‘I reckon my thinking apparatus is getting out of tune – I could have sworn that old Rahtz was the big noise!’
‘Well, anyhow I didn’t,’ returned the little man; ‘he might be as brainy as Novar, but he has less caution and self-control. He’s full of a treacherous, vindictive cunning and cruelty, but when it comes to finesse, give me Novar every time. And now in support of my theory, I produce my last two efforts.’ He took two documents from his pocket. ‘Letters actually written and signed by the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs to Novar – one giving him instructions to do all in his power with the aid of Rahtz to undermine British power and harm British prestige in India, and the other informing him that Germany had actually and irrevocably cast in her lot with Russia, and had sent German experts to aid in the building of airships at Bokhara and Samarkand.’
He handed the letter to Shannon.
‘Good Lord!’ ejaculated the latter. ‘Then we have proof that it is to be an invasion by air. But, dash it all how can you read this stuff? It’s in Russian!’
‘So were practically all the documents in the safe.’
‘Then that language is one of the six?’
Cousins nodded almost apologetically. Hugh looked at him with pretended resentment.
‘Is there anything you don’t know?’ he asked.
‘Algebra!’ replied the little man sadly.
‘Say,’ put in Miles, ‘I guess when your Chief receives all these little bits, he will dance with excitement.’
‘May the gods grant that I will be present when Sir Leonard Wallace shows excitement,’ said Cousins earnestly.
‘Is that all?’ asked Hugh presently.
‘Isn’t it enough?’
‘Good Heavens, yes! Cousins, your King and Country are indebted to you; you’ve done a hefty night’s work, my lad!’
‘Sure!’ said Miles heartily. ‘And I reckon the USA will feel grateful too. She isn’t directly interested, but she is indirectly. You and I had better take a back seat after this, Shannon, and give the little man the glad hand while he gets busy.’
‘For two pins, not to mention needles, Oscar Julius Miles,’ said Cousins with a frown, ‘I’d pulverise you!’
The American grinned.
‘Start right now!’ he invited.
Cousins looked him up and down.
‘Ugh, you big bully!’ he said.
‘Well,’ said Hugh thoughtfully, ‘it almost looks as though Great Britain will have to turn once again from peace and gaiety to war!’
‘“From jigging veins of rhyming mother wits, And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay, We’ll lead you to the stately tent of war”,’ quoted Cousins.
‘That is Shakespeare, or I’m a Dutchman!’ said Hugh.
‘You’re a Dutchman,’ said Cousins solemnly. ‘It’s a bit of Christopher Marlowe!’
‘But what about that girl who gave you such a surprise in Novar’s house, Jerry!’ said Miles. ‘Who was she?’
‘Ah! That is the piéce de resistance!’ returned the little man. ‘I bet neither of you fellows can guess.’
‘I’m not going to try,’ said Shannon, who was rather irritated that he had mistaken Marlowe’s words for Shakespeare’s.
‘And I’m darned if I know enough people to make a guess!’ said Miles.
Cousins leant forward impressively.
‘It was Miss Gregson!’ he said.
‘Holy smoke!’ exclaimed the American. ‘Not Olive?’
‘In very truth the same!’
Shannon sat bolt upright in his chair.
‘What in the name of all that’s mysterious can she have to do with Novar?’ he cried.
Cousins shrugged his shoulders.
‘“A woman scorned—” You know the rest!’ he said.
‘Oh, but that’s absurd and I didn’t scorn her. I suppose a man’s not bound to marry a woman if he doesn’t want to?’
‘No; but the fair Olive has made up her mind to marry someone, and she obviously took a fancy to you. No doubt she thinks she has been treated churlishly.’
‘Hugh,’ said Miles, ‘I begin to see daylight. Do you remember that she suddenly became very friendly with Hudson after you gave her the go-by on the boat?’
Hugh nodded.
‘Well, I reckon that Hudson saw the way the wind was blowing, and got her to pour out her young heart to him. Then he spoke about it to Novar and Rahtz and the three of them decided to get her to come to Lahore in order that she could start some scandal against you which would mean your having to leave the place.’
‘But what scandal could she possibly cause?’
Miles shook his head.
‘That remains to be seen,’ he said; ‘but you may bet your bottom dollar that Hudson will stop at nothing to do you harm. And a man who is a traitor to his country is the worst kind of scoundrel.’
‘Oscar is right,’ agreed Cousins; ‘Hudson won’t forget what happened on board ship in a hurry, and he’ll take any chance he can to ruin you. Besides, if he thinks you are becoming dangerous, he’ll do his utmost to get you out of the way.’
‘You’re a couple of dismal jimmies,’ growled Hugh.
‘Well, if he starts something in conjunction with Olive, or without her,’ said Miles, ‘we’ll start something that will give him a shock.’
‘But we can’t do anything without giving the whole show away,’ objected Shannon.
‘There are ways and means,’ returned the other. ‘I guess you’ll just have to leave it to me if Olive starts scandalising! Well! It’s getting late – I’m going to bed!’
He rose, and the others presently did the same.
‘I’ll have to send a long report and those two letters to the Chief by this mail,’ said Hugh. ‘Would you like to send copies to your headquarters, Miles?’
‘No; I guess not. Your Foreign Office will no doubt communicate with mine. I’ll just cable them to the effect that important information and documents have been sent by you to the British Foreign Office relative to the Russian activity.’
