Heritage was despatched by a short cut over fields to the left, which eventually, after one or two plunges into ditches, landed him safely in Mrs. Morran"s back yard. d.i.c.kson and Dougal crossed the bridge and tramped Dalquharter-wards by the highway. There was no sign of human life in that quiet place with owls hooting and rabbits rustling in the undergrowth. Beyond the woods they came in sight of the light in the back kitchen, and both seemed to relax their watchfulness when it was most needed. Dougal sniffed the air and looked seaward.
"It"s coming on to rain," he observed. "There should be a muckle star there, and when you can"t see it it means wet weather wi" this wind."
"What star?" d.i.c.kson asked.
"The one wi" the Irish-lukkin" name. What"s that they call it? O"Brien?"
And he pointed to where the constellation of the Hunter should have been declining on the western horizon.
There was a bend of the road behind them, and suddenly round it came a dogcart driven rapidly. Dougal slipped like a weasel into a bush, and presently d.i.c.kson stood revealed in the glare of a lamp. The horse was pulled up sharply and the driver called out to him. He saw that it was Dobson the innkeeper with Leon beside him.
"Who is it?" cried the voice. "Oh, you! I thought ye were off the day?"
d.i.c.kson rose n.o.bly to the occasion.
"I thought myself I was. But I didn"t think much of Auchenlochan, and I took a fancy to come back and spend the last night of my holiday with my Auntie. I"m off to Glasgow first thing the morn"s morn."
"So!" said the voice. "Queer thing I never saw ye on the Auchenlochan road, where ye can see three mile before ye."
"I left early and took it easy along the sh.o.r.e."
"Did ye so? Well, good-night to ye."
Five minutes later d.i.c.kson walked into Mrs. Morran"s kitchen, where Heritage was busy making up for a day of short provender.
"I"m for Glasgow to-morrow, Auntie Phemie," he cried. "I want you to loan me a wee trunk with a key, and steek the doors and windows, for I"ve a lot to tell you."
CHAPTER VI
HOW MR. McCUNN DEPARTED WITH RELIEF AND RETURNED WITH RESOLUTION
At seven o"clock on the following morning the post-cart, summoned by an early message from Mrs. Morran, appeared outside the cottage. In it sat the ancient postman, whose real home was Auchenlochan, but who slept alternate nights in Dalquharter, and beside him Dobson the innkeeper.
d.i.c.kson and his hostess stood at the garden-gate, the former with his pack on his back and at his feet a small stout wooden box, of the kind in which cheeses are transported, garnished with an immense padlock.
Heritage for obvious reasons did not appear; at the moment he was crouched on the floor of the loft watching the departure through a gap in the dimity curtains.
The traveller, after making sure that Dobson was looking, furtively slipped the key of the trunk into his knapsack.
"Well, good-bye, Auntie Phemie," he said. "I"m sure you"ve been awful kind to me, and I don"t know how to thank you for all you"re sending."
"Tuts, d.i.c.kson, my man, they"re hungry folk about Glesca that"ll be glad o" my scones and jeelie. Tell Mirren I"m rale pleased wi" her man and haste ye back soon."
The trunk was deposited on the floor of the cart and d.i.c.kson clambered into the back seat. He was thankful that he had not to sit next to Dobson, for he had tell-tale stuff on his person. The morning was wet, so he wore his waterproof, which concealed his odd tendency to stoutness about the middle.
Mrs. Morran played her part well, with all the becoming gravity of an affectionate aunt, but so soon as the post-cart turned the bend of the road her demeanour changed. She was torn with convulsions of silent laughter. She retreated to the kitchen, sank into a chair, wrapped her face in her ap.r.o.n and rocked. Heritage, descending, found her struggling to regain composure. "D"ye ken his wife"s name?" she gasped. "I ca"ed her Mirren! And maybe the body"s no mairried! Hech sirs! Hech sirs!"
