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diff --git a/22357.txt b/22357.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58d3a2e --- /dev/null +++ b/22357.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6766 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Danger! and Other Stories, by Arthur Conan +Doyle + + +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: Danger! and Other Stories + + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + + + +Release Date: August 19, 2007 [eBook #22357] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANGER! AND OTHER STORIES*** + + +Transcribed from the 1918 John Murray edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +DANGER! +AND OTHER STORIES + + +BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + +AUTHOR OF +"THE WHITE COMPANY," "SIR NIGEL" +"RODNEY STONE," ETC. + +LONDON +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. +1918 + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + +PREFACE + + +The Title story of this volume was written about eighteen months before +the outbreak of the war, and was intended to direct public attention to +the great danger which threatened this country. It is a matter of +history how fully this warning has been justified and how, even down to +the smallest details, the prediction has been fulfilled. The writer +must, however, most thankfully admit that what he did not foresee was the +energy and ingenuity with which the navy has found means to meet the new +conditions. The great silent battle which has been fought beneath the +waves has ended in the repulse of an armada far more dangerous than that +of Spain. + +It may be objected that the writer, feeling the danger so strongly, +should have taken other means than fiction to put his views before the +authorities. The answer to this criticism is that he did indeed adopt +every possible method, that he personally approached leading naval men +and powerful editors, that he sent three separate minutes upon the danger +to various public bodies, notably to the Committee for National Defence, +and that he touched upon the matter in an article in _The Fortnightly +Review_. In some unfortunate way subjects of national welfare are in +this country continually subordinated to party politics, so that a self- +evident proposition, such as the danger of a nation being fed from +without, is waved aside and ignored, because it will not fit in with some +general political shibboleth. It is against this tendency that we have +to guard in the future, and we have to bear in mind that the danger may +recur, and that the remedies in the text (the only remedies ever +proposed) have still to be adopted. They are the sufficient +encouragement of agriculture, the making of adequate Channel tunnels, and +the provision of submarine merchantmen, which, on the estimate of Mr. +Lake, the American designer, could be made up to 7,000 ton burden at an +increased cost of about 25 per cent. It is true that in this war the +Channel tunnels would not have helped us much in the matter of food, but +were France a neutral and supplies at liberty to come via Marseilles from +the East, the difference would have been enormous. + +Apart from food however, when one considers the transports we have +needed, their convoys, the double handling of cargo, the interruptions of +traffic from submarines or bad weather, the danger and suffering of the +wounded, and all else that we owe to the insane opposition to the Channel +tunnels, one questions whether there has ever been an example of national +stupidity being so rapidly and heavily punished. It is as clear as +daylight even now, that it will take years to recover all our men and +material from France, and that if the tunnel (one will suffice for the +time), were at once set in hand, it might be ready to help in this task +and so free shipping for the return of the Americans. One thing however, +is clear. It is far too big and responsible and lucrative an undertaking +for a private company, and it should be carried out and controlled by +Government, the proceeds being used towards the war debt. + +ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. + +_August_ 24_th_, +CROWBOROUGH. + + + + +I. DANGER! {1} +BEING THE LOG OF CAPTAIN JOHN SIRIUS + + +It is an amazing thing that the English, who have the reputation of being +a practical nation, never saw the danger to which they were exposed. For +many years they had been spending nearly a hundred millions a year upon +their army and their fleet. Squadrons of Dreadnoughts costing two +millions each had been launched. They had spent enormous sums upon +cruisers, and both their torpedo and their submarine squadrons were +exceptionally strong. They were also by no means weak in their aerial +power, especially in the matter of seaplanes. Besides all this, their +army was very efficient, in spite of its limited numbers, and it was the +most expensive in Europe. Yet when the day of trial came, all this +imposing force was of no use whatever, and might as well have not +existed. Their ruin could not have been more complete or more rapid if +they had not possessed an ironclad or a regiment. And all this was +accomplished by me, Captain John Sirius, belonging to the navy of one of +the smallest Powers in Europe, and having under my command a flotilla of +eight vessels, the collective cost of which was eighteen hundred thousand +pounds. No one has a better right to tell the story than I. + +I will not trouble you about the dispute concerning the Colonial +frontier, embittered, as it was, by the subsequent death of the two +missionaries. A naval officer has nothing to do with politics. I only +came upon the scene after the ultimatum had been actually received. +Admiral Horli had been summoned to the Presence, and he asked that I +should be allowed to accompany him, because he happened to know that I +had some clear ideas as to the weak points of England, and also some +schemes as to how to take advantage of them. There were only four of us +present at this meeting--the King, the Foreign Secretary, Admiral Horli, +and myself. The time allowed by the ultimatum expired in forty-eight +hours. + +I am not breaking any confidence when I say that both the King and the +Minister were in favour of a surrender. They saw no possibility of +standing up against the colossal power of Great Britain. The Minister +had drawn up an acceptance of the British terms, and the King sat with it +before him on the table. I saw the tears of anger and humiliation run +down his cheeks as he looked at it. + +"I fear that there is no possible alternative, Sire," said the Minister. +"Our envoy in London has just sent this report, which shows that the +public and the Press are more united than he has ever known them. The +feeling is intense, especially since the rash act of Malort in +desecrating the flag. We must give way." + +The King looked sadly at Admiral Horli. + +"What is your effective fleet, Admiral?" he asked. + +"Two battleships, four cruisers, twenty torpedo-boats, and eight +submarines," said the Admiral. + +The King shook his head. + +"It would be madness to resist," said he. + +"And yet, Sire," said the Admiral, "before you come to a decision I +should wish you to hear Captain Sirius, who has a very definite plan of +campaign against the English." + +"Absurd!" said the King, impatiently. "What is the use? Do you imagine +that you could defeat their vast armada?" + +"Sire," I answered, "I will stake my life that if you will follow my +advice you will, within a month or six weeks at the utmost, bring proud +England to her knees." + +There was an assurance in my voice which arrested the attention of the +King. + +"You seem self-confident, Captain Sirius." + +"I have no doubt at all, Sire." + +"What then would you advise?" + +"I would advise, Sire, that the whole fleet be gathered under the forts +of Blankenberg and be protected from attack by booms and piles. There +they can stay till the war is over. The eight submarines, however, you +will leave in my charge to use as I think fit." + +"Ah, you would attack the English battleships with submarines?" + +"Sire, I would never go near an English battleship." + +"And why not?" + +"Because they might injure me, Sire." + +"What, a sailor and afraid?" + +"My life belongs to the country, Sire. It is nothing. But these eight +ships--everything depends upon them. I could not risk them. Nothing +would induce me to fight." + +"Then what will you do?" + +"I will tell you, Sire." And I did so. For half an hour I spoke. I was +clear and strong and definite, for many an hour on a lonely watch I had +spent in thinking out every detail. I held them enthralled. The King +never took his eyes from my face. The Minister sat as if turned to +stone. + +"Are you sure of all this?" + +"Perfectly, Sire." + +The King rose from the table. + +"Send no answer to the ultimatum," said he. "Announce in both houses +that we stand firm in the face of menace. Admiral Horli, you will in all +respects carry out that which Captain Sirius may demand in furtherance of +his plan. Captain Sirius, the field is clear. Go forth and do as you +have said. A grateful King will know how to reward you." + +I need not trouble you by telling you the measures which were taken at +Blankenberg, since, as you are aware, the fortress and the entire fleet +were destroyed by the British within a week of the declaration of war. I +will confine myself to my own plans, which had so glorious and final a +result. + +The fame of my eight submarines, _Alpha_, _Beta_, _Gamma_, _Theta_, +_Delta_, _Epsilon_, _Iota_, and _Kappa_, have spread through the world to +such an extent that people have begun to think that there was something +peculiar in their form and capabilities. This is not so. Four of them, +the _Delta_, _Epsilon_, _Iota_, and _Kappa_, were, it is true, of the +very latest model, but had their equals (though not their superiors) in +the navies of all the great Powers. As to _Alpha_, _Beta_, _Gamma_, and +_Theta_, they were by no means modern vessels, and found their prototypes +in the old F class of British boats, having a submerged displacement of +eight hundred tons, with heavy oil engines of sixteen hundred +horse-power, giving them a speed of eighteen knots on the surface and of +twelve knots submerged. Their length was one hundred and eighty-six and +their breadth twenty-four feet. They had a radius of action of four +thousand miles and a submerged endurance of nine hours. These were +considered the latest word in 1915, but the four new boats exceeded them +in all respects. Without troubling you with precise figures, I may say +that they represented roughly a twenty-five per cent. advance up on the +older boats, and were fitted with several auxiliary engines which were +wanting in the others. At my suggestion, instead of carrying eight of +the very large Bakdorf torpedoes, which are nineteen feet long, weigh +half a ton, and are charged with two hundred pounds of wet gun-cotton, we +had tubes designed for eighteen of less than half the size. It was my +design to make myself independent of my base. + +And yet it was clear that I must have a base, so I made arrangements at +once with that object. Blankenberg was the last place I would have +chosen. Why should I have a _port_ of any kind? Ports would be watched +or occupied. Any place would do for me. I finally chose a small villa +standing alone nearly five miles from any village and thirty miles from +any port. To this I ordered them to convey, secretly by night, oil, +spare parts, extra torpedoes, storage batteries, reserve periscopes, and +everything that I could need for refitting. The little whitewashed villa +of a retired confectioner--that was the base from which I operated +against England. + +The boats lay at Blankenberg, and thither I went. They were working +frantically at the defences, and they had only to look seawards to be +spurred to fresh exertions. The British fleet was assembling. The +ultimatum had not yet expired, but it was evident that a blow would be +struck the instant that it did. Four of their aeroplanes, circling at an +immense height, were surveying our defences. From the top of the +lighthouse I counted thirty battleships and cruisers in the offing, with +a number of the trawlers with which in the British service they break +through the mine-fields. The approaches were actually sown with two +hundred mines, half contact and half observation, but the result showed +that they were insufficient to hold off the enemy, since three days later +both town and fleet were speedily destroyed. + +However, I am not here to tell you the incidents of the war, but to +explain my own part in it, which had such a decisive effect upon the +result. My first action was to send my four second-class boats away +instantly to the point which I had chosen for my base. There they were +to wait submerged, lying with negative buoyancy upon the sands in twenty +foot of water, and rising only at night. My strict orders were that they +were to attempt nothing upon the enemy, however tempting the opportunity. +All they had to do was to remain intact and unseen, until they received +further orders. Having made this clear to Commander Panza, who had +charge of this reserve flotilla, I shook him by the hand and bade him +farewell, leaving with him a sheet of notepaper upon which I had +explained the tactics to be used and given him certain general principles +which he could apply as circumstances demanded. + +My whole attention was now given to my own flotilla, which I divided into +two divisions, keeping _Iota_ and _Kappa_ under my own command, while +Captain Miriam had _Delta_ and _Epsilon_. He was to operate separately +in the British Channel, while my station was the Straits of Dover. I +made the whole plan of campaign clear to him. Then I saw that each ship +was provided with all it could carry. Each had forty tons of heavy oil +for surface propulsion and charging the dynamo which supplied the +electric engines under water. Each had also eighteen torpedoes as +explained and five hundred rounds for the collapsible quick-firing twelve- +pounder which we carried on deck, and which, of course, disappeared into +a water-tight tank when we were submerged. We carried spare periscopes +and a wireless mast, which could be elevated above the conning-tower when +necessary. There were provisions for sixteen days for the ten men who +manned each craft. Such was the equipment of the four boats which were +destined to bring to naught all the navies and armies of Britain. At +sundown that day--it was April 10th--we set forth upon our historic +voyage. + +Miriam had got away in the afternoon, since he had so much farther to go +to reach his station. Stephan, of the _Kappa_, started with me; but, of +course, we realized that we must work independently, and that from that +moment when we shut the sliding hatches of our conning-towers on the +still waters of Blankenberg Harbour it was unlikely that we should ever +see each other again, though consorts in the same waters. I waved to +Stephan from the side of my conning-tower, and he to me. Then I called +through the tube to my engineer (our water-tanks were already filled and +all kingstons and vents closed) to put her full speed ahead. + +Just as we came abreast of the end of the pier and saw the white-capped +waves rolling in upon us, I put the horizontal rudder hard down and she +slid under water. Through my glass portholes I saw its light green +change to a dark blue, while the manometer in front of me indicated +twenty feet. I let her go to forty, because I should then be under the +warships of the English, though I took the chance of fouling the moorings +of our own floating contact mines. Then I brought her on an even keel, +and it was music to my ear to hear the gentle, even ticking of my +electric engines and to know that I was speeding at twelve miles an hour +on my great task. + +At that moment, as I stood controlling my levers in my tower, I could +have seen, had my cupola been of glass, the vast shadows of the British +blockaders hovering above me. I held my course due westward for ninety +minutes, and then, by shutting off the electric engine without blowing +out the water-tanks, I brought her to the surface. There was a rolling +sea and the wind was freshening, so I did not think it safe to keep my +hatch open long, for so small is the margin of buoyancy that one must run +no risks. But from the crests of the rollers I had a look backwards at +Blankenberg, and saw the black funnels and upper works of the enemy's +fleet with the lighthouse and the castle behind them, all flushed with +the pink glow of the setting sun. Even as I looked there was the boom of +a great gun, and then another. I glanced at my watch. It was six +o'clock. The time of the ultimatum had expired. We were at war. + +There was no craft near us, and our surface speed is nearly twice that of +our submerged, so I blew out the tanks and our whale-back came over the +surface. All night we were steering south-west, making an average of +eighteen knots. At about five in the morning, as I stood alone upon my +tiny bridge, I saw, low down in the west, the scattered lights of the +Norfolk coast. "Ah, Johnny, Johnny Bull," I said, as I looked at them, +"you are going to have your lesson, and I am to be your master. It is I +who have been chosen to teach you that one cannot live under artificial +conditions and yet act as if they were natural ones. More foresight, +Johnny, and less party politics--that is my lesson to you." And then I +had a wave of pity, too, when I thought of those vast droves of helpless +people, Yorkshire miners, Lancashire spinners, Birmingham metal-workers, +the dockers and workers of London, over whose little homes I would bring +the shadow of starvation. I seemed to see all those wasted eager hands +held out for food, and I, John Sirius, dashing it aside. Ah, well! war +is war, and if one is foolish one must pay the price. + +Just before daybreak I saw the lights of a considerable town, which must +have been Yarmouth, bearing about ten miles west-south-west on our +starboard bow. I took her farther out, for it is a sandy, dangerous +coast, with many shoals. At five-thirty we were abreast of the Lowestoft +lightship. A coastguard was sending up flash signals which faded into a +pale twinkle as the white dawn crept over the water. There was a good +deal of shipping about, mostly fishing-boats and small coasting craft, +with one large steamer hull-down to the west, and a torpedo destroyer +between us and the land. It could not harm us, and yet I thought it as +well that there should be no word of our presence, so I filled my tanks +again and went down to ten feet. I was pleased to find that we got under +in one hundred and fifty seconds. The life of one's boat may depend on +this when a swift craft comes suddenly upon you. + +We were now within a few hours of our cruising ground, so I determined to +snatch a rest, leaving Vornal in charge. When he woke me at ten o'clock +we were running on the surface, and had reached the Essex coast off the +Maplin Sands. With that charming frankness which is one of their +characteristics, our friends of England had informed us by their Press +that they had put a cordon of torpedo-boats across the Straits of Dover +to prevent the passage of submarines, which is about as sensible as to +lay a wooden plank across a stream to keep the eels from passing. I knew +that Stephan, whose station lay at the western end of the Solent, would +have no difficulty in reaching it. My own cruising ground was to be at +the mouth of the Thames, and here I was at the very spot with my tiny +_Iota_, my eighteen torpedoes, my quick-firing gun, and, above all, a +brain that knew what should be done and how to do it. + +When I resumed my place in the conning-tower I saw in the periscope (for +we had dived) that a lightship was within a few hundred yards of us upon +the port bow. Two men were sitting on her bulwarks, but neither of them +cast an eye upon the little rod that clove the water so close to them. It +was an ideal day for submarine action, with enough ripple upon the +surface to make us difficult to detect, and yet smooth enough to give me +a clear view. Each of my three periscopes had an angle of sixty degrees +so that between them I commanded a complete semi-circle of the horizon. +Two British cruisers were steaming north from the Thames within half a +mile of me. I could easily have cut them off and attacked them had I +allowed myself to be diverted from my great plan. Farther south a +destroyer was passing westwards to Sheerness. A dozen small steamers +were moving about. None of these were worthy of my notice. Great +countries are not provisioned by small steamers. I kept the engines +running at the lowest pace which would hold our position under water, +and, moving slowly across the estuary, I waited for what must assuredly +come. + +I had not long to wait. Shortly after one o'clock I perceived in the +periscope a cloud of smoke to the south. Half an hour later a large +steamer raised her hull, making for the mouth of the Thames. I ordered +Vornal to stand by the starboard torpedo-tube, having the other also +loaded in case of a miss. Then I advanced slowly, for though the steamer +was going very swiftly we could easily cut her off. Presently I laid the +_Iota_ in a position near which she must pass, and would very gladly have +lain to, but could not for fear of rising to the surface. I therefore +steered out in the direction from which she was coming. She was a very +large ship, fifteen thousand tons at the least, painted black above and +red below, with two cream-coloured funnels. She lay so low in the water +that it was clear she had a full cargo. At her bows were a cluster of +men, some of them looking, I dare say, for the first time at the mother +country. How little could they have guessed the welcome that was +awaiting them! + +On she came with the great plumes of smoke floating from her funnels, and +two white waves foaming from her cut-water. She was within a quarter of +a mile. My moment had arrived. I signalled full speed ahead and steered +straight for her course. My timing was exact. At a hundred yards I gave +the signal, and heard the clank and swish of the discharge. At the same +instant I put the helm hard down and flew off at an angle. There was a +terrific lurch, which came from the distant explosion. For a moment we +were almost upon our side. Then, after staggering and trembling, the +_Iota_ came on an even keel. I stopped the engines, brought her to the +surface, and opened the conning-tower, while all my excited crew came +crowding to the hatch to know what had happened. + +The ship lay within two hundred yards of us, and it was easy to see that +she had her death-blow. She was already settling down by the stern. +There was a sound of shouting and people were running wildly about her +decks. Her name was visible, the _Adela_, of London, bound, as we +afterwards learned, from New Zealand with frozen mutton. Strange as it +may seem to you, the notion of a submarine had never even now occurred to +her people, and all were convinced that they had struck a floating mine. +The starboard quarter had been blown in by the explosion, and the ship +was sinking rapidly. Their discipline was admirable. We saw boat after +boat slip down crowded with people as swiftly and quietly as if it were +part of their daily drill. And suddenly, as one of the boats lay off +waiting for the others, they caught a glimpse for the first time of my +conning-tower so close to them. I saw them shouting and pointing, while +the men in the other boats got up to have a better look at us. For my +part, I cared nothing, for I took it for granted that they already knew +that a submarine had destroyed them. One of them clambered back into the +sinking ship. I was sure that he was about to send a wireless message as +to our presence. It mattered nothing, since, in any case, it must be +known; otherwise I could easily have brought him down with a rifle. As +it was, I waved my hand to them, and they waved back to me. War is too +big a thing to leave room for personal ill-feeling, but it must be +remorseless all the same. + +I was still looking at the sinking _Adela_ when Vornal, who was beside +me, gave a sudden cry of warning and surprise, gripping me by the +shoulder and turning my head. There behind us, coming up the fairway, +was a huge black vessel with black funnels, flying the well-known house- +flag of the P. and O. Company. She was not a mile distant, and I +calculated in an instant that even if she had seen us she would not have +time to turn and get away before we could reach her. We went straight +for her, therefore, keeping awash just as we were. They saw the sinking +vessel in front of them and that little dark speck moving over the +surface, and they suddenly understood their danger. I saw a number of +men rush to the bows, and there was a rattle of rifle-fire. Two bullets +were flattened upon our four-inch armour. You might as well try to stop +a charging bull with paper pellets as the _Iota_ with rifle-fire. I had +learned my lesson from the _Adela_, and this time I had the torpedo +discharged at a safer distance--two hundred and fifty yards. We caught +her amidships and the explosion was tremendous, but we were well outside +its area. She sank almost instantaneously. I am sorry for her people, +of whom I hear that more than two hundred, including seventy Lascars and +forty passengers, were drowned. Yes, I am sorry for them. But when I +think of the huge floating granary that went to the bottom, I rejoice as +a man does who has carried out that which he plans. + +It was a bad afternoon that for the P. and O. Company. The second ship +which we destroyed was, as we have since learned, the _Moldavia_, of +fifteen thousand tons, one of their finest vessels; but about half-past +three we blew up the _Cusco_, of eight thousand, of the same line, also +from Eastern ports, and laden with corn. Why she came on in face of the +wireless messages which must have warned her of danger, I cannot imagine. +The other two steamers which we blew up that day, the _Maid of Athens_ +(Robson Line) and the _Cormorant_, were neither of them provided with +apparatus, and came blindly to their destruction. Both were small boats +of from five thousand to seven thousand tons. In the case of the second, +I had to rise to the surface and fire six twelve-pound shells under her +water-line before she would sink. In each case the crew took to the +boats, and so far as I know no casualties occurred. + +After that no more steamers came along, nor did I expect them. Warnings +must by this time have been flying in all directions. But we had no +reason to be dissatisfied with our first day. Between the Maplin Sands +and the Nore we had sunk five ships of a total tonnage of about fifty +thousand tons. Already the London markets would begin to feel the pinch. +And Lloyd's--poor old Lloyd's--what a demented state it would be in! I +could imagine the London evening papers and the howling in Fleet Street. +We saw the result of our actions, for it was quite laughable to see the +torpedo-boats buzzing like angry wasps out of Sheerness in the evening. +They were darting in every direction across the estuary, and the +aeroplanes and hydroplanes were like flights of crows, black dots against +the red western sky. They quartered the whole river mouth, until they +discovered us at last. Some sharp-sighted fellow with a telescope on +board of a destroyer got a sight of our periscope, and came for us full +speed. No doubt he would very gladly have rammed us, even if it had +meant his own destruction, but that was not part of our programme at all. +I sank her and ran her east-south-east with an occasional rise. Finally +we brought her to, not very far from the Kentish coast, and the search- +lights of our pursuers were far on the western skyline. There we lay +quietly all night, for a submarine at night is nothing more than a very +third-rate surface torpedo-boat. Besides, we were all weary and needed +rest. Do not forget, you captains of men, when you grease and trim your +pumps and compressors and rotators, that the human machine needs some +tending also. + +I had put up the wireless mast above the conning-tower, and had no +difficulty in calling up Captain Stephan. He was lying, he said, off +Ventnor and had been unable to reach his station, on account of engine +trouble, which he had now set right. Next morning he proposed to block +the Southampton approach. He had destroyed one large Indian boat on his +way down Channel. We exchanged good wishes. Like myself, he needed +rest. I was up at four in the morning, however, and called all hands to +overhaul the boat. She was somewhat up by the head, owing to the forward +torpedoes having been used, so we trimmed her by opening the forward +compensating tank, admitting as much water as the torpedoes had weighed. +We also overhauled the starboard air-compressor and one of the periscope +motors which had been jarred by the shock of the first explosion. We had +hardly got ourselves shipshape when the morning dawned. + +I have no doubt that a good many ships which had taken refuge in the +French ports at the first alarm had run across and got safely up the +river in the night. Of course I could have attacked them, but I do not +care to take risks--and there are always risks for a submarine at night. +But one had miscalculated his time, and there she was, just abreast of +Warden Point, when the daylight disclosed her to us. In an instant we +were after her. It was a near thing, for she was a flier, and could do +two miles to our one; but we just reached her as she went swashing by. +She saw us at the last moment, for I attacked her awash, since otherwise +we could not have had the pace to reach her. She swung away and the +first torpedo missed, but the second took her full under the counter. +Heavens, what a smash! The whole stern seemed to go aloft. I drew off +and watched her sink. She went down in seven minutes, leaving her masts +and funnels over the water and a cluster of her people holding on to +them. She was the _Virginia_, of the Bibby Line--twelve thousand +tons--and laden, like the others, with foodstuffs from the East. The +whole surface of the sea was covered with the floating grain. "John Bull +will have to take up a hole or two of his belt if this goes on," said +Vornal, as we watched the scene. + +And it was at that moment that the very worst danger occurred that could +befall us. I tremble now when I think how our glorious voyage might have +been nipped in the bud. I had freed the hatch of my tower, and was +looking at the boats of the _Virginia_ with Vornal near me, when there +was a swish and a terrific splash in the water beside us, which covered +us both with spray. We looked up, and you can imagine our feelings when +we saw an aeroplane hovering a few hundred feet above us like a hawk. +With its silencer, it was perfectly noiseless, and had its bomb not +fallen into the sea we should never have known what had destroyed us. She +was circling round in the hope of dropping a second one, but we shoved on +all speed ahead, crammed down the rudders, and vanished into the side of +a roller. I kept the deflection indicator falling until I had put fifty +good feet of water between the aeroplane and ourselves, for I knew well +how deeply they can see under the surface. However, we soon threw her +off our track, and when we came to the surface near Margate there was no +sign of her, unless she was one of several which we saw hovering over +Herne Bay. + +There was not a ship in the offing save a few small coasters and little +thousand-ton steamers, which were beneath my notice. For several hours I +lay submerged with a blank periscope. Then I had an inspiration. Orders +had been marconied to every foodship to lie in French waters and dash +across after dark. I was as sure of it as if they had been recorded in +our own receiver. Well, if they were there, that was where I should be +also. I blew out the tanks and rose, for there was no sign of any +warship near. They had some good system of signalling from the shore, +however, for I had not got to the North Foreland before three destroyers +came foaming after me, all converging from different directions. They +had about as good a chance of catching me as three spaniels would have of +overtaking a porpoise. Out of pure bravado--I know it was very wrong--I +waited until they were actually within gunshot. Then I sank and we saw +each other no more. + +It is, as I have said, a shallow sandy coast, and submarine navigation is +very difficult. The worst mishap that can befall a boat is to bury its +nose in the side of a sand-drift and be held there. Such an accident +might have been the end of our boat, though with our Fleuss cylinders and +electric lamps we should have found no difficulty in getting out at the +air-lock and in walking ashore across the bed of the ocean. As it was, +however, I was able, thanks to our excellent charts, to keep the channel +and so to gain the open straits. There we rose about midday, but, +observing a hydroplane at no great distance, we sank again for half an +hour. When we came up for the second time, all was peaceful around us, +and the English coast was lining the whole western horizon. We kept +outside the Goodwins and straight down Channel until we saw a line of +black dots in front of us, which I knew to be the Dover-Calais torpedo- +boat cordon. When two miles distant we dived and came up again seven +miles to the south-west, without one of them dreaming that we had been +within thirty feet of their keels. + +When we rose, a large steamer flying the German flag was within half a +mile of us. It was the North German Lloyd _Altona_, from New York to +Bremen. I raised our whole hull and dipped our flag to her. It was +amusing to see the amazement of her people at what they must have +regarded as our unparalleled impudence in those English-swept waters. +They cheered us heartily, and the tricolour flag was dipped in greeting +as they went roaring past us. Then I stood in to the French coast. + +It was exactly as I had expected. There were three great British +steamers lying at anchor in Boulogne outer harbour. They were the +_Caesar_, the _King of the East_, and the _Pathfinder_, none less than +ten thousand tons. I suppose they thought they were safe in French +waters, but what did I care about three-mile limits and international +law! The view of my Government was that England was blockaded, food +contraband, and vessels carrying it to be destroyed. The lawyers could +argue about it afterwards. My business was to starve the enemy any way I +could. Within an hour the three ships were under the waves and the +_Iota_ was streaming down the Picardy coast, looking for fresh victims. +The Channel was covered with English torpedo-boats buzzing and whirling +like a cloud of midges. How they thought they could hurt me I cannot +imagine, unless by accident I were to come up underneath one of them. +More dangerous were the aeroplanes which circled here and there. + +The water being calm, I had several times to descend as deep as a hundred +feet before I was sure that I was out of their sight. After I had blown +up the three ships at Boulogne I saw two aeroplanes flying down Channel, +and I knew that they would head off any vessels which were coming up. +There was one very large white steamer lying off Havre, but she steamed +west before I could reach her. I dare say Stephan or one of the others +would get her before long. But those infernal aeroplanes spoiled our +sport for that day. Not another steamer did I see, save the never-ending +torpedo-boats. I consoled myself with the reflection, however, that no +food was passing me on its way to London. That was what I was there for, +after all. If I could do it without spending my torpedoes, all the +better. Up to date I had fired ten of them and sunk nine steamers, so I +had not wasted my weapons. That night I came back to the Kent coast and +lay upon the bottom in shallow water near Dungeness. + +We were all trimmed and ready at the first break of day, for I expected +to catch some ships which had tried to make the Thames in the darkness +and had miscalculated their time. Sure enough, there was a great steamer +coming up Channel and flying the American flag. It was all the same to +me what flag she flew so long as she was engaged in conveying contraband +of war to the British Isles. There were no torpedo-boats about at the +moment, so I ran out on the surface and fired a shot across her bows. She +seemed inclined to go on so I put a second one just above her water-line +on her port bow. She stopped then and a very angry man began to +gesticulate from the bridge. I ran the _Iota_ almost alongside. + +"Are you the captain?" I asked. + +"What the--" I won't attempt to reproduce his language. + +"You have food-stuffs on board?" I said. + +"It's an American ship, you blind beetle!" he cried. "Can't you see the +flag? It's the _Vermondia_, of Boston." + +"Sorry, Captain," I answered. "I have really no time for words. Those +shots of mine will bring the torpedo-boats, and I dare say at this very +moment your wireless is making trouble for me. Get your people into the +boats." + +I had to show him I was not bluffing, so I drew off and began putting +shells into him just on the water-line. When I had knocked six holes in +it he was very busy on his boats. I fired twenty shots altogether, and +no torpedo was needed, for she was lying over with a terrible list to +port, and presently came right on to her side. There she lay for two or +three minutes before she foundered. There were eight boats crammed with +people lying round her when she went down. I believe everybody was +saved, but I could not wait to inquire. From all quarters the poor old +panting, useless war-vessels were hurrying. I filled my tanks, ran her +bows under, and came up fifteen miles to the south. Of course, I knew +there would be a big row afterwards--as there was--but that did not help +the starving crowds round the London bakers, who only saved their skins, +poor devils, by explaining to the mob that they had nothing to bake. + +By this time I was becoming rather anxious, as you can imagine, to know +what was going on in the world and what England was thinking about it +all. I ran alongside a fishing-boat, therefore, and ordered them to give +up their papers. Unfortunately they had none, except a rag of an evening +paper, which was full of nothing but betting news. In a second attempt I +came alongside a small yachting party from Eastbourne, who were +frightened to death at our sudden appearance out of the depths. From +them we were lucky enough to get the London _Courier_ of that very +morning. + +It was interesting reading--so interesting that I had to announce it all +to the crew. Of course, you know the British style of headline, which +gives you all the news at a glance. It seemed to me that the whole paper +was headlines, it was in such a state of excitement. Hardly a word about +me and my flotilla. We were on the second page. The first one began +something like this:-- + + CAPTURE OF BLANKENBERG! + + * * * * * + + DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY'S FLEET + + * * * * * + + BURNING OF TOWN + + * * * * * + + TRAWLERS DESTROY MINE FIELD + LOSS OF TWO BATTLESHIPS + + * * * * * + + IS IT THE END? + +Of course, what I had foreseen had occurred. The town was actually +occupied by the British. And they thought it was the end! We would see +about that. + +On the round-the-corner page, at the back of the glorious resonant +leaders, there was a little column which read like this:-- + + HOSTILE SUBMARINES + + Several of the enemy's submarines are at sea, and have inflicted some + appreciable damage upon our merchant ships. The danger-spots upon + Monday and the greater part of Tuesday appear to have been the mouth + of the Thames and the western entrance to the Solent. On Monday, + between