protested +that the bloom upon the unplucked peach was not, in his eyes, more +stainless than the reputation of Madame. How she must have grinned! He +made plans, rude, coarse plans, for the shielding of the so precious +reputation of dear Madame Guilbert, but she gently put them aside. "In +my hands," she declared grandly, "le Capitaine Guilbert has left his +honour, and I will guard it with my life. Alas, what is my life when +my heart is buried in that lonely grave upon le Grand Couronné in +which I pray rests his much-blown-up body. I myself will devise the +means by which I can grant you a mark of my condescending forgiveness +and preserve _sans reproche_ the honour of a Guilbert." + +I confess that I have drawn upon my imagination for most of this +touching scene, but, knowing Madame as I do, I am sure that I have +given the hang of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +AT BRIGHTON + +Madame Gilbert and Captain Rust travelled to Brighton on the Friday +evening in the Pullman train. They occupied different carriages. Their +hotel, one of those facing the sea which washed the far-off shores of +their beloved, bleeding France, had been selected by Madame--"I desire +a hotel, my friend, not a _caravanserai_!" Madame arrived ten minutes +before Rust, and had disappeared within her own _appartement_ when his +cab drove up to the doors. Rust then booked his room, one upon the +second floor. He took that which was offered, and did not observe that +Madame's room was also _au seconde_. But he did notice--he could not +help it--that the imposing lady in charge of the hotel office was +French. "Ah, monsieur le capitaine," said she, beaming caresses upon +him, "with what joy do I perceive the _tenue de campagne_ of my own +Army. I will gladly grant to you one of the rooms of the very best and +at the price of the lowest. The patron, he also is French, and would +be furious if I did not give the most cordial welcome to an _officier +français_." Rust thanked the lady of the bureau, and heartily approved +Madame's choice of an hotel. + +"One moment, if you please," said I to Madame, who supplied me with +these details. "I perceive that both the rooms, yours and Rust's, were +upon the second floor. Is it in this way, you shameless woman, that +you preserved from reproach the honour of the late imaginary stove +man?" + +Madame sighed, and turned upon me the look which, in my mind, I have +labelled "Innocence unjustly traduced." One of these days, with German +thoroughness, I shall prepare a numbered and annotated catalogue of +Madame Gilbert's looks and tones. Though it cannot teach her sex +anything which the youngest member does not already know, it will be +full of valuable instruction and warning for the innocent male. + +"Am I responsible," wailed Madame, "for the allotment of rooms by +_hôteliers_?" + +"Most certainly," I said severely. "I do not know your methods. It is +not given to man to penetrate the unfathomable duplicity of woman. But +I am convinced that had you wished it, you would have been placed _an +premier_, and Rust consigned to the uttermost cock-loft in the roof." + +Madame and Rust dined that first evening at separate tables, but +discovered in one another old friends when they accidentally met +afterwards in the lounge.... "What happiness, can it indeed be le +Capitaine Rouille, the friend closer than a brother of my poor slain +husband?" ... "Madame Guilbert! Can it be you whom I meet thus +unexpectedly? You whom I have not seen since that dreadful +never-to-be-forgotten day upon which I broke to you the news, the +terrible news--" Rust's voice failed; even Madame, who thinks little +of his ability, admits that he performed on this occasion to +admiration. The rencontre was a most affecting one, conducted in +voluble French in the full blaze of publicity in a crowded hotel +lounge. The English audience was impressed and honestly sympathetic; +our insular reserve has been melted in the fires of war. "It is a +French lady, poor thing, who has lost her husband," they whispered, +the one to another, "and that handsome fellow in ordinary +evening-dress is her man's brother officer, who was with him at the +last, and who brought the sad news to her. How sweet she looks, and +how tenderly sympathetic he is!" The eyes of the men had already been +drawn to Madame's royal beauty and those of the women to her dress, a +masterpiece of Paquin. Now that she had met Rust the men were +sorrowful, regretting a vanished opportunity of making her +acquaintance, and the women were relieved. She was too formidable a +rival to be at large, alone and unattended, but now she would be +monopolised naturally and properly by her good-looking compatriot. So +when Madame and Rust slipped away to a corner of the lounge, kindly +eyes followed them, and the voices of the censorious had no excuse to +be raised. "You are a wonder, madame," whispered Rust. "And you, my +friend, did not so badly," replied Madame in frank approval. + +They separated early that evening, for Madame, who knew not what it +was to feel really tired, shammed fatigue as a reason for retiring +betimes. To her came Marie, a little dark French _femme de chambre_ of +the second floor, imploring to be allowed to assist at the night +toilet of a desolate widow of France. While Marie brushed out the +long, rich, copper hair the two chattered unceasingly of France and +the Army of steel-hearted poilus which held the frontiers of +civilisation away yonder in Picardy, Artois, Champagne, and the +Vosges. Marie herself had a man out there of whose welfare she had +heard nothing since the war began. She had received no letters, and +the French publish no casualty lists. "_Mon cher petit homme est mort, +madame. C'est certain, mais j'espère toujours_." There are many, many +Frenchwomen to whom the death of their loved ones is certain, though +they hope always. "I felt rather a pig talking fibs to the poor girl," +confessed Madame. + +Madame Gilbert had made her plans with thoughtful care, and proposed +to carry them out with hardihood. She had determined to work so +adroitly on the Saturday upon the curiosity and "poor strained heart" +of Rust that he would be speeded up to run big risks. He did not know +that, however judiciously frail her conduct might be, she was a very +dragon of virtue in defence of her honour. "I gave my heart," said she +to me quite seriously, "to the Signor Guilberti, one far, far +different from _le mari imaginaire_ of le Grand Couronné. Until, if +ever, I give my heart again no man shall possess me. I play, I kiss, I +philander--as you call it--but what are these trifles? _Des +bagatelles, rien de tout_!" He did not realise her serene indifference +to the small change of love and her respect for its true gold. But I +do not think that Rust, when Madame consented to be his companion at +Brighton, seriously misjudged her motives. He did not know, of course, +or in the last degree suspect that she designed his capture as a +professional victim. + +Again and again she had told him that she was an agent of the English +police, and again and again, as she intended, he had disbelieved her. +She was so incomparably his intellectual superior that she could make +him believe or disbelieve precisely as she chose. She made him think +that she had come to Brighton for companionship, and as a proof of her +kindly forgiveness of a grave indiscretion. He believed; for never was +Rust, even Rust, so idiotic as to suppose that she had succumbed +before his charms and had come to throw herself into his arms. + +But for the machinations of Madame the visit would, I am sure, have +passed without incident. Rust would not have lost his turnip of a +head. He would, out of loyalty to his orders from Froissart, have +tried to grab the despatch-case and ravish its secrets. But he would +not have done what he did, at the risk of compromising the bloom of +her so precious reputation, if she had not deliberately worked him up +to do it. Therefore, while I acquit Rust of evil intention, my +reproofs, my grave reproofs--at which she laughs and snaps her +fingers--are reserved for that unscrupulous Madame. + +At breakfast Madame Gilbert and Captain Rust found that a private +table, a table of the best in a bay window facing the sea, had been +reserved for them by orders of the patron. The news of their pitiful +rencontre in the lounge had sped to his ears; he had wept copiously +before his sympathetic staff, and declared that the bereaved widow and +the so gallant captain should lack for nothing in his hotel. "If it +were not that I feared to offend their delicacy I would refrain from +presenting to them _l'addition._ Make, I pray you, _mademoiselle du +bureau_, their charges of the lowest." He was a most noble patron. + +The path of the wicked was thus made smooth. By the English guests, by +the entire staff, it was considered inevitable, indeed highly +becoming, that Madame and Rust should devote themselves wholly to one +another. Had they embraced in public, and wept many times a day upon +one another's necks, the staff--half of which was French--would have +deemed the exhibition most seemly and fitting, and the English, though +embarrassed, would not have been censorious. By so much has war +brought to us an understanding of the simple honest hearts of our +closest Allies. In ceasing to be insular we are ceasing to worship our +wooden conventional gods. + +Madame, who, as I have before remarked, says the most frightful things +in her soft, musical voice, regarding one the while with frank, steady +eyes, commented thus upon the attitude of _le patron_ and his +assistants towards them. "They wrapped us about so thoroughly in their +tender sympathy that nothing which we had chosen to do in mutual +consolation could have shocked them." + +I do not propose to weary the reader by detailing at length the +progress of Madame's Saturday campaign. Her methods of offence will, +by now, have become clear. To the "suffocating gas" of her smiles, and +the "liquid fire" of her eyes she had added the devastating +"Tank"--her despatch-case. She worked its mysteries unceasingly. When +it was not under her own hand it reposed--during meal times, for +example--in the steel safe of _le patron_. All except one paper, of +the most thrilling importance, which never left her person. This +small, unobtrusive paper, upon which, according to Madame, the +destinies of nations depended, was hidden always--happy paper--in the +bosom of her corset. + +Did she not, inquired Rust, greatly daring, find it rather hard and +scratchy? To him its resting-place seemed too delicate a spot to be +used as a general store. Madame frowned at the allusion to so intimate +a topic, and Rust, terrified, implored her pardon, which was +graciously vouchsafed. + +"You should not, _mon ami_, speak to me as if I were that which you +once thought me--a light woman." She reduced him nearly to tears, and +then, in kindly consolation, permitted him to hold her hand. Both as a +pretended French officer, and as an English agent of the Secret +Service, Rust was the most derisory of frauds. + +During the day the pair of plotters were inseparable, and Madame +played continually with unfailing deftness upon the two strings of +Rust's poor heart and of his intense curiosity, which she clearly +perceived though she did not know it to be professional. When the +heart swelled with stimulated emotion, and Rust began to show +inconvenient fondness, Madame would frown reproof and lead the +despatch-box into action. Very often she would carry her hand to that +pleasant spot where nestled the paper of so great international +importance, and she would speak of it and of the terrible +responsibilities which rested upon her as a secret _agent de police_. +"When I carry a document such as this," she would say, "one _pour +faire les Boches se créver_, it never leaves my bosom all the day and +rests under my pillow by night. Under my pillow, _mon ami_." She dwelt +upon that pillow, and raised in the mind of Rust a charming vision of +a white lace-edged surface upon which was spread out a lovely disorder +of red copper hair. She so worked upon him that his emotions and his +duties became inextricably mixed. Somehow he must secure that paper +and solve the baffling problem of the wonderful widow who appeared to +be French, and yet was not French. His brain by itself could not have +conceived of a means, but Madame assisted to stimulate its imagination +as she had done the beating of his heart. "It was wrong of you, _mon +ami_" she said, in gentle reproof, "to select a room upon the same +floor as mine, it was a proceeding bold and not a little indelicate, +which might have compromised my precious reputation had I not been +secure in the honour of my poor lost Captain Guilbert." Rust protested +that he had left the choice of rooms entirely to the lady of the +bureau, but Madame's smile showed that she was wholly sceptical. "I +speak frankly to you," said she, "so that there may be no longer in +your mind any thought that I am a woman of light conduct. I have come +here, driven by your sad pleadings, to give you of my companionship, +and my heart would be desolated if I thought that you still misjudged +me." The beautiful voice shook, and I do not doubt that the violet +eyes, glistening with pumped-up tears, were raised to Rust's face. I, +her friend, know that she can feel deeply, and I can distinguish that +which she simulates from that which moves her, but the poor creature +Rust was in her hands the most helpless and deluded of victims. + +So the day passed. They lunched together and dined together. In the +intervals they walked upon the sunny front, for the weather was +perfect and the sun shone as it only shines at Brighton. Madame, I am +quite sure, did not sit upon the sand. It appears also that they +visited a succession of picture houses. Madame declares that she is +fascinated by this form of entertainment; the variety and rapid +movement delight her--as I admit they do my dull self--and she deeply +enjoys the blatant crudity of cinematic drama. "It is so entirely +unlike life that it transports one to another world," says she. "Here +in this strange visionary world of the pictures one lives in a +maelstrom of emotions. Boys and girls meet, embrace, and marry all +within the space of a few minutes upon the screen and of an hour or +two of dramatic action. Children are conceived and born by some +lightning process which it would be a happiness for the human kind to +learn. Heroes die while strong men bare their heads in grief, and ten +minutes later the corpse is capering joyously in a new piece. By +attending three or four houses in one afternoon one sups upon emotions +and feeds without restraint upon rich, satisfying laughter. Yes, _mon +ami_, I love the cinema. Rust did not, I think, greatly interest +himself in the pictures, but was happy in the darkness--holding my +hand." + +She laughed as I broke into growls. "Is it not, _mon cher_" she went +on, "that the cinemas will always be most popular--however dull may be +the pictures--so long as boys and girls, men and women, who love, +desire to fondle one another's hands in the dark?" + +"You and Rust did not love one another," I grunted. + +"No. We were not the real thing, but we made ourselves into quite a +plausible imitation." + +Madame pursued her programme with indefatigable ardour and patience. +She impressed again and again upon Rust's imagination a picture of +herself sleeping unprotected, in a room not far distant from his own, +while beneath her pillow reposed a paper precious and mysterious +beyond words to describe. She even hinted that a dread of fire, from +which she always suffered when sleeping at hotels, forbade the locking +of her door. "I am not afraid to die," said she, "for what have I to +bind me to life now that I can never visit the spot where repose the +shattered fragments of my beloved Capitaine Guilbert? But to be +burned, helpless, while rescue was cut off from me by a locked door! I +shrink from so terrible a fate." Subtlety, she had discovered, was +thrown away upon the obtuseness of Rust. She was compelled to be +brutally plain, and so she drove into his thick head the tempting fact +that nothing interposed during the hours of darkness between his eager +hands and the paper which she had taught him to covet. If she awoke +and mistook his motives--if she thought that he had ventured into her +room with designs upon her honour--Rust felt sure that her kind heart +would forgive him, by breakfast-time, though she would certainly +dismiss him from her bedside with the most haughty of reproaches. If +he could not find some other way before they separated for the night, +he had almost decided to essay the venture. She slept very soundly, +said Madame; she had not awakened in her _appartement_ in Paris upon +one night when a bomb from a Prussian aeroplane had exploded within +two hundred yards of her house. Another way was still possible, and +Rust, while he was dressing for dinner, determined to try it; it was a +way, too, which thrilled him with pleasurable anticipation. + +At dinner Madame declined champagne, which she said was a poor, feeble +drink. Let them for once share a bottle of sparkling Burgundy, a royal +wine, the Wine of Courage. The patron brought them the bottle himself, +and lamented that they would not indulge themselves in a second. +Madame had no desire that Rust should, under its influence, become too +enterprising. The evening was warm, and afterwards they moved into the +pleasant garden behind the hotel and sat together in a quiet corner. +Other guests were in the garden, but it had become tacitly agreed +among them that Madame and Rust--the "dear French things"--should be +permitted to console one another in seclusion. No one could perceive +that the black-sleeved arm of Rust had found a happy resting-place +around Madame's black-covered waist, or that her glowing head was not +far from his shoulder. Her Paris evening frock was cut low, though +never by the fraction of an inch would Madame permit her _couturier_ +to exceed the limits of perfect taste. Looking down over her shoulder +Rust could see, protruding from the white lace below her bodice, the +corner of a paper. She talked little. It seemed to give her pleasure +to lean against his shoulder and dreamily, half asleep, to rest there +reposefully like a tired child. "But, _mon ami"_ said Madame to me in +relating these tender details with the greatest satisfaction, "I was +very wide awake indeed." + +Rust eyed that corner of paper and waited without speaking until his +companion should become almost unconscious of his movements. Then +gently he moved his right arm from her waist and placed it over her +shoulder. She moved slightly, but it was only to nestle more closely +against him. His dangling fingers moved little by little towards the +opening of her corsage, they descended, and with his thumb and +forefinger he gripped the paper. Madame did not move her body nor, to +Rust, did she seem to suspect his intentions. But her right arm lifted +slowly up, she gently grasped his hand in hers, pressed it kindly for +a moment, and then, still holding it, removed his arm from her +shoulder to her waist. "Your coat sleeve scratches my shoulder," she +murmured. Rust, who had instantly released the paper when Madame took +his hand, never again got an opportunity of touching it, for she kept +her arm pressed over his during the whole time that they sat together. +"I gave him the chance," explained Madame to me, "and it worked +beautifully. But once was enough. From that moment I became really +suspicious of Rust. Before I had only been puzzled. What he was I +could not guess, but I was dead set on finding out before the night +was over. Till then I had allowed only little freedoms, but when I +rose to go into the hotel and he bent over me I let him kiss me on my +lips. It was a severe disappointment, that kiss," added Madame +contemplatively. + +"Spare me the loathsome details," said I crossly. + +When at last Madame Gilbert went to her room she was smiling gaily and +showing no signs of fatigue at the tiresome exercises of the day. +Though it was approaching midnight the faithful Marie was waiting to +assist her toilet. "Ah, madame," sighed Marie in her frank Parisienne +fashion, "le Capitaine is so beautiful and devoted. He regards you as +one who would devour. I marvel that you have the heart to separate +from him." + +"Marie," said Madame, laughing, "you are a naughty girl, a corrupter +of my youthful morals. I am afraid that _le bon Capitaine_ must go +hungry. For--" and then she pranced off upon that wearisome old story +about the blown-up Territorial bore of _le Grand Couronné_. Fidelity +to the scattered corpse of a husband--_un mari assommant, mon Dieu, +pas un amant joyeux_!--seemed to Marie the most wasted of emotions. +She, in common with all the other Frenchmen and women in the hotel, +was an ardent partisan of Captain Rouille. + +"If my bell rings in the night, come quickly, Marie," said Madame, as +she dismissed the girl. "I shall need you _à la grande vitesse_." + +Madame slipped the seductive paper and something else under her +pillow, saw that the electric and the light switch were close to her +hand upon the bedside table, and snuggled down contentedly. "The trap +is set and baited," she murmured; "I hope that the bird will not keep +me waiting." + +An hour passed slowly. Rust has told me little of his feelings, but +admitted that he was in the "devil of a funk." He had determined to +make a daring shot at the paper and the solution of Madame's identity, +but he shivered at the prospect of her wrath should she awake and +catch him in the act. "She would have thought the worst of me, and, +like you, Copplestone, I cherish her beautiful friendship as the most +precious of privileges. On my honour I was only after the paper." +Madame found the waiting time very tedious, but I am sure that her +pulse did not quicken by a beat. She has a wonderful nerve. + +At one o'clock, when the hotel was very quiet, and the boot-cleaner +had made his round of collection, Madame heard the handle of her door +move and the door itself push slowly open. Through her partly closed +eyes she saw the momentary flash of an electric torch with which Rust +took his bearings, and then she felt, rather than saw or heard, a +figure draw gently towards her bed. Her right hand was under the +pillow grasping that something, not the paper, which she had laid +there in readiness. Rust approached, bent over her, and his fingers +felt for the pillow. They touched her hair, and she knew that the +moment for action had come. Out stretched her arm, holding the pistol +well clear of his body, for she was loath to hurt him, and a sharp +report within a couple of feet of his side frightened Rust more +thoroughly than had the hottest of "crumps" in Flanders. He sprang +away, and darted for the door; but in an instant the lights went up, +and a loud, commanding voice--utterly unlike Madame's soft musical +social tones--called to him to halt. "Halt!" cried Madame in English. +"Right about turn! 'Shun!" The familiar words of command brought him +round in prompt obedience, and there before him he saw Madame Gilbert +sitting up in her bed, pointing a most business-like automatic pistol +straight for his heart. Her hand held it true, without a quiver, and +along the sights glittered an eye remorseless as blue steel. This was +a woman wholly different from that kindly yielding creature whom he +had embraced and kissed a couple of hours earlier! + +"You will please stand quite still," said Madame, speaking the +slightly tinged Irish-English of her birth, "for if I shoot, le +Capitaine Rouille will be no more. See! Upon my dressing-table behind +you is a small vase supporting a rose. I will cut off its stem," She +quickly moved the pistol, and fired. "You may turn round." He obeyed, +and saw that the vase was unbroken, but that the rose, cut off at the +stem, lay upon the dressing-table. Behind it appeared a bullet-hole in +the plaster of the wall. + +Madame flicked the spent cartridge off her counterpane, where it had +fallen upon ejection, and resumed. "I have rung the bell, and in a +moment there will be a most interested audience. You will then please +explain what brings you to my bedroom." + +He had faced round towards her again, and his poor mind was a blank. +The situation was too big for him. He had fallen into a trap, but why +it had been set he could not guess. Who was this calmly capable, +straight-shooting widow who, with the copper hair falling over her +shoulders and streaming down the front of her dainty nightdress, +appeared in action even more lovely than in repose? + +The first to arrive was Marie, then followed another _femme de +chambre_, then came the night porter, then the boot-collector, last, +with eyes opened wide at the surprising spectacle of a beautiful young +woman receiving her lover at the point of a pistol, appeared _monsieur +le patron_ himself. They clustered in a group by the door. "I think," +said Madame serenely, "that we have enough. Marie, the house is full; +shut the door and lock it." The order was obeyed. "Now," went on the +commanding voice from the bed, using French for the effective shutting +out of the English boot-cleaner and night porter, "if you men will +turn your backs, and Marie will hand me my dressing-gown, I will +prepare myself for the examination of Monsieur le Capitaine Rouille. +It is not seemly that a court of inquiry should be conducted in a +nightdress." + +The men turned round, or were pushed round. Marie--gasping with wonder +at the whole incredible business, so unlike that which she had +suggested--brought the silk dressing-gown and robed Madame, who +skipped out of bed for the purpose. Then the fair _juge +d'instruction,_ wrapped to the neck in blue silk, and looking prettier +than ever, propped herself upon the pillows and opened the court. + +"Captain Rouille," ordered she in French, "please tell these others +why you came to my bedroom." + +I regret to record that Marie and the other girl looked towards one +another and sniggered. The patron lifted up his hands in amazement. +_Mon Dieu_, what a question! The two English servants did not +understand French. + +Rust said nothing. Madame, who had observed the excusable +misunderstanding of her French audience, condescended to explain. "I +am sure," she said, "that Captain Rouille will not suggest that his +visit was designed to attack my honour." + +"_Quelle dame extraordinaire_!" moaned the patron. "_C'est +incroyable la sangfroid de celle-là ."_ + +"Of course not," cried Rust, speaking for the first time. "Never would +I have dared to think of such a thing. Madame Gilbert is a lady of the +highest virtue. It was not to compromise her that I entered her room." + +"The man," groaned the patron, "is no less extraordinary than the +woman. Why in God's name this pistol, this scene so public! They are +lovers, beyond doubt, yet they spring upon my hotel this scene of the +most scandalous. It is not the way of France; I do not understand such +goings on." + +Madame drew a paper from her bed, and held it up. "Was it for this +that you came?" + +"Yes," said Rust, "for that and that only." + +"_Un billet doux_" said the patron, playing without design the part of +a bewildered chorus, "Why should not madame have given it to him if +she wished to write that which she was too modest to say?" + +"Why did you want it?" + +"What more natural," cried the patron, "than that the brave captain +should be eager to read the sweet confession of your love?" Madame +missed not a word which dribbled from the lips of the poor, puzzled +patron, who contributed the comic sauce which titillated her humorous +palate. The patron to her was a sheer joy. + +"Why did you want it?" repeated Madame sternly. + +"Because," said Rust, "you said that it contained the most important +of secrets." + +"What have you to do with secrets which concern the fate of nations at +war?" + +"Nations! War!" muttered the patron. "What words are these to find +upon the lips of lovers? By now they should, had they not both been +quite mad, have forgotten war in their mutual embraces." + +Rust was silent, considering what he should say. He had not the wit to +invent a plausible story, and to such men there is only one safe +rule--when in doubt, tell the truth. He told the truth. + +"I wanted that paper because I am a member of the Secret Service." + +"Of Germany?" snapped Madame, flashing violet lightning from her eyes. +Sensation! The two French women broke into screams of rage, dreadful +to hear; the patron raised his clenched hands, and roared like a +furious beast. Rust, a brave man, shrank for a long, startled moment. +His flesh quivered, as if it felt fierce French nails fasten into it. +He saw the blood-lust flame in the eyes which searched his face. He +trembled, but spoke up firmly. + +"No. The Secret Service of England." + +"Liar!" roared the patron. "_Menteur! Espion_! Foul seducer of a +desolate _veuve de France_! Die, traitor! Madame, raise your pistol; +shoot--shoot instantly for the honour of France!" The man, a fat, +comfortable bourgeois, was transfigured with frightful, murderous +rage. He had become a figure almost heroic. + +But Madame did not shoot. In ten seconds her swift brain had recalled +the whole series of incidents during her commerce with Rust; she +penetrated to the heart of the mystery, and immediately became +convinced that he spoke the truth. + +"No," said she. "_Monsieur le patron_ and you, _mes demoiselles_, +cease your cries. You do the brave Capitaine Rouille a very grave +injustice for which you must pray his forgiveness _sur le champ_. He +is a soldier of France, and of our noble Allies, the English. He is an +officer of the English Secret Service. The mistake was mine, for +which, _mon capitaine_, I implore your pardon." + +She lay back in her bed, and the laughter poured out of her in one +unbroken flood. She laughed until she became weak as a baby, for the +idiotic comedy which they two had played--at the expense of the +British Treasury--was beyond any other means of expression. Rust, who +began to grasp something of the truth, also broke into a laugh, and +the amusement of the principals brought instant conviction to the +audience. The repentance of those who had thirsted for Rust's blood a +moment since was very pleasant to witness. The women begged permission +to kiss his brave hands, which had slain the foul Boches, and the +patron cast his burly person upon Rust's pyjama-clad bosom and saluted +him on both cheeks. He had a stiff, hard beard! + +"And now," cried the patron, "this scene, so deplorable and +scandalous, is happily ended. Our beautiful Madame and the brave +captain, their mistakes and misunderstandings removed, are again +lovers of the fondest. Let us go, my friends, and leave them to +forgive one another as they will desire to do in decent privacy. +_Allons, allons, vite_!" + +He drove away the boot-collector and the night porter, who had not +understood one word of the quick French which had been spoken. They +explained the scene satisfactorily to themselves by the one word, +"French." The women would also have gone if Madame, who was still +laughing, had not hastily recalled Marie. + +"Marie," she whispered, spluttering with cheerful impropriety, "lead +that captain away and lock him into his room or my reputation is gone +for ever. Take Rouille away, and then leave me, for I want to laugh +and then to sleep." + +But Rust, blushing deeply at the preposterous closing of the scene, +had sneaked quietly out of the room. + + * * * * * + +They met at breakfast without embarrassment. At least Madame was +perfectly tranquil; I cannot answer so surely for Rust. In the eyes of +the little world of the hotel nothing had been changed. They retained +their assumed characters as a Widow and Soldier of France, who +consorted with the freedom of old friends. + +"So," said Madame, when all had been explained, "you were put on by +our dear, fiery Froissart, and I by the dear, secretive Dawson. We +blundered up against one another, and the rest followed naturally. You +were such an one as I looked for, and I was of the kind pictured by +the imaginative Froissart. It has all been most amusing, especially +when one reflects that the English Government has paid for all our +delightful lunches, teas, dinners, and motor runs. I doubt, though, +whether we can with easy consciences send in the bill for this +week-end." + +"No. We will divide the cost between ourselves, for I am sure that you +will refuse to be my guest. All I ask is that you do not cut our +holiday the shorter on account of what has passed." + +"Not by an hour," replied Madame heartily. "I like you, Captain Rust; +we will enjoy ourselves to-day as colleagues _en vacance_, and +to-morrow we will report at headquarters. We will leave Dawson and +Froissart to sort out the responsibility for the whole comedy. It has +been a most pleasing experience. Never shall I forget that scene of +last night and the bewilderment of the poor patron. His comments were +a delight, and the conclusion was so purely French in its artless +conception that I felt for your innocent blushes." + +"The patron was the limit," muttered Rust, flushing deeply. + +"He was. And yet no one could convince him that the reconciliation so +desired by him was not the most natural and decorous for us. I am +still sore with excessive laughter. Again and again in the night I +woke up and simply bellowed." + +The Sunday was again a very fine day, and Rust speaks of it still with +enthusiasm. Madame revealed herself to him, no longer as the seductive +siren, but as a true-hearted colleague and helper. He saw her not only +as a beautiful and most compelling fascinator, before whom he had +grovelled, but as a big-brained and big-souled friend. "She is the +only woman whom I have ever met with whom I would go tiger-shooting," +said Rust to me. I will accept that one sentence as his considered +verdict; no greater tribute could be paid by a man to a woman. + +At first he did not fully grasp that the Madame of that Sunday, the +real Madame, was wholly different from the one he had known before. As +they sat together upon the cliffs towards Rottingdean, he slipped his +arm about her waist. Gently, but very decidedly, she removed it. "No, +_mon ami_," said she. "All that has passed with the necessity for its +exercise. I do not play with my friends." + +"Thank you," replied he--it was the brightest speech which Madame has +recorded of him. There is hope that Rust will, with years and +experience, develop in intelligence. + +When Madame returned to London on the Monday, she sought an audience +of Chief Inspector Dawson, and told the whole story. He was not +pleased, but handsomely conceded that she had carried out her duties +with skill and enterprise. "The farce was not your fault," said he; +"it was entirely due to that French ass Froissart, who has no right to +play games of his own without consulting me. I will make a protest to +the Chief." + +"Don't do that," urged Madame. "Froissart is rather a dear, and you +know that the fault was partly yours, for not taking him into your +confidence. I have determined to cultivate Froissart, and shall +endeavour to persuade him that your feminine assistants are not all of +microscopic intelligence and of repulsive appearance." + +"You will succeed," said Dawson handsomely. + +Froissart, to whom Rust reported, gleaned some consolation from the +failure of his agent. "This wonder of a woman, of whom I must +instantly make the honourable acquaintance, has saved the detested +Dawson from the deeps of humiliation. But we have scored off him most +surely. He has shown himself to be a blundering, conceited English +pig, and I will protest to the Chief that never again must he keep me +in ignorance of his projects. I shall laugh at him; all our people +here will laugh. I shall be revenged. _Conspuez_ Dawson!" + +"Don't be too hard on Dawson," urged Rust. "Madame Gilbert thinks a +lot of him, and would be pained if he suffered discredit through any +fault of hers." + +"Fault!" shouted the gallant Froissart. "_La belle Madame_ is _sans +faute_, peerless, a prodigy of skill and discretion! She is superb. If +she implores me to spare the man Dawson, then I will consent, though +my heart is rent in fragments. As for you, _mon ami_, I fear that in +her hands you were not a figure of admiration. She twisted you about +her pretty fingers like a skein of wool. I do not think that you are, +what you call, cut out for the Secret Service." + +"That is quite my own opinion," assented he gloomily. + + + + + +PART III + + +_TO SEE IS TO BELIEVE_ + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +DAWSON PRESCRIBES + +The mind of Dawson has the queerest limitations. He is entirely free +from any sense of proportion. If I wrote of those incidents which he +pressed upon me, this book would be intolerably dull. He sees no +interest in any episode which is not Dawson, Dawson, all the time. The +emotion which was aroused in the hearts of Cary and myself by +Trehayne's letter caused Dawson no small anxiety. He feared lest in +rendering this episode I should turn the limelight upon Trehayne and +leave the private of Marines in the shadows. Which is precisely what I +have done. From his "sick bed" he sent me a letter explaining that his +own honourable weakness of sympathy with an enemy spy was physical, +not moral--reprehensible failing induced by lack of sleep. He laboured +to convince me that the spirit of Dawson in the full flush of health +was of a frightfulness wholly Prussian in its logical completeness. +But I smiled, went my own way, and Dawson, when he comes to read this +book, can swear as loudly as he pleases. + +If I had depended only upon Dawson, I should never have secured the +details of the story which I am about to write. It was Froissart who +first put me upon the track of it during one of those visits which I +paid to him when I was investigating _l'affaire_ Rust. Froissart, in +imaginative insight, is as much superior to Dawson as the average +Frenchman is to the average Englishman. But in execution he admits +sorrowfully that he cannot hold a candle to his brutal secretive +English chief. "I have genius," exclaimed Froissart, "of which the +sacred dog Dawson has not a particle. I know not whence come his +ideas, the most penetrative. It cannot be from _son Esprit_ of which +he has none; his brain reposes, without doubt, in his stomach. Yet, +_ma foi_, that man whom I detest and to whom I am a colleague most +loyal, is of a practical ingenuity most wonderful. Did you ever learn +how he hid the great cruisers _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ from the +watching eyes of the Boche, and won, here in England, a glorious +victory for the English Navy, eight thousand miles away? I was with +him, and at the end, falling upon his bosom in generous admiration, I +kissed him on both cheeks. And what was my reward? It was to receive a +short-arm blow upon the diaphragm. That man of mud took my wind, as he +called it, and I was laid gasping upon the floor. It was in this +fashion that he repulsed me--me a Count of _l'ancien régime_. I could +have his blood." + +I soothed Froissart, and extracted enough from him in rapid French +spasms--his idiomatic staccato French is often beyond my +understanding--to give me a general idea of what Dawson had done. +Thereafter I pursued my inquiries, pumping Dawson himself--who, for +some reason, did not greatly value the affair--tackling others who +knew more than they were always willing to tell, even to me their +friend. Yet in many ways, of which it were well not to be particular, +I arrived at the full story which I now tell. To my mind it shows +Dawson at his best, and Dawson's best is very good indeed. + + * * * * * + +It was early in November, three months after war had begun. Dawson, to +whom had been committed the general supervision of all known enemy +spies in London, and who had already put in force that combination of +tight net and loose string which I have described, received a summons +from his Chief the moment he arrived at his office at the Yard. "You +are wanted at the Admiralty," said the Commissioner--"and wanted +badly. You are to report at once in the First Lord's private room." + +"What is the game?" inquired Dawson. "I have lots to do here which I +cannot well leave." + +"I don't know. But I have orders to send you, and to relieve you from +all other duties. If you want help, you can take Froissart, that +French detective who has just been sent to us from Paris as a sort of +liaison officer. He is strongly recommended as a first-class man." + +"Hum," said Dawson, between whom and his Chief was a very close +friendship. "I suppose I must toddle round and see what the little man +wants this time. Last month he had secret wireless installations on +the brain." + +Dawson found the First Lord striding up and down his big room. All +round the walls were set great maps bristling with pins to which were +attached numbered labels. Each pin represented a ship, and each ship +was obedient to an order flashed from the big aerials overhead. Here +was the Holy of Holies, the nerve ganglion of the English Navy, and +here, striding up and down, the man who could jab the nerve-centre +with his finger whenever he pleased. He often pleased. Then he would +gloat over the pins as they skipped about the maps. + +Chief Inspector Dawson was announced, and stood to attention. + +"Ha!" cried the First Lord, "so you are Dawson, the Master of Spies. +We need you, Dawson; the country needs you; I need you. You have a +great chance this day to show your quality, Dawson. Those of whom I +approve, I advance. They become great men. Am I to approve of you?" + +Dawson observed that he could not well say until he learned what was +wanted of him. + +"Ha!" cried the First Lord again, "you are a man of few words. I like +those with me who do not talk. When there is talking to be done--well, +I can do a little in that line myself. Among my instruments I demand +silence." + +Dawson said nothing. The First Lord struck a bell; a servant in blue +uniform appeared. "Will you please tell his lordship that Chief +Inspector Dawson is here, and that I await his presence." + +The man retired and presently returned. "His lordship is in his room +making out the orders for the Fleet. He bids me say that he is quite +at your service." + +The First Lord flushed, and glanced hurriedly at Dawson, who stood at +attention, stolid, silent, immovable. It would seem that he read +nothing in the message. + +"The Mountain is old and stiff in his joints," remarked the First Lord +playfully. "When he settles into his chair, it would take a bomb to +lift him out. We are young and active; we must consider the +infirmities of age. Mahomet will go to the Mountain, and you will +please to follow." + +Mahomet, swinging his long coat-tails, strode out of the room and down +a passage, whence they emerged into another room also set about with +pin-studded maps. + +"Ha!" said the First Lord, "as you would not come to us, we have +unbent our dignity and come to you. This is Chief Inspector Dawson." + +"So I supposed," growled the grizzled old man, who sat at a big desk +upon which was piled many flimsies. It was the great Lord Jacquetot, +who for all his French name was English of the English. + +"Will you explain to Mr. Dawson what we want of him or shall I?" +inquired the First Lord. Lord Jacquetot rose from his chair, showing +nothing of the infirmities of age. He approached Dawson, looked over +him keenly, and said, "You don't look like a civilian policeman. Where +have you served?" + +Dawson explained that he had in former days been a Red Marine. + +"I thought as much," said Jacquetot. "There is no mistaking the back +and shoulders of them. Once a Pongo, always a Pongo." He held out his +hand, which Dawson shook diffidently. An ex-private of Marines does +not often shake the hand of a First Sea Lord. + +Lord Jacquetot walked over to one of the maps and beckoned to Dawson +to follow. The First Lord hovered in the background, ready to put in a +word at the first opportunity. + +"There has been a serious naval disaster in the South Seas," said +Jacquetot, "and we must clean up the mess, pretty damn quick. The news +came yesterday. Orders were wired at once that two battle-cruisers, +the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, should be sent at full speed from +Scotland to Devonport to dock, coal, and complete with stores. To keep +them outside the enemy's observation, and to avoid any risk of mines +or submarines in the Irish Channel, they have been sent far out round +the west coast of Ireland. Here they are; we get messages from them +every hour." He indicated two pins. Just then a messenger entered and +handed to the First Sea Lord a wireless flimsy. Jacquetot read it, +slipped a scale along the map, took out the two pins, and shifted them +further south. "They are going well," said he; "doing twenty-five +knots. They should be off Plymouth Sound by to-morrow evening." + +"It is a long way," put in Dawson, deeply interested. "Fifteen hundred +miles." + +"There or thereabouts. The coast lights are all out, so that they will +steer a bit wide. They should do it in sixty hours." + +"I gave the order within thirty minutes of getting the news of the +disaster," remarked the First Lord, smacking his lips. + +Jacquetot made no reply, though his eyes hardened and his mouth drew +into a stiff line. It was his province to give Orders to the Fleet. + +"Those battle-cruisers," went on Lord Jacquetot, addressing Dawson, +"will go into dock at Devonport as soon as they arrive. They will be +there forty-eight hours at least. They must be clean ships before they +go through the hot tropical water if their speed is to be kept up. +They have gun power, but power without speed is useless for the work +which they have to do. After leaving England it will be a month before +the Squadron, of which they are to form the chief part, will be +concentrated in the South Seas. For two days at Devonport, and for +four weeks while at sea, there must be the completest secrecy if our +plans are to succeed. Without absolute secrecy we shall fail. The +Board of Admiralty is responsible for the sea, but not for the land. +We can make certain that no news of the despatch of these two cruisers +gets out at sea; can you, Mr. Chief Inspector Dawson, undertake that +no news gets out on land--that no whisper of their sailing reaches the +enemy by means of his spies on land?" + +"It is a large order," said Dawson thoughtfully. + +"It is a very large order," asserted Lord Jacquetot, frowning. + +"But large or small, the thing must be done," broke in the First Lord. +"If this news gets out, and we fail to come up with the German +Squadron down south, the effect upon the public will be horrible. The +English people may even lose their perfect, their sublime, faith in +ME." + +"They may lose their faith in the Navy," muttered Jacquetot. + +"It is the same thing," said the First Lord. + +"Can you let me know more details, my lord?" asked Dawson. "What is +the programme? I don't see at present how the arrival, docking, and +sailing of the battle-cruisers can possibly be kept secret, but there +may be a way if one could only think of it." + +"If the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ arrive according to programme," said +Jacquetot, "they will not come up the Sound till after dark. Then in +the small hours they will slip into dock, and no one but the regular +dockyard hands will know that they are there. We will haul them out +also in the middle of the night, and they will be clear away by +daybreak, forty-eight hours after arrival. Coal and other stores are +on the spot in plenty, and the shells and cordite for the twelve-inch +guns can soon be got down from the Plymouth magazines. The secrecy of +the operation seems to me to turn on whether we can trust the dockyard +hands." + +Dawson shook his head. "I wouldn't plump on that, my lord. There have +been enemy agents working in every dockyard in the kingdom for years +past, and we haven't spotted all of them. Still, we have our own men +working alongside of them--Scotland Yard men engaged from among the +shipbuilding trades unions--accounting for every one, so that no man +can be away from his post without our knowing and shadowing him. It is +not easy to get any information out of the country nowadays. The +secret wireless stories are all humbug. Wireless gives itself away at +once. If one wants to get news to the enemy, one has to carry it +oneself, or hire some one else to carry it. Most of that which goes we +allow to go for our own purposes. I am pretty sure that no dockyard +hand could get anything away to Holland without our knowledge, so that +it doesn't matter whether they are trustworthy or not so long as we're +not fools enough to trust them. You may not know it, but I have my own +Yard men among your messengers here in this building, and among your +clerks too." + +"What!" cried the First Lord. "You don't even trust the Admiralty!" + +"Least of all," said Dawson grimly. "If I was head of the German +Secret Service, I would have my own man as your private secretary." + +The First Lord sat down gasping. Jacquetot nodded kindly to Dawson, +and laughed in his grim old way. "You are the man we want," said he. + +"I am not thinking much of the dockyard hands," went on Dawson; "I can +look after them. They're all provided for. The danger is in the gossip +of a seaport town. I have lived in Portsmouth for years, and Plymouth +is just like it. You may take my word for it that the arrival of the +_Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ in dock at Devonport will be known all over +the Three Towns half an hour after they get there. Their mission will +be discussed in every bar, and it won't be difficult to make a pretty +useful guess. Here is a disaster in the South Seas--which will be +published all over the country by to-morrow morning--and here are two +of our fastest battle-cruisers summoned in hot haste from Scotland to +be cleaned and loaded for a long voyage. Any child, let alone a +longshoreman, could put the two things together. 'So the _Intrepid_ +and _Terrific_ are off to the South Seas to biff old Fritz in the +eye.' That is what they will say in the Three Towns where there must +be hundreds of men--British subjects, too, the swine, and many of them +natural born--who would take risks to shove the news through to +Holland if they could get enough dirty money for it. Our worst spies +are not German, you bet; they are Irish and Scotch and Welsh and +English. That's where our difficulties come in. I am not afraid of the +dockyards, but the gossip of the Three Towns gives me the creeps." + +"Then what can we possibly do?" wailed the First Lord, who saw his +prospect of a brilliant coup wilt away like a fair mirage. "The secret +will get out, our plans will fail, and MY Administration, my beautiful +Administration, will have to stand the racket. How shall I defend +myself in the House?" + +"That won't matter much to the country," put in Jacquetot bluntly. +"What matters, is that we should do everything possible to keep the +secret in spite of all the inherent difficulties. Sit down, Mr. +Dawson, and do some hard thinking." + +"I prefer to stand, my lord. When I want to think I do a bit of +sentry-go." + +"So do I!" exclaimed the First Lord. "All my most famous speeches were +composed while I walked up and down my dressing-room before my--" He +broke off hastily, but as neither Jacquetot nor Dawson were listening, +he might have completed the sentence without revealing the secrets of +his looking-glass. + +"May I speak my mind, my lords?" asked Dawson. + +"It is what you are here for," replied Jacquetot. + +"I always work on certain general principles. They apply here. People +will talk; that is certain. If one doesn't want them to talk about +something really important, one puts up something else conspicuous, +harmless, and exciting to occupy their minds. In your politics" +--turning to the First Lord with an air of simplicity--"when +you've made a thorough mess of governing England, and don't want to be +found out, you set the people fighting about Home Rule for Ireland. I +don't mean you, sir, but politicians generally." + +"Quite so," said the First Lord, blinking. + +"Well, see here. We don't want any talk about the _Intrepid_ and +_Terrific_. So, before they arrive, we must give the people of the +Three Towns a real titbit of excitement. Battle-cruisers come to dock +in Devonport quite often when they are damaged. Two battle-cruisers +which had been mined or submarined, one towing the other, would be a +pretty picture in the Sound. It would set all the folk talking for +days, and no one would think that two damaged cruisers had anything to +do with the South Seas. Everybody would say, 'What cruel luck. If the +_Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ hadn't got blown up they would be just right +and handy to send down south. As it is--' And then the German agents +would somehow get the news to Holland--we would help them all we could +in a quiet way--that the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, two fast +battle-cruisers, had been nearly lost, and were being patched up at +Devonport. The Germans, hearing the glorious news, would hug +themselves and say that now was the time for the High Seas Fleet to +come out and smash Jellicoe. The last thing in their minds would be +any concentration in the south against their own Pacific Squadron. +That's how I apply my general principles to this case. Meanwhile, of +course, the _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_, well and sound, would be racing +away down to the South Seas and no one in the Three Towns--except the +dockyard hands, whom we would look after--and no one at all in +Germany, would have a glimmer of the real truth." + +While Dawson was thinking aloud in this rather halting, stumbling way, +the First Lord and his chief naval colleague were looking hard at one +another. The politician, with his quick House-of-Commons wits, jumped +to the idea before his slower thinking expert colleague could sort out +the two battle-cruisers who were to be mined or submarined from the +two which were to speed away south to avenge the recent disaster. + +"If the two battle-cruisers are mined or submarined--which God +forbid," said Jacquetot, "how can they sail for the south?" + +"Need they be the same ships?" inquired Dawson, whose eyes had begun +to flash with excitement. "Need they be the same?" + +"Don't you see?" interposed the First Lord. "The idea is quite good. I +was just about to suggest something of the kind myself when Mr. Dawson +anticipated me. That is where the mind with a wide universal training +has a great advantage over the narrow intensive intelligence of the +professional expert. Even in war. What I propose, what Mr. Dawson here +proposes with my full concurrence, is that two severely damaged +battle-cruisers, known temporarily as the _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_, +should be brought into the Sound in broad day and displayed before the +eyes of the curious in the Three Towns. The real ships will slip in, +be docked and coaled, and slip out again. The two others, upon whom +public attention has been concentrated, shall be put aground somewhere +in the Sound to be salved with great and leisurely ostentation. We +will keep them well away from the Hoe, and allow no one whatever to +approach them. We will, unofficially, allow the news of their sorry +state to get out of country and into the Dutch papers. Meanwhile, as +Mr. Dawson says, the real _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ will be speeding +towards the south, and the saving for the nation's service of my +invaluable public reputation for accurate judgment and quick decision. +Mr. Dawson's suggestion--I should, perhaps, rather say my own +suggestion--shall be laid before the Board at once." + +Though the stiff mind of Lord Jacquetot was not very quick to take in +a new idea, no man alive was better equipped for practically working +out a naval scheme. While the First Lord was assuming that sorely +damaged battle-cruisers, or vessels which could be passed off in place +of them, needed but his summons to spring from the deeps, Jacquetot +had pressed a bell and ordered a messenger to request the immediate +presence of the Fourth Sea Lord, within whose province was the whole +art and mystery of ship construction. Upon the appearance of this +officer the plan was gone over anew, and he was asked whence and +within what time he could produce two presentable dummies to do duty +in the Sound for the entertainment of the population of Plymouth, +Devonport, and Stonehouse. There were, said he, two if not three at +Portsmouth, constructed out of old cargo tramp hulls for the +mystification of the enemy. They had already done duty as newly +completed battleships, but with a little alteration to the canvas of +their funnels, the lath and plaster of their turrets and conning +towers, and the wood of their guns, they might be made into perfect +likenesses--at a distance--of the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_. The +ships' carpenters, he explained, could make the changes while the +dummies were coming round to Plymouth. Seated at the desk of Lord +Jacquetot he wrote the necessary orders in code, his Chief signed +them, and they were put at once on the wires for Portsmouth. The +sea-cocks, said the Fourth Lord, would be opened twenty miles from +land so that the "_Intrepid"_ might come in sadly down by the bows, +and the "_Terrific"_ with a list of twenty degrees, pluckily towing +her sorely crippled sister. With a chart of Plymouth Sound before +them, the two officers settled the precise spot, sufficiently remote, +yet well within sight of the Hoe, at which the two unhappy +battle-cruisers should come to rest upon the mud. "It will be a most +pathetic spectacle," said the Fourth Lord laughing, "and I will bet a +month's pay and allowances that at the distance not a man in the Three +Towns will have the smallest suspicion that the genuine +copper-bottomed _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ are not ditched before his +blooming eyes." He rose from the table, upon which the chart had been +laid, walked over to Dawson and shook him warmly by the hand. "You +won't get any credit for the idea," he whispered. "One never does. But +it was a damned good notion. What are you going to do now?" + +"I am going to Plymouth this afternoon to make sure that the German +truth gets over the water to Holland, and that the English truth stays +safely behind. If you will all do your part, I will do mine." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN + +"Every man to his trade," said Dawson. "I didn't go into the +difficulties of our job to those high folks at the Admiralty, but they +are not at all small. You have a head on you, Froissart, though it has +the misfortune to be French; set it going on double shifts." + +The two men were sitting in a specially reserved first-class +compartment in the Paddington-Plymouth express; as companions they +were hopelessly uncongenial, yet as colleagues formed a strong +combination in which the qualities of the one served to neutralise the +defects of the other. Dawson, in spite of his love for the Defence of +the Realm Regulations, was still sometimes unconsciously hampered by +an ingrained respect for the ordinary law and the rights of civilians; +Froissart, like all French detective officers, held the law in +contempt, and was by nature and training utterly lawless. The more +reputable a suspect, the more remorseless was his pursuit. They were, +professionally, a terrible pair who could have been passed through a +hair sieve without leaving behind a grain of moral scruple. + +Froissart, when he would be at the trouble, understood and spoke +English quite well, though with me he used nothing but the raciest of +boulevard French. "My friend," said he, "your promise to those +Ministers of Marines was rash; for, unless there is the most perfect +execution of your scheme and the most sleepless watching of those whom +you call dockyard hands--_ceux qui travaillent dans les chantiers, ne +c'est pas_?--the sailing of these _grands croiseurs_ will be told to +Germany. There are too many who will know. We are upon _une folle +enterprise_--a chase of the wild goose." + +"You do not know my system if you think that," remarked Dawson, +frowning. + +"And if I do not, of whom is the fault?" inquired Froissart blandly; +"for, my faith, you never tell what you would be doing." + +"A secret," said Dawson sententiously, "is a secret when known to one +only. If two know of it there is grave danger. If three, one might as +well shout it from the housetops. Therefore I keep my own counsel." + +"That is just what I said," cried Froissart triumphantly. "If the +secret of these _grand croiseurs_ is known to one hundred, two +hundred, _le bon Dieu_ knows how many hundreds of dockyard hands, one +might as well print it in these dull English _journaux_. You attempt +the impossible, _mon ami_." + +"They are Englishmen," proclaimed Dawson, who felt compelled to uphold +the character of his countrymen in the presence of a foreigner. "They +are patriots. Not a man of them would sell his country." + +"I would not bank on their patriotism, my friend, when there is much +Boche gold to be won and much beer to be drunk." + +"And who said that I did bank upon it?" cried Dawson testily, +forgetting his noble, words of two minutes earlier. "I wouldn't trust +one of them out of my sight. I have two dozen of my own men working +alongside of those dockyard hands, watching them by night and day. We +know if a man drinks two glasses of beer when he used to drink one, +and takes home to his wife eighteenpence above his ordinary wage. Do +you take me for a fool?" + +"You'll be a bigger fool than I take you for if you do not play +straight this time with me, and tell me your plans in detail. I have +to work with you, and I cannot give service blindfold." + +"You are not a bad fellow, Froissart," said Dawson thoughtfully--the +name in his mouth became Froy-zart--"and I will tell you here and now +more of my mind than I have yet shown even to the great Chief of us +all. It will take all your brains--for you have some brains--and all +of mine to keep the secret of those battle-cruisers." + + * * * * * + +In the morning the newspapers published the meagre details of the +disaster in the South Seas, and the Three Towns were shaken to their +foundations. For when naval ships go down, they take with them crews +of whom half have their homes in Devon. The disaster meant that eight +hundred families in the West mourned a son or a father. Ever since the +days of the Great Queen--whose name in the West is not Victoria, but +Elizabeth--Devon has paid in the lives of its best men the price of +Admiralty. The Three Towns mourned with a grief made more bitter by +the realisation that the disaster was one which never should have +happened. Bad slow English ships had been sent against good fast +German ships, and had been sunk with all hands without hurt to the +enemy. The Three Towns know the speed and power of every fighting ship +afloat, British or foreign, as you or I before the war knew the public +form of every leading golfer or cricketer. In every bar where +sailormen met one another, and met, too, the brothers and fathers of +sailormen, the Lords of the Admiralty were weighed and condemned. It +is a thing most serious when in the cradles of the Navy, Portsmouth +and the Three Towns, faith in the wisdom of Whitehall becomes shaken. +One may muzzle the Press, but no muzzle yet devised can close the +mouths of sailormen and their friends in dockyard towns. + +In the afternoon of the same day, while the news of the disaster was +still fresh, there came a whisper, which gained in loudness and in +precision of detail as it passed from mouth to ear and from ear to +mouth, that the worst had not yet been told. There had been not one, +but two disasters. Two battle-cruisers, it was declared, had been sunk +in the Channel by German mines or submarines. What were their names? +inquired the white-faced women. The names were not yet known, but they +would soon come. A little later the severity of the rumour became +softened. The battle-cruisers had not, it appeared, been sunk, but +severely damaged. They were at that moment on their way to the Sound, +crippled sorely, yet afloat. Men groaned. Two battle-cruisers blown up +in the Channel; what in God's name were two battle-cruisers doing in +the mine-strewn Channel when their proper place was in one of the safe +eyries overlooking the North Sea? A plausible explanation was offered. +The two battle-cruisers had been coming to Plymouth to take in stores +that they might speed away south to avenge those other two cruisers +sunk by the Germans as had been told in the morning's papers. If this +were indeed true, the news was of the worst; England's prestige afloat +was gone. She could not spare two other whole battle-cruisers to +proceed upon a mission of vengeance to the South Seas while the +Germans' Battle Squadrons in the North Sea ports were still +undefeated. Meanwhile the Germans far away to the south could do what +they pleased; they could sink and burn our merchant steamers at will. +The command of the Pacific had passed from England to Germany, and the +White Ensign hung draggled and shamed for all the world to sneer at. +The Three Towns almost forgot their personal grief for drowned friends +in their horror at the disgrace which had come to their own sacred +Service. + +It was still light, though late in the afternoon, when the anxious +watchers upon the Hoe made out, beyond Drake's Island, two big ships +coming in round the western end of the breakwater. Though deep in the +water they towered above their escort of destroyers and fast patrol +boats. The leading ship was listing badly, her tripod mast with its +spotting top hung far over to port, and she was towing stern first a +sister ship whose bows were almost hidden under water. The Three +Towns, which can recognise the outlines of warships afar off, rapidly +pronounced judgment. "That's the _Intrepid_" they declared, "and the +one she's towing is a battle-cruiser of the same class--the +_Terrific_ or _Tremendous_. They're both badly holed." "Gawd +A'mighty," cried a grizzled longshoreman, who might have sailed with +Drake or Hawkins--as no doubt his forbears had done--"look to the list +of un! And thicky with her bows down under, being towed by the stern +to keep her from swamping entire. If it worn't for them bulk'eads un +wouldn't never have made the Sound." It was plain to those who had +glasses turned on the damaged ships that they were drawing far too +much water to be brought into the Hamoaze and over the sill of the dry +dock at Devonport, so that no one felt surprise when the +battle-cruisers were seen to pull out of the deep fairway and make +towards the shore. The purpose was plain to read. They were to be put +aground under Mount Edgcumbe, patched up, and pumped dry, and then +would go into dock for repairs. It was a job of weeks, and during all +that time the Fleet would be short of two battle-cruisers which might +have swept the South Seas clear of the German Ensign. It was cruel +luck, and the Three Towns had enough to talk of to keep them occupied +for many days. Presently more news came, authentic news, and passed +rapidly from mouth to mouth. The vessels were the _Intrepid_, the +flagship of Admiral Stocky, and her sister the _Terrific_, a pair of +fast Dreadnought cruisers. They had, as was surmised, been speeding +down from Scotland to dock at Plymouth on their way to clean up the +mess made in the far South. They had come safely through the Irish Sea +and round the Land's End, but when near their journey's end off Fowey +they had run into a patch of mines laid by German submarines. The +_Terrific_ had had her bow plates ripped into slivers of ragged steel, +and the three fore compartments flooded. The _Intrepid_ had picked up +the wire of a twin mine, got caught badly on the port side, but had +luckily escaped to starboard. She had taken her crippled sister in +tow, and brought her in safely. Both ships could easily be repaired, +but it would take time. The voyage to the South Seas was off. Nothing +could have been more convincing than the story which quickly got +about; the ships had been seen and recognised by the Three +Towns--there was no concealment and no mystery. For once the Silent +Navy appeared to be talkative. The hearts of German agents in the +Towns swelled with pride and joy. Here was convincing proof of the +kindly hand of the Prussian Gott. If the great news could be carried +through to the Kaiser and von Tirpitz, there would be much ringing of +church bells in the Fatherland. But these English, since the war +began, had become very watchful, very suspicious. The problem was: how +to get the glad news through. + + * * * * * + +It was two o'clock in the morning and very dark. The big dry docks at +Devonport were deserted except for a few picked hands, not more than +two score at the outside, told off on night shift for special duty. +Against all workmen who had not been warned for this duty the big +gates would be closed for two whole days. There were important jobs +awaiting completion, but they must wait. One hundred and twenty men, +working in three eight-hour shifts per day--forty at a time--could do +all that was needed to the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, and not one man +was included who had not served at Devonport for at least ten years. +Dawson had been very firm, and the Commander-in-Chief had backed him +with full authority. "Don't make any mistake," said Dawson. "Among +even one hundred and twenty, though picked in this way, there will be +some few who would sell us if they could. One would have to go back +more than ten years to weed out all those whom the Germans have +corrupted. But out of this lot there should not be more than two or +three swine, and I can look after them." He did not say that he had +already been in touch with the Scotland Yard officer at Devonport, and +had arranged that a dozen out of his precious twenty-four +counter-spies should be put among the chosen hundred and twenty. +Dawson never did allow his left hand to know the wiles of his right. + +Under the thick cover of the autumn night two massive silent forms, +which had crept with all lights out into the Sound after their long +fast voyage from the northern mists, were warped into dock; the +supporting shores were fitted, and the water around them run out. Long +before the flagship _Intrepid_ stood clear and dry on the dock floor, +Dawson, in his uniform of a private of Marines--"A Marine can go +anywhere and do anything," he would say--had slipped on board and +shown the Commander credentials from the Board of Admiralty which made +that hardened officer open his eyes. "My word," exclaimed he, "you +must be some Marine! Come along quick to the Admiral." So Dawson went, +not a little nervous--the moment his foot trod the decks of a King's +ship all his assurance dropped off, his old sense of discipline flowed +back over him, and an Admiral became a very mighty potentate indeed. +Ashore Dawson could face up to the Lord Jacquetot himself; on board +ship a two-ring lieutenant was to him a god! He followed the +Commander, and was ushered into the Admiral's presence. "What!" cried +Stocky, stern in manner always, but very kindly at heart towards those +whom he found to be true men. "A private of Marines with plenary +powers from the First Lord? Take the papers off him and chuck the +damned comedian into the ditch. We have no time here for the First +Lord's humour." The Commander drew near and whispered. "What! +Authority endorsed by Jacquetot? There is something queer about this. +Look here, my fine fellow, who the devil are you? Are you a Marine, or +a too clever German spy, or what? Make haste. There is still enough +water left over the side to pitch you into without breaking your dirty +neck." + +Dawson knew his man. He had served in the same ship with Stocky when +that officer had been a lieutenant; he had waited upon him in the +wardroom. He had felt the rasp of his tongue in old days. He +approached, and without saying a word handed the letters given him by +the First Lord and Jacquetot, adding his official card. The Admiral +read the papers slowly and came at last to the card. Then his frowning +brows softened, and he smiled. It was the old smile of Lieutenant +Stocky. "Why, it's Dawson who was my servant in the old _Olympus_; now +Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. That explains all. But why the hell, +man, do you dress up as a Marine?" + +"Once a Marine, always a Marine," replied Dawson, who felt happier now +that the Admiral had recognised him. "I can't keep out of the uniform, +sir. Besides, it's very useful when I want to be about the docks." + +"My orders," said the Admiral, "are to dock, clean, coal, and be off. +I am expecting more detailed instructions, but they have not yet come. +These letters say that you will explain the programme here, and that +you have been charged with full responsibility for keeping our +movements secret. I am to give you all possible assistance. All right. +Go ahead. What do you want of us?" + +Dawson rapidly told how the two dummy battle-cruisers had come +stumbling into the Sound in the afternoon, and how the Three Towns +believed that the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ were at that moment lying +on the shoals out of service for weeks to come. "No one must guess," +he concluded, "that the real _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ are here safe +in dock, that they will go out two days hence in the middle of the +night, and dash away south to wipe Fritz's flag off the seas. We have +picked the dockyard hands with the greatest care, and have them under +watch like mice with cats all about them. If a single one of your +officers or men goes out of the dock gates the game will be up and I +won't answer for the consequences. Everything rests with you, sir. +Will you give orders that no one, no one, not even you yourself, shall +leave either of the battle-cruisers while they are in dock--no one, +not for a minute." + +The Admiral laughed, and the officers in his room respectfully joined +in. "So we have been mined and are aground somewhere yonder on the mud +surrounded by sorrowing patrols. And the Three Towns are dropping salt +tears into their beer. It is a fine game, Dawson. I didn't believe +much in Lord Jacquetot's dummies, but they've come in darned useful +this time. Are you going to keep Plymouth and Devonport in the dumps +for long?" + +"Until you've done your work, sir," said Dawson. + +"So until then the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ will lie crippled in the +Sound for all the world to see and for Fritz to believe. If this very +bright scheme is yours, Dawson, we will all drink your health down +south as soon as our work has been done. For the credit will be yours +rather than ours. I will help you all I can; it is my duty and my very +keen desire. A man who can make so brilliant a plan for confounding +the enemy's spies is worth a statue of gold. He is even worth the +sacrifice of two day's leave while one's ship is in dock. What do you +say, gentlemen?" + +"I never thought," said the Flag Captain, "that I would willingly +spend two days shut up in a smelly dock, but you may count me in, sir. +I won't head a mutiny when all leave is refused." + +"You shall have your way, Dawson. All leave stopped in both ships. Not +a man is to go ashore on any pretence, no matter what the excuse. The +mothers of the lower decks may all die--they always do when a ship is +in port--but not a man shall leave to bury them. Give the orders in +the _Intrepid_, and ask the captain of the _Terrific_ to be so good as +to come aboard." + + * * * * * + +"So far, good," exclaimed Dawson when he got back to his hotel and +found Froissart sitting up for him. "The ships are in and no one is to +be allowed ashore. I shall be in a fever till both of them are away +again. We are on very thin ice, Froissart. It is lucky that the +dockyard is on the Hamoaze, out of sight even of most of Devonport, +and far away from Plymouth and Stonehouse. I have seen all the foremen +of the dockyard myself, told them the whole trick which we are playing +on the Huns, and put them on their mettle to tackle their men. They +will pitch it fine and strong on the honour and patriotism of complete +silence, but not neglect to throw in a hint of the Defence of the +Realm Act and penal servitude. Never threaten an Englishman, +Froissart, but always let him know that behind your fine honourable +sentiments there is something devilish nasty. Preach as loud as you +can about the beauty of virtue, but don't forget to chuck in a +description of the fiery Hell which awaits wrongdoers. I don't depend +much either on the sentiments or the hints of punishment. I've got +every man of that hundred and twenty on my string, and if one of them +asks leave, within the next day or two, to go and bury his mother on +the East Coast, he shall go--but I shall go with him, and he shall +have a jolly little funeral of his own. Every letter which they write +will be read, every telegram copied for me, every message by 'phone +taken down. They are on my string, Froissart--every man." + +"You do everything, Mr. Dawson," grumbled Froissart. "Where do I come +in?" + +"You have helped me a lot already," replied Dawson handsomely. "You +being a foreigner make me talk very simple and plain, and think out my +plans so that I can explain them to you. One sees the weak points of a +scheme when one has to make it clear to a foreigner. You don't always +twig my meaning, Froissart, and sometimes your remarks are a bit +foolish; but you mean well, and, for a Frenchman, are quite +intelligent. I will say that for you, Froissart--quite intelligent." + +"_Sacré nom d'un chien_--" began Froissart hotly; but Dawson paid no +heed. He just went on talking, and Froissart, realising that Dawson +could not understand his French, and that he himself could not give +words to his feelings in English, relapsed into wrathful silence. Much +as I respect and admire Dawson, I should not care to be his +subordinate. + +"We must keep the cinema show going nice and lively for the Three +Towns," went on Dawson. "A big salvage steamer is coming down +to-morrow to give an air of verisimilitude to the proceedings. Patrol +boats will buzz about the Sound, and the potentates, naval and civil, +will gather from all parts. The unfortunate wrecks out at Picklecombe +Point will be guarded so that no shore boat can get within half a +mile. They won't bear a very close inspection. I hope that none of the +guns will break loose and float about the harbour. That would be what +you might call a blooming contretemps. I shall be pretty busy all the +next two days myself. Though I am a strict teetotaller, I shall get +into shore rig and spend my days in the public bars. I must know what +the Three Towns are talking about, and whether any suspicion of the +truth gets wind. I don't think that it can; at least, for some time. +The stage management has been too good. Later on there may be some +wonderment because none of the men from the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ +are allowed ashore. A lot of wives and families must be around here, +especially as the _Intrepid_ is a Plymouth ship. Of course it must be +given out that they are all needed to help with the salvage +operations, and no leave is allowed. You, Froissart, might spend your +time reading copies of all telegrams sent out from the Towns. If any +German agent wants to get news of the damage to the battle-cruisers +over to Holland, he will probably travel up to the East Coast and send +a wire on ahead. That is what I hope for. You shall then follow him +up, and make smooth the path of crime. Half our trouble will be lost +unless we can help the spoof news over to the Kaiser, bless him. The +job, at first, will be pretty dull for you, Froissart, and not over +lively for me. I hate pubs, yet for two days I must loaf about them, +pretending to drink. You can read the telegrams, but you can't +understand English well enough to pick up the gossip of the bars. I +must do that myself." + +"You have stopped all leave on the battle-cruisers--the real ones, I +mean--but what about the dockyard men," inquired Froissart. "Are they +to be allowed to go to their homes when they come off their shifts?" + +"I have thought of that and weighed both sides. It will be safer to +let them go home as usual. If we locked them all up in the dockyard +till the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ were both safe away, there would be +no end of curiosity and gossip. What so very special, people would +ask, could be going on in the yard that no one was allowed out for two +days. I don't want wives and families and neighbours to come smelling +round those dockyard gates. They might see the spotting tops of the +cruisers inside. Of course there is a regular forest of masts and +gantries showing, and a couple of spotting tops more or less might not +be noticed. But my general idea is to concentrate attention on those +dear old dummies down at Picklecombe Point. They are the centre of +interest, the eye of the picture--the cynosure, as a scholar would +say. I am not a bad scholar myself. I passed the seventh standard, and +went to school all the time I was in the Red Marines. I was a +sergeant, which takes a bit of doing. But see here, Froissart," +exclaimed Dawson, looking at his watch, "it is five o'clock, and we +must get quick to bed so as to be bright and lively in the morning." + +Dawson carried out his programme. Though a strict teetotaller, he +passed hours at public houses, especially in the evenings, listening +to the talk of the port. It was all about the disaster in the South +Seas, the heavy casualties suffered by the Three Towns, and the rotten +ill-luck of the avenging battle-cruisers running upon the German +mines. Not a whisper could Dawson hear of suspicion that the ships +beached under Mount Edgcumbe were other than the genuine article. The +salvage steamer with her big arc lights glowing through the darkness +had been the last artistic touch which brought complete conviction. +Gold-laced officers, including the Commander-in-Chief himself, had +been coming and going all day; the acting of the Navy had been +perfect. Dawson blessed the four bones of old Jacquetot, who, when he +tackles a job, does it very thoroughly indeed. "I should not be +surprised," thought he, "if the Mountain, as that young Jackanapes +called him, came trotting down here himself just to make the show +complete." And sure enough he did, accompanied by the Fourth Sea Lord +who had worked out all the convincing details. Dawson was ordered to +meet them in the Admiral's quarters of the _Intrepid_. He went, +looking a very different person from the private of Marines of some +thirty hours earlier, and had the honour of being invited to luncheon. +That lunch was the one scene in the comedy upon which he dwelt in +telling the story to me. "Lord Jacquetot," he said, "clinked glasses +with me and wished me the best of luck and success. It was as much as +he could do, he said, to keep the First Lord from coming down and +monkeying the whole affair. Luckily there was a debate in Parliament +that he wanted to figure in, and so couldn't get away. Lord Jacquetot +said that the First Lord had grabbed the whole scheme as his very own, +and forgotten that I had any part in it. I don't mind. The Secret +Service never gets any credit for anything. If it did, it wouldn't be +Secret very long." + +"No credit," I remarked, "and not much cash I expect." + +"Little enough, sir," replied Dawson. "I suppose we do the job for the +love of it. There's no sport like it. Our real work never gets into +the papers or the story-books." + +"Never?" I asked slily. "What about that story of mine in the +_Cornhill Magazine_, which you still carry about next your heart?" + +Dawson changed the subject. He never will appreciate chaff. + +At midnight of the day of the luncheon party the _Intrepid_ and +_Terrific_, clean and fully loaded, cleared out of dock and slipped +off into the darkness attended by their destroyer escort, whose duty +it was to see them safe round Ushant. Eight hours later Dawson came +down to breakfast and found that Froissart, satisfied with his _petit +déjeuner_ of coffee and rolls, had already gone out. Dawson felt +satisfied with himself, and was confident now that his work in the +Three Towns had been well and truly done. The rest could be left to +the Navy, and to his Secret Service agents. He sat down to a hearty +meal, but was not destined to finish it. First came a messenger from +the Officer in charge of the Dockyard, who handed over a sealed note +and took a receipt for it. Dawson broke the seal. "Dear Mr. Dawson," +he read, "You will be interested to learn that one of the hands +engaged upon the work we know of has asked for three days' leave--that +he may bury his mother in Essex. She died, he says, at Burnham. I +await your views before granting the leave asked for. The man has been +in our service for sixteen years, and bears the best of characters." + +"Now what do I know of Burnham?" muttered Dawson. "The name seems +familiar." He rang the bell, asked for an atlas, and studied carefully +the coast of Essex. Burnham stood upon the river Crouch, which Dawson +had heard of as a famous resort for motor-boats. His eyes gleamed, and +he threw up his head, which had been bent over the map. "The man shall +have his leave," murmured he. "But I don't think it will be his mother +who is buried." + +Just at that moment in came Froissart, looking, as Dawson at once +remarked, merry and bright. "It is no wonder," said he, "for see this +telegram of which I have just had a copy. It was spotted at once at +the Bureau, and the man who despatched it has been shadowed by a +police officer." The telegram read, "Coming to-day by South Western. +Meet me this evening at usual place." It was addressed to +Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex. + +Dawson picked up the note which he had received and passed it to +Froissart, who read it slowly. "The same place!" cried he. + +"Yes," said Dawson slowly, "the same place, and a famous resort for +motor-boats. We have not finished yet, my friend, with the _Intrepid_ +and _Terrific_" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +A COFFIN AND AN OWL + +Dawson laid the letter and the telegram upon his breakfast-table, and +bent his head over them. In a few minutes he had weighed them up, +sorted out their relative significance, and spoke. "We have here, +Froissart, two distinct people. I am almost sure of that. My man of +the dockyard who wants leave to bury his mother in Essex has not yet +received permission from his Chief. He would not therefore be +telegraphing about his train. He does not know yet whether he will be +permitted to go at all. Your man is quite confident that his movements +are in no way restricted. As I read between the lines I judge that my +man, who knows the actual truth about the docking and sailing of the +battle-cruisers, wants to reach the East Coast, whence he has means of +transmitting the priceless news to Germany. Your man is of one of the +Towns; he has seen the dummy cruisers ashore in the Sound; he believes +them to be genuine, and he also wants to transmit the news to his +paymasters in Germany, He will be an ordinary German agent. The +identity of place whither both wish to go is partly a coincidence, and +partly explained by its excellence as a jumping-off place for fast +motor-boats, which, during these long autumn nights, could race over +to and get back again between sunset and dawn. We have coast watchers +always about for the very purpose of stopping such lines of +communication. You shall accompany your own man, and make sure that he +is allowed to get through. If he does not himself cross, arrest him as +soon as his boat has gone. If he does go, watch for his return and +arrest him, and his boat and all on board, the moment that they +return. In any event the boat and its crew must be seized upon return +to Essex. Are you quite clear about what you have to do?" + +"Quite," said Froissart. "The spies and their boat must be caught +red-handed, but not till after the false news of the mining of the +battle-cruisers has been carried to Holland. But how shall we make +certain that the sleepless English Navy will not butt in and catch the +boat at sea before it gets across to Holland. The Narrow Seas swarm +with fast patrols." + +"I will provide for that. I will write at once for you a letter to the +Inspector of police at Burnham, and enclose copies of my credentials +from the Admiralty. I will also wire to Lord Jacquetot in private +code. You will find on arrival that the responsible naval authorities +of the district will be entirely at your service. That motor-boat with +the news of the great spoof shall be shepherded across most craftily, +but when it comes to return will find that the way of transgressors is +very hard. Get ready and be off, Froissart; we depend upon your skill +and discretion. Get a good view of your man--the police will point him +out--before he boards the train, and then don't let him out of your +sight. Take two plain-clothes officers with you. Run no unnecessary +risks of being spotted. You are rather easily recognisable with those +shining black eyes and black beard, but no one here has seen you +officially, and you should pass unsuspected as a Scotland Yard man. +Can I trust you?" + +"_Mais certainement_," said Froissart crossly. "This is simple police +work, which I have done a thousand times. I could do it on my head." + +"Your train leaves at 10.8; the South Western station. I will give you +the letters at once, and then you can start." + +Within a quarter of an hour Dawson--his breakfast forgotten--had given +Froissart his letters, sent a long telegram by special messenger to +the Commander-in-Chief for despatch in code to Jacquetot. Not even to +Dawson would the Admiralty entrust its private cypher. Then, as soon +as Froissart had disappeared, he called up the Chief of the Dockyard +on the telephone and arranged to come at once to his office. + +"I had given the easy job to Froissart," he explained to me long +afterwards. "It was, as he called it, simple police work. He had, +without arousing suspicion, to make smooth the path for his spy just +as you and I opened the door to the Hook for the late-lamented Hagan, +and escorted him across in the mail-boat. We have helped false news +over to the Germans scores of times. It is grand sport. My job was +something much more tricky. I had to get plain proof that my man was a +spy in the dockyard, to keep him playing on my line to the very last +minute, but to make dead certain of stopping him at the fifty-fifth +second of the eleventh hour." + +"Why did you not cut out your difficulties by just stopping him from +going to Essex? At a word from you his Chief would have refused +leave." + +Dawson smiled at me in a fashion which I find intensely aggravating. +He has no tact; when he feels superior, he lets one see it plainly. + +"The fat would have been in the fire then," exclaimed he. "Suppose he +lay low for a day or two, took French leave, and went. I should have +been off his track. Shadowing is all very well, but it does not always +succeed in a crowded district like the Three Towns. If he had got away +without me beside him, the man might have reached Essex and done there +what he pleased. Besides, he might have had accomplices unknown to me. +No, it was the only possible course to give him leave and follow him +up close. Then whatever he did would be under my own eye." + +Dawson gulped down a cup of coffee, sadly regarded his rapidly +congealing bacon, and skipped off to the dockyard. "Who is this man of +yours whose mother has died at so very inconvenient a moment for us? +What the deuce is he doing with a mother in Essex at all? He ought to +be a Devon man." + +"He isn't, anyway. I have been making close inquiries. Though he has +been with us for sixteen years, he did come originally from somewhere +in the East. The man is one of the best I have--never drinks, keeps +good time, and works hard. He makes big wages, and carries them +virtuously home to his wife. He has money in the savings bank, and +holds Consols, poor chap, on which he must have wasted the good toil +of years. I can't imagine any one less likely to take German gold than +this man Maynard. Sure you haven't a bee in your bonnet, Dawson? To a +police officer every one is a probable criminal, but some of us now +and then are passably honest. I will bet my commission that Maynard is +honest." + +Dawson sniffed. "The honest men, with the excellent characters and the +virtuous wives, are always the most dangerous because least likely to +arouse suspicion. How do you know that Maynard hasn't a second +establishment hidden away somewhere in the Three Towns? The upper and +middle classes have no monopoly in illicit love affairs. Their working +class betters do a bit that way too." + +"All right. Have it your own way. We will assume for the sake of +security that Maynard is a spy, that he has no dead mother whom he +wants leave to bury, and that he has sold his country for the sake of +some bit of fluff in Plymouth. The point is: what am I to do? Shall I +grant leave?" + +"Yes," said Dawson, "and do it handsomely. Give him four days and run +the sympathetic stunt. Offer him a Service pass by the Great Western. +Say how grieved you are and all the rest of the tosh. Have him up now, +and put me somewhere close so that I can take a good look at the swine +when he comes in and when he goes out." + +The Chief of the Dockyards shrugged his shoulders, placed Dawson in an +adjoining room, and summoned Maynard from the yard. The man, who was +dressed in the awful dead black of his class when a funeral is in +prospect, came up, and Dawson got a full sight of him. Maynard was +about thirty-five, well set up--for he had served in the +Territorials--and looked what he was, a first-rate workman of the best +type. Even Dawson, who trusted no one, was slightly shaken. "I have +never seen a man who looked less like a spy," muttered he; "but then, +those always make the most dangerous of spies. Why has he a mother in +Essex, and why has she died just now? Real mothers don't do these +things; they've more sense." + +Maynard received his third-class pass, respectfully thanked his +Officer for his kindly expressed sympathy--which in his case was quite +genuine--and disappeared. Dawson jumped into the room again to take a +word of farewell. "I should know him anywhere," he cried. "I am going +by the same train in the same carriage. Good-bye." + +Maynard reached the Great Western station in good time, and found a +carriage which was not overcrowded. He was carrying a small handbag. +At the last moment before the train started a prosperous-looking +passenger, with "commercial gentleman" written all over him, stepped +into the same compartment and seated himself in a vacant seat opposite +the bereaved workman. It was Dawson in one of his favourite rôles. +"There is nothing less like a detective," he would say, "than a +middle-aged commercial traveller. They are such genial, unsuspicious, +open-handed folk. This comes of wandering about the country at other +people's expense." + +The 10.15 fast express from the Three Towns to Paddington is an +excellent one, and the journey was not more tedious than five hours +spent in a train are bound to be. All through the journey Dawson, from +behind his stock of papers and magazines, studied Maynard, and became, +not, perhaps shaken in his conviction, but certainly puzzled. "He +looked," he explained to me, "like a sick and sorrowful man. One who +had really lost a beloved mother far away would look just like that. +But so might one who had been unfaithful to a trusting wife and was +now risking his neck to pour gold into the greedy lap of a frowsy +mistress. One must never judge by appearances. A man may look as sick +over backing the wrong horse as at losing an only son in the trenches. +Human means of expression are limited." + +"It takes time to learn that you are not such a beast as you pretend," +I observed. Dawson grinned. + +At Paddington Maynard took the Tube to Liverpool Street, and did not +observe that his fellow passenger of the brown tweed suit and the fat, +self-satisfied, rather oily face followed by the same route. Dawson, +who was famished, rejoiced to see Maynard make for the +refreshment-room. He could not lunch on the train, since the workman, +upon whom he attended, had economically fed himself upon sandwiches +put up in a "nosebag." + +"No breakfast, no lunch," groaned Dawson. "What a day!" He did his +best during five minutes in the refreshment-room at Liverpool Street +to fill up the howling void in his person, and then watched Maynard +enter a train for Burnham-on-Crouch. In two minutes he had opened up +communications with a station Inspector of Police, made himself known, +and secured the services of a constable to travel in Maynard's +carriage. He did not wish to be seen again himself just at present. He +yearned, too, for a first-class compartment and an ample tea-basket. +Dawson's brain is a martyr to duty, but his stomach continually rises +in rebellion. It was a fast train which would not stop until the Essex +coast was reached, so that Dawson did not doubt that his quarry would +be upon the platform when he himself got out So he was, and so, too, +was a girl in deep mourning who had come to meet him. Dawson was +staggered; a girl, also in funeral blacks, upset the picture which he +had painted to himself. The man and girl talked together for a few +minutes, and then walked slowly arm in arm out of the station towards +the village. Dawson picked up his police assistant and followed. He +gave no explanation of the reasons for his shadowing of the man +Maynard, for he was just beginning to feel uneasy. Slowly the party of +four threaded through the pretty little place, bright under the +pleasant autumn twilight. Maynard and the girl were in front, Dawson +and his policeman followed some fifty yards behind. In a side street, +at the door of a small cottage--one of a humble row--the pair of +mourners stopped, opened the iron gate, and entered. Dawson waited, +watching. He could see through the windows into a little parlour where +some half a dozen people, all in deep black, were gathered. Presently, +as if they had waited only for the arrival of Maynard--which indeed +was the fact--the heavy steps of men clumping down wooden stairs +resounded from the open door, and there emerged into the street a +coffin borne upon the shoulders of six bearers. The moment that the +coffin appeared Dawson realised his blunder. Maynard had really lost +his mother, and, like a dutiful son, had come all the way from the +Three Towns to bury her! Off flew Dawson's hat, and he nudged the +policeman hard in the ribs. "Take off your helmet, you chump," he +growled savagely. "Don't you see that it's a funeral." The man, rather +dazed--he had been plucked away from Liverpool Street at a moment's +notice and sent upon what he thought was police service--did what he +was told. The group of mourners formed behind the coffin, which was +carried to the cemetery not far off. Still following, with their heads +bowed, Dawson and the bewildered policeman attended the funeral, heard +the beautiful service read, and the last offices completed. Then they +turned away and made for the railway station. + +"Why, sir," asked the policeman, looking sideways rather fearfully at +his superior officer's stern face--"why, sir, did we come to this +place?" + +"Why? Haven't you seen?" snapped Dawson. "To attend a funeral, of +course." + + * * * * * + +I have never met that policeman. To have conversed with him and to +have sought to chop a way through the tangled recesses of his mind +would have gratified me hugely. For, if police constables think at +all, in what a bewildered whirl of confused speculation must his poor +brain have been occupied during the return journey to London! Dawson +tossed him into a compartment of the first train which came along, one +of extreme slowness, and then dismissed him into cold space without a +scrap of remorse. The humble creature, discharging his station duties +with the precision of daily habit, had swung into the overpowering +orbit of Chief Inspector Dawson, been caught up, dumped without +instructions upon an unknown journey in attendance upon an unknown +workman. Then when the train had stopped, he had been spewed out upon +a strange country platform, led through strange mean streets, and +forced with head bared to the autumn chill of evening, to attend the +obsequies of a total stranger. At the end, without a word of +explanation, still less of apology, he had been returned as an empty +rejected package to the platform at Liverpool Street. Yes, I should +dearly love to have met and cross-questioned that policeman, and have +listened to the bizarre solution which he had to offer to it all. But +most probably, in his stolid, faithful way, he never gave the subject +any thought at all. To be tossed about at the whims of superiors was +an experience which he would take as composedly as he would those +exiguous weekly wages which were the derisory compensation. + +Dawson went to the small hotel which he had picked out with Froissart +as a convenient rendezvous. There he sat for hours doing nothing, for +he was far too wise a man to push his head into another man's +business, even though that one were a subordinate and a foreigner. He +had failed once; he could not afford, by deputy, to fail a second +time. Besides, he knew nothing of the movements of Froissart and his +quarry. They had not appeared within the visible horizon of +Burnham-on-Crouch, though they had had ample time in which to arrive. +I am afraid that his temper got the better of him, and as the night +drew on, unsolaced by a word from Froissart, and unrelieved by any +literature more engrossing than old railway time-tables and hotel +advertisements, he consigned to the Bottomless Pit the Chief of the +Devonport Dockyard, the disgustingly virtuous and unenterprising +Maynard, and even the harmless soul of his lately buried mother. +Dawson in a royal rage is no pleasant spectacle. + +It had gone half-past eleven before Froissart came, a boisterous, +triumphant Froissart, bragging of his skill and his success in the +manner of a born Gascon. + +"It was tremendous, _mon ami_," roared Froissart, unchecked by +Dawson's scowls. "I have done the blooming trick: the boat has gone to +Holland, and the filthy spy is in the strong lock-up. My vigilance, my +astuteness, my resource unfathomable, my flair, my soul of an artist, +my patience inexhaustible, my address so firm and yet so delicate, my +mastery of the minds of those others less gifted, my--" + +"Oh, stow it!" roared Dawson. + +"Unfailing insight, _mon esprit français_, my genius for the service +of police, my unshakable courage and élan, have had their just and +inevitable reward. The boat with the message so false has gone to +Holland for the German Kaiser to gloat over, and the filthy spy is in +the safe lock-up. I took him with my own hands--I, le Comte de +Froissart, I bemired my hands by contact with his foul carcase. The +boat it flew down the river; _ma foi_, like a flash of the lightning, +going they said thirty knots, _presque cinquante kilomètres par +heure_. The glorious _Marine Anglaise_ will see that it reaches les +Pays Bas, and then when it is of return your sailors so splendid, with +sang-froid so perfect, will gobble it up. Just gobble it up. As I will +gobble up this cold beef upon your table. _Peste_, I am of a hunger +excruciating. I have not eaten for five, six, ten hours." + +Froissart sat down at Dawson's table, where still lay the cold remains +of his supper--he had had the decency to reflect that his colleague +Froissart might be hungry upon arrival--and fell to eating copiously +and loudly. The French are least admirable when they are seen +devouring food. + +Froissart ate while Dawson writhed. Though his colleague's success +would plant laurels upon his own brow--little would he ever say at the +Yard of that journey to Burnham and the preposterous funeral--he was +jealous, bitterly jealous. I am by special appointment the Boswell of +Dawson, yet I do not spare the feelings of my subject. Rather do I go +over them with a rake--for the ultimate good of Dawson's variegated +soul. He was bitterly jealous, but from natural curiosity yearned to +know the details of those feats of which Froissart prated so +triumphantly. And all the while, unconscious, heedless of his wrathful +exasperated chieftain, Froissart devoured food in immense quantities. +It was a disgusting exhibition. + +Satisfied at last, Froissart broke away from the table, lit a +cigarette, and sat himself down beside Dawson before the fire. It was +well past midnight, but to these men regular habits were unknown, and +the hours of work and of sleep always indeterminate. + +"Now," exclaimed Froissart, "I will tell to you, my friend Dawson, the +true _histoire_ of my exploits so tremendous and unapproachable. I +reached the station at Plymouth at ten hours, my spy was upon the +platform. I knew him, for those who had kept him under watch had +informed me of him. I had with me two police officers _en bourgeois_, +what you call plain clothes, and I distributed them with the acumen of +a strategist. It was _un train à couloir_. The spy disposed himself in +a compartment. I placed one of my officers in the same compartment +with him, the other in the compartment _contiguée_ towards the engine, +myself in that _à derrière_. He was thus the meat in our sandwich. If +he passed into the corridor and walked this way or that he was seen by +me or by my man in advance; all his movements while within his own +compartment were supervised every moment. So we travelled. He did +himself well that spy so atrocious. He partook of his _déjeuner_ in +the _buffet du train_, and we all three took our _déjeuner_ there +also. That was the last meal of which I ate before this my supper +here. The journey was without incident, but when he arrived at +Waterloo the trouble began. He was not taking risks, that spy. He knew +not that he was under watch, but he took not risks. He began to +perform a voyage designed to throw any man, except one of the +vigilance and resource of Froissart, completely off his track. I was +not learned in your Métropolitain before this day, but now I know your +Tubes as if a map of them were printed in colours upon my hand. At +Waterloo that spy, so astute, burrowed into the earth and entered a +train of the railway called Bakerloo, in which he journeyed to +Golder's Green. Then he crossed a _quai_ and returned to the town +called Camden. Again he descended, passed through tunnels, and +emerging upon another _quai_ proceeded to Highgate. All the while we +three followed, not close, but so that he never escaped from under our +eyes. At Highgate he turned about and returned to Tottenham Court +Road. Thence he departed by another line to the Bank, and, rising in +and _ascenseur_, emerged upon the pavements of your City. He looked +this way and that, not perceiving us who watched, walked warily to the +Lord Maire's station of the Mansion House, boarded the District +Railway, and did not alight till Wimbledon. It was easy to follow, but +my friend, the billets, the tickets, were _une grande difficulté_. I +solved the problem of tickets by my genius so _superbe_. We at first +tried to take them, but _après_ we abandoned the project so hopeless +and travelled _sans payer_. When asked at the barriers or in the +lifts, we offered pennies, and the men who collected took them +joyfully, asking not whence we came. It was _une procédée très +simple_. It is possible that these wayward uncounted pennies dropped +into their own pockets. They rejoiced always to receive them. From +Wimbledon we returned to Earl's Court, and then, descending by an +electric staircase, which moved of itself, again found ourselves in +the Tubes. I loved that _escalier électrique_; one day I will return +and ascend and descend upon it for hours. From Earl's Court we went to +Piccadilly Circus; there we made another change for Oxford Circus; +there we again got out, and at last, after penetrating the bowels of +your London, travelled to Liverpool Street. By this time it had become +dark, and the spy's passion for underground travel had spent itself. +He crossed the street, descended to the grand station of the Eastern +Railway, and took a ticket for Burnham-on-Crouch. Exhausted, but ever +vigilant, Froissart and his faithful men took also tickets for +Burnham-on-Crouch. + +"I will not weary you more with our wanderings, but after many hours, +at ten o'clock, we at last arrived at this place. The spy was met upon +the _quai_ by another villain, with whom he held converse, and the +pair of them, ignorant that the vengeance of Froissart overshadowed +them, marched heedlessly, openly, to the river side and entered a +large house of which the gardens ran down to the water. I left there +my two faithful but weary ones on watch, and hastened to the _salle de +police_. There an Inspector and a young _officier anglais_--a +sub-lieutenant of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve--were awaiting my +arrival with impatience. To them I told my story with the brevity that +I now recount it to you. They were intrigued greatly, and the +_sous_-lieutenant struck me violently upon the back and said, _ma +foi_, that I was a 'downy old bird,' It was a compliment _très +'bizarre mais très aimable._ I was, it appeared, an old bird of the +downiest plumage. I had noted the name of the house, and the Inspector +seized a Directory. 'We have suspected that house for some time,' said +he. There is a big boat-house at the bottom of the garden containing a +large sea-going motor-boat. The proprietor calls himself English, but +does not look like one. He is doubtless a snake, one whom they call +_naturalisé_, a viper whom we English have warmed in our bosoms.' So +spake the Inspector. The Sub-Lieutenant whistled. He said only, 'Send +for little Tommy; it is a job for him.' A call was sent forth, and +there came into the room a scrap of an infant, habited in short +pantaloons and a green shirt. The child carried a long pole and stood +stiffly at attention. '_Ma foi_, do I see before me a Boy Scout?' I +asked. 'You do,' replied the Sub-Lieutenant. 'This is little Tommy, +the patrol leader of the Owls.' '_Mon Dieu_' I cried, 'an Owl! _Un +Hibou_! Is he then stupid as an owl?' I could see that the Tommy so +small frowned savagely, but the Sub-Lieutenant laughed. 'You will see +presently if he is stupid. I have forty miles of coast to watch, and I +do it all with Boy Scouts like this one.' '_Nom d'un chien_,' I cried. +'You English are a great people.' 'We are,' agreed the Sub-Lieutenant, +'devilish great.' Tommy grinned. + +"Then the officer so youthful--his age could not have exceeded +nineteen years--gave orders to the little Tommy. He was to go to the +house, to enter the garden, to squeeze his tiny person into the +boat-house, and watch. When the spy and his associates went towards +the boat, Tommy was to warn us with a hoot--like an owl--and we were +to take charge. At least so I understood the orders given in a strange +sea language. Tommy saluted, and vanished. If he had ten years, I +should be astonished; but he was a man, every inch of him. Wait till I +have finished. + +"We followed quickly behind Tommy, but saw him not, and joined my men, +who still watched the house. The Sub-Lieutenant and I moved warily, +climbed over the wall of the garden, and crept along the grass, soft +like moss to our feet, till we could see the boat-house stand out +against the dull shine of the river. There was no sign of the presence +of _le petit Hibou_. Suddenly the door of the house, which gave upon +the garden, opened, and four men walked down to the boat-house and +entered stealthily. My heart turned to water--what a calamity if they +should find and slay the pretty little Owl! The minutes passed, +perhaps five, perhaps ten, and then quite close we heard the soft low +hoot of an owl. The Sub-Lieutenant hooted a reply, and from among some +bushes there came out that serene, intrepid infant with the pole! He +joined us, and whispered eagerly to the officer. I could not hear what +he said. Afterwards the Sub-Lieutenant told me that the men had +entered, three had got into the boat, one remaining on land. It was a +forty-foot boat, reported Tommy--who seemed of wisdom and knowledge +encyclopaedic--it had a big cabin forrard, the engine was a +Wotherspoon, ten cylinders set V-fashion, the power a hundred horses. +So Tommy had observed and reported, and so I repeat to you. As we +watched we saw the boat push out into the river, turn towards the sea; +the engine so powerful buzzed like a million bees, a wave curled up in +front, and it sped away for Holland like the shot of an arrow. The +night was fine, the sea calm; it would complete the voyage in safety. +But upon return what a surprise has been prepared for that motor-boat +and its detestable owner! What a surprise, _ma foi_. I yearn to hear +of the dénouement. + +"'We will nab the fourth man who has stayed behind,' whispered the +officer, and we crept towards the boat-house. We were ten yards away +when he issued forth and turned to lock the door. Then we sprang upon +him. He was very quick--like the big snake that he was. He heard us, +spun round, and struck two blows of his fist. The Sub-Lieutenant got +one upon his beautiful nose; I got the other here under the jaw. We +were shot, sprawling, upon the grass, one to each side, and the +villain, springing between us, started to flee. I was struck down, but +not stunned; I was alert, undefeated, eager to resume the battle. I +rose to my knees. I saw the villain fleeing up the grass. Ah, he would +escape! But I had not reckoned upon the patrol leader, the little Owl, +the _Hibou_ of a Boy Scout so deft and courageous. The spy fled, but +into his path sprang the tiny figure of the Owl, his pole in rest like +a lance. They met, the man and the little Owl, and the shock of that +tourney aroused the echoes of the night. The man, hit in the belly by +the point of the pole, collapsed upon the grass, and the Owl, driven +backwards by the weight of the man, rolled over and over like _un +hérisson_. He was no longer an Owl; he was a round Hedgehog! I was +consumed with admiration for the gallant Owl. I got to my feet, I +jumped across the lawn, and fell with both knees hard upon the carcase +so foul of the spy whom I had pursued all day. He lay groaning from +the grievous pain in his belly, and I put upon him the handcuffs +before that he could recover. The little Tommy, the Hedgehog, picked +himself up, staggered to the body of his enemy, and there, leaning +upon the admirable pole which he had not released in his somersaults, +gave forth a hoot of victory. It was the Day of Tommy. But for that +morsel of a wise Owl the spy would have escaped. I embraced Tommy, who +wriggled with discomfort; the Sub-Lieutenant shook his hand, which he +appreciated the more. 'Good work,' said the officer. 'Thank you, sir,' +said Tommy. That was all; no emotion, no compliments, no embraces. +'Good work.' 'Thank you, sir.' _Ma foi_, what a people are the +English! + +"We locked up the spy. The Sub-Lieutenant told me that wireless orders +had gone out to the patrols spread far over the seas. The boat, of +which we had the name and description, would arrive at Holland, but +upon its return on the morrow it would be seized and escorted to +Harwich. If by mischance it eluded the patrols, it would be captured +when it arrived in the river Crouch. All was provided for. The false +news has gone to Holland, and Froissart has done good work. I ask for +no reward; I will be like the English--cold, implacable. When the +officer said at parting to me, 'Good work, M. Froissart, we are much +obliged to you,' I replied calmly, 'Thank you, sir,' I had, you will +observe, modelled myself upon the little Owl. + +"And you, Mr. Dawson," concluded Froissart, wiping his face, for the +effort of talking so much English had brought out the sweat upon him, +"have you also succeeded?" + +"Yes," said Dawson curtly, "I have also done my work, but it was not +exciting. My man was no spy, and the real news about the _Intrepid_ +and _Terrific_ will not get through to Germany." + +"Saved," roared Froissart, springing to his feet. "We are colleagues +most perfect. We have done work of the most good. _Embraçons nous, mon +ami_." Then occurred that deplorable incident which has already been +related. Froissart in his enthusiasm embraced the unresponsive Dawson, +and was laid out by a short-arm jab upon the diaphragm. It was really +too bad of Dawson; but then, as I have said, his temper was atrocious. + + * * * * * + +The two battle-cruisers remained upon the shoals of Picklecombe Point +all through November and well into the following month. The great +salvage steamer with the arc light went away, but others remained. +Work seemed to proceed, though it was unaccountably slow in producing +a result. The Three Towns lost interest in the derelicts until one +evening there fell upon them a blow which set them gasping for +coherent speech. The newsboys were crying in the streets a Special +Edition, very Special. Set in dirty type in an odd column, headed with +the mysterious words "Stop Press," appeared an announcement by the +Admiralty that far away in the South Seas the battle-cruisers +_Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, under the command of Vice-Admiral Stocky, +had met and sunk the lately victorious German Squadron! It was +glorious news, but the Three Towns thought little at the moment of the +glory. They urgently hungered for an explanation of the inscrutable +means by which two battle-cruisers, mined and cast upon the shoals +below Mount Edgecumbe under their very eyes, could race hot foot to +the South Seas and there lay out a German squadron. As soon as the +winter dawn broke an immense crowd surged upon the Hoe gazing into +blank space. The two battle-cruisers, which for a month had lain +helpless before them, were gone! Gone, too, were the salvage steamers +and the patrol boats. The waters which had been so active and crowded +were void! Then the Three Towns understood; they grasped, men, women +and children, the great spoof of which they had been the interested +victims, and their approving laughter rose to Heaven. For in all that +appertains to the Royal Navy every one born within the circuit of the +Three Towns is very wise indeed. + + + + + +PART IV + + +_THE CAPTAIN OF MARINES_ + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +DAWSON REAPPEARS + +I had seen nothing of Dawson during my intimate association with +Madame Gilbert. He had written to me copiously--for a very busy man he +was a curiously voluminous letter-writer. He always employed the backs +of official forms and wrote in pencil. His handwriting, large and +round, was that of a man who had received a good and careful Board +School education, but was quite free from personal characteristics. +Dawson's letters in no respect resembled the man. They were very long, +very dull, and very crudely phrased. He had evidently tried to put +them into what he conceived to be a literary shape, and the effect was +deplorable. One may read such letters, the work of unskilled writers, +in the newspapers which devote space to "Correspondence." The writers, +like Dawson, can probably talk vividly and forcibly, using strong +nervous vernacular English, but the moment they take the pen all +thought and individual character become swamped in a flood of turgid, +commonplace jargon. I was disappointed with Dawson's letters, and I am +sure that he will be even more disappointed when he finds none of them +made immortal in this book. His purpose in sending them to me will +have been ruthlessly defeated. + +A week after Madame had vanished down my lift for the last time, +Dawson--in the make-up with which I was most familiar--called upon me +at my office. He also came to say good-bye, for a turn of the official +wheel had come, and he was ordered south to resume his duties at the +Yard. He was, he told me, taking a last tour of inspection to make +certain that the Secret Service net, which he had designed and laid, +would be deftly worked by the hands of his subordinates. "I shall not +be sorry," said he, "to get back to my deserted family and to be once +more the plain man Dawson whom God made." + +"You have so many different incarnations," I observed, "that I wonder +the original has not escaped your memory." + +He smiled. "If I had forgotten," said he, "my wife would soon remind +me. She always insists that she married a certain man Dawson and +declines to recognise any other." + +"So if I come south to visit you, I shall see the original?" + +"You will." + +"Thanks," said I; "I will come at the earliest opportunity." + +"I don't say that if you call at the Yard you will see quite the same +person whom you will meet at Acacia Villas, Primrose Road, Tooting." + +"That would be too much to expect. But under any guise, Dawson, I am +always sure of knowing you." + +"Yes, confound you. I would give six months' pay to know how you do +it." + +"You shall know some day, and without any bribery. Now that you are +here, talk, talk, talk. I want to get the taste of those rotten +letters of yours out of my mouth." + +He looked surprised and hurt. He looked exactly as a famous sculptor +looked who, when a beautiful work of his hands was unveiled, wished me +to publish a descriptive sonnet from his pen. I bluntly refused. He +was an admirable sculptor, but a dreadful sonneteer. Yet in his secret +heart he valued the sonnet far above the statue. In this strange way +we are made. + +I did not conceal from Dawson my interest in Madame Gilbert, and he +rather rudely expressed strong disapproval. He suggested that for a +married man I was much too free in my ways. "That woman is full of +brains," said he, "but she is the artfullest hussy ever made. She will +turn any man around her pretty fingers if he gives way to her. She has +made a nice fool of you and of that ass Froissart. She even tried her +little games with me--with me indeed. But I was too strong for her." + +I regarded Dawson with some interest and more pity. The poor fellow +did not realise that Madame had for years moulded him to her hands +like potter's clay. She had mastered him by ingenuously pretending +that he stood upon a serene pinnacle far removed from her influence. +He had preened his feathers and done her bidding. + +"We are not all strong--like you, Dawson," said I mildly. + +I switched Dawson off the subject of Madame Gilbert, and directed his +mind towards the contemplation of his own exploits. When handled +judiciously he will talk freely and frankly, giving away official +secrets with both hands. But his confidences always relate to the +past, to incidents completed. When he has a delicate job on hand, he +can be as close as the English Admiralty, even to me. He has no sense +of proportion. Again and again he has recounted the interminable +details of cases in which I take not the smallest interest, and has +ignored all my efforts to dam the unprofitable flood of narrative and +to divert the current into more fruitful channels. He looks at +everything from the Dawson standpoint, and cares for nothing which +does not add to the glory of Dawson. Unless he fills the stage, an +incident has for him no value or concern. Happily for me the most +startling of his exploits, that of bending a timid War Committee of +the Cabinet to his will in the winter of 1915-1916, and of bluffing +into utter submission nearly a hundred thousand rampant munition +workers who were eager to "down tools," fulfils all the Dawson +conditions of importance. He and he alone filled a star part, to him +and to him alone belonged the success of an incredibly bold manoeuvre. +I have drawn Dawson as I saw him, in his weakness and in his strength. +I have revealed his vanity and the carefully hidden tenderness of his +heart. In my whimsical way I have perhaps treated him as essentially a +figure of fun. But though I may smile at him, even rudely laugh at +him, he is a great public servant who once at least--though few at the +time knew--saved his country from a most grievous peril. + +In the early weeks of 1916, when work for the Navy, and work in the +gun and ammunition shops which were rapidly being organised all over +the country, were within a very little of being suspended by a general +strike of workmen, terrified for their threatened trade-union +privileges, the strength and resource of Dawson put forth boldly in +the North dammed the peril at its source. In spite of the penalties +laid down in Munition Acts, in spite of the powers vested in military +authorities by the Defence of the Realm Regulations, there would have +been a great strike, and both the Navy and the New Army would have +been hung up gasping for the ships, the guns, and the supplies upon +which they had based all their plans for attack and defence. The +danger arose over that still insistent problem--the "dilution of +labour." The new armies had withdrawn so many skilled and unskilled +workmen from the workshops, and the demands for munitions of all kinds +were so overwhelming, that wholly new and strange methods of +recruiting labour were urgent. Women must be employed in large +numbers, in millions; machinery must be put to its full use without +regard for the restrictions of unions, if the country were to be +saved. Many of the younger and more open-minded of the trade-union +officials had enlisted; many of those older ones who remained could +not bend their stiff minds to the necessity for new conditions. They +were not consciously unpatriotic--their sons were fighting and dying; +they were not consciously seditious, though secret enemy agents moved +amongst them, and talked treason with them in the jargon of their +trades. They simply could not understand that the hardly won +privileges of peace must yield to the greater urgencies of war. + +Civilians came north to examine the position on behalf of the Ministry +of Munitions; they came, wrung their hands, and reported in terror +that if dilution were pressed, a hundred thousand men would be "out." +Yet the risk had to be taken, for dilution must be pressed. Dawson was +hard at work sweeping into his widespread net all those whom he knew +to be enemy agents and all those whom he suspected. It was not an +occasion for squeamishness. With the consent of his official +superiors, he picked up with those prehensile fingers of his many of +the most troublesome of the union agitators, and deported them to safe +spots far distant, where they were constrained to cease from +troubling. Still the danger increased, and he saw that a few days only +could intervene between industrial peace and war. Already the +manufacture of heavy howitzers for the Spring Offensive had been +stopped--by a cunning embargo upon small essential parts--and the +moment had arrived for a trial of strength between authority and +rebellion. He made up his mind, plainly told his chiefs what his plans +were, obtained their whole-hearted concurrence, and went south by the +night train. By telegram he had sent an ultimatum which struck awe +into the official mind. "Unless," he wired, in code, "the Cabinet +wants a revolution, it had better meet at once and call me in. Unless +it does this at once I shall not go back here. I shall resign, and +leave the Government in the soup where it deserves to be." + +Such a message from a man who in official eyes was no more than a +Chief Inspector of Police was in itself a portent. It revealed how +completely war had upset all official standards and conventions. + +To the Chief, his Commissioner, he opened his mind freely. "I am about +fed up with politicians and lawyers," said he. "There is big trouble +coming, and not a man of them all has the pluck to get his blow in +first. I have always found that men will respect an order--they like +to be governed--but they despise slop. What the devil's the use of +Ministers going North and telling the men how well they have done, and +how patriotic they are, when the men themselves all know that they've +done damn badly and mean to do worse? I could settle the whole +business in twenty-four hours." + +"They are frightened men, Dawson," said the Chief. "That is the matter +with the Government. They have been brought up to slobber over the +public and try to cheat it out of votes. They can't tell the truth. +When hard deadly reality breaks through their web of make-believe, +they cower together in corners and howl. I doubt if you will get a +free hand, Dawson. What do you want--martial law?" + +"Yes. That, or something like it. If I have the threat of it at my +back, so that it rests with me, and me alone, to put it into force, I +shall not need to use it. But I must go North with the proclamation in +my pocket or I shall not go North at all. Here is my resignation." +Dawson tossed a letter upon the table, and laughed. The Chief picked +it up and read the curt lines in which Dawson delivered his last word. + +"Good man," commented he; "that is the way to talk. They can't +understand how any man can have the grit to resign a fat job before he +is kicked out. They never do. They compromise. You may put starch into +their soft backbones, but personally I doubt the possibility. But at +least you will get your chance. There is to be a meeting of the War +Committee the first thing to-morrow morning and you are to be +summoned. I told the Home Secretary that I should resign myself if +they did not give you a full opportunity to state your case. I will +support you as long as I am in this chair." + +Dawson held out his hand. "Thank you," he said simply. The two men +clasped hands and looked into one another's eyes. "It is a good +country, Dawson," said the Chief--"a jolly good country, and worth big +risks to oneself. It will be saved by plain, honest men if it is to be +saved at all. Our worst enemies are not the Germans, but our +flabby-fibred political classes at home. The people are just crying +out to be told what to do, and to be made to do it. Yet nobody tells +them. Don't let the Cabinet browbeat you, and smother you with +plausible sophistries. Just talk plain English to them, Dawson." + +"I will. For once in their sheltered lives they shall hear the truth." + +For what follows, Dawson is my principal, but not my sole authority. I +have tested what he told me in every way that I could, and the test +has held. Somehow--I am prepared to believe in the manner told by +him--he forced the Cabinet to give him the authority for which he +asked, and he used it in the manner which I shall tell of. He held +what is always a first-rate advantage: he knew exactly what he wanted, +no more or less, and was prepared to get it or retire from official +life. Those who gave to him authority gave it reluctantly--gave it +because they were between the devil and the deep sea. They would +gladly have thrown over Dawson, but they could not throw over the +civil and military powers who supported him in his demands. And had +they thrown him over they would have been left to deal by their +incompetent unaided selves with a strike in the midst of war which +might have spread like a prairie fire over the whole country. But +though they bent before Dawson, I am very sure that they did not love +him, and that he will never be the Chief Commissioner of Metropolitan +Police. Against his name in the official books stands a mark of the +most deadly blackness. Strength and success are never pardoned by +weakness and failure. + +When at last Dawson was summoned to the sitting; of the War Committee, +he found himself in the presence of some half a dozen elderly and +embarrassed-looking gentlemen arranged round a big table. They had +been discussing him, and trying to devise some decent civil means to +get rid of him. He and his story of the coming strike in the North +were a distressful inconvenience, an intolerable intrusion upon a +quiet life. When he entered, he was without a friend in the room, +except the War Minister who loved a man who knew his own mind and was +prepared to accept big responsibilities. But even he doubted whether +it were possible to achieve the results aimed at with the means +required by Dawson. + +Our friend suffered from no illusions. "I knew what I was up against," +he said to me long afterwards. "I knew that they were all longing to +be quit of me and to go to sleep again. But I had made up my mind that +they should get some very plain speaking. I would compel them to +understand that what I offered was a forlorn chance of averting a +civil war, and that if they refused my offer they would be left to +themselves--not to stamp out a spark of revolution, but to subdue a +roaring furnace. They could take their choice in the certain knowledge +that if they chose wrongly the North would be in flames within +forty-eight hours. It was a great experience, Mr. Copplestone. I have +never enjoyed anything half so much." + +Dawson was offered a chair set some six feet distant from the sacred +table, but he preferred to stand. His early training held, and he was +not comfortable in the presence of his superiors in rank or station +except when standing firmly at attention. + +The Prime Minister fumbled with some papers, looked over them for a +few embarrassed minutes, and then spoke. + +"Great pressure has been placed upon us, Mr. Dawson, to see you and to +hear your report. Great pressure--to my mind improper pressure. I have +here letters from Magistrates, Lords Lieutenant, competent military +authorities, naval officers superintending shipyards, officials of the +Munitions Department. They all declare that the industrial outlook in +the North is most perilous, and that at any moment a situation may +arise which will be fraught with the gravest peril to the country. We +have replied that the law provides adequate remedies, but to that the +retort is made that the men who are at the root of the grave troubles +pending snap their fingers at the law. We are pressed to take counsel +with you, though why the high officers who communicate with me should, +as it were, shift their responsibilities upon the shoulders of a Chief +Inspector of Scotland Yard I am at a loss to comprehend. What I would +ask of my colleagues is this: who is in fact responsible for the +maintenance of a due observance of law in the Northern district from +which you have come, and where you appear to discharge unofficial and +wholly irregular functions? Who is responsible? Perhaps my learned +friend the Home Secretary can enlighten us?" The Prime Minister +paused, and smiled happily to himself. He had at least made things +nasty for an intrusive colleague. But the Home Secretary, suave, +alert, was not to be caught. He at any rate was not prepared to admit +responsibility. + +"It is possible, sir," he said, "that in some vague, undefined, +constitutional way I am responsible for the police service of the +United Kingdom. But happily my direct charge does not in practice +extend beyond England. The centre of disturbance appears to be on the +northern side of the Border, within the jurisdiction of the Secretary +for Scotland. It is possible that my right honourable friend who holds +that office, and whom I am pleased to see here with us, will answer +the Prime Minister's question. He is responsible for his obstreperous +countrymen." The Home Secretary paused, and also smiled happily to +himself. He had evaded a trap, and had involved an unloved colleague +in its meshes; what more could be required of a highly placed +Minister? + +"God forbid!" cried the Scottish Secretary hastily. "These aggressive +and troublesome workmen are no countrymen of mine. It is true," he +added pensively, "that when I am in the North I claim that a somewhat +shadowy Scottish ancestry makes of me a Scot to the finger tips, but +no sooner do I cross the Border upon my return to London than I revert +violently to my English self. A kindly Providence has ordained that +the central Scottish Office should be in London, and my urgent duties +compel me to reside there permanently. Which is indeed fortunate. It +is true that technically my responsibilities cover everything, or +nearly everything, which occurs in the unruly North, but I do not +interfere with the discretion of those on the spot who know the local +conditions and can deal adequately with them. I am content to rest my +action upon the advice of those responsible authorities whose +considered opinions have been quoted by the Prime Minister." + +The Prime Minister smiled no more. The wheel which he had jogged so +agreeably had come full round, and, in colloquial speech, had biffed +him in the eye. He fumbled the papers once more, and frowned. + +"It seems to me," plaintively put in the First Lord of the Admiralty +(a political chief very different from the one whom Dawson encountered +in Chapter XII), "though I am a child in these high matters, that no +one is ever responsible for the exercise of those duties with which he +is nominally charged. For, consider my own case. Though I am the First +Lord, and attend daily at the Admiralty, I am convinced that the +active and accomplished young gentleman whom I had the misfortune to +succeed regards himself as still responsible to the people of this +country for the disposition and control of the Fleets. At least that +is the not unnatural impression which I derive from his frequent +speeches and newspaper articles." + +There was a general laugh, in which all joined except the War Minister +and Dawson. They were not politicians. + +"If there is a big strike," growled the War Minister, "the Spring +Offensive will be off. It is threatened now, very seriously. I am +months behind with my howitzers." + +His colleagues looked reproachfully at the famous warrior, and shifted +uneasily in their chairs. He had an uncomfortable habit of blurting +forth the most unpleasant truths. + +"Yes," put in the Minister for Munitions, "we are behind with the +howitzers and with ammunition of all kinds. But what can one do with +these savage brutes in the North? I went there myself and spoke +plainly to them. By God's grace I am still alive, though at one moment +I had given up myself for lost. At one works where I made a speech the +audience were armed with what I believe are called monkey wrenches, +and showed an almost uncontrollable passion for launching them at my +head. I was hustled and wellnigh personally assaulted. Like my +patriotic friend the Scottish Secretary, I was very happy indeed when +I got south of the Border. The central office of the Munitions +Department is happily in London, and my urgent duties compel me to +reside there permanently. I have no leisure for roving expeditions." + +"This is very interesting," broke in the First Lord, who lay back in +his chair with shut eyes. "There appears to be no eagerness on the +part of any one of us to stick his hands into the northern hornets' +nest, or to admit any responsibility for it. All of us, that is, +except our courageous and silent friend Mr. Dawson." He opened his +eyes and smiled most winningly towards Dawson. "Would it not be well +if we gave him an opportunity of telling us what his views are?" + +"I have been waiting for him to begin," growled the War Minister. + +"We are at your service, Mr. Dawson," said the Prime Minister +graciously. + +Dawson, standing stiffly at attention, had closely followed the +conversation, and, as it proceeded, his heart sank. He despaired of +discovering courage and quick decision in the group of Ministers +before him. Yet when called upon he made a last effort. If the country +were to be saved, it must be saved by its people, not by its +politicians, and he was a man of the people, resolute, enduring, long +suffering. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "we are threatened with a strike in the Northern +shops and shipyards which will cripple the country. It will begin +within forty-eight hours. I can stop it if I go North to-night with +the full powers of the Government in my pocket, and with the means for +which I ask. All the authorities in the North, civil, military and +naval, have approved of my plans. I ask only leave to carry them out." + +"Your plans are?" snapped the War Minister. + +"To get my blow in first," said Dawson simply. + +The First Lord again looked at Dawson, and a glint of fighting light +flashed in his tired eyes. "Thrice armed is he who has his quarrel +just; and four times he who gets his blow in first. How would you do +it, Mr. Dawson." + +"Yes, how?" eagerly inquired the War Minister. + +"I have served," said Dawson, "in most parts of the world. When in +West Africa one is attacked by a snake, one does not wait until it +bites. One cuts off its head." + +"You have served?" asked the War Minister. "In what Service?" + +"The Red Marines," proudly answered Dawson. + +"Ah!" The War Minister was plainly interested, and Dawson had, during +the rest of the interview, no eyes for any one except for him and for +the First Lord. He recognised these two as brother fighting men. The +others he waved aside as civilian truck. "Ah! The Red Marines. Long +service men, the best we have. So you would cut off the snake's head +before it can bite." + +"To-morrow afternoon," explained Dawson, "I must attend a meeting of +shop stewards, over two hundred of them. They contain the head of the +snake. Give me powers, a proclamation of martial law which I may show +them, and I will cut off the snake's head." + +"You soldiers are always prating about martial law," grumbled the +Prime Minister. "We have given to you the amplest powers under the +Defence of the Realm Act and the Munitions Act to punish strikers. +Those are sufficient. I have no patience with plans for enforcing a +military despotism." + +"Excuse me, sir," said Dawson patiently, as to a child, "but if a +hundred thousand men go out on strike, your Acts of Parliament will be +waste paper. You cannot lock up or fine a hundred thousand men, and if +you could you would still be unable to make them work. No means have +ever been devised to make unwilling men work, except the lash, and +that is useless with skilled labour. No one in the North cares a rap +for Acts of Parliament, but there is a mystery about martial law which +carries terror into the hardest heart and the most stupid brain. I +want a signed proclamation of martial law, but I undertake not to +issue it unless all other forms of pressure fail. I must have it all +in cold print to show to the shop stewards when I strike my blow. +Without that proclamation I am helpless, and you will be helpless, +too, by Friday next. This is Wednesday. Unless I cut off the snake's +head to-morrow, it will bite you here even in your sheltered London." + +The Prime Minister fumbled once more with the papers before him, but +they gave him no comfort. All advised the one measure of giving full +authority to Dawson and of trusting to his energy and skill. "Dawson +is a man of the people, and knows his own class. He can deal with the +men; we can't." So the urgent appeals ran. + +"And if you do not succeed? If you proclaim martial law and we have to +enforce it, where shall we be then?" + +"No worse off than you will be anyhow by Friday," said Dawson curtly. + +"So you say. But suppose that we think you needlessly fearful. Suppose +that we prefer to wait until Friday and see; what then?" + +"You will see what has not been seen in our country for over a hundred +years," retorted Dawson. "You will see artillery firing shotted guns +in the streets." + +The Prime Minister shrugged his shoulders, but the War Secretary +turned to his pile of maps and picked up one on which was marked all +the depôts and training camps in the northern district. "How many men +do you want?" he asked. + +"No khaki, thank you," replied Dawson. "It is not trained, and the +workmen are used to it. To them khaki means their sons and brothers +and friends dressed up. I want my own soldiers of the _Sea Regiment_ +in service blue. I want eighty men from my old division at Chatham." + +"Eighty!" cried the War Minister--"eighty men! You are going to stop a +revolution with eighty Red Marines!" + +"I could perhaps do with fewer," explained Dawson modestly. "But I +want to make sure work. Give me eighty Marines, none of less than five +years' service, a couple of sergeants, and a lieutenant--a regular +pukka lieutenant. Give them to me, and make me temporarily a captain +in command, and I will engage to cut off the snake's head. You can +have my own head if I fail." + +The Great War Minister rose, walked over to Dawson, and shook his +embarrassed hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dawson," said he. +The First Lord, now fully awake, sat up and stared earnestly at the +detective. Those two, the chiefs of the Navy and the Army, had grasped +the startling fact that for once they were in the presence of a Man. +The others saw only a rather ill-dressed, intrusive, vulgar police +officer. + +"I have rarely met a man with so economical a mind," went on the War +Minister, who resumed his seat. "If you had asked me for eight +thousand, I should not have been surprised." He turned to the Prime +Minister. "If our resolute friend here can stop a revolution with +eighty Red Marines, let him have them in God's name." + +"Oh, he can have the Marines," growled the Prime Minister--"if the +First Lord agrees. They are in his department. And if it pleases him +to dress up as a temporary captain, that is nothing to me; but I draw +a firm line at any proclamation of martial law." + +"Well," asked the War Minister of Dawson, "what say you?" + +"I must have the proclamation, my lord," replied Dawson. "Not to put +up in the streets, but to show to the shop stewards. They won't +believe that the Cabinet has any spunk until they see the proclamation +signed by you. They know that what you say you do." + +["Great Heavens," I said to Dawson, when he recounted to me the +details of his surprising interview with the War Committee, "tact is +hardly your strong suit. You could not have asked more plainly to be +kicked out. The flabbier a Cabinet is, the more convinced are its +members of adamantine resolution." + +"If I had to go down and out," replied Dawson, "I had determined to go +fighting. I was there to speak my mind, not to flatter anybody."] + +The silence which followed this awful speech could be felt. The Prime +Minister gasped, flushed to the eyes, and half rose to dismiss Dawson +from the room. He himself thought for a moment that all was lost, when +through the tense atmosphere ran a ripple of gay laughter. It was the +First Lord who, with instant decision, had taken the only means to +save his new friend Dawson. He has a delightfully infectious silvery +laugh, and the effect was electrical. The War Minister opened his +great mouth, and bellowed Ha! Ha! Ha! The Minister of Munitions put +his head down on the table and shrieked. Even the Home Secretary, a +severe, humourless, legal gentleman, cackled. The Prime Minister, +whose perceptions were of the quickest, saw that anger would be +ridiculous in the midst of laughter. He admitted the First Lord's +victory, and forced a smile. + +"You are not a diplomatist, Mr. Dawson," said he reprovingly. + +"Like Marcus Antonius," whispered the First Lord, as he wiped his eyes +delicately, "he is a plain, blunt man." + +The War Minister pulled a sheet of paper towards' him and began to +write. He scribbled for a few minutes, made a few corrections, and +then read out slowly the words which he had set down. All present saw +that the moment of acute crisis had arrived. + +"That is all that I want," said Dawson. "If you will sign that paper, +my lord, I need not trouble you gentlemen any longer." + +"I am one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State," observed +the War Minister. "Shall I sign, sir?" + +"I believe," remarked the Home Secretary primly, "that if one has +regard for strict historical accuracy there is but one Secretary of +State, and that I am that one." + +"I will not trouble you," said the War Minister. + +"I am technically responsible for the country over which I am supposed +to rule," put in the Scottish Secretary plaintively. "I speak, of +course under correction, but north of the Border my signature might--" + +"You are not a Secretary of State," growled the War Minister, "and +your seat is not safe. No one shall sign except myself, for I have no +need to seek after working-class votes. Dawson and I will face this +music." + +"And if I decline to permit you to sign?" asked the Prime Minister +blandly. "This is not a Cabinet meeting, and we have no power to +commit the Government to so grave a step." + +"You will require to fill up the vacant position of Secretary for +War," came the answer. + +"And also the humble post of First Lord of the Admiralty," murmured +that high officer of State. "We are up against realities, and Cabinet +etiquette can go hang for me." + +The War Minister again read aloud what he had written, signed it +carefully and deliberately, and rising up, handed it to Dawson. "Get +it printed at once and go ahead, Mr. Dawson." + +"Captain Dawson, R.M.L.I.," corrected the First Lord, who also rose +and warmly shook hands with the new captain. "You shall be gazetted at +once. I will see the Adjutant-General myself and give orders to +Chatham." + +"You have both made up your minds?" inquired the Prime Minister. + +"Quite," said the War Secretary. The First Lord nodded. + +"Very good," replied the Prime Minister; "I consent. We must above all +things preserve the unity of the Cabinet in these circumstances of +grave national crisis." + +"Clear out, Dawson," whispered the First Lord. + +Dawson cleared out. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +DAWSON STRIKES + +It was a little past noon, and Dawson had much work to do before he +could be free to speed north by the midnight train. First he skipped +across to the Yard and into the private room of his firm friend the +Chief. To him he showed the potent proclamation and recounted the +methods of its extraction. "I thought that I was in a company of +jackals," said he at the end; "but I was wrong--two of them were +lions." + +"We should be in a bad way if there were no lions," commented the +Chief. "Those two, and another who is dead, saved South Africa; there +are one or two more, but not many. What shall you do with this?" + +"We will set it up on our own private press, and run off a couple of +hundred placards. The secret must not leak out; I am playing for +surprises." + +The Chief struck a bell, the order was given, and Dawson's priceless +proclamation vanished into the lower regions. + +"Now?" inquired the Chief. + +"Chatham," explained Dawson, "to pick up my men--and to get my +uniform." When telling the story, Dawson again and again described to +me his uniform, with which I happened by family association to be +intimately acquainted. He did not spare me a badge or a button. I am +convinced that no girl wore her first ball-dress with half the +palpitating pride with which Dawson surveyed himself in his captain's +kit. When I chaffed him gently, and hinted that the stars of a captain +were cheaply come by in these days, he had one retort always ready, +"Not in the Red Marines." He did not value his office of Chief +Detective Inspector a rap beside that temporary rank of Captain of Red +Marines. He had, you see, been a private in that proud exclusive +Corps, and its glory for him outshone all human glories. + +He flew away to Chatham as fast as a deliberate railway service +permitted, and found upon arrival that an urgent telegram from the +Adjutant-General had preceded him. Dawson was shown at once to the +Commandant's quarters, and there explained his requirements. "Eighty +men, two sergeants, and a regular lieutenant. Not one of less than +five years' service. Also a sea-service kit with a captain's stars for +me. The mess-sergeant will fit me out. He trades in second-hand +uniforms." + +"You have the advantage of me, Mr. Dawson," said the Commandant, +smiling, "in your profound knowledge of the functions of a mess +sergeant." + +"I was a recruit here, sir, when you were a second lieutenant. I know +the by-ways of Chatham and the perquisites of mess-sergeants. I was a +sergeant myself once." + +"I remember you, Dawson," said the Commandant kindly, "and am proud to +see one of us become so great a man. By the regulations a temporary +officer should wear khaki." + +"No khaki for me, sir, please," implored Dawson. "I should not feel +that I belonged to the old Corps in khaki. In my time it was the red +parade tunic or the sea-service blue." + +"Wear any kit you please. This is your day, not mine. I have been +ordered to place myself and all Chatham at your disposal, though what +your particular game is I have not a notion. I won't ask any questions +now, but please come and dine with me in mess when you return, and let +me have the whole story." + +"I will, sir," cried Dawson heartily, "and thank you very much. I have +waited at the mess, but never dined with it The old Corps is going +with me to do a pretty bit of work, different from anything that it +has ever done before." + +"That would not be easy; we have been in every scrap on land or sea +since the year dot." + +Dawson looked round carefully, and then whispered, "Those eighty +Marines of mine are going to cut off a snake's head and stop a bloody +revolution. They've done that sort of thing many times at the ends of +the earth, but never, I believe, in England." + +"I wish that I were again a lieutenant," growled the Commandant, "for +then I would volunteer to come with you." + +"You shall choose my second-in-command yourself, sir," conceded Dawson +handsomely. + +Captain Dawson chose his men with discrimination. All those above five +years' service were paraded in the barrack square, and Dawson, +assisted by the Commandant, to whom his men were as his own children, +picked out the eighty lucky ones at leisure. Those who were rejected +shrugged their stiff square shoulders and predicted disaster for the +expedition. In one small detail Dawson changed his plans. He had +intended to take two sergeants only, but in Chatham there were four +who had served with him in the ranks, and he could not withstand their +pleadings. When all was settled, Dawson went to the Commandant's +quarters to be introduced to his second-in-command, and surprised +there that officer endeavouring to squeeze his rather middle-aged +figure within the buttoned limits of a subaltern's tunic. Since the +senior officers of Marines never go to sea, the Commandant's own +official uniform was the field-service khaki of a Staff officer. "It +is all right," explained he, laughing. "I have become a lieutenant +again, and am going north with you. But I wish that your friend the +mess-sergeant had a pattern B tunic which would meet round my middle. +My young men must be devilish slim nowadays. I have been on to the +A.-G. by 'phone. He pretends to be derisory, but I am convinced that +really he is desperately jealous. He would love to go too. You seem, +my good Dawson, to have stirred up Whitehall and Spring Gardens in a +manner most emphatic." + +"But you can't serve under me, sir," cried Dawson, aghast. + +"Can't I!" retorted the new Lieutenant. "If admirals can joyfully go +afloat as lieut.-commanders, as lots of them are doing, what is to +prevent a Colonel of Marines serving as a subaltern? I am on this job +with you, Dawson, if you will have me." + +"With four sergeants and eighty Marines," said Dawson slowly, "you and +I could have held Mons." + +"We could that," cried the Colonel-Lieutenant, who had by now +completed the reduction of his rank to that of Captain Dawson's +subordinate. "Nothing, nothing, is beyond the powers of the Sea +Regiment!" + +At about 11.30 that night the wide roof of St. Pancras echoed to the +disciplined tramp of Dawson's detachment, which marched straight to +coaches reserved by order from Headquarters. "Marines don't talk," +said Dawson, "but I am not taking risks. I don't want to sully the +virtue of my old Sea Pongos by mixing them up with raw land Tommies." +Dawson and his subaltern were moving towards the sleeping-coach in +which a double berth had been assigned to them, when two tall +gentlemen in civilian dress slipped out of the crowd and stood in +their path. Dawson, at the sight of them, glowed with pride, his chest +swelled out under his broad blue tunic, and his hand flew to the peak +of his red-banded cap. The Colonel-Lieutenant gasped. "Good luck, +Dawson," whispered the bigger of the strangers; "I would give my baton +to be going north with you." + +"Colonel ---- has given up his crowns," replied Dawson, as he +introduced his companion. + +The Field-Marshal smiled and shook hands with the sporting Commandant. +"This is all frightfully irregular," said he, "but I sympathise. +Still, if I know our friend Dawson here, there won't be any fighting. +You have no idea of his skill as a diplomatist. He tells the truth, +which is so unusual and startling that the effect is overwhelming. He +is a heavy human howitzer. I envy you, Colonel." + +"I have not a notion what we are to be at," said the Colonel. + +"I am not very clear myself. It is Dawson's picnic, not ours, and we +have given him a free hand. You won't get any fighting, but there will +be lots of fun." + +Meanwhile the First Lord had drawn Dawson to one side. "Good luck, +Captain Dawson; you have not wasted any time, and I have the best of +hopes. We had a beautiful row after you left us this morning. It did +my poor heart good. The P.M. declares that if you put martial law into +force, he will hand in his checks to the King. So, my poor friend, you +carry with you a mighty responsibility. But stick it out, don't +hesitate to follow your judgment, and wire me how you get on." + +"Don't worry, sir," said Dawson, "I shall not fail. If it had not been +for you and his lordship here, I should not have had this great +chance. I won't let you down." + +"Sh!" whispered the other. "Not so loud. We are conspirators, strictly +incog., dressed in the shabbiest of clothes. We had to see you off, +for I enjoyed the tussle of this morning beyond words. I would not for +anything have missed the P.M.'s face when he found himself driven to +act suddenly and definitely. I am eternally your debtor, Captain +Dawson of the Red Marines." + +"My word," exclaimed the Colonel-Lieutenant, when the visitors had +slipped away like a couple of stage villains, with soft hats pulled +down over their eyes--"the Field-Marshal and the First Lord! You have +some friends, sir." + +"I am only a ranker," said Dawson humbly, "with very temporary stars; +not a pukka officer and gentleman like you. I hope that you do not +mind sharing' a sleeper with me?" + +"I should be proud to share with you the measliest dug-out in a +Flanders graveyard," replied the Colonel emphatically. The two +officers, so anomalously associated, entered their berth the best of +friends and talked together far into the night. And as they talked, +the Colonel, now a Lieutenant, made the same discovery which had +startled Dawson's two powerful supporters of the morning. In the +police officer, rough, half-educated, vain, tender of heart, he also +had discovered a Man. "But for me and my Red Marines," said Dawson, as +they turned in for some broken sleep, "those poor fools up yonder +would get themselves shot in the streets. But I shall save them, and +in saving them I shall save the country." + + * * * * * + +It was the afternoon of the following day, just twenty-four hours +after Dawson had commandeered the resources of Chatham, and the scene +was a public hall in a big industrial city. In the body of the room +sat two hundred and thirty-four men--shop stewards and district trade +union officials--and their faces were gloomy and anxious. They had +come for a last meeting with the officers of the Munitions Dept, and +to declare that the men whom they represented were resolved not to +permit of any further dilution of labour. The great majority of them +were not unpatriotic, their sons and brothers and friends had joined +the Forces, and had already fought and died gallantly, but they were +intensely suspicious. To them the "employer," the "capitalist," was a +greater, because more enduring and insidious, enemy than the Germans. +Dilution of labour had become in their eyes a device for destroying +all their hardly won privileges and restrictions, and for delivering +them bound and helpless to their "capitalist oppressers." To this +sorry pass had the perpetual disputes of peace brought the workmen +under stress of war! Rates of pay did not enter into the +dispute--never in their lives had they earned such wages--its origin +led in a queer perverted sense of loyalty to the trade unions, and to +those members who had gone forth to fight. "What will our folks say," +asked the men of one another, "when they come home from the war, if we +have given away in their absence all that they fought for during long +years?" When it was attempted to make clear that the lives of their +own sons in the trenches were being made more hazardous by their +obstinacy, they shook their heads and simply did not believe. "We can +make all the guns and the shells that are wanted without giving up our +rules. We value our sons' lives as much as you do. We love our country +as much as you do. The capitalists are using a plea of patriotism to +get the better of us." It was a pitiful deadlock--honest for the most +part; yet it was a deadlock which, as Dawson said, brought very near +the day when English artillery would be firing shotted guns in English +streets. + +At a small table on a low platform at one end of the room sat three +civilians, and a few feet away, sitting a little back, was an officer +whose uniform and badges attracted the eyes of the curious. None of +the workmen knew this brown-skinned man with the small, dark moustache +who looked so very professional a soldier, yet Dawson knew them, every +man of them, and had moved among them in their works many times. Ten +of those present were actually his own agents, working among their +fellow unionists and agitating with them--hidden sources of +information and of influence at need--and yet not one of those ten +knew that the Marine Captain upon the platform was his own official +chief. The chairman rose to speak to the men for the last time, and +Dawson sat listening and studying a small slip of paper in his hand. + +The chairman said nothing that the men had not been told many times +during the past few days, but there was in his speech a note of solemn +appeal and warning which was new. The hearers shuffled their feet +uneasily, for most of them felt uneasy; they were, as I have said, +most of them honest men. But when the chairman had sat down, and the +men began, one after another, to reply, it appeared at once that there +was present an element not honest, even seditious. Dawson smiled to +himself, and studied his slip of paper, for the snake, whose head he +had come to cut off, was beginning to rear itself before him. Hints +began to appear that there was a strong minority at least which was +unwilling both to fight and to work for a country which was none of +theirs--"What has this country done for us that we should bleed and +sweat for it? It has starved us and sweated us to make profits out of +us, and now in its extremity slobbers us with fair words." At last one +man rose, a thin-faced, wild-eyed man, who, under happier conditions, +might have been a preacher or a writer, and delivered a speech which +was rankly seditious. "The workers," he declared, "are being shackled, +gagged, and robbed. Our enemy is not the German Kaiser. Our enemy +consists of that small, cunning, treacherous, well-organised, and +highly respectable section of the community who, by means of the money +power, compels the workers to sweat in order that their bellies may be +full and their fine ladies gowned in gorgeous raiment. They pass a +Munitions Act to chain the worker to his master. They 'dilute' labour +to call into being an invisible army which can be mobilised at short +notice to defeat the struggles of striking artisans. The attack of the +masters must be resisted. The workers must fight. There is a +fascinating attraction in the idea of meeting force with force, +violence with violence. It is undeniable that many of the more +thoughtful among the toilers would consider that their lives had not +been spent in vain if they organised their comrades to drilled and +armed rebellion." + +The speaker paused. He was encouraged by a few cheers, but the mass of +his hearers were silent. He glanced at Dawson, whose face was set in +an expressionless mask. Cheers came again, and he went on, but with +less assurance. "The worker's labour power is his only wealth. It is +also his highest weapon. But the workers need not think of using this +weapon so long as they are split and divided into sects and groups and +crafts. To be effective they must organise as workers. An organisation +that would include all the workers, skilled and unskilled, throughout +the entire country, would prove irresistible. But as matters stand at +present I do not advocate armed rebellion. I advocate and herewith +proclaim a general strike." + +He sat down, and there was a long silence. The die had been cast. If +the meeting broke up without the emphatic assertion of the +Government's authority, then a general strike upon the morrow was as +certain as that the sun would rise. It was for this moment, this +intensely critical moment, that Dawson had worked and fought in +London, and for which he was now ready. The chairman sighed and wiped +his face, which had become clammy. He looked at Dawson, who nodded +slightly, and then rose. + +"I call," said he solemnly, "upon Captain Dawson. He is now in supreme +authority." + +Dawson sprang to his feet, alert, decided, and picked up a large roll +of papers which had rested behind him upon his chair. He placed the +roll upon the table and faced the audience, who knew at once, with the +rapid instinct of a crowd, that the unexpected was about to happen. +Dawson pulled down his tunic, settled himself comfortably into his Sam +Browne belt, and rested his left hand upon the hilt of his sword.--It +was a pretty artistic touch, the wearing of that sword, and exactly +characteristic of Dawson's methods. I laughed when he told me of +it.--There were two doors to the room--one upon Dawson's left hand, +the other at the far end behind the workmen. He raised his right hand, +and the chairman, who was watching him, pressed an electric bell. Then +events began to happen. + +The doors flew open, and through each of them filed a line of smart +men in blue, equipped with rifles and side arms. Twenty men and a +sergeant passed through each door, which was then closed. The ranks of +each detachment were dressed as if on parade, and when all were ready, +Dawson gave a sharp order. Instantly forty-two rifle-butts clashed as +one upon the floor, and the Marines stood at ease. At this moment the +door at the far end might have been seen to open, and an officer to +slip in who, though white of hair, had not apparently reached a higher +rank than that of lieutenant. "It was all very fine, Dawson," he +explained afterwards, "your plan of leaving me outside with the rest +of the Marines, but it wasn't good enough. I didn't come north to be +buried in the reserves." + +"You should have obeyed orders," replied Dawson severely. + +"I should," cheerfully assented the Colonel-Commandant of Chatham, +"but somehow I didn't." + +While Dawson's body-guard of Marines was getting into position before +the doors, the workmen, surprised and trapped, were on their feet +chattering and gesticulating. The unfamiliar appearance of the +blue-uniformed men, not one of whom was less than five feet nine +inches in height, their well-set-up figures and stolid professional +faces, gave a business-like, even ominous flavour to the proceedings +which chilled the strike leaders to the bone. They would have cheered +an irruption of kilted recruits in khaki tunics as the coming of old +friends, and would have felt no more than local patriotic hostility +towards a detachment of English or Irish soldiers. But these blue men +of the Sea Regiment, an integral part of the great mysterious silent +Navy, had no part or lot with British workmen "rightly struggling to +be free." They represented some outside authority, some potent, +overpowering authority, as no khaki-clad soldiers could have +represented it. The surprise was complete, the moral effect was +staggering, and Dawson, who had counted upon both when he brought his +Marines north, smiled contentedly to himself. He stepped forward, with +that little slip of paper in his hand, and began to read from it. One +by one he read out twenty-three names, the very first being that of +the man who had made the speech which I have reported. + +As name after name dropped from Dawson's lips, the wonder and terror +grew. Who was this strange officer who could thus surely divide the +goats from the sheep, who was picking out one after another the +self-seekers and fomenters of sedition, who, while he omitted none who +were really dangerous, yet included none who were honest though +mistaken? As the list drew towards its end, quite half the listeners +were smiling broadly. They could not have drawn up a more perfect one +themselves, and they did not love most of those whose names were found +upon it. + +"Now," said Dawson, when he had finished, "I must ask all those +gentlemen to step forward." Not a man moved. "Let me warn you that +every man whose name I have read out is personally known to me. If I +have to come and fetch you, I shall not come alone." There was still +some hesitation, and then those upon the proscribed list began to move +forward. They would willingly have hidden themselves, had that been +possible, but to be known and to be dragged out by those hard-faced +Marines would have added humiliation to terror. They came forth, until +all the twenty-three were ranged up before Dawson. Then the man, whose +name was first upon the list, rasped out, "What is your authority for +this outrage upon a peaceful meeting? I demand your authority." + +"You shall have it," serenely replied Dawson. And, going up to the +pile of papers which he had laid upon the table, he drew one forth and +held it up so that all might see. It was a large placard, boldly +printed, a proclamation in cold, terse language of Martial Law, signed +by the Secretary for War himself. + +"Martial Law! This is sheer militarism," cried the first of those +arrested. + +"For you and for these other twenty-two upon my list it is Martial +Law," replied Dawson. "But for the rest it will be as they choose +themselves. Sergeant, remove the prisoners." A sergeant stepped out, +the line of Marines before the door divided, and the prisoners were +led away. Dawson put the proclamation back upon the table, squared his +shoulders, and turned towards his audience, now silent, subdued, and +purged. His plans were working very well. + +"I am no speaker," he began; "I am a man of the people, one of +yourselves. I have made my own way, and though I wear the uniform and +stars of a Captain of Marines, I am really an officer of police, Chief +Detective Inspector Dawson of Scotland Yard." He paused to allow time +for this astonishing fact to sink in. So that was why he had known the +names and faces of all the ring-leaders of sedition! And if he knew so +much, what more might he not know! Even the most innocent among his +audience began to feel loose about the neck. + +"I know you all," he went on. "There is not a man among you whom I do +not know. You--or you--or you." He addressed those near to him by +name. "We sympathise with you and have reasoned with you. But you +proved obdurate. The King's Government must be carried on; the war +must be carried on if our country is to be saved. And those who have +given power to me--the power which you have seen set out upon these +papers, the powers of Martial Law--will exercise them unflinchingly if +there appears to be no other way. But there is another and a better +way. You must obey the laws which Parliament has passed for the +defence of the country and for the provision of munitions. Your rights +are protected under them. After the war is over, your privileges will +be restored. For the present they must be abandoned. Willingly or +unwillingly they must be abandoned. I said just now that it is for you +to choose whether Martial Law shall take effect or not. The moment +those placards are posted in the streets the military authorities +become supreme, but they will not be posted if you have the sense to +see when you are beaten. What I have to ask, to require of you, is +that to-morrow, at the mass meeting of the men which is to be held, +you will advise them to surrender unconditionally, to work hard +themselves, and to allow all others to work hard. There must be no +more holding up of essential parts of guns, no more writing and +talking sedition. Our country needs the whole-hearted service of us +all. If you here and now give me your promise that you will use every +effort--no perfunctory, but real effort--to stop at once all these +threats of a strike, I will let you go now and wish you God-speed. If +you fail, then Martial Law will be proclaimed forthwith. Make this +very clear to the men. Tell them that you have seen the proclamation, +signed by the Field-Marshal himself, and that I, Captain and Chief +Inspector Dawson, will post the placards in the streets with my own +hands. If you will not give me your promise--I do not ask for any +hostages or security, just your promise as loyal, honourable men--I +shall arrest you all here and now, and deport you all just as those +twenty-three have been arrested and will be deported. You will not see +those men for a long time; you know in your hearts that you are well +quit of them. If I arrest you all, I shall not stop my arrests at that +point. There are many others--many who are not workmen from whom has +come money for your strike funds and to offer bail when arrests have +been made. I shall pick them all up. Nothing that you can now do will +affect the fate of those who have been taken from this room. Whatever +loyalty you may owe to them has been discharged, and I will give you a +quittance. Their chapter has been closed. What you have to consider +now is the fate of yourselves and of many beside yourselves, of all +those who look to you for advice and guidance. Take time, talk among +yourselves, consult one another. I am not here to hurry you unduly, +but before you are allowed to leave this room there must be a complete +and final settlement." + +He sat down. The men split into groups, and the buzz of talk ran +through the room. There was no anger or excitement, but much +bewilderment. They had come to the meeting as masters, strong in +numbers, to dictate terms, yet now the tables had been turned +dramatically upon them. No longer masters, they were in the presence +of a Force which at a word from Dawson could hale them forth as +prisoners to be dealt with under the mysterious shuddering powers of +Martial Law. They thought of those twenty-three, a few minutes since +so potent for mischief, now bound and helpless in the hands of the +Blue Men from the Sea. + +At last an elderly grey-locked man stepped forward, and Dawson rose to +meet him. "We admit, sir," said he, "that you have us at a +disadvantage. We did not expect this Proclamation nor those Marines of +yours. We did not believe that the Government meant business. We +thought that we should have more talk, talk, and we are all sick of +talk. We are true patriots here--you have taken away all those who +cared nothing for their country--and we feel that if you are prepared +to use Martial Law and the forces of the Crown against us, that you +must be very much in earnest. We feel that you would not do these +terrible things unless the need were very urgent. We do not agree that +the need is urgent, but if you, representing the Government, say that +it is, we have no course open to us but to submit. If we now surrender +unconditionally and promise heartily to use every effort to bring the +mass of the men to our views, will you in your turn give us your +personal assurance that all our legitimate grievances will be fully +considered, and that every effort will be made to meet them? You may +crush us, sir, but you will not get good work from men whose spirit +has been broken." + +"I cannot make conditions," replied Dawson gently, "but ask yourselves +why I brought my Marines all the way from Chatham to deal with this +meeting? Was it not that I would not put upon you the pain and +humiliation of arrest at the hands of your own sons and brothers? +Though I stand here with gold stars on my shoulders I am one of you. +My father worked all his life in the dockyard at Portsmouth, and I +myself as a boy have been a holder-on in a black squad of riveters. I +can make no conditions, but if you will leave yourself entirely in my +hands, and in those of my superiors, you may be assured that there +will be no attempt made to crush you, to break your spirit." + +As he said these words an inspiration came to him, and by sure +instinct he acted upon it. Jumping down from the platform, he +approached the old sad-faced spokesman, and shook him hard by the +hand. Then he moved along among the other workmen, addressing them by +name, chatting to them of their work and private interests, and +showing so complete and human a regard for them that their hostility +melted away before him. This man, who had conquered them, was one of +themselves, a "tradesman" like them, one of the Black Squad of +Portsmouth, a fellow-worker. He was no tool of the hated "capitalist." +If he said that they must all go back to work unconditionally, well +they must go. But he was their friend, and would see justice done +them. Presently Dawson was handing out cigarettes--of which he had +brought a large supply in his pockets, Woodbines--and the meeting, of +which so much was feared, had apparently turned into, a happy +conversazione. For half an hour Dawson pursued his campaign of +personal conciliation, and then went back to his place upon the +platform. + +"Go in peace," he cried. "Come again to-morrow afternoon and tell me +about the mass meeting. There will be more cigarettes awaiting you, +and even, possibly, a bottle or two of whisky." + +The men laughed, and one wag called out, "Three cheers for holder-on +Dawson." The cheers were given heartily, the Marines stood aside from +the doors, and the room rapidly emptied. The officials of the +Munitions Department and the Colonel, who was Dawson's insubordinate +subaltern, crowded round him spouting congratulations. He soaked in +their flatteries as was his habit, and then delivered a lesson upon +the management of men which should be printed in letters of gold. "Men +are just grown-up children," said he, "and should be treated as +children. Be always just, praise them when they are good, and smack +them when they are naughty. But if when they are naughty you spare the +rod and try to slobber them with fine words, they will despise you +utterly, and become upon the instant naughtier than ever." + +"What about that mass meeting to-morrow?" asked the Colonel. + +"I shall not be there, but ten of my men will be. Have no fears of the +mass meeting. The snake's head is off--by to-morrow it will be two +hundred miles away--and though the body may wriggle, it will be quite +harmless. After two or three hours of talk and vain threats the +meeting will collapse, and we shall get unconditional surrender." + +And so it happened. The talk went on for four solid hours--vain, +vapouring talk, during which steam was blown off. At the end the +surrender, as Dawson predicted, was unconditional. + +That evening of the morrow a telegram sped away over the long wires to +the south addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty. + +"Please tell First Lord that the snake is dead. I am returning the +Marines carriage-paid and undamaged. My commission as a Captain is no +longer required. Dawson." + +Back flashed a reply from the Minister himself: "To Captain Dawson, +R.M.L.I. Adjutant-General insists that you retain rank and pay until +the end of the war. So do I. You have done a wonderful piece of work +for which you will be adequately punished in official quarters. But +you will suffer in good company." + +Though Dawson thus became entitled to call himself Captain for the +duration of the war, he never used the rank or the uniform again. Once +more, to my knowledge, he served in his well-beloved Corps, but it was +then not as Captain, but as private, during his long watch in the +_Malplaquet_, of which I have told the story earlier in this book. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +DAWSON TELEPHONES FOR A SURGEON + +I have never been able to plan this book upon any system which would +hold together for half a dozen consecutive chapters. I am the victim +of my characters who come and go and pull me with them tied to their +chariot wheels. When I wrote the first story of the "Lost Naval +Papers"--which, by the way, were not lost at all--I had not made the +personal acquaintance of William Dawson. When I wrote of my own +encounters with Dawson and of my share, a humble share, in his +researches, my dear Madame Gilbert had not met me and subdued me into +a drivelling worship of her shining personality. While I was amusing +myself trying to convey to the reader the frolicsome atmosphere which +Madame carries about with her and in which she hides the workings of +her big heart and brain, I was ignorant of the adventures of the two +battle-cruisers and of Dawson's encounter with the War Committee, and +of his triumph over the revolting workmen of the north. I have +therefore written, as it were, from hand to mouth, more as one who +keeps a vagabond diary than as one who consciously plans a work of +art. It is as a diary of personal experiences that this book should be +regarded. It has no merit of constructive skill, for I have never +known what the future would yield to me of material. When Dawson +parted with me to return south to the Yard, and to his deserted family +in Acacia Villas, Primrose Road, Tooting, I did not expect to see him +again for months, possibly years. But a turn came to the wheel of my +destiny as it had done to his. I also was plucked from my northern +place of exile and transported joyfully to the south country, whither +I have always fled whenever for a few days or weeks I could loosen the +bonds which tied me to the north. Now that those bonds have fallen +entirely from me, and I am back in my southern home--whether for good +or for evil rests upon the lap of the high gods--I have been able +unexpectedly to resume contact with Dawson and to bring this, +discursive book to some kind of a conclusion. It cannot really end so +long as Dawson and Froissart and Madame Gilbert live and remain in +friendly association with me. They have become parts of my life, and +if I have not outraged their feelings beyond forgiveness by what I +have written of them, I have hopes that I shall meet all of them often +in the future and that they will tell me many more stories of their +exploits. + + * * * * * + +As soon as I had settled myself in London I took the earliest +opportunity of calling upon Dawson at the Yard. He was absent, but his +Deputy, who knew my name, received me kindly. He explained that it +would not be easy to find Dawson. "We never know where he is or what +he is doing. I suppose that the Chief knows; certainly no one else. +How can one be Deputy to a man who never tells one what he is doing or +where he may be found?" I agreed that the post seemed difficult to +fill adequately. "I wish I could chuck it as Froissart did when he +went back to Paris. Have you ever seen Madame Gilbert?" he inquired +eagerly. I observed that Madame did me the honour to be my friend. "So +you know her, do you? She's a clinker of a woman. Hot stuff, but a +real genuine clinker. She could do what she pleased with old man +Dawson; make him fetch and carry like a poodle. She's the only woman +born who ever turned Dawson round her fingers." I observed rather +stiffly that Madame Gilbert was a lady for whom I had a very high +regard, and that the expression "Hot stuff" was hardly respectful. +"Hum!" said the Deputy, eyeing me with interest. "So she has made a +fool of you like she has of the rest of us. Even the Chief gets down +on his rheumaticky old knees and kisses the carpet of his room after +she has trodden on it." + +The Deputy tended to become garrulous, and I cut him short with an +inquiry for Dawson's exact address. He lived in Acacia Villas, but I +was without the precise number. The Deputy told me, and promised to +inform Dawson of my visit at the earliest moment. "It may be to-day, +or next week, or next month. It may not be till the War is over"--an +expression which has come into colloquial use as a synonym for the +Greek Kalends. I thanked the officer, and withdrew somewhat annoyed. + +It appeared that Dawson was not far away, for a letter from him +reached me two days later at my club. It was an invitation to visit +his home and to dine with him on the following Sunday at one o'clock. +Enclosed was a plan designed to assist me in penetrating the mazes of +Tooting. That Sunday was a beautiful day in May, and I wandered down +with plenty of time to spare to provide against the danger of being +"bushed." But with the aid of Dawson's thoughtful plan I found +Primrose Road without difficulty. The hour was then 12.15, and the +house deserted. Dawson and his family were at chapel. I had forgotten +what I had heard months before of Dawson's fervour as a preacher upon +Truth until reminded of it by a constable whose beat passed the house. +"If you are looking for Chief Detective Inspector Dawson," said he, "I +can show you where to find him in chapel. He will be holding forth +just now." The opportunity of seeing Dawson as he really was--known +certainly only to his wife and to God--and of seeing him as a +preacher, spurred me into active interest. "My relief is coming now," +said the constable; "as soon as I have handed over I will show you the +way." + +As we walked together the policeman revealed to me the admiration +inspired by Dawson in his humble subordinates. "There is nothing that +man can't do," said he. "He is a skilled mechanic, a soldier--some say +he has a general's uniform hid away in his house--an electrical +engineer, and a telegraph operator. He has been all over the world in +the Royal Navy, and could if he liked be commanding a ship now. He's +the friend of Ministers and Secretaries of State. He's the best +detective that the Yard ever knew, and he preaches to folk here +like--like the Archangel Gabriel come to trot 'em off to Hell. I'm a +Wesleyan, myself, but I often go to hear the Chief Inspector. He makes +one come out in a cold sweat, and gives a man a fine appetite for +dinner. He shakes you up so that you feel empty," he explained. + +I observed that if Dawson were so great a stimulus upon appetite, he +would not be popular with the Food Controller. The policeman, though +he had heard of the Food Controller, was unconscious of his many +activities, which shows how little the world knows of its greatest +men. It also suggests that police constables do not read newspapers. + +The chapel was a building illustrative of the straight line and plane. +It was fairly large, and so full that the crowd of worshippers bulged +out of the doors. Though we could not force our way inside, we could +hear the booming of a voice which was scarcely recognisable as that of +Dawson. Waves of emotion ran so strongly through the congregation that +we could feel them beat against the fringes by the doors. "The Chief +Inspector is on his game to-day," whispered the constable. "He's +hitting them fine." From which I judged that the constable had in his +youth come from the north, where golf is cheap. It was a +disappointment that I could not get in, but perhaps well for the +reader. The temptation to record a genuine sermon by Dawson might have +proved too much for me. Presently the voice ceased to boom, the +congregation squeezed out hot and oily, like grease from a full +barrel, and I waited for Dawson to appear. "Don't speak to him now," +directed my guide. "Let him get up to his house. He can't talk for +half an hour after holding forth; there's not a word bad or good left +in his carcase." + +After all the worshippers had gone there issued forth a party of +three: a man, a woman, and a little girl. "There he is," said the +constable, nudging me. "Who?" asked I. "The Chief Inspector. There he +is with Mrs. Dawson and their little girl." I stared and stared, but +failed to recognise my friend of the north. I was too far away to see +his ears, and his face was quite strange to me. + +"I hope," I whispered primly to the constable, "that Mrs. Dawson is +sure he is her husband." + +"She ought to be. Aren't you sure?" + +"Not yet; I am not near enough to see properly. That Dawson, is not a +bit like those others whom I know." + +"That Dawson! Those others! Is there more than one Chief Inspector +Dawson?" asked the man, wondering. + +"I should say about a hundred," replied I, and left him gasping. I +fear that he now thinks that either I am quite mad or that Mrs. Dawson +is a pluralist in husbands. + +I gave the Dawson family sufficient time to reach their home, and to +recover the power of speech, and then walked gravely to the door as if +I had just arrived. One becomes contagiously deceptive in the vicinity +of Dawson. + +The stranger, who was the real undisguised Dawson, welcomed me to his +home. The house was a small one and the family kept no servant. I do +not know what income the Chief Inspector draws from the Yard, but am +sure that it is absurdly inadequate to his services. The higher one +rises, the less work one does and the more pay one gets--provided that +one begins more than half-way up the ladder. For those like Dawson who +begin quite at the bottom, the rule seems to be inverted: the more +work one does, the less pay one gets. I should judge my own ill-gotten +income at twice or three times that of Dawson--which even that +cautious judge, Euclid, would declare to be absurd. + +He led me to the parlour, which was well and tastefully +furnished--Dawson has seen good houses--and we waited there while Mrs. +Dawson dished up the dinner. "Please sit there, Dawson, facing the +light," said I. "Let me have a good look at you." He complied smiling, +and I examined his features with grave attention. Dawson, the real +Dawson as I now saw him for the first time, is a very fair man. His +pale sandy hair can readily be bleached white or dyed a dark colour. +He uses quick dyes which can be removed with appropriate chemicals. +His hair and moustache, he told me, grow very quickly. His complexion, +like his hair, is almost white, and his skin curiously opaque. His +blood is red and healthy, but it does not show through. His skin and +hair are like the canvas of a painter, always ready to receive +pigments and ready also to give them up when treated with skill. I +began to understand how Dawson can make to himself a face and +appearance of almost any habit or age. He can be fair or dark, dark or +fair, old or young, young or old, at will. He carries the employment +of rubber and wax insets very far indeed. His nose, his cheeks, his +mouth, his chin may be forced by internal packing to take to +themselves any shape. I made a hasty calculation that he can change +his appearance in seven hundred and twenty different ways. "So many as +that?" said Dawson, surprised when I told him. "I don't think that I +have gone beyond sixty." I assured him that on strict mathematical +principles I had arrived at the limiting number, and it gave him +pleasure to feel that so many untried permutations of countenance +remained to him. In actual everyday practice there are rarely more +than six Dawsons in being at the same time. He finds that number +sufficient for all useful purposes; a greater number, he says, would +excessively strain his memory. He has, you see, always to remember +which Dawson he is at any moment. When he was pulling my leg, or that +of his brave enemy Froissart, the number multiplied greatly, but, as a +working business rule, he is modestly content with six. "I suppose," I +asked, "that here in Acacia Villas you are always the genuine +article." + +"Always," he declared with emphasis. "Once," he went on, "I tried to +play a game on Emma. I came home as one of the others, forced my way +into the house, and was clouted over the head and chucked into the +street. When I got back to the Yard to alter myself--for I had left my +tools there--Emma had been telephoning to me to get the wicked +stranger arrested for house-breaking. I never tried any more games; +women have no sense of humour." He shuddered. Dawson is afraid of his +wife, and I pictured to myself a great haughty woman with the figure +and arms of a Juno. + +But when Clara--who asked kindly after my little Jane--had summoned us +to the dining-room, I was presented to a small, quiet mouse of a woman +whose head reached no higher than Dawson's heart. This was the +redoubtable Emma! "Did she really clout you over the head and chuck +you into the street?" I whispered. "She did, sir!" he replied, +smiling. "She threw me yards over my own doorstep." + +Between Dawson and his little wife there is a very tender affection. +In her eyes he is not a police officer, but an inspired preacher. She +knows nothing of his professional triumphs, and would not care to +know. She, I am very sure, will never trouble to read this book. To +her he is the lover of her youth, the most tender of husbands, and a +Boanerges who spends his Sabbaths dragging fellow-creatures from the +Pit. The God of Dawson and of his Emma is a pitiless giant with a +pitchfork, busily thrusting his creatures towards eternal torment; +Dawson, in Emma's eyes, is an intrepid salvor with a boat-hook who +once a week arduously pulls them out. Dawson married Emma when he was +a sergeant of Marines, and I think that he has shown to her his +uniform with the three captain's stars. To me she always spoke of him +as "the Captain," though I could not be quite sure whether she meant a +Captain of Marines or a Captain in the Army of Salvation. Dawson, his +Emma, and Clara are very happy, very united, and I am glad that I saw +them in their own home. I am helped to understand how tender is the +heart which beats under Dawson's assumed cloak of professional +ruthlessness. At first I wholly misjudged him, but I will not now +alter what I then wrote. My readers will learn to know their Dawson as +I learned myself. + +Whenever in the future I wish to hear from Dawson of his exploits I +shall not seek him at his own house. He is an artist who is highly +sensitive to atmosphere. In Acacia Villas the police officer fades to +shadowy insignificance, even in his own mind. Then, he is a husband, a +father, and a mighty preacher. He will talk of his disguises, and in +general terms of his work, but there is no fiery enthusiasm for +manhunting when Dawson gets home to Tooting. I shall seek him at the +Yard, or upon the hot trail; then and then only shall I get from him +the full flavour of his genius for detection. Dawson, away from home, +is so vain as to be unconscious of his vanity; Dawson at home is quite +extraordinarily modest. He defers always to the opinion of Emma, and +she, gently, kindly, but with an air of infinite superiority, keeps +his wandering steps firmly in the path of truth. He is, I am told, a +most kindling preacher, but it is Emma who inspires his sermons. + +Once only during my visit did I see a flash of the old Dawson, the +Dawson of the _Malplaquet_, and of the War Committee, and that was +just before I left. We were in the parlour smoking, and I was getting +rather bored. Conjugal virtue, domestic content and happiness, are +beautiful to look upon for a while, but I confess that in a +remorseless continuous film ("featuring" Dawson and Emma) I find them +boresome. There is little humour about Dawson and none at all about +his dear Emma. I would gladly exchange fifty virtuous Emmas for one +naughty Madame Gilbert. We had been talking idly of our sport together +and of his different incarnations. Suddenly he sprang from his chair +and his pale face lighted up. "Now that I have you here, Mr. +Copplestone, I shall not let you go until you tell me by what trick +you can always see through my disguises. Would you know me now as +Dawson?" + +"Of course," said I. "There is no difficulty. If you painted your face +black and your hair vermilion, I should still know you at once." + +"You have promised to tell me the secret. Tell me now." + +I considered whether I should tell. It was amusing to have some hold +over him, but was it quite fair to Dawson to keep him in ignorance of +those marks of ear by which I could always be certain of his identity. +He had been useful to me, and I had made free with his personality. +Yes, I would tell him, and in a few sentences I told. + +He gripped his ears with both hands; he felt those lobes so firmly +secured to his cheekbones, and those blobs of flesh which remained to +him of his wolfish ancestors. He fingered them carefully while he +thought. At last he made up his mind. "It is the Sabbath," said he, +"but when I am on duty I work ever upon the Sabbath day. It is now my +duty to--" He reached for the telephone book, took off the receiver, +and called for a number. + +"What are you doing?" I asked, though I ought to have known. + +"I am making an appointment with a surgeon," said Dawson. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Lost Naval Papers, by Bennet Copplestone + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10474 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4fd66c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10474 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10474) diff --git a/old/10474-8.txt b/old/10474-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f629d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10474-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8291 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Naval Papers, by Bennet Copplestone + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lost Naval Papers + +Author: Bennet Copplestone + +Release Date: December 16, 2003 [EBook #10474] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Christine Gehring and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + +THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS + +By + +BENNET COPPLESTONE + + + + +1917 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + + +_WILLIAM DAWSON_ + + +CHAPTER + +I A STORY AND A VISIT + +II AT CLOSE QUARTERS + +III AN INQUISITION + +IV SABOTAGE + +V BAFFLED + +VI GUESSWORK + +VII THE MARINE SENTRY + +VIII TREHAYNE'S LETTER + + +PART II + + +_MADAME GILBERT_ + + +IX THE WOMAN AND THE MAN + +X A PROGRESSIVE FRIENDSHIP + +XI AT BRIGHTON + + +PART III + + +_ SEE IS TO BELIEVE_ + + +XII DAWSON PRESCRIBES + +XIII THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN + +XIV A COFFIN AND AN OWL + + +PART IV + + +_THE CAPTAIN OF MARINES_ + + +XV DAWSON REAPPEARS + +XVI DAWSON STRIKES + +XVII DAWSON TELEPHONES FOR A SURGEON + + + + + +PART I + + +_WILLIAM DAWSON_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +A STORY AND A VISIT + +At the beginning of the month of September, 1916, there appeared in +the _Cornhill Magazine_ a story entitled "The Lost Naval Papers." I +had told this story at second hand, for the incidents had not occurred +within my personal experience. One of the principals--to whom I had +allotted the temporary name of Richard Cary--was an intimate friend, +but I had never met the Scotland Yard officer whom I called William +Dawson, and was not at all anxious to make his official acquaintance. +To me he then seemed an inhuman, icy-blooded "sleuth," a being of +great national importance, but repulsive and dangerous as an +associate. Yet by a turn of Fortune's wheel I came not only to know +William Dawson, but to work with him, and almost to like him. His +penetrative efficiency compelled one's admiration, and his unconcealed +vanity showed that he did not stand wholly outside the human family. +Yet I never felt safe with Dawson. In his presence, and when I knew +that somewhere round the corner he was carrying on his mysterious +investigations, I was perpetually apprehensive of his hand upon my +shoulder and his bracelets upon my wrists. I was unconscious of crime, +but the Defence of the Realm Regulations--which are to Dawson a new +fount of wisdom and power--create so many fresh offences every week +that it is difficult for the most timidly loyal of citizens to keep +his innocency up to date. I have doubtless trespassed many times, for +I have Dawson's assurance that my present freedom is due solely to his +reprehensible softness towards me. Whenever I have showed independence +of spirit--of which, God knows, I have little in these days--Dawson +would pull out his terrible red volumes of ever-expanding Regulations +and make notes of my committed crimes. The Act itself could be printed +on a sheet of notepaper, but it has given birth to a whole library of +Regulations. Thus he bent me to his will as he had my poor friend +Richard Cary. + +The mills of Scotland Yard grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding +small. There is nothing showy about them. They work by system, not by +inspiration. Though Dawson was not specially intelligent--in some +respects almost stupid--he was dreadfully, terrifyingly efficient, +because he was part of the slowly grinding Scotland Yard machine. + +As this book properly begins with my published story of "The Lost +Naval Papers," I will reprint it here exactly as it was written for +the readers of the _Cornhill Magazine_ in September, 1916. + + * * * * * + + +I. BAITING THE TRAP + +This story--which contains a moral for those fearful folk who exalt +everything German--was told to me by Richard Cary, the accomplished +naval correspondent of a big paper in the North of England. I have +known him and his enthusiasm for the White Ensign for twenty years. He +springs from an old naval stock, the Carys of North Devon, and has +devoted his life to the study of the Sea Service. He had for so long +been accustomed to move freely among shipyards and navy men, and was +trusted so completely, that the veil of secrecy which dropped in +August 1914 between the Fleets and the world scarcely existed for him. +Everything which he desired to know for the better understanding of +the real work of the Navy came to him officially or unofficially. +When, therefore, he states that the Naval Notes with which this story +deals would have been of incalculable value to the enemy, I accept his +word without hesitation. I have myself seen some of them, and they +made me tremble--for Cary's neck. I pressed him to write this story +himself, but he refused. "No," said he, "I have told you the yarn just +as it happened; write it yourself. I am a dull dog, quite efficient at +handling hard facts and making scientific deductions from them, but +with no eye for the picturesque details. I give it to you." He rose to +go--Cary had been lunching with me--but paused for an instant upon my +front doorstep. "If you insist upon it," added he, smiling, "I don't +mind sharing in the plunder." + + * * * * * + +It was in the latter part of May 1916. Cary was hard at work one +morning in his rooms in the Northern City where he had established his +headquarters. His study table was littered with papers--notes, +diagrams, and newspaper cuttings--and he was laboriously reducing the +apparent chaos into an orderly series of chapters upon the Navy's Work +which he proposed to publish after the war was over. It was not +designed to be an exciting book--Cary has no dramatic instinct--but it +would be full of fine sound stuff, close accurate detail, and clear +analysis. Day by day for more than twenty months he had been +collecting details of every phase of the Navy's operations, here a +little and there a little. He had recently returned from a +confidential tour of the shipyards and naval bases, and had exercised +his trained eye upon checking and amplifying what he had previously +learned. While his recollection of this tour was fresh he was actively +writing up his Notes and revising the rough early draft of his book. +More than once it had occurred to him that his accumulations of Notes +were dangerous explosives to store in a private house. They were +becoming so full and so accurate that the enemy would have paid any +sum or have committed any crime to secure possession of them. Cary is +not nervous or imaginative--have I not said that he springs from a +naval stock?--but even he now and then felt anxious. He would, I +believe, have slept peacefully though knowing that a delicately primed +bomb lay beneath his bed, for personal risks troubled him little, but +the thought that hurt to his country might come from his well-meant +labours sometimes rapped against his nerves. A few days before his +patriotic conscience had been stabbed by no less a personage than +Admiral Jellicoe, who, speaking to a group of naval students which +included Cary, had said: "We have concealed nothing from you, for we +trust absolutely to your discretion. Remember what you have seen, but +do not make any notes." Yet here at this moment was Cary disregarding +the orders of a Commander-in-Chief whom he worshipped. He tried to +square his conscience by reflecting that no more than three people +knew of the existence of his Notes or of the book which he was writing +from them, and that each one of those three was as trustworthy as +himself. So he went on collating, comparing, writing, and the heap +upon his table grew bigger under his hands. + +The clock had just struck twelve upon that morning when a servant +entered and said, "A gentleman to see you, sir, upon important +business. His name is Mr. Dawson." + +Cary jumped up and went to his dining-room, where the visitor was +waiting. The name had meant nothing to him, but the instant his eyes +fell upon Mr. Dawson he remembered that he was the chief Scotland Yard +officer who had come north to teach the local police how to keep track +of the German agents who infested the shipbuilding centres. Cary had +met Dawson more than once, and had assisted him with his intimate +local knowledge. He greeted his visitor with smiling courtesy, but +Dawson did not smile. His first words, indeed, came like shots from an +automatic pistol. + +"Mr. Cary," said he, "I want to see your Naval Notes." + +Cary was staggered, for the three people whom I have mentioned did not +include Mr. Dawson. "Certainly," said he, "I will show them to you if +you ask officially. But how in the world did you hear anything about +them?" + +"I am afraid that a good many people know about them, most undesirable +people too. If you will show them to me--I am asking officially--I +will tell you what I know." + +Cary led the way to his study. Dawson glanced round the room, at the +papers heaped upon the table, at the tall windows bare of +curtains--Cary, who loved light and sunshine, hated curtains--and +growled. Then he locked the door, pulled down the thick blue blinds +required by the East Coast lighting orders, and switched on the +electric lights though it was high noon in May. "That's better," said +he. "You are an absolutely trustworthy man, Mr. Cary. I know all about +you. But you are damned careless. That bare window is overlooked from +half a dozen flats. You might as well do your work in the street." + +Dawson picked up some of the papers, and their purport was explained +to him by Cary. "I don't know anything of naval details," said he, +"but I don't need any evidence of the value of the stuff here. The +enemy wants it, wants it badly; that is good enough for me." + +"But," remonstrated Cary, "no one knows of these papers, or of the use +to which I am putting them, except my son in the Navy, my wife (who +has not read a line of them), and my publisher in London." + +"Hum!" commented Dawson. "Then how do you account for this?" + +He opened his leather despatch-case and drew forth a parcel carefully +wrapped up in brown paper. Within the wrapping was a large white +envelope of the linen woven paper used for registered letters, and +generously sealed. To Cary's surprise, for the envelope appeared to be +secure, Dawson cautiously opened it so as not to break the seal which +was adhering to the flap and drew out a second smaller envelope, also +sealed. This he opened in the same delicate way and took out a third; +from the third he drew a fourth, and so on until eleven empty +envelopes had been added to the litter piled upon Cary's table, and +the twelfth, a small one, remained in Dawson's hands. + +"Did you ever see anything so childish?" observed he, indicating the +envelopes. "A big, registered, sealed Chinese puzzle like that is just +crying out to be opened. We would have seen the inside of that one +even if it had been addressed to the Lord Mayor, and not to--well, +someone in whom we are deeply interested, though he does not know it." + +Cary, who had been fascinated by the succession of sealed envelopes, +stretched out his hand towards one of them. "Don't touch," snapped out +Dawson. "Your clumsy hands would break the seals, and then there would +be the devil to pay. Of course all these envelopes were first opened +in my office. It takes a dozen years to train men to open sealed +envelopes so that neither flap nor seal is broken, and both can be +again secured without showing a sign of disturbance. It is a trade +secret." + +Dawson's expert fingers then opened the twelfth envelope, and he +produced a letter. "Now, Mr. Cary, if we had not known you and also +known that you were absolutely honest and loyal--though dangerously +simple-minded and careless in the matter of windows--this letter would +have been very awkward indeed for you. It runs: 'Hagan arrives 10.30 +p.m. Wednesday to get Cary's Naval Notes. Meet him. Urgent.' Had we +not known you, Mr. Richard Cary might have been asked to explain how +Hagan knew all about his Naval Notes and was so very confident of +being able to get them." + +Cary smiled. "I have often felt," said he, "especially in war-time, +that it was most useful to be well known to the police. You may ask me +anything you like, and I will do my best to answer. I confess that I +am aghast at the searchlight of inquiry which has suddenly been turned +upon my humble labours. My son at sea knows nothing of the Notes +except what I have told him in my letters, my wife has not read a line +of them, and my publisher is the last man to talk. I seem to have +suddenly dropped into the middle of a detective story." The poor man +scratched his head and smiled ruefully at the Scotland Yard officer. + +"Mr. Cary," said Dawson, "those windows of yours would account for +anything. You have been watched for a long time, and I am perfectly +sure that our friend Hagan and his associates here know precisely in +what drawer of that desk you keep your Naval Papers. Your flat is easy +to enter--I had a look round before coming in to-day--and on Wednesday +night (that is to-morrow) there will be a scientific burglary here and +your Notes will be stolen." + +"Oh no they won't," cried Cary. "I will take them down this afternoon +to my office and lock them up in the big safe. It will put me to a lot +of bother, for I shall also have to lock up there the chapters of my +book." + +"You newspaper men ought all to be locked up yourselves. You are a +cursed nuisance to honest, hard-worked Scotland Yard men like me. But +you mistake the object of my visit. I want this flat to be entered +to-morrow night, and I want your Naval Papers to be stolen." + +For a moment the wild thought came to Cary that this man Dawson--the +chosen of the Yard--was himself a German Secret Service agent, and +must have shown in his eyes some signs of the suspicion, for Dawson +laughed loudly. "No, Mr. Cary, I am not in the Kaiser's pay, nor are +you, though the case against you might be painted pretty black. This +man Hagan is on our string in London, and we want him very badly +indeed. Not to arrest--at least not just yet--but to keep running +round showing us his pals and all their little games. He is an +Irish-American, a very unbenevolent neutral, to whom we want to give a +nice, easy, happy time, so that he can mix himself up thoroughly with +the spy business and wrap a rope many times round his neck. We will +pull on to the end when we have finished with him, but not a minute +too soon. He is too precious to be frightened. Did you ever come +across such an ass"--Dawson contemptuously indicated the pile of +sealed envelopes; "he must have soaked himself in American dime novels +and cinema crime films. He will be of more use to us than a dozen of +our best officers. I feel that I love Hagan, and won't have him +disturbed. When he comes here to-morrow night, he shall be seen, but +not heard. He shall enter this room, lift your Notes, which shall be +in their usual drawer, and shall take them safely away. After that I +rather fancy that we shall enjoy ourselves, and that the salt will +stick very firmly upon Hagan's little tail." + +Cary did not at all like this plan; it might offer amusement and +instruction to the police, but seemed to involve himself in an +excessive amount of responsibility. "Will it not be far too risky to +let him take my Notes even if you do shadow him closely afterwards? He +will get them copied and scattered amongst a score of agents, one of +whom may get the information through to Germany. You know your job, of +course, but the risk seems too big for me. After all, they are my +Notes, and I would far sooner burn them now than that the Germans +should see a line of them." + +Dawson laughed again. "You are a dear, simple soul, Mr. Cary; it does +one good to meet you. Why on earth do you suppose I came here to-day +if it were not to enlist your help? Hagan is going to take all the +risks; you and I are not looking for any. He is going to steal some +Naval Notes, but they will not be those which lie on this table. I +myself will take charge of those and of the chapters of your most +reprehensible book. You shall prepare, right now, a beautiful new +artistic set of notes calculated to deceive. They must be accurate +where any errors would be spotted, but wickedly false wherever +deception would be good for Fritz's health. I want you to get down to +a real plant. This letter shall be sealed up again in its twelve silly +envelopes and go by registered post to Hagan's correspondent. You +shall have till to-morrow morning to invent all those things which we +want Fritz to believe about the Navy. Make us out to be as rotten as +you plausibly can. Give him some heavy losses to gloat over and to +tempt him out of harbour. Don't overdo it, but mix up your fiction +with enough facts to keep it sweet and make it sound convincing. If +you do your work well--and the Naval authorities here seem to think a +lot of you--Hagan will believe in your Notes, and will try to get them +to his German friends at any cost or risk, which will be exactly what +we want of him. Then, when he has served our purpose, he will find +that we--have--no--more--use--for--him." + +Dawson accompanied this slow, harmlessly sounding sentence with a grim +and nasty smile. Cary, before whose eyes flashed for a moment the +vision of a chill dawn, cold grey walls, and a silent firing party, +shuddered. It was a dirty task to lay so subtle a trap even for a +dirty Irish-American spy. His honest English soul revolted at the call +upon his brains and knowledge, but common sense told him that in this +way, Dawson's way, he could do his country a very real service. For a +few minutes he mused over the task set to his hand, and then spoke. + +"All right. I think that I can put up exactly what you want. The faked +Notes shall be ready when you come to-morrow. I will give the whole +day to them." + +In the morning the new set of Naval Papers was ready, and their +purport was explained in detail to Dawson, who chuckled joyously. +"This is exactly what Admiral ---- wants, and it shall get through to +Germany by Fritz's own channels. I have misjudged you, Mr. Cary; I +thought you little better than a fool, but that story here of a +collision in a fog and the list of damaged Queen Elizabeths in dock +would have taken in even me. Fritz will suck it down like cream. I +like that effort even better than your grave comments on damaged +turbines and worn-out gun tubes. You are a genius, Mr. Cary, and I +must take you to lunch with the Admiral this very day. You can explain +the plant better than I can, and he is dying to hear all about it. Oh, +by the way, he particularly wants a description of the failure to +complete the latest batch of big shell fuses, and the shortage of +lyddite. You might get that done before the evening. Now for the +burglary. Do nothing, nothing at all, outside your usual routine. Come +home at your usual hour, go to bed as usual, and sleep soundly if you +can. Should you hear any noise in the night, put your head under the +bedclothes. Say nothing to Mrs. Cary unless you are obliged, and for +God's sake don't let any woman--wife, daughter, or maid-servant +--disturb my pearl of a burglar while he is at work. He must have +a clear run, with everything exactly as he expects to find it. +Can I depend upon you?" + +"I don't pretend to like the business," said Cary, "but you can depend +upon me to the letter of my orders." + +"Good," cried Dawson. "That is all I want." + + +II. THE TRAP CLOSES + +Cary heard no noise, though he lay awake for most of the night, +listening intently. The flat seemed to be more quiet even than usual. +There was little traffic in the street below, and hardly a step broke +the long silence of the night. Early in the morning--at six +B.S.T.--Cary slipped out of bed, stole down to his study, and pulled +open the deep drawer in which he had placed the bundle of faked Naval +Notes. They had gone! So the Spy-Burglar had come, and, carefully +shepherded by Dawson's sleuth-hounds, had found the primrose path easy +for his crime. To Cary, the simple, honest gentleman, the whole plot +seemed to be utterly revolting--justified, of course, by the country's +needs in time of war, but none the less revolting. There is nothing of +glamour in the Secret Service, nothing of romance, little even of +excitement. It is a cold-blooded exercise of wits against wits, of +spies against spies. The amateur plays a fish upon a line and gives +him a fair run for his life, but the professional fisherman--to whom a +salmon is a people's food--nets him coldly and expeditiously as he +comes in from the sea. + +Shortly after breakfast there came a call from Dawson on the +telephone. "All goes well. Come to my office as soon as possible." +Cary found Dawson bubbling with professional satisfaction. "It was +beautiful," cried he. "Hagan was met at the train, taken to a place we +know of, and shadowed by us tight as wax. We now know all his +associates--the swine have not even the excuse of being German. He +burgled your flat himself while one of his gang watched outside. Never +mind where I was; you would be surprised if I told you; but I saw +everything. He has the faked papers, is busy making copies, and this +afternoon is going down the river in a steamer to get a glimpse of the +shipyards and docks and check your Notes as far as can be done. Will +they stand all right?" + +"Quite all right," said Cary. "The obvious things were given +correctly." + +"Good. We will be in the steamer." + +Cary went that afternoon, quite unchanged in appearance by Dawson's +order. "If you try to disguise yourself," declared that expert, "you +will be spotted at once. Leave the refinements to us." Dawson himself +went as an elderly dug-out officer with the rank marks of a colonel, +and never spoke a word to Cary upon the whole trip down and up the +teeming river. Dawson's men were scattered here and there--one a +passenger of inquiring mind, another a deckhand, yet a third--a pretty +girl in khaki--sold tea and cakes in the vessel's saloon. Hagan--who, +Cary heard afterwards, wore the brass-bound cap and blue kit of a mate +in the American merchant service--was never out of sight for an +instant of Dawson or of one of his troupe. He busied himself with a +strong pair of marine glasses, and now and then asked innocent +questions of the ship's deckhands. He had evidently himself once +served as a sailor. One deckhand, an idle fellow to whom Hagan was +very civil, told his questioner quite a lot of interesting details +about the Navy ships, great and small, which could be seen upon the +building slips. All these details tallied strangely with those +recorded in Cary's Notes. The trip up and down the river was a great +success for Hagan and for Dawson, but for Cary it was rather a bore. +He felt somehow out of the picture. In the evening Dawson called at +Cary's office and broke in upon him. "We had a splendid trip to-day," +said he. "It exceeded my utmost hopes. Hagan thinks no end of your +Notes, but he is not taking any risks. He leaves in the morning for +Glasgow to do the Clyde and to check some more of your stuff. Would +you like to come?" Cary remarked that he was rather busy, and that +these river excursions, though doubtless great fun for Dawson, were +rather poor sport for himself. Dawson laughed joyously--he was a +cheerful soul when he had a spy upon his string. "Come along," said +he. "See the thing through. I should like you to be in at the death." +Cary observed that he had no stomach for cold, damp dawns and firing +parties. + +"I did not quite mean that," replied Dawson. "Those closing ceremonies +are still strictly private. But you should see the chase through to a +finish. You are a newspaper man, and should be eager for new +experiences." + +"I will come," said Cary, rather reluctantly. "But I warn you that my +sympathies are steadily going over to Hagan. The poor devil does not +look to have a dog's chance against you." + +"He hasn't," said Dawson, with great satisfaction. + +Cary, to whom the wonderful Clyde was as familiar as the river near +his own home, found the second trip almost as wearisome as the first. +But not quite. He was now able to recognise Hagan, who again appeared +as a brass-bounder, and did not affect to conceal his deep interest in +the naval panorama offered by the river. Nothing of real importance +can, of course, be learned from a casual steamer trip, but Hagan +seemed to think otherwise, for he was always either watching through +his glasses or asking apparently artless questions of passengers or +passing deckhands. Again a sailor seemed disposed to be communicative; +he pointed out more than one monster in steel, red raw with surface +rust, and gave particulars of a completed power which would have +surprised the Admiralty Superintendent. They would not, however, have +surprised Mr. Cary, in whose ingenious brain they had been conceived. +This second trip, like the first, was declared by Dawson to have been +a great success. "Did you know me?" he asked. "I was a clean-shaven +naval doctor, about as unlike the army colonel of the first trip as a +pigeon is unlike a gamecock. Hagan is off to London to-night by the +North-Western. There are two copies of your Notes. One is going by +Edinburgh and the east coast, and another by the Midland. Hagan has +the original masterpiece. I will look after him and leave the two +other messengers to my men. I have been on to the Yard by 'phone, and +have arranged that all three shall have passports for Holland. The two +copies shall reach the Kaiser, bless him, but I really must have +Hagan's set of Notes for my Museum." + +"And what will become of Hagan?" asked Cary. + +"Come and see," said Mr. Dawson. + +Dawson entertained Cary at dinner in a private room at the Station +Hotel, waited upon by one of his own confidential men. "Nobody ever +sees me," he observed, with much satisfaction, "though I am +everywhere." (I suspect that Dawson is not without his little +vanities.) "Except in my office and with people whom I know well, I +am always some one else. The first time I came to your house I wore a +beard, and the second time looked like a gas inspector. You saw only +the real Dawson. When one has got the passion for the chase in one's +blood, one cannot bide for long in a stuffy office. As I have a jewel +of an assistant, I can always escape and follow up my own victims. +This man Hagan is a black heartless devil. Don't waste your sympathy +on him, Mr. Cary. He took money from us quite lately to betray the +silly asses of Sinn Feiners, and now, thinking us hoodwinked, is after +more money from the Kaiser. He is of the type that would sell his own +mother and buy a mistress with the money. He's not worth your pity. We +use him and his like for just so long as they can be useful, and then +the jaws of the trap close. By letting him take those faked Notes we +have done a fine stroke for the Navy, for the Yard, and for Bill +Dawson. We have got into close touch with four new German agents here +and two more down south. We shan't seize them yet; just keep them +hanging on and use them. That's the game. I am never anxious about an +agent when I know him and can keep him watched. Anxious, bless you; I +love him like a cat loves a mouse. I've had some spies on my string +ever since the war began; I wouldn't have them touched or worried for +the world. Their correspondence tells me everything, and if a letter +to Holland which they haven't written slips in sometimes, it's useful, +very useful, as useful almost as your faked Notes." + +Half an hour before the night train was due to leave for the South, +Dawson, very simply but effectively changed in appearance--for Hagan +knew by sight the real Dawson--led Cary to the middle sleeping-coach +on the train. "I have had Hagan put in No. 5," he said, "and you and I +will take Nos. 4 and 6. No. 5 is an observation berth; there is one +fixed up for us on this sleeping-coach. Come in here." He pulled Cary +into No. 4, shut the door, and pointed to a small wooden knob set a +few inches below the luggage rack. "If one unscrews that knob one can +see into the next berth, No. 5. No. 6 is fitted in the same way, so +that we can rake No. 5 from both sides. But, mind you, on no account +touch those knobs until the train is moving fast and until you have +switched out the lights. If No. 5 was dark when you opened the +peep-hole, a ray of light from your side would give the show away. And +unless there was a good deal of vibration and rattle in the train you +might be heard. Now cut away to No. 6, fasten the door, and go to bed. +I shall sit up and watch, but there is nothing for you to do." + +Hagan appeared in due course, was shown into No. 5 berth, and the +train started. Cary asked himself whether he should go to bed as +advised or sit up reading. He decided to obey Dawson's orders, but to +take a look in upon Hagan before settling down for the journey. He +switched off his lights, climbed upon the bed, and carefully unscrewed +the little knob which was like the one shown to him by Dawson. A beam +of light stabbed the darkness of his berth, and putting his eye with +some difficulty to the hole--one's nose gets so confoundedly in the +way--he saw Hagan comfortably arranging himself for the night. The spy +had no suspicion of his watchers on both sides, for, after settling +himself in bed, he unwrapped a flat parcel and took out a bundle of +blue papers, which Cary at once recognised as the originals of his +stolen Notes. Hagan went through them--he had put his suit-case across +his knees to form a desk--and carefully made marginal jottings. Cary, +who had often tried to write in trains, could not but admire the man's +laborious patience. He painted his letters and figures over and over +again, in order to secure distinctness, in spite of the swaying of the +train, and frequently stopped to suck the point of his pencil. + +"I suppose," thought Cary, "that Dawson yonder is just gloating over +his prey, but for my part I feel an utterly contemptible beast. Never +again will I set a trap for even the worst of my fellow-creatures." He +put back the knob, went to bed, and passed half the night in extreme +mental discomfort and the other half in snatching brief intervals of +sleep. It was not a pleasant journey. + +Dawson did not come out of his berth at Euston until after Hagan had +left the station in a taxi-cab, much to Cary's surprise, and then was +quite ready, even anxious, to remain for breakfast at the hotel. He +explained his strange conduct. "Two of my men," said he, as he +wallowed in tea and fried soles--one cannot get Dover soles in the +weary North--"who travelled in ordinary compartments, are after Hagan +in two taxis, so that if one is delayed, the other will keep touch. +Hagan's driver also has had a police warning, so that our spy is in a +barbed-wire net. I shall hear before very long all about him." + +Cary and Dawson spent the morning at the hotel with a telephone beside +them; every few minutes the bell would ring, and a whisper of Hagan's +movements steal over the wires into the ears of the spider Dawson. He +reported progress to Cary with ever-increasing satisfaction. + +"Hagan has applied for and been granted a passport to Holland, and has +booked a passage in the boat which leaves Harwich to-night for the +Hook. We will go with him. The other two spies, with the copies, +haven't turned up yet, but they are all right. My men will see them +safe across into Dutch territory, and make sure that no blundering +Customs officer interferes with their papers. This time the way of +transgressors shall be very soft. As for Hagan, he is not going to +arrive." + +"I don't quite understand why you carry on so long with him," said +Cary, who, though tired, could not but feel intense interest in the +perfection of the police system and in the serene confidence of +Dawson. The Yard could, it appeared, do unto the spies precisely what +Dawson chose to direct. + +"Hagan is an American citizen," explained Dawson. "If he had been a +British subject I would have taken him at Euston--we have full +evidence of the burglary, and of the stolen papers in his suit-case. +But as he is a damned unbenevolent neutral we must prove his intention +to sell the papers to Germany. Then we can deal with him by secret +court-martial.[1] The journey to Holland will prove this intention. +Hagan has been most useful to us in Ireland, and now in the North of +England and in Scotland, but he is too enterprising and too daring to +be left any longer on the string. I will draw the ends together at the +Hook." + +[Footnote 1: Author's Note: This conversation is dated May, 1916.] + +"I did not want to go to Holland," said Cary to me, when telling his +story. "I was utterly sick and disgusted with the whole cold-blooded +game of cat and mouse, but the police needed my evidence about the +Notes and the burglary, and did not intend to let me slip out of their +clutches. Dawson was very civil and pleasant, but I was in fact as +tightly held upon his string as was the wretched Hagan. So I went on +to Holland with that quick-change artist, and watched him come on +board the steamer at Parkeston Quay, dressed as a rather +German-looking commercial traveller, eager for war commissions upon +smuggled goods. This sounds absurd, but his get-up seemed somehow to +suggest the idea. Then I went below. Dawson always kept away from me +whenever Hagan might have seen us together." + +The passage across to Holland was free from incident; there was no +sign that we were at war, and Continental traffic was being carried +serenely on, within easy striking distance of the German submarine +base at Zeebrugge. The steamer had drawn in to the Hook beside the +train, and Hagan was approaching the gangway, suit-case in hand. The +man was on the edge of safety; once upon Dutch soil, Dawson could not +have laid hands upon him. He would have been a neutral citizen in a +neutral country, and no English warrant would run against him. But +between Hagan and the gangway suddenly interposed the tall form of the +ship's captain; instantly the man was ringed about by officers, and +before he could say a word or move a hand he was gripped hard and led +across the deck to the steamer's chart-house. Therein sat Dawson, the +real, undisguised Dawson, and beside him sat Richard Cary. Hagan's +face, which two minutes earlier had been glowing with triumph and with +the anticipation of German gold beyond the dreams of avarice, went +white as chalk. He staggered and gasped as one stabbed to the heart, +and dropped into a chair. His suit-case fell from his relaxed fingers +to the floor. + +"Give him a stiff brandy-and-soda," directed Dawson, almost kindly, +and when the victim's colour had ebbed back a little from his +overcharged heart, and he had drunk deep of the friendly cordial, the +detective put him out of pain. The game of cat and mouse was over. + +"It is all up, Hagan," said the detective gently. "Face the music and +make the best of it, my poor friend. This is Mr. Richard Cary, and you +have not for a moment been out of our sight since you left London for +the North four days ago." + +When I had completed the writing of his story I showed the MS. to +Richard Cary, who was pleased to express a general approval. "Not at +all bad, Copplestone," said he, "not at all bad. You have clothed my +dry bones in real flesh and blood. But you have missed what to me is +the outstanding feature of the whole affair, that which justifies to +my mind the whole rather grubby business. Let me give you two dates. +On May 25 two copies of my faked Notes were shepherded through to +Holland and reached the Germans; on May 31 was fought the Battle of +Jutland. Can the brief space between these dates have been merely an +accident? I cannot believe it. No, I prefer to believe that in my +humble way I induced the German Fleet to issue forth and to risk an +action which, under more favourable conditions for us, would have +resulted in their utter destruction. I may be wrong, but I am happy in +retaining my faith." + +"What became of Hagan?" I asked, for I wished to bring the narrative +to a clean artistic finish. + +"I am not sure," answered Cary, "though I gave evidence as ordered by +the court-martial. But I rather think that I have here Hagan's +epitaph." He took out his pocket-book, and drew forth a slip of paper +upon which was gummed a brief newspaper cutting. This he handed to me, +and I read as follows: + + "The War Office announces that a prisoner who was charged + with espionage and recently tried by court-martial at the + Westminster Guildhall was found guilty and sentenced to + death. The sentence was duly confirmed and carried out + yesterday morning." + + * * * * * + +Two months passed. Summer, what little there was of it, had gone, and +my spirits were oppressed by the wet and fog and dirt of November in +the North. I desired neither to write nor to read. My one overpowering +longing was to go to sleep until the war was over and then to awake in +a new world in which a decent civilised life would once more be +possible. + +In this unhappy mood I was seated before my study fire when a servant +brought me a card. "A gentleman," said she, "wishes to see you. I said +that you were engaged, but he insisted. He's a terrible man, sir." + +I looked at the card, annoyed at being disturbed; but at the sight of +it my torpor fell from me, for upon it was written the name of that +detective officer whom in my story I had called William Dawson, and in +the corner were the letters "C.I.D." (Criminal Investigation +Department). I had become a criminal, and was about to be +investigated! + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +AT CLOSE QUARTERS + +Dawson entered, and we stood eyeing one another like two strange dogs. +Neither spoke for some seconds, and then, recollecting that I was a +host in the presence of a visitor, I extended a hand, offered a chair, +and snapped open a cigarette case. Dawson seated himself and took a +cigarette. I breathed more freely. He could not design my immediate +arrest, or he would not have accepted of even so slight a hospitality. +We sat upon opposite sides of the fire, Dawson saying nothing, but +watching me in that unwinking cat-like way of his which I find so +exasperating. Many times during my association with Dawson I have +longed to spring upon him and beat his head against the floor--just to +show that I am not a mouse. If his silence were intended to make me +uncomfortable, I would give him evidence of my perfect composure. + +"How did you find me out?" I asked calmly. + +His start of surprise gratified me, and I saw a puzzled look come into +his eyes. "Find out what?" he muttered. + +"How did you find out that I wrote a story about you?" + +"Oh, that?" He grinned. "That was not difficult, Mr.--er--Copplestone. +I asked Mr.--er--Richard Cary for your real name and address, and he +had to give them to me. I was considering whether I should prosecute +both him and you." + +"No doubt you bullied Cary," I said, "but you don't alarm me in the +least. I had taken precautions, and you would have found your way +barred if you had tried to touch either of us." + +"It is possible," snapped Dawson. "I should like to lock up all you +writing people--you are an infernal nuisance--but you seem to have a +pull with the politicians." + +We were getting on capitally: the first round was in my favour, and I +saw another opportunity of showing my easy unconcern of his powers. + +"Oh no, Mr.--er--William Dawson. You would not lock us up, even if all +the authority in the State were vested in the soldiers and the police. +For who would then write of your exploits and pour upon your heads the +bright light of fame? The public knows nothing of Mr. ----" (I held up +his card), "but quite a lot of people have heard of William Dawson." + +"They have," assented he, with obvious satisfaction. "I sent a copy of +the story to my Chief--just to put myself straight with him. I said +that it was all quite unauthorised, and that I would have stopped it +if I could." + +"Oh no, you wouldn't. Don't talk humbug, Mr. William Dawson. During +the past two months you have pranced along the streets with your head +in the clouds. And in your own home Mrs. Dawson and the little +Dawsons--if there are any--have worshipped you as a god. There is +nothing so flattering as the sight of oneself in solid black print +upon nice white paper. Confess, now. Are you not at this moment +carrying a copy of that story of mine in your breast pocket next your +heart, and don't you flourish it before your colleagues and rivals +about six times, a day?" + +Alone among mortal men I have seen a hardened detective blush. + +"Throw away that cigarette," said I, "and take a cigar." I felt +generous. + +Our relations were now established upon a basis satisfactory to me. I +had no inkling of the purpose of this visit, but he had lost the +advantage of mysterious attack. He had revealed human weakness and had +ceased for the moment to dominate me as a terrible engine of the law. +But I had heard too much of Dawson from Cary to be under any illusion. +He could be chaffed, even made ridiculous, without much difficulty, +but no one, however adroit, could divert him by an inch from his +professional purpose. He could joke with a victim and drink his health +and then walk him off, arm in arm, to the gallows. + +"Now, Mr. Dawson," said I. "Perhaps you will tell me to what happy +circumstance I owe the honour of this visit?" + +He had been chuckling over certain rich details in the Hagan +chase--with an eye, no doubt, to future enlarged editions--but these +words of mine pulled him up short. Instantly he became grave, drew +some papers from his pocket, and addressed himself to business. + +"I have come to you, Mr. Copplestone, as I did to your friend Mr. +Cary, for information and assistance, and I have been advised by those +who know you here to be perfectly frank. You are not at present an +object of suspicion to the local police, who assure me, that though +you are known to have access to much secret information, yet that you +have never made any wrongful use of it. You have, moreover, been of +great assistance on many occasions both to the military and naval +authorities. Therefore, though my instinct would be to lock you up +most securely, I am told that I mustn't do it." + +"You are very frank," said I. "But I bear no malice. Ask me what you +please, and I will do my best to answer fully." + +"I ought to warn you," said he, with obvious reluctance, "that +anything which you say may, at some future time, be used in evidence +against you." + +"I will take the risk, Mr. Dawson," cried I, laughing. "You have done +your duty in warning me, and you are so plainly hopeful that I shall +incriminate myself that it would be cruel to disappoint you. Let us +get on with the inquisition." + +"You are aware, Mr. Copplestone, that a most important part of my work +consists in stopping the channels through which information of what is +going on in our shipyards and munition shops may get through to the +enemy. We can't prevent his agents from getting information--that is +always possible to those with unlimited command of money, for there +are always swine among workmen, and among higher folk than workmen, +who can be bought. You may take it as certain that little of +importance is done or projected in this country of which enemy agents +do not know. But their difficulty is to get it through to their +paymasters, within the limit of time during which the information is +useful. There are scores of possible channels, and it is up to us to +watch them all. You have already shown some grasp of our methods, +which in a sentence may be described as unsleeping vigilance. Once we +know the identity of an enemy agent, he ceases to be of any use to the +enemy, but becomes of the greatest value to us. Our motto is: Ab hoste +doceri." He pronounced the infinitive verb as if it rhymed with +glossary. + +"You are quite a scholar, Mr. Dawson," remarked I politely. + +"Yes," said he, simply. "I had a good schooling. I need not go into +details," he went on, "of how we watch the correspondence of suspected +persons, but you may be interested to learn that during the three +weeks which I have passed in your city all your private letters have +been through my hands." + +"The devil they have," I cried angrily. "You exceed your powers. This +is really intolerable." + +"Oh, you need not worry," replied Dawson serenely. "Your letters were +quite innocent. I am gratified to learn that your two sons in the +Service are happy and doing well, and that you contemplate the +publication of another book." + +It was impossible not to laugh at the man's effrontery, though I felt +exasperated at his inquisitiveness. After all, there are things in +private letters which one does not wish a stranger, and a police +officer, to read. + +"And how long is this outrage to continue?" I asked crossly. + +"That depends upon you. As soon as I am satisfied that you are as +trustworthy as the local police and other authorities believe you to +be, your correspondence will pass untouched. It is of no use for you +to fume or try to kick up a fuss in London. Scotland Yard would open +the Home Secretary's letters if it had any cause to feel doubtful of +him." + +"You cannot feel much suspicion of me or you would not tell me what +you have been doing." + +"You might have thought of that at once," said Dawson derisively. + +I shook myself and conceded the round to Dawson. + +"It has been plain to us for a long time that the food parcels +despatched by relatives and 'god-mothers' of British prisoners in +Germany were a possible source of danger, and at last it has been +decided to stop them and to keep the despatch of food in the hands of +official organisations. Since there are now some 30,000 of military +prisoners, in addition to interned civilians at Ruhleben, the number +and complexity of the parcels have made it most difficult for a +thorough examination to be kept up. We have done our utmost, but have +been conscious that there has existed in them a channel through which +have passed communications from enemy agents to enemy employers." + +"I can see the possibility, but a practical method of communication +looks difficult. How was it done?" + +"In the most absurdly simple way. Real ingenuity is always simple. I +will give you an example. An English prisoner in Germany has, we will +suppose, parents in Newcastle, by whom food has been sent out +regularly. He dies in captivity, and in due course his relatives are +notified through the International Headquarters of the Red Cross in +Geneva. He is crossed off the Newcastle lists, and his parents, of +course, stop sending parcels. Now suppose that some one in Birmingham +begins to send parcels addressed to this lately deceased prisoner, his +name, unless Birmingham is very vigilant, will get upon the lists +there as that of a new live prisoner. The parcels addressed to this +name will go straight into the hands of the German Secret Service, and +a channel of communication will have been opened up between some one +in Birmingham and the enemy in Germany. Prisoners are frequently +dying, new prisoners are frequently being taken. Under a haphazard +system of individual parcels, despatched from all over the British +Isles, it has been practically impossible to keep track of all the +changes. For this, and other good reasons, we have had to make a clean +sweep and to take over the feeding of British prisoners by means of a +regular organisation which can ensure that nothing is sent with the +food which will be of any assistance to the enemy." + +"That is a good job done," I observed. "Have you evidence that what is +possible has in fact been done?" + +"We have," said Dawson. "Not many cases, perhaps, but sufficient to +show the existence of a very real danger. It is, indeed, one +particular instance of direct communication which has brought me to +you to-day. Orders were given not long since that all new cases, that +is, all parcels addressed to prisoners whose names were new to local +lists, should be opened and carefully examined. Some six or seven +weeks ago parcels began to be sent from this city addressed to a +lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers. There was nothing +remarkable in that, for though we are some distance here from +Northumberland, young officers are gazetted to regiments which need +them irrespective of the part of the country to which the officers +themselves belong. In accordance with the new orders all the parcels +for this lieutenant--which usually consisted of bread, chocolate, and +tins of sardines--were examined. The bread was cut up, the chocolate +broken to pieces, and the tins opened. If the parcel contained nothing +contraband, fresh supplies of bread, chocolate and sardines to take +the place of those destroyed in examination were put in, and the +parcel forwarded. For the first two weeks nothing was found, but in +the third parcel, buried in one of the loaves, was discovered a +cutting from an evening newspaper which at first sight seemed quite +innocent. But a microscopic search revealed tiny needle pricks in +certain words, and the words, thus indicated, read when taken by +themselves the sentence, 'Important naval news follows.' At this stage +I was sent for. My first step was to inquire very closely into the +antecedents of this lieutenant of Northumberland Fusiliers. I found +that his friends lived at Morpeth, that he had been taken prisoner +during the Loos advance of September 1915, and that he had died about +a year later of typhoid fever in a German camp. His friends, as soon +as they had been informed, of the death, had stopped sending parcels +of food out to him. They were not told the object of the inquiries. It +would have caused them needless pain. It was bad enough that their +only son had died far from home in a filthy German prison." + +Dawson's rather metallic voice became almost sympathetic, and I was +pleased to observe that his harsh profession had not destroyed in him +all human feeling. + +"After this you may suppose that the parcels addressed to our poor +friend the late lieutenant were very eagerly looked for. The alleged +sender, whose name and residence were written upon the labels, was +found not to exist. Both name and address were false. It was a hot +scent, and I was delighted, after a week of waiting, to see another +parcel come in. This would, in all probability, contain the 'important +naval news,' and I took its examination upon myself. I reduced the +bread and the chocolate to powder without finding anything." + +"Excuse me," I cried, intensely interested, "but how could one conceal +a paper in bread or in chocolate without leaving external traces?" + +"There is no difficulty. The loaves were of the kind which have soft +ends. One cuts a deep slit, inserts the paper, closes up the cut with +a little fresh dough, and rebakes the loaf for a short time, till all +signs of the cut have disappeared. The chocolate was in eggs, not in +bars. The oval lumps can be cut open, scooped out, a paper put in, and +the two halves joined up and the cut concealed by means of a strong +mixture of chocolate paste and white of egg. When thoroughly dried in +a warm place, chocolate thus treated will stand very close scrutiny. I +did not trouble to look for signs of disturbance in either loaves or +eggs; it was quicker and easier to break them up. I then addressed my +attention to the sardine tins, which from the first had seemed the +most likely hiding-places. A very moderately skilled mechanic can +unsolder a tin, empty out the fish and oil, put in what he pleases in +place, weight judiciously, and then refasten with fresh solder. I +opened all the tins, found that all except one had been undisturbed, +but that one was a blissful reward for all my trouble, for in it was a +tightly packed mass of glazier's putty, soft and heavy, and at the +bottom the carefully folded paper which I have now the honour of +showing to you." + +Dawson handed me a stiff piece of paper, slimy to the touch and +smelling strongly of white lead. Upon it were two neatly made drawings +and some lines of words and figures. "It is just what I should have +expected," said I. + +"You recognise it?" + +"Of course," said I. "We have here a deck plan showing the disposition +of guns, and a section plan showing arrangement of armour, of one of +the big new ships which has been completed for the Grand Fleet. Below +we have the number and calibre of the guns, the thickness and extent +of the armour, the length, breadth, and depth of the vessel, her +tonnage, her horse power, and her estimated speed. Everything is +correct except the speed, which I happen to know is considerably +greater than the figure set down." + +"You have not by any chance seen that paper before?" asked Dawson, +with rather a forced air of indifference. + +"This? No. Why?" + +"I was curious, that's all." He looked at me with a queer, quizzical +expression, and then laughed softly. "You will understand my question +directly, but for the moment let us get on. What sort of person should +you say made those drawings and wrote that description?" + +I am no Sherlock Holmes; but any one who has had some acquaintance +with engineers and their handiwork can recognise the professional +touch. + +"These drawings are the work of a trained draughtsman, and the writing +is that of a draughtsman. One can tell by the neatness and the +technique of the shading." + +"Right first time," said Dawson approvingly. "At present I have that +draughtsman comfortably locked up; we picked him out of the drawing +office at ----" he named a famous yard in which had been built one of +the ships of the class illustrated upon the paper in my hands. + +"Poor devil," I said. "What is the cause--drink, women, or the +pressure of high prices and a large family?" + +"None of them. His employers give him the best of characters, he gets +good pay, is a man over military age, and has, so far as the police +can learn, no special embarrassments. He owns his house, and has two +or three hundred pounds in the War Loan." + +"Then why in the name of wonder has the _schweinehund_ sold his +country?" + +"He declares that he never received a penny for supplying the +information upon that paper, and we have no evidence of any outside +payments to him. He did not attempt to conceal his handwriting, and +when I made inquiries of his firm, he owned up at once that the paper +was his work. He said that for years past he had given particulars of +ships under construction to the same parties as on this occasion. He +admitted that to do so was contrary to regulations, especially in +wartime, but thought that under the circumstances he was doing no +harm. I am not exactly a credulous person, and I have heard some tall +stories in my time, but for once I am inclined to believe that the man +is speaking the truth. I believe that he received no money, and was +acting throughout in good faith." + +"I am more and more puzzled. What in the world can the circumstances +be which could induce an experienced middle-aged man, employed in +highly confidential work in a great shipyard, not only to break faith +and lose his job, but to stick his neck into a rope and his feet on +the drop of a gallows. Reveal the mystery." + +"You are sure that you have never seen that paper before?" asked +Dawson again, this time slowly and deliberately. + +"Of course not!" I said. "How could I?" + +"That is just what I have to find out," said Dawson. He stopped, took +out a knife, prodded his nearly smoked cigar, puffed once or twice +hard to restore the draught, and spoke. "That is what interests me +just now. For, you see, this very indiscreet and reprehensible +swinehound of a draughtsman, who is at present in my lockup, declares +that he was without suspicion of serious wrong-doing, because +--because--the particulars of the new battleship upon that paper +were supplied to YOU." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +AN INQUISITION + +Perhaps I ought to have seen it coming, but I didn't. For a moment, as +a washerwoman might say, I was struck all of a heap. Then the +delicious thought that I--by nature a vagabond, though by decree of +the High Gods the father of a family and a Justice of the Peace--had +to face the charge of being a German spy shook my soul with ribald +laughter. I had been dull and torpid before the arrival of Dawson; he +had awakened me into joyous life. I arose, filled and lighted a large +calabash pipe, and passed a box of cigars to the detective. "Throw +that stump away and take another," said I. "I owe you more than a +cigar or two." He stared at me, took what I offered, and his face +relaxed into a grin. "It is pleasant to see that you are a man of +humour, Mr. Dawson," I observed, when we were again seated comfortably +on opposite sides of the fire. "In my day I have played many parts, +but I cannot somehow recall the incident of unsoldering a sardine tin, +inserting a paper packed in a mess of putty, soldering it up, and +despatching the incriminating product within a parcel addressed to a +late lieutenant of Northumberland Fusiliers. I am not denying the +charge; the whole affair is too delightful to be cut short. Let us +spin it out delicately like children over plates of sweet pudding." + +"You are a queer customer, Mr. Copplestone. I confess that the whole +business puzzles me, though you and your friends here seem to find it +devilish amusing. When I told the Chief Constable, the manager of the +shipyard, and the Admiral Superintendent of Naval Work that you were +the guilty party, they all roared. For some reason the Admiral and the +shipyard manager kept winking at one another and gurgling till I +thought they would have choked. What _is_ the joke?" + +"If you are good, Dawson, I will tell you some day. This is November, +and the _Rampagious_--the ship described on your paper--left for +Portsmouth in August. In July--" I broke off hurriedly, lest I should +tell my visitor too much. "It has taken our friend who put the paper +in the sardine tin three months to find out details of her. I could +have done better than that, Dawson." + +"That is just what the Admiral said, though he wouldn't explain why." + +"The truth is, Dawson, that the Admiral and I both come from Devon, +the land of pirates, smugglers, and buccaneers. We are law breakers by +instinct and family tradition. When we get an officer of the law on +toast, we like to make the most of him. It is a playful little way of +ours which I am sure you will understand and pardon." + +"You know, of course, that I am justified in arresting you. I have a +warrant and handcuffs in my pocket." + +"Admirable man!" I cried, with enthusiasm. "You are, Dawson, the +perfect detective. As a criminal I should be mightily afraid of you. +But, as in my buttonhole I always wear the white flower which +proclaims to the world my blameless life, I am thoroughly enjoying +this visit and our cosy chat beside the fire. Shall I telephone to my +office and say that I shall be unavoidably detained from duty for an +indefinite time? 'Detained' would be the strict truth and the _mot +juste_. If you would kindly lock me up, say, for three years or the +duration of the war I should be your debtor. I have often thought that +a prison, provided that one were allowed unlimited paper and the use +of a typewriter, would be the most charming of holidays--a perfect +rest cure. There are three books in my head which I should like to +write. Arrest me, Dawson, I implore you! Put on the handcuffs--I have +never been handcuffed--ring up a taxi, and let us be off to jail. You +will, I hope, do me the honour of lunching with me first and meeting +my wife. She will be immensely gratified to be quit of me. It cannot +often have happened in your lurid career, Dawson, to be welcomed with +genuine enthusiasm." + +"Why did that man say that he prepared the description of the ship for +you?" + +"That is what we are going to find out, and I will help you all I can. +My reputation is like the bloom upon the peach--touch it, and it is +gone for ever. There is a faint glimmer of the truth at the back of my +mind which may become a clear light. Did he say that he had given it +to me personally, into my own hand?" + +"No. He said that he was approached by a man whom he had known off and +on for years, a man who was employed by you in connection with +shipyard inquiries. He was informed that this man was still employed +by you for the same purpose now as in the past." + +"Your case against me is thinning out, Dawson. At its best it is +second-hand; at its worst, the mere conjecture of a rather careless +draughtsman. I have two things to do: first to find out the real +seducer, who is probably also the despatcher of the parcels to the +late lieutenant of Northumberland Fusiliers, and second, to save if I +can this poor fool of a shipyard draughtsman from punishment for his +folly. I don't doubt that he honestly thought he was dealing with me." + +"He will have to be punished. The Admiral will insist upon that." + +"We must make the punishment as light as we can. You shall help me +with all the discretionary authority with which you are equipped. I +can see, Dawson, from the tactful skill with which you have dealt with +me that discretion is among your most distinguished characteristics. +If you had been a stupid, bull-headed policeman, you would have been +up against pretty serious trouble." + +"That was quite my own view," replied Dawson drily. + +"Who is the man described by our erring draughtsman?" + +"He won't say. We have put on every allowable method of pressure, and +some that are not in ordinary times permitted. We have had over this +spy hunt business to shed most of our tender English regard for +suspected persons, and to adopt the French system of fishing +inquiries. In France the police try to make a man incriminate himself; +in England we try our hardest to prevent him. That may be very right +and just in peace time against ordinary law breakers; but war is war, +and spies are too dangerous to be treated tenderly. We have +cross-examined the man, and bully-ragged him, but he won't give up the +name of his accomplice. It may be a relation. One thing seems sure. +The man is, or was, a member of your staff, engaged in shipyard +inquiries. Can you give me a list of the men who are or have been on +this sort of work during the past few years?" + +"I will get it for you. But please use it carefully. My present men +are precious jewels, the few left to me by zealous military +authorities. What I must look for is some one over military age who +has left me or been dismissed--probably dismissed. When a British +subject, of decent education and once respectable surroundings, gets +into the hands of German agents, you may be certain of one thing, +Dawson, that he has become a rotter through drink." + +"That's it," cried Dawson. "You have hit it. Crime and drink are twin +brothers as no one knows better than the police. Look out for the name +and address of a man dismissed for drunkenness and we shall have our +bird." + +"The name I can no doubt give you, but not the address." + +"Give us any address where he lived, even if it were ten years ago, +and we will track him down in three days. That is just routine police +work." + +"I never presume to teach an expert his business--and you, Dawson, are +a super-expert, a director-general of those of common qualities--but +would it not be well to warn all the Post Offices, so that when +another parcel is brought in addressed to the lieutenant the bearer +may be arrested?" + +Dawson sniffed. "Police work; common police work. It was done at once +for this city and fifty miles round. No parcel was put in last week. +The warning has since been extended to the whole of the United +Kingdom. We may get our man this week, or at least a messenger of his, +but no news has yet come to me. I will lunch with you, as you so +kindly suggest, and afterwards I want you to come with me to see the +draughtsman in the lockup. You may be able to shake his confounded +obstinacy. Run the pathetic stunt. Say if he keeps silent that you +will be arrested, your home broken up, your family driven into the +workhouse, and you yourself probably shot. Pitch it strong and rich. +He is a bit of a softy from the look of him. That tender-hearted lot +are always the most obstinate when asked to give away their pals." + +"Do you know, Dawson," I said, as he went upstairs with me to have a +lick and a polish, as he put it--"I am inclined to agree with Cary +that you are rather an inhuman beast." + +My wife, with whom I could exchange no more than a dozen words and a +wink or two, gripped the situation and played up to it in the fashion +which compels the admiration and terror of mere men. Do they humbug +us, their husbands, as they do the rest of the world on our behalf? +She met Dawson as if he were an old family friend, heaped hospitality +upon him, and chaffed him blandly as if to entertain a police officer +with a warrant and handcuffs in his pocket were the best joke in the +world. "My husband, Mr. Dawson, needs a holiday very badly, but won't +take one. He thinks that the war cannot be pursued successfully unless +he looks after it himself. If you would carry him off and keep him +quiet for a bit, I should be deeply grateful." She then fell into a +discussion with Dawson of the most conveniently situated prisons. Mrs. +Copplestone dismissed Dartmoor and Portland as too bleakly situated, +but was pleased to approve of Parkhurst in the Isle of Wight--which I +rather fancy is a House of Detention for women. She insisted that the +climate of the Island was suited to my health, and wrung a promise +from Dawson that I should, if possible, be interned there. Dawson's +manners and conversation surprised me. His homespun origin was +evident, yet he had developed an easy social style which was neither +familiar nor aggressive. We were in his eyes eccentrics, possibly what +he would call among his friends "a bit off," and he bore himself +towards us accordingly. My small daughter, Jane, to whom he had been +presented as a colonel of police--little Jane is deeply versed in +military ranks--took to him at once, and his manner towards her +confirmed my impression that some vestiges of humanity may still be +discovered in him by the patient searcher. She insisted upon sitting +next to him and in holding his hand when it was not employed in +conveying food to his mouth. She was startled at first by the +discussion upon the prisons most suitable for me, but quickly became +reconciled to the idea of a temporary separation. + +"Colonel Dawson," she asked. "When daddy is in prison, may I come and +see him sometimes. Mother and me?" Dawson gripped his hair--we were +the maddest crew!