Meantime d.i.c.kson was b.u.mping along the moor-road on the back of the post-cart. He had worked out a plan, just as he had been used aforetime to devise a deal in foodstuffs. He had expected one of the watchers to turn up, and was rather relieved that it should be Dobson, whom he regarded as "the most natural beast" of the three. Somehow he did not think that he would be molested before he reached the station, since his enemies would still be undecided in their minds. Probably they only wanted to make sure that he had really departed to forget all about him.
But if not, he had his plan ready.
"Are you travelling to-day?" he asked the innkeeper.
"Just as far as the station to see about some oil-cake I"m expectin".
What"s in your wee kist? Ye came here wi" nothing but the bag on your back."
"Ay, the kist is no" mine. It"s my auntie"s. She"s a kind body, and nothing would serve but she must pack a box for me to take back. Let me see. There"s a baking of scones; three pots of honey and one of rhubarb jam--she was aye famous for her rhubarb jam; a mutton ham, which you can"t get for love or money in Glasgow; some home-made black puddings and a wee skim-milk cheese. I doubt I"ll have to take a cab from the station."
Dobson appeared satisfied, lit a short pipe and relapsed into meditation. The long uphill road, ever climbing to where far off showed the tiny whitewashed buildings which were the railway station, seemed interminable this morning. The aged postman addressed strange objurgations to his aged horse and muttered reflections to himself, the innkeeper smoked, and d.i.c.kson stared back into the misty hollow where lay Dalquharter. The south-west wind had brought up a screen of rain clouds and washed all the countryside in a soft wet grey. But the eye could still travel a fair distance, and d.i.c.kson thought he had a glimpse of a figure on a bicycle leaving the village two miles back. He wondered who it could be. Not Heritage, who had no bicycle. Perhaps some woman who was conspicuously late for the train. Women were the chief cyclists nowadays in country places.
Then he forgot about the bicycle and twisted his neck to watch the station. It was less than a mile off now, and they had no time to spare, for away to the south among the hummocks of the bog he saw the smoke of the train coming from Auchenlochan. The postman also saw it and whipped up his beast into a clumsy canter. d.i.c.kson, always nervous about being late for trains, forced his eyes away and regarded again the road behind them. Suddenly the cyclist had become quite plain--a little more than a mile behind--a man, and pedalling furiously in spite of the stiff ascent.... It could only be one person--Leon. He must have discovered their visit to the House yesterday and be on the way to warn Dobson. If he reached the station before the train, there would be no journey to Glasgow that day for one respectable citizen.
d.i.c.kson was in a fever of impatience and fright. He dared not abjure the postman to hurry, lest Dobson should turn his head and descry his colleague. But that ancient man had begun to realise the shortness of time and was urging the cart along at a fair pace, since they were now on the flatter shelf of land which carried the railway. d.i.c.kson kept his eyes fixed on the bicycle and his teeth shut tight on his lower lip. Now it was hidden by the last dip of hill; now it emerged into view not a quarter of a mile behind, and its rider gave vent to a shrill call.
Luckily the innkeeper did not hear, for at that moment with a jolt the cart pulled up at the station door, accompanied by the roar of the incoming train.
d.i.c.kson whipped down from the back seat and seized the solitary porter.
"Label the box for Glasgow and into the van with it. Quick, man, and there"ll be a shilling for you." He had been doing some rapid thinking these last minutes and had made up his mind. If Dobson and he were alone in a carriage he could not have the box there; that must be elsewhere, so that Dobson could not examine it if he were set on violence, somewhere in which it could still be a focus of suspicion and attract attention from his person. He took his ticket, and rushed on to the platform, to find the porter and the box at the door of the guard"s van.
Dobson was not there. With the vigour of a fussy traveller he shouted directions to the guard to take good care of his luggage, hurled a shilling at the porter and ran for a carriage. At that moment he became aware of Dobson hurrying through the entrance. He must have met Leon and heard news from him, for his face was red and his ugly brows darkening.