the Nore and Margate, there were sunk five large steamers, the + _Adela_, _Moldavia_, _Cusco_, _Cormorant_, and _Maid of Athens_, + particulars of which will be found below. Near Ventnor, on the same + day, was sunk the _Verulam_, from Bombay. On Tuesday the _Virginia_, + _Caesar_, _King of the East_, and _Pathfinder_ were destroyed between + the Foreland and Boulogne. The latter three were actually lying in + French waters, and the most energetic representations have been made + by the Government of the Republic. On the same day _The Queen of + Sheba_, _Orontes_, _Diana_, and _Atalanta_ were destroyed near the + Needles. Wireless messages have stopped all ingoing cargo-ships from + coming up Channel, but unfortunately there is evidence that at least + two of the enemy's submarines are in the West. Four cattle-ships from + Dublin to Liverpool were sunk yesterday evening, while three Bristol- + bound steamers, _The Hilda_, _Mercury_, and _Maria Toser_, were blown + up in the neighbourhood of Lundy Island. Commerce has, so far as + possible, been diverted into safer channels, but in the meantime, + however vexatious these incidents may be, and however grievous the + loss both to the owners and to Lloyd's, we may console ourselves by + the reflection that since a submarine cannot keep the sea for more + than ten days without refitting, and since the base has been captured, + there must come a speedy term to these depredations." + +So much for the _Courier's_ account of our proceedings. Another small +paragraph was, however, more eloquent:-- + + "The price of wheat, which stood at thirty-five shillings a week + before the declaration of war, was quoted yesterday on the Baltic at + fifty-two. Maize has gone from twenty-one to thirty-seven, barley + from nineteen to thirty-five, sugar (foreign granulated) from eleven + shillings and threepence to nineteen shillings and sixpence." + +"Good, my lads!" said I, when I read it to the crew. "I can assure you +that those few lines will prove to mean more than the whole page about +the Fall of Blankenberg. Now let us get down Channel and send those +prices up a little higher." + +All traffic had stopped for London--not so bad for the little _Iota_--and +we did not see a steamer that was worth a torpedo between Dungeness and +the Isle of Wight. There I called Stephan up by wireless, and by seven +o'clock we were actually lying side by side in a smooth rolling +sea--Hengistbury Head bearing N.N.W. and about five miles distant. The +two crews clustered on the whale-backs and shouted their joy at seeing +friendly faces once more. Stephan had done extraordinarily well. I had, +of course, read in the London paper of his four ships on Tuesday, but he +had sunk no fewer than seven since, for many of those which should have +come to the Thames had tried to make Southampton. Of the seven, one was +of twenty thousand tons, a grain-ship from America, a second was a grain- +ship from the Black Sea, and two others were great liners from South +Africa. I congratulated Stephan with all my heart upon his splendid +achievement. Then as we had been seen by a destroyer which was +approaching at a great pace, we both dived, coming up again off the +Needles, where we spent the night in company. We could not visit each +other, since we had no boat, but we lay so nearly alongside that we were +able, Stephan and I, to talk from hatch to hatch and so make our plans. + +He had shot away more than half his torpedoes, and so had I, and yet we +were very averse from returning to our base so long as our oil held out. +I told him of my experience with the Boston steamer, and we mutually +agreed to sink the ships by gun-fire in future so far as possible. I +remember old Horli saying, "What use is a gun aboard a submarine?" We +were about to show. I read the English paper to Stephan by the light of +my electric torch, and we both agreed that few ships would now come up +the Channel. That sentence about diverting commerce to safer routes +could only mean that the ships would go round the North of Ireland and +unload at Glasgow. Oh, for two more ships to stop that entrance! +Heavens, what _would_ England have done against a foe with thirty or +forty submarines, since we only needed six instead of four to complete +her destruction! After much talk we decided that the best plan would be +that I should dispatch a cipher telegram next morning from a French port +to tell them to send the four second-rate boats to cruise off the North +of Ireland and West of Scotland. Then when I had done this I should move +down Channel with Stephan and operate at the mouth, while the other two +boats could work in the Irish Sea. Having made these plans, I set off +across the Channel in the early morning, reaching the small village of +Etretat, in Brittany. There I got off my telegram and then laid my +course for Falmouth, passing under the keels of two British cruisers +which were making eagerly for Etretat, having heard by wireless that we +were there. + +Half-way down Channel we had trouble with a short circuit in our electric +engines, and were compelled to run on the surface for several hours while +we replaced one of the cam-shafts and renewed some washers. It was a +ticklish time, for had a torpedo-boat come upon us we could not have +dived. The perfect submarine of the future will surely have some +alternative engines for such an emergency. However by the skill of +Engineer Morro, we got things going once more. All the time we lay there +I saw a hydroplane floating between us and the British coast. I can +understand how a mouse feels when it is in a tuft of grass and sees a +hawk high up in the heavens. However, all went well; the mouse became a +water-rat, it wagged its tail in derision at the poor blind old hawk, and +it dived down into a nice safe green, quiet world where there was nothing +to injure it. + +It was on the Wednesday night that the _Iota_ crossed to Etretat. It was +Friday afternoon before we had reached our new cruising ground. Only one +large steamer did I see upon our way. The terror we had caused had +cleared the Channel. This big boat had a clever captain on board. His +tactics were excellent and took him in safety to the Thames. He came +zigzagging up Channel at twenty-five knots, shooting off from his course +at all sorts of unexpected angles. With our slow pace we could not catch +him, nor could we calculate his line so as to cut him off. Of course, he +had never seen us, but he judged, and judged rightly, that wherever we +were those were the tactics by which he had the best chance of getting +past. He deserved his success. + +But, of course, it is only in a wide Channel that such things can be +done. Had I met him in the mouth of the Thames there would have been a +different story to tell. As I approached Falmouth I destroyed a three- +thousand-ton boat from Cork, laden with butter and cheese. It was my +only success for three days. + +That night (Friday, April 16th) I called up Stephan, but received no +reply. As I was within a few miles of our rendezvous, and as he would +not be cruising after dark, I was puzzled to account for his silence. I +could only imagine that his wireless was deranged. But, alas! + +I was soon to find the true reason from a copy of the _Western Morning +News_, which I obtained from a Brixham trawler. The _Kappa_, with her +gallant commander and crew, were at the bottom of the English Channel. + +It appeared from this account that after I had parted from him he had met +and sunk no fewer than five vessels. I gathered these to be his work, +since all of them were by gun-fire, and all were on the south coast of +Dorset or Devon. How he met his fate was stated in a short telegram +which was headed "Sinking of a Hostile Submarine." It was marked +"Falmouth," and ran thus:-- + + The P. and O. mail steamer _Macedonia_ came into this port last night + with five shell holes between wind and water. She reports having been + attacked by a hostile submarine ten miles to the south-east of the + Lizard. Instead of using her torpedoes, the submarine for some reason + approached from the surface and fired five shots from a semi-automatic + twelve-pounder gun. She was evidently under the impression that the + _Macedonia_ was unarmed. As a matter of fact, being warned of the + presence of submarines in the Channel, the _Macedonia_ had mounted her + armament as an auxiliary cruiser. She opened fire with two + quick-firers and blew away the conning-tower of the submarine. It is + probable that the shells went right through her, as she sank at once + with her hatches open. The _Macedonia_ was only kept afloat by her + pumps. + +Such was the end of the _Kappa_, and my gallant friend, Commander +Stephan. His best epitaph was in a corner of the same paper, and was +headed "Mark Lane." It ran:-- + + "Wheat (average) 66, maize 48, barley 50." + +Well, if Stephan was gone there was the more need for me to show energy. +My plans were quickly taken, but they were comprehensive. All that day +(Saturday) I passed down the Cornish coast and round Land's End, getting +two steamers on the way. I had learned from Stephan's fate that it was +better to torpedo the large craft, but I was aware that the auxiliary +cruisers of the British Government were all over ten thousand tons, so +that for all ships under that size it was safe to use my gun. Both these +craft, the _Yelland_ and the _Playboy_--the latter an American ship--were +perfectly harmless, so I came up within a hundred yards of them and +speedily sank them, after allowing their people to get into boats. Some +other steamers lay farther out, but I was so eager to make my new +arrangements that I did not go out of my course to molest them. Just +before sunset, however, so magnificent a prey came within my radius of +action that I could not possibly refuse her. No sailor could fail to +recognize that glorious monarch of the sea, with her four cream funnels +tipped with black, her huge black sides, her red bilges, and her high +white top-hamper, roaring up Channel at twenty-three knots, and carrying +her forty-five thousand tons as lightly as if she were a five-ton motor- +boat. It was the queenly _Olympic_, of the White Star--once the largest +and still the comeliest of liners. What a picture she made, with the +blue Cornish sea creaming round her giant fore-foot, and the pink western +sky with one evening star forming the background to her noble lines. + +She was about five miles off when we dived to cut her off. My +calculation was exact. As we came abreast we loosed our torpedo and +struck her fair. We swirled round with the concussion of the water. I +saw her in my periscope list over on her side, and I knew that she had +her death-blow. She settled down slowly, and there was plenty of time to +save her people. The sea was dotted with her boats. When I got about +three miles off I rose to the surface, and the whole crew clustered up to +see the wonderful sight. She dived bows foremost, and there was a +terrific explosion, which sent one of the funnels into the air. I +suppose we should have cheered--somehow, none of us felt like cheering. +We were all keen sailors, and it went to our hearts to see such a ship go +down like a broken eggshell. I gave a gruff order, and all were at their +posts again while we headed north-west. Once round the Land's End I +called up my two consorts, and we met next day at Hartland Point, the +south end of Bideford Bay. For the moment the Channel was clear, but the +English could not know it, and I reckoned that the loss of the _Olympic_ +would stop all ships for a day or two at least. + +Having assembled the _Delta_ and _Epsilon_, one on each side of me, I +received the report from Miriam and Var, the respective commanders. Each +had expended twelve torpedoes, and between them they had sunk twenty-two +steamers. One man had been killed by the machinery on board of the +_Delta_, and two had been burned by the ignition of some oil on the +_Epsilon_. I took these injured men on board, and I gave each of the +boats one of my crew. I also divided my spare oil, my provisions, and my +torpedoes among them, though we had the greatest possible difficulty in +those crank vessels in transferring them from one to the other. However, +by ten o'clock it was done, and the two vessels were in condition to keep +the sea for another ten days. For my part, with only two torpedoes left, +I headed north up the Irish Sea. One of my torpedoes I expended that +evening upon a cattle-ship making for Milford Haven. Late at night, +being abreast of Holyhead, I called upon my four northern boats, but +without reply. Their Marconi range is very limited. About three in the +afternoon of the next day I had a feeble answer. It was a great relief +to me to find that my telegraphic instructions had reached them and that +they were on their station. Before evening we all assembled in the lee +of Sanda Island, in the Mull of Kintyre. I felt an admiral indeed when I +saw my five whale-backs all in a row. Panza's report was excellent. They +had come round by the Pentland Firth and reached their cruising ground on +the fourth day. Already they had destroyed twenty vessels without any +mishap. I ordered the _Beta_ to divide her oil and torpedoes among the +other three, so that they were in good condition to continue their +cruise. Then the _Beta_ and I headed for home, reaching our base upon +Sunday, April 25th. Off Cape Wrath I picked up a paper from a small +schooner. + +"Wheat, 84; Maize, 60; Barley, 62." What were battles and bombardments +compared to that! + +The whole coast of Norland was closely blockaded by cordon within cordon, +and every port, even the smallest, held by the British. But why should +they suspect my modest confectioner's villa more than any other of the +ten thousand houses that face the sea? I was glad when I picked up its +homely white front in my periscope. That night I landed and found my +stores intact. Before morning the _Beta_ reported itself, for we had the +windows lit as a guide. + +It is not for me to recount the messages which I found waiting for me at +my humble headquarters. They shall ever remain as the patents of +nobility of my family. Among others was that never-to-be-forgotten +salutation from my King. He desired me to present myself at Hauptville, +but for once I took it upon myself to disobey his commands. It took me +two days--or rather two nights, for we sank ourselves during the daylight +hours--to get all our stores on board, but my presence was needful every +minute of the time. On the third morning, at four o'clock, the _Beta_ +and my own little flagship were at sea once more, bound for our original +station off the mouth of the Thames. + +I had no time to read our papers whilst I was refitting, but I gathered +the news after we got under way. The British occupied all our ports, but +otherwise we had not suffered at all, since we have excellent railway +communications with Europe. Prices had altered little, and our +industries continued as before. There was talk of a British invasion, +but this I knew to be absolute nonsense, for the British must have +learned by this time that it would be sheer murder to send transports +full of soldiers to sea in the face of submarines. When they have a +tunnel they can use their fine expeditionary force upon the Continent, +but until then it might just as well not exist so far as Europe is +concerned. My own country, therefore, was in good case and had nothing +to fear. Great Britain, however, was already feeling my grip upon her +throat. As in normal times four-fifths of her food is imported, prices +were rising by leaps and bounds. The supplies in the country were +beginning to show signs of depletion, while little was coming in to +replace it. The insurances at Lloyd's had risen to a figure which made +the price of the food prohibitive to the mass of the people by the time +it had reached the market. The loaf, which, under ordinary circumstances +stood at fivepence, was already at one and twopence. Beef was three +shillings and fourpence a pound, and mutton two shillings and ninepence. +Everything else was in proportion. The Government had acted with energy +and offered a big bounty for corn to be planted at once. It could only +be reaped five months hence, however, and long before then, as the papers +pointed out, half the island would be dead from starvation. Strong +appeals had been made to the patriotism of the people, and they were +assured that the interference with trade was temporary, and that with a +little patience all would be well. But already there was a marked rise +in the death-rate, especially among children, who suffered from want of +milk, the cattle being slaughtered for food. There was serious rioting +in the Lanarkshire coalfields and in the Midlands, together with a +Socialistic upheaval in the East of London, which had assumed the +proportions of a civil war. Already there were responsible papers which +declared that England was in an impossible position, and that an +immediate peace was necessary to prevent one of the greatest tragedies in +history. It was my task now to prove to them that they were right. + +It was May 2nd when I found myself back at the Maplin Sands to the north +of the estuary of the Thames. The _Beta_ was sent on to the Solent to +block it and take the place of the lamented _Kappa_. And now I was +throttling Britain indeed--London, Southampton, the Bristol Channel, +Liverpool, the North Channel, the Glasgow approaches, each was guarded by +my boats. Great liners were, as we learned afterwards, pouring their +supplies into Galway and the West of Ireland, where provisions were +cheaper than has ever been known. Tens of thousands were embarking from +Britain for Ireland in order to save themselves from starvation. But you +cannot transplant a whole dense population. The main body of the people, +by the middle of May, were actually starving. At that date wheat was at +a hundred, maize and barley at eighty. Even the most obstinate had begun +to see that the situation could not possibly continue. + +In the great towns starving crowds clamoured for bread before the +municipal offices, and public officials everywhere were attacked and +often murdered by frantic mobs, composed largely of desperate women who +had seen their infants perish before their eyes. In the country, roots, +bark, and weeds of every sort were used as food. In London the private +mansions of Ministers were guarded by strong pickets of soldiers, while a +battalion of Guards was camped permanently round the Houses of +Parliament. The lives of the Prime Minister and of the Foreign Secretary +were continually threatened and occasionally attempted. Yet the +Government had entered upon the war with the full assent of every party +in the State. The true culprits were those, be they politicians or +journalists, who had not the foresight to understand that unless Britain +grew her own supplies, or unless by means of a tunnel she had some way of +conveying them into the island, all her mighty expenditure upon her army +and her fleet was a mere waste of money so long as her antagonists had a +few submarines and men who could use them. England has often been +stupid, but has got off scot-free. This time she was stupid and had to +pay the price. You can't expect Luck to be your saviour always. + +It would be a mere repetition of what I have already described if I were +to recount all our proceedings during that first ten days after I resumed +my station. During my absence the ships had taken heart and had begun to +come up again. In the first day I got four. After that I had to go +farther afield, and again I picked up several in French waters. Once I +had a narrow escape through one of my kingston valves getting some grit +into it and refusing to act when I was below the surface. Our margin of +buoyancy just carried us through. By the end of that week the Channel +was clear again, and both _Beta_ and my own boat were down West once +more. There we had encouraging messages from our Bristol consort, who in +turn had heard from _Delta_ at Liverpool. Our task was completely done. +We could not prevent all food from passing into the British Islands, but +at least we had raised what did get in to a price which put it far beyond +the means of the penniless, workless multitudes. In vain Government +commandeered it all and doled it out as a general feeds the garrison of a +fortress. The task was too great--the responsibility too horrible. Even +the proud and stubborn English could not face it any longer. + +I remember well how the news came to me. I was lying at the time off +Selsey Bill when I saw a small war-vessel coming down Channel. It had +never been my policy to attack any vessel coming _down_. My torpedoes +and even my shells were too precious for that. I could not help being +attracted, however, by the movements of this ship, which came slowly +zigzagging in my direction. + +"Looking for me," thought I. "What on earth does the foolish thing hope +to do if she could find me?" + +I was lying awash at the time and got ready to go below in case she +should come for me. But at that moment--she was about half a mile +away--she turned her quarter, and there to my amazement was the red flag +with the blue circle, our own beloved flag, flying from her peak. For a +moment I thought that this was some clever dodge of the enemy to tempt me +within range. I snatched up my glasses and called on Vornal. Then we +both recognized the vessel. It was the _Juno_, the only one left intact +of our own cruisers. What could she be doing flying the flag in the +enemy's waters? Then I understood it, and turning to Vornal, we threw +ourselves into each other's arms. It could only mean an armistice--or +peace! + +And it was peace. We learned the glad news when we had risen alongside +the _Juno_, and the ringing cheers which greeted us had at last died +away. Our orders were to report ourselves at once at Blankenberg. Then +she passed on down Channel to collect the others. We returned to port +upon the surface, steaming through the whole British fleet as we passed +up the North Sea. The crews clustered thick along the sides of the +vessels to watch us. I can see now their sullen, angry faces. Many +shook their fists and cursed us as we went by. It was not that we had +damaged them--I will do them the justice to say that the English, as the +old Boer War has proved, bear no resentment against a brave enemy--but +that they thought us cowardly to attack merchant ships and avoid the +warships. It is like the Arabs who think that a flank attack is a mean, +unmanly device. War is not a big game, my English friends. It is a +desperate business to gain the upper hand, and one must use one's brain +in order to find the weak spot of one's enemy. It is not fair to blame +me if I have found yours. It was my duty. Perhaps those officers and +sailors who scowled at the little _Iota_ that May morning have by this +time done me justice when the first bitterness of undeserved defeat was +passed. + +Let others describe my entrance into Blankenberg; the mad enthusiasm of +the crowds, and the magnificent public reception of each successive boat +as it arrived. Surely the men deserved the grant made them by the State +which has enabled each of them to be independent for life. As a feat of +endurance, that long residence in such a state of mental tension in +cramped quarters, breathing an unnatural atmosphere, will long remain as +a record. The country may well be proud of such sailors. + +The terms of peace were not made onerous, for we were in no condition to +make Great Britain our permanent enemy. We knew well that we had won the +war by circumstances which would never be allowed to occur again, and +that in a few years the Island Power would be as strong as ever--stronger, +perhaps--for the lesson that she had learned. It would be madness to +provoke such an antagonist. A mutual salute of flags was arranged, the +Colonial boundary was adjusted by arbitration, and we claimed no +indemnity beyond an undertaking on the part of Britain that she would pay +any damages which an International Court might award to France or to the +United States for injury received through the operations of our +submarines. So ended the war! + +Of course, England will not be caught napping in such a fashion again! +Her foolish blindness is partly explained by her delusion that her enemy +would not torpedo merchant vessels. Common sense should have told her +that her enemy will play the game that suits them best--that they will +not inquire what they may do, but they will do it first and talk about it +afterwards. The opinion of the whole world now is that if a blockade +were proclaimed one may do what one can with those who try to break it, +and that it was as reasonable to prevent food from reaching England in +war time as it is for a besieger to prevent the victualling of a +beleaguered fortress. + +I cannot end this account better than by quoting the first few paragraphs +of a leader in the _Times_, which appeared shortly after the declaration +of peace. It may be taken to epitomize the saner public opinion of +England upon the meaning and lessons of the episode. + + "In all this miserable business," said the writer, "which has cost us + the loss of a considerable portion of our merchant fleet and more than + fifty thousand civilian lives, there is just one consolation to be + found. It lies in the fact that our temporary conqueror is a Power + which is not strong enough to reap the fruits of her victory. Had we + endured this humiliation at the hands of any of the first-class Powers + it would certainly have entailed the loss of all our Crown Colonies + and tropical possessions, besides the payment of a huge indemnity. We + were absolutely at the feet of our conqueror and had no possible + alternative but to submit to her terms, however onerous. Norland has + had the good sense to understand that she must not abuse her temporary + advantage, and has been generous in her dealings. In the grip of any + other Power we should have ceased to exist as an Empire. + + "Even now we are not out of the wood. Some one may maliciously pick a + quarrel with us before we get our house in order, and use the easy + weapon which has been demonstrated. It is to meet such a contingency + that the Government has rushed enormous stores of food at the public + expense into the country. In a very few months the new harvest will + have appeared. On the whole we can face the immediate future without + undue depression, though there remain some causes for anxiety. These + will no doubt be energetically handled by this new and efficient + Government, which has taken the place of those discredited politicians + who led us into a war without having foreseen how helpless we were + against an obvious form of attack. + + "Already the lines of our reconstruction are evident. The first and + most important is that our Party men realize that there is something + more vital than their academic disputes about Free Trade or + Protection, and that all theory must give way to the fact that a + country is in an artificial and dangerous condition if she does not + produce within her own borders sufficient food to at least keep life + in her population. Whether this should be brought about by a tax upon + foreign foodstuffs, or by a bounty upon home products, or by a + combination of the two, is now under discussion. But all Parties are + combined upon the principle, and, though it will undoubtedly entail + either a rise in prices or a deterioration in quality in the food of + the working-classes, they will at least be insured against so terrible + a visitation as that which is fresh in our memories. At any rate, we + have got past the stage of argument. It _must_ be so. The increased + prosperity of the farming interest, and, as we will hope, the + cessation of agricultural emigration, will be benefits to be counted + against the obvious disadvantages. + + "The second lesson is the immediate construction of not one but two + double-lined railways under the Channel. We stand in a white sheet + over the matter, since the project has always been discouraged in + these columns, but we are prepared to admit that had such railway + communication been combined with adequate arrangements for forwarding + supplies from Marseilles, we should have avoided our recent surrender. + We still insist that we cannot trust entirely to a tunnel, since our + enemy might have allies in the Mediterranean; but in a single contest + with any Power of the North of Europe it would certainly be of + inestimable benefit. There may be dangers attendant upon the + existence of a tunnel, but it must now be admitted that they are + trivial compared to those which come from its absence. As to the + building of large fleets of merchant submarines for the carriage of + food, that is a new departure which will be an additional insurance + against the danger which has left so dark a page in the history of our + country." + + + + +II. ONE CROWDED HOUR + + +The place was the Eastbourne-Tunbridge road, not very far from the Cross +in Hand--a lonely stretch, with a heath running upon either side. The +time was half-past eleven upon a Sunday night in the late summer. A +motor was passing slowly down the road. + +It was a long, lean Rolls-Royce, running smoothly with a gentle purring +of the engine. Through the two vivid circles cast by the electric head- +lights the waving grass fringes and clumps of heather streamed swiftly +like some golden cinematograph, leaving a blacker darkness behind and +around them. One ruby-red spot shone upon the road, but no number-plate +was visible within the dim ruddy halo of the tail-lamp which cast it. The +car was open and of a tourist type, but even in that obscure light, for +the night was moonless, an observer could hardly fail to have noticed a +curious indefiniteness in its lines. As it slid into and across the +broad stream of light from an open cottage door the reason could be seen. +The body was hung with a singular loose arrangement of brown holland. +Even the long black bonnet was banded with some close-drawn drapery. + +The solitary man who drove this curious car was broad and burly. He sat +hunched up over his steering-wheel, with the brim of a Tyrolean hat drawn +down over his eyes. The red end of a cigarette smouldered under the +black shadow thrown by the headgear. A dark ulster of some frieze-like +material was turned up in the collar until it covered his ears. His neck +was pushed forward from his rounded shoulders, and he seemed, as the car +now slid noiselessly down the long, sloping road, with the clutch +disengaged and the engine running free, to be peering ahead of him +through the darkness in search of some eagerly-expected object. + +The distant toot of a motor-horn came faintly from some point far to the +south of him. On such a night, at such a place, all traffic must be from +south to north when the current of London week-enders sweeps back from +the watering-place to the capital--from pleasure to duty. The man sat +straight and listened intently. Yes, there it was again, and certainly +to the south of him. His face was over the wheel and his eyes strained +through the darkness. Then suddenly he spat out his cigarette and gave a +sharp intake of the breath. Far away down the road two little yellow +points had rounded a curve. They vanished into a dip, shot upwards once +more, and then vanished again. The inert man in the draped car woke +suddenly into intense life. From his pocket he pulled a mask of dark +cloth, which he fastened securely across his face, adjusting it carefully +that his sight might be unimpeded. For an instant he uncovered an +acetylene hand-lantern, took a hasty glance at his own preparations, and +laid it beside a Mauser pistol upon the seat alongside him. Then, +twitching his hat down lower than ever, he released his clutch and slid +downward his gear-lever. With a chuckle and shudder the long, black +machine sprang forward, and shot with a soft sigh from her powerful +engines down the sloping gradient. The driver stooped and switched off +his electric head-lights. Only a dim grey swathe cut through the black +heath indicated the line of his road. From in front there came presently +a confused puffing and rattling and clanging as the oncoming car breasted +the slope. It coughed and spluttered on a powerful, old-fashioned low +gear, while its engine throbbed like a weary heart. The yellow, glaring +lights dipped for the last time into a switchback curve. When they +reappeared over the crest the two cars were within thirty yards of each +other. The dark one darted across the road and barred the other's +passage, while a warning acetylene lamp was waved in the air. With a +jarring of brakes the noisy new-comer was brought to a halt. + +"I say," cried an aggrieved voice, "'pon my soul, you know, we might have +had an accident. Why the devil don't you keep your head-lights on? I +never saw you till I nearly burst my radiators on you!" + +The acetylene lamp, held forward, discovered a very angry young man, blue- +eyed, yellow-moustached, and florid, sitting alone at the wheel of an +antiquated twelve-horse Wolseley. Suddenly the aggrieved look upon his +flushed face changed to one of absolute bewilderment. The driver in the +dark car had sprung out of the seat, a black, long-barrelled, +wicked-looking pistol was poked in the traveller's face, and behind the +further sights of it was a circle of black cloth with two deadly eyes +looking from as many slits. + +"Hands up!" said a quick, stern voice. "Hands up! or, by the Lord--" + +The young man was as brave as his neighbours, but the hands went up all +the same. + +"Get down!" said his assailant, curtly. + +The young man stepped forth into the road, followed closely by the +covering lantern and pistol. Once he made as if he would drop his hands, +but a short, stern word jerked them up again. + +"I say, look here, this is rather out o' date, ain't it?" said the +traveller. "I expect you're joking--what?" + +"Your watch," said the man behind the Mauser pistol. + +"You can't really mean it!" + +"Your watch, I say!" + +"Well, take it, if you must. It's only plated, anyhow. You're two +centuries out in time, or a few thousand miles longitude. The bush is +your mark--or America. You don't seem in the picture on a Sussex road." + +"Purse," said the man. There was something very compelling in his voice +and methods. The purse was handed over. + +"Any rings?" + +"Don't wear 'em." + +"Stand there! Don't move!" + +The highwayman passed his victim and threw open the bonnet of the +Wolseley. His hand, with a pair of steel pliers, was thrust deep into +the works. There was the snap of a parting wire. + +"Hang it all, don't crock my car!" cried the traveller. + +He turned, but quick as a flash the pistol was at his head once more. And +yet even in that flash, whilst the robber whisked round from the broken +circuit, something had caught the young man's eye which made him gasp and +start. He opened his mouth as if about to shout some words. Then with +an evident effort he restrained himself. + +"Get in," said the highwayman. + +The traveller climbed back to his seat. + +"What is your name?" + +"Ronald Barker. What's yours?" + +The masked man ignored the impertinence. + +"Where do you live?" he asked. + +"My cards are in my purse. Take one." + +The highwayman sprang into his car, the engine of which had hissed and +whispered in gentle accompaniment to the interview. With a clash he +threw back his side-brake, flung in his gears, twirled the wheel hard +round, and cleared the motionless Wolseley. A minute later he was +gliding swiftly, with all his lights' gleaming, some half-mile southward +on the road, while Mr. Ronald Barker, a side-lamp in his hand, was +rummaging furiously among the odds and ends of his repair-box for a +strand of wire which would connect up his electricity and set him on his +way once more. + +When he had placed a safe distance between himself and his victim, the +adventurer eased up, took his booty from his pocket, replaced the watch, +opened the purse, and counted out the money. Seven shillings constituted +the miserable spoil. The poor result of his efforts seemed to amuse +rather than annoy him, for he chuckled as he held the two half-crowns and +the florin in the glare of his lantern. Then suddenly his manner +changed. He thrust the thin purse back into his pocket, released his +brake, and shot onwards with the same tense bearing with which he had +started upon his adventure. The lights of another car were coming down +the road. + +On this occasion the methods of the highwayman were less furtive. +Experience had clearly given him confidence. With lights still blazing, +he ran towards the new-comers, and, halting in the middle of the road, +summoned them to stop. From the point of view of the astonished +travellers the result was sufficiently impressive. They saw in the glare +of their own head-lights two glowing discs on either side of the long, +black-muzzled snout of a high-power car, and above the masked face and +menacing figure of its solitary driver. In the golden circle thrown by +the rover there stood an elegant, open-topped, twenty-horse Humber, with +an undersized and very astonished chauffeur blinking from under his +peaked cap. From behind the wind-screen the veil-bound hats and +wondering faces of two very pretty young women protruded, one upon either +side, and a little crescendo of frightened squeaks announced the acute +emotion of one of them. The other was cooler and more critical. + +"Don't give it away, Hilda," she whispered. "Do shut up, and don't be +such a silly. It's Bertie or one of the boys playing it on us." + +"No, no! It's the real thing, Flossie. It's a robber, sure enough. Oh, +my goodness, whatever shall we do?" + +"What an 'ad.'!" cried the other. "Oh, what a glorious 'ad.'