"There were two men close behind who might have been with him," Stephen remembered aloud.
"Would you recognize them?"
"I--think so. One of the two, anyhow. Very dark, hook-nosed, middle-aged chap, pitted with smallpox."
"Then you may be sure he"s chosen the less noticeable one. No good our trying to find Maeddine himself, if he"s left the palace; though I hope, by putting our heads and Roslin"s together, that among the three of us we shall pick him up later. But if he"s left somebody here to keep an eye on us, our best course is to keep an eye on that somebody.
They"ll have to communicate."
"You"re right," Stephen admitted. "I"m vague about the face, but I"ll force myself to recognize it. That"s the sort of thing Miss Ray would do. She"s got some quaint theory about controlling your subconscious self. Now I"ll take a leaf out of her book. By Jove--there"s one of the men now. Don"t look yet. He doesn"t seem to notice us, but who knows?
He"s standing by the door, under a palm. Let"s go back into the ball-room, and see if he follows."
But to "see if he followed" was more easily said than done. The Arab, a melancholy and grizzled but dignified cad of the south, contrived to lose himself in a crowd of returning dancers, and it was not until later that the friends saw him in the ball-room, talking to a French officer and having not at all the air of one who spied or followed. Whether he remained because they remained was hard to say, for the scene was amusing and many Arabs watched it; but he showed no sign of restlessness, and it began to seem laughable to Nevill that, if he waited for them, they would be forced to wait for him. Eventually they made a pretence of eating supper. The cad was at the buffet with an Arab acquaintance. The Englishmen lingered so long, that in the end he walked away; yet they were at his beck and call. They must go after him, if he went before them, and it was irritating to see that, when he had taken respectful leave of his host, the sad-faced cad proceeded quietly out of the palace as if he had nothing to conceal. Perhaps he had nothing or else, suspecting the game, he was forcing the hand of the enemy. Stephen and Nevill had to follow, if they would keep him in sight; and though they walked as far behind as possible, pa.s.sing out of the brilliantly lighted park, they could not be sure that he did not guess they were after him.
They had walked the short distance from Djenan el Djouad to the Governor"s summer palace; and now, outside the gates, the cad turned to the left, which was their way home also. This was lucky, because, if the man were on the alert, and knew where Nevill lived, he would have no reason to suppose they took this direction on his account.
But he had not gone a quarter of a mile when he stopped, and rang at a gate in a high white wall.
"Djenan el Taleb," mumbled Nevill. "Perhaps Si Maeddine"s visiting there--or else this old beggar is."
"Is it an Arab"s house?" Stephen wanted to know.
"Was once--long ago as pirate days. Now a Frenchman owns it--Monsieur de Mora--friend of the Governor"s. Always puts up several chiefs at the time of the ball."
The gate opened to let the cad in and was shut again.
"Hurrah!--just thought of a plan," exclaimed Nevill. "I don"t think De Mora can have got home yet from the palace. I saw him having supper.
Suppose I dart back, flutter gracefully round him, babble "tile talk" a bit--he"s a tile expert after my own heart--then casually ask what Arabs he"s got staying with him. If Maeddine"s in his house it can"t be a secret--incidentally I may find out where the fellow comes from and where he"s going."
"Good!" said Stephen. "I"ll hang about in the shadow of some tree and glue my eye to this gate. Is there any other way out?"
"There is; but not one a visitor would be likely to take, especially if he didn"t want to be seen. It opens into a street where a lot of people might be standing to peer into the palace grounds and hear the music.
Now run along, Legs, and find a comfortable shadow. I"m off."
He was gone three-quarters of an hour, but nothing happened meanwhile.
n.o.body went in at the gate, or came out, and the time dragged for Stephen. He thought of a hundred dangers that might be threatening Victoria, and it seemed that Caird would never come. But at last he saw the boyish figure, hurrying along under the light of a street-lamp.
"Couldn"t find De Mora at first--then had to work slowly up to the subject," Nevill panted. "But it"s all right. Maeddine _is_ stopping with him--leaves to-morrow or day after; supposed to have come from El Aghouat, and to be going back there. But that isn"t to say either supposition"s true."
"We must find out where he"s going--have him watched," said Stephen.
"Yes. Only, the trouble is, if he"s on to the game, it"s just what he"ll expect. But I"ve been thinking how we may be able to bluff--make him think it was his guilty conscience tricked him to imagine our interest in his movements. You know I"m giving a dinner to-morrow night to a few people?"
"Yes. Lady MacGregor told me."
"Well, a Mademoiselle Vizet, a niece of De Mora"s, is coming, so that gave me a chance to mention the dinner to her uncle. Maeddine can easily hear about it, if he chooses to inquire what"s going on at my house. And I said something else to De Mora, for the benefit of the same gentleman. I hope you"ll approve."
"Sure to. What was it?"
"That I was sorry my friend, Mr. Knight, had got news which would call him away from Algiers before the dinner. I said you"d be going on board the _Charles Quex_ to-morrow when she leaves for Ma.r.s.eilles."
