‘There is certainly a suspicion that the cobwebs are being shaken away. What about Hudson? You have spent some time watching his movements. Has anything suspicious transpired?’
Hugh shook his head.
‘No; he is leading the life of a respectable member of society, as far as I can make out.’
‘You haven’t let him see that you are watching him?’
‘Of course not!’ said Hugh indignantly. ‘What do you take me for?’
‘A Professor of English literature!’
‘Bah!’ said Hugh loudly, and with disgust.
Cousins’ eyes twinkled, his face creased, and he chuckled.
‘“Is life worth living? Yes, so long as there is wrong right. Wail of the weak against the strong, Or tyranny to fight.” Bear up! Remember thy country hath need of thee!’
‘For two pins, Cousins,’ said Hugh threateningly, ‘I’d punch your head.’
‘Don’t do that! My head is not at its best these days. I think it is suffering from topeeitis. By the way is the bungalow fixed up yet?’
‘Yes. At present it is undergoing a much needed coat of whitewash, the furniture goes in tomorrow, and we move in on Sunday.’
‘Dear! Dear! On the seventh day thou shalt rest,’ murmured Cousins, then added sadly: ‘but not in India!’
‘Don’t remind me of the affliction I have to bear in lecturing on Sunday!’
‘I thought you said that Abdullah was arranging to relieve you of duties on that day.’
‘So he promised; but he hasn’t said anything further!’
‘Bless the man! Why you have only been here on one Sunday so far! Well, I suppose I must turn up at the bungalow tomorrow in my character of ideal valet de chambre and see the furniture installed!’
‘I suppose you must,’ said Hugh. ‘I’m sorry, but—’
‘Don’t be sorry! I’m not! I rather fancy myself as a decorator. The position of even a chair in the room makes all the difference to its artistic appeal. Of course you wouldn’t understand that. Only Miss Shannon and I could be expected to know whether the leg of a chair should stand in the heart of a rose on the carpet or beyond it.’
‘There are no roses on the carpets,’ said Hugh triumphantly, ‘and they are not carpets, but plain blue durries with red borders.’
Cousins gazed at him sorrowfully.
‘You have taken the salt out of my life, Shannon,’ he said. ‘I had naturally calculated on Persian carpets covered with rugs of priceless worth from Kashmir.’
‘Then I’m jolly glad to tell you that you will be disappointed,’ jeered Hugh.
‘How unkind! How very unkind! “A little word in kindness spoken, A motion, or a tear, Has often healed the heart that’s broken, And made a friend sincere.”’
‘Hugh!’ called Joan’s clear voice, outside the door. ‘How much longer are you going to be?’
‘I’m just coming!’ he called back, and smiling at Cousins he went off to join his sister.
Through the offices of Mahommed Abdullah, Hugh had succeeded in obtaining a bungalow in Crescent Road, a thoroughfare running parallel to the Mall, and near the gardens. It was quite a small house with six rooms. Four of them with dressing rooms and bathrooms attached were to be bedrooms, for Joan, Hugh, and Cousins, and a spare guest chamber. One of the others was the dining room and the other a sitting room. A shady veranda, a garden large enough for a badminton court, a garage, and extensive servants’ quarters completed the premises, and Hugh had obtained the whole for a rental which was almost moderate for Lahore. The garage would not be wasted for, with the knowledge that a car is almost a necessity in Lahore, Hugh had decided to buy one as soon as they were settled in the bungalow.
Joan and Cousins, with the aid of the newly-engaged cook, sweeper and bistee, spent the greater part of Saturday in receiving the furniture and placing it in position. As is often the case with Europeans in India, the furniture had been hired from a dealer in the Anarkali, that crowded commercial thoroughfare in which anything from a pin to a complete suite of furniture can be purchased.
Joan insisted on doing quite a lot herself, which brought forth protests from Cousins, who appeared to be in his element. He bustled his helpers round until they did not seem to have minds of their own, and at his slightest command dashed about with a haste quite un-Indian. Lahore in the cool season is very pleasant, but when Cousins eventually called a halt at six o’clock in the evening, he was drenched with perspiration, and looked gratefully at the whisky and soda which Joan mixed for him.
‘You are a brick to have worked so hard,’ she said. ‘I really don’t know why you should.’
‘Because it’s my job, Miss Shannon. I wish you would get it into your head that I am really a servant.’
‘How can I? Anyhow I am grateful for what you have done.’
‘Oh, tush!’ he said disgustedly. ‘You have worked jolly hard yourself. Hugh is the lucky one!’
‘That reminds me – I wonder where he is! When he went out after tiffin he said he would be back soon to help us, but it’s gone six and there’s no sign of him.’
Cousins scratched his head.
‘He’s somewhere about!’ he said with the air of one who has made a very intelligent remark. ‘If I didn’t know him so well, I should say that he is keeping out of the way on purpose.’
‘No,’ she said, with decision: ‘he is not like that. Perhaps he’s at the College coaching them at cricket.’
‘If he had been going there he would have said so. Probably he is detained over some private work. Anyhow he’ll turn up some time or other.’
Joan looked at him seriously.
‘Mr Cousins,’ she said, ‘is there likely to be any danger to Hugh and you out here?’
‘Nothing to speak of,’ he replied easily. ‘We are here more or less to investigate affairs in this country, so danger is practically – I won’t say entirely – a negative quantity.’
‘I’m glad to hear that,’ she sighed. ‘A secret agent’s life must be a very dangerous one, as a rule. I shudder to think what risks Hugh may have been running during those two years I was fondly imagining he was merely an ordinary official of the Foreign Office.’
He smiled.
‘Oh, well, you didn’t know,’ he said, ‘and were thus saved a lot of anxiety.’
They were silent for a while, then Cousins started to his feet, his face wrinkled with concern.
‘What a thoughtless fool I am!’ he exclaimed. ‘Why, here it is past six, and you haven’t had any tea, and I calmly sit down and guzzle a whisky and soda!’
‘Really I forgot all about tea until a few minutes ago,’ she smiled. ‘When you are ready we will take a tonga back to the hotel, and get some.’
‘I say; I’m awfully sorry,’ he said penitently.
‘Don’t be, please! I shall enjoy it all the more when we get back!’
She had one more look through the rooms, and then joined him on the veranda.
‘It is ever so much nicer to have one’s own house, than to live in a hotel!’ she said. ‘Everything is ready for tomorrow now, and even Mr Miles’ room is prepared for him if he turns up. I wonder why he hasn’t come!’
‘He is probably having a good time with some fellow countrymen of his in Bombay.’
She pouted.
‘He might have written, especially as he said he would come to Lahore in a week, and it’s a fortnight now since we left.’
A tonga came rattling through the gates, and Hugh jumped out.
‘Oh, I say, I’m so sorry!’ he said. ‘Are you people just going?’
‘We are!’ said Cousins sternly. ‘You have managed to work things rather well, my son!’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, you waited until we had done all the work before you turned up!’
‘Oh, you rotter!’ said Hugh. ‘I have been chasing round Lahore all the afternoon trying to find someone.’
‘Whom?’
‘Of course, I may have been mi
staken, but as I came out of the College about three, a taxi passed by, there were two men in it, and I could have sworn that one was Kamper. I noted the number of the car and have been trying to find it since in the hope that the chauffeur would tell me where he took them.’
Cousins whistled.
‘So the fellow has got here after all!’ he murmured, almost to himself.
‘Mind you, I couldn’t be certain. I may have made a mistake.’
‘Not you,’ said Cousins. ‘If you are pretty sure you saw Kamper, then Kamper is here. As a matter of fact I was expecting him. He has only arrived rather sooner than I anticipated.’
‘Who is Kamper?’ asked Joan.
‘A rather elusive friend of ours,’ replied the little man. ‘Come along! You must have that tea!’
When they had installed themselves in the bungalow, there was nothing much to be done except unpack the boxes, and Hugh was in his room busily engaged with his, when Cousins joined him. The latter sat on the bed and watched for a few minutes.
‘I suppose I ought to be doing that,’ he remarked, at length.
‘Nonsense!’ said Hugh. ‘We haven’t got to carry on the pretence so much here, and what’s more, I’m going to get a bearer. You can chivvy him round if you like, but he’ll do the work.’
Cousins smiled.
‘You’re a marvel!’ he murmured. ‘You have a bungalow, hire furniture, keep your sister and an English valet as well as a cook, and other servants, and you receive a salary of five hundred rupees a month!’
‘Well, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I have private means.’
‘Your new friends must think you a bit eccentric to take up a post like this, when you have private means, don’t they?’
‘Not a bit of it! They know I have come out partially through a desire to return to India and partially because I am interested in Muslim education.’
Cousins chuckled. Hugh stopped in the act of putting a coat on to a coat hanger.
‘If you’ve finished unpacking your stuff,’ he said, ‘why don’t you go out and see if you are any more successful in tracing that car than I was? I told you the number!’
‘My son, it has been done!’
‘Good Lord! When?’
‘When you and Miss Shannon piously went to church this morning, I looked up my police sergeant friend and asked him where I was likely to find taxi number seven-nine-seven-six. I might say that I invented a totally fictitious story to account for my inquiry. He told me of several taxi stands, and after visiting two, I ran the car to earth on a rank near Queen Victoria’s statue.’
‘Well?’ asked Hugh eagerly.
‘The driver proved to be a Sikh of much hair and more stupidity. At first I could get nothing out of him – my Hindustani and his English being more or less negligible. However, to cut a long story short—’
‘Yes do!’ said Hugh sarcastically.
‘I discovered that he had driven the two men to Martin’s in the Mall.’
‘You mean the restaurant?’
‘Yes. I went there, but there was nothing doing. None of the waiters or the manager remembered to have seen the man I described. When I asked the hall-porter, he looked at me blankly, until he caught the word “man” issuing from my lips, whereupon he broke into a torrent of Punjabi, which I translated as meaning that mangoes were not in season!’
‘Damn!’ said Hugh with emphasis.
‘Why? Are you fond of mangoes?’
‘Don’t be an ass! That fellow Kamper is like will-o’-the-wisp. What are we to do now?’
Cousins shrugged his shoulders.
‘What’s the hurry?’ he asked. ‘We have three years.’
‘Yes, but two of them are not necessarily to be spent twiddling our thumbs, and from signs around us I should imagine that there is something happening.’
‘You mean the arrival of Kamper?’
‘Yes; and Hudson being met by those two fellows in Bombay!’
The ideal valet nodded his head slowly.
‘I have an idea,’ he said, ‘that Kamper has known of your voyage and its purpose all along, and that is why he is in India now. Furthermore that is probably the reason why those two fellows met Hudson at Bombay.’
‘How could they know anything about it?’
‘Shannon, Shannon,’ said Cousins reprovingly, ‘where are those supposedly quick wits of yours? Either Hudson or Kamper could have cabled to them from Port Said, or Hudson might have wirelessed.’
‘Of course!’ said Hugh. ‘But why should they meet him at Bombay?’
‘Why shouldn’t they? Hudson does not know that we suspect his association with these people and—’
‘By Jove!’ said Shannon suddenly. ‘They all stayed in Bombay, probably to meet Kamper!’
‘I think you have hit the nail on the head,’ said Cousins. ‘I thought of that when I heard that the three of them were staying behind, and I asked Miles to keep his eye on them. That’s why I am so bothered about not hearing from him.’
‘Do you think that anything could have happened to him?’
For once in a way Cousins’ mild expression left his face, and a look of inflexible resolve and grim purpose took its place. Hugh had never seen such a transformation in the little man before, and a new feeling of respect and confidence took possession of him.
‘If anything has happened to Miles,’ said Cousins, through set teeth, ‘then God help those who have touched him.’
For a moment there was silence, then he looked at Hugh and smiled.
‘There aren’t many men with the cleverness of Oscar Miles,’ he said, ‘and I have never met a man better able to look after himself!’