--and replied. "Of course you shall, Miss Jane, as +often as you like." + +"Thank you, Colonel Dawson; you are a nice man. I love you. Now show +me the handcuffs in your pocket." + +For the second time that day poor Dawson blushed. He must have +regretted many times that he had mentioned to me those unfortunate +darbies. Now amid much laughter he was compelled to draw forth a +pretty shining pair of steel wristlets and permit Jane to put them on. +They were much too large for her; she could slip them on and off +without unlocking; but as toys they were a delight. "I shouldn't mind +being a prisoner," she declared, "if dear Colonel Dawson took me up." + +We were sitting upon the fire-guard after luncheon, dallying over our +coffee, when Jane demanded to be shown a real arrest. "Show me how you +take up a great big man like Daddy." + +Then came a surprise, which for a moment had so much in it of bitter +realism that it drove the blood from my wife's cheeks. I could not +follow Dawson's movements; his hands flickered like those of a +conjurer, there came a sharp click, and the handcuffs were upon my +wrists! I stared at them speechless, wondering how they got there, +and, looking up, met the coldly triumphant eyes of the detective. I +realised then exactly how the professional manhunter glares at the +prey into whom, after many days, he has set his claws. My wife gasped +and clutched at my elbow, little Jane screamed, and for a few seconds +even I thought that the game had been played and that serious business +was about to begin. Dawson gave us a few seconds of apprehension, and +then laughed grimly. From his waistcoat pocket he drew a key, and the +fetters were removed almost as quickly as they had been clapped on. +"Tit for tat," said he. "You have had your fun with me. Fair play is a +jewel." + +Little Jane was the first to recover speech. "I knew that dear Colonel +Dawson was only playing," she cried. "He only did it to please me. +Thank you, Colonel, though you did frighten me just a weeny bit at +first." And pulling him down towards her she kissed him heartily upon +his prickly cheek. It was a queer scene. + +The door bell rang loudly, and we were informed that a policeman stood +without who was inquiring for Chief Inspector Dawson. "Show him in +here," said I. The constable entered, and his manner of addressing my +guest--that of a raw second lieutenant towards a general of +division--shed a new light upon Dawson's pre-eminence in his Service. +"A telegram for you, sir." Dawson seized it, was about to tear it +open, remembered suddenly his hostess, and bowed towards her. "Have I +your permission, madam?" he asked. She smiled and nodded; I turned +away to conceal a laugh. "Good," cried Dawson, poring over the +message. "I think, Mr. Copplestone, that you had better telephone to +your office and say that you are unavoidably detained." + +"What--what is it?" cried my wife, who had again become white with +sudden fear. + +"Something which will occupy the attention of your husband and myself +to the exclusion of all other duties. This telegram informs me that a +parcel has been handed in at Carlisle and the bearer arrested." + +"Excellent!" I cried. "My time is at your disposal, Dawson. We shall +now get full light." + +He sat down and scribbled a reply wire directing the parcel and its +bearer to be brought to him with all speed. "They should arrive in two +or three hours," said he, "and in the meantime we will tackle the +draughtsman who made that plan of the battleship. Good-bye Mrs. +Copplestone, and thank you very much for your hospitality. Your +husband goes with me." My wife shook hands with Dawson, and politely +saw him off the premises. She has said little to me since about his +visit, but I do not think that she wishes ever to meet with him again. +Little Jane, who kissed him once more at parting, is still attached to +the memory of her colonel. + + * * * * * + +Dawson led me to the private office at the Central Police Station, +which was his temporary headquarters, and sent for the dossier of the +locked up draughtsman. "I have here full particulars of him," said he, +"and a verbatim note of my examination." I examined the photograph +attached, which represented a bearded citizen of harmless aspect; over +his features had spread a scared, puzzled look, with a suggestion in +it of pathetic appeal. He looked like a human rabbit caught in an +unexpected and uncomprehended trap. It was a police photograph. Then I +began to read the dossier, but got no farther than the first +paragraph. In it was set out the man's name, those of his wife and +children, his employment, record of service, and so on. What arrested +my researches was the maiden name of the wife, which, in accordance +with the northern custom, had been entered as a part of her legal +description. The name awoke in me a recollection of a painful incident +within my experience. I saw before me the puffed, degraded face of one +to whom I had given chance after chance of redeeming himself from +thraldom to the whisky bottle, one who had promised again and again to +amend his ways. At last, wearied, I had cast him out. He had been +looking after an important shipbuilding district, had conspicuous +ability and knowledge, the support of a faithful wife. But nothing +availed to save him from himself. "Give me five minutes alone with +your prisoner," I said to Dawson, "and I will give you the spy you +seek." + +I had asked for five minutes, but two were sufficient for my purpose. +The draughtsman had been obstinate with Dawson, seeking loyally to +shield his wretched brother-in-law, but when he found that I had the +missing thread in my hands, he gave in at once. "What relation is ---- +to your wife?" I asked. He had risen at my entrance, but the question +went through him like a bullet; his pale face flushed, he staggered +pitifully, and, sitting down, buried his face in his hands. "You may +tell the truth now," I said gently. "We can easily find out what we +must know, but the information will come better from you." + +"He is my wife's brother," murmured the man. + +"You knew that he was no longer in my service?" + +"Yes, I knew." + +I might fairly have asked why he had used my name, but refrained. One +can readily pardon the lapses of an honest man, terrified at finding +himself in the coils of the police, clinging to the good name of his +wife and her family, clutching at any device to throw the +sleuth-hounds of the law off the real scent. He had given his +brother-in-law forbidden information from a loyal desire to help him +and with no knowledge of the base use to which it would be put. When +detected, he had sought at any cost to shield him. + +"I will do my best to help you," I said. + +His head drooped down till it rested upon his bent arms, and he +groaned and panted under the torture of tears. His was not the stuff +of which criminals are made. + +I found Dawson's chuckling joy rather repulsive. I felt that, being +successful, he might at least have had the decency to dissemble his +satisfaction. He might also have given me some credit for the rapid +clearing up of the problem in detection. But he took the whole thing +to himself, and gloated like a child over his own cleverness. I +neither obtained from him thanks for my assistance nor apologies for +his suspicions. It was Dawson, Dawson, all the time. Yet I found his +egotism and unrelieved vanity extraordinarily interesting. As we sat +together in his room waiting for the Carlisle train to come in he +discoursed freely to me of his triumphs in detection, his wide-spread +system of spying upon spies, his long delayed "sport" with some, and +his ruthless rapid trapping of others. Men are never so interesting as +when they talk shop, and as a talker of shop Dawson was sublime. + +"If," said Dawson, as the time approached for the closing scene, "our +much-wanted friend has himself handed in the parcel at Carlisle--he +would be afraid to trust an accomplice--our job will be done. If not, +I will pull a drag net through this place which will bring him up +within a day or two. What a fool the man is to think that he could +escape the eye of Bill Dawson." + +A policeman entered, laid a packet upon the table before us, and +announced that the prisoner had been placed in cell No. 2. Dawson +sprang up. "We will have a look at him through the peephole, and if it +is our man--" One glance was enough. Before me I saw him whom I had +expected to see. He and his cargo of whisky bottles had reached the +last stage of their long journey; at one end had been peace, reasonable +prosperity, and a happy home; at the other was, perhaps, a rope or a +bullet. + +Dawson began once more to descant upon his own astuteness, but I was +too sick at heart to listen. I remembered only the visit years before +which that man's wife had paid to me. "Will you not open the parcel?" +I interposed. He fell upon it, exposed its contents of bread, +chocolate, and sardine tins, and called for a can opener. He shook the +tins one by one beside his ear, and then, selecting that which gave +out no "flop" of oil, stripped it open, plunged his fingers inside, +and pulled forth a clammy mess of putty and sawdust. In a moment he +had come upon a paper which after reading he handed to me. It bore the +words in English, "Informant arrested: dare not send more." + +"What a fool!" cried Dawson. "As if the evidence against him were not +sufficient already he must give us this." + +"You will let that poor devil of a draughtsman down easily?" I +murmured. + +"We want him as a witness," replied Dawson. "Tit for tat. If he helps +us, we will help him. And now we will cut along to the Admiral. He is +eager for news." + +We broke in upon the Admiral in his office near the shipyards, and he +greeted me with cheerful badinage. "So you are in the hands of the +police at last, Copplestone. I always told you what would be the end +of your naval inquisitiveness." + +Dawson told his story, and the naval officer's keen kindly face grew +stern and hard. "Germans I can respect," said he, "even those that +pretend to be our friends. But one of our own folk--to sell us like +this--ugh! Take the vermin away; Dawson, and stamp upon it." + +We stood talking for a few moments, and then Dawson broke in with a +question. "I have never understood, Admiral, why you were so very +confident that Mr. Copplestone here had no hand in this business. The +case against him looked pretty ugly, yet you laughed at it all the +time. Why were you so sure?" + +The Admiral surveyed Dawson as if he were some strange creature from +an unknown world. "Mr. Copplestone is a friend of mine," said he +drily. + +"Very likely," snapped the detective. "But is a man a white angel +because he has the honour to be your friend?" + +"A fair retort," commented the Admiral. It happens that I had other +and better reasons. For in July I myself showed Mr. Copplestone over +the new battleship _Rampagious_, and after our inspection we both +lunched with the builders and discussed her design and armament in +every detail. So as Mr. Copplestone knew all about her in July, he was +not likely to suborn a draughtsman in November. See?" + +"You should have told me this before. It was your duty." + +"My good Dawson," said the Admiral gently, "you are an excellent +officer of police, but even you have a few things yet to learn. I had +in my mind to give you a lesson, especially as I owed you some +punishment for your impertinence in opening my friend Copplestone's +private letters. You have had the lesson; profit by it." + +Dawson flushed angrily. "Punishment! Impertinence! This to me!" + +"Yes," returned the Admiral stiffly, "beastly impertinence." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +SABOTAGE + +Dawson showed no malice towards the Admiral or myself for our +treatment of him. I do not think that he felt any; he was too fully +occupied in collecting the spoils of victory to trouble his head about +what a Scribbler or a Salt Horse might think of him. He gathered to +himself every scrap of credit which the affair could be induced to +yield, and received--I admit quite deservedly--the most handsome +encomiums from his superiors in office. During the two weeks he passed +in my city after the capture--weeks occupied in tracing out the +threads connecting his wretch of a prisoner with the German agents +upon what Dawson called his "little list"--he paid several visits both +to my house and my office. His happiness demanded that he should read +to me the many letters which poured in from high officials of the +C.I.D., from the Chief Commissioner, and on one day--a day of days in +the chronicles of Dawson--from the Home Secretary himself. To me it +seemed that all these astute potentates knew their Dawson very +thoroughly, and lubricated, as it were, with judicious flattery the +machinery of his energies. I could not but admire Dawson's truly royal +faculty for absorbing butter. The stomachs of most men, really good at +their business, would have revolted at the diet which his superiors +shovelled into Dawson, but he visibly expanded and blossomed. Yes, +Scotland Yard knew its Dawson, and exactly how to stimulate the best +that was in him. He never bored me; I enjoyed him too thoroughly. + +One day in my club I chanced upon the Admiral. + +"Have you met our friend Dawson lately?" I asked. + +"Met him?" shouted he, with a roar of laughter. "Met him? He is in my +office every day--he almost lives with me; goodness knows when he does +his work. He has a pocket full of letters which he has read to me till +I know them by heart. If I did not know that he was a first-class man +I should set him down as a colossal ass. Yet, I rather wish that the +Admiralty would sometimes write to me as the severe but very human +Scotland Yard does to Dawson." + +"Does he ever come to you in disguise?" I asked. + +"Not that I know of. I see vast numbers of people; some of them may be +Dawson in his various incarnations, but he has not given himself +away." + +Then I explained to my naval friend my own experience. "He tried," I +said, "to play the disguise game on me, and clean bowled me the first +time. While he was laughing over my discomfiture I studied his face +more closely than a lover does that of his mistress. I tried to +penetrate his methods. He never wears a wig or false hair; he is too +wise for that folly. Yet he seems able to change his hair from light +to dark, to make it lank or curly, short or long. He does it; how I +don't know. He alters the shape of his nose, his cheeks, and his chin. +I suppose that he pads them out with little rubber insets. He alters +his voice, and his figure, and even his height. He can be stiff and +upright like a drilled soldier, or loose-jointed and shambling like a +tramp. He is a finished artist, and employs the very simplest means. +He could, I truly believe, deceive his wife or his mother, but he will +never again deceive me. I am not a specially observant man; still one +can make a shot at most things when driven to it, and I object to +being the subject of Dawson's ribaldry. If you will take my tip, you +will be able to spot him as readily as I do now." + +"Good. I should love to score off Dawson. He is an aggravating beast." + +"Study his ears," said I. "He cannot alter their chief characters. The +lobes of his ears are not loose, like yours or mine or those of most +men and women; his are attached to the back of his cheekbones. My +mother had lobes like those, so had the real Roger Tichborne; I +noticed Dawson's at once. Also at the top fold of his ears he has +rather a pronounced blob of flesh. This blob, more prominent in some +men than in others, is, I believe, a surviving relic of the sharp +point which adorned the ears of our animal ancestors. Dawson's +ancestor must have been a wolf or a bloodhound. Whenever now I have a +strange caller who is not far too tall or far too short to be Dawson, +if a stranger stops me in the street to ask for a direction, if a +porter at a station dashes up to help me with my bag, I go for his +ears. If the lobes are attached to the cheekbones and there is a +pronounced blob in the fold at the top, I address the man instantly as +Dawson, however impossibly unlike Dawson he may be. I have spotted him +twice now since he bowled me out, and he is frightfully savage--especially +as I won't tell him how the trick is done. He says that it is my duty to +tell him, and that he will compel me under some of his beloved Defence of +the Realm Regulations. But the rack could not force me to give away my +precious secret. Cherish it and use it. You will not tell, for you love +to mystify the ruffian as much as I do." + +"I will watch for his ears when he next calls, which, I expect, will +be to-morrow. Thank you very much. I won't sneak." + +"Remember that nothing else in the way of identification is of any +use, for I doubt if either of us has ever seen the real, undisguised +Dawson as he is known to God. We know a man whom we think is the +genuine article--but is he? Cary's description of him is most unlike +the man whom we see here. I expect that he has a different identity +for every place which he visits. If he told me that at any moment he +was wholly undisguised, I should be quite sure that he was lying. The +man wallows in deception for the very sport of the thing. But he can't +change his ears. Study them, and you will be safe." + +Our club was the only place in which we could be sure that Dawson did +not penetrate, though I should not have been surprised to learn that +one or two of the waitresses were in his pay. Dawson is an ardent +feminist; he says that as secret agents women beat men to a frazzle. + +Shortly before Dawson left for his headquarters on the north-east +coast he dropped in upon me. He had finished his researches, and +revealed the results to me with immense satisfaction. + +"I have fixed up Menteith," he began, "and know exactly how he came +into communication with the German Secret Service." The contemptuous +emphasis which he laid on the word "Secret" would have annoyed the +Central Office at Potsdam. I have given the detected British spy the +name of Menteith after that of the most famous traitor in Scottish +history; if I called him, say, Campbell or Macdonald, nothing could +save me from the righteous vengeance of the outraged Clans. + +"It was all very simple," he went on, "like most things in my business +when one gets to the bottom of them. He was seduced by a man whom the +local police have had on their string for a long time, but who will +now be put securely away. Menteith was a frequenter of a certain +public house down the river, where he posed as an authority on the +Navy, and hinted darkly at his stores of hidden information. Our +German agent made friends with him, gave him small sums for drinks, +and flattered his vanity. It is strange how easily some men are +deceived by flattery. The agent got from Menteith one or two bits of +news by pretending a disbelief in his sources of intelligence, and +then, when the fool had committed himself, threatened to denounce him +to the police unless he took service with him altogether. Money, of +course, passed, but not very much. The Germans who employ spies so +extensively pay them extraordinarily little. They treat them like +scurvy dogs, for whom any old bone is good enough, and I'm not sure +they are not right. They go on the principle that the white trash who +will sell their country need only to be paid with kicks and coppers. +Menteith swears that he did not receive more than four pounds for the +plans and description of the _Rampagious_. Fancy selling one's country +and risking one's neck for four measly pounds sterling! If he had got +four thousand, I should have had some respect for him. His home is in +a wretched state, and his wife--a pretty woman, though almost a +skeleton, and a very nicely mannered, honest woman--says that her +husband unexpectedly gave her four pounds a month ago. He had kept +none of the blood money for drink! Curious, isn't it?" + +"It shows that the man had some good in him. It shows that he was +ashamed to use the money upon himself. We must do something for the +poor wife, Dawson." + +"She will easily get work, and she will be far better without her sot +of a husband. She did not cry when I told her everything. 'I ought to +have left him long ago,' she said, 'but I tried to save him. Thank God +we have no children,' That seemed to be her most insistent thought, +for she repeated it over and over again. 'Thank God that we have no +children.'" + +"I hope that you were gentle with her, Dawson," said I, deeply moved. +Long ago the wife had come to me and pleaded for her husband. She had +shed no tear; she had admitted the justice, the necessity, of my +sentence. "Can you not give him another chance?" she had asked. "No," +I had answered sadly. "He has exhausted all the chances." When she had +risen to go and I had pressed her hand, she had said, still dry-eyed, +"You are right, sir, it is no use, no use at all. Thank God that we +have no children." + +"I hope that you were gentle with her, Dawson," I repeated. + +He astonished me by the suddenness of his explosion. "Damn," roared +he--"damn and blast! Do you think that I am a brute. Gentle! It was as +much as I could do not to kiss the woman, as your little daughter +kissed me, and to promise that I would get her husband off somehow. +But I should not be a friend to her if I tried to save that man." + +So Dawson had soft spots in his armour of callousness, and little +Jane's instinct was far surer than mine. She had taken to him at +sight. When I tried to get from her why, why he had so marked an +attraction for her, her replies baffled me more than the central fact. +"I love Colonel Dawson. He is a nice man. He has a little girl like +me. Her name is Clara. Her birthday is next month. I shall save up my +pocket money and send Clara a present. I like Colonel Dawson better +even than dear Bailey." I tore my hair, for "Bailey" is a wholly +imaginary friend of little Jane, whom I invented one evening at her +bedside and who has grown gradually into a personage of clearly +defined attributes--like the "Putois" of Anatole France. Dawson and +"Bailey"; they are both "nice men" and little Jane's friends; she is +sure of them, and I expect that she is right. Children always are +right. + +Dawson, after his outburst, glowered at me for a moment and then +laughed. "I am a man," said he, "though you may not think it, and I +have my weaknesses. But I never give way to them when they interfere +with business. Menteith is in my grip, and he won't get out of it. But +he is a poor creature. He handed over the description of the +_Rampagious_, saw it hidden in the sardine tin, and was ordered to +take the food parcel to the Post Office. The German agent who used him +had no notion of risking his own skin. Then followed the discovery and +the arrest of the draughtsman who had drawn the plan. Those who had +seduced Menteith forbade him to come near them. They slipped away into +hiding--which profited them little since all of them were on our +string--after threatening Menteith that he would be murdered if he +gave himself up to the police, as in his terror he seemed to want to +do. When nothing happened for two weeks, the vermin came out of their +holes, made up the last parcel, and forced Menteith to go to Carlisle +in order to post it. All through he has been the most abject of tools, +and received nothing except the four pounds and various small sums +spent in drinks." + +"You have the principal all right?" + +"Yes, I have him tight. The others associated with him I shall leave +free; they will be most useful in future. They don't know that we know +them; when they do know, their number will go up, for they will be +then of no further use to us. It is a beautiful system, Mr. Copplestone, +and you have had the unusual privilege of seeing it at work." + +"What will your prisoners get by way of punishment?" + +"I am not sure, but I can guess pretty closely. The principal will go +out suddenly early some morning. He is a Jew of uncertain Central +European origin, Pole or Czech, a natural born British subject, a +shining light of a local anti-German society, an 'indispensable' in +his job and exempted from military service. He will give no more +trouble. Menteith will spend anything from seven to ten years in p.s., +learn to do without his daily whisky bottle, and possibly come out a +decent citizen. The draughtsman, I expect, will be let off with +eighteen months of the Jug. We are just, but not harsh. My birds don't +interest me much once they have been caught; it is the catching that I +enjoy. Down in the south, where I have a home of my own--which I +haven't seen during the past year except occasionally for an hour or +two--I used to grow big show chrysanthemums. All through the processes +of rooting the cuttings, repotting, taking the buds, feeding up the +plants, I never could endure any one to touch them. But once the +flowers were fully developed, my wife could cut them as much as she +pleased and fill the house with them. My job was done when I had got +the flowers perfect. It is just the same with my business. I cultivate +the little dears I am after, and hate any one to interfere with me; I +humour them and water them and feed them with opportunities till they +are ripe, and then I stick out my hand and grab them. After that the +law can do what it likes with them; they ain't my concern any more." + +By this time it had become apparent even to my slow intelligence why +Dawson told me so much about himself and his methods. He had formed +the central figure in a real story in print, and the glory of it +possessed him. He had tasted of the rich sweet wine of fame, and he +thirsted for more of the same vintage. He never in so many words asked +me to write this book, but his eagerness to play Dr. Johnson to my +Boswell appeared in all our relations. He was communicative far beyond +the limits of official discretion. If I now disclosed half, or a +quarter, of what he told me of the inner working of the Secret +Service, Scotland Yard, which admires and loves him, would cast him +out, lock him up securely in gaol, and prepare for me a safe +harbourage in a contiguous cell. So for both our sakes I must be very, +very careful. + +"You have been most helpful to me," he said handsomely at parting, +"and if anything good turns up on the North-East coast, I will let you +know. Could you come if I sent for you?" + +"I would contrive to manage it," said I. + +Dawson went away, and the pressure of daily work and interests thrust +him from my mind. For a month I heard nothing of him or of Cary, and +then one morning came a letter and a telegram. The letter was from +Richard Cary, and read as follows: "A queer thing has happened here. +A cruiser which had come in for repair was due to go out this morning. +She was ready for sea the night before, the officers and crew had all +come back from short leave, and the working parties had cleared out. +Then in the middle watch, when the torpedo lieutenant was testing the +circuits, it was discovered that all the cables leading to the guns +had been cut. Dawson has been called in, and bids me say that, if you +can come down, now is the chance of your life. I will put you up." + +The telegram was from Dawson himself. It ran: "They say I'm beaten. +But I'm not. Come and see." + +"The deuce," said I. "Sabotage! I am off." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +BAFFLED + +When at last I arrived at Cary's flat it was very late, and I was +exceedingly tired and out of temper. A squadron of Zeppelins had been +reported from the sea, the air-defence control at Newcastle had sent +out the preliminary warning "F.M.W.," and the speed of my train had +been reduced to about fifteen miles an hour. I had expected to get in +to dinner, but it was eleven o'clock before I reached my destination. +I had not even the satisfaction of seeing a raid, for the Zepps, made +cautious by recent heavy losses, had turned back before crossing the +line of the coast. Cary and his wife fell upon my neck, for we were +old friends, condoled with me, fed me, and prescribed a tall glass of +mulled port flavoured with cloves. My stern views upon the need for +Prohibition in time of war became lamentably weakened. + +By midnight I had recovered my philosophic outlook upon life, and Cary +began to enlighten me upon the details of the grave problem which had +brought me eagerly curious to his city. + +"I expect that Dawson will drop in some time to-night," he said. "All +hours are the same to him. I told him that you were on the way, and he +wants to give you the latest news himself. He is dead set upon you, +Copplestone. I can't imagine why." + +"Am I then so very unattractive?" I inquired drily. "It seems to me +that Dawson is a man of sound judgment." + +"I confess that I do not understand why he lavishes so much attention +upon you." + +"Your remarks, Cary," I observed, "are deficient in tact. You might, +at least, pretend to believe that my personal charm has won for me +Dawson's affection. As a matter of fact, he cares not a straw for my +_beaux yeux_; his motives are crudely selfish. He thinks that it is in +my power to contribute to the greater glory of Dawson, and he +cultivates me just as he would one of his show chrysanthemums. He has +done me the honour to appoint me his biographer extraordinary." + +"I am sure you are wrong," cried Cary. "He was most frightfully angry +about that story of ours in _Cornhill_. He demanded from me your name +and address, and swore that if I ever again disclosed to you official +secrets he would proceed against me under the Defence of the Realm +Act. He was a perfect terror, I can assure you." + +"And yet he always carries that story about with him in his +breast-pocket; he has summoned me here to see him at his work; and you +have been commanded to tell me everything which you know! My dear +Cary, do not be an ass. You are too simple a soul for this rather +grubby world. In your eyes every politician is an ardent, +disinterested patriot, and every soldier or sailor a knightly hero of +romance. Human beings, Cary, are made in streaks, like bacon; we have +our fat streaks and our lean ones; we can be big and bold, and also +very small and mean. Your great man and your national hero can become +very poor worms when, so to speak, they are off duty. But I didn't +come here, at great inconvenience, to talk this sort of stuff at +midnight. Go ahead; give me the details of this sabotage case which is +baffling Dawson and the naval authorities; let me hear about the +cutting of those electric wires." + +"It is, as I told you, in my note, a queer business. The _Antinous_, a +fast light cruiser, came in about a fortnight ago to have some defects +made good in her high-speed geared-turbines. There was not much wrong, +but her engineer commander recommended a renewal of some of the spur +wheels. The officers and crew went on short leave in rotation, a care +and maintenance party was put in charge, and the builders placed a +working gang on board which was occupied in shifts, by night and by +day, in making good the defects. When a ship is under repair in a +river basin, it is practically impossible to keep up the beautiful +order and discipline of a ship at sea. Men of all kinds are constantly +coming and going, life on board is stripped of the most ordinary +comforts and conveniences, there is inevitably some falling off in +strict supervision. Lack of space, lack of facilities for moving about +the ship, lack of any regular routine. You will understand. Just as +the expansion in the New Army and the New Navy has made it possible +for unknown enemy agents to take service in the Army and the Navy, so +the dilution of labour in the shipyards has made it possible for +workmen--whose sympathies are with the enemy--to get employment about +the warships. The danger is fully recognised, and that is where +Dawson's widespread system of counter-espionage comes in. There is not +a trade union, among all the eighteen or twenty engaged in shipyard +work--riveters, fitters, platers, joiners, and all the rest of +them--in which he has not police officers enrolled as skilled +tradesmen, members of the unions, working as ordinary hands or as +foremen, sometimes even in office as "shop stewards" representing the +interest of the unions and acting as their spokesmen in disputes with +the employers. Dawson claims that there has never yet been a secret +Strike Committee, since the war began, upon which at least one of his +own men was not serving. He is a wonderful man. I don't like him; he +is too unscrupulous and merciless for my simple tastes; but his value +to the country is beyond payment." + +"But where in the world does he raise these men? One can't turn a +policeman into a skilled worker at a moment's notice. How is it done?" + +"He begins at the other end. All his skilled workmen are the best he +can pick out of their various trades. They have served their full time +as apprentices and journeymen. They are recommended to him by their +employers after careful testing and sounding. Most of them, I believe, +come from the Government dockyards and ordnance factories. They are +given a course of police training at Scotland Yard, and then dropped +down wherever they may be wanted. Dawson, and inspectors like him, +have these men everywhere--in shipyards, in shell shops, in gun +factories, in aeroplane sheds, everywhere. They take a leading part in +the councils of the unions wherever they go, for they add to their +skill as workmen a pronounced, even blatant parade of loyalty to the +interests of trade unions and a tasty flavour of socialist principles. +Dawson is perfectly cynically outspoken to me over the business which, +I confess, appals me. In his female agents--of which he has many--he +favours what he calls a 'judicious frailty'; in his male agents he +favours a subtle skill in the verbal technique of anarchism. And this +man Dawson is by religion a Peculiar Baptist, in private life a +faithful husband and a loving father, and in politics a strict Liberal +of the Manchester School! As a man he is good, honest, and rather +narrow; as a professional detective he is base and mean, utterly +without scruple, and a Jesuit of Jesuits. With him the end justifies +the means, whatever the means may be." + +"And yet you admit that his value to the country is beyond payment. +Dawson--our remarkable Dawson of the double life in the two +compartments, professional and private, which never are allowed to +overlap--Dawson is an instrument of war. We do not like using gas or +liquid fire, but we are compelled to use them. We do not like +espionage, but we must employ it. As one who loves this fair land of +England beyond everything in the world, and as one who would do +anything, risk anything, and suffer anything to shield her from the +filthy Germans, I rejoice that she has in her service such supremely +efficient guardians as this most wickedly unscrupulous Dawson. There +is, at any rate, not a trace of our English muddle about him." + +"Ours is a righteous cause," cried poor Cary desperately. "We are +fighting for right against wrong, for defence against aggression, for +civilisation against utter barbarism. We are by instinct clean +fighters. If in the stress of conflict we stoop to foul methods, can +we ever wash away the filth of them from our souls? We shall stand +before the world nakedly confessed as the nation of hypocrites we have +always been declared to be." + +"Cary," I said, "you make me tired. We cannot be too thankful that we +possess Dawsons to counterplot against the Germans, and that +personally we are in no way responsible for the morality of their +methods. Come off the roof and get back to this most interesting +affair of the _Antinous_. I presume one of Dawson's men was working, +unknown to his fellows, with the care and maintenance party, and +another, equally unknown, with the engineers who were busy upon the +gearing of the turbines. Many of the regular ship's officers and men +would also have been on board. Had our remarkable friend his agents +among them too? Everything is possible with Dawson; I should not be +surprised to hear that he had police officers in the Fleet flagship." + +"You are almost right. One of his men, a temporary petty officer of +R.N.V.R., was certainly on board, and he tells me that down in the +engine room was another--a civilian fitter. They were both first-class +men. The electric wires, as you know, are carried about the ship under +the deck beams, where they are accessible for examination and repairs. +They are coiled in cables from which wires are led to the switch room, +and thence to all parts of the ship. There are thousands of wires, and +no one who did not know intimately their purpose and disposition could +venture to tamper with them, for great numbers are always in use. If +any one cut the lighting wires, for instance, the defects would be +obvious at once; so with the heating or telephone wires. Nothing was +touched except the lines to the guns, of which there are eight +disposed upon the deck. From the guns connections run to the switch +room, the conning tower, the gunnery control platform aloft, and to +the gunnery officer's bridge. It was the main cable between the switch +room and the conning tower which was cut, and it was one cable laid +alongside a dozen others. Now who could know that this was the gun +cable, and the only one in which damage might escape detection while +the ship was in harbour? At sea there is constant gun drill, during +which the electrical controls and the firing-tubes are always tested, +but in harbour the guns are lying idle most of the time. It was +evidently the intention of the enemy, who cut these wires, that the +_Antinous_ should go to sea before the defect was discovered, and that +her fire control should be out of action till the wiring system could +be repaired. That very serious disaster was prevented by the +preliminary testing during the night before sailing, but the enemy has +been successful in delaying the departure of an invaluable light +cruiser for two days. In these days, when the war of observation is +more important even than the war of fighting, the services of light +cruisers cannot be dispensed with for an hour without grave +inconvenience and risk. Yet here was one delayed for forty-eight hours +after her ordinary repairs had been completed. The naval authorities +are in a frightful stew. For what has happened to the _Antinous_ may +happen to other cruisers, even to battleships. If there is sabotage +among the workmen in the shipyards, it must be discovered and stamped +out without a moment's delay. This time it is the cutting of a wire +cable; at another time it may be some wilful injury far more serious. +A warship is a mass of delicate machinery to which a highly skilled +enemy agent might do almost infinite damage. Dawson has been run off +his feet during the past two days; I don't know what he has +discovered; but if he does not get to the bottom of the business in +double-quick time we shall have the whole Board of Admiralty, Scotland +Yard, and possibly the War Cabinet down upon us. Think, too, of the +disgrace to this shipbuilding city of which we are all so proud." + +"We shall know something soon," I said, "for, if I mistake not, here +comes Dawson." The electric bell at the front door had buzzed, and +Cary, slipping from the room, presently returned with a man who to me, +at the first glance, was a complete stranger. I sprang up, moved round +to a position whence I could see clearly the visitor's ears, and +gasped. It was Dawson beyond a doubt, but it was not the Dawson whom I +had known in the north. So what I had vaguely surmised was +true--Cary's Dawson and Copplestone's Dawson were utterly unlike. +Dawson winked at me, glanced towards Cary, and shook his head; from +which I gathered that he did not desire his appearance to be the +subject of comment. I therefore greeted him without remark, and, as he +sat down under the electric lights, examined him in detail. This +Dawson was ten years older than the man whom I had known and fenced +with. The hair of this one was lank and grey, while that of mine was +brown and curly; the face of this one was white and thin, while the +face of mine was rather full and ruddy. The teeth were different--I +found out afterwards that Dawson, who had few teeth of his own, +possessed several artificial sets of varied patterns--the shape of the +mouth was different, the nose was different. I could never have +recognised the man before me had I not possessed that clue to identity +furnished by his unchanging ears. + +"So, Dawson," said I slowly, "we meet again. Permit me to say that I +congratulate you. It is very well done." + +He grinned and glanced at the unconscious Cary. "You are learning. +Bill Dawson takes a bit of knowing." + +"Have you any news, Mr. Dawson?" asked Cary eagerly. + +"Not much. The wires of the _Antinous_ have all been renewed--the +Admiralty won't allow cables to be patched except at sea--but I +haven't found out who played hanky-panky with them. It could not have +been any one in the engine-room party, as none of them went near the +place where the wires were cut. Besides, they were engineers, not +electricians, and could have known nothing of the arrangements and +disposition of the ship's wires. My man who worked with them is +positive that they are a sound, good lot without a sea-lawyer or a +pacifist among them; a gang of plain, honest tykes. So we are thrown +back on the maintenance party, included in which were all sorts of +ratings. Some of them are skilled in the electrical fittings--my own +man with them is, for one--but we get the best accounts of all of +them. They are long service men, cast for sea owing to various medical +reasons, but perfectly efficient for harbour work. Among the officers +of the ship is a R.N.R. lieutenant with a German name. I jumped to +him, but the captain laughed. The man's father and grandfather were in +the English merchant service, and though his people originally came +from Saxony, he is no more German than we are ourselves. Besides, my +experience is that an Englishman with an inherited German name is the +very last man to have any truck with the enemy. He is too much ashamed +of his forbears for one thing; and for another he is too dead set on +living down his beastly name. So we will rule out the Lieutenant +R.N.R. My own man, who is a petty officer R.N.V.R., and has worked on +a lot of ships which have come in for repairs, says that the temper +among the workmen in the yards is good now. It was ugly when dilution +of labour first came in, but the wages are so high that all that +trouble has settled down. I have had what you call sabotage in the +shell and gun shops, but never yet in the King's ships. We have had +every possible cutter of the wires on the mat before the Captain and +me. We have looked into all their records, had their homes visited and +their people questioned, inquired of their habits--Mr. Copplestone, +here, knows what comes of drink--and found out how they spend their +wages. Yet we have discovered nothing. It is the worst puzzle that +I've struck. When and how the gun cable was cut I can't tell you, but +whoever did it is much too clever to be about. He must have been +exactly informed of the lie and use of the cables, had with him the +proper tools, and used them in some fraction of a minute when he +wasn't under the eye of my own man whose business it was to watch +everybody and suspect everybody. I thought that I had schemed out a +pretty thorough system; up to now it has worked fine. Whenever we have +had the slightest reason to suspect any man, we have had him kept off +the ship and watched. We have run down a lot of footling spies, too +stupid to give us a minute's anxiety, but this man who cut the +_Antinous_'s wires is of a different calibre altogether. He is AI, and +when I catch him, as I certainly shall, I will take off my hat to +him." + +"You say that the _Antinous_ is all right now?" I observed. + +"Yes. I saw her towed out of the repair basin an hour ago, and she +must be away down the river by this time. It is not of her that I'm +thinking, but of the other ships which are constantly in and out for +repairs. There are always a dozen here of various craft, usually small +stuff. While the man who cut those wires is unknown I shall be in a +perfect fever, and so will the Admiral-Superintendent. We'll get the +beauty sooner or later, but if it is later, there may be had mischief +done. If he can cut wires in one ship, he may do much worse things in +some other. The responsibility rests on me, and it is rather +crushing." + +Dawson spoke with less than his usual cheery confidence. I fancy that +the thinness and whiteness of his face were not wholly due to +disguise. He had not been to bed since he had been called up in the +middle watch of the night before last, and the man was worn out. + +"If you take my poor advice, Dawson," I said, "you will cut off now +and get some sleep. Even your brain cannot work continuously without +rest. The country needs you at your best, and needs you very badly +indeed." + +His dull, weary eyes lighted as if under the stimulus of champagne, +and he turned upon me a look which was almost affectionate. I really +began to believe that Dawson likes me, that he sees in me a kindred +spirit as patriotically unscrupulous as himself. + +He jumped up and gripped my hand. "You are right. I will put in a few +hours' sleep and then to work once more. This time I am up against a +man who is nearly as smart as I am myself, and I can't afford to carry +any handicap." + +I led him to the door and put him out, and then turned to Cary with a +laugh. "And I, too, will follow Dawson's example. It is past one, and +my head is buzzing with queer ideas. Perhaps, after all, the Germans +have more imagination than we usually credit them with. I wonder--" +But I did not tell to Cary what I wondered. + + * * * * * + +We were sitting after breakfast in Cary's study, enjoying the first +sweet pipe of the day, when the telephone bell rang. Cary took off the +earpiece and I listened to a one-sided conversation somewhat as +follows:-- + +"What! Is that you, Mr. Dawson? Yes, Copplestone is here. The +_Antigone_? What about her? She is a sister ship of the _Antinous_, +and was in with damage to her forefoot, which had been ripped up when +she ran down that big German submarine north of the Orkneys--Yes, I +know; she was due to go out some time to-day. What do you say? Wires +cut? Whose wires have been cut? The _Antigone's?_ Oh, the devil! Yes, +we will both come down to your office this afternoon. Whenever you +like." + +Cary hung up the receiver and glared at me. "It has happened again," +he groaned. "The _Antigone_ this time. She has been in dry dock for +the past fortnight and was floated out yesterday. Her full complement +joined her last night. Dawson says that he was called up at +eight-o'clock by the news that her gun-wires have been cut exactly +like those of the _Antinous_ and in the same incomprehensible way. He +seems, curiously enough, to be quite cheerful about it." + +"He has had a few hours sleep. And, besides, he sees that this second +case, so exactly like the first, makes the solution of his problem +very much more easy. I am glad that he is cheerful, for I feel +exuberantly happy myself. I was kept awake half the night by a +persistent notion which seemed the more idiotic the more I thought all +round it. But now--now, there may be something in it." + +"What is your idea? Tell me quick." + +"No, thank you, Dr. Watson. We amateur masters of intuition don't work +our thrilling effects in that way. We keep our notions to ourselves +until they turn out to be right, and then we declare that we saw +through the problem from the first. When we have been wrong, we say +nothing. So you observe, Cary, that whatever happens our reputations +do not suffer." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +GUESSWORK + +Cary tried to shake my resolution, but I was obdurately silent. While +he canvassed the whole position, bringing to bear his really profound +knowledge of naval equipment and routine--and incidentally helping me +greatly to realise the improbability of my own guesswork solution--I +was able to maintain an air of lofty superiority. I must have +aggravated him intensely, unpardonably, for I was his guest. He ought +to have kicked me out. Yet he bore with me like the sweet-blooded +kindly angel that he is, and when at the end it appeared that I was +right after all, Cary was the first to pour congratulations and honest +admiration upon me. If he reads this book he will know that I am +repentant--though I must confess that I should behave in just the same +abominable way if the incident were to occur again. There is no great +value in repentance such as this. + +We reached Dawson's office in the early afternoon, and found his chief +assistant there, but no Dawson. "The old man," remarked that officer, +a typical, stolid, faithful detective sergeant, "is out on the +rampage. He ought by rights to sit here directing the staff and leave +the outside investigations to me. He is a high-up man, almost a deputy +assistant commissioner, and has no call to be always disguising +himself and playing his tricks on everybody. I suppose you know that +white-haired old gent down here ain't a bit like Bill Dawson, who's +not a day over forty?" + +"I have given up wondering where the real Dawson ends and where the +disguises begin. The man I met up north wasn't the least bit like the +one down here." + +"A deal younger, I expect," said the chief assistant, grinning. "He +shifts about between thirty and sixty. The old man is no end of a +cure, and tries to take us in the same as he does you. There's an +inspector at the Yard who was at school with him down Hampshire way, +and ought to know what he is really like, but even he has given Dawson +up. He says that the old man does not know his own self in the +looking-glass; and as for Mrs. Dawson, I expect she has to take any +one who comes along claiming to be her husband, for she can't, +possibly tell t'other from which." + +"One might make a good story out of that," I observed to Cary. + +"I don't understand," said he. "Mr. Dawson told me once that I knew +the real Dawson, but that few other people did." + +"If he told you that," calmly observed the assistant, "you may bet +your last shirt he was humbugging you. He couldn't tell the truth, not +if he tried ever so." + +"What is he at now?" I asked. + +"I don't know, sir. And if he told me, I shouldn't believe him. I +don't take no account of a word that man says. But he's the most +successful detective we've got in the whole Force. He's sure to be +head of the C.I.D. one day, and then he will have to stay in his +office and give us others a chance." + +"I don't believe he will," I observed, laughing. "There will be a sham +Dawson in the office and the genuine article will be out on the +rampage. He is a man who couldn't sit still, not even if you tied him +in his chair and sealed the knots." + +We spent a pleasant hour pulling Dawson to pieces and leaving to him +not a rag of virtue, except intense professional zeal. We exchanged +experiences of him, those of the chief assistant being particularly +rich and highly flavoured. It appeared that Dawson when off duty loved +to occupy the platform at meetings of his religious connection and to +hold forth to the elect. The privilege of "sitting under him" had been +enjoyed more than once by the assistant, who retailed to us extracts +from Dawson's favourite sermon on "Truth." His views upon Truth were +unbending as armour plate. "Under no circumstances, not to save +oneself from imminent death, not to shield a wife or a child from the +penalties for a lapse from virtue, not even to preserve one's country +from the attacks of an enemy, was it permissible to a Peculiar Baptist +to diverge by the breadth of a hair from the straight path of Truth. +Hell yawned on either hand; only along the knife edge of Truth could +salvation be reached." + +"He made me shiver," said the chief assistant, "and he drove me to +thinking of one or two little deceptions of my own. When Dawson +preaches, his eyes blaze, his voice breaks, and he will fall on his +knees and pray for the souls of those who heed not his words. You +can't look at him then and not believe that he means every word he +says. Yet it's all humbug." + +"No, it is not," said I. "Dawson in the pulpit, or on the tub--or +whatever platform he uses--is absolutely genuine. He is the finest +example that I have ever met of the dual personality. He is in dead +earnest when he preaches on Truth, and he is in just as dead earnest +when, stripped of every moral scruple, he pursues a spy or a criminal. +In pursuit he is ruthless as a Prussian, but towards the captured +victim he can be strangely tender. I should not be surprised to learn +that he hates capital punishment and is a strong advocate of gentle +methods in prison discipline." + +The chief assistant stared, opened a drawer, and pulled forth a slim +grey pamphlet. It was marked "For Office Use Only," and was entitled, +"Some Notes on Prison Reform," by Chief Inspector William Dawson. + +I had begun to read the pamphlet, when a step sounded outside; the +assistant snatched it from my hand, flashed it back into its place, +and jumped to attention as Dawson entered. He surveyed us with those +searching, unwinking eyes of his--for we had the air of +conspirators--and said brusquely: "Clear out, Wilson. You talk too +much. And don't admit any one except Petty Officer Trehayne." + +"The _Antigone_!" cried Cary, who thought only of ships. "The +_Antigone_! Is she much damaged?" + +"No. Whoever tried to cut her wires was disturbed, or in too great a +hurry to do his work well. The main gun-cable was nipped, but not cut +through. She will be delayed till to-morrow, not longer. I am not +worrying about the _Antigone_, but about the new battleship +_Malplaquet_, which was commissioned last month, is nearly filled up +with stores, and is expected to leave the river on Saturday. We can't +have her delayed by any hanky tricks, not even if we have to put the +whole detective force on board of her. Still, I'm not so anxious as I +was. This _Antigone_ business has cleared things up a lot, and one can +sift out the impossible from the possible. To begin with, the +_Antinous_ was in for repairs to her geared turbines, and the +_Antigone_ for damage to her forefoot. Engineers were on one job, and +platers and riveters on the other. Different trades. So not a workman +who was in the _Antinous_ was also in the _Antigone_. We can rule out +all the workmen. We can also rule out my lieutenant R.N.R. with the +German name who has gone to sea in the _Antinous_. The care and +maintenance party in the _Antigone_ was not the same as the one in the +_Antinous_, not a man the same." + +"You are sure of that?" cried I, for it seemed that my daring theory +had gone to wreck. "You are quite sure." + +"Quite. I have all the names and have examined all the men. They were +all off the ship by eleven o'clock last night. I hadn't one of my own +men among them, but, to make sure, I sent Petty Officer Trehayne on +board at eight o'clock to keep a sharp look-out and to see all the +harbour party off the vessel. He reported a little after eleven that +they were all gone and the ship taken over by her own crew. The damage +was discovered at four bells in the morning watch." + +"Six o'clock a.m.," interpreted Cary. + +"It looks now as if there might be a traitor among her own crew, which +is her officers' job, not mine. I wash my hands of the _Antigone_, but +it is very much up to me to see that nothing hurtful happens to the +_Malplaquet_. The Admiral has orders to support me with all the force +under his command; the General of the District has the same orders. +But it isn't force we want so much as brains--Dawson's brains. I have +been beaten twice, but not the third time. I've told the Yard that if +the _Malplaquet_ is touched I shall resign, and if they send any one +to help me I shall resign. Between to-day, Thursday, and Saturday I am +going to catch the wily josser who has a fancy for cutting gun cables +or Dawson will say good-bye to the Force. That's a fair stake." + +The man swelled with determination and pride. He had no thought of +failure, and drew inspiration and joy from the heaviness of the bet +which he had made with Fortune. He took the born gambler's delight in +a big risk. + +"Then you think that the _Antinous_ and the _Antigone_ were both +damaged by the same man, and that he may have designs upon the +_Malplaquet_?" said I. + +"I don't propose to tell you what I think," replied Dawson stiffly. + +"Still," I persisted, passing over the snub, "you have a theory?" + +"No, thanks," said Dawson contemptuously. "I have no use for theories. +When they are wrong they mislead you, and when they are right they are +no help. I believe in facts--facts brought out by constant vigilance. +Unsleeping watchfulness and universal suspicion, those are the +principles I work on. The theory business makes pretty story books, +but the Force does not waste good time over them." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"This is Thursday afternoon. I am going to join the _Malplaquet_ +presently, and I'm not going to sleep till she is safely down the +river. I'm going to be my own watchman this time." + +"How? In what capacity?" + +Dawson gave a shrug of impatience, for his nerves were on edge. For a +moment he hesitated, and then, recollecting the high post to which I +had tacitly been appointed in his household, he replied: + +"I am going as one of the Marine sentries." + +"It's no use, Dawson," protested I emphatically. "You are a wonder at +disguise, and will look, I do not doubt, the very spit of a Marine. +But you can't pass among the men for half an hour without discovery. +They are a class apart, they talk their own language, cherish their +own secret traditions, live in a world to which no stranger ever +penetrates. You could pass as a naval officer more easily than you +could as a Pongo. It is sheer madness, Dawson." + +He gave a short laugh. "Much you know about it. I have served in the +Red Corps myself. I was a recruit at Deal, passed two years at +Plymouth, and served afloat for three years. I was then drafted into +the Naval Police. Afterwards I was recommended for detective work in +the dockyards, and at the end of my Marine service joined the Yard. My +good man, I was a sergeant before I left the Corps." + +"I give up, Dawson," said I. "Nothing about you will ever surprise me +again. Not even if you claim to have been a Cabinet Minister." + +A queer smile stole over his face. "No, I have not been a minister, +but I have attended a meeting of the Cabinet." + +Cary interposed at this point. "Yours is a fine idea, Mr. Dawson. As a +Marine sentry you can get yourself posted by the Major wherever you +please, and the Guard will not talk even though they may wonder that +any man should want to do twenty-four hours of duty per day. The +Marines are the closest, faith-fullest, and best disciplined force in +the wide world. Bluejackets will gossip; Marines never. You will be +able to watch more closely than even Trehayne, who, I suppose, will +also be on board." + +"Yes. He is coming up soon for instructions. It's his last chance, as +it is mine. He sees that he must be held responsible for the wire +cutting in the _Antinous_, and to some slight extent also in the +_Antigone_, and that if anything goes wrong with the _Malplaquet_ he +will be dismissed. I shall be sorry to lose him, for he is an +exceptionally good man, but we can't allow failures in petty officer +detectives any more than we can in chief inspectors." + +"Where does Trehayne come from? His name sounds Cornish," I asked. + +"Falmouth, I believe. He is quite young, but he has had nearly three +years in the _Vernon_ at Portsmouth and in the torpedo factory at +Greenock. A first-class engineer and electrician and a sound +detective. He has been with me for some twelve months. You will see +him if he calls soon." + +I had been thinking hard over the details of Dawson's plans while the +talk went on, and then ventured to offer some comments. + +"It is fortunate that you have grown a moustache since you were in the +north; you could not have been a Marine as a clean-shaven man." + +"I often have to shave it," said Dawson, "but I always grow it again +between whiles. One can take it off quicker than one can put it on +again. False hair is the devil; I have never used it yet and never +will. So whenever I have a spell of leisure I grow a moustache against +emergencies--like this one." + +My next comment was rather difficult to make, for I did not wish +either Cary or Dawson to divine its purpose. "If I may make a +suggestion to a man of your experience it would be that none of your +men here, not even your chief assistant or Trehayne, should know that +you are joining the _Malplaquet_ as a Marine. Two independent strings +are in this case better than a double-jointed string." + +"I never tell anything to any one, least of all to Pudden-Headed +Wilson. He is loyal, but a stupid ass with a flapping tongue. Trehayne +is close as wax, but, on general principles, I keep my movements +strictly to myself. He will be in the ship, but he won't know that I +am there too. The Commander must know and the Major of Marines, for I +shall want a uniform and the free run of the ship, so as to be posted +where I like. The Marine Sergeants of the Guard may guess, but, as Mr. +Cary says, they won't talk. You two gentlemen are safe," added Dawson +pleasantly, "for I've got you tight in my hand and could lock either +of you up in a minute if I chose." + +A peculiar knock came upon the door, a word passed between Dawson and +the police sentry outside, and a young man in the uniform of a naval +petty officer entered the room. He was clean-shaven, looked about +twenty-five years old, was dark and slim of the Latin type which is +not uncommon in Cornwall, and impressed me at once with his air of +intelligence and refinement. His voice, too, was rather striking. It +was that of the wardroom rather than of the mess deck. I liked the +look of Petty Officer Trehayne. Dawson presented him to us and then +took him aside for instructions. When he had finished, both men +rejoined us, and the conversation became light and general. Trehayne, +though clearly suffering from nervous strain after his recent +professional failures, talked with the ease and detachment of a highly +cultivated man. It appeared that he had been educated at Blundell's +School, had lost his parents at about sixteen, had done a course in +some electrical engineering shops at Plymouth, and when twenty years +old had secured a good berth on the engineering staff of the _Vernon_. +He could speak both French and German, which he had learned partly at +school and partly on the Continent during leave. Dawson, who was +evidently very proud of his young pupil and assistant, paraded his +accomplishments before us rather to Trehayne's embarrassment. "Try him +with French and German," urged Dawson. "He can chatter them as well as +English. But he is as close as wax in all three languages. Some men +can't keep their tongues still in one." + +I turned to Trehayne and spoke in French: "German I can't abide, but +French I love. My vocabulary is extensive, but my accent +abominable--incurably British. You can hear it for yourself how it +gives me away." + +"It is not quite of Paris," replied Trehayne. "Mais vous parlez +français très bien, très correctement. Beaucoup mieux que moi." + +"Non, non, monsieur," I protested, and then reverted to English. + +"Now," said Dawson, when Trehayne had left us, "I must get along, see +the Commander of the _Malplaquet_, and draw a uniform and rifle out of +the marine stores. It will be quite like old times. You won't see me +until Saturday, when I shall be either a triumphant or a broken man. +What is the betting, Mr. Copplestone?" + +I could not understand the quizzical little smile that Dawson gave me, +nor the humorous twitch of his lips. He had contemptuously disclaimed +all use of theories, yet there was more moving behind that big +forehead of his than he chose to give away. Did his ideas run on +parallel lines with mine; did he even suspect that I had formed any +idea at all? I could not inquire, for I dislike being laughed at, +especially by this man Dawson. I had nothing to go upon, at least so +little that was palpable that anything which I might say would be +dismissed as the merest guesswork, for which, as Dawson proclaimed, he +had no use. Yet, yet--my original guess stuck firmly in my mind, +improbable though it might be, and had just been nailed down +tightly--I scorn to mystify the reader--by a few simple sentences +spoken in French. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE MARINE SENTRY + +We had a whole day to fill in before we could get any news of Dawson's +vigil in the _Malplaquet_, and I have never known a day as drearily +long. Cary and I were both restless as peas on a hot girdle, and could +not settle down to talk or to read or to write. Cary sought vainly to +persuade me to read and pass judgment upon his Navy Book. In spite of +my interest in the subject my soul revolted at the forbidding pile of +manuscript. I promised to read the proofs and criticise them with +severity, but as for the M.S.--no, thanks. Poor Cary needed all his +sweet patience to put up with me. By eleven o'clock we had become +unendurable to one another, and I gladly welcomed his suggestion to +adjourn to his club, have lunch there, and try to inveigle the +Commander of the _Malplaquet_ into our net. "I know him," said Cary. +"He is a fine fellow; and though he must be pretty busy, he will be +glad to lunch somewhere away from the ship. If we have luck we will go +back with him and look over the _Malplaquet_ ourselves." + +"If you can manage that, Cary, you will have my blessing." + +He did manage to work the luncheon part by telephoning to the yard +where the _Malplaquet_ was fitting out, and we left the rest to our +personal charms. + +Cary was right. The Commander was a very fine fellow, an English naval +officer of the best type. He confirmed the views I had frequently +heard expressed by others of his profession that no hatred exists +between English and German sailors. They leave that to middle-aged +civilians who write for newspapers. The German Navy, in his opinion, +was "a jolly fine Service," worthy in high courage and skill to +contest with us the supremacy of the seas. He had been through the +China troubles as a lieutenant in the _Monmouth_--afterwards sunk by +German shot off Coronel--knew von Spee, von Müller, and other officers +of the Pacific Squadron, and spoke of them with enthusiasm. "They sunk +some of our ships and we wiped out theirs. That was all in the way of +business. We loved them in peace and we loved them in war. They were +splendidly loyal to us out in China--von Spee actually transferred +some of his ships to the command of our own senior officer so as to +avoid any clash of control--and when it came to fighting, they fought +like gentlemen. I grant you that their submarine work against merchant +ships has been pretty putrid, but I don't believe that was the choice +of their Navy. They got their orders from rotten civilians like Kaiser +Bill." Imagine if you can the bristling moustache of the Supreme War +Lord could he have heard himself described as a civilian! + +Our guest had commanded a destroyer in the Jutland battle, and assured +us that the handling of the German battle squadrons had been masterly. +"They punished us heavily for just so long as they were superior in +strength, and then they slipped away before Jellicoe could get his +blow in. They kept fending us off with torpedo attacks until the night +came down, and then clean vanished. We got in some return smacks after +dark at stragglers, but it was very difficult to say how much damage +we did. Not much, I expect. Still it was a good battle, as decisive in +its way as Trafalgar. It proved that the whole German Fleet could not +fight out an action against our full force and have the smallest hope +of success. I am just praying for the chance of a whack at them in the +_Malplaquet_. My destroyer was a bonny ship, the best in the flotilla, +but the _Malplaquet_ is a real peach. You should see her." + +"We mean to," said Cary. "This very afternoon. You shall take us back +with you." + +The Commander opened his eyes at this cool proposal, but we prevailed +upon him to seek the permission of the Admiral-Superintendent, who, a +good deal to my surprise, proved to be quite pliable. Cary's +reputation for discretion must be very high in the little village +where he lives if it is able to guarantee so disreputable a scribbler +as Bennet Copplestone! The Admiral, fortunately, had not read any of +my Works before they had been censored. When printed in _Cornhill_ +they were comparatively harmless. + +I must not describe the _Malplaquet_. Her design was not new to me--I +had seen more than one of her type--but as she is now a unit in +Beatty's Fleet her existence is not admitted to the world. As we went +up and down her many steep narrow ladders, and peered into dark +corners, I looked everywhere for a Marine sentry whom I could identify +by mark of ear as Dawson. I never saw him, but Trehayne passed me +twice, and I found myself again admiring his splendid young manhood. +He was not big, being rather slim and wiry than strongly built, but in +sheer beauty of face and form he was almost perfectly fashioned. "Do +you know that man?" I asked of our commander, indicating Trehayne. +"No," said he. "He is one of the shore party. But I should like to +have him with me. He is one of the smartest looking petty officers +that I have ever seen." + +We were shown everything that we desired to see except the +transmission room and the upper conning tower--the twin holy of holies +in a commissioned ship--and slipped away, escaping the Captain by a +bare two minutes. Which was lucky, as he would probably have had us +thrown into the "ditch." + +The end of the day was as weariful as the beginning, and we were all +glad--especially, I expect, Mrs. Cary--to go early to bed. That +ill-used lady, to whom we could disclose nothing of our anxieties, +must have found us wretched company. + +We had finished breakfast the next morning--the Saturday of Dawson's +gamble--and were sitting on Cary's big fireguard talking of every +subject, except the one which had kept us awake at night, when a +servant entered and announced that a soldier was at the door with a +message from Mr. Dawson. "Show him in," almost shouted Cary, and I +jumped to my feet, stirred for once into a visible display of +eagerness. + +A Marine came in, dressed in the smart blue sea kit that I love; upon +his head the low flat cap of his Corps. He gave us a full swinging +salute, and jumped to attention with a click of his heels. He looked +about thirty-five, and wore a neatly trimmed dark moustache. His hair, +also very dark, was cropped close to his head. Standing there with his +hands upon the red seams of his trousers, his chest well filled out, +and his face weather tanned, he looked a proper figure of a sea-going +soldier. "Mr. Cary, sir," he said, in a flat, monotonous orderly's +voice, "Major Boyle's compliments, and could you and your friend come +down to the Police Station to meet him and Chief Inspector Dawson. I +have a taxi-cab at the door, sir." + +"Certainly," cried Cary; "in two minutes we shall be ready." + +"Oh, no, we shan't," I remarked calmly, for I had moved to a position +of tactical advantage on the Marine's port beam. "We will have the +story here, if you don't mind, Dawson." + +He stamped pettishly on the floor, whipped off his cap, and spun it +across the room. "Confound you, Mr. Copplestone!" he growled. "How +the--how the--do you do it?" He could not think of an expletive mild +enough for Mrs. Cary's ears. "There's something about me that I can't +hide. What is it? If you don't tell, I will get you on the Regulation +compelling all British subjects to answer questions addressed to them +by a competent naval or military authority." + +"You don't happen to be either, Dawson," said I unkindly. "And, +beside, there was never yet a law made which could compel a man to +speak or a woman to hold her tongue. Some day perhaps, if you are +good, I will show you how the trick is done. But not yet. I want to +have something to bargain with when you cast me into jail. Out with +the story; we are impatient. If I mistake not, you come to us Dawson +triumphant. You haven't the air of a broken man." + +"I have been successful," he answered gravely, "but I am a long, long +way from feeling triumphant. No, thank you, Mrs. Cary, I have had my +breakfast, but if I might trouble you for a cup of coffee? Many +thanks." + +Dawson sat down, and Cary moved about inspecting him from every angle. +"No," declared he at last, "I cannot see the smallest resemblance, not +the smallest. You were thin; now you are distinctly plump. Your hair +was nearly white. Your cheeks had fallen in as if your back teeth were +missing. Your lower lip stuck out." Dawson smiled, highly gratified. +"I took in all my people at the office this morning," he said. "They +all thought, and think still, that I was a messenger from the +_Malplaquet_, which, by the way, is well down the river safe and +sound. Just wait a minute." He walked into a corner of the room, moved +his hands quickly between his side pockets and his face, and then +returned. Except for the dark hair and moustache and the brown skin, +he had become the Dawson of the Thursday afternoon. "It is as simple +for me to change," said the artist, with a nasty look in my direction, +"as it seems to be for Mr. Copplestone here to spot me. It will take a +day or two to get the dye out of my hair and the tan off my skin. I am +going to have a sharp touch of influenza, which is a useful disease +when one wants to lie in. Since Sunday I have only been twice to bed." + +We filled him up with coffee and flattery--as one fills a motor car +with petrol and oil--but asked him no questions until we were safely +in Cary's study and Mrs. Cary had gone about her household duties. +"Your good lady," remarked Dawson to Cary, "is as little curious as +any woman I have met, and we will leave her at that if you don't mind. +The best thing about our women is that they don't care tuppence about +naval and military details. If they did, and once started prying with +that keen scent and indomitable persistence of theirs, we might as +well chuck up. Even my own bright team of charmers never know and +never ask the meaning of the information that they ferret out for me. +Their curiosity is all personal--about men and women, never about +things. Women--" + +I cut Dawson short. He tended to become tedious. + +"Quite so," I observed politely. "And to revert to one big female +creature, let us hear something of the _Malplaquet_." + +"You at any rate are curious enough for a dozen. It would serve you +right to keep you hopping a bit longer. But I have a kindly eye for +human weakness, though you might not think it. I joined the ship on +Thursday afternoon, slipping in as one of a detachment of fifty +R.M.L.I. who had been wired for from Chatham. They were an emergency +lot; we hadn't enough in the ship for the double sentry go that I +wanted. All my plans were made with the Commander and Major Boyle, and +they both did exactly what I told them. It isn't often that a private +of Marines has the ordering about of two officers. But Dawson is +Dawson; no common man. They did as I told them, and were glad to do +it. I had extra light bulbs put on all over the lower decks and every +dark corner lit up--except one. Just one. And this one was where the +four gun-cables ran out of the switch-room and lay alongside one +another before they branched off to the fore and after turrets and to +the port and starboard side batteries. That was the most likely spot +which any one wanting to cut the gun-wires would mark down, and I +meant to watch it pretty closely myself. We had double sentries at the +magazines. The _Malplaquet_ is an oil-fired ship, so we hadn't any +bothering coal bunkers to attract fancy bombs. I was pretty sure that +after the _Antinous_ and the _Antigone_ we had mostly wire-cutting to +fear. When a man has done one job successfully, and repeated it almost +successfully, he is pretty certain to have a third shot. Besides, if +one is out to delay a ship, cutting wires is as good a way as any. I +had an idea that my man was not a bomber." + +"I thought that you scorned theories," I put in dryly. "When they are +wrong they mislead you, and when they are right they are no help." + +Dawson frowned. "Shut up, Copplestone," snapped Cary. + +"We were in no danger from the lighting, heating, and telephone wires, +for any defect would have been visible at once. It was the gun and +gunnery control cables that were the weak spots. So I had L.T.O.'s +posted in the spotting top, the conning tower, the transmission room, +the four turrets, and at the side batteries. Every few minutes they +put through tests which would have shown up at once any wires that had +been tampered with. After the shore party had cleared out about nine +o'clock on the Thursday, no officer or man was allowed to leave the +ship without a special permit from the Commander. This was all dead +against the sanitary regulations of the harbour, but I had the +Admiral's authority to break any rules I pleased. By the way, you two +ought never to have been allowed on board yesterday afternoon--I saw +you, though you didn't see me; it was contrary to my orders. I spoke +to the Admiral pretty sharp last night. 'Who is responsible for the +ship?' says I. 'You or me?' 'You,' says he. 'I leave it at that,' says +I." + +"One moment, Dawson," I put in. "If the shore party had all gone, how +was it that I saw Petty Officer Trehayne in the ship?" + +"He had orders to stay and keep watch--though he didn't know I was on +board myself. Two pairs of police eyes are better than one pair, and +fifty times better than all the Navy eyes in the ship. Of all the +simple-minded, unsuspicious beggars in the world, give me a pack of +naval ratings! I wouldn't have one of them for sentries--that is why +the fifty emergency Marines were sent for." Dawson's limitless pride +in his old Service, and deep contempt for the mere sailor, had come +back in full flood with the uniform of his Corps. + +"I started my own sentry duty in the dark corner I told you of as soon +as I had seen to the arrangements all over the _Malplaquet_, and I was +there, with very few breaks of not more than five minutes each for a +bite of food, for twenty-six hours. Two Marine sentries took my place +whenever I was away. I had my rifle and bayonet, and stood back in a +corner of a bulkhead where I couldn't be seen. The hours were awful +long; I stood without hardly moving. All the pins and needles out of +Redditch seemed to dance up and down me, but I stuck it out--and I had +my reward, I had my reward. I did my duty, but it's a sick and sorry +man that I am this day." + +"There was nothing else to be done," I said. "What you feel now is a +nervous reaction." + +"That's about it. I watched and watched, never feeling a bit like +sleep though my eyes burned something cruel and my feet--they were +lumps of prickly wood, not feet. Dull lumps with every now and then a +stab as if a tin tack had been driven into them. Beyond me in the open +alley-way the light was strong, and I could see men pass frequently, +but no one came into my corner till the end, and no one saw me. I +heard six bells go in the first watch ('Eleven p.m.,' whispered Cary) +on Friday evening, though there was a good bit of noise of getting +ready to go out in the early morning, and I was beginning to think +that all my trouble might go for naught, when a man in a Navy cap and +overalls stopped just opposite my dark hole between two bulkheads. His +face was turned from me, as he looked carefully up and down the +lighted way. He stood there quite still for some seconds, and then +stepped backwards towards me. I could see him plain against the light +beyond. He listened for another minute or so, and, satisfied that no +one was near, spun on his heels, whipped a tool from his dungaree +overalls, and reached up to the wires which ran under the deck beams +overhead. In spite of my aching joints and sore feet I was out in a +flash and had my bayonet up against his chest. He didn't move till my +point was through his clothes and into his flesh. I just shoved till +he gave ground, and so, step by step, I pushed him with the point of +my bayonet till he was under the lights. His arms had come down, he +dropped the big shears with insulated handles which he had drawn from +his pocket, but he didn't speak a word to me and I did not speak to +him. I just held him there under the lights, and we looked at one +another without a word spoken. There was no sign of surprise or fear +in his face, just a queer little smile. Suddenly he moved, made a +snatch at the front of his overalls, and put something into his mouth. +I guessed what it was, but did not try to stop him; it was the best +thing that he could do." + +Dawson stopped and pulled savagely at his cigar. He jabbed the end +with his knife, though the cigar was drawing perfectly well, and gave +forth a deep growl which might have been a curse or a sob. + +"Have you ever watched an electric bulb fade away when the current is +failing?" he asked. "The film pales down from glowing white to dull +red, which gets fainter and fainter, little by little, till nothing +but the memory of it lingers on your retina. His eyes went out exactly +like that bulb. They faded and faded out of his face, which still kept +up that queer, twisted smile. I've seen them ever since; wherever I +turn. I shall be glad of that bout of influenza, and shall begin it +with a stiff dose of veronal.... When the light had nearly gone out of +his eyes and he was rocking on his feet, I spoke for the first time. I +spoke loud too. 'Good-bye,' I called out; 'I'm Dawson.' He heard me, +for his eyes answered with a last flash; then they faded right out and +he fell flat on the steel deck. He had died on his feet; his will kept +him upright to the end; that was a Man. He lived a Man's life, doing +what he thought his duty, and he died a Man's death.... I blew my +whistle twice; up clattered a Sergeant with the Marine Guard and +stopped where that figure on the deck barred their way. 'Get a +stretcher,' I said, 'and send for the doctor. But it won't be any use. +The man's dead.' The Sergeant asked sharply for my report, and sent +off a couple of men for a stretcher. 'Excuse me, Sergeant,' I said, in +my best detective officer voice, 'I will report direct to your Major +and the Commander. I am Chief Inspector Dawson.' He showed no surprise +nor doubt of my word--if you want to understand discipline, gentlemen, +get the Marines to teach you--he asked no questions. With one word he +called the guard to attention, and himself saluted me--me a private! I +handed him my rifle--there was an inch of blood at the point of the +bayonet--and hobbled off to the nearest ladder. My word, I could +scarcely walk, and as for climbing a ship's ladder--I could never have +done if some one hadn't given me a boost behind and some one else a +hand at the top. The Commander and the Major of Marines were both in +the wardroom; I walked in, saluted them as a self-respecting private +should do, and told them the whole story." + +"It was Petty Officer Trehayne," said I calmly--and waited for a +sensation. + +"Of course," replied Dawson, greatly to my annoyance. He might have +shown some astonishment at my wonderful intuition; but he didn't, not +a scrap. Even Cary was at first disappointing, though he warmed up +later, and did me full justice. "Trehayne a spy!" cried Cary. "He +looked a smart good man." + +"I am not saying that he wasn't," snapped Dawson, whose nerves were +very badly on edge. "He was obeying the orders of his superiors as we +all have to do. He gave his life, and it was for his country's +service. Nobody can do more than that. Don't you go for to slander +Trehayne. I watched him die--on his feet." + +Cary turned to me. "What made you think it was Trehayne?" he asked. +This was better. I looked at Dawson, who was brooding in his chair +with his thoughts far away. He was still seeing those eyes fading out +under the glare of the electrics between the steel decks of the +_Malplaquet_! + +"It was a sheer guess at first," said I, preserving a decent show of +modesty. "When I heard how the enemy plotted and Dawson +counter-plotted with all those skilled workmen in his detective +service, it occurred to me that an enemy with imagination might +counter-counterplot by getting men inside Dawson's defences. I +couldn't see how one would work it, but if German agents, say, could +manage to become trusted servants of Dawson himself, they would have +the time of their lives. So far I was guessing at a possibility, +however improbable it might seem. Then when Dawson told us that he had +sent Trehayne into the _Antigone_ and that he was the one factor +common to both vessels--the workmen and the maintenance part were all +different--I began to feel that my wild theory might have something in +it. I didn't say anything to you, Cary, or to Dawson--he despises +theories. Afterwards Trehayne came in and I spoke to him, and he to +me, in French. He did not utter a dozen words altogether, but I was +absolutely certain that his French had not been learned at an English +public school and during short trips on the Continent. I know too much +of English school French and of one's opportunities to learn upon +Continental trips. It took me three years of hard work to recover from +the sort of French which I learned at school, and I am not well yet. +The French spoken by Trehayne was the French of the nursery. It was +almost, if not quite, his mother tongue, just as his English was. +Trehayne's French accent did not fit into Trehayne's history as +retailed to us by Dawson. From that moment I plumped for Trehayne as +the cutter of gun wires." + +Dawson had been listening, though he showed no interest in my speech. +When I had quite finished, and was basking in the respectful +admiration emanating from dear old Cary, he upset over me a bucket of +very cold water. + +"Very pretty," said he. "But answer one question. Why did I send +Trehayne to the _Antigone_?" + +"Why? How can I tell? You said it was to make sure that the shore +party were all off the ship." + +"I said! What does it matter what I say! What I do matters a heap, but +what I say--pouf! I sent Trehayne to the _Antigone_ to test him. I +sent him expecting that he would try to cut her wires, and he did. +Then when I was sure, though I had no evidence for a law court, I sent +him to the _Malplaquet_, and I set my trap there for him to walk into. +How did I guess? I don't guess; I watch. The more valuable a man is to +me, the more I watch him, for he might be even more valuable to +somebody else. Trehayne was an excellent man, but he had not been with +me a month before I was watching him as closely as any cat. I hadn't +been a Marine and served ashore and afloat without knowing a born +gentleman when I see one, and knowing, too, the naval stamp. Trehayne +was too much of a gentleman to have become a workman in the _Vernon_ +and at Greenock without some very good reason. He said that he was an +orphan--yes; he said his parents left him penniless, and he had to +earn his living the best way he could--yes. Quite good reasons, but +they didn't convince me. I was certain sure that somewhere, some time, +Trehayne had been a naval officer. I had seen too many during my +service to make any mistake about that. So when I stood there waiting +in that damned cold corner behind that bulkhead, it was for Trehayne +that I was waiting. I meant to take him or to kill him. When he killed +himself, I was glad. As I watched his eyes fade out, it was as if my +own son was dying on his feet in front of me. But it was better so +than to die in front of a firing party. For I--I loved him, and I +wished him 'Good-bye,'" + +Dawson pitched his cigar into the fire, got up, and walked away to the +far side of the room. I had never till that moment completely +reverenced the penetrative, infallible judgment of Little Jane. + +Dawson came back after a few minutes, picked up another cigar from +Cary's box, and sat down. "You see, I have a letter from him. I found +it in his quarters where I went straight from the _Malplaquet_." + +"May we read it?" I asked gently. "I was greatly taken with Trehayne +myself. He was a clean, beautiful boy. He was an enemy officer on +Secret Service; there is no dishonour in that. If he were alive, I +could shake his hand as the officer of the firing party shook the hand +of Lody before he gave the last order." + +Dawson took a paper from his pocket, and handed it to me. "Read it +out," said he; "I can't." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +TREHAYNE'S LETTER + +I took the letter from Dawson and glanced through it. The first sheet +and the last had been written very recently--just before the boy had +left his quarters for the last time to go on board the _Malplaquet_; +the remainder had been set down at various times; and the whole had +been connected up, put together, and paged after the completion of the +last sheet. Trehayne wrote a pretty hand, firm and clear, the writing +of an artist who was also a trained engineer. There was no trace in +the script of nervousness or of hesitation. He had carried out his +Orders, he saw clearly that the path which he had trod was leading him +to the end of his journey, but he made no complaint. He was a Latin, +and to the last possessed that loftiness of spirit wedded to sombre +fatalism which is the heritage of the Latins. He was at war with his +kindred of Italy and France, and with the English among whom he had +been brought up, and whom he loved. He was their enemy by accident of +birth, but though he might and did love his foes better than his +German friends of Austria and Prussia, yet he had taken the oath of +faithful service, and kept it to the end. I could understand why +Dawson--that strange human bloodhound, in whom the ruthless will +continually struggled with and kept under the very tender heart--would +allow no one to slander Trehayne. + +Cary was watching me eagerly, waiting for me to read the letter. + +Dawson's head was resting on one hand, and his face was turned away, +so that I could not see it. He could not wholly conceal his emotion, +but he would not let us see more of it than he could help. He did not +move once during my reading. + + * * * * * + +_To Chief Inspector William Dawson, C.I.D._ + +SIR, + +Will you be surprised, my friend, when you read this that I have left +for you, to learn that I, your right-hand man in the unending spy +hunt, I whom you have called your bright jewel of a pupil, Petty +Officer John Trehayne, R.N.V.R., am at this moment upon the books of +the Austrian Navy as a sub-lieutenant, seconded for Secret Service? +Have you ever been surprised by anything? I don't know. You have said +often in my hearing that you suspect every one. Have you suspected me? +Sometimes when I have caught that sidelong squint of yours, that +studied accidental glance which sees so much, I have felt almost sure +that you were far from satisfied that Trehayne was the man he gave +himself out to be. I have been useful to you. I have eaten your salt, +and have served you as faithfully as was consistent with the supreme +Orders by which I direct my action. With you I have run down and +captured German agents, wretched lumps of dirt, whom I loathe as much +as you do. Those who have sworn fidelity to this fair country of +England, and have accepted of her citizenship--things which I have +never done--and then in fancied security have spied upon their adopted +Mother, I loathe and spit upon. I have taken the police oath of +obedience to my superiors, and I have kept it, but I have never sworn +allegiance to His Majesty your King, whom I pray that God may preserve +though I am his enemy. To your blunt English mind, untrained in logic, +my sentiments and actions may lack consistency. But no. Those agents +whom we have run down, you and I, were traitors--traitors to England. +Of all traitors for whom Hell is hungry the German-born traitor is the +most devilish. I would not have you think, my friend, that I am at one +with them. Never while I have been in your pay and service have I had +any communication direct or indirect with any of the naturalised- +British Prussian scum, who have betrayed your noble generosity. I have +taken my Orders from Vienna, I have communicated always direct with +Vienna. I am an Austrian naval officer. I am no traitor to England. + + * * * * * + +I spring from an old Italian family which has long been settled in +Trieste. For many generations we have served in the Austrian Navy. +With modern Italy, with the Italy above all which has thrown the Holy +Father into captivity and stripped the Holy See of the dominions +bestowed upon it by God, we have no part or lot. Yet when I have met +Italian officers, and those too of France, as I have frequently done +during my cruises afloat, I have felt with them a harmony of spirit +which I have never experienced in association with German-Austrians +and with Prussians. I do not wish to speak evil of our Allies, the +Prussians, but to one of my blood they are the most detestable people +whom God ever had the ill-judgment to create. + + * * * * * + +I was born in Trieste, and lived there with my parents until I was +eight years old. In our private life we always spoke Italian or +French, German was our official language. I know that language well, +of course, but it is not my mother tongue. Italian or French, and +afterwards English--I speak and write all three equally well; which of +the three I shall use when I come to die and one reverts to the speech +of the nursery and schoolroom, I cannot say; it will depend upon whom +those are that stand about my deathbed. + +When I was eight years old, my father, Captain ---- (no, I will not +tell you my name; it is not Trehayne though somewhat similar in +sound), was appointed Austrian Consul at Plymouth, and we all moved to +that great Devonshire seaport. I was young enough to absorb the rich +English atmosphere, nowhere so rich as in that county which is the +home and breeding-ground of your most splendid Navy. I was born again, +a young Elizabethan Englishman. My story to you of my origin was true +in one particular--I really was educated at Blundell's School at +Tiverton. Whenever--and it has happened more than once--I have met as +Trehayne old schoolfellows of Blundell's they have accepted without +comment or inquiry my tale that I had become an Englishman, and had +anglicised my name. Among the peoples which exist on earth to-day, you +English are the most nobly generous and unsuspicious. The Prussians +laugh at you; I, an Austrian-Italian, love and respect you. + + * * * * * + +When I was sixteen, after I had spent eight years in Devon, and four +of those years at an English public school, I was in speech and almost +in the inner fibres of my mind an Englishman. Your naval authorities +at Plymouth and Devonport, as serenely trustful and heedless of +espionage as the mass of your kindly people, allowed my father--whom I +often accompanied--to see the dockyards, the engine shops, the +training schools, and the barracks. They knew that he was an Austrian +naval officer, and they took him to their hearts as a brother, of the +common universal brotherhood of the sea. I think that your Navy holds +those of a foreign naval service as more nearly of kin to themselves +than civilians of their own blood. The bond of a common profession is +more close than the bond of a common nationality. I do not doubt that +my father sent much information to our Embassy in London--it was what +he was employed to do--but I am sure that he did not basely betray the +wonderful confidence of his hosts. Our countries were at peace. My +father is no Prussian; he is a chivalrous gentleman. I am sure that he +did not send more than his English naval friends were content at the +time that he should send. For in those years your newspapers and your +books upon the Royal Navy of England concealed little from the world. +I have visited Dartmouth; I have dined in the Naval College there with +bright sailor boys of my own age. It was then my one dream, had I +remained in England, to have become an Englishman, and to have myself +served in your Navy. It was a vain dream, but I knew no better. Fate +and my birth made me afterwards your enemy. I would have fought you +gladly face to face on land or sea, but never, never, would I have +stabbed the meanest of Englishmen in the back. + +When I was sixteen years old I left England with my parents and +returned to Triest. I was a good mathematician with a keen taste for +mechanics. I spent two years in the naval engineering shops at Pola, +and I was gazetted as a sub-lieutenant in the engineering branch of +the Austrian Navy. My next two years were spent afloat. Although I did +not know it, I had already been marked out by my superiors for the +Secret Service. My perfect acquaintance with English, my education at +Blundell's, my knowledge of your thoughts and your queer ways, and +twists of mind, had equipped me conspicuously for Secret Service work +in your midst. + +As a youth of twenty, in the first flush of manhood, I was seconded +for service here, and I returned to England. That was five years ago. + + * * * * * + +[I paused, for my throat was dry, and looked up. Cary was leaning +forward intent upon every word. Dawson's face was still turned away; +he had not moved. It seemed to me that to our party of three had been +added a fourth, the spirit of Trehayne, and that he anxiously waited +there yonder in the shadows for the deliverance of our judgment. Had +he, an English public school boy, played the game according to the +immemorial English rules? I went on.] + + * * * * * + +It was extraordinarily easy for me to obtain employment in the heart +of your naval mysteries. Few questions were asked; you admitted me as +one of yourselves. I took the broad open path of full acceptance of +your conditions. I first obtained employment in a marine engineering +shop at Southampton, joined a trade union, attended Socialist +meetings--I, a member of one of the oldest families in Trieste. Though +a Catholic, I bent my knee in the English Church, and this was not +difficult, for I had always attended service in the chapel at +Blundell's. To you, my friend, I can say this, for you are of some +strange sect which consigns to the lowest Hell both Catholics and +Anglicans alike. Your Heaven will be a small place. From Southampton I +went to the torpedo training-ship _Vernon_. Again I had no difficulty. +I was a workman of skill and intelligence. I was there for more than +two years, learning all your secrets, and storing them in my mind for +the benefit of my own Service at home. + +It was at Portsmouth that there came to me the great temptation of my +life, for I fell in love, not as you colder people do, but as a +Latin of the warm South. She was an English girl of good, if +undistinguished, family. Though in my hours of duty I belonged to that +you call the 'working classes,' I was well off, and lived in private +the life of my own class. I had double the pay of my rank, an +allowance from my father, and my wages, which were not small. There +were many English families in Portsmouth and Southsea who were +graciously pleased to recognise that John Trehayne, trade unionist, +and weekly wage-earning workman, was a gentleman by birth and +breeding. In any foreign port I should have been under police +supervision as a person eminently to be suspected; in Portsmouth I was +accepted without question for what I gave myself out to be--a +gentleman who wished to learn his business from the bottom upwards. I +will say nothing of the lady of my heart except that I loved her +passionately, and should have married her--aye, and become an +Englishman in fact, casting off my own, country--if War had not blown +my ignoble plans to shatters. There was nothing ignoble in my love, +for she was a queen among women, but in myself for permitting the hot +blood of youth to blind my eyes to the duty claimed of me by my +country. When war became imminent, I was not recalled, as I had hoped +to be, since I wished to fight afloat as became my rank and family. I +was ordered to take such steps as most effectively aided me to observe +the English plans and preparations, and to report when possible to +Vienna. In other words, I was ordered to act in your midst as a +special intelligence officer--what you would call a Spy. It was an +honourable and dangerous service which I had no choice but to accept. +My dreams of love had gone to wreck. I could have deceived the woman +whom I loved, for she would have trusted me and believed any story of +me that I had chosen to tell. But could I, an officer, a gentleman by +birth and I hope by practice, a secret enemy of England and a spy upon +her in the hour of her sorest trial, could I remain the lover of an +English girl without telling her fully and frankly exactly what I was? +Could I have committed this frightful treason to love and remained +other than an object of scorn and loathing to honest men? I could not. +In soul and heart she was mine; I was her man, and she was my woman. +With her there were no reserves in love. She was mine, yet I fled from +her with never a word, even of good-bye. I made my plans, obtained +certificates of my proficiency in the _Vernon_, kissed my dear love +quietly, almost coldly, without a trace of the passion that I felt, +and fled. It was the one thing left me to do. My friend, that was two +years ago. She knows not whether I am alive or am dead; I know not +whether she is alive or is dead. Yet during every hour of the long +days, and during every hour of the still longer nights, she has been +with me. I have done my duty, but I do not think that I wish to live +very much longer. If death comes to me quickly--and to those in my +present trade it comes quickly--will you, my friend, of your bountiful +kindness write to [here followed a name and address] and repeat +exactly what I now say. Do not tell what I was or how I died, but just +write, "He loved you to the last." There is a portrait in a locket +round my neck and a ring on my finger. Send her those, my good friend, +and she will know that your words are true. + + * * * * * + +I fled as far from Portsmouth, where my dear love dwelt, as I could +go; I fled to Greenock, that dreadful sodden corner of earth where the +rain never ceases to fall, and the sun never shines. At Greenock one +measures the rainfall not by inches, but by yards. Sometimes, not +often, a pale orb struggles through the clouds and glimmers faintly +upon the grimy town--some poor relation of the sun, maybe, but not the +godlike creature himself. For six months, in this cold desolate spot, +among a people strangely unlike the English of Devon, though they are +of kindred race, I laboured for six months in the Torpedo Factory. I +lived meanly in one room, for my Austrian pay and allowance had +stopped when War cut the channels of communication. I could, had I +chosen, have drawn money from German agencies in London, but I scorned +to hold truck with them. They were traitors to the England which +trusted and protected them, and of which they were citizens. I lived +upon my wages and preserved jealously all that I had saved during my +years of comparative affluence at Portsmouth. It was duty which made +me a Spy, not gold. + +One day I was called into the office of the Superintendent, and it was +hinted to me, diplomatically, not unskilfully, that I was desired to +take service with the English secret police. I feigned reluctance, +made difficulties, professed diffidence, until pressure was put upon +me, and I was forced to accept a position which I could never by any +scheming have achieved. Those whom the gods seek to destroy, they +first drive mad--you are a very trustful unsuspicious folk, all except +you to whom I write. But even you did not, I am sure, suspect me at +the beginning. I was sent to Scotland Yard in London to be trained in +my new duties. You saw me there, and claimed me for your staff, and I +came to this centre of shipbuilding and worked here with you. I was +clothed in the uniform of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. + +There are two matters closely affecting my personal honour which will +seem of small moment to you--you who display always a sublime +patriotic scorn of every moral scruple; but to me they are great. I am +of the old chivalry of Italy, and I have been taught at school in +England always to play the game. Though I wore the uniform of the +R.N.V.R., it was as a disguise and cloak of my police office; I was +never attested. I have never, never, never sworn allegiance to +England. I have always kept troth with my own country; I have never +broken troth with England. Had the English naval oath been proffered +to me, I should have refused it at any hazard to my personal safety. +My honour is unstained. + +You have paid me for my work, I have taken your pay, but I have not +spent it upon myself. Every penny of it for the last twelve months +will be found at my quarters. I have lived upon what I saved at +Portsmouth--lived sometimes very scantily. My funds are running low. +What I shall do when they are exhausted I cannot tell. Perhaps, who +knows, they will last my time. As for the rest, that packet of +Treasury Notes which has been my police pay, unexpended, will you take +it, my friend, and pay it to the fund for assisting the English +sailors interned in Holland? I should feel happier if they would +accept it, for I have, as you will presently learn, taken some of +their names in vain. I have not broken any oath, and I have not used +your pay; my honour is unstained. + + * * * * * + +[Again I paused and glanced at Dawson. He had not even winced--at +least not visibly--when Trehayne had held him free from every moral +scruple. He must, I think, have read the letter many times before he +had handed it to me. Cary looked troubled and uneasy. To him a spy had +been just a spy--he had never envisaged in his simple honest mind such +a super-spy as Trehayne. I went on.] + + * * * * * + +Now nothing was hidden from me; I had within my hands all the secrets +of England's Navy. My one difficulty--and it was not so great a one as +you may think--was communication with my country. Never for one moment +did it fail. Years before it had been thought out and prepared. I +varied my methods. At Portsmouth, during the early weeks of the War, I +had employed one means, at Greenock another, here yet another. The +basis of all was the same. It was much more difficult for me to +receive orders from my official superiors in Austria, but even those +came through once or twice. Never, during the whole of the past year, +have I failed to send every detail of the warships building and +completed here, of the ships damaged and repaired, of the movements of +the Fleets in so far as I could learn them. My country and her Allies +have seen the English at work here as clearly as if this river had +been within their own borders. John Trehayne has been their Eye--an +unsleeping, ever-watching Eye. Shall I tell you how I got my +information through? It was very simple, and was done under your own +keen nose. One of the R.N.V.R. who went with your Mr. Churchill to +Antwerp, and was interned in Holland, was a friend of mine at +Greenock, well known to me, I wrote to him constantly, though he never +received and was never meant to receive my letters. They were all +addressed to the care of a house in Haarlem where lived one of our +Austrian agents who was placed under my orders. All letters addressed +by me to my friend were received by him and forwarded post haste to +Vienna. Do you grasp the simplicity and subtlety of the device? My +friend was on the lists of those interned in Holland, no one here knew +where he lodged, the address used by me was as probable as any other; +what more natural and commendable than that I should write to cheer +him up a bit in exile, and that I should send him books and +illustrated magazines? If it had been noticed by the postal +authorities in Holland that my friend did not live at the address +which I used, it would have been supposed that I had made a mistake, +and no suspicion would have been attracted to me. But how did my +letters, books, and magazines containing information, the most secret +and urgent, pass through the censorship unchecked? That again was +simple. My letters were those which a friend in freedom in England +would write to his friend who was a captive in Holland. They were +personal, sympathetic, no more. The books and magazines were just +those which such a man as my friend would desire to have to lighten +the burden of idleness. Between the lines of my letters, and on the +white margins of the books and papers, I wrote the vital information +which my country desired to have, and I desired to give. The ink which +I used for this purpose left no trace and could not be made visible by +any one who had not its complementary secret. It is the special ink of +the Austrian Secret Service; you do not know it, your Censors do not +know it, your chemists might experiment for months and years and not +discover it. I used it always, and you never read what I wrote. Now +you will understand why I wish the small stock of money, my police +pay, which I could not myself have used without dishonour, to go to +the interned sailors in Holland. I feel that I owe to my friend some +little reparation for the crooked use to which I have put his name. + +There is little more to tell. Three weeks ago I received by post from +London a copy of _Punch_. It had been despatched to me unordered, from +the office of the paper in an office wrapper. You know that English +papers may not now be sent abroad to neutral countries except direct +from the publishing offices of the newspapers themselves. It is a +precaution of the censorship, childish and laughable, for what is +easier than to imitate official wrappers? I guessed at once, when I +saw this unordered copy of _Punch_, that the wrapper was a faked one, +and that it had come to me bearing orders from my superiors. I applied +my chemical tests to the margins of the pages and upon the +advertisement of a brand of whisky appeared the orders which I had +expected. I read what was written, and I have not suffered greater +pain--no, not upon that day when I fled from Portsmouth without a +word of good-bye to the woman who possessed my heart. For I learned +then that my country, the proud, clean-fighting Austria, had given up +its soul into the keeping of the filthy Prussian assassins. I was +directed to damage or delay every warship upon which I worked, to +employ any means, to blow up unsuspecting English seamen--not in the +hot blood of battle, but secretly as an assassin. A step in rank was +promised for every battleship destroyed. Had these foul Orders +admitted of no loophole through which my honour might with difficulty +wriggle, I should have taken the only course possible to me. I should +have instantly resigned my commission in the Austrian Navy, and taken +my own life. But it happened that I had an alternative. I was ordered +to damage or delay warships. I would not treacherously slay the +English sailors among whom I worked, but I would, if I could, delay +the ships. My experience taught me that the simplest and most +effective way was to cut the electric wires, and I decided to do it +whenever opportunity offered. I could not do this for long. I was +certain to be discovered. You are not a man who fails before a +definite problem in detection. But before I was discovered I could do +something to carry out my Orders. + +I cut the gun-wires of the _Antinous_. It was easy. I was the last to +leave of the shore party. Then you sent me on board the _Antigone_. +She was closely watched, the task was very difficult, and dangerous; I +was within the fraction of a second of discovery, but I took one chop +of my big shears. The job was ill done, but I could do no better. + +You warned me fairly, that if injury came to the _Malplaquet_, while +under my charge, that I should be dismissed. She was my last chance as +she was your own. But what to me were risks? I had lost my love, and +my country had dishonoured herself in my eyes. I was nameless, +loveless, countryless. All had gone, and life might go too. + + * * * * * + +I am completing this letter before going on board the _Malplaquet_ and +placing it where you will readily find it. I know you, my friend, more +intimately than you know yourself. I am certain that even now you are +in the ship, that you are preparing snares into which I shall in all +probability fall. Your snares are well set. If I fail, it will be +through you; if I am caught, it will be through you. But be sure of +this--if we meet in the _Malplaquet_, the fowler and the bird, it will +be for the last time. You may catch me, but you will not take me. For +a long time past I have provided against just such an outcome as this. +Upon my uniform tunics, upon my overalls, I have fixed buttons, +hollowed out, each of which contains enough of cyanide of potassium to +kill three men. If I were court-martialled and shot, there would be no +disgrace to me, an officer on secret service, but a whisper of it +might steal to Portsmouth and give deep pain to one there. No one will +learn of the petty officer of R.N.V.R. who died far away in the north. +The locket with the portrait is round my neck, the ring is upon my +finger. Both are ready waiting for you who will do what I ask and will +keep my secret from her. + +I have the honour to be, sir, + +Your obedient servant, + +JOHN TREHAYNE. + + * * * * * + +I folded up the papers and returned them to Dawson, who carefully +placed them in his pocket. In the shadows the spirit of Trehayne still +seemed to be waiting. I thought for a few minutes, and then rose to my +feet. "He was an officer on secret service," said I slowly. "An enemy, +but a gallant and generous enemy. In love and in war he played the +game, Requiescat in pace." + +"Amen," said Cary. + +Dawson rose and gripped our hands. "I have the locket and the ring, +and I will write as he wished. It is the least that I can do." + +They buried Trehayne with naval honours as an enemy officer who had +died among us. England does not war with the dead. Though he had +fallen by his own hand, the Roman Church did not withhold from an +erring son the beautiful consolation of her ritual. Cary and I openly +attended the funeral. Dawson was officially in bed, suffering from his +much-desired attack of influenza. But in the firing party of Red +Marines, whose volleys rang through the wintry air over the body of +Trehayne, I espied one whom I was glad to see present. + + + + + +PART II + + +_MADAME GILBERT_ + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE WOMAN AND THE MAN + +If one believed Dawson's own accounts of his exploits--I can conceive +no greater exercise in folly--one would conclude that he never failed, +that he always held the strings by which his puppets were constrained +to dance, and that he could pluck them from their games and shut them +within his black box whenever he grew wearied of their fruitless +sport. He trumpets his successes, but he never speaks of his +failures--he buries them so deeply that he forgets them himself. He +veils his plans, movements, and personal appearance in a fog of +mystery. None, not even his closest associates, know what he would be +at until a job is completely finished, and finished successfully. Thus +when he succeeds, his own small world is deeply impressed--even +nauseated--by the compelling spectacle of a Dawson triumphant; when he +fails, very few know or hear of the failure. He loves the jealousy of +his equals and inferiors even more than the admiration of his +superiors. Thoroughly to enjoy life he must be surrounded by both in +the amplest measure. + +What I now have to tell is the story of a failure--a failure due to +his refusal ever to allow his right hand to know what his left hand +sought to do. He never told me himself one word concerning this story. +I obtained the details partly from Captain Rust, partly from Dawson's +Deputy, but chiefly from the lady who filled the star rôle. Dawson +himself foolishly introduced me to her nearly two years later; he did +not anticipate that we should become friendly, confidential, that we +should discuss him and his little ways over cups of tea, made the +sweeter by the clandestine nature of our frequent meetings. He had not +allowed for the fascinations of the lady--fascinations so alluring +that even I, a middle-aged Father of a Family and Justice of the +Peace, was instantly reduced by them to the softest moral pulp; and he +had not allowed for the Puckish glee with which I welcomed the tale, +rolled it round in my wicked fancy, and bent its ramifications into an +orderly narrative. + + * * * * * + +I very vividly remember my first meeting with the lady. She came one +day, a fortnight after I had returned from Cary's flat to my neglected +duties, heralded by a short note from Dawson. "I shall be greatly +obliged if you will give Madame Gilbert all assistance in your power. +She is one of my team." That was all, but my curiosity was piqued. I +had heard much of Dawson's team of feminine assistants--rudely called +by rivals his "harem"--and I was eager to meet one of them. I ordered +Madame Gilbert to be admitted to my presence. She came, I saw, she +conquered. When I assert that in two minutes she had plucked me from +my chair of dignity, flung me upon the Turkey carpet, and jumped upon +me with her daintily shod feet, I do not exaggerate. + +She was not very young--I put her at two or three years over thirty. +She was, or gave herself out to be, a widow. She was a female +detective; I was a modest gentleman of rigid English respectability, +not without some matrimonial experience in the ways of Woman. There +was nothing in the purpose of her visit to have caused her to come +upon me as a Venus, fully armed, and to have forced me to an abject +surrender. From the feathers of her black picture hat to the tips of +her black velvety shoes she was French-clad, the French of Paris, and +wore her clothes like a Frenchwoman. She was dressed--_bien habillée, +bien gantée, bien coiffée_. Her hair was red copper, her skin--the +"glad neck" of her dress showed a lot of it--had the colour and bloom, +the cream and roses, of Devon. Her eyes were very large and of a deep +violet All these charms of dress and face and colour I could have +gallantly withstood, but the voice of her settled my business at once. +Its rich, full tone, its soft, appealing inflection, the pretty +foreign accent with which she then chose to speak English--I can hear +them now. I have always been sensitive to beautiful voices, and Madame +Gilbert's voice is beyond comparison the most beautiful voice in the +wide world. + +Madame Gilbert made one or two small requests to which I gave an +immediate assent, and then she asked me to do something within my +power but much against my uncontrolled will. "Madame," said I +shamelessly, "as you are strong be merciful; let me off as lightly as +you can." She laughed, and eyed me with interest. My defeat had been +with her, of course, a certainty, but perhaps it took place more +rapidly than she had expected. "I have not asked for much," said she. + +"It is not what you have asked that I fear, but what you may ask +before I get you out of my room," said I. + +She laughed again and let me down very gently. I did not tell her more +than three secrets which I was pledged never to reveal. "That's all," +said Madame Gilbert. "Thank Heaven," said I. + +On the following afternoon, about four o'clock, Madame Gilbert called +again upon me. When her card was brought in I trembled, and for a +moment had in mind to deny myself to her. But I thrust away the +cowardly thought. Be brave, said I to myself, advance boldly, attack +the terrible delightful siren, say "no" to her once, and you will be +saved! She entered, and though my knees shuddered as I rose to greet +her, my mien was bold and warlike. She warmly squeezed my hand, and I +returned the attention with _empressement_. For a few minutes we +exchanged polite compliments, and then she sprung upon me in her +tender confident tones, a request so preposterous that my rapidly +flitting courage was stimulated to return. Be brave, I murmured to +myself, attack boldly, say "No," and you will be saved for ever. + +"I deeply regret, madame," said I coldly, "that it is not possible for +me to accede to your wishes." It was done, and I breathed more freely +though the sweat broke out on my forehead. + +Her eyes opened upon me with the pained surprised look of a deeply +disappointed child. "Oh, Mr. Copplestone," she moaned, "and I thought +that you were my friend." + +I clutched tightly at the arms of my faithful chair and held to my +programme of heroic boldness. + +"You shouldn't have asked me such a question. You really +shouldn't--you know you shouldn't." + +Her eyelids flickered, and the violet pools which they uncovered +glittered with a moisture which was not of tears, and she laughed, +laughed, and continued to laugh with the deepest enjoyment. + +"I wanted to see how much you would stand," said she at last. + +From that moment her spell over me was broken, and we became friends. +I admired her as much as ever, but she was no longer the all-devouring +siren. I could say "no" to her as easily as to the most dowdy and +unbeautiful of female axe-grinders. + +"Will you permit me to offer you a cup of tea so as to wash from your +mouth the unpleasant taste of my brutal refusal?" + +"I will," said Madame Gilbert graciously. + +We issued from my office and betook ourselves to a pleasant shop where +we could drink tea and nibble cakes, and talk without being overheard. +Madame Gilbert, I observed, had a healthy appetite. + +We talked of ourselves and exchanged delicious confidences. "You have +asked me many questions," I said. "May I ask one of you? What are you? +You are not English, and you are not, I think, French." + +"Shall I also learn a lesson from you in unkindness and say 'No'?" she +inquired. "But it would be cruel, for you have really been quite nice +to me. I will reveal the secret of my birth." She put up one hand and +began to tick off the countries which had been privileged to play a +part in her origin and education. "My father was a Swede--one; my +mother was an Irishwoman--two. I was born at Cork in Ireland, but +remember nothing about it, for my father died when I was three years +old, and my Irish mother removed instantly to Paris--three. By the +way, I have observed that the Irish and the Scotch always run away +from their own countries at the first possible opportunity. Why is +this?" + +"It is much pleasanter," I remarked sententiously "to sentimentalise +over the fringes of the United Kingdom from a safe distance, than to +live in them." + +"Oh! Let me see, I had got as far as Paris. When I was old enough I +went to a convent school there. I speak French rather better than I do +the Irish-English which my mother taught me." + +"You speak English most charmingly. There is about it now a delicate +suggestion, no more, of Ireland. When you first came to me your accent +was distinctly foreign, French or Italian. I am afraid that you are a +wicked woman, a deceiver, and that the fascinating accent was put on +for my subduing. It was a very pretty accent." + +"I have found it most effective," said she brazenly. + +"When I was eighteen I was married--to an Italian (Guilberti)--four. I +should have become a Catholic, my husband's faith, but for my mother's +Protestant-Irish prejudices. She was of the Irish Church, my husband +of the Roman, so I compromised. I joined the Church of England, the +High Branch." + +"Your religion is almost as complicated as your nationality." + +"Yes, isn't it?" said she. Her hand was still uplifted; she had paused +at the fourth finger. "We lived in Italy and in France. Two years ago +my husband died, and shortly after the war began my mother died. I had +a little money, I was known to the Embassy in Paris as one who could +pass indifferently as English, or French, or Italian. I wanted to +strike a blow for all my countries, and I was recommended to Mr. +Dawson for"--she looked round carefully, bent her head close to mine, +and whispered--"the Secret Service. So I came for the first time that +I remember to England--five." + +"But what are you?" I asked, with knitted brows; "I am not an +international lawyer." + +"Mr. Dawson says"--I found that she has a childlike confidence in the +redoubtable Dawson--"that by birth I am a British subject. My Swedish +father doesn't count, as I never adopted Sweden when I came of age. My +domicile before marriage was France, but by marriage I became an +Italian. It is no matter; I am of the Entente, and I do my bit. It is +not a bad bit sometimes." + +That was the first of many agreeable tea-drinkings which Madame +Gilbert and I took together. + +Madame Gilbert believes herself to be, as she puts it, a woman of +"surprising virtue," and I am by no means sure that she is not right. +For the doing of her bit has led her into situations from which +nothing but the coolest of hearts and the quickest of wits could have +brought her out untarnished. She has played her part gallantly, +serenely, in the service of the Alliance; I should be a poor creature +if I judged her by British provincial standards. Among other stories +she told me the tale which I will repeat to the reader. Here and there +were gaps which I have sought diligently to fill up until the whole +has been made complete. Madame Gilbert told to me the most intimate +details without a blush, and if in my telling I startle the blood to +the cheek of the very oldest of readers, the fault will rest with me. + + * * * * * + +"I have a notion, Madame Gilbert, which I should like you to follow +up," said Dawson. He was at that time (the Spring of 1915) in his +office in London--he had not yet been despatched on his spacious +pilgrimage to the northern shipyards--and Madame Gilbert sat opposite +to him in an attitude deliberately provocative. She sat back in a +comfortable chair facing the light, her legs were crossed, and she +displayed a great deal more of beautifully rounded calf and perfectly +fitting silk stockings than is usual even in the best society. +Although she did not look at Dawson, she was fully conscious of the +frowning glare which he threw at the audacious leg. + +"Please give me your attention--if you can. I have been out at the +Front lately, at General Headquarters, to advise upon the means of +stopping the flow of information from our lines to the enemy. All the +obvious channels have been stopped--the telephones hidden in French +cellars, the signals given by the hands of clocks, the German spies +dressed in uniforms stripped from our dead, and so on. Lots of them, +all obvious and simple. One can deal with that sort of thing by a +careful system of unremitting watchfulness. We must have caught up +with most of the arrangements made by the Germans before the war, but +they still get much more information than is good for them to have, +and for us to lose. I am convinced--and G.H.Q. agrees--that there are +many officers, especially in the French and Belgian armies, who were +planted there years before the war for the precise purpose to which +they are now put. Even in our own Army, which is expanding so rapidly, +the same thing is possible, even probable. An infantry officer spy can +do little--he knows nothing of the Staff plans, and cannot get into +communication with the enemy at all readily, without arousing +suspicion. I went into the whole thing at the Front, and I put my +finger, as I always do, upon the danger spot--the Flying Corps. Those +who fly constantly over our own and the enemy's lines have complete +information as to distribution and movements, and, if they choose, can +drop dummy bombs containing news for the enemy to pick up. A French, +Belgian, or English aeroplane 'observer' in the enemy's secret service +could convey information to him at pleasure and without the +possibility of detection. I don't suspect our own Flying Corps, except +on the general principle of suspecting everybody and everything, but I +do that of the French and the Belgians. France and Belgium were salted +through and through by the Germans in anticipation of war. There in +the Flying Corps we have a very grave danger which--But I see that you +are not attending, madame," he broke off angrily. + +Her eyes withdrew from the offending leg for an instant, and flashed +at Dawson with a penetrative power which even he felt. + +"Shall I repeat what you have said, word for word?" asked Madame +Gilbert coldly. + +"I am not now dealing with facts, but with conjecture;" went on +Dawson, after begging her pardon. "I have nothing to go upon, but the +Germans have far more of imagination and ingenuity than we always +credit to them. They must see that with the great advance in the +Flying Corps of the Allied armies, and the opportunities which flying +men have for collecting and conveying information, one flying spy +would be worth a hundred spies on foot. For them to perceive is to +act. I therefore conclude positively that they have agents in the +flying squadrons of France and Belgium, and possibly even in our own. +So I told the C. in C., and he agreed with me. He was good enough to +say that he would never have thought of this had I not suggested it to +him. Soldiers are not detectives, madame, and very few detectives are +William Dawsons. If the War Office knew its business, every Assistant +Provost-Marshal would be, not a soldier, but a man from the Yard, and +I should be the P.M. in Chief on the Headquarters Staff. I should wear +a general's uniform and hat." + +"You would look sweet," said Madame politely. + +Dawson, the ex-private of Red Marines, swelled out his chest and felt +himself to be a Major-General at the least. + +"They will do their best to follow up my idea at the Front, and I +shall start a campaign here. For I become more and more convinced that +the head centre of the German secret service is here in London. Paris, +even before the war, was too watchful, and now is as hot as Hell. +London reeked with spies, and though we locked up the worst of them +when war broke out, lots still remain. If you only knew how many we +laid by the heels and keep shut up without any trial, or nonsense of +that sort, you would be surprised. It is only since the Defence of the +Realm Act was passed that England has become a free country. We keep a +drag-net going continually, we have hundreds of agents in all +suspected quarters, but this wilderness of bricks and mortar is too +big even for us. Once an enemy agent has got himself into an English +or Allied uniform, he is horribly difficult to run down. That is where +you, and those like you, come in. Are you sure, my dear madame, that +you can pass without detection as a Frenchwoman or a French-Belgian?" + +Madame Gilbert put up her left hand, and began to tick off her +qualifications. "My father was a Swede, my mother was Irish, I was +educated in France from the age of three to eighteen, I married an +Italian. Brussels I know almost as well as dear Paris. I can be +Parisienne or Bruxelloise--whichever you wish, Mr. Dawson." + +"Good," said Dawson. "What I want of you is this. Whenever here in +London you see a French or Belgian officer wearing the badges of the +Flying Corps, mark him down. Make his acquaintance somehow; you will +know how. Entertain him, fascinate him, let him entertain you; fool +him as you would fool me if I let you; worm out his secrets, if he has +any. If you get upon a promising track, go strong; let the man make +love to you--he will, whoever he is, if you give him half a +chance--intoxicate him with those confounded eyes of yours. If you can +find only one who is in the enemy's service, you will be fully repaid +for all your trouble." + +"It is a largish contract," murmured Madame thoughtfully. + +"There are not so very many flying officers," said Dawson, "and they +are all young. You will work through them pretty quickly. Most of them +will be the genuine article upon whom you need not waste much time. +But the others, those whom I suspect, you must grab hold of and never +let go, whatever happens." + +"I hope," said Madame primly, "that you do not expect me to do +anything--improper." + +Dawson stared at her in wonder. Her big eyes, shining with the lovely +innocence of childhood, met his without a flicker. "Bless my immortal +soul," he muttered, "she is getting at me again." Then aloud, and +gravely--"My assistants are always expected to conduct themselves with +the strictest propriety." + +Madame laughed softly. "I have known many men in my time, Mr. Dawson, +but I have never enjoyed any man so much as I do you." + +"I appear to have rather a roaming commission," Madame Gilbert went +on, after a thoughtful pause. "Can you not give me any guidance?" + +"Not at present. I am testing an idea, that is all. You must be guided +by your own wit and judgment, in which I have the utmost confidence. +Don't waste your time or fascinations on the wrong people. Find out if +among the French or Belgian flying officers, who from time to time +visit London, there are any whose connections and movements will repay +close watching here and at the Front. Sift them out. When you get upon +a track which seems promising, follow it up, and do not be--what shall +I say?--do not be too squeamish. Money is no object. Behind us is the +whole British Treasury, and you can have whatever you want. Will you +take on the contract, madame?" + +"I will do my best," she replied soberly, "and I will not be--too +squeamish. I can look after myself, my friend." + +In another room of the great building upon the Thames Embankment sat +Deputy Chief Inspector Henri Froissart, a French detective officer who +had been "lent" to the English service. Opposite him was sitting a +young handsome man in the uniform of a captain in the British Army. +Froissart was frowning and speaking in savage disrespect of Dawson, +his immediate chief. "This English Dawson, with whom it is my +misfortune to work, is of all men the most impossible. He is clever, +as the Devil, but secretive--my faith! He tells me nothing. He lives +in disguise of body and mind. There are twenty men in his face, his +figure, and his dress. He comes to me as a police officer, a doctor, a +soldier, a priest, even as an old hag who cleans the stairs. He +deceives me continually, and laughs, laughs. He is a reproach and an +insult. I have it in my mind to score off him; what do you say, mon +ami?" + +Froissart spoke in French, and the English officer replied in the same +language. "With pleasure, in the way of business. I have been placed +at your orders, not at old man Dawson's. Go ahead, what is the game?" + +Froissart nodded approval. "I think that you can pass as a French +officer or a French-speaking Belgian. Is it not so?" + +"You should be able to certify that better than I can myself," replied +the officer modestly. "As a boy I was brought up at Dinard in +Normandy. I served two years in the French Army as a volunteer, a +gunner. Then I went to St. Cyr, but England, the home of my father, +claimed me, and I was given a commission in the Artillery. That was +two years ago. I volunteered for the Flying Corps, served in it at the +outbreak of war, but was invalided after that confounded accident +which spoilt my nerve. I fell two hundred feet into the sea, and +passed thirty hours in the bitter water before a destroyer picked me +up. Thirty hours, my friend. My nerve went, and I was besides crippled +by rheumatism of the heart. Then I was for a few weeks liaison officer +on the Yser at the point where the English and Belgian lines met. The +wet, the cold, were too great for me, and again I was invalided. I was +a temporary captain without a job until you met me and asked for me to +be attached to you for secret service. Yes, M. Froissart, I can pass +as a French or a Belgian officer. It needs but the uniform." + +"Good," cried Froissart. "You are English of the English, and French +of the French. You have served under the Tricolor and under the Union +Jack. You are an embodiment of L'Entente Cordiale. You almost +reconcile me to that detestable Dawson, but not quite. He is of the +provincial English, what you call a Nonconformist--bah! He is clever, +but bourgeois. He grates upon me; for I, his subordinate in this +service, am _aristocrat_, a Count of _l'ancien régime, catholique, +presque royaliste_. His blood is that of muddy peasants, yet he is my +chief! Peste, I spit upon the sacred name of Dawson!" + +"You don't seem to be a very loyal subordinate," observed the officer, +smiling. + +"Me, not loyal!" cried Froissart astonished. "I surely am of all men +most loyal to l'Entente. Have I not proved my loyalty? I have left my +beautiful France and come here to this foggy London to aid this +flat-footed _homme de bout_, Dawson, in his researches. Yet he tells +me nothing. He disguises himself before me, and laughs, laughs, when I +fail to recognize his filthy, obscene countenance. But I am loyal, of +a true loyalty unapproachable." + +"I believe you, though you have a queer way of showing it. What is now +the game that you want to play off on the old man as a proof of your +unapproachable loyalty?" + +"He is clever, my faith, clever as the Devil. He discerns the German +plans before they are made. He has their agents within a wire net +which closes whenever he wishes. He has swept London clean of the foul +brood which festered here before the war. I have great, limitless +confidence in this Dawson whom I detest, but to whom I am of all his +assistants the most loyal. He now suspects that contained within the +Flying Corps of us, the Belgians, and the English are observers in the +pay of Germany. It is an idea most splendid. For if it is true, what +greater opportunity could be given to any spies! To fly over our +lines, to learn of everything, and then to convey the news to the +enemy by way of the air! If he had told me of this most perspicuous of +theories, I would have aided him with all the wealth of my genius. But +no, he tells to me nothing. He comes and goes, he spins his web like a +great fat female spider, but he tells me nothing. It is my belief that +he despises me because I am French, _aristocrat_, and _catholique_. +But I will show him; I will, as you call it, score most bitterly off +him; I will do in my way successfully what he vainly seeks to do in +his way. _Conspuez_ Dawson!" + +"This is quite like the old times of the Dreyfus case," said the +Englishman. + +"Dreyfus! But I will speak not of that. It is buried. We French are +one people now, one and indivisible. Though of traitors, the villain +Dreyfus was of the most horrible. Let us speak of _cet homme très +sale_, Dawson. I do not know his plans. They will be shrewd, but +without imagination, without flair. He will watch, with his eyes of a +cat, the French and Belgian flying officers who come to London, but he +will not discover their secrets. For he does not understand, this cold +English Dawson, that secrets which endanger the neck are told only to +women." + +"Yet I have heard that he has a team of women--his harem, as it is +called. I have never seen one of them." + +"Bah! Englishwomen, of the large feet and the so protruding teeth! Who +would tell of his precious secrets to them!" + +"Oh, come, M. Froissart. We have as many pretty women in London as you +have in Paris." + +"It is possible, my friend. All things, the most improbable, are +possible. But they conceal themselves most assiduously. I have not +seen them, these so pretty Englishwomen." + +"Well, well. You are a bit out of date as regards our women. But I +don't want to argue. What is the game?" + +Froissart leaned forward and spoke solemnly, forcibly. + +"If the man Dawson is right, and there are German spies in the French +and Belgian flying services, they will come to London to get their +orders. And they will get them from women, depend upon it, my friend. +From women who are of French education, who appear to be French, yet +who are the deadly, the most dangerous, enemies of France. Let Dawson +watch the men themselves; but watch you such women as I +indicate--women who appear to be French and yet are not French. I will +speak to the Chief, not to Dawson, but to the Great Chief of us all. +You shall be dressed in the tenue of a French flying officer; you +shall avoid French or Belgian officers who might ask questions the +most embarrassing. You shall make the acquaintance of women who appear +to be French, yet who are not French. Grip on to these, my friend, +entertain them, make yourself of the most fascinating and agreeable, +give to them attentions and love of the warmest. And when after two or +three glasses of champagne you repose at ease with your arm about +their waists, get you at their secrets. You are young, handsome, and +your eye is bold. I give you a pleasant task--the deception of +deceiving women. In my younger days what joy would I not have taken in +it." + +Captain Rust became very gloomy during this speech for, though French +in education, he was by instinct an Englishman. + +"I don't like the business at all. It sounds mean and grubby, ugh! Not +quite what one would ask of a gentleman." + +Froissart was genuinely surprised. "What do you say, not for a +gentleman? Am I not a gentleman, I, who speak, a Froissart, a Count of +_l'ancien régime_, a Royalist almost? I offer you a task which +combines business and pleasure in the most delicious of proportions. +And you call my offer mean and grubby, _méprisable et crotté_! I do +not ask you to consort with those of the _demi-monde._ The women who +are of most danger to our countries are not _courtisanes_; they are of +the _monde_, fashionable. They meet officers in society; they humour +and flatter them; they display a melting softness of sympathy and +interest. I do not ask you, my friend, to endanger your English +virtue." + +The tone of wondering contempt with which he ended brought a smile to +Rust's lips. + +"I am not so very virtuous, monsieur. But I am English, and I try, +vainly perhaps, to be a gentleman. It seems to me a dirty business to +make up to women in order to wheedle out their secrets." + +"We have to do worse than that in defence of our country. We have to +plot and counterplot, to lie and deceive. But we do these things, and +you must do them too, if you would be of the Secret Service. Content +yourself. Think always that it is for _la belle France_ or for _le bel +Angleterre_, for _la grande Alliance_. You have qualifications +unusual; you are young, handsome, and French in manner and speech. You +are a soldier; it is for me to command, and for you to obey. Besides, +think you; if success comes to us, picture to yourself the desolation +of Dawson!" + +"Desolating Dawson is more your fun than mine. I have no grudge to +work off on the old man. Since you command, I will obey. I will do my +best, but, to be quite frank, I do not like the job." + +"But you will do it. I think that you English, slow to move, do best +those things which you like least. You despise the Secret Service, +what you call dirty spying, yet you do it to admiration--with a +courage and _sang froid_ most wonderful. You hate to begin a war, and +yet when you fight you are, of all people, the most unwilling to stop. +When we French and the Russians yonder have supped of this war to the +dregs, you English will just have begun to find your appetites. Stop? +you will cry. Make peace? Be content? Why, we have just got our second +wind! It will be the same with you, my friend. You begin reluctantly, +but when the chase becomes hot, you will be on fire with zest. You +will not trouble then that _vous vous faites crottés_." + +"I will do my best; I cannot say more than that." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +A PROGRESSIVE FRIENDSHIP + +Neither Madame Gilbert nor Captain Rust are very communicative +concerning their adventures, until they begin to speak of that day +when first they met one another in the courtyard of the Savoy Hotel. +They both then become voluble. I rather gather--though I did not +cross-examine them at all closely--that they had been a good deal +bored. Their instructions were so very vague, and the best method of +carrying them out so far from clear to their ingenious minds, that +they wandered aimlessly about the resorts most affected by officers on +leave, spent much money, made a good many pleasant acquaintances, but +progressed not at all in their researches. Madame did not meet with +any French or Belgian flying officers who seemed likely to be German +agents, and Captain Rust failed to discover a siren who appeared to be +French and yet was not French, and who aroused any plausible suspicion +that she dwelt in the central web of German intrigue. Madame began to +think that for once the impeccable Dawson had despatched her upon a +wild goose chase, and Rust became convinced that Froissart's vivid +longing to score off the detested Dawson had misled him in the +selection of the means to bring about this much-desired consummation. +They told me little of these wanderings, but when I asked for details +of their first meeting, the one with the other, and their subsequent +rather startling proceedings, they broke into eager speech. It was not +until my keen and curious eye began to penetrate the delicate +mysteries surrounding their surprising week-end visit to Brighton that +Rust again became tongue-tied. He reprehensibly slurred over the most +entertaining details. Madame Gilbert, on the other hand, revealed +everything with that plain-spoken frankness which, in any other woman, +would appear to be brazen. Madame is thirty-two; Captain Rust no more +than twenty-six. He is a modest young man in spite of his French +training; she, I am afraid, is a hussy. But I would not have her other +than she is. + +Madame Gilbert was taking tea alone in the courtyard of the Savoy. She +occupied one place at a table laid for four. It was a fine afternoon +in late spring, motors and taxis ran in and out unceasingly, the +open-air restaurant began to fill up, but none ventured to approach +any one of three empty places at Madame's table. She was, as usual, +perfectly dressed--though she assures me that her clothes cost next to +nothing. "It is the wearing of them, my friend, not the cost which +counts." I fancy that her unshakable temper and her gay humour, like +her beauty, are really based, as she says, upon her complete freedom +from ailments. She loves life, and this, perhaps, is why life loves +her. + +Madame Gilbert, though to the unobservant eye intent upon her tea and +cakes, saw every one who came and went. Many officers were in the +restaurant, but one only attracted her special notice. He was a young +handsome man in the field-service kit of the French Army, and upon his +sleeves and cap were the wings of the Flying Corps. This young man was +looking for a table, but could not find one that was empty. She waited +until he paused not far from her, and then, sweeping her eyes slowly +over the crowded tables, brought them to rest upon his face. He was +quite an attractive-looking young man. There was an appeal in his dark +eyes as they met hers; he was imploring her of her gracious kindness +to permit him to occupy one of her superfluous seats, and she +telegraphed to him an encouraging reply. The French officer +approached, saluted, and bowed: "Is it permitted, madame, to +inconvenience you?" he asked humbly. "The tables are very full, or I +would not venture to intrude." He spoke in careful, accurate English, +and with an accent markedly French. + +"Please favour me by sitting down at once," replied Madame. "I feel +myself to be very selfish with my four places and one small person." +She spoke in careful, accurate English, and with an accent markedly +French. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, seating himself opposite to her, and breaking into +French. "Madame is of my country, is it not so?" + +"But certainly," said Madame in the same language, which was to her a +second mother-tongue. "I am of Paris. If you had not been French I +should not have dared to hint to you that a place at this table might +be taken." + +For a few minutes they talked together in the ceremonious style for +which the French language is the perfect medium, and then dropped into +more easy friendly speech. Madame, when she likes the look of a man, +becomes intimate at the shortest notice, and Rust, like every man born +of woman, succumbed helplessly, instantly, to the wiles of Madame. +Though she had finished tea, she urged Rust not to be hurried; there +was plenty of time, and one did not often have the happiness to meet a +French officer in this dreary London. She enveloped him in her meshes +of kindliness, and he responded by thinking to himself that she was +the loveliest, most friendly creature whom he had ever met. Madame +knows a great deal more of military details than most male civilians, +but when she talked to Captain Rust at the Savoy, her ignorance of the +Flying Corps was absolute. She asked questions, quite intelligent +questions, and he bubbled over with eagerness to answer them. Poor +Rust; I can picture the humbling scene. He made an ass of himself, of +course, but not a greater ass than I always make of myself--and I am +not far from double his age--whenever Madame gets to work upon me. + +Within ten minutes she had wheedled out of him an account of his +accident. "I was out on patrol duty," he explained, "spotting for +submarines between the Straits and Zeebrugge. When the weather is fine +we can see deep down into the water, a hundred feet or so, and quite +easily make out a submerged U boat. I was testing a new plane fitted +with a 90 h.p. R.A.F. engine--" He paused and quickly glanced at her, +for he realised his blunder the instant the slip had been made. Madame +was all eager attention--what did she know of the marques of aeroplane +engines!--"It was a day of rotten luck for me. I spotted nothing, and +late in the afternoon my engine began to overheat and miss fire. I did +my utmost to struggle towards Do----, Dunkirk, but the beastly thing +gave out altogether, and down I dropped into the sea. I had an +ordinary land plane without floats, and was obliged to cut myself +clear and keep up as best I could with my air belt. It was a weary +time, waiting to be picked up, all that night and all the next day; +the cold of the water struck right through me, and I was senseless, +like a dead man, when at last, thirty hours afterwards, one of our +destroyers found me floating there, picked me up, and carried me into +Dover. I was in hospital for six weeks, crippled with rheumatic fever, +and my heart went wrong. It is much better now, and I hope soon to get +back to flying again. I am still on sick leave." + +"Poor heart," sighed Madame, and smiled to herself.... "He looked at +me," she explained long afterwards, "as if there was still life in his +poor strained heart. It was a real kindness to give it some gentle +exercise." + +"And when you are well you will again fly for France?" she inquired. + +"Ah, yes. I yearn for the day when the obdurate doctors will permit me +to fly again--for France.... And you, madame, who are so kind to a +poor crippled soldier, is it permitted to ask--" + +"I am, alas, a widow." She paused, and though demurely looking at her +empty tea cup, saw his eyes light up. ["The silly boy was pleased that +I was a widow," she explained. "As if that mattered."] "My poor +husband fell for France--at Le Grand Couronné. That was eight months +ago, and I am still inconsolable. I love to meet the brother officers +of my dear lost husband. He was killed by a shell, close beside his +general, and I do not even know where he was buried." She delicately +wiped her eyes, and Rust murmured broken words of the deepest +sympathy. Yet he was not sorry to hear that his new friend was a +widow. It must have been a most pathetic scene. + +Madame recovered from her sudden rush of grief--brought on by thoughts +of that unknown grave upon Le Grand Couronné!--and began to pull on +her gloves. "And you, my friend?" she asked gently. + +"No one lives who will grieve for me," he replied sadly. + +"You are young, my friend, and your heart will--recover itself. I am +old, made old by illness and sorrow." She was a picture of glowing +health! "May I ask the name by which I may remember you?" + +He was clean bowled, for he, foolishly, had not prepared a plausible +name. "I am called," stammered he, "Captain Rouille." It was the best +that he could do on the instant--the translation of his uncommon +English name into French. + +"A strange name," she murmured, "though the sound of it is beautiful. +Rouille! It signifies, for the moment, the decay of hopes, a mould of +rust obscuring ambition. But in a little while the steel of your +courage will shine bright once more. I am Madame Gilbert; my husband +was of the Territorial Army--a Captain also." She had thought to have +made him a Colonel on General Castelnau's staff, but refrained from so +risky a flight of imagination. An obscure Captain of Territorials +might well be called Guilbert, and pass unidentified. + +As they pressed hands at parting, Rust hesitated. "May one hope, +madame, to meet you again. Your kindness has been great, and I feel +that I have made a new friend." + +"And I also," sighed Madame. "I often come here to drink the English +tea. It is a pleasing custom of London." + +"To-morrow?" he inquired anxiously. "It is possible," replied Madame, +very graciously. + + * * * * * + +"Well," said I, when Madame had told me of this meeting, "I hope that +you had the grace to feel ashamed of yourself. To deceive an invalided +flying officer with your tale of the Captain of Territorials, blown up +by a shell beside his general upon Le Grand Couronné. It was +abominable." + +"It was the unknown grave which fetched him," said Madame cheerfully. + +"Worse and worse. Why could you not have told him the truth?" + +"Because, my stupid friend, the Captain Rouille interested me, and I +was on duty. What was a captain in the French Flying Corps doing with +an aeroplane driven by a 90 h.p. Royal Aircraft Factory engine +(R.A.F.)? Why should he speak of 'our' destroyers, referring to those +of the British, when he ought to have said the 'English' destroyers as +a French officer would have done? Why again should he hesitate over +his name, and then give so impossible a one as Rouille? No, I had +discerned plainly that M. le Capitaine Rouille, whatever he might be, +was not the man he pretended that he was. He spoke French perfectly, +but he was not in the French flying service. He was English. I +recollected my instructions from the great Dawson--to stick to any one +who excited my suspicions, to let him make love to me if need be, and +to discover his secrets. I am, my friend, a martyr to duty. Besides, +le Capitaine Rouille was a handsome young man, very attractive. I was +not grieved at the thought that he might pursue me with his +attentions." + +"Why," I asked in turn of Rust, "did you begin by telling lies to the +charming Madame Gilbert?" + +"I was in French uniform," said he, "and I had to play my part." + +"And a nice mess you made of it," said I rudely. + +"I am afraid that I did. That slip about the R.A.F. engine was +unpardonable. But then how was I to know that the dear woman knew as +much about aeroplanes as I did myself? She was like Desdemona at the +feet of Othello, and, of course, I lost my head. You are as crazy +about her as I am, with less excuse. Besides, I was on duty. Before +Madame had spoken to me for five minutes, I was certain that she was +not French. She spoke perfectly, but there was a little accent, a +delightful accent, that told me she was Irish. That soupçon of a +brogue which gives so delicate a spice to her English appears also in +her French. My mother was an Irish woman, though I have never lived in +Ireland. You know that all the Irish, especially those of America or +of France, are watched most carefully by the police. Many of them hate +the English, and spy upon us. When, therefore, I perceived that +Madame, though she appeared to be French was by birth Irish, I +recollected my instructions from Froissart. It was my duty to stick to +her, to study her. If necessary to make love to her. It did not seem +wholly disagreeable to me," he added dryly, "to make love to Madame +Gilbert." + +"I forgive you," said I, "though, from what I learn, you somewhat +exceeded your instructions." + + * * * * * + +If I were not a most serious writer, this veracious history of Madame +Gilbert and Captain Rust would tend to degenerate into comedy, +possibly to reach the depths of farce. But, to one of my grave bent of +mind, wasted deception, wasted energies, and, above all, wasted +national money, excite rather to tears than to laughter. What a +spectacle was this which I place before the reader! Here were two +trusted members of the English Secret Service pitting against one +another those treasures of intelligence, wit, and sensibility which +they were employed--and paid--to exercise in the defence of their +countries. It may be conceded that one of them was more or less +honest. Rust, I am convinced, had persuaded himself--he has no marked +ability or attractions of any kind that I can discern--that his duty +impelled him to watch Madame with exceeding closeness of attention. +That his strong inclinations marched with his duty may be allowed him +as a privilege; the plea of duty was not, I believe, merely an excuse. +But what can one say in defence of Madame, one who has stored within +her little copper-covered head enough brains to furnish a brigade, +say, of the Women's Emergency Corps? She had perceived that Rust was +an English officer masquerading as a Frenchman, yet she could not have +thought that he was a German spy. Why did she not ask him point blank +what he was doing in that galley. She has never supplied me with a +credible explanation, She pleads, with obvious insincerity, the +instructions of Dawson, which in the most reprehensible way granted to +her the vaguest of roving commissions. She parades her duty before me +in the most tattered of rags. + +Upon the following afternoon, when Madame Gilbert drove up to the +Savoy in a taxi-cab at half-past four, a young man, in the uniform of +a French officer, opened the door and handed her out. It was, of +course, Captain Rust, who had waited palpitating upon the curb for +some three-quarters of an hour. He led her to a small table which he +had reserved for another charming duet of tea, cakes, and +conversation. + +At this second meeting, Madame bent herself to the deft +cross-examination of Rust "Had the Captain Rouille joined St. Cyr as a +cadet officer, or had he served in the ranks of the French Army?" He +had served in the ranks, and broke into details of his training and +garrison service which convinced her that he really had served. She +became thoughtful. Rust, eager to show off his accomplishments, +explained that he had been recommended for a commission and had joined +St. Cyr. More details followed, all of a verisimilitude wholly +convincing. Madame, who knew France and the French Army up and down, +became more thoughtful and more puzzled. It was plain that Rust had +really served in the ranks of the Army, and had been at St. Cyr. Yet +he was an Englishman and an officer of the English Flying Corps! She +asked further questions, innocent, flattering questions, seeking to +discover what had happened to him after his course at St. Cyr. He did +his best, but he was of inconsiderable agility of mind and deficient +in imagination. He had been, he said, with Maunoury's Sixth Army, +which, emerging from Paris in red taxis, had fallen upon the exposed +right wing of von Kluck. His description was accurate enough, but the +lavish details of former narratives were lacking. He had been +_officier de liaison_ on the Aisne; again the little intimate touches +were lacking. He had joined the flying corps, but omitted to explain +how he had learned to fly. It had been at Farnborough, but he could +hardly admit this, and was, unhappily, quite ignorant of the French +flying grounds. + +Madame's quick mind began to see daylight. "How came it, my friend, +that you were flying upon the coast when you suffered that accident, +so terrible, and paralysed that poor brave heart of yours?" Madame +asked the question in the most natural, sympathetic way. It was a +facer for Rust, who regretted that he had been so communicative at +that first meeting "I was lent to the Naval Wing," he explained, and +avoided to particularise. By this time Madame had sorted out his +service. She was quite sure that he had not been with Maunoury or upon +the Aisne, but that in some manner, as yet not clear, he had left St. +Cyr to pass into the English Army. + +When in his turn Rust sought diffidently to penetrate the mystery +surrounding Madame Gilbert, she overflowed with untruthful +particulars. She resembles her master Dawson in this--it is unwise to +believe one word which she wishes you to believe. Of her early life in +Paris she spoke with emotion. She was the beloved only child of a +French doctor--ah, the most learned and pious of men! He died early +smitten by disease contracted during his gratuitous practice amongst +the friendless poor. A most noble parent! Her mother, too, a saint and +angel, had gone aloft shortly after seeing her daughter, Madame, +happily married to a maker of calorifères (anthracite stoves). "I am +unworthy of those so noble parents," wailed Madame in broken tones. It +was not until they were about to separate that Madame Gilbert herself +threw him a bone of truth designed to test his appetite for curiosity. +"I must fly," exclaimed she; "I am a woman _très occupée_. I work, oh, +so very hard, for my belle France and to avenge the death of my +glorious husband." The blown-up stove maker did not seem to Rust to be +a figure of glory, yet he forced himself again to express the deepest +sympathy. "Yes," went on Madame, "I would avenge him. I work,"--she +glanced round cautiously, and then whispered--"I work for the +_gouvernement anglais_. I am an _agent de police_." + +"Were you not rather rash," I asked of Madame Gilbert, "to give +yourself away so completely? He might not have been so thorough an ass +as you thought." + +"My friend," said Madame calmly, "I had taken tea with him twice, and +had satisfied myself that he was not, what you call, very bright. A +dear fellow, handsome, a gentleman of the English pattern, but not +bright. If I had not helped him to get a move on, I might have lunched +with him, had tea, dined with him, attended theatres, traversed in +motors your pleasant countryside, flirted, until I had become a very +old woman, and there would have been nothing to show for all my +exertions. I remembered the instructions of Mr. Dawson, I recalled to +myself my duty, I was compelled to discover who and what was this +Capitaine Rouille, and I could only succeed by forcing him to reveal +himself--to give himself away. When I said that I was an agent of the +English police, he did not believe me; but he was curious--he watched +me. I gave him much to watch and to imagine that he had discovered. +Then one began to get forward." + + * * * * * + +I am ignorant of the diplomatic pourparlers which led up to the +week-end trip to Brighton, that remarkable trip which ended +_l'affaire_ Rust. It must have been planned by Madame; it bears the +unmistakable imprint of her impish wit; it was, too, a bold +development of her designs for the effective speeding up of Rust. He +would have dallied all through the summer, looking feebly for an +opportunity to ravish a despatch-case which always accompanied Madame +and which had become the inseparable and ostentatious "gooseberry" at +their meetings. Madame declared that it was stuffed with papers the +most secret. "The English Government would be desolated if they passed +for one moment out of my hands." This despatch-case played parts quite +human. It was perpetually provocative of Rust's curiosity, and a +reminder that the agreeable pastime of making love to Madame was not +an end in itself, but a means whereby he might discharge his official +duties. It was, moreover, a visible sign that Madame was a woman, +_très occupée_, and a self-styled _agent de police_; it rested always +silent at her side as a protector of innocence. Rust becomes uneasy +when that case is mentioned, but Madame bubbles over at the thoughts +of her _petite chère portefeuille, cette idée de génie_. She brags of +her genius, of her notion _si lumineuse_, of her _guet-apens si +adorable._ + +While Madame must have planned the Brighton trip, she contrived that +the suggestion should come timidly, deprecatingly, from Rust. She +would have scorned so crude an advance, one, too, falling so far short +of her high standard of womanly virtue, as a direct hint that she was +willing to pass three days in a seaside hotel with a young man! _Mais, +non. Ce serait une bêtise incroyable_! I can imagine her hints, +increasing in strength as she beat against the obtuse heaviness of +Rust's intellect. But I cannot imagine how any one, least of all the +brilliant Froissart, should have conceived that lumpish soldier to be +capable of the finesse needful for the Secret Service. He has since +been returned empty, and I do not wonder at it. + +Madame must have lamented the stuffiness of London during the bright +days of early June, and painted, in her enthusiastic French fashion, a +picture of southern England and the glittering Channel. "_Ma foi, mon +ami_, what would I not give for one hour of peace and rest, away from +this swarming hive of men and women? It is as yet too cold to swim in +that sea which washes the shores of my beautiful France--and bears the +so gallant English soldiers to her help--but I would love to sit upon +the sands and gaze, gaze across the waters towards my poor bleeding +land. But, alas, I am a woman _très occupée_." After a great deal of +this sort of thing, Rust was spurred up to suggest that he also was +weary, and that nothing could be more delightful than to sit beside +Madame upon those sands and to bewail with her the woes of their +common country. The idiot did not reflect that a woman of Madame's +taste in dress does not usually mess up her Paris frocks with nasty +sea sand. Madame sighed. It was a charming picture, but, alas, quite +impossible. Rust still further spurred by Madame--"Le Capitaine +Rouille is not very bright"--at last broke into a proposal delivered +with many hesitations and many apologies. Why should not they travel +to Brighton on the Friday evening and draw solace for their weary +souls from a Saturday, Sunday, and possibly Monday, at Brighton? +Madame became a frozen statue of offended womanhood! What, _mon Dieu_, +had she done that he should conceive her to be a light woman? She, the +never-to-be-comforted widow of the incomparably gallant hero of +anthracite stoves and le Grand Couronné. She had been too +unsuspicious, too trustful; their pleasant acquaintance must end upon +the instant; the too-gross insult which he had put upon her could +never be pardoned. Rust was borne away and overwhelmed in the flow of +her sad reproaches. Abjectly he grovelled: He regard the ineffable +Madame Guilbert as a light woman! Perish the thought! He, to whom she +had been an angel of kindness and discretion! He cast a slur upon the +shining brightness of her reputation! Rust had never in his life been +so eloquent. Madame listened with satisfaction. She might in time, +after long years, forgive him, but not yet. The insult, however +unintended, was too fresh and her heart was desolated! She scorched +and scarified Rust during two whole days, for their meetings continued +unbroken, and at last, as an undeserved concession and as evidence of +her soft forgiving heart, she consented to go to Brighton on the +Friday. "We must regard closely _les convenances_. You men, so rash +and so stupid, you do not understand how infinitely precious to us +poor women is the spotless bloom of our reputation." Rust protested +that the bloom upon the unplucked peach was not, in his eyes, more +stainless than the reputation of Madame. How she must have grinned! He +made plans, rude, coarse plans, for the shielding of the so precious +reputation of dear Madame Guilbert, but she gently put them aside. "In +my hands," she declared grandly, "le Capitaine Guilbert has left his +honour, and I will guard it with my life. Alas, what is my life when +my heart is buried in that lonely grave upon le Grand Couronné in +which I pray rests his much-blown-up body. I myself will devise the +means by which I can grant you a mark of my condescending forgiveness +and preserve _sans reproche_ the honour of a Guilbert." + +I confess that I have drawn upon my imagination for most of this +touching scene, but, knowing Madame as I do, I am sure that I have +given the hang of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +AT BRIGHTON + +Madame Gilbert and Captain Rust travelled to Brighton on the Friday +evening in the Pullman train. They occupied different carriages. Their +hotel, one of those facing the sea which washed the far-off shores of +their beloved, bleeding France, had been selected by Madame--"I desire +a hotel, my friend, not a _caravanserai_!" Madame arrived ten minutes +before Rust, and had disappeared within her own _appartement_ when his +cab drove up to the doors. Rust then booked his room, one upon the +second floor. He took that which was offered, and did not observe that +Madame's room was also _au seconde_. But he did notice--he could not +help it--that the imposing lady in charge of the hotel office was +French. "Ah, monsieur le capitaine," said she, beaming caresses upon +him, "with what joy do I perceive the _tenue de campagne_ of my own +Army. I will gladly grant to you one of the rooms of the very best and +at the price of the lowest. The patron, he also is French, and would +be furious if I did not give the most cordial welcome to an _officier +français_." Rust thanked the lady of the bureau, and heartily approved +Madame's choice of an hotel. + +"One moment, if you please," said I to Madame, who supplied me with +these details. "I perceive that both the rooms, yours and Rust's, were +upon the second floor. Is it in this way, you shameless woman, that +you preserved from reproach the honour of the late imaginary stove +man?" + +Madame sighed, and turned upon me the look which, in my mind, I have +labelled "Innocence unjustly traduced." One of these days, with German +thoroughness, I shall prepare a numbered and annotated catalogue of +Madame Gilbert's looks and tones. Though it cannot teach her sex +anything which the youngest member does not already know, it will be +full of valuable instruction and warning for the innocent male. + +"Am I responsible," wailed Madame, "for the allotment of rooms by +_hôteliers_?" + +"Most certainly," I said severely. "I do not know your methods. It is +not given to man to penetrate the unfathomable duplicity of woman. But +I am convinced that had you wished it, you would have been placed _an +premier_, and Rust consigned to the uttermost cock-loft in the roof." + +Madame and Rust dined that first evening at separate tables, but +discovered in one another old friends when they accidentally met +afterwards in the lounge.... "What happiness, can it indeed be le +Capitaine Rouille, the friend closer than a brother of my poor slain +husband?" ... "Madame Guilbert! Can it be you whom I meet thus +unexpectedly? You whom I have not seen since that dreadful +never-to-be-forgotten day upon which I broke to you the news, the +terrible news--" Rust's voice failed; even Madame, who thinks little +of his ability, admits that he performed on this occasion to +admiration. The rencontre was a most affecting one, conducted in +voluble French in the full blaze of publicity in a crowded hotel +lounge. The English audience was impressed and honestly sympathetic; +our insular reserve has been melted in the fires of war. "It is a +French lady, poor thing, who has lost her husband," they whispered, +the one to another, "and that handsome fellow in ordinary +evening-dress is her man's brother officer, who was with him at the +last, and who brought the sad news to her. How sweet she looks, and +how tenderly sympathetic he is!" The eyes of the men had already been +drawn to Madame's royal beauty and those of the women to her dress, a +masterpiece of Paquin. Now that she had met Rust the men were +sorrowful, regretting a vanished opportunity of making her +acquaintance, and the women were relieved. She was too formidable a +rival to be at large, alone and unattended, but now she would be +monopolised naturally and properly by her good-looking compatriot. So +when Madame and Rust slipped away to a corner of the lounge, kindly +eyes followed them, and the voices of the censorious had no excuse to +be raised. "You are a wonder, madame," whispered Rust. "And you, my +friend, did not so badly," replied Madame in frank approval. + +They separated early that evening, for Madame, who knew not what it +was to feel really tired, shammed fatigue as a reason for retiring +betimes. To her came Marie, a little dark French _femme de chambre_ of +the second floor, imploring to be allowed to assist at the night +toilet of a desolate widow of France. While Marie brushed out the +long, rich, copper hair the two chattered unceasingly of France and +the Army of steel-hearted poilus which held the frontiers of +civilisation away yonder in Picardy, Artois, Champagne, and the +Vosges. Marie herself had a man out there of whose welfare she had +heard nothing since the war began. She had received no letters, and +the French publish no casualty lists. "_Mon cher petit homme est mort, +madame. C'est certain, mais j'espère toujours_." There are many, many +Frenchwomen to whom the death of their loved ones is certain, though +they hope always. "I felt rather a pig talking fibs to the poor girl," +confessed Madame. + +Madame Gilbert had made her plans with thoughtful care, and proposed +to carry them out with hardihood. She had determined to work so +adroitly on the Saturday upon the curiosity and "poor strained heart" +of Rust that he would be speeded up to run big risks. He did not know +that, however judiciously frail her conduct might be, she was a very +dragon of virtue in defence of her honour. "I gave my heart," said she +to me quite seriously, "to the Signor Guilberti, one far, far +different from _le mari imaginaire_ of le Grand Couronné. Until, if +ever, I give my heart again no man shall possess me. I play, I kiss, I +philander--as you call it--but what are these trifles? _Des +bagatelles, rien de tout_!" He did not realise her serene indifference +to the small change of love and her respect for its true gold. But I +do not think that Rust, when Madame consented to be his companion at +Brighton, seriously misjudged her motives. He did not know, of course, +or in the last degree suspect that she designed his capture as a +professional victim. + +Again and again she had told him that she was an agent of the English +police, and again and again, as she intended, he had disbelieved her. +She was so incomparably his intellectual superior that she could make +him believe or disbelieve precisely as she chose. She made him think +that she had come to Brighton for companionship, and as a proof of her +kindly forgiveness of a grave indiscretion. He believed; for never was +Rust, even Rust, so idiotic as to suppose that she had succumbed +before his charms and had come to throw herself into his arms. + +But for the machinations of Madame the visit would, I am sure, have +passed without incident. Rust would not have lost his turnip of a +head. He would, out of loyalty to his orders from Froissart, have +tried to grab the despatch-case and ravish its secrets. But he would +not have done what he did, at the risk of compromising the bloom of +her so precious reputation, if she had not deliberately worked him up +to do it. Therefore, while I acquit Rust of evil intention, my +reproofs, my grave reproofs--at which she laughs and snaps her +fingers--are reserved for that unscrupulous Madame. + +At breakfast Madame Gilbert and Captain Rust found that a private +table, a table of the best in a bay window facing the sea, had been +reserved for them by orders of the patron. The news of their pitiful +rencontre in the lounge had sped to his ears; he had wept copiously +before his sympathetic staff, and declared that the bereaved widow and +the so gallant captain should lack for nothing in his hotel. "If it +were not that I feared to offend their delicacy I would refrain from +presenting to them _l'addition._ Make, I pray you, _mademoiselle du +bureau_, their charges of the lowest." He was a most noble patron. + +The path of the wicked was thus made smooth. By the English guests, by +the entire staff, it was considered inevitable, indeed highly +becoming, that Madame and Rust should devote themselves wholly to one +another. Had they embraced in public, and wept many times a day upon +one another's necks, the staff--half of which was French--would have +deemed the exhibition most seemly and fitting, and the English, though +embarrassed, would not have been censorious. By so much has war +brought to us an understanding of the simple honest hearts of our +closest Allies. In ceasing to be insular we are ceasing to worship our +wooden conventional gods. + +Madame, who, as I have before remarked, says the most frightful things +in her soft, musical voice, regarding one the while with frank, steady +eyes, commented thus upon the attitude of _le patron_ and his +assistants towards them. "They wrapped us about so thoroughly in their +tender sympathy that nothing which we had chosen to do in mutual +consolation could have shocked them." + +I do not propose to weary the reader by detailing at length the +progress of Madame's Saturday campaign. Her methods of offence will, +by now, have become clear. To the "suffocating gas" of her smiles, and +the "liquid fire" of her eyes she had added the devastating +"Tank"--her despatch-case. She worked its mysteries unceasingly. When +it was not under her own hand it reposed--during meal times, for +example--in the steel safe of _le patron_. All except one paper, of +the most thrilling importance, which never left her person. This +small, unobtrusive paper, upon which, according to Madame, the +destinies of nations depended, was hidden always--happy paper--in the +bosom of her corset. + +Did she not, inquired Rust, greatly daring, find it rather hard and +scratchy? To him its resting-place seemed too delicate a spot to be +used as a general store. Madame frowned at the allusion to so intimate +a topic, and Rust, terrified, implored her pardon, which was +graciously vouchsafed. + +"You should not, _mon ami_, speak to me as if I were that which you +once thought me--a light woman." She reduced him nearly to tears, and +then, in kindly consolation, permitted him to hold her hand. Both as a +pretended French officer, and as an English agent of the Secret +Service, Rust was the most derisory of frauds. + +During the day the pair of plotters were inseparable, and Madame +played continually with unfailing deftness upon the two strings of +Rust's poor heart and of his intense curiosity, which she clearly +perceived though she did not know it to be professional. When the +heart swelled with stimulated emotion, and Rust began to show +inconvenient fondness, Madame would frown reproof and lead the +despatch-box into action. Very often she would carry her hand to that +pleasant spot where nestled the paper of so great international +importance, and she would speak of it and of the terrible +responsibilities which rested upon her as a secret _agent de police_. +"When I carry a document such as this," she would say, "one _pour +faire les Boches se créver_, it never leaves my bosom all the day and +rests under my pillow by night. Under my pillow, _mon ami_." She dwelt +upon that pillow, and raised in the mind of Rust a charming vision of +a white lace-edged surface upon which was spread out a lovely disorder +of red copper hair. She so worked upon him that his emotions and his +duties became inextricably mixed. Somehow he must secure that paper +and solve the baffling problem of the wonderful widow who appeared to +be French, and yet was not French. His brain by itself could not have +conceived of a means, but Madame assisted to stimulate its imagination +as she had done the beating of his heart. "It was wrong of you, _mon +ami_" she said, in gentle reproof, "to select a room upon the same +floor as mine, it was a proceeding bold and not a little indelicate, +which might have compromised my precious reputation had I not been +secure in the honour of my poor lost Captain Guilbert." Rust protested +that he had left the choice of rooms entirely to the lady of the +bureau, but Madame's smile showed that she was wholly sceptical. "I +speak frankly to you," said she, "so that there may be no longer in +your mind any thought that I am a woman of light conduct. I have come +here, driven by your sad pleadings, to give you of my companionship, +and my heart would be desolated if I thought that you still misjudged +me." The beautiful voice shook, and I do not doubt that the violet +eyes, glistening with pumped-up tears, were raised to Rust's face. I, +her friend, know that she can feel deeply, and I can distinguish that +which she simulates from that which moves her, but the poor creature +Rust was in her hands the most helpless and deluded of victims. + +So the day passed. They lunched together and dined together. In the +intervals they walked upon the sunny front, for the weather was +perfect and the sun shone as it only shines at Brighton. Madame, I am +quite sure, did not sit upon the sand. It appears also that they +visited a succession of picture houses. Madame declares that she is +fascinated by this form of entertainment; the variety and rapid +movement delight her--as I admit they do my dull self--and she deeply +enjoys the blatant crudity of cinematic drama. "It is so entirely +unlike life that it transports one to another world," says she. "Here +in this strange visionary world of the pictures one lives in a +maelstrom of emotions. Boys and girls meet, embrace, and marry all +within the space of a few minutes upon the screen and of an hour or +two of dramatic action. Children are conceived and born by some +lightning process which it would be a happiness for the human kind to +learn. Heroes die while strong men bare their heads in grief, and ten +minutes later the corpse is capering joyously in a new piece. By +attending three or four houses in one afternoon one sups upon emotions +and feeds without restraint upon rich, satisfying laughter. Yes, _mon +ami_, I love the cinema. Rust did not, I think, greatly interest +himself in the pictures, but was happy in the darkness--holding my +hand." + +She laughed as I broke into growls. "Is it not, _mon cher_" she went +on, "that the cinemas will always be most popular--however dull may be +the pictures--so long as boys and girls, men and women, who love, +desire to fondle one another's hands in the dark?" + +"You and Rust did not love one another," I grunted. + +"No. We were not the real thing, but we made ourselves into quite a +plausible imitation." + +Madame pursued her programme with indefatigable ardour and patience. +She impressed again and again upon Rust's imagination a picture of +herself sleeping unprotected, in a room not far distant from his own, +while beneath her pillow reposed a paper precious and mysterious +beyond words to describe. She even hinted that a dread of fire, from +which she always suffered when sleeping at hotels, forbade the locking +of her door. "I am not afraid to die," said she, "for what have I to +bind me to life now that I can never visit the spot where repose the +shattered fragments of my beloved Capitaine Guilbert? But to be +burned, helpless, while rescue was cut off from me by a locked door! I +shrink from so terrible a fate." Subtlety, she had discovered, was +thrown away upon the obtuseness of Rust. She was compelled to be +brutally plain, and so she drove into his thick head the tempting fact +that nothing interposed during the hours of darkness between his eager +hands and the paper which she had taught him to covet. If she awoke +and mistook his motives--if she thought that he had ventured into her +room with designs upon her honour--Rust felt sure that her kind heart +would forgive him, by breakfast-time, though she would certainly +dismiss him from her bedside with the most haughty of reproaches. If +he could not find some other way before they separated for the night, +he had almost decided to essay the venture. She slept very soundly, +said Madame; she had not awakened in her _appartement_ in Paris upon +one night when a bomb from a Prussian aeroplane had exploded within +two hundred yards of her house. Another way was still possible, and +Rust, while he was dressing for dinner, determined to try it; it was a +way, too, which thrilled him with pleasurable anticipation. + +At dinner Madame declined champagne, which she said was a poor, feeble +drink. Let them for once share a bottle of sparkling Burgundy, a royal +wine, the Wine of Courage. The patron brought them the bottle himself, +and lamented that they would not indulge themselves in a second. +Madame had no desire that Rust should, under its influence, become too +enterprising. The evening was warm, and afterwards they moved into the +pleasant garden behind the hotel and sat together in a quiet corner. +Other guests were in the garden, but it had become tacitly agreed +among them that Madame and Rust--the "dear French things"--should be +permitted to console one another in seclusion. No one could perceive +that the black-sleeved arm of Rust had found a happy resting-place +around Madame's black-covered waist, or that her glowing head was not +far from his shoulder. Her Paris evening frock was cut low, though +never by the fraction of an inch would Madame permit her _couturier_ +to exceed the limits of perfect taste. Looking down over her shoulder +Rust could see, protruding from the white lace below her bodice, the +corner of a paper. She talked little. It seemed to give her pleasure +to lean against his shoulder and dreamily, half asleep, to rest there +reposefully like a tired child. "But, _mon ami"_ said Madame to me in +relating these tender details with the greatest satisfaction, "I was +very wide awake indeed." + +Rust eyed that corner of paper and waited without speaking until his +companion should become almost unconscious of his movements. Then +gently he moved his right arm from her waist and placed it over her +shoulder. She moved slightly, but it was only to nestle more closely +against him. His dangling fingers moved little by little towards the +opening of her corsage, they descended, and with his thumb and +forefinger he gripped the paper. Madame did not move her body nor, to +Rust, did she seem to suspect his intentions. But her right arm lifted +slowly up, she gently grasped his hand in hers, pressed it kindly for +a moment, and then, still holding it, removed his arm from her +shoulder to her waist. "Your coat sleeve scratches my shoulder," she +murmured. Rust, who had instantly released the paper when Madame took +his hand, never again got an opportunity of touching it, for she kept +her arm pressed over his during the whole time that they sat together. +"I gave him the chance," explained Madame to me, "and it worked +beautifully. But once was enough. From that moment I became really +suspicious of Rust. Before I had only been puzzled. What he was I +could not guess, but I was dead set on finding out before the night +was over. Till then I had allowed only little freedoms, but when I +rose to go into the hotel and he bent over me I let him kiss me on my +lips. It was a severe disappointment, that kiss," added Madame +contemplatively. + +"Spare me the loathsome details," said I crossly. + +When at last Madame Gilbert went to her room she was smiling gaily and +showing no signs of fatigue at the tiresome exercises of the day. +Though it was approaching midnight the faithful Marie was waiting to +assist her toilet. "Ah, madame," sighed Marie in her frank Parisienne +fashion, "le Capitaine is so beautiful and devoted. He regards you as +one who would devour. I marvel that you have the heart to separate +from him." + +"Marie," said Madame, laughing, "you are a naughty girl, a corrupter +of my youthful morals. I am afraid that _le bon Capitaine_ must go +hungry. For--" and then she pranced off upon that wearisome old story +about the blown-up Territorial bore of _le Grand Couronné_. Fidelity +to the scattered corpse of a husband--_un mari assommant, mon Dieu, +pas un amant joyeux_!--seemed to Marie the most wasted of emotions. +She, in common with all the other Frenchmen and women in the hotel, +was an ardent partisan of Captain Rouille. + +"If my bell rings in the night, come quickly, Marie," said Madame, as +she dismissed the girl. "I shall need you _à la grande vitesse_." + +Madame slipped the seductive paper and something else under her +pillow, saw that the electric and the light switch were close to her +hand upon the bedside table, and snuggled down contentedly. "The trap +is set and baited," she murmured; "I hope that the bird will not keep +me waiting." + +An hour passed slowly. Rust has told me little of his feelings, but +admitted that he was in the "devil of a funk." He had determined to +make a daring shot at the paper and the solution of Madame's identity, +but he shivered at the prospect of her wrath should she awake and +catch him in the act. "She would have thought the worst of me, and, +like you, Copplestone, I cherish her beautiful friendship as the most +precious of privileges. On my honour I was only after the paper." +Madame found the waiting time very tedious, but I am sure that her +pulse did not quicken by a beat. She has a wonderful nerve. + +At one o'clock, when the hotel was very quiet, and the boot-cleaner +had made his round of collection, Madame heard the handle of her door +move and the door itself push slowly open. Through her partly closed +eyes she saw the momentary flash of an electric torch with which Rust +took his bearings, and then she felt, rather than saw or heard, a +figure draw gently towards her bed. Her right hand was under the +pillow grasping that something, not the paper, which she had laid +there in readiness. Rust approached, bent over her, and his fingers +felt for the pillow. They touched her hair, and she knew that the +moment for action had come. Out stretched her arm, holding the pistol +well clear of his body, for she was loath to hurt him, and a sharp +report within a couple of feet of his side frightened Rust more +thoroughly than had the hottest of "crumps" in Flanders. He sprang +away, and darted for the door; but in an instant the lights went up, +and a loud, commanding voice--utterly unlike Madame's soft musical +social tones--called to him to halt. "Halt!" cried Madame in English. +"Right about turn! 'Shun!" The familiar words of command brought him +round in prompt obedience, and there before him he saw Madame Gilbert +sitting up in her bed, pointing a most business-like automatic pistol +straight for his heart. Her hand held it true, without a quiver, and +along the sights glittered an eye remorseless as blue steel. This was +a woman wholly different from that kindly yielding creature whom he +had embraced and kissed a couple of hours earlier! + +"You will please stand quite still," said Madame, speaking the +slightly tinged Irish-English of her birth, "for if I shoot, le +Capitaine Rouille will be no more. See! Upon my dressing-table behind +you is a small vase supporting a rose. I will cut off its stem," She +quickly moved the pistol, and fired. "You may turn round." He obeyed, +and saw that the vase was unbroken, but that the rose, cut off at the +stem, lay upon the dressing-table. Behind it appeared a bullet-hole in +the plaster of the wall. + +Madame flicked the spent cartridge off her counterpane, where it had +fallen upon ejection, and resumed. "I have rung the bell, and in a +moment there will be a most interested audience. You will then please +explain what brings you to my bedroom." + +He had faced round towards her again, and his poor mind was a blank. +The situation was too big for him. He had fallen into a trap, but why +it had been set he could not guess. Who was this calmly capable, +straight-shooting widow who, with the copper hair falling over her +shoulders and streaming down the front of her dainty nightdress, +appeared in action even more lovely than in repose? + +The first to arrive was Marie, then followed another _femme de +chambre_, then came the night porter, then the boot-collector, last, +with eyes opened wide at the surprising spectacle of a beautiful young +woman receiving her lover at the point of a pistol, appeared _monsieur +le patron_ himself. They clustered in a group by the door. "I think," +said Madame serenely, "that we have enough. Marie, the house is full; +shut the door and lock it." The order was obeyed. "Now," went on the +commanding voice from the bed, using French for the effective shutting +out of the English boot-cleaner and night porter, "if you men will +turn your backs, and Marie will hand me my dressing-gown, I will +prepare myself for the examination of Monsieur le Capitaine Rouille. +It is not seemly that a court of inquiry should be conducted in a +nightdress." + +The men turned round, or were pushed round. Marie--gasping with wonder +at the whole incredible business, so unlike that which she had +suggested--brought the silk dressing-gown and robed Madame, who +skipped out of bed for the purpose. Then the fair _juge +d'instruction,_ wrapped to the neck in blue silk, and looking prettier +than ever, propped herself upon the pillows and opened the court. + +"Captain Rouille," ordered she in French, "please tell these others +why you came to my bedroom." + +I regret to record that Marie and the other girl looked towards one +another and sniggered. The patron lifted up his hands in amazement. +_Mon Dieu_, what a question! The two English servants did not +understand French. + +Rust said nothing. Madame, who had observed the excusable +misunderstanding of her French audience, condescended to explain. "I +am sure," she said, "that Captain Rouille will not suggest that his +visit was designed to attack my honour." + +"_Quelle dame extraordinaire_!" moaned the patron. "_C'est +incroyable la sangfroid de celle-là."_ + +"Of course not," cried Rust, speaking for the first time. "Never would +I have dared to think of such a thing. Madame Gilbert is a lady of the +highest virtue. It was not to compromise her that I entered her room." + +"The man," groaned the patron, "is no less extraordinary than the +woman. Why in God's name this pistol, this scene so public! They are +lovers, beyond doubt, yet they spring upon my hotel this scene of the +most scandalous. It is not the way of France; I do not understand such +goings on." + +Madame drew a paper from her bed, and held it up. "Was it for this +that you came?" + +"Yes," said Rust, "for that and that only." + +"_Un billet doux_" said the patron, playing without design the part of +a bewildered chorus, "Why should not madame have given it to him if +she wished to write that which she was too modest to say?" + +"Why did you want it?" + +"What more natural," cried the patron, "than that the brave captain +should be eager to read the sweet confession of your love?" Madame +missed not a word which dribbled from the lips of the poor, puzzled +patron, who contributed the comic sauce which titillated her humorous +palate. The patron to her was a sheer joy. + +"Why did you want it?" repeated Madame sternly. + +"Because," said Rust, "you said that it contained the most important +of secrets." + +"What have you to do with secrets which concern the fate of nations at +war?" + +"Nations! War!" muttered the patron. "What words are these to find +upon the lips of lovers? By now they should, had they not both been +quite mad, have forgotten war in their mutual embraces." + +Rust was silent, considering what he should say. He had not the wit to +invent a plausible story, and to such men there is only one safe +rule--when in doubt, tell the truth. He told the truth. + +"I wanted that paper because I am a member of the Secret Service." + +"Of Germany?" snapped Madame, flashing violet lightning from her eyes. +Sensation! The two French women broke into screams of rage, dreadful +to hear; the patron raised his clenched hands, and roared like a +furious beast. Rust, a brave man, shrank for a long, startled moment. +His flesh quivered, as if it felt fierce French nails fasten into it. +He saw the blood-lust flame in the eyes which searched his face. He +trembled, but spoke up firmly. + +"No. The Secret Service of England." + +"Liar!" roared the patron. "_Menteur! Espion_! Foul seducer of a +desolate _veuve de France_! Die, traitor! Madame, raise your pistol; +shoot--shoot instantly for the honour of France!" The man, a fat, +comfortable bourgeois, was transfigured with frightful, murderous +rage. He had become a figure almost heroic. + +But Madame did not shoot. In ten seconds her swift brain had recalled +the whole series of incidents during her commerce with Rust; she +penetrated to the heart of the mystery, and immediately became +convinced that he spoke the truth. + +"No," said she. "_Monsieur le patron_ and you, _mes demoiselles_, +cease your cries. You do the brave Capitaine Rouille a very grave +injustice for which you must pray his forgiveness _sur le champ_. He +is a soldier of France, and of our noble Allies, the English. He is an +officer of the English Secret Service. The mistake was mine, for +which, _mon capitaine_, I implore your pardon." + +She lay back in her bed, and the laughter poured out of her in one +unbroken flood. She laughed until she became weak as a baby, for the +idiotic comedy which they two had played--at the expense of the +British Treasury--was beyond any other means of expression. Rust, who +began to grasp something of the truth, also broke into a laugh, and +the amusement of the principals brought instant conviction to the +audience. The repentance of those who had thirsted for Rust's blood a +moment since was very pleasant to witness. The women begged permission +to kiss his brave hands, which had slain the foul Boches, and the +patron cast his burly person upon Rust's pyjama-clad bosom and saluted +him on both cheeks. He had a stiff, hard beard! + +"And now," cried the patron, "this scene, so deplorable and +scandalous, is happily ended. Our beautiful Madame and the brave +captain, their mistakes and misunderstandings removed, are again +lovers of the fondest. Let us go, my friends, and leave them to +forgive one another as they will desire to do in decent privacy. +_Allons, allons, vite_!" + +He drove away the boot-collector and the night porter, who had not +understood one word of the quick French which had been spoken. They +explained the scene satisfactorily to themselves by the one word, +"French." The women would also have gone if Madame, who was still +laughing, had not hastily recalled Marie. + +"Marie," she whispered, spluttering with cheerful impropriety, "lead +that captain away and lock him into his room or my reputation is gone +for ever. Take Rouille away, and then leave me, for I want to laugh +and then to sleep." + +But Rust, blushing deeply at the preposterous closing of the scene, +had sneaked quietly out of the room. + + * * * * * + +They met at breakfast without embarrassment. At least Madame was +perfectly tranquil; I cannot answer so surely for Rust. In the eyes of +the little world of the hotel nothing had been changed. They retained +their assumed characters as a Widow and Soldier of France, who +consorted with the freedom of old friends. + +"So," said Madame, when all had been explained, "you were put on by +our dear, fiery Froissart, and I by the dear, secretive Dawson. We +blundered up against one another, and the rest followed naturally. You +were such an one as I looked for, and I was of the kind pictured by +the imaginative Froissart. It has all been most amusing, especially +when one reflects that the English Government has paid for all our +delightful lunches, teas, dinners, and motor runs. I doubt, though, +whether we can with easy consciences send in the bill for this +week-end." + +"No. We will divide the cost between ourselves, for I am sure that you +will refuse to be my guest. All I ask is that you do not cut our +holiday the shorter on account of what has passed." + +"Not by an hour," replied Madame heartily. "I like you, Captain Rust; +we will enjoy ourselves to-day as colleagues _en vacance_, and +to-morrow we will report at headquarters. We will leave Dawson and +Froissart to sort out the responsibility for the whole comedy. It has +been a most pleasing experience. Never shall I forget that scene of +last night and the bewilderment of the poor patron. His comments were +a delight, and the conclusion was so purely French in its artless +conception that I felt for your innocent blushes." + +"The patron was the limit," muttered Rust, flushing deeply. + +"He was. And yet no one could convince him that the reconciliation so +desired by him was not the most natural and decorous for us. I am +still sore with excessive laughter. Again and again in the night I +woke up and simply bellowed." + +The Sunday was again a very fine day, and Rust speaks of it still with +enthusiasm. Madame revealed herself to him, no longer as the seductive +siren, but as a true-hearted colleague and helper. He saw her not only +as a beautiful and most compelling fascinator, before whom he had +grovelled, but as a big-brained and big-souled friend. "She is the +only woman whom I have ever met with whom I would go tiger-shooting," +said Rust to me. I will accept that one sentence as his considered +verdict; no greater tribute could be paid by a man to a woman. + +At first he did not fully grasp that the Madame of that Sunday, the +real Madame, was wholly different from the one he had known before. As +they sat together upon the cliffs towards Rottingdean, he slipped his +arm about her waist. Gently, but very decidedly, she removed it. "No, +_mon ami_," said she. "All that has passed with the necessity for its +exercise. I do not play with my friends." + +"Thank you," replied he--it was the brightest speech which Madame has +recorded of him. There is hope that Rust will, with years and +experience, develop in intelligence. + +When Madame returned to London on the Monday, she sought an audience +of Chief Inspector Dawson, and told the whole story. He was not +pleased, but handsomely conceded that she had carried out her duties +with skill and enterprise. "The farce was not your fault," said he; +"it was entirely due to that French ass Froissart, who has no right to +play games of his own without consulting me. I will make a protest to +the Chief." + +"Don't do that," urged Madame. "Froissart is rather a dear, and you +know that the fault was partly yours, for not taking him into your +confidence. I have determined to cultivate Froissart, and shall +endeavour to persuade him that your feminine assistants are not all of +microscopic intelligence and of repulsive appearance." + +"You will succeed," said Dawson handsomely. + +Froissart, to whom Rust reported, gleaned some consolation from the +failure of his agent. "This wonder of a woman, of whom I must +instantly make the honourable acquaintance, has saved the detested +Dawson from the deeps of humiliation. But we have scored off him most +surely. He has shown himself to be a blundering, conceited English +pig, and I will protest to the Chief that never again must he keep me +in ignorance of his projects. I shall laugh at him; all our people +here will laugh. I shall be revenged. _Conspuez_ Dawson!" + +"Don't be too hard on Dawson," urged Rust. "Madame Gilbert thinks a +lot of him, and would be pained if he suffered discredit through any +fault of hers." + +"Fault!" shouted the gallant Froissart. "_La belle Madame_ is _sans +faute_, peerless, a prodigy of skill and discretion! She is superb. If +she implores me to spare the man Dawson, then I will consent, though +my heart is rent in fragments. As for you, _mon ami_, I fear that in +her hands you were not a figure of admiration. She twisted you about +her pretty fingers like a skein of wool. I do not think that you are, +what you call, cut out for the Secret Service." + +"That is quite my own opinion," assented he gloomily. + + + + + +PART III + + +_TO SEE IS TO BELIEVE_ + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +DAWSON PRESCRIBES + +The mind of Dawson has the queerest limitations. He is entirely free +from any sense of proportion. If I wrote of those incidents which he +pressed upon me, this book would be intolerably dull. He sees no +interest in any episode which is not Dawson, Dawson, all the time. The +emotion which was aroused in the hearts of Cary and myself by +Trehayne's letter caused Dawson no small anxiety. He feared lest in +rendering this episode I should turn the limelight upon Trehayne and +leave the private of Marines in the shadows. Which is precisely what I +have done. From his "sick bed" he sent me a letter explaining that his +own honourable weakness of sympathy with an enemy spy was physical, +not moral--reprehensible failing induced by lack of sleep. He laboured +to convince me that the spirit of Dawson in the full flush of health +was of a frightfulness wholly Prussian in its logical completeness. +But I smiled, went my own way, and Dawson, when he comes to read this +book, can swear as loudly as he pleases. + +If I had depended only upon Dawson, I should never have secured the +details of the story which I am about to write. It was Froissart who +first put me upon the track of it during one of those visits which I +paid to him when I was investigating _l'affaire_ Rust. Froissart, in +imaginative insight, is as much superior to Dawson as the average +Frenchman is to the average Englishman. But in execution he admits +sorrowfully that he cannot hold a candle to his brutal secretive +English chief. "I have genius," exclaimed Froissart, "of which the +sacred dog Dawson has not a particle. I know not whence come his +ideas, the most penetrative. It cannot be from _son Esprit_ of which +he has none; his brain reposes, without doubt, in his stomach. Yet, +_ma foi_, that man whom I detest and to whom I am a colleague most +loyal, is of a practical ingenuity most wonderful. Did you ever learn +how he hid the great cruisers _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ from the +watching eyes of the Boche, and won, here in England, a glorious +victory for the English Navy, eight thousand miles away? I was with +him, and at the end, falling upon his bosom in generous admiration, I +kissed him on both cheeks. And what was my reward? It was to receive a +short-arm blow upon the diaphragm. That man of mud took my wind, as he +called it, and I was laid gasping upon the floor. It was in this +fashion that he repulsed me--me a Count of _l'ancien régime_. I could +have his blood." + +I soothed Froissart, and extracted enough from him in rapid French +spasms--his idiomatic staccato French is often beyond my +understanding--to give me a general idea of what Dawson had done. +Thereafter I pursued my inquiries, pumping Dawson himself--who, for +some reason, did not greatly value the affair--tackling others who +knew more than they were always willing to tell, even to me their +friend. Yet in many ways, of which it were well not to be particular, +I arrived at the full story which I now tell. To my mind it shows +Dawson at his best, and Dawson's best is very good indeed. + + * * * * * + +It was early in November, three months after war had begun. Dawson, to +whom had been committed the general supervision of all known enemy +spies in London, and who had already put in force that combination of +tight net and loose string which I have described, received a summons +from his Chief the moment he arrived at his office at the Yard. "You +are wanted at the Admiralty," said the Commissioner--"and wanted +badly. You are to report at once in the First Lord's private room." + +"What is the game?" inquired Dawson. "I have lots to do here which I +cannot well leave." + +"I don't know. But I have orders to send you, and to relieve you from +all other duties. If you want help, you can take Froissart, that +French detective who has just been sent to us from Paris as a sort of +liaison officer. He is strongly recommended as a first-class man." + +"Hum," said Dawson, between whom and his Chief was a very close +friendship. "I suppose I must toddle round and see what the little man +wants this time. Last month he had secret wireless installations on +the brain." + +Dawson found the First Lord striding up and down his big room. All +round the walls were set great maps bristling with pins to which were +attached numbered labels. Each pin represented a ship, and each ship +was obedient to an order flashed from the big aerials overhead. Here +was the Holy of Holies, the nerve ganglion of the English Navy, and +here, striding up and down, the man who could jab the nerve-centre +with his finger whenever he pleased. He often pleased. Then he would +gloat over the pins as they skipped about the maps. + +Chief Inspector Dawson was announced, and stood to attention. + +"Ha!" cried the First Lord, "so you are Dawson, the Master of Spies. +We need you, Dawson; the country needs you; I need you. You have a +great chance this day to show your quality, Dawson. Those of whom I +approve, I advance. They become great men. Am I to approve of you?" + +Dawson observed that he could not well say until he learned what was +wanted of him. + +"Ha!" cried the First Lord again, "you are a man of few words. I like +those with me who do not talk. When there is talking to be done--well, +I can do a little in that line myself. Among my instruments I demand +silence." + +Dawson said nothing. The First Lord struck a bell; a servant in blue +uniform appeared. "Will you please tell his lordship that Chief +Inspector Dawson is here, and that I await his presence." + +The man retired and presently returned. "His lordship is in his room +making out the orders for the Fleet. He bids me say that he is quite +at your service." + +The First Lord flushed, and glanced hurriedly at Dawson, who stood at +attention, stolid, silent, immovable. It would seem that he read +nothing in the message. + +"The Mountain is old and stiff in his joints," remarked the First Lord +playfully. "When he settles into his chair, it would take a bomb to +lift him out. We are young and active; we must consider the +infirmities of age. Mahomet will go to the Mountain, and you will +please to follow." + +Mahomet, swinging his long coat-tails, strode out of the room and down +a passage, whence they emerged into another room also set about with +pin-studded maps. + +"Ha!" said the First Lord, "as you would not come to us, we have +unbent our dignity and come to you. This is Chief Inspector Dawson." + +"So I supposed," growled the grizzled old man, who sat at a big desk +upon which was piled many flimsies. It was the great Lord Jacquetot, +who for all his French name was English of the English. + +"Will you explain to Mr. Dawson what we want of him or shall I?" +inquired the First Lord. Lord Jacquetot rose from his chair, showing +nothing of the infirmities of age. He approached Dawson, looked over +him keenly, and said, "You don't look like a civilian policeman. Where +have you served?" + +Dawson explained that he had in former days been a Red Marine. + +"I thought as much," said Jacquetot. "There is no mistaking the back +and shoulders of them. Once a Pongo, always a Pongo." He held out his +hand, which Dawson shook diffidently. An ex-private of Marines does +not often shake the hand of a First Sea Lord. + +Lord Jacquetot walked over to one of the maps and beckoned to Dawson +to follow. The First Lord hovered in the background, ready to put in a +word at the first opportunity. + +"There has been a serious naval disaster in the South Seas," said +Jacquetot, "and we must clean up the mess, pretty damn quick. The news +came yesterday. Orders were wired at once that two battle-cruisers, +the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, should be sent at full speed from +Scotland to Devonport to dock, coal, and complete with stores. To keep +them outside the enemy's observation, and to avoid any risk of mines +or submarines in the Irish Channel, they have been sent far out round +the west coast of Ireland. Here they are; we get messages from them +every hour." He indicated two pins. Just then a messenger entered and +handed to the First Sea Lord a wireless flimsy. Jacquetot read it, +slipped a scale along the map, took out the two pins, and shifted them +further south. "They are going well," said he; "doing twenty-five +knots. They should be off Plymouth Sound by to-morrow evening." + +"It is a long way," put in Dawson, deeply interested. "Fifteen hundred +miles." + +"There or thereabouts. The coast lights are all out, so that they will +steer a bit wide. They should do it in sixty hours." + +"I gave the order within thirty minutes of getting the news of the +disaster," remarked the First Lord, smacking his lips. + +Jacquetot made no reply, though his eyes hardened and his mouth drew +into a stiff line. It was his province to give Orders to the Fleet. + +"Those battle-cruisers," went on Lord Jacquetot, addressing Dawson, +"will go into dock at Devonport as soon as they arrive. They will be +there forty-eight hours at least. They must be clean ships before they +go through the hot tropical water if their speed is to be kept up. +They have gun power, but power without speed is useless for the work +which they have to do. After leaving England it will be a month before +the Squadron, of which they are to form the chief part, will be +concentrated in the South Seas. For two days at Devonport, and for +four weeks while at sea, there must be the completest secrecy if our +plans are to succeed. Without absolute secrecy we shall fail. The +Board of Admiralty is responsible for the sea, but not for the land. +We can make certain that no news of the despatch of these two cruisers +gets out at sea; can you, Mr. Chief Inspector Dawson, undertake that +no news gets out on land--that no whisper of their sailing reaches the +enemy by means of his spies on land?" + +"It is a large order," said Dawson thoughtfully. + +"It is a very large order," asserted Lord Jacquetot, frowning. + +"But large or small, the thing must be done," broke in the First Lord. +"If this news gets out, and we fail to come up with the German +Squadron down south, the effect upon the public will be horrible. The +English people may even lose their perfect, their sublime, faith in +ME." + +"They may lose their faith in the Navy," muttered Jacquetot. + +"It is the same thing," said the First Lord. + +"Can you let me know more details, my lord?" asked Dawson. "What is +the programme? I don't see at present how the arrival, docking, and +sailing of the battle-cruisers can possibly be kept secret, but there +may be a way if one could only think of it." + +"If the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ arrive according to programme," said +Jacquetot, "they will not come up the Sound till after dark. Then in +the small hours they will slip into dock, and no one but the regular +dockyard hands will know that they are there. We will haul them out +also in the middle of the night, and they will be clear away by +daybreak, forty-eight hours after arrival. Coal and other stores are +on the spot in plenty, and the shells and cordite for the twelve-inch +guns can soon be got down from the Plymouth magazines. The secrecy of +the operation seems to me to turn on whether we can trust the dockyard +hands." + +Dawson shook his head. "I wouldn't plump on that, my lord. There have +been enemy agents working in every dockyard in the kingdom for years +past, and we haven't spotted all of them. Still, we have our own men +working alongside of them--Scotland Yard men engaged from among the +shipbuilding trades unions--accounting for every one, so that no man +can be away from his post without our knowing and shadowing him. It is +not easy to get any information out of the country nowadays. The +secret wireless stories are all humbug. Wireless gives itself away at +once. If one wants to get news to the enemy, one has to carry it +oneself, or hire some one else to carry it. Most of that which goes we +allow to go for our own purposes. I am pretty sure that no dockyard +hand could get anything away to Holland without our knowledge, so that +it doesn't matter whether they are trustworthy or not so long as we're +not fools enough to trust them. You may not know it, but I have my own +Yard men among your messengers here in this building, and among your +clerks too." + +"What!" cried the First Lord. "You don't even trust the Admiralty!" + +"Least of all," said Dawson grimly. "If I was head of the German +Secret Service, I would have my own man as your private secretary." + +The First Lord sat down gasping. Jacquetot nodded kindly to Dawson, +and laughed in his grim old way. "You are the man we want," said he. + +"I am not thinking much of the dockyard hands," went on Dawson; "I can +look after them. They're all provided for. The danger is in the gossip +of a seaport town. I have lived in Portsmouth for years, and Plymouth +is just like it. You may take my word for it that the arrival of the +_Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ in dock at Devonport will be known all over +the Three Towns half an hour after they get there. Their mission will +be discussed in every bar, and it won't be difficult to make a pretty +useful guess. Here is a disaster in the South Seas--which will be +published all over the country by to-morrow morning--and here are two +of our fastest battle-cruisers summoned in hot haste from Scotland to +be cleaned and loaded for a long voyage. Any child, let alone a +longshoreman, could put the two things together. 'So the _Intrepid_ +and _Terrific_ are off to the South Seas to biff old Fritz in the +eye.' That is what they will say in the Three Towns where there must +be hundreds of men--British subjects, too, the swine, and many of them +natural born--who would take risks to shove the news through to +Holland if they could get enough dirty money for it. Our worst spies +are not German, you bet; they are Irish and Scotch and Welsh and +English. That's where our difficulties come in. I am not afraid of the +dockyards, but the gossip of the Three Towns gives me the creeps." + +"Then what can we possibly do?" wailed the First Lord, who saw his +prospect of a brilliant coup wilt away like a fair mirage. "The secret +will get out, our plans will fail, and MY Administration, my beautiful +Administration, will have to stand the racket. How shall I defend +myself in the House?" + +"That won't matter much to the country," put in Jacquetot bluntly. +"What matters, is that we should do everything possible to keep the +secret in spite of all the inherent difficulties. Sit down, Mr. +Dawson, and do some hard thinking." + +"I prefer to stand, my lord. When I want to think I do a bit of +sentry-go." + +"So do I!" exclaimed the First Lord. "All my most famous speeches were +composed while I walked up and down my dressing-room before my--" He +broke off hastily, but as neither Jacquetot nor Dawson were listening, +he might have completed the sentence without revealing the secrets of +his looking-glass. + +"May I speak my mind, my lords?" asked Dawson. + +"It is what you are here for," replied Jacquetot. + +"I always work on certain general principles. They apply here. People +will talk; that is certain. If one doesn't want them to talk about +something really important, one puts up something else conspicuous, +harmless, and exciting to occupy their minds. In your politics" +--turning to the First Lord with an air of simplicity--"when +you've made a thorough mess of governing England, and don't want to be +found out, you set the people fighting about Home Rule for Ireland. I +don't mean you, sir, but politicians generally." + +"Quite so," said the First Lord, blinking. + +"Well, see here. We don't want any talk about the _Intrepid_ and +_Terrific_. So, before they arrive, we must give the people of the +Three Towns a real titbit of excitement. Battle-cruisers come to dock +in Devonport quite often when they are damaged. Two battle-cruisers +which had been mined or submarined, one towing the other, would be a +pretty picture in the Sound. It would set all the folk talking for +days, and no one would think that two damaged cruisers had anything to +do with the South Seas. Everybody would say, 'What cruel luck. If the +_Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ hadn't got blown up they would be just right +and handy to send down south. As it is--' And then the German agents +would somehow get the news to Holland--we would help them all we could +in a quiet way--that the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, two fast +battle-cruisers, had been nearly lost, and were being patched up at +Devonport. The Germans, hearing the glorious news, would hug +themselves and say that now was the time for the High Seas Fleet to +come out and smash Jellicoe. The last thing in their minds would be +any concentration in the south against their own Pacific Squadron. +That's how I apply my general principles to this case. Meanwhile, of +course, the _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_, well and sound, would be racing +away down to the South Seas and no one in the Three Towns--except the +dockyard hands, whom we would look after--and no one at all in +Germany, would have a glimmer of the real truth." + +While Dawson was thinking aloud in this rather halting, stumbling way, +the First Lord and his chief naval colleague were looking hard at one +another. The politician, with his quick House-of-Commons wits, jumped +to the idea before his slower thinking expert colleague could sort out +the two battle-cruisers who were to be mined or submarined from the +two which were to speed away south to avenge the recent disaster. + +"If the two battle-cruisers are mined or submarined--which God +forbid," said Jacquetot, "how can they sail for the south?" + +"Need they be the same ships?" inquired Dawson, whose eyes had begun +to flash with excitement. "Need they be the same?" + +"Don't you see?" interposed the First Lord. "The idea is quite good. I +was just about to suggest something of the kind myself when Mr. Dawson +anticipated me. That is where the mind with a wide universal training +has a great advantage over the narrow intensive intelligence of the +professional expert. Even in war. What I propose, what Mr. Dawson here +proposes with my full concurrence, is that two severely damaged +battle-cruisers, known temporarily as the _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_, +should be brought into the Sound in broad day and displayed before the +eyes of the curious in the Three Towns. The real ships will slip in, +be docked and coaled, and slip out again. The two others, upon whom +public attention has been concentrated, shall be put aground somewhere +in the Sound to be salved with great and leisurely ostentation. We +will keep them well away from the Hoe, and allow no one whatever to +approach them. We will, unofficially, allow the news of their sorry +state to get out of country and into the Dutch papers. Meanwhile, as +Mr. Dawson says, the real _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ will be speeding +towards the south, and the saving for the nation's service of my +invaluable public reputation for accurate judgment and quick decision. +Mr. Dawson's suggestion--I should, perhaps, rather say my own +suggestion--shall be laid before the Board at once." + +Though the stiff mind of Lord Jacquetot was not very quick to take in +a new idea, no man alive was better equipped for practically working +out a naval scheme. While the First Lord was assuming that sorely +damaged battle-cruisers, or vessels which could be passed off in place +of them, needed but his summons to spring from the deeps, Jacquetot +had pressed a bell and ordered a messenger to request the immediate +presence of the Fourth Sea Lord, within whose province was the whole +art and mystery of ship construction. Upon the appearance of this +officer the plan was gone over anew, and he was asked whence and +within what time he could produce two presentable dummies to do duty +in the Sound for the entertainment of the population of Plymouth, +Devonport, and Stonehouse. There were, said he, two if not three at +Portsmouth, constructed out of old cargo tramp hulls for the +mystification of the enemy. They had already done duty as newly +completed battleships, but with a little alteration to the canvas of +their funnels, the lath and plaster of their turrets and conning +towers, and the wood of their guns, they might be made into perfect +likenesses--at a distance--of the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_. The +ships' carpenters, he explained, could make the changes while the +dummies were coming round to Plymouth. Seated at the desk of Lord +Jacquetot he wrote the necessary orders in code, his Chief signed +them, and they were put at once on the wires for Portsmouth. The +sea-cocks, said the Fourth Lord, would be opened twenty miles from +land so that the "_Intrepid"_ might come in sadly down by the bows, +and the "_Terrific"_ with a list of twenty degrees, pluckily towing +her sorely crippled sister. With a chart of Plymouth Sound before +them, the two officers settled the precise spot, sufficiently remote, +yet well within sight of the Hoe, at which the two unhappy +battle-cruisers should come to rest upon the mud. "It will be a most +pathetic spectacle," said the Fourth Lord laughing, "and I will bet a +month's pay and allowances that at the distance not a man in the Three +Towns will have the smallest suspicion that the genuine +copper-bottomed _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ are not ditched before his +blooming eyes." He rose from the table, upon which the chart had been +laid, walked over to Dawson and shook him warmly by the hand. "You +won't get any credit for the idea," he whispered. "One never does. But +it was a damned good notion. What are you going to do now?" + +"I am going to Plymouth this afternoon to make sure that the German +truth gets over the water to Holland, and that the English truth stays +safely behind. If you will all do your part, I will do mine." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN + +"Every man to his trade," said Dawson. "I didn't go into the +difficulties of our job to those high folks at the Admiralty, but they +are not at all small. You have a head on you, Froissart, though it has +the misfortune to be French; set it going on double shifts." + +The two men were sitting in a specially reserved first-class +compartment in the Paddington-Plymouth express; as companions they +were hopelessly uncongenial, yet as colleagues formed a strong +combination in which the qualities of the one served to neutralise the +defects of the other. Dawson, in spite of his love for the Defence of +the Realm Regulations, was still sometimes unconsciously hampered by +an ingrained respect for the ordinary law and the rights of civilians; +Froissart, like all French detective officers, held the law in +contempt, and was by nature and training utterly lawless. The more +reputable a suspect, the more remorseless was his pursuit. They were, +professionally, a terrible pair who could have been passed through a +hair sieve without leaving behind a grain of moral scruple. + +Froissart, when he would be at the trouble, understood and spoke +English quite well, though with me he used nothing but the raciest of +boulevard French. "My friend," said he, "your promise to those +Ministers of Marines was rash; for, unless there is the most perfect +execution of your scheme and the most sleepless watching of those whom +you call dockyard hands--_ceux qui travaillent dans les chantiers, ne +c'est pas_?--the sailing of these _grands croiseurs_ will be told to +Germany. There are too many who will know. We are upon _une folle +enterprise_--a chase of the wild goose." + +"You do not know my system if you think that," remarked Dawson, +frowning. + +"And if I do not, of whom is the fault?" inquired Froissart blandly; +"for, my faith, you never tell what you would be doing." + +"A secret," said Dawson sententiously, "is a secret when known to one +only. If two know of it there is grave danger. If three, one might as +well shout it from the housetops. Therefore I keep my own counsel." + +"That is just what I said," cried Froissart triumphantly. "If the +secret of these _grand croiseurs_ is known to one hundred, two +hundred, _le bon Dieu_ knows how many hundreds of dockyard hands, one +might as well print it in these dull English _journaux_. You attempt +the impossible, _mon ami_." + +"They are Englishmen," proclaimed Dawson, who felt compelled to uphold +the character of his countrymen in the presence of a foreigner. "They +are patriots. Not a man of them would sell his country." + +"I would not bank on their patriotism, my friend, when there is much +Boche gold to be won and much beer to be drunk." + +"And who said that I did bank upon it?" cried Dawson testily, +forgetting his noble, words of two minutes earlier. "I wouldn't trust +one of them out of my sight. I have two dozen of my own men working +alongside of those dockyard hands, watching them by night and day. We +know if a man drinks two glasses of beer when he used to drink one, +and takes home to his wife eighteenpence above his ordinary wage. Do +you take me for a fool?" + +"You'll be a bigger fool than I take you for if you do not play +straight this time with me, and tell me your plans in detail. I have +to work with you, and I cannot give service blindfold." + +"You are not a bad fellow, Froissart," said Dawson thoughtfully--the +name in his mouth became Froy-zart--"and I will tell you here and now +more of my mind than I have yet shown even to the great Chief of us +all. It will take all your brains--for you have some brains--and all +of mine to keep the secret of those battle-cruisers." + + * * * * * + +In the morning the newspapers published the meagre details of the +disaster in the South Seas, and the Three Towns were shaken to their +foundations. For when naval ships go down, they take with them crews +of whom half have their homes in Devon. The disaster meant that eight +hundred families in the West mourned a son or a father. Ever since the +days of the Great Queen--whose name in the West is not Victoria, but +Elizabeth--Devon has paid in the lives of its best men the price of +Admiralty. The Three Towns mourned with a grief made more bitter by +the realisation that the disaster was one which never should have +happened. Bad slow English ships had been sent against good fast +German ships, and had been sunk with all hands without hurt to the +enemy. The Three Towns know the speed and power of every fighting ship +afloat, British or foreign, as you or I before the war knew the public +form of every leading golfer or cricketer. In every bar where +sailormen met one another, and met, too, the brothers and fathers of +sailormen, the Lords of the Admiralty were weighed and condemned. It +is a thing most serious when in the cradles of the Navy, Portsmouth +and the Three Towns, faith in the wisdom of Whitehall becomes shaken. +One may muzzle the Press, but no muzzle yet devised can close the +mouths of sailormen and their friends in dockyard towns. + +In the afternoon of the same day, while the news of the disaster was +still fresh, there came a whisper, which gained in loudness and in +precision of detail as it passed from mouth to ear and from ear to +mouth, that the worst had not yet been told. There had been not one, +but two disasters. Two battle-cruisers, it was declared, had been sunk +in the Channel by German mines or submarines. What were their names? +inquired the white-faced women. The names were not yet known, but they +would soon come. A little later the severity of the rumour became +softened. The battle-cruisers had not, it appeared, been sunk, but +severely damaged. They were at that moment on their way to the Sound, +crippled sorely, yet afloat. Men groaned. Two battle-cruisers blown up +in the Channel; what in God's name were two battle-cruisers doing in +the mine-strewn Channel when their proper place was in one of the safe +eyries overlooking the North Sea? A plausible explanation was offered. +The two battle-cruisers had been coming to Plymouth to take in stores +that they might speed away south to avenge those other two cruisers +sunk by the Germans as had been told in the morning's papers. If this +were indeed true, the news was of the worst; England's prestige afloat +was gone. She could not spare two other whole battle-cruisers to +proceed upon a mission of vengeance to the South Seas while the +Germans' Battle Squadrons in the North Sea ports were still +undefeated. Meanwhile the Germans far away to the south could do what +they pleased; they could sink and burn our merchant steamers at will. +The command of the Pacific had passed from England to Germany, and the +White Ensign hung draggled and shamed for all the world to sneer at. +The Three Towns almost forgot their personal grief for drowned friends +in their horror at the disgrace which had come to their own sacred +Service. + +It was still light, though late in the afternoon, when the anxious +watchers upon the Hoe made out, beyond Drake's Island, two big ships +coming in round the western end of the breakwater. Though deep in the +water they towered above their escort of destroyers and fast patrol +boats. The leading ship was listing badly, her tripod mast with its +spotting top hung far over to port, and she was towing stern first a +sister ship whose bows were almost hidden under water. The Three +Towns, which can recognise the outlines of warships afar off, rapidly +pronounced judgment. "That's the _Intrepid_" they declared, "and the +one she's towing is a battle-cruiser of the same class--the +_Terrific_ or _Tremendous_. They're both badly holed." "Gawd +A'mighty," cried a grizzled longshoreman, who might have sailed with +Drake or Hawkins--as no doubt his forbears had done--"look to the list +of un! And thicky with her bows down under, being towed by the stern +to keep her from swamping entire. If it worn't for them bulk'eads un +wouldn't never have made the Sound." It was plain to those who had +glasses turned on the damaged ships that they were drawing far too +much water to be brought into the Hamoaze and over the sill of the dry +dock at Devonport, so that no one felt surprise when the +battle-cruisers were seen to pull out of the deep fairway and make +towards the shore. The purpose was plain to read. They were to be put +aground under Mount Edgcumbe, patched up, and pumped dry, and then +would go into dock for repairs. It was a job of weeks, and during all +that time the Fleet would be short of two battle-cruisers which might +have swept the South Seas clear of the German Ensign. It was cruel +luck, and the Three Towns had enough to talk of to keep them occupied +for many days. Presently more news came, authentic news, and passed +rapidly from mouth to mouth. The vessels were the _Intrepid_, the +flagship of Admiral Stocky, and her sister the _Terrific_, a pair of +fast Dreadnought cruisers. They had, as was surmised, been speeding +down from Scotland to dock at Plymouth on their way to clean up the +mess made in the far South. They had come safely through the Irish Sea +and round the Land's End, but when near their journey's end off Fowey +they had run into a patch of mines laid by German submarines. The +_Terrific_ had had her bow plates ripped into slivers of ragged steel, +and the three fore compartments flooded. The _Intrepid_ had picked up +the wire of a twin mine, got caught badly on the port side, but had +luckily escaped to starboard. She had taken her crippled sister in +tow, and brought her in safely. Both ships could easily be repaired, +but it would take time. The voyage to the South Seas was off. Nothing +could have been more convincing than the story which quickly got +about; the ships had been seen and recognised by the Three +Towns--there was no concealment and no mystery. For once the Silent +Navy appeared to be talkative. The hearts of German agents in the +Towns swelled with pride and joy. Here was convincing proof of the +kindly hand of the Prussian Gott. If the great news could be carried +through to the Kaiser and von Tirpitz, there would be much ringing of +church bells in the Fatherland. But these English, since the war +began, had become very watchful, very suspicious. The problem was: how +to get the glad news through. + + * * * * * + +It was two o'clock in the morning and very dark. The big dry docks at +Devonport were deserted except for a few picked hands, not more than +two score at the outside, told off on night shift for special duty. +Against all workmen who had not been warned for this duty the big +gates would be closed for two whole days. There were important jobs +awaiting completion, but they must wait. One hundred and twenty men, +working in three eight-hour shifts per day--forty at a time--could do +all that was needed to the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, and not one man +was included who had not served at Devonport for at least ten years. +Dawson had been very firm, and the Commander-in-Chief had backed him +with full authority. "Don't make any mistake," said Dawson. "Among +even one hundred and twenty, though picked in this way, there will be +some few who would sell us if they could. One would have to go back +more than ten years to weed out all those whom the Germans have +corrupted. But out of this lot there should not be more than two or +three swine, and I can look after them." He did not say that he had +already been in touch with the Scotland Yard officer at Devonport, and +had arranged that a dozen out of his precious twenty-four +counter-spies should be put among the chosen hundred and twenty. +Dawson never did allow his left hand to know the wiles of his right. + +Under the thick cover of the autumn night two massive silent forms, +which had crept with all lights out into the Sound after their long +fast voyage from the northern mists, were warped into dock; the +supporting shores were fitted, and the water around them run out. Long +before the flagship _Intrepid_ stood clear and dry on the dock floor, +Dawson, in his uniform of a private of Marines--"A Marine can go +anywhere and do anything," he would say--had slipped on board and +shown the Commander credentials from the Board of Admiralty which made +that hardened officer open his eyes. "My word," exclaimed he, "you +must be some Marine! Come along quick to the Admiral." So Dawson went, +not a little nervous--the moment his foot trod the decks of a King's +ship all his assurance dropped off, his old sense of discipline flowed +back over him, and an Admiral became a very mighty potentate indeed. +Ashore Dawson could face up to the Lord Jacquetot himself; on board +ship a two-ring lieutenant was to him a god! He followed the +Commander, and was ushered into the Admiral's presence. "What!" cried +Stocky, stern in manner always, but very kindly at heart towards those +whom he found to be true men. "A private of Marines with plenary +powers from the First Lord? Take the papers off him and chuck the +damned comedian into the ditch. We have no time here for the First +Lord's humour." The Commander drew near and whispered. "What! +Authority endorsed by Jacquetot? There is something queer about this. +Look here, my fine fellow, who the devil are you? Are you a Marine, or +a too clever German spy, or what? Make haste. There is still enough +water left over the side to pitch you into without breaking your dirty +neck." + +Dawson knew his man. He had served in the same ship with Stocky when +that officer had been a lieutenant; he had waited upon him in the +wardroom. He had felt the rasp of his tongue in old days. He +approached, and without saying a word handed the letters given him by +the First Lord and Jacquetot, adding his official card. The Admiral +read the papers slowly and came at last to the card. Then his frowning +brows softened, and he smiled. It was the old smile of Lieutenant +Stocky. "Why, it's Dawson who was my servant in the old _Olympus_; now +Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. That explains all. But why the hell, +man, do you dress up as a Marine?" + +"Once a Marine, always a Marine," replied Dawson, who felt happier now +that the Admiral had recognised him. "I can't keep out of the uniform, +sir. Besides, it's very useful when I want to be about the docks." + +"My orders," said the Admiral, "are to dock, clean, coal, and be off. +I am expecting more detailed instructions, but they have not yet come. +These letters say that you will explain the programme here, and that +you have been charged with full responsibility for keeping our +movements secret. I am to give you all possible assistance. All right. +Go ahead. What do you want of us?" + +Dawson rapidly told how the two dummy battle-cruisers had come +stumbling into the Sound in the afternoon, and how the Three Towns +believed that the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ were at that moment lying +on the shoals out of service for weeks to come. "No one must guess," +he concluded, "that the real _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ are here safe +in dock, that they will go out two days hence in the middle of the +night, and dash away south to wipe Fritz's flag off the seas. We have +picked the dockyard hands with the greatest care, and have them under +watch like mice with cats all about them. If a single one of your +officers or men goes out of the dock gates the game will be up and I +won't answer for the consequences. Everything rests with you, sir. +Will you give orders that no one, no one, not even you yourself, shall +leave either of the battle-cruisers while they are in dock--no one, +not for a minute." + +The Admiral laughed, and the officers in his room respectfully joined +in. "So we have been mined and are aground somewhere yonder on the mud +surrounded by sorrowing patrols. And the Three Towns are dropping salt +tears into their beer. It is a fine game, Dawson. I didn't believe +much in Lord Jacquetot's dummies, but they've come in darned useful +this time. Are you going to keep Plymouth and Devonport in the dumps +for long?" + +"Until you've done your work, sir," said Dawson. + +"So until then the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ will lie crippled in the +Sound for all the world to see and for Fritz to believe. If this very +bright scheme is yours, Dawson, we will all drink your health down +south as soon as our work has been done. For the credit will be yours +rather than ours. I will help you all I can; it is my duty and my very +keen desire. A man who can make so brilliant a plan for confounding +the enemy's spies is worth a statue of gold. He is even worth the +sacrifice of two day's leave while one's ship is in dock. What do you +say, gentlemen?" + +"I never thought," said the Flag Captain, "that I would willingly +spend two days shut up in a smelly dock, but you may count me in, sir. +I won't head a mutiny when all leave is refused." + +"You shall have your way, Dawson. All leave stopped in both ships. Not +a man is to go ashore on any pretence, no matter what the excuse. The +mothers of the lower decks may all die--they always do when a ship is +in port--but not a man shall leave to bury them. Give the orders in +the _Intrepid_, and ask the captain of the _Terrific_ to be so good as +to come aboard." + + * * * * * + +"So far, good," exclaimed Dawson when he got back to his hotel and +found Froissart sitting up for him. "The ships are in and no one is to +be allowed ashore. I shall be in a fever till both of them are away +again. We are on very thin ice, Froissart. It is lucky that the +dockyard is on the Hamoaze, out of sight even of most of Devonport, +and far away from Plymouth and Stonehouse. I have seen all the foremen +of the dockyard myself, told them the whole trick which we are playing +on the Huns, and put them on their mettle to tackle their men. They +will pitch it fine and strong on the honour and patriotism of complete +silence, but not neglect to throw in a hint of the Defence of the +Realm Act and penal servitude. Never threaten an Englishman, +Froissart, but always let him know that behind your fine honourable +sentiments there is something devilish nasty. Preach as loud as you +can about the beauty of virtue, but don't forget to chuck in a +description of the fiery Hell which awaits wrongdoers. I don't depend +much either on the sentiments or the hints of punishment. I've got +every man of that hundred and twenty on my string, and if one of them +asks leave, within the next day or two, to go and bury his mother on +the East Coast, he shall go--but I shall go with him, and he shall +have a jolly little funeral of his own. Every letter which they write +will be read, every telegram copied for me, every message by 'phone +taken down. They are on my string, Froissart--every man." + +"You do everything, Mr. Dawson," grumbled Froissart. "Where do I come +in?" + +"You have helped me a lot already," replied Dawson handsomely. "You +being a foreigner make me talk very simple and plain, and think out my +plans so that I can explain them to you. One sees the weak points of a +scheme when one has to make it clear to a foreigner. You don't always +twig my meaning, Froissart, and sometimes your remarks are a bit +foolish; but you mean well, and, for a Frenchman, are quite +intelligent. I will say that for you, Froissart--quite intelligent." + +"_Sacré nom d'un chien_--" began Froissart hotly; but Dawson paid no +heed. He just went on talking, and Froissart, realising that Dawson +could not understand his French, and that he himself could not give +words to his feelings in English, relapsed into wrathful silence. Much +as I respect and admire Dawson, I should not care to be his +subordinate. + +"We must keep the cinema show going nice and lively for the Three +Towns," went on Dawson. "A big salvage steamer is coming down +to-morrow to give an air of verisimilitude to the proceedings. Patrol +boats will buzz about the Sound, and the potentates, naval and civil, +will gather from all parts. The unfortunate wrecks out at Picklecombe +Point will be guarded so that no shore boat can get within half a +mile. They won't bear a very close inspection. I hope that none of the +guns will break loose and float about the harbour. That would be what +you might call a blooming contretemps. I shall be pretty busy all the +next two days myself. Though I am a strict teetotaller, I shall get +into shore rig and spend my days in the public bars. I must know what +the Three Towns are talking about, and whether any suspicion of the +truth gets wind. I don't think that it can; at least, for some time. +The stage management has been too good. Later on there may be some +wonderment because none of the men from the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ +are allowed ashore. A lot of wives and families must be around here, +especially as the _Intrepid_ is a Plymouth ship. Of course it must be +given out that they are all needed to help with the salvage +operations, and no leave is allowed. You, Froissart, might spend your +time reading copies of all telegrams sent out from the Towns. If any +German agent wants to get news of the damage to the battle-cruisers +over to Holland, he will probably travel up to the East Coast and send +a wire on ahead. That is what I hope for. You shall then follow him +up, and make smooth the path of crime. Half our trouble will be lost +unless we can help the spoof news over to the Kaiser, bless him. The +job, at first, will be pretty dull for you, Froissart, and not over +lively for me. I hate pubs, yet for two days I must loaf about them, +pretending to drink. You can read the telegrams, but you can't +understand English well enough to pick up the gossip of the bars. I +must do that myself." + +"You have stopped all leave on the battle-cruisers--the real ones, I +mean--but what about the dockyard men," inquired Froissart. "Are they +to be allowed to go to their homes when they come off their shifts?" + +"I have thought of that and weighed both sides. It will be safer to +let them go home as usual. If we locked them all up in the dockyard +till the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ were both safe away, there would be +no end of curiosity and gossip. What so very special, people would +ask, could be going on in the yard that no one was allowed out for two +days. I don't want wives and families and neighbours to come smelling +round those dockyard gates. They might see the spotting tops of the +cruisers inside. Of course there is a regular forest of masts and +gantries showing, and a couple of spotting tops more or less might not +be noticed. But my general idea is to concentrate attention on those +dear old dummies down at Picklecombe Point. They are the centre of +interest, the eye of the picture--the cynosure, as a scholar would +say. I am not a bad scholar myself. I passed the seventh standard, and +went to school all the time I was in the Red Marines. I was a +sergeant, which takes a bit of doing. But see here, Froissart," +exclaimed Dawson, looking at his watch, "it is five o'clock, and we +must get quick to bed so as to be bright and lively in the morning." + +Dawson carried out his programme. Though a strict teetotaller, he +passed hours at public houses, especially in the evenings, listening +to the talk of the port. It was all about the disaster in the South +Seas, the heavy casualties suffered by the Three Towns, and the rotten +ill-luck of the avenging battle-cruisers running upon the German +mines. Not a whisper could Dawson hear of suspicion that the ships +beached under Mount Edgcumbe were other than the genuine article. The +salvage steamer with her big arc lights glowing through the darkness +had been the last artistic touch which brought complete conviction. +Gold-laced officers, including the Commander-in-Chief himself, had +been coming and going all day; the acting of the Navy had been +perfect. Dawson blessed the four bones of old Jacquetot, who, when he +tackles a job, does it very thoroughly indeed. "I should not be +surprised," thought he, "if the Mountain, as that young Jackanapes +called him, came trotting down here himself just to make the show +complete." And sure enough he did, accompanied by the Fourth Sea Lord +who had worked out all the convincing details. Dawson was ordered to +meet them in the Admiral's quarters of the _Intrepid_. He went, +looking a very different person from the private of Marines of some +thirty hours earlier, and had the honour of being invited to luncheon. +That lunch was the one scene in the comedy upon which he dwelt in +telling the story to me. "Lord Jacquetot," he said, "clinked glasses +with me and wished me the best of luck and success. It was as much as +he could do, he said, to keep the First Lord from coming down and +monkeying the whole affair. Luckily there was a debate in Parliament +that he wanted to figure in, and so couldn't get away. Lord Jacquetot +said that the First Lord had grabbed the whole scheme as his very own, +and forgotten that I had any part in it. I don't mind. The Secret +Service never gets any credit for anything. If it did, it wouldn't be +Secret very long." + +"No credit," I remarked, "and not much cash I expect." + +"Little enough, sir," replied Dawson. "I suppose we do the job for the +love of it. There's no sport like it. Our real work never gets into +the papers or the story-books." + +"Never?" I asked slily. "What about that story of mine in the +_Cornhill Magazine_, which you still carry about next your heart?" + +Dawson changed the subject. He never will appreciate chaff. + +At midnight of the day of the luncheon party the _Intrepid_ and +_Terrific_, clean and fully loaded, cleared out of dock and slipped +off into the darkness attended by their destroyer escort, whose duty +it was to see them safe round Ushant. Eight hours later Dawson came +down to breakfast and found that Froissart, satisfied with his _petit +déjeuner_ of coffee and rolls, had already gone out. Dawson felt +satisfied with himself, and was confident now that his work in the +Three Towns had been well and truly done. The rest could be left to +the Navy, and to his Secret Service agents. He sat down to a hearty +meal, but was not destined to finish it. First came a messenger from +the Officer in charge of the Dockyard, who handed over a sealed note +and took a receipt for it. Dawson broke the seal. "Dear Mr. Dawson," +he read, "You will be interested to learn that one of the hands +engaged upon the work we know of has asked for three days' leave--that +he may bury his mother in Essex. She died, he says, at Burnham. I +await your views before granting the leave asked for. The man has been +in our service for sixteen years, and bears the best of characters." + +"Now what do I know of Burnham?" muttered Dawson. "The name seems +familiar." He rang the bell, asked for an atlas, and studied carefully +the coast of Essex. Burnham stood upon the river Crouch, which Dawson +had heard of as a famous resort for motor-boats. His eyes gleamed, and +he threw up his head, which had been bent over the map. "The man shall +have his leave," murmured he. "But I don't think it will be his mother +who is buried." + +Just at that moment in came Froissart, looking, as Dawson at once +remarked, merry and bright. "It is no wonder," said he, "for see this +telegram of which I have just had a copy. It was spotted at once at +the Bureau, and the man who despatched it has been shadowed by a +police officer." The telegram read, "Coming to-day by South Western. +Meet me this evening at usual place." It was addressed to +Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex. + +Dawson picked up the note which he had received and passed it to +Froissart, who read it slowly. "The same place!" cried he. + +"Yes," said Dawson slowly, "the same place, and a famous resort for +motor-boats. We have not finished yet, my friend, with the _Intrepid_ +and _Terrific_" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +A COFFIN AND AN OWL + +Dawson laid the letter and the telegram upon his breakfast-table, and +bent his head over them. In a few minutes he had weighed them up, +sorted out their relative significance, and spoke. "We have here, +Froissart, two distinct people. I am almost sure of that. My man of +the dockyard who wants leave to bury his mother in Essex has not yet +received permission from his Chief. He would not therefore be +telegraphing about his train. He does not know yet whether he will be +permitted to go at all. Your man is quite confident that his movements +are in no way restricted. As I read between the lines I judge that my +man, who knows the actual truth about the docking and sailing of the +battle-cruisers, wants to reach the East Coast, whence he has means of +transmitting the priceless news to Germany. Your man is of one of the +Towns; he has seen the dummy cruisers ashore in the Sound; he believes +them to be genuine, and he also wants to transmit the news to his +paymasters in Germany, He will be an ordinary German agent. The +identity of place whither both wish to go is partly a coincidence, and +partly explained by its excellence as a jumping-off place for fast +motor-boats, which, during these long autumn nights, could race over +to and get back again between sunset and dawn. We have coast watchers +always about for the very purpose of stopping such lines of +communication. You shall accompany your own man, and make sure that he +is allowed to get through. If he does not himself cross, arrest him as +soon as his boat has gone. If he does go, watch for his return and +arrest him, and his boat and all on board, the moment that they +return. In any event the boat and its crew must be seized upon return +to Essex. Are you quite clear about what you have to do?" + +"Quite," said Froissart. "The spies and their boat must be caught +red-handed, but not till after the false news of the mining of the +battle-cruisers has been carried to Holland. But how shall we make +certain that the sleepless English Navy will not butt in and catch the +boat at sea before it gets across to Holland. The Narrow Seas swarm +with fast patrols." + +"I will provide for that. I will write at once for you a letter to the +Inspector of police at Burnham, and enclose copies of my credentials +from the Admiralty. I will also wire to Lord Jacquetot in private +code. You will find on arrival that the responsible naval authorities +of the district will be entirely at your service. That motor-boat with +the news of the great spoof shall be shepherded across most craftily, +but when it comes to return will find that the way of transgressors is +very hard. Get ready and be off, Froissart; we depend upon your skill +and discretion. Get a good view of your man--the police will point him +out--before he boards the train, and then don't let him out of your +sight. Take two plain-clothes officers with you. Run no unnecessary +risks of being spotted. You are rather easily recognisable with those +shining black eyes and black beard, but no one here has seen you +officially, and you should pass unsuspected as a Scotland Yard man. +Can I trust you?" + +"_Mais certainement_," said Froissart crossly. "This is simple police +work, which I have done a thousand times. I could do it on my head." + +"Your train leaves at 10.8; the South Western station. I will give you +the letters at once, and then you can start." + +Within a quarter of an hour Dawson--his breakfast forgotten--had given +Froissart his letters, sent a long telegram by special messenger to +the Commander-in-Chief for despatch in code to Jacquetot. Not even to +Dawson would the Admiralty entrust its private cypher. Then, as soon +as Froissart had disappeared, he called up the Chief of the Dockyard +on the telephone and arranged to come at once to his office. + +"I had given the easy job to Froissart," he explained to me long +afterwards. "It was, as he called it, simple police work. He had, +without arousing suspicion, to make smooth the path for his spy just +as you and I opened the door to the Hook for the late-lamented Hagan, +and escorted him across in the mail-boat. We have helped false news +over to the Germans scores of times. It is grand sport. My job was +something much more tricky. I had to get plain proof that my man was a +spy in the dockyard, to keep him playing on my line to the very last +minute, but to make dead certain of stopping him at the fifty-fifth +second of the eleventh hour." + +"Why did you not cut out your difficulties by just stopping him from +going to Essex? At a word from you his Chief would have refused +leave." + +Dawson smiled at me in a fashion which I find intensely aggravating. +He has no tact; when he feels superior, he lets one see it plainly. + +"The fat would have been in the fire then," exclaimed he. "Suppose he +lay low for a day or two, took French leave, and went. I should have +been off his track. Shadowing is all very well, but it does not always +succeed in a crowded district like the Three Towns. If he had got away +without me beside him, the man might have reached Essex and done there +what he pleased. Besides, he might have had accomplices unknown to me. +No, it was the only possible course to give him leave and follow him +up close. Then whatever he did would be under my own eye." + +Dawson gulped down a cup of coffee, sadly regarded his rapidly +congealing bacon, and skipped off to the dockyard. "Who is this man of +yours whose mother has died at so very inconvenient a moment for us? +What the deuce is he doing with a mother in Essex at all? He ought to +be a Devon man." + +"He isn't, anyway. I have been making close inquiries. Though he has +been with us for sixteen years, he did come originally from somewhere +in the East. The man is one of the best I have--never drinks, keeps +good time, and works hard. He makes big wages, and carries them +virtuously home to his wife. He has money in the savings bank, and +holds Consols, poor chap, on which he must have wasted the good toil +of years. I can't imagine any one less likely to take German gold than +this man Maynard. Sure you haven't a bee in your bonnet, Dawson? To a +police officer every one is a probable criminal, but some of us now +and then are passably honest. I will bet my commission that Maynard is +honest." + +Dawson sniffed. "The honest men, with the excellent characters and the +virtuous wives, are always the most dangerous because least likely to +arouse suspicion. How do you know that Maynard hasn't a second +establishment hidden away somewhere in the Three Towns? The upper and +middle classes have no monopoly in illicit love affairs. Their working +class betters do a bit that way too." + +"All right. Have it your own way. We will assume for the sake of +security that Maynard is a spy, that he has no dead mother whom he +wants leave to bury, and that he has sold his country for the sake of +some bit of fluff in Plymouth. The point is: what am I to do? Shall I +grant leave?" + +"Yes," said Dawson, "and do it handsomely. Give him four days and run +the sympathetic stunt. Offer him a Service pass by the Great Western. +Say how grieved you are and all the rest of the tosh. Have him up now, +and put me somewhere close so that I can take a good look at the swine +when he comes in and when he goes out." + +The Chief of the Dockyards shrugged his shoulders, placed Dawson in an +adjoining room, and summoned Maynard from the yard. The man, who was +dressed in the awful dead black of his class when a funeral is in +prospect, came up, and Dawson got a full sight of him. Maynard was +about thirty-five, well set up--for he had served in the +Territorials--and looked what he was, a first-rate workman of the best +type. Even Dawson, who trusted no one, was slightly shaken. "I have +never seen a man who looked less like a spy," muttered he; "but then, +those always make the most dangerous of spies. Why has he a mother in +Essex, and why has she died just now? Real mothers don't do these +things; they've more sense." + +Maynard received his third-class pass, respectfully thanked his +Officer for his kindly expressed sympathy--which in his case was quite +genuine--and disappeared. Dawson jumped into the room again to take a +word of farewell. "I should know him anywhere," he cried. "I am going +by the same train in the same carriage. Good-bye." + +Maynard reached the Great Western station in good time, and found a +carriage which was not overcrowded. He was carrying a small handbag. +At the last moment before the train started a prosperous-looking +passenger, with "commercial gentleman" written all over him, stepped +into the same compartment and seated himself in a vacant seat opposite +the bereaved workman. It was Dawson in one of his favourite rôles. +"There is nothing less like a detective," he would say, "than a +middle-aged commercial traveller. They are such genial, unsuspicious, +open-handed folk. This comes of wandering about the country at other +people's expense." + +The 10.15 fast express from the Three Towns to Paddington is an +excellent one, and the journey was not more tedious than five hours +spent in a train are bound to be. All through the journey Dawson, from +behind his stock of papers and magazines, studied Maynard, and became, +not, perhaps shaken in his conviction, but certainly puzzled. "He +looked," he explained to me, "like a sick and sorrowful man. One who +had really lost a beloved mother far away would look just like that. +But so might one who had been unfaithful to a trusting wife and was +now risking his neck to pour gold into the greedy lap of a frowsy +mistress. One must never judge by appearances. A man may look as sick +over backing the wrong horse as at losing an only son in the trenches. +Human means of expression are limited." + +"It takes time to learn that you are not such a beast as you pretend," +I observed. Dawson grinned. + +At Paddington Maynard took the Tube to Liverpool Street, and did not +observe that his fellow passenger of the brown tweed suit and the fat, +self-satisfied, rather oily face followed by the same route. Dawson, +who was famished, rejoiced to see Maynard make for the +refreshment-room. He could not lunch on the train, since the workman, +upon whom he attended, had economically fed himself upon sandwiches +put up in a "nosebag." + +"No breakfast, no lunch," groaned Dawson. "What a day!" He did his +best during five minutes in the refreshment-room at Liverpool Street +to fill up the howling void in his person, and then watched Maynard +enter a train for Burnham-on-Crouch. In two minutes he had opened up +communications with a station Inspector of Police, made himself known, +and secured the services of a constable to travel in Maynard's +carriage. He did not wish to be seen again himself just at present. He +yearned, too, for a first-class compartment and an ample tea-basket. +Dawson's brain is a martyr to duty, but his stomach continually rises +in rebellion. It was a fast train which would not stop until the Essex +coast was reached, so that Dawson did not doubt that his quarry would +be upon the platform when he himself got out So he was, and so, too, +was a girl in deep mourning who had come to meet him. Dawson was +staggered; a girl, also in funeral blacks, upset the picture which he +had painted to himself. The man and girl talked together for a few +minutes, and then walked slowly arm in arm out of the station towards +the village. Dawson picked up his police assistant and followed. He +gave no explanation of the reasons for his shadowing of the man +Maynard, for he was just beginning to feel uneasy. Slowly the party of +four threaded through the pretty little place, bright under the +pleasant autumn twilight. Maynard and the girl were in front, Dawson +and his policeman followed some fifty yards behind. In a side street, +at the door of a small cottage--one of a humble row--the pair of +mourners stopped, opened the iron gate, and entered. Dawson waited, +watching. He could see through the windows into a little parlour where +some half a dozen people, all in deep black, were gathered. Presently, +as if they had waited only for the arrival of Maynard--which indeed +was the fact--the heavy steps of men clumping down wooden stairs +resounded from the open door, and there emerged into the street a +coffin borne upon the shoulders of six bearers. The moment that the +coffin appeared Dawson realised his blunder. Maynard had really lost +his mother, and, like a dutiful son, had come all the way from the +Three Towns to bury her! Off flew Dawson's hat, and he nudged the +policeman hard in the ribs. "Take off your helmet, you chump," he +growled savagely. "Don't you see that it's a funeral." The man, rather +dazed--he had been plucked away from Liverpool Street at a moment's +notice and sent upon what he thought was police service--did what he +was told. The group of mourners formed behind the coffin, which was +carried to the cemetery not far off. Still following, with their heads +bowed, Dawson and the bewildered policeman attended the funeral, heard +the beautiful service read, and the last offices completed. Then they +turned away and made for the railway station. + +"Why, sir," asked the policeman, looking sideways rather fearfully at +his superior officer's stern face--"why, sir, did we come to this +place?" + +"Why? Haven't you seen?" snapped Dawson. "To attend a funeral, of +course." + + * * * * * + +I have never met that policeman. To have conversed with him and to +have sought to chop a way through the tangled recesses of his mind +would have gratified me hugely. For, if police constables think at +all, in what a bewildered whirl of confused speculation must his poor +brain have been occupied during the return journey to London! Dawson +tossed him into a compartment of the first train which came along, one +of extreme slowness, and then dismissed him into cold space without a +scrap of remorse. The humble creature, discharging his station duties +with the precision of daily habit, had swung into the overpowering +orbit of Chief Inspector Dawson, been caught up, dumped without +instructions upon an unknown journey in attendance upon an unknown +workman. Then when the train had stopped, he had been spewed out upon +a strange country platform, led through strange mean streets, and +forced with head bared to the autumn chill of evening, to attend the +obsequies of a total stranger. At the end, without a word of +explanation, still less of apology, he had been returned as an empty +rejected package to the platform at Liverpool Street. Yes, I should +dearly love to have met and cross-questioned that policeman, and have +listened to the bizarre solution which he had to offer to it all. But +most probably, in his stolid, faithful way, he never gave the subject +any thought at all. To be tossed about at the whims of superiors was +an experience which he would take as composedly as he would those +exiguous weekly wages which were the derisory compensation. + +Dawson went to the small hotel which he had picked out with Froissart +as a convenient rendezvous. There he sat for hours doing nothing, for +he was far too wise a man to push his head into another man's +business, even though that one were a subordinate and a foreigner. He +had failed once; he could not afford, by deputy, to fail a second +time. Besides, he knew nothing of the movements of Froissart and his +quarry. They had not appeared within the visible horizon of +Burnham-on-Crouch, though they had had ample time in which to arrive. +I am afraid that his temper got the better of him, and as the night +drew on, unsolaced by a word from Froissart, and unrelieved by any +literature more engrossing than old railway time-tables and hotel +advertisements, he consigned to the Bottomless Pit the Chief of the +Devonport Dockyard, the disgustingly virtuous and unenterprising +Maynard, and even the harmless soul of his lately buried mother. +Dawson in a royal rage is no pleasant spectacle. + +It had gone half-past eleven before Froissart came, a boisterous, +triumphant Froissart, bragging of his skill and his success in the +manner of a born Gascon. + +"It was tremendous, _mon ami_," roared Froissart, unchecked by +Dawson's scowls. "I have done the blooming trick: the boat has gone to +Holland, and the filthy spy is in the strong lock-up. My vigilance, my +astuteness, my resource unfathomable, my flair, my soul of an artist, +my patience inexhaustible, my address so firm and yet so delicate, my +mastery of the minds of those others less gifted, my--" + +"Oh, stow it!" roared Dawson. + +"Unfailing insight, _mon esprit français_, my genius for the service +of police, my unshakable courage and élan, have had their just and +inevitable reward. The boat with the message so false has gone to +Holland for the German Kaiser to gloat over, and the filthy spy is in +the safe lock-up. I took him with my own hands--I, le Comte de +Froissart, I bemired my hands by contact with his foul carcase. The +boat it flew down the river; _ma foi_, like a flash of the lightning, +going they said thirty knots, _presque cinquante kilomètres par +heure_. The glorious _Marine Anglaise_ will see that it reaches les +Pays Bas, and then when it is of return your sailors so splendid, with +sang-froid so perfect, will gobble it up. Just gobble it up. As I will +gobble up this cold beef upon your table. _Peste_, I am of a hunger +excruciating. I have not eaten for five, six, ten hours." + +Froissart sat down at Dawson's table, where still lay the cold remains +of his supper--he had had the decency to reflect that his colleague +Froissart might be hungry upon arrival--and fell to eating copiously +and loudly. The French are least admirable when they are seen +devouring food. + +Froissart ate while Dawson writhed. Though his colleague's success +would plant laurels upon his own brow--little would he ever say at the +Yard of that journey to Burnham and the preposterous funeral--he was +jealous, bitterly jealous. I am by special appointment the Boswell of +Dawson, yet I do not spare the feelings of my subject. Rather do I go +over them with a rake--for the ultimate good of Dawson's variegated +soul. He was bitterly jealous, but from natural curiosity yearned to +know the details of those feats of which Froissart prated so +triumphantly. And all the while, unconscious, heedless of his wrathful +exasperated chieftain, Froissart devoured food in immense quantities. +It was a disgusting exhibition. + +Satisfied at last, Froissart broke away from the table, lit a +cigarette, and sat himself down beside Dawson before the fire. It was +well past midnight, but to these men regular habits were unknown, and +the hours of work and of sleep always indeterminate. + +"Now," exclaimed Froissart, "I will tell to you, my friend Dawson, the +true _histoire_ of my exploits so tremendous and unapproachable. I +reached the station at Plymouth at ten hours, my spy was upon the +platform. I knew him, for those who had kept him under watch had +informed me of him. I had with me two police officers _en bourgeois_, +what you call plain clothes, and I distributed them with the acumen of +a strategist. It was _un train à couloir_. The spy disposed himself in +a compartment. I placed one of my officers in the same compartment +with him, the other in the compartment _contiguée_ towards the engine, +myself in that _à derrière_. He was thus the meat in our sandwich. If +he passed into the corridor and walked this way or that he was seen by +me or by my man in advance; all his movements while within his own +compartment were supervised every moment. So we travelled. He did +himself well that spy so atrocious. He partook of his _déjeuner_ in +the _buffet du train_, and we all three took our _déjeuner_ there +also. That was the last meal of which I ate before this my supper +here. The journey was without incident, but when he arrived at +Waterloo the trouble began. He was not taking risks, that spy. He knew +not that he was under watch, but he took not risks. He began to +perform a voyage designed to throw any man, except one of the +vigilance and resource of Froissart, completely off his track. I was +not learned in your Métropolitain before this day, but now I know your +Tubes as if a map of them were printed in colours upon my hand. At +Waterloo that spy, so astute, burrowed into the earth and entered a +train of the railway called Bakerloo, in which he journeyed to +Golder's Green. Then he crossed a _quai_ and returned to the town +called Camden. Again he descended, passed through tunnels, and +emerging upon another _quai_ proceeded to Highgate. All the while we +three followed, not close, but so that he never escaped from under our +eyes. At Highgate he turned about and returned to Tottenham Court +Road. Thence he departed by another line to the Bank, and, rising in +and _ascenseur_, emerged upon the pavements of your City. He looked +this way and that, not perceiving us who watched, walked warily to the +Lord Maire's station of the Mansion House, boarded the District +Railway, and did not alight till Wimbledon. It was easy to follow, but +my friend, the billets, the tickets, were _une grande difficulté_. I +solved the problem of tickets by my genius so _superbe_. We at first +tried to take them, but _après_ we abandoned the project so hopeless +and travelled _sans payer_. When asked at the barriers or in the +lifts, we offered pennies, and the men who collected took them +joyfully, asking not whence we came. It was _une procédée très +simple_. It is possible that these wayward uncounted pennies dropped +into their own pockets. They rejoiced always to receive them. From +Wimbledon we returned to Earl's Court, and then, descending by an +electric staircase, which moved of itself, again found ourselves in +the Tubes. I loved that _escalier électrique_; one day I will return +and ascend and descend upon it for hours. From Earl's Court we went to +Piccadilly Circus; there we made another change for Oxford Circus; +there we again got out, and at last, after penetrating the bowels of +your London, travelled to Liverpool Street. By this time it had become +dark, and the spy's passion for underground travel had spent itself. +He crossed the street, descended to the grand station of the Eastern +Railway, and took a ticket for Burnham-on-Crouch. Exhausted, but ever +vigilant, Froissart and his faithful men took also tickets for +Burnham-on-Crouch. + +"I will not weary you more with our wanderings, but after many hours, +at ten o'clock, we at last arrived at this place. The spy was met upon +the _quai_ by another villain, with whom he held converse, and the +pair of them, ignorant that the vengeance of Froissart overshadowed +them, marched heedlessly, openly, to the river side and entered a +large house of which the gardens ran down to the water. I left there +my two faithful but weary ones on watch, and hastened to the _salle de +police_. There an Inspector and a young _officier anglais_--a +sub-lieutenant of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve--were awaiting my +arrival with impatience. To them I told my story with the brevity that +I now recount it to you. They were intrigued greatly, and the +_sous_-lieutenant struck me violently upon the back and said, _ma +foi_, that I was a 'downy old bird,' It was a compliment _très +'bizarre mais très aimable._ I was, it appeared, an old bird of the +downiest plumage. I had noted the name of the house, and the Inspector +seized a Directory. 'We have suspected that house for some time,' said +he. There is a big boat-house at the bottom of the garden containing a +large sea-going motor-boat. The proprietor calls himself English, but +does not look like one. He is doubtless a snake, one whom they call +_naturalisé_, a viper whom we English have warmed in our bosoms.' So +spake the Inspector. The Sub-Lieutenant whistled. He said only, 'Send +for little Tommy; it is a job for him.' A call was sent forth, and +there came into the room a scrap of an infant, habited in short +pantaloons and a green shirt. The child carried a long pole and stood +stiffly at attention. '_Ma foi_, do I see before me a Boy Scout?' I +asked. 'You do,' replied the Sub-Lieutenant. 'This is little Tommy, +the patrol leader of the Owls.' '_Mon Dieu_' I cried, 'an Owl! _Un +Hibou_! Is he then stupid as an owl?' I could see that the Tommy so +small frowned savagely, but the Sub-Lieutenant laughed. 'You will see +presently if he is stupid. I have forty miles of coast to watch, and I +do it all with Boy Scouts like this one.' '_Nom d'un chien_,' I cried. +'You English are a great people.' 'We are,' agreed the Sub-Lieutenant, +'devilish great.' Tommy grinned. + +"Then the officer so youthful--his age could not have exceeded +nineteen years--gave orders to the little Tommy. He was to go to the +house, to enter the garden, to squeeze his tiny person into the +boat-house, and watch. When the spy and his associates went towards +the boat, Tommy was to warn us with a hoot--like an owl--and we were +to take charge. At least so I understood the orders given in a strange +sea language. Tommy saluted, and vanished. If he had ten years, I +should be astonished; but he was a man, every inch of him. Wait till I +have finished. + +"We followed quickly behind Tommy, but saw him not, and joined my men, +who still watched the house. The Sub-Lieutenant and I moved warily, +climbed over the wall of the garden, and crept along the grass, soft +like moss to our feet, till we could see the boat-house stand out +against the dull shine of the river. There was no sign of the presence +of _le petit Hibou_. Suddenly the door of the house, which gave upon +the garden, opened, and four men walked down to the boat-house and +entered stealthily. My heart turned to water--what a calamity if they +should find and slay the pretty little Owl! The minutes passed, +perhaps five, perhaps ten, and then quite close we heard the soft low +hoot of an owl. The Sub-Lieutenant hooted a reply, and from among some +bushes there came out that serene, intrepid infant with the pole! He +joined us, and whispered eagerly to the officer. I could not hear what +he said. Afterwards the Sub-Lieutenant told me that the men had +entered, three had got into the boat, one remaining on land. It was a +forty-foot boat, reported Tommy--who seemed of wisdom and knowledge +encyclopaedic--it had a big cabin forrard, the engine was a +Wotherspoon, ten cylinders set V-fashion, the power a hundred horses. +So Tommy had observed and reported, and so I repeat to you. As we +watched we saw the boat push out into the river, turn towards the sea; +the engine so powerful buzzed like a million bees, a wave curled up in +front, and it sped away for Holland like the shot of an arrow. The +night was fine, the sea calm; it would complete the voyage in safety. +But upon return what a surprise has been prepared for that motor-boat +and its detestable owner! What a surprise, _ma foi_. I yearn to hear +of the dénouement. + +"'We will nab the fourth man who has stayed behind,' whispered the +officer, and we crept towards the boat-house. We were ten yards away +when he issued forth and turned to lock the door. Then we sprang upon +him. He was very quick--like the big snake that he was. He heard us, +spun round, and struck two blows of his fist. The Sub-Lieutenant got +one upon his beautiful nose; I got the other here under the jaw. We +were shot, sprawling, upon the grass, one to each side, and the +villain, springing between us, started to flee. I was struck down, but +not stunned; I was alert, undefeated, eager to resume the battle. I +rose to my knees. I saw the villain fleeing up the grass. Ah, he would +escape! But I had not reckoned upon the patrol leader, the little Owl, +the _Hibou_ of a Boy Scout so deft and courageous. The spy fled, but +into his path sprang the tiny figure of the Owl, his pole in rest like +a lance. They met, the man and the little Owl, and the shock of that +tourney aroused the echoes of the night. The man, hit in the belly by +the point of the pole, collapsed upon the grass, and the Owl, driven +backwards by the weight of the man, rolled over and over like _un +hérisson_. He was no longer an Owl; he was a round Hedgehog! I was +consumed with admiration for the gallant Owl. I got to my feet, I +jumped across the lawn, and fell with both knees hard upon the carcase +so foul of the spy whom I had pursued all day. He lay groaning from +the grievous pain in his belly, and I put upon him the handcuffs +before that he could recover. The little Tommy, the Hedgehog, picked +himself up, staggered to the body of his enemy, and there, leaning +upon the admirable pole which he had not released in his somersaults, +gave forth a hoot of victory. It was the Day of Tommy. But for that +morsel of a wise Owl the spy would have escaped. I embraced Tommy, who +wriggled with discomfort; the Sub-Lieutenant shook his hand, which he +appreciated the more. 'Good work,' said the officer. 'Thank you, sir,' +said Tommy. That was all; no emotion, no compliments, no embraces. +'Good work.' 'Thank you, sir.' _Ma foi_, what a people are the +English! + +"We locked up the spy. The Sub-Lieutenant told me that wireless orders +had gone out to the patrols spread far over the seas. The boat, of +which we had the name and description, would arrive at Holland, but +upon its return on the morrow it would be seized and escorted to +Harwich. If by mischance it eluded the patrols, it would be captured +when it arrived in the river Crouch. All was provided for. The false +news has gone to Holland, and Froissart has done good work. I ask for +no reward; I will be like the English--cold, implacable. When the +officer said at parting to me, 'Good work, M. Froissart, we are much +obliged to you,' I replied calmly, 'Thank you, sir,' I had, you will +observe, modelled myself upon the little Owl. + +"And you, Mr. Dawson," concluded Froissart, wiping his face, for the +effort of talking so much English had brought out the sweat upon him, +"have you also succeeded?" + +"Yes," said Dawson curtly, "I have also done my work, but it was not +exciting. My man was no spy, and the real news about the _Intrepid_ +and _Terrific_ will not get through to Germany." + +"Saved," roared Froissart, springing to his feet. "We are colleagues +most perfect. We have done work of the most good. _Embraçons nous, mon +ami_." Then occurred that deplorable incident which has already been +related. Froissart in his enthusiasm embraced the unresponsive Dawson, +and was laid out by a short-arm jab upon the diaphragm. It was really +too bad of Dawson; but then, as I have said, his temper was atrocious. + + * * * * * + +The two battle-cruisers remained upon the shoals of Picklecombe Point +all through November and well into the following month. The great +salvage steamer with the arc light went away, but others remained. +Work seemed to proceed, though it was unaccountably slow in producing +a result. The Three Towns lost interest in the derelicts until one +evening there fell upon them a blow which set them gasping for +coherent speech. The newsboys were crying in the streets a Special +Edition, very Special. Set in dirty type in an odd column, headed with +the mysterious words "Stop Press," appeared an announcement by the +Admiralty that far away in the South Seas the battle-cruisers +_Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, under the command of Vice-Admiral Stocky, +had met and sunk the lately victorious German Squadron! It was +glorious news, but the Three Towns thought little at the moment of the +glory. They urgently hungered for an explanation of the inscrutable +means by which two battle-cruisers, mined and cast upon the shoals +below Mount Edgecumbe under their very eyes, could race hot foot to +the South Seas and there lay out a German squadron. As soon as the +winter dawn broke an immense crowd surged upon the Hoe gazing into +blank space. The two battle-cruisers, which for a month had lain +helpless before them, were gone! Gone, too, were the salvage steamers +and the patrol boats. The waters which had been so active and crowded +were void! Then the Three Towns understood; they grasped, men, women +and children, the great spoof of which they had been the interested +victims, and their approving laughter rose to Heaven. For in all that +appertains to the Royal Navy every one born within the circuit of the +Three Towns is very wise indeed. + + + + + +PART IV + + +_THE CAPTAIN OF MARINES_ + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +DAWSON REAPPEARS + +I had seen nothing of Dawson during my intimate association with +Madame Gilbert. He had written to me copiously--for a very busy man he +was a curiously voluminous letter-writer. He always employed the backs +of official forms and wrote in pencil. His handwriting, large and +round, was that of a man who had received a good and careful Board +School education, but was quite free from personal characteristics. +Dawson's letters in no respect resembled the man. They were very long, +very dull, and very crudely phrased. He had evidently tried to put +them into what he conceived to be a literary shape, and the effect was +deplorable. One may read such letters, the work of unskilled writers, +in the newspapers which devote space to "Correspondence." The writers, +like Dawson, can probably talk vividly and forcibly, using strong +nervous vernacular English, but the moment they take the pen all +thought and individual character become swamped in a flood of turgid, +commonplace jargon. I was disappointed with Dawson's letters, and I am +sure that he will be even more disappointed when he finds none of them +made immortal in this book. His purpose in sending them to me will +have been ruthlessly defeated. + +A week after Madame had vanished down my lift for the last time, +Dawson--in the make-up with which I was most familiar--called upon me +at my office. He also came to say good-bye, for a turn of the official +wheel had come, and he was ordered south to resume his duties at the +Yard. He was, he told me, taking a last tour of inspection to make +certain that the Secret Service net, which he had designed and laid, +would be deftly worked by the hands of his subordinates. "I shall not +be sorry," said he, "to get back to my deserted family and to be once +more the plain man Dawson whom God made." + +"You have so many different incarnations," I observed, "that I wonder +the original has not escaped your memory." + +He smiled. "If I had forgotten," said he, "my wife would soon remind +me. She always insists that she married a certain man Dawson and +declines to recognise any other." + +"So if I come south to visit you, I shall see the original?" + +"You will." + +"Thanks," said I; "I will come at the earliest opportunity." + +"I don't say that if you call at the Yard you will see quite the same +person whom you will meet at Acacia Villas, Primrose Road, Tooting." + +"That would be too much to expect. But under any guise, Dawson, I am +always sure of knowing you." + +"Yes, confound you. I would give six months' pay to know how you do +it." + +"You shall know some day, and without any bribery. Now that you are +here, talk, talk, talk. I want to get the taste of those rotten +letters of yours out of my mouth." + +He looked surprised and hurt. He looked exactly as a famous sculptor +looked who, when a beautiful work of his hands was unveiled, wished me +to publish a descriptive sonnet from his pen. I bluntly refused. He +was an admirable sculptor, but a dreadful sonneteer. Yet in his secret +heart he valued the sonnet far above the statue. In this strange way +we are made. + +I did not conceal from Dawson my interest in Madame Gilbert, and he +rather rudely expressed strong disapproval. He suggested that for a +married man I was much too free in my ways. "That woman is full of +brains," said he, "but she is the artfullest hussy ever made. She will +turn any man around her pretty fingers if he gives way to her. She has +made a nice fool of you and of that ass Froissart. She even tried her +little games with me--with me indeed. But I was too strong for her." + +I regarded Dawson with some interest and more pity. The poor fellow +did not realise that Madame had for years moulded him to her hands +like potter's clay. She had mastered him by ingenuously pretending +that he stood upon a serene pinnacle far removed from her influence. +He had preened his feathers and done her bidding. + +"We are not all strong--like you, Dawson," said I mildly. + +I switched Dawson off the subject of Madame Gilbert, and directed his +mind towards the contemplation of his own exploits. When handled +judiciously he will talk freely and frankly, giving away official +secrets with both hands. But his confidences always relate to the +past, to incidents completed. When he has a delicate job on hand, he +can be as close as the English Admiralty, even to me. He has no sense +of proportion. Again and again he has recounted the interminable +details of cases in which I take not the smallest interest, and has +ignored all my efforts to dam the unprofitable flood of narrative and +to divert the current into more fruitful channels. He looks at +everything from the Dawson standpoint, and cares for nothing which +does not add to the glory of Dawson. Unless he fills the stage, an +incident has for him no value or concern. Happily for me the most +startling of his exploits, that of bending a timid War Committee of +the Cabinet to his will in the winter of 1915-1916, and of bluffing +into utter submission nearly a hundred thousand rampant munition +workers who were eager to "down tools," fulfils all the Dawson +conditions of importance. He and he alone filled a star part, to him +and to him alone belonged the success of an incredibly bold manoeuvre. +I have drawn Dawson as I saw him, in his weakness and in his strength. +I have revealed his vanity and the carefully hidden tenderness of his +heart. In my whimsical way I have perhaps treated him as essentially a +figure of fun. But though I may smile at him, even rudely laugh at +him, he is a great public servant who once at least--though few at the +time knew--saved his country from a most grievous peril. + +In the early weeks of 1916, when work for the Navy, and work in the +gun and ammunition shops which were rapidly being organised all over +the country, were within a very little of being suspended by a general +strike of workmen, terrified for their threatened trade-union +privileges, the strength and resource of Dawson put forth boldly in +the North dammed the peril at its source. In spite of the penalties +laid down in Munition Acts, in spite of the powers vested in military +authorities by the Defence of the Realm Regulations, there would have +been a great strike, and both the Navy and the New Army would have +been hung up gasping for the ships, the guns, and the supplies upon +which they had based all their plans for attack and defence. The +danger arose over that still insistent problem--the "dilution of +labour." The new armies had withdrawn so many skilled and unskilled +workmen from the workshops, and the demands for munitions of all kinds +were so overwhelming, that wholly new and strange methods of +recruiting labour were urgent. Women must be employed in large +numbers, in millions; machinery must be put to its full use without +regard for the restrictions of unions, if the country were to be +saved. Many of the younger and more open-minded of the trade-union +officials had enlisted; many of those older ones who remained could +not bend their stiff minds to the necessity for new conditions. They +were not consciously unpatriotic--their sons were fighting and dying; +they were not consciously seditious, though secret enemy agents moved +amongst them, and talked treason with them in the jargon of their +trades. They simply could not understand that the hardly won +privileges of peace must yield to the greater urgencies of war. + +Civilians came north to examine the position on behalf of the Ministry +of Munitions; they came, wrung their hands, and reported in terror +that if dilution were pressed, a hundred thousand men would be "out." +Yet the risk had to be taken, for dilution must be pressed. Dawson was +hard at work sweeping into his widespread net all those whom he knew +to be enemy agents and all those whom he suspected. It was not an +occasion for squeamishness. With the consent of his official +superiors, he picked up with those prehensile fingers of his many of +the most troublesome of the union agitators, and deported them to safe +spots far distant, where they were constrained to cease from +troubling. Still the danger increased, and he saw that a few days only +could intervene between industrial peace and war. Already the +manufacture of heavy howitzers for the Spring Offensive had been +stopped--by a cunning embargo upon small essential parts--and the +moment had arrived for a trial of strength between authority and +rebellion. He made up his mind, plainly told his chiefs what his plans +were, obtained their whole-hearted concurrence, and went south by the +night train. By telegram he had sent an ultimatum which struck awe +into the official mind. "Unless," he wired, in code, "the Cabinet +wants a revolution, it had better meet at once and call me in. Unless +it does this at once I shall not go back here. I shall resign, and +leave the Government in the soup where it deserves to be." + +Such a message from a man who in official eyes was no more than a +Chief Inspector of Police was in itself a portent. It revealed how +completely war had upset all official standards and conventions. + +To the Chief, his Commissioner, he opened his mind freely. "I am about +fed up with politicians and lawyers," said he. "There is big trouble +coming, and not a man of them all has the pluck to get his blow in +first. I have always found that men will respect an order--they like +to be governed--but they despise slop. What the devil's the use of +Ministers going North and telling the men how well they have done, and +how patriotic they are, when the men themselves all know that they've +done damn badly and mean to do worse? I could settle the whole +business in twenty-four hours." + +"They are frightened men, Dawson," said the Chief. "That is the matter +with the Government. They have been brought up to slobber over the +public and try to cheat it out of votes. They can't tell the truth. +When hard deadly reality breaks through their web of make-believe, +they cower together in corners and howl. I doubt if you will get a +free hand, Dawson. What do you want--martial law?" + +"Yes. That, or something like it. If I have the threat of it at my +back, so that it rests with me, and me alone, to put it into force, I +shall not need to use it. But I must go North with the proclamation in +my pocket or I shall not go North at all. Here is my resignation." +Dawson tossed a letter upon the table, and laughed. The Chief picked +it up and read the curt lines in which Dawson delivered his last word. + +"Good man," commented he; "that is the way to talk. They can't +understand how any man can have the grit to resign a fat job before he +is kicked out. They never do. They compromise. You may put starch into +their soft backbones, but personally I doubt the possibility. But at +least you will get your chance. There is to be a meeting of the War +Committee the first thing to-morrow morning and you are to be +summoned. I told the Home Secretary that I should resign myself if +they did not give you a full opportunity to state your case. I will +support you as long as I am in this chair." + +Dawson held out his hand. "Thank you," he said simply. The two men +clasped hands and looked into one another's eyes. "It is a good +country, Dawson," said the Chief--"a jolly good country, and worth big +risks to oneself. It will be saved by plain, honest men if it is to be +saved at all. Our worst enemies are not the Germans, but our +flabby-fibred political classes at home. The people are just crying +out to be told what to do, and to be made to do it. Yet nobody tells +them. Don't let the Cabinet browbeat you, and smother you with +plausible sophistries. Just talk plain English to them, Dawson." + +"I will. For once in their sheltered lives they shall hear the truth." + +For what follows, Dawson is my principal, but not my sole authority. I +have tested what he told me in every way that I could, and the test +has held. Somehow--I am prepared to believe in the manner told by +him--he forced the Cabinet to give him the authority for which he +asked, and he used it in the manner which I shall tell of. He held +what is always a first-rate advantage: he knew exactly what he wanted, +no more or less, and was prepared to get it or retire from official +life. Those who gave to him authority gave it reluctantly--gave it +because they were between the devil and the deep sea. They would +gladly have thrown over Dawson, but they could not throw over the +civil and military powers who supported him in his demands. And had +they thrown him over they would have been left to deal by their +incompetent unaided selves with a strike in the midst of war which +might have spread like a prairie fire over the whole country. But +though they bent before Dawson, I am very sure that they did not love +him, and that he will never be the Chief Commissioner of Metropolitan +Police. Against his name in the official books stands a mark of the +most deadly blackness. Strength and success are never pardoned by +weakness and failure. + +When at last Dawson was summoned to the sitting; of the War Committee, +he found himself in the presence of some half a dozen elderly and +embarrassed-looking gentlemen arranged round a big table. They had +been discussing him, and trying to devise some decent civil means to +get rid of him. He and his story of the coming strike in the North +were a distressful inconvenience, an intolerable intrusion upon a +quiet life. When he entered, he was without a friend in the room, +except the War Minister who loved a man who knew his own mind and was +prepared to accept big responsibilities. But even he doubted whether +it were possible to achieve the results aimed at with the means +required by Dawson. + +Our friend suffered from no illusions. "I knew what I was up against," +he said to me long afterwards. "I knew that they were all longing to +be quit of me and to go to sleep again. But I had made up my mind that +they should get some very plain speaking. I would compel them to +understand that what I offered was a forlorn chance of averting a +civil war, and that if they refused my offer they would be left to +themselves--not to stamp out a spark of revolution, but to subdue a +roaring furnace. They could take their choice in the certain knowledge +that if they chose wrongly the North would be in flames within +forty-eight hours. It was a great experience, Mr. Copplestone. I have +never enjoyed anything half so much." + +Dawson was offered a chair set some six feet distant from the sacred +table, but he preferred to stand. His early training held, and he was +not comfortable in the presence of his superiors in rank or station +except when standing firmly at attention. + +The Prime Minister fumbled with some papers, looked over them for a +few embarrassed minutes, and then spoke. + +"Great pressure has been placed upon us, Mr. Dawson, to see you and to +hear your report. Great pressure--to my mind improper pressure. I have +here letters from Magistrates, Lords Lieutenant, competent military +authorities, naval officers superintending shipyards, officials of the +Munitions Department. They all declare that the industrial outlook in +the North is most perilous, and that at any moment a situation may +arise which will be fraught with the gravest peril to the country. We +have replied that the law provides adequate remedies, but to that the +retort is made that the men who are at the root of the grave troubles +pending snap their fingers at the law. We are pressed to take counsel +with you, though why the high officers who communicate with me should, +as it were, shift their responsibilities upon the shoulders of a Chief +Inspector of Scotland Yard I am at a loss to comprehend. What I would +ask of my colleagues is this: who is in fact responsible for the +maintenance of a due observance of law in the Northern district from +which you have come, and where you appear to discharge unofficial and +wholly irregular functions? Who is responsible? Perhaps my learned +friend the Home Secretary can enlighten us?" The Prime Minister +paused, and smiled happily to himself. He had at least made things +nasty for an intrusive colleague. But the Home Secretary, suave, +alert, was not to be caught. He at any rate was not prepared to admit +responsibility. + +"It is possible, sir," he said, "that in some vague, undefined, +constitutional way I am responsible for the police service of the +United Kingdom. But happily my direct charge does not in practice +extend beyond England. The centre of disturbance appears to be on the +northern side of the Border, within the jurisdiction of the Secretary +for Scotland. It is possible that my right honourable friend who holds +that office, and whom I am pleased to see here with us, will answer +the Prime Minister's question. He is responsible for his obstreperous +countrymen." The Home Secretary paused, and also smiled happily to +himself. He had evaded a trap, and had involved an unloved colleague +in its meshes; what more could be required of a highly placed +Minister? + +"God forbid!" cried the Scottish Secretary hastily. "These aggressive +and troublesome workmen are no countrymen of mine. It is true," he +added pensively, "that when I am in the North I claim that a somewhat +shadowy Scottish ancestry makes of me a Scot to the finger tips, but +no sooner do I cross the Border upon my return to London than I revert +violently to my English self. A kindly Providence has ordained that +the central Scottish Office should be in London, and my urgent duties +compel me to reside there permanently. Which is indeed fortunate. It +is true that technically my responsibilities cover everything, or +nearly everything, which occurs in the unruly North, but I do not +interfere with the discretion of those on the spot who know the local +conditions and can deal adequately with them. I am content to rest my +action upon the advice of those responsible authorities whose +considered opinions have been quoted by the Prime Minister." + +The Prime Minister smiled no more. The wheel which he had jogged so +agreeably had come full round, and, in colloquial speech, had biffed +him in the eye. He fumbled the papers once more, and frowned. + +"It seems to me," plaintively put in the First Lord of the Admiralty +(a political chief very different from the one whom Dawson encountered +in Chapter XII), "though I am a child in these high matters, that no +one is ever responsible for the exercise of those duties with which he +is nominally charged. For, consider my own case. Though I am the First +Lord, and attend daily at the Admiralty, I am convinced that the +active and accomplished young gentleman whom I had the misfortune to +succeed regards himself as still responsible to the people of this +country for the disposition and control of the Fleets. At least that +is the not unnatural impression which I derive from his frequent +speeches and newspaper articles." + +There was a general laugh, in which all joined except the War Minister +and Dawson. They were not politicians. + +"If there is a big strike," growled the War Minister, "the Spring +Offensive will be off. It is threatened now, very seriously. I am +months behind with my howitzers." + +His colleagues looked reproachfully at the famous warrior, and shifted +uneasily in their chairs. He had an uncomfortable habit of blurting +forth the most unpleasant truths. + +"Yes," put in the Minister for Munitions, "we are behind with the +howitzers and with ammunition of all kinds. But what can one do with +these savage brutes in the North? I went there myself and spoke +plainly to them. By God's grace I am still alive, though at one moment +I had given up myself for lost. At one works where I made a speech the +audience were armed with what I believe are called monkey wrenches, +and showed an almost uncontrollable passion for launching them at my +head. I was hustled and wellnigh personally assaulted. Like my +patriotic friend the Scottish Secretary, I was very happy indeed when +I got south of the Border. The central office of the Munitions +Department is happily in London, and my urgent duties compel me to +reside there permanently. I have no leisure for roving expeditions." + +"This is very interesting," broke in the First Lord, who lay back in +his chair with shut eyes. "There appears to be no eagerness on the +part of any one of us to stick his hands into the northern hornets' +nest, or to admit any responsibility for it. All of us, that is, +except our courageous and silent friend Mr. Dawson." He opened his +eyes and smiled most winningly towards Dawson. "Would it not be well +if we gave him an opportunity of telling us what his views are?" + +"I have been waiting for him to begin," growled the War Minister. + +"We are at your service, Mr. Dawson," said the Prime Minister +graciously. + +Dawson, standing stiffly at attention, had closely followed the +conversation, and, as it proceeded, his heart sank. He despaired of +discovering courage and quick decision in the group of Ministers +before him. Yet when called upon he made a last effort. If the country +were to be saved, it must be saved by its people, not by its +politicians, and he was a man of the people, resolute, enduring, long +suffering. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "we are threatened with a strike in the Northern +shops and shipyards which will cripple the country. It will begin +within forty-eight hours. I can stop it if I go North to-night with +the full powers of the Government in my pocket, and with the means for +which I ask. All the authorities in the North, civil, military and +naval, have approved of my plans. I ask only leave to carry them out." + +"Your plans are?" snapped the War Minister. + +"To get my blow in first," said Dawson simply. + +The First Lord again looked at Dawson, and a glint of fighting light +flashed in his tired eyes. "Thrice armed is he who has his quarrel +just; and four times he who gets his blow in first. How would you do +it, Mr. Dawson." + +"Yes, how?" eagerly inquired the War Minister. + +"I have served," said Dawson, "in most parts of the world. When in +West Africa one is attacked by a snake, one does not wait until it +bites. One cuts off its head." + +"You have served?" asked the War Minister. "In what Service?" + +"The Red Marines," proudly answered Dawson. + +"Ah!" The War Minister was plainly interested, and Dawson had, during +the rest of the interview, no eyes for any one except for him and for +the First Lord. He recognised these two as brother fighting men. The +others he waved aside as civilian truck. "Ah! The Red Marines. Long +service men, the best we have. So you would cut off the snake's head +before it can bite." + +"To-morrow afternoon," explained Dawson, "I must attend a meeting of +shop stewards, over two hundred of them. They contain the head of the +snake. Give me powers, a proclamation of martial law which I may show +them, and I will cut off the snake's head." + +"You soldiers are always prating about martial law," grumbled the +Prime Minister. "We have given to you the amplest powers under the +Defence of the Realm Act and the Munitions Act to punish strikers. +Those are sufficient. I have no patience with plans for enforcing a +military despotism." + +"Excuse me, sir," said Dawson patiently, as to a child, "but if a +hundred thousand men go out on strike, your Acts of Parliament will be +waste paper. You cannot lock up or fine a hundred thousand men, and if +you could you would still be unable to make them work. No means have +ever been devised to make unwilling men work, except the lash, and +that is useless with skilled labour. No one in the North cares a rap +for Acts of Parliament, but there is a mystery about martial law which +carries terror into the hardest heart and the most stupid brain. I +want a signed proclamation of martial law, but I undertake not to +issue it unless all other forms of pressure fail. I must have it all +in cold print to show to the shop stewards when I strike my blow. +Without that proclamation I am helpless, and you will be helpless, +too, by Friday next. This is Wednesday. Unless I cut off the snake's +head to-morrow, it will bite you here even in your sheltered London." + +The Prime Minister fumbled once more with the papers before him, but +they gave him no comfort. All advised the one measure of giving full +authority to Dawson and of trusting to his energy and skill. "Dawson +is a man of the people, and knows his own class. He can deal with the +men; we can't." So the urgent appeals ran. + +"And if you do not succeed? If you proclaim martial law and we have to +enforce it, where shall we be then?" + +"No worse off than you will be anyhow by Friday," said Dawson curtly. + +"So you say. But suppose that we think you needlessly fearful. Suppose +that we prefer to wait until Friday and see; what then?" + +"You will see what has not been seen in our country for over a hundred +years," retorted Dawson. "You will see artillery firing shotted guns +in the streets." + +The Prime Minister shrugged his shoulders, but the War Secretary +turned to his pile of maps and picked up one on which was marked all +the depôts and training camps in the northern district. "How many men +do you want?" he asked. + +"No khaki, thank you," replied Dawson. "It is not trained, and the +workmen are used to it. To them khaki means their sons and brothers +and friends dressed up. I want my own soldiers of the _Sea Regiment_ +in service blue. I want eighty men from my old division at Chatham." + +"Eighty!" cried the War Minister--"eighty men! You are going to stop a +revolution with eighty Red Marines!" + +"I could perhaps do with fewer," explained Dawson modestly. "But I +want to make sure work. Give me eighty Marines, none of less than five +years' service, a couple of sergeants, and a lieutenant--a regular +pukka lieutenant. Give them to me, and make me temporarily a captain +in command, and I will engage to cut off the snake's head. You can +have my own head if I fail." + +The Great War Minister rose, walked over to Dawson, and shook his +embarrassed hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dawson," said he. +The First Lord, now fully awake, sat up and stared earnestly at the +detective. Those two, the chiefs of the Navy and the Army, had grasped +the startling fact that for once they were in the presence of a Man. +The others saw only a rather ill-dressed, intrusive, vulgar police +officer. + +"I have rarely met a man with so economical a mind," went on the War +Minister, who resumed his seat. "If you had asked me for eight +thousand, I should not have been surprised." He turned to the Prime +Minister. "If our resolute friend here can stop a revolution with +eighty Red Marines, let him have them in God's name." + +"Oh, he can have the Marines," growled the Prime Minister--"if the +First Lord agrees. They are in his department. And if it pleases him +to dress up as a temporary captain, that is nothing to me; but I draw +a firm line at any proclamation of martial law." + +"Well," asked the War Minister of Dawson, "what say you?" + +"I must have the proclamation, my lord," replied Dawson. "Not to put +up in the streets, but to show to the shop stewards. They won't +believe that the Cabinet has any spunk until they see the proclamation +signed by you. They know that what you say you do." + +["Great Heavens," I said to Dawson, when he recounted to me the +details of his surprising interview with the War Committee, "tact is +hardly your strong suit. You could not have asked more plainly to be +kicked out. The flabbier a Cabinet is, the more convinced are its +members of adamantine resolution." + +"If I had to go down and out," replied Dawson, "I had determined to go +fighting. I was there to speak my mind, not to flatter anybody."] + +The silence which followed this awful speech could be felt. The Prime +Minister gasped, flushed to the eyes, and half rose to dismiss Dawson +from the room. He himself thought for a moment that all was lost, when +through the tense atmosphere ran a ripple of gay laughter. It was the +First Lord who, with instant decision, had taken the only means to +save his new friend Dawson. He has a delightfully infectious silvery +laugh, and the effect was electrical. The War Minister opened his +great mouth, and bellowed Ha! Ha! Ha! The Minister of Munitions put +his head down on the table and shrieked. Even the Home Secretary, a +severe, humourless, legal gentleman, cackled. The Prime Minister, +whose perceptions were of the quickest, saw that anger would be +ridiculous in the midst of laughter. He admitted the First Lord's +victory, and forced a smile. + +"You are not a diplomatist, Mr. Dawson," said he reprovingly. + +"Like Marcus Antonius," whispered the First Lord, as he wiped his eyes +delicately, "he is a plain, blunt man." + +The War Minister pulled a sheet of paper towards' him and began to +write. He scribbled for a few minutes, made a few corrections, and +then read out slowly the words which he had set down. All present saw +that the moment of acute crisis had arrived. + +"That is all that I want," said Dawson. "If you will sign that paper, +my lord, I need not trouble you gentlemen any longer." + +"I am one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State," observed +the War Minister. "Shall I sign, sir?" + +"I believe," remarked the Home Secretary primly, "that if one has +regard for strict historical accuracy there is but one Secretary of +State, and that I am that one." + +"I will not trouble you," said the War Minister. + +"I am technically responsible for the country over which I am supposed +to rule," put in the Scottish Secretary plaintively. "I speak, of +course under correction, but north of the Border my signature might--" + +"You are not a Secretary of State," growled the War Minister, "and +your seat is not safe. No one shall sign except myself, for I have no +need to seek after working-class votes. Dawson and I will face this +music." + +"And if I decline to permit you to sign?" asked the Prime Minister +blandly. "This is not a Cabinet meeting, and we have no power to +commit the Government to so grave a step." + +"You will require to fill up the vacant position of Secretary for +War," came the answer. + +"And also the humble post of First Lord of the Admiralty," murmured +that high officer of State. "We are up against realities, and Cabinet +etiquette can go hang for me." + +The War Minister again read aloud what he had written, signed it +carefully and deliberately, and rising up, handed it to Dawson. "Get +it printed at once and go ahead, Mr. Dawson." + +"Captain Dawson, R.M.L.I.," corrected the First Lord, who also rose +and warmly shook hands with the new captain. "You shall be gazetted at +once. I will see the Adjutant-General myself and give orders to +Chatham." + +"You have both made up your minds?" inquired the Prime Minister. + +"Quite," said the War Secretary. The First Lord nodded. + +"Very good," replied the Prime Minister; "I consent. We must above all +things preserve the unity of the Cabinet in these circumstances of +grave national crisis." + +"Clear out, Dawson," whispered the First Lord. + +Dawson cleared out. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +DAWSON STRIKES + +It was a little past noon, and Dawson had much work to do before he +could be free to speed north by the midnight train. First he skipped +across to the Yard and into the private room of his firm friend the +Chief. To him he showed the potent proclamation and recounted the +methods of its extraction. "I thought that I was in a company of +jackals," said he at the end; "but I was wrong--two of them were +lions." + +"We should be in a bad way if there were no lions," commented the +Chief. "Those two, and another who is dead, saved South Africa; there +are one or two more, but not many. What shall you do with this?" + +"We will set it up on our own private press, and run off a couple of +hundred placards. The secret must not leak out; I am playing for +surprises." + +The Chief struck a bell, the order was given, and Dawson's priceless +proclamation vanished into the lower regions. + +"Now?" inquired the Chief. + +"Chatham," explained Dawson, "to pick up my men--and to get my +uniform." When telling the story, Dawson again and again described to +me his uniform, with which I happened by family association to be +intimately acquainted. He did not spare me a badge or a button. I am +convinced that no girl wore her first ball-dress with half the +palpitating pride with which Dawson surveyed himself in his captain's +kit. When I chaffed him gently, and hinted that the stars of a captain +were cheaply come by in these days, he had one retort always ready, +"Not in the Red Marines." He did not value his office of Chief +Detective Inspector a rap beside that temporary rank of Captain of Red +Marines. He had, you see, been a private in that proud exclusive +Corps, and its glory for him outshone all human glories. + +He flew away to Chatham as fast as a deliberate railway service +permitted, and found upon arrival that an urgent telegram from the +Adjutant-General had preceded him. Dawson was shown at once to the +Commandant's quarters, and there explained his requirements. "Eighty +men, two sergeants, and a regular lieutenant. Not one of less than +five years' service. Also a sea-service kit with a captain's stars for +me. The mess-sergeant will fit me out. He trades in second-hand +uniforms." + +"You have the advantage of me, Mr. Dawson," said the Commandant, +smiling, "in your profound knowledge of the functions of a mess +sergeant." + +"I was a recruit here, sir, when you were a second lieutenant. I know +the by-ways of Chatham and the perquisites of mess-sergeants. I was a +sergeant myself once." + +"I remember you, Dawson," said the Commandant kindly, "and am proud to +see one of us become so great a man. By the regulations a temporary +officer should wear khaki." + +"No khaki for me, sir, please," implored Dawson. "I should not feel +that I belonged to the old Corps in khaki. In my time it was the red +parade tunic or the sea-service blue." + +"Wear any kit you please. This is your day, not mine. I have been +ordered to place myself and all Chatham at your disposal, though what +your particular game is I have not a notion. I won't ask any questions +now, but please come and dine with me in mess when you return, and let +me have the whole story." + +"I will, sir," cried Dawson heartily, "and thank you very much. I have +waited at the mess, but never dined with it The old Corps is going +with me to do a pretty bit of work, different from anything that it +has ever done before." + +"That would not be easy; we have been in every scrap on land or sea +since the year dot." + +Dawson looked round carefully, and then whispered, "Those eighty +Marines of mine are going to cut off a snake's head and stop a bloody +revolution. They've done that sort of thing many times at the ends of +the earth, but never, I believe, in England." + +"I wish that I were again a lieutenant," growled the Commandant, "for +then I would volunteer to come with you." + +"You shall choose my second-in-command yourself, sir," conceded Dawson +handsomely. + +Captain Dawson chose his men with discrimination. All those above five +years' service were paraded in the barrack square, and Dawson, +assisted by the Commandant, to whom his men were as his own children, +picked out the eighty lucky ones at leisure. Those who were rejected +shrugged their stiff square shoulders and predicted disaster for the +expedition. In one small detail Dawson changed his plans. He had +intended to take two sergeants only, but in Chatham there were four +who had served with him in the ranks, and he could not withstand their +pleadings. When all was settled, Dawson went to the Commandant's +quarters to be introduced to his second-in-command, and surprised +there that officer endeavouring to squeeze his rather middle-aged +figure within the buttoned limits of a subaltern's tunic. Since the +senior officers of Marines never go to sea, the Commandant's own +official uniform was the field-service khaki of a Staff officer. "It +is all right," explained he, laughing. "I have become a lieutenant +again, and am going north with you. But I wish that your friend the +mess-sergeant had a pattern B tunic which would meet round my middle. +My young men must be devilish slim nowadays. I have been on to the +A.-G. by 'phone. He pretends to be derisory, but I am convinced that +really he is desperately jealous. He would love to go too. You seem, +my good Dawson, to have stirred up Whitehall and Spring Gardens in a +manner most emphatic." + +"But you can't serve under me, sir," cried Dawson, aghast. + +"Can't I!" retorted the new Lieutenant. "If admirals can joyfully go +afloat as lieut.-commanders, as lots of them are doing, what is to +prevent a Colonel of Marines serving as a subaltern? I am on this job +with you, Dawson, if you will have me." + +"With four sergeants and eighty Marines," said Dawson slowly, "you and +I could have held Mons." + +"We could that," cried the Colonel-Lieutenant, who had by now +completed the reduction of his rank to that of Captain Dawson's +subordinate. "Nothing, nothing, is beyond the powers of the Sea +Regiment!" + +At about 11.30 that night the wide roof of St. Pancras echoed to the +disciplined tramp of Dawson's detachment, which marched straight to +coaches reserved by order from Headquarters. "Marines don't talk," +said Dawson, "but I am not taking risks. I don't want to sully the +virtue of my old Sea Pongos by mixing them up with raw land Tommies." +Dawson and his subaltern were moving towards the sleeping-coach in +which a double berth had been assigned to them, when two tall +gentlemen in civilian dress slipped out of the crowd and stood in +their path. Dawson, at the sight of them, glowed with pride, his chest +swelled out under his broad blue tunic, and his hand flew to the peak +of his red-banded cap. The Colonel-Lieutenant gasped. "Good luck, +Dawson," whispered the bigger of the strangers; "I would give my baton +to be going north with you." + +"Colonel ---- has given up his crowns," replied Dawson, as he +introduced his companion. + +The Field-Marshal smiled and shook hands with the sporting Commandant. +"This is all frightfully irregular," said he, "but I sympathise. +Still, if I know our friend Dawson here, there won't be any fighting. +You have no idea of his skill as a diplomatist. He tells the truth, +which is so unusual and startling that the effect is overwhelming. He +is a heavy human howitzer. I envy you, Colonel." + +"I have not a notion what we are to be at," said the Colonel. + +"I am not very clear myself. It is Dawson's picnic, not ours, and we +have given him a free hand. You won't get any fighting, but there will +be lots of fun." + +Meanwhile the First Lord had drawn Dawson to one side. "Good luck, +Captain Dawson; you have not wasted any time, and I have the best of +hopes. We had a beautiful row after you left us this morning. It did +my poor heart good. The P.M. declares that if you put martial law into +force, he will hand in his checks to the King. So, my poor friend, you +carry with you a mighty responsibility. But stick it out, don't +hesitate to follow your judgment, and wire me how you get on." + +"Don't worry, sir," said Dawson, "I shall not fail. If it had not been +for you and his lordship here, I should not have had this great +chance. I won't let you down." + +"Sh!" whispered the other. "Not so loud. We are conspirators, strictly +incog., dressed in the shabbiest of clothes. We had to see you off, +for I enjoyed the tussle of this morning beyond words. I would not for +anything have missed the P.M.'s face when he found himself driven to +act suddenly and definitely. I am eternally your debtor, Captain +Dawson of the Red Marines." + +"My word," exclaimed the Colonel-Lieutenant, when the visitors had +slipped away like a couple of stage villains, with soft hats pulled +down over their eyes--"the Field-Marshal and the First Lord! You have +some friends, sir." + +"I am only a ranker," said Dawson humbly, "with very temporary stars; +not a pukka officer and gentleman like you. I hope that you do not +mind sharing' a sleeper with me?" + +"I should be proud to share with you the measliest dug-out in a +Flanders graveyard," replied the Colonel emphatically. The two +officers, so anomalously associated, entered their berth the best of +friends and talked together far into the night. And as they talked, +the Colonel, now a Lieutenant, made the same discovery which had +startled Dawson's two powerful supporters of the morning. In the +police officer, rough, half-educated, vain, tender of heart, he also +had discovered a Man. "But for me and my Red Marines," said Dawson, as +they turned in for some broken sleep, "those poor fools up yonder +would get themselves shot in the streets. But I shall save them, and +in saving them I shall save the country." + + * * * * * + +It was the afternoon of the following day, just twenty-four hours +after Dawson had commandeered the resources of Chatham, and the scene +was a public hall in a big industrial city. In the body of the room +sat two hundred and thirty-four men--shop stewards and district trade +union officials--and their faces were gloomy and anxious. They had +come for a last meeting with the officers of the Munitions Dept, and +to declare that the men whom they represented were resolved not to +permit of any further dilution of labour. The great majority of them +were not unpatriotic, their sons and brothers and friends had joined +the Forces, and had already fought and died gallantly, but they were +intensely suspicious. To them the "employer," the "capitalist," was a +greater, because more enduring and insidious, enemy than the Germans. +Dilution of labour had become in their eyes a device for destroying +all their hardly won privileges and restrictions, and for delivering +them bound and helpless to their "capitalist oppressers." To this +sorry pass had the perpetual disputes of peace brought the workmen +under stress of war! Rates of pay did not enter into the +dispute--never in their lives had they earned such wages--its origin +led in a queer perverted sense of loyalty to the trade unions, and to +those members who had gone forth to fight. "What will our folks say," +asked the men of one another, "when they come home from the war, if we +have given away in their absence all that they fought for during long +years?" When it was attempted to make clear that the lives of their +own sons in the trenches were being made more hazardous by their +obstinacy, they shook their heads and simply did not believe. "We can +make all the guns and the shells that are wanted without giving up our +rules. We value our sons' lives as much as you do. We love our country +as much as you do. The capitalists are using a plea of patriotism to +get the better of us." It was a pitiful deadlock--honest for the most +part; yet it was a deadlock which, as Dawson said, brought very near +the day when English artillery would be firing shotted guns in English +streets. + +At a small table on a low platform at one end of the room sat three +civilians, and a few feet away, sitting a little back, was an officer +whose uniform and badges attracted the eyes of the curious. None of +the workmen knew this brown-skinned man with the small, dark moustache +who looked so very professional a soldier, yet Dawson knew them, every +man of them, and had moved among them in their works many times. Ten +of those present were actually his own agents, working among their +fellow unionists and agitating with them--hidden sources of +information and of influence at need--and yet not one of those ten +knew that the Marine Captain upon the platform was his own official +chief. The chairman rose to speak to the men for the last time, and +Dawson sat listening and studying a small slip of paper in his hand. + +The chairman said nothing that the men had not been told many times +during the past few days, but there was in his speech a note of solemn +appeal and warning which was new. The hearers shuffled their feet +uneasily, for most of them felt uneasy; they were, as I have said, +most of them honest men. But when the chairman had sat down, and the +men began, one after another, to reply, it appeared at once that there +was present an element not honest, even seditious. Dawson smiled to +himself, and studied his slip of paper, for the snake, whose head he +had come to cut off, was beginning to rear itself before him. Hints +began to appear that there was a strong minority at least which was +unwilling both to fight and to work for a country which was none of +theirs--"What has this country done for us that we should bleed and +sweat for it? It has starved us and sweated us to make profits out of +us, and now in its extremity slobbers us with fair words." At last one +man rose, a thin-faced, wild-eyed man, who, under happier conditions, +might have been a preacher or a writer, and delivered a speech which +was rankly seditious. "The workers," he declared, "are being shackled, +gagged, and robbed. Our enemy is not the German Kaiser. Our enemy +consists of that small, cunning, treacherous, well-organised, and +highly respectable section of the community who, by means of the money +power, compels the workers to sweat in order that their bellies may be +full and their fine ladies gowned in gorgeous raiment. They pass a +Munitions Act to chain the worker to his master. They 'dilute' labour +to call into being an invisible army which can be mobilised at short +notice to defeat the struggles of striking artisans. The attack of the +masters must be resisted. The workers must fight. There is a +fascinating attraction in the idea of meeting force with force, +violence with violence. It is undeniable that many of the more +thoughtful among the toilers would consider that their lives had not +been spent in vain if they organised their comrades to drilled and +armed rebellion." + +The speaker paused. He was encouraged by a few cheers, but the mass of +his hearers were silent. He glanced at Dawson, whose face was set in +an expressionless mask. Cheers came again, and he went on, but with +less assurance. "The worker's labour power is his only wealth. It is +also his highest weapon. But the workers need not think of using this +weapon so long as they are split and divided into sects and groups and +crafts. To be effective they must organise as workers. An organisation +that would include all the workers, skilled and unskilled, throughout +the entire country, would prove irresistible. But as matters stand at +present I do not advocate armed rebellion. I advocate and herewith +proclaim a general strike." + +He sat down, and there was a long silence. The die had been cast. If +the meeting broke up without the emphatic assertion of the +Government's authority, then a general strike upon the morrow was as +certain as that the sun would rise. It was for this moment, this +intensely critical moment, that Dawson had worked and fought in +London, and for which he was now ready. The chairman sighed and wiped +his face, which had become clammy. He looked at Dawson, who nodded +slightly, and then rose. + +"I call," said he solemnly, "upon Captain Dawson. He is now in supreme +authority." + +Dawson sprang to his feet, alert, decided, and picked up a large roll +of papers which had rested behind him upon his chair. He placed the +roll upon the table and faced the audience, who knew at once, with the +rapid instinct of a crowd, that the unexpected was about to happen. +Dawson pulled down his tunic, settled himself comfortably into his Sam +Browne belt, and rested his left hand upon the hilt of his sword.--It +was a pretty artistic touch, the wearing of that sword, and exactly +characteristic of Dawson's methods. I laughed when he told me of +it.--There were two doors to the room--one upon Dawson's left hand, +the other at the far end behind the workmen. He raised his right hand, +and the chairman, who was watching him, pressed an electric bell. Then +events began to happen. + +The doors flew open, and through each of them filed a line of smart +men in blue, equipped with rifles and side arms. Twenty men and a +sergeant passed through each door, which was then closed. The ranks of +each detachment were dressed as if on parade, and when all were ready, +Dawson gave a sharp order. Instantly forty-two rifle-butts clashed as +one upon the floor, and the Marines stood at ease. At this moment the +door at the far end might have been seen to open, and an officer to +slip in who, though white of hair, had not apparently reached a higher +rank than that of lieutenant. "It was all very fine, Dawson," he +explained afterwards, "your plan of leaving me outside with the rest +of the Marines, but it wasn't good enough. I didn't come north to be +buried in the reserves." + +"You should have obeyed orders," replied Dawson severely. + +"I should," cheerfully assented the Colonel-Commandant of Chatham, +"but somehow I didn't." + +While Dawson's body-guard of Marines was getting into position before +the doors, the workmen, surprised and trapped, were on their feet +chattering and gesticulating. The unfamiliar appearance of the +blue-uniformed men, not one of whom was less than five feet nine +inches in height, their well-set-up figures and stolid professional +faces, gave a business-like, even ominous flavour to the proceedings +which chilled the strike leaders to the bone. They would have cheered +an irruption of kilted recruits in khaki tunics as the coming of old +friends, and would have felt no more than local patriotic hostility +towards a detachment of English or Irish soldiers. But these blue men +of the Sea Regiment, an integral part of the great mysterious silent +Navy, had no part or lot with British workmen "rightly struggling to +be free." They represented some outside authority, some potent, +overpowering authority, as no khaki-clad soldiers could have +represented it. The surprise was complete, the moral effect was +staggering, and Dawson, who had counted upon both when he brought his +Marines north, smiled contentedly to himself. He stepped forward, with +that little slip of paper in his hand, and began to read from it. One +by one he read out twenty-three names, the very first being that of +the man who had made the speech which I have reported. + +As name after name dropped from Dawson's lips, the wonder and terror +grew. Who was this strange officer who could thus surely divide the +goats from the sheep, who was picking out one after another the +self-seekers and fomenters of sedition, who, while he omitted none who +were really dangerous, yet included none who were honest though +mistaken? As the list drew towards its end, quite half the listeners +were smiling broadly. They could not have drawn up a more perfect one +themselves, and they did not love most of those whose names were found +upon it. + +"Now," said Dawson, when he had finished, "I must ask all those +gentlemen to step forward." Not a man moved. "Let me warn you that +every man whose name I have read out is personally known to me. If I +have to come and fetch you, I shall not come alone." There was still +some hesitation, and then those upon the proscribed list began to move +forward. They would willingly have hidden themselves, had that been +possible, but to be known and to be dragged out by those hard-faced +Marines would have added humiliation to terror. They came forth, until +all the twenty-three were ranged up before Dawson. Then the man, whose +name was first upon the list, rasped out, "What is your authority for +this outrage upon a peaceful meeting? I demand your authority." + +"You shall have it," serenely replied Dawson. And, going up to the +pile of papers which he had laid upon the table, he drew one forth and +held it up so that all might see. It was a large placard, boldly +printed, a proclamation in cold, terse language of Martial Law, signed +by the Secretary for War himself. + +"Martial Law! This is sheer militarism," cried the first of those +arrested. + +"For you and for these other twenty-two upon my list it is Martial +Law," replied Dawson. "But for the rest it will be as they choose +themselves. Sergeant, remove the prisoners." A sergeant stepped out, +the line of Marines before the door divided, and the prisoners were +led away. Dawson put the proclamation back upon the table, squared his +shoulders, and turned towards his audience, now silent, subdued, and +purged. His plans were working very well. + +"I am no speaker," he began; "I am a man of the people, one of +yourselves. I have made my own way, and though I wear the uniform and +stars of a Captain of Marines, I am really an officer of police, Chief +Detective Inspector Dawson of Scotland Yard." He paused to allow time +for this astonishing fact to sink in. So that was why he had known the +names and faces of all the ring-leaders of sedition! And if he knew so +much, what more might he not know! Even the most innocent among his +audience began to feel loose about the neck. + +"I know you all," he went on. "There is not a man among you whom I do +not know. You--or you--or you." He addressed those near to him by +name. "We sympathise with you and have reasoned with you. But you +proved obdurate. The King's Government must be carried on; the war +must be carried on if our country is to be saved. And those who have +given power to me--the power which you have seen set out upon these +papers, the powers of Martial Law--will exercise them unflinchingly if +there appears to be no other way. But there is another and a better +way. You must obey the laws which Parliament has passed for the +defence of the country and for the provision of munitions. Your rights +are protected under them. After the war is over, your privileges will +be restored. For the present they must be abandoned. Willingly or +unwillingly they must be abandoned. I said just now that it is for you +to choose whether Martial Law shall take effect or not. The moment +those placards are posted in the streets the military authorities +become supreme, but they will not be posted if you have the sense to +see when you are beaten. What I have to ask, to require of you, is +that to-morrow, at the mass meeting of the men which is to be held, +you will advise them to surrender unconditionally, to work hard +themselves, and to allow all others to work hard. There must be no +more holding up of essential parts of guns, no more writing and +talking sedition. Our country needs the whole-hearted service of us +all. If you here and now give me your promise that you will use every +effort--no perfunctory, but real effort--to stop at once all these +threats of a strike, I will let you go now and wish you God-speed. If +you fail, then Martial Law will be proclaimed forthwith. Make this +very clear to the men. Tell them that you have seen the proclamation, +signed by the Field-Marshal himself, and that I, Captain and Chief +Inspector Dawson, will post the placards in the streets with my own +hands. If you will not give me your promise--I do not ask for any +hostages or security, just your promise as loyal, honourable men--I +shall arrest you all here and now, and deport you all just as those +twenty-three have been arrested and will be deported. You will not see +those men for a long time; you know in your hearts that you are well +quit of them. If I arrest you all, I shall not stop my arrests at that +point. There are many others--many who are not workmen from whom has +come money for your strike funds and to offer bail when arrests have +been made. I shall pick them all up. Nothing that you can now do will +affect the fate of those who have been taken from this room. Whatever +loyalty you may owe to them has been discharged, and I will give you a +quittance. Their chapter has been closed. What you have to consider +now is the fate of yourselves and of many beside yourselves, of all +those who look to you for advice and guidance. Take time, talk among +yourselves, consult one another. I am not here to hurry you unduly, +but before you are allowed to leave this room there must be a complete +and final settlement." + +He sat down. The men split into groups, and the buzz of talk ran +through the room. There was no anger or excitement, but much +bewilderment. They had come to the meeting as masters, strong in +numbers, to dictate terms, yet now the tables had been turned +dramatically upon them. No longer masters, they were in the presence +of a Force which at a word from Dawson could hale them forth as +prisoners to be dealt with under the mysterious shuddering powers of +Martial Law. They thought of those twenty-three, a few minutes since +so potent for mischief, now bound and helpless in the hands of the +Blue Men from the Sea. + +At last an elderly grey-locked man stepped forward, and Dawson rose to +meet him. "We admit, sir," said he, "that you have us at a +disadvantage. We did not expect this Proclamation nor those Marines of +yours. We did not believe that the Government meant business. We +thought that we should have more talk, talk, and we are all sick of +talk. We are true patriots here--you have taken away all those who +cared nothing for their country--and we feel that if you are prepared +to use Martial Law and the forces of the Crown against us, that you +must be very much in earnest. We feel that you would not do these +terrible things unless the need were very urgent. We do not agree that +the need is urgent, but if you, representing the Government, say that +it is, we have no course open to us but to submit. If we now surrender +unconditionally and promise heartily to use every effort to bring the +mass of the men to our views, will you in your turn give us your +personal assurance that all our legitimate grievances will be fully +considered, and that every effort will be made to meet them? You may +crush us, sir, but you will not get good work from men whose spirit +has been broken." + +"I cannot make conditions," replied Dawson gently, "but ask yourselves +why I brought my Marines all the way from Chatham to deal with this +meeting? Was it not that I would not put upon you the pain and +humiliation of arrest at the hands of your own sons and brothers? +Though I stand here with gold stars on my shoulders I am one of you. +My father worked all his life in the dockyard at Portsmouth, and I +myself as a boy have been a holder-on in a black squad of riveters. I +can make no conditions, but if you will leave yourself entirely in my +hands, and in those of my superiors, you may be assured that there +will be no attempt made to crush you, to break your spirit." + +As he said these words an inspiration came to him, and by sure +instinct he acted upon it. Jumping down from the platform, he +approached the old sad-faced spokesman, and shook him hard by the +hand. Then he moved along among the other workmen, addressing them by +name, chatting to them of their work and private interests, and +showing so complete and human a regard for them that their hostility +melted away before him. This man, who had conquered them, was one of +themselves, a "tradesman" like them, one of the Black Squad of +Portsmouth, a fellow-worker. He was no tool of the hated "capitalist." +If he said that they must all go back to work unconditionally, well +they must go. But he was their friend, and would see justice done +them. Presently Dawson was handing out cigarettes--of which he had +brought a large supply in his pockets, Woodbines--and the meeting, of +which so much was feared, had apparently turned into, a happy +conversazione. For half an hour Dawson pursued his campaign of +personal conciliation, and then went back to his place upon the +platform. + +"Go in peace," he cried. "Come again to-morrow afternoon and tell me +about the mass meeting. There will be more cigarettes awaiting you, +and even, possibly, a bottle or two of whisky." + +The men laughed, and one wag called out, "Three cheers for holder-on +Dawson." The cheers were given heartily, the Marines stood aside from +the doors, and the room rapidly emptied. The officials of the +Munitions Department and the Colonel, who was Dawson's insubordinate +subaltern, crowded round him spouting congratulations. He soaked in +their flatteries as was his habit, and then delivered a lesson upon +the management of men which should be printed in letters of gold. "Men +are just grown-up children," said he, "and should be treated as +children. Be always just, praise them when they are good, and smack +them when they are naughty. But if when they are naughty you spare the +rod and try to slobber them with fine words, they will despise you +utterly, and become upon the instant naughtier than ever." + +"What about that mass meeting to-morrow?" asked the Colonel. + +"I shall not be there, but ten of my men will be. Have no fears of the +mass meeting. The snake's head is off--by to-morrow it will be two +hundred miles away--and though the body may wriggle, it will be quite +harmless. After two or three hours of talk and vain threats the +meeting will collapse, and we shall get unconditional surrender." + +And so it happened. The talk went on for four solid hours--vain, +vapouring talk, during which steam was blown off. At the end the +surrender, as Dawson predicted, was unconditional. + +That evening of the morrow a telegram sped away over the long wires to +the south addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty. + +"Please tell First Lord that the snake is dead. I am returning the +Marines carriage-paid and undamaged. My commission as a Captain is no +longer required. Dawson." + +Back flashed a reply from the Minister himself: "To Captain Dawson, +R.M.L.I. Adjutant-General insists that you retain rank and pay until +the end of the war. So do I. You have done a wonderful piece of work +for which you will be adequately punished in official quarters. But +you will suffer in good company." + +Though Dawson thus became entitled to call himself Captain for the +duration of the war, he never used the rank or the uniform again. Once +more, to my knowledge, he served in his well-beloved Corps, but it was +then not as Captain, but as private, during his long watch in the +_Malplaquet_, of which I have told the story earlier in this book. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +DAWSON TELEPHONES FOR A SURGEON + +I have never been able to plan this book upon any system which would +hold together for half a dozen consecutive chapters. I am the victim +of my characters who come and go and pull me with them tied to their +chariot wheels. When I wrote the first story of the "Lost Naval +Papers"--which, by the way, were not lost at all--I had not made the +personal acquaintance of William Dawson. When I wrote of my own +encounters with Dawson and of my share, a humble share, in his +researches, my dear Madame Gilbert had not met me and subdued me into +a drivelling worship of her shining personality. While I was amusing +myself trying to convey to the reader the frolicsome atmosphere which +Madame carries about with her and in which she hides the workings of +her big heart and brain, I was ignorant of the adventures of the two +battle-cruisers and of Dawson's encounter with the War Committee, and +of his triumph over the revolting workmen of the north. I have +therefore written, as it were, from hand to mouth, more as one who +keeps a vagabond diary than as one who consciously plans a work of +art. It is as a diary of personal experiences that this book should be +regarded. It has no merit of constructive skill, for I have never +known what the future would yield to me of material. When Dawson +parted with me to return south to the Yard, and to his deserted family +in Acacia Villas, Primrose Road, Tooting, I did not expect to see him +again for months, possibly years. But a turn came to the wheel of my +destiny as it had done to his. I also was plucked from my northern +place of exile and transported joyfully to the south country, whither +I have always fled whenever for a few days or weeks I could loosen the +bonds which tied me to the north. Now that those bonds have fallen +entirely from me, and I am back in my southern home--whether for good +or for evil rests upon the lap of the high gods--I have been able +unexpectedly to resume contact with Dawson and to bring this, +discursive book to some kind of a conclusion. It cannot really end so +long as Dawson and Froissart and Madame Gilbert live and remain in +friendly association with me. They have become parts of my life, and +if I have not outraged their feelings beyond forgiveness by what I +have written of them, I have hopes that I shall meet all of them often +in the future and that they will tell me many more stories of their +exploits. + + * * * * * + +As soon as I had settled myself in London I took the earliest +opportunity of calling upon Dawson at the Yard. He was absent, but his +Deputy, who knew my name, received me kindly. He explained that it +would not be easy to find Dawson. "We never know where he is or what +he is doing. I suppose that the Chief knows; certainly no one else. +How can one be Deputy to a man who never tells one what he is doing or +where he may be found?" I agreed that the post seemed difficult to +fill adequately. "I wish I could chuck it as Froissart did when he +went back to Paris. Have you ever seen Madame Gilbert?" he inquired +eagerly. I observed that Madame did me the honour to be my friend. "So +you know her, do you? She's a clinker of a woman. Hot stuff, but a +real genuine clinker. She could do what she pleased with old man +Dawson; make him fetch and carry like a poodle. She's the only woman +born who ever turned Dawson round her fingers." I observed rather +stiffly that Madame Gilbert was a lady for whom I had a very high +regard, and that the expression "Hot stuff" was hardly respectful. +"Hum!" said the Deputy, eyeing me with interest. "So she has made a +fool of you like she has of the rest of us. Even the Chief gets down +on his rheumaticky old knees and kisses the carpet of his room after +she has trodden on it." + +The Deputy tended to become garrulous, and I cut him short with an +inquiry for Dawson's exact address. He lived in Acacia Villas, but I +was without the precise number. The Deputy told me, and promised to +inform Dawson of my visit at the earliest moment. "It may be to-day, +or next week, or next month. It may not be till the War is over"--an +expression which has come into colloquial use as a synonym for the +Greek Kalends. I thanked the officer, and withdrew somewhat annoyed. + +It appeared that Dawson was not far away, for a letter from him +reached me two days later at my club. It was an invitation to visit +his home and to dine with him on the following Sunday at one o'clock. +Enclosed was a plan designed to assist me in penetrating the mazes of +Tooting. That Sunday was a beautiful day in May, and I wandered down +with plenty of time to spare to provide against the danger of being +"bushed." But with the aid of Dawson's thoughtful plan I found +Primrose Road without difficulty. The hour was then 12.15, and the +house deserted. Dawson and his family were at chapel. I had forgotten +what I had heard months before of Dawson's fervour as a preacher upon +Truth until reminded of it by a constable whose beat passed the house. +"If you are looking for Chief Detective Inspector Dawson," said he, "I +can show you where to find him in chapel. He will be holding forth +just now." The opportunity of seeing Dawson as he really was--known +certainly only to his wife and to God--and of seeing him as a +preacher, spurred me into active interest. "My relief is coming now," +said the constable; "as soon as I have handed over I will show you the +way." + +As we walked together the policeman revealed to me the admiration +inspired by Dawson in his humble subordinates. "There is nothing that +man can't do," said he. "He is a skilled mechanic, a soldier--some say +he has a general's uniform hid away in his house--an electrical +engineer, and a telegraph operator. He has been all over the world in +the Royal Navy, and could if he liked be commanding a ship now. He's +the friend of Ministers and Secretaries of State. He's the best +detective that the Yard ever knew, and he preaches to folk here +like--like the Archangel Gabriel come to trot 'em off to Hell. I'm a +Wesleyan, myself, but I often go to hear the Chief Inspector. He makes +one come out in a cold sweat, and gives a man a fine appetite for +dinner. He shakes you up so that you feel empty," he explained. + +I observed that if Dawson were so great a stimulus upon appetite, he +would not be popular with the Food Controller. The policeman, though +he had heard of the Food Controller, was unconscious of his many +activities, which shows how little the world knows of its greatest +men. It also suggests that police constables do not read newspapers. + +The chapel was a building illustrative of the straight line and plane. +It was fairly large, and so full that the crowd of worshippers bulged +out of the doors. Though we could not force our way inside, we could +hear the booming of a voice which was scarcely recognisable as that of +Dawson. Waves of emotion ran so strongly through the congregation that +we could feel them beat against the fringes by the doors. "The Chief +Inspector is on his game to-day," whispered the constable. "He's +hitting them fine." From which I judged that the constable had in his +youth come from the north, where golf is cheap. It was a +disappointment that I could not get in, but perhaps well for the +reader. The temptation to record a genuine sermon by Dawson might have +proved too much for me. Presently the voice ceased to boom, the +congregation squeezed out hot and oily, like grease from a full +barrel, and I waited for Dawson to appear. "Don't speak to him now," +directed my guide. "Let him get up to his house. He can't talk for +half an hour after holding forth; there's not a word bad or good left +in his carcase." + +After all the worshippers had gone there issued forth a party of +three: a man, a woman, and a little girl. "There he is," said the +constable, nudging me. "Who?" asked I. "The Chief Inspector. There he +is with Mrs. Dawson and their little girl." I stared and stared, but +failed to recognise my friend of the north. I was too far away to see +his ears, and his face was quite strange to me. + +"I hope," I whispered primly to the constable, "that Mrs. Dawson is +sure he is her husband." + +"She ought to be. Aren't you sure?" + +"Not yet; I am not near enough to see properly. That Dawson, is not a +bit like those others whom I know." + +"That Dawson! Those others! Is there more than one Chief Inspector +Dawson?" asked the man, wondering. + +"I should say about a hundred," replied I, and left him gasping. I +fear that he now thinks that either I am quite mad or that Mrs. Dawson +is a pluralist in husbands. + +I gave the Dawson family sufficient time to reach their home, and to +recover the power of speech, and then walked gravely to the door as if +I had just arrived. One becomes contagiously deceptive in the vicinity +of Dawson. + +The stranger, who was the real undisguised Dawson, welcomed me to his +home. The house was a small one and the family kept no servant. I do +not know what income the Chief Inspector draws from the Yard, but am +sure that it is absurdly inadequate to his services. The higher one +rises, the less work one does and the more pay one gets--provided that +one begins more than half-way up the ladder. For those like Dawson who +begin quite at the bottom, the rule seems to be inverted: the more +work one does, the less pay one gets. I should judge my own ill-gotten +income at twice or three times that of Dawson--which even that +cautious judge, Euclid, would declare to be absurd. + +He led me to the parlour, which was well and tastefully +furnished--Dawson has seen good houses--and we waited there while Mrs. +Dawson dished up the dinner. "Please sit there, Dawson, facing the +light," said I. "Let me have a good look at you." He complied smiling, +and I examined his features with grave attention. Dawson, the real +Dawson as I now saw him for the first time, is a very fair man. His +pale sandy hair can readily be bleached white or dyed a dark colour. +He uses quick dyes which can be removed with appropriate chemicals. +His hair and moustache, he told me, grow very quickly. His complexion, +like his hair, is almost white, and his skin curiously opaque. His +blood is red and healthy, but it does not show through. His skin and +hair are like the canvas of a painter, always ready to receive +pigments and ready also to give them up when treated with skill. I +began to understand how Dawson can make to himself a face and +appearance of almost any habit or age. He can be fair or dark, dark or +fair, old or young, young or old, at will. He carries the employment +of rubber and wax insets very far indeed. His nose, his cheeks, his +mouth, his chin may be forced by internal packing to take to +themselves any shape. I made a hasty calculation that he can change +his appearance in seven hundred and twenty different ways. "So many as +that?" said Dawson, surprised when I told him. "I don't think that I +have gone beyond sixty." I assured him that on strict mathematical +principles I had arrived at the limiting number, and it gave him +pleasure to feel that so many untried permutations of countenance +remained to him. In actual everyday practice there are rarely more +than six Dawsons in being at the same time. He finds that number +sufficient for all useful purposes; a greater number, he says, would +excessively strain his memory. He has, you see, always to remember +which Dawson he is at any moment. When he was pulling my leg, or that +of his brave enemy Froissart, the number multiplied greatly, but, as a +working business rule, he is modestly content with six. "I suppose," I +asked, "that here in Acacia Villas you are always the genuine +article." + +"Always," he declared with emphasis. "Once," he went on, "I tried to +play a game on Emma. I came home as one of the others, forced my way +into the house, and was clouted over the head and chucked into the +street. When I got back to the Yard to alter myself--for I had left my +tools there--Emma had been telephoning to me to get the wicked +stranger arrested for house-breaking. I never tried any more games; +women have no sense of humour." He shuddered. Dawson is afraid of his +wife, and I pictured to myself a great haughty woman with the figure +and arms of a Juno. + +But when Clara--who asked kindly after my little Jane--had summoned us +to the dining-room, I was presented to a small, quiet mouse of a woman +whose head reached no higher than Dawson's heart. This was the +redoubtable Emma! "Did she really clout you over the head and chuck +you into the street?" I whispered. "She did, sir!" he replied, +smiling. "She threw me yards over my own doorstep." + +Between Dawson and his little wife there is a very tender affection. +In her eyes he is not a police officer, but an inspired preacher. She +knows nothing of his professional triumphs, and would not care to +know. She, I am very sure, will never trouble to read this book. To +her he is the lover of her youth, the most tender of husbands, and a +Boanerges who spends his Sabbaths dragging fellow-creatures from the +Pit. The God of Dawson and of his Emma is a pitiless giant with a +pitchfork, busily thrusting his creatures towards eternal torment; +Dawson, in Emma's eyes, is an intrepid salvor with a boat-hook who +once a week arduously pulls them out. Dawson married Emma when he was +a sergeant of Marines, and I think that he has shown to her his +uniform with the three captain's stars. To me she always spoke of him +as "the Captain," though I could not be quite sure whether she meant a +Captain of Marines or a Captain in the Army of Salvation. Dawson, his +Emma, and Clara are very happy, very united, and I am glad that I saw +them in their own home. I am helped to understand how tender is the +heart which beats under Dawson's assumed cloak of professional +ruthlessness. At first I wholly misjudged him, but I will not now +alter what I then wrote. My readers will learn to know their Dawson as +I learned myself. + +Whenever in the future I wish to hear from Dawson of his exploits I +shall not seek him at his own house. He is an artist who is highly +sensitive to atmosphere. In Acacia Villas the police officer fades to +shadowy insignificance, even in his own mind. Then, he is a husband, a +father, and a mighty preacher. He will talk of his disguises, and in +general terms of his work, but there is no fiery enthusiasm for +manhunting when Dawson gets home to Tooting. I shall seek him at the +Yard, or upon the hot trail; then and then only shall I get from him +the full flavour of his genius for detection. Dawson, away from home, +is so vain as to be unconscious of his vanity; Dawson at home is quite +extraordinarily modest. He defers always to the opinion of Emma, and +she, gently, kindly, but with an air of infinite superiority, keeps +his wandering steps firmly in the path of truth. He is, I am told, a +most kindling preacher, but it is Emma who inspires his sermons. + +Once only during my visit did I see a flash of the old Dawson, the +Dawson of the _Malplaquet_, and of the War Committee, and that was +just before I left. We were in the parlour smoking, and I was getting +rather bored. Conjugal virtue, domestic content and happiness, are +beautiful to look upon for a while, but I confess that in a +remorseless continuous film ("featuring" Dawson and Emma) I find them +boresome. There is little humour about Dawson and none at all about +his dear Emma. I would gladly exchange fifty virtuous Emmas for one +naughty Madame Gilbert. We had been talking idly of our sport together +and of his different incarnations. Suddenly he sprang from his chair +and his pale face lighted up. "Now that I have you here, Mr. +Copplestone, I shall not let you go until you tell me by what trick +you can always see through my disguises. Would you know me now as +Dawson?" + +"Of course," said I. "There is no difficulty. If you painted your face +black and your hair vermilion, I should still know you at once." + +"You have promised to tell me the secret. Tell me now." + +I considered whether I should tell. It was amusing to have some hold +over him, but was it quite fair to Dawson to keep him in ignorance of +those marks of ear by which I could always be certain of his identity. +He had been useful to me, and I had made free with his personality. +Yes, I would tell him, and in a few sentences I told. + +He gripped his ears with both hands; he felt those lobes so firmly +secured to his cheekbones, and those blobs of flesh which remained to +him of his wolfish ancestors. He fingered them carefully while he +thought. At last he made up his mind. "It is the Sabbath," said he, +"but when I am on duty I work ever upon the Sabbath day. It is now my +duty to--" He reached for the telephone book, took off the receiver, +and called for a number. + +"What are you doing?" I asked, though I ought to have known. + +"I am making an appointment with a surgeon," said Dawson. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Lost Naval Papers, by Bennet Copplestone + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS *** + +***** This file should be named 10474-8.txt or 10474-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/4/7/10474/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Christine Gehring and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS," WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10474-8.zip b/old/10474-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfc0095 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10474-8.zip diff --git a/old/10474.txt b/old/10474.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b47b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10474.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8291 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Naval Papers, by Bennet Copplestone + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lost Naval Papers + +Author: Bennet Copplestone + +Release Date: December 16, 2003 [EBook #10474] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Christine Gehring and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + +THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS + +By + +BENNET COPPLESTONE + + + + +1917 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + + +_WILLIAM DAWSON_ + + +CHAPTER + +I A STORY AND A VISIT + +II AT CLOSE QUARTERS + +III AN INQUISITION + +IV SABOTAGE + +V BAFFLED + +VI GUESSWORK + +VII THE MARINE SENTRY + +VIII TREHAYNE'S LETTER + + +PART II + + +_MADAME GILBERT_ + + +IX THE WOMAN AND THE MAN + +X A PROGRESSIVE FRIENDSHIP + +XI AT BRIGHTON + + +PART III + + +_ SEE IS TO BELIEVE_ + + +XII DAWSON PRESCRIBES + +XIII THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN + +XIV A COFFIN AND AN OWL + + +PART IV + + +_THE CAPTAIN OF MARINES_ + + +XV DAWSON REAPPEARS + +XVI DAWSON STRIKES + +XVII DAWSON TELEPHONES FOR A SURGEON + + + + + +PART I + + +_WILLIAM DAWSON_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +A STORY AND A VISIT + +At the beginning of the month of September, 1916, there appeared in +the _Cornhill Magazine_ a story entitled "The Lost Naval Papers." I +had told this story at second hand, for the incidents had not occurred +within my personal experience. One of the principals--to whom I had +allotted the temporary name of Richard Cary--was an intimate friend, +but I had never met the Scotland Yard officer whom I called William +Dawson, and was not at all anxious to make his official acquaintance. +To me he then seemed an inhuman, icy-blooded "sleuth," a being of +great national importance, but repulsive and dangerous as an +associate. Yet by a turn of Fortune's wheel I came not only to know +William Dawson, but to work with him, and almost to like him. His +penetrative efficiency compelled one's admiration, and his unconcealed +vanity showed that he did not stand wholly outside the human family. +Yet I never felt safe with Dawson. In his presence, and when I knew +that somewhere round the corner he was carrying on his mysterious +investigations, I was perpetually apprehensive of his hand upon my +shoulder and his bracelets upon my wrists. I was unconscious of crime, +but the Defence of the Realm Regulations--which are to Dawson a new +fount of wisdom and power--create so many fresh offences every week +that it is difficult for the most timidly loyal of citizens to keep +his innocency up to date. I have doubtless trespassed many times, for +I have Dawson's assurance that my present freedom is due solely to his +reprehensible softness towards me. Whenever I have showed independence +of spirit--of which, God knows, I have little in these days--Dawson +would pull out his terrible red volumes of ever-expanding Regulations +and make notes of my committed crimes. The Act itself could be printed +on a sheet of notepaper, but it has given birth to a whole library of +Regulations. Thus he bent me to his will as he had my poor friend +Richard Cary. + +The mills of Scotland Yard grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding +small. There is nothing showy about them. They work by system, not by +inspiration. Though Dawson was not specially intelligent--in some +respects almost stupid--he was dreadfully, terrifyingly efficient, +because he was part of the slowly grinding Scotland Yard machine. + +As this book properly begins with my published story of "The Lost +Naval Papers," I will reprint it here exactly as it was written for +the readers of the _Cornhill Magazine_ in September, 1916. + + * * * * * + + +I. BAITING THE TRAP + +This story--which contains a moral for those fearful folk who exalt +everything German--was told to me by Richard Cary, the accomplished +naval correspondent of a big paper in the North of England. I have +known him and his enthusiasm for the White Ensign for twenty years. He +springs from an old naval stock, the Carys of North Devon, and has +devoted his life to the study of the Sea Service. He had for so long +been accustomed to move freely among shipyards and navy men, and was +trusted so completely, that the veil of secrecy which dropped in +August 1914 between the Fleets and the world scarcely existed for him. +Everything which he desired to know for the better understanding of +the real work of the Navy came to him officially or unofficially. +When, therefore, he states that the Naval Notes with which this story +deals would have been of incalculable value to the enemy, I accept his +word without hesitation. I have myself seen some of them, and they +made me tremble--for Cary's neck. I pressed him to write this story +himself, but he refused. "No," said he, "I have told you the yarn just +as it happened; write it yourself. I am a dull dog, quite efficient at +handling hard facts and making scientific deductions from them, but +with no eye for the picturesque details. I give it to you." He rose to +go--Cary had been lunching with me--but paused for an instant upon my +front doorstep. "If you insist upon it," added he, smiling, "I don't +mind sharing in the plunder." + + * * * * * + +It was in the latter part of May 1916. Cary was hard at work one +morning in his rooms in the Northern City where he had established his +headquarters. His study table was littered with papers--notes, +diagrams, and newspaper cuttings--and he was laboriously reducing the +apparent chaos into an orderly series of chapters upon the Navy's Work +which he proposed to publish after the war was over. It was not +designed to be an exciting book--Cary has no dramatic instinct--but it +would be full of fine sound stuff, close accurate detail, and clear +analysis. Day by day for more than twenty months he had been +collecting details of every phase of the Navy's operations, here a +little and there a little. He had recently returned from a +confidential tour of the shipyards and naval bases, and had exercised +his trained eye upon checking and amplifying what he had previously +learned. While his recollection of this tour was fresh he was actively +writing up his Notes and revising the rough early draft of his book. +More than once it had occurred to him that his accumulations of Notes +were dangerous explosives to store in a private house. They were +becoming so full and so accurate that the enemy would have paid any +sum or have committed any crime to secure possession of them. Cary is +not nervous or imaginative--have I not said that he springs from a +naval stock?--but even he now and then felt anxious. He would, I +believe, have slept peacefully though knowing that a delicately primed +bomb lay beneath his bed, for personal risks troubled him little, but +the thought that hurt to his country might come from his well-meant +labours sometimes rapped against his nerves. A few days before his +patriotic conscience had been stabbed by no less a personage than +Admiral Jellicoe, who, speaking to a group of naval students which +included Cary, had said: "We have concealed nothing from you, for we +trust absolutely to your discretion. Remember what you have seen, but +do not make any notes." Yet here at this moment was Cary disregarding +the orders of a Commander-in-Chief whom he worshipped. He tried to +square his conscience by reflecting that no more than three people +knew of the existence of his Notes or of the book which he was writing +from them, and that each one of those three was as trustworthy as +himself. So he went on collating, comparing, writing, and the heap +upon his table grew bigger under his hands. + +The clock had just struck twelve upon that morning when a servant +entered and said, "A gentleman to see you, sir, upon important +business. His name is Mr. Dawson." + +Cary jumped up and went to his dining-room, where the visitor was +waiting. The name had meant nothing to him, but the instant his eyes +fell upon Mr. Dawson he remembered that he was the chief Scotland Yard +officer who had come north to teach the local police how to keep track +of the German agents who infested the shipbuilding centres. Cary had +met Dawson more than once, and had assisted him with his intimate +local knowledge. He greeted his visitor with smiling courtesy, but +Dawson did not smile. His first words, indeed, came like shots from an +automatic pistol. + +"Mr. Cary," said he, "I want to see your Naval Notes." + +Cary was staggered, for the three people whom I have mentioned did not +include Mr. Dawson. "Certainly," said he, "I will show them to you if +you ask officially. But how in the world did you hear anything about +them?" + +"I am afraid that a good many people know about them, most undesirable +people too. If you will show them to me--I am asking officially--I +will tell you what I know." + +Cary led the way to his study. Dawson glanced round the room, at the +papers heaped upon the table, at the tall windows bare of +curtains--Cary, who loved light and sunshine, hated curtains--and +growled. Then he locked the door, pulled down the thick blue blinds +required by the East Coast lighting orders, and switched on the +electric lights though it was high noon in May. "That's better," said +he. "You are an absolutely trustworthy man, Mr. Cary. I know all about +you. But you are damned careless. That bare window is overlooked from +half a dozen flats. You might as well do your work in the street." + +Dawson picked up some of the papers, and their purport was explained +to him by Cary. "I don't know anything of naval details," said he, +"but I don't need any evidence of the value of the stuff here. The +enemy wants it, wants it badly; that is good enough for me." + +"But," remonstrated Cary, "no one knows of these papers, or of the use +to which I am putting them, except my son in the Navy, my wife (who +has not read a line of them), and my publisher in London." + +"Hum!" commented Dawson. "Then how do you account for this?" + +He opened his leather despatch-case and drew forth a parcel carefully +wrapped up in brown paper. Within the wrapping was a large white +envelope of the linen woven paper used for registered letters, and +generously sealed. To Cary's surprise, for the envelope appeared to be +secure, Dawson cautiously opened it so as not to break the seal which +was adhering to the flap and drew out a second smaller envelope, also +sealed. This he opened in the same delicate way and took out a third; +from the third he drew a fourth, and so on until eleven empty +envelopes had been added to the litter piled upon Cary's table, and +the twelfth, a small one, remained in Dawson's hands. + +"Did you ever see anything so childish?" observed he, indicating the +envelopes. "A big, registered, sealed Chinese puzzle like that is just +crying out to be opened. We would have seen the inside of that one +even if it had been addressed to the Lord Mayor, and not to--well, +someone in whom we are deeply interested, though he does not know it." + +Cary, who had been fascinated by the succession of sealed envelopes, +stretched out his hand towards one of them. "Don't touch," snapped out +Dawson. "Your clumsy hands would break the seals, and then there would +be the devil to pay. Of course all these envelopes were first opened +in my office. It takes a dozen years to train men to open sealed +envelopes so that neither flap nor seal is broken, and both can be +again secured without showing a sign of disturbance. It is a trade +secret." + +Dawson's expert fingers then opened the twelfth envelope, and he +produced a letter. "Now, Mr. Cary, if we had not known you and also +known that you were absolutely honest and loyal--though dangerously +simple-minded and careless in the matter of windows--this letter would +have been very awkward indeed for you. It runs: 'Hagan arrives 10.30 +p.m. Wednesday to get Cary's Naval Notes. Meet him. Urgent.' Had we +not known you, Mr. Richard Cary might have been asked to explain how +Hagan knew all about his Naval Notes and was so very confident of +being able to get them." + +Cary smiled. "I have often felt," said he, "especially in war-time, +that it was most useful to be well known to the police. You may ask me +anything you like, and I will do my best to answer. I confess that I +am aghast at the searchlight of inquiry which has suddenly been turned +upon my humble labours. My son at sea knows nothing of the Notes +except what I have told him in my letters, my wife has not read a line +of them, and my publisher is the last man to talk. I seem to have +suddenly dropped into the middle of a detective story." The poor man +scratched his head and smiled ruefully at the Scotland Yard officer. + +"Mr. Cary," said Dawson, "those windows of yours would account for +anything. You have been watched for a long time, and I am perfectly +sure that our friend Hagan and his associates here know precisely in +what drawer of that desk you keep your Naval Papers. Your flat is easy +to enter--I had a look round before coming in to-day--and on Wednesday +night (that is to-morrow) there will be a scientific burglary here and +your Notes will be stolen." + +"Oh no they won't," cried Cary. "I will take them down this afternoon +to my office and lock them up in the big safe. It will put me to a lot +of bother, for I shall also have to lock up there the chapters of my +book." + +"You newspaper men ought all to be locked up yourselves. You are a +cursed nuisance to honest, hard-worked Scotland Yard men like me. But +you mistake the object of my visit. I want this flat to be entered +to-morrow night, and I want your Naval Papers to be stolen." + +For a moment the wild thought came to Cary that this man Dawson--the +chosen of the Yard--was himself a German Secret Service agent, and +must have shown in his eyes some signs of the suspicion, for Dawson +laughed loudly. "No, Mr. Cary, I am not in the Kaiser's pay, nor are +you, though the case against you might be painted pretty black. This +man Hagan is on our string in London, and we want him very badly +indeed. Not to arrest--at least not just yet--but to keep running +round showing us his pals and all their little games. He is an +Irish-American, a very unbenevolent neutral, to whom we want to give a +nice, easy, happy time, so that he can mix himself up thoroughly with +the spy business and wrap a rope many times round his neck. We will +pull on to the end when we have finished with him, but not a minute +too soon. He is too precious to be frightened. Did you ever come +across such an ass"--Dawson contemptuously indicated the pile of +sealed envelopes; "he must have soaked himself in American dime novels +and cinema crime films. He will be of more use to us than a dozen of +our best officers. I feel that I love Hagan, and won't have him +disturbed. When he comes here to-morrow night, he shall be seen, but +not heard. He shall enter this room, lift your Notes, which shall be +in their usual drawer, and shall take them safely away. After that I +rather fancy that we shall enjoy ourselves, and that the salt will +stick very firmly upon Hagan's little tail." + +Cary did not at all like this plan; it might offer amusement and +instruction to the police, but seemed to involve himself in an +excessive amount of responsibility. "Will it not be far too risky to +let him take my Notes even if you do shadow him closely afterwards? He +will get them copied and scattered amongst a score of agents, one of +whom may get the information through to Germany. You know your job, of +course, but the risk seems too big for me. After all, they are my +Notes, and I would far sooner burn them now than that the Germans +should see a line of them." + +Dawson laughed again. "You are a dear, simple soul, Mr. Cary; it does +one good to meet you. Why on earth do you suppose I came here to-day +if it were not to enlist your help? Hagan is going to take all the +risks; you and I are not looking for any. He is going to steal some +Naval Notes, but they will not be those which lie on this table. I +myself will take charge of those and of the chapters of your most +reprehensible book. You shall prepare, right now, a beautiful new +artistic set of notes calculated to deceive. They must be accurate +where any errors would be spotted, but wickedly false wherever +deception would be good for Fritz's health. I want you to get down to +a real plant. This letter shall be sealed up again in its twelve silly +envelopes and go by registered post to Hagan's correspondent. You +shall have till to-morrow morning to invent all those things which we +want Fritz to believe about the Navy. Make us out to be as rotten as +you plausibly can. Give him some heavy losses to gloat over and to +tempt him out of harbour. Don't overdo it, but mix up your fiction +with enough facts to keep it sweet and make it sound convincing. If +you do your work well--and the Naval authorities here seem to think a +lot of you--Hagan will believe in your Notes, and will try to get them +to his German friends at any cost or risk, which will be exactly what +we want of him. Then, when he has served our purpose, he will find +that we--have--no--more--use--for--him." + +Dawson accompanied this slow, harmlessly sounding sentence with a grim +and nasty smile. Cary, before whose eyes flashed for a moment the +vision of a chill dawn, cold grey walls, and a silent firing party, +shuddered. It was a dirty task to lay so subtle a trap even for a +dirty Irish-American spy. His honest English soul revolted at the call +upon his brains and knowledge, but common sense told him that in this +way, Dawson's way, he could do his country a very real service. For a +few minutes he mused over the task set to his hand, and then spoke. + +"All right. I think that I can put up exactly what you want. The faked +Notes shall be ready when you come to-morrow. I will give the whole +day to them." + +In the morning the new set of Naval Papers was ready, and their +purport was explained in detail to Dawson, who chuckled joyously. +"This is exactly what Admiral ---- wants, and it shall get through to +Germany by Fritz's own channels. I have misjudged you, Mr. Cary; I +thought you little better than a fool, but that story here of a +collision in a fog and the list of damaged Queen Elizabeths in dock +would have taken in even me. Fritz will suck it down like cream. I +like that effort even better than your grave comments on damaged +turbines and worn-out gun tubes. You are a genius, Mr. Cary, and I +must take you to lunch with the Admiral this very day. You can explain +the plant better than I can, and he is dying to hear all about it. Oh, +by the way, he particularly wants a description of the failure to +complete the latest batch of big shell fuses, and the shortage of +lyddite. You might get that done before the evening. Now for the +burglary. Do nothing, nothing at all, outside your usual routine. Come +home at your usual hour, go to bed as usual, and sleep soundly if you +can. Should you hear any noise in the night, put your head under the +bedclothes. Say nothing to Mrs. Cary unless you are obliged, and for +God's sake don't let any woman--wife, daughter, or maid-servant +--disturb my pearl of a burglar while he is at work. He must have +a clear run, with everything exactly as he expects to find it. +Can I depend upon you?" + +"I don't pretend to like the business," said Cary, "but you can depend +upon me to the letter of my orders." + +"Good," cried Dawson. "That is all I want." + + +II. THE TRAP CLOSES + +Cary heard no noise, though he lay awake for most of the night, +listening intently. The flat seemed to be more quiet even than usual. +There was little traffic in the street below, and hardly a step broke +the long silence of the night. Early in the morning--at six +B.S.T.--Cary slipped out of bed, stole down to his study, and pulled +open the deep drawer in which he had placed the bundle of faked Naval +Notes. They had gone! So the Spy-Burglar had come, and, carefully +shepherded by Dawson's sleuth-hounds, had found the primrose path easy +for his crime. To Cary, the simple, honest gentleman, the whole plot +seemed to be utterly revolting--justified, of course, by the country's +needs in time of war, but none the less revolting. There is nothing of +glamour in the Secret Service, nothing of romance, little even of +excitement. It is a cold-blooded exercise of wits against wits, of +spies against spies. The amateur plays a fish upon a line and gives +him a fair run for his life, but the professional fisherman--to whom a +salmon is a people's food--nets him coldly and expeditiously as he +comes in from the sea. + +Shortly after breakfast there came a call from Dawson on the +telephone. "All goes well. Come to my office as soon as possible." +Cary found Dawson bubbling with professional satisfaction. "It was +beautiful," cried he. "Hagan was met at the train, taken to a place we +know of, and shadowed by us tight as wax. We now know all his +associates--the swine have not even the excuse of being German. He +burgled your flat himself while one of his gang watched outside. Never +mind where I was; you would be surprised if I told you; but I saw +everything. He has the faked papers, is busy making copies, and this +afternoon is going down the river in a steamer to get a glimpse of the +shipyards and docks and check your Notes as far as can be done. Will +they stand all right?" + +"Quite all right," said Cary. "The obvious things were given +correctly." + +"Good. We will be in the steamer." + +Cary went that afternoon, quite unchanged in appearance by Dawson's +order. "If you try to disguise yourself," declared that expert, "you +will be spotted at once. Leave the refinements to us." Dawson himself +went as an elderly dug-out officer with the rank marks of a colonel, +and never spoke a word to Cary upon the whole trip down and up the +teeming river. Dawson's men were scattered here and there--one a +passenger of inquiring mind, another a deckhand, yet a third--a pretty +girl in khaki--sold tea and cakes in the vessel's saloon. Hagan--who, +Cary heard afterwards, wore the brass-bound cap and blue kit of a mate +in the American merchant service--was never out of sight for an +instant of Dawson or of one of his troupe. He busied himself with a +strong pair of marine glasses, and now and then asked innocent +questions of the ship's deckhands. He had evidently himself once +served as a sailor. One deckhand, an idle fellow to whom Hagan was +very civil, told his questioner quite a lot of interesting details +about the Navy ships, great and small, which could be seen upon the +building slips. All these details tallied strangely with those +recorded in Cary's Notes. The trip up and down the river was a great +success for Hagan and for Dawson, but for Cary it was rather a bore. +He felt somehow out of the picture. In the evening Dawson called at +Cary's office and broke in upon him. "We had a splendid trip to-day," +said he. "It exceeded my utmost hopes. Hagan thinks no end of your +Notes, but he is not taking any risks. He leaves in the morning for +Glasgow to do the Clyde and to check some more of your stuff. Would +you like to come?" Cary remarked that he was rather busy, and that +these river excursions, though doubtless great fun for Dawson, were +rather poor sport for himself. Dawson laughed joyously--he was a +cheerful soul when he had a spy upon his string. "Come along," said +he. "See the thing through. I should like you to be in at the death." +Cary observed that he had no stomach for cold, damp dawns and firing +parties. + +"I did not quite mean that," replied Dawson. "Those closing ceremonies +are still strictly private. But you should see the chase through to a +finish. You are a newspaper man, and should be eager for new +experiences." + +"I will come," said Cary, rather reluctantly. "But I warn you that my +sympathies are steadily going over to Hagan. The poor devil does not +look to have a dog's chance against you." + +"He hasn't," said Dawson, with great satisfaction. + +Cary, to whom the wonderful Clyde was as familiar as the river near +his own home, found the second trip almost as wearisome as the first. +But not quite. He was now able to recognise Hagan, who again appeared +as a brass-bounder, and did not affect to conceal his deep interest in +the naval panorama offered by the river. Nothing of real importance +can, of course, be learned from a casual steamer trip, but Hagan +seemed to think otherwise, for he was always either watching through +his glasses or asking apparently artless questions of passengers or +passing deckhands. Again a sailor seemed disposed to be communicative; +he pointed out more than one monster in steel, red raw with surface +rust, and gave particulars of a completed power which would have +surprised the Admiralty Superintendent. They would not, however, have +surprised Mr. Cary, in whose ingenious brain they had been conceived. +This second trip, like the first, was declared by Dawson to have been +a great success. "Did you know me?" he asked. "I was a clean-shaven +naval doctor, about as unlike the army colonel of the first trip as a +pigeon is unlike a gamecock. Hagan is off to London to-night by the +North-Western. There are two copies of your Notes. One is going by +Edinburgh and the east coast, and another by the Midland. Hagan has +the original masterpiece. I will look after him and leave the two +other messengers to my men. I have been on to the Yard by 'phone, and +have arranged that all three shall have passports for Holland. The two +copies shall reach the Kaiser, bless him, but I really must have +Hagan's set of Notes for my Museum." + +"And what will become of Hagan?" asked Cary. + +"Come and see," said Mr. Dawson. + +Dawson entertained Cary at dinner in a private room at the Station +Hotel, waited upon by one of his own confidential men. "Nobody ever +sees me," he observed, with much satisfaction, "though I am +everywhere." (I suspect that Dawson is not without his little +vanities.) "Except in my office and with people whom I know well, I +am always some one else. The first time I came to your house I wore a +beard, and the second time looked like a gas inspector. You saw only +the real Dawson. When one has got the passion for the chase in one's +blood, one cannot bide for long in a stuffy office. As I have a jewel +of an assistant, I can always escape and follow up my own victims. +This man Hagan is a black heartless devil. Don't waste your sympathy +on him, Mr. Cary. He took money from us quite lately to betray the +silly asses of Sinn Feiners, and now, thinking us hoodwinked, is after +more money from the Kaiser. He is of the type that would sell his own +mother and buy a mistress with the money. He's not worth your pity. We +use him and his like for just so long as they can be useful, and then +the jaws of the trap close. By letting him take those faked Notes we +have done a fine stroke for the Navy, for the Yard, and for Bill +Dawson. We have got into close touch with four new German agents here +and two more down south. We shan't seize them yet; just keep them +hanging on and use them. That's the game. I am never anxious about an +agent when I know him and can keep him watched. Anxious, bless you; I +love him like a cat loves a mouse. I've had some spies on my string +ever since the war began; I wouldn't have them touched or worried for +the world. Their correspondence tells me everything, and if a letter +to Holland which they haven't written slips in sometimes, it's useful, +very useful, as useful almost as your faked Notes." + +Half an hour before the night train was due to leave for the South, +Dawson, very simply but effectively changed in appearance--for Hagan +knew by sight the real Dawson--led Cary to the middle sleeping-coach +on the train. "I have had Hagan put in No. 5," he said, "and you and I +will take Nos. 4 and 6. No. 5 is an observation berth; there is one +fixed up for us on this sleeping-coach. Come in here." He pulled Cary +into No. 4, shut the door, and pointed to a small wooden knob set a +few inches below the luggage rack. "If one unscrews that knob one can +see into the next berth, No. 5. No. 6 is fitted in the same way, so +that we can rake No. 5 from both sides. But, mind you, on no account +touch those knobs until the train is moving fast and until you have +switched out the lights. If No. 5 was dark when you opened the +peep-hole, a ray of light from your side would give the show away. And +unless there was a good deal of vibration and rattle in the train you +might be heard. Now cut away to No. 6, fasten the door, and go to bed. +I shall sit up and watch, but there is nothing for you to do." + +Hagan appeared in due course, was shown into No. 5 berth, and the +train started. Cary asked himself whether he should go to bed as +advised or sit up reading. He decided to obey Dawson's orders, but to +take a look in upon Hagan before settling down for the journey. He +switched off his lights, climbed upon the bed, and carefully unscrewed +the little knob which was like the one shown to him by Dawson. A beam +of light stabbed the darkness of his berth, and putting his eye with +some difficulty to the hole--one's nose gets so confoundedly in the +way--he saw Hagan comfortably arranging himself for the night. The spy +had no suspicion of his watchers on both sides, for, after settling +himself in bed, he unwrapped a flat parcel and took out a bundle of +blue papers, which Cary at once recognised as the originals of his +stolen Notes. Hagan went through them--he had put his suit-case across +his knees to form a desk--and carefully made marginal jottings. Cary, +who had often tried to write in trains, could not but admire the man's +laborious patience. He painted his letters and figures over and over +again, in order to secure distinctness, in spite of the swaying of the +train, and frequently stopped to suck the point of his pencil. + +"I suppose," thought Cary, "that Dawson yonder is just gloating over +his prey, but for my part I feel an utterly contemptible beast. Never +again will I set a trap for even the worst of my fellow-creatures." He +put back the knob, went to bed, and passed half the night in extreme +mental discomfort and the other half in snatching brief intervals of +sleep. It was not a pleasant journey. + +Dawson did not come out of his berth at Euston until after Hagan had +left the station in a taxi-cab, much to Cary's surprise, and then was +quite ready, even anxious, to remain for breakfast at the hotel. He +explained his strange conduct. "Two of my men," said he, as he +wallowed in tea and fried soles--one cannot get Dover soles in the +weary North--"who travelled in ordinary compartments, are after Hagan +in two taxis, so that if one is delayed, the other will keep touch. +Hagan's driver also has had a police warning, so that our spy is in a +barbed-wire net. I shall hear before very long all about him." + +Cary and Dawson spent the morning at the hotel with a telephone beside +them; every few minutes the bell would ring, and a whisper of Hagan's +movements steal over the wires into the ears of the spider Dawson. He +reported progress to Cary with ever-increasing satisfaction. + +"Hagan has applied for and been granted a passport to Holland, and has +booked a passage in the boat which leaves Harwich to-night for the +Hook. We will go with him. The other two spies, with the copies, +haven't turned up yet, but they are all right. My men will see them +safe across into Dutch territory, and make sure that no blundering +Customs officer interferes with their papers. This time the way of +transgressors shall be very soft. As for Hagan, he is not going to +arrive." + +"I don't quite understand why you carry on so long with him," said +Cary, who, though tired, could not but feel intense interest in the +perfection of the police system and in the serene confidence of +Dawson. The Yard could, it appeared, do unto the spies precisely what +Dawson chose to direct. + +"Hagan is an American citizen," explained Dawson. "If he had been a +British subject I would have taken him at Euston--we have full +evidence of the burglary, and of the stolen papers in his suit-case. +But as he is a damned unbenevolent neutral we must prove his intention +to sell the papers to Germany. Then we can deal with him by secret +court-martial.