"They knew all about Kore"s agency at Head-quarters, but I didn"t dare mention Kore"s name for fear the parcel might be opened. So I purposely spelt "Achilles" with one "l" to draw attention to the code word, so that they should know where news of me was to be found. It was devilish smart of you to decipher that, Des!"
Francis smiled at me.
"I meant to stay quietly in Berlin, going daily between Haase"s and the factory and wait, for a month or two, in case that message got home. But Kore began to give trouble. At the beginning of July he came to see me and hinted that the renewal of my _permis de sejour_ would cost money. I paid him, but I realized then that I was absolutely in his power and I had no intention of being blackmailed. So I made use of his cupidity to leave a message for the man who, I hoped, would be coming after me, wrote that line on the wall under the Boonekamp poster in that filthy hovel where we slept and came up here after a job I had heard of at the Cafe Regina.
"And now, Des, old man," said my brother, "you know all that I know!"
"And Clubfoot?"
"Ah!" said Francis, shaking his head, "there I think I recognize the hand that has been against us from the start, though who the man is, and what his power, I, like you, only know from what he told you himself.
The Germans are clever enough, as we know from their communiques, to tell the truth when it suits their book. I believe that Clubfoot was telling you the truth in what he said about his mission that night at the Esplanade.
"You and I know now that the Kaiser wrote that letter ... we also know that it was addressed to an influential English friend of William II.
You have seen the date ... Berlin, July 31st, 1914 ... the eve of the outbreak of the world war. Even from this half in my pocket ... and you who have seen both halves of the letter will confirm what I say ... I can imagine what an effect on the international situation this letter would have had if it had reached the man for whom it was destined. But it did not ... why, we don"t know. We do know, however, that the Emperor is keenly anxious to regain possession of his letter ... you yourself were a witness of his anxiety and you know that he put the matter into the hands of the man Clubfoot."
"Well," I observed thoughtfully, "Clubfoot, whoever he is, seems to have made every effort to keep my escapades dark...."
"Precisely," said Francis, "and lucky for you too. Otherwise Clubfoot would have had you stopped at the frontier. But obviously secrecy is an essential part of his instructions, and he has shown himself willing to risk almost anything rather than call in the aid of the regular police."
"But they can always hush these things up!" I objected.
"From the public, yes, but not from the Court. This letter looks uncommonly like one of William"s sudden impulses ... and I fancy anything of the kind would get very little tolerance in Germany in war-time."
"But who is Clubfoot?" I questioned.
My brother furrowed his brows anxiously.
"Des," he said, "I don"t know. He is certainly not a regular official of the German Intelligence like Steinhauer and the others. But I _have_ heard of a clubfooted German on two occasions ... both were dark and mysterious affairs, in both he played a leading role and both ended in the violent death of one of our men."
"Then Tracy and the others...?" I asked.
"Victims of this man, Des, without any doubt," my brother answered. He paused a moment reflectively.
"There is a code of honour in our game, old man," he said, "and there are lots of men in the German secret service who live up to it. We give and take plenty of hard knocks in the rough-and-tumble of the chase, but ambush and a.s.sa.s.sination are barred."
He took a deep breath and added:
"But the man Clubfoot doesn"t play the game!"
"Francis," I said, "I wish I"d known something of this that night I had him at my mercy at the Esplanade. He would not have got off with a cracked skull ... with one blow. There would have been another blow for Tracy, one for Arbuthnot, one for the other man ... until the account was settled and I"d beaten his brains out on the carpet. But if we meet him again, Francis, ... as, please G.o.d, we shall! ... there will be no code of honour for _him_ ... we"ll finish him in cold blood as we"d kill a rat!"
My brother thrust out his hand at me and we clasped hands on it.
Evening was falling and lights were beginning to twinkle from the further bank of the river.
We stood for a moment in silence with the river rushing at our feet.
Then we turned and started to tramp back towards the city. Francis linked his arm in mine.
"And now, Des," he said in his old affectionate way, "tell me some more about Monica!"
Out of that talk germinated in my head the only plan that seemed to offer us a chance of escape. I was quite prepared to believe Francis when he declared that the frontier was at present impa.s.sable: if the vigilance had been increased before it would be redoubled now that I had again eluded Clubfoot. We should, therefore, have to find some cover where we could lie doggo until the excitement pa.s.sed.
You remember that Monica told me, the last time I had seen her, that she was shortly going to Schloss Bellevue, a shooting-box belonging to her husband, to arrange some shoots in connection with the Governmental scheme for putting game on the market. Monica, you will recollect, had offered to take me with her, and I had fully meant to accompany her but for Gerry"s unfortunate persistence in the matter of my pa.s.sport.
