"He was a good man--he was a very great man," said Oscar slowly, and went quickly out and closed the door softly after him.
The life of the two men in the bungalow was established in a definite routine. Oscar was drilled in habits of observation and attention and he realized without being told that some serious business was afoot; he knew that Armitage"s life had been attempted, and that the receipt and despatch of telegrams was a part of whatever errand had brought his master to the Virginia hills. His occupations were wholly to his liking; there was simple food to eat; there were horses to tend; and his errands abroad were of the nature of scouting and in keeping with one"s dignity who had been a soldier. He rose often at night to look abroad, and sometimes he found Armitage walking the veranda or returning from a tramp through the wood. Armitage spent much time studying papers; and once, the day after Armitage submitted his wounded arm to Oscar"s care, he had seemed upon the verge of a confidence.
"To save life; to prevent disaster; to do a little good in the world--to do something for Austria--such things are to the soul"s credit, Oscar,"
and then Armitage"s mood changed and he had begun chaffing in a fashion that was beyond Oscar"s comprehension.
The little soldier rode over the hills to Lamar Station in the waning spring twilight, asked at the telegraph office for messages, stuffed Armitage"s mail into his pockets at the post-office, and turned home as the moonlight poured down the slopes and flooded the valleys. The Virginia roads have been cursed by larger armies than any that ever marched in Flanders, but Oscar was not a swearing man. He paused to rest his beast occasionally and to observe the landscape with the eye of a strategist. Moonlight, he remembered, was a useful accessory of the a.s.sa.s.sin"s trade, and the faint sounds of the spring night were all promptly traced to their causes as they reached his alert ears.
At the gate of the hunting-park grounds he bent forward in the saddle to lift the chain that held it; urged his horse inside, bent down to refasten it, and as his fingers clutched the iron a man rose in the shadow of the little lodge and clasped him about the middle. The iron chain swung free and rattled against the post, and the horse snorted with fright, then, at a word from Oscar, was still. There was the barest second of waiting, in which the long arms tightened, and the great body of his a.s.sailant hung heavily about him; then he dug spurs into the horse"s flanks and the animal leaped forward with a snort of rage, jumped out of the path and tore away through the woods.
Oscar"s whole strength was taxed to hold his seat as the burly figure thumped against the horse"s flanks. He had hoped to shake the man off, but the great arms still clasped him. The situation could not last. Oscar took advantage of the moonlight to choose a spot in which to terminate it. He had his bearings now, and as they crossed an opening in the wood he suddenly loosened his grip on the horse and flung himself backward.
His a.s.sailant, no longer supported, rolled to the ground with Oscar on top of him, and the freed horse galloped away toward the stable.
A rough and tumble fight now followed. Oscar"s lithe, vigorous body writhed in the grasp of his antagonist, now free, now clasped by giant arms. They saw each other"s faces plainly in the clear moonlight, and at breathless pauses in the struggle their eyes maintained the state of war.
At one instant, when both men lay with arms interlocked, half-lying on their thighs, Oscar hissed in the giant"s ear:
"You are a Servian: it is an ugly race."
And the Servian cursed him in a fierce growl.
"We expected you; you are a bad hand with the knife," grunted Oscar, and feeling the bellows-like chest beside him expand, as though in preparation for a renewal of the fight, he suddenly wrenched himself free of the Servian"s grasp, leaped away a dozen paces to the shelter of a great pine, and turned, revolver in hand.
"Throw up your hands," he yelled.
The Servian fired without pausing for aim, the shot ringing out sharply through the wood. Then Oscar discharged his revolver three times in quick succession, and while the discharges were still keen on the air he drew quickly back to a clump of underbrush, and crept away a dozen yards to watch events. The Servian, with his eyes fixed upon the tree behind which his adversary had sought shelter, grew anxious, and thrust his head forward warily.
Then he heard a sound as of some one running through the wood to the left and behind him, but still the man he had grappled on the horse made no sign. It dawned upon him that the three shots fired in front of him had been a signal, and in alarm he turned toward the gate, but a voice near at hand called loudly, "Oscar!" and repeated the name several times.
Behind the Servian the little soldier answered sharply in English:
"All steady, sir!"