[1] The journey to Holland will prove this intention. +Hagan has been most useful to us in Ireland, and now in the North of +England and in Scotland, but he is too enterprising and too daring to +be left any longer on the string. I will draw the ends together at the +Hook." + +[Footnote 1: Author's Note: This conversation is dated May, 1916.] + +"I did not want to go to Holland," said Cary to me, when telling his +story. "I was utterly sick and disgusted with the whole cold-blooded +game of cat and mouse, but the police needed my evidence about the +Notes and the burglary, and did not intend to let me slip out of their +clutches. Dawson was very civil and pleasant, but I was in fact as +tightly held upon his string as was the wretched Hagan. So I went on +to Holland with that quick-change artist, and watched him come on +board the steamer at Parkeston Quay, dressed as a rather +German-looking commercial traveller, eager for war commissions upon +smuggled goods. This sounds absurd, but his get-up seemed somehow to +suggest the idea. Then I went below. Dawson always kept away from me +whenever Hagan might have seen us together." + +The passage across to Holland was free from incident; there was no +sign that we were at war, and Continental traffic was being carried +serenely on, within easy striking distance of the German submarine +base at Zeebrugge. The steamer had drawn in to the Hook beside the +train, and Hagan was approaching the gangway, suit-case in hand. The +man was on the edge of safety; once upon Dutch soil, Dawson could not +have laid hands upon him. He would have been a neutral citizen in a +neutral country, and no English warrant would run against him. But +between Hagan and the gangway suddenly interposed the tall form of the +ship's captain; instantly the man was ringed about by officers, and +before he could say a word or move a hand he was gripped hard and led +across the deck to the steamer's chart-house. Therein sat Dawson, the +real, undisguised Dawson, and beside him sat Richard Cary. Hagan's +face, which two minutes earlier had been glowing with triumph and with +the anticipation of German gold beyond the dreams of avarice, went +white as chalk. He staggered and gasped as one stabbed to the heart, +and dropped into a chair. His suit-case fell from his relaxed fingers +to the floor. + +"Give him a stiff brandy-and-soda," directed Dawson, almost kindly, +and when the victim's colour had ebbed back a little from his +overcharged heart, and he had drunk deep of the friendly cordial, the +detective put him out of pain. The game of cat and mouse was over. + +"It is all up, Hagan," said the detective gently. "Face the music and +make the best of it, my poor friend. This is Mr. Richard Cary, and you +have not for a moment been out of our sight since you left London for +the North four days ago." + +When I had completed the writing of his story I showed the MS. to +Richard Cary, who was pleased to express a general approval. "Not at +all bad, Copplestone," said he, "not at all bad. You have clothed my +dry bones in real flesh and blood. But you have missed what to me is +the outstanding feature of the whole affair, that which justifies to +my mind the whole rather grubby business. Let me give you two dates. +On May 25 two copies of my faked Notes were shepherded through to +Holland and reached the Germans; on May 31 was fought the Battle of +Jutland. Can the brief space between these dates have been merely an +accident? I cannot believe it. No, I prefer to believe that in my +humble way I induced the German Fleet to issue forth and to risk an +action which, under more favourable conditions for us, would have +resulted in their utter destruction. I may be wrong, but I am happy in +retaining my faith." + +"What became of Hagan?" I asked, for I wished to bring the narrative +to a clean artistic finish. + +"I am not sure," answered Cary, "though I gave evidence as ordered by +the court-martial. But I rather think that I have here Hagan's +epitaph." He took out his pocket-book, and drew forth a slip of paper +upon which was gummed a brief newspaper cutting. This he handed to me, +and I read as follows: + + "The War Office announces that a prisoner who was charged + with espionage and recently tried by court-martial at the + Westminster Guildhall was found guilty and sentenced to + death. The sentence was duly confirmed and carried out + yesterday morning." + + * * * * * + +Two months passed. Summer, what little there was of it, had gone, and +my spirits were oppressed by the wet and fog and dirt of November in +the North. I desired neither to write nor to read. My one overpowering +longing was to go to sleep until the war was over and then to awake in +a new world in which a decent civilised life would once more be +possible. + +In this unhappy mood I was seated before my study fire when a servant +brought me a card. "A gentleman," said she, "wishes to see you. I said +that you were engaged, but he insisted. He's a terrible man, sir." + +I looked at the card, annoyed at being disturbed; but at the sight of +it my torpor fell from me, for upon it was written the name of that +detective officer whom in my story I had called William Dawson, and in +the corner were the letters "C.I.D." (Criminal Investigation +Department). I had become a criminal, and was about to be +investigated! + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +AT CLOSE QUARTERS + +Dawson entered, and we stood eyeing one another like two strange dogs. +Neither spoke for some seconds, and then, recollecting that I was a +host in the presence of a visitor, I extended a hand, offered a chair, +and snapped open a cigarette case. Dawson seated himself and took a +cigarette. I breathed more freely. He could not design my immediate +arrest, or he would not have accepted of even so slight a hospitality. +We sat upon opposite sides of the fire, Dawson saying nothing, but +watching me in that unwinking cat-like way of his which I find so +exasperating. Many times during my association with Dawson I have +longed to spring upon him and beat his head against the floor--just to +show that I am not a mouse. If his silence were intended to make me +uncomfortable, I would give him evidence of my perfect composure. + +"How did you find me out?" I asked calmly. + +His start of surprise gratified me, and I saw a puzzled look come into +his eyes. "Find out what?" he muttered. + +"How did you find out that I wrote a story about you?" + +"Oh, that?" He grinned. "That was not difficult, Mr.--er--Copplestone. +I asked Mr.--er--Richard Cary for your real name and address, and he +had to give them to me. I was considering whether I should prosecute +both him and you." + +"No doubt you bullied Cary," I said, "but you don't alarm me in the +least. I had taken precautions, and you would have found your way +barred if you had tried to touch either of us." + +"It is possible," snapped Dawson. "I should like to lock up all you +writing people--you are an infernal nuisance--but you seem to have a +pull with the politicians." + +We were getting on capitally: the first round was in my favour, and I +saw another opportunity of showing my easy unconcern of his powers. + +"Oh no, Mr.--er--William Dawson. You would not lock us up, even if all +the authority in the State were vested in the soldiers and the police. +For who would then write of your exploits and pour upon your heads the +bright light of fame? The public knows nothing of Mr. ----" (I held up +his card), "but quite a lot of people have heard of William Dawson." + +"They have," assented he, with obvious satisfaction. "I sent a copy of +the story to my Chief--just to put myself straight with him. I said +that it was all quite unauthorised, and that I would have stopped it +if I could." + +"Oh no, you wouldn't. Don't talk humbug, Mr. William Dawson. During +the past two months you have pranced along the streets with your head +in the clouds. And in your own home Mrs. Dawson and the little +Dawsons--if there are any--have worshipped you as a god. There is +nothing so flattering as the sight of oneself in solid black print +upon nice white paper. Confess, now. Are you not at this moment +carrying a copy of that story of mine in your breast pocket next your +heart, and don't you flourish it before your colleagues and rivals +about six times, a day?" + +Alone among mortal men I have seen a hardened detective blush. + +"Throw away that cigarette," said I, "and take a cigar." I felt +generous. + +Our relations were now established upon a basis satisfactory to me. I +had no inkling of the purpose of this visit, but he had lost the +advantage of mysterious attack. He had revealed human weakness and had +ceased for the moment to dominate me as a terrible engine of the law. +But I had heard too much of Dawson from Cary to be under any illusion. +He could be chaffed, even made ridiculous, without much difficulty, +but no one, however adroit, could divert him by an inch from his +professional purpose. He could joke with a victim and drink his health +and then walk him off, arm in arm, to the gallows. + +"Now, Mr. Dawson," said I. "Perhaps you will tell me to what happy +circumstance I owe the honour of this visit?" + +He had been chuckling over certain rich details in the Hagan +chase--with an eye, no doubt, to future enlarged editions--but these +words of mine pulled him up short. Instantly he became grave, drew +some papers from his pocket, and addressed himself to business. + +"I have come to you, Mr. Copplestone, as I did to your friend Mr. +Cary, for information and assistance, and I have been advised by those +who know you here to be perfectly frank. You are not at present an +object of suspicion to the local police, who assure me, that though +you are known to have access to much secret information, yet that you +have never made any wrongful use of it. You have, moreover, been of +great assistance on many occasions both to the military and naval +authorities. Therefore, though my instinct would be to lock you up +most securely, I am told that I mustn't do it." + +"You are very frank," said I. "But I bear no malice. Ask me what you +please, and I will do my best to answer fully." + +"I ought to warn you," said he, with obvious reluctance, "that +anything which you say may, at some future time, be used in evidence +against you." + +"I will take the risk, Mr. Dawson," cried I, laughing. "You have done +your duty in warning me, and you are so plainly hopeful that I shall +incriminate myself that it would be cruel to disappoint you. Let us +get on with the inquisition." + +"You are aware, Mr. Copplestone, that a most important part of my work +consists in stopping the channels through which information of what is +going on in our shipyards and munition shops may get through to the +enemy. We can't prevent his agents from getting information--that is +always possible to those with unlimited command of money, for there +are always swine among workmen, and among higher folk than workmen, +who can be bought. You may take it as certain that little of +importance is done or projected in this country of which enemy agents +do not know. But their difficulty is to get it through to their +paymasters, within the limit of time during which the information is +useful. There are scores of possible channels, and it is up to us to +watch them all. You have already shown some grasp of our methods, +which in a sentence may be described as unsleeping vigilance. Once we +know the identity of an enemy agent, he ceases to be of any use to the +enemy, but becomes of the greatest value to us. Our motto is: Ab hoste +doceri." He pronounced the infinitive verb as if it rhymed with +glossary. + +"You are quite a scholar, Mr. Dawson," remarked I politely. + +"Yes," said he, simply. "I had a good schooling. I need not go into +details," he went on, "of how we watch the correspondence of suspected +persons, but you may be interested to learn that during the three +weeks which I have passed in your city all your private letters have +been through my hands." + +"The devil they have," I cried angrily. "You exceed your powers. This +is really intolerable." + +"Oh, you need not worry," replied Dawson serenely. "Your letters were +quite innocent. I am gratified to learn that your two sons in the +Service are happy and doing well, and that you contemplate the +publication of another book." + +It was impossible not to laugh at the man's effrontery, though I felt +exasperated at his inquisitiveness. After all, there are things in +private letters which one does not wish a stranger, and a police +officer, to read. + +"And how long is this outrage to continue?" I asked crossly. + +"That depends upon you. As soon as I am satisfied that you are as +trustworthy as the local police and other authorities believe you to +be, your correspondence will pass untouched. It is of no use for you +to fume or try to kick up a fuss in London. Scotland Yard would open +the Home Secretary's letters if it had any cause to feel doubtful of +him." + +"You cannot feel much suspicion of me or you would not tell me what +you have been doing." + +"You might have thought of that at once," said Dawson derisively. + +I shook myself and conceded the round to Dawson. + +"It has been plain to us for a long time that the food parcels +despatched by relatives and 'god-mothers' of British prisoners in +Germany were a possible source of danger, and at last it has been +decided to stop them and to keep the despatch of food in the hands of +official organisations. Since there are now some 30,000 of military +prisoners, in addition to interned civilians at Ruhleben, the number +and complexity of the parcels have made it most difficult for a +thorough examination to be kept up. We have done our utmost, but have +been conscious that there has existed in them a channel through which +have passed communications from enemy agents to enemy employers." + +"I can see the possibility, but a practical method of communication +looks difficult. How was it done?" + +"In the most absurdly simple way. Real ingenuity is always simple. I +will give you an example. An English prisoner in Germany has, we will +suppose, parents in Newcastle, by whom food has been sent out +regularly. He dies in captivity, and in due course his relatives are +notified through the International Headquarters of the Red Cross in +Geneva. He is crossed off the Newcastle lists, and his parents, of +course, stop sending parcels. Now suppose that some one in Birmingham +begins to send parcels addressed to this lately deceased prisoner, his +name, unless Birmingham is very vigilant, will get upon the lists +there as that of a new live prisoner. The parcels addressed to this +name will go straight into the hands of the German Secret Service, and +a channel of communication will have been opened up between some one +in Birmingham and the enemy in Germany. Prisoners are frequently +dying, new prisoners are frequently being taken. Under a haphazard +system of individual parcels, despatched from all over the British +Isles, it has been practically impossible to keep track of all the +changes. For this, and other good reasons, we have had to make a clean +sweep and to take over the feeding of British prisoners by means of a +regular organisation which can ensure that nothing is sent with the +food which will be of any assistance to the enemy." + +"That is a good job done," I observed. "Have you evidence that what is +possible has in fact been done?" + +"We have," said Dawson. "Not many cases, perhaps, but sufficient to +show the existence of a very real danger. It is, indeed, one +particular instance of direct communication which has brought me to +you to-day. Orders were given not long since that all new cases, that +is, all parcels addressed to prisoners whose names were new to local +lists, should be opened and carefully examined. Some six or seven +weeks ago parcels began to be sent from this city addressed to a +lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers. There was nothing +remarkable in that, for though we are some distance here from +Northumberland, young officers are gazetted to regiments which need +them irrespective of the part of the country to which the officers +themselves belong. In accordance with the new orders all the parcels +for this lieutenant--which usually consisted of bread, chocolate, and +tins of sardines--were examined. The bread was cut up, the chocolate +broken to pieces, and the tins opened. If the parcel contained nothing +contraband, fresh supplies of bread, chocolate and sardines to take +the place of those destroyed in examination were put in, and the +parcel forwarded. For the first two weeks nothing was found, but in +the third parcel, buried in one of the loaves, was discovered a +cutting from an evening newspaper which at first sight seemed quite +innocent. But a microscopic search revealed tiny needle pricks in +certain words, and the words, thus indicated, read when taken by +themselves the sentence, 'Important naval news follows.' At this stage +I was sent for. My first step was to inquire very closely into the +antecedents of this lieutenant of Northumberland Fusiliers. I found +that his friends lived at Morpeth, that he had been taken prisoner +during the Loos advance of September 1915, and that he had died about +a year later of typhoid fever in a German camp. His friends, as soon +as they had been informed, of the death, had stopped sending parcels +of food out to him. They were not told the object of the inquiries. It +would have caused them needless pain. It was bad enough that their +only son had died far from home in a filthy German prison." + +Dawson's rather metallic voice became almost sympathetic, and I was +pleased to observe that his harsh profession had not destroyed in him +all human feeling. + +"After this you may suppose that the parcels addressed to our poor +friend the late lieutenant were very eagerly looked for. The alleged +sender, whose name and residence were written upon the labels, was +found not to exist. Both name and address were false. It was a hot +scent, and I was delighted, after a week of waiting, to see another +parcel come in. This would, in all probability, contain the 'important +naval news,' and I took its examination upon myself. I reduced the +bread and the chocolate to powder without finding anything." + +"Excuse me," I cried, intensely interested, "but how could one conceal +a paper in bread or in chocolate without leaving external traces?" + +"There is no difficulty. The loaves were of the kind which have soft +ends. One cuts a deep slit, inserts the paper, closes up the cut with +a little fresh dough, and rebakes the loaf for a short time, till all +signs of the cut have disappeared. The chocolate was in eggs, not in +bars. The oval lumps can be cut open, scooped out, a paper put in, and +the two halves joined up and the cut concealed by means of a strong +mixture of chocolate paste and white of egg. When thoroughly dried in +a warm place, chocolate thus treated will stand very close scrutiny. I +did not trouble to look for signs of disturbance in either loaves or +eggs; it was quicker and easier to break them up. I then addressed my +attention to the sardine tins, which from the first had seemed the +most likely hiding-places. A very moderately skilled mechanic can +unsolder a tin, empty out the fish and oil, put in what he pleases in +place, weight judiciously, and then refasten with fresh solder. I +opened all the tins, found that all except one had been undisturbed, +but that one was a blissful reward for all my trouble, for in it was a +tightly packed mass of glazier's putty, soft and heavy, and at the +bottom the carefully folded paper which I have now the honour of +showing to you." + +Dawson handed me a stiff piece of paper, slimy to the touch and +smelling strongly of white lead. Upon it were two neatly made drawings +and some lines of words and figures. "It is just what I should have +expected," said I. + +"You recognise it?" + +"Of course," said I. "We have here a deck plan showing the disposition +of guns, and a section plan showing arrangement of armour, of one of +the big new ships which has been completed for the Grand Fleet. Below +we have the number and calibre of the guns, the thickness and extent +of the armour, the length, breadth, and depth of the vessel, her +tonnage, her horse power, and her estimated speed. Everything is +correct except the speed, which I happen to know is considerably +greater than the figure set down." + +"You have not by any chance seen that paper before?" asked Dawson, +with rather a forced air of indifference. + +"This? No. Why?" + +"I was curious, that's all." He looked at me with a queer, quizzical +expression, and then laughed softly. "You will understand my question +directly, but for the moment let us get on. What sort of person should +you say made those drawings and wrote that description?" + +I am no Sherlock Holmes; but any one who has had some acquaintance +with engineers and their handiwork can recognise the professional +touch. + +"These drawings are the work of a trained draughtsman, and the writing +is that of a draughtsman. One can tell by the neatness and the +technique of the shading." + +"Right first time," said Dawson approvingly. "At present I have that +draughtsman comfortably locked up; we picked him out of the drawing +office at ----" he named a famous yard in which had been built one of +the ships of the class illustrated upon the paper in my hands. + +"Poor devil," I said. "What is the cause--drink, women, or the +pressure of high prices and a large family?" + +"None of them. His employers give him the best of characters, he gets +good pay, is a man over military age, and has, so far as the police +can learn, no special embarrassments. He owns his house, and has two +or three hundred pounds in the War Loan." + +"Then why in the name of wonder has the _schweinehund_ sold his +country?" + +"He declares that he never received a penny for supplying the +information upon that paper, and we have no evidence of any outside +payments to him. He did not attempt to conceal his handwriting, and +when I made inquiries of his firm, he owned up at once that the paper +was his work. He said that for years past he had given particulars of +ships under construction to the same parties as on this occasion. He +admitted that to do so was contrary to regulations, especially in +wartime, but thought that under the circumstances he was doing no +harm. I am not exactly a credulous person, and I have heard some tall +stories in my time, but for once I am inclined to believe that the man +is speaking the truth. I believe that he received no money, and was +acting throughout in good faith." + +"I am more and more puzzled. What in the world can the circumstances +be which could induce an experienced middle-aged man, employed in +highly confidential work in a great shipyard, not only to break faith +and lose his job, but to stick his neck into a rope and his feet on +the drop of a gallows. Reveal the mystery." + +"You are sure that you have never seen that paper before?" asked +Dawson again, this time slowly and deliberately. + +"Of course not!" I said. "How could I?" + +"That is just what I have to find out," said Dawson. He stopped, took +out a knife, prodded his nearly smoked cigar, puffed once or twice +hard to restore the draught, and spoke. "That is what interests me +just now. For, you see, this very indiscreet and reprehensible +swinehound of a draughtsman, who is at present in my lockup, declares +that he was without suspicion of serious wrong-doing, because +--because--the particulars of the new battleship upon that paper +were supplied to YOU." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +AN INQUISITION + +Perhaps I ought to have seen it coming, but I didn't. For a moment, as +a washerwoman might say, I was struck all of a heap. Then the +delicious thought that I--by nature a vagabond, though by decree of +the High Gods the father of a family and a Justice of the Peace--had +to face the charge of being a German spy shook my soul with ribald +laughter. I had been dull and torpid before the arrival of Dawson; he +had awakened me into joyous life. I arose, filled and lighted a large +calabash pipe, and passed a box of cigars to the detective. "Throw +that stump away and take another," said I. "I owe you more than a +cigar or two." He stared at me, took what I offered, and his face +relaxed into a grin. "It is pleasant to see that you are a man of +humour, Mr. Dawson," I observed, when we were again seated comfortably +on opposite sides of the fire. "In my day I have played many parts, +but I cannot somehow recall the incident of unsoldering a sardine tin, +inserting a paper packed in a mess of putty, soldering it up, and +despatching the incriminating product within a parcel addressed to a +late lieutenant of Northumberland Fusiliers. I am not denying the +charge; the whole affair is too delightful to be cut short. Let us +spin it out delicately like children over plates of sweet pudding." + +"You are a queer customer, Mr. Copplestone. I confess that the whole +business puzzles me, though you and your friends here seem to find it +devilish amusing. When I told the Chief Constable, the manager of the +shipyard, and the Admiral Superintendent of Naval Work that you were +the guilty party, they all roared. For some reason the Admiral and the +shipyard manager kept winking at one another and gurgling till I +thought they would have choked. What _is_ the joke?" + +"If you are good, Dawson, I will tell you some day. This is November, +and the _Rampagious_--the ship described on your paper--left for +Portsmouth in August. In July--" I broke off hurriedly, lest I should +tell my visitor too much. "It has taken our friend who put the paper +in the sardine tin three months to find out details of her. I could +have done better than that, Dawson." + +"That is just what the Admiral said, though he wouldn't explain why." + +"The truth is, Dawson, that the Admiral and I both come from Devon, +the land of pirates, smugglers, and buccaneers. We are law breakers by +instinct and family tradition. When we get an officer of the law on +toast, we like to make the most of him. It is a playful little way of +ours which I am sure you will understand and pardon." + +"You know, of course, that I am justified in arresting you. I have a +warrant and handcuffs in my pocket." + +"Admirable man!" I cried, with enthusiasm. "You are, Dawson, the +perfect detective. As a criminal I should be mightily afraid of you. +But, as in my buttonhole I always wear the white flower which +proclaims to the world my blameless life, I am thoroughly enjoying +this visit and our cosy chat beside the fire. Shall I telephone to my +office and say that I shall be unavoidably detained from duty for an +indefinite time? 'Detained' would be the strict truth and the _mot +juste_. If you would kindly lock me up, say, for three years or the +duration of the war I should be your debtor. I have often thought that +a prison, provided that one were allowed unlimited paper and the use +of a typewriter, would be the most charming of holidays--a perfect +rest cure. There are three books in my head which I should like to +write. Arrest me, Dawson, I implore you! Put on the handcuffs--I have +never been handcuffed--ring up a taxi, and let us be off to jail. You +will, I hope, do me the honour of lunching with me first and meeting +my wife. She will be immensely gratified to be quit of me. It cannot +often have happened in your lurid career, Dawson, to be welcomed with +genuine enthusiasm." + +"Why did that man say that he prepared the description of the ship for +you?" + +"That is what we are going to find out, and I will help you all I can. +My reputation is like the bloom upon the peach--touch it, and it is +gone for ever. There is a faint glimmer of the truth at the back of my +mind which may become a clear light. Did he say that he had given it +to me personally, into my own hand?" + +"No. He said that he was approached by a man whom he had known off and +on for years, a man who was employed by you in connection with +shipyard inquiries. He was informed that this man was still employed +by you for the same purpose now as in the past." + +"Your case against me is thinning out, Dawson. At its best it is +second-hand; at its worst, the mere conjecture of a rather careless +draughtsman. I have two things to do: first to find out the real +seducer, who is probably also the despatcher of the parcels to the +late lieutenant of Northumberland Fusiliers, and second, to save if I +can this poor fool of a shipyard draughtsman from punishment for his +folly. I don't doubt that he honestly thought he was dealing with me." + +"He will have to be punished. The Admiral will insist upon that." + +"We must make the punishment as light as we can. You shall help me +with all the discretionary authority with which you are equipped. I +can see, Dawson, from the tactful skill with which you have dealt with +me that discretion is among your most distinguished characteristics. +If you had been a stupid, bull-headed policeman, you would have been +up against pretty serious trouble." + +"That was quite my own view," replied Dawson drily. + +"Who is the man described by our erring draughtsman?" + +"He won't say. We have put on every allowable method of pressure, and +some that are not in ordinary times permitted. We have had over this +spy hunt business to shed most of our tender English regard for +suspected persons, and to adopt the French system of fishing +inquiries. In France the police try to make a man incriminate himself; +in England we try our hardest to prevent him. That may be very right +and just in peace time against ordinary law breakers; but war is war, +and spies are too dangerous to be treated tenderly. We have +cross-examined the man, and bully-ragged him, but he won't give up the +name of his accomplice. It may be a relation. One thing seems sure. +The man is, or was, a member of your staff, engaged in shipyard +inquiries. Can you give me a list of the men who are or have been on +this sort of work during the past few years?" + +"I will get it for you. But please use it carefully. My present men +are precious jewels, the few left to me by zealous military +authorities. What I must look for is some one over military age who +has left me or been dismissed--probably dismissed. When a British +subject, of decent education and once respectable surroundings, gets +into the hands of German agents, you may be certain of one thing, +Dawson, that he has become a rotter through drink." + +"That's it," cried Dawson. "You have hit it. Crime and drink are twin +brothers as no one knows better than the police. Look out for the name +and address of a man dismissed for drunkenness and we shall have our +bird." + +"The name I can no doubt give you, but not the address." + +"Give us any address where he lived, even if it were ten years ago, +and we will track him down in three days. That is just routine police +work." + +"I never presume to teach an expert his business--and you, Dawson, are +a super-expert, a director-general of those of common qualities--but +would it not be well to warn all the Post Offices, so that when +another parcel is brought in addressed to the lieutenant the bearer +may be arrested?" + +Dawson sniffed. "Police work; common police work. It was done at once +for this city and fifty miles round. No parcel was put in last week. +The warning has since been extended to the whole of the United +Kingdom. We may get our man this week, or at least a messenger of his, +but no news has yet come to me. I will lunch with you, as you so +kindly suggest, and afterwards I want you to come with me to see the +draughtsman in the lockup. You may be able to shake his confounded +obstinacy. Run the pathetic stunt. Say if he keeps silent that you +will be arrested, your home broken up, your family driven into the +workhouse, and you yourself probably shot. Pitch it strong and rich. +He is a bit of a softy from the look of him. That tender-hearted lot +are always the most obstinate when asked to give away their pals." + +"Do you know, Dawson," I said, as he went upstairs with me to have a +lick and a polish, as he put it--"I am inclined to agree with Cary +that you are rather an inhuman beast." + +My wife, with whom I could exchange no more than a dozen words and a +wink or two, gripped the situation and played up to it in the fashion +which compels the admiration and terror of mere men. Do they humbug +us, their husbands, as they do the rest of the world on our behalf? +She met Dawson as if he were an old family friend, heaped hospitality +upon him, and chaffed him blandly as if to entertain a police officer +with a warrant and handcuffs in his pocket were the best joke in the +world. "My husband, Mr. Dawson, needs a holiday very badly, but won't +take one. He thinks that the war cannot be pursued successfully unless +he looks after it himself. If you would carry him off and keep him +quiet for a bit, I should be deeply grateful." She then fell into a +discussion with Dawson of the most conveniently situated prisons. Mrs. +Copplestone dismissed Dartmoor and Portland as too bleakly situated, +but was pleased to approve of Parkhurst in the Isle of Wight--which I +rather fancy is a House of Detention for women. She insisted that the +climate of the Island was suited to my health, and wrung a promise +from Dawson that I should, if possible, be interned there. Dawson's +manners and conversation surprised me. His homespun origin was +evident, yet he had developed an easy social style which was neither +familiar nor aggressive. We were in his eyes eccentrics, possibly what +he would call among his friends "a bit off," and he bore himself +towards us accordingly. My small daughter, Jane, to whom he had been +presented as a colonel of police--little Jane is deeply versed in +military ranks--took to him at once, and his manner towards her +confirmed my impression that some vestiges of humanity may still be +discovered in him by the patient searcher. She insisted upon sitting +next to him and in holding his hand when it was not employed in +conveying food to his mouth. She was startled at first by the +discussion upon the prisons most suitable for me, but quickly became +reconciled to the idea of a temporary separation. + +"Colonel Dawson," she asked. "When daddy is in prison, may I come and +see him sometimes. Mother and me?" Dawson gripped his hair--we were +the maddest crew!--and replied. "Of course you shall, Miss Jane, as +often as you like." + +"Thank you, Colonel Dawson; you are a nice man. I love you. Now show +me the handcuffs in your pocket." + +For the second time that day poor Dawson blushed. He must have +regretted many times that he had mentioned to me those unfortunate +darbies. Now amid much laughter he was compelled to draw forth a +pretty shining pair of steel wristlets and permit Jane to put them on. +They were much too large for her; she could slip them on and off +without unlocking; but as toys they were a delight. "I shouldn't mind +being a prisoner," she declared, "if dear Colonel Dawson took me up." + +We were sitting upon the fire-guard after luncheon, dallying over our +coffee, when Jane demanded to be shown a real arrest. "Show me how you +take up a great big man like Daddy." + +Then came a surprise, which for a moment had so much in it of bitter +realism that it drove the blood from my wife's cheeks. I could not +follow Dawson's movements; his hands flickered like those of a +conjurer, there came a sharp click, and the handcuffs were upon my +wrists! I stared at them speechless, wondering how they got there, +and, looking up, met the coldly triumphant eyes of the detective. I +realised then exactly how the professional manhunter glares at the +prey into whom, after many days, he has set his claws. My wife gasped +and clutched at my elbow, little Jane screamed, and for a few seconds +even I thought that the game had been played and that serious business +was about to begin. Dawson gave us a few seconds of apprehension, and +then laughed grimly. From his waistcoat pocket he drew a key, and the +fetters were removed almost as quickly as they had been clapped on. +"Tit for tat," said he. "You have had your fun with me. Fair play is a +jewel." + +Little Jane was the first to recover speech. "I knew that dear Colonel +Dawson was only playing," she cried. "He only did it to please me. +Thank you, Colonel, though you did frighten me just a weeny bit at +first." And pulling him down towards her she kissed him heartily upon +his prickly cheek. It was a queer scene. + +The door bell rang loudly, and we were informed that a policeman stood +without who was inquiring for Chief Inspector Dawson. "Show him in +here," said I. The constable entered, and his manner of addressing my +guest--that of a raw second lieutenant towards a general of +division--shed a new light upon Dawson's pre-eminence in his Service. +"A telegram for you, sir." Dawson seized it, was about to tear it +open, remembered suddenly his hostess, and bowed towards her. "Have I +your permission, madam?" he asked. She smiled and nodded; I turned +away to conceal a laugh. "Good," cried Dawson, poring over the +message. "I think, Mr. Copplestone, that you had better telephone to +your office and say that you are unavoidably detained." + +"What--what is it?" cried my wife, who had again become white with +sudden fear. + +"Something which will occupy the attention of your husband and myself +to the exclusion of all other duties. This telegram informs me that a +parcel has been handed in at Carlisle and the bearer arrested." + +"Excellent!" I cried. "My time is at your disposal, Dawson. We shall +now get full light." + +He sat down and scribbled a reply wire directing the parcel and its +bearer to be brought to him with all speed. "They should arrive in two +or three hours," said he, "and in the meantime we will tackle the +draughtsman who made that plan of the battleship. Good-bye Mrs. +Copplestone, and thank you very much for your hospitality. Your +husband goes with me." My wife shook hands with Dawson, and politely +saw him off the premises. She has said little to me since about his +visit, but I do not think that she wishes ever to meet with him again. +Little Jane, who kissed him once more at parting, is still attached to +the memory of her colonel. + + * * * * * + +Dawson led me to the private office at the Central Police Station, +which was his temporary headquarters, and sent for the dossier of the +locked up draughtsman. "I have here full particulars of him," said he, +"and a verbatim note of my examination." I examined the photograph +attached, which represented a bearded citizen of harmless aspect; over +his features had spread a scared, puzzled look, with a suggestion in +it of pathetic appeal. He looked like a human rabbit caught in an +unexpected and uncomprehended trap. It was a police photograph. Then I +began to read the dossier, but got no farther than the first +paragraph. In it was set out the man's name, those of his wife and +children, his employment, record of service, and so on. What arrested +my researches was the maiden name of the wife, which, in accordance +with the northern custom, had been entered as a part of her legal +description. The name awoke in me a recollection of a painful incident +within my experience. I saw before me the puffed, degraded face of one +to whom I had given chance after chance of redeeming himself from +thraldom to the whisky bottle, one who had promised again and again to +amend his ways. At last, wearied, I had cast him out. He had been +looking after an important shipbuilding district, had conspicuous +ability and knowledge, the support of a faithful wife. But nothing +availed to save him from himself. "Give me five minutes alone with +your prisoner," I said to Dawson, "and I will give you the spy you +seek." + +I had asked for five minutes, but two were sufficient for my purpose. +The draughtsman had been obstinate with Dawson, seeking loyally to +shield his wretched brother-in-law, but when he found that I had the +missing thread in my hands, he gave in at once. "What relation is ---- +to your wife?" I asked. He had risen at my entrance, but the question +went through him like a bullet; his pale face flushed, he staggered +pitifully, and, sitting down, buried his face in his hands. "You may +tell the truth now," I said gently. "We can easily find out what we +must know, but the information will come better from you." + +"He is my wife's brother," murmured the man. + +"You knew that he was no longer in my service?" + +"Yes, I knew." + +I might fairly have asked why he had used my name, but refrained. One +can readily pardon the lapses of an honest man, terrified at finding +himself in the coils of the police, clinging to the good name of his +wife and her family, clutching at any device to throw the +sleuth-hounds of the law off the real scent. He had given his +brother-in-law forbidden information from a loyal desire to help him +and with no knowledge of the base use to which it would be put. When +detected, he had sought at any cost to shield him. + +"I will do my best to help you," I said. + +His head drooped down till it rested upon his bent arms, and he +groaned and panted under the torture of tears. His was not the stuff +of which criminals are made. + +I found Dawson's chuckling joy rather repulsive. I felt that, being +successful, he might at least have had the decency to dissemble his +satisfaction. He might also have given me some credit for the rapid +clearing up of the problem in detection. But he took the whole thing +to himself, and gloated like a child over his own cleverness. I +neither obtained from him thanks for my assistance nor apologies for +his suspicions. It was Dawson, Dawson, all the time. Yet I found his +egotism and unrelieved vanity extraordinarily interesting. As we sat +together in his room waiting for the Carlisle train to come in he +discoursed freely to me of his triumphs in detection, his wide-spread +system of spying upon spies, his long delayed "sport" with some, and +his ruthless rapid trapping of others. Men are never so interesting as +when they talk shop, and as a talker of shop Dawson was sublime. + +"If," said Dawson, as the time approached for the closing scene, "our +much-wanted friend has himself handed in the parcel at Carlisle--he +would be afraid to trust an accomplice--our job will be done. If not, +I will pull a drag net through this place which will bring him up +within a day or two. What a fool the man is to think that he could +escape the eye of Bill Dawson." + +A policeman entered, laid a packet upon the table before us, and +announced that the prisoner had been placed in cell No. 2. Dawson +sprang up. "We will have a look at him through the peephole, and if it +is our man--" One glance was enough. Before me I saw him whom I had +expected to see. He and his cargo of whisky bottles had reached the +last stage of their long journey; at one end had been peace, reasonable +prosperity, and a happy home; at the other was, perhaps, a rope or a +bullet. + +Dawson began once more to descant upon his own astuteness, but I was +too sick at heart to listen. I remembered only the visit years before +which that man's wife had paid to me. "Will you not open the parcel?" +I interposed. He fell upon it, exposed its contents of bread, +chocolate, and sardine tins, and called for a can opener. He shook the +tins one by one beside his ear, and then, selecting that which gave +out no "flop" of oil, stripped it open, plunged his fingers inside, +and pulled forth a clammy mess of putty and sawdust. In a moment he +had come upon a paper which after reading he handed to me. It bore the +words in English, "Informant arrested: dare not send more." + +"What a fool!" cried Dawson. "As if the evidence against him were not +sufficient already he must give us this." + +"You will let that poor devil of a draughtsman down easily?" I +murmured. + +"We want him as a witness," replied Dawson. "Tit for tat. If he helps +us, we will help him. And now we will cut along to the Admiral. He is +eager for news." + +We broke in upon the Admiral in his office near the shipyards, and he +greeted me with cheerful badinage. "So you are in the hands of the +police at last, Copplestone. I always told you what would be the end +of your naval inquisitiveness." + +Dawson told his story, and the naval officer's keen kindly face grew +stern and hard. "Germans I can respect," said he, "even those that +pretend to be our friends. But one of our own folk--to sell us like +this--ugh! Take the vermin away; Dawson, and stamp upon it." + +We stood talking for a few moments, and then Dawson broke in with a +question. "I have never understood, Admiral, why you were so very +confident that Mr. Copplestone here had no hand in this business. The +case against him looked pretty ugly, yet you laughed at it all the +time. Why were you so sure?" + +The Admiral surveyed Dawson as if he were some strange creature from +an unknown world. "Mr. Copplestone is a friend of mine," said he +drily. + +"Very likely," snapped the detective. "But is a man a white angel +because he has the honour to be your friend?" + +"A fair retort," commented the Admiral. It happens that I had other +and better reasons. For in July I myself showed Mr. Copplestone over +the new battleship _Rampagious_, and after our inspection we both +lunched with the builders and discussed her design and armament in +every detail. So as Mr. Copplestone knew all about her in July, he was +not likely to suborn a draughtsman in November. See?" + +"You should have told me this before. It was your duty." + +"My good Dawson," said the Admiral gently, "you are an excellent +officer of police, but even you have a few things yet to learn. I had +in my mind to give you a lesson, especially as I owed you some +punishment for your impertinence in opening my friend Copplestone's +private letters. You have had the lesson; profit by it." + +Dawson flushed angrily. "Punishment! Impertinence! This to me!" + +"Yes," returned the Admiral stiffly, "beastly impertinence." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +SABOTAGE + +Dawson showed no malice towards the Admiral or myself for our +treatment of him. I do not think that he felt any; he was too fully +occupied in collecting the spoils of victory to trouble his head about +what a Scribbler or a Salt Horse might think of him. He gathered to +himself every scrap of credit which the affair could be induced to +yield, and received--I admit quite deservedly--the most handsome +encomiums from his superiors in office. During the two weeks he passed +in my city after the capture--weeks occupied in tracing out the +threads connecting his wretch of a prisoner with the German agents +upon what Dawson called his "little list"--he paid several visits both +to my house and my office. His happiness demanded that he should read +to me the many letters which poured in from high officials of the +C.I.D., from the Chief Commissioner, and on one day--a day of days in +the chronicles of Dawson--from the Home Secretary himself. To me it +seemed that all these astute potentates knew their Dawson very +thoroughly, and lubricated, as it were, with judicious flattery the +machinery of his energies. I could not but admire Dawson's truly royal +faculty for absorbing butter. The stomachs of most men, really good at +their business, would have revolted at the diet which his superiors +shovelled into Dawson, but he visibly expanded and blossomed. Yes, +Scotland Yard knew its Dawson, and exactly how to stimulate the best +that was in him. He never bored me; I enjoyed him too thoroughly. + +One day in my club I chanced upon the Admiral. + +"Have you met our friend Dawson lately?" I asked. + +"Met him?" shouted he, with a roar of laughter. "Met him? He is in my +office every day--he almost lives with me; goodness knows when he does +his work. He has a pocket full of letters which he has read to me till +I know them by heart. If I did not know that he was a first-class man +I should set him down as a colossal ass. Yet, I rather wish that the +Admiralty would sometimes write to me as the severe but very human +Scotland Yard does to Dawson." + +"Does he ever come to you in disguise?" I asked. + +"Not that I know of. I see vast numbers of people; some of them may be +Dawson in his various incarnations, but he has not given himself +away." + +Then I explained to my naval friend my own experience. "He tried," I +said, "to play the disguise game on me, and clean bowled me the first +time. While he was laughing over my discomfiture I studied his face +more closely than a lover does that of his mistress. I tried to +penetrate his methods. He never wears a wig or false hair; he is too +wise for that folly. Yet he seems able to change his hair from light +to dark, to make it lank or curly, short or long. He does it; how I +don't know. He alters the shape of his nose, his cheeks, and his chin. +I suppose that he pads them out with little rubber insets. He alters +his voice, and his figure, and even his height. He can be stiff and +upright like a drilled soldier, or loose-jointed and shambling like a +tramp. He is a finished artist, and employs the very simplest means. +He could, I truly believe, deceive his wife or his mother, but he will +never again deceive me. I am not a specially observant man; still one +can make a shot at most things when driven to it, and I object to +being the subject of Dawson's ribaldry. If you will take my tip, you +will be able to spot him as readily as I do now." + +"Good. I should love to score off Dawson. He is an aggravating beast." + +"Study his ears," said I. "He cannot alter their chief characters. The +lobes of his ears are not loose, like yours or mine or those of most +men and women; his are attached to the back of his cheekbones. My +mother had lobes like those, so had the real Roger Tichborne; I +noticed Dawson's at once. Also at the top fold of his ears he has +rather a pronounced blob of flesh. This blob, more prominent in some +men than in others, is, I believe, a surviving relic of the sharp +point which adorned the ears of our animal ancestors. Dawson's +ancestor must have been a wolf or a bloodhound. Whenever now I have a +strange caller who is not far too tall or far too short to be Dawson, +if a stranger stops me in the street to ask for a direction, if a +porter at a station dashes up to help me with my bag, I go for his +ears. If the lobes are attached to the cheekbones and there is a +pronounced blob in the fold at the top, I address the man instantly as +Dawson, however impossibly unlike Dawson he may be. I have spotted him +twice now since he bowled me out, and he is frightfully savage--especially +as I won't tell him how the trick is done. He says that it is my duty to +tell him, and that he will compel me under some of his beloved Defence of +the Realm Regulations. But the rack could not force me to give away my +precious secret. Cherish it and use it. You will not tell, for you love +to mystify the ruffian as much as I do." + +"I will watch for his ears when he next calls, which, I expect, will +be to-morrow. Thank you very much. I won't sneak." + +"Remember that nothing else in the way of identification is of any +use, for I doubt if either of us has ever seen the real, undisguised +Dawson as he is known to God. We know a man whom we think is the +genuine article--but is he? Cary's description of him is most unlike +the man whom we see here. I expect that he has a different identity +for every place which he visits. If he told me that at any moment he +was wholly undisguised, I should be quite sure that he was lying. The +man wallows in deception for the very sport of the thing. But he can't +change his ears. Study them, and you will be safe." + +Our club was the only place in which we could be sure that Dawson did +not penetrate, though I should not have been surprised to learn that +one or two of the waitresses were in his pay. Dawson is an ardent +feminist; he says that as secret agents women beat men to a frazzle. + +Shortly before Dawson left for his headquarters on the north-east +coast he dropped in upon me. He had finished his researches, and +revealed the results to me with immense satisfaction. + +"I have fixed up Menteith," he began, "and know exactly how he came +into communication with the German Secret Service." The contemptuous +emphasis which he laid on the word "Secret" would have annoyed the +Central Office at Potsdam. I have given the detected British spy the +name of Menteith after that of the most famous traitor in Scottish +history; if I called him, say, Campbell or Macdonald, nothing could +save me from the righteous vengeance of the outraged Clans. + +"It was all very simple," he went on, "like most things in my business +when one gets to the bottom of them. He was seduced by a man whom the +local police have had on their string for a long time, but who will +now be put securely away. Menteith was a frequenter of a certain +public house down the river, where he posed as an authority on the +Navy, and hinted darkly at his stores of hidden information. Our +German agent made friends with him, gave him small sums for drinks, +and flattered his vanity. It is strange how easily some men are +deceived by flattery. The agent got from Menteith one or two bits of +news by pretending a disbelief in his sources of intelligence, and +then, when the fool had committed himself, threatened to denounce him +to the police unless he took service with him altogether. Money, of +course, passed, but not very much. The Germans who employ spies so +extensively pay them extraordinarily little. They treat them like +scurvy dogs, for whom any old bone is good enough, and I'm not sure +they are not right. They go on the principle that the white trash who +will sell their country need only to be paid with kicks and coppers. +Menteith swears that he did not receive more than four pounds for the +plans and description of the _Rampagious_. Fancy selling one's country +and risking one's neck for four measly pounds sterling! If he had got +four thousand, I should have had some respect for him. His home is in +a wretched state, and his wife--a pretty woman, though almost a +skeleton, and a very nicely mannered, honest woman--says that her +husband unexpectedly gave her four pounds a month ago. He had kept +none of the blood money for drink! Curious, isn't it?" + +"It shows that the man had some good in him. It shows that he was +ashamed to use the money upon himself. We must do something for the +poor wife, Dawson." + +"She will easily get work, and she will be far better without her sot +of a husband. She did not cry when I told her everything. 'I ought to +have left him long ago,' she said, 'but I tried to save him. Thank God +we have no children,' That seemed to be her most insistent thought, +for she repeated it over and over again. 'Thank God that we have no +children.'" + +"I hope that you were gentle with her, Dawson," said I, deeply moved. +Long ago the wife had come to me and pleaded for her husband. She had +shed no tear; she had admitted the justice, the necessity, of my +sentence. "Can you not give him another chance?" she had asked. "No," +I had answered sadly. "He has exhausted all the chances." When she had +risen to go and I had pressed her hand, she had said, still dry-eyed, +"You are right, sir, it is no use, no use at all. Thank God that we +have no children." + +"I hope that you were gentle with her, Dawson," I repeated. + +He astonished me by the suddenness of his explosion. "Damn," roared +he--"damn and blast! Do you think that I am a brute. Gentle! It was as +much as I could do not to kiss the woman, as your little daughter +kissed me, and to promise that I would get her husband off somehow. +But I should not be a friend to her if I tried to save that man." + +So Dawson had soft spots in his armour of callousness, and little +Jane's instinct was far surer than mine. She had taken to him at +sight. When I tried to get from her why, why he had so marked an +attraction for her, her replies baffled me more than the central fact. +"I love Colonel Dawson. He is a nice man. He has a little girl like +me. Her name is Clara. Her birthday is next month. I shall save up my +pocket money and send Clara a present. I like Colonel Dawson better +even than dear Bailey." I tore my hair, for "Bailey" is a wholly +imaginary friend of little Jane, whom I invented one evening at her +bedside and who has grown gradually into a personage of clearly +defined attributes--like the "Putois" of Anatole France. Dawson and +"Bailey"; they are both "nice men" and little Jane's friends; she is +sure of them, and I expect that she is right. Children always are +right. + +Dawson, after his outburst, glowered at me for a moment and then +laughed. "I am a man," said he, "though you may not think it, and I +have my weaknesses. But I never give way to them when they interfere +with business. Menteith is in my grip, and he won't get out of it. But +he is a poor creature. He handed over the description of the +_Rampagious_, saw it hidden in the sardine tin, and was ordered to +take the food parcel to the Post Office. The German agent who used him +had no notion of risking his own skin. Then followed the discovery and +the arrest of the draughtsman who had drawn the plan. Those who had +seduced Menteith forbade him to come near them. They slipped away into +hiding--which profited them little since all of them were on our +string--after threatening Menteith that he would be murdered if he +gave himself up to the police, as in his terror he seemed to want to +do. When nothing happened for two weeks, the vermin came out of their +holes, made up the last parcel, and forced Menteith to go to Carlisle +in order to post it. All through he has been the most abject of tools, +and received nothing except the four pounds and various small sums +spent in drinks." + +"You have the principal all right?" + +"Yes, I have him tight. The others associated with him I shall leave +free; they will be most useful in future. They don't know that we know +them; when they do know, their number will go up, for they will be +then of no further use to us. It is a beautiful system, Mr. Copplestone, +and you have had the unusual privilege of seeing it at work." + +"What will your prisoners get by way of punishment?" + +"I am not sure, but I can guess pretty closely. The principal will go +out suddenly early some morning. He is a Jew of uncertain Central +European origin, Pole or Czech, a natural born British subject, a +shining light of a local anti-German society, an 'indispensable' in +his job and exempted from military service. He will give no more +trouble. Menteith will spend anything from seven to ten years in p.s., +learn to do without his daily whisky bottle, and possibly come out a +decent citizen. The draughtsman, I expect, will be let off with +eighteen months of the Jug. We are just, but not harsh. My birds don't +interest me much once they have been caught; it is the catching that I +enjoy. Down in the south, where I have a home of my own--which I +haven't seen during the past year except occasionally for an hour or +two--I used to grow big show chrysanthemums. All through the processes +of rooting the cuttings, repotting, taking the buds, feeding up the +plants, I never could endure any one to touch them. But once the +flowers were fully developed, my wife could cut them as much as she +pleased and fill the house with them. My job was done when I had got +the flowers perfect. It is just the same with my business. I cultivate +the little dears I am after, and hate any one to interfere with me; I +humour them and water them and feed them with opportunities till they +are ripe, and then I stick out my hand and grab them. After that the +law can do what it likes with them; they ain't my concern any more." + +By this time it had become apparent even to my slow intelligence why +Dawson told me so much about himself and his methods. He had formed +the central figure in a real story in print, and the glory of it +possessed him. He had tasted of the rich sweet wine of fame, and he +thirsted for more of the same vintage. He never in so many words asked +me to write this book, but his eagerness to play Dr. Johnson to my +Boswell appeared in all our relations. He was communicative far beyond +the limits of official discretion. If I now disclosed half, or a +quarter, of what he told me of the inner working of the Secret +Service, Scotland Yard, which admires and loves him, would cast him +out, lock him up securely in gaol, and prepare for me a safe +harbourage in a contiguous cell. So for both our sakes I must be very, +very careful. + +"You have been most helpful to me," he said handsomely at parting, +"and if anything good turns up on the North-East coast, I will let you +know. Could you come if I sent for you?" + +"I would contrive to manage it," said I. + +Dawson went away, and the pressure of daily work and interests thrust +him from my mind. For a month I heard nothing of him or of Cary, and +then one morning came a letter and a telegram. The letter was from +Richard Cary, and read as follows: "A queer thing has happened here. +A cruiser which had come in for repair was due to go out this morning. +She was ready for sea the night before, the officers and crew had all +come back from short leave, and the working parties had cleared out. +Then in the middle watch, when the torpedo lieutenant was testing the +circuits, it was discovered that all the cables leading to the guns +had been cut. Dawson has been called in, and bids me say that, if you +can come down, now is the chance of your life. I will put you up." + +The telegram was from Dawson himself. It ran: "They say I'm beaten. +But I'm not. Come and see." + +"The deuce," said I. "Sabotage! I am off." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +BAFFLED + +When at last I arrived at Cary's flat it was very late, and I was +exceedingly tired and out of temper. A squadron of Zeppelins had been +reported from the sea, the air-defence control at Newcastle had sent +out the preliminary warning "F.M.W.," and the speed of my train had +been reduced to about fifteen miles an hour. I had expected to get in +to dinner, but it was eleven o'clock before I reached my destination. +I had not even the satisfaction of seeing a raid, for the Zepps, made +cautious by recent heavy losses, had turned back before crossing the +line of the coast. Cary and his wife fell upon my neck, for we were +old friends, condoled with me, fed me, and prescribed a tall glass of +mulled port flavoured with cloves. My stern views upon the need for +Prohibition in time of war became lamentably weakened. + +By midnight I had recovered my philosophic outlook upon life, and Cary +began to enlighten me upon the details of the grave problem which had +brought me eagerly curious to his city. + +"I expect that Dawson will drop in some time to-night," he said. "All +hours are the same to him. I told him that you were on the way, and he +wants to give you the latest news himself. He is dead set upon you, +Copplestone. I can't imagine why." + +"Am I then so very unattractive?" I inquired drily. "It seems to me +that Dawson is a man of sound judgment." + +"I confess that I do not understand why he lavishes so much attention +upon you." + +"Your remarks, Cary," I observed, "are deficient in tact. You might, +at least, pretend to believe that my personal charm has won for me +Dawson's affection. As a matter of fact, he cares not a straw for my +_beaux yeux_; his motives are crudely selfish. He thinks that it is in +my power to contribute to the greater glory of Dawson, and he +cultivates me just as he would one of his show chrysanthemums. He has +done me the honour to appoint me his biographer extraordinary." + +"I am sure you are wrong," cried Cary. "He was most frightfully angry +about that story of ours in _Cornhill_. He demanded from me your name +and address, and swore that if I ever again disclosed to you official +secrets he would proceed against me under the Defence of the Realm +Act. He was a perfect terror, I can assure you." + +"And yet he always carries that story about with him in his +breast-pocket; he has summoned me here to see him at his work; and you +have been commanded to tell me everything which you know! My dear +Cary, do not be an ass. You are too simple a soul for this rather +grubby world. In your eyes every politician is an ardent, +disinterested patriot, and every soldier or sailor a knightly hero of +romance. Human beings, Cary, are made in streaks, like bacon; we have +our fat streaks and our lean ones; we can be big and bold, and also +very small and mean. Your great man and your national hero can become +very poor worms when, so to speak, they are off duty. But I didn't +come here, at great inconvenience, to talk this sort of stuff at +midnight. Go ahead; give me the details of this sabotage case which is +baffling Dawson and the naval authorities; let me hear about the +cutting of those electric wires." + +"It is, as I told you, in my note, a queer business. The _Antinous_, a +fast light cruiser, came in about a fortnight ago to have some defects +made good in her high-speed geared-turbines. There was not much wrong, +but her engineer commander recommended a renewal of some of the spur +wheels. The officers and crew went on short leave in rotation, a care +and maintenance party was put in charge, and the builders placed a +working gang on board which was occupied in shifts, by night and by +day, in making good the defects. When a ship is under repair in a +river basin, it is practically impossible to keep up the beautiful +order and discipline of a ship at sea. Men of all kinds are constantly +coming and going, life on board is stripped of the most ordinary +comforts and conveniences, there is inevitably some falling off in +strict supervision. Lack of space, lack of facilities for moving about +the ship, lack of any regular routine. You will understand. Just as +the expansion in the New Army and the New Navy has made it possible +for unknown enemy agents to take service in the Army and the Navy, so +the dilution of labour in the shipyards has made it possible for +workmen--whose sympathies are with the enemy--to get employment about +the warships. The danger is fully recognised, and that is where +Dawson's widespread system of counter-espionage comes in. There is not +a trade union, among all the eighteen or twenty engaged in shipyard +work--riveters, fitters, platers, joiners, and all the rest of +them--in which he has not police officers enrolled as skilled +tradesmen, members of the unions, working as ordinary hands or as +foremen, sometimes even in office as "shop stewards" representing the +interest of the unions and acting as their spokesmen in disputes with +the employers. Dawson claims that there has never yet been a secret +Strike Committee, since the war began, upon which at least one of his +own men was not serving. He is a wonderful man. I don't like him; he +is too unscrupulous and merciless for my simple tastes; but his value +to the country is beyond payment." + +"But where in the world does he raise these men? One can't turn a +policeman into a skilled worker at a moment's notice. How is it done?" + +"He begins at the other end. All his skilled workmen are the best he +can pick out of their various trades. They have served their full time +as apprentices and journeymen. They are recommended to him by their +employers after careful testing and sounding. Most of them, I believe, +come from the Government dockyards and ordnance factories. They are +given a course of police training at Scotland Yard, and then dropped +down wherever they may be wanted. Dawson, and inspectors like him, +have these men everywhere--in shipyards, in shell shops, in gun +factories, in aeroplane sheds, everywhere. They take a leading part in +the councils of the unions wherever they go, for they add to their +skill as workmen a pronounced, even blatant parade of loyalty to the +interests of trade unions and a tasty flavour of socialist principles. +Dawson is perfectly cynically outspoken to me over the business which, +I confess, appals me. In his female agents--of which he has many--he +favours what he calls a 'judicious frailty'; in his male agents he +favours a subtle skill in the verbal technique of anarchism. And this +man Dawson is by religion a Peculiar Baptist, in private life a +faithful husband and a loving father, and in politics a strict Liberal +of the Manchester School! As a man he is good, honest, and rather +narrow; as a professional detective he is base and mean, utterly +without scruple, and a Jesuit of Jesuits. With him the end justifies +the means, whatever the means may be." + +"And yet you admit that his value to the country is beyond payment. +Dawson--our remarkable Dawson of the double life in the two +compartments, professional and private, which never are allowed to +overlap--Dawson is an instrument of war. We do not like using gas or +liquid fire, but we are compelled to use them. We do not like +espionage, but we must employ it. As one who loves this fair land of +England beyond everything in the world, and as one who would do +anything, risk anything, and suffer anything to shield her from the +filthy Germans, I rejoice that she has in her service such supremely +efficient guardians as this most wickedly unscrupulous Dawson. There +is, at any rate, not a trace of our English muddle about him." + +"Ours is a righteous cause," cried poor Cary desperately. "We are +fighting for right against wrong, for defence against aggression, for +civilisation against utter barbarism. We are by instinct clean +fighters. If in the stress of conflict we stoop to foul methods, can +we ever wash away the filth of them from our souls? We shall stand +before the world nakedly confessed as the nation of hypocrites we have +always been declared to be." + +"Cary," I said, "you make me tired. We cannot be too thankful that we +possess Dawsons to counterplot against the Germans, and that +personally we are in no way responsible for the morality of their +methods. Come off the roof and get back to this most interesting +affair of the _Antinous_. I presume one of Dawson's men was working, +unknown to his fellows, with the care and maintenance party, and +another, equally unknown, with the engineers who were busy upon the +gearing of the turbines. Many of the regular ship's officers and men +would also have been on board. Had our remarkable friend his agents +among them too? Everything is possible with Dawson; I should not be +surprised to hear that he had police officers in the Fleet flagship." + +"You are almost right. One of his men, a temporary petty officer of +R.N.V.R., was certainly on board, and he tells me that down in the +engine room was another--a civilian fitter. They were both first-class +men. The electric wires, as you know, are carried about the ship under +the deck beams, where they are accessible for examination and repairs. +They are coiled in cables from which wires are led to the switch room, +and thence to all parts of the ship. There are thousands of wires, and +no one who did not know intimately their purpose and disposition could +venture to tamper with them, for great numbers are always in use. If +any one cut the lighting wires, for instance, the defects would be +obvious at once; so with the heating or telephone wires. Nothing was +touched except the lines to the guns, of which there are eight +disposed upon the deck. From the guns connections run to the switch +room, the conning tower, the gunnery control platform aloft, and to +the gunnery officer's bridge. It was the main cable between the switch +room and the conning tower which was cut, and it was one cable laid +alongside a dozen others. Now who could know that this was the gun +cable, and the only one in which damage might escape detection while +the ship was in harbour? At sea there is constant gun drill, during +which the electrical controls and the firing-tubes are always tested, +but in harbour the guns are lying idle most of the time. It was +evidently the intention of the enemy, who cut these wires, that the +_Antinous_ should go to sea before the defect was discovered, and that +her fire control should be out of action till the wiring system could +be repaired. That very serious disaster was prevented by the +preliminary testing during the night before sailing, but the enemy has +been successful in delaying the departure of an invaluable light +cruiser for two days. In these days, when the war of observation is +more important even than the war of fighting, the services of light +cruisers cannot be dispensed with for an hour without grave +inconvenience and risk. Yet here was one delayed for forty-eight hours +after her ordinary repairs had been completed. The naval authorities +are in a frightful stew. For what has happened to the _Antinous_ may +happen to other cruisers, even to battleships. If there is sabotage +among the workmen in the shipyards, it must be discovered and stamped +out without a moment's delay. This time it is the cutting of a wire +cable; at another time it may be some wilful injury far more serious. +A warship is a mass of delicate machinery to which a highly skilled +enemy agent might do almost infinite damage. Dawson has been run off +his feet during the past two days; I don't know what he has +discovered; but if he does not get to the bottom of the business in +double-quick time we shall have the whole Board of Admiralty, Scotland +Yard, and possibly the War Cabinet down upon us. Think, too, of the +disgrace to this shipbuilding city of which we are all so proud." + +"We shall know something soon," I said, "for, if I mistake not, here +comes Dawson." The electric bell at the front door had buzzed, and +Cary, slipping from the room, presently returned with a man who to me, +at the first glance, was a complete stranger. I sprang up, moved round +to a position whence I could see clearly the visitor's ears, and +gasped. It was Dawson beyond a doubt, but it was not the Dawson whom I +had known in the north. So what I had vaguely surmised was +true--Cary's Dawson and Copplestone's Dawson were utterly unlike. +Dawson winked at me, glanced towards Cary, and shook his head; from +which I gathered that he did not desire his appearance to be the +subject of comment. I therefore greeted him without remark, and, as he +sat down under the electric lights, examined him in detail. This +Dawson was ten years older than the man whom I had known and fenced +with. The hair of this one was lank and grey, while that of mine was +brown and curly; the face of this one was white and thin, while the +face of mine was rather full and ruddy. The teeth were different--I +found out afterwards that Dawson, who had few teeth of his own, +possessed several artificial sets of varied patterns--the shape of the +mouth was different, the nose was different. I could never have +recognised the man before me had I not possessed that clue to identity +furnished by his unchanging ears. + +"So, Dawson," said I slowly, "we meet again. Permit me to say that I +congratulate you. It is very well done." + +He grinned and glanced at the unconscious Cary. "You are learning. +Bill Dawson takes a bit of knowing." + +"Have you any news, Mr. Dawson?" asked Cary eagerly. + +"Not much. The wires of the _Antinous_ have all been renewed--the +Admiralty won't allow cables to be patched except at sea--but I +haven't found out who played hanky-panky with them. It could not have +been any one in the engine-room party, as none of them went near the +place where the wires were cut. Besides, they were engineers, not +electricians, and could have known nothing of the arrangements and +disposition of the ship's wires. My man who worked with them is +positive that they are a sound, good lot without a sea-lawyer or a +pacifist among them; a gang of plain, honest tykes. So we are thrown +back on the maintenance party, included in which were all sorts of +ratings. Some of them are skilled in the electrical fittings--my own +man with them is, for one--but we get the best accounts of all of +them. They are long service men, cast for sea owing to various medical +reasons, but perfectly efficient for harbour work. Among the officers +of the ship is a R.N.R. lieutenant with a German name. I jumped to +him, but the captain laughed. The man's father and grandfather were in +the English merchant service, and though his people originally came +from Saxony, he is no more German than we are ourselves. Besides, my +experience is that an Englishman with an inherited German name is the +very last man to have any truck with the enemy. He is too much ashamed +of his forbears for one thing; and for another he is too dead set on +living down his beastly name. So we will rule out the Lieutenant +R.N.R. My own man, who is a petty officer R.N.V.R., and has worked on +a lot of ships which have come in for repairs, says that the temper +among the workmen in the yards is good now. It was ugly when dilution +of labour first came in, but the wages are so high that all that +trouble has settled down. I have had what you call sabotage in the +shell and gun shops, but never yet in the King's ships. We have had +every possible cutter of the wires on the mat before the Captain and +me. We have looked into all their records, had their homes visited and +their people questioned, inquired of their habits--Mr. Copplestone, +here, knows what comes of drink--and found out how they spend their +wages. Yet we have discovered nothing. It is the worst puzzle that +I've struck. When and how the gun cable was cut I can't tell you, but +whoever did it is much too clever to be about. He must have been +exactly informed of the lie and use of the cables, had with him the +proper tools, and used them in some fraction of a minute when he +wasn't under the eye of my own man whose business it was to watch +everybody and suspect everybody. I thought that I had schemed out a +pretty thorough system; up to now it has worked fine. Whenever we have +had the slightest reason to suspect any man, we have had him kept off +the ship and watched. We have run down a lot of footling spies, too +stupid to give us a minute's anxiety, but this man who cut the +_Antinous_'s wires is of a different calibre altogether. He is AI, and +when I catch him, as I certainly shall, I will take off my hat to +him." + +"You say that the _Antinous_ is all right now?" I observed. + +"Yes. I saw her towed out of the repair basin an hour ago, and she +must be away down the river by this time. It is not of her that I'm +thinking, but of the other ships which are constantly in and out for +repairs. There are always a dozen here of various craft, usually small +stuff. While the man who cut those wires is unknown I shall be in a +perfect fever, and so will the Admiral-Superintendent. We'll get the +beauty sooner or later, but if it is later, there may be had mischief +done. If he can cut wires in one ship, he may do much worse things in +some other. The responsibility rests on me, and it is rather +crushing." + +Dawson spoke with less than his usual cheery confidence. I fancy that +the thinness and whiteness of his face were not wholly due to +disguise. He had not been to bed since he had been called up in the +middle watch of the night before last, and the man was worn out. + +"If you take my poor advice, Dawson," I said, "you will cut off now +and get some sleep. Even your brain cannot work continuously without +rest. The country needs you at your best, and needs you very badly +indeed." + +His dull, weary eyes lighted as if under the stimulus of champagne, +and he turned upon me a look which was almost affectionate. I really +began to believe that Dawson likes me, that he sees in me a kindred +spirit as patriotically unscrupulous as himself. + +He jumped up and gripped my hand. "You are right. I will put in a few +hours' sleep and then to work once more. This time I am up against a +man who is nearly as smart as I am myself, and I can't afford to carry +any handicap." + +I led him to the door and put him out, and then turned to Cary with a +laugh. "And I, too, will follow Dawson's example. It is past one, and +my head is buzzing with queer ideas. Perhaps, after all, the Germans +have more imagination than we usually credit them with. I wonder--" +But I did not tell to Cary what I wondered. + + * * * * * + +We were sitting after breakfast in Cary's study, enjoying the first +sweet pipe of the day, when the telephone bell rang. Cary took off the +earpiece and I listened to a one-sided conversation somewhat as +follows:-- + +"What! Is that you, Mr. Dawson? Yes, Copplestone is here. The +_Antigone_? What about her? She is a sister ship of the _Antinous_, +and was in with damage to her forefoot, which had been ripped up when +she ran down that big German submarine north of the Orkneys--Yes, I +know; she was due to go out some time to-day. What do you say? Wires +cut? Whose wires have been cut? The _Antigone's?_ Oh, the devil! Yes, +we will both come down to your office this afternoon. Whenever you +like." + +Cary hung up the receiver and glared at me. "It has happened again," +he groaned. "The _Antigone_ this time. She has been in dry dock for +the past fortnight and was floated out yesterday. Her full complement +joined her last night. Dawson says that he was called up at +eight-o'clock by the news that her gun-wires have been cut exactly +like those of the _Antinous_ and in the same incomprehensible way. He +seems, curiously enough, to be quite cheerful about it." + +"He has had a few hours sleep. And, besides, he sees that this second +case, so exactly like the first, makes the solution of his problem +very much more easy. I am glad that he is cheerful, for I feel +exuberantly happy myself. I was kept awake half the night by a +persistent notion which seemed the more idiotic the more I thought all +round it. But now--now, there may be something in it." + +"What is your idea? Tell me quick." + +"No, thank you, Dr. Watson. We amateur masters of intuition don't work +our thrilling effects in that way. We keep our notions to ourselves +until they turn out to be right, and then we declare that we saw +through the problem from the first. When we have been wrong, we say +nothing. So you observe, Cary, that whatever happens our reputations +do not suffer." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +GUESSWORK + +Cary tried to shake my resolution, but I was obdurately silent. While +he canvassed the whole position, bringing to bear his really profound +knowledge of naval equipment and routine--and incidentally helping me +greatly to realise the improbability of my own guesswork solution--I +was able to maintain an air of lofty superiority. I must have +aggravated him intensely, unpardonably, for I was his guest. He ought +to have kicked me out. Yet he bore with me like the sweet-blooded +kindly angel that he is, and when at the end it appeared that I was +right after all, Cary was the first to pour congratulations and honest +admiration upon me. If he reads this book he will know that I am +repentant--though I must confess that I should behave in just the same +abominable way if the incident were to occur again. There is no great +value in repentance such as this. + +We reached Dawson's office in the early afternoon, and found his chief +assistant there, but no Dawson. "The old man," remarked that officer, +a typical, stolid, faithful detective sergeant, "is out on the +rampage. He ought by rights to sit here directing the staff and leave +the outside investigations to me. He is a high-up man, almost a deputy +assistant commissioner, and has no call to be always disguising +himself and playing his tricks on everybody. I suppose you know that +white-haired old gent down here ain't a bit like Bill Dawson, who's +not a day over forty?" + +"I have given up wondering where the real Dawson ends and where the +disguises begin. The man I met up north wasn't the least bit like the +one down here." + +"A deal younger, I expect," said the chief assistant, grinning. "He +shifts about between thirty and sixty. The old man is no end of a +cure, and tries to take us in the same as he does you. There's an +inspector at the Yard who was at school with him down Hampshire way, +and ought to know what he is really like, but even he has given Dawson +up. He says that the old man does not know his own self in the +looking-glass; and as for Mrs. Dawson, I expect she has to take any +one who comes along claiming to be her husband, for she can't, +possibly tell t'other from which." + +"One might make a good story out of that," I observed to Cary. + +"I don't understand," said he. "Mr. Dawson told me once that I knew +the real Dawson, but that few other people did." + +"If he told you that," calmly observed the assistant, "you may bet +your last shirt he was humbugging you. He couldn't tell the truth, not +if he tried ever so." + +"What is he at now?" I asked. + +"I don't know, sir. And if he told me, I shouldn't believe him. I +don't take no account of a word that man says. But he's the most +successful detective we've got in the whole Force. He's sure to be +head of the C.I.D. one day, and then he will have to stay in his +office and give us others a chance." + +"I don't believe he will," I observed, laughing. "There will be a sham +Dawson in the office and the genuine article will be out on the +rampage. He is a man who couldn't sit still, not even if you tied him +in his chair and sealed the knots." + +We spent a pleasant hour pulling Dawson to pieces and leaving to him +not a rag of virtue, except intense professional zeal. We exchanged +experiences of him, those of the chief assistant being particularly +rich and highly flavoured. It appeared that Dawson when off duty loved +to occupy the platform at meetings of his religious connection and to +hold forth to the elect. The privilege of "sitting under him" had been +enjoyed more than once by the assistant, who retailed to us extracts +from Dawson's favourite sermon on "Truth." His views upon Truth were +unbending as armour plate. "Under no circumstances, not to save +oneself from imminent death, not to shield a wife or a child from the +penalties for a lapse from virtue, not even to preserve one's country +from the attacks of an enemy, was it permissible to a Peculiar Baptist +to diverge by the breadth of a hair from the straight path of Truth. +Hell yawned on either hand; only along the knife edge of Truth could +salvation be reached." + +"He made me shiver," said the chief assistant, "and he drove me to +thinking of one or two little deceptions of my own. When Dawson +preaches, his eyes blaze, his voice breaks, and he will fall on his +knees and pray for the souls of those who heed not his words. You +can't look at him then and not believe that he means every word he +says. Yet it's all humbug." + +"No, it is not," said I. "Dawson in the pulpit, or on the tub--or +whatever platform he uses--is absolutely genuine. He is the finest +example that I have ever met of the dual personality. He is in dead +earnest when he preaches on Truth, and he is in just as dead earnest +when, stripped of every moral scruple, he pursues a spy or a criminal. +In pursuit he is ruthless as a Prussian, but towards the captured +victim he can be strangely tender. I should not be surprised to learn +that he hates capital punishment and is a strong advocate of gentle +methods in prison discipline." + +The chief assistant stared, opened a drawer, and pulled forth a slim +grey pamphlet. It was marked "For Office Use Only," and was entitled, +"Some Notes on Prison Reform," by Chief Inspector William Dawson. + +I had begun to read the pamphlet, when a step sounded outside; the +assistant snatched it from my hand, flashed it back into its place, +and jumped to attention as Dawson entered. He surveyed us with those +searching, unwinking eyes of his--for we had the air of +conspirators--and said brusquely: "Clear out, Wilson. You talk too +much. And don't admit any one except Petty Officer Trehayne." + +"The _Antigone_!" cried Cary, who thought only of ships. "The +_Antigone_! Is she much damaged?" + +"No. Whoever tried to cut her wires was disturbed, or in too great a +hurry to do his work well. The main gun-cable was nipped, but not cut +through. She will be delayed till to-morrow, not longer. I am not +worrying about the _Antigone_, but about the new battleship +_Malplaquet_, which was commissioned last month, is nearly filled up +with stores, and is expected to leave the river on Saturday. We can't +have her delayed by any hanky tricks, not even if we have to put the +whole detective force on board of her. Still, I'm not so anxious as I +was. This _Antigone_ business has cleared things up a lot, and one can +sift out the impossible from the possible. To begin with, the +_Antinous_ was in for repairs to her geared turbines, and the +_Antigone_ for damage to her forefoot. Engineers were on one job, and +platers and riveters on the other. Different trades. So not a workman +who was in the _Antinous_ was also in the _Antigone_. We can rule out +all the workmen. We can also rule out my lieutenant R.N.R. with the +German name who has gone to sea in the _Antinous_. The care and +maintenance party in the _Antigone_ was not the same as the one in the +_Antinous_, not a man the same." + +"You are sure of that?" cried I, for it seemed that my daring theory +had gone to wreck. "You are quite sure." + +"Quite. I have all the names and have examined all the men. They were +all off the ship by eleven o'clock last night. I hadn't one of my own +men among them, but, to make sure, I sent Petty Officer Trehayne on +board at eight o'clock to keep a sharp look-out and to see all the +harbour party off the vessel. He reported a little after eleven that +they were all gone and the ship taken over by her own crew. The damage +was discovered at four bells in the morning watch." + +"Six o'clock a.m.," interpreted Cary. + +"It looks now as if there might be a traitor among her own crew, which +is her officers' job, not mine. I wash my hands of the _Antigone_, but +it is very much up to me to see that nothing hurtful happens to the +_Malplaquet_. The Admiral has orders to support me with all the force +under his command; the General of the District has the same orders. +But it isn't force we want so much as brains--Dawson's brains. I have +been beaten twice, but not the third time. I've told the Yard that if +the _Malplaquet_ is touched I shall resign, and if they send any one +to help me I shall resign. Between to-day, Thursday, and Saturday I am +going to catch the wily josser who has a fancy for cutting gun cables +or Dawson will say good-bye to the Force. That's a fair stake." + +The man swelled with determination and pride. He had no thought of +failure, and drew inspiration and joy from the heaviness of the bet +which he had made with Fortune. He took the born gambler's delight in +a big risk. + +"Then you think that the _Antinous_ and the _Antigone_ were both +damaged by the same man, and that he may have designs upon the +_Malplaquet_?" said I. + +"I don't propose to tell you what I think," replied Dawson stiffly. + +"Still," I persisted, passing over the snub, "you have a theory?" + +"No, thanks," said Dawson contemptuously. "I have no use for theories. +When they are wrong they mislead you, and when they are right they are +no help. I believe in facts--facts brought out by constant vigilance. +Unsleeping watchfulness and universal suspicion, those are the +principles I work on. The theory business makes pretty story books, +but the Force does not waste good time over them." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"This is Thursday afternoon. I am going to join the _Malplaquet_ +presently, and I'm not going to sleep till she is safely down the +river. I'm going to be my own watchman this time." + +"How? In what capacity?" + +Dawson gave a shrug of impatience, for his nerves were on edge. For a +moment he hesitated, and then, recollecting the high post to which I +had tacitly been appointed in his household, he replied: + +"I am going as one of the Marine sentries." + +"It's no use, Dawson," protested I emphatically. "You are a wonder at +disguise, and will look, I do not doubt, the very spit of a Marine. +But you can't pass among the men for half an hour without discovery. +They are a class apart, they talk their own language, cherish their +own secret traditions, live in a world to which no stranger ever +penetrates. You could pass as a naval officer more easily than you +could as a Pongo. It is sheer madness, Dawson." + +He gave a short laugh. "Much you know about it. I have served in the +Red Corps myself. I was a recruit at Deal, passed two years at +Plymouth, and served afloat for three years. I was then drafted into +the Naval Police. Afterwards I was recommended for detective work in +the dockyards, and at the end of my Marine service joined the Yard. My +good man, I was a sergeant before I left the Corps." + +"I give up, Dawson," said I. "Nothing about you will ever surprise me +again. Not even if you claim to have been a Cabinet Minister." + +A queer smile stole over his face. "No, I have not been a minister, +but I have attended a meeting of the Cabinet." + +Cary interposed at this point. "Yours is a fine idea, Mr. Dawson. As a +Marine sentry you can get yourself posted by the Major wherever you +please, and the Guard will not talk even though they may wonder that +any man should want to do twenty-four hours of duty per day. The +Marines are the closest, faith-fullest, and best disciplined force in +the wide world. Bluejackets will gossip; Marines never. You will be +able to watch more closely than even Trehayne, who, I suppose, will +also be on board." + +"Yes. He is coming up soon for instructions. It's his last chance, as +it is mine. He sees that he must be held responsible for the wire +cutting in the _Antinous_, and to some slight extent also in the +_Antigone_, and that if anything goes wrong with the _Malplaquet_ he +will be dismissed. I shall be sorry to lose him, for he is an +exceptionally good man, but we can't allow failures in petty officer +detectives any more than we can in chief inspectors." + +"Where does Trehayne come from? His name sounds Cornish," I asked. + +"Falmouth, I believe. He is quite young, but he has had nearly three +years in the _Vernon_ at Portsmouth and in the torpedo factory at +Greenock. A first-class engineer and electrician and a sound +detective. He has been with me for some twelve months. You will see +him if he calls soon." + +I had been thinking hard over the details of Dawson's plans while the +talk went on, and then ventured to offer some comments. + +"It is fortunate that you have grown a moustache since you were in the +north; you could not have been a Marine as a clean-shaven man." + +"I often have to shave it," said Dawson, "but I always grow it again +between whiles. One can take it off quicker than one can put it on +again. False hair is the devil; I have never used it yet and never +will. So whenever I have a spell of leisure I grow a moustache against +emergencies--like this one." + +My next comment was rather difficult to make, for I did not wish +either Cary or Dawson to divine its purpose. "If I may make a +suggestion to a man of your experience it would be that none of your +men here, not even your chief assistant or Trehayne, should know that +you are joining the _Malplaquet_ as a Marine. Two independent strings +are in this case better than a double-jointed string." + +"I never tell anything to any one, least of all to Pudden-Headed +Wilson. He is loyal, but a stupid ass with a flapping tongue. Trehayne +is close as wax, but, on general principles, I keep my movements +strictly to myself. He will be in the ship, but he won't know that I +am there too. The Commander must know and the Major of Marines, for I +shall want a uniform and the free run of the ship, so as to be posted +where I like. The Marine Sergeants of the Guard may guess, but, as Mr. +Cary says, they won't talk. You two gentlemen are safe," added Dawson +pleasantly, "for I've got you tight in my hand and could lock either +of you up in a minute if I chose." + +A peculiar knock came upon the door, a word passed between Dawson and +the police sentry outside, and a young man in the uniform of a naval +petty officer entered the room. He was clean-shaven, looked about +twenty-five years old, was dark and slim of the Latin type which is +not uncommon in Cornwall, and impressed me at once with his air of +intelligence and refinement. His voice, too, was rather striking. It +was that of the wardroom rather than of the mess deck. I liked the +look of Petty Officer Trehayne. Dawson presented him to us and then +took him aside for instructions. When he had finished, both men +rejoined us, and the conversation became light and general. Trehayne, +though clearly suffering from nervous strain after his recent +professional failures, talked with the ease and detachment of a highly +cultivated man. It appeared that he had been educated at Blundell's +School, had lost his parents at about sixteen, had done a course in +some electrical engineering shops at Plymouth, and when twenty years +old had secured a good berth on the engineering staff of the _Vernon_. +He could speak both French and German, which he had learned partly at +school and partly on the Continent during leave. Dawson, who was +evidently very proud of his young pupil and assistant, paraded his +accomplishments before us rather to Trehayne's embarrassment. "Try him +with French and German," urged Dawson. "He can chatter them as well as +English. But he is as close as wax in all three languages. Some men +can't keep their tongues still in one." + +I turned to Trehayne and spoke in French: "German I can't abide, but +French I love. My vocabulary is extensive, but my accent +abominable--incurably British. You can hear it for yourself how it +gives me away." + +"It is not quite of Paris," replied Trehayne. "Mais vous parlez +francais tres bien, tres correctement. Beaucoup mieux que moi." + +"Non, non, monsieur," I protested, and then reverted to English. + +"Now," said Dawson, when Trehayne had left us, "I must get along, see +the Commander of the _Malplaquet_, and draw a uniform and rifle out of +the marine stores. It will be quite like old times. You won't see me +until Saturday, when I shall be either a triumphant or a broken man. +What is the betting, Mr. Copplestone?" + +I could not understand the quizzical little smile that Dawson gave me, +nor the humorous twitch of his lips. He had contemptuously disclaimed +all use of theories, yet there was more moving behind that big +forehead of his than he chose to give away. Did his ideas run on +parallel lines with mine; did he even suspect that I had formed any +idea at all? I could not inquire, for I dislike being laughed at, +especially by this man Dawson. I had nothing to go upon, at least so +little that was palpable that anything which I might say would be +dismissed as the merest guesswork, for which, as Dawson proclaimed, he +had no use. Yet, yet--my original guess stuck firmly in my mind, +improbable though it might be, and had just been nailed down +tightly--I scorn to mystify the reader--by a few simple sentences +spoken in French. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE MARINE SENTRY + +We had a whole day to fill in before we could get any news of Dawson's +vigil in the _Malplaquet_, and I have never known a day as drearily +long. Cary and I were both restless as peas on a hot girdle, and could +not settle down to talk or to read or to write. Cary sought vainly to +persuade me to read and pass judgment upon his Navy Book. In spite of +my interest in the subject my soul revolted at the forbidding pile of +manuscript. I promised to read the proofs and criticise them with +severity, but as for the M.S.--no, thanks. Poor Cary needed all his +sweet patience to put up with me. By eleven o'clock we had become +unendurable to one another, and I gladly welcomed his suggestion to +adjourn to his club, have lunch there, and try to inveigle the +Commander of the _Malplaquet_ into our net. "I know him," said Cary. +"He is a fine fellow; and though he must be pretty busy, he will be +glad to lunch somewhere away from the ship. If we have luck we will go +back with him and look over the _Malplaquet_ ourselves." + +"If you can manage that, Cary, you will have my blessing." + +He did manage to work the luncheon part by telephoning to the yard +where the _Malplaquet_ was fitting out, and we left the rest to our +personal charms. + +Cary was right. The Commander was a very fine fellow, an English naval +officer of the best type. He confirmed the views I had frequently +heard expressed by others of his profession that no hatred exists +between English and German sailors. They leave that to middle-aged +civilians who write for newspapers. The German Navy, in his opinion, +was "a jolly fine Service," worthy in high courage and skill to +contest with us the supremacy of the seas. He had been through the +China troubles as a lieutenant in the _Monmouth_--afterwards sunk by +German shot off Coronel--knew von Spee, von Mueller, and other officers +of the Pacific Squadron, and spoke of them with enthusiasm. "They sunk +some of our ships and we wiped out theirs. That was all in the way of +business. We loved them in peace and we loved them in war. They were +splendidly loyal to us out in China--von Spee actually transferred +some of his ships to the command of our own senior officer so as to +avoid any clash of control--and when it came to fighting, they fought +like gentlemen. I grant you that their submarine work against merchant +ships has been pretty putrid, but I don't believe that was the choice +of their Navy. They got their orders from rotten civilians like Kaiser +Bill." Imagine if you can the bristling moustache of the Supreme War +Lord could he have heard himself described as a civilian! + +Our guest had commanded a destroyer in the Jutland battle, and assured +us that the handling of the German battle squadrons had been masterly. +"They punished us heavily for just so long as they were superior in +strength, and then they slipped away before Jellicoe could get his +blow in. They kept fending us off with torpedo attacks until the night +came down, and then clean vanished. We got in some return smacks after +dark at stragglers, but it was very difficult to say how much damage +we did. Not much, I expect. Still it was a good battle, as decisive in +its way as Trafalgar. It proved that the whole German Fleet could not +fight out an action against our full force and have the smallest hope +of success. I am just praying for the chance of a whack at them in the +_Malplaquet_. My destroyer was a bonny ship, the best in the flotilla, +but the _Malplaquet_ is a real peach. You should see her." + +"We mean to," said Cary. "This very afternoon. You shall take us back +with you." + +The Commander opened his eyes at this cool proposal, but we prevailed +upon him to seek the permission of the Admiral-Superintendent, who, a +good deal to my surprise, proved to be quite pliable. Cary's +reputation for discretion must be very high in the little village +where he lives if it is able to guarantee so disreputable a scribbler +as Bennet Copplestone! The Admiral, fortunately, had not read any of +my Works before they had been censored. When printed in _Cornhill_ +they were comparatively harmless. + +I must not describe the _Malplaquet_. Her design was not new to me--I +had seen more than one of her type--but as she is now a unit in +Beatty's Fleet her existence is not admitted to the world. As we went +up and down her many steep narrow ladders, and peered into dark +corners, I looked everywhere for a Marine sentry whom I could identify +by mark of ear as Dawson. I never saw him, but Trehayne passed me +twice, and I found myself again admiring his splendid young manhood. +He was not big, being rather slim and wiry than strongly built, but in +sheer beauty of face and form he was almost perfectly fashioned. "Do +you know that man?" I asked of our commander, indicating Trehayne. +"No," said he. "He is one of the shore party. But I should like to +have him with me. He is one of the smartest looking petty officers +that I have ever seen." + +We were shown everything that we desired to see except the +transmission room and the upper conning tower--the twin holy of holies +in a commissioned ship--and slipped away, escaping the Captain by a +bare two minutes. Which was lucky, as he would probably have had us +thrown into the "ditch." + +The end of the day was as weariful as the beginning, and we were all +glad--especially, I expect, Mrs. Cary--to go early to bed. That +ill-used lady, to whom we could disclose nothing of our anxieties, +must have found us wretched company. + +We had finished breakfast the next morning--the Saturday of Dawson's +gamble--and were sitting on Cary's big fireguard talking of every +subject, except the one which had kept us awake at night, when a +servant entered and announced that a soldier was at the door with a +message from Mr. Dawson. "Show him in," almost shouted Cary, and I +jumped to my feet, stirred for once into a visible display of +eagerness. + +A Marine came in, dressed in the smart blue sea kit that I love; upon +his head the low flat cap of his Corps. He gave us a full swinging +salute, and jumped to attention with a click of his heels. He looked +about thirty-five, and wore a neatly trimmed dark moustache. His hair, +also very dark, was cropped close to his head. Standing there with his +hands upon the red seams of his trousers, his chest well filled out, +and his face weather tanned, he looked a proper figure of a sea-going +soldier. "Mr. Cary, sir," he said, in a flat, monotonous orderly's +voice, "Major Boyle's compliments, and could you and your friend come +down to the Police Station to meet him and Chief Inspector Dawson. I +have a taxi-cab at the door, sir." + +"Certainly," cried Cary; "in two minutes we shall be ready." + +"Oh, no, we shan't," I remarked calmly, for I had moved to a position +of tactical advantage on the Marine's port beam. "We will have the +story here, if you don't mind, Dawson." + +He stamped pettishly on the floor, whipped off his cap, and spun it +across the room. "Confound you, Mr. Copplestone!" he growled. "How +the--how the--do you do it?" He could not think of an expletive mild +enough for Mrs. Cary's ears. "There's something about me that I can't +hide. What is it? If you don't tell, I will get you on the Regulation +compelling all British subjects to answer questions addressed to them +by a competent naval or military authority." + +"You don't happen to be either, Dawson," said I unkindly. "And, +beside, there was never yet a law made which could compel a man to +speak or a woman to hold her tongue. Some day perhaps, if you are +good, I will show you how the trick is done. But not yet. I want to +have something to bargain with when you cast me into jail. Out with +the story; we are impatient. If I mistake not, you come to us Dawson +triumphant. You haven't the air of a broken man." + +"I have been successful," he answered gravely, "but I am a long, long +way from feeling triumphant. No, thank you, Mrs. Cary, I have had my +breakfast, but if I might trouble you for a cup of coffee? Many +thanks." + +Dawson sat down, and Cary moved about inspecting him from every angle. +"No," declared he at last, "I cannot see the smallest resemblance, not +the smallest. You were thin; now you are distinctly plump. Your hair +was nearly white. Your cheeks had fallen in as if your back teeth were +missing. Your lower lip stuck out." Dawson smiled, highly gratified. +"I took in all my people at the office this morning," he said. "They +all thought, and think still, that I was a messenger from the +_Malplaquet_, which, by the way, is well down the river safe and +sound. Just wait a minute." He walked into a corner of the room, moved +his hands quickly between his side pockets and his face, and then +returned. Except for the dark hair and moustache and the brown skin, +he had become the Dawson of the Thursday afternoon. "It is as simple +for me to change," said the artist, with a nasty look in my direction, +"as it seems to be for Mr. Copplestone here to spot me. It will take a +day or two to get the dye out of my hair and the tan off my skin. I am +going to have a sharp touch of influenza, which is a useful disease +when one wants to lie in. Since Sunday I have only been twice to bed." + +We filled him up with coffee and flattery--as one fills a motor car +with petrol and oil--but asked him no questions until we were safely +in Cary's study and Mrs. Cary had gone about her household duties. +"Your good lady," remarked Dawson to Cary, "is as little curious as +any woman I have met, and we will leave her at that if you don't mind. +The best thing about our women is that they don't care tuppence about +naval and military details. If they did, and once started prying with +that keen scent and indomitable persistence of theirs, we might as +well chuck up. Even my own bright team of charmers never know and +never ask the meaning of the information that they ferret out for me. +Their curiosity is all personal--about men and women, never about +things. Women--" + +I cut Dawson short. He tended to become tedious. + +"Quite so," I observed politely. "And to revert to one big female +creature, let us hear something of the _Malplaquet_." + +"You at any rate are curious enough for a dozen. It would serve you +right to keep you hopping a bit longer. But I have a kindly eye for +human weakness, though you might not think it. I joined the ship on +Thursday afternoon, slipping in as one of a detachment of fifty +R.M.L.I. who had been wired for from Chatham. They were an emergency +lot; we hadn't enough in the ship for the double sentry go that I +wanted. All my plans were made with the Commander and Major Boyle, and +they both did exactly what I told them. It isn't often that a private +of Marines has the ordering about of two officers. But Dawson is +Dawson; no common man. They did as I told them, and were glad to do +it. I had extra light bulbs put on all over the lower decks and every +dark corner lit up--except one. Just one. And this one was where the +four gun-cables ran out of the switch-room and lay alongside one +another before they branched off to the fore and after turrets and to +the port and starboard side batteries. That was the most likely spot +which any one wanting to cut the gun-wires would mark down, and I +meant to watch it pretty closely myself. We had double sentries at the +magazines. The _Malplaquet_ is an oil-fired ship, so we hadn't any +bothering coal bunkers to attract fancy bombs. I was pretty sure that +after the _Antinous_ and the _Antigone_ we had mostly wire-cutting to +fear. When a man has done one job successfully, and repeated it almost +successfully, he is pretty certain to have a third shot. Besides, if +one is out to delay a ship, cutting wires is as good a way as any. I +had an idea that my man was not a bomber." + +"I thought that you scorned theories," I put in dryly. "When they are +wrong they mislead you, and when they are right they are no help." + +Dawson frowned. "Shut up, Copplestone," snapped Cary. + +"We were in no danger from the lighting, heating, and telephone wires, +for any defect would have been visible at once. It was the gun and +gunnery control cables that were the weak spots. So I had L.T.O.'s +posted in the spotting top, the conning tower, the transmission room, +the four turrets, and at the side batteries. Every few minutes they +put through tests which would have shown up at once any wires that had +been tampered with. After the shore party had cleared out about nine +o'clock on the Thursday, no officer or man was allowed to leave the +ship without a special permit from the Commander. This was all dead +against the sanitary regulations of the harbour, but I had the +Admiral's authority to break any rules I pleased. By the way, you two +ought never to have been allowed on board yesterday afternoon--I saw +you, though you didn't see me; it was contrary to my orders. I spoke +to the Admiral pretty sharp last night. 'Who is responsible for the +ship?' says I. 'You or me?' 'You,' says he. 'I leave it at that,' says +I." + +"One moment, Dawson," I put in. "If the shore party had all gone, how +was it that I saw Petty Officer Trehayne in the ship?" + +"He had orders to stay and keep watch--though he didn't know I was on +board myself. Two pairs of police eyes are better than one pair, and +fifty times better than all the Navy eyes in the ship. Of all the +simple-minded, unsuspicious beggars in the world, give me a pack of +naval ratings! I wouldn't have one of them for sentries--that is why +the fifty emergency Marines were sent for." Dawson's limitless pride +in his old Service, and deep contempt for the mere sailor, had come +back in full flood with the uniform of his Corps. + +"I started my own sentry duty in the dark corner I told you of as soon +as I had seen to the arrangements all over the _Malplaquet_, and I was +there, with very few breaks of not more than five minutes each for a +bite of food, for twenty-six hours. Two Marine sentries took my place +whenever I was away. I had my rifle and bayonet, and stood back in a +corner of a bulkhead where I couldn't be seen. The hours were awful +long; I stood without hardly moving. All the pins and needles out of +Redditch seemed to dance up and down me, but I stuck it out--and I had +my reward, I had my reward. I did my duty, but it's a sick and sorry +man that I am this day." + +"There was nothing else to be done," I said. "What you feel now is a +nervous reaction." + +"That's about it. I watched and watched, never feeling a bit like +sleep though my eyes burned something cruel and my feet--they were +lumps of prickly wood, not feet. Dull lumps with every now and then a +stab as if a tin tack had been driven into them. Beyond me in the open +alley-way the light was strong, and I could see men pass frequently, +but no one came into my corner till the end, and no one saw me. I +heard six bells go in the first watch ('Eleven p.m.,' whispered Cary) +on Friday evening, though there was a good bit of noise of getting +ready to go out in the early morning, and I was beginning to think +that all my trouble might go for naught, when a man in a Navy cap and +overalls stopped just opposite my dark hole between two bulkheads. His +face was turned from me, as he looked carefully up and down the +lighted way. He stood there quite still for some seconds, and then +stepped backwards towards me. I could see him plain against the light +beyond. He listened for another minute or so, and, satisfied that no +one was near, spun on his heels, whipped a tool from his dungaree +overalls, and reached up to the wires which ran under the deck beams +overhead. In spite of my aching joints and sore feet I was out in a +flash and had my bayonet up against his chest. He didn't move till my +point was through his clothes and into his flesh. I just shoved till +he gave ground, and so, step by step, I pushed him with the point of +my bayonet till he was under the lights. His arms had come down, he +dropped the big shears with insulated handles which he had drawn from +his pocket, but he didn't speak a word to me and I did not speak to +him. I just held him there under the lights, and we looked at one +another without a word spoken. There was no sign of surprise or fear +in his face, just a queer little smile. Suddenly he moved, made a +snatch at the front of his overalls, and put something into his mouth. +I guessed what it was, but did not try to stop him; it was the best +thing that he could do." + +Dawson stopped and pulled savagely at his cigar. He jabbed the end +with his knife, though the cigar was drawing perfectly well, and gave +forth a deep growl which might have been a curse or a sob. + +"Have you ever watched an electric bulb fade away when the current is +failing?" he asked. "The film pales down from glowing white to dull +red, which gets fainter and fainter, little by little, till nothing +but the memory of it lingers on your retina. His eyes went out exactly +like that bulb. They faded and faded out of his face, which still kept +up that queer, twisted smile. I've seen them ever since; wherever I +turn. I shall be glad of that bout of influenza, and shall begin it +with a stiff dose of veronal.... When the light had nearly gone out of +his eyes and he was rocking on his feet, I spoke for the first time. I +spoke loud too. 'Good-bye,' I called out; 'I'm Dawson.' He heard me, +for his eyes answered with a last flash; then they faded right out and +he fell flat on the steel deck. He had died on his feet; his will kept +him upright to the end; that was a Man. He lived a Man's life, doing +what he thought his duty, and he died a Man's death.... I blew my +whistle twice; up clattered a Sergeant with the Marine Guard and +stopped where that figure on the deck barred their way. 'Get a +stretcher,' I said, 'and send for the doctor. But it won't be any use. +The man's dead.' The Sergeant asked sharply for my report, and sent +off a couple of men for a stretcher. 'Excuse me, Sergeant,' I said, in +my best detective officer voice, 'I will report direct to your Major +and the Commander. I am Chief Inspector Dawson.' He showed no surprise +nor doubt of my word--if you want to understand discipline, gentlemen, +get the Marines to teach you--he asked no questions. With one word he +called the guard to attention, and himself saluted me--me a private! I +handed him my rifle--there was an inch of blood at the point of the +bayonet--and hobbled off to the nearest ladder. My word, I could +scarcely walk, and as for climbing a ship's ladder--I could never have +done if some one hadn't given me a boost behind and some one else a +hand at the top. The Commander and the Major of Marines were both in +the wardroom; I walked in, saluted them as a self-respecting private +should do, and told them the whole story." + +"It was Petty Officer Trehayne," said I calmly--and waited for a +sensation. + +"Of course," replied Dawson, greatly to my annoyance. He might have +shown some astonishment at my wonderful intuition; but he didn't, not +a scrap. Even Cary was at first disappointing, though he warmed up +later, and did me full justice. "Trehayne a spy!" cried Cary. "He +looked a smart good man." + +"I am not saying that he wasn't," snapped Dawson, whose nerves were +very badly on edge. "He was obeying the orders of his superiors as we +all have to do. He gave his life, and it was for his country's +service. Nobody can do more than that. Don't you go for to slander +Trehayne. I watched him die--on his feet." + +Cary turned to me. "What made you think it was Trehayne?" he asked. +This was better. I looked at Dawson, who was brooding in his chair +with his thoughts far away. He was still seeing those eyes fading out +under the glare of the electrics between the steel decks of the +_Malplaquet_! + +"It was a sheer guess at first," said I, preserving a decent show of +modesty. "When I heard how the enemy plotted and Dawson +counter-plotted with all those skilled workmen in his detective +service, it occurred to me that an enemy with imagination might +counter-counterplot by getting men inside Dawson's defences. I +couldn't see how one would work it, but if German agents, say, could +manage to become trusted servants of Dawson himself, they would have +the time of their lives. So far I was guessing at a possibility, +however improbable it might seem. Then when Dawson told us that he had +sent Trehayne into the _Antigone_ and that he was the one factor +common to both vessels--the workmen and the maintenance part were all +different--I began to feel that my wild theory might have something in +it. I didn't say anything to you, Cary, or to Dawson--he despises +theories. Afterwards Trehayne came in and I spoke to him, and he to +me, in French. He did not utter a dozen words altogether, but I was +absolutely certain that his French had not been learned at an English +public school and during short trips on the Continent. I know too much +of English school French and of one's opportunities to learn upon +Continental trips. It took me three years of hard work to recover from +the sort of French which I learned at school, and I am not well yet. +The French spoken by Trehayne was the French of the nursery. It was +almost, if not quite, his mother tongue, just as his English was. +Trehayne's French accent did not fit into Trehayne's history as +retailed to us by Dawson. From that moment I plumped for Trehayne as +the cutter of gun wires." + +Dawson had been listening, though he showed no interest in my speech. +When I had quite finished, and was basking in the respectful +admiration emanating from dear old Cary, he upset over me a bucket of +very cold water. + +"Very pretty," said he. "But answer one question. Why did I send +Trehayne to the _Antigone_?" + +"Why? How can I tell? You said it was to make sure that the shore +party were all off the ship." + +"I said! What does it matter what I say! What I do matters a heap, but +what I say--pouf! I sent Trehayne to the _Antigone_ to test him. I +sent him expecting that he would try to cut her wires, and he did. +Then when I was sure, though I had no evidence for a law court, I sent +him to the _Malplaquet_, and I set my trap there for him to walk into. +How did I guess? I don't guess; I watch. The more valuable a man is to +me, the more I watch him, for he might be even more valuable to +somebody else. Trehayne was an excellent man, but he had not been with +me a month before I was watching him as closely as any cat. I hadn't +been a Marine and served ashore and afloat without knowing a born +gentleman when I see one, and knowing, too, the naval stamp. Trehayne +was too much of a gentleman to have become a workman in the _Vernon_ +and at Greenock without some very good reason. He said that he was an +orphan--yes; he said his parents left him penniless, and he had to +earn his living the best way he could--yes. Quite good reasons, but +they didn't convince me. I was certain sure that somewhere, some time, +Trehayne had been a naval officer. I had seen too many during my +service to make any mistake about that. So when I stood there waiting +in that damned cold corner behind that bulkhead, it was for Trehayne +that I was waiting. I meant to take him or to kill him. When he killed +himself, I was glad. As I watched his eyes fade out, it was as if my +own son was dying on his feet in front of me. But it was better so +than to die in front of a firing party. For I--I loved him, and I +wished him 'Good-bye,'" + +Dawson pitched his cigar into the fire, got up, and walked away to the +far side of the room. I had never till that moment completely +reverenced the penetrative, infallible judgment of Little Jane. + +Dawson came back after a few minutes, picked up another cigar from +Cary's box, and sat down. "You see, I have a letter from him. I found +it in his quarters where I went straight from the _Malplaquet_." + +"May we read it?" I asked gently. "I was greatly taken with Trehayne +myself. He was a clean, beautiful boy. He was an enemy officer on +Secret Service; there is no dishonour in that. If he were alive, I +could shake his hand as the officer of the firing party shook the hand +of Lody before he gave the last order." + +Dawson took a paper from his pocket, and handed it to me. "Read it +out," said he; "I can't." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +TREHAYNE'S LETTER + +I took the letter from Dawson and glanced through it. The first sheet +and the last had been written very recently--just before the boy had +left his quarters for the last time to go on board the _Malplaquet_; +the remainder had been set down at various times; and the whole had +been connected up, put together, and paged after the completion of the +last sheet. Trehayne wrote a pretty hand, firm and clear, the writing +of an artist who was also a trained engineer. There was no trace in +the script of nervousness or of hesitation. He had carried out his +Orders, he saw clearly that the path which he had trod was leading him +to the end of his journey, but he made no complaint. He was a Latin, +and to the last possessed that loftiness of spirit wedded to sombre +fatalism which is the heritage of the Latins. He was at war with his +kindred of Italy and France, and with the English among whom he had +been brought up, and whom he loved. He was their enemy by accident of +birth, but though he might and did love his foes better than his +German friends of Austria and Prussia, yet he had taken the oath of +faithful service, and kept it to the end. I could understand why +Dawson--that strange human bloodhound, in whom the ruthless will +continually struggled with and kept under the very tender heart--would +allow no one to slander Trehayne. + +Cary was watching me eagerly, waiting for me to read the letter. + +Dawson's head was resting on one hand, and his face was turned away, +so that I could not see it. He could not wholly conceal his emotion, +but he would not let us see more of it than he could help. He did not +move once during my reading. + + * * * * * + +_To Chief Inspector William Dawson, C.I.D._ + +SIR, + +Will you be surprised, my friend, when you read this that I have left +for you, to learn that I, your right-hand man in the unending spy +hunt, I whom you have called your bright jewel of a pupil, Petty +Officer John Trehayne, R.N.V.R., am at this moment upon the books of +the Austrian Navy as a sub-lieutenant, seconded for Secret Service? +Have you ever been surprised by anything? I don't know. You have said +often in my hearing that you suspect every one. Have you suspected me? +Sometimes when I have caught that sidelong squint of yours, that +studied accidental glance which sees so much, I have felt almost sure +that you were far from satisfied that Trehayne was the man he gave +himself out to be. I have been useful to you. I have eaten your salt, +and have served you as faithfully as was consistent with the supreme +Orders by which I direct my action. With you I have run down and +captured German agents, wretched lumps of dirt, whom I loathe as much +as you do. Those who have sworn fidelity to this fair country of +England, and have accepted of her citizenship--things which I have +never done--and then in fancied security have spied upon their adopted +Mother, I loathe and spit upon. I have taken the police oath of +obedience to my superiors, and I have kept it, but I have never sworn +allegiance to His Majesty your King, whom I pray that God may preserve +though I am his enemy. To your blunt English mind, untrained in logic, +my sentiments and actions may lack consistency. But no. Those agents +whom we have run down, you and I, were traitors--traitors to England. +Of all traitors for whom Hell is hungry the German-born traitor is the +most devilish. I would not have you think, my friend, that I am at one +with them. Never while I have been in your pay and service have I had +any communication direct or indirect with any of the naturalised- +British Prussian scum, who have betrayed your noble generosity. I have +taken my Orders from Vienna, I have communicated always direct with +Vienna. I am an Austrian naval officer. I am no traitor to England. + + * * * * * + +I spring from an old Italian family which has long been settled in +Trieste. For many generations we have served in the Austrian Navy. +With modern Italy, with the Italy above all which has thrown the Holy +Father into captivity and stripped the Holy See of the dominions +bestowed upon it by God, we have no part or lot. Yet when I have met +Italian officers, and those too of France, as I have frequently done +during my cruises afloat, I have felt with them a harmony of spirit +which I have never experienced in association with German-Austrians +and with Prussians. I do not wish to speak evil of our Allies, the +Prussians, but to one of my blood they are the most detestable people +whom God ever had the ill-judgment to create. + + * * * * * + +I was born in Trieste, and lived there with my parents until I was +eight years old. In our private life we always spoke Italian or +French, German was our official language. I know that language well, +of course, but it is not my mother tongue. Italian or French, and +afterwards English--I speak and write all three equally well; which of +the three I shall use when I come to die and one reverts to the speech +of the nursery and schoolroom, I cannot say; it will depend upon whom +those are that stand about my deathbed. + +When I was eight years old, my father, Captain ---- (no, I will not +tell you my name; it is not Trehayne though somewhat similar in +sound), was appointed Austrian Consul at Plymouth, and we all moved to +that great Devonshire seaport. I was young enough to absorb the rich +English atmosphere, nowhere so rich as in that county which is the +home and breeding-ground of your most splendid Navy. I was born again, +a young Elizabethan Englishman. My story to you of my origin was true +in one particular--I really was educated at Blundell's School at +Tiverton. Whenever--and it has happened more than once--I have met as +Trehayne old schoolfellows of Blundell's they have accepted without +comment or inquiry my tale that I had become an Englishman, and had +anglicised my name. Among the peoples which exist on earth to-day, you +English are the most nobly generous and unsuspicious. The Prussians +laugh at you; I, an Austrian-Italian, love and respect you. + + * * * * * + +When I was sixteen, after I had spent eight years in Devon, and four +of those years at an English public school, I was in speech and almost +in the inner fibres of my mind an Englishman. Your naval authorities +at Plymouth and Devonport, as serenely trustful and heedless of +espionage as the mass of your kindly people, allowed my father--whom I +often accompanied--to see the dockyards, the engine shops, the +training schools, and the barracks. They knew that he was an Austrian +naval officer, and they took him to their hearts as a brother, of the +common universal brotherhood of the sea. I think that your Navy holds +those of a foreign naval service as more nearly of kin to themselves +than civilians of their own blood. The bond of a common profession is +more close than the bond of a common nationality. I do not doubt that +my father sent much information to our Embassy in London--it was what +he was employed to do--but I am sure that he did not basely betray the +wonderful confidence of his hosts. Our countries were at peace. My +father is no Prussian; he is a chivalrous gentleman. I am sure that he +did not send more than his English naval friends were content at the +time that he should send. For in those years your newspapers and your +books upon the Royal Navy of England concealed little from the world. +I have visited Dartmouth; I have dined in the Naval College there with +bright sailor boys of my own age. It was then my one dream, had I +remained in England, to have become an Englishman, and to have myself +served in your Navy. It was a vain dream, but I knew no better. Fate +and my birth made me afterwards your enemy. I would have fought you +gladly face to face on land or sea, but never, never, would I have +stabbed the meanest of Englishmen in the back. + +When I was sixteen years old I left England with my parents and +returned to Triest. I was a good mathematician with a keen taste for +mechanics. I spent two years in the naval engineering shops at Pola, +and I was gazetted as a sub-lieutenant in the engineering branch of +the Austrian Navy. My next two years were spent afloat. Although I did +not know it, I had already been marked out by my superiors for the +Secret Service. My perfect acquaintance with English, my education at +Blundell's, my knowledge of your thoughts and your queer ways, and +twists of mind, had equipped me conspicuously for Secret Service work +in your midst. + +As a youth of twenty, in the first flush of manhood, I was seconded +for service here, and I returned to England. That was five years ago. + + * * * * * + +[I paused, for my throat was dry, and looked up. Cary was leaning +forward intent upon every word. Dawson's face was still turned away; +he had not moved. It seemed to me that to our party of three had been +added a fourth, the spirit of Trehayne, and that he anxiously waited +there yonder in the shadows for the deliverance of our judgment. Had +he, an English public school boy, played the game according to the +immemorial English rules? I went on.] + + * * * * * + +It was extraordinarily easy for me to obtain employment in the heart +of your naval mysteries. Few questions were asked; you admitted me as +one of yourselves. I took the broad open path of full acceptance of +your conditions. I first obtained employment in a marine engineering +shop at Southampton, joined a trade union, attended Socialist +meetings--I, a member of one of the oldest families in Trieste. Though +a Catholic, I bent my knee in the English Church, and this was not +difficult, for I had always attended service in the chapel at +Blundell's. To you, my friend, I can say this, for you are of some +strange sect which consigns to the lowest Hell both Catholics and +Anglicans alike. Your Heaven will be a small place. From Southampton I +went to the torpedo training-ship _Vernon_. Again I had no difficulty. +I was a workman of skill and intelligence. I was there for more than +two years, learning all your secrets, and storing them in my mind for +the benefit of my own Service at home. + +It was at Portsmouth that there came to me the great temptation of my +life, for I fell in love, not as you colder people do, but as a +Latin of the warm South. She was an English girl of good, if +undistinguished, family. Though in my hours of duty I belonged to that +you call the 'working classes,' I was well off, and lived in private +the life of my own class. I had double the pay of my rank, an +allowance from my father, and my wages, which were not small. There +were many English families in Portsmouth and Southsea who were +graciously pleased to recognise that John Trehayne, trade unionist, +and weekly wage-earning workman, was a gentleman by birth and +breeding. In any foreign port I should have been under police +supervision as a person eminently to be suspected; in Portsmouth I was +accepted without question for what I gave myself out to be--a +gentleman who wished to learn his business from the bottom upwards. I +will say nothing of the lady of my heart except that I loved her +passionately, and should have married her--aye, and become an +Englishman in fact, casting off my own, country--if War had not blown +my ignoble plans to shatters. There was nothing ignoble in my love, +for she was a queen among women, but in myself for permitting the hot +blood of youth to blind my eyes to the duty claimed of me by my +country. When war became imminent, I was not recalled, as I had hoped +to be, since I wished to fight afloat as became my rank and family. I +was ordered to take such steps as most effectively aided me to observe +the English plans and preparations, and to report when possible to +Vienna. In other words, I was ordered to act in your midst as a +special intelligence officer--what you would call a Spy. It was an +honourable and dangerous service which I had no choice but to accept. +My dreams of love had gone to wreck. I could have deceived the woman +whom I loved, for she would have trusted me and believed any story of +me that I had chosen to tell. But could I, an officer, a gentleman by +birth and I hope by practice, a secret enemy of England and a spy upon +her in the hour of her sorest trial, could I remain the lover of an +English girl without telling her fully and frankly exactly what I was? +Could I have committed this frightful treason to love and remained +other than an object of scorn and loathing to honest men? I could not. +In soul and heart she was mine; I was her man, and she was my woman. +With her there were no reserves in love. She was mine, yet I fled from +her with never a word, even of good-bye. I made my plans, obtained +certificates of my proficiency in the _Vernon_, kissed my dear love +quietly, almost coldly, without a trace of the passion that I felt, +and fled. It was the one thing left me to do. My friend, that was two +years ago. She knows not whether I am alive or am dead; I know not +whether she is alive or is dead. Yet during every hour of the long +days, and during every hour of the still longer nights, she has been +with me. I have done my duty, but I do not think that I wish to live +very much longer. If death comes to me quickly--and to those in my +present trade it comes quickly--will you, my friend, of your bountiful +kindness write to [here followed a name and address] and repeat +exactly what I now say. Do not tell what I was or how I died, but just +write, "He loved you to the last." There is a portrait in a locket +round my neck and a ring on my finger. Send her those, my good friend, +and she will know that your words are true. + + * * * * * + +I fled as far from Portsmouth, where my dear love dwelt, as I could +go; I fled to Greenock, that dreadful sodden corner of earth where the +rain never ceases to fall, and the sun never shines. At Greenock one +measures the rainfall not by inches, but by yards. Sometimes, not +often, a pale orb struggles through the clouds and glimmers faintly +upon the grimy town--some poor relation of the sun, maybe, but not the +godlike creature himself. For six months, in this cold desolate spot, +among a people strangely unlike the English of Devon, though they are +of kindred race, I laboured for six months in the Torpedo Factory. I +lived meanly in one room, for my Austrian pay and allowance had +stopped when War cut the channels of communication. I could, had I +chosen, have drawn money from German agencies in London, but I scorned +to hold truck with them. They were traitors to the England which +trusted and protected them, and of which they were citizens. I lived +upon my wages and preserved jealously all that I had saved during my +years of comparative affluence at Portsmouth. It was duty which made +me a Spy, not gold. + +One day I was called into the office of the Superintendent, and it was +hinted to me, diplomatically, not unskilfully, that I was desired to +take service with the English secret police. I feigned reluctance, +made difficulties, professed diffidence, until pressure was put upon +me, and I was forced to accept a position which I could never by any +scheming have achieved. Those whom the gods seek to destroy, they +first drive mad--you are a very trustful unsuspicious folk, all except +you to whom I write. But even you did not, I am sure, suspect me at +the beginning. I was sent to Scotland Yard in London to be trained in +my new duties. You saw me there, and claimed me for your staff, and I +came to this centre of shipbuilding and worked here with you. I was +clothed in the uniform of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. + +There are two matters closely affecting my personal honour which will +seem of small moment to you--you who display always a sublime +patriotic scorn of every moral scruple; but to me they are great. I am +of the old chivalry of Italy, and I have been taught at school in +England always to play the game. Though I wore the uniform of the +R.N.V.R., it was as a disguise and cloak of my police office; I was +never attested. I have never, never, never sworn allegiance to +England. I have always kept troth with my own country; I have never +broken troth with England. Had the English naval oath been proffered +to me, I should have refused it at any hazard to my personal safety. +My honour is unstained. + +You have paid me for my work, I have taken your pay, but I have not +spent it upon myself. Every penny of it for the last twelve months +will be found at my quarters. I have lived upon what I saved at +Portsmouth--lived sometimes very scantily. My funds are running low. +What I shall do when they are exhausted I cannot tell. Perhaps, who +knows, they will last my time. As for the rest, that packet of +Treasury Notes which has been my police pay, unexpended, will you take +it, my friend, and pay it to the fund for assisting the English +sailors interned in Holland? I should feel happier if they would +accept it, for I have, as you will presently learn, taken some of +their names in vain. I have not broken any oath, and I have not used +your pay; my honour is unstained. + + * * * * * + +[Again I paused and glanced at Dawson. He had not even winced--at +least not visibly--when Trehayne had held him free from every moral +scruple. He must, I think, have read the letter many times before he +had handed it to me. Cary looked troubled and uneasy. To him a spy had +been just a spy--he had never envisaged in his simple honest mind such +a super-spy as Trehayne. I went on.] + + * * * * * + +Now nothing was hidden from me; I had within my hands all the secrets +of England's Navy. My one difficulty--and it was not so great a one as +you may think--was communication with my country. Never for one moment +did it fail. Years before it had been thought out and prepared. I +varied my methods. At Portsmouth, during the early weeks of the War, I +had employed one means, at Greenock another, here yet another. The +basis of all was the same. It was much more difficult for me to +receive orders from my official superiors in Austria, but even those +came through once or twice. Never, during the whole of the past year, +have I failed to send every detail of the warships building and +completed here, of the ships damaged and repaired, of the movements of +the Fleets in so far as I could learn them. My country and her Allies +have seen the English at work here as clearly as if this river had +been within their own borders. John Trehayne has been their Eye--an +unsleeping, ever-watching Eye. Shall I tell you how I got my +information through? It was very simple, and was done under your own +keen nose. One of the R.N.V.R. who went with your Mr. Churchill to +Antwerp, and was interned in Holland, was a friend of mine at +Greenock, well known to me, I wrote to him constantly, though he never +received and was never meant to receive my letters. They were all +addressed to the care of a house in Haarlem where lived one of our +Austrian agents who was placed under my orders. All letters addressed +by me to my friend were received by him and forwarded post haste to +Vienna. Do you grasp the simplicity and subtlety of the device? My +friend was on the lists of those interned in Holland, no one here knew +where he lodged, the address used by me was as probable as any other; +what more natural and commendable than that I should write to cheer +him up a bit in exile, and that I should send him books and +illustrated magazines? If it had been noticed by the postal +authorities in Holland that my friend did not live at the address +which I used, it would have been supposed that I had made a mistake, +and no suspicion would have been attracted to me. But how did my +letters, books, and magazines containing information, the most secret +and urgent, pass through the censorship unchecked? That again was +simple. My letters were those which a friend in freedom in England +would write to his friend who was a captive in Holland. They were +personal, sympathetic, no more. The books and magazines were just +those which such a man as my friend would desire to have to lighten +the burden of idleness. Between the lines of my letters, and on the +white margins of the books and papers, I wrote the vital information +which my country desired to have, and I desired to give. The ink which +I used for this purpose left no trace and could not be made visible by +any one who had not its complementary secret. It is the special ink of +the Austrian Secret Service; you do not know it, your Censors do not +know it, your chemists might experiment for months and years and not +discover it. I used it always, and you never read what I wrote. Now +you will understand why I wish the small stock of money, my police +pay, which I could not myself have used without dishonour, to go to +the interned sailors in Holland. I feel that I owe to my friend some +little reparation for the crooked use to which I have put his name. + +There is little more to tell. Three weeks ago I received by post from +London a copy of _Punch_. It had been despatched to me unordered, from +the office of the paper in an office wrapper. You know that English +papers may not now be sent abroad to neutral countries except direct +from the publishing offices of the newspapers themselves. It is a +precaution of the censorship, childish and laughable, for what is +easier than to imitate official wrappers? I guessed at once, when I +saw this unordered copy of _Punch_, that the wrapper was a faked one, +and that it had come to me bearing orders from my superiors. I applied +my chemical tests to the margins of the pages and upon the +advertisement of a brand of whisky appeared the orders which I had +expected. I read what was written, and I have not suffered greater +pain--no, not upon that day when I fled from Portsmouth without a +word of good-bye to the woman who possessed my heart. For I learned +then that my country, the proud, clean-fighting Austria, had given up +its soul into the keeping of the filthy Prussian assassins. I was +directed to damage or delay every warship upon which I worked, to +employ any means, to blow up unsuspecting English seamen--not in the +hot blood of battle, but secretly as an assassin. A step in rank was +promised for every battleship destroyed. Had these foul Orders +admitted of no loophole through which my honour might with difficulty +wriggle, I should have taken the only course possible to me. I should +have instantly resigned my commission in the Austrian Navy, and taken +my own life. But it happened that I had an alternative. I was ordered +to damage or delay warships. I would not treacherously slay the +English sailors among whom I worked, but I would, if I could, delay +the ships. My experience taught me that the simplest and most +effective way was to cut the electric wires, and I decided to do it +whenever opportunity offered. I could not do this for long. I was +certain to be discovered. You are not a man who fails before a +definite problem in detection. But before I was discovered I could do +something to carry out my Orders. + +I cut the gun-wires of the _Antinous_. It was easy. I was the last to +leave of the shore party. Then you sent me on board the _Antigone_. +She was closely watched, the task was very difficult, and dangerous; I +was within the fraction of a second of discovery, but I took one chop +of my big shears. The job was ill done, but I could do no better. + +You warned me fairly, that if injury came to the _Malplaquet_, while +under my charge, that I should be dismissed. She was my last chance as +she was your own. But what to me were risks? I had lost my love, and +my country had dishonoured herself in my eyes. I was nameless, +loveless, countryless. All had gone, and life might go too. + + * * * * * + +I am completing this letter before going on board the _Malplaquet_ and +placing it where you will readily find it. I know you, my friend, more +intimately than you know yourself. I am certain that even now you are +in the ship, that you are preparing snares into which I shall in all +probability fall. Your snares are well set. If I fail, it will be +through you; if I am caught, it will be through you. But be sure of +this--if we meet in the _Malplaquet_, the fowler and the bird, it will +be for the last time. You may catch me, but you will not take me. For +a long time past I have provided against just such an outcome as this. +Upon my uniform tunics, upon my overalls, I have fixed buttons, +hollowed out, each of which contains enough of cyanide of potassium to +kill three men. If I were court-martialled and shot, there would be no +disgrace to me, an officer on secret service, but a whisper of it +might steal to Portsmouth and give deep pain to one there. No one will +learn of the petty officer of R.N.V.R. who died far away in the north. +The locket with the portrait is round my neck, the ring is upon my +finger. Both are ready waiting for you who will do what I ask and will +keep my secret from her. + +I have the honour to be, sir, + +Your obedient servant, + +JOHN TREHAYNE. + + * * * * * + +I folded up the papers and returned them to Dawson, who carefully +placed them in his pocket. In the shadows the spirit of Trehayne still +seemed to be waiting. I thought for a few minutes, and then rose to my +feet. "He was an officer on secret service," said I slowly. "An enemy, +but a gallant and generous enemy. In love and in war he played the +game, Requiescat in pace." + +"Amen," said Cary. + +Dawson rose and gripped our hands. "I have the locket and the ring, +and I will write as he wished. It is the least that I can do." + +They buried Trehayne with naval honours as an enemy officer who had +died among us. England does not war with the dead. Though he had +fallen by his own hand, the Roman Church did not withhold from an +erring son the beautiful consolation of her ritual. Cary and I openly +attended the funeral. Dawson was officially in bed, suffering from his +much-desired attack of influenza. But in the firing party of Red +Marines, whose volleys rang through the wintry air over the body of +Trehayne, I espied one whom I was glad to see present. + + + + + +PART II + + +_MADAME GILBERT_ + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE WOMAN AND THE MAN + +If one believed Dawson's own accounts of his exploits--I can conceive +no greater exercise in folly--one would conclude that he never failed, +that he always held the strings by which his puppets were constrained +to dance, and that he could pluck them from their games and shut them +within his black box whenever he grew wearied of their fruitless +sport. He trumpets his successes, but he never speaks of his +failures--he buries them so deeply that he forgets them himself. He +veils his plans, movements, and personal appearance in a fog of +mystery. None, not even his closest associates, know what he would be +at until a job is completely finished, and finished successfully. Thus +when he succeeds, his own small world is deeply impressed--even +nauseated--by the compelling spectacle of a Dawson triumphant; when he +fails, very few know or hear of the failure. He loves the jealousy of +his equals and inferiors even more than the admiration of his +superiors. Thoroughly to enjoy life he must be surrounded by both in +the amplest measure. + +What I now have to tell is the story of a failure--a failure due to +his refusal ever to allow his right hand to know what his left hand +sought to do. He never told me himself one word concerning this story. +I obtained the details partly from Captain Rust, partly from Dawson's +Deputy, but chiefly from the lady who filled the star role. Dawson +himself foolishly introduced me to her nearly two years later; he did +not anticipate that we should become friendly, confidential, that we +should discuss him and his little ways over cups of tea, made the +sweeter by the clandestine nature of our frequent meetings. He had not +allowed for the fascinations of the lady--fascinations so alluring +that even I, a middle-aged Father of a Family and Justice of the +Peace, was instantly reduced by them to the softest moral pulp; and he +had not allowed for the Puckish glee with which I welcomed the tale, +rolled it round in my wicked fancy, and bent its ramifications into an +orderly narrative. + + * * * * * + +I very vividly remember my first meeting with the lady. She came one +day, a fortnight after I had returned from Cary's flat to my neglected +duties, heralded by a short note from Dawson. "I shall be greatly +obliged if you will give Madame Gilbert all assistance in your power. +She is one of my team." That was all, but my curiosity was piqued. I +had heard much of Dawson's team of feminine assistants--rudely called +by rivals his "harem"--and I was eager to meet one of them. I ordered +Madame Gilbert to be admitted to my presence. She came, I saw, she +conquered. When I assert that in two minutes she had plucked me from +my chair of dignity, flung me upon the Turkey carpet, and jumped upon +me with her daintily shod feet, I do not exaggerate. + +She was not very young--I put her at two or three years over thirty. +She was, or gave herself out to be, a widow. She was a female +detective; I was a modest gentleman of rigid English respectability, +not without some matrimonial experience in the ways of Woman. There +was nothing in the purpose of her visit to have caused her to come +upon me as a Venus, fully armed, and to have forced me to an abject +surrender. From the feathers of her black picture hat to the tips of +her black velvety shoes she was French-clad, the French of Paris, and +wore her clothes like a Frenchwoman. She was dressed--_bien habillee, +bien gantee, bien coiffee_. Her hair was red copper, her skin--the +"glad neck" of her dress showed a lot of it--had the colour and bloom, +the cream and roses, of Devon. Her eyes were very large and of a deep +violet All these charms of dress and face and colour I could have +gallantly withstood, but the voice of her settled my business at once. +Its rich, full tone, its soft, appealing inflection, the pretty +foreign accent with which she then chose to speak English--I can hear +them now. I have always been sensitive to beautiful voices, and Madame +Gilbert's voice is beyond comparison the most beautiful voice in the +wide world. + +Madame Gilbert made one or two small requests to which I gave an +immediate assent, and then she asked me to do something within my +power but much against my uncontrolled will. "Madame," said I +shamelessly, "as you are strong be merciful; let me off as lightly as +you can." She laughed, and eyed me with interest. My defeat had been +with her, of course, a certainty, but perhaps it took place more +rapidly than she had expected. "I have not asked for much," said she. + +"It is not what you have asked that I fear, but what you may ask +before I get you out of my room," said I. + +She laughed again and let me down very gently. I did not tell her more +than three secrets which I was pledged never to reveal. "That's all," +said Madame Gilbert. "Thank Heaven," said I. + +On the following afternoon, about four o'clock, Madame Gilbert called +again upon me. When her card was brought in I trembled, and for a +moment had in mind to deny myself to her. But I thrust away the +cowardly thought. Be brave, said I to myself, advance boldly, attack +the terrible delightful siren, say "no" to her once, and you will be +saved! She entered, and though my knees shuddered as I rose to greet +her, my mien was bold and warlike. She warmly squeezed my hand, and I +returned the attention with _empressement_. For a few minutes we +exchanged polite compliments, and then she sprung upon me in her +tender confident tones, a request so preposterous that my rapidly +flitting courage was stimulated to return. Be brave, I murmured to +myself, attack boldly, say "No," and you will be saved for ever. + +"I deeply regret, madame," said I coldly, "that it is not possible for +me to accede to your wishes." It was done, and I breathed more freely +though the sweat broke out on my forehead. + +Her eyes opened upon me with the pained surprised look of a deeply +disappointed child. "Oh, Mr. Copplestone," she moaned, "and I thought +that you were my friend." + +I clutched tightly at the arms of my faithful chair and held to my +programme of heroic boldness. + +"You shouldn't have asked me such a question. You really +shouldn't--you know you shouldn't." + +Her eyelids flickered, and the violet pools which they uncovered +glittered with a moisture which was not of tears, and she laughed, +laughed, and continued to laugh with the deepest enjoyment. + +"I wanted to see how much you would stand," said she at last. + +From that moment her spell over me was broken, and we became friends. +I admired her as much as ever, but she was no longer the all-devouring +siren. I could say "no" to her as easily as to the most dowdy and +unbeautiful of female axe-grinders. + +"Will you permit me to offer you a cup of tea so as to wash from your +mouth the unpleasant taste of my brutal refusal?" + +"I will," said Madame Gilbert graciously. + +We issued from my office and betook ourselves to a pleasant shop where +we could drink tea and nibble cakes, and talk without being overheard. +Madame Gilbert, I observed, had a healthy appetite. + +We talked of ourselves and exchanged delicious confidences. "You have +asked me many questions," I said. "May I ask one of you? What are you? +You are not English, and you are not, I think, French." + +"Shall I also learn a lesson from you in unkindness and say 'No'?" she +inquired. "But it would be cruel, for you have really been quite nice +to me. I will reveal the secret of my birth." She put up one hand and +began to tick off the countries which had been privileged to play a +part in her origin and education. "My father was a Swede--one; my +mother was an Irishwoman--two. I was born at Cork in Ireland, but +remember nothing about it, for my father died when I was three years +old, and my Irish mother removed instantly to Paris--three. By the +way, I have observed that the Irish and the Scotch always run away +from their own countries at the first possible opportunity. Why is +this?" + +"It is much pleasanter," I remarked sententiously "to sentimentalise +over the fringes of the United Kingdom from a safe distance, than to +live in them." + +"Oh! Let me see, I had got as far as Paris. When I was old enough I +went to a convent school there. I speak French rather better than I do +the Irish-English which my mother taught me." + +"You speak English most charmingly. There is about it now a delicate +suggestion, no more, of Ireland. When you first came to me your accent +was distinctly foreign, French or Italian. I am afraid that you are a +wicked woman, a deceiver, and that the fascinating accent was put on +for my subduing. It was a very pretty accent." + +"I have found it most effective," said she brazenly. + +"When I was eighteen I was married--to an Italian (Guilberti)--four. I +should have become a Catholic, my husband's faith, but for my mother's +Protestant-Irish prejudices. She was of the Irish Church, my husband +of the Roman, so I compromised. I joined the Church of England, the +High Branch." + +"Your religion is almost as complicated as your nationality." + +"Yes, isn't it?" said she. Her hand was still uplifted; she had paused +at the fourth finger. "We lived in Italy and in France. Two years ago +my husband died, and shortly after the war began my mother died. I had +a little money, I was known to the Embassy in Paris as one who could +pass indifferently as English, or French, or Italian. I wanted to +strike a blow for all my countries, and I was recommended to Mr. +Dawson for"--she looked round carefully, bent her head close to mine, +and whispered--"the Secret Service. So I came for the first time that +I remember to England--five." + +"But what are you?" I asked, with knitted brows; "I am not an +international lawyer." + +"Mr. Dawson says"--I found that she has a childlike confidence in the +redoubtable Dawson--"that by birth I am a British subject. My Swedish +father doesn't count, as I never adopted Sweden when I came of age. My +domicile before marriage was France, but by marriage I became an +Italian. It is no matter; I am of the Entente, and I do my bit. It is +not a bad bit sometimes." + +That was the first of many agreeable tea-drinkings which Madame +Gilbert and I took together. + +Madame Gilbert believes herself to be, as she puts it, a woman of +"surprising virtue," and I am by no means sure that she is not right. +For the doing of her bit has led her into situations from which +nothing but the coolest of hearts and the quickest of wits could have +brought her out untarnished. She has played her part gallantly, +serenely, in the service of the Alliance; I should be a poor creature +if I judged her by British provincial standards. Among other stories +she told me the tale which I will repeat to the reader. Here and there +were gaps which I have sought diligently to fill up until the whole +has been made complete. Madame Gilbert told to me the most intimate +details without a blush, and if in my telling I startle the blood to +the cheek of the very oldest of readers, the fault will rest with me. + + * * * * * + +"I have a notion, Madame Gilbert, which I should like you to follow +up," said Dawson. He was at that time (the Spring of 1915) in his +office in London--he had not yet been despatched on his spacious +pilgrimage to the northern shipyards--and Madame Gilbert sat opposite +to him in an attitude deliberately provocative. She sat back in a +comfortable chair facing the light, her legs were crossed, and she +displayed a great deal more of beautifully rounded calf and perfectly +fitting silk stockings than is usual even in the best society. +Although she did not look at Dawson, she was fully conscious of the +frowning glare which he threw at the audacious leg. + +"Please give me your attention--if you can. I have been out at the +Front lately, at General Headquarters, to advise upon the means of +stopping the flow of information from our lines to the enemy. All the +obvious channels have been stopped--the telephones hidden in French +cellars, the signals given by the hands of clocks, the German spies +dressed in uniforms stripped from our dead, and so on. Lots of them, +all obvious and simple. One can deal with that sort of thing by a +careful system of unremitting watchfulness. We must have caught up +with most of the arrangements made by the Germans before the war, but +they still get much more information than is good for them to have, +and for us to lose. I am convinced--and G.H.Q. agrees--that there are +many officers, especially in the French and Belgian armies, who were +planted there years before the war for the precise purpose to which +they are now put. Even in our own Army, which is expanding so rapidly, +the same thing is possible, even probable. An infantry officer spy can +do little--he knows nothing of the Staff plans, and cannot get into +communication with the enemy at all readily, without arousing +suspicion. I went into the whole thing at the Front, and I put my +finger, as I always do, upon the danger spot--the Flying Corps. Those +who fly constantly over our own and the enemy's lines have complete +information as to distribution and movements, and, if they choose, can +drop dummy bombs containing news for the enemy to pick up. A French, +Belgian, or English aeroplane 'observer' in the enemy's secret service +could convey information to him at pleasure and without the +possibility of detection. I don't suspect our own Flying Corps, except +on the general principle of suspecting everybody and everything, but I +do that of the French and the Belgians. France and Belgium were salted +through and through by the Germans in anticipation of war. There in +the Flying Corps we have a very grave danger which--But I see that you +are not attending, madame," he broke off angrily. + +Her eyes withdrew from the offending leg for an instant, and flashed +at Dawson with a penetrative power which even he felt. + +"Shall I repeat what you have said, word for word?" asked Madame +Gilbert coldly. + +"I am not now dealing with facts, but with conjecture;" went on +Dawson, after begging her pardon. "I have nothing to go upon, but the +Germans have far more of imagination and ingenuity than we always +credit to them. They must see that with the great advance in the +Flying Corps of the Allied armies, and the opportunities which flying +men have for collecting and conveying information, one flying spy +would be worth a hundred spies on foot. For them to perceive is to +act. I therefore conclude positively that they have agents in the +flying squadrons of France and Belgium, and possibly even in our own. +So I told the C. in C., and he agreed with me. He was good enough to +say that he would never have thought of this had I not suggested it to +him. Soldiers are not detectives, madame, and very few detectives are +William Dawsons. If the War Office knew its business, every Assistant +Provost-Marshal would be, not a soldier, but a man from the Yard, and +I should be the P.M. in Chief on the Headquarters Staff. I should wear +a general's uniform and hat." + +"You would look sweet," said Madame politely. + +Dawson, the ex-private of Red Marines, swelled out his chest and felt +himself to be a Major-General at the least. + +"They will do their best to follow up my idea at the Front, and I +shall start a campaign here. For I become more and more convinced that +the head centre of the German secret service is here in London. Paris, +even before the war, was too watchful, and now is as hot as Hell. +London reeked with spies, and though we locked up the worst of them +when war broke out, lots still remain. If you only knew how many we +laid by the heels and keep shut up without any trial, or nonsense of +that sort, you would be surprised. It is only since the Defence of the +Realm Act was passed that England has become a free country. We keep a +drag-net going continually, we have hundreds of agents in all +suspected quarters, but this wilderness of bricks and mortar is too +big even for us. Once an enemy agent has got himself into an English +or Allied uniform, he is horribly difficult to run down. That is where +you, and those like you, come in. Are you sure, my dear madame, that +you can pass without detection as a Frenchwoman or a French-Belgian?" + +Madame Gilbert put up her left hand, and began to tick off her +qualifications. "My father was a Swede, my mother was Irish, I was +educated in France from the age of three to eighteen, I married an +Italian. Brussels I know almost as well as dear Paris. I can be +Parisienne or Bruxelloise--whichever you wish, Mr. Dawson." + +"Good," said Dawson. "What I want of you is this. Whenever here in +London you see a French or Belgian officer wearing the badges of the +Flying Corps, mark him down. Make his acquaintance somehow; you will +know how. Entertain him, fascinate him, let him entertain you; fool +him as you would fool me if I let you; worm out his secrets, if he has +any. If you get upon a promising track, go strong; let the man make +love to you--he will, whoever he is, if you give him half a +chance--intoxicate him with those confounded eyes of yours. If you can +find only one who is in the enemy's service, you will be fully repaid +for all your trouble." + +"It is a largish contract," murmured Madame thoughtfully. + +"There are not so very many flying officers," said Dawson, "and they +are all young. You will work through them pretty quickly. Most of them +will be the genuine article upon whom you need not waste much time. +But the others, those whom I suspect, you must grab hold of and never +let go, whatever happens." + +"I hope," said Madame primly, "that you do not expect me to do +anything--improper." + +Dawson stared at her in wonder. Her big eyes, shining with the lovely +innocence of childhood, met his without a flicker. "Bless my immortal +soul," he muttered, "she is getting at me again." Then aloud, and +gravely--"My assistants are always expected to conduct themselves with +the strictest propriety." + +Madame laughed softly. "I have known many men in my time, Mr. Dawson, +but I have never enjoyed any man so much as I do you." + +"I appear to have rather a roaming commission," Madame Gilbert went +on, after a thoughtful pause. "Can you not give me any guidance?" + +"Not at present. I am testing an idea, that is all. You must be guided +by your own wit and judgment, in which I have the utmost confidence. +Don't waste your time or fascinations on the wrong people. Find out if +among the French or Belgian flying officers, who from time to time +visit London, there are any whose connections and movements will repay +close watching here and at the Front. Sift them out. When you get upon +a track which seems promising, follow it up, and do not be--what shall +I say?--do not be too squeamish. Money is no object. Behind us is the +whole British Treasury, and you can have whatever you want. Will you +take on the contract, madame?" + +"I will do my best," she replied soberly, "and I will not be--too +squeamish. I can look after myself, my friend." + +In another room of the great building upon the Thames Embankment sat +Deputy Chief Inspector Henri Froissart, a French detective officer who +had been "lent" to the English service. Opposite him was sitting a +young handsome man in the uniform of a captain in the British Army. +Froissart was frowning and speaking in savage disrespect of Dawson, +his immediate chief. "This English Dawson, with whom it is my +misfortune to work, is of all men the most impossible. He is clever, +as the Devil, but secretive--my faith! He tells me nothing. He lives +in disguise of body and mind. There are twenty men in his face, his +figure, and his dress. He comes to me as a police officer, a doctor, a +soldier, a priest, even as an old hag who cleans the stairs. He +deceives me continually, and laughs, laughs. He is a reproach and an +insult. I have it in my mind to score off him; what do you say, mon +ami?" + +Froissart spoke in French, and the English officer replied in the same +language. "With pleasure, in the way of business. I have been placed +at your orders, not at old man Dawson's. Go ahead, what is the game?" + +Froissart nodded approval. "I think that you can pass as a French +officer or a French-speaking Belgian. Is it not so?" + +"You should be able to certify that better than I can myself," replied +the officer modestly. "As a boy I was brought up at Dinard in +Normandy. I served two years in the French Army as a volunteer, a +gunner. Then I went to St. Cyr, but England, the home of my father, +claimed me, and I was given a commission in the Artillery. That was +two years ago. I volunteered for the Flying Corps, served in it at the +outbreak of war, but was invalided after that confounded accident +which spoilt my nerve. I fell two hundred feet into the sea, and +passed thirty hours in the bitter water before a destroyer picked me +up. Thirty hours, my friend. My nerve went, and I was besides crippled +by rheumatism of the heart. Then I was for a few weeks liaison officer +on the Yser at the point where the English and Belgian lines met. The +wet, the cold, were too great for me, and again I was invalided. I was +a temporary captain without a job until you met me and asked for me to +be attached to you for secret service. Yes, M. Froissart, I can pass +as a French or a Belgian officer. It needs but the uniform." + +"Good," cried Froissart. "You are English of the English, and French +of the French. You have served under the Tricolor and under the Union +Jack. You are an embodiment of L'Entente Cordiale. You almost +reconcile me to that detestable Dawson, but not quite. He is of the +provincial English, what you call a Nonconformist--bah! He is clever, +but bourgeois. He grates upon me; for I, his subordinate in this +service, am _aristocrat_, a Count of _l'ancien regime, catholique, +presque royaliste_. His blood is that of muddy peasants, yet he is my +chief! Peste, I spit upon the sacred name of Dawson!" + +"You don't seem to be a very loyal subordinate," observed the officer, +smiling. + +"Me, not loyal!" cried Froissart astonished. "I surely am of all men +most loyal to l'Entente. Have I not proved my loyalty? I have left my +beautiful France and come here to this foggy London to aid this +flat-footed _homme de bout_, Dawson, in his researches. Yet he tells +me nothing. He disguises himself before me, and laughs, laughs, when I +fail to recognize his filthy, obscene countenance. But I am loyal, of +a true loyalty unapproachable." + +"I believe you, though you have a queer way of showing it. What is now +the game that you want to play off on the old man as a proof of your +unapproachable loyalty?" + +"He is clever, my faith, clever as the Devil. He discerns the German +plans before they are made. He has their agents within a wire net +which closes whenever he wishes. He has swept London clean of the foul +brood which festered here before the war. I have great, limitless +confidence in this Dawson whom I detest, but to whom I am of all his +assistants the most loyal. He now suspects that contained within the +Flying Corps of us, the Belgians, and the English are observers in the +pay of Germany. It is an idea most splendid. For if it is true, what +greater opportunity could be given to any spies! To fly over our +lines, to learn of everything, and then to convey the news to the +enemy by way of the air! If he had told me of this most perspicuous of +theories, I would have aided him with all the wealth of my genius. But +no, he tells to me nothing. He comes and goes, he spins his web like a +great fat female spider, but he tells me nothing. It is my belief that +he despises me because I am French, _aristocrat_, and _catholique_. +But I will show him; I will, as you call it, score most bitterly off +him; I will do in my way successfully what he vainly seeks to do in +his way. _Conspuez_ Dawson!" + +"This is quite like the old times of the Dreyfus case," said the +Englishman. + +"Dreyfus! But I will speak not of that. It is buried. We French are +one people now, one and indivisible. Though of traitors, the villain +Dreyfus was of the most horrible. Let us speak of _cet homme tres +sale_, Dawson. I do not know his plans. They will be shrewd, but +without imagination, without flair. He will watch, with his eyes of a +cat, the French and Belgian flying officers who come to London, but he +will not discover their secrets. For he does not understand, this cold +English Dawson, that secrets which endanger the neck are told only to +women." + +"Yet I have heard that he has a team of women--his harem, as it is +called. I have never seen one of them." + +"Bah! Englishwomen, of the large feet and the so protruding teeth! Who +would tell of his precious secrets to them!" + +"Oh, come, M. Froissart. We have as many pretty women in London as you +have in Paris." + +"It is possible, my friend. All things, the most improbable, are +possible. But they conceal themselves most assiduously. I have not +seen them, these so pretty Englishwomen." + +"Well, well. You are a bit out of date as regards our women. But I +don't want to argue. What is the game?" + +Froissart leaned forward and spoke solemnly, forcibly. + +"If the man Dawson is right, and there are German spies in the French +and Belgian flying services, they will come to London to get their +orders. And they will get them from women, depend upon it, my friend. +From women who are of French education, who appear to be French, yet +who are the deadly, the most dangerous, enemies of France. Let Dawson +watch the men themselves; but watch you such women as I +indicate--women who appear to be French and yet are not French. I will +speak to the Chief, not to Dawson, but to the Great Chief of us all. +You shall be dressed in the tenue of a French flying officer; you +shall avoid French or Belgian officers who might ask questions the +most embarrassing. You shall make the acquaintance of women who appear +to be French, yet who are not French. Grip on to these, my friend, +entertain them, make yourself of the most fascinating and agreeable, +give to them attentions and love of the warmest. And when after two or +three glasses of champagne you repose at ease with your arm about +their waists, get you at their secrets. You are young, handsome, and +your eye is bold. I give you a pleasant task--the deception of +deceiving women. In my younger days what joy would I not have taken in +it." + +Captain Rust became very gloomy during this speech for, though French +in education, he was by instinct an Englishman. + +"I don't like the business at all. It sounds mean and grubby, ugh! Not +quite what one would ask of a gentleman." + +Froissart was genuinely surprised. "What do you say, not for a +gentleman? Am I not a gentleman, I, who speak, a Froissart, a Count of +_l'ancien regime_, a Royalist almost? I offer you a task which +combines business and pleasure in the most delicious of proportions. +And you call my offer mean and grubby, _meprisable et crotte_! I do +not ask you to consort with those of the _demi-monde._ The women who +are of most danger to our countries are not _courtisanes_; they are of +the _monde_, fashionable. They meet officers in society; they humour +and flatter them; they display a melting softness of sympathy and +interest. I do not ask you, my friend, to endanger your English +virtue." + +The tone of wondering contempt with which he ended brought a smile to +Rust's lips. + +"I am not so very virtuous, monsieur. But I am English, and I try, +vainly perhaps, to be a gentleman. It seems to me a dirty business to +make up to women in order to wheedle out their secrets." + +"We have to do worse than that in defence of our country. We have to +plot and counterplot, to lie and deceive. But we do these things, and +you must do them too, if you would be of the Secret Service. Content +yourself. Think always that it is for _la belle France_ or for _le bel +Angleterre_, for _la grande Alliance_. You have qualifications +unusual; you are young, handsome, and French in manner and speech. You +are a soldier; it is for me to command, and for you to obey. Besides, +think you; if success comes to us, picture to yourself the desolation +of Dawson!" + +"Desolating Dawson is more your fun than mine. I have no grudge to +work off on the old man. Since you command, I will obey. I will do my +best, but, to be quite frank, I do not like the job." + +"But you will do it. I think that you English, slow to move, do best +those things which you like least. You despise the Secret Service, +what you call dirty spying, yet you do it to admiration--with a +courage and _sang froid_ most wonderful. You hate to begin a war, and +yet when you fight you are, of all people, the most unwilling to stop. +When we French and the Russians yonder have supped of this war to the +dregs, you English will just have begun to find your appetites. Stop? +you will cry. Make peace? Be content? Why, we have just got our second +wind! It will be the same with you, my friend. You begin reluctantly, +but when the chase becomes hot, you will be on fire with zest. You +will not trouble then that _vous vous faites crottes_." + +"I will do my best; I cannot say more than that." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +A PROGRESSIVE FRIENDSHIP + +Neither Madame Gilbert nor Captain Rust are very communicative +concerning their adventures, until they begin to speak of that day +when first they met one another in the courtyard of the Savoy Hotel. +They both then become voluble. I rather gather--though I did not +cross-examine them at all closely--that they had been a good deal +bored. Their instructions were so very vague, and the best method of +carrying them out so far from clear to their ingenious minds, that +they wandered aimlessly about the resorts most affected by officers on +leave, spent much money, made a good many pleasant acquaintances, but +progressed not at all in their researches. Madame did not meet with +any French or Belgian flying officers who seemed likely to be German +agents, and Captain Rust failed to discover a siren who appeared to be +French and yet was not French, and who aroused any plausible suspicion +that she dwelt in the central web of German intrigue. Madame began to +think that for once the impeccable Dawson had despatched her upon a +wild goose chase, and Rust became convinced that Froissart's vivid +longing to score off the detested Dawson had misled him in the +selection of the means to bring about this much-desired consummation. +They told me little of these wanderings, but when I asked for details +of their first meeting, the one with the other, and their subsequent +rather startling proceedings, they broke into eager speech. It was not +until my keen and curious eye began to penetrate the delicate +mysteries surrounding their surprising week-end visit to Brighton that +Rust again became tongue-tied. He reprehensibly slurred over the most +entertaining details. Madame Gilbert, on the other hand, revealed +everything with that plain-spoken frankness which, in any other woman, +would appear to be brazen. Madame is thirty-two; Captain Rust no more +than twenty-six. He is a modest young man in spite of his French +training; she, I am afraid, is a hussy. But I would not have her other +than she is. + +Madame Gilbert was taking tea alone in the courtyard of the Savoy. She +occupied one place at a table laid for four. It was a fine afternoon +in late spring, motors and taxis ran in and out unceasingly, the +open-air restaurant began to fill up, but none ventured to approach +any one of three empty places at Madame's table. She was, as usual, +perfectly dressed--though she assures me that her clothes cost next to +nothing. "It is the wearing of them, my friend, not the cost which +counts." I fancy that her unshakable temper and her gay humour, like +her beauty, are really based, as she says, upon her complete freedom +from ailments. She loves life, and this, perhaps, is why life loves +her. + +Madame Gilbert, though to the unobservant eye intent upon her tea and +cakes, saw every one who came and went. Many officers were in the +restaurant, but one only attracted her special notice. He was a young +handsome man in the field-service kit of the French Army, and upon his +sleeves and cap were the wings of the Flying Corps. This young man was +looking for a table, but could not find one that was empty. She waited +until he paused not far from her, and then, sweeping her eyes slowly +over the crowded tables, brought them to rest upon his face. He was +quite an attractive-looking young man. There was an appeal in his dark +eyes as they met hers; he was imploring her of her gracious kindness +to permit him to occupy one of her superfluous seats, and she +telegraphed to him an encouraging reply. The French officer +approached, saluted, and bowed: "Is it permitted, madame, to +inconvenience you?" he asked humbly. "The tables are very full, or I +would not venture to intrude." He spoke in careful, accurate English, +and with an accent markedly French. + +"Please favour me by sitting down at once," replied Madame. "I feel +myself to be very selfish with my four places and one small person." +She spoke in careful, accurate English, and with an accent markedly +French. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, seating himself opposite to her, and breaking into +French. "Madame is of my country, is it not so?" + +"But certainly," said Madame in the same language, which was to her a +second mother-tongue. "I am of Paris. If you had not been French I +should not have dared to hint to you that a place at this table might +be taken." + +For a few minutes they talked together in the ceremonious style for +which the French language is the perfect medium, and then dropped into +more easy friendly speech. Madame, when she likes the look of a man, +becomes intimate at the shortest notice, and Rust, like every man born +of woman, succumbed helplessly, instantly, to the wiles of Madame. +Though she had finished tea, she urged Rust not to be hurried; there +was plenty of time, and one did not often have the happiness to meet a +French officer in this dreary London. She enveloped him in her meshes +of kindliness, and he responded by thinking to himself that she was +the loveliest, most friendly creature whom he had ever met. Madame +knows a great deal more of military details than most male civilians, +but when she talked to Captain Rust at the Savoy, her ignorance of the +Flying Corps was absolute. She asked questions, quite intelligent +questions, and he bubbled over with eagerness to answer them. Poor +Rust; I can picture the humbling scene. He made an ass of himself, of +course, but not a greater ass than I always make of myself--and I am +not far from double his age--whenever Madame gets to work upon me. + +Within ten minutes she had wheedled out of him an account of his +accident. "I was out on patrol duty," he explained, "spotting for +submarines between the Straits and Zeebrugge. When the weather is fine +we can see deep down into the water, a hundred feet or so, and quite +easily make out a submerged U boat. I was testing a new plane fitted +with a 90 h.p. R.A.F. engine--" He paused and quickly glanced at her, +for he realised his blunder the instant the slip had been made. Madame +was all eager attention--what did she know of the marques of aeroplane +engines!--"It was a day of rotten luck for me. I spotted nothing, and +late in the afternoon my engine began to overheat and miss fire. I did +my utmost to struggle towards Do----, Dunkirk, but the beastly thing +gave out altogether, and down I dropped into the sea. I had an +ordinary land plane without floats, and was obliged to cut myself +clear and keep up as best I could with my air belt. It was a weary +time, waiting to be picked up, all that night and all the next day; +the cold of the water struck right through me, and I was senseless, +like a dead man, when at last, thirty hours afterwards, one of our +destroyers found me floating there, picked me up, and carried me into +Dover. I was in hospital for six weeks, crippled with rheumatic fever, +and my heart went wrong. It is much better now, and I hope soon to get +back to flying again. I am still on sick leave." + +"Poor heart," sighed Madame, and smiled to herself.... "He looked at +me," she explained long afterwards, "as if there was still life in his +poor strained heart. It was a real kindness to give it some gentle +exercise." + +"And when you are well you will again fly for France?" she inquired. + +"Ah, yes. I yearn for the day when the obdurate doctors will permit me +to fly again--for France.... And you, madame, who are so kind to a +poor crippled soldier, is it permitted to ask--" + +"I am, alas, a widow." She paused, and though demurely looking at her +empty tea cup, saw his eyes light up. ["The silly boy was pleased that +I was a widow," she explained. "As if that mattered."] "My poor +husband fell for France--at Le Grand Couronne. That was eight months +ago, and I am still inconsolable. I love to meet the brother officers +of my dear lost husband. He was killed by a shell, close beside his +general, and I do not even know where he was buried." She delicately +wiped her eyes, and Rust murmured broken words of the deepest +sympathy. Yet he was not sorry to hear that his new friend was a +widow. It must have been a most pathetic scene. + +Madame recovered from her sudden rush of grief--brought on by thoughts +of that unknown grave upon Le Grand Couronne!--and began to pull on +her gloves. "And you, my friend?" she asked gently. + +"No one lives who will grieve for me," he replied sadly. + +"You are young, my friend, and your heart will--recover itself. I am +old, made old by illness and sorrow." She was a picture of glowing +health! "May I ask the name by which I may remember you?" + +He was clean bowled, for he, foolishly, had not prepared a plausible +name. "I am called," stammered he, "Captain Rouille." It was the best +that he could do on the instant--the translation of his uncommon +English name into French. + +"A strange name," she murmured, "though the sound of it is beautiful. +Rouille! It signifies, for the moment, the decay of hopes, a mould of +rust obscuring ambition. But in a little while the steel of your +courage will shine bright once more. I am Madame Gilbert; my husband +was of the Territorial Army--a Captain also." She had thought to have +made him a Colonel on General Castelnau's staff, but refrained from so +risky a flight of imagination. An obscure Captain of Territorials +might well be called Guilbert, and pass unidentified. + +As they pressed hands at parting, Rust hesitated. "May one hope, +madame, to meet you again. Your kindness has been great, and I feel +that I have made a new friend." + +"And I also," sighed Madame. "I often come here to drink the English +tea. It is a pleasing custom of London." + +"To-morrow?" he inquired anxiously. "It is possible," replied Madame, +very graciously. + + * * * * * + +"Well," said I, when Madame had told me of this meeting, "I hope that +you had the grace to feel ashamed of yourself. To deceive an invalided +flying officer with your tale of the Captain of Territorials, blown up +by a shell beside his general upon Le Grand Couronne. It was +abominable." + +"It was the unknown grave which fetched him," said Madame cheerfully. + +"Worse and worse. Why could you not have told him the truth?" + +"Because, my stupid friend, the Captain Rouille interested me, and I +was on duty. What was a captain in the French Flying Corps doing with +an aeroplane driven by a 90 h.p. Royal Aircraft Factory engine +(R.A.F.)? Why should he speak of 'our' destroyers, referring to those +of the British, when he ought to have said the 'English' destroyers as +a French officer would have done? Why again should he hesitate over +his name, and then give so impossible a one as Rouille? No, I had +discerned plainly that M. le Capitaine Rouille, whatever he might be, +was not the man he pretended that he was. He spoke French perfectly, +but he was not in the French flying service. He was English. I +recollected my instructions from the great Dawson--to stick to any one +who excited my suspicions, to let him make love to me if need be, and +to discover his secrets. I am, my friend, a martyr to duty. Besides, +le Capitaine Rouille was a handsome young man, very attractive. I was +not grieved at the thought that he might pursue me with his +attentions." + +"Why," I asked in turn of Rust, "did you begin by telling lies to the +charming Madame Gilbert?" + +"I was in French uniform," said he, "and I had to play my part." + +"And a nice mess you made of it," said I rudely. + +"I am afraid that I did. That slip about the R.A.F. engine was +unpardonable. But then how was I to know that the dear woman knew as +much about aeroplanes as I did myself? She was like Desdemona at the +feet of Othello, and, of course, I lost my head. You are as crazy +about her as I am, with less excuse. Besides, I was on duty. Before +Madame had spoken to me for five minutes, I was certain that she was +not French. She spoke perfectly, but there was a little accent, a +delightful accent, that told me she was Irish. That soupcon of a +brogue which gives so delicate a spice to her English appears also in +her French. My mother was an Irish woman, though I have never lived in +Ireland. You know that all the Irish, especially those of America or +of France, are watched most carefully by the police. Many of them hate +the English, and spy upon us. When, therefore, I perceived that +Madame, though she appeared to be French was by birth Irish, I +recollected my instructions from Froissart. It was my duty to stick to +her, to study her. If necessary to make love to her. It did not seem +wholly disagreeable to me," he added dryly, "to make love to Madame +Gilbert." + +"I forgive you," said I, "though, from what I learn, you somewhat +exceeded your instructions." + + * * * * * + +If I were not a most serious writer, this veracious history of Madame +Gilbert and Captain Rust would tend to degenerate into comedy, +possibly to reach the depths of farce. But, to one of my grave bent of +mind, wasted deception, wasted energies, and, above all, wasted +national money, excite rather to tears than to laughter. What a +spectacle was this which I place before the reader! Here were two +trusted members of the English Secret Service pitting against one +another those treasures of intelligence, wit, and sensibility which +they were employed--and paid--to exercise in the defence of their +countries. It may be conceded that one of them was more or less +honest. Rust, I am convinced, had persuaded himself--he has no marked +ability or attractions of any kind that I can discern--that his duty +impelled him to watch Madame with exceeding closeness of attention. +That his strong inclinations marched with his duty may be allowed him +as a privilege; the plea of duty was not, I believe, merely an excuse. +But what can one say in defence of Madame, one who has stored within +her little copper-covered head enough brains to furnish a brigade, +say, of the Women's Emergency Corps? She had perceived that Rust was +an English officer masquerading as a Frenchman, yet she could not have +thought that he was a German spy. Why did she not ask him point blank +what he was doing in that galley. She has never supplied me with a +credible explanation, She pleads, with obvious insincerity, the +instructions of Dawson, which in the most reprehensible way granted to +her the vaguest of roving commissions. She parades her duty before me +in the most tattered of rags. + +Upon the following afternoon, when Madame Gilbert drove up to the +Savoy in a taxi-cab at half-past four, a young man, in the uniform of +a French officer, opened the door and handed her out. It was, of +course, Captain Rust, who had waited palpitating upon the curb for +some three-quarters of an hour. He led her to a small table which he +had reserved for another charming duet of tea, cakes, and +conversation. + +At this second meeting, Madame bent herself to the deft +cross-examination of Rust "Had the Captain Rouille joined St. Cyr as a +cadet officer, or had he served in the ranks of the French Army?" He +had served in the ranks, and broke into details of his training and +garrison service which convinced her that he really had served. She +became thoughtful. Rust, eager to show off his accomplishments, +explained that he had been recommended for a commission and had joined +St. Cyr. More details followed, all of a verisimilitude wholly +convincing. Madame, who knew France and the French Army up and down, +became more thoughtful and more puzzled. It was plain that Rust had +really served in the ranks of the Army, and had been at St. Cyr. Yet +he was an Englishman and an officer of the English Flying Corps! She +asked further questions, innocent, flattering questions, seeking to +discover what had happened to him after his course at St. Cyr. He did +his best, but he was of inconsiderable agility of mind and deficient +in imagination. He had been, he said, with Maunoury's Sixth Army, +which, emerging from Paris in red taxis, had fallen upon the exposed +right wing of von Kluck. His description was accurate enough, but the +lavish details of former narratives were lacking. He had been +_officier de liaison_ on the Aisne; again the little intimate touches +were lacking. He had joined the flying corps, but omitted to explain +how he had learned to fly. It had been at Farnborough, but he could +hardly admit this, and was, unhappily, quite ignorant of the French +flying grounds. + +Madame's quick mind began to see daylight. "How came it, my friend, +that you were flying upon the coast when you suffered that accident, +so terrible, and paralysed that poor brave heart of yours?" Madame +asked the question in the most natural, sympathetic way. It was a +facer for Rust, who regretted that he had been so communicative at +that first meeting "I was lent to the Naval Wing," he explained, and +avoided to particularise. By this time Madame had sorted out his +service. She was quite sure that he had not been with Maunoury or upon +the Aisne, but that in some manner, as yet not clear, he had left St. +Cyr to pass into the English Army. + +When in his turn Rust sought diffidently to penetrate the mystery +surrounding Madame Gilbert, she overflowed with untruthful +particulars. She resembles her master Dawson in this--it is unwise to +believe one word which she wishes you to believe. Of her early life in +Paris she spoke with emotion. She was the beloved only child of a +French doctor--ah, the most learned and pious of men! He died early +smitten by disease contracted during his gratuitous practice amongst +the friendless poor. A most noble parent! Her mother, too, a saint and +angel, had gone aloft shortly after seeing her daughter, Madame, +happily married to a maker of caloriferes (anthracite stoves). "I am +unworthy of those so noble parents," wailed Madame in broken tones. It +was not until they were about to separate that Madame Gilbert herself +threw him a bone of truth designed to test his appetite for curiosity. +"I must fly," exclaimed she; "I am a woman _tres occupee_. I work, oh, +so very hard, for my belle France and to avenge the death of my +glorious husband." The blown-up stove maker did not seem to Rust to be +a figure of glory, yet he forced himself again to express the deepest +sympathy. "Yes," went on Madame, "I would avenge him. I work,"--she +glanced round cautiously, and then whispered--"I work for the +_gouvernement anglais_. I am an _agent de police_." + +"Were you not rather rash," I asked of Madame Gilbert, "to give +yourself away so completely? He might not have been so thorough an ass +as you thought." + +"My friend," said Madame calmly, "I had taken tea with him twice, and +had satisfied myself that he was not, what you call, very bright. A +dear fellow, handsome, a gentleman of the English pattern, but not +bright. If I had not helped him to get a move on, I might have lunched +with him, had tea, dined with him, attended theatres, traversed in +motors your pleasant countryside, flirted, until I had become a very +old woman, and there would have been nothing to show for all my +exertions. I remembered the instructions of Mr. Dawson, I recalled to +myself my duty, I was compelled to discover who and what was this +Capitaine Rouille, and I could only succeed by forcing him to reveal +himself--to give himself away. When I said that I was an agent of the +English police, he did not believe me; but he was curious--he watched +me. I gave him much to watch and to imagine that he had discovered. +Then one began to get forward." + + * * * * * + +I am ignorant of the diplomatic pourparlers which led up to the +week-end trip to Brighton, that remarkable trip which ended +_l'affaire_ Rust. It must have been planned by Madame; it bears the +unmistakable imprint of her impish wit; it was, too, a bold +development of her designs for the effective speeding up of Rust. He +would have dallied all through the summer, looking feebly for an +opportunity to ravish a despatch-case which always accompanied Madame +and which had become the inseparable and ostentatious "gooseberry" at +their meetings. Madame declared that it was stuffed with papers the +most secret. "The English Government would be desolated if they passed +for one moment out of my hands." This despatch-case played parts quite +human. It was perpetually provocative of Rust's curiosity, and a +reminder that the agreeable pastime of making love to Madame was not +an end in itself, but a means whereby he might discharge his official +duties. It was, moreover, a visible sign that Madame was a woman, +_tres occupee_, and a self-styled _agent de police_; it rested always +silent at her side as a protector of innocence. Rust becomes uneasy +when that case is mentioned, but Madame bubbles over at the thoughts +of her _petite chere portefeuille, cette idee de genie_. She brags of +her genius, of her notion _si lumineuse_, of her _guet-apens si +adorable._ + +While Madame must have planned the Brighton trip, she contrived that +the suggestion should come timidly, deprecatingly, from Rust. She +would have scorned so crude an advance, one, too, falling so far short +of her high standard of womanly virtue, as a direct hint that she was +willing to pass three days in a seaside hotel with a young man! _Mais, +non. Ce serait une betise incroyable_! I can imagine her hints, +increasing in strength as she beat against the obtuse heaviness of +Rust's intellect. But I cannot imagine how any one, least of all the +brilliant Froissart, should have conceived that lumpish soldier to be +capable of the finesse needful for the Secret Service. He has since +been returned empty, and I do not wonder at it. + +Madame must have lamented the stuffiness of London during the bright +days of early June, and painted, in her enthusiastic French fashion, a +picture of southern England and the glittering Channel. "_Ma foi, mon +ami_, what would I not give for one hour of peace and rest, away from +this swarming hive of men and women? It is as yet too cold to swim in +that sea which washes the shores of my beautiful France--and bears the +so gallant English soldiers to her help--but I would love to sit upon +the sands and gaze, gaze across the waters towards my poor bleeding +land. But, alas, I am a woman _tres occupee_." After a great deal of +this sort of thing, Rust was spurred up to suggest that he also was +weary, and that nothing could be more delightful than to sit beside +Madame upon those sands and to bewail with her the woes of their +common country. The idiot did not reflect that a woman of Madame's +taste in dress does not usually mess up her Paris frocks with nasty +sea sand. Madame sighed. It was a charming picture, but, alas, quite +impossible. Rust still further spurred by Madame--"Le Capitaine +Rouille is not very bright"--at last broke into a proposal delivered +with many hesitations and many apologies. Why should not they travel +to Brighton on the Friday evening and draw solace for their weary +souls from a Saturday, Sunday, and possibly Monday, at Brighton? +Madame became a frozen statue of offended womanhood! What, _mon Dieu_, +had she done that he should conceive her to be a light woman? She, the +never-to-be-comforted widow of the incomparably gallant hero of +anthracite stoves and le Grand Couronne. She had been too +unsuspicious, too trustful; their pleasant acquaintance must end upon +the instant; the too-gross insult which he had put upon her could +never be pardoned. Rust was borne away and overwhelmed in the flow of +her sad reproaches. Abjectly he grovelled: He regard the ineffable +Madame Guilbert as a light woman! Perish the thought! He, to whom she +had been an angel of kindness and discretion! He cast a slur upon the +shining brightness of her reputation! Rust had never in his life been +so eloquent. Madame listened with satisfaction. She might in time, +after long years, forgive him, but not yet. The insult, however +unintended, was too fresh and her heart was desolated! She scorched +and scarified Rust during two whole days, for their meetings continued +unbroken, and at last, as an undeserved concession and as evidence of +her soft forgiving heart, she consented to go to Brighton on the +Friday. "We must regard closely _les convenances_. You men, so rash +and so stupid, you do not understand how infinitely precious to us +poor women is the spotless bloom of our reputation." Rust protested +that the bloom upon the unplucked peach was not, in his eyes, more +stainless than the reputation of Madame. How she must have grinned! He +made plans, rude, coarse plans, for the shielding of the so precious +reputation of dear Madame Guilbert, but she gently put them aside. "In +my hands," she declared grandly, "le Capitaine Guilbert has left his +honour, and I will guard it with my life. Alas, what is my life when +my heart is buried in that lonely grave upon le Grand Couronne in +which I pray rests his much-blown-up body. I myself will devise the +means by which I can grant you a mark of my condescending forgiveness +and preserve _sans reproche_ the honour of a Guilbert." + +I confess that I have drawn upon my imagination for most of this +touching scene, but, knowing Madame as I do, I am sure that I have +given the hang of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +AT BRIGHTON + +Madame Gilbert and Captain Rust travelled to Brighton on the Friday +evening in the Pullman train. They occupied different carriages. Their +hotel, one of those facing the sea which washed the far-off shores of +their beloved, bleeding France, had been selected by Madame--"I desire +a hotel, my friend, not a _caravanserai_!" Madame arrived ten minutes +before Rust, and had disappeared within her own _appartement_ when his +cab drove up to the doors. Rust then booked his room, one upon the +second floor. He took that which was offered, and did not observe that +Madame's room was also _au seconde_. But he did notice--he could not +help it--that the imposing lady in charge of the hotel office was +French. "Ah, monsieur le capitaine," said she, beaming caresses upon +him, "with what joy do I perceive the _tenue de campagne_ of my own +Army. I will gladly grant to you one of the rooms of the very best and +at the price of the lowest. The patron, he also is French, and would +be furious if I did not give the most cordial welcome to an _officier +francais_." Rust thanked the lady of the bureau, and heartily approved +Madame's choice of an hotel. + +"One moment, if you please," said I to Madame, who supplied me with +these details. "I perceive that both the rooms, yours and Rust's, were +upon the second floor. Is it in this way, you shameless woman, that +you preserved from reproach the honour of the late imaginary stove +man?" + +Madame sighed, and turned upon me the look which, in my mind, I have +labelled "Innocence unjustly traduced." One of these days, with German +thoroughness, I shall prepare a numbered and annotated catalogue of +Madame Gilbert's looks and tones. Though it cannot teach her sex +anything which the youngest member does not already know, it will be +full of valuable instruction and warning for the innocent male. + +"Am I responsible," wailed Madame, "for the allotment of rooms by +_hoteliers_?" + +"Most certainly," I said severely. "I do not know your methods. It is +not given to man to penetrate the unfathomable duplicity of woman. But +I am convinced that had you wished it, you would have been placed _an +premier_, and Rust consigned to the uttermost cock-loft in the roof." + +Madame and Rust dined that first evening at separate tables, but +discovered in one another old friends when they accidentally met +afterwards in the lounge.... "What happiness, can it indeed be le +Capitaine Rouille, the friend closer than a brother of my poor slain +husband?" ... "Madame Guilbert! Can it be you whom I meet thus +unexpectedly? You whom I have not seen since that dreadful +never-to-be-forgotten day upon which I broke to you the news, the +terrible news--" Rust's voice failed; even Madame, who thinks little +of his ability, admits that he performed on this occasion to +admiration. The rencontre was a most affecting one, conducted in +voluble French in the full blaze of publicity in a crowded hotel +lounge. The English audience was impressed and honestly sympathetic; +our insular reserve has been melted in the fires of war. "It is a +French lady, poor thing, who has lost her husband," they whispered, +the one to another, "and that handsome fellow in ordinary +evening-dress is her man's brother officer, who was with him at the +last, and who brought the sad news to her. How sweet she looks, and +how tenderly sympathetic he is!" The eyes of the men had already been +drawn to Madame's royal beauty and those of the women to her dress, a +masterpiece of Paquin. Now that she had met Rust the men were +sorrowful, regretting a vanished opportunity of making her +acquaintance, and the women were relieved. She was too formidable a +rival to be at large, alone and unattended, but now she would be +monopolised naturally and properly by her good-looking compatriot. So +when Madame and Rust slipped away to a corner of the lounge, kindly +eyes followed them, and the voices of the censorious had no excuse to +be raised. "You are a wonder, madame," whispered Rust. "And you, my +friend, did not so badly," replied Madame in frank approval. + +They separated early that evening, for Madame, who knew not what it +was to feel really tired, shammed fatigue as a reason for retiring +betimes. To her came Marie, a little dark French _femme de chambre_ of +the second floor, imploring to be allowed to assist at the night +toilet of a desolate widow of France. While Marie brushed out the +long, rich, copper hair the two chattered unceasingly of France and +the Army of steel-hearted poilus which held the frontiers of +civilisation away yonder in Picardy, Artois, Champagne, and the +Vosges. Marie herself had a man out there of whose welfare she had +heard nothing since the war began. She had received no letters, and +the French publish no casualty lists. "_Mon cher petit homme est mort, +madame. C'est certain, mais j'espere toujours_." There are many, many +Frenchwomen to whom the death of their loved ones is certain, though +they hope always. "I felt rather a pig talking fibs to the poor girl," +confessed Madame. + +Madame Gilbert had made her plans with thoughtful care, and proposed +to carry them out with hardihood. She had determined to work so +adroitly on the Saturday upon the curiosity and "poor strained heart" +of Rust that he would be speeded up to run big risks. He did not know +that, however judiciously frail her conduct might be, she was a very +dragon of virtue in defence of her honour. "I gave my heart," said she +to me quite seriously, "to the Signor Guilberti, one far, far +different from _le mari imaginaire_ of le Grand Couronne. Until, if +ever, I give my heart again no man shall possess me. I play, I kiss, I +philander--as you call it--but what are these trifles? _Des +bagatelles, rien de tout_!" He did not realise her serene indifference +to the small change of love and her respect for its true gold. But I +do not think that Rust, when Madame consented to be his companion at +Brighton, seriously misjudged her motives. He did not know, of course, +or in the last degree suspect that she designed his capture as a +professional victim. + +Again and again she had told him that she was an agent of the English +police, and again and again, as she intended, he had disbelieved her. +She was so incomparably his intellectual superior that she could make +him believe or disbelieve precisely as she chose. She made him think +that she had come to Brighton for companionship, and as a proof of her +kindly forgiveness of a grave indiscretion. He believed; for never was +Rust, even Rust, so idiotic as to suppose that she had succumbed +before his charms and had come to throw herself into his arms. + +But for the machinations of Madame the visit would, I am sure, have +passed without incident. Rust would not have lost his turnip of a +head. He would, out of loyalty to his orders from Froissart, have +tried to grab the despatch-case and ravish its secrets. But he would +not have done what he did, at the risk of compromising the bloom of +her so precious reputation, if she had not deliberately worked him up +to do it. Therefore, while I acquit Rust of evil intention, my +reproofs, my grave reproofs--at which she laughs and snaps her +fingers--are reserved for that unscrupulous Madame. + +At breakfast Madame Gilbert and Captain Rust found that a private +table, a table of the best in a bay window facing the sea, had been +reserved for them by orders of the patron. The news of their pitiful +rencontre in the lounge had sped to his ears; he had wept copiously +before his sympathetic staff, and declared that the bereaved widow and +the so gallant captain should lack for nothing in his hotel. "If it +were not that I feared to offend their delicacy I would refrain from +presenting to them _l'addition._ Make, I pray you, _mademoiselle du +bureau_, their charges of the lowest." He was a most noble patron. + +The path of the wicked was thus made smooth. By the English guests, by +the entire staff, it was considered inevitable, indeed highly +becoming, that Madame and Rust should devote themselves wholly to one +another. Had they embraced in public, and wept many times a day upon +one another's necks, the staff--half of which was French--would have +deemed the exhibition most seemly and fitting, and the English, though +embarrassed, would not have been censorious. By so much has war +brought to us an understanding of the simple honest hearts of our +closest Allies. In ceasing to be insular we are ceasing to worship our +wooden conventional gods. + +Madame, who, as I have before remarked, says the most frightful things +in her soft, musical voice, regarding one the while with frank, steady +eyes, commented thus upon the attitude of _le patron_ and his +assistants towards them. "They wrapped us about so thoroughly in their +tender sympathy that nothing which we had chosen to do in mutual +consolation could have shocked them." + +I do not propose to weary the reader by detailing at length the +progress of Madame's Saturday campaign. Her methods of offence will, +by now, have become clear. To the "suffocating gas" of her smiles, and +the "liquid fire" of her eyes she had added the devastating +"Tank"--her despatch-case. She worked its mysteries unceasingly. When +it was not under her own hand it reposed--during meal times, for +example--in the steel safe of _le patron_. All except one paper, of +the most thrilling importance, which never left her person. This +small, unobtrusive paper, upon which, according to Madame, the +destinies of nations depended, was hidden always--happy paper--in the +bosom of her corset. + +Did she not, inquired Rust, greatly daring, find it rather hard and +scratchy? To him its resting-place seemed too delicate a spot to be +used as a general store. Madame frowned at the allusion to so intimate +a topic, and Rust, terrified, implored her pardon, which was +graciously vouchsafed. + +"You should not, _mon ami_, speak to me as if I were that which you +once thought me--a light woman." She reduced him nearly to tears, and +then, in kindly consolation, permitted him to hold her hand. Both as a +pretended French officer, and as an English agent of the Secret +Service, Rust was the most derisory of frauds. + +During the day the pair of plotters were inseparable, and Madame +played continually with unfailing deftness upon the two strings of +Rust's poor heart and of his intense curiosity, which she clearly +perceived though she did not know it to be professional. When the +heart swelled with stimulated emotion, and Rust began to show +inconvenient fondness, Madame would frown reproof and lead the +despatch-box into action. Very often she would carry her hand to that +pleasant spot where nestled the paper of so great international +importance, and she would speak of it and of the terrible +responsibilities which rested upon her as a secret _agent de police_. +"When I carry a document such as this," she would say, "one _pour +faire les Boches se crever_, it never leaves my bosom all the day and +rests under my pillow by night. Under my pillow, _mon ami_." She dwelt +upon that pillow, and raised in the mind of Rust a charming vision of +a white lace-edged surface upon which was spread out a lovely disorder +of red copper hair. She so worked upon him that his emotions and his +duties became inextricably mixed. Somehow he must secure that paper +and solve the baffling problem of the wonderful widow who appeared to +be French, and yet was not French. His brain by itself could not have +conceived of a means, but Madame assisted to stimulate its imagination +as she had done the beating of his heart. "It was wrong of you, _mon +ami_" she said, in gentle reproof, "to select a room upon the same +floor as mine, it was a proceeding bold and not a little indelicate, +which might have compromised my precious reputation had I not been +secure in the honour of my poor lost Captain Guilbert." Rust protested +that he had left the choice of rooms entirely to the lady of the +bureau, but Madame's smile showed that she was wholly sceptical. "I +speak frankly to you," said she, "so that there may be no longer in +your mind any thought that I am a woman of light conduct. I have come +here, driven by your sad pleadings, to give you of my companionship, +and my heart would be desolated if I thought that you still misjudged +me." The beautiful voice shook, and I do not doubt that the violet +eyes, glistening with pumped-up tears, were raised to Rust's face. I, +her friend, know that she can feel deeply, and I can distinguish that +which she simulates from that which moves her, but the poor creature +Rust was in her hands the most helpless and deluded of victims. + +So the day passed. They lunched together and dined together. In the +intervals they walked upon the sunny front, for the weather was +perfect and the sun shone as it only shines at Brighton. Madame, I am +quite sure, did not sit upon the sand. It appears also that they +visited a succession of picture houses. Madame declares that she is +fascinated by this form of entertainment; the variety and rapid +movement delight her--as I admit they do my dull self--and she deeply +enjoys the blatant crudity of cinematic drama. "It is so entirely +unlike life that it transports one to another world," says she. "Here +in this strange visionary world of the pictures one lives in a +maelstrom of emotions. Boys and girls meet, embrace, and marry all +within the space of a few minutes upon the screen and of an hour or +two of dramatic action. Children are conceived and born by some +lightning process which it would be a happiness for the human kind to +learn. Heroes die while strong men bare their heads in grief, and ten +minutes later the corpse is capering joyously in a new piece. By +attending three or four houses in one afternoon one sups upon emotions +and feeds without restraint upon rich, satisfying laughter. Yes, _mon +ami_, I love the cinema. Rust did not, I think, greatly interest +himself in the pictures, but was happy in the darkness--holding my +hand." + +She laughed as I broke into growls. "Is it not, _mon cher_" she went +on, "that the cinemas will always be most popular--however dull may be +the pictures--so long as boys and girls, men and women, who love, +desire to fondle one another's hands in the dark?" + +"You and Rust did not love one another," I grunted. + +"No. We were not the real thing, but we made ourselves into quite a +plausible imitation." + +Madame pursued her programme with indefatigable ardour and patience. +She impressed again and again upon Rust's imagination a picture of +herself sleeping unprotected, in a room not far distant from his own, +while beneath her pillow reposed a paper precious and mysterious +beyond words to describe. She even hinted that a dread of fire, from +which she always suffered when sleeping at hotels, forbade the locking +of her door. "I am not afraid to die," said she, "for what have I to +bind me to life now that I can never visit the spot where repose the +shattered fragments of my beloved Capitaine Guilbert? But to be +burned, helpless, while rescue was cut off from me by a locked door! I +shrink from so terrible a fate." Subtlety, she had discovered, was +thrown away upon the obtuseness of Rust. She was compelled to be +brutally plain, and so she drove into his thick head the tempting fact +that nothing interposed during the hours of darkness between his eager +hands and the paper which she had taught him to covet. If she awoke +and mistook his motives--if she thought that he had ventured into her +room with designs upon her honour--Rust felt sure that her kind heart +would forgive him, by breakfast-time, though she would certainly +dismiss him from her bedside with the most haughty of reproaches. If +he could not find some other way before they separated for the night, +he had almost decided to essay the venture. She slept very soundly, +said Madame; she had not awakened in her _appartement_ in Paris upon +one night when a bomb from a Prussian aeroplane had exploded within +two hundred yards of her house. Another way was still possible, and +Rust, while he was dressing for dinner, determined to try it; it was a +way, too, which thrilled him with pleasurable anticipation. + +At dinner Madame declined champagne, which she said was a poor, feeble +drink. Let them for once share a bottle of sparkling Burgundy, a royal +wine, the Wine of Courage. The patron brought them the bottle himself, +and lamented that they would not indulge themselves in a second. +Madame had no desire that Rust should, under its influence, become too +enterprising. The evening was warm, and afterwards they moved into the +pleasant garden behind the hotel and sat together in a quiet corner. +Other guests were in the garden, but it had become tacitly agreed +among them that Madame and Rust--the "dear French things"--should be +permitted to console one another in seclusion. No one could perceive +that the black-sleeved arm of Rust had found a happy resting-place +around Madame's black-covered waist, or that her glowing head was not +far from his shoulder. Her Paris evening frock was cut low, though +never by the fraction of an inch would Madame permit her _couturier_ +to exceed the limits of perfect taste. Looking down over her shoulder +Rust could see, protruding from the white lace below her bodice, the +corner of a paper. She talked little. It seemed to give her pleasure +to lean against his shoulder and dreamily, half asleep, to rest there +reposefully like a tired child. "But, _mon ami"_ said Madame to me in +relating these tender details with the greatest satisfaction, "I was +very wide awake indeed." + +Rust eyed that corner of paper and waited without speaking until his +companion should become almost unconscious of his movements. Then +gently he moved his right arm from her waist and placed it over her +shoulder. She moved slightly, but it was only to nestle more closely +against him. His dangling fingers moved little by little towards the +opening of her corsage, they descended, and with his thumb and +forefinger he gripped the paper. Madame did not move her body nor, to +Rust, did she seem to suspect his intentions. But her right arm lifted +slowly up, she gently grasped his hand in hers, pressed it kindly for +a moment, and then, still holding it, removed his arm from her +shoulder to her waist. "Your coat sleeve scratches my shoulder," she +murmured. Rust, who had instantly released the paper when Madame took +his hand, never again got an opportunity of touching it, for she kept +her arm pressed over his during the whole time that they sat together. +"I gave him the chance," explained Madame to me, "and it worked +beautifully. But once was enough. From that moment I became really +suspicious of Rust. Before I had only been puzzled. What he was I +could not guess, but I was dead set on finding out before the night +was over. Till then I had allowed only little freedoms, but when I +rose to go into the hotel and he bent over me I let him kiss me on my +lips. It was a severe disappointment, that kiss," added Madame +contemplatively. + +"Spare me the loathsome details," said I crossly. + +When at last Madame Gilbert went to her room she was smiling gaily and +showing no signs of fatigue at the tiresome exercises of the day. +Though it was approaching midnight the faithful Marie was waiting to +assist her toilet. "Ah, madame," sighed Marie in her frank Parisienne +fashion, "le Capitaine is so beautiful and devoted. He regards you as +one who would devour. I marvel that you have the heart to separate +from him." + +"Marie," said Madame, laughing, "you are a naughty girl, a corrupter +of my youthful morals. I am afraid that _le bon Capitaine_ must go +hungry. For--" and then she pranced off upon that wearisome old story +about the blown-up Territorial bore of _le Grand Couronne_. Fidelity +to the scattered corpse of a husband--_un mari assommant, mon Dieu, +pas un amant joyeux_!--seemed to Marie the most wasted of emotions. +She, in common with all the other Frenchmen and women in the hotel, +was an ardent partisan of Captain Rouille. + +"If my bell rings in the night, come quickly, Marie," said Madame, as +she dismissed the girl. "I shall need you _a la grande vitesse_." + +Madame slipped the seductive paper and something else under her +pillow, saw that the electric and the light switch were close to her +hand upon the bedside table, and snuggled down contentedly. "The trap +is set and baited," she murmured; "I hope that the bird will not keep +me waiting." + +An hour passed slowly. Rust has told me little of his feelings, but +admitted that he was in the "devil of a funk." He had determined to +make a daring shot at the paper and the solution of Madame's identity, +but he shivered at the prospect of her wrath should she awake and +catch him in the act. "She would have thought the worst of me, and, +like you, Copplestone, I cherish her beautiful friendship as the most +precious of privileges. On my honour I was only after the paper." +Madame found the waiting time very tedious, but I am sure that her +pulse did not quicken by a beat. She has a wonderful nerve. + +At one o'clock, when the hotel was very quiet, and the boot-cleaner +had made his round of collection, Madame heard the handle of her door +move and the door itself push slowly open. Through her partly closed +eyes she saw the momentary flash of an electric torch with which Rust +took his bearings, and then she felt, rather than saw or heard, a +figure draw gently towards her bed. Her right hand was under the +pillow grasping that something, not the paper, which she had laid +there in readiness. Rust approached, bent over her, and his fingers +felt for the pillow. They touched her hair, and she knew that the +moment for action had come. Out stretched her arm, holding the pistol +well clear of his body, for she was loath to hurt him, and a sharp +report within a couple of feet of his side frightened Rust more +thoroughly than had the hottest of "crumps" in Flanders. He sprang +away, and darted for the door; but in an instant the lights went up, +and a loud, commanding voice--utterly unlike Madame's soft musical +social tones--called to him to halt. "Halt!" cried Madame in English. +"Right about turn! 'Shun!" The familiar words of command brought him +round in prompt obedience, and there before him he saw Madame Gilbert +sitting up in her bed, pointing a most business-like automatic pistol +straight for his heart. Her hand held it true, without a quiver, and +along the sights glittered an eye remorseless as blue steel. This was +a woman wholly different from that kindly yielding creature whom he +had embraced and kissed a couple of hours earlier! + +"You will please stand quite still," said Madame, speaking the +slightly tinged Irish-English of her birth, "for if I shoot, le +Capitaine Rouille will be no more. See! Upon my dressing-table behind +you is a small vase supporting a rose. I will cut off its stem," She +quickly moved the pistol, and fired. "You may turn round." He obeyed, +and saw that the vase was unbroken, but that the rose, cut off at the +stem, lay upon the dressing-table. Behind it appeared a bullet-hole in +the plaster of the wall. + +Madame flicked the spent cartridge off her counterpane, where it had +fallen upon ejection, and resumed. "I have rung the bell, and in a +moment there will be a most interested audience. You will then please +explain what brings you to my bedroom." + +He had faced round towards her again, and his poor mind was a blank. +The situation was too big for him. He had fallen into a trap, but why +it had been set he could not guess. Who was this calmly capable, +straight-shooting widow who, with the copper hair falling over her +shoulders and streaming down the front of her dainty nightdress, +appeared in action even more lovely than in repose? + +The first to arrive was Marie, then followed another _femme de +chambre_, then came the night porter, then the boot-collector, last, +with eyes opened wide at the surprising spectacle of a beautiful young +woman receiving her lover at the point of a pistol, appeared _monsieur +le patron_ himself. They clustered in a group by the door. "I think," +said Madame serenely, "that we have enough. Marie, the house is full; +shut the door and lock it." The order was obeyed. "Now," went on the +commanding voice from the bed, using French for the effective shutting +out of the English boot-cleaner and night porter, "if you men will +turn your backs, and Marie will hand me my dressing-gown, I will +prepare myself for the examination of Monsieur le Capitaine Rouille. +It is not seemly that a court of inquiry should be conducted in a +nightdress." + +The men turned round, or were pushed round. Marie--gasping with wonder +at the whole incredible business, so unlike that which she had +suggested--brought the silk dressing-gown and robed Madame, who +skipped out of bed for the purpose. Then the fair _juge +d'instruction,_ wrapped to the neck in blue silk, and looking prettier +than ever, propped herself upon the pillows and opened the court. + +"Captain Rouille," ordered she in French, "please tell these others +why you came to my bedroom." + +I regret to record that Marie and the other girl looked towards one +another and sniggered. The patron lifted up his hands in amazement. +_Mon Dieu_, what a question! The two English servants did not +understand French. + +Rust said nothing. Madame, who had observed the excusable +misunderstanding of her French audience, condescended to explain. "I +am sure," she said, "that Captain Rouille will not suggest that his +visit was designed to attack my honour." + +"_Quelle dame extraordinaire_!" moaned the patron. "_C'est +incroyable la sangfroid de celle-la."_ + +"Of course not," cried Rust, speaking for the first time. "Never would +I have dared to think of such a thing. Madame Gilbert is a lady of the +highest virtue. It was not to compromise her that I entered her room." + +"The man," groaned the patron, "is no less extraordinary than the +woman. Why in God's name this pistol, this scene so public! They are +lovers, beyond doubt, yet they spring upon my hotel this scene of the +most scandalous. It is not the way of France; I do not understand such +goings on." + +Madame drew a paper from her bed, and held it up. "Was it for this +that you came?" + +"Yes," said Rust, "for that and that only." + +"_Un billet doux_" said the patron, playing without design the part of +a bewildered chorus, "Why should not madame have given it to him if +she wished to write that which she was too modest to say?" + +"Why did you want it?" + +"What more natural," cried the patron, "than that the brave captain +should be eager to read the sweet confession of your love?" Madame +missed not a word which dribbled from the lips of the poor, puzzled +patron, who contributed the comic sauce which titillated her humorous +palate. The patron to her was a sheer joy. + +"Why did you want it?" repeated Madame sternly. + +"Because," said Rust, "you said that it contained the most important +of secrets." + +"What have you to do with secrets which concern the fate of nations at +war?" + +"Nations! War!" muttered the patron. "What words are these to find +upon the lips of lovers? By now they should, had they not both been +quite mad, have forgotten war in their mutual embraces." + +Rust was silent, considering what he should say. He had not the wit to +invent a plausible story, and to such men there is only one safe +rule--when in doubt, tell the truth. He told the truth. + +"I wanted that paper because I am a member of the Secret Service." + +"Of Germany?" snapped Madame, flashing violet lightning from her eyes. +Sensation! The two French women broke into screams of rage, dreadful +to hear; the patron raised his clenched hands, and roared like a +furious beast. Rust, a brave man, shrank for a long, startled moment. +His flesh quivered, as if it felt fierce French nails fasten into it. +He saw the blood-lust flame in the eyes which searched his face. He +trembled, but spoke up firmly. + +"No. The Secret Service of England." + +"Liar!" roared the patron. "_Menteur! Espion_! Foul seducer of a +desolate _veuve de France_! Die, traitor! Madame, raise your pistol; +shoot--shoot instantly for the honour of France!" The man, a fat, +comfortable bourgeois, was transfigured with frightful, murderous +rage. He had become a figure almost heroic. + +But Madame did not shoot. In ten seconds her swift brain had recalled +the whole series of incidents during her commerce with Rust; she +penetrated to the heart of the mystery, and immediately became +convinced that he spoke the truth. + +"No," said she. "_Monsieur le patron_ and you, _mes demoiselles_, +cease your cries. You do the brave Capitaine Rouille a very grave +injustice for which you must pray his forgiveness _sur le champ_. He +is a soldier of France, and of our noble Allies, the English. He is an +officer of the English Secret Service. The mistake was mine, for +which, _mon capitaine_, I implore your pardon." + +She lay back in her bed, and the laughter poured out of her in one +unbroken flood. She laughed until she became weak as a baby, for the +idiotic comedy which they two had played--at the expense of the +British Treasury--was beyond any other means of expression. Rust, who +began to grasp something of the truth, also broke into a laugh, and +the amusement of the principals brought instant conviction to the +audience. The repentance of those who had thirsted for Rust's blood a +moment since was very pleasant to witness. The women begged permission +to kiss his brave hands, which had slain the foul Boches, and the +patron cast his burly person upon Rust's pyjama-clad bosom and saluted +him on both cheeks. He had a stiff, hard beard! + +"And now," cried the patron, "this scene, so deplorable and +scandalous, is happily ended. Our beautiful Madame and the brave +captain, their mistakes and misunderstandings removed, are again +lovers of the fondest. Let us go, my friends, and leave them to +forgive one another as they will desire to do in decent privacy. +_Allons, allons, vite_!" + +He drove away the boot-collector and the night porter, who had not +understood one word of the quick French which had been spoken. They +explained the scene satisfactorily to themselves by the one word, +"French." The women would also have gone if Madame, who was still +laughing, had not hastily recalled Marie. + +"Marie," she whispered, spluttering with cheerful impropriety, "lead +that captain away and lock him into his room or my reputation is gone +for ever. Take Rouille away, and then leave me, for I want to laugh +and then to sleep." + +But Rust, blushing deeply at the preposterous closing of the scene, +had sneaked quietly out of the room. + + * * * * * + +They met at breakfast without embarrassment. At least Madame was +perfectly tranquil; I cannot answer so surely for Rust. In the eyes of +the little world of the hotel nothing had been changed. They retained +their assumed characters as a Widow and Soldier of France, who +consorted with the freedom of old friends. + +"So," said Madame, when all had been explained, "you were put on by +our dear, fiery Froissart, and I by the dear, secretive Dawson. We +blundered up against one another, and the rest followed naturally. You +were such an one as I looked for, and I was of the kind pictured by +the imaginative Froissart. It has all been most amusing, especially +when one reflects that the English Government has paid for all our +delightful lunches, teas, dinners, and motor runs. I doubt, though, +whether we can with easy consciences send in the bill for this +week-end." + +"No. We will divide the cost between ourselves, for I am sure that you +will refuse to be my guest. All I ask is that you do not cut our +holiday the shorter on account of what has passed." + +"Not by an hour," replied Madame heartily. "I like you, Captain Rust; +we will enjoy ourselves to-day as colleagues _en vacance_, and +to-morrow we will report at headquarters. We will leave Dawson and +Froissart to sort out the responsibility for the whole comedy. It has +been a most pleasing experience. Never shall I forget that scene of +last night and the bewilderment of the poor patron. His comments were +a delight, and the conclusion was so purely French in its artless +conception that I felt for your innocent blushes." + +"The patron was the limit," muttered Rust, flushing deeply. + +"He was. And yet no one could convince him that the reconciliation so +desired by him was not the most natural and decorous for us. I am +still sore with excessive laughter. Again and again in the night I +woke up and simply bellowed." + +The Sunday was again a very fine day, and Rust speaks of it still with +enthusiasm. Madame revealed herself to him, no longer as the seductive +siren, but as a true-hearted colleague and helper. He saw her not only +as a beautiful and most compelling fascinator, before whom he had +grovelled, but as a big-brained and big-souled friend. "She is the +only woman whom I have ever met with whom I would go tiger-shooting," +said Rust to me. I will accept that one sentence as his considered +verdict; no greater tribute could be paid by a man to a woman. + +At first he did not fully grasp that the Madame of that Sunday, the +real Madame, was wholly different from the one he had known before. As +they sat together upon the cliffs towards Rottingdean, he slipped his +arm about her waist. Gently, but very decidedly, she removed it. "No, +_mon ami_," said she. "All that has passed with the necessity for its +exercise. I do not play with my friends." + +"Thank you," replied he--it was the brightest speech which Madame has +recorded of him. There is hope that Rust will, with years and +experience, develop in intelligence. + +When Madame returned to London on the Monday, she sought an audience +of Chief Inspector Dawson, and told the whole story. He was not +pleased, but handsomely conceded that she had carried out her duties +with skill and enterprise. "The farce was not your fault," said he; +"it was entirely due to that French ass Froissart, who has no right to +play games of his own without consulting me. I will make a protest to +the Chief." + +"Don't do that," urged Madame. "Froissart is rather a dear, and you +know that the fault was partly yours, for not taking him into your +confidence. I have determined to cultivate Froissart, and shall +endeavour to persuade him that your feminine assistants are not all of +microscopic intelligence and of repulsive appearance." + +"You will succeed," said Dawson handsomely. + +Froissart, to whom Rust reported, gleaned some consolation from the +failure of his agent. "This wonder of a woman, of whom I must +instantly make the honourable acquaintance, has saved the detested +Dawson from the deeps of humiliation. But we have scored off him most +surely. He has shown himself to be a blundering, conceited English +pig, and I will protest to the Chief that never again must he keep me +in ignorance of his projects. I shall laugh at him; all our people +here will laugh. I shall be revenged. _Conspuez_ Dawson!" + +"Don't be too hard on Dawson," urged Rust. "Madame Gilbert thinks a +lot of him, and would be pained if he suffered discredit through any +fault of hers." + +"Fault!" shouted the gallant Froissart. "_La belle Madame_ is _sans +faute_, peerless, a prodigy of skill and discretion! She is superb. If +she implores me to spare the man Dawson, then I will consent, though +my heart is rent in fragments. As for you, _mon ami_, I fear that in +her hands you were not a figure of admiration. She twisted you about +her pretty fingers like a skein of wool. I do not think that you are, +what you call, cut out for the Secret Service." + +"That is quite my own opinion," assented he gloomily. + + + + + +PART III + + +_TO SEE IS TO BELIEVE_ + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +DAWSON PRESCRIBES + +The mind of Dawson has the queerest limitations. He is entirely free +from any sense of proportion. If I wrote of those incidents which he +pressed upon me, this book would be intolerably dull. He sees no +interest in any episode which is not Dawson, Dawson, all the time. The +emotion which was aroused in the hearts of Cary and myself by +Trehayne's letter caused Dawson no small anxiety. He feared lest in +rendering this episode I should turn the limelight upon Trehayne and +leave the private of Marines in the shadows. Which is precisely what I +have done. From his "sick bed" he sent me a letter explaining that his +own honourable weakness of sympathy with an enemy spy was physical, +not moral--reprehensible failing induced by lack of sleep. He laboured +to convince me that the spirit of Dawson in the full flush of health +was of a frightfulness wholly Prussian in its logical completeness. +But I smiled, went my own way, and Dawson, when he comes to read this +book, can swear as loudly as he pleases. + +If I had depended only upon Dawson, I should never have secured the +details of the story which I am about to write. It was Froissart who +first put me upon the track of it during one of those visits which I +paid to him when I was investigating _l'affaire_ Rust. Froissart, in +imaginative insight, is as much superior to Dawson as the average +Frenchman is to the average Englishman. But in execution he admits +sorrowfully that he cannot hold a candle to his brutal secretive +English chief. "I have genius," exclaimed Froissart, "of which the +sacred dog Dawson has not a particle. I know not whence come his +ideas, the most penetrative. It cannot be from _son Esprit_ of which +he has none; his brain reposes, without doubt, in his stomach. Yet, +_ma foi_, that man whom I detest and to whom I am a colleague most +loyal, is of a practical ingenuity most wonderful. Did you ever learn +how he hid the great cruisers _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ from the +watching eyes of the Boche, and won, here in England, a glorious +victory for the English Navy, eight thousand miles away? I was with +him, and at the end, falling upon his bosom in generous admiration, I +kissed him on both cheeks. And what was my reward? It was to receive a +short-arm blow upon the diaphragm. That man of mud took my wind, as he +called it, and I was laid gasping upon the floor. It was in this +fashion that he repulsed me--me a Count of _l'ancien regime_. I could +have his blood." + +I soothed Froissart, and extracted enough from him in rapid French +spasms--his idiomatic staccato French is often beyond my +understanding--to give me a general idea of what Dawson had done. +Thereafter I pursued my inquiries, pumping Dawson himself--who, for +some reason, did not greatly value the affair--tackling others who +knew more than they were always willing to tell, even to me their +friend. Yet in many ways, of which it were well not to be particular, +I arrived at the full story which I now tell. To my mind it shows +Dawson at his best, and Dawson's best is very good indeed. + + * * * * * + +It was early in November, three months after war had begun. Dawson, to +whom had been committed the general supervision of all known enemy +spies in London, and who had already put in force that combination of +tight net and loose string which I have described, received a summons +from his Chief the moment he arrived at his office at the Yard. "You +are wanted at the Admiralty," said the Commissioner--"and wanted +badly. You are to report at once in the First Lord's private room." + +"What is the game?" inquired Dawson. "I have lots to do here which I +cannot well leave." + +"I don't know. But I have orders to send you, and to relieve you from +all other duties. If you want help, you can take Froissart, that +French detective who has just been sent to us from Paris as a sort of +liaison officer. He is strongly recommended as a first-class man." + +"Hum," said Dawson, between whom and his Chief was a very close +friendship. "I suppose I must toddle round and see what the little man +wants this time. Last month he had secret wireless installations on +the brain." + +Dawson found the First Lord striding up and down his big room. All +round the walls were set great maps bristling with pins to which were +attached numbered labels. Each pin represented a ship, and each ship +was obedient to an order flashed from the big aerials overhead. Here +was the Holy of Holies, the nerve ganglion of the English Navy, and +here, striding up and down, the man who could jab the nerve-centre +with his finger whenever he pleased. He often pleased. Then he would +gloat over the pins as they skipped about the maps. + +Chief Inspector Dawson was announced, and stood to attention. + +"Ha!" cried the First Lord, "so you are Dawson, the Master of Spies. +We need you, Dawson; the country needs you; I need you. You have a +great chance this day to show your quality, Dawson. Those of whom I +approve, I advance. They become great men. Am I to approve of you?" + +Dawson observed that he could not well say until he learned what was +wanted of him. + +"Ha!" cried the First Lord again, "you are a man of few words. I like +those with me who do not talk. When there is talking to be done--well, +I can do a little in that line myself. Among my instruments I demand +silence." + +Dawson said nothing. The First Lord struck a bell; a servant in blue +uniform appeared. "Will you please tell his lordship that Chief +Inspector Dawson is here, and that I await his presence." + +The man retired and presently returned. "His lordship is in his room +making out the orders for the Fleet. He bids me say that he is quite +at your service." + +The First Lord flushed, and glanced hurriedly at Dawson, who stood at +attention, stolid, silent, immovable. It would seem that he read +nothing in the message. + +"The Mountain is old and stiff in his joints," remarked the First Lord +playfully. "When he settles into his chair, it would take a bomb to +lift him out. We are young and active; we must consider the +infirmities of age. Mahomet will go to the Mountain, and you will +please to follow." + +Mahomet, swinging his long coat-tails, strode out of the room and down +a passage, whence they emerged into another room also set about with +pin-studded maps. + +"Ha!" said the First Lord, "as you would not come to us, we have +unbent our dignity and come to you. This is Chief Inspector Dawson." + +"So I supposed," growled the grizzled old man, who sat at a big desk +upon which was piled many flimsies. It was the great Lord Jacquetot, +who for all his French name was English of the English. + +"Will you explain to Mr. Dawson what we want of him or shall I?" +inquired the First Lord. Lord Jacquetot rose from his chair, showing +nothing of the infirmities of age. He approached Dawson, looked over +him keenly, and said, "You don't look like a civilian policeman. Where +have you served?" + +Dawson explained that he had in former days been a Red Marine. + +"I thought as much," said Jacquetot. "There is no mistaking the back +and shoulders of them. Once a Pongo, always a Pongo." He held out his +hand, which Dawson shook diffidently. An ex-private of Marines does +not often shake the hand of a First Sea Lord. + +Lord Jacquetot walked over to one of the maps and beckoned to Dawson +to follow. The First Lord hovered in the background, ready to put in a +word at the first opportunity. + +"There has been a serious naval disaster in the South Seas," said +Jacquetot, "and we must clean up the mess, pretty damn quick. The news +came yesterday. Orders were wired at once that two battle-cruisers, +the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, should be sent at full speed from +Scotland to Devonport to dock, coal, and complete with stores. To keep +them outside the enemy's observation, and to avoid any risk of mines +or submarines in the Irish Channel, they have been sent far out round +the west coast of Ireland. Here they are; we get messages from them +every hour." He indicated two pins. Just then a messenger entered and +handed to the First Sea Lord a wireless flimsy. Jacquetot read it, +slipped a scale along the map, took out the two pins, and shifted them +further south. "They are going well," said he; "doing twenty-five +knots. They should be off Plymouth Sound by to-morrow evening." + +"It is a long way," put in Dawson, deeply interested. "Fifteen hundred +miles." + +"There or thereabouts. The coast lights are all out, so that they will +steer a bit wide. They should do it in sixty hours." + +"I gave the order within thirty minutes of getting the news of the +disaster," remarked the First Lord, smacking his lips. + +Jacquetot made no reply, though his eyes hardened and his mouth drew +into a stiff line. It was his province to give Orders to the Fleet. + +"Those battle-cruisers," went on Lord Jacquetot, addressing Dawson, +"will go into dock at Devonport as soon as they arrive. They will be +there forty-eight hours at least. They must be clean ships before they +go through the hot tropical water if their speed is to be kept up. +They have gun power, but power without speed is useless for the work +which they have to do. After leaving England it will be a month before +the Squadron, of which they are to form the chief part, will be +concentrated in the South Seas. For two days at Devonport, and for +four weeks while at sea, there must be the completest secrecy if our +plans are to succeed. Without absolute secrecy we shall fail. The +Board of Admiralty is responsible for the sea, but not for the land. +We can make certain that no news of the despatch of these two cruisers +gets out at sea; can you, Mr. Chief Inspector Dawson, undertake that +no news gets out on land--that no whisper of their sailing reaches the +enemy by means of his spies on land?" + +"It is a large order," said Dawson thoughtfully. + +"It is a very large order," asserted Lord Jacquetot, frowning. + +"But large or small, the thing must be done," broke in the First Lord. +"If this news gets out, and we fail to come up with the German +Squadron down south, the effect upon the public will be horrible. The +English people may even lose their perfect, their sublime, faith in +ME." + +"They may lose their faith in the Navy," muttered Jacquetot. + +"It is the same thing," said the First Lord. + +"Can you let me know more details, my lord?" asked Dawson. "What is +the programme? I don't see at present how the arrival, docking, and +sailing of the battle-cruisers can possibly be kept secret, but there +may be a way if one could only think of it." + +"If the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ arrive according to programme," said +Jacquetot, "they will not come up the Sound till after dark. Then in +the small hours they will slip into dock, and no one but the regular +dockyard hands will know that they are there. We will haul them out +also in the middle of the night, and they will be clear away by +daybreak, forty-eight hours after arrival. Coal and other stores are +on the spot in plenty, and the shells and cordite for the twelve-inch +guns can soon be got down from the Plymouth magazines. The secrecy of +the operation seems to me to turn on whether we can trust the dockyard +hands." + +Dawson shook his head. "I wouldn't plump on that, my lord. There have +been enemy agents working in every dockyard in the kingdom for years +past, and we haven't spotted all of them. Still, we have our own men +working alongside of them--Scotland Yard men engaged from among the +shipbuilding trades unions--accounting for every one, so that no man +can be away from his post without our knowing and shadowing him. It is +not easy to get any information out of the country nowadays. The +secret wireless stories are all humbug. Wireless gives itself away at +once. If one wants to get news to the enemy, one has to carry it +oneself, or hire some one else to carry it. Most of that which goes we +allow to go for our own purposes. I am pretty sure that no dockyard +hand could get anything away to Holland without our knowledge, so that +it doesn't matter whether they are trustworthy or not so long as we're +not fools enough to trust them. You may not know it, but I have my own +Yard men among your messengers here in this building, and among your +clerks too." + +"What!" cried the First Lord. "You don't even trust the Admiralty!" + +"Least of all," said Dawson grimly. "If I was head of the German +Secret Service, I would have my own man as your private secretary." + +The First Lord sat down gasping. Jacquetot nodded kindly to Dawson, +and laughed in his grim old way. "You are the man we want," said he. + +"I am not thinking much of the dockyard hands," went on Dawson; "I can +look after them. They're all provided for. The danger is in the gossip +of a seaport town. I have lived in Portsmouth for years, and Plymouth +is just like it. You may take my word for it that the arrival of the +_Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ in dock at Devonport will be known all over +the Three Towns half an hour after they get there. Their mission will +be discussed in every bar, and it won't be difficult to make a pretty +useful guess. Here is a disaster in the South Seas--which will be +published all over the country by to-morrow morning--and here are two +of our fastest battle-cruisers summoned in hot haste from Scotland to +be cleaned and loaded for a long voyage. Any child, let alone a +longshoreman, could put the two things together. 'So the _Intrepid_ +and _Terrific_ are off to the South Seas to biff old Fritz in the +eye.' That is what they will say in the Three Towns where there must +be hundreds of men--British subjects, too, the swine, and many of them +natural born--who would take risks to shove the news through to +Holland if they could get enough dirty money for it. Our worst spies +are not German, you bet; they are Irish and Scotch and Welsh and +English. That's where our difficulties come in. I am not afraid of the +dockyards, but the gossip of the Three Towns gives me the creeps." + +"Then what can we possibly do?" wailed the First Lord, who saw his +prospect of a brilliant coup wilt away like a fair mirage. "The secret +will get out, our plans will fail, and MY Administration, my beautiful +Administration, will have to stand the racket. How shall I defend +myself in the House?" + +"That won't matter much to the country," put in Jacquetot bluntly. +"What matters, is that we should do everything possible to keep the +secret in spite of all the inherent difficulties. Sit down, Mr. +Dawson, and do some hard thinking." + +"I prefer to stand, my lord. When I want to think I do a bit of +sentry-go." + +"So do I!" exclaimed the First Lord. "All my most famous speeches were +composed while I walked up and down my dressing-room before my--" He +broke off hastily, but as neither Jacquetot nor Dawson were listening, +he might have completed the sentence without revealing the secrets of +his looking-glass. + +"May I speak my mind, my lords?" asked Dawson. + +"It is what you are here for," replied Jacquetot. + +"I always work on certain general principles. They apply here. People +will talk; that is certain. If one doesn't want them to talk about +something really important, one puts up something else conspicuous, +harmless, and exciting to occupy their minds. In your politics" +--turning to the First Lord with an air of simplicity--"when +you've made a thorough mess of governing England, and don't want to be +found out, you set the people fighting about Home Rule for Ireland. I +don't mean you, sir, but politicians generally." + +"Quite so," said the First Lord, blinking. + +"Well, see here. We don't want any talk about the _Intrepid_ and +_Terrific_. So, before they arrive, we must give the people of the +Three Towns a real titbit of excitement. Battle-cruisers come to dock +in Devonport quite often when they are damaged. Two battle-cruisers +which had been mined or submarined, one towing the other, would be a +pretty picture in the Sound. It would set all the folk talking for +days, and no one would think that two damaged cruisers had anything to +do with the South Seas. Everybody would say, 'What cruel luck. If the +_Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ hadn't got blown up they would be just right +and handy to send down south. As it is--' And then the German agents +would somehow get the news to Holland--we would help them all we could +in a quiet way--that the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, two fast +battle-cruisers, had been nearly lost, and were being patched up at +Devonport. The Germans, hearing the glorious news, would hug +themselves and say that now was the time for the High Seas Fleet to +come out and smash Jellicoe. The last thing in their minds would be +any concentration in the south against their own Pacific Squadron. +That's how I apply my general principles to this case. Meanwhile, of +course, the _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_, well and sound, would be racing +away down to the South Seas and no one in the Three Towns--except the +dockyard hands, whom we would look after--and no one at all in +Germany, would have a glimmer of the real truth." + +While Dawson was thinking aloud in this rather halting, stumbling way, +the First Lord and his chief naval colleague were looking hard at one +another. The politician, with his quick House-of-Commons wits, jumped +to the idea before his slower thinking expert colleague could sort out +the two battle-cruisers who were to be mined or submarined from the +two which were to speed away south to avenge the recent disaster. + +"If the two battle-cruisers are mined or submarined--which God +forbid," said Jacquetot, "how can they sail for the south?" + +"Need they be the same ships?" inquired Dawson, whose eyes had begun +to flash with excitement. "Need they be the same?" + +"Don't you see?" interposed the First Lord. "The idea is quite good. I +was just about to suggest something of the kind myself when Mr. Dawson +anticipated me. That is where the mind with a wide universal training +has a great advantage over the narrow intensive intelligence of the +professional expert. Even in war. What I propose, what Mr. Dawson here +proposes with my full concurrence, is that two severely damaged +battle-cruisers, known temporarily as the _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_, +should be brought into the Sound in broad day and displayed before the +eyes of the curious in the Three Towns. The real ships will slip in, +be docked and coaled, and slip out again. The two others, upon whom +public attention has been concentrated, shall be put aground somewhere +in the Sound to be salved with great and leisurely ostentation. We +will keep them well away from the Hoe, and allow no one whatever to +approach them. We will, unofficially, allow the news of their sorry +state to get out of country and into the Dutch papers. Meanwhile, as +Mr. Dawson says, the real _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ will be speeding +towards the south, and the saving for the nation's service of my +invaluable public reputation for accurate judgment and quick decision. +Mr. Dawson's suggestion--I should, perhaps, rather say my own +suggestion--shall be laid before the Board at once." + +Though the stiff mind of Lord Jacquetot was not very quick to take in +a new idea, no man alive was better equipped for practically working +out a naval scheme. While the First Lord was assuming that sorely +damaged battle-cruisers, or vessels which could be passed off in place +of them, needed but his summons to spring from the deeps, Jacquetot +had pressed a bell and ordered a messenger to request the immediate +presence of the Fourth Sea Lord, within whose province was the whole +art and mystery of ship construction. Upon the appearance of this +officer the plan was gone over anew, and he was asked whence and +within what time he could produce two presentable dummies to do duty +in the Sound for the entertainment of the population of Plymouth, +Devonport, and Stonehouse. There were, said he, two if not three at +Portsmouth, constructed out of old cargo tramp hulls for the +mystification of the enemy. They had already done duty as newly +completed battleships, but with a little alteration to the canvas of +their funnels, the lath and plaster of their turrets and conning +towers, and the wood of their guns, they might be made into perfect +likenesses--at a distance--of the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_. The +ships' carpenters, he explained, could make the changes while the +dummies were coming round to Plymouth. Seated at the desk of Lord +Jacquetot he wrote the necessary orders in code, his Chief signed +them, and they were put at once on the wires for Portsmouth. The +sea-cocks, said the Fourth Lord, would be opened twenty miles from +land so that the "_Intrepid"_ might come in sadly down by the bows, +and the "_Terrific"_ with a list of twenty degrees, pluckily towing +her sorely crippled sister. With a chart of Plymouth Sound before +them, the two officers settled the precise spot, sufficiently remote, +yet well within sight of the Hoe, at which the two unhappy +battle-cruisers should come to rest upon the mud. "It will be a most +pathetic spectacle," said the Fourth Lord laughing, "and I will bet a +month's pay and allowances that at the distance not a man in the Three +Towns will have the smallest suspicion that the genuine +copper-bottomed _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ are not ditched before his +blooming eyes." He rose from the table, upon which the chart had been +laid, walked over to Dawson and shook him warmly by the hand. "You +won't get any credit for the idea," he whispered. "One never does. But +it was a damned good notion. What are you going to do now?" + +"I am going to Plymouth this afternoon to make sure that the German +truth gets over the water to Holland, and that the English truth stays +safely behind. If you will all do your part, I will do mine." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN + +"Every man to his trade," said Dawson. "I didn't go into the +difficulties of our job to those high folks at the Admiralty, but they +are not at all small. You have a head on you, Froissart, though it has +the misfortune to be French; set it going on double shifts." + +The two men were sitting in a specially reserved first-class +compartment in the Paddington-Plymouth express; as companions they +were hopelessly uncongenial, yet as colleagues formed a strong +combination in which the qualities of the one served to neutralise the +defects of the other. Dawson, in spite of his love for the Defence of +the Realm Regulations, was still sometimes unconsciously hampered by +an ingrained respect for the ordinary law and the rights of civilians; +Froissart, like all French detective officers, held the law in +contempt, and was by nature and training utterly lawless. The more +reputable a suspect, the more remorseless was his pursuit. They were, +professionally, a terrible pair who could have been passed through a +hair sieve without leaving behind a grain of moral scruple. + +Froissart, when he would be at the trouble, understood and spoke +English quite well, though with me he used nothing but the raciest of +boulevard French. "My friend," said he, "your promise to those +Ministers of Marines was rash; for, unless there is the most perfect +execution of your scheme and the most sleepless watching of those whom +you call dockyard hands--_ceux qui travaillent dans les chantiers, ne +c'est pas_?