"I never supposed he knew enough for that," Tommy whispered. "It"s a regular crook"s way!"
At last, very much disgusted, he gave up after explaining that he could have succeeded in an hour or so, but preferred to use dynamite because it was quicker.
"Undoubtedly it"s quicker," Tommy said, "but unless you"ve cracked safes that way before, we may as well say good-bye to the bungalow!"
Gates thought that the door, being of ancient pattern, might yield to a sledge, and Smilax went in search of one. Finding none of sufficient size, he returned with an anvil, swinging it by its spike. I remember the muscles of his arm that held it, the poise of his body as he raised it above his head and gathered every ounce of power to hurl it upon the combination k.n.o.b. It made a superb picture of primordial man pitted against the sciences. After each resounding blow we tried to throw the lever, and at last the battered door swung out.
Here was a find worth coming far to see--packages upon packages of greenbacks, all counterfeit, but they made a show, nevertheless. There were also plates for printing francs, pounds and rubles, as well as those from which the American bills had been made. While Monsieur was studying one of these more carefully, Tommy reached past him and drew out a large bundle wrapped in heavy brown paper, securely tied and sealed. He cut the strings and opened it, then gave a whistle of surprise, asking:
"Are these counterfeit, too?"
"_Mon Dieu_, no!" the old fellow gasped, and I, also, caught my breath; for in the bundle were hundreds of unregistered French bonds, of the highest denomination.
Opening one, I looked at the last coupon, announcing that it bore a date of about seventeen years ago, whereupon Monsieur cried:
"Ah, I see it! This accounts for the royal seal we found! Here, at last, is the perpetrator of that grand swindle, lying peacefully behind the door and not caring what we discover! But he has taken his rue with the spoils!--he dared not enjoy these because of the lees he saw in the pleasure cup!"
"Chop that off," Tommy told him. "If you"ve an inspiration about this stuff, come across with it!"
"Ah-ha, that man--that _capitaine_ Jess! His name is Karl Schartzmann, a shrewd, rascally German who vanished after the _coup d"etat_!"
"What swindle, Monsieur?--what _coup d"etat_? Whom do these belong to?"
I was really losing patience; and Tommy murmured:
"Jack, didn"t it strike you that only a German mind could have conceived that revenge on Efaw Kotee?"
"It was certainly true to German form," I admitted, without reluctance.
"The Bank of France!--who else?" Monsieur was saying. "As one of the trusted, I know! Listen: the dead man behind us, and the one called Jess, with our Azurian consul in Paris--all scoundrels--hatched a swindle to sell, through forged state authority and a farcical secret diplomacy, a portion of Azuria to France. This, you may remember, came near upsetting the Balkans in 1903. Their crafty scheme lay ready to be sprung when Efaw Kotee--we will call him that--had to kidnap the princess in self-defense. From that time but fragmentary facts came dribbling in from secret agents, as follows:
"First: Two weeks after the kidnaping a foreigner bought a schooner yacht in New York, fitted it up with great ma.s.ses of household effects, and sailed, his papers designating Guayra, Venezuela.
"Second: Still two weeks later Karl Schartzmann and our consul in Paris transferred the secret bill of sale and left with their arms full of bonds. When France discovered the fraud they were well away.
"Third: Still two weeks later a schooner yacht, afterward supposed to be the one bought in New York, dropped anchor at Guayra and stayed until two men, arriving by steamer, went aboard; whereupon she sailed.
"This is all we definitely discovered, except that before sailing crafty inquiries were made into extradition treaties between France and South American countries--and found, in every instance, to be unfriendly to swindlers.
"I now see how it was with them. Fearing everywhere the press of France"s vengeance, shunning telegraph wires, they were driven to the solitude of these islands where, as solitude has a way of treating the criminal mind, their shyness grew to fear, their fear to terror. They did not dare go out except at rare intervals, nor dared they realize on the bonds. It is clear to me at last!"
It was also clear to me, at last inerrantly clear, that Doloria and the little princess were the same.
"Whew!" Tommy gave a whistle. "I feel as woozy as an old warped mirror!
Did France offer a reward for this stuff?"
"_Certainement!_ And you drew it out!--it is yours, my boy!"
"Like h.e.l.l it is," he laughed. "I move it goes as prize money to Smilax, Echochee, and the crew!"
Late that evening we buried Efaw Kotee under the mangroves, and did not tell Doloria. No one knows, who has never seen it, the desolation of laying a shrouded figure in a mangrove-covered oyster bar at twilight, where water follows each slushy lift of the spade! I feared for her to witness it, and therefore, Tommy reading the service, the old chief was buried without a woman"s sympathy. But, in a measure, he had our own. He held a claim on it for having faced a certain responsibility to Doloria; for having, with the skill of a master, developed the talents G.o.d had given her; for having kept her from growing up like a weed.
At ten o"clock that night when, by prearrangement, Tommy and I paddled across to bring Monsieur back from the little island, she was standing with him on the landing. The moon was nearing full, bathing her in a silvery light, and I saw from the droop of her body that she was tired.
"Good night," I said, arising in the punt and putting out my hand.
"Good night," she murmured wearily; but her fingers were cold and did not answer the pressure of my own. I had touched Efaw Kotee"s hand only a few hours before, and it had been cold with the same inert, mysterious coldness. I shivered.
CHAPTER XXV
A FLYING THRONE
Early next morning Monsieur was taken to the little island, and I felt that his interview would be long and solemn--perhaps stormy. I hoped so.
He came back for luncheon and immediately left again, having given us no intimation of his progress. I did not know what Doloria might be suffering from these visits, but they made me so abominably restive that during the afternoon I took a pine and crossed to the mainland, half-heartedly intending to look for deer. It was nearly sundown when I returned.
"We"re packing, sir," said the sailor who tied my punt.
"Packing? Why?"
"Orders, sir."
Without loss of time I hunted up Tommy, finding him and Bilkins busy at carpentry.
"What"s in the wind?" I brusquely demanded, forgetting that Tommy was rather particular about the way people addressed him.
"Rain," he imperturbably replied; or did he mean reign, and was employing a vulgar pun to apprize me of Doloria"s decision! So I delivered a ten-second philippic on the poverty of some intellects, whereupon he left off working and regarded me with amus.e.m.e.nt.
"Fact is, Lord Chesterfield, I don"t know what"s in the wind," he said, "but we"re leaving for Little Cove to-morrow at dawn. Bilkins and I are making a portable throne--in other words, a chair suspended from poles so Doloria won"t have to walk. Professor came over about five o"clock in a rattling hurry and splendid humor. He"s packing Efaw Kotee"s effects now. Smilax left two hours ago with orders for the _Whim_ to be there and take us off. Add it up for yourself."
"Orders," I angrily exclaimed, for this impertinence on the part of Monsieur was going too far. "He settles with me, that"s all!--and the _Whim_ stays in Big Cove till I send for her!"
He grinned, then whistled softly.
"So there"s no use knicking my knuckles any more on this portable throne?"
"Not the slightest," I told him.
"Love"s first tiff," he sighed, laying down the hammer and beginning to fill his pipe.
"Love"s what?"
"Tootsie-wootsie tiff, I believe I said"--this between puffs as the match flared high and low over the bowl. "You understand, of course, that Doloria gave the order."
"Confound you, why didn"t you say so! What"s happened? Did a message come?"
"Sure." He stopped smoking and looked at me. "A big limousine drove up with a note and flowers."