The use of a strange tongue added to the Servian"s bewilderment, and he fled toward the gate, with Oscar hard after him. Then Armitage suddenly leaped out of the shadows directly in his path and stopped him with a leveled revolver.
"Easy work, Oscar! Take the gentleman"s gun and be sure to find his knife."
The task was to Oscar"s taste, and he made quick work of the Servian"s pockets.
"Your horse was a good despatch bearer. You are all sound, Oscar?"
"Never better, sir. A revolver and two knives--" the weapons flashed in the moonlight as he held them up.
"Good! Now start your friend toward the bungalow."
They set off at a quick pace, soon found the rough driveway, and trudged along silently, the Servian between his captors.
When they reached the house Armitage flung open the door and followed Oscar and the prisoner into the long sitting-room.
Armitage lighted a pipe at the mantel, readjusted the bandage on his arm, and laughed aloud as he looked upon the huge figure of the Servian standing beside the sober little cavalryman.
"Oscar, there are certainly giants in these days, and we have caught one.
You will please see that the cylinder of your revolver is in good order and prepare to act as clerk of our court-martial. If the prisoner moves, shoot him."
He spoke these last words very deliberately in German, and the Servian"s small eyes blinked his comprehension. Armitage sat down on the writing-table, with his own revolver and the prisoner"s knives and pistol within reach of his available hand. A smile of amus.e.m.e.nt played over his face as he scrutinized the big body and its small, bullet-like head.
"He is a large devil," commented Oscar.
"He is large, certainly," remarked Armitage. "Give him a chair. Now," he said to the man in deliberate German, "I shall say a few things to you which I am very anxious for you to understand. You are a Servian."
The man nodded.
"Your name is Zmai Miletich."
The man shifted his great bulk uneasily in his chair and fastened his l.u.s.terless little eyes upon Armitage.
"Your name," repeated Armitage, "is Zmai Miletich; your home is, or was, in the village of Toplica, where you were a blacksmith until you became a thief. You are employed as an a.s.sa.s.sin by two gentlemen known as Chauvenet and Durand--do you follow me?"
The man was indeed following him with deep engrossment. His narrow forehead was drawn into minute wrinkles; his small eyes seemed to recede into his head; his great body turned uneasily.
"I ask you again," repeated Armitage, "whether you follow me. There must be no mistake."
Oscar, anxious to take his own part in the conversation, prodded Zmai in the ribs with a pistol barrel, and the big fellow growled and nodded his head.
"There is a house in the outskirts of Vienna where you have been employed at times as gardener, and another house in Geneva where you wait for orders. At this latter place it was my great pleasure to smash you in the head with a boiling-pot on a certain evening in March."
The man scowled and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed an oath with so much venom that Armitage laughed.
"Your conspirators are engaged upon a succession of murders, and when they have removed the last obstacle they will establish a new Emperor-king in Vienna and you will receive a substantial reward for what you have done--"
The blood suffused the man"s dark face, and he half rose, a great roar of angry denial breaking from him.
"That will do. You tried to kill me on the _King Edward_; you tried your knife on me again down there in Judge Claiborne"s garden; and you came up here tonight with a plan to kill my man and then take your time to me.
Give me the mail, Oscar."
He opened the letters which Oscar had brought and scanned several that bore a Paris postmark, and when he had pondered their contents a moment he laughed and jumped from the table. He brought a portfolio from his bedroom and sat down to write.
"Don"t shoot the gentleman as long as he is quiet. You may even give him a gla.s.s of whisky to soothe his feelings."
Armitage wrote:
"MONSIEUR:
"Your a.s.sa.s.sin is a clumsy fellow and you will do well to send him back to the blacksmith shop at Toplica. I learn that Monsieur Durand, distressed by the delay in affairs in America, will soon join you--is even now aboard the _Tacoma_, bound for New York. I am profoundly grateful for this, dear Monsieur, as it gives me an opportunity to conclude our interesting business in republican territory without prejudice to any of the parties chiefly concerned.
"You are a clever and daring rogue, yet at times you strike me as immensely dull, Monsieur. Ponder this: should it seem expedient for me to establish my ident.i.ty--which I am sure interests you greatly--before Baron von Marhof, and, we will add, the American Secretary of State, be quite sure that I shall not do so until I have taken precautions against your departure in any unseemly haste. I, myself, dear friend, am not without a certain facility in setting traps."