! Too late +now for the mornings, but they'll have it in every evening paper, sure." + +"What's it going to cost?" groaned the other. "Oh, Flossie, Flossie, I'm +sure I'm going to faint! Don't you think if we both screamed together we +could do some good? Isn't he too awful with that black thing over his +face? Oh, dear, oh, dear! He's killing poor little Alf!" + +The proceedings of the robber were indeed somewhat alarming. Springing +down from his car, he had pulled the chauffeur out of his seat by the +scruff of his neck. The sight of the Mauser had cut short all +remonstrance, and under its compulsion the little man had pulled open the +bonnet and extracted the sparking plugs. Having thus secured the +immobility of his capture, the masked man walked forward, lantern in +hand, to the side of the car. He had laid aside the gruff sternness with +which he had treated Mr. Ronald Barker, and his voice and manner were +gentle, though determined. He even raised his hat as a prelude to his +address. + +"I am sorry to inconvenience you, ladies," said he, and his voice had +gone up several notes since the previous interview. "May I ask who you +are?" + +Miss Hilda was beyond coherent speech, but Miss Flossie was of a sterner +mould. + +"This is a pretty business," said she. "What right have you to stop us +on the public road, I should like to know?" + +"My time is short," said the robber, in a sterner voice. "I must ask you +to answer my question." + +"Tell him, Flossie! For goodness' sake be nice to him!" cried Hilda. + +"Well, we're from the Gaiety Theatre, London, if you want to know," said +the young lady. "Perhaps you've heard of Miss Flossie Thornton and Miss +Hilda Mannering? We've been playing a week at the Royal at Eastbourne, +and took a Sunday off to ourselves. So now you know!" + +"I must ask you for your purses and for your jewellery." + +Both ladies set up shrill expostulations, but they found, as Mr. Ronald +Barker had done, that there was something quietly compelling in this +man's methods. In a very few minutes they had handed over their purses, +and a pile of glittering rings, bangles, brooches, and chains was lying +upon the front seat of the car. The diamonds glowed and shimmered like +little electric points in the light of the lantern. He picked up the +glittering tangle and weighed it in his hand. + +"Anything you particularly value?" he asked the ladies; but Miss Flossie +was in no humour for concessions. + +"Don't come the Claude Duval over us," said she. "Take the lot or leave +the lot. We don't want bits of our own given back to us." + +"Except just Billy's necklace!" cried Hilda, and snatched at a little +rope of pearls. The robber bowed, and released his hold of it. + +"Anything else?" + +The valiant Flossie began suddenly to cry. Hilda did the same. The +effect upon the robber was surprising. He threw the whole heap of +jewellery into the nearest lap. + +"There! there! Take it!" he said. "It's trumpery stuff, anyhow. It's +worth something to you, and nothing to me." + +Tears changed in a moment to smiles. + +"You're welcome to the purses. The 'ad.' is worth ten times the money. +But what a funny way of getting a living nowadays! Aren't you afraid of +being caught? It's all so wonderful, like a scene from a comedy." + +"It may be a tragedy," said the robber. + +"Oh, I hope not--I'm sure I hope not!" cried the two ladies of the drama. + +But the robber was in no mood for further conversation. Far away down +the road tiny points of light had appeared. Fresh business was coming to +him, and he must not mix his cases. Disengaging his machine, he raised +his hat, and slipped off to meet this new arrival, while Miss Flossie and +Miss Hilda leaned out of their derelict car, still palpitating from their +adventure, and watched the red gleam of the tail-light until it merged +into the darkness. + +This time there was every sign of a rich prize. Behind its four grand +lamps set in a broad frame of glittering brasswork the magnificent sixty- +horse Daimler breasted the slope with the low, deep, even snore which +proclaimed its enormous latent strength. Like some rich-laden, +high-pooped Spanish galleon, she kept her course until the prowling craft +ahead of her swept across her bows and brought her to a sudden halt. An +angry face, red, blotched, and evil, shot out of the open window of the +closed limousine. The robber was aware of a high, bald forehead, gross +pendulous cheeks, and two little crafty eyes which gleamed between +creases of fat. + +"Out of my way, sir! Out of my way this instant!" cried a rasping voice. +"Drive over him, Hearn! Get down and pull him off the seat. The +fellow's drunk--he's drunk I say!" + +Up to this point the proceedings of the modern highwayman might have +passed as gentle. Now they turned in an instant to savagery. The +chauffeur, a burly, capable fellow, incited by that raucous voice behind +him, sprang from the car and seized the advancing robber by the throat. +The latter hit out with the butt-end of his pistol, and the man dropped +groaning on the road. Stepping over his prostrate body the adventurer +pulled open the door, seized the stout occupant savagely by the ear, and +dragged him bellowing on to the highway. Then, very deliberately, he +struck him twice across the face with his open hand. The blows rang out +like pistol-shots in the silence of the night. The fat traveller turned +a ghastly colour and fell back half senseless against the side of the +limousine. The robber dragged open his coat, wrenched away the heavy +gold watch-chain with all that it held, plucked out the great diamond pin +that sparkled in the black satin tie, dragged off four rings--not one of +which could have cost less than three figures and finally tore from his +inner pocket a bulky leather note-book. All this property he transferred +to his own black overcoat, and added to it the man's pearl cuff-links, +and even the golden stud which held his collar. Having made sure that +there was nothing else to take, the robber flashed his lantern upon the +prostrate chauffeur, and satisfied himself that he was stunned and not +dead. Then, returning to the master, he proceeded very deliberately to +tear all his clothes from his body with a ferocious energy which set his +victim whimpering and writhing in imminent expectation of murder. + +Whatever his tormentor's intention may have been, it was very effectually +frustrated. A sound made him turn his head, and there, no very great +distance off, were the lights of a car coming swiftly from the north. +Such a car must have already passed the wreckage which this pirate had +left behind him. It was following his track with a deliberate purpose, +and might be crammed with every county constable of the district. + +The adventurer had no time to lose. He darted from his bedraggled +victim, sprang into his own seat, and with his foot on the accelerator +shot swiftly off down the road. Some way down there was a narrow side +lane, and into this the fugitive turned, cracking on his high speed and +leaving a good five miles between him and any pursuer before he ventured +to stop. Then, in a quiet corner, he counted over his booty of the +evening--the paltry plunder of Mr. Ronald Barker, the rather +better-furnished purses of the actresses, which contained four pounds +between them, and, finally, the gorgeous jewellery and well-filled note- +book of the plutocrat upon the Daimler. Five notes of fifty pounds, four +of ten, fifteen sovereigns, and a number of valuable papers made up a +most noble haul. It was clearly enough for one night's work. The +adventurer replaced all his ill-gotten gains in his pocket, and, lighting +a cigarette, set forth upon his way with the air of a man who has no +further care upon his mind. + +* * * * * + +It was on the Monday morning following upon this eventful evening that +Sir Henry Hailworthy, of Walcot Old Place, having finished his breakfast +in a leisurely fashion, strolled down to his study with the intention of +writing a few letters before setting forth to take his place upon the +county bench. Sir Henry was a Deputy-Lieutenant of the county; he was a +baronet of ancient blood; he was a magistrate of ten years' standing; and +he was famous above all as the breeder of many a good horse and the most +desperate rider in all the Weald country. A tall, upstanding man, with a +strong, clean-shaven face, heavy black eyebrows, and a square, resolute +jaw, he was one whom it was better to call friend than foe. Though +nearly fifty years of age, he bore no sign of having passed his youth, +save that Nature, in one of her freakish moods, had planted one little +feather of white hair above his right ear, making the rest of his thick +black curls the darker by contrast. He was in thoughtful mood this +morning, for having lit his pipe he sat at his desk with his blank note- +paper in front of him, lost in a deep reverie. + +Suddenly his thoughts were brought back to the present. From behind the +laurels of the curving drive there came a low, clanking sound, which +swelled into the clatter and jingle of an ancient car. Then from round +the corner there swung an old-fashioned Wolseley, with a +fresh-complexioned, yellow-moustached young man at the wheel. Sir Henry +sprang to his feet at the sight, and then sat down once more. He rose +again as a minute later the footman announced Mr. Ronald Barker. It was +an early visit, but Barker was Sir Henry's intimate friend. As each was +a fine shot, horseman, and billiard-player, there was much in common +between the two men, and the younger (and poorer) was in the habit of +spending at least two evenings a week at Walcot Old Place. Therefore, +Sir Henry advanced cordially with outstretched hand to welcome him. + +"You're an early bird this morning," said he. "What's up? If you are +going over to Lewes we could motor together." + +But the younger man's demeanour was peculiar and ungracious. He +disregarded the hand which was held out to him, and he stood pulling at +his own long moustache and staring with troubled, questioning eyes at the +county magistrate. + +"Well, what's the matter?" asked the latter. + +Still the young man did not speak. He was clearly on the edge of an +interview which he found it most difficult to open. His host grew +impatient. + +"You don't seem yourself this morning. What on earth is the matter? +Anything upset you?" + +"Yes," said Ronald Barker, with emphasis. + +"What has?" + +"_You_ have." + +Sir Henry smiled. "Sit down, my dear fellow. If you have any grievance +against me, let me hear it." + +Barker sat down. He seemed to be gathering himself for a reproach. When +it did come it was like a bullet from a gun. + +"Why did you rob me last night?" + +The magistrate was a man of iron nerve. He showed neither surprise nor +resentment. Not a muscle twitched upon his calm, set face. + +"Why do you say that I robbed you last night?" + +"A big, tall fellow in a motor-car stopped me on the Mayfield road. He +poked a pistol in my face and took my purse and my watch. Sir Henry, +that man was you." + +The magistrate smiled. + +"Am I the only big, tall man in the district? Am I the only man with a +motor-car?" + +"Do you think I couldn't tell a Rolls-Royce when I see it--I, who spend +half my life on a car and the other half under it? Who has a Rolls-Royce +about here except you?" + +"My dear Barker, don't you think that such a modern highwayman as you +describe would be more likely to operate outside his own district? How +many hundred Rolls-Royces are there in the South of England?" + +"No, it won't do, Sir Henry--it won't do! Even your voice, though you +sunk it a few notes, was familiar enough to me. But hang it, man! What +did you do it _for_? That's what gets over me. That you should stick up +me, one of your closest friends, a man that worked himself to the bone +when you stood for the division--and all for the sake of a Brummagem +watch and a few shillings--is simply incredible." + +"Simply incredible," repeated the magistrate, with a smile. + +"And then those actresses, poor little devils, who have to earn all they +get. I followed you down the road, you see. That was a dirty trick, if +ever I heard one. The City shark was different. If a chap must go a- +robbing, that sort of fellow is fair game. But your friend, and then the +girls--well, I say again, I couldn't have believed it." + +"Then why believe it?" + +"Because it _is_ so." + +"Well, you seem to have persuaded yourself to that effect. You don't +seem to have much evidence to lay before any one else." + +"I could swear to you in a police-court. What put the lid on it was that +when you were cutting my wire--and an infernal liberty it was!--I saw +that white tuft of yours sticking out from behind your mask." + +For the first time an acute observer might have seen some slight sign of +emotion upon the face of the baronet. + +"You seem to have a fairly vivid imagination," said he. + +His visitor flushed with anger. + +"See here, Hailworthy," said he, opening his hand and showing a small, +jagged triangle of black cloth. "Do you see that? It was on the ground +near the car of the young women. You must have ripped it off as you +jumped out from your seat. Now send for that heavy black driving-coat of +yours. If you don't ring the bell I'll ring it myself, and we shall have +it in. I'm going to see this thing through, and don't you make any +mistake about that." + +The baronet's answer was a surprising one. He rose, passed Barker's +chair, and, walking over to the door, he locked it and placed the key in +his pocket. + +"You _are_ going to see it through," said he. "I'll lock you in until +you do. Now we must have a straight talk, Barker, as man to man, and +whether it ends in tragedy or not depends on you." + +He had half-opened one of the drawers in his desk as he spoke. His +visitor frowned in anger. + +"You won't make matters any better by threatening me, Hailworthy. I am +going to do my duty, and you won't bluff me out of it." + +"I have no wish to bluff you. When I spoke of a tragedy I did not mean +to you. What I meant was that there are some turns which this affair +cannot be allowed to take. I have neither kith nor kin, but there is the +family honour, and some things are impossible." + +"It is late to talk like that." + +"Well, perhaps it is; but not too late. And now I have a good deal to +say to you. First of all, you are quite right, and it was I who held you +up last night on the Mayfield road." + +"But why on earth--" + +"All right. Let me tell it my own way. First I want you to look at +these." He unlocked a drawer and he took out two small packages. "These +were to be posted in London to-night. This one is addressed to you, and +I may as well hand it over to you at once. It contains your watch and +your purse. So, you see, bar your cut wire you would have been none the +worse for your adventure. This other packet is addressed to the young +ladies of the Gaiety Theatre, and their properties are enclosed. I hope +I have convinced you that I had intended full reparation in each case +before you came to accuse me?" + +"Well?" asked Barker. + +"Well, we will now deal with Sir George Wilde, who is, as you may not +know, the senior partner of Wilde and Guggendorf, the founders of the +Ludgate Bank of infamous memory. His chauffeur is a case apart. You may +take it from me, upon my word of honour, that I had plans for the +chauffeur. But it is the master that I want to speak of. You know that +I am not a rich man myself. I expect all the county knows that. When +Black Tulip lost the Derby I was hard hit. And other things as well. +Then I had a legacy of a thousand. This infernal bank was paying 7 per +cent. on deposits. I knew Wilde. I saw him. I asked him if it was +safe. He said it was. I paid it in, and within forty-eight hours the +whole thing went to bits. It came out before the Official Receiver that +Wilde had known for three months that nothing could save him. And yet he +took all my cargo aboard his sinking vessel. He was all right--confound +him! He had plenty besides. But I had lost all my money and no law +could help me. Yet he had robbed me as clearly as one man could rob +another. I saw him and he laughed in my face. Told me to stick to +Consols, and that the lesson was cheap at the price. So I just swore +that, by hook or by crook, I would get level with him. I knew his +habits, for I had made it my business to do so. I knew that he came back +from Eastbourne on Sunday nights. I knew that he carried a good sum with +him in his pocket-book. Well it's _my_ pocket-book now. Do you mean to +tell me that I'm not morally justified in what I have done? By the Lord, +I'd have left the devil as bare as he left many a widow and orphan, if +I'd had the time!" + +"That's all very well. But what about me? What about the girls?" + +"Have some common sense, Barker. Do you suppose that I could go and +stick up this one personal enemy of mine and escape detection? It was +impossible. I was bound to make myself out to be just a common robber +who had run up against him by accident. So I turned myself loose on the +high road and took my chance. As the devil would have it, the first man +I met was yourself. I was a fool not to recognise that old ironmonger's +store of yours by the row it made coming up the hill. When I saw you I +could hardly speak for laughing. But I was bound to carry it through. +The same with the actresses. I'm afraid I gave myself away, for I +couldn't take their little fal-lals, but I had to keep up a show. Then +came my man himself. There was no bluff about that. I was out to skin +him, and I did. Now, Barker, what do you think of it all? I had a +pistol at your head last night, and, by George! whether you believe it or +not, you have one at mine this morning!" + +The young man rose slowly, and with a broad smile he wrung the magistrate +by the hand. + +"Don't do it again. It's too risky," said he. "The swine would score +heavily if you were taken." + +"You're a good chap, Barker," said the magistrate. "No, I won't do it +again. Who's the fellow who talks of 'one crowded hour of glorious +life'? By George! it's too fascinating. I had the time of my life! Talk +of fox-hunting! No, I'll never touch it again, for it might get a grip +of me." + +A telephone rang sharply upon the table, and the baronet put the receiver +to his ear. As he listened he smiled across at his companion. + +"I'm rather late this morning," said he, "and they are waiting for me to +try some petty larcenies on the county bench." + + + + +III. A POINT OF VIEW + + +It was an American journalist who was writing up England--or writing her +down as the mood seized him. Sometimes he blamed and sometimes he +praised, and the case-hardened old country actually went its way all the +time quite oblivious of his approval or of his disfavour--being ready at +all times, through some queer mental twist, to say more bitter things and +more unjust ones about herself than any critic could ever venture upon. +However, in the course of his many columns in the _New York Clarion_ our +journalist did at last get through somebody's skin in the way that is +here narrated. + +It was a kindly enough article upon English country-house life in which +he had described a visit paid for a week-end to Sir Henry Trustall's. +There was only a single critical passage in it, and it was one which he +had written with a sense both of journalistic and of democratic +satisfaction. In it he had sketched off the lofty obsequiousness of the +flunkey who had ministered to his needs. "He seemed to take a smug +satisfaction in his own degradation," said he. "Surely the last spark of +manhood must have gone from the man who has so entirely lost his own +individuality. He revelled in humility. He was an instrument of +service--nothing more." + +Some months had passed and our American Pressman had recorded impressions +from St. Petersburg to Madrid. He was on his homeward way when once +again he found himself the guest of Sir Henry. He had returned from an +afternoon's shooting, and had finished dressing when there was a knock at +the door and the footman entered. He was a large cleanly-built man, as +is proper to a class who are chosen with a keener eye to physique than +any crack regiment. The American supposed that the man had entered to +perform some menial service, but to his surprise he softly closed the +door behind him. + +"Might I have a word with you, sir, if you can kindly give me a moment?" +he said in the velvety voice which always got upon the visitor's +republican nerves. + +"Well, what is it?" the journalist asked sharply. + +"It's this, sir." The footman drew from his breast-pocket the copy of +the _Clarion_. "A friend over the water chanced to see this, sir, and he +thought it would be of interest to me. So he sent it." + +"Well?" + +"You wrote it, sir, I fancy." + +"What if I did." + +"And this 'ere footman is your idea of me." + +The American glanced at the passage and approved his own phrases. + +"Yes, that's you," he admitted. + +The footman folded up his document once more and replaced it in his +pocket. + +"I'd like to 'ave a word or two with you over that, sir," he said in the +same suave imperturbable voice. "I don't think, sir, that you quite see +the thing from our point of view. I'd like to put it to you as I see it +myself. Maybe it would strike you different then." + +The American became interested. There was "copy" in the air. + +"Sit down," said he. + +"No, sir, begging your pardon, sir, I'd very much rather stand." + +"Well, do as you please. If you've got anything to say, get ahead with +it." + +"You see, sir, it's like this: There's a tradition--what you might call a +standard--among the best servants, and it's 'anded down from one to the +other. When I joined I was a third, and my chief and the butler were +both old men who had been trained by the best. I took after them just as +they took after those that went before them. It goes back away further +than you can tell." + +"I can understand that." + +"But what perhaps you don't so well understand, sir, is the spirit that's +lying behind it. There's a man's own private self-respect to which you +allude, sir, in this 'ere article. That's his own. But he can't keep +it, so far as I can see, unless he returns good service for the good +money that he takes." + +"Well, he can do that without--without--crawling." + +The footman's florid face paled a little at the word. Apparently he was +not quite the automatic machine that he appeared. + +"By your leave, sir, we'll come to that later," said he. "But I want you +to understand what we are trying to do even when you don't approve of our +way of doing it. We are trying to make life smooth and easy for our +master and for our master's guests. We do it in the way that's been +'anded down to us as the best way. If our master could suggest any +better way, then it would be our place either to leave his service if we +disapproved it, or else to try and do it as he wanted. It would hurt the +self-respect of any good servant to take a man's money and not give him +the very best he can in return for it." + +"Well," said the American, "it's not quite as we see it in America." + +"That's right, sir. I was over there last year with Sir Henry--in New +York, sir, and I saw something of the men-servants and their ways. They +were paid for service, sir, and they did not give what they were paid +for. You talk about self-respect, sir, in this article. Well now, my +self-respect wouldn't let me treat a master as I've seen them do over +there." + +"We don't even like the word 'master,'" said the American. + +"Well, that's neither 'ere nor there, sir, if I may be so bold as to say +so. If you're serving a gentleman he's your master for the time being +and any name you may choose to call it by don't make no difference. But +you can't eat your cake and 'ave it, sir. You can't sell your +independence and 'ave it, too." + +"Maybe not," said the American. "All the same, the fact remains that +your manhood is the worse for it." + +"There I don't 'old with you, sir." + +"If it were not, you wouldn't be standing there arguing so quietly. You'd +speak to me in another tone, I guess." + +"You must remember, sir, that you are my master's guest, and that I am +paid to wait upon you and make your visit a pleasant one. So long as you +are 'ere, sir, that is 'ow I regard it. Now in London--" + +"Well, what about London?" + +"Well, in London if you would have the goodness to let me have a word +with you I could make you understand a little clearer what I am trying to +explain to you. 'Arding is my name, sir. If you get a call from 'Enery +'Arding, you'll know that I 'ave a word to say to you." + +* * * * * + +So it happened about three days later that our American journalist in his +London hotel received a letter that a Mr. Henry Harding desired to speak +with him. The man was waiting in the hall dressed in quiet tweeds. He +had cast his manner with his uniform and was firmly deliberate in all he +said and did. The professional silkiness was gone, and his bearing was +all that the most democratic could desire. + +"It's courteous of you to see me, sir," said he. "There's that matter of +the article still open between us, and I would like to have a word or two +more about it." + +"Well, I can give you just ten minutes," said the American journalist. + +"I understand that you are a busy man, sir, so I'll cut it as short as I +can. There's a public garden opposite if you would be so good as talk it +over in the open air." + +The Pressman took his hat and accompanied the footman. They walked +together down the winding gravelled path among the rhododendron bushes. + +"It's like this, sir," said the footman, halting when they had arrived at +a quiet nook. "I was hoping that you would see it in our light and +understand me when I told you that the servant who was trying to give +honest service for his master's money, and the man who is free born and +as good as his neighbour are two separate folk. There's the duty man and +there's the natural man, and they are different men. To say that I have +no life of my own, or self-respect of my own, because there are days when +I give myself to the service of another, is not fair treatment. I was +hoping, sir, that when I made this clear to you, you would have met me +like a man and taken it back." + +"Well, you have not convinced me," said the American. "A man's a man, +and he's responsible for all his actions." + +"Then you won't take back what you said of me--the degradation and the +rest?" + +"No, I don't see why I should." + +The man's comely face darkened. + +"You _will_ take it back," said he. "I'll smash your blasted head if you +don't." + +The American was suddenly aware that he was in the presence of a very +ugly proposition. The man was large, strong, and evidently most earnest +and determined. His brows were knotted, his eyes flashing, and his fists +clenched. On neutral ground he struck the journalist as really being a +very different person to the obsequious and silken footman of Trustall +Old Manor. The American had all the courage, both of his race and of his +profession, but he realised suddenly that he was very much in the wrong. +He was man enough to say so. + +"Well, sir, this once," said the footman, as they shook hands. "I don't +approve of the mixin' of classes--none of the best servants do. But I'm +on my own to-day, so we'll let it pass. But I wish you'd set it right +with your people, sir. I wish you would make them understand that an +English servant can give good and proper service and yet that he's a +human bein' I after all." + + + + +IV. THE FALL OF LORD BARRYMORE + + +These are few social historians of those days who have not told of the +long and fierce struggle between those two famous bucks, Sir Charles +Tregellis and Lord Barrymore, for the Lordship of the Kingdom of St. +James, a struggle which divided the whole of fashionable London into two +opposing camps. It has been chronicled also how the peer retired +suddenly and the commoner resumed his great career without a rival. Only +here, however, one can read the real and remarkable reason for this +sudden eclipse of a star. + +It was one morning in the days of this famous struggle that Sir Charles +Tregellis was performing his very complicated toilet, and Ambrose, his +valet, was helping him to attain that pitch of perfection which had long +gained him the reputation of being the best-dressed man in town. Suddenly +Sir Charles paused, his _coup d'archet_ half-executed, the final beauty +of his neck-cloth half-achieved, while he listened with surprise and +indignation upon his large, comely, fresh-complexioned face. Below, the +decorous hum of Jermyn Street had been broken by the sharp, staccato, +metallic beating of a doorknocker. + +"I begin to think that this uproar must be at our door," said Sir +Charles, as one who thinks aloud. "For five minutes it has come and +gone; yet Perkins has his orders." + +At a gesture from his master Ambrose stepped out upon the balcony and +craned his discreet head over it. From the street below came a voice, +drawling but clear. + +"You would oblige me vastly, fellow, if you would do me the favour to +open this door," said the voice. + +"Who is it? What is it?" asked the scandalised Sir Charles, with his +arrested elbow still pointing upwards. + +Ambrose had returned with as much surprise upon his dark face as the +etiquette of his position would allow him to show. + +"It is a young gentleman, Sir Charles." + +"A young gentleman? There is no one in London who is not aware that I do +not show before midday. Do you know the person? Have you seen him +before?" + +"I have not seen him, sir, but he is very like some one I could name." + +"Like some one? Like whom?" + +"With all respect, Sir Charles, I could for a moment have believed that +it was yourself when I looked down. A smaller man, sir, and a youth; but +the voice, the face, the bearing--" + +"It must be that young cub Vereker, my brother's ne'er-do-weel," muttered +Sir Charles, continuing his toilet. "I have heard that there are points +in which he resembles me. He wrote from Oxford that he would come, and I +answered that I would not see him. Yet he ventures to insist. The +fellow needs a lesson! Ambrose, ring for Perkins." + +A large footman entered with an outraged expression upon his face. + +"I cannot have this uproar at the door, Perkins!" + +"If you please, the young gentleman won't go away, sir." + +"Won't go away? It is your duty to see that he goes away. Have you not +your orders? Didn't you tell him that I am not seen before midday?" + +"I said so, sir. He would have pushed his way in, for all I could say, +so I slammed the door in his face." + +"Very right, Perkins." + +"But now, sir, he is making such a din that all the folk are at the +windows. There is a crowd gathering in the street, sir." + +From below came the crack-crack-crack of the knocker, ever rising in +insistence, with a chorus of laughter and encouraging comments from the +spectators. Sir Charles flushed with anger. There must be some limit to +such impertinence. + +"My clouded amber cane is in the corner," said he. "Take it with you, +Perkins. I give you a free hand. A stripe or two may bring the young +rascal to reason." + +The large Perkins smiled and departed. The door was heard to open below +and the knocker was at rest. A few moments later there followed a +prolonged howl and a noise as of a beaten carpet. Sir Charles listened +with a smile which gradually faded from his good-humoured face. + +"The fellow must not overdo it," he muttered. "I would not do the lad an +injury, whatever his deserts may be. Ambrose, run out on the balcony and +call him off. This has gone far enough." + +But before the valet could move there came the swift patter of agile feet +upon the stairs, and a handsome youth, dressed in the height of fashion, +was standing framed in the open doorway. The pose, the face, above all +the curious, mischievous, dancing light in the large blue eyes, all spoke +of the famous Tregellis blood. Even such was Sir Charles when, twenty +years before, he had, by virtue of his spirit and audacity, in one short +season taken a place in London from which Brummell himself had afterwards +vainly struggled to depose him. The youth faced the angry features of +his uncle with an air of debonair amusement, and he held towards him, +upon his outstretched palms, the broken fragments of an amber cane. + +"I much fear, sir," said he, "that in correcting your fellow I have had +the misfortune to injure what can only have been your property. I am +vastly concerned that it should have occurred." + +Sir Charles stared with intolerant eyes at this impertinent apparition. +The other looked back in a laughable parody of his senior's manner. As +Ambrose had remarked after his inspection from the balcony, the two were +very alike, save that the younger was smaller, finer cut, and the more +nervously alive of the two. + +"You are my nephew, Vereker Tregellis?" asked Sir Charles. + +"Yours to command, sir." + +"I hear bad reports of you from Oxford." + +"Yes, sir, I understand that the reports _are_ bad." + +"Nothing could be worse." + +"So I have been told." + +"Why are you here, sir?" + +"That I might see my famous uncle." + +"So you made a tumult in his street, forced his door, and beat his +footman?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You had my letter?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You were told that I was not receiving?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I can remember no such exhibition of impertinence." + +The young man smiled and rubbed his hands in satisfaction. + +"There is an impertinence which is redeemed by wit," said Sir Charles, +severely. "There is another which is the mere boorishness of the +clodhopper. As you grow older and wiser you may discern the difference." + +"You are very right, sir," said the young man, warmly. "The finer shades +of impertinence are infinitely subtle, and only experience and the +society of one who is a recognised master"--here he bowed to his +uncle--"can enable one to excel." + +Sir Charles was notoriously touchy in temper for the first hour after his +morning chocolate. He allowed himself to show it. + +"I cannot congratulate my brother upon his son," said he. "I had hoped +for something more worthy of our traditions." + +"Perhaps, sir, upon a longer acquaintance--" + +"The chance is too small to justify the very irksome experience. I must +ask you, sir, to bring to a close a visit which never should have been +made." + +The young man smiled affably, but gave no sign of departure. + +"May I ask, sir," said he, in an easy conversational fashion, "whether +you can recall Principal Munro, of my college?" + +"No, sir, I cannot," his uncle answered, sharply. + +"Naturally you would not burden your memory to such an extent, but he +still remembers you. In some conversation with him yesterday he did me +the honour to say that I brought you back to his recollection by what he +was pleased to call the mingled levity and obstinacy of my character. The +levity seems to have already impressed you. I am now reduced to showing +you the obstinacy." He sat down in a chair near the door and folded his +arms, still beaming pleasantly at his uncle. + +"Oh, you won't go?" asked Sir Charles, grimly. + +"No, sir; I will stay." + +"Ambrose, step down and call a couple of chairmen." + +"I should not advise it, sir. They will be hurt." + +"I will put you out with my own hands." + +"That, sir, you can always do. As my uncle, I could scarce resist you. +But, short of throwing me down the stair, I do not see how you can avoid +giving me half an hour of your attention." + +Sir Charles smiled. He could not help it. There was so much that was +reminiscent of his own arrogant and eventful youth in the bearing of this +youngster. He was mollified, too, by the defiance of menials and quick +submission to himself. He turned to the glass and signed to Ambrose to +continue his duties. + +"I must ask you to await the conclusion of my toilet," said he. "Then we +shall see how far you can justify such an intrusion." + +When the valet had at last left the room Sir Charles turned his attention +once more to his scapegrace nephew, who had viewed the details of the +famous buck's toilet with the face of an acolyte assisting at a mystery. + +"Now, sir," said the older man, "speak, and speak to the point, for I can +assure you that I have many more important matters which claim my +attention. The Prince is waiting for me at the present instant at +Carlton House. Be as brief as you can. What is it that you want?" + +"A thousand pounds." + +"Really! Nothing more?" Sir Charles had turned acid again. + +"Yes, sir; an introduction to Mr. Brinsley Sheridan, whom I know to be +your friend." + +"And why to him?" + +"Because I am told that he controls Drury Lane Theatre, and I have a +fancy to be an actor. My friends assure me that I have a pretty talent +that way." + +"I can see you clearly, sir, in Charles Surface, or any other part where +a foppish insolence is the essential. The less you acted, the better you +would be. But it is absurd to suppose that I could help you to such a +career. I could not justify it to your father. Return to Oxford at +once, and continue your studies." + +"Impossible!" + +"And pray, sir, what is the impediment?" + +"I think I may have mentioned to you that I had an interview yesterday +with the Principal. He ended it by remarking that the authorities of the +University could tolerate me no more." + +"Sent down?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And this is the fruit, no doubt, of a long series of rascalities." + +"Something of the sort, sir, I admit." + +In spite of himself, Sir Charles began once more to relax in his severity +towards this handsome young scapegrace. His absolute frankness disarmed +criticism. It was in a more gracious voice that the older man continued +the conversation. + +"Why do you want this large sum of money?" he asked. + +"To pay my college debts before I go, sir." + +"Your father is not a rich man." + +"No, sir. I could not apply to him for that reason." + +"So you come to me, who am a stranger!" + +"No, sir, no! You are my uncle, and, if I may say so, my ideal and my +model." + +"You flatter me, my good Vereker. But if you think you can flatter me +out of a thousand pounds, you mistake your man. I will give you no +money." + +"Of course, sir, if you can't--" + +"I did not say I can't. I say I won't." + +"If you can, sir, I think you will." + +Sir Charles smiled, and flicked his sleeve with his lace handkerchief. + +"I find you vastly entertaining," said he. "Pray continue your +conversation. Why do you think that I will give you so large a sum of +money?" + +"The reason that I think so," continued the younger man, "is that I can +do you a service which will seem to you worth a thousand pounds." + +Sir Charles raised his eyebrows in surprise. + +"Is this blackmail?" he inquired. + +Vereker Tregellis flushed. + +"Sir," said he, with a pleasing sternness, "you surprise me. You should +know the blood of which I come too well to suppose that I would attempt +such a thing." + +"I am relieved to hear that there are limits to what you consider to be +justifiable. I must confess that I had seen none in your conduct up to +now. But you say that you can do me a service which will be worth a +thousand pounds to me?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And pray, sir, what may this service be?" + +"To make Lord Barrymore the laughing-stock of the town." + +Sir Charles, in spite of himself, lost for an instant the absolute +serenity of his self-control. He started, and his face expressed his +surprise. By what devilish instinct did this raw undergraduate find the +one chink in his armour? Deep in his heart, unacknowledged to any one, +there was the will to pay many a thousand pounds to the man who would +bring ridicule upon this his most dangerous rival, who was challenging +his supremacy in fashionable London. + +"Did you come from Oxford with this precious project?" he asked, after a +pause. + +"No, sir. I chanced to see the man himself last night, and I conceived +an ill-will to him, and would do him a mischief." + +"Where did you see him?" + +"I spent the evening, sir, at the Vauxhall Gardens." + +"No doubt you would," interpolated his uncle. + +"My Lord Barrymore was there. He was attended by one who was dressed as +a clergyman, but who was, as I am told, none other than Hooper the +Tinman, who acts as his bully and thrashes all who may offend him. +Together they passed down the central path, insulting the women and +browbeating the men. They actually hustled me. I was offended, sir--so +much so that I nearly took the matter in hand then and there." + +"It is as well that you did not. The prizefighter would have beaten +you." + +"Perhaps so, sir--and also, perhaps not." + +"Ah, you add pugilism to your elegant accomplishments?" + +The young man laughed pleasantly. + +"William Ball is the only professor of my Alma Mater who has ever had +occasion to compliment me, sir. He is better known as the Oxford Pet. I +think, with all modesty, that I could hold him for a dozen rounds. But +last night I suffered the annoyance without protest, for since it is said +that the same scene is enacted every evening, there is always time to +act." + +"And how would you act, may I ask?" + +"That, sir, I should prefer to keep to myself; but my aim, as I say, +would be to make Lord Barrymore a laughing-stock to all London." + +Sir Charles cogitated for a moment. + +"Pray, sir," said he, "why did you imagine that any humiliation to Lord +Barrymore would be pleasing to me?" + +"Even in the provinces we know something of what passes in polite +circles. Your antagonism to this man is to be found in every column of +fashionable gossip. The town is divided between you. It is impossible +that any public slight upon him should be unpleasing to you." + +Sir Charles smiled. + +"You are a shrewd reasoner," said he. "We will suppose for the instant +that you are right. Can you give me no hint what means you would adopt +to attain this very desirable end?" + +"I would merely make the remark, sir, that many women have been wronged +by this fellow. That is a matter of common knowledge. If one of these +damsels were to upbraid him in public in such a fashion that the sympathy +of the bystanders should be with her, then I can imagine, if she were +sufficiently persistent, that his lordship's position might become an +unenviable one." + +"And you know such a woman?" + +"I think, sir, that I do." + +"Well, my good Vereker, if any such attempt is in your mind, I see no +reason why I should stand between Lord Barrymore and the angry fair. As +to whether the result is worth a thousand pounds, I can make no promise." + +"You shall yourself be the judge, sir." + +"I will be an exacting judge, nephew." + +"Very good, sir; I should not desire otherwise. If things go as I hope, +his lordship will not show face in St. James's Street for a year to come. +I will now, if I may, give you your instructions." + +"My instructions! What do you mean? I have nothing to do with the +matter." + +"You are the judge, sir, and therefore must be present." + +"I can play no part." + +"No, sir. I would not ask you to do more than be a witness." + +"What, then, are my instructions, as you are pleased to call them?" + +"You will come to the Gardens to-night, uncle, at nine o'clock precisely. +You will walk down the centre path, and you will seat yourself upon one +of the rustic seats which are beside the statue of Aphrodite. You will +wait and you will observe." + +"Very good; I will do so. I begin to perceive, nephew, that the breed of +Tregellis has not yet lost some of the points which have made it famous." + +It was at the stroke of nine that night when Sir Charles, throwing his +reins to the groom, descended from his high yellow phaeton, which +forthwith turned to take its place in the long line of fashionable +carriages waiting for their owners. As he entered the gate of the +Gardens, the centre at that time of the dissipation and revelry of +London, he turned up the collar of his driving-cape and drew his hat over +his eyes, for he had no desire to be personally associated with what +might well prove to be a public scandal. In spite of his attempted +disguise, however, there was that in his walk and his carriage which +caused many an eye to be turned after him as he passed and many a hand to +be raised in salute. Sir Charles walked on, and, seating himself upon +the rustic bench in front of the famous statue, which was in the very +middle of the Gardens, he waited in amused suspense to see the next act +in this comedy. + +From the pavilion, whence the paths radiated, there came the strains of +the band of the Foot Guards, and by the many-coloured lamps twinkling +from every tree Sir Charles could see the confused whirl of the dancers. +Suddenly the music stopped. The quadrilles were at an end. + +An instant afterwards the central path by which he sat was thronged by +the revellers. In a many-coloured crowd, stocked and cravated with all +the bravery of buff and plum-colour and blue, the bucks of the town +passed and repassed with their high-waisted, straight-skirted, +be-bonneted ladies upon their arms. + +It was not a decorous assembly. Many of the men, flushed and noisy, had +come straight from their potations. The women, too, were loud and +aggressive. Now and then, with a rush and a swirl, amid a chorus of +screams from the girls and good-humoured laughter from their escorts, +some band of high-blooded, noisy youths would break their way across the +moving throng. It was no place for the prim or demure, and there was a +spirit of good-nature and merriment among the crowd which condoned the +wildest liberty. + +And yet there were some limits to what could be tolerated even by so +Bohemian an assembly. A murmur of anger followed in the wake of two +roisterers who were making their way down the path. It would, perhaps, +be fairer to say one roisterer; for of the two it was only the first who +carried himself with such insolence, although it was the second who +ensured that he could do it with impunity. + +The leader was a very tall, hatchet-faced man, dressed in the very height +of fashion, whose evil, handsome features were flushed with wine and +arrogance. He shouldered his way roughly through the crowd, peering with +an abominable smile into the faces of the women, and occasionally, where +the weakness of the escort invited an insult, stretching out his hand and +caressing the cheek or neck of some passing girl, laughing loudly as she +winced away from his touch. + +Close at his heels walked his hired attendant, whom, out of insolent +caprice and with a desire to show his contempt for the prejudices of +others, he had dressed as a rough country clergyman. This fellow +slouched along with frowning brows and surly, challenging eyes, like some +faithful, hideous human bulldog, his knotted hands protruding from his +rusty cassock, his great underhung jaw turning slowly from right to left +as he menaced the crowd with his sinister gaze. Already a close observer +might have marked upon his face a heaviness and looseness of feature, the +first signs of that physical decay which in a very few years was to +stretch him, a helpless wreck, too weak to utter his own name, upon the +causeway of the London streets. At present, however, he was still an +unbeaten man, the terror of the Ring, and as his ill-omened face was seen +behind his infamous master many a half-raised cane was lowered and many a +hot word was checked, while the whisper of "Hooper! 'Ware Bully Hooper!" +warned all who were aggrieved that it might be best to pocket their +injuries lest some even worse thing should befall them. Many a maimed +and disfigured man had carried away from Vauxhall the handiwork of the +Tinman and his patron. + +Moving in insolent slowness through the crowd, the bully and his master +had just come opposite to the bench upon which sat Sir Charles Tregellis. +At this place the path opened up into a circular space, brilliantly +illuminated and surrounded by rustic seats. From one of these an +elderly, ringleted woman, deeply veiled, rose suddenly and barred the +path of the swaggering nobleman. Her voice sounded clear and strident +above the babel of tongues, which hushed suddenly that their owners might +hear it. + +"Marry her, my lord! I entreat you to marry her! Oh, surely you will +marry my poor Amelia!" said the voice. + +Lord Barrymore stood aghast. From all sides folk were closing in and +heads were peering over shoulders. He tried to push on, but the lady +barred his way and two palms pressed upon his beruffled front. + +"Surely, surely you would not desert her! Take the advice of that good, +kind clergyman behind you!" wailed the voice. "Oh, be a man of honour +and marry her!" + +The elderly lady thrust out her hand and drew forward a lumpish-looking +young woman, who sobbed and mopped her eyes with her handkerchief. + +"The plague take you!" roared his lordship, in a fury. "Who is the +wench? I vow that I never clapped eyes on either of you in my life!" + +"It is my niece Amelia," cried the lady, "your own loving Amelia! Oh, my +lord, can you pretend that you have forgotten poor, trusting Amelia, of +Woodbine Cottage at Lichfield." + +"I never set foot in Lichfield in my life!" cried the peer. "You are two +impostors who should be whipped at the cart's tail." + +"Oh, wicked! Oh, Amelia!" screamed the lady, in a voice that resounded +through the Gardens. "Oh, my darling, try to soften his hard heart; pray +him that he make an honest woman of you at last." + +With a lurch the stout young woman fell forward and embraced Lord +Barrymore with the hug of a bear. He would have raised his cane, but his +arms were pinned to his sides. + +"Hooper! Hooper!" screamed the furious peer, craning his neck in horror, +for the girl seemed to be trying to kiss him. + +But the bruiser, as he ran forward, found himself entangled with the old +lady. + +"Out o' the way, marm!" he cried. "Out o' the way, I say!" and pushed +her violently aside. + +"Oh, you rude, rude man!" she shrieked, springing back in front of him. +"He hustled me, good people; you saw him hustle me! A clergyman, but no +gentleman! What! you would treat a lady so--you would do it again? Oh, +I could slap, slap, slap you!" + +And with each repetition of the word, with extraordinary swiftness, her +open palm rang upon the prizefighter's cheek. + +The crowd buzzed with amazement and delight. + +"Hooper! Hooper!" cried Lord Barrymore once more, for he was still +struggling in the ever-closer embrace of the unwieldy and amorous Amelia. + +The bully again pushed forward to the aid of his patron, but again the +elderly lady confronted him, her head back, her left arm extended, her +whole attitude, to his amazement, that of an expert boxer. + +The prizefighter's brutal nature was roused. Woman or no woman, he would +show the murmuring crowd what it meant to cross the path of the Tinman. +She had struck him. She must take the consequence. No one should square +up to him with impunity. He swung his right with a curse. The bonnet +instantly ducked under his arm, and a line of razor-like knuckles left an +open cut under his eye. + +Amid wild cries of delight and encouragement from the dense circle of +spectators, the lady danced round the sham clergyman, dodging his +ponderous blows, slipping under his arms, and smacking back at him most +successfully. Once she tripped and fell over her own skirt, but was up +and at him again in an instant. + +"You vulgar fellow!" she shrieked. "Would you strike a helpless woman! +Take that! Oh, you rude and ill-bred man!" + +Bully Hooper was cowed for the first time in his life by the +extraordinary thing that he was fighting. The creature was as elusive as +a shadow, and yet the blood was dripping down his chin from the effects +of the blows. He shrank back with an amazed face from so uncanny an +antagonist. And in the moment that he did so his spell was for ever +broken. Only success could hold it. A check was fatal. In all the +crowd there was scarce one who was not nursing some grievance against +master or man, and waiting for that moment of weakness in which to +revenge it. + +With a growl of rage the circle closed in. There was an eddy of furious, +struggling men, with Lord Barrymore's thin, flushed face and Hooper's +bulldog jowl in the centre of it. A moment after they were both upon the +ground, and a dozen sticks were rising and falling above them. + +"Let me up! You're killing me! For God's sake let me up!" cried a +crackling voice. + +Hooper fought mute, like the bulldog he was, till his senses were beaten +out of him. + +Bruised, kicked, and mauled, never did their worst victim come so badly +from the Gardens as the bully and his patron that night. But worse than +the ache of wounds for Lord Barrymore was the smart of the mind as he +thought how every club and drawing-room in London would laugh for a week +to come at the tale of his Amelia and her aunt. + +Sir Charles had stood, rocking with laughter, upon the bench which +overlooked the scene. When at last he made his way back through the +crowds to his yellow phaeton, he was not entirely surprised to find that +the back seat was already occupied by two giggling females, who were +exchanging most unladylike repartees with the attendant grooms. + +"You young rascals!" he remarked, over his shoulder, as he gathered up +his reins. + +The two females tittered loudly. + +"Uncle Charles!" cried the elder, "may I present Mr. Jack Jarvis, of +Brasenose College? I think, uncle, you should take us somewhere to sup, +for it has been a vastly fatiguing performance. To-morrow I will do +myself the honour to call, at your convenience, and will venture to bring +with me the receipt for one thousand pounds." + + + + +V. THE HORROR OF THE HEIGHTS +(WHICH INCLUDES THE MANUSCRIPT KNOWN AS THE JOYCE-ARMSTRONG FRAGMENT) + + +The idea that the extraordinary narrative which has been called the Joyce- +Armstrong Fragment is an elaborate practical joke evolved by some unknown +person, cursed by a perverted and sinister sense of humour, has now been +abandoned by all who have examined the matter. The most _macabre_ and +imaginative of plotters would hesitate before linking his morbid fancies +with the unquestioned and tragic facts which reinforce the statement. +Though the assertions contained in it are amazing and even monstrous, it +is none the less forcing itself upon the general intelligence that they +are true, and that we must readjust our ideas to the new situation. This +world of ours appears to be separated by a slight and precarious margin +of safety from a most singular and unexpected danger. I will endeavour +in this narrative, which reproduces the original document in its +necessarily somewhat fragmentary form, to lay before the reader the whole +of the facts up to date, prefacing my statement by saying that, if there +be any who doubt the narrative of Joyce-Armstrong, there can be no +question at all as to the facts concerning Lieutenant Myrtle, R.N., and +Mr. Hay Connor, who undoubtedly met their end in the manner described. + +The Joyce-Armstrong Fragment was found in the field which is called Lower +Haycock, lying one mile to the westward of the village of Withyham, upon +the Kent and Sussex border. It was on the fifteenth of September last +that an agricultural labourer, James Flynn, in the employment of Mathew +Dodd, farmer, of the Chauntry Farm, Withyham, perceived a briar pipe +lying near the footpath which skirts the hedge in Lower Haycock. A few +paces farther on he picked up a pair of broken binocular glasses. +Finally, among some nettles in the ditch, he caught sight of a flat, +canvas-backed book, which proved to be a note-book with detachable +leaves, some of which had come loose and were fluttering along the base +of the hedge. These he collected, but some, including the first, were +never recovered, and leave a deplorable hiatus in this all-important +statement. The notebook was taken by the labourer to his master, who in +turn showed it to Dr. J. H. Atherton, of Hartfield. This gentleman at +once recognised the need for an expert examination, and the manuscript +was forwarded to the Aero Club in London, where it now lies. + +The first two pages of the manuscript are missing. There is also one +torn away at the end of the narrative, though none of these affect the +general coherence of the story. It is conjectured that the missing +opening is concerned with the record of Mr. Joyce-Armstrong's +qualifications as an aeronaut, which can be gathered from other sources +and are admitted to be unsurpassed among the air-pilots of England. For +many years he has been looked upon as among the most daring and the most +intellectual of flying men, a combination which has enabled him to both +invent and test several new devices, including the common gyroscopic +attachment which is known by his name. The main body of the manuscript +is written neatly in ink, but the last few lines are in pencil and are so +ragged as to be hardly legible--exactly, in fact, as they might be +expected to appear if they were scribbled off hurriedly from the seat of +a moving aeroplane. There are, it may be added, several stains, both on +the last page and on the outside cover, which have been pronounced by the +Home Office experts to be blood--probably human and certainly mammalian. +The fact that something closely resembling the organism of malaria was +discovered in this blood, and that Joyce-Armstrong is known to have +suffered from intermittent fever, is a remarkable example of the new +weapons which modern science has placed in the hands of our detectives. + +And now a word as to the personality of the author of this epoch-making +statement. Joyce-Armstrong, according to the few friends who really knew +something of the man, was a poet and a dreamer, as well as a mechanic and +an inventor. He was a man of considerable wealth, much of which he had +spent in the pursuit of his aeronautical hobby. He had four private +aeroplanes in his hangars near Devizes, and is said to have made no fewer +than one hundred and seventy ascents in the course of last year. He was +a retiring man with dark moods, in which he would avoid the society of +his fellows. Captain Dangerfield, who knew him better than any one, says +that there were times when his eccentricity threatened to develop into +something more serious. His habit of carrying a shot-gun with him in his +aeroplane was one manifestation of it. + +Another was the morbid effect which the fall of Lieutenant Myrtle had +upon his mind. Myrtle, who was attempting the height record, fell from +an altitude of something over thirty thousand feet. Horrible to narrate, +his head was entirely obliterated, though his body and limbs preserved +their configuration. At every gathering of airmen, Joyce-Armstrong, +according to Dangerfield, would ask, with an enigmatic smile: "And where, +pray, is Myrtle's head?" + +On another occasion after dinner, at the mess of the Flying School on +Salisbury Plain, he started a debate as to what will be the most +permanent danger which airmen will have to encounter. Having listened to +successive opinions as to air-pockets, faulty construction, and +over-banking, he ended by shrugging his shoulders and refusing to put +forward his own views, though he gave the impression that they differed +from any advanced by his companions. + +It is worth remarking that after his own complete disappearance it was +found that his private affairs were arranged with a precision which may +show that he had a strong premonition of disaster. With these essential +explanations I will now give the narrative exactly as it stands, +beginning at page three of the blood-soaked note-book:-- + +"Nevertheless, when I dined at Rheims with Coselli and Gustav Raymond I +found that neither of them was aware of any particular danger in the +higher layers of the atmosphere. I did not actually say what was in my +thoughts, but I got so near to it that if they had any corresponding idea +they could not have failed to express it. But then they are two empty, +vainglorious fellows with no thought beyond seeing their silly names in +the newspaper. It is interesting to note that neither of them had ever +been much beyond the twenty-thousand-foot level. Of course, men have +been higher than this both in balloons and in the ascent of mountains. It +must be well above that point that the aeroplane enters the danger +zone--always presuming that my premonitions are correct. + +"Aeroplaning has been with us now for more than twenty years, and one +might well ask: Why should this peril be only revealing itself in our +day? The answer is obvious. In the old days of weak engines, when a +hundred horse-power Gnome or Green was considered ample for every need, +the flights were very restricted. Now that three hundred horse-power is +the rule rather than the exception, visits to the upper layers have +become easier and more common. Some of us can remember how, in our +youth, Garros made a world-wide reputation by attaining nineteen thousand +feet, and it was considered a remarkable achievement to fly over the +Alps. Our standard now has been immeasurably raised, and there are +twenty high flights for one in former years. Many of them have been +undertaken with impunity. The thirty-thousand-foot level has been +reached time after time with no discomfort beyond cold and asthma. What +does this prove? A visitor might descend upon this planet a thousand +times and never see a tiger. Yet tigers exist, and if he chanced to come +down into a jungle he might be devoured. There are jungles of the upper +air, and there are worse things than tigers which inhabit them. I +believe in time they will map these jungles accurately out. Even at the +present moment I could name two of them. One of them lies over the Pau- +Biarritz district of France. Another is just over my head as I write +here in my house in Wiltshire. I rather think there is a third in the +Homburg-Wiesbaden district. + +"It was the disappearance of the airmen that first set me thinking. Of +course, every one said that they had fallen into the sea, but that did +not satisfy me at all. First, there was Verrier in France; his machine +was found near Bayonne, but they never got his body. There was the case +of Baxter also, who vanished, though his engine and some of the iron +fixings were found in a wood in Leicestershire. In that case, Dr. +Middleton, of Amesbury, who was watching the flight with a telescope, +declares that just before the clouds obscured the view he saw the +machine, which was at an enormous height, suddenly rise perpendicularly +upwards in a succession of jerks in a manner that he would have thought +to be impossible. That was the last seen of Baxter. There was a +correspondence in the papers, but it never led to anything. There were +several other similar cases, and then there was the death of Hay Connor. +What a cackle there was about an unsolved mystery of the air, and what +columns in the halfpenny papers, and yet how little was ever done to get +to the bottom of the business! He came down in a tremendous vol-plane +from an unknown height. He never got off his machine and died in his +pilot's seat. Died of what? 'Heart disease,' said the doctors. Rubbish! +Hay Connor's heart was as sound as mine is. What did Venables say? +Venables was the only man who was at his side when he died. He said that +he was shivering and looked like a man who had been badly scared. 'Died +of fright,' said Venables, but could not imagine what he was frightened +about. Only said one word to Venables, which sounded like 'Monstrous.' +They could make nothing of that at the inquest. But I could make +something of it. Monsters! That was the last word of poor Harry Hay +Connor. And he _did_ die of fright, just as Venables thought. + +"And then there was Myrtle's head. Do you really believe--does anybody +really believe--that a man's head could be driven clean into his body by +the force of a fall? Well, perhaps it may be possible, but I, for one, +have never believed that it was so with Myrtle. And the grease upon his +clothes--'all slimy with grease,' said somebody at the inquest. Queer +that nobody got thinking after that! I did--but, then, I had been +thinking for a good long time. I've made three ascents--how Dangerfield +used to chaff me about my shot-gun!--but I've never been high enough. +Now, with this new light Paul Veroner machine and its one hundred and +seventy-five Robur, I should easily touch the thirty thousand to-morrow. +I'll have a shot at the record. Maybe I shall have a shot at something +else as well. Of course, it's dangerous. If a fellow wants to avoid +danger he had best keep out of flying altogether and subside finally into +flannel slippers and a dressing-gown. But I'll visit the air-jungle to- +morrow--and if there's anything there I shall know it. If I return, I'll +find myself a bit of a celebrity. If I don't, this note-book may explain +what I am trying to do, and how I lost my life in doing it. But no +drivel about accidents or mysteries, if _you_ please. + +"I chose my Paul Veroner monoplane for the job. There's nothing like a +monoplane when real work is to be done. Beaumont found that out in very +early days. For one thing, it doesn't mind damp, and the weather looks +as if we should be in the clouds all the time. It's a bonny little model +and answers my hand like a tender-mouthed horse. The engine is a ten- +cylinder rotary Robur working up to one hundred and seventy-five. It has +all the modern improvements--enclosed fuselage, high-curved landing +skids, brakes, gyroscopic steadiers, and three speeds, worked by an +alteration of the angle of the planes upon the Venetian-blind principle. +I took a shot-gun with me and a dozen cartridges filled with buck-shot. +You should have seen the face of Perkins, my old mechanic, when I +directed him to put them in. I was dressed like an Arctic explorer, with +two jerseys under my overalls, thick socks inside my padded boots, a +storm-cap with flaps, and my talc goggles. It was stifling outside the +hangars, but I was going for the summit of the Himalayas, and had to +dress for the part. Perkins knew there was something on and implored me +to take him with me. Perhaps I should if I were using the biplane, but a +monoplane is a one-man show--if you want to get the last foot of lift out +of it. Of course, I took an oxygen bag; the man who goes for the +altitude record without one will either be frozen or smothered--or both. + +"I had a good look at the planes, the rudder-bar, and the elevating lever +before I got in. Everything was in order so far as I could see. Then I +switched on my engine and found that she was running sweetly. When they +let her go she rose almost at once upon the lowest speed. I circled my +home field once or twice just to warm her up, and then, with a wave to +Perkins and the others, I flattened out my planes and put her on her +highest. She skimmed like a swallow down wind for eight or ten miles +until I turned her nose up a little and she began to climb in a great +spiral for the cloud-bank above me. It's all-important to rise slowly +and adapt yourself to the pressure as you go. + +"It was a close, warm day for an English September, and there was the +hush and heaviness of impending rain. Now and then there came sudden +puffs of wind from the south-west--one of them so gusty and unexpected +that it caught me napping and turned me half-round for an instant. I +remember the time when gusts and whirls and air-pockets used to be things +of danger--before we learned to put an overmastering power into our +engines. Just as I reached the cloud-banks, with the altimeter marking +three thousand, down came the rain. My word, how it poured! It drummed +upon my wings and lashed against my face, blurring my glasses so that I +could hardly see. I got down on to a low speed, for it was painful to +travel against it. As I got higher it became hail, and I had to turn +tail to it. One of my cylinders was out of action--a dirty plug, I +should imagine, but still I was rising steadily with plenty of power. +After a bit the trouble passed, whatever it was, and I heard the full, +deep-throated purr--the ten singing as one. That's where the beauty of +our modern silencers comes in. We can at last control our engines by +ear. How they squeal and squeak and sob when they are in trouble! All +those cries for help were wasted in the old days, when every sound was +swallowed up by the monstrous racket of the machine. If only the early +aviators could come back to see the beauty and perfection of the +mechanism which have been bought at the cost of their lives! + +"About nine-thirty I was nearing the clouds. Down below me, all blurred +and shadowed with rain, lay the vast expanse of Salisbury Plain. Half-a- +dozen flying machines were doing hackwork at the thousand-foot level, +looking like little black swallows against the green background. I dare +say they were wondering what I was doing up in cloud-land. Suddenly a +grey curtain drew across beneath me and the wet folds of vapour were +swirling round my face. It was clammily cold and miserable. But I was +above the hail-storm, and that was something gained. The cloud was as +dark and thick as a London fog. In my anxiety to get clear, I cocked her +nose up until the automatic alarm-bell rang, and I actually began to +slide backwards. My sopped and dripping wings had made me heavier than I +thought, but presently I was in lighter cloud, and soon had cleared the +first layer. There was a second--opal-coloured and fleecy--at a great +height above my head, a white unbroken ceiling above, and a dark unbroken +floor below, with the monoplane labouring upwards upon a vast spiral +between them. It is deadly lonely in these cloud-spaces. Once a great +flight of some small water-birds went past me, flying very fast to the +westwards. The quick whirr of their wings and their musical cry were +cheery to my ear. I fancy that they were teal, but I am a wretched +zoologist. Now that we humans have become birds we must really learn to +know our brethren by sight. + +"The wind down beneath me whirled and swayed the broad cloud-plain. Once +a great eddy formed in it, a whirlpool of vapour, and through it, as down +a funnel, I caught sight of the distant world. A large white biplane was +passing at a vast depth beneath me. I fancy it was the morning mail +service betwixt Bristol and London. Then the drift swirled inwards again +and the great solitude was unbroken. + +"Just after ten I touched the lower edge of the upper cloud-stratum. It +consisted of fine diaphanous vapour drifting swiftly from the westward. +The wind had been steadily rising all this time and it was now blowing a +sharp breeze--twenty-eight an hour by my gauge. Already it was very +cold, though my altimeter only marked nine thousand. The engines were +working beautifully, and we went droning steadily upwards. The cloud- +bank was thicker than I had expected, but at last it thinned out into a +golden mist before me, and then in an instant I had shot out from it, and +there was an unclouded sky and a brilliant sun above my head--all blue +and gold above, all shining silver below, one vast glimmering plain as +far as my eyes could reach. It was a quarter past ten o'clock, and the +barograph needle pointed to twelve thousand eight hundred. Up I went and +up, my ears concentrated upon the deep purring of my motor, my eyes busy +always with the watch, the revolution indicator, the petrol lever, and +the oil pump. No wonder aviators are said to be a fearless race. With +so many things to think of there is no time to trouble about oneself. +About this time I noted how unreliable is the compass when above a +certain height from earth. At fifteen thousand feet mine was pointing +east and a point south. The sun and the wind gave me my true bearings. + +"I had hoped to reach an eternal stillness in these high altitudes, but +with every thousand feet of ascent the gale grew stronger. My machine +groaned and trembled in every joint and rivet as she faced it, and swept +away like a sheet of paper when I banked her on the turn, skimming down +wind at a greater pace, perhaps, than ever mortal man has moved. Yet I +had always to turn again and tack up in the wind's eye, for it was not +merely a height record that I was after. By all my calculations it was +above little Wiltshire that my air-jungle lay, and all my labour might be +lost if I struck the outer layers at some farther point. + +"When I reached the nineteen-thousand-foot level, which was about midday, +the wind was so severe that I looked with some anxiety to the stays of my +wings, expecting momentarily to see them snap or slacken. I even cast +loose the parachute behind me, and fastened its hook into the ring of my +leathern belt, so as to be ready for the worst. Now was the time when a +bit of scamped work by the mechanic is paid for by the life of the +aeronaut. But she held together bravely. Every cord and strut was +humming and vibrating like so many harp-strings, but it was glorious to +see how, for all the beating and the buffeting, she was still the +conqueror of Nature and the mistress of the sky. There is surely +something divine in man himself that he should rise so superior to the +limitations which Creation seemed to impose--rise, too, by such +unselfish, heroic devotion as this air-conquest has shown. Talk of human +degeneration! When has such a story as this been written in the annals +of our race? + +"These were the thoughts in my head as I climbed that monstrous inclined +plane with the wind sometimes beating in my face and sometimes whistling +behind my ears, while the cloud-land beneath me fell away to such a +distance that the folds and hummocks of silver had all smoothed out into +one flat, shining plain. But suddenly I had a horrible and unprecedented +experience. I have known before what it is to be in what our neighbours +have called a _tourbillon_, but never on such a scale as this. That +huge, sweeping river of wind of which I have spoken had, as it appears, +whirlpools within it which were as monstrous as itself. Without a +moment's warning I was dragged suddenly into the heart of one. I spun +round for a minute or two with such velocity that I almost lost my +senses, and then fell suddenly, left wing foremost, down the vacuum +funnel in the centre. I dropped like a stone, and lost nearly a thousand +feet. It was only my belt that kept me in my seat, and the shock and +breathlessness left me hanging half-insensible over the side of the +fuselage. But I am always capable of a supreme effort--it is my one +great merit as an aviator. I was conscious that the descent was slower. +The whirlpool was a cone rather than a funnel, and I had come to the +apex. With a terrific wrench, throwing my weight all to one side, I +levelled my planes and brought her head away from the wind. In an +instant I had shot out of the eddies and was skimming down the sky. Then, +shaken but victorious, I turned her nose up and began once more my steady +grind on the upward spiral. I took a large sweep to avoid the danger- +spot of the whirlpool, and soon I was safely above it. Just after one +o'clock I was twenty-one thousand feet above the sea-level. To my great +joy I had topped the gale, and with every hundred feet of ascent the air +grew stiller. On the other hand, it was very cold, and I was conscious +of that peculiar nausea which goes with rarefaction of the air. For the +first time I unscrewed the mouth of my oxygen bag and took an occasional +whiff of the glorious gas. I could feel it running like a cordial +through my veins, and I was exhilarated almost to the point of +drunkenness. I shouted and sang as I soared upwards into the cold, still +outer world. + +"It is very clear to me that the insensibility which came upon Glaisher, +and in a lesser degree upon Coxwell, when, in 1862, they ascended in a +balloon to the height of thirty thousand feet, was due to the extreme +speed with which a perpendicular ascent is made. Doing it at an easy +gradient and accustoming oneself to the lessened barometric pressure by +slow degrees, there are no such dreadful symptoms. At the same great +height I found that even without my oxygen inhaler I could breathe +without undue distress. It was bitterly cold, however, and my +thermometer was at zero Fahrenheit. At one-thirty I was nearly seven +miles above the surface of the earth, and still ascending steadily. I +found, however, that the rarefied air was giving markedly less support to +my planes, and that my angle of ascent had to be considerably lowered in +consequence. It was already clear that even with my light weight and +strong engine-power there was a point in front of me where I should be +held. To make matters worse, one of my sparking-plugs was in trouble +again and there was intermittent missfiring in the engine. My heart was +heavy with the fear of failure. + +"It was about that time that I had a most extraordinary experience. +Something whizzed past me in a trail of smoke and exploded with a loud, +hissing sound, sending forth a cloud of steam. For the instant I could +not imagine what had happened. Then I remembered that the earth is for +ever being bombarded by meteor stones, and would be hardly inhabitable +were they not in nearly every case turned to vapour in the outer layers +of the atmosphere. Here is a new danger for the high-altitude man, for +two others passed me when I was nearing the forty-thousand-foot mark. I +cannot doubt that at the edge of the earth's envelope the risk would be a +very real one. + +"My barograph needle marked forty-one thousand three hundred when I +became aware that I could go no farther. Physically, the strain was not +as yet greater than I could bear, but my machine had reached its limit. +The attenuated air gave no firm support to the wings, and the least tilt +developed into side-slip, while she seemed sluggish on her controls. +Possibly, had the engine been at its best, another thousand feet might +have been within our capacity, but it was still missfiring, and two out +of the ten cylinders appeared to be out of action. If I had not already +reached the zone for which I was searching then I should never see it +upon this journey. But was it not possible that I had attained it? +Soaring in circles like a monstrous hawk upon the forty-thousand-foot +level I let the monoplane guide herself, and with my Mannheim glass I +made a careful observation of my surroundings. The heavens were +perfectly clear; there was no indication of those dangers which I had +imagined. + +"I have said that I was soaring in circles. It struck me suddenly that I +would do well to take a wider sweep and open up a new air-tract. If the +hunter entered an earth-jungle he would drive through it if he wished to +find his game. My reasoning had led me to believe that the air-jungle +which I had imagined lay somewhere over Wiltshire. This should be to the +south and west of me. I took my bearings from the sun, for the compass +was hopeless and no trace of earth was to be seen--nothing but the +distant silver cloud-plain. However, I got my direction as best I might +and kept her head straight to the mark. I reckoned that my petrol supply +would not last for more than another hour or so, but I could afford to +use it to the last drop, since a single magnificent vol-plane could at +any time take me to the earth. + +"Suddenly I was aware of something new. The air in front of me had lost +its crystal clearness. It was full of long, ragged wisps of something +which I can only compare to very fine cigarette-smoke. It hung about in +wreaths and coils, turning and twisting slowly in the sunlight. As the +monoplane shot through it, I was aware of a faint taste of oil upon my +lips, and there was a greasy scum upon the woodwork of the machine. Some +infinitely fine organic matter appeared to be suspended in the +atmosphere. There was no life there. It was inchoate and diffuse, +extending for many square acres and then fringing off into the void. No, +it was not life. But might it not be the remains of life? Above all, +might it not be the food of life, of monstrous life, even as the humble +grease of the ocean is the food for the mighty whale? The thought was in +my mind when my eyes looked upwards and I saw the most wonderful vision +that ever man has seen. Can I hope to convey it to you even as I saw it +myself last Thursday? + +"Conceive a jelly-fish such as sails in our summer seas, bell-shaped and +of enormous size--far larger, I should judge, than the dome of St. +Paul's. It was of a light pink colour veined with a delicate green, but +the whole huge fabric so tenuous that it was but a fairy outline against +the dark blue sky. It pulsated with a delicate and regular rhythm. From +it there depended two long, drooping green tentacles, which swayed slowly +backwards and forwards. This gorgeous vision passed gently with +noiseless dignity over my head, as light and fragile as a soap-bubble, +and drifted upon its stately way. + +"I had half-turned my monoplane, that I might look after this beautiful +creature, when, in a moment, I found myself amidst a perfect fleet of +them, of all sizes, but none so large as the first. Some were quite +small, but the majority about as big as an average balloon, and with much +the same curvature at the top. There was in them a delicacy of texture +and colouring which reminded me of the finest Venetian glass. Pale +shades of pink and green were the prevailing tints, but all had a lovely +iridescence where the sun shimmered through their dainty forms. Some +hundreds of them drifted past me, a wonderful fairy squadron of strange, +unknown argosies of the sky--creatures whose forms and substance were so +attuned to these pure heights that one could not conceive anything so +delicate within actual sight or sound of earth. + +"But soon my attention was drawn to a new phenomenon--the serpents of the +outer air. These were long, thin, fantastic coils of vapour-like +material, which turned and twisted with great speed, flying round and +round at such a pace that the eyes could hardly follow them. Some of +these ghost-like creatures were twenty or thirty feet long, but it was +difficult to tell their girth, for their outline was so hazy that it +seemed to fade away into the air around them. These air-snakes were of a +very light grey or smoke colour, with some darker lines within, which +gave the impression of a definite organism. One of them whisked past my +very face, and I was conscious of a cold, clammy contact, but their +composition was so unsubstantial that I could not connect them with any +thought of physical danger, any more than the beautiful bell-like +creatures which had preceded them. There was no more solidity in their +frames than in the floating spume from a broken wave. + +"But a more terrible experience was in store for me. Floating downwards +from a great height there came a purplish patch of vapour, small as I saw +it first, but rapidly enlarging as it approached me, until it appeared to +be hundreds of square feet in size. Though fashioned of some +transparent, jelly-like substance, it was none the less of much more +definite outline and solid consistence than anything which I had seen +before. There were more traces, too, of a physical organization, +especially two vast shadowy, circular plates upon either side, which may +have been eyes, and a perfectly solid white projection between them which +was as curved and cruel as the beak of a vulture. + +"The whole aspect of this monster was formidable and threatening, and it +kept changing its colour from a very light mauve to a dark, angry purple +so thick that it cast a shadow as it drifted between my monoplane and the +sun. On the upper curve of its huge body there were three great +projections which I can only describe as enormous bubbles, and I was +convinced as I looked at them that they were charged with some extremely +light gas which served to buoy-up the misshapen and semi-solid mass in +the rarefied air. The creature moved swiftly along, keeping pace easily +with the monoplane, and for twenty miles or more it formed my horrible +escort, hovering over me like a bird of prey which is waiting to pounce. +Its method of progression--done so swiftly that it was not easy to +follow--was to throw out a long, glutinous streamer in front of it, which +in turn seemed to draw forward the rest of the writhing body. So elastic +and gelatinous was it that never for two successive minutes was it the +same shape, and yet each change made it more threatening and loathsome +than the last. + +"I knew that it meant mischief. Every purple flush of its hideous body +told me so. The vague, goggling eyes which were turned always upon me +were cold and merciless in their viscid hatred. I dipped the nose of my +monoplane downwards to escape it. As I did so, as quick as a flash there +shot out a long tentacle from this mass of floating blubber, and it fell +as light and sinuous as a whip-lash across the front of my machine. There +was a loud hiss as it lay for a moment across the hot engine, and it +whisked itself into the air again, while the huge flat body drew itself +together as if in sudden pain. I dipped to a vol-pique, but again a +tentacle fell over the monoplane and was shorn off by the propeller as +easily as it might have cut through a smoke wreath. A long, gliding, +sticky, serpent-like coil came from behind and caught me round the waist, +dragging me out of the fuselage. I tore at it, my fingers sinking into +the smooth, glue-like surface, and for an instant I disengaged myself, +but only to be caught round the boot by another coil, which gave me a +jerk that tilted me almost on to my back. + +"As I fell over I blazed off both barrels of my gun, though, indeed, it +was like attacking an elephant with a pea-shooter to imagine that any +human weapon could cripple that mighty bulk. And yet I aimed better than +I knew, for, with a loud report, one of the great blisters upon the +creature's back exploded with the puncture of the buck-shot. It was very +clear that my conjecture was right, and that these vast clear bladders +were distended with some lifting gas, for in an instant the huge cloud- +like body turned sideways, writhing desperately to find its balance, +while the white beak snapped and gaped in horrible fury. But already I +had shot away on the steepest glide that I dared to attempt, my engine +still full on, the flying propeller and the force of gravity shooting me +downwards like an aerolite. Far behind me I saw a dull, purplish smudge +growing swiftly smaller and merging into the blue sky behind it. I was +safe out of the deadly jungle of the outer air. + +"Once out of danger I throttled my engine, for nothing tears a machine to +pieces quicker than running on full power from a height. It was a +glorious spiral vol-plane from nearly eight miles of altitude--first, to +the level of the silver cloud-bank, then to that of the storm-cloud +beneath it, and finally, in beating rain, to the surface of the earth. I +saw the Bristol Channel beneath me as I broke from the clouds, but, +having still some petrol in my tank, I got twenty miles inland before I +found myself stranded in a field half a mile from the village of +Ashcombe. There I got three tins of petrol from a passing motor-car, and +at ten minutes past six that evening I alighted gently in my own home +meadow at Devizes, after such a journey as no mortal upon earth has ever +yet taken and lived to tell the tale. I have seen the beauty and I have +seen the horror of the heights--and greater beauty or greater horror than +that is not within the ken of man. + +"And now it is my plan to go once again before I give my results to the +world. My reason for this is that I must surely have something to show +by way of proof before I lay such a tale before my fellow-men. It is +true that others will soon follow and will confirm what I have said, and +yet I should wish to carry conviction from the first. Those lovely +iridescent bubbles of the air should not be hard to capture. They drift +slowly upon their way, and the swift monoplane could intercept their +leisurely course. It is likely enough that they would dissolve in the +heavier layers of the atmosphere, and that some small heap of amorphous +jelly might be all that I should bring to earth with me. And yet +something there would surely be by which I could substantiate my story. +Yes, I will go, even if I run a risk by doing so. These purple horrors +would not seem to be numerous. It is probable that I shall not see one. +If I do I shall dive at once. At the worst there is always the shot-gun +and my knowledge of . . ." + +Here a page of the manuscript is unfortunately missing. On the next page +is written, in large, straggling writing:-- + +"Forty-three thousand feet. I shall never see earth again. They are +beneath me, three of them. God help me; it is a dreadful death to die!" + +Such in its entirety is the Joyce-Armstrong Statement. Of the man +nothing has since been seen. Pieces of his shattered monoplane have been +picked up in the preserves of Mr. Budd-Lushington upon the borders of +Kent and Sussex, within a few miles of the spot where the note-book was +discovered. If the unfortunate aviator's theory is correct that this air- +jungle, as he called it, existed only over the south-west of England, +then it would seem that he had fled from it at the full speed of his +monoplane, but had been overtaken and devoured by these horrible +creatures at some spot in the outer atmosphere above the place where the +grim relics were found. The picture of that monoplane skimming down the +sky, with the nameless terrors flying as swiftly beneath it and cutting +it off always from the earth while they gradually closed in upon their +victim, is one upon which a man who valued his sanity would prefer not to +dwell. There are many, as I am aware, who still jeer at the facts which +I have here set down, but even they must admit that Joyce-Armstrong has +disappeared, and I would commend to them his own words: "This note-book +may explain what I am trying to do, and how I lost my life in doing it. +But no drivel about accidents or mysteries, if _you_ please." + + + + +VI. BORROWED SCENES + + + "It cannot be done. People really would not stand it. I know because + I have tried."--_Extract from an unpublished paper upon George Borrow + and his writings_. + +Yes, I tried and my experience may interest other people. You must +imagine, then, that I am soaked in George Borrow, especially in his +_Lavengro_ and his _Romany Rye_, that I have modelled both my thoughts, +my speech and my style very carefully upon those of the master, and that +finally I set forth one summer day actually to lead the life of which I +had read. Behold me, then, upon the country road which leads from the +railway-station to the Sussex village of Swinehurst. + +As I walked, I entertained myself by recollections of the founders of +Sussex, of Cerdic that mighty sea-rover, and of Ella his son, said by the +bard to be taller by the length of a spear-head than the tallest of his +fellows. I mentioned the matter twice to peasants whom I met upon the +road. One, a tallish man with a freckled face, sidled past me and ran +swiftly towards the station. The other, a smaller and older man, stood +entranced while I recited to him that passage of the Saxon Chronicle +which begins, "Then came Leija with longships forty-four, and the fyrd +went out against him." I was pointing out to him that the Chronicle had +been written partly by the monks of Saint Albans and afterwards by those +of Peterborough, but the fellow sprang suddenly over a gate and +disappeared. + +The village of Swinehurst is a straggling line of half-timbered houses of +the early English pattern. One of these houses stood, as I observed, +somewhat taller than the rest, and seeing by its appearance and by the +sign which hung before it that it was the village inn, I approached it, +for indeed I had not broken my fast since I had left London. A stoutish +man, five foot eight perhaps in height, with black coat and trousers of a +greyish shade, stood outside, and to him I talked in the fashion of the +master. + +"Why a rose and why a crown?" I asked as I pointed upwards. + +He looked at me in a strange manner. The man's whole appearance was +strange. "Why not?" he answered, and shrank a little backwards. + +"The sign of a king," said I. + +"Surely," said he. "What else should we understand from a crown?" + +"And which king?" I asked. + +"You will excuse me," said he, and tried to pass. + +"Which king?" I repeated. + +"How should I know?" he asked. + +"You should know by the rose," said I, "which is the symbol of that Tudor- +ap-Tudor, who, coming from the mountains of Wales, yet seated his +posterity upon the English throne. Tudor," I continued, getting between +the stranger and the door of the inn, through which he appeared to be +desirous of passing, "was of the same blood as Owen Glendower, the famous +chieftain, who is by no means to be confused with Owen Gwynedd, the +father of Madoc of the Sea, of whom the bard made the famous cnylyn, +which runs in the Welsh as follows:--" + +I was about to repeat the famous stanza of Dafydd-ap-Gwilyn when the man, +who had looked very fixedly and strangely at me as I spoke, pushed past +me and entered the inn. "Truly," said I aloud, "it is surely Swinehurst +to which I have come, since the same means the grove of the hogs." So +saying I followed the fellow into the bar parlour, where I perceived him +seated in a corner with a large chair in front of him. Four persons of +various degrees were drinking beer at a central table, whilst a small man +of active build, in a black, shiny suit, which seemed to have seen much +service, stood before the empty fireplace. Him I took to be the +landlord, and I asked him what I should have for my dinner. + +He smiled, and said that he could not tell. + +"But surely, my friend," said I, "you can tell me what is ready?" + +"Even that I cannot do," he answered; "but I doubt not that the landlord +can inform us." On this he rang the bell, and a fellow answered, to whom +I put the same question. + +"What would you have?" he asked. + +I thought of the master, and I ordered a cold leg of pork to be washed +down with tea and beer. + +"Did you say tea _and_ beer?" asked the landlord. + +"I did." + +"For twenty-five years have I been in business," said the landlord, "and +never before have I been asked for tea and beer." + +"The gentleman is joking," said the man with the shining coat. + +"Or else--" said the elderly man in the corner. + +"Or what, sir?" I asked. + +"Nothing," said he--"nothing." There was something very strange in this +man in the corner--him to whom I had spoken of Dafydd-ap-Gwilyn. + +"Then you are joking," said the landlord. + +I asked him if he had read the works of my master, George Borrow. He +said that he had not. I told him that in those five volumes he would +not, from cover to cover, find one trace of any sort of a joke. He would +also find that my master drank tea and beer together. Now it happens +that about tea I have read nothing either in the sagas or in the bardic +cnylynions, but, whilst the landlord had departed to prepare my meal, I +recited to the company those Icelandic stanzas which praise the beer of +Gunnar, the long-haired son of Harold the Bear. Then, lest the language +should be unknown to some of them, I recited my own translation, ending +with the line-- + + If the beer be small, then let the mug be large. + +I then asked the company whether they went to church or to chapel. The +question surprised them, and especially the strange man in the corner, +upon whom I now fixed my eye. I had read his secret, and as I looked at +him he tried to shrink behind the clock-case. + +"The church or the chapel?" I asked him. + +"The church," he gasped. + +"_Which_ church?" I asked. + +He shrank farther behind the clock. "I have never been so questioned," +he cried. + +I showed him that I knew his secret, "Rome was not built in a day," said +I. + +"He! He!" he cried. Then, as I turned away, he put his head from behind +the clock-case and tapped his forehead with his forefinger. So also did +the man with the shiny coat, who stood before the empty fireplace. + +Having eaten the cold leg of pork--where is there a better dish, save +only boiled mutton with capers?--and having drunk both the tea and the +beer, I told the company that such a meal had been called "to box Harry" +by the master, who had observed it to be in great favour with commercial +gentlemen out of Liverpool. With this information and a stanza or two +from Lopez de Vega I left the Inn of the Rose and Crown behind me, having +first paid my reckoning. At the door the landlord asked me for my name +and address. + +"And why?" I asked. + +"Lest there should be inquiry for you," said the landlord. + +"But why should they inquire for me?" + +"Ah, who knows?" said the landlord, musing. And so I left him at the +door of the Inn of the Rose and Crown, whence came, I observed, a great +tumult of laughter. "Assuredly," thought I, "Rome was not built in a +day." + +Having walked down the main street of Swinehurst, which, as I have +observed, consists of half-timbered buildings in the ancient style, I +came out upon the country road, and proceeded to look for those wayside +adventures, which are, according to the master, as thick as blackberries +for those who seek them upon an English highway. I had already received +some boxing lessons before leaving London, so it seemed to me that if I +should chance to meet some traveller whose size and age seemed such as to +encourage the venture I would ask him to strip off his coat and settle +any differences which we could find in the old English fashion. I +waited, therefore, by a stile for any one who should chance to pass, and +it was while I stood there that the screaming horror came upon me, even +as it came upon the master in the dingle. I gripped the bar of the +stile, which was of good British oak. Oh, who can tell the terrors of +the screaming horror! That was what I thought as I grasped the oaken bar +of the stile. Was it the beer--or was it the tea? Or was it that the +landlord was right and that other, the man with the black, shiny coat, he +who had answered the sign of the strange man in the corner? But the +master drank tea with beer. Yes, but the master also had the screaming +horror. All this I thought as I grasped the bar of British oak, which +was the top of the stile. For half an hour the horror was upon me. Then +it passed, and I was left feeling very weak and still grasping the oaken +bar. + +I had not moved from the stile, where I had been seized by the screaming +horror, when I heard the sound of steps behind me, and turning round I +perceived that a pathway led across the field upon the farther side of +the stile. A woman was coming towards me along this pathway, and it was +evident to me that she was one of those gipsy Rias, of whom the master +has said so much. Looking beyond her, I could see the smoke of a fire +from a small dingle, which showed where her tribe were camping. The +woman herself was of a moderate height, neither tall nor short, with a +face which was much sunburned and freckled. I must confess that she was +not beautiful, but I do not think that anyone, save the master, has found +very beautiful women walking about upon the high-roads of England. Such +as she was I must make the best of her, and well I knew how to address +her, for many times had I admired the mixture of politeness and audacity +which should be used in such a case. Therefore, when the woman had come +to the stile, I held out my hand and helped her over. + +"What says the Spanish poet Calderon?" said I. "I doubt not that you +have read the couplet which has been thus Englished: + + Oh, maiden, may I humbly pray + That I may help you on your way." + +The woman blushed, but said nothing. + +"Where," I asked, "are the Romany chals and the Romany chis?" + +She turned her head away and was silent. + +"Though I am a gorgio," said I, "I know something of the Romany lil," and +to prove it I sang the stanza-- + + Coliko, coliko saulo wer + Apopli to the farming ker + Will wel and mang him mullo, + Will wel and mang his truppo. + +The girl laughed, but said nothing. It appeared to me from her +appearance that she might be one of those who make a living at telling +fortunes or "dukkering," as the master calls it, at racecourses and other +gatherings of the sort. + +"Do you dukker?" I asked. + +She slapped me on the arm. "Well, you _are_ a pot of ginger!" said she. + +I was pleased at the slap, for it put me in mind of the peerless Belle. +"You can use Long Melford," said I, an expression which, with the master, +meant fighting. + +"Get along with your sauce!" said she, and struck me again. + +"You are a very fine young woman," said I, "and remind me of Grunelda, +the daughter of Hjalmar, who stole the golden bowl from the King of the +Islands." + +She seemed annoyed at this. "You keep a civil tongue, young man," said +she. + +"I meant no harm, Belle. I was but comparing you to one of whom the saga +says her eyes were like the shine of sun upon icebergs." + +This seemed to please her, for she smiled. "My name ain't Belle," she +said at last. + +"What is your name?" + +"Henrietta." + +"The name of a queen," I said aloud. + +"Go on," said the girl. + +"Of Charles's queen," said I, "of whom Waller the poet (for the English +also have their poets, though in this respect far inferior to the +Basques)--of whom, I say, Waller the poet said: + + That she was Queen was the Creator's act, + Belated man could but endorse the fact." + +"I say!" cried the girl. "How you do go on!" + +"So now," said I, "since I have shown you that you are a queen you will +surely give me a choomer"--this being a kiss in Romany talk. + +"I'll give you one on the ear-hole," she cried. + +"Then I will wrestle with you," said I. "If you should chance to put me +down, I will do penance by teaching you the Armenian alphabet--the very +word alphabet, as you will perceive, shows us that our letters came from +Greece. If, on the other hand, I should chance to put you down, you will +give me a choomer." + +I had got so far, and she was climbing the stile with some pretence of +getting away from me, when there came a van along the road, belonging, as +I discovered, to a baker in Swinehurst. The horse, which was of a brown +colour, was such as is bred in the New Forest, being somewhat under +fifteen hands and of a hairy, ill-kempt variety. As I know less than the +master about horses, I will say no more of this horse, save to repeat +that its colour was brown--nor indeed had the horse or the horse's colour +anything to do with my narrative. I might add, however, that it could +either be taken as a small horse or as a large pony, being somewhat tall +for the one, but undersized for the other. I have now said enough about +this horse, which has nothing to do with my story, and I will turn my +attention to the driver. + +This was a man with a broad, florid face and brown side-whiskers. He was +of a stout build and had rounded shoulders, with a small mole of a +reddish colour over his left eyebrow. His jacket was of velveteen, and +he had large, iron-shod boots, which were perched upon the splashboard in +front of him. He pulled up the van as he came up to the stile near which +I was standing with the maiden who had come from the dingle, and in a +civil fashion he asked me if I could oblige him with a light for his +pipe. Then, as I drew a matchbox from my pocket, he threw his reins over +the splashboard, and removing his large, iron-shod boots he descended on +to the road. He was a burly man, but inclined to fat and scant of +breath. It seemed to me that it was a chance for one of those wayside +boxing adventures which were so common in the olden times. It was my +intention that I should fight the man, and that the maiden from the +dingle standing by me should tell me when to use my right or my left, as +the case might be, picking me up also in case I should be so unfortunate +as to be knocked down by the man with the iron-shod boots and the small +mole of a reddish colour over his left eyebrow. + +"Do you use Long Melford?" I asked. + +He looked at me in some surprise, and said that any mixture was good +enough for him. + +"By Long Melford," said I, "I do not mean, as you seem to think, some +form of tobacco, but I mean that art and science of boxing which was held +in such high esteem by our ancestors, that some famous professors of it, +such as the great Gully, have been elected to the highest offices of the +State. There were men of the highest character amongst the bruisers of +England, of whom I would particularly mention Tom of Hereford, better +known as Tom Spring, though his father's name, as I have been given to +understand, was Winter. This, however, has nothing to do with the matter +in hand, which is that you must fight me." + +The man with the florid face seemed very much surprised at my words, so +that I cannot think that adventures of this sort were as common as I had +been led by the master to expect. + +"Fight!" said he. "What about?" + +"It is a good old English custom," said I, "by which we may determine +which is the better man." + +"I've nothing against you," said he. + +"Nor I against you," I answered. "So that we will fight for love, which +was an expression much used in olden days. It is narrated by Harold +Sygvynson that among the Danes it was usual to do so even with battle- +axes, as is told in his second set of runes. Therefore you will take off +your coat and fight." As I spoke, I stripped off my own. + +The man's face was less florid than before. "I'm not going to fight," +said he. + +"Indeed you are," I answered, "and this young woman will doubtless do you +the service to hold your coat." + +"You're clean balmy," said Henrietta. + +"Besides," said I, "if you will not fight me for love, perhaps you will +fight me for this," and I held out a sovereign. "Will you hold his +coat?" I said to Henrietta. + +"I'll hold the thick 'un," said she. + +"No, you don't," said the man, and put the sovereign into the pocket of +his trousers, which were of a corduroy material. "Now," said he, "what +am I to do to earn this?" + +"Fight," said I. + +"How do you do it?" he asked. + +"Put up your hands," I answered. + +He put them up as I had said, and stood there in a sheepish manner with +no idea of anything further. It seemed to me that if I could make him +angry he would do better, so I knocked off his hat, which was black and +hard, of the kind which is called billy-cock. + +"Heh, guv'nor!" he cried, "what are you up to?" + +"That was to make you angry," said I. + +"Well, I am angry," said he. + +"Then here is your hat," said I, "and afterwards we shall fight." + +I turned as I spoke to pick up his hat, which had rolled behind where I +was standing. As I stooped to reach it, I received such a blow that I +could neither rise erect nor yet sit down. This blow which I received as +I stooped for his billy-cock hat was not from his fist, but from his iron- +shod boot, the same which I had observed upon the splashboard. Being +unable either to rise erect or yet to sit down, I leaned upon the oaken +bar of the stile and groaned loudly on account of the pain of the blow +which I had received. Even the screaming horror had given me less pain +than this blow from the iron-shod boot. When at last I was able to stand +erect, I found that the florid-faced man had driven away with his cart, +which could no longer be seen. The maiden from the dingle was standing +at the other side of the stile, and a ragged man was running across the +field from the direction of the fire. + +"Why did you not warn me, Henrietta?" I asked. + +"I hadn't time," said she. "Why were you such a chump as to turn your +back on him like that?" + +The ragged man had reached us, where I stood talking to Henrietta by the +stile. I will not try to write his conversation as he said it, because I +have observed that the master never condescends to dialect, but prefers +by a word introduced here and there to show the fashion of a man's +speech. I will only say that the man from the dingle spoke as did the +Anglo-Saxons, who were wont, as is clearly shown by the venerable Bede, +to call their leaders 'Enjist and 'Orsa, two words which in their proper +meaning signify a horse and a mare. + +"What did he hit you for?" asked the man from the dingle. He was +exceedingly ragged, with a powerful frame, a lean brown face, and an +oaken cudgel in his hand. His voice was very hoarse and rough, as is the +case with those who live in the open air. "The bloke hit you," said he. +"What did the bloke hit you for?" + +"He asked him to," said Henrietta. + +"Asked him to--asked him what?" + +"Why, he asked him to hit him. Gave him a thick 'un to do it." + +The ragged man seemed surprised. "See here, gov'nor," said he. "If +you're collectin', I could let you have one half-price." + +"He took me unawares," said I. + +"What else would the bloke do when you bashed his hat?" said the maiden +from the dingle. + +By this time I was able to straighten myself up by the aid of the oaken +bar which formed the top of the stile. Having quoted a few lines of the +Chinese poet Lo-tun-an to the effect that, however hard a knock might be, +it might always conceivably be harder, I looked about for my coat, but +could by no means find it. + +"Henrietta," I said, "what have you done with my coat?" + +"Look here, gov'nor," said the man from the dingle, "not so much +Henrietta, if it's the same to you. This woman's my wife. Who are you +to call her Henrietta?" + +I assured the man from the dingle that I had meant no disrespect to his +wife. "I had thought she was a mort," said I; "but the ria of a Romany +chal is always sacred to me." + +"Clean balmy," said the woman. + +"Some other day," said I, "I may visit you in your camp in the dingle and +read you the master's book about the Romanys." + +"What's Romanys?" asked the man. + +_Myself_. Romanys are gipsies. + +_The Man_. We ain't gipsies. + +_Myself_. What are you then? + +_The Man_. We are hoppers. + +_Myself_ (to Henrietta). Then how did you understand all I have said to +you about gipsies? + +_Henrietta_. I didn't. + +I again asked for my coat, but it was clear now that before offering to +fight the florid-faced man with the mole over his left eyebrow I must +have hung my coat upon the splashboard of his van. I therefore recited a +verse from Ferideddin-Atar, the Persian poet, which signifies that it is +more important to preserve your skin than your clothes, and bidding +farewell to the man from the dingle and his wife I returned into the old +English village of Swinehurst, where I was able to buy a second-hand +coat, which enabled me to make my way to the station, where I should +start for London. I could not but remark with some surprise that I was +followed to the station by many of the villagers, together with the man +with the shiny coat, and that other, the strange man, he who had slunk +behind the clock-case. From time to time I turned and approached them, +hoping to fall into conversation with them; but as I did so they would +break and hasten down the road. Only the village constable came on, and +he walked by my side and listened while I told him the history of Hunyadi +Janos and the events which occurred during the wars between that hero, +known also as Corvinus or the crow-like, and Mahommed the second, he who +captured Constantinople, better known as Byzantium, before the Christian +epoch. Together with the constable I entered the station, and seating +myself in a carriage I took paper from my pocket and I began to write +upon the paper all that had occurred to me, in order that I might show +that it was not easy in these days to follow the example of the master. +As I wrote, I heard the constable talk to the station-master, a stout, +middle-sized man with a red neck-tie, and tell him of my own adventures +in the old English village of Swinehurst. + +"He is a gentleman too," said the constable, "and I doubt not that he +lives in a big house in London town." + +"A very big house if every man had his rights," said the station-master, +and waving his hand he signalled that the train should proceed. + + + + +VII. THE SURGEON OF GASTER FELL + + +I--HOW THE WOMAN CAME TO KIRKBY-MALHOUSE + + +Bleak and wind-swept is the little town of Kirkby-Malhouse, harsh and +forbidding are the fells upon which it stands. It stretches in a single +line of grey-stone, slate-roofed houses, dotted down the furze-clad slope +of the rolling moor. + +In this lonely and secluded village, I, James Upperton, found myself in +the summer of '85. Little as the hamlet had to offer, it contained that +for which I yearned above all things--seclusion and freedom from all +which might distract my mind from the high and weighty subjects which +engaged it. But the inquisitiveness of my landlady made my lodgings +undesirable and I determined to seek new quarters. + +As it chanced, I had in one of my rambles come upon an isolated dwelling +in the very heart of these lonely moors, which I at once determined +should be my own. It was a two-roomed cottage, which had once belonged +to some shepherd, but had long been deserted, and was crumbling rapidly +to ruin. In the winter floods, the Gaster Beck, which runs down Gaster +Fell, where the little dwelling stood, had overswept its banks and torn +away a part of the wall. The roof was in ill case, and the scattered +slates lay thick amongst the grass. Yet the main shell of the house +stood firm and true; and it was no great task for me to have all that was +amiss set right. + +The two rooms I laid out in a widely different manner--my own tastes are +of a Spartan turn, and the outer chamber was so planned as to accord with +them. An oil-stove by Rippingille of Birmingham furnished me with the +means of cooking; while two great bags, the one of flour, and the other +of potatoes, made me independent of all supplies from without. In diet I +had long been a Pythagorean, so that the scraggy, long-limbed sheep which +browsed upon the wiry grass by the Gaster Beck had little to fear from +their new companion. A nine-gallon cask of oil served me as a sideboard; +while a square table, a deal chair and a truckle-bed completed the list +of my domestic fittings. At the head of my couch hung two unpainted +shelves--the lower for my dishes and cooking utensils, the upper for the +few portraits which took me back to the little that was pleasant in the +long, wearisome toiling for wealth and for pleasure which had marked the +life I had left behind. + +If this dwelling-room of mine were plain even to squalor, its poverty was +more than atoned for by the luxury of the chamber which was destined to +serve me as my study. I had ever held that it was best for my mind to be +surrounded by such objects as would be in harmony with the studies which +occupied it, and that the loftiest and most ethereal conditions of +thought are only possible amid surroundings which please the eye and +gratify the senses. The room which I had set apart for my mystic studies +was set forth in a style as gloomy and majestic as the thoughts and +aspirations with which it was to harmonise. Both walls and ceilings were +covered with a paper of the richest and glossiest black, on which was +traced a lurid and arabesque pattern of dead gold. A black velvet +curtain covered the single diamond-paned window; while a thick, yielding +carpet of the same material prevented the sound of my own footfalls, as I +paced backward and forward, from breaking the current of my thought. +Along the cornices ran gold rods, from which depended six pictures, all +of the sombre and imaginative caste, which chimed best with my fancy. + +And yet it was destined that ere ever I reached this quiet harbour I +should learn that I was still one of humankind, and that it is an ill +thing to strive to break the bond which binds us to our fellows. It was +but two nights before the date I had fixed upon for my change of +dwelling, when I was conscious of a bustle in the house beneath, with the +bearing of heavy burdens up the creaking stair, and the harsh voice of my +landlady, loud in welcome and protestations of joy. From time to time, +amid the whirl of words, I could hear a gentle and softly modulated +voice, which struck pleasantly upon my ear after the long weeks during +which I had listened only to the rude dialect of the dalesmen. For an +hour I could hear the dialogue beneath--the high voice and the low, with +clatter of cup and clink of spoon, until at last a light, quick step +passed my study door, and I knew that my new fellow lodger had sought her +room. + +On the morning after this incident I was up betimes, as is my wont; but I +was surprised, on glancing from my window, to see that our new inmate was +earlier still. She was walking down the narrow pathway, which zigzags +over the fell--a tall woman, slender, her head sunk upon her breast, her +arms filled with a bristle of wild flowers, which she had gathered in her +morning rambles. The white and pink of her dress, and the touch of deep +red ribbon in her broad drooping hat, formed a pleasant dash of colour +against the dun-tinted landscape. She was some distance off when I first +set eyes upon her, yet I knew that this wandering woman could be none +other than our arrival of last night, for there was a grace and +refinement in her bearing which marked her from the dwellers of the +fells. Even as I watched, she passed swiftly and lightly down the +pathway, and turning through the wicket gate, at the further end of our +cottage garden, she seated herself upon the green bank which faced my +window, and strewing her flowers in front of her, set herself to arrange +them. + +As she sat there, with the rising sun at her back, and the glow of the +morning spreading like an aureole around her stately and well-poised +head, I could see that she was a woman of extraordinary personal beauty. +Her face was Spanish rather than English in its type--oval, olive, with +black, sparkling eyes, and a sweetly sensitive mouth. From under the +broad straw hat two thick coils of blue-black hair curved down on either +side of her graceful, queenly neck. I was surprised, as I watched her, +to see that her shoes and skirt bore witness to a journey rather than to +a mere morning ramble. Her light dress was stained, wet and bedraggled; +while her boots were thick with the yellow soil of the fells. Her face, +too, wore a weary expression, and her young beauty seemed to be clouded +over by the shadow of inward trouble. Even as I watched her, she burst +suddenly into wild weeping, and throwing down her bundle of flowers ran +swiftly into the house. + +Distrait as I was and weary of the ways of the world, I was conscious of +a sudden pang of sympathy and grief as I looked upon the spasm of despair +which, seemed to convulse this strange and beautiful woman. I bent to my +books, and yet my thoughts would ever turn to her proud clear-cut face, +her weather-stained dress, her drooping head, and the sorrow which lay in +each line and feature of her pensive face. + +Mrs. Adams, my landlady, was wont to carry up my frugal breakfast; yet it +was very rarely that I allowed her to break the current of my thoughts, +or to draw my mind by her idle chatter from weightier things. This +morning, however, for once, she found me in a listening mood, and with +little prompting, proceeded to pour into my ears all that she knew of our +beautiful visitor. + +"Miss Eva Cameron be her name, sir," she said: "but who she be, or where +she came fra, I know little more than yoursel'. Maybe it was the same +reason that brought her to Kirkby-Malhouse as fetched you there yoursel', +sir." + +"Possibly," said I, ignoring the covert question; "but I should hardly +have thought that Kirkby-Malhouse was a place which offered any great +attractions to a young lady." + +"Heh, sir!" she cried, "there's the wonder of it. The leddy has just +come fra France; and how her folk come to learn of me is just a wonder. A +week ago, up comes a man to my door--a fine man, sir, and a gentleman, as +one could see with half an eye. 'You are Mrs. Adams,' says he. 'I +engage your rooms for Miss Cameron,' says he. 'She will be here in a +week,' says he; and then off without a word of terms. Last night there +comes the young leddy hersel'--soft-spoken and downcast, with a touch of +the French in her speech. But my sakes, sir! I must away and mak' her +some tea, for she'll feel lonesome-like, poor lamb, when she wakes under +a strange roof." + + + +II--HOW I WENT FORTH TO GASTER FELL + + +I was still engaged upon my breakfast when I heard the clatter of dishes +and the landlady's footfall as she passed toward her new lodger's room. +An instant afterward she had rushed down the passage and burst in upon me +with uplifted hand and startled eyes. "Lord 'a mercy, sir!" she cried, +"and asking your pardon for troubling you, but I'm feared o' the young +leddy, sir; she is not in her room." + +"Why, there she is," said I, standing up and glancing through the +casement. "She has gone back for the flowers she left upon the bank." + +"Oh, sir, see her boots and her dress!" cried the landlady, wildly. "I +wish her mother was here, sir--I do. Where she has been is more than I +ken, but her bed has not been lain on this night." + +"She has felt restless, doubtless, and went for a walk, though the hour +was certainly a strange one." + +Mrs. Adams pursed her lip and shook her head. But then as she stood at +the casement, the girl beneath looked smilingly up at her and beckoned to +her with a merry gesture to open the window. + +"Have you my tea there?" she asked in a rich, clear voice, with a touch +of the mincing French accent. + +"It is in your room, miss." + +"Look at my boots, Mrs. Adams!" she cried, thrusting them out from under +her skirt. "These fells of yours are dreadful places--effroyable--one +inch, two inch; never have I seen such mud! My dress, too--_voila_!" + +"Eh, miss, but you are in a pickle," cried the landlady, as she gazed +down at the bedraggled gown. "But you must be main weary and heavy for +sleep." + +"No, no," she answered, laughingly, "I care not for sleep. What is +sleep? it is a little death--_voila tout_. But for me to walk, to run, +to beathe the air--that is to live. I was not tired, and so all night I +have explored these fells of Yorkshire." + +"Lord 'a mercy, miss, and where did you go?" asked Mrs. Adams. + +She waved her hand round in a sweeping gesture which included the whole +western horizon. "There," she cried. "O comme elles sont tristes et +sauvages, ces collines! But I have flowers here. You will give me +water, will you not? They will wither else." She gathered her treasures +in her lap, and a moment later we heard her light, springy footfall upon +the stair. + +So she had been out all night, this strange woman. What motive could +have taken her from her snug room on to the bleak, wind-swept hills? +Could it be merely the restlessness, the love of adventure of a young +girl? Or was there, possibly, some deeper meaning in this nocturnal +journey? + +Deep as were the mysteries which my studies had taught me to solve, here +was a human problem which for the moment at least was beyond my +comprehension. I had walked out on the moor in the forenoon, and on my +return, as I topped the brow that overlooks the little town, I saw my +fellow-lodger some little distance off among the gorse. She had raised a +light easel in front of her, and with papered board laid across it, was +preparing to paint the magnificent landscape of rock and moor which +stretched away in front of her. As I watched her I saw that she was +looking anxiously to right and left. Close by me a pool of water had +formed in a hollow. Dipping the cup of my pocket-flask into it, I +carried it across to her. + +"Miss Cameron, I believe," said I. "I am your fellow-lodger. Upperton +is my name. We must introduce ourselves in these wilds if we are not to +be for ever strangers." + +"Oh, then, you live also with Mrs. Adams!" she cried. "I had thought +that there were none but peasants in this strange place." + +"I am a visitor, like yourself," I answered. "I am a student, and have +come for quiet and repose, which my studies demand." + +"Quiet, indeed!" said she, glancing round at the vast circle of silent +moors, with the one tiny line of grey cottages which sloped down beneath +us. + +"And yet not quiet enough," I answered, laughing, "for I have been forced +to move further into the fells for the absolute peace which I require." + +"Have you, then, built a house upon the fells?" she asked, arching her +eyebrows. + +"I have, and hope within a few days to occupy it." + +"Ah, but that is _triste_," she cried. "And where is it, then, this +house which you have built?" + +"It is over yonder," I answered. "See that stream which lies like a +silver band upon the distant moor? It is the Gaster Beck, and it runs +through Gaster Fell." + +She started, and turned upon me her great dark, questioning eyes with a +look in which surprise, incredulity, and something akin to horror seemed +to be struggling for mastery. + +"And you will live on the Gaster Fell?" she cried. + +"So I have planned. But what do you know of Gaster Fell, Miss Cameron?" +I asked. "I had thought that you were a stranger in these parts." + +"Indeed, I have never been here before," she answered. "But I have heard +my brother talk of these Yorkshire moors; and, if I mistake not, I have +heard him name this very one as the wildest and most savage of them all." + +"Very likely," said I, carelessly. "It is indeed a dreary place." + +"Then why live there?" she cried, eagerly. "Consider the loneliness, the +barrenness, the want of all comfort and of all aid, should aid be +needed." + +"Aid! What aid should be needed on Gaster Fell?" + +She looked down and shrugged her shoulders. "Sickness may come in all +places," said she. "If I were a man I do not think I would live alone on +Gaster Fell." + +"I have braved worse dangers than that," said I, laughing; "but I fear +that your picture will be spoiled, for the clouds are banking up, and +already I feel a few raindrops." + +Indeed, it was high time we were on our way to shelter, for even as I +spoke there came the sudden, steady swish of the shower. Laughing +merrily, my companion threw her light shawl over her head, and, seizing +picture and easel, ran with the lithe grace of a young fawn down the +furze-clad slope, while I followed after with camp-stool and paint-box. + +* * * * * + +It was the eve of my departure from Kirkby-Malhouse that we sat upon the +green bank in the garden, she with dark dreamy eyes looking sadly out +over the sombre fells; while I, with a book upon my knee, glanced +covertly at her lovely profile and marvelled to myself how twenty years +of life could have stamped so sad and wistful an expression upon it. + +"You have read much," I remarked at last. "Women have opportunities now +such as their mothers never knew. Have you ever thought of going +further--or seeking a course of college or even a learned profession?" + +She smiled wearily at the thought. + +"I have no aim, no ambition," she said. "My future is black--confused--a +chaos. My life is like to one of these paths upon the fells. You have +seen them, Monsieur Upperton. They are smooth and straight and clear +where they begin; but soon they wind to left and wind to right, and so +mid rocks and crags until they lose themselves in some quagmire. At +Brussels my path was straight; but now, _mon Dieu_! who is there can tell +me where it leads?" + +"It might take no prophet to do that, Miss Cameron," quoth I, with the +fatherly manner which twoscore years may show toward one. "If I may read +your life, I would venture to say that you were destined to fulfil the +lot of women--to make some good man happy, and to shed around, in some +wider circle, the pleasure which your society has given me since first I +knew you." + +"I will never marry," said she, with a sharp decision, which surprised +and somewhat amused me. + +"Not marry--and why?" + +A strange look passed over her sensitive features, and she plucked +nervously at the grass on the bank beside her. + +"I dare not," said she in a voice that quivered with emotion. + +"Dare not?" + +"It is not for me. I have other things to do. That path of which I +spoke is one which I must tread alone." + +"But this is morbid," said I. "Why should your lot, Miss Cameron, be +separate from that of my own sisters, or the thousand other young ladies +whom every season brings out into the world? But perhaps it is that you +have a fear and distrust of mankind. Marriage brings a risk as well as a +happiness." + +"The risk would be with the man who married me," she cried. And then in +an instant, as though she had said too much, she sprang to her feet and +drew her mantle round her. "The night air is chill, Mr. Upperton," said +she, and so swept swiftly away, leaving me to muse over the strange words +which had fallen from her lips. + +Clearly, it was time that I should go. I set my teeth and vowed that +another day should not have passed before I should have snapped this +newly formed tie and sought the lonely retreat which awaited me upon the +moors. Breakfast was hardly over in the morning before a peasant dragged +up to the door the rude hand-cart which was to convey my few personal +belongings to my new dwelling. My fellow-lodger had kept her room; and, +steeled as my mind was against her influence, I was yet conscious of a +little throb of disappointment that she should allow me to depart without +a word of farewell. My hand-cart with its load of books had already +started, and I, having shaken hands with Mrs. Adams, was about to follow +it, when there was a quick scurry of feet on the stair, and there she was +beside me all panting with her own haste. + +"Then you go--you really go?" said she. + +"My studies call me." + +"And to Gaster Fell?" she asked. + +"Yes; to the cottage which I have built there." + +"And you will live alone there?" + +"With my hundred companions who lie in that cart." + +"Ah, books!" she cried, with a pretty shrug of her graceful shoulders. +"But you will make me a promise?" + +"What is it?" I asked, in surprise. + +"It is a small thing. You will not refuse me?" + +"You have but to ask it." + +She bent forward her beautiful face with an expression of the most +intense earnestness. "You will bolt your door at night?" said she; and +was gone ere I could say a word in answer to her extraordinary request. + +It was a strange thing for me to find myself at last duly installed in my +lonely dwelling. For me, now, the horizon was bounded by the barren +circle of wiry, unprofitable grass, patched over with furze bushes and +scarred by the profusion of Nature's gaunt and granite ribs. A duller, +wearier waste I have never seen; but its dullness was its very charm. + +And yet the very first night which I spent at Gaster Fell there came a +strange incident to lead my thoughts back once more to the world which I +had left behind me. + +It had been a sullen and sultry evening, with great livid cloud-banks +mustering in the west. As the night wore on, the air within my little +cabin became closer and more oppressive. A weight seemed to rest upon my +brow and my chest. From far away the low rumble of thunder came moaning +over the moor. Unable to sleep, I dressed, and standing at my cottage +door, looked on the black solitude which surrounded me. + +Taking the narrow sheep path which ran by this stream, I strolled along +it for some hundred yards, and had turned to retrace my steps, when the +moon was finally buried beneath an ink-black cloud, and the darkness +deepened so suddenly that I could see neither the path at my feet, the +stream upon my right, nor the rocks upon my left. I was standing groping +about in the thick gloom, when there came a crash of thunder with a flash +of lightning which lighted up the whole vast fell, so that every bush and +rock stood out clear and hard in the vivid light. It was but for an +instant, and yet that momentary view struck a thrill of fear and +astonishment through me, for in my very path, not twenty yards before me, +there stood a woman, the livid light beating upon her face and showing up +every detail of her dress and features. + +There was no mistaking those dark eyes, that tall, graceful figure. It +was she--Eva Cameron, the woman whom I thought I had for ever left. For +an instant I stood petrified, marvelling whether this could indeed be +she, or whether it was some figment conjured up by my excited brain. Then +I ran swiftly forward in the direction where I had seen her, calling +loudly upon her, but without reply. Again I called, and again no answer +came back, save the melancholy wail of the owl. A second flash +illuminated the landscape, and the moon burst out from behind its cloud. +But I could not, though I climbed upon a knoll which overlooked the whole +moor, see any sign of this strange midnight wanderer. For an hour or +more I traversed the fell, and at last found myself back at my little +cabin, still uncertain as to whether it had been a woman or a shadow upon +which I gazed. + + + +III--OF THE GREY COTTAGE IN THE GLEN + + +It was either on the fourth or the fifth day after I had taken possession +of my cottage that I was astonished to hear footsteps upon the grass +outside, quickly followed by a crack, as from a stick upon the door. The +explosion of an infernal machine would hardly have surprised or +discomfited me more. I had hoped to have shaken off all intrusion for +ever, yet here was somebody beating at my door with as little ceremony as +if it had been a village ale-house. Hot with anger, I flung down my book +and withdrew the bolt just as my visitor had raised his stick to renew +his rough application for admittance. He was a tall, powerful man, tawny- +bearded and deep-chested, clad in a loose-fitting suit of tweed, cut for +comfort rather than elegance. As he stood in the shimmering sunlight, I +took in every feature of his face. The large, fleshy nose; the steady +blue eyes, with their thick thatch of overhanging brows; the broad +forehead, all knitted and lined with furrows, which were strangely at +variance with his youthful bearing. In spite of his weather-stained felt +hat, and the coloured handkerchief slung round his muscular brown neck, I +could see at a glance he was a man of breeding and education. I had been +prepared for some wandering shepherd or uncouth tramp, but this +apparition fairly disconcerted me. + +"You look astonished," said he, with a smile. "Did you think, then, that +you were the only man in the world with a taste for solitude? You see +that there are other hermits in the wilderness besides yourself." + +"Do you mean to say that you live here?" I asked in no conciliatory +voice. + +"Up yonder," he answered, tossing his head backward. "I thought as we +were neighbours, Mr. Upperton, that I could not do less than look in and +see if I could assist you in any way." + +"Thank you," I said coldly, standing with my hand upon the latch of the +door. "I am a man of simple tastes, and you can do nothing for me. You +have the advantage of me in knowing my name." + +He appeared to be chilled by my ungracious manner. + +"I learned it from the masons who were at work here," he said. "As for +me, I am a surgeon, the surgeon of Gaster Fell. That is the name I have +gone by in these parts, and it serves as well as another." + +"Not much room for practice here?" I observed. + +"Not a soul except yourself for miles on either side." + +"You appear to have had need of some assistance yourself," I remarked, +glancing at a broad white splash, as from the recent action of some +powerful acid, upon his sunburnt cheek. + +"That is nothing," he answered, curtly, turning his face half round to +hide the mark. "I must get back, for I have a companion who is waiting +for me. If I can ever do anything for you, pray let me know. You have +only to follow the beck upward for a mile or so to find my place. Have +you a bolt on the inside of your door?" + +"Yes," I answered, rather startled at this question. + +"Keep it bolted, then," he said. "The fell is a strange place. You +never know who may be about. It is as well to be on the safe side. +Goodbye." He raised his hat, turned on his heel and lounged away along +the bank of the little stream. + +I was still standing with my hand upon the latch, gazing after my +unexpected visitor, when I became aware of yet another dweller in the +wilderness. Some distance along the path which the stranger was taking +there lay a great grey boulder, and leaning against this was a small, +wizened man, who stood erect as the other approached, and advanced to +meet him. The two talked for a minute or more, the taller man nodding +his head frequently in my direction, as though describing what had passed +between us. Then they walked on together, and disappeared in a dip of +the fell. Presently I saw them ascending once more some rising ground +farther on. My acquaintance had thrown his arm round his elderly friend, +either from affection or from a desire to aid him up the steep incline. +The square burly figure and its shrivelled, meagre companion stood out +against the sky-line, and turning their faces, they looked back at me. At +the sight, I slammed the door, lest they should be encouraged to return. +But when I peeped from the window some minutes afterward, I perceived +that they were gone. + +All day I bent over the Egyptian papyrus upon which I was engaged; but +neither the subtle reasonings of the ancient philosopher of Memphis, nor +the mystic meaning which lay in his pages, could raise my mind from the +things of earth. Evening was drawing in before I threw my work aside in +despair. My heart was bitter against this man for his intrusion. +Standing by the beck which purled past the door of my cabin, I cooled my +heated brow, and thought the matter over. Clearly it was the small +mystery hanging over these neighbours of mine which had caused my mind to +run so persistently on them. That cleared up, they would no longer cause +an obstacle to my studies. What was to hinder me, then, from walking in +the direction of their dwelling, and observing for myself, without +permitting them to suspect my presence, what manner of men they might be? +Doubtless, their mode of life would be found to admit of some simple and +prosaic explanation. In any case, the evening was fine, and a walk would +be bracing for mind and body. Lighting my pipe, I set off over the moors +in the direction which they had taken. + +About half-way down a wild glen there stood a small clump of gnarled and +stunted oak trees. From behind these, a thin dark column of smoke rose +into the still evening air. Clearly this marked the position of my +neighbour's house. Trending away to the left, I was able to gain the +shelter of a line of rocks, and so reach a spot from which I could +command a view of the building without exposing myself to any risk of +being observed. It was a small, slate-covered cottage, hardly larger +than the boulders among which it lay. Like my own cabin, it showed signs +of having been constructed for the use of some shepherd; but, unlike +mine, no pains had been taken by the tenants to improve and enlarge it. +Two little peeping windows, a cracked and weather-beaten door, and a +discoloured barrel for catching the rain water, were the only external +objects from which I might draw deductions as to the dwellers within. Yet +even in these there was food for thought, for as I drew nearer, still +concealing myself behind the ridge, I saw that thick bars of iron covered +the windows, while the old door was slashed and plated with the same +metal. These strange precautions, together with the wild surroundings +and unbroken solitude, gave an indescribably ill omen and fearsome +character to the solitary building. Thrusting my pipe into my pocket, I +crawled upon my hands and knees through the gorse and ferns until I was +within a hundred yards of my neighbour's door. There, finding that I +could not approach nearer without fear of detection, I crouched down, and +set myself to watch. + +I had hardly settled into my hiding place, when the door of the cottage +swung open, and the man who had introduced himself to me as the surgeon +of Gaster Fell came out, bareheaded, with a spade in his hands. In front +of the door there was a small cultivated patch containing potatoes, peas +and other forms of green stuff, and here he proceeded to busy himself, +trimming, weeding and arranging, singing the while in a powerful though +not very musical voice. He was all engrossed in his work, with his back +to the cottage, when there emerged from the half-open door the same +attenuated creature whom I had seen in the morning. I could perceive now +that he was a man of sixty, wrinkled, bent, and feeble, with sparse, +grizzled hair, and long, colourless face. With a cringing, sidelong +gait, he shuffled toward his companion, who was unconscious of his +approach until he was close upon him. His light footfall or his +breathing may have finally given notice of his proximity, for the worker +sprang round and faced him. Each made a quick step toward the other, as +though in greeting, and then--even now I feel the horror of the +instant--the tall man rushed upon and knocked his companion to the earth, +then whipping up his body, ran with great speed over the intervening +ground and disappeared with his burden into the house. + +Case hardened as I was by my varied life, the suddenness and violence of +the thing made me shudder. The man's age, his feeble frame, his humble +and deprecating manner, all cried shame against the deed. So hot was my +anger, that I was on the point of striding up to the cabin, unarmed as I +was, when the sound of voices from within showed me that the victim had +recovered. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and all was grey, save +a red feather in the cap of Pennigent. Secure in the failing light, I +approached near and strained my ears to catch what was passing. I could +hear the high, querulous voice of the elder man and the deep, rough +monotone of his assailant, mixed with a strange metallic jangling and +clanking. Presently the surgeon came out, locked the door behind him and +stamped up and down in the twilight, pulling at his hair and brandishing +his arms, like a man demented. Then he set off, walking rapidly up the +valley, and I soon lost sight of him among the rocks. + +When his footsteps had died away in the distance, I drew nearer to the +cottage. The prisoner within was still pouring forth a stream of words, +and moaning from time to time like a man in pain. These words resolved +themselves, as I approached, into prayers--shrill, voluble prayers, +pattered forth with the intense earnestness of one who sees impending an +imminent danger. There was to me something inexpressibly awesome in this +gush of solemn entreaty from the lonely sufferer, meant for no human ear, +and jarring upon the silence of the night. I was still pondering whether +I should mix myself in the affair or not, when I heard in the distance +the sound of the surgeon's returning footfall. At that I drew myself up +quickly by the iron bars and glanced in through the diamond-paned window. +The interior of the cottage was lighted up by a lurid glow, coming from +what I afterward discovered to be a chemical furnace. By its rich light +I could distinguish a great litter of retorts, test tubes and condensers, +which sparkled over the table, and threw strange, grotesque shadows on +the wall. On the further side of the room was a wooden framework +resembling a hencoop, and in this, still absorbed in prayer, knelt the +man whose voice I heard. The red glow beating upon his upturned face +made it stand out from the shadow like a painting from Rembrandt, showing +up every wrinkle upon the parchment-like skin. I had but time for a +fleeting glance; then, dropping from the window, I made off through the +rocks and the heather, nor slackened my pace until I found myself back in +my cabin once more. There I threw myself upon my couch, more disturbed +and shaken than I had ever thought to feel again. + +Such doubts as I might have had as to whether I had indeed seen my former +fellow-lodger upon the night of the thunderstorm were resolved the next +morning. Strolling along down the path which led to the fell, I saw in +one spot where the ground was soft the impressions of a foot--the small, +dainty foot of a well-booted woman. That tiny heel and high instep could +have belonged to none other than my companion of Kirkby-Malhouse. I +followed her trail for some distance, till it still pointed, as far as I +could discern it, to the lonely and ill-omened cottage. What power could +there be to draw this tender girl, through wind and rain and darkness, +across the fearsome moors to that strange rendezvous? + +I have said that a little beck flowed down the valley and past my very +door. A week or so after the doings which I have described, I was seated +by my window when I perceived something white drifting slowly down the +stream. My first thought was that it was a drowning sheep; but picking +up my stick, I strolled to the bank and hooked it ashore. On examination +it proved to be a large sheet, torn and tattered, with the initials J. C. +in the corner. What gave it its sinister significance, however, was that +from hem to hem it was all dabbled and discoloured. + +Shutting the door of my cabin, I set off up the glen in the direction of +the surgeon's cabin. I had not gone far before I perceived the very man +himself. He was walking rapidly along the hillside, beating the furze +bushes with a cudgel and bellowing like a madman. Indeed, at the sight +of him, the doubts as to his sanity which had arisen in my mind were +strengthened and confirmed. + +As he approached I noticed that his left arm was suspended in a sling. On +perceiving me he stood irresolute, as though uncertain whether to come +over to me or not. I had no desire for an interview with him, however, +so I hurried past him, on which he continued on his way, still shouting +and striking about with his club. When he had disappeared over the +fells, I made my way down to his cottage, determined to find some clue to +what had occurred. I was surprised, on reaching it, to find the iron- +plated door flung wide open. The ground immediately outside it was +marked with the signs of a struggle. The chemical apparatus within and +the furniture were all dashed about and shattered. Most suggestive of +all, the sinister wooden cage was stained with blood-marks, and its +unfortunate occupant had disappeared. My heart was heavy for the little +man, for I was assured I should never see him in this world more. + +There was nothing in the cabin to throw any light upon the identity of my +neighbours. The room was stuffed with chemical instruments. In one +corner a small bookcase contained a choice selection of works of science. +In another was a pile of geological specimens collected from the +limestone. + +I caught no glimpse of the surgeon upon my homeward journey; but when I +reached my cottage I was astonished and indignant to find that somebody +had entered it in my absence. Boxes had been pulled out from under the +bed, the curtains disarranged, the chairs drawn out from the wall. Even +my study had not been safe from this rough intruder, for the prints of a +heavy boot were plainly visible on the ebony-black carpet. + + + +IV--OF THE MAN WHO CAME IN THE NIGHT + + +The night set in gusty and tempestuous, and the moon was all girt with +ragged clouds. The wind blew in melancholy gusts, sobbing and sighing +over the moor, and setting all the gorse bushes agroaning. From time to +time a little sputter of rain pattered up against the window-pane. I sat +until near midnight, glancing over the fragment on immortality by +Iamblichus, the Alexandrian platonist, of whom the Emperor Julian said +that he was posterior to Plato in time but not in genius. At last, +shutting up my book, I opened my door and took a last look at the dreary +fell and still more dreary sky. As I protruded my head, a swoop of wind +caught me and sent the red ashes of my pipe sparkling and dancing through +the darkness. At the same moment the moon shone brilliantly out from +between two clouds, and I saw, sitting on the hillside, not two hundred +yards from my door, the man who called himself the surgeon of Gaster +Fell. He was squatted among the heather, his elbows upon his knees, and +his chin resting upon his hands, as motionless as a stone, with his gaze +fixed steadily upon the door of my dwelling. + +At the sight of this ill-omened sentinel, a chill of horror and of fear +shot through me, for his gloomy and mysterious associations had cast a +glamour round the man, and the hour and place were in keeping with his +sinister presence. In a moment, however, a manly glow of resentment and +self-confidence drove this petty emotion from my mind, and I strode +fearlessly in his direction. He rose as I approached and faced me, with +the moon shining on his grave, bearded face and glittering on his +eyeballs. "What is the meaning of this?" I cried, as I came upon him. +"What right have you to play the spy on me?" + +I could see the flush of anger rise on his face. "Your stay in the +country has made you forget your manners," he said. "The moor is free to +all." + +"You will say next that my house is free to all," I said, hotly. "You +have had the impertience to ransack it in my absence this afternoon." + +He started, and his features showed the most intense excitement. "I +swear to you that I had no hand in it!" he cried. "I have never set foot +in your house in my life. Oh, sir, sir, if you will but believe me, +there is a danger hanging over you, and you would do well to be careful." + +"I have had enough of you," I said. "I saw that cowardly blow you struck +when you thought no human eye rested upon you. I have been to your +cottage, too, and know all that it has to tell. If there is a law in +England, you shall hang for what you have done. As to me, I am an old +soldier, sir, and I am armed. I shall not fasten my door. But if you or +any other villain attempt to cross my threshold it shall be at your own +risk." With these words, I swung round upon my heel and strode into my +cabin. + +For two days the wind freshened and increased, with constant squalls of +rain until on the third night the most furious storm was raging which I +can ever recollect in England. I felt that it was positively useless to +go to bed, nor could I concentrate my mind sufficiently to read a book. I +turned my lamp half down to moderate the glare, and leaning back in my +chair, I gave myself up to reverie. I must have lost all perception of +time, for I have no recollection how long I sat there on the borderland +betwixt thought and slumber. At last, about 3 or possibly 4 o'clock, I +came to myself with a start--not only came to myself, but with every +sense and nerve upon the strain. Looking round my chamber in the dim +light, I could not see anything to justify my sudden trepidation. The +homely room, the rain-blurred window and the rude wooden door were all as +they had been. I had begun to persuade myself that some half-formed +dream had sent that vague thrill through my nerves, when in a moment I +became conscious of what it was. It was a sound--the sound of a human +step outside my solitary cottage. + +Amid the thunder and the rain and the wind I could hear it--a dull, +stealthy footfall, now on the grass, now on the stones--occasionally +stopping entirely, then resumed, and ever drawing nearer. I sat +breathlessly, listening to the eerie sound. It had stopped now at my +very door, and was replaced by a panting and gasping, as of one who has +travelled fast and far. + +By the flickering light of the expiring lamp I could see that the latch +of my door was twitching, as though a gentle pressure was exerted on it +from without. Slowly, slowly, it rose, until it was free of the catch, +and then there was a pause of a quarter minute or more, while I still eat +silent with dilated eyes and drawn sabre. Then, very slowly, the door +began to revolve upon its hinges, and the keen air of the night came +whistling through the slit. Very cautiously it was pushed open, so that +never a sound came from the rusty hinges. As the aperture enlarged, I +became aware of a dark, shadowy figure upon my threshold, and of a pale +face that looked in at me. The features were human, but the eyes were +not. They seemed to burn through the darkness with a greenish brilliancy +of their own; and in their baleful, shifty glare I was conscious of the +very spirit of murder. Springing from my chair, I had raised my naked +sword, when, with a wild shouting, a second figure dashed up to my door. +At its approach my shadowy visitant uttered a shrill cry, and fled away +across the fells, yelping like a beaten hound. + +Tingling with my recent fear, I stood at my door, peering through the +night with the discordant cry of the fugitives still ringing in my ears. +At that moment a vivid flash of lightning illuminated the whole landscape +and made it as clear as day. By its light I saw far away upon the +hillside two dark figures pursuing each other with extreme rapidity +across the fells. Even at that distance the contrast between them forbid +all doubt as to their identity. The first was the small, elderly man, +whom I had supposed to be dead; the second was my neighbour, the surgeon. +For an instant they stood out clear and hard in the unearthly light; in +the next, the darkness had closed over them, and they were gone. As I +turned to re-enter my chamber, my foot rattled against something on my +threshold. Stooping, I found it was a straight knife, fashioned entirely +of lead, and so soft and brittle that it was a strange choice for a +weapon. To render it more harmless, the top had been cut square off. The +edge, however, had been assiduously sharpened against a stone, as was +evident from the markings upon it, so that it was still a dangerous +implement in the grasp of a determined man. + +And what was the meaning of it all? you ask. Many a drama which I have +come across in my wandering life, some as strange and as striking as this +one, has lacked the ultimate explanation which you demand. Fate is a +grand weaver of tales; but she ends them, as a rule, in defiance of all +artistic laws, and with an unbecoming want of regard for literary +propriety. As it happens, however, I have a letter before me as I write +which I may add without comment, and which will clear all that may remain +dark. + + "KIRKBY LUNATIC ASYLUM, + "_September_ 4_th_, 1885. + + "SIR,--I am deeply conscious that some apology and explanation is due + to you for the very startling and, in your eyes, mysterious events + which have recently occurred, and which have so seriously interfered + with the retired existence which you desire to lead. I should have + called upon you on the morning after the recapture of my father, but + my knowledge of your dislike to visitors and also of--you will excuse + my saying it--your very violent temper, led me to think that it was + better to communicate with you by letter. + + "My poor father was a hard-working general practitioner in Birmingham, + where his name is still remembered and respected. About ten years ago + he began to show signs of mental aberration, which we were inclined to + put down to overwork and the effects of a sunstroke. Feeling my own + incompetence to pronounce upon a case of such importance, I at once + sought the highest advice in Birmingham and London. Among others we + consulted the eminent alienist, Mr. Fraser Brown, who pronounced my + father's case to be intermittent in its nature, but dangerous during + the paroxysms. 'It may take a homicidal, or it may take a religious + turn,' he said; 'or it may prove to be a mixture of both. For months + he may be as well as you or me, and then in a moment he may break out. + You will incur a great responsibility if you leave him without + supervision.' + + "I need say no more, sir. You will understand the terrible task which + has fallen upon my poor sister and me in endeavouring to save my + father from the asylum which in his sane moments filled him with + horror. I can only regret that your peace has been disturbed by our + misfortunes, and I offer you in my sister's name and my own our + apologies." + + "Yours truly, + "J. CAMERON." + + + + +VIII. HOW IT HAPPENED + + +She was a writing medium. This is what she wrote:-- + +I can remember some things upon that evening most distinctly, and others +are like some vague, broken dreams. That is what makes it so difficult +to tell a connected story. I have no idea now what it was that had taken +me to London and brought me back so late. It just merges into all my +other visits to London. But from the time that I got out at the little +country station everything is extraordinarily clear. I can live it +again--every instant of it. + +I remember so well walking down the platform and looking at the +illuminated clock at the end which told me that it was half-past eleven. +I remember also my wondering whether I could get home before midnight. +Then I remember the big motor, with its glaring head-lights and glitter +of polished brass, waiting for me outside. It was my new thirty-horse- +power Robur, which had only been delivered that day. I remember also +asking Perkins, my chauffeur, how she had gone, and his saying that he +thought she was excellent. + +"I'll try her myself," said I, and I climbed into the driver's seat. + +"The gears are not the same," said he. "Perhaps, sir, I had better +drive." + +"No; I should like to try her," said I. + +And so we started on the five-mile drive for home. + +My old car had the gears as they used always to be in notches on a bar. +In this car you passed the gear-lever through a gate to get on the higher +ones. It was not difficult to master, and soon I thought that I +understood it. It was foolish, no doubt, to begin to learn a new system +in the dark, but one often does foolish things, and one has not always to +pay the full price for them. I got along very well until I came to +Claystall Hill. It is one of the worst hills in England, a mile and a +half long and one in six in places, with three fairly sharp curves. My +park gates stand at the very foot of it upon the main London road. + +We were just over the brow of this hill, where the grade is steepest, +when the trouble began. I had been on the top speed, and wanted to get +her on the free; but she stuck between gears, and I had to get her back +on the top again. By this time she was going at a great rate, so I +clapped on both brakes, and one after the other they gave way. I didn't +mind so much when I felt my footbrake snap, but when I put all my weight +on my side-brake, and the lever clanged to its full limit without a +catch, it brought a cold sweat out of me. By this time we were fairly +tearing down the slope. The lights were brilliant, and I brought her +round the first curve all right. Then we did the second one, though it +was a close shave for the ditch. There was a mile of straight then with +the third curve beneath it, and after that the gate of the park. If I +could shoot into that harbour all would be well, for the slope up to the +house would bring her to a stand. + +Perkins behaved splendidly. I should like that to be known. He was +perfectly cool and alert. I had thought at the very beginning of taking +the bank, and he read my intention. + +"I wouldn't do it, sir," said he. "At this pace it must go over and we +should have it on the top of us." + +Of course he was right. He got to the electric switch and had it off, so +we were in the free; but we were still running at a fearful pace. He +laid his hands on the wheel. + +"I'll keep her steady," said he, "if you care to jump and chance it. We +can never get round that curve. Better jump, sir." + +"No," said I; "I'll stick it out. You can jump if you like." + +"I'll stick it with you, sir," said he. + +If it had been the old car I should have jammed the gear-lever into the +reverse, and seen what would happen. I expect she would have stripped +her gears or smashed up somehow, but it would have been a chance. As it +was, I was helpless. Perkins tried to climb across, but you couldn't do +it going at that pace. The wheels were whirring like a high wind and the +big body creaking and groaning with the strain. But the lights were +brilliant, and one could steer to an inch. I remember thinking what an +awful and yet majestic sight we should appear to any one who met us. It +was a narrow road, and we were just a great, roaring, golden death to any +one who came in our path. + +We got round the corner with one wheel three feet high upon the bank. I +thought we were surely over, but after staggering for a moment she +righted and darted onwards. That was the third corner and the last one. +There was only the park gate now. It was facing us, but, as luck would +have it, not facing us directly. It was about twenty yards to the left +up the main road into which we ran. Perhaps I could have done it, but I +expect that the steering-gear had been jarred when we ran on the bank. +The wheel did not turn easily. We shot out of the lane. I saw the open +gate on the left. I whirled round my wheel with all the strength of my +wrists. Perkins and I threw our bodies across, and then the next +instant, going at fifty miles an hour, my right front wheel struck full +on the right-hand pillar of my own gate. I heard the crash. I was +conscious of flying through the air, and then--and then--! + +* * * * * + +When I became aware of my own existence once more I was among some +brushwood in the shadow of the oaks upon the lodge side of the drive. A +man was standing beside me. I imagined at first that it was Perkins, but +when I looked again I saw that it was Stanley, a man whom I had known at +college some years before, and for whom I had a really genuine affection. +There was always