“Half an hour later his solicitor rang him up.
“‘I say,’ he said, ‘do you want to sell Bramble Bush?’
“‘I might,’ said the King. ‘Who to?’
“‘I’m told it’s a syndicate,’ said the solicitor. ‘Anyway I can get you a profit of fifty thousand pounds.’
“‘Good enough,’ said the King. ‘Accept the offer at once. And don’t you take any cheques. The money must be in my bank by tomorrow night.’
“‘Consider it done,’ said the lawyer. ‘I suppose you don’t want to buy land to the north of the principal town?’
“The King’s heart leaped like a trout.
“‘I might,’ he said, ‘provided it wasn’t too dear.’
“Two days later the King informed his council that he had changed his mind.
“‘To use,’ he declared, ‘the beautiful words of Gold Stick – words, my friends, with which I am sure you concur – as trustees of the kingdom’s welfare, we must not fly in the face of writing upon the wall. Buy Bramble Bush, buy trouble may or may not be true: but if we were to purchase it out of the public funds and if thereafter misfortune were to fall upon my people, we should never forgive ourselves. In a word, my friends, I was wrong – and you were right. The bypass must be made to the north, and the land had better be purchased without delay.’
“So the King made a profit of a quarter of a million pounds, most of which, because he was kindly, he gave to the poor, while the councillors lost a packet – as they deserved. And the motto which Green Cloth had coined became a proverb, and the looking-glass was given a golden frame. But that wasn’t much good, for, only a fortnight later, it made itself so offensive about a little melon the King had left on his ears that he tore it down and had it cast into a well. And there you may see it shining, if ever you look down a well on a sunny day.
“Now that’s one of the tales I used to tell the monks after Benedictine. It’s not surprising they worshipped me. I used to have to have a new habit once a month.”
“Why?” said Jill.
Berry waved his cigar.
“Veneration,” he said simply. “They kissed the hem so much, they wore it away.”
Here the Knave rose up where he was and let out a growl.
His eyes were upon the river, the half of which was in darkness because of the pride of chestnuts which neighboured the opposite bank: but though we watched and listened, we neither saw nor heard any sign of life, and after a full two minutes the dog dismissed the matter and laid himself down on the sward.
“Water rat,” said Berry, yawning. “And, much as I hate to remind you, if we’re to be home by midnight I think we ought to be gone.”
As we made our way past the ruins, a hand came to rest on my shoulder and Perdita breathed in my ear.
“That wasn’t a water rat.”
I tucked a slim arm beneath mine and lowered my head.
“I know,” I said. “I think it was the dip of a paddle. But what if it was? The river is open to all.”
“I know. But there’s something wrong. Don’t think I’m afraid. I’m not. But there’s something that’s really wicked abroad tonight.”
“There’s a witch abroad,” said I, “if that’s what you mean – with the scent of flowers in her hair and the breath of the dawn on her lips.”
“Don’t be stupid. I mean what I say.”
“So do I,” said I. “You’re dangerous enough by day: but by night you seduce the senses – and that’s the truth.”
Miss Boyte withdrew her arm.
“Will you be serious?” she said.
“I am being serious,” I said. “Come all the Powers of Darkness, and I’ll commend your charm.”
“I can’t do more than warn you. You know that when I sense something—”
With a sudden movement, I picked her up in my arms.
“I know you’re wise,” I said. “I know you’ve a curious sense that we haven’t got. And you know that I honour it blindly – I will tonight. But what you don’t know is that you are so lovely and natural that when you confide in a man he can think of nothing at all but his confidante. It’ll pass, of course. I’ll pull myself together before we get to the Rolls. But it’s…rather fun to let the world slip for a moment…especially if, as you say, there’s trouble ahead.”
A child laid her head against mine.
“Don’t I know that it is?” she said softly. “And now put me down, there’s a dear. Remember, we’ve got Jill with us. And I give you my word I’ll be glad when we’re under way.”
Her saying brought me up with a jerk. If Perdita Boyte was excelling each mortal thing, my cousin was ‘such stuff as dreams are made on’ – a very delicate texture, to be used with infinite care…
Three minutes later I lifted the Rolls from the shadows into the moonlit mystery that stood for the Bloodstock road.
That we were being followed was perfectly clear. When we had entered the Rolls, I had neither seen nor heard any other car: but we had not been moving two minutes before a car had appeared, going the way we were going, a drive and a chip behind. Moving much faster than we, it had closed to a hundred paces or thereabouts: and there, at that distance, it stayed. Had it maintained the speed at which it approached, it must, of course, have passed us almost at once.
All this my mirror had told me, for the driver behind me was keeping his headlights dimmed.
When I made him free of my news, Berry, sitting beside me, smothered an oath.
“And the girls and all,” he growled. “What the ruby hell does it mean?”
“To be perfectly honest,” said I, “I haven’t the faintest idea.”
“Assume it’s those wallahs we saw – well, what in the world’s their game? Robbery’s out of the question. The stuff the girls are wearing wouldn’t make twenty pounds.”
“I can only suppose,” said I, “that they are mistaking us for somebody else. Do you connect them at all with the water rat?”
“I would if I could, but I can’t. You can’t connect two things with a chain of missing links. That sound was the dip of a paddle – I’ll lay to that: and I have an idea that someone was holding water under the opposite bank. They may have been there to watch us: or they may have stayed in the shadows because they didn’t want to be seen: then again they may have been lovers… I’m damned if I know what to think.”
“Shall I have a dart,” said I, “at shaking these fellows off?”
“Why not?” said my brother-in-law.
I put down my foot.
However, our luck was out, for the bend ahead was hiding a level-crossing whose gates were shut.
Before these a car was waiting, and as I drew up in its wake, I saw that its doors were open and uniformed police were standing on either side.
“Hullo,” said Berry, “a hold-up. That’s what it is. The police are using the crossing to stop all cars. Now how will our friends like this? Are they going to submit to inspection? Or as soon as they see the police, will they do a bunk?”
“Here they are,” said I. “And it is the Lowland all right. Show the police your card, and make a complaint.”
With my words an inspector of police moved into my headlights’ beam.
“Better still,” said Berry, and raised his voice. “What’s the trouble, Colyer?”
The inspector spun round on his heel and came up to the Rolls.
For a moment he peered at Berry.
Then—
“Oh, good evening, sir,” he said. “I’m sorry to stop you like this, but as soon as we’re through with that car we’ll let you go. I needn’t ask if you’re carrying contraband goods.”
My brother-in-law whistled.
“Smuggling, eh? So you’ve reason to think…”
“Very good reason, sir. Some – some highly valuable stuff has been landed tonight. And it’s got to be stopped somehow. We’ve simply got to get it. The roads are closed round here for thirty-five miles.”
“Then let me
commend to your notice the gentry behind this car.”
“Go on, sir,” said the inspector. “What do you know?”
Swiftly Berry told him what had occurred.
The inspector fingered his chin.
“Too good to be true,” he said. “They’re the men we want – they’re right at the top of the trade. But they’d never travel the stuff. And without it I can’t do nothing. They’ll laugh in my face, they will. And I’ll have to let them go – two o’ the wickedest blackguards as ever called for a Scotch.” He pushed back his cap and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Still, I’ll hold them here for a while, an’ give you a pretty start. All the same, sir, if you’ll forgive me, I don’t think they’re following you. If they’re who I think they are, they’re on big business tonight.”
“I think you’re wrong,” said Berry, “but perhaps you’re right. But give us ten minutes’ start: we’ve a couple of ladies behind.”
“I’ll see to that, sir. Excuse me…”
A moment later the crossing gates were opened and we followed the car before us over the rails. As we regained the road, I heard the gates close behind us and settled myself in my seat. If the Lowland was properly tuned, she could move as fast as the Rolls: but with ten minutes’ start…
As we swam through the scented air, Berry spoke over his shoulder, relating what had occurred and explaining that smuggling was rife on some of our coasts.
“But what do they smuggle?” cried Jill.
“Brandy and silk and – and all sorts of stuff on which the duty is high.”
“What was it tonight?”
“I don’t know at all. ‘Highly valuable stuff,’ he said. But it must be pretty precious to warrant precautions like that. Think of the police it takes to close every road running out for thirty miles round.”
“If you hadn’t known the inspector, I suppose they’d have searched the car?”
“Roughly,” said Berry. “As a matter of fact, they wouldn’t have bothered us much. You see, we’re obviously honest: and they go by the look of the people as much as anything else.”
“Still, it’s just as well you knew him. They were searching the car in front, and when they let us through, they shut the gates in the face of the car behind. How did you happen to know him?”
“As a magistrate, my darling. I’ve often met him at Brooch.”
With his words I had the shock of my life.
An unfamiliar vibration was running out of the steering into my wrists…
There could be no doubt about it. One of our tyres was flat.
As I brought the Rolls to rest, I considered our case. This was disquieting. We were still on the main highway, and the police and the level-crossing were six miles off. So, no doubt, was the Lowland: but the latter would be released in three minutes’ time. And I found the puncture surprising. The tyre which was flat – the off hind – had done less than two hundred miles.
Berry and I worked in silence – with all our might, while Perdita stood beside us, holding the torch: but the darkness fought against us, hiding our tools and making our fingers fumble the simple task.
As I drew the wheel from its hub—
“Listen,” I breathed. “We must not be caught with you. If you should hear them coming before we’re through, whip into that wood with Jill and lie low till I call.”
“All right.”
I gave the wheel to Berry and rolled the spare into place…
It was as he was withdrawing the jack, whilst I was tightening the wheel cap with frantic blows, that I heard in the distance the drone of a coming car.
“Get in and switch on,” I roared. “Get into the car.”
Twice more I slammed the spanner. Then I flung the tools in the car and leaped for the driver’s seat. As I let in the clutch, I saw the lights of the Lowland half a mile off. This in the driving-mirror – I had not dared look behind.
It was touch and go, for we had a standing start: but the other was going all out and coming up hand over fist.
I called on the Rolls: and even in that moment the way in which she responded lifted my heart. No thoroughbred could have done more. When I flicked her into top gear, the Lowland was forty yards off. And then she was thirty…twenty…making to pass.
And there she stayed – a short twelve paces in rear, to the right of the road. We were moving as fast as she, and she could not get by.
“I give you best,” said Berry. “I thought we were done.”
“I was just going to jam them,” said I. “I can hold them now all right, and I think I can make a bit: but I can’t get away.”
“What the hell does it mean?” said Berry.
“I wish I knew. And we can’t go on like this. For one thing, it isn’t safe. I may have to give way any moment to save a smash.”
“Where do we turn?”
“We can’t – at this pace. We should at Maidenhair – in about four miles. If only we could, they’d be done: they don’t know the roads as I do, and if they tried to keep up they’d break their necks.”
“What then?” said my brother-in-law.
“We must hope for Bloodstock,” I said. “I can’t believe we’ll make it, and, if we do, the place’ll be fast asleep. But what can they do if we stop in the heart of the town?”
“That tyre – could they have done it?”
“Easy enough,” said I, “if you know your job. They placed the nail after supper and left us to work it in.”
By now we had gained a little – the hooded lights of the Lowland were sixty yards off. Such a lead, of course, was useless: and, as I had said to Berry, the pace was too hot to last. I determined to make a great effort to gain the room I must have if I was to slow for the corner at Maidenhair.
As a draper tears cloth, we ripped the veil of night for the next two miles. Broad and black and empty, the road was permitting a speed which embarrassed the wits. Our headlights glared upon a rise: before I could gauge the gradient, the Rolls was up. As I marked a wall on our left, a gust of murmur reported that we had passed it by. An avenue flung itself at us: before I had read the illusion, I was taking the bend beyond. For us there was no present: before we could think, the future became the past. Looking back, I fully believe that my eyes directed my hands without making use of my brain. Be that as it may, I never have moved so fast on the open road. But the Lowland was tuned for the track, and though I increased our lead, I could not gain what I needed if I was to turn to the right.
The corner was very sharp and the Rolls was a heavy car. If I was to bring her round, I must so much reduce my speed that the Lowland would be upon us before I could make the turn. She was ninety yards behind us – or so I judged: but ninety yards is not much – to a car which is moving at eighty-nine miles an hour.
I could not think what to do. And then, a mile from the turning, I had the idea.
As though the Rolls was flagging, I began to reduce my speed. With the tail of my eye I watched the Lowland approach. Nearer and nearer she came. A quarter of a mile from the corner she pulled out to pass. I let her come on. When her nose was abreast of my shoulder, I brought up my speed to hers. And there, for a moment, I held her. She was badly placed, of course, and strained every nerve to get by. Then I saw the Maidenhair signpost – and stamped on my brakes…
As the Lowland shot by the turning, I whipped into third, put the wheel hard over and let the Rolls go. The great car entered the by-road as though on the wings of the wind.
“I’m much obliged,” said Berry. “The secret of success is surprise. But I wish you’d told me first. When I saw their snout beside us, I damned near died.”
I switched to the left by a barn and put out my lights.
“I’m taking no risks,” I said, and wiped the sweat from my face.
I confess I was as good as my word. The course I set was fantastic. Will o’ the Wisp himself would have had his work cut out to follow the line I took. If this delayed our arrival by half an hour, at least we had put the Low
land out of the race. From the moment we left the main road, we saw her no more.
As I brought the Rolls to rest by our own front door, Jill’s arms went about my neck, and I felt her lips brush my ear.
“Oh, Boy, it was lovely. I’ve never been so fast. That car was racing us, wasn’t it? I suppose they think they beat us – unless they saw us turn off. Why didn’t you come straight home?”
“I don’t know,” said I. “It – it seemed a shame to come in. And now you go up to bed. I’m going to put the Rolls away.”
“All right. I did love it so.”
“I’m so glad, sweetheart,” I said.
Perdita was standing beside me, twisting her hands.
She seemed about to say something… And then she changed her mind and followed Jill into the hall.
I let in the clutch and drove round to the stableyard.
I put the Rolls in the coach house and shut the doors. Then I entered the harness-room to let myself into the yard. There I switched on the light to show me the latch. As my hand went out to this, some instinct made me look round.
Two pairs of eyes were regarding me quietly enough.
They belonged to our friends of the Lowland – the two ‘unattractive wallahs’ to whom I had given the slip forty minutes before.
Feeling rather dazed, I set my back to the door.
“Say it,” said the taller, and his fellow began to laugh.
“There’s a lot I could say,” said I: “but I’ll wait till you’re under arrest.”
“What for?” said the taller, whose name I learned later was ‘Len.’
I had no answer ready. Had I been asked to do so, I could not have made a charge. I knew that their intentions were evil, but nothing more.
“Take your time,” said Len, with his beady eyes upon mine.
With his words I heard a snuffle below me. The Knave had come to find me and had his nose to the sill.
“Seek Berry,” I said, still looking Len in the face.
The latter frowned.
“English’ll do,” he said shortly. “What have we done?”
“Well, you’ve got across me, for one thing. And—”
And Berry Came Too Page 19
