"For Heaven"s sake don"t let me miss that train," I cried earnestly.
A stolid stare and a shake of the head was the only reply.
"But I tell you I must get on at once."
"You will remain here while we make inquiries about you."
My heart sank. "Well, let me telegraph to my people and they will send some one out to identify me. Or wire the message yourself"; and I gave Ba.s.sett"s name and the address of my former office.
"Well, good-morning," said the railwayman; and as he left the station I was led away and placed in a cell.
CHAPTER XI
MY RETURN
There is no need to dwell on the bitter mortification I endured in the first hour or so of my imprisonment, or to repeat my futile railings against the wooden methods and stupidity of the police.
I grew calmer after a time, and recognized that if I was to get out of the police grip before irreparable mischief was done in Berlin, it would not be by abusing the men who had detained me. My only chance would be to persuade them of the fact of my ident.i.ty.
The thing that bothered me was the possession of the coat I had taken and papers they had found. What a fool I had been not to feel in the pockets. When it was too late I saw the blunder I had committed in the account I had given on the spur of the moment.
I considered long and earnestly whether I should out with the whole truth about the abduction. But I could not bring myself to believe that they would credit the story now. And if they did not, it would only serve to confirm and increase the suspicions already entertained.
Whether anything was being done to test the truth of what I had said, I could not ascertain. A man brought me some breakfast, but he would not answer the questions I put to him; and when I asked to see the chief, I was curtly told that I should see him when he wished to see me, and not before.
Some hours pa.s.sed in this galling suspense. I was eating my heart out in the desire to know what was being done, when two men entered the cell and ordered me to strip. They examined the marks on my linen carefully, and fortunately it had my name in full.
"How is it you are wearing these things?" asked one, looking at me with a very singular expression.
"Because they are my own, of course."
He grunted and exchanged looks with his companion. They whispered together and then took the shirt away, telling me to put on the rest of the clothes.
I did not understand the reason for this proceeding, but hoped that the marks would be regarded as confirmation of my ident.i.ty.
Presently one of them returned and led me to the office, where the chief was examining my shirt and looking very grave and important.
"Will you now give an account of yourself during last night?" he demanded in a pistol-at-your-head tone.
"I can say what I wish to say when I get to Berlin."
"You had better be careful, and had better explain everything fully.
There is a very serious charge against you. We have heard from Berlin."
I jumped to the conclusion, not unnaturally, that the charge referred to my actions in regard to Althea, and I recognized its seriousness as fully as did the man questioning me. "I would rather not say anything until I get to Berlin."
"I"ll give you one more chance. We have heard that an Englishman, Paul Bastable, is mysteriously missing from Berlin, and you Johann s.p.a.ckmann, are found here under these suspicious circ.u.mstances wearing his clothes.
Account for that if you can."
Instead of accounting for anything I burst out laughing. "You mean that the charge against me is that of having murdered myself?"
"You will find it no laughing matter," he said sternly.
"My good man, I am Paul Bastable. How the devil could I murder myself?"
"The papers upon you prove you to be Johann s.p.a.ckmann."
An entirely convincing proof to the German official mind, this. "Then you"d better behead me as s.p.a.ckmann for the murder of Bastable," I said with a shrug of indifference. "Only for Heaven"s sake whatever you are going to do, do quickly."
The affair had turned to a farce although the police did not yet see it.
They put their heads together and whispered in solemn conference.
"Look here," I broke in. "If it will cause you to send me at once to Berlin, I will confess to the murder of Paul Bastable. And when I do get there, you will receive such praise for your zeal and cleverness that you will remember it all your life."
"Hold your tongue," cried the chief very angrily.
"I"ll do nothing of the sort," I rapped out in reply. "This farce has gone too far already and lasted too long. Among the men who know me well in Berlin is the head of the police"; and I spun off a list of imposing names. "I demand to be allowed to go there, or to be taken there, at once; or to send word to my friends to come out and identify me. You refuse me if you dare."
The only immediate result of my protest was an order to take me back to my cell, but it bore good fruit. A very short time afterwards my shirt was returned to me; I was ordered to dress; and told that I was to go to Berlin in accordance with instructions which had been telegraphed from there.
They took me as a prisoner, but I did not care a rap for that. All I wished was to get there. I knew that five minutes" conversation with the police there would see me at liberty.
And so it turned out. I was ushered into the office of Herr Feldermann, who was very high up in the police administration; and the instant his eyes fell on me, he knew me of course, for we had had many a time together.
"This is Mr. Bastable, the Englishman," he said to my conductor. "You can return to Wilden and give my congratulations to your superior there for the zealous discharge of his duty. You may tell him at the same time," he added with a dry manner, "that although the criminal code is comprehensive, it does not yet demand the arrest of a man for the murder of himself."
The man flushed to the roots of his hair, laid down on the table the things which had been taken from my pockets, saluted, and withdrew without a word.
"And now tell me what it all means, Herr Bastable."
"Which ears have you on, official or private?"
"Do you want it kept secret? You"ve given us a lot of trouble, you know. We have wired your description all over the country. Let us talk it over privately first." He was one of the few men in the police administration who refused to be ruled by red tape, and I knew I could rely absolutely on his word.
"For your private ear only," I replied; and then gave him a fairly full account of all that had pa.s.sed, withholding only von Felsen"s name in connexion with the affair.
"I know that man they call the "doctor," and you may shake hands with yourself on your escape. And as for Dragen, every one of us knows about him. Who"s behind it?"
"Don"t ask me, even privately. Get Dragen first, and he"ll tell you.
Dragen hasn"t a suspicion that I even know he was concerned in it."
He gave me a very shrewd sharp glance. "Nor Herr von Felsen either?"
"I mention no names. But tell me how did you hear about me?"