something peculiarly sympathetic to me in Stanley's +personality; and I was proud to think that I had some similar influence +upon him. At the present moment I was surprised to see him, but I was +like a man in a dream, giddy and shaken and quite prepared to take things +as I found them without questioning them. + +"What a smash!" I said. "Good Lord, what an awful smash!" + +He nodded his head, and even in the gloom I could see that he was smiling +the gentle, wistful smile which I connected with him. + +I was quite unable to move. Indeed, I had not any desire to try to move. +But my senses were exceedingly alert. I saw the wreck of the motor lit +up by the moving lanterns. I saw the little group of people and heard +the hushed voices. There were the lodge-keeper and his wife, and one or +two more. They were taking no notice of me, but were very busy round the +car. Then suddenly I heard a cry of pain. + +"The weight is on him. Lift it easy," cried a voice. + +"It's only my leg!" said another one, which I recognized as Perkins's. +"Where's master?" he cried. + +"Here I am," I answered, but they did not seem to hear me. They were all +bending over something which lay in front of the car. + +Stanley laid his hand upon my shoulder, and his touch was inexpressibly +soothing. I felt light and happy, in spite of all. + +"No pain, of course?" said he. + +"None," said I. + +"There never is," said he. + +And then suddenly a wave of amazement passed over me. Stanley! Stanley! +Why, Stanley had surely died of enteric at Bloemfontein in the Boer War! + +"Stanley!" I cried, and the words seemed to choke my throat--"Stanley, +you are dead." + +He looked at me with the same old gentle, wistful smile. + +"So are you," he answered. + + + + +IX. THE PRISONER'S DEFENCE + + +The circumstances, so far as they were known to the public, concerning +the death of the beautiful Miss Ena Garnier, and the fact that Captain +John Fowler, the accused officer, had refused to defend himself on the +occasion of the proceedings at the police-court, had roused very general +interest. This was increased by the statement that, though he withheld +his defence, it would be found to be of a very novel and convincing +character. The assertion of the prisoner's lawyer at the police-court, +to the effect that the answer to the charge was such that it could not +yet be given, but would be available before the Assizes, also caused much +speculation. A final touch was given to the curiosity of the public when +it was learned that the prisoner had refused all offers of legal +assistance from counsel and was determined to conduct his own defence. +The case for the Crown was ably presented, and was generally considered +to be a very damning one, since it showed very clearly that the accused +was subject to fits of jealousy, and that he had already been guilty of +some violence owing to this cause. The prisoner listened to the evidence +without emotion, and neither interrupted nor cross-questioned the +witnesses. Finally, on being informed that the time had come when he +might address the jury, he stepped to the front of the dock. He was a +man of striking appearance, swarthy, black-moustached, nervous, and +virile, with a quietly confident manner. Taking a paper from his pocket +he read the following statement, which made the deepest impression upon +the crowded court:-- + +I would wish to say, in the first place, gentlemen of the jury, that, +owing to the generosity of my brother officers--for my own means are +limited--I might have been defended to-day by the first talent of the +Bar. The reason I have declined their assistance and have determined to +fight my own case is not that I have any confidence in my own abilities +or eloquence, but it is because I am convinced that a plain, +straightforward tale, coming direct from the man who has been the tragic +actor in this dreadful affair, will impress you more than any indirect +statement could do. If I had felt that I were guilty I should have asked +for help. Since, in my own heart, I believe that I am innocent, I am +pleading my own cause, feeling that my plain words of truth and reason +will have more weight with you than the most learned and eloquent +advocate. By the indulgence of the Court I have been permitted to put my +remarks upon paper, so that I may reproduce certain conversations and be +assured of saying neither more nor less than I mean. + +It will be remembered that at the trial at the police-court two months +ago I refused to defend myself. This has been referred to to-day as a +proof of my guilt. I said that it would be some days before I could open +my mouth. This was taken at the time as a subterfuge. Well, the days +are over, and I am now able to make clear to you not only what took +place, but also why it was impossible for me to give any explanation. I +will tell you now exactly what I did and why it was that I did it. If +you, my fellow-countrymen, think that I did wrong, I will make no +complaint, but will suffer in silence any penalty which you may impose +upon me. + +I am a soldier of fifteen years' standing, a captain in the Second +Breconshire Battalion. I have served in the South African Campaign and +was mentioned in despatches after the battle of Diamond Hill. When the +war broke out with Germany I was seconded from my regiment, and I was +appointed as adjutant to the First Scottish Scouts, newly raised. The +regiment was quartered at Radchurch, in Essex, where the men were placed +partly in huts and were partly billeted upon the inhabitants. All the +officers were billeted out, and my quarters were with Mr. Murreyfield, +the local squire. It was there that I first met Miss Ena Garnier. + +It may not seem proper at such a time and place as this that I should +describe that lady. And yet her personality is the very essence of my +case. Let me only say that I cannot believe that Nature ever put into +female form a more exquisite combination of beauty and intelligence. She +was twenty-five years of age, blonde and tall, with a peculiar delicacy +of features and of expression. I have read of people falling in love at +first sight, and had always looked upon it as an expression of the +novelist. And yet from the moment that I saw Ena Garnier life held for +me but the one ambition--that she should be mine. I had never dreamed +before of the possibilities of passion that were within me. I will not +enlarge upon the subject, but to make you understand my action--for I +wish you to comprehend it, however much you may condemn it--you must +realize that I was in the grip of a frantic elementary passion which +made, for a time, the world and all that was in it seem a small thing if +I could but gain the love of this one girl. And yet, in justice to +myself, I will say that there was always one thing which I placed above +her. That was my honour as a soldier and a gentleman. You will find it +hard to believe this when I tell you what occurred, and yet--though for +one moment I forgot myself--my whole legal offence consists in my +desperate endeavour to retrieve what I had done. + +I soon found that the lady was not insensible to the advances which I +made to her. Her position in the household was a curious one. She had +come a year before from Montpellier, in the South of France, in answer to +an advertisement from the Murreyfields in order to teach French to their +three young children. She was, however, unpaid, so that she was rather a +friendly guest than an _employee_. She had always, as I gathered, been +fond of the English and desirous to live in England, but the outbreak of +the war had quickened her feelings into passionate attachment, for the +ruling emotion of her soul was her hatred of the Germans. Her +grandfather, as she told me, had been killed under very tragic +circumstances in the campaign of 1870, and her two brothers were both in +the French army. Her voice vibrated with passion when she spoke of the +infamies of Belgium, and more than once I have seen her kissing my sword +and my revolver because she hoped they would be used upon the enemy. With +such feelings in her heart it can be imagined that my wooing was not a +difficult one. I should have been glad to marry her at once, but to this +she would not consent. Everything was to come after the war, for it was +necessary, she said, that I should go to Montpellier and meet her people, +so that the French proprieties should be properly observed. + +She had one accomplishment which was rare for a lady; she was a skilled +motor-cyclist. She had been fond of long, solitary rides, but after our +engagement I was occasionally allowed to accompany her. She was a woman, +however, of strange moods and fancies, which added in my feelings to the +charm of her character. She could be tenderness itself, and she could be +aloof and even harsh in her manner. More than once she had refused my +company with no reason given, and with a quick, angry flash of her eyes +when I asked for one. Then, perhaps, her mood would change and she would +make up for this unkindness by some exquisite attention which would in an +instant soothe all my ruffled feelings. It was the same in the house. My +military duties were so exacting that it was only in the evenings that I +could hope to see her, and yet very often she remained in the little +study which was used during the day for the children's lessons, and would +tell me plainly that she wished to be alone. Then, when she saw that I +was hurt by her caprice, she would laugh and apologize so sweetly for her +rudeness that I was more her slave than ever. + +Mention has been made of my jealous disposition, and it has been asserted +at the trial that there were scenes owing to my jealousy, and that once +Mrs. Murreyfield had to interfere. I admit that I was jealous. When a +man loves with the whole strength of his soul it is impossible, I think, +that he should be clear of jealousy. The girl was of a very independent +spirit. I found that she knew many officers at Chelmsford and +Colchester. She would disappear for hours together upon her motor-cycle. +There were questions about her past life which she would only answer with +a smile unless they were closely pressed. Then the smile would become a +frown. Is it any wonder that I, with my whole nature vibrating with +passionate, whole-hearted love, was often torn by jealousy when I came +upon those closed doors of her life which she was so determined not to +open? Reason came at times and whispered how foolish it was that I +should stake my whole life and soul upon one of whom I really knew +nothing. Then came a wave of passion once more and reason was submerged. + +I have spoken of the closed doors of her life. I was aware that a young, +unmarried Frenchwoman has usually less liberty than her English sister. +And yet in the case of this lady it continually came out in her +conversation that she had seen and known much of the world. It was the +more distressing to me as whenever she had made an observation which +pointed to this she would afterwards, as I could plainly see, be annoyed +by her own indiscretion, and endeavour to remove the impression by every +means in her power. We had several small quarrels on this account, when +I asked questions to which I could get no answers, but they have been +exaggerated in the address for the prosecution. Too much has been made +also of the intervention of Mrs. Murreyfield, though I admit that the +quarrel was more serious upon that occasion. It arose from my finding +the photograph of a man upon her table, and her evident confusion when I +asked her for some particulars about him. The name "H. Vardin" was +written underneath--evidently an autograph. I was worried by the fact +that this photograph had the frayed appearance of one which has been +carried secretly about, as a girl might conceal the picture of her lover +in her dress. She absolutely refused to give me any information about +him, save to make a statement which I found incredible, that it was a man +whom she had never seen in her life. It was then that I forgot myself. I +raised my voice and declared that I should know more about her life or +that I should break with her, even if my own heart should be broken in +the parting. I was not violent, but Mrs. Murreyfield heard me from the +passage, and came into the room to remonstrate. She was a kind, motherly +person who took a sympathetic interest in our romance, and I remember +that on this occasion she reproved me for my jealousy and finally +persuaded me that I had been unreasonable, so that we became reconciled +once more. Ena was so madly fascinating and I so hopelessly her slave +that she could always draw me back, however much prudence and reason +warned me to escape from her control. I tried again and again to find +out about this man Vardin, but was always met by the same assurance, +which she repeated with every kind of solemn oath, that she had never +seen the man in her life. Why she should carry about the photograph of a +man--a young, somewhat sinister man, for I had observed him closely +before she snatched the picture from my hand--was what she either could +not, or would not, explain. + +Then came the time for my leaving Radchurch. I had been appointed to a +junior but very responsible post at the War Office, which, of course, +entailed my living in London. Even my week-ends found me engrossed with +my work, but at last I had a few days' leave of absence. It is those few +days which have ruined my life, which have brought me the most horrible +experience that ever a man had to undergo, and have finally placed me +here in the dock, pleading as I plead to-day for my life and my honour. + +It is nearly five miles from the station to Radchurch. She was there to +meet me. It was the first time that we had been reunited since I had put +all my heart and my soul upon her. I cannot enlarge upon these matters, +gentlemen. You will either be able to sympathize with and understand the +emotions which overbalance a man at such a time, or you will not. If you +have imagination, you will. If you have not, I can never hope to make +you see more than the bare fact. That bare fact, placed in the baldest +language, is that during this drive from Radchurch Junction to the +village I was led into the greatest indiscretion--the greatest dishonour, +if you will--of my life. I told the woman a secret, an enormously +important secret, which might affect the fate of the war and the lives of +many thousands of men. + +It was done before I knew it--before I grasped the way in which her quick +brain could place various scattered hints together and weave them into +one idea. She was wailing, almost weeping, over the fact that the allied +armies were held up by the iron line of the Germans. I explained that it +was more correct to say that our iron line was holding them up, since +they were the invaders. "But is France, is Belgium, _never_ to be rid of +them?" she cried. "Are we simply to sit in front of their trenches and +be content to let them do what they will with ten provinces of France? +Oh, Jack, Jack, for God's sake, say something to bring a little hope to +my heart, for sometimes I think that it is breaking! You English are +stolid. You can bear these things. But we others, we have more nerve, +more soul! It is death to us. Tell me! Do tell me that there is hope! +And yet it is foolish of me to ask, for, of course, you are only a +subordinate at the War Office, and how should you know what is in the +mind of your chiefs?" + +"Well, as it happens, I know a good deal," I answered. "Don't fret, for +we shall certainly get a move on soon." + +"Soon! Next year may seem soon to some people." + +"It's not next year." + +"Must we wait another month?" + +"Not even that." + +She squeezed my hand in hers. "Oh, my darling boy, you have brought such +joy to my heart! What suspense I shall live in now! I think a week of +it would kill me." + +"Well, perhaps it won't even be a week." + +"And tell me," she went on, in her coaxing voice, "tell me just one +thing, Jack. Just one, and I will trouble you no more. Is it our brave +French soldiers who advance? Or is it your splendid Tommies? With whom +will the honour lie?" + +"With both." + +"Glorious!" she cried. "I see it all. The attack will be at the point +where the French and British lines join. Together they will rush forward +in one glorious advance." + +"No," I said. "They will not be together." + +"But I understood you to say--of course, women know nothing of such +matters, but I understood you to say that it would be a joint advance." + +"Well, if the French advanced, we will say, at Verdun, and the British +advanced at Ypres, even if they were hundreds of miles apart it would +still be a joint advance." + +"Ah, I see," she cried, clapping her hands with delight. "They would +advance at both ends of the line, so that the Boches would not know which +way to send their reserves." + +"That is exactly the idea--a real advance at Verdun, and an enormous +feint at Ypres." + +Then suddenly a chill of doubt seized me. I can remember how I sprang +back from her and looked hard into her face. "I've told you too much!" I +cried. "Can I trust you? I have been mad to say so much." + +She was bitterly hurt by my words. That I should for a moment doubt her +was more than she could bear. "I would cut my tongue out, Jack, before I +would tell any human being one word of what you have said." So earnest +was she that my fears died away. I felt that I could trust her utterly. +Before we had reached Radchurch I had put the matter from my mind, and we +were lost in our joy of the present and in our plans for the future. + +I had a business message to deliver to Colonel Worral, who commanded a +small camp at Pedley-Woodrow. I went there and was away for about two +hours. When I returned I inquired for Miss Garnier, and was told by the +maid that she had gone to her bedroom, and that she had asked the groom +to bring her motor-bicycle to the door. It seemed to me strange that she +should arrange to go out alone when my visit was such a short one. I had +gone into her little study to seek her, and here it was that I waited, +for it opened on to the hall passage, and she could not pass without my +seeing her. + +There was a small table in the window of this room at which she used to +write. I had seated myself beside this when my eyes fell upon a name +written in her large, bold hand-writing. It was a reversed impression +upon the blotting-paper which she had used, but there could be no +difficulty in reading it. The name was Hubert Vardin. Apparently it was +part of the address of an envelope, for underneath I was able to +distinguish the initials S.W., referring to a postal division of London, +though the actual name of the street had not been clearly reproduced. + +Then I knew for the first time that she was actually corresponding with +this man whose vile, voluptuous face I had seen in the photograph with +the frayed edges. She had clearly lied to me, too, for was it +conceivable that she should correspond with a man whom she had never +seen? I don't desire to condone my conduct. Put yourself in my place. +Imagine that you had my desperately fervid and jealous nature. You would +have done what I did, for you could have done nothing else. A wave of +fury passed over me. I laid my hands upon the wooden writing-desk. If +it had been an iron safe I should have opened it. As it was, it +literally flew to pieces before me. There lay the letter itself, placed +under lock and key for safety, while the writer prepared to take it from +the house. I had no hesitation or scruple, I tore it open. +Dishonourable, you will say, but when a man is frenzied with jealousy he +hardly knows what he does. This woman, for whom I was ready to give +everything, was either faithful to me or she was not. At any cost I +would know which. + +A thrill of joy passed through me as my eyes fell upon the first words. I +had wronged her. "Cher Monsieur Vardin." So the letter began. It was +clearly a business letter, nothing else. I was about to replace it in +the envelope with a thousand regrets in my mind for my want of faith when +a single word at the bottom of the page caught my eyes, and I started as +if I had been stung by an adder. "Verdun"--that was the word. I looked +again. "Ypres" was immediately below it. I sat down, horror-stricken, +by the broken desk, and I read this letter, a translation of which I have +in my hand:-- + + MURREYFIELD HOUSE, RADCHURCH. + + DEAR M. VARDIN,--Stringer has told me that he has kept you + sufficiently informed as to Chelmsford and Colchester, so I have not + troubled to write. They have moved the Midland Territorial Brigade + and the heavy guns towards the coast near Cromer, but only for a time. + It is for training, not embarkation. + + And now for my great news, which I have straight from the War Office + itself. Within a week there is to be a very severe attack from + Verdun, which is to be supported by a holding attack at Ypres. It is + all on a very large scale, and you must send off a special Dutch + messenger to Von Starmer by the first boat. I hope to get the exact + date and some further particulars from my informant to-night, but + meanwhile you must act with energy. + + I dare not post this here--you know what village postmasters are, so I + am taking it into Colchester, where Stringer will include it with his + own report which goes by hand.--Yours faithfully, SOPHIA HEFFNER. + +I was stunned at first as I read this letter, and then a kind of cold, +concentrated rage came over me. So this woman was a German and a spy! I +thought of her hypocrisy and her treachery towards me, but, above all, I +thought of the danger to the Army and the State. A great defeat, the +death of thousands of men, might spring from my misplaced confidence. +There was still time, by judgment and energy, to stop this frightful +evil. I heard her step upon the stairs outside, and an instant later she +had come through the doorway. She started, and her face was bloodless as +she saw me seated there with the open letter in my hand. + +"How did you get that?" she gasped. "How dared you break my desk and +steal my letter?" + +I said nothing. I simply sat and looked at her and pondered what I +should do. She suddenly sprang forward and tried to snatch the letter. I +caught her wrist and pushed her down on to the sofa, where she lay, +collapsed. Then I rang the bell, and told the maid that I must see Mr. +Murreyfield at once. + +He was a genial, elderly man, who had treated this woman with as much +kindness as if she were his daughter. He was horrified at what I said. I +could not show him the letter on account of the secret that it contained, +but I made him understand that it was of desperate importance. + +"What are we to do?" he asked. "I never could have imagined anything so +dreadful. What would you advise us to do?" + +"There is only one thing that we can do," I answered. "This woman must +be arrested, and in the meanwhile we must so arrange matters that she +cannot possibly communicate with any one. For all we know, she has +confederates in this very village. Can you undertake to hold her +securely while I go to Colonel Worral at Pedley and get a warrant and a +guard?" + +"We can lock her in her bedroom." + +"You need not trouble," said she. "I give you my word that I will stay +where I am. I advise you to be careful, Captain Fowler. You've shown +once before that you are liable to do things before you have thought of +the consequence. If I am arrested all the world will know that you have +given away the secrets that were confided to you. There is an end of +your career, my friend. You can punish me, no doubt. What about +yourself?" + +"I think," said I, "you had best take her to her bedroom." + +"Very good, if you wish it," said she, and followed us to the door. When +we reached the hall she suddenly broke away, dashed through the entrance, +and made for her motor-bicycle, which was standing there. Before she +could start we had both seized her. She stooped and made her teeth meet +in Murreyfield's hand. With flashing eyes and tearing fingers she was as +fierce as a wild cat at bay. It was with some difficulty that we +mastered her, and dragged her--almost carried her--up the stairs. We +thrust her into her room and turned the key, while she screamed out abuse +and beat upon the door inside. + +"It's a forty-foot drop into the garden," said Murreyfield, tying up his +bleeding hand. "I'll wait here till you come back. I think we have the +lady fairly safe." + +"I have a revolver here," said I. "You should be armed." I slipped a +couple of cartridges into it and held it out to him. "We can't afford to +take chances. How do you know what friends she may have?" + +"Thank you," said he. "I have a stick here, and the gardener is within +call. Do you hurry off for the guard, and I will answer for the +prisoner." + +Having taken, as it seemed to me, every possible precaution, I ran to +give the alarm. It was two miles to Pedley, and the colonel was out, +which occasioned some delay. Then there were formalities and a +magistrate's signature to be obtained. A policeman was to serve the +warrant, but a military escort was to be sent in to bring back the +prisoner. I was so filled with anxiety and impatience that I could not +wait, but I hurried back alone with the promise that they would follow. + +The Pedley-Woodrow Road opens into the high-road to Colchester at a point +about half a mile from the village of Radchurch. It was evening now and +the light was such that one could not see more than twenty or thirty +yards ahead. I had proceeded only a very short way from the point of +junction when I heard, coming towards me, the roar of a motor-cycle being +ridden at a furious pace. It was without lights, and close upon me. I +sprang aside in order to avoid being ridden down, and in that instant, as +the machine flashed by, I saw clearly the face of the rider. It was +she--the woman whom I had loved. She was hatless, her hair streaming in +the wind, her face glimmering white in the twilight, flying through the +night like one of the Valkyries of her native land. She was past me like +a flash and tore on down the Colchester Road. In that instant I saw all +that it would mean if she could reach the town. If she once was allowed +to see her agent we might arrest him or her, but it would be too late. +The news would have been passed on. The victory of the Allies and the +lives of thousands of our soldiers were at stake. Next instant I had +pulled out the loaded revolver and fired two shots after the vanishing +figure, already only a dark blur in the dusk. I heard a scream, the +crashing of the breaking cycle, and all was still. + +I need not tell you more, gentlemen. You know the rest. When I ran +forward I found her lying in the ditch. Both of my bullets had struck +her. One of them had penetrated her brain. I was still standing beside +her body when Murreyfield arrived, running breathlessly down the road. +She had, it seemed, with great courage and activity scrambled down the +ivy of the wall; only when he heard the whirr of the cycle did he realize +what had occurred. He was explaining it to my dazed brain when the +police and soldiers arrived to arrest her. By the irony of fate it was +me whom they arrested instead. + +It was urged at the trial in the police-court that jealousy was the cause +of the crime. I did not deny it, nor did I put forward any witnesses to +deny it. It was my desire that they should believe it. The hour of the +French advance had not yet come, and I could not defend myself without +producing the letter which would reveal it. But now it is +over--gloriously over--and so my lips are unsealed at last. I confess my +fault--my very grievous fault. But it is not that for which you are +trying me. It is for murder. I should have thought myself the murderer +of my own countrymen if I had let the woman pass. These are the facts, +gentlemen. I leave my future in your hands. If you should absolve me I +may say that I have hopes of serving my country in a fashion which will +atone for this one great indiscretion, and will also, as I hope, end for +ever those terrible recollections which weigh me down. If you condemn +me, I am ready to face whatever you may think fit to inflict. + + + + +X. THREE OF THEM + + +I--A CHAT ABOUT CHILDREN, SNAKES, AND ZEBUS + + +These little sketches are called "Three of Them," but there are really +five, on and off the stage. There is Daddy, a lumpish person with some +gift for playing Indian games when he is in the mood. He is then known +as "The Great Chief of the Leatherskin Tribe." Then there is my Lady +Sunshine. These are the grown-ups, and don't really count. There remain +the three, who need some differentiating upon paper, though their little +spirits are as different in reality as spirits could be--all beautiful +and all quite different. The eldest is a boy of eight whom we shall call +"Laddie." If ever there was a little cavalier sent down ready-made it is +he. His soul is the most gallant, unselfish, innocent thing that ever +God sent out to get an extra polish upon earth. It dwells in a tall, +slight, well-formed body, graceful and agile, with a head and face as +clean-cut as if an old Greek cameo had come to life, and a pair of +innocent and yet wise grey eyes that read and win the heart. He is shy +and does not shine before strangers. I have said that he is unselfish +and brave. When there is the usual wrangle about going to bed, up he +gets in his sedate way. "I will go first," says he, and off he goes, the +eldest, that the others may have the few extra minutes while he is in his +bath. As to his courage, he is absolutely lion-hearted where he can help +or defend any one else. On one occasion Daddy lost his temper with +Dimples (Boy Number 2), and, not without very good provocation, gave him +a tap on the side of the head. Next instant he felt a butt down +somewhere in the region of his waist-belt, and there was an angry little +red face looking up at him, which turned suddenly to a brown mop of hair +as the butt was repeated. No one, not even Daddy, should hit his little +brother. Such was Laddie, the gentle and the fearless. + +Then there is Dimples. Dimples is nearly seven, and you never saw a +rounder, softer, dimplier face, with two great roguish, mischievous eyes +of wood-pigeon grey, which are sparkling with fun for the most part, +though they can look sad and solemn enough at times. Dimples has the +making of a big man in him. He has depth and reserves in his tiny soul. +But on the surface he is a boy of boys, always in innocent mischief. "I +will now do mischuff," he occasionally announces, and is usually as good +as his word. He has a love and understanding of all living creatures, +the uglier and more slimy the better, treating them all in a tender, +fairylike fashion which seems to come from some inner knowledge. He has +been found holding a buttercup under the mouth of a slug "to see if he +likes butter." He finds creatures in an astonishing way. Put him in the +fairest garden, and presently he will approach you with a newt, a toad, +or a huge snail in his custody. Nothing would ever induce him to hurt +them, but he gives them what he imagines to be a little treat and then +restores them to their homes. He has been known to speak bitterly to the +Lady when she has given orders that caterpillars be killed if found upon +the cabbages, and even the explanation that the caterpillars were doing +the work of what he calls "the Jarmans" did not reconcile him to their +fate. + +He has an advantage over Laddie, in that he suffers from no trace of +shyness and is perfectly friendly in an instant with any one of every +class of life, plunging straight into conversation with some such remark +as "Can your Daddy give a war-whoop?" or "Were you ever chased by a +bear?" He is a sunny creature but combative sometimes, when he draws +down his brows, sets his eyes, his chubby cheeks flush, and his lips go +back from his almond-white teeth. "I am Swankie the Berserker," says he, +quoting out of his favourite "Erling the Bold," which Daddy reads aloud +at bed-time. When he is in this fighting mood he can even drive back +Laddie, chiefly because the elder is far too chivalrous to hurt him. If +you want to see what Laddie can really do, put the small gloves on him +and let him go for Daddy. Some of those hurricane rallies of his would +stop Daddy grinning if they could get home, and he has to fall back off +his stool in order to get away from them. + +If that latent power of Dimples should ever come out, how will it be +manifest? Surely in his imagination. Tell him a story and the boy is +lost. He sits with his little round, rosy face immovable and fixed, +while his eyes never budge from those of the speaker. He sucks in +everything that is weird or adventurous or wild. Laddie is a rather +restless soul, eager to be up and doing; but Dimples is absorbed in the +present if there be something worth hearing to be heard. In height he is +half a head shorter than his brother, but rather more sturdy in build. +The power of his voice is one of his noticeable characteristics. If +Dimples is coming you know it well in advance. With that physical gift +upon the top of his audacity, and his loquacity, he fairly takes command +of any place in which he may find himself, while Laddie, his soul too +noble for jealousy, becomes one of the laughing and admiring audience. + +Then there is Baby, a dainty elfin Dresden-china little creature of five, +as fair as an angel and as deep as a well. The boys are but shallow, +sparkling pools compared with this little girl with her self-repression +and dainty aloofness. You know the boys, you never feel that you quite +know the girl. Something very strong and forceful seems to be at the +back of that wee body. Her will is tremendous. Nothing can break or +even bend it. Only kind guidance and friendly reasoning can mould it. +The boys are helpless if she has really made up her mind. But this is +only when she asserts herself, and those are rare occasions. As a rule +she sits quiet, aloof, affable, keenly alive to all that passes and yet +taking no part in it save for some subtle smile or glance. And then +suddenly the wonderful grey-blue eyes under the long black lashes will +gleam like coy diamonds, and such a hearty little chuckle will come from +her that every one else is bound to laugh out of sympathy. She and +Dimples are great allies and yet have continual lovers' quarrels. One +night she would not even include his name in her prayers. "God bless--" +every one else, but not a word of Dimples. "Come, come, darling!" urged +the Lady. "Well, then, God bless horrid Dimples!" said she at last, +after she had named the cat, the goat, her dolls, and her Wriggly. + +That is a strange trait, the love for the Wriggly. It would repay +thought from some scientific brain. It is an old, faded, disused downy +from her cot. Yet go where she will, she must take Wriggly with her. All +her toys put together would not console her for the absence of Wriggly. +If the family go to the seaside, Wriggly must come too. She will not +sleep without the absurd bundle in her arms. If she goes to a party she +insists upon dragging its disreputable folds along with her, one end +always projecting "to give it fresh air." Every phase of childhood +represents to the philosopher something in the history of the race. From +the new-born baby which can hang easily by one hand from a broomstick +with its legs drawn up under it, the whole evolution of mankind is re- +enacted. You can trace clearly the cave-dweller, the hunter, the scout. +What, then, does Wriggly represent? Fetish worship--nothing else. The +savage chooses some most unlikely thing and adores it. This dear little +savage adores her Wriggly. + +So now we have our three little figures drawn as clearly as a clumsy pen +can follow such subtle elusive creatures of mood and fancy. We will +suppose now that it is a summer evening, that Daddy is seated smoking in +his chair, that the Lady is listening somewhere near, and that the three +are in a tumbled heap upon the bear-skin before the empty fireplace +trying to puzzle out the little problems of their tiny lives. When three +children play with a new thought it is like three kittens with a ball, +one giving it a pat and another a pat, as they chase it from point to +point. Daddy would interfere as little as possible, save when he was +called upon to explain or to deny. It was usually wiser for him to +pretend to be doing something else. Then their talk was the more +natural. On this occasion, however, he was directly appealed to. + +"Daddy!" asked Dimples. + +"Yes, boy." + +"Do you fink that the roses know us?" + +Dimples, in spite of his impish naughtiness, had a way of looking such a +perfectly innocent and delightfully kissable little person that one felt +he really might be a good deal nearer to the sweet secrets of Nature than +his elders. However, Daddy was in a material mood. + +"No, boy; how could the roses know us?" + +"The big yellow rose at the corner of the gate knows _me_." + +"How do you know that?" + +"'Cause it nodded to me yesterday." + +Laddie roared with laughter. + +"That was just the wind, Dimples." + +"No, it was not," said Dimples, with conviction. "There was none wind. +Baby was there. Weren't you, Baby?" + +"The wose knew us," said Baby, gravely. + +"Beasts know us," said Laddie. "But them beasts run round and make +noises. Roses don't make noises." + +"Yes, they do. They rustle." + +"Woses wustle," said Baby. + +"That's not a living noise. That's an all-the-same noise. Different to +Roy, who barks and makes different noises all the time. Fancy the roses +all barkin' at you. Daddy, will you tell us about animals?" + +That is one of the child stages which takes us back to the old tribe +life--their inexhaustible interest in animals, some distant echo of those +long nights when wild men sat round the fires and peered out into the +darkness, and whispered about all the strange and deadly creatures who +fought with them for the lordship of the earth. Children love caves, and +they love fires and meals out of doors, and they love animal talk--all +relics of the far distant past. + +"What is the biggest animal in South America, Daddy?" + +Daddy, wearily: "Oh, I don't know." + +"I s'pose an elephant would be the biggest?" + +"No, boy; there are none in South America." + +"Well, then, a rhinoceros?" + +"No, there are none." + +"Well, what is there, Daddy?" + +"Well, dear, there are jaguars. I suppose a jaguar is the biggest." + +"Then it must be thirty-six feet long." + +"Oh, no, boy; about eight or nine feet with his tail." + +"But there are boa-constrictors in South America thirty-six feet long." + +"That's different." + +"Do you fink," asked Dimples, with his big, solemn, grey eyes wide open, +"there was ever a boa-'strictor forty-five feet long?" + +"No, dear; I never heard of one." + +"Perhaps there was one, but you never heard of it. Do you fink you would +have heard of a boa-'strictor forty-five feet long if there was one in +South America?" + +"Well, there may have been one." + +"Daddy," said Laddie, carrying on the cross-examination with the intense +earnestness of a child, "could a boa-constrictor swallow any small +animal?" + +"Yes, of course he could." + +"Could he swallow a jaguar?" + +"Well, I don't know about that. A jaguar is a very large animal." + +"Well, then," asked Dimples, "could a jaguar swallow a boa-'strictor?" + +"Silly ass," said Laddie. "If a jaguar was only nine feet long and the +boa-constrictor was thirty-five feet long, then there would be a lot +sticking out of the jaguar's mouth. How could he swallow that?" + +"He'd bite it off," said Dimples. "And then another slice for supper and +another for breakfast--but, I say, Daddy, a 'stricter couldn't swallow a +porkpine, could he? He would have a sore throat all the way down." + +Shrieks of laughter and a welcome rest for Daddy, who turned to his +paper. + +"Daddy!" + +He put down his paper with an air of conscious virtue and lit his pipe. + +"Well, dear?" + +"What's the biggest snake you ever saw?" + +"Oh, bother the snakes! I am tired of them." + +But the children were never tired of them. Heredity again, for the snake +was the worst enemy of arboreal man. + +"Daddy made soup out of a snake," said Laddie. "Tell us about that +snake, Daddy." + +Children like a story best the fourth or fifth time, so it is never any +use to tell them that they know all about it. The story which they can +check and correct is their favourite. + +"Well, dear, we got a viper and we killed it. Then we wanted the +skeleton to keep and we didn't know how to get it. At first we thought +we would bury it, but that seemed too slow. Then I had the idea to boil +all the viper's flesh off its bones, and I got an old meat-tin and we put +the viper and some water into it and put it above the fire." + +"You hung it on a hook, Daddy." + +"Yes, we hung it on the hook that they put the porridge pot on in +Scotland. Then just as it was turning brown in came the farmer's wife, +and ran up to see what we were cooking. When she saw the viper she +thought we were going to eat it. 'Oh, you dirty divils!' she cried, and +caught up the tin in her apron and threw it out of the window." + +Fresh shrieks of laughter from the children, and Dimples repeated "You +dirty divil!" until Daddy had to clump him playfully on the head. + +"Tell us some more about snakes," cried Laddie. "Did you ever see a +really dreadful snake?" + +"One that would turn you black and dead you in five minutes?" said +Dimples. It was always the most awful thing that appealed to Dimples. + +"Yes, I have seen some beastly creatures. Once in the Sudan I was dozing +on the sand when I opened my eyes and there was a horrid creature like a +big slug with horns, short and thick, about a foot long, moving away in +front of me." + +"What was it, Daddy?" Six eager eyes were turned up to him. + +"It was a death-adder. I expect that would dead you in five minutes, +Dimples, if it got a bite at you." + +"Did you kill it?" + +"No; it was gone before I could get to it." + +"Which is the horridest, Daddy--a snake or a shark?" + +"I'm not very fond of either!" + +"Did you ever see a man eaten by sharks?" + +"No, dear, but I was not so far off being eaten myself." + +"Oo!" from all three of them. + +"I did a silly thing, for I swam round the ship in water where there are +many sharks. As I was drying myself on the deck I saw the high fin of a +shark above the water a little way off. It had heard the splashing and +come up to look for me." + +"Weren't you frightened, Daddy?" + +"Yes. It made me feel rather cold." There was silence while Daddy saw +once more the golden sand of the African beach and the snow-white roaring +surf, with the long, smooth swell of the bar. + +Children don't like silences. + +"Daddy," said Laddie. "Do zebus bite?" + +"Zebus! Why, they are cows. No, of course not." + +"But a zebu could butt with its horns." + +"Oh, yes, it could butt." + +"Do you think a zebu could fight a crocodile?" + +"Well, I should back the crocodile." + +"Why?" + +"Well, dear, the crocodile has great teeth and would eat the zebu." + +"But suppose the zebu came up when the crocodile was not looking and +butted it." + +"Well, that would be one up for the zebu. But one butt wouldn't hurt a +crocodile." + +"No, one wouldn't, would it? But the zebu would keep on. Crocodiles +live on sand-banks, don't they? Well, then, the zebu would come and live +near the sandbank too--just so far as the crocodile would never see him. +Then every time the crocodile wasn't looking the zebu would butt him. +Don't you think he would beat the crocodile?" + +"Well, perhaps he would." + +"How long do you think it would take the zebu to beat the crocodile?" + +"Well, it would depend upon how often he got in his butt." + +"Well, suppose he butted him once every three hours, don't you think--?" + +"Oh, bother the zebu!" + +"That's what the crocodile would say," cried Laddie, clapping his hands. + +"Well, I agree with the crocodile," said Daddy. + +"And it's time all good children were in bed," said the Lady as the +glimmer of the nurse's apron was seen in the gloom. + + + +II--ABOUT CRICKET + + +Supper was going on down below and all good children should have been +long ago in the land of dreams. Yet a curious noise came from above. + +"What on earth--?" asked Daddy. + +"Laddie practising cricket," said the Lady, with the curious clairvoyance +of motherhood. "He gets out of bed to bowl. I do wish you would go up +and speak seriously to him about it, for it takes quite an hour off his +rest." + +Daddy departed upon his mission intending to be gruff, and my word, he +can be quite gruff when he likes! When he reached the top of the stairs, +however, and heard the noise still continue, he walked softly down the +landing and peeped in through the half-opened door. + +The room was dark save for a night-light. In the dim glimmer he saw a +little white-clad figure, slight and supple, taking short steps and +swinging its arm in the middle of the room. + +"Halloa!" said Daddy. + +The white-clad figure turned and ran forward to him. + +"Oh, Daddy, how jolly of you to come up!" + +Daddy felt that gruffness was not quite so easy as it had seemed. + +"Look here! You get into bed!" he said, with the best imitation he could +manage. + +"Yes, Daddy. But before I go, how is this?" He sprang forward and the +arm swung round again in a swift and graceful gesture. + +Daddy was a moth-eaten cricketer of sorts, and he took it in with a +critical eye. + +"Good, Laddie. I like a high action. That's the real Spofforth swing." + +"Oh, Daddy, come and talk about cricket!" He was pulled on the side of +the bed, and the white figure dived between the sheets. + +"Yes; tell us about cwicket!" came a cooing voice from the corner. +Dimples was sitting up in his cot. + +"You naughty boy! I thought one of you was asleep, anyhow. I mustn't +stay. I keep you awake." + +"Who was Popoff?" cried Laddie, clutching at his father's sleeve. "Was +he a very good bowler?" + +"Spofforth was the best bowler that ever walked on to a cricket-field. He +was the great Australian Bowler and he taught us a great deal." + +"Did he ever kill a dog?" from Dimples. + +"No, boy. Why?" + +"Because Laddie said there was a bowler so fast that his ball went frue a +coat and killed a dog." + +"Oh, that's an old yarn. I heard that when I was a little boy about some +bowler whose name, I think, was Jackson." + +"Was it a big dog?" + +"No, no, son; it wasn't a dog at all." + +"It was a cat," said Dimples. + +"No; I tell you it never happened." + +"But tell us about Spofforth," cried Laddie. Dimples, with his +imaginative mind, usually wandered, while the elder came eagerly back to +the point. "Was he very fast?" + +"He could be very fast. I have heard cricketers who had played against +him say that his yorker--that is a ball which is just short of a full +pitch--was the fastest ball in England. I have myself seen his long arm +swing round and the wicket go down before ever the batsman had time to +ground his bat." + +"Oo!" from both beds. + +"He was a tall, thin man, and they called him the Fiend. That means the +Devil, you know." + +"And _was_ he the Devil?" + +"No, Dimples, no. They called him that because he did such wonderful +things with the ball." + +"Can the Devil do wonderful things with a ball?" + +Daddy felt that he was propagating devil-worship and hastened to get to +safer ground. + +"Spofforth taught us how to bowl and Blackham taught us how to keep +wicket. When I was young we always had another fielder, called the long- +stop, who stood behind the wicket-keeper. I used to be a thick, solid +boy, so they put me as long-stop, and the balls used to bounce off me, I +remember, as if I had been a mattress." + +Delighted laughter. + +"But after Blackham came wicket-keepers had to learn that they were there +to stop the ball. Even in good second-class cricket there were no more +long-stops. We soon found plenty of good wicket-keeps--like Alfred +Lyttelton and MacGregor--but it was Blackham who showed us how. To see +Spofforth, all india-rubber and ginger, at one end bowling, and Blackham, +with his black beard over the bails waiting for the ball at the other +end, was worth living for, I can tell you." + +Silence while the boys pondered over this. But Laddie feared Daddy would +go, so he quickly got in a question. If Daddy's memory could only be +kept going there was no saying how long they might keep him. + +"Was there no good bowler until Spofforth came?" + +"Oh, plenty, my boy. But he brought something new with him. Especially +change of pace--you could never tell by his action up to the last moment +whether you were going to get a ball like a flash of lightning, or one +that came slow but full of devil and spin. But for mere command of the +pitch of a ball I should think Alfred Shaw, of Nottingham, was the +greatest bowler I can remember. It was said that he could pitch a ball +twice in three times upon a half-crown!" + +"Oo!" And then from Dimples:-- + +"Whose half-crown?" + +"Well, anybody's half-crown." + +"Did he get the half-crown?" + +"No, no; why should he?" + +"Because he put the ball on it." + +"The half-crown was kept there always for people to aim at," explained +Laddie. + +"No, no, there never was a half-crown." + +Murmurs of remonstrance from both boys. + +"I only meant that he could pitch the ball on anything--a half-crown or +anything else." + +"Daddy," with the energy of one who has a happy idea, "could he have +pitched it on the batsman's toe?" + +"Yes, boy, I think so." + +"Well, then, suppose he _always_ pitched it on the batsman's toe!" + +Daddy laughed. + +"Perhaps that is why dear old W. G. always stood with his left toe cocked +up in the air." + +"On one leg?" + +"No, no, Dimples. With his heel down and his toe up." + +"Did you know W. G., Daddy?" + +"Oh, yes, I knew him quite well." + +"Was he nice?" + +"Yes, he was splendid. He was always like a great jolly schoolboy who +was hiding behind a huge black beard." + +"Whose beard?" + +"I meant that he had a great bushy beard. He looked like the pirate +chief in your picture-books, but he had as kind a heart as a child. I +have been told that it was the terrible things in this war that really +killed him. Grand old W. G.!" + +"Was he the best bat in the world, Daddy?" + +"Of course he was," said Daddy, beginning to enthuse to the delight of +the clever little plotter in the bed. "There never was such a bat--never +in the world--and I don't believe there ever could be again. He didn't +play on smooth wickets, as they do now. He played where the wickets were +all patchy, and you had to watch the ball right on to the bat. You +couldn't look at it before it hit the ground and think, 'That's all +right. I know where that one will be!' My word, that was cricket. What +you got you earned." + +"Did you ever see W. G. make a hundred, Daddy?" + +"See him! I've fielded out for him and melted on a hot August day while +he made a hundred and fifty. There's a pound or two of your Daddy +somewhere on that field yet. But I loved to see it, and I was always +sorry when he got out for nothing, even if I were playing against him." + +"Did he ever get out for nothing?" + +"Yes, dear; the first time I ever played in his company he was given out +leg-before-wicket before he made a run. And all the way to the +pavilion--that's where people go when they are out--he was walking +forward, but his big black beard was backward over his shoulder as he +told the umpire what he thought." + +"And what _did_ he think?" + +"More than I can tell you, Dimples. But I dare say he was right to be +annoyed, for it was a left-handed bowler, bowling round the wicket, and +it is very hard to get leg-before to that. However, that's all Greek to +you." + +"What's Gweek?" + +"Well, I mean you can't understand that. Now I am going." + +"No, no, Daddy; wait a moment! Tell us about Bonner and the big catch." + +"Oh, you know about that!" + +Two little coaxing voices came out of the darkness. + +"Oh, please! Please!" + +"I don't know what your mother will say! What was it you asked?" + +"Bonner!" + +"Ah, Bonner!" Daddy looked out in the gloom and saw green fields and +golden sunlight, and great sportsmen long gone to their rest. "Bonner +was a wonderful man. He was a giant in size." + +"As big as you, Daddy?" + +Daddy seized his elder boy and shook him playfully. "I heard what you +said to Miss Cregan the other day. When she asked you what an acre was +you said 'About the size of Daddy.'" + +Both boys gurgled. + +"But Bonner was five inches taller than I. He was a giant, I tell you." + +"Did nobody kill him?" + +"No, no, Dimples. Not a story-book giant. But a great, strong man. He +had a splendid figure and blue eyes and a golden beard, and altogether he +was the finest man I have ever seen--except perhaps one." + +"Who was the one, Daddy?" + +"Well, it was the Emperor Frederick of Germany." + +"A Jarman!" cried Dimples, in horror. + +"Yes, a German. Mind you, boys, a man may be a very noble man and be a +German--though what has become of the noble ones these last three years +is more than I can guess. But Frederick was noble and good, as you could +see on his face. How he ever came to be the father of such a blasphemous +braggart"--Daddy sank into reverie. + +"Bonner, Daddy!" said Laddie, and Daddy came back from politics with a +start. + +"Oh, yes, Bonner. Bonner in white flannels on the green sward with an +English June sun upon him. That was a picture of a man! But you asked +me about the catch. It was in a test match at the Oval--England against +Australia. Bonner said before he went in that he would hit Alfred Shaw +into the next county, and he set out to do it. Shaw, as I have told you, +could keep a very good length, so for some time Bonner could not get the +ball he wanted, but at last he saw his chance, and he jumped out and hit +that ball the most awful ker-wallop that ever was seen in a +cricket-field." + +"Oo!" from both boys: and then, "Did it go into the next county, Daddy?" +from Dimples. + +"Well, I'm telling you!" said Daddy, who was always testy when one of his +stories was interrupted. "Bonner thought he had made the ball a half- +volley--that is the best ball to hit--but Shaw had deceived him and the +ball was really on the short side. So when Bonner hit it, up and up it +went, until it looked as if it were going out of sight into the sky." + +"Oo!" + +"At first everybody thought it was going far outside the ground. But +soon they saw that all the giant's strength had been wasted in hitting +the ball so high, and that there was a chance that it would fall within +the ropes. The batsmen had run three runs and it was still in the air. +Then it was seen that an English fielder was standing on the very edge of +the field with his back on the ropes, a white figure against the black +line of the people. He stood watching the mighty curve of the ball, and +twice he raised his hands together above his head as he did so. Then a +third time he raised his hands above his head, and the ball was in them +and Bonner was out." + +"Why did he raise his hands twice?" + +"I don't know. He did so." + +"And who was the fielder, Daddy?" + +"The fielder was G. F. Grace, the younger brother of W. G. Only a few +months afterwards he was a dead man. But he had one grand moment in his +life, with twenty thousand people all just mad with excitement. Poor G. +F.! He died too soon." + +"Did you ever catch a catch like that, Daddy?" + +"No, boy. I was never a particularly good fielder." + +"Did you never catch a good catch?" + +"Well, I won't say that. You see, the best catches are very often +flukes, and I remember one awful fluke of that sort." + +"Do tell us, Daddy?" + +"Well, dear, I was fielding at slip. That is very near the wicket, you +know. Woodcock was bowling, and he had the name of being the fastest +bowler of England at that time. It was just the beginning of the match +and the ball was quite red. Suddenly I saw something like a red flash +and there was the ball stuck in my left hand. I had not time to move it. +It simply came and stuck." + +"Oo!" + +"I saw another catch like that. It was done by Ulyett, a fine Yorkshire +player--such a big, upstanding fellow. He was bowling, and the +batsman--it was an Australian in a test match--hit as hard as ever he +could. Ulyett could not have seen it, but he just stuck out his hand and +there was the ball." + +"Suppose it had hit his body?" + +"Well, it would have hurt him." + +"Would he have cried?" from Dimples. + +"No, boy. That is what games are for, to teach you to take a knock and +never show it. Supposing that--" + +A step was heard coming along the passage. + +"Good gracious, boys, here's Mumty. Shut your eyes this moment. It's +all right, dear. I spoke to them very severely and I think they are +nearly asleep." + +"What have you been talking about?" asked the Lady. + +"Cwicket!" cried Dimples. + +"It's natural enough," said Daddy; "of course when two boys--" + +"Three," said the Lady, as she tucked up the little beds. + + + +III--SPECULATIONS + + +The three children were sitting together in a bunch upon the rug in the +gloaming. Baby was talking so Daddy behind his newspaper pricked up his +ears, for the young lady was silent as a rule, and every glimpse of her +little mind was of interest. She was nursing the disreputable little +downy quilt which she called Wriggly and much preferred to any of her +dolls. + +"I wonder if they will let Wriggly into heaven," she said. + +The boys laughed. They generally laughed at what Baby said. + +"If they won't I won't go in, either," she added. + +"Nor me, neither, if they don't let in my Teddy-bear," said Dimples. + +"I'll tell them it is a nice, clean, blue Wriggly," said Baby. "I love +my Wriggly." She cooed over it and hugged it. + +"What about that, Daddy?" asked Laddie, in his earnest fashion. "Are +there toys in heaven, do you think?" + +"Of course there are. Everything that can make children happy." + +"As many toys as in Hamley's shop?" asked Dimples. + +"More," said Daddy, stoutly. + +"Oo!" from all three. + +"Daddy, dear," said Laddie. "I've been wondering about the deluge." + +"Yes, dear. What was it?" + +"Well, the story about the Ark. All those animals were in the Ark, just +two of each, for forty days. Wasn't that so?" + +"That is the story." + +"Well, then, what did the carnivorous animals eat?" + +One should be honest with children and not put them off with ridiculous +explanations. Their questions about such matters are generally much more +sensible than their parents' replies. + +"Well, dear," said Daddy, weighing his words, "these stories are very, +very old. The Jews put them in the Bible, but they got them from the +people in Babylon, and the people in Babylon probably got them from some +one else away back in the beginning of things. If a story gets passed +down like that, one person adds a little and another adds a little, and +so you never get things quite as they happened. The Jews put it in the +Bible exactly as they heard it, but it had been going about for thousands +of years before then." + +"So it was not true?" + +"Yes, I think it was true. I think there was a great flood, and I think +that some people did escape, and that they saved their beasts, just as we +should try to save Nigger and the Monkstown cocks and hens if we were +flooded out. Then they were able to start again when the waters went +down, and they were naturally very grateful to God for their escape." + +"What did the people who didn't escape think about it?" + +"Well, we can't tell that." + +"They wouldn't be very grateful, would they?" + +"Their time was come," said Daddy, who was a bit of a Fatalist. "I +expect it was the best thing." + +"It was jolly hard luck on Noah being swallowed by a fish after all his +trouble," said Dimples. + +"Silly ass! It was Jonah that was swallowed. Was it a whale, Daddy?" + +"A whale! Why, a whale couldn't swallow a herring!" + +"A shark, then?" + +"Well, there again you have an old story which has got twisted and turned +a good deal. No doubt he was a holy man who had some great escape at +sea, and then the sailors and others who admired him invented this +wonder." + +"Daddy," said Dimples, suddenly, "should we do just the same as Jesus +did?" + +"Yes, dear; He was the noblest Person that ever lived." + +"Well, did Jesus lie down every day from twelve to one?" + +"I don't know that He did." + +"Well, then, I won't lie down from twelve to one." + +"If Jesus had been a growing boy and had been ordered to lie down by His +Mumty and the doctor, I am sure He would have done so." + +"Did He take malt extract?" + +"He did what He was told, my son--I am sure of that. He was a good man, +so He must have been a good boy--perfect in all He did." + +"Baby saw God yesterday," remarked Laddie, casually. + +Daddy dropped his paper. + +"Yes, we made up our minds we would all lie on our backs and stare at the +sky until we saw God. So we put the big rug on the lawn and then we all +lay down side by side, and stared and stared. I saw nothing, and Dimples +saw nothing, but Baby says she saw God." + +Baby nodded in her wise way. + +"I saw Him," she said. + +"What was He like, then?" + +"Oh, just God." + +She would say no more, but hugged her Wriggly. + +The Lady had entered and listened with some trepidation to the frank +audacity of the children's views. Yet the very essence of faith was in +that audacity. It was all so unquestionably real. + +"Which is strongest, Daddy, God or the Devil?" It was Laddie who was +speculating now. + +"Why, God rules everything, of course." + +"Then why doesn't He kill the Devil?" + +"And scalp him?" added Dimples. + +"That would stop all trouble, wouldn't it, Daddy?" + +Poor Daddy was rather floored. The Lady came to his help. + +"If everything was good and easy in this world, then there would be +nothing to fight against, and so, Laddie, our characters would never +improve." + +"It would be like a football match with all the players on one side," +said Daddy. + +"If there was nothing bad, then, nothing would be good, for you would +have nothing to compare by," added the Lady. + +"Well, then," said Laddie, with the remorseless logic of childhood, "if +that is so, then the Devil is very useful; so he can't be so very bad, +after all." + +"Well, I don't see that," Daddy answered. "Our Army can only show how +brave it is by fighting the German Emperor, but that does not prove that +the German Emperor is a very nice person, does it now? + +"Besides," Daddy continued, improving the occasion, "you must not think +of the Devil as a person. You must think of all the mean things one +could do, and all the dirty things, and all the cruel things, and that is +really the Devil you are fighting against. You couldn't call them +useful, could you?" + +The children thought over this for a little. + +"Daddy," said Laddie, "have _you_ ever seen God?" + +"No, my boy. But I see His works. I expect that is as near as we can +get in this world. Look at all the stars at night, and think of the +Power that made them and keeps each in its proper place." + +"He couldn't keep the shooting stars in their proper place," said +Dimples. + +"I expect He meant them to shoot," said Laddie. + +"Suppose they all shot, what jolly nights we should have!" cried Dimples. + +"Yes," said Laddie; "but after one night they would all have gone, and a +nice thing then!" + +"Well, there's always the moon," remarked Dimples. "But, Daddy, is it +true that God listens to all we say?" + +"I don't know about that," Daddy answered, cautiously. You never know +into what trap those quick little wits may lead you. The Lady was more +rash, or more orthodox. + +"Yes, dear, He does hear all you say." + +"Is He listenin' now?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"Well, I call it vewy rude of Him!" + +Daddy smiled, and the Lady gasped. + +"It isn't rude," said Laddie. "It is His duty, and He _has_ to notice +what you are doing and saying. Daddy, did you ever see a fairy?" + +"No, boy." + +"I saw one once." + +Laddie is the very soul of truth, quite painfully truthful in details, so +that his quiet remark caused attention. + +"Tell us about it, dear." + +He described it with as little emotion as if it were a Persian cat. +Perhaps his perfect faith had indeed opened something to his vision. + +"It was in the day nursery. There was a stool by the window. The fairy +jumped on the stool and then down, and went across the room." + +"What was it dressed like?" + +"All in grey, with a long cloak. It was about as big as Baby's doll. I +could not see its arms, for they were under the cloak." + +"Did he look at you?" + +"No, he was sideways, and I never really saw his face. He had a little +cap. That's the only fairy I ever saw. Of course, there was Father +Christmas, if you call him a fairy." + +"Daddy, was Father Christmas killed in the war?" + +"No, boy." + +"Because he has never come since the war began. I expect he is fightin' +the Jarmans." It was Dimples who was talking. + +"Last time he came," said Laddie, "Daddy said one of his reindeers had +hurt its leg in the ruts of the Monkstown Lane. Perhaps that's why he +never comes." + +"He'll come all right after the war," said Daddy, "and he'll be redder +and whiter and jollier than ever." Then Daddy clouded suddenly, for he +thought of all those who would be missing when Father Christmas came +again. Ten loved ones were dead from that one household. The Lady put +out her hand, for she always knew what Daddy was thinking. + +"They will be there in spirit, dear." + +"Yes, and the jolliest of the lot," said Daddy, stoutly. "We'll have our +Father Christmas back and all will be well in England." + +"But what do they do in India?" asked Laddie. + +"Why, what's wrong with them?" + +"How do the sledge and the reindeer get across the sea? All the parcels +must get wet." + +"Yes, dear, there _have_ been several complaints," said Daddy, gravely. +"Halloa, here's nurse! Time's up! Off to bed!" + +They got up resignedly, for they were really very good children. "Say +your prayers here before you go," said the Lady. The three little +figures all knelt on the rug, Baby still cuddling her Wriggly. + +"You pray, Laddie, and the rest can join in." + +"God bless every one I love," said the high, clear child-voice. "And +make me a good boy, and thank You so much for all the blessings of to- +day. And please take care of Alleyne, who is fighting the Germans, and +Uncle Cosmo, who is fighting the Germans, and Uncle Woodie, who is +fighting the Germans, and all the others who are fighting the Germans, +and the men on the ships on the sea, and Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle +Pat, and don't ever let Daddy and Mumty die. That's all." + +"And please send plenty sugar for the poor people," said Baby, in her +unexpected way. + +"And a little petrol for Daddy," said Dimples. + +"Amen!" said Daddy. And the little figures rose for the good-night kiss. + + + +IV--THE LEATHERSKIN TRIBE + + +"Daddy!" said the elder boy. "Have you seen wild Indians?" + +"Yes, boy." + +"Have you ever scalped one?" + +"Good gracious, no." + +"Has one ever scalped you?" asked Dimples. + +"Silly!" said Laddie. "If Daddy had been scalped he wouldn't have all +that hair on his head--unless perhaps it grew again!" + +"He has none hair on the very top," said Dimples, hovering over the low +chair in which Daddy was sitting. + +"They didn't scalp you, did they, Daddy?" asked Laddie, with some +anxiety. + +"I expect Nature will scalp me some of these days." + +Both boys were keenly interested. Nature presented itself as some rival +chief. + +"When?" asked Dimples, eagerly, with the evident intention of being +present. + +Daddy passed his fingers ruefully through his thinning locks. "Pretty +soon, I expect," said he. + +"Oo!" said the three children. Laddie was resentful and defiant, but the +two younger ones were obviously delighted. + +"But I say, Daddy, you said we should have an Indian game after tea. You +said it when you wanted us to be so quiet after breakfast. You promised, +you know." + +It doesn't do to break a promise to children. Daddy rose somewhat +wearily from his comfortable chair and put his pipe on the mantelpiece. +First he held a conference in secret with Uncle Pat, the most ingenious +of playmates. Then he returned to the children. "Collect the tribe," +said he. "There is a Council in a quarter of an hour in the big room. +Put on your Indian dresses and arm yourselves. The great Chief will be +there!" + +Sure enough when he entered the big room a quarter of an hour later the +tribe of the Leatherskins had assembled. There were four of them, for +little rosy Cousin John from next door always came in for an Indian game. +They had all Indian dresses with high feathers and wooden clubs or +tomahawks. Daddy was in his usual untidy tweeds, but carried a rifle. He +was very serious when he entered the room, for one should be very serious +in a real good Indian game. Then he raised his rifle slowly over his +head in greeting and the four childish voices rang out in the war-cry. It +was a prolonged wolfish howl which Dimples had been known to offer to +teach elderly ladies in hotel corridors. "You can't be in our tribe +without it, you know. There is none body about. Now just try once if +you can do it." At this moment there are half-a-dozen elderly people +wandering about England who have been made children once more by Laddie +and Dimples. + +"Hail to the tribe!" cried Daddy. + +"Hail, Chief!" answered the voices. + +"Red Buffalo!" + +"Here!" cried Laddie. + +"Black Bear!" + +"Here!" cried Dimples. + +"White Butterfly!" + +"Go on, you silly squaw!" growled Dimples. + +"Here," said Baby. + +"Prairie Wolf!" + +"Here," said little four-year-old John. + +"The muster is complete. Make a circle round the camp-fire and we shall +drink the firewater of the Palefaces and smoke the pipe of peace." + +That was a fearsome joy. The fire-water was ginger-ale drunk out of the +bottle, which was gravely passed from hand to hand. At no other time had +they ever drunk like that, and it made an occasion of it which was +increased by the owlish gravity of Daddy. Then he lit his pipe and it +was passed also from one tiny hand to another, Laddie taking a hearty +suck at it, which set him coughing, while Baby only touched the end of +the amber with her little pink lips. There was dead silence until it had +gone round and returned to its owner. + +"Warriors of the Leatherskins, why have we come here?" asked Daddy, +fingering his rifle. + +"Humpty Dumpty," said little John, and the children all began to laugh, +but the portentous gravity of Daddy brought them back to the warrior +mood. + +"The Prairie Wolf has spoken truly," said Daddy. "A wicked Paleface +called Humpty Dumpty has taken the prairies which once belonged to the +Leatherskins and is now camped upon them and hunting our buffaloes. What +shall be his fate? Let each warrior speak in turn." + +"Tell him he has jolly well got to clear out," said Laddie. + +"That's not Indian talk," cried Dimples, with all his soul in the game. +"Kill him, great Chief--him and his squaw, too." The two younger +warriors merely laughed and little John repeated "Humpty Dumpty!" + +"Quite right! Remember the villain's name!" said Daddy. "Now, then, the +whole tribe follows me on the war-trail and we shall teach this Paleface +to shoot our buffaloes." + +"Look here, we don't want squaws," cried Dimples, as Baby toddled at the +rear of the procession. "You stay in the wigwam and cook." + +A piteous cry greeted the suggestion. + +"The White Butterfly will come with us and bind up the wounds," said +Daddy. + +"The squaws are jolly good as torturers," remarked Laddie. + +"Really, Daddy, this strikes me as a most immoral game," said the Lady, +who had been a sympathetic spectator from a corner, doubtful of the +ginger-ale, horrified at the pipe, and delighted at the complete +absorption of the children. + +"Rather!" said the great Chief, with a sad relapse into the normal. "I +suppose that is why they love it so. Now, then, warriors, we go forth on +the war-trail. One whoop all together before we start. Capital! Follow +me, now, one behind the other. Not a sound! If one gets separated from +the others let him give the cry of a night owl and the others will answer +with the squeak of the prairie lizard." + +"What sort of a squeak, please?" + +"Oh, any old squeak will do. You don't walk. Indians trot on the war- +path. If you see any man hiding in a bush kill him at once, but don't +stop to scalp him--" + +"Really, dear!" from the corner. + +"The great Queen would rather that you scalp him. Now, then! All ready! +Start!" + +Away went the line of figures, Daddy stooping with his rifle at the +trail, Laddie and Dimples armed with axes and toy pistols, as tense and +serious as any Redskins could be. The other two rather more +irresponsible but very much absorbed all the same. The little line of +absurd figures wound in and out of the furniture, and out on to the lawn, +and round the laurel bushes, and into the yard, and back to the clump of +trees. There Daddy stopped and held up his hand with a face that froze +the children. + +"Are all here?" he asked. + +"Yes, yes." + +"Hush, warriors! No sound. There is an enemy scout in the bushes ahead. +Stay with me, you two. You, Red Buffalo, and you, Black Bear, crawl +forward and settle him. See that he makes no sound. What you do must be +quick and sudden. When all is clear give the cry of the wood-pigeon, and +we will join you." + +The two warriors crawled off in most desperate earnest. Daddy leaned on +his gun and winked at the Lady, who still hovered fearfully in the +background like a dear hen whose chickens were doing wonderful and +unaccountable things. The two younger Indians slapped each other and +giggled. Presently there came the "coo" of a wood-pigeon from in front. +Daddy and the tribe moved forward to where the advance guard were waiting +in the bushes. + +"Great Chief, we could find no scout," said Laddie. + +"There was none person to kill," added Dimples. + +The Chief was not surprised, since the scout had been entirely of his own +invention. It would not do to admit it, however. + +"Have you found his trail?" he asked. + +"No, Chief." + +"Let me look." Daddy hunted about with a look of preternatural sagacity +about him. "Before the snows fell a man passed here with a red head, +grey clothes, and a squint in his left eye. His trail shows that his +brother has a grocer's shop and his wife smokes cigarettes on the sly." + +"Oh, Daddy, how could you read all that?" + +"It's easy enough, my son, when you get the knack of it. But look here, +we are Indians on the war-trail, and don't you forget it if you value +your scalp! Aha, here is Humpty Dumpty's trail!" + +Uncle Pat had laid down a paper trail from this point, as Daddy well +knew; so now the children were off like a little pack of eager harriers, +following in and out among the bushes. Presently they had a rest. + +"Great Chief, why does a wicked Paleface leave paper wherever he goes?" + +Daddy made a great effort. + +"He tears up the wicked letters he has written. Then he writes others +even wickeder and tears them up in turn. You can see for yourself that +he leaves them wherever he goes. Now, warriors, come along!" + +Uncle Pat had dodged all over the limited garden, and the tribe followed +his trail. Finally they stopped at a gap in the hedge which leads into +the field. There was a little wooden hut in the field, where Daddy used +to go and put up a printed cardboard: "WORKING." He found it a very good +dodge when he wanted a quiet smoke and a nap. Usually there was nothing +else in the field, but this time the Chief pushed the whole tribe +hurriedly behind the hedge, and whispered to them to look carefully out +between the branches. + +In the middle of the field a tripod of sticks supported a kettle. At +each side of it was a hunched-up figure in a coloured blanket. Uncle Pat +had done his work skilfully and well. + +"You must get them before they can reach their rifles," said the Chief. +"What about their horses? Black Bear, move down the hedge and bring back +word about their horses. If you see none give three whistles." + +The whistles were soon heard, and the warrior returned. + +"If the horses had been there, what would you have done?" + +"Scalped them!" said Dimples. + +"Silly ass!" said Laddie. "Who ever heard of a horse's scalp? You would +stampede them." + +"Of course," said the Chief. "If ever you see a horse grazing, you crawl +up to it, spring on its back and then gallop away with your head looking +under its neck and only your foot to be seen. Don't you forget it. But +we must scupper these rascals on our hunting-grounds." + +"Shall we crawl up to them?" + +"Yes, crawl up. Then when I give a whoop rush them. Take them alive. I +wish to have a word with them first. Carry them into the hut. Go!" + +Away went the eager little figures, the chubby babes and the two lithe, +active boys. Daddy stood behind the bush watching them. They kept a +line and tip-toed along to the camp of the strangers. Then on the +Chief's signal they burst into a cry and rushed wildly with waving +weapons into the camp of the Palefaces. A moment later the two pillow- +made trappers were being dragged off into the hut by the whooping +warriors. They were up-ended in one corner when the Chief entered, and +the victorious Indians were dancing about in front of them. + +"Anybody wounded?" asked the Chief. + +"No, no." + +"Have you tied their hands?" + +With perfect gravity Red Buffalo made movements behind each of the +pillows. + +"They are tied, great Chief." + +"What shall we do with them?" + +"Cut off their heads!" shrieked Dimples, who was always the most +bloodthirsty of the tribe, though in private life he had been known to +weep bitterly over a squashed caterpillar. + +"The proper thing is to tie them to a stake," said Laddie. + +"What do you mean by killing our buffaloes?" asked Daddy, severely. + +The prisoners preserved a sulky silence. + +"Shall I shoot the green one?" asked Dimples, presenting his wooden +pistol. + +"Wait a bit!" said the Chief. "We had best keep one as a hostage and +send the other back to say that unless the Chief of the Palefaces pays a +ransom within three days--" + +But at that moment, as a great romancer used to say, a strange thing +happened. There was the sound of a turning key and the whole tribe of +the Leatherskins was locked into the hut. A moment later a dreadful face +appeared at the window, a face daubed with mud and overhung with grass, +which drooped down from under a soft cap. The weird creature danced in +triumph, and then stooped to set a light to some paper and shavings near +the window. + +"Heavens!" cried the Chief. "It is Yellow Snake, the ferocious Chief of +the Bottlenoses!" + +Flame and smoke were rising outside. It was excellently done and +perfectly safe, but too much for the younger warriors. The key turned, +the door opened, and two tearful babes were in the arms of the kneeling +Lady. Red Buffalo and Black Bear were of sterner stuff. + +"I'm not frightened, Daddy," said Laddie, though he looked a little pale. + +"Nor me," cried Dimples, hurrying to get out of the hut. + +"We'll lock the prisoners up with no food and have a council of war upon +them in the morning," said the Chief. "Perhaps we've done enough +to-day." + +"I rather think you have," said the Lady, as she soothed the poor little +sobbing figures. + +"That's the worst of having kids to play," said Dimples. "Fancy having a +squaw in a war-party!" + +"Never mind, we've had a jolly good Indian game," said Laddie, as the +sound of a distant bell called them all to the nursery tea. + +_Printed by Hazell_, _Watson & Viney_, _Ld._, _London and Aylesbury_, +_England_. + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{1} The reader is referred to the Preface in connection with this +story.--A. C. D. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANGER! 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