There came a loud knocking at the front door. Cousins stood up and settled his jacket to his figure.
‘This is where my duties commence,’ he said, ‘“iacta alea est.” Are you at home, may I ask, sir?’
There was another and even louder knock, then the sound of the wire doors opening.
‘Say,’ called a well-remembered voice; ‘is every darn soul out?’
‘Miles!’ exclaimed Cousins and Hugh together, and dashed out of the room.
Joan was before them, and the three surrounded the American, who was grinning with delight. After vigorously shaking hands with them all, he was escorted into the sitting room. Then placing a hand on the shoulder of each of the men, he looked at them grimly.
‘Say, boys,’ he said. ‘I guess I’ve tumbled on one of the finest plots that ever was. If you two don’t get busy right now, there’s going to be a sensation that will set the world aflame.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
Which Tells of an Amazing Plot
There was a silence for several seconds as the three looked at Miles. He was not the type of man to raise needless scares, or, in fact, say anything without being perfectly sure of his ground. Shannon and Cousins felt that he had news of the gravest import to tell them, but Joan was the first to speak.
‘Where is your luggage, Mr Miles?’ she asked.
‘It’s at the hotel,’ he said. ‘When I arrived in Lahore I went straight to the Punjab Hotel and they told me where to find you, so I dumped my baggage there and came right along.’
‘Well, you had better send for it. We have a room here ready for you!’
‘That’s real nice of you, but I couldn’t think of putting myself on you like that.’
‘There’s no question of putting yourself on us,’ said Hugh. ‘We shall be disappointed if you don’t make this your home, while you are in Lahore.’
‘But I guess I shall be here for a long time.’
‘That doesn’t matter!’
He looked from one to the other, and smiled.
‘Well, it would be churlish of me to refuse such a kind invitation. I’ve kept the taxi waiting outside, and I’ll tell him to go back for my bags. Can you provide me with paper so that I can send a note to the manager?’
The paper was speedily forthcoming, and the taxi sen
t to the hotel.
‘Now as tiffin is nearly ready,’ said Joan, ‘perhaps you will postpone your talk, which I suppose is going to be a long and serious one, till afterwards?’
‘Yes,’ said Cousins ‘I consider that a very good idea. One can always talk better after victuals – I can.’
‘Guess nobody wants you to talk, Jerry,’ remarked Miles, ‘at least, not until after I have said my little bit.’
‘I suppose I shall have to keep out of the way?’ said Joan a trifle wistfully.
The three men looked at each other.
‘She’s my sister, and I’ll go bond for her, if—’ began Hugh.
‘A woman’s mind often goes right bang to the point,’ said the American, ‘and I would take my solemn oath that anything Miss Joan hears in this room will never go further.’
Cousins looked from Joan to the men and back again.
‘Miss Shannon,’ he said, with a bow, ‘obviously everyone is in favour of admitting you to our secret council – I can only express my delight.’ He bowed deeply.
Joan looked at them with glowing eyes.
‘How perfectly sweet of you all,’ she cried. ‘I am so pleased.’
‘The pleasure is entirely ours, Miss Shannon,’ said Miles. ‘This is going to be some combination!’
After tiffin they adjourned to the sitting room, and when everyone was comfortably settled, the American began his tale.
‘When I say I have tumbled on a plot against Great Britain,’ he said, ‘perhaps I am going a little too far. As a matter of fact I found out that there is a plot and what it is about, but the details are missing – those we shall have to discover, and mighty quickly, too.
‘Jerry here asked me to keep an eye on Hudson and the two fellows with him and find out if a little Russian Jew called Kamper arrived in Bombay. Well, his description of Kamper was so good that I couldn’t have missed him in a fog, but Hudson knows me; so I went back to the wharf after you had left and rang up the American Consulate. There’s a little fellow there who’s as cute as pork and beans, and he’s nothing much to look at; the sort of mean little guy that nobody would gaze at twice, kinder like Jerry in fact.’
Devil's Cocktail (Wallace of the Secret Service Series) Page 10
