XIV
FOUND IN THE COURTYARD OF THE INN
Through the thronged courtyard Johann was led directly to the office ofthe Minister of Private Intelligence. Not, however, before Josef hadattempted to communicate with him. This privilege Carter denied.Nevertheless he was unable to prevent a covert exchange of triumphantglances between the Hereditary Servitor and the closely watchedmessenger. This argued that the two were in league. Josef followed,unbidden.
As they entered his official sanctum, Sobieska looked up, and, as hearose, a genuine surprise passed, cloudlike, across his face. Heappreciated at a glance that something unusual had occurred. He bowedTrusia to a seat, directing a well-defined look of inquiry towardCarter. The latter merely shrugged his shoulders, implying that it wasnot his affair.
Sobieska consulted his watch, which lay on the table beside him, whilehe turned sternly to Johann. "Why aren't you in Schallberg?" hedemanded; "you had despatches, as well as a cable to send for MajorCarter."
"I have that cable still, Excellency," he grunted.
"What, you didn't transmit it?"
"No," the man answered boldly. Seeing the volcanic wrath awakeningbehind the Minister's sleepy eyes, he hastened to explain.
"I went to his room," he said, pointing fiercely at Carter, "he gave mea sealed envelope. After I had taken it he handed me a large sum ofmoney--a fortune to a peasant. He told me to let no one see it but thetelegraph operator at Schallberg."
"That is true," said Carter. "It was a business transaction, acommunication relating to my personal affairs."
"I am an ignorant man," whimpered the messenger, stimulated by a mentalcontemplation of his supposed injuries, "but I was made the tool of thattraitor--that spy." His eyes, red from excessive potations, glared withhatred as he pointed to Carter.
"Be careful, sir," broke in indignant Trusia, "remember the gentleman isone of our Aides and bears a commission in the royal army. Would youtaste the whip?"
"Better that than the noose he planned for me," sulkily retorted thepeasant.
"You had better be precise," said Sobieska.
"Well, if you will have it, I'll tell you," the man answered.Emboldened by an encouraging murmur from Josef he continued.
Carter held up his hand. "Wait a moment," he exclaimed as he turnedappealingly to Trusia. "Highness, this may be of greatest interest tosome one not present when Johann, the messenger, was apprehended. It mayalso be of secret importance to Krovitch, to Your Highness. Is Josefnecessary here? Surely he can offer neither testimony norenlightenment."
Though cautioned to stay within call, Josef was dismissed to hisunrevealed disappointment.
"Now, go ahead, Johann," commanded the Privy Counselor, when the soundof receding footsteps assured him that Josef was no longer in earshot.
"I never had so much money at one time," continued the messenger,manifestly ill at ease since the departure of Josef. "I began to wonderwhy the stranger had given it to me for so simple a service. When thedumb man ponders overlong he seeks counsel. That was my case. My friendand I sat and talked of it and as we talked we drank.
"My friend said that the reason for keeping it secret was the person towhom it was written. At first I laughed at him. It could mean nothing.He pushed the brandy toward me and laughed too. I supposed he thoughtthe same. Then I began to turn it over in my head, and as it seemedpossible it might mean something, I besought him how such a thing couldbe. He replied by asking to whom the letter was addressed. I said in aforeign language,--English I do not understand. He pondered and said itmight be sent by a spy to the Russian police. He added that it mightmean hanging for me; I was afraid it was so, then in my fright I drankmore brandy. My head reeled, but I was less afraid. I laughed once more.I asked him what he would do. He requested to see the letter. I wasangry. 'Fool,' he said, 'not to open it; just to see the address. Thatwill tell. No one will know.' I gave it to him. He pushed the brandy tome as he puzzled over the odd letters. When I looked up from the bottle,he was staring at me, his eyes big and scared. 'It is as I thought,' hesaid, in a whisper one uses near the graveyard at night. I hardly knewwhat to do, Excellency, so I wandered in the forest. I fear I was drunkfrom the brandy. The rest Her Highness can tell you," and the man wipedthe perspiration from his brow.
"We found him skulking in the forest; not twenty minutes ago,"supplemented Trusia. "His actions were so mysterious and his speech soreprehensible that we brought him here."
Carter, regarding the whole affair as a delusion--a bubble soon broken,brought the matter to an issue.
"Don't you think," he suggested confidently, "that Johann should producethe incriminating document. I think it will turn out to be a certainmessage to one Henry Jarvis, Broker, William Street, New York." He cameforward to stand beside Sobieska at the table, as Johann took out abulky envelope from a dispatch box and placed it before the Minister.Trusia, too, had drawn near. The trio started involuntarily as they readthe address of Russia's sub-minister of Secret Police in Warsaw staringthem in the face. Trusia gasped and turned white. Sobieska walked to thedoor, closed it gently and returned to the table.
"Who was your friendly counselor?" he demanded of Johann.
"I dare not tell you," the fellow replied doggedly.
"If I have to ask Posner at the inn, it will go hard with you, Johann."
"He does not know; we did not drink at Posner's."
"That is certainly a clever imitation of my writing," said Carter, whohad been carefully studying the characters on the envelope. Sobieskalooked up. "You do not believe me capable of communicating with yourenemies!" He appealed to the girl, whose white face was staring at theoblong packet lying on the table.
"I do not know what to believe," she said as she struggled to keep backthe tears. "Open it, Sobieska." The latter complied and scanned thecommunication.
"This," he said, looking up gravely, "purports to be a preliminaryreport of Calvert Carter and Todcaster Carrick to their immediatesuperior in the Imperial Secret Police at Warsaw. It contains a furtherpromise of early developments and the coming of a King to Krovitch. Itis signed 'Calvert Carter.'"
Sobieska reached so suddenly forward to touch a call bell that Johannjumped. A gray-haired sergeant entered.
"A corporal and file," was Sobieska's command. Carter straightenedhimself haughtily. Were they going to arrest him for this forgery?
"Count Sobieska," he began indignantly, while Johann's dull eyesbrightened.
"Wait, please," was the Minister's only comment.
Carter turned to Her Grace to remonstrate against such an indignity, buther head was turned from him. There were footsteps, rhythmic, orderly,at the door. It opened to admit the corporal and his men. Vividly itrecalled to Carter another such scene when he was a judge and----
"Put Johann under arrest," came the curt interruption to his thoughtsfrom the lips of Sobieska. "If you permit any one to communicate withhim, it will mean a court martial for all of you," said the Minister.
The sudden and unexpected reversal of the preconceived program was toomuch for the messenger, as, cursing and struggling, he was hustledtoward the door. As the heavy oak panel swung to upon the prisoner, hemuttered something which caught the waiting ear of Sobieska, who glancedtoward his princess to see if she had heard. Satisfied that she had not,he swept a triumphant look at Carter, who was dumbfounded at the turnaffairs had taken. The American stretched out his hand to the Krovitzer.
"Paul Zulka's friends are to be trusted," said Sobieska. "You havealready made a personally vindictive enemy," he continued; "have you anyidea who it is?" The indolent wink accompanying the inquiry cautionedCarter not to name any one if he had.
"I have," replied Calvert, who had understood the signal.
"Don't name him then, at present," requested the Minister.
"Why not?" queried an indignant Trusia, "as Major Carter is innocent,this wretch must be punished at once."
"Your Highness," respectfully counseled the Privy Counselor, "MajorCarter has bee
n in our country too short a time even to be sure of hisfriends, much less of his enemies. His surmises, therefore, might beunwarranted, and might put a perfectly innocent person under suspicion.Be assured," he asserted vehemently, "I will thoroughly sift out thismatter in my official capacity. Whether it confirms his premonitions ornot, you will learn in due time. I am inclined to believe that Johannwas intended to fall into your hands, but with a different intent.Either that or the message was meant for Russia, the risk to beshouldered upon Carter. May I employ Josef," he requested blandly, "as amessenger to Colonel Sutphen?"
"Certainly," she replied, and the old fellow was sent for.
There was neither tremor nor twitch on his impassive countenance as heresponded to the summons, although he must have missed Johann and knewnot what had transpired.
"You are to take this note to Colonel Sutphen at once," said Sobieskacurtly. "At once," he reiterated with emphasis, "don't even wait for ahat. Your trip and return will be timed," he was fairly warned. "It isof the utmost importance," the Minister remarked impressively as hehanded the retainer a hastily scrawled but securely sealed note. Josefmight have been carrying the order for his own execution, for all heknew, but he did not permit any outward sign of trepidation to show inhis face. With commendable alacrity he left the room on his mission,watched by Sobieska in the doorway. Returning, with hardly concealedimpatience, the Minister begged of Her Grace to be excused for the timebeing and requested the assistance of Carter.
"Yes, Sobieska, go," she said. "I am as anxious as you can be to reachthe bottom of this mystery. Somehow, I cannot help feeling that there issomething inimical to my country in it all."
"Pray God that it is not so," said the Minister as he bowed her from theoffice. No sooner was she gone than the two men faced each other, thesame thought in their minds, the same name on their lips.
"Josef," they said in the same breath.
"There's not a minute to lose," continued the Minister. "That is why Itrumped up that message to get him out of the way. We must search hisroom immediately, before he has a chance to forestall us. Come," hesaid, grasping Carter's arm.
Together they mounted stairways, plunged down passages, grim and shadowinfested, until the Servitor's room was reached. The barrenness of theplace seemed to be sufficient guarantee for the honesty of its usualoccupant. A table without a drawer, no closet and some burned-out logsin the large fireplace afforded but scant hiding places. Sobieskacarefully tapped each board separately to ascertain if a secretreceptacle had been formed in such a fashion, but the floor wasperfectly solid. He tried the flagging of the hearth as well as thebrick arch of the fireplace with no more success. He was about toacknowledge failure when Carter accidentally turned over one of thecharred logs lying at his feet. An exclamation burst from the Minister'slips.
Minute and scattered fragments of paper, saved from the blaze by thebulk of the log above them, lay scattered on the hearth. These Sobieskapounced upon eagerly.
Further search bore no fuller fruit, so with their meagre harvest thepair descended to the office again. Here the Krovitzer, piecing thefragments together, and pasting them on a sheet of paper, laid thembefore Carter.
"There," said the Minister, "are the experiments in your handwriting.Now wait until he comes back."
"But how did he get a copy?" queried the puzzled American.
"Easy enough," replied Sobieska. "He kept those papers he took from youin the cell yesterday. Your passport furnished your signature. He's aclever rascal. Substituted the forgery for the other letter, whileJohann drank. Either that or they're in league together, which I am notprepared to believe, yet. In any event we must get a new messenger."
"Tell me," said the curious Carter, "how came you to suspect Josef, asyou read the letter Johann had with him?"
Sobieska smiled indulgently. "A man of your varied metropolitanexperience would scarcely write a letter as he would a thesis for aUniversity degree. Whoever wrote that epistle had doubtless a work ofrhetoric at his elbow, fearful of mistakes. Look at it yourself," and hepushed the paper over to Carter. It was, indeed, a studied compositionof good proportions and well rounded sentences.
"I have heard you talk," continued his instructor, "and I felt satisfiedthat Major Carter, if a spy, would hardly have wasted his efforts insuch a prim presentation of his facts." He glanced at his watch. "Hewould have doubtless used cipher. Josef is due in just one minute now.There he comes," he said, as there was a low rap at the door. "Come in."
Punctuality outdone, Josef entered and handed Sobieska a note. Withouteven glancing at it, the latter tossed it on the table. Picking up thesheet on which were the pasted fragments, he handed it to the Servitor,watching him closely with narrowing eyes. Without a tremor the paper wasreceived, examined, read, and handed back to Sobieska with a smile.
"Well, Excellency?"
"Ever see that before, Josef?"
"I think so, Excellency. Did you find them in my room?" he inquired withquiet effrontery.
"They were found there. I found them," replied Sobieska coolly, not yetdespairing of breaking down the impassive wall with which Josef hadsurrounded his thoughts.
"Then I have seen them before," the Servitor answered as thoughcourteously acknowledging an irrefutable logic. "I took them there tointerpret them," he said as if willing to make an explanation though notadmitting any necessity. "I found them beneath a certain window lastnight--in the courtyard of the inn," he concluded with a significantglance at Carter. Then boldly his eyes challenged both men.
"It's a lie," said Carter contemptuously. Josef smiled.
"Your word--the word of a stranger--against mine," he sneered. "Shall Iappeal to Her Highness?"
"Her Highness knows everything," hazarded Sobieska. "From Johann," headded deliberately.
There was a start, if you call the slightest flicker of the eyelidssuch--to show that the shot had told; then Josef, calm as before,inquired,
"Then of what interest can these scraps of paper be?"
"Be careful, Josef," interrupted Carter, whose anger had not yet beenappeased, "that you do not pick up something deadly--in the courtyard ofthe inn, something like a revolver bullet."
The fellow bowed mockingly to the last speaker, then turning to Sobieskasaid, "May I go, Excellency?" Sobieska nodded assent.
"Wait," said Carter, and Josef paused.
"You say you found these papers--in the courtyard of the inn," saidCarter endeavoring to connect the man with the mishap to the auto, "anyplace near the carriage shed?"
The Servitor smiled and assumed a non-committal aloofness.
"Why," he asked as, turning, he left the room.
Following a short talk with the Minister of Private Intelligence, Cartertook his departure, and, as he rode thoughtfully back to the inn, he wasstartled to see a distraught Carrick arise from a stone by the highway.
"Why, Carrick," he cried with a premonitive feeling of some new evil,"what brings you here?"
"Been huntin' for you for nearly three hours, sir. I could not bidethere, sir, till I 'ad seen you."
Carter, dismounting, took the bridle rein over his arm and walkedalongside the Cockney, who in detail recited the story of a meeting ofJosef and Johann in the wood, which, unseen by them, he had watched, andwhich in every detail corroborated the recital of Johann and thesurmises of Sobieska.
"What do you think of it, sir?" he concluded.
Carter shook his head gravely.
"I can't say, Carrick. Keep your eyes and ears open, but do not say aword to any one but me of this or anything else you happen to noticeabout Josef. There's some game going on that I have not fathomed yet.
"Tod Carrick," he continued in a burst of affectionate consideration,"you're a good faithful soul. Here's my hand. I do not believe you havehad a mouthful to eat to-day. Now, have you?"
The Cockney smiled.
"I forgot, sir," he answered almost shyly, elated with the words ofapproval he had won.
Trusia: A Princess of Krovitch Page 14
