Sparhawk's end.
In silence an avenue was opened out for us, a waggonette with a pair ofhorses was driven up to the side of the fallen machine, and, tenderlyand carefully, Doris, the hunchback, and the professor were lifted on tothe sides and borne to a farm outbuilding about two hundred yardsdistant. Here the five of us were left alone, whilst the two or threestrangers who had constituted themselves our chief helpers closed theplace upon us as they sallied forth to find us doctors and some suitablerefreshments.
"Now," cried Casteno to me immediately I had seen that Doris was safeand was comfortably placed on a great heap of hay, "understand, we havenot a moment to lose. Any second they may return, or some daring andinquisitive journalist may force his way in to interview us or todescribe our battered condition. You pretend to be holding your flaskto my father's lips, whilst I search his clothes. Then if one of themcomes to their senses or one of our newly-made friends return it won'tlook at all suspicious." And, as half mechanically I did as he haddirected, he flung himself on his knees beside the prostrate hunchbackand passed his hands rapidly over his clothes.
Evidently he knew a good deal of Peter Zouche's methods, for I don'tthink his search lasted ten seconds. All at once his fingers closedover a tiny bag, something like a Catholic scapular, that had been slungaround the hunchback's neck. With trembling fingers he tore this open,and disclosed to view the three precious manuscripts, which he instantlyseized and packed away in his pocket.
Then he made the bag look as natural as he could, and restored it to itsposition under the old man's singlet. As he rose to his feet again Isaw that his face was ghastly white, and his teeth chattered like a manstricken with ague.
"My God," he muttered, wiping the great beads of perspiration that hadgathered about his temples, "isn't this chase stern--awful? I doubt ifeven I should have dared to have tried a terrible move like this had Inot known that there, at St Bruno's at Hampstead, was the key to thesedocuments awaiting me. But I felt I could not falter now when CamilleVelasquon had braved so much in bringing it from Mexico to London forme. But, bah! what cowards we are all of us sometimes." And he reeled,and I am sure he would have fainted had I not instantly caught himmyself and pressed the flask to his lips.
"Now to be off--to be off," he said wildly a moment later, pushing measide and staggering towards the exit from the tent. "I feel I can'tbreathe here now that I have got these documents. Every nerve I haveseems standing on end urging me to be off."
I turned to look at Doris lying so peacefully in that corner, and then,half distracted, turned to follow him, but as I did so somebody startedup and confronted us. It was the Professor Stephen Leopardi! Hisaspect now was wild and threatening, but we thought merely that theterrible experiences he had been through above the clouds hadtemporarily disturbed the balance of his senses and that we could soothehim like a child.
"You must not go," he panted, his eyes rolling and his fingers clawingthe empty air. "You must stay with me, I want you. I have seen you.There is much to explain."
"Quite so," I returned lightly, "but just now we are not in a mood forconversation, are we? Wait until our companions recover themselves andmy friend and I have had a little fresh air, will you? Then we can allmeet and discuss things, but at present--"
"At present you would steal from that poor man the most precious thingshe has," thundered the old fellow, and to our horror he sprang betweenus and the exit and then pointed to the prostrate form of the hunchback."Oh! never, never shall you escape like that." And before we realisedwhat he was up to he raised his voice and shrieked: "Help! help! help!"
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
THE MYSTERIES OF ST BRUNO'S.
There was not a second to spare. Casteno shot at me a look of mingledentreaty and command to leave the frenzied professor to do his worst.The persons we had to fear were not, he motioned, in that tent at allbut outside, scouring the grounds for medical assistance, and spreadingeverywhere news of our wonderful appearance out of the rain-clouds.Only let them hear this maniac's wild cries for assistance and theywould hasten back to us, and then all hope, all chance of escape, foreither of us would be cut off.
Nevertheless, I thought of Doris lying there so weak, helpless, andfriendless; and I hesitated. I felt I had already stifled Love so oftenfor Duty that I could repress it no longer. Indeed, I took a step inher direction to make myself known to her, but, misconceiving my object,thinking I had no idea but one--to flee--Leopardi seized me in a grip ofiron. "You shall not go," he panted--"never! You are a thief, and youshall pay for your crime."
His touch, however, was quite enough. What Casteno had failed toaccomplish it brought about in a flash. All the hot, strenuousinstincts of my manhood rose in rebellion at this degradation.
"You are mad," I hissed, and with one huge effort I sprang on thescientist and, catching him by the middle, whirled him over my head andsent him crashing a moment later on to some grain bags that stood piledup in a corner.
As I did so his wig fell off and with it his beard, and I staggeredbackward in amazement. The so-called expert from the MeteorologicalOffice was, as the Spaniard had contended, a spy--perhaps sent by theForeign Office, for it was a man we instantly recognised--no other thanColonel Napier himself.
Personally, I would have stood my ground then and defied him; butCasteno was too quick for me. As I reeled back breathless from theimpact he caught me by the shoulder and with a quick turn twisted methrough the narrow door of the barn.
"This is no time for heroics, Glynn," he whispered. "We have won. Nowlet us be off." And he doubled behind some other buildings and thendived headlong into a clump of bushes, through which he wriggled his wayon hands and knees like a snake.
Almost instinctively I followed him, for on the still summer breeze Icould hear Colonel Napier's voice raised in angry shouts, the thunder ofhurrying feet, and all the mysterious sounds and movements whichbetokened that at last the crowd had taken alarm, and that an organisedpursuit of us could, at the most now, be only a matter of a few seconds.
The branches tore our clothes and made sad havoc of our disguises, butthis last accident proved a blessing in disguise, for it made us stop ata pond and restore to our faces their natural resemblance.
"But we must not be caught," I returned, deftly rolling up the wigs andsecreting them in the branch of a tree, where they looked like a newkind of bird's nest. "Look through that opening there between thosewillows. Don't you see the molten gleam of water under the summer sun?"
"Yes," replied Casteno joyously, rising on his knees and stretching hisneck. "It's a stream sure enough--perhaps a river--with plenty of waterspace, for I am sure I distinguish a current in it running steady andstrong."
"Now let us make for that, then," I urged, "and hail the first boat thatpasses. Let us pretend we are soldiers, and have overstayed our leave,and that we shall get fined if we don't hasten pell-mell back to thetown."
"What town?" queried Casteno ruefully; whereat we both laughed. Itcertainly did seem preposterous for us not to know the name of thecountry we were in. Yet, truthfully enough, we didn't--we hadn't theghost of an idea.
As luck would have it, however, we found several boats moored close tothe trees by the side of the water, and in charge of them was asharp-looking lad about fourteen years of age.
"Got any tubs for hire, sonny," said Casteno cheerfully, walking up tothe youngster and tapping him familiarly on the shoulder.
"What does your mother want to wash?" promptly returned the lad, and ina moment the three of us were on the best of terms.
Acting on an impulse of my own I took charge of the conversation, andpretended that we were soldiers who had got sick of barrack life, andhad deserted from some important depot, and were anxious to get intohiding in the nearest town. Now in most lads there exists a verygenuine sympathy with the hunted of all descriptions, and a loyalty,too, which no ordinary bribe or threat would cause them to break. As aconsequence, he promised to take us off in one of the
boats and to hideus under some cushions and sail sheets as he punted us down stream to "acapital nest I know," he explained, "behind the kilns of the porcelainworks."
"But the town--what is its name?" I queried, with a grimace.
"Why, Worcester, of course," the lad replied. "Didn't you see it on themilestones?"
"We were in too great a hurry to look," chimed in the Spaniard at once."Why, we don't even know what all those thousands of people are doinghere in these grounds. We have simply bolted as hard as we couldthrough the streets."
"Then you didn't even see the flying machine fall?" cried the lad, hiseyes wide with excitement.
"Not a
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