The train was in motion. "Here, you!" Dobson"s voice shouted. "Stop! I want a word wi" ye." d.i.c.kson plunged at a third-cla.s.s carriage, for he saw faces behind the misty panes, and above all things then he feared an empty compartment. He clambered on to the step, but the handle would not turn, and with a sharp pang of fear he felt the innkeeper"s grip on his arm. Then some Samaritan from within let down the window, opened the door and pulled him up. He fell on a seat and a second later Dobson staggered in beside him.
Thank Heaven, the dirty little carriage was nearly full. There were two herds, each with a dog and a long hazel crook, and an elderly woman who looked like a ploughman"s wife out for a day"s marketing. And there was one other whom d.i.c.kson recognised with a peculiar joy--the bagman in the provision line of business whom he had met three days before at Kilchrist.
The recognition was mutual. "Mr. McCunn!" the bagman exclaimed. "My, but that was running it fine! I hope you"ve had a pleasant holiday, sir?"
"Very pleasant. I"ve been spending two nights with friends down hereaways. I"ve been very fortunate in the weather, for it has broke just when I"m leaving."
d.i.c.kson sank back on the hard cushions. It had been a near thing, but so far he had won. He wished his heart did not beat so fast, and he hoped he did not betray his disorder in his face. Very deliberately he hunted for his pipe and filled it slowly. Then he turned to Dobson. "I didn"t know you were travelling the day. What about your oil-cake?"
"I"ve changed my mind," was the gruff answer.
"Was that you I heard crying on me, when we were running for the train?"
"Ay. I thought ye had forgot about your kist."
"No fear," said d.i.c.kson. "I"m no" likely to forget my auntie"s scones."
He laughed pleasantly and then turned to the bagman. Thereafter the compartment hummed with the technicalities of the grocery trade. He exerted himself to draw out his companion, to have him refer to the great firm of D. McCunn, so that the innkeeper might be ashamed of his suspicions. What nonsense to imagine that a noted and wealthy Glasgow merchant--the bagman"s tone was almost reverential--would concern himself with the affairs of a forgotten village and a tumbledown house!
Presently the train drew up at Kirkmichael station. The woman descended, and Dobson, after making sure that no one else meant to follow her example, also left the carriage. A porter was shouting: "Fast train to Glasgow--Glasgow next stop." d.i.c.kson watched the innkeeper shoulder his way through the crowd in the direction of the booking office. "He"s off to send a telegram," he decided. "There"ll be trouble waiting for me at the other end."
When the train moved on he found himself disinclined for further talk.
He had suddenly become meditative, and curled up in a corner with his head hard against the window pane, watching the wet fields and glistening roads as they slipped past. He had his plans made for his conduct at Glasgow, but Lord! how he loathed the whole business! Last night he had had a kind of gusto in his desire to circ.u.mvent villainy; at Dalquharter station he had enjoyed a momentary sense of triumph; now he felt very small, lonely and forlorn. Only one thought far at the back of his mind cropped up now and then to give him comfort. He was entering on the last lap. Once get this detestable errand done and he would be a free man, free to go back to the kindly humdrum life from which he should never have strayed. Never again, he vowed, never again. Rather would he spend the rest of his days in hydropathics than come within the pale of such horrible adventures. Romance, forsooth! This was not the mild G.o.ddess he had sought, but an awful harpy who battened on the souls of men.
He had some bad minutes as the train pa.s.sed through the suburbs, and along the grimy embankment by which the southern lines enter the city.
But as it rumbled over the river bridge and slowed down before the terminus, his vitality suddenly revived. He was a business man, and there was now something for him to do.
After a rapid farewell to the bagman, he found a porter and hustled his box out of the van in the direction of the left-luggage office. Spies, summoned by Dobson"s telegram, were, he was convinced, watching his every movement, and he meant to see that they missed nothing. He received his ticket for the box, and slowly and ostentatiously stowed it away in his pack. Swinging the said pack on his arm he sauntered through the entrance hall to the row of waiting taxi-cabs, and selected that one which seemed to him to have the oldest and most doddering driver. He deposited the pack inside on the seat, and then stood still as if struck with a sudden thought.