--the sailing of these _grands croiseurs_ will be told to +Germany. There are too many who will know. We are upon _une folle +enterprise_--a chase of the wild goose." + +"You do not know my system if you think that," remarked Dawson, +frowning. + +"And if I do not, of whom is the fault?" inquired Froissart blandly; +"for, my faith, you never tell what you would be doing." + +"A secret," said Dawson sententiously, "is a secret when known to one +only. If two know of it there is grave danger. If three, one might as +well shout it from the housetops. Therefore I keep my own counsel." + +"That is just what I said," cried Froissart triumphantly. "If the +secret of these _grand croiseurs_ is known to one hundred, two +hundred, _le bon Dieu_ knows how many hundreds of dockyard hands, one +might as well print it in these dull English _journaux_. You attempt +the impossible, _mon ami_." + +"They are Englishmen," proclaimed Dawson, who felt compelled to uphold +the character of his countrymen in the presence of a foreigner. "They +are patriots. Not a man of them would sell his country." + +"I would not bank on their patriotism, my friend, when there is much +Boche gold to be won and much beer to be drunk." + +"And who said that I did bank upon it?" cried Dawson testily, +forgetting his noble, words of two minutes earlier. "I wouldn't trust +one of them out of my sight. I have two dozen of my own men working +alongside of those dockyard hands, watching them by night and day. We +know if a man drinks two glasses of beer when he used to drink one, +and takes home to his wife eighteenpence above his ordinary wage. Do +you take me for a fool?" + +"You'll be a bigger fool than I take you for if you do not play +straight this time with me, and tell me your plans in detail. I have +to work with you, and I cannot give service blindfold." + +"You are not a bad fellow, Froissart," said Dawson thoughtfully--the +name in his mouth became Froy-zart--"and I will tell you here and now +more of my mind than I have yet shown even to the great Chief of us +all. It will take all your brains--for you have some brains--and all +of mine to keep the secret of those battle-cruisers." + + * * * * * + +In the morning the newspapers published the meagre details of the +disaster in the South Seas, and the Three Towns were shaken to their +foundations. For when naval ships go down, they take with them crews +of whom half have their homes in Devon. The disaster meant that eight +hundred families in the West mourned a son or a father. Ever since the +days of the Great Queen--whose name in the West is not Victoria, but +Elizabeth--Devon has paid in the lives of its best men the price of +Admiralty. The Three Towns mourned with a grief made more bitter by +the realisation that the disaster was one which never should have +happened. Bad slow English ships had been sent against good fast +German ships, and had been sunk with all hands without hurt to the +enemy. The Three Towns know the speed and power of every fighting ship +afloat, British or foreign, as you or I before the war knew the public +form of every leading golfer or cricketer. In every bar where +sailormen met one another, and met, too, the brothers and fathers of +sailormen, the Lords of the Admiralty were weighed and condemned. It +is a thing most serious when in the cradles of the Navy, Portsmouth +and the Three Towns, faith in the wisdom of Whitehall becomes shaken. +One may muzzle the Press, but no muzzle yet devised can close the +mouths of sailormen and their friends in dockyard towns. + +In the afternoon of the same day, while the news of the disaster was +still fresh, there came a whisper, which gained in loudness and in +precision of detail as it passed from mouth to ear and from ear to +mouth, that the worst had not yet been told. There had been not one, +but two disasters. Two battle-cruisers, it was declared, had been sunk +in the Channel by German mines or submarines. What were their names? +inquired the white-faced women. The names were not yet known, but they +would soon come. A little later the severity of the rumour became +softened. The battle-cruisers had not, it appeared, been sunk, but +severely damaged. They were at that moment on their way to the Sound, +crippled sorely, yet afloat. Men groaned. Two battle-cruisers blown up +in the Channel; what in God's name were two battle-cruisers doing in +the mine-strewn Channel when their proper place was in one of the safe +eyries overlooking the North Sea? A plausible explanation was offered. +The two battle-cruisers had been coming to Plymouth to take in stores +that they might speed away south to avenge those other two cruisers +sunk by the Germans as had been told in the morning's papers. If this +were indeed true, the news was of the worst; England's prestige afloat +was gone. She could not spare two other whole battle-cruisers to +proceed upon a mission of vengeance to the South Seas while the +Germans' Battle Squadrons in the North Sea ports were still +undefeated. Meanwhile the Germans far away to the south could do what +they pleased; they could sink and burn our merchant steamers at will. +The command of the Pacific had passed from England to Germany, and the +White Ensign hung draggled and shamed for all the world to sneer at. +The Three Towns almost forgot their personal grief for drowned friends +in their horror at the disgrace which had come to their own sacred +Service. + +It was still light, though late in the afternoon, when the anxious +watchers upon the Hoe made out, beyond Drake's Island, two big ships +coming in round the western end of the breakwater. Though deep in the +water they towered above their escort of destroyers and fast patrol +boats. The leading ship was listing badly, her tripod mast with its +spotting top hung far over to port, and she was towing stern first a +sister ship whose bows were almost hidden under water. The Three +Towns, which can recognise the outlines of warships afar off, rapidly +pronounced judgment. "That's the _Intrepid_" they declared, "and the +one she's towing is a battle-cruiser of the same class--the +_Terrific_ or _Tremendous_. They're both badly holed." "Gawd +A'mighty," cried a grizzled longshoreman, who might have sailed with +Drake or Hawkins--as no doubt his forbears had done--"look to the list +of un! And thicky with her bows down under, being towed by the stern +to keep her from swamping entire. If it worn't for them bulk'eads un +wouldn't never have made the Sound." It was plain to those who had +glasses turned on the damaged ships that they were drawing far too +much water to be brought into the Hamoaze and over the sill of the dry +dock at Devonport, so that no one felt surprise when the +battle-cruisers were seen to pull out of the deep fairway and make +towards the shore. The purpose was plain to read. They were to be put +aground under Mount Edgcumbe, patched up, and pumped dry, and then +would go into dock for repairs. It was a job of weeks, and during all +that time the Fleet would be short of two battle-cruisers which might +have swept the South Seas clear of the German Ensign. It was cruel +luck, and the Three Towns had enough to talk of to keep them occupied +for many days. Presently more news came, authentic news, and passed +rapidly from mouth to mouth. The vessels were the _Intrepid_, the +flagship of Admiral Stocky, and her sister the _Terrific_, a pair of +fast Dreadnought cruisers. They had, as was surmised, been speeding +down from Scotland to dock at Plymouth on their way to clean up the +mess made in the far South. They had come safely through the Irish Sea +and round the Land's End, but when near their journey's end off Fowey +they had run into a patch of mines laid by German submarines. The +_Terrific_ had had her bow plates ripped into slivers of ragged steel, +and the three fore compartments flooded. The _Intrepid_ had picked up +the wire of a twin mine, got caught badly on the port side, but had +luckily escaped to starboard. She had taken her crippled sister in +tow, and brought her in safely. Both ships could easily be repaired, +but it would take time. The voyage to the South Seas was off. Nothing +could have been more convincing than the story which quickly got +about; the ships had been seen and recognised by the Three +Towns--there was no concealment and no mystery. For once the Silent +Navy appeared to be talkative. The hearts of German agents in the +Towns swelled with pride and joy. Here was convincing proof of the +kindly hand of the Prussian Gott. If the great news could be carried +through to the Kaiser and von Tirpitz, there would be much ringing of +church bells in the Fatherland. But these English, since the war +began, had become very watchful, very suspicious. The problem was: how +to get the glad news through. + + * * * * * + +It was two o'clock in the morning and very dark. The big dry docks at +Devonport were deserted except for a few picked hands, not more than +two score at the outside, told off on night shift for special duty. +Against all workmen who had not been warned for this duty the big +gates would be closed for two whole days. There were important jobs +awaiting completion, but they must wait. One hundred and twenty men, +working in three eight-hour shifts per day--forty at a time--could do +all that was needed to the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, and not one man +was included who had not served at Devonport for at least ten years. +Dawson had been very firm, and the Commander-in-Chief had backed him +with full authority. "Don't make any mistake," said Dawson. "Among +even one hundred and twenty, though picked in this way, there will be +some few who would sell us if they could. One would have to go back +more than ten years to weed out all those whom the Germans have +corrupted. But out of this lot there should not be more than two or +three swine, and I can look after them." He did not say that he had +already been in touch with the Scotland Yard officer at Devonport, and +had arranged that a dozen out of his precious twenty-four +counter-spies should be put among the chosen hundred and twenty. +Dawson never did allow his left hand to know the wiles of his right. + +Under the thick cover of the autumn night two massive silent forms, +which had crept with all lights out into the Sound after their long +fast voyage from the northern mists, were warped into dock; the +supporting shores were fitted, and the water around them run out. Long +before the flagship _Intrepid_ stood clear and dry on the dock floor, +Dawson, in his uniform of a private of Marines--"A Marine can go +anywhere and do anything," he would say--had slipped on board and +shown the Commander credentials from the Board of Admiralty which made +that hardened officer open his eyes. "My word," exclaimed he, "you +must be some Marine! Come along quick to the Admiral." So Dawson went, +not a little nervous--the moment his foot trod the decks of a King's +ship all his assurance dropped off, his old sense of discipline flowed +back over him, and an Admiral became a very mighty potentate indeed. +Ashore Dawson could face up to the Lord Jacquetot himself; on board +ship a two-ring lieutenant was to him a god! He followed the +Commander, and was ushered into the Admiral's presence. "What!" cried +Stocky, stern in manner always, but very kindly at heart towards those +whom he found to be true men. "A private of Marines with plenary +powers from the First Lord? Take the papers off him and chuck the +damned comedian into the ditch. We have no time here for the First +Lord's humour." The Commander drew near and whispered. "What! +Authority endorsed by Jacquetot? There is something queer about this. +Look here, my fine fellow, who the devil are you? Are you a Marine, or +a too clever German spy, or what? Make haste. There is still enough +water left over the side to pitch you into without breaking your dirty +neck." + +Dawson knew his man. He had served in the same ship with Stocky when +that officer had been a lieutenant; he had waited upon him in the +wardroom. He had felt the rasp of his tongue in old days. He +approached, and without saying a word handed the letters given him by +the First Lord and Jacquetot, adding his official card. The Admiral +read the papers slowly and came at last to the card. Then his frowning +brows softened, and he smiled. It was the old smile of Lieutenant +Stocky. "Why, it's Dawson who was my servant in the old _Olympus_; now +Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. That explains all. But why the hell, +man, do you dress up as a Marine?" + +"Once a Marine, always a Marine," replied Dawson, who felt happier now +that the Admiral had recognised him. "I can't keep out of the uniform, +sir. Besides, it's very useful when I want to be about the docks." + +"My orders," said the Admiral, "are to dock, clean, coal, and be off. +I am expecting more detailed instructions, but they have not yet come. +These letters say that you will explain the programme here, and that +you have been charged with full responsibility for keeping our +movements secret. I am to give you all possible assistance. All right. +Go ahead. What do you want of us?" + +Dawson rapidly told how the two dummy battle-cruisers had come +stumbling into the Sound in the afternoon, and how the Three Towns +believed that the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ were at that moment lying +on the shoals out of service for weeks to come. "No one must guess," +he concluded, "that the real _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ are here safe +in dock, that they will go out two days hence in the middle of the +night, and dash away south to wipe Fritz's flag off the seas. We have +picked the dockyard hands with the greatest care, and have them under +watch like mice with cats all about them. If a single one of your +officers or men goes out of the dock gates the game will be up and I +won't answer for the consequences. Everything rests with you, sir. +Will you give orders that no one, no one, not even you yourself, shall +leave either of the battle-cruisers while they are in dock--no one, +not for a minute." + +The Admiral laughed, and the officers in his room respectfully joined +in. "So we have been mined and are aground somewhere yonder on the mud +surrounded by sorrowing patrols. And the Three Towns are dropping salt +tears into their beer. It is a fine game, Dawson. I didn't believe +much in Lord Jacquetot's dummies, but they've come in darned useful +this time. Are you going to keep Plymouth and Devonport in the dumps +for long?" + +"Until you've done your work, sir," said Dawson. + +"So until then the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ will lie crippled in the +Sound for all the world to see and for Fritz to believe. If this very +bright scheme is yours, Dawson, we will all drink your health down +south as soon as our work has been done. For the credit will be yours +rather than ours. I will help you all I can; it is my duty and my very +keen desire. A man who can make so brilliant a plan for confounding +the enemy's spies is worth a statue of gold. He is even worth the +sacrifice of two day's leave while one's ship is in dock. What do you +say, gentlemen?" + +"I never thought," said the Flag Captain, "that I would willingly +spend two days shut up in a smelly dock, but you may count me in, sir. +I won't head a mutiny when all leave is refused." + +"You shall have your way, Dawson. All leave stopped in both ships. Not +a man is to go ashore on any pretence, no matter what the excuse. The +mothers of the lower decks may all die--they always do when a ship is +in port--but not a man shall leave to bury them. Give the orders in +the _Intrepid_, and ask the captain of the _Terrific_ to be so good as +to come aboard." + + * * * * * + +"So far, good," exclaimed Dawson when he got back to his hotel and +found Froissart sitting up for him. "The ships are in and no one is to +be allowed ashore. I shall be in a fever till both of them are away +again. We are on very thin ice, Froissart. It is lucky that the +dockyard is on the Hamoaze, out of sight even of most of Devonport, +and far away from Plymouth and Stonehouse. I have seen all the foremen +of the dockyard myself, told them the whole trick which we are playing +on the Huns, and put them on their mettle to tackle their men. They +will pitch it fine and strong on the honour and patriotism of complete +silence, but not neglect to throw in a hint of the Defence of the +Realm Act and penal servitude. Never threaten an Englishman, +Froissart, but always let him know that behind your fine honourable +sentiments there is something devilish nasty. Preach as loud as you +can about the beauty of virtue, but don't forget to chuck in a +description of the fiery Hell which awaits wrongdoers. I don't depend +much either on the sentiments or the hints of punishment. I've got +every man of that hundred and twenty on my string, and if one of them +asks leave, within the next day or two, to go and bury his mother on +the East Coast, he shall go--but I shall go with him, and he shall +have a jolly little funeral of his own. Every letter which they write +will be read, every telegram copied for me, every message by 'phone +taken down. They are on my string, Froissart--every man." + +"You do everything, Mr. Dawson," grumbled Froissart. "Where do I come +in?" + +"You have helped me a lot already," replied Dawson handsomely. "You +being a foreigner make me talk very simple and plain, and think out my +plans so that I can explain them to you. One sees the weak points of a +scheme when one has to make it clear to a foreigner. You don't always +twig my meaning, Froissart, and sometimes your remarks are a bit +foolish; but you mean well, and, for a Frenchman, are quite +intelligent. I will say that for you, Froissart--quite intelligent." + +"_Sacre nom d'un chien_--" began Froissart hotly; but Dawson paid no +heed. He just went on talking, and Froissart, realising that Dawson +could not understand his French, and that he himself could not give +words to his feelings in English, relapsed into wrathful silence. Much +as I respect and admire Dawson, I should not care to be his +subordinate. + +"We must keep the cinema show going nice and lively for the Three +Towns," went on Dawson. "A big salvage steamer is coming down +to-morrow to give an air of verisimilitude to the proceedings. Patrol +boats will buzz about the Sound, and the potentates, naval and civil, +will gather from all parts. The unfortunate wrecks out at Picklecombe +Point will be guarded so that no shore boat can get within half a +mile. They won't bear a very close inspection. I hope that none of the +guns will break loose and float about the harbour. That would be what +you might call a blooming contretemps. I shall be pretty busy all the +next two days myself. Though I am a strict teetotaller, I shall get +into shore rig and spend my days in the public bars. I must know what +the Three Towns are talking about, and whether any suspicion of the +truth gets wind. I don't think that it can; at least, for some time. +The stage management has been too good. Later on there may be some +wonderment because none of the men from the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ +are allowed ashore. A lot of wives and families must be around here, +especially as the _Intrepid_ is a Plymouth ship. Of course it must be +given out that they are all needed to help with the salvage +operations, and no leave is allowed. You, Froissart, might spend your +time reading copies of all telegrams sent out from the Towns. If any +German agent wants to get news of the damage to the battle-cruisers +over to Holland, he will probably travel up to the East Coast and send +a wire on ahead. That is what I hope for. You shall then follow him +up, and make smooth the path of crime. Half our trouble will be lost +unless we can help the spoof news over to the Kaiser, bless him. The +job, at first, will be pretty dull for you, Froissart, and not over +lively for me. I hate pubs, yet for two days I must loaf about them, +pretending to drink. You can read the telegrams, but you can't +understand English well enough to pick up the gossip of the bars. I +must do that myself." + +"You have stopped all leave on the battle-cruisers--the real ones, I +mean--but what about the dockyard men," inquired Froissart. "Are they +to be allowed to go to their homes when they come off their shifts?" + +"I have thought of that and weighed both sides. It will be safer to +let them go home as usual. If we locked them all up in the dockyard +till the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ were both safe away, there would be +no end of curiosity and gossip. What so very special, people would +ask, could be going on in the yard that no one was allowed out for two +days. I don't want wives and families and neighbours to come smelling +round those dockyard gates. They might see the spotting tops of the +cruisers inside. Of course there is a regular forest of masts and +gantries showing, and a couple of spotting tops more or less might not +be noticed. But my general idea is to concentrate attention on those +dear old dummies down at Picklecombe Point. They are the centre of +interest, the eye of the picture--the cynosure, as a scholar would +say. I am not a bad scholar myself. I passed the seventh standard, and +went to school all the time I was in the Red Marines. I was a +sergeant, which takes a bit of doing. But see here, Froissart," +exclaimed Dawson, looking at his watch, "it is five o'clock, and we +must get quick to bed so as to be bright and lively in the morning." + +Dawson carried out his programme. Though a strict teetotaller, he +passed hours at public houses, especially in the evenings, listening +to the talk of the port. It was all about the disaster in the South +Seas, the heavy casualties suffered by the Three Towns, and the rotten +ill-luck of the avenging battle-cruisers running upon the German +mines. Not a whisper could Dawson hear of suspicion that the ships +beached under Mount Edgcumbe were other than the genuine article. The +salvage steamer with her big arc lights glowing through the darkness +had been the last artistic touch which brought complete conviction. +Gold-laced officers, including the Commander-in-Chief himself, had +been coming and going all day; the acting of the Navy had been +perfect. Dawson blessed the four bones of old Jacquetot, who, when he +tackles a job, does it very thoroughly indeed. "I should not be +surprised," thought he, "if the Mountain, as that young Jackanapes +called him, came trotting down here himself just to make the show +complete." And sure enough he did, accompanied by the Fourth Sea Lord +who had worked out all the convincing details. Dawson was ordered to +meet them in the Admiral's quarters of the _Intrepid_. He went, +looking a very different person from the private of Marines of some +thirty hours earlier, and had the honour of being invited to luncheon. +That lunch was the one scene in the comedy upon which he dwelt in +telling the story to me. "Lord Jacquetot," he said, "clinked glasses +with me and wished me the best of luck and success. It was as much as +he could do, he said, to keep the First Lord from coming down and +monkeying the whole affair. Luckily there was a debate in Parliament +that he wanted to figure in, and so couldn't get away. Lord Jacquetot +said that the First Lord had grabbed the whole scheme as his very own, +and forgotten that I had any part in it. I don't mind. The Secret +Service never gets any credit for anything. If it did, it wouldn't be +Secret very long." + +"No credit," I remarked, "and not much cash I expect." + +"Little enough, sir," replied Dawson. "I suppose we do the job for the +love of it. There's no sport like it. Our real work never gets into +the papers or the story-books." + +"Never?" I asked slily. "What about that story of mine in the +_Cornhill Magazine_, which you still carry about next your heart?" + +Dawson changed the subject. He never will appreciate chaff. + +At midnight of the day of the luncheon party the _Intrepid_ and +_Terrific_, clean and fully loaded, cleared out of dock and slipped +off into the darkness attended by their destroyer escort, whose duty +it was to see them safe round Ushant. Eight hours later Dawson came +down to breakfast and found that Froissart, satisfied with his _petit +dejeuner_ of coffee and rolls, had already gone out. Dawson felt +satisfied with himself, and was confident now that his work in the +Three Towns had been well and truly done. The rest could be left to +the Navy, and to his Secret Service agents. He sat down to a hearty +meal, but was not destined to finish it. First came a messenger from +the Officer in charge of the Dockyard, who handed over a sealed note +and took a receipt for it. Dawson broke the seal. "Dear Mr. Dawson," +he read, "You will be interested to learn that one of the hands +engaged upon the work we know of has asked for three days' leave--that +he may bury his mother in Essex. She died, he says, at Burnham. I +await your views before granting the leave asked for. The man has been +in our service for sixteen years, and bears the best of characters." + +"Now what do I know of Burnham?" muttered Dawson. "The name seems +familiar." He rang the bell, asked for an atlas, and studied carefully +the coast of Essex. Burnham stood upon the river Crouch, which Dawson +had heard of as a famous resort for motor-boats. His eyes gleamed, and +he threw up his head, which had been bent over the map. "The man shall +have his leave," murmured he. "But I don't think it will be his mother +who is buried." + +Just at that moment in came Froissart, looking, as Dawson at once +remarked, merry and bright. "It is no wonder," said he, "for see this +telegram of which I have just had a copy. It was spotted at once at +the Bureau, and the man who despatched it has been shadowed by a +police officer." The telegram read, "Coming to-day by South Western. +Meet me this evening at usual place." It was addressed to +Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex. + +Dawson picked up the note which he had received and passed it to +Froissart, who read it slowly. "The same place!" cried he. + +"Yes," said Dawson slowly, "the same place, and a famous resort for +motor-boats. We have not finished yet, my friend, with the _Intrepid_ +and _Terrific_" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +A COFFIN AND AN OWL + +Dawson laid the letter and the telegram upon his breakfast-table, and +bent his head over them. In a few minutes he had weighed them up, +sorted out their relative significance, and spoke. "We have here, +Froissart, two distinct people. I am almost sure of that. My man of +the dockyard who wants leave to bury his mother in Essex has not yet +received permission from his Chief. He would not therefore be +telegraphing about his train. He does not know yet whether he will be +permitted to go at all. Your man is quite confident that his movements +are in no way restricted. As I read between the lines I judge that my +man, who knows the actual truth about the docking and sailing of the +battle-cruisers, wants to reach the East Coast, whence he has means of +transmitting the priceless news to Germany. Your man is of one of the +Towns; he has seen the dummy cruisers ashore in the Sound; he believes +them to be genuine, and he also wants to transmit the news to his +paymasters in Germany, He will be an ordinary German agent. The +identity of place whither both wish to go is partly a coincidence, and +partly explained by its excellence as a jumping-off place for fast +motor-boats, which, during these long autumn nights, could race over +to and get back again between sunset and dawn. We have coast watchers +always about for the very purpose of stopping such lines of +communication. You shall accompany your own man, and make sure that he +is allowed to get through. If he does not himself cross, arrest him as +soon as his boat has gone. If he does go, watch for his return and +arrest him, and his boat and all on board, the moment that they +return. In any event the boat and its crew must be seized upon return +to Essex. Are you quite clear about what you have to do?" + +"Quite," said Froissart. "The spies and their boat must be caught +red-handed, but not till after the false news of the mining of the +battle-cruisers has been carried to Holland. But how shall we make +certain that the sleepless English Navy will not butt in and catch the +boat at sea before it gets across to Holland. The Narrow Seas swarm +with fast patrols." + +"I will provide for that. I will write at once for you a letter to the +Inspector of police at Burnham, and enclose copies of my credentials +from the Admiralty. I will also wire to Lord Jacquetot in private +code. You will find on arrival that the responsible naval authorities +of the district will be entirely at your service. That motor-boat with +the news of the great spoof shall be shepherded across most craftily, +but when it comes to return will find that the way of transgressors is +very hard. Get ready and be off, Froissart; we depend upon your skill +and discretion. Get a good view of your man--the police will point him +out--before he boards the train, and then don't let him out of your +sight. Take two plain-clothes officers with you. Run no unnecessary +risks of being spotted. You are rather easily recognisable with those +shining black eyes and black beard, but no one here has seen you +officially, and you should pass unsuspected as a Scotland Yard man. +Can I trust you?" + +"_Mais certainement_," said Froissart crossly. "This is simple police +work, which I have done a thousand times. I could do it on my head." + +"Your train leaves at 10.8; the South Western station. I will give you +the letters at once, and then you can start." + +Within a quarter of an hour Dawson--his breakfast forgotten--had given +Froissart his letters, sent a long telegram by special messenger to +the Commander-in-Chief for despatch in code to Jacquetot. Not even to +Dawson would the Admiralty entrust its private cypher. Then, as soon +as Froissart had disappeared, he called up the Chief of the Dockyard +on the telephone and arranged to come at once to his office. + +"I had given the easy job to Froissart," he explained to me long +afterwards. "It was, as he called it, simple police work. He had, +without arousing suspicion, to make smooth the path for his spy just +as you and I opened the door to the Hook for the late-lamented Hagan, +and escorted him across in the mail-boat. We have helped false news +over to the Germans scores of times. It is grand sport. My job was +something much more tricky. I had to get plain proof that my man was a +spy in the dockyard, to keep him playing on my line to the very last +minute, but to make dead certain of stopping him at the fifty-fifth +second of the eleventh hour." + +"Why did you not cut out your difficulties by just stopping him from +going to Essex? At a word from you his Chief would have refused +leave." + +Dawson smiled at me in a fashion which I find intensely aggravating. +He has no tact; when he feels superior, he lets one see it plainly. + +"The fat would have been in the fire then," exclaimed he. "Suppose he +lay low for a day or two, took French leave, and went. I should have +been off his track. Shadowing is all very well, but it does not always +succeed in a crowded district like the Three Towns. If he had got away +without me beside him, the man might have reached Essex and done there +what he pleased. Besides, he might have had accomplices unknown to me. +No, it was the only possible course to give him leave and follow him +up close. Then whatever he did would be under my own eye." + +Dawson gulped down a cup of coffee, sadly regarded his rapidly +congealing bacon, and skipped off to the dockyard. "Who is this man of +yours whose mother has died at so very inconvenient a moment for us? +What the deuce is he doing with a mother in Essex at all? He ought to +be a Devon man." + +"He isn't, anyway. I have been making close inquiries. Though he has +been with us for sixteen years, he did come originally from somewhere +in the East. The man is one of the best I have--never drinks, keeps +good time, and works hard. He makes big wages, and carries them +virtuously home to his wife. He has money in the savings bank, and +holds Consols, poor chap, on which he must have wasted the good toil +of years. I can't imagine any one less likely to take German gold than +this man Maynard. Sure you haven't a bee in your bonnet, Dawson? To a +police officer every one is a probable criminal, but some of us now +and then are passably honest. I will bet my commission that Maynard is +honest." + +Dawson sniffed. "The honest men, with the excellent characters and the +virtuous wives, are always the most dangerous because least likely to +arouse suspicion. How do you know that Maynard hasn't a second +establishment hidden away somewhere in the Three Towns? The upper and +middle classes have no monopoly in illicit love affairs. Their working +class betters do a bit that way too." + +"All right. Have it your own way. We will assume for the sake of +security that Maynard is a spy, that he has no dead mother whom he +wants leave to bury, and that he has sold his country for the sake of +some bit of fluff in Plymouth. The point is: what am I to do? Shall I +grant leave?" + +"Yes," said Dawson, "and do it handsomely. Give him four days and run +the sympathetic stunt. Offer him a Service pass by the Great Western. +Say how grieved you are and all the rest of the tosh. Have him up now, +and put me somewhere close so that I can take a good look at the swine +when he comes in and when he goes out." + +The Chief of the Dockyards shrugged his shoulders, placed Dawson in an +adjoining room, and summoned Maynard from the yard. The man, who was +dressed in the awful dead black of his class when a funeral is in +prospect, came up, and Dawson got a full sight of him. Maynard was +about thirty-five, well set up--for he had served in the +Territorials--and looked what he was, a first-rate workman of the best +type. Even Dawson, who trusted no one, was slightly shaken. "I have +never seen a man who looked less like a spy," muttered he; "but then, +those always make the most dangerous of spies. Why has he a mother in +Essex, and why has she died just now? Real mothers don't do these +things; they've more sense." + +Maynard received his third-class pass, respectfully thanked his +Officer for his kindly expressed sympathy--which in his case was quite +genuine--and disappeared. Dawson jumped into the room again to take a +word of farewell. "I should know him anywhere," he cried. "I am going +by the same train in the same carriage. Good-bye." + +Maynard reached the Great Western station in good time, and found a +carriage which was not overcrowded. He was carrying a small handbag. +At the last moment before the train started a prosperous-looking +passenger, with "commercial gentleman" written all over him, stepped +into the same compartment and seated himself in a vacant seat opposite +the bereaved workman. It was Dawson in one of his favourite roles. +"There is nothing less like a detective," he would say, "than a +middle-aged commercial traveller. They are such genial, unsuspicious, +open-handed folk. This comes of wandering about the country at other +people's expense." + +The 10.15 fast express from the Three Towns to Paddington is an +excellent one, and the journey was not more tedious than five hours +spent in a train are bound to be. All through the journey Dawson, from +behind his stock of papers and magazines, studied Maynard, and became, +not, perhaps shaken in his conviction, but certainly puzzled. "He +looked," he explained to me, "like a sick and sorrowful man. One who +had really lost a beloved mother far away would look just like that. +But so might one who had been unfaithful to a trusting wife and was +now risking his neck to pour gold into the greedy lap of a frowsy +mistress. One must never judge by appearances. A man may look as sick +over backing the wrong horse as at losing an only son in the trenches. +Human means of expression are limited." + +"It takes time to learn that you are not such a beast as you pretend," +I observed. Dawson grinned. + +At Paddington Maynard took the Tube to Liverpool Street, and did not +observe that his fellow passenger of the brown tweed suit and the fat, +self-satisfied, rather oily face followed by the same route. Dawson, +who was famished, rejoiced to see Maynard make for the +refreshment-room. He could not lunch on the train, since the workman, +upon whom he attended, had economically fed himself upon sandwiches +put up in a "nosebag." + +"No breakfast, no lunch," groaned Dawson. "What a day!" He did his +best during five minutes in the refreshment-room at Liverpool Street +to fill up the howling void in his person, and then watched Maynard +enter a train for Burnham-on-Crouch. In two minutes he had opened up +communications with a station Inspector of Police, made himself known, +and secured the services of a constable to travel in Maynard's +carriage. He did not wish to be seen again himself just at present. He +yearned, too, for a first-class compartment and an ample tea-basket. +Dawson's brain is a martyr to duty, but his stomach continually rises +in rebellion. It was a fast train which would not stop until the Essex +coast was reached, so that Dawson did not doubt that his quarry would +be upon the platform when he himself got out So he was, and so, too, +was a girl in deep mourning who had come to meet him. Dawson was +staggered; a girl, also in funeral blacks, upset the picture which he +had painted to himself. The man and girl talked together for a few +minutes, and then walked slowly arm in arm out of the station towards +the village. Dawson picked up his police assistant and followed. He +gave no explanation of the reasons for his shadowing of the man +Maynard, for he was just beginning to feel uneasy. Slowly the party of +four threaded through the pretty little place, bright under the +pleasant autumn twilight. Maynard and the girl were in front, Dawson +and his policeman followed some fifty yards behind. In a side street, +at the door of a small cottage--one of a humble row--the pair of +mourners stopped, opened the iron gate, and entered. Dawson waited, +watching. He could see through the windows into a little parlour where +some half a dozen people, all in deep black, were gathered. Presently, +as if they had waited only for the arrival of Maynard--which indeed +was the fact--the heavy steps of men clumping down wooden stairs +resounded from the open door, and there emerged into the street a +coffin borne upon the shoulders of six bearers. The moment that the +coffin appeared Dawson realised his blunder. Maynard had really lost +his mother, and, like a dutiful son, had come all the way from the +Three Towns to bury her! Off flew Dawson's hat, and he nudged the +policeman hard in the ribs. "Take off your helmet, you chump," he +growled savagely. "Don't you see that it's a funeral." The man, rather +dazed--he had been plucked away from Liverpool Street at a moment's +notice and sent upon what he thought was police service--did what he +was told. The group of mourners formed behind the coffin, which was +carried to the cemetery not far off. Still following, with their heads +bowed, Dawson and the bewildered policeman attended the funeral, heard +the beautiful service read, and the last offices completed. Then they +turned away and made for the railway station. + +"Why, sir," asked the policeman, looking sideways rather fearfully at +his superior officer's stern face--"why, sir, did we come to this +place?" + +"Why? Haven't you seen?" snapped Dawson. "To attend a funeral, of +course." + + * * * * * + +I have never met that policeman. To have conversed with him and to +have sought to chop a way through the tangled recesses of his mind +would have gratified me hugely. For, if police constables think at +all, in what a bewildered whirl of confused speculation must his poor +brain have been occupied during the return journey to London! Dawson +tossed him into a compartment of the first train which came along, one +of extreme slowness, and then dismissed him into cold space without a +scrap of remorse. The humble creature, discharging his station duties +with the precision of daily habit, had swung into the overpowering +orbit of Chief Inspector Dawson, been caught up, dumped without +instructions upon an unknown journey in attendance upon an unknown +workman. Then when the train had stopped, he had been spewed out upon +a strange country platform, led through strange mean streets, and +forced with head bared to the autumn chill of evening, to attend the +obsequies of a total stranger. At the end, without a word of +explanation, still less of apology, he had been returned as an empty +rejected package to the platform at Liverpool Street. Yes, I should +dearly love to have met and cross-questioned that policeman, and have +listened to the bizarre solution which he had to offer to it all. But +most probably, in his stolid, faithful way, he never gave the subject +any thought at all. To be tossed about at the whims of superiors was +an experience which he would take as composedly as he would those +exiguous weekly wages which were the derisory compensation. + +Dawson went to the small hotel which he had picked out with Froissart +as a convenient rendezvous. There he sat for hours doing nothing, for +he was far too wise a man to push his head into another man's +business, even though that one were a subordinate and a foreigner. He +had failed once; he could not afford, by deputy, to fail a second +time. Besides, he knew nothing of the movements of Froissart and his +quarry. They had not appeared within the visible horizon of +Burnham-on-Crouch, though they had had ample time in which to arrive. +I am afraid that his temper got the better of him, and as the night +drew on, unsolaced by a word from Froissart, and unrelieved by any +literature more engrossing than old railway time-tables and hotel +advertisements, he consigned to the Bottomless Pit the Chief of the +Devonport Dockyard, the disgustingly virtuous and unenterprising +Maynard, and even the harmless soul of his lately buried mother. +Dawson in a royal rage is no pleasant spectacle. + +It had gone half-past eleven before Froissart came, a boisterous, +triumphant Froissart, bragging of his skill and his success in the +manner of a born Gascon. + +"It was tremendous, _mon ami_," roared Froissart, unchecked by +Dawson's scowls. "I have done the blooming trick: the boat has gone to +Holland, and the filthy spy is in the strong lock-up. My vigilance, my +astuteness, my resource unfathomable, my flair, my soul of an artist, +my patience inexhaustible, my address so firm and yet so delicate, my +mastery of the minds of those others less gifted, my--" + +"Oh, stow it!" roared Dawson. + +"Unfailing insight, _mon esprit francais_, my genius for the service +of police, my unshakable courage and elan, have had their just and +inevitable reward. The boat with the message so false has gone to +Holland for the German Kaiser to gloat over, and the filthy spy is in +the safe lock-up. I took him with my own hands--I, le Comte de +Froissart, I bemired my hands by contact with his foul carcase. The +boat it flew down the river; _ma foi_, like a flash of the lightning, +going they said thirty knots, _presque cinquante kilometres par +heure_. The glorious _Marine Anglaise_ will see that it reaches les +Pays Bas, and then when it is of return your sailors so splendid, with +sang-froid so perfect, will gobble it up. Just gobble it up. As I will +gobble up this cold beef upon your table. _Peste_, I am of a hunger +excruciating. I have not eaten for five, six, ten hours." + +Froissart sat down at Dawson's table, where still lay the cold remains +of his supper--he had had the decency to reflect that his colleague +Froissart might be hungry upon arrival--and fell to eating copiously +and loudly. The French are least admirable when they are seen +devouring food. + +Froissart ate while Dawson writhed. Though his colleague's success +would plant laurels upon his own brow--little would he ever say at the +Yard of that journey to Burnham and the preposterous funeral--he was +jealous, bitterly jealous. I am by special appointment the Boswell of +Dawson, yet I do not spare the feelings of my subject. Rather do I go +over them with a rake--for the ultimate good of Dawson's variegated +soul. He was bitterly jealous, but from natural curiosity yearned to +know the details of those feats of which Froissart prated so +triumphantly. And all the while, unconscious, heedless of his wrathful +exasperated chieftain, Froissart devoured food in immense quantities. +It was a disgusting exhibition. + +Satisfied at last, Froissart broke away from the table, lit a +cigarette, and sat himself down beside Dawson before the fire. It was +well past midnight, but to these men regular habits were unknown, and +the hours of work and of sleep always indeterminate. + +"Now," exclaimed Froissart, "I will tell to you, my friend Dawson, the +true _histoire_ of my exploits so tremendous and unapproachable. I +reached the station at Plymouth at ten hours, my spy was upon the +platform. I knew him, for those who had kept him under watch had +informed me of him. I had with me two police officers _en bourgeois_, +what you call plain clothes, and I distributed them with the acumen of +a strategist. It was _un train a couloir_. The spy disposed himself in +a compartment. I placed one of my officers in the same compartment +with him, the other in the compartment _contiguee_ towards the engine, +myself in that _a derriere_. He was thus the meat in our sandwich. If +he passed into the corridor and walked this way or that he was seen by +me or by my man in advance; all his movements while within his own +compartment were supervised every moment. So we travelled. He did +himself well that spy so atrocious. He partook of his _dejeuner_ in +the _buffet du train_, and we all three took our _dejeuner_ there +also. That was the last meal of which I ate before this my supper +here. The journey was without incident, but when he arrived at +Waterloo the trouble began. He was not taking risks, that spy. He knew +not that he was under watch, but he took not risks. He began to +perform a voyage designed to throw any man, except one of the +vigilance and resource of Froissart, completely off his track. I was +not learned in your Metropolitain before this day, but now I know your +Tubes as if a map of them were printed in colours upon my hand. At +Waterloo that spy, so astute, burrowed into the earth and entered a +train of the railway called Bakerloo, in which he journeyed to +Golder's Green. Then he crossed a _quai_ and returned to the town +called Camden. Again he descended, passed through tunnels, and +emerging upon another _quai_ proceeded to Highgate. All the while we +three followed, not close, but so that he never escaped from under our +eyes. At Highgate he turned about and returned to Tottenham Court +Road. Thence he departed by another line to the Bank, and, rising in +and _ascenseur_, emerged upon the pavements of your City. He looked +this way and that, not perceiving us who watched, walked warily to the +Lord Maire's station of the Mansion House, boarded the District +Railway, and did not alight till Wimbledon. It was easy to follow, but +my friend, the billets, the tickets, were _une grande difficulte_. I +solved the problem of tickets by my genius so _superbe_. We at first +tried to take them, but _apres_ we abandoned the project so hopeless +and travelled _sans payer_. When asked at the barriers or in the +lifts, we offered pennies, and the men who collected took them +joyfully, asking not whence we came. It was _une procedee tres +simple_. It is possible that these wayward uncounted pennies dropped +into their own pockets. They rejoiced always to receive them. From +Wimbledon we returned to Earl's Court, and then, descending by an +electric staircase, which moved of itself, again found ourselves in +the Tubes. I loved that _escalier electrique_; one day I will return +and ascend and descend upon it for hours. From Earl's Court we went to +Piccadilly Circus; there we made another change for Oxford Circus; +there we again got out, and at last, after penetrating the bowels of +your London, travelled to Liverpool Street. By this time it had become +dark, and the spy's passion for underground travel had spent itself. +He crossed the street, descended to the grand station of the Eastern +Railway, and took a ticket for Burnham-on-Crouch. Exhausted, but ever +vigilant, Froissart and his faithful men took also tickets for +Burnham-on-Crouch. + +"I will not weary you more with our wanderings, but after many hours, +at ten o'clock, we at last arrived at this place. The spy was met upon +the _quai_ by another villain, with whom he held converse, and the +pair of them, ignorant that the vengeance of Froissart overshadowed +them, marched heedlessly, openly, to the river side and entered a +large house of which the gardens ran down to the water. I left there +my two faithful but weary ones on watch, and hastened to the _salle de +police_. There an Inspector and a young _officier anglais_--a +sub-lieutenant of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve--were awaiting my +arrival with impatience. To them I told my story with the brevity that +I now recount it to you. They were intrigued greatly, and the +_sous_-lieutenant struck me violently upon the back and said, _ma +foi_, that I was a 'downy old bird,' It was a compliment _tres +'bizarre mais tres aimable._ I was, it appeared, an old bird of the +downiest plumage. I had noted the name of the house, and the Inspector +seized a Directory. 'We have suspected that house for some time,' said +he. There is a big boat-house at the bottom of the garden containing a +large sea-going motor-boat. The proprietor calls himself English, but +does not look like one. He is doubtless a snake, one whom they call +_naturalise_, a viper whom we English have warmed in our bosoms.' So +spake the Inspector. The Sub-Lieutenant whistled. He said only, 'Send +for little Tommy; it is a job for him.' A call was sent forth, and +there came into the room a scrap of an infant, habited in short +pantaloons and a green shirt. The child carried a long pole and stood +stiffly at attention. '_Ma foi_, do I see before me a Boy Scout?' I +asked. 'You do,' replied the Sub-Lieutenant. 'This is little Tommy, +the patrol leader of the Owls.' '_Mon Dieu_' I cried, 'an Owl! _Un +Hibou_! Is he then stupid as an owl?' I could see that the Tommy so +small frowned savagely, but the Sub-Lieutenant laughed. 'You will see +presently if he is stupid. I have forty miles of coast to watch, and I +do it all with Boy Scouts like this one.' '_Nom d'un chien_,' I cried. +'You English are a great people.' 'We are,' agreed the Sub-Lieutenant, +'devilish great.' Tommy grinned. + +"Then the officer so youthful--his age could not have exceeded +nineteen years--gave orders to the little Tommy. He was to go to the +house, to enter the garden, to squeeze his tiny person into the +boat-house, and watch. When the spy and his associates went towards +the boat, Tommy was to warn us with a hoot--like an owl--and we were +to take charge. At least so I understood the orders given in a strange +sea language. Tommy saluted, and vanished. If he had ten years, I +should be astonished; but he was a man, every inch of him. Wait till I +have finished. + +"We followed quickly behind Tommy, but saw him not, and joined my men, +who still watched the house. The Sub-Lieutenant and I moved warily, +climbed over the wall of the garden, and crept along the grass, soft +like moss to our feet, till we could see the boat-house stand out +against the dull shine of the river. There was no sign of the presence +of _le petit Hibou_. Suddenly the door of the house, which gave upon +the garden, opened, and four men walked down to the boat-house and +entered stealthily. My heart turned to water--what a calamity if they +should find and slay the pretty little Owl! The minutes passed, +perhaps five, perhaps ten, and then quite close we heard the soft low +hoot of an owl. The Sub-Lieutenant hooted a reply, and from among some +bushes there came out that serene, intrepid infant with the pole! He +joined us, and whispered eagerly to the officer. I could not hear what +he said. Afterwards the Sub-Lieutenant told me that the men had +entered, three had got into the boat, one remaining on land. It was a +forty-foot boat, reported Tommy--who seemed of wisdom and knowledge +encyclopaedic--it had a big cabin forrard, the engine was a +Wotherspoon, ten cylinders set V-fashion, the power a hundred horses. +So Tommy had observed and reported, and so I repeat to you. As we +watched we saw the boat push out into the river, turn towards the sea; +the engine so powerful buzzed like a million bees, a wave curled up in +front, and it sped away for Holland like the shot of an arrow. The +night was fine, the sea calm; it would complete the voyage in safety. +But upon return what a surprise has been prepared for that motor-boat +and its detestable owner! What a surprise, _ma foi_. I yearn to hear +of the denouement. + +"'We will nab the fourth man who has stayed behind,' whispered the +officer, and we crept towards the boat-house. We were ten yards away +when he issued forth and turned to lock the door. Then we sprang upon +him. He was very quick--like the big snake that he was. He heard us, +spun round, and struck two blows of his fist. The Sub-Lieutenant got +one upon his beautiful nose; I got the other here under the jaw. We +were shot, sprawling, upon the grass, one to each side, and the +villain, springing between us, started to flee. I was struck down, but +not stunned; I was alert, undefeated, eager to resume the battle. I +rose to my knees. I saw the villain fleeing up the grass. Ah, he would +escape! But I had not reckoned upon the patrol leader, the little Owl, +the _Hibou_ of a Boy Scout so deft and courageous. The spy fled, but +into his path sprang the tiny figure of the Owl, his pole in rest like +a lance. They met, the man and the little Owl, and the shock of that +tourney aroused the echoes of the night. The man, hit in the belly by +the point of the pole, collapsed upon the grass, and the Owl, driven +backwards by the weight of the man, rolled over and over like _un +herisson_. He was no longer an Owl; he was a round Hedgehog! I was +consumed with admiration for the gallant Owl. I got to my feet, I +jumped across the lawn, and fell with both knees hard upon the carcase +so foul of the spy whom I had pursued all day. He lay groaning from +the grievous pain in his belly, and I put upon him the handcuffs +before that he could recover. The little Tommy, the Hedgehog, picked +himself up, staggered to the body of his enemy, and there, leaning +upon the admirable pole which he had not released in his somersaults, +gave forth a hoot of victory. It was the Day of Tommy. But for that +morsel of a wise Owl the spy would have escaped. I embraced Tommy, who +wriggled with discomfort; the Sub-Lieutenant shook his hand, which he +appreciated the more. 'Good work,' said the officer. 'Thank you, sir,' +said Tommy. That was all; no emotion, no compliments, no embraces. +'Good work.' 'Thank you, sir.' _Ma foi_, what a people are the +English! + +"We locked up the spy. The Sub-Lieutenant told me that wireless orders +had gone out to the patrols spread far over the seas. The boat, of +which we had the name and description, would arrive at Holland, but +upon its return on the morrow it would be seized and escorted to +Harwich. If by mischance it eluded the patrols, it would be captured +when it arrived in the river Crouch. All was provided for. The false +news has gone to Holland, and Froissart has done good work. I ask for +no reward; I will be like the English--cold, implacable. When the +officer said at parting to me, 'Good work, M. Froissart, we are much +obliged to you,' I replied calmly, 'Thank you, sir,' I had, you will +observe, modelled myself upon the little Owl. + +"And you, Mr. Dawson," concluded Froissart, wiping his face, for the +effort of talking so much English had brought out the sweat upon him, +"have you also succeeded?" + +"Yes," said Dawson curtly, "I have also done my work, but it was not +exciting. My man was no spy, and the real news about the _Intrepid_ +and _Terrific_ will not get through to Germany." + +"Saved," roared Froissart, springing to his feet. "We are colleagues +most perfect. We have done work of the most good. _Embracons nous, mon +ami_." Then occurred that deplorable incident which has already been +related. Froissart in his enthusiasm embraced the unresponsive Dawson, +and was laid out by a short-arm jab upon the diaphragm. It was really +too bad of Dawson; but then, as I have said, his temper was atrocious. + + * * * * * + +The two battle-cruisers remained upon the shoals of Picklecombe Point +all through November and well into the following month. The great +salvage steamer with the arc light went away, but others remained. +Work seemed to proceed, though it was unaccountably slow in producing +a result. The Three Towns lost interest in the derelicts until one +evening there fell upon them a blow which set them gasping for +coherent speech. The newsboys were crying in the streets a Special +Edition, very Special. Set in dirty type in an odd column, headed with +the mysterious words "Stop Press," appeared an announcement by the +Admiralty that far away in the South Seas the battle-cruisers +_Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, under the command of Vice-Admiral Stocky, +had met and sunk the lately victorious German Squadron! It was +glorious news, but the Three Towns thought little at the moment of the +glory. They urgently hungered for an explanation of the inscrutable +means by which two battle-cruisers, mined and cast upon the shoals +below Mount Edgecumbe under their very eyes, could race hot foot to +the South Seas and there lay out a German squadron. As soon as the +winter dawn broke an immense crowd surged upon the Hoe gazing into +blank space. The two battle-cruisers, which for a month had lain +helpless before them, were gone! Gone, too, were the salvage steamers +and the patrol boats. The waters which had been so active and crowded +were void! Then the Three Towns understood; they grasped, men, women +and children, the great spoof of which they had been the interested +victims, and their approving laughter rose to Heaven. For in all that +appertains to the Royal Navy every one born within the circuit of the +Three Towns is very wise indeed. + + + + + +PART IV + + +_THE CAPTAIN OF MARINES_ + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +DAWSON REAPPEARS + +I had seen nothing of Dawson during my intimate association with +Madame Gilbert. He had written to me copiously--for a very busy man he +was a curiously voluminous letter-writer. He always employed the backs +of official forms and wrote in pencil. His handwriting, large and +round, was that of a man who had received a good and careful Board +School education, but was quite free from personal characteristics. +Dawson's letters in no respect resembled the man. They were very long, +very dull, and very crudely phrased. He had evidently tried to put +them into what he conceived to be a literary shape, and the effect was +deplorable. One may read such letters, the work of unskilled writers, +in the newspapers which devote space to "Correspondence." The writers, +like Dawson, can probably talk vividly and forcibly, using strong +nervous vernacular English, but the moment they take the pen all +thought and individual character become swamped in a flood of turgid, +commonplace jargon. I was disappointed with Dawson's letters, and I am +sure that he will be even more disappointed when he finds none of them +made immortal in this book. His purpose in sending them to me will +have been ruthlessly defeated. + +A week after Madame had vanished down my lift for the last time, +Dawson--in the make-up with which I was most familiar--called upon me +at my office. He also came to say good-bye, for a turn of the official +wheel had come, and he was ordered south to resume his duties at the +Yard. He was, he told me, taking a last tour of inspection to make +certain that the Secret Service net, which he had designed and laid, +would be deftly worked by the hands of his subordinates. "I shall not +be sorry," said he, "to get back to my deserted family and to be once +more the plain man Dawson whom God made." + +"You have so many different incarnations," I observed, "that I wonder +the original has not escaped your memory." + +He smiled. "If I had forgotten," said he, "my wife would soon remind +me. She always insists that she married a certain man Dawson and +declines to recognise any other." + +"So if I come south to visit you, I shall see the original?" + +"You will." + +"Thanks," said I; "I will come at the earliest opportunity." + +"I don't say that if you call at the Yard you will see quite the same +person whom you will meet at Acacia Villas, Primrose Road, Tooting." + +"That would be too much to expect. But under any guise, Dawson, I am +always sure of knowing you." + +"Yes, confound you. I would give six months' pay to know how you do +it." + +"You shall know some day, and without any bribery. Now that you are +here, talk, talk, talk. I want to get the taste of those rotten +letters of yours out of my mouth." + +He looked surprised and hurt. He looked exactly as a famous sculptor +looked who, when a beautiful work of his hands was unveiled, wished me +to publish a descriptive sonnet from his pen. I bluntly refused. He +was an admirable sculptor, but a dreadful sonneteer. Yet in his secret +heart he valued the sonnet far above the statue. In this strange way +we are made. + +I did not conceal from Dawson my interest in Madame Gilbert, and he +rather rudely expressed strong disapproval. He suggested that for a +married man I was much too free in my ways. "That woman is full of +brains," said he, "but she is the artfullest hussy ever made. She will +turn any man around her pretty fingers if he gives way to her. She has +made a nice fool of you and of that ass Froissart. She even tried her +little games with me--with me indeed. But I was too strong for her." + +I regarded Dawson with some interest and more pity. The poor fellow +did not realise that Madame had for years moulded him to her hands +like potter's clay. She had mastered him by ingenuously pretending +that he stood upon a serene pinnacle far removed from her influence. +He had preened his feathers and done her bidding. + +"We are not all strong--like you, Dawson," said I mildly. + +I switched Dawson off the subject of Madame Gilbert, and directed his +mind towards the contemplation of his own exploits. When handled +judiciously he will talk freely and frankly, giving away official +secrets with both hands. But his confidences always relate to the +past, to incidents completed. When he has a delicate job on hand, he +can be as close as the English Admiralty, even to me. He has no sense +of proportion. Again and again he has recounted the interminable +details of cases in which I take not the smallest interest, and has +ignored all my efforts to dam the unprofitable flood of narrative and +to divert the current into more fruitful channels. He looks at +everything from the Dawson standpoint, and cares for nothing which +does not add to the glory of Dawson. Unless he fills the stage, an +incident has for him no value or concern. Happily for me the most +startling of his exploits, that of bending a timid War Committee of +the Cabinet to his will in the winter of 1915-1916, and of bluffing +into utter submission nearly a hundred thousand rampant munition +workers who were eager to "down tools," fulfils all the Dawson +conditions of importance. He and he alone filled a star part, to him +and to him alone belonged the success of an incredibly bold manoeuvre. +I have drawn Dawson as I saw him, in his weakness and in his strength. +I have revealed his vanity and the carefully hidden tenderness of his +heart. In my whimsical way I have perhaps treated him as essentially a +figure of fun. But though I may smile at him, even rudely laugh at +him, he is a great public servant who once at least--though few at the +time knew--saved his country from a most grievous peril. + +In the early weeks of 1916, when work for the Navy, and work in the +gun and ammunition shops which were rapidly being organised all over +the country, were within a very little of being suspended by a general +strike of workmen, terrified for their threatened trade-union +privileges, the strength and resource of Dawson put forth boldly in +the North dammed the peril at its source. In spite of the penalties +laid down in Munition Acts, in spite of the powers vested in military +authorities by the Defence of the Realm Regulations, there would have +been a great strike, and both the Navy and the New Army would have +been hung up gasping for the ships, the guns, and the supplies upon +which they had based all their plans for attack and defence. The +danger arose over that still insistent problem--the "dilution of +labour." The new armies had withdrawn so many skilled and unskilled +workmen from the workshops, and the demands for munitions of all kinds +were so overwhelming, that wholly new and strange methods of +recruiting labour were urgent. Women must be employed in large +numbers, in millions; machinery must be put to its full use without +regard for the restrictions of unions, if the country were to be +saved. Many of the younger and more open-minded of the trade-union +officials had enlisted; many of those older ones who remained could +not bend their stiff minds to the necessity for new conditions. They +were not consciously unpatriotic--their sons were fighting and dying; +they were not consciously seditious, though secret enemy agents moved +amongst them, and talked treason with them in the jargon of their +trades. They simply could not understand that the hardly won +privileges of peace must yield to the greater urgencies of war. + +Civilians came north to examine the position on behalf of the Ministry +of Munitions; they came, wrung their hands, and reported in terror +that if dilution were pressed, a hundred thousand men would be "out." +Yet the risk had to be taken, for dilution must be pressed. Dawson was +hard at work sweeping into his widespread net all those whom he knew +to be enemy agents and all those whom he suspected. It was not an +occasion for squeamishness. With the consent of his official +superiors, he picked up with those prehensile fingers of his many of +the most troublesome of the union agitators, and deported them to safe +spots far distant, where they were constrained to cease from +troubling. Still the danger increased, and he saw that a few days only +could intervene between industrial peace and war. Already the +manufacture of heavy howitzers for the Spring Offensive had been +stopped--by a cunning embargo upon small essential parts--and the +moment had arrived for a trial of strength between authority and +rebellion. He made up his mind, plainly told his chiefs what his plans +were, obtained their whole-hearted concurrence, and went south by the +night train. By telegram he had sent an ultimatum which struck awe +into the official mind. "Unless," he wired, in code, "the Cabinet +wants a revolution, it had better meet at once and call me in. Unless +it does this at once I shall not go back here. I shall resign, and +leave the Government in the soup where it deserves to be." + +Such a message from a man who in official eyes was no more than a +Chief Inspector of Police was in itself a portent. It revealed how +completely war had upset all official standards and conventions. + +To the Chief, his Commissioner, he opened his mind freely. "I am about +fed up with politicians and lawyers," said he. "There is big trouble +coming, and not a man of them all has the pluck to get his blow in +first. I have always found that men will respect an order--they like +to be governed--but they despise slop. What the devil's the use of +Ministers going North and telling the men how well they have done, and +how patriotic they are, when the men themselves all know that they've +done damn badly and mean to do worse? I could settle the whole +business in twenty-four hours." + +"They are frightened men, Dawson," said the Chief. "That is the matter +with the Government. They have been brought up to slobber over the +public and try to cheat it out of votes. They can't tell the truth. +When hard deadly reality breaks through their web of make-believe, +they cower together in corners and howl. I doubt if you will get a +free hand, Dawson. What do you want--martial law?" + +"Yes. That, or something like it. If I have the threat of it at my +back, so that it rests with me, and me alone, to put it into force, I +shall not need to use it. But I must go North with the proclamation in +my pocket or I shall not go North at all. Here is my resignation." +Dawson tossed a letter upon the table, and laughed. The Chief picked +it up and read the curt lines in which Dawson delivered his last word. + +"Good man," commented he; "that is the way to talk. They can't +understand how any man can have the grit to resign a fat job before he +is kicked out. They never do. They compromise. You may put starch into +their soft backbones, but personally I doubt the possibility. But at +least you will get your chance. There is to be a meeting of the War +Committee the first thing to-morrow morning and you are to be +summoned. I told the Home Secretary that I should resign myself if +they did not give you a full opportunity to state your case. I will +support you as long as I am in this chair." + +Dawson held out his hand. "Thank you," he said simply. The two men +clasped hands and looked into one another's eyes. "It is a good +country, Dawson," said the Chief--"a jolly good country, and worth big +risks to oneself. It will be saved by plain, honest men if it is to be +saved at all. Our worst enemies are not the Germans, but our +flabby-fibred political classes at home. The people are just crying +out to be told what to do, and to be made to do it. Yet nobody tells +them. Don't let the Cabinet browbeat you, and smother you with +plausible sophistries. Just talk plain English to them, Dawson." + +"I will. For once in their sheltered lives they shall hear the truth." + +For what follows, Dawson is my principal, but not my sole authority. I +have tested what he told me in every way that I could, and the test +has held. Somehow--I am prepared to believe in the manner told by +him--he forced the Cabinet to give him the authority for which he +asked, and he used it in the manner which I shall tell of. He held +what is always a first-rate advantage: he knew exactly what he wanted, +no more or less, and was prepared to get it or retire from official +life. Those who gave to him authority gave it reluctantly--gave it +because they were between the devil and the deep sea. They would +gladly have thrown over Dawson, but they could not throw over the +civil and military powers who supported him in his demands. And had +they thrown him over they would have been left to deal by their +incompetent unaided selves with a strike in the midst of war which +might have spread like a prairie fire over the whole country. But +though they bent before Dawson, I am very sure that they did not love +him, and that he will never be the Chief Commissioner of Metropolitan +Police. Against his name in the official books stands a mark of the +most deadly blackness. Strength and success are never pardoned by +weakness and failure. + +When at last Dawson was summoned to the sitting; of the War Committee, +he found himself in the presence of some half a dozen elderly and +embarrassed-looking gentlemen arranged round a big table. They had +been discussing him, and trying to devise some decent civil means to +get rid of him. He and his story of the coming strike in the North +were a distressful inconvenience, an intolerable intrusion upon a +quiet life. When he entered, he was without a friend in the room, +except the War Minister who loved a man who knew his own mind and was +prepared to accept big responsibilities. But even he doubted whether +it were possible to achieve the results aimed at with the means +required by Dawson. + +Our friend suffered from no illusions. "I knew what I was up against," +he said to me long afterwards. "I knew that they were all longing to +be quit of me and to go to sleep again. But I had made up my mind that +they should get some very plain speaking. I would compel them to +understand that what I offered was a forlorn chance of averting a +civil war, and that if they refused my offer they would be left to +themselves--not to stamp out a spark of revolution, but to subdue a +roaring furnace. They could take their choice in the certain knowledge +that if they chose wrongly the North would be in flames within +forty-eight hours. It was a great experience, Mr. Copplestone. I have +never enjoyed anything half so much." + +Dawson was offered a chair set some six feet distant from the sacred +table, but he preferred to stand. His early training held, and he was +not comfortable in the presence of his superiors in rank or station +except when standing firmly at attention. + +The Prime Minister fumbled with some papers, looked over them for a +few embarrassed minutes, and then spoke. + +"Great pressure has been placed upon us, Mr. Dawson, to see you and to +hear your report. Great pressure--to my mind improper pressure. I have +here letters from Magistrates, Lords Lieutenant, competent military +authorities, naval officers superintending shipyards, officials of the +Munitions Department. They all declare that the industrial outlook in +the North is most perilous, and that at any moment a situation may +arise which will be fraught with the gravest peril to the country. We +have replied that the law provides adequate remedies, but to that the +retort is made that the men who are at the root of the grave troubles +pending snap their fingers at the law. We are pressed to take counsel +with you, though why the high officers who communicate with me should, +as it were, shift their responsibilities upon the shoulders of a Chief +Inspector of Scotland Yard I am at a loss to comprehend. What I would +ask of my colleagues is this: who is in fact responsible for the +maintenance of a due observance of law in the Northern district from +which you have come, and where you appear to discharge unofficial and +wholly irregular functions? Who is responsible? Perhaps my learned +friend the Home Secretary can enlighten us?" The Prime Minister +paused, and smiled happily to himself. He had at least made things +nasty for an intrusive colleague. But the Home Secretary, suave, +alert, was not to be caught. He at any rate was not prepared to admit +responsibility. + +"It is possible, sir," he said, "that in some vague, undefined, +constitutional way I am responsible for the police service of the +United Kingdom. But happily my direct charge does not in practice +extend beyond England. The centre of disturbance appears to be on the +northern side of the Border, within the jurisdiction of the Secretary +for Scotland. It is possible that my right honourable friend who holds +that office, and whom I am pleased to see here with us, will answer +the Prime Minister's question. He is responsible for his obstreperous +countrymen." The Home Secretary paused, and also smiled happily to +himself. He had evaded a trap, and had involved an unloved colleague +in its meshes; what more could be required of a highly placed +Minister? + +"God forbid!" cried the Scottish Secretary hastily. "These aggressive +and troublesome workmen are no countrymen of mine. It is true," he +added pensively, "that when I am in the North I claim that a somewhat +shadowy Scottish ancestry makes of me a Scot to the finger tips, but +no sooner do I cross the Border upon my return to London than I revert +violently to my English self. A kindly Providence has ordained that +the central Scottish Office should be in London, and my urgent duties +compel me to reside there permanently. Which is indeed fortunate. It +is true that technically my responsibilities cover everything, or +nearly everything, which occurs in the unruly North, but I do not +interfere with the discretion of those on the spot who know the local +conditions and can deal adequately with them. I am content to rest my +action upon the advice of those responsible authorities whose +considered opinions have been quoted by the Prime Minister." + +The Prime Minister smiled no more. The wheel which he had jogged so +agreeably had come full round, and, in colloquial speech, had biffed +him in the eye. He fumbled the papers once more, and frowned. + +"It seems to me," plaintively put in the First Lord of the Admiralty +(a political chief very different from the one whom Dawson encountered +in Chapter XII), "though I am a child in these high matters, that no +one is ever responsible for the exercise of those duties with which he +is nominally charged. For, consider my own case. Though I am the First +Lord, and attend daily at the Admiralty, I am convinced that the +active and accomplished young gentleman whom I had the misfortune to +succeed regards himself as still responsible to the people of this +country for the disposition and control of the Fleets. At least that +is the not unnatural impression which I derive from his frequent +speeches and newspaper articles." + +There was a general laugh, in which all joined except the War Minister +and Dawson. They were not politicians. + +"If there is a big strike," growled the War Minister, "the Spring +Offensive will be off. It is threatened now, very seriously. I am +months behind with my howitzers." + +His colleagues looked reproachfully at the famous warrior, and shifted +uneasily in their chairs. He had an uncomfortable habit of blurting +forth the most unpleasant truths. + +"Yes," put in the Minister for Munitions, "we are behind with the +howitzers and with ammunition of all kinds. But what can one do with +these savage brutes in the North? I went there myself and spoke +plainly to them. By God's grace I am still alive, though at one moment +I had given up myself for lost. At one works where I made a speech the +audience were armed with what I believe are called monkey wrenches, +and showed an almost uncontrollable passion for launching them at my +head. I was hustled and wellnigh personally assaulted. Like my +patriotic friend the Scottish Secretary, I was very happy indeed when +I got south of the Border. The central office of the Munitions +Department is happily in London, and my urgent duties compel me to +reside there permanently. I have no leisure for roving expeditions." + +"This is very interesting," broke in the First Lord, who lay back in +his chair with shut eyes. "There appears to be no eagerness on the +part of any one of us to stick his hands into the northern hornets' +nest, or to admit any responsibility for it. All of us, that is, +except our courageous and silent friend Mr. Dawson." He opened his +eyes and smiled most winningly towards Dawson. "Would it not be well +if we gave him an opportunity of telling us what his views are?" + +"I have been waiting for him to begin," growled the War Minister. + +"We are at your service, Mr. Dawson," said the Prime Minister +graciously. + +Dawson, standing stiffly at attention, had closely followed the +conversation, and, as it proceeded, his heart sank. He despaired of +discovering courage and quick decision in the group of Ministers +before him. Yet when called upon he made a last effort. If the country +were to be saved, it must be saved by its people, not by its +politicians, and he was a man of the people, resolute, enduring, long +suffering. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "we are threatened with a strike in the Northern +shops and shipyards which will cripple the country. It will begin +within forty-eight hours. I can stop it if I go North to-night with +the full powers of the Government in my pocket, and with the means for +which I ask. All the authorities in the North, civil, military and +naval, have approved of my plans. I ask only leave to carry them out." + +"Your plans are?" snapped the War Minister. + +"To get my blow in first," said Dawson simply. + +The First Lord again looked at Dawson, and a glint of fighting light +flashed in his tired eyes. "Thrice armed is he who has his quarrel +just; and four times he who gets his blow in first. How would you do +it, Mr. Dawson." + +"Yes, how?" eagerly inquired the War Minister. + +"I have served," said Dawson, "in most parts of the world. When in +West Africa one is attacked by a snake, one does not wait until it +bites. One cuts off its head." + +"You have served?" asked the War Minister. "In what Service?" + +"The Red Marines," proudly answered Dawson. + +"Ah!" The War Minister was plainly interested, and Dawson had, during +the rest of the interview, no eyes for any one except for him and for +the First Lord. He recognised these two as brother fighting men. The +others he waved aside as civilian truck. "Ah! The Red Marines. Long +service men, the best we have. So you would cut off the snake's head +before it can bite." + +"To-morrow afternoon," explained Dawson, "I must attend a meeting of +shop stewards, over two hundred of them. They contain the head of the +snake. Give me powers, a proclamation of martial law which I may show +them, and I will cut off the snake's head." + +"You soldiers are always prating about martial law," grumbled the +Prime Minister. "We have given to you the amplest powers under the +Defence of the Realm Act and the Munitions Act to punish strikers. +Those are sufficient. I have no patience with plans for enforcing a +military despotism." + +"Excuse me, sir," said Dawson patiently, as to a child, "but if a +hundred thousand men go out on strike, your Acts of Parliament will be +waste paper. You cannot lock up or fine a hundred thousand men, and if +you could you would still be unable to make them work. No means have +ever been devised to make unwilling men work, except the lash, and +that is useless with skilled labour. No one in the North cares a rap +for Acts of Parliament, but there is a mystery about martial law which +carries terror into the hardest heart and the most stupid brain. I +want a signed proclamation of martial law, but I undertake not to +issue it unless all other forms of pressure fail. I must have it all +in cold print to show to the shop stewards when I strike my blow. +Without that proclamation I am helpless, and you will be helpless, +too, by Friday next. This is Wednesday. Unless I cut off the snake's +head to-morrow, it will bite you here even in your sheltered London." + +The Prime Minister fumbled once more with the papers before him, but +they gave him no comfort. All advised the one measure of giving full +authority to Dawson and of trusting to his energy and skill. "Dawson +is a man of the people, and knows his own class. He can deal with the +men; we can't." So the urgent appeals ran. + +"And if you do not succeed? If you proclaim martial law and we have to +enforce it, where shall we be then?" + +"No worse off than you will be anyhow by Friday," said Dawson curtly. + +"So you say. But suppose that we think you needlessly fearful. Suppose +that we prefer to wait until Friday and see; what then?" + +"You will see what has not been seen in our country for over a hundred +years," retorted Dawson. "You will see artillery firing shotted guns +in the streets." + +The Prime Minister shrugged his shoulders, but the War Secretary +turned to his pile of maps and picked up one on which was marked all +the depots and training camps in the northern district. "How many men +do you want?" he asked. + +"No khaki, thank you," replied Dawson. "It is not trained, and the +workmen are used to it. To them khaki means their sons and brothers +and friends dressed up. I want my own soldiers of the _Sea Regiment_ +in service blue. I want eighty men from my old division at Chatham." + +"Eighty!" cried the War Minister--"eighty men! You are going to stop a +revolution with eighty Red Marines!" + +"I could perhaps do with fewer," explained Dawson modestly. "But I +want to make sure work. Give me eighty Marines, none of less than five +years' service, a couple of sergeants, and a lieutenant--a regular +pukka lieutenant. Give them to me, and make me temporarily a captain +in command, and I will engage to cut off the snake's head. You can +have my own head if I fail." + +The Great War Minister rose, walked over to Dawson, and shook his +embarrassed hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dawson," said he. +The First Lord, now fully awake, sat up and stared earnestly at the +detective. Those two, the chiefs of the Navy and the Army, had grasped +the startling fact that for once they were in the presence of a Man. +The others saw only a rather ill-dressed, intrusive, vulgar police +officer. + +"I have rarely met a man with so economical a mind," went on the War +Minister, who resumed his seat. "If you had asked me for eight +thousand, I should not have been surprised." He turned to the Prime +Minister. "If our resolute friend here can stop a revolution with +eighty Red Marines, let him have them in God's name." + +"Oh, he can have the Marines," growled the Prime Minister--"if the +First Lord agrees. They are in his department. And if it pleases him +to dress up as a temporary captain, that is nothing to me; but I draw +a firm line at any proclamation of martial law." + +"Well," asked the War Minister of Dawson, "what say you?" + +"I must have the proclamation, my lord," replied Dawson. "Not to put +up in the streets, but to show to the shop stewards. They won't +believe that the Cabinet has any spunk until they see the proclamation +signed by you. They know that what you say you do." + +["Great Heavens," I said to Dawson, when he recounted to me the +details of his surprising interview with the War Committee, "tact is +hardly your strong suit. You could not have asked more plainly to be +kicked out. The flabbier a Cabinet is, the more convinced are its +members of adamantine resolution." + +"If I had to go down and out," replied Dawson, "I had determined to go +fighting. I was there to speak my mind, not to flatter anybody."] + +The silence which followed this awful speech could be felt. The Prime +Minister gasped, flushed to the eyes, and half rose to dismiss Dawson +from the room. He himself thought for a moment that all was lost, when +through the tense atmosphere ran a ripple of gay laughter. It was the +First Lord who, with instant decision, had taken the only means to +save his new friend Dawson. He has a delightfully infectious silvery +laugh, and the effect was electrical. The War Minister opened his +great mouth, and bellowed Ha! Ha! Ha! The Minister of Munitions put +his head down on the table and shrieked. Even the Home Secretary, a +severe, humourless, legal gentleman, cackled. The Prime Minister, +whose perceptions were of the quickest, saw that anger would be +ridiculous in the midst of laughter. He admitted the First Lord's +victory, and forced a smile. + +"You are not a diplomatist, Mr. Dawson," said he reprovingly. + +"Like Marcus Antonius," whispered the First Lord, as he wiped his eyes +delicately, "he is a plain, blunt man." + +The War Minister pulled a sheet of paper towards' him and began to +write. He scribbled for a few minutes, made a few corrections, and +then read out slowly the words which he had set down. All present saw +that the moment of acute crisis had arrived. + +"That is all that I want," said Dawson. "If you will sign that paper, +my lord, I need not trouble you gentlemen any longer." + +"I am one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State," observed +the War Minister. "Shall I sign, sir?" + +"I believe," remarked the Home Secretary primly, "that if one has +regard for strict historical accuracy there is but one Secretary of +State, and that I am that one." + +"I will not trouble you," said the War Minister. + +"I am technically responsible for the country over which I am supposed +to rule," put in the Scottish Secretary plaintively. "I speak, of +course under correction, but north of the Border my signature might--" + +"You are not a Secretary of State," growled the War Minister, "and +your seat is not safe. No one shall sign except myself, for I have no +need to seek after working-class votes. Dawson and I will face this +music." + +"And if I decline to permit you to sign?" asked the Prime Minister +blandly. "This is not a Cabinet meeting, and we have no power to +commit the Government to so grave a step." + +"You will require to fill up the vacant position of Secretary for +War," came the answer. + +"And also the humble post of First Lord of the Admiralty," murmured +that high officer of State. "We are up against realities, and Cabinet +etiquette can go hang for me." + +The War Minister again read aloud what he had written, signed it +carefully and deliberately, and rising up, handed it to Dawson. "Get +it printed at once and go ahead, Mr. Dawson." + +"Captain Dawson, R.M.L.I.," corrected the First Lord, who also rose +and warmly shook hands with the new captain. "You shall be gazetted at +once. I will see the Adjutant-General myself and give orders to +Chatham." + +"You have both made up your minds?" inquired the Prime Minister. + +"Quite," said the War Secretary. The First Lord nodded. + +"Very good," replied the Prime Minister; "I consent. We must above all +things preserve the unity of the Cabinet in these circumstances of +grave national crisis." + +"Clear out, Dawson," whispered the First Lord. + +Dawson cleared out. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +DAWSON STRIKES + +It was a little past noon, and Dawson had much work to do before he +could be free to speed north by the midnight train. First he skipped +across to the Yard and into the private room of his firm friend the +Chief. To him he showed the potent proclamation and recounted the +methods of its extraction. "I thought that I was in a company of +jackals," said he at the end; "but I was wrong--two of them were +lions." + +"We should be in a bad way if there were no lions," commented the +Chief. "Those two, and another who is dead, saved South Africa; there +are one or two more, but not many. What shall you do with this?" + +"We will set it up on our own private press, and run off a couple of +hundred placards. The secret must not leak out; I am playing for +surprises." + +The Chief struck a bell, the order was given, and Dawson's priceless +proclamation vanished into the lower regions. + +"Now?" inquired the Chief. + +"Chatham," explained Dawson, "to pick up my men--and to get my +uniform." When telling the story, Dawson again and again described to +me his uniform, with which I happened by family association to be +intimately acquainted. He did not spare me a badge or a button. I am +convinced that no girl wore her first ball-dress with half the +palpitating pride with which Dawson surveyed himself in his captain's +kit. When I chaffed him gently, and hinted that the stars of a captain +were cheaply come by in these days, he had one retort always ready, +"Not in the Red Marines." He did not value his office of Chief +Detective Inspector a rap beside that temporary rank of Captain of Red +Marines. He had, you see, been a private in that proud exclusive +Corps, and its glory for him outshone all human glories. + +He flew away to Chatham as fast as a deliberate railway service +permitted, and found upon arrival that an urgent telegram from the +Adjutant-General had preceded him. Dawson was shown at once to the +Commandant's quarters, and there explained his requirements. "Eighty +men, two sergeants, and a regular lieutenant. Not one of less than +five years' service. Also a sea-service kit with a captain's stars for +me. The mess-sergeant will fit me out. He trades in second-hand +uniforms." + +"You have the advantage of me, Mr. Dawson," said the Commandant, +smiling, "in your profound knowledge of the functions of a mess +sergeant." + +"I was a recruit here, sir, when you were a second lieutenant. I know +the by-ways of Chatham and the perquisites of mess-sergeants. I was a +sergeant myself once." + +"I remember you, Dawson," said the Commandant kindly, "and am proud to +see one of us become so great a man. By the regulations a temporary +officer should wear khaki." + +"No khaki for me, sir, please," implored Dawson. "I should not feel +that I belonged to the old Corps in khaki. In my time it was the red +parade tunic or the sea-service blue." + +"Wear any kit you please. This is your day, not mine. I have been +ordered to place myself and all Chatham at your disposal, though what +your particular game is I have not a notion. I won't ask any questions +now, but please come and dine with me in mess when you return, and let +me have the whole story." + +"I will, sir," cried Dawson heartily, "and thank you very much. I have +waited at the mess, but never dined with it The old Corps is going +with me to do a pretty bit of work, different from anything that it +has ever done before." + +"That would not be easy; we have been in every scrap on land or sea +since the year dot." + +Dawson looked round carefully, and then whispered, "Those eighty +Marines of mine are going to cut off a snake's head and stop a bloody +revolution. They've done that sort of thing many times at the ends of +the earth, but never, I believe, in England." + +"I wish that I were again a lieutenant," growled the Commandant, "for +then I would volunteer to come with you." + +"You shall choose my second-in-command yourself, sir," conceded Dawson +handsomely. + +Captain Dawson chose his men with discrimination. All those above five +years' service were paraded in the barrack square, and Dawson, +assisted by the Commandant, to whom his men were as his own children, +picked out the eighty lucky ones at leisure. Those who were rejected +shrugged their stiff square shoulders and predicted disaster for the +expedition. In one small detail Dawson changed his plans. He had +intended to take two sergeants only, but in Chatham there were four +who had served with him in the ranks, and he could not withstand their +pleadings. When all was settled, Dawson went to the Commandant's +quarters to be introduced to his second-in-command, and surprised +there that officer endeavouring to squeeze his rather middle-aged +figure within the buttoned limits of a subaltern's tunic. Since the +senior officers of Marines never go to sea, the Commandant's own +official uniform was the field-service khaki of a Staff officer. "It +is all right," explained he, laughing. "I have become a lieutenant +again, and am going north with you. But I wish that your friend the +mess-sergeant had a pattern B tunic which would meet round my middle. +My young men must be devilish slim nowadays. I have been on to the +A.-G. by 'phone. He pretends to be derisory, but I am convinced that +really he is desperately jealous. He would love to go too. You seem, +my good Dawson, to have stirred up Whitehall and Spring Gardens in a +manner most emphatic." + +"But you can't serve under me, sir," cried Dawson, aghast. + +"Can't I!" retorted the new Lieutenant. "If admirals can joyfully go +afloat as lieut.-commanders, as lots of them are doing, what is to +prevent a Colonel of Marines serving as a subaltern? I am on this job +with you, Dawson, if you will have me." + +"With four sergeants and eighty Marines," said Dawson slowly, "you and +I could have held Mons." + +"We could that," cried the Colonel-Lieutenant, who had by now +completed the reduction of his rank to that of Captain Dawson's +subordinate. "Nothing, nothing, is beyond the powers of the Sea +Regiment!" + +At about 11.30 that night the wide roof of St. Pancras echoed to the +disciplined tramp of Dawson's detachment, which marched straight to +coaches reserved by order from Headquarters. "Marines don't talk," +said Dawson, "but I am not taking risks. I don't want to sully the +virtue of my old Sea Pongos by mixing them up with raw land Tommies." +Dawson and his subaltern were moving towards the sleeping-coach in +which a double berth had been assigned to them, when two tall +gentlemen in civilian dress slipped out of the crowd and stood in +their path. Dawson, at the sight of them, glowed with pride, his chest +swelled out under his broad blue tunic, and his hand flew to the peak +of his red-banded cap. The Colonel-Lieutenant gasped. "Good luck, +Dawson," whispered the bigger of the strangers; "I would give my baton +to be going north with you." + +"Colonel ---- has given up his crowns," replied Dawson, as he +introduced his companion. + +The Field-Marshal smiled and shook hands with the sporting Commandant. +"This is all frightfully irregular," said he, "but I sympathise. +Still, if I know our friend Dawson here, there won't be any fighting. +You have no idea of his skill as a diplomatist. He tells the truth, +which is so unusual and startling that the effect is overwhelming. He +is a heavy human howitzer. I envy you, Colonel." + +"I have not a notion what we are to be at," said the Colonel. + +"I am not very clear myself. It is Dawson's picnic, not ours, and we +have given him a free hand. You won't get any fighting, but there will +be lots of fun." + +Meanwhile the First Lord had drawn Dawson to one side. "Good luck, +Captain Dawson; you have not wasted any time, and I have the best of +hopes. We had a beautiful row after you left us this morning. It did +my poor heart good. The P.M. declares that if you put martial law into +force, he will hand in his checks to the King. So, my poor friend, you +carry with you a mighty responsibility. But stick it out, don't +hesitate to follow your judgment, and wire me how you get on." + +"Don't worry, sir," said Dawson, "I shall not fail. If it had not been +for you and his lordship here, I should not have had this great +chance. I won't let you down." + +"Sh!" whispered the other. "Not so loud. We are conspirators, strictly +incog., dressed in the shabbiest of clothes. We had to see you off, +for I enjoyed the tussle of this morning beyond words. I would not for +anything have missed the P.M.'s face when he found himself driven to +act suddenly and definitely. I am eternally your debtor, Captain +Dawson of the Red Marines." + +"My word," exclaimed the Colonel-Lieutenant, when the visitors had +slipped away like a couple of stage villains, with soft hats pulled +down over their eyes--"the Field-Marshal and the First Lord! You have +some friends, sir." + +"I am only a ranker," said Dawson humbly, "with very temporary stars; +not a pukka officer and gentleman like you. I hope that you do not +mind sharing' a sleeper with me?" + +"I should be proud to share with you the measliest dug-out in a +Flanders graveyard," replied the Colonel emphatically. The two +officers, so anomalously associated, entered their berth the best of +friends and talked together far into the night. And as they talked, +the Colonel, now a Lieutenant, made the same discovery which had +startled Dawson's two powerful supporters of the morning. In the +police officer, rough, half-educated, vain, tender of heart, he also +had discovered a Man. "But for me and my Red Marines," said Dawson, as +they turned in for some broken sleep, "those poor fools up yonder +would get themselves shot in the streets. But I shall save them, and +in saving them I shall save the country." + + * * * * * + +It was the afternoon of the following day, just twenty-four hours +after Dawson had commandeered the resources of Chatham, and the scene +was a public hall in a big industrial city. In the body of the room +sat two hundred and thirty-four men--shop stewards and district trade +union officials--and their faces were gloomy and anxious. They had +come for a last meeting with the officers of the Munitions Dept, and +to declare that the men whom they represented were resolved not to +permit of any further dilution of labour. The great majority of them +were not unpatriotic, their sons and brothers and friends had joined +the Forces, and had already fought and died gallantly, but they were +intensely suspicious. To them the "employer," the "capitalist," was a +greater, because more enduring and insidious, enemy than the Germans. +Dilution of labour had become in their eyes a device for destroying +all their hardly won privileges and restrictions, and for delivering +them bound and helpless to their "capitalist oppressers." To this +sorry pass had the perpetual disputes of peace brought the workmen +under stress of war! Rates of pay did not enter into the +dispute--never in their lives had they earned such wages--its origin +led in a queer perverted sense of loyalty to the trade unions, and to +those members who had gone forth to fight. "What will our folks say," +asked the men of one another, "when they come home from the war, if we +have given away in their absence all that they fought for during long +years?" When it was attempted to make clear that the lives of their +own sons in the trenches were being made more hazardous by their +obstinacy, they shook their heads and simply did not believe. "We can +make all the guns and the shells that are wanted without giving up our +rules. We value our sons' lives as much as you do. We love our country +as much as you do. The capitalists are using a plea of patriotism to +get the better of us." It was a pitiful deadlock--honest for the most +part; yet it was a deadlock which, as Dawson said, brought very near +the day when English artillery would be firing shotted guns in English +streets. + +At a small table on a low platform at one end of the room sat three +civilians, and a few feet away, sitting a little back, was an officer +whose uniform and badges attracted the eyes of the curious. None of +the workmen knew this brown-skinned man with the small, dark moustache +who looked so very professional a soldier, yet Dawson knew them, every +man of them, and had moved among them in their works many times. Ten +of those present were actually his own agents, working among their +fellow unionists and agitating with them--hidden sources of +information and of influence at need--and yet not one of those ten +knew that the Marine Captain upon the platform was his own official +chief. The chairman rose to speak to the men for the last time, and +Dawson sat listening and studying a small slip of paper in his hand. + +The chairman said nothing that the men had not been told many times +during the past few days, but there was in his speech a note of solemn +appeal and warning which was new. The hearers shuffled their feet +uneasily, for most of them felt uneasy; they were, as I have said, +most of them honest men. But when the chairman had sat down, and the +men began, one after another, to reply, it appeared at once that there +was present an element not honest, even seditious. Dawson smiled to +himself, and studied his slip of paper, for the snake, whose head he +had come to cut off, was beginning to rear itself before him. Hints +began to appear that there was a strong minority at least which was +unwilling both to fight and to work for a country which was none of +theirs--"What has this country done for us that we should bleed and +sweat for it? It has starved us and sweated us to make profits out of +us, and now in its extremity slobbers us with fair words." At last one +man rose, a thin-faced, wild-eyed man, who, under happier conditions, +might have been a preacher or a writer, and delivered a speech which +was rankly seditious. "The workers," he declared, "are being shackled, +gagged, and robbed. Our enemy is not the German Kaiser. Our enemy +consists of that small, cunning, treacherous, well-organised, and +highly respectable section of the community who, by means of the money +power, compels the workers to sweat in order that their bellies may be +full and their fine ladies gowned in gorgeous raiment. They pass a +Munitions Act to chain the worker to his master. They 'dilute' labour +to call into being an invisible army which can be mobilised at short +notice to defeat the struggles of striking artisans. The attack of the +masters must be resisted. The workers must fight. There is a +fascinating attraction in the idea of meeting force with force, +violence with violence. It is undeniable that many of the more +thoughtful among the toilers would consider that their lives had not +been spent in vain if they organised their comrades to drilled and +armed rebellion." + +The speaker paused. He was encouraged by a few cheers, but the mass of +his hearers were silent. He glanced at Dawson, whose face was set in +an expressionless mask. Cheers came again, and he went on, but with +less assurance. "The worker's labour power is his only wealth. It is +also his highest weapon. But the workers need not think of using this +weapon so long as they are split and divided into sects and groups and +crafts. To be effective they must organise as workers. An organisation +that would include all the workers, skilled and unskilled, throughout +the entire country, would prove irresistible. But as matters stand at +present I do not advocate armed rebellion. I advocate and herewith +proclaim a general strike." + +He sat down, and there was a long silence. The die had been cast. If +the meeting broke up without the emphatic assertion of the +Government's authority, then a general strike upon the morrow was as +certain as that the sun would rise. It was for this moment, this +intensely critical moment, that Dawson had worked and fought in +London, and for which he was now ready. The chairman sighed and wiped +his face, which had become clammy. He looked at Dawson, who nodded +slightly, and then rose. + +"I call," said he solemnly, "upon Captain Dawson. He is now in supreme +authority." + +Dawson sprang to his feet, alert, decided, and picked up a large roll +of papers which had rested behind him upon his chair. He placed the +roll upon the table and faced the audience, who knew at once, with the +rapid instinct of a crowd, that the unexpected was about to happen. +Dawson pulled down his tunic, settled himself comfortably into his Sam +Browne belt, and rested his left hand upon the hilt of his sword.--It +was a pretty artistic touch, the wearing of that sword, and exactly +characteristic of Dawson's methods. I laughed when he told me of +it.--There were two doors to the room--one upon Dawson's left hand, +the other at the far end behind the workmen. He raised his right hand, +and the chairman, who was watching him, pressed an electric bell. Then +events began to happen. + +The doors flew open, and through each of them filed a line of smart +men in blue, equipped with rifles and side arms. Twenty men and a +sergeant passed through each door, which was then closed. The ranks of +each detachment were dressed as if on parade, and when all were ready, +Dawson gave a sharp order. Instantly forty-two rifle-butts clashed as +one upon the floor, and the Marines stood at ease. At this moment the +door at the far end might have been seen to open, and an officer to +slip in who, though white of hair, had not apparently reached a higher +rank than that of lieutenant. "It was all very fine, Dawson," he +explained afterwards, "your plan of leaving me outside with the rest +of the Marines, but it wasn't good enough. I didn't come north to be +buried in the reserves." + +"You should have obeyed orders," replied Dawson severely. + +"I should," cheerfully assented the Colonel-Commandant of Chatham, +"but somehow I didn't." + +While Dawson's body-guard of Marines was getting into position before +the doors, the workmen, surprised and trapped, were on their feet +chattering and gesticulating. The unfamiliar appearance of the +blue-uniformed men, not one of whom was less than five feet nine +inches in height, their well-set-up figures and stolid professional +faces, gave a business-like, even ominous flavour to the proceedings +which chilled the strike leaders to the bone. They would have cheered +an irruption of kilted recruits in khaki tunics as the coming of old +friends, and would have felt no more than local patriotic hostility +towards a detachment of English or Irish soldiers. But these blue men +of the Sea Regiment, an integral part of the great mysterious silent +Navy, had no part or lot with British workmen "rightly struggling to +be free." They represented some outside authority, some potent, +overpowering authority, as no khaki-clad soldiers could have +represented it. The surprise was complete, the moral effect was +staggering, and Dawson, who had counted upon both when he brought his +Marines north, smiled contentedly to himself. He stepped forward, with +that little slip of paper in his hand, and began to read from it. One +by one he read out twenty-three names, the very first being that of +the man who had made the speech which I have reported. + +As name after name dropped from Dawson's lips, the wonder and terror +grew. Who was this strange officer who could thus surely divide the +goats from the sheep, who was picking out one after another the +self-seekers and fomenters of sedition, who, while he omitted none who +were really dangerous, yet included none who were honest though +mistaken? As the list drew towards its end, quite half the listeners +were smiling broadly. They could not have drawn up a more perfect one +themselves, and they did not love most of those whose names were found +upon it. + +"Now," said Dawson, when he had finished, "I must ask all those +gentlemen to step forward." Not a man moved. "Let me warn you that +every man whose name I have read out is personally known to me. If I +have to come and fetch you, I shall not come alone." There was still +some hesitation, and then those upon the proscribed list began to move +forward. They would willingly have hidden themselves, had that been +possible, but to be known and to be dragged out by those hard-faced +Marines would have added humiliation to terror. They came forth, until +all the twenty-three were ranged up before Dawson. Then the man, whose +name was first upon the list, rasped out, "What is your authority for +this outrage upon a peaceful meeting? I demand your authority." + +"You shall have it," serenely replied Dawson. And, going up to the +pile of papers which he had laid upon the table, he drew one forth and +held it up so that all might see. It was a large placard, boldly +printed, a proclamation in cold, terse language of Martial Law, signed +by the Secretary for War himself. + +"Martial Law! This is sheer militarism," cried the first of those +arrested. + +"For you and for these other twenty-two upon my list it is Martial +Law," replied Dawson. "But for the rest it will be as they choose +themselves. Sergeant, remove the prisoners." A sergeant stepped out, +the line of Marines before the door divided, and the prisoners were +led away. Dawson put the proclamation back upon the table, squared his +shoulders, and turned towards his audience, now silent, subdued, and +purged. His plans were working very well. + +"I am no speaker," he began; "I am a man of the people, one of +yourselves. I have made my own way, and though I wear the uniform and +stars of a Captain of Marines, I am really an officer of police, Chief +Detective Inspector Dawson of Scotland Yard." He paused to allow time +for this astonishing fact to sink in. So that was why he had known the +names and faces of all the ring-leaders of sedition! And if he knew so +much, what more might he not know! Even the most innocent among his +audience began to feel loose about the neck. + +"I know you all," he went on. "There is not a man among you whom I do +not know. You--or you--or you." He addressed those near to him by +name. "We sympathise with you and have reasoned with you. But you +proved obdurate. The King's Government must be carried on; the war +must be carried on if our country is to be saved. And those who have +given power to me--the power which you have seen set out upon these +papers, the powers of Martial Law--will exercise them unflinchingly if +there appears to be no other way. But there is another and a better +way. You must obey the laws which Parliament has passed for the +defence of the country and for the provision of munitions. Your rights +are protected under them. After the war is over, your privileges will +be restored. For the present they must be abandoned. Willingly or +unwillingly they must be abandoned. I said just now that it is for you +to choose whether Martial Law shall take effect or not. The moment +those placards are posted in the streets the military authorities +become supreme, but they will not be posted if you have the sense to +see when you are beaten. What I have to ask, to require of you, is +that to-morrow, at the mass meeting of the men which is to be held, +you will advise them to surrender unconditionally, to work hard +themselves, and to allow all others to work hard. There must be no +more holding up of essential parts of guns, no more writing and +talking sedition. Our country needs the whole-hearted service of us +all. If you here and now give me your promise that you will use every +effort--no perfunctory, but real effort--to stop at once all these +threats of a strike, I will let you go now and wish you God-speed. If +you fail, then Martial Law will be proclaimed forthwith. Make this +very clear to the men. Tell them that you have seen the proclamation, +signed by the Field-Marshal himself, and that I, Captain and Chief +Inspector Dawson, will post the placards in the streets with my own +hands. If you will not give me your promise--I do not ask for any +hostages or security, just your promise as loyal, honourable men--I +shall arrest you all here and now, and deport you all just as those +twenty-three have been arrested and will be deported. You will not see +those men for a long time; you know in your hearts that you are well +quit of them. If I arrest you all, I shall not stop my arrests at that +point. There are many others--many who are not workmen from whom has +come money for your strike funds and to offer bail when arrests have +been made. I shall pick them all up. Nothing that you can now do will +affect the fate of those who have been taken from this room. Whatever +loyalty you may owe to them has been discharged, and I will give you a +quittance. Their chapter has been closed. What you have to consider +now is the fate of yourselves and of many beside yourselves, of all +those who look to you for advice and guidance. Take time, talk among +yourselves, consult one another. I am not here to hurry you unduly, +but before you are allowed to leave this room there must be a complete +and final settlement." + +He sat down. The men split into groups, and the buzz of talk ran +through the room. There was no anger or excitement, but much +bewilderment. They had come to the meeting as masters, strong in +numbers, to dictate terms, yet now the tables had been turned +dramatically upon them. No longer masters, they were in the presence +of a Force which at a word from Dawson could hale them forth as +prisoners to be dealt with under the mysterious shuddering powers of +Martial Law. They thought of those twenty-three, a few minutes since +so potent for mischief, now bound and helpless in the hands of the +Blue Men from the Sea. + +At last an elderly grey-locked man stepped forward, and Dawson rose to +meet him. "We admit, sir," said he, "that you have us at a +disadvantage. We did not expect this Proclamation nor those Marines of +yours. We did not believe that the Government meant business. We +thought that we should have more talk, talk, and we are all sick of +talk. We are true patriots here--you have taken away all those who +cared nothing for their country--and we feel that if you are prepared +to use Martial Law and the forces of the Crown against us, that you +must be very much in earnest. We feel that you would not do these +terrible things unless the need were very urgent. We do not agree that +the need is urgent, but if you, representing the Government, say that +it is, we have no course open to us but to submit. If we now surrender +unconditionally and promise heartily to use every effort to bring the +mass of the men to our views, will you in your turn give us your +personal assurance that all our legitimate grievances will be fully +considered, and that every effort will be made to meet them? You may +crush us, sir, but you will not get good work from men whose spirit +has been broken." + +"I cannot make conditions," replied Dawson gently, "but ask yourselves +why I brought my Marines all the way from Chatham to deal with this +meeting? Was it not that I would not put upon you the pain and +humiliation of arrest at the hands of your own sons and brothers? +Though I stand here with gold stars on my shoulders I am one of you. +My father worked all his life in the dockyard at Portsmouth, and I +myself as a boy have been a holder-on in a black squad of riveters. I +can make no conditions, but if you will leave yourself entirely in my +hands, and in those of my superiors, you may be assured that there +will be no attempt made to crush you, to break your spirit." + +As he said these words an inspiration came to him, and by sure +instinct he acted upon it. Jumping down from the platform, he +approached the old sad-faced spokesman, and shook him hard by the +hand. Then he moved along among the other workmen, addressing them by +name, chatting to them of their work and private interests, and +showing so complete and human a regard for them that their hostility +melted away before him. This man, who had conquered them, was one of +themselves, a "tradesman" like them, one of the Black Squad of +Portsmouth, a fellow-worker. He was no tool of the hated "capitalist." +If he said that they must all go back to work unconditionally, well +they must go. But he was their friend, and would see justice done +them. Presently Dawson was handing out cigarettes--of which he had +brought a large supply in his pockets, Woodbines--and the meeting, of +which so much was feared, had apparently turned into, a happy +conversazione. For half an hour Dawson pursued his campaign of +personal conciliation, and then went back to his place upon the +platform. + +"Go in peace," he cried. "Come again to-morrow afternoon and tell me +about the mass meeting. There will be more cigarettes awaiting you, +and even, possibly, a bottle or two of whisky." + +The men laughed, and one wag called out, "Three cheers for holder-on +Dawson." The cheers were given heartily, the Marines stood aside from +the doors, and the room rapidly emptied. The officials of the +Munitions Department and the Colonel, who was Dawson's insubordinate +subaltern, crowded round him spouting congratulations. He soaked in +their flatteries as was his habit, and then delivered a lesson upon +the management of men which should be printed in letters of gold. "Men +are just grown-up children," said he, "and should be treated as +children. Be always just, praise them when they are good, and smack +them when they are naughty. But if when they are naughty you spare the +rod and try to slobber them with fine words, they will despise you +utterly, and become upon the instant naughtier than ever." + +"What about that mass meeting to-morrow?" asked the Colonel. + +"I shall not be there, but ten of my men will be. Have no fears of the +mass meeting. The snake's head is off--by to-morrow it will be two +hundred miles away--and though the body may wriggle, it will be quite +harmless. After two or three hours of talk and vain threats the +meeting will collapse, and we shall get unconditional surrender." + +And so it happened. The talk went on for four solid hours--vain, +vapouring talk, during which steam was blown off. At the end the +surrender, as Dawson predicted, was unconditional. + +That evening of the morrow a telegram sped away over the long wires to +the south addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty. + +"Please tell First Lord that the snake is dead. I am returning the +Marines carriage-paid and undamaged. My commission as a Captain is no +longer required. Dawson." + +Back flashed a reply from the Minister himself: "To Captain Dawson, +R.M.L.I. Adjutant-General insists that you retain rank and pay until +the end of the war. So do I. You have done a wonderful piece of work +for which you will be adequately punished in official quarters. But +you will suffer in good company." + +Though Dawson thus became entitled to call himself Captain for the +duration of the war, he never used the rank or the uniform again. Once +more, to my knowledge, he served in his well-beloved Corps, but it was +then not as Captain, but as private, during his long watch in the +_Malplaquet_, of which I have told the story earlier in this book. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +DAWSON TELEPHONES FOR A SURGEON + +I have never been able to plan this book upon any system which would +hold together for half a dozen consecutive chapters. I am the victim +of my characters who come and go and pull me with them tied to their +chariot wheels. When I wrote the first story of the "Lost Naval +Papers"--which, by the way, were not lost at all--I had not made the +personal acquaintance of William Dawson. When I wrote of my own +encounters with Dawson and of my share, a humble share, in his +researches, my dear Madame Gilbert had not met me and subdued me into +a drivelling worship of her shining personality. While I was amusing +myself trying to convey to the reader the frolicsome atmosphere which +Madame carries about with her and in which she hides the workings of +her big heart and brain, I was ignorant of the adventures of the two +battle-cruisers and of Dawson's encounter with the War Committee, and +of his triumph over the revolting workmen of the north. I have +therefore written, as it were, from hand to mouth, more as one who +keeps a vagabond diary than as one who consciously plans a work of +art. It is as a diary of personal experiences that this book should be +regarded. It has no merit of constructive skill, for I have never +known what the future would yield to me of material. When Dawson +parted with me to return south to the Yard, and to his deserted family +in Acacia Villas, Primrose Road, Tooting, I did not expect to see him +again for months, possibly years. But a turn came to the wheel of my +destiny as it had done to his. I also was plucked from my northern +place of exile and transported joyfully to the south country, whither +I have always fled whenever for a few days or weeks I could loosen the +bonds which tied me to the north. Now that those bonds have fallen +entirely from me, and I am back in my southern home--whether for good +or for evil rests upon the lap of the high gods--I have been able +unexpectedly to resume contact with Dawson and to bring this, +discursive book to some kind of a conclusion. It cannot really end so +long as Dawson and Froissart and Madame Gilbert live and remain in +friendly association with me. They have become parts of my life, and +if I have not outraged their feelings beyond forgiveness by what I +have written of them, I have hopes that I shall meet all of them often +in the future and that they will tell me many more stories of their +exploits. + + * * * * * + +As soon as I had settled myself in London I took the earliest +opportunity of calling upon Dawson at the Yard. He was absent, but his +Deputy, who knew my name, received me kindly. He explained that it +would not be easy to find Dawson. "We never know where he is or what +he is doing. I suppose that the Chief knows; certainly no one else. +How can one be Deputy to a man who never tells one what he is doing or +where he may be found?" I agreed that the post seemed difficult to +fill adequately. "I wish I could chuck it as Froissart did when he +went back to Paris. Have you ever seen Madame Gilbert?" he inquired +eagerly. I observed that Madame did me the honour to be my friend. "So +you know her, do you? She's a clinker of a woman. Hot stuff, but a +real genuine clinker. She could do what she pleased with old man +Dawson; make him fetch and carry like a poodle. She's the only woman +born who ever turned Dawson round her fingers." I observed rather +stiffly that Madame Gilbert was a lady for whom I had a very high +regard, and that the expression "Hot stuff" was hardly respectful. +"Hum!" said the Deputy, eyeing me with interest. "So she has made a +fool of you like she has of the rest of us. Even the Chief gets down +on his rheumaticky old knees and kisses the carpet of his room after +she has trodden on it." + +The Deputy tended to become garrulous, and I cut him short with an +inquiry for Dawson's exact address. He lived in Acacia Villas, but I +was without the precise number. The Deputy told me, and promised to +inform Dawson of my visit at the earliest moment. "It may be to-day, +or next week, or next month. It may not be till the War is over"--an +expression which has come into colloquial use as a synonym for the +Greek Kalends. I thanked the officer, and withdrew somewhat annoyed. + +It appeared that Dawson was not far away, for a letter from him +reached me two days later at my club. It was an invitation to visit +his home and to dine with him on the following Sunday at one o'clock. +Enclosed was a plan designed to assist me in penetrating the mazes of +Tooting. That Sunday was a beautiful day in May, and I wandered down +with plenty of time to spare to provide against the danger of being +"bushed." But with the aid of Dawson's thoughtful plan I found +Primrose Road without difficulty. The hour was then 12.15, and the +house deserted. Dawson and his family were at chapel. I had forgotten +what I had heard months before of Dawson's fervour as a preacher upon +Truth until reminded of it by a constable whose beat passed the house. +"If you are looking for Chief Detective Inspector Dawson," said he, "I +can show you where to find him in chapel. He will be holding forth +just now." The opportunity of seeing Dawson as he really was--known +certainly only to his wife and to God--and of seeing him as a +preacher, spurred me into active interest. "My relief is coming now," +said the constable; "as soon as I have handed over I will show you the +way." + +As we walked together the policeman revealed to me the admiration +inspired by Dawson in his humble subordinates. "There is nothing that +man can't do," said he. "He is a skilled mechanic, a soldier--some say +he has a general's uniform hid away in his house--an electrical +engineer, and a telegraph operator. He has been all over the world in +the Royal Navy, and could if he liked be commanding a ship now. He's +the friend of Ministers and Secretaries of State. He's the best +detective that the Yard ever knew, and he preaches to folk here +like--like the Archangel Gabriel come to trot 'em off to Hell. I'm a +Wesleyan, myself, but I often go to hear the Chief Inspector. He makes +one come out in a cold sweat, and gives a man a fine appetite for +dinner. He shakes you up so that you feel empty," he explained. + +I observed that if Dawson were so great a stimulus upon appetite, he +would not be popular with the Food Controller. The policeman, though +he had heard of the Food Controller, was unconscious of his many +activities, which shows how little the world knows of its greatest +men. It also suggests that police constables do not read newspapers. + +The chapel was a building illustrative of the straight line and plane. +It was fairly large, and so full that the crowd of worshippers bulged +out of the doors. Though we could not force our way inside, we could +hear the booming of a voice which was scarcely recognisable as that of +Dawson. Waves of emotion ran so strongly through the congregation that +we could feel them beat against the fringes by the doors. "The Chief +Inspector is on his game to-day," whispered the constable. "He's +hitting them fine." From which I judged that the constable had in his +youth come from the north, where golf is cheap. It was a +disappointment that I could not get in, but perhaps well for the +reader. The temptation to record a genuine sermon by Dawson might have +proved too much for me. Presently the voice ceased to boom, the +congregation squeezed out hot and oily, like grease from a full +barrel, and I waited for Dawson to appear. "Don't speak to him now," +directed my guide. "Let him get up to his house. He can't talk for +half an hour after holding forth; there's not a word bad or good left +in his carcase." + +After all the worshippers had gone there issued forth a party of +three: a man, a woman, and a little girl. "There he is," said the +constable, nudging me. "Who?" asked I. "The Chief Inspector. There he +is with Mrs. Dawson and their little girl." I stared and stared, but +failed to recognise my friend of the north. I was too far away to see +his ears, and his face was quite strange to me. + +"I hope," I whispered primly to the constable, "that Mrs. Dawson is +sure he is her husband." + +"She ought to be. Aren't you sure?" + +"Not yet; I am not near enough to see properly. That Dawson, is not a +bit like those others whom I know." + +"That Dawson! Those others! Is there more than one Chief Inspector +Dawson?" asked the man, wondering. + +"I should say about a hundred," replied I, and left him gasping. I +fear that he now thinks that either I am quite mad or that Mrs. Dawson +is a pluralist in husbands. + +I gave the Dawson family sufficient time to reach their home, and to +recover the power of speech, and then walked gravely to the door as if +I had just arrived. One becomes contagiously deceptive in the vicinity +of Dawson. + +The stranger, who was the real undisguised Dawson, welcomed me to his +home. The house was a small one and the family kept no servant. I do +not know what income the Chief Inspector draws from the Yard, but am +sure that it is absurdly inadequate to his services. The higher one +rises, the less work one does and the more pay one gets--provided that +one begins more than half-way up the ladder. For those like Dawson who +begin quite at the bottom, the rule seems to be inverted: the more +work one does, the less pay one gets. I should judge my own ill-gotten +income at twice or three times that of Dawson--which even that +cautious judge, Euclid, would declare to be absurd. + +He led me to the parlour, which was well and tastefully +furnished--Dawson has seen good houses--and we waited there while Mrs. +Dawson dished up the dinner. "Please sit there, Dawson, facing the +light," said I. "Let me have a good look at you." He complied smiling, +and I examined his features with grave attention. Dawson, the real +Dawson as I now saw him for the first time, is a very fair man. His +pale sandy hair can readily be bleached white or dyed a dark colour. +He uses quick dyes which can be removed with appropriate chemicals. +His hair and moustache, he told me, grow very quickly. His complexion, +like his hair, is almost white, and his skin curiously opaque. His +blood is red and healthy, but it does not show through. His skin and +hair are like the canvas of a painter, always ready to receive +pigments and ready also to give them up when treated with skill. I +began to understand how Dawson can make to himself a face and +appearance of almost any habit or age. He can be fair or dark, dark or +fair, old or young, young or old, at will. He carries the employment +of rubber and wax insets very far indeed. His nose, his cheeks, his +mouth, his chin may be forced by internal packing to take to +themselves any shape. I made a hasty calculation that he can change +his appearance in seven hundred and twenty different ways. "So many as +that?" said Dawson, surprised when I told him. "I don't think that I +have gone beyond sixty." I assured him that on strict mathematical +principles I had arrived at the limiting number, and it gave him +pleasure to feel that so many untried permutations of countenance +remained to him. In actual everyday practice there are rarely more +than six Dawsons in being at the same time. He finds that number +sufficient for all useful purposes; a greater number, he says, would +excessively strain his memory. He has, you see, always to remember +which Dawson he is at any moment. When he was pulling my leg, or that +of his brave enemy Froissart, the number multiplied greatly, but, as a +working business rule, he is modestly content with six. "I suppose," I +asked, "that here in Acacia Villas you are always the genuine +article." + +"Always," he declared with emphasis. "Once," he went on, "I tried to +play a game on Emma. I came home as one of the others, forced my way +into the house, and was clouted over the head and chucked into the +street. When I got back to the Yard to alter myself--for I had left my +tools there--Emma had been telephoning to me to get the wicked +stranger arrested for house-breaking. I never tried any more games; +women have no sense of humour." He shuddered. Dawson is afraid of his +wife, and I pictured to myself a great haughty woman with the figure +and arms of a Juno. + +But when Clara--who asked kindly after my little Jane--had summoned us +to the dining-room, I was presented to a small, quiet mouse of a woman +whose head reached no higher than Dawson's heart. This was the +redoubtable Emma! "Did she really clout you over the head and chuck +you into the street?" I whispered. "She did, sir!" he replied, +smiling. "She threw me yards over my own doorstep." + +Between Dawson and his little wife there is a very tender affection. +In her eyes he is not a police officer, but an inspired preacher. She +knows nothing of his professional triumphs, and would not care to +know. She, I am very sure, will never trouble to read this book. To +her he is the lover of her youth, the most tender of husbands, and a +Boanerges who spends his Sabbaths dragging fellow-creatures from the +Pit. The God of Dawson and of his Emma is a pitiless giant with a +pitchfork, busily thrusting his creatures towards eternal torment; +Dawson, in Emma's eyes, is an intrepid salvor with a boat-hook who +once a week arduously pulls them out. Dawson married Emma when he was +a sergeant of Marines, and I think that he has shown to her his +uniform with the three captain's stars. To me she always spoke of him +as "the Captain," though I could not be quite sure whether she meant a +Captain of Marines or a Captain in the Army of Salvation. Dawson, his +Emma, and Clara are very happy, very united, and I am glad that I saw +them in their own home. I am helped to understand how tender is the +heart which beats under Dawson's assumed cloak of professional +ruthlessness. At first I wholly misjudged him, but I will not now +alter what I then wrote. My readers will learn to know their Dawson as +I learned myself. + +Whenever in the future I wish to hear from Dawson of his exploits I +shall not seek him at his own house. He is an artist who is highly +sensitive to atmosphere. In Acacia Villas the police officer fades to +shadowy insignificance, even in his own mind. Then, he is a husband, a +father, and a mighty preacher. He will talk of his disguises, and in +general terms of his work, but there is no fiery enthusiasm for +manhunting when Dawson gets home to Tooting. I shall seek him at the +Yard, or upon the hot trail; then and then only shall I get from him +the full flavour of his genius for detection. Dawson, away from home, +is so vain as to be unconscious of his vanity; Dawson at home is quite +extraordinarily modest. He defers always to the opinion of Emma, and +she, gently, kindly, but with an air of infinite superiority, keeps +his wandering steps firmly in the path of truth. He is, I am told, a +most kindling preacher, but it is Emma who inspires his sermons. + +Once only during my visit did I see a flash of the old Dawson, the +Dawson of the _Malplaquet_, and of the War Committee, and that was +just before I left. We were in the parlour smoking, and I was getting +rather bored. Conjugal virtue, domestic content and happiness, are +beautiful to look upon for a while, but I confess that in a +remorseless continuous film ("featuring" Dawson and Emma) I find them +boresome. There is little humour about Dawson and none at all about +his dear Emma. I would gladly exchange fifty virtuous Emmas for one +naughty Madame Gilbert. We had been talking idly of our sport together +and of his different incarnations. Suddenly he sprang from his chair +and his pale face lighted up. "Now that I have you here, Mr. +Copplestone, I shall not let you go until you tell me by what trick +you can always see through my disguises. Would you know me now as +Dawson?" + +"Of course," said I. "There is no difficulty. If you painted your face +black and your hair vermilion, I should still know you at once." + +"You have promised to tell me the secret. Tell me now." + +I considered whether I should tell. It was amusing to have some hold +over him, but was it quite fair to Dawson to keep him in ignorance of +those marks of ear by which I could always be certain of his identity. +He had been useful to me, and I had made free with his personality. +Yes, I would tell him, and in a few sentences I told. + +He gripped his ears with both hands; he felt those lobes so firmly +secured to his cheekbones, and those blobs of flesh which remained to +him of his wolfish ancestors. He fingered them carefully while he +thought. At last he made up his mind. "It is the Sabbath," said he, +"but when I am on duty I work ever upon the Sabbath day. It is now my +duty to--" He reached for the telephone book, took off the receiver, +and called for a number. + +"What are you doing?" I asked, though I ought to have known. + +"I am making an appointment with a surgeon," said Dawson. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Lost Naval Papers, by Bennet Copplestone + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS *** + +***** This file should be named 10474.txt or 10474.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/4/7/10474/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Christine Gehring and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS," WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10474.zip b/old/10474.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ff2493 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10474.zip |