"That"s Downing Street on the left," shouted Bindle to Tippitt as he came up, much to Tippitt"s surprise. He was at a loss to account for many things that Bindle had done and said that day.
As they turned into Downing Street, Bindle was a little disappointed at finding only two constables; but he was relieved a a moment later by the sight of the inspector to whom he had spoken, hurrying through the archway, leading from the Foreign Office.
"Where are you going to?" called out the inspector to Tippitt, taking no notice of Bindle.
Tippitt jerked his thumb in the direction of Bindle, who came forward at that moment.
"Number 110, Downing Street, sir," responded Bindle. "Some furniture for Mr. Llewellyn John."
"Right!" said the inspector loudly; "but you"ll have to wait a few minutes until that motor-car has gone."
Bindle winked as a sign of his acceptance of the mythical motor-car and, drawing the key of the pantechnicon from his pocket, showed it to the inspector, who, by closing his eyes and slightly bending his head, indicated that he understood.
Tippitt had decided that everybody was mad this morning. The police inspector"s reference to a motor-car outside Number 110, whereas his eyes told him that there was nothing there but roadway and dust, had seriously undermined his respect for the Metropolitan Police Force.
However, it was not his business. He was there to drive the horses, who in turn drew a van to a given spot; there his responsibility ended.
After a wait of nearly ten minutes, the inspector re-appeared. "It"s all clear now," he remarked. "Draw up."
As the pantechnicon pulled up in front of Number 110, Bindle glanced up at the house and saw Mr. Llewellyn John looking out of one of the first-floor windows. He had evidently been apprised of what was taking place.
Bindle noticed that the doors of Number 110 and 111 were both ajar. He was, however, a little puzzled at the absence of police. The two uniformed constables had been reinforced by three others, and there were two obviously plain-clothes men loitering about.
"Now then, Tippy, get ready to lend me a "and with this "ere furniture," called out Bindle as he proceeded to insert the key in the padlock that fastened the doors of the van.
Tippitt, who had climbed down, was standing close to the tail-board facing the doors.
With a quick movement Bindle released the padlock from the hasp and, lifting the bar, stepped aside with an agility that was astonishing.
"Votes for Women! Votes for Women!! Votes for Women!!!"
Suddenly the placid quiet of Downing Street was shattered. The doors of the pantechnicon were burst open and thrown back upon their hinges, where they shivered as if trembling with fear. From the interior of the van poured such a stream of humanity as Downing Street had never before seen.
Following Bindle"s lead the inspector had taken the precaution of stepping aside; but Tippitt, unconscious that the van contained anything more aggressive than carved-oak furniture, was in the direct line of exit. At the moment the doors flew open he was in the act of removing his coat and, with his arms entangled in its sleeves, sat down with a suddenness that caused his teeth to rattle and his cigarette to fall from his lower lip.
Synchronising with the opening of the doors of the pantechnicon was a short, sharp blast of a police whistle. The effect was magical. Men seemed to pour into Downing Street from everywhere: from the archway leading to the Foreign Office, up the steps from Green Park, from Whitehall and out of Numbers 110 and 111. Plain-clothes and uniformed police seemed to spring up from everywhere; but no one took any notice of the fall of Tippitt. All eyes were fixed upon the human avalanche that was pouring from the inside of the pantechnicon. For once in its existence the Metropolitan Police Force was rendered helpless with astonishment. Women they had expected, women they were prepared for; but the extraordinary flood of femininity that cascaded out of the van absolutely staggered them.
There were short women and tall women, stout women and thin women, young women and--well, women not so young. The one thing they had in common was lamp-black. It was smeared upon their faces, streaked upon their garments; it had circled their eyes, marked the lines of their mouths, had collected round their nostrils. The heat inside the pantechnicon had produced the necessary moisture upon the fair faces and with this the lamp-black had formed an unholy alliance. Hats were awry, hair was dishevelled, frocks were limp and bedraggled.
The cries of "Votes for Women" that had heralded the triumphant outburst from the van froze upon their lips as the demonstrators caught sight of one another. Each gazed at the others in mute astonishment, whilst Tippitt, from his seat in the middle of the roadway, stared, wondering in a stupid way whether what he saw was the heat, or the five pints of ale he had consumed at Bindle"s expense during the morning.
The inspector looked at Bindle curiously, and Bindle looked at the inspector with self-satisfaction, whilst the constables discovered that their unhappy antic.i.p.ation of a rough and tumble with women, a thing they disliked, had been turned into a most delectable comedy.
At the first-floor window Mr. Llewellyn John watched the scene with keen enjoyment.
For a full minute the women stood gazing from one to the other in a dazed fashion. Finally one with stouter heart than the rest shouted "Votes for Women! This is a woman"s war!"
But there was no answering cry from the ranks. Slowly it dawned upon each and every woman that in all probability she was looking just as ridiculous as those she saw about her. One girl produced a small looking-gla.s.s from a hand-bag. She gave one glance into it, and incontinently went into hysterics, flopping down where she stood.
The public, conscious that great events were happening in Downing Street, poured into the narrow thoroughfare, and the laughter denied the official police by virtue of discipline was heard on every hand.
"Christy Minstrels, ain"t they?" enquired one youth of another with ponderous humour.
It was at the moment that one of them had raised a despairing cry of "Votes for Women," and had received no support.
"Votes for Women!" remarked one man shrewdly. "Soap for Women! is what they want."
"Fancy comin" out like that, even in wartime," commented another.
""Ow"d they get like that?" enquired a third.
"Oh, you never know them suffragettes," remarked a fourth sagely; "they"re always out for doing something different from what"s been done before."
"Well, they done it this time," commented a little man with grey whiskers. "Enough to make Gawd "Imself ashamed of us, them women is.
Bah!" and he spat contemptuously.
The inspector felt that the time for action had arrived. Walking up to the unhappy group of twenty, he remarked in his most official tone:
"You cannot stand about here, you must be moving on."
"Moving on; but where?" They looked into each other"s eyes mutely.
Suddenly an idea seemed to strike them and they turned instinctively to re-enter the van; but Bindle had antic.i.p.ated this manoeuvre, and had carefully closed, barred and padlocked the doors.
The inspector nodded approval. He had formed a very high opinion of Bindle"s powers, although greatly puzzled by the whole business. At a signal from their superior, a number of uniformed constables formed up behind the forlorn band of females, several of whom were in tears.
"Move along there, please," they chorused, dexterously splitting up the group into smaller groups, and, finally, into ones and twos. Thus they were herded towards Whitehall.
"Will you call some cabs, please," said she who was obviously the leader. The inspector shook his head, whereat the woman smacked the face of the nearest constable, obviously with the intention of being arrested. Again the inspector shook his head. He had made up his mind that there should be no arrests that day. Nemesis had taken a hand in the game, and the inspector recognized in her one who is more powerful than the Metropolitan Police Force.
Slowly amidst the jeers of the crowd the twenty women were shepherded into Whitehall.
"Oh, please get me a taxi," appealed a little blonde woman with a hard mouth and what looked like a dark black moustache. "I cannot go about like this."
Suddenly one of their number was taken with shrieking hysterics. She sat down suddenly, giving vent to shriek after shriek, and beating a tattoo with the heels of her shoes upon the roadway; but no one took any notice of her and soon she rose and followed the others.
In Whitehall frantic appeals were made to drivers of taxicabs and conductorettes of omnibuses. None would accept such fares.
"It "ud take a month to clean my bloomin" cab after you"d been in it,"
shouted one man derisively. "What jer want to get yourself in such a dirty mess for?"
"Go "ome and wash the baby," shouted another.
Nowhere did the Black and White Raiders find sympathy or a.s.sistance.
Two of the leaders of the Suffragette Movement, who happened to be pa.s.sing down Whitehall, were attracted by the crowd. On learning what had happened, and seeing the plight of the demonstrators, they continued on their way.
"This is war-time," one of them remarked to the other, "and they"re disobeying the rules of the a.s.sociation." With this they were left to their fate.
Some made for the Tube, others for the District Railway, whilst two sought out a tea-shop and demanded washing facilities; but were refused. The railway-stations were their one source of hope. For the next three hours pa.s.sengers travelling to Wimbledon were astonished to see entering the train forlorn and dishevelled women, whose faces were rendered hideous by smears of black, and whose white frocks, limp and crumpled, looked as if they had been used to clean machinery.
"A pleasant little afternoon"s treat for you, sir," remarked Bindle to the inspector, when the last of the raiders had disappeared. "Mr. John seemed to enjoy it." Bindle indicated the first-floor window of Number 110, with a jerk of his thumb.