I now proposed to Francis that we should avail ourselves of Monica"s offer and make for Castle Bellevue. The place was well suited for our purpose as it lies near Cleves, and in its immediate neighbourhood is the Reichswald, that great forest which stretches from Germany clear across into Holland. All through my wanderings, I had kept this forest in the back of my head as a region which must offer facilities for slipping un.o.bserved across the frontier. Now I learnt from Francis that he had spent months in the vicinity of Cleves, and I was not surprised to find, when I outlined this plan to him, that he knew the Reichswald pretty well.
"It"ll be none too easy to get across through the forest," he said doubtfully, "it"s very closely patrolled, but I do know of one place where we could lie pretty snug for a day or two waiting for a chance to make a dash. But we have no earthly chance of getting through at present: our clubfooted pal will see to that all right. And I don"t much like the idea of going to Bellevue either: it will be horribly dangerous for Monica!"
"I don"t think so," I said. "The whole place will be overrun with people, guests, servants, beaters and the like, for these shoots. Both you and I know German and we look rough enough: we ought to be able to get an emergency job about the place without embarra.s.sing Monica in the least. I don"t believe they will ever dream of looking for us so close to this frontier. The only possible trail they can pick up after me in Berlin leads to Munich. Clubfoot is bound to think I am making for the Swiss frontier."
Well, the long and the short of it was that my suggestion was carried, and we resolved to set out for Bellevue that very night. My brother declared he would not return to the cafe: with the present shortage of men, such desertions were by no means uncommon, and if he were to give notice formally it might only lead to embarra.s.sing explanations.
So we strolled back to the city in the gathering darkness, bought a map of the Rhine and a couple of rucksacks and laid in a small stock of provisions at a great department store, biscuits, chocolates, some hard sausage and two small flasks of rum. Then Francis took me to a little restaurant where he was known and introduced me to the friendly proprietor, a very jolly old Rheinlander, as his brother just out of hospital. I did my country good service, I think, by giving a most harrowing account of the terrible efficiency of the British army on the Somme!
Then we dined and over our meal consulted the map.
"By the map," I said, "Bellevue should be about fifty miles from here.
My idea is that we should walk only at night and lie up during the day, as a room is out of the question for me without any papers. I think we should keep away from the Rhine, don"t you? As otherwise we shall pa.s.s through Wesel, which is a fortress, and, consequently, devilish unhealthy for both of us."
Francis nodded with his mouth full.
"At present we can count on about twelve hours of darkness," I continued, "so, leaving a margin for the slight detour we shall make, for rests and for losing the way, I think we ought to be able to reach Castle Bellevue on the third night from this. If the weather holds up, it won"t be too bad, but if it rains, it will be h.e.l.lish! Now, have you any suggestions?"
My brother acquiesced, as, indeed, he had in everything I had proposed since we met. Poor fellow, he had had a roughish time: he seemed glad to have the direction of affairs taken out of his hands for a bit.
At half-past seven that evening, our packs on our backs, we stood on the outskirts of the town where the road branches off to Crefeld. In the pocket of the overcoat I had filched from Haase"s I found an automatic pistol, fully loaded (most of our customers at the beer-cellar went armed).
"You"ve got the doc.u.ment, Francis," I said. "You"d better have this, too!" and I pa.s.sed him the gun.
Francis waved it aside.
"You keep it," he said grimly, "it may serve you instead of a pa.s.sport."
So I slipped the weapon back into my pocket.
A cold drop of rain fell upon my face.
"Oh, h.e.l.l!" I cried, "it"s beginning to rain!"
And thus we set out upon our journey.
It was a nightmare tramp. The rain never ceased. By day we lay in icy misery, chilled to the bone in our sopping clothes, in some dank ditch or wet undergrowth, with aching bones and blistered feet, fearing detection, but fearing, even more, the coming of night and the resumption of our march. Yet we stuck to our programme like Spartans, and about eight o"clock on the third evening, hobbling painfully along the road that runs from Cleves to Calcar, we were rewarded by the sight of a long ma.s.sive building, with turrets at the corners, standing back from the highway behind a tall brick wall.
"Bellevue!" I said to Francis, with pointing finger.
We left the road and climbing a wooden palisade, struck out across the fields with the idea of getting into the park from the back. We pa.s.sed some black and silent farm buildings, went through a gate and into a paddock, on the further side of which ran the wall surrounding the place. Somewhere beyond the wall a fire was blazing. We could see the leaping light of the flames and drifting smoke. At the same moment we heard voices, loud voices disputing in German.