At last, from the incoherent shoutings and reproaches in which the words "Germans," "Spies," "Herr Muller," were bandied back and forth, Mr. Miller and the inspector pieced together the story of how four patriots had been overcome by one foreman pantechnicon-man. The inspector turned to Mr. Miller.
"As a matter of form, sir, and in the execution of my duty, I should be glad to know if it is true that your house is full of arms and ammunition?" he asked politely.
"Of arms, certainly, Inspector, most certainly," Mr. Miller replied. "I am supposed to have the finest collection of firearms in the country. Come and see them, or such as are unpacked."
And the inspector looked at Sergeant Wrannock, and the plain-clothes constables looked away from him, and Sir Charles and Mr. Greenhales looked irefully round for Bindle; but Bindle was nowhere to be seen.
"Funny none of "em seem to see the joke!" he remarked to a clump of rhododendrons half-way down the drive.
CHAPTER XVII
BINDLE MAKES A MISTAKE
I
"Bindle there?"
"No, sir; "e"s down the yard."
"Tell him I want him."
"Right, sir."
The manager of the West London Furniture Depository, Ltd., returned to his office. A few minutes later Bindle knocked at the door and, removing the blue-and-white cricket cap from his head, entered in response to the manager"s, "Come in."
"Wonder wot "e"s found out. Shouldn"t be surprised if it was them guns," muttered Bindle prophetically under his breath.
Bindle had been employed by the Depository for six months, and had acquitted himself well. He was a good workman and trustworthy, and had given conclusive proof that he knew his business.
The manager looked up from a letter he held in his hand.
"I"ve had a very serious letter from Sir Charles Custance of Little Compton," he began.
"No bad news, I "ope, sir," remarked Bindle cheerfully. "Brooks sort o" shook "im up a bit, accordin" to "is own account." Brooks was the foreman pantechnicon-man.
The manager frowned, and proceeded to read aloud Sir Charles"s letter. It recapitulated the events that had taken place at Little Compton, painting Bindle and the foreman as a pair of the most desperate cut-throats conceivable, threatening, not only them, but the West London Furniture Depository with every imaginable pain and penalty.
When he had finished, the manager looked up at Bindle with great severity.
"You"ve heard what Sir Charles Custance writes. What have you got to say?" he asked.
Bindle scratched his head and shuffled his feet. Then he looked up with a grin.
"Yer see, sir, I wasn"t to know that they was as scared as rabbits o" the Germans. I jest sort o" let an "int drop all innocent like, an" the "ole bloomin" place turns itself into a sort o" Scotland Yard."
"But you sought out Sir Charles and"-the manager referred to the letter-""and laid before me an information," he says."
"I didn"t lay nothink before "im, sir, not even a complaint, although "is language when "e come out o" the ark wasn"t fit for Ginger to "ear, an" Ginger"s ain"t exactly Sunday-school talk."
The manager was short-handed and anxious to find some means of placating so important a man as Sir Charles Custance, and, at the same time, retaining Bindle"s services. He bit the top of his pen meditatively. It was Bindle who solved the problem.
"I better resign," he suggested, "and then join up again later, sir. You can write an" say I"m under notice to go."
The manager pondered awhile. He was responsible for the conduct of the affairs of the Depository, and, after all, Sir Charles Custance and the others had been mainly responsible for what had occurred.
"I"ll think the matter over," he remarked. "In the meantime Brooks is away, Mr. Colter is ill, and Jameson hasn"t turned up this morning, and we have that move in West Kensington to get through during the day. Do you think that you can be responsible for it?"
"Sure of it, sir. I been in the perfession, man and boy, all me life."
The West London Furniture Depository made a specialty of moving clients" furniture whilst they were holiday-making. They undertook to set out the rooms in the new house exactly as they had been in the old, with due allowance for a changed geography.
"Here is the specification," said the manager, handing to Bindle a paper. "Now how will you set to work?"
""Five bed, two reception, one study, one kitchen, one nursery,"" read Bindle. "Two vans"ll do it, sir. Best bedroom, servant"s. dinin"-room, No. 1; second bedroom, drawin"-room, No. 2; two bedrooms and kitchen No. 3, and the rest No. 4. Then you see we shan"t get "em mixed."
The manager nodded approvingly.
"Do you think you could replace the furniture?"
"Sure as I am o" Mrs. Bindle. I can carry an "ole "ouse in me eye; they won"t know they"ve even moved."
"The keys are at the West Kensington Police Station. Here is the authority, with a note from me. It"s No. 181 Branksome Road you"re to fetch the furniture from. Here"s the key of the house you are to take it to-No. 33 Lebanon Avenue, Chiswick. Take Nos. 6 and 8 vans, with Wilkes, Huggles, Randers, and the new man."
"Right, sir," said Bindle; "I"ll see it through."
Bindle returned to the yard, where he narrated to his mates what had just taken place in the manager"s room.
"So yer see, Ginger, I"m still goin" to stay wi" yer, correct yer language an" make a gentleman o" yer. So cheer up, "Appy."
Bindle gathered together his forces and set out. He was glad to be able to include Ginger, whose misanthropic outlook upon life was a source of intense interest to him. Outside the police-station he stepped off the tail-board of the front van, saying that he would overtake them.
"Come to give yourself up?" enquired the sergeant, who had a slight acquaintance with Bindle.
"Not yet, ole sport; goin" to give yer a chance to earn promotion. I come for a key."
Bindle handed in his credentials.
At that moment two constables entered with a drunken woman screaming obscenities. The men had all they could do to hold her. Bindle listened for a moment.
"Lord, she ain"t learnt all that at Sunday-school," he muttered; then turning to the sergeant, said, ""Ere, gi"e me my key. I didn"t ought to "ear such things."
The sergeant hurriedly turned to a rack behind him, picked up the key and handed it to Bindle. His attention was engrossed with the new case; it meant a troublesome day for him.
Bindle signed for the key, put it in his pocket and left the station.