"But Maeddine can find out----"
"That"s just what we want. He can find out that your ticket"s taken, if we do take it. He can see you go on board if he likes to watch or send a spy. But he mustn"t see you sneaking off again with the Arab porters who carry luggage. If you think anything of the plan, you"ll have to stand the price of a berth, and let some luggage you can do without, go to Ma.r.s.eilles. I"ll see you off, and stop on board till the last minute.
You"ll be in your cabin, putting on the clothes I wear sometimes when I want some fun in the old town--striped wool burnous, hood over your head, full white trousers--good "props," look a lot the worse for wear--white stockings like my Kabyle servants have; and you can rub a bit of brown grease-paint on your legs where the socks leave off. That"s what I do. Scheme sounds complicated; but so is an Arab"s brain. You"ve got to match it. What do you say?"
"I say "done!"" Stephen answered.
"Thought you would. Some fellows"d think it too sensational; but you can"t be too sensational with Arabs, if you want to beat "em. This ought to put Maeddine off the scent. If he"s watching, and sees you--as he thinks--steam calmly out of Algiers harbour, and if he knows I"m entertaining people at my house, he won"t see why he need go on bothering himself with extra precautions."
"Right. But suppose he"s off to-morrow morning--or even to-night."
"Then we needn"t bother about the boat business. For we shall know if he goes. Either you or I must now look up Roslin. Perhaps it had better be I, because I can run into Djenan el Djouad first, and send my man Saunders to watch De Mora"s other gate, and make a.s.surance doubly sure."
"You"re a brick, Wings," said Stephen.
XLI
Lady MacGregor had sat up in order to hear the news, and was delighted with Nevill"s plan, especially the part which concerned Stephen, and his proposed adventure on the _Charles Quex_. Even to hear about it, made her feel young again, she said. Nothing ever happened to her or to Nevill when they were alone, and they ought to be thankful to Stephen for stirring them up. Not one of the three had more than two hours"
sleep that night, but according to her nephew, Lady MacGregor looked sweet sixteen when she appeared at an unusually early hour next morning.
"No breakfast in bed for me to-day, or for days to come," said she.
"I"ll have my hands full every instant getting through what I"ve got to do, I can tell you. Hamish and Angus are worried about my health, but I say to them they needn"t grudge me a new interest in life. It"s very good for me."
"Why, what have you got to do?" ventured Nevill, who was ready to go with Stephen and buy a berth on board the _Charles Quex_ the moment the office opened.
Lady MacGregor looked at him mysteriously. "Being men, I suppose neither of you _would_ guess," she replied. "But you shall both know after Stephen"s adventure is over. I hope you"ll like the idea. But if you don"t I"m sorry to say it won"t make any difference."
The so-called "adventure" had less of excitement in it than had been in the planning. It was faithfully carried out according to Nevill"s first suggestion, with a few added details, but Stephen felt incredibly foolish, rather like a Guy Fawkes mummer, or a masked and bedizened guest arriving by mistake the night after the ball. So far as he could see, no one was watching. All his trouble seemed to be for nothing, and he felt that he had made a fool of himself, even when it was over, and he had changed into civilized clothing, in a room in the old town, taken by Adolphe Roslin, the detective. It was arranged for Stephen to wait there, until Roslin could give him news of Si Maeddine"s movements, lest the Arab should be subtle enough to suspect a trick, after all.
Toward evening the news came. Maeddine had taken a ticket for Biskra, and a sleeping berth in the train which would leave at nine o"clock.
Nevertheless, Roslin had a man watching Monsieur de Mora"s house, in case the buying of the ticket were a "bluff," or Si Maeddine should change his plans at the last minute.
Nevill had come in, all excitement, having bought cheap "antique"
jewellery in a shop downstairs, by way of an excuse to enter the house.
He was with Stephen when Roslin arrived, and they consulted together as to what should be done next.
"Roslin must buy me a ticket for Biskra, of course," said Stephen. "I"ll hang about the station in an overcoat with my collar turned up and a cap over my eyes. If Maeddine gets into the train I"ll get in too, at a respectful distance of course, and keep an eye open to see what he does at each stop."
"There"s a change of trains, to-morrow morning," remarked Nevill.
"There"ll be your difficulty, because after you"re out of one train you have to wait for the other. Easy to hide in Algiers station, and make a dash for the end of the train when you"re sure of your man. But in a little open, road-side halting-place, in broad daylight, you"ll have to be sharp if you don"t want him to spot you. Naturally he"ll keep his eyes as wide open, all along the line, as you will, even though he does think you"re on the way to Ma.r.s.eilles."
"If you"re working up to a burnous and painted legs for me again, my dear chap, it"s no good," Stephen returned with the calmness of desperation. "I"ve done with that sort of nonsense; but I won"t trust myself out of the train till I see the Arab"s back. Then I"ll make a bolt for it and dodge him, till the new train"s run along the platform and he"s safely in it."
"Monsieur has confidence in himself as a detective," smiled Roslin.
Knight could have given a sarcastic answer, since the young man from Ma.r.s.eilles had not made much progress with the seemingly simple case put into his hands a month ago. But both he and Nevill had come to think that the case was not simple, and they were lenient with Roslin. "I hope I"m not conceited," Stephen defended himself, "but I do feel that I can at least keep my end up against this n.i.g.g.e.r, anyhow till the game"s played out so far that he can"t stop it."