‘If you’re wise,’ said Cousins, ‘you’ll send them by hand and not through the post.’
‘I was thinking of something like that myself,’ said Hugh, ‘but whom can I send? I can’t go myself and I certainly can’t spare you.’
‘I’ll take them to Bombay, and put them in charge of the captain of the mail boat,’ suggested the little man. ‘They’ll be perfectly safe then, and you can cable to say they are coming and how.’
‘That’s a good notion,’ put in Miles. ‘Novar and Co. will be on the lookout for all letters, and they’re bound to have people in the post office in their pay.’
‘Well, that’s decided,’ said Hugh, with a sigh of relief. ‘I’ll leave you to discover the best way to shake off anybody who starts to follow you, Cousins.’
‘Trust me to do that,’ said the little man confidently.
While this consultation was going on in Shannon’s bungalow, Novar was talking angrily to two Indians in the dining room of his.
One of them, a young man in the semi-European dress affected by so many Indians, was sitting in a chair, his drawn countenance denoting that he was in pain; the other standing by his side was watching Novar with a look of fear. And at the moment the latter was not a pleasant sight. His flabby, usually good-humoured face was as dark as thunder, and his eyes flashed with the vehemence of his words, while every now and again his lips were drawn back in a snarl that made him look like a wild beast.
‘Fools! Imbeciles! Idiots!’ he stormed. ‘You may have done irreparable mischief by this altogether uncalled-for assault. In the devil’s name—why did you do it?’
‘I have told you, sahib,’ said the man who was standing. ‘Sayed here as usual followed the little man when he left the house. He was close behind him all the way into the Lawrence Gardens, and then he lost him—’
‘Dolt!’ snapped Novar. ‘Well, go on!’
‘He made many efforts to find him, but it was
of no use, so he returned to me. You had given us instructions that if ever we suspected either Shannon sahib or the small man of doing something by means of which they may have gained information, we were to knock them down and search them. We consulted for a long time before deciding. We saw the tall Englishman and his sister and the American sahib return one after the other, but the servant did not come till late. In that time he could have done much harm, so when he entered the gate, I sprang on him with a knife, but he eluded me, and fired. A bullet hit Sayed, as you see, and he is badly hurt.’
Apparently not knowing enough expletives in Hindustani, the Russian broke out into a string of his own. For several minutes he walked up and down the room swearing to himself, and then turned once more and confronted the two Indians.
‘You’ve made absolute fools of yourselves,’ he said. ‘The man was probably out for mere harmless amusement, and you’ve raised suspicions that we wanted to avoid. Obviously in the first place he found out that he was being tracked and I told you to be careful not to let either of them suspect they were being watched. Then to take the risk of attacking him without any adequate reason, and to make such a mess of it, and above all to assault him inside his own grounds—’ He raised his hands above his head as though he were about to dash them into the faces of the two men who cringed before him. At that moment the fellow in the chair gave a low moan and crumpled up in a dead faint.
‘Where was he hit?’ demanded Novar.
‘In the right side I think, sahib.’
Novar, assisted by the other, examined the wounded man, and found that a bullet had entered apparently just below the ribs, and was probably imbedded there.
‘This is a nice thing,’ growled the Russian. ‘He’ll have to be seen by a doctor and what explanation are you going to make? The devil! Were there ever such fools? Help me to lift him on to that couch!’
They placed the sufferer on the couch, and Novar sent the other Indian to get water and try to bring him round. He himself went to the telephone and rang up Rahtz.
‘Have you gone to bed yet?’ he inquired, when he was through.
‘Just going,’ was the reply,
‘Then don’t! A contretemps has occurred and I’d like you to jump into your car, and come here!’
‘What has happened?’
‘Tell you when you arrive! Be as quick as you can!’ He rang off.
In ten minutes there was the sound of a car drawing up outside, and as Rahtz left the driving seat, Novar came out of the house to meet him. He took him straight into his study, and explained what had happened. Rahtz listened, and then he, too, swore, but he did not appear to be so affected as Novar had been.
‘After all, the only harm that can possibly come of the business,’ he said, ‘is that Shannon will arrive at the conclusion that the people he has come to watch have discovered it and are watching him. If he is out here on behalf of the British Secret Service, he is a very poor member of it.’
‘You should never underrate your opponents,’ said Novar.
‘Bah!’ returned the other. ‘He is not worth considering.’
‘I’m not so sure. At any rate this affair tonight will make him suspect that there is somebody about who regards him as dangerous, and what is more, he will immediately recognise that Cousins also must be known to us as a secret agent.’
‘Of course it is very annoying and idiotic,’ said Rahtz, ‘that this should have happened, but they will never suspect you or me.’
‘Why not? They know our nationality!’
‘Quite so! We have never made the slightest effort to hide it; in fact have many times talked about it, and in that lies our greatest security. These obtuse Britishers will search for Russians who are hiding their race under the guise of Britons.’
‘I hope you are right,’ said Novar doubtfully.
‘I’m sure I am! Was Cousins wounded?’
‘No; I don’t think so. From what Mushtaq told me I should think that he must have been expecting an attack since he got out of the way and fired so rapidly.’
Rahtz looked thoughtful.
‘I don’t like the look of that, or of the fact that he knew he was followed and gave Sayed the slip. We shall have to watch these gentry more carefully than ever after this. Perhaps it would be better to leave it to Kamper.’
Novar shook his head.
‘Kamper cannot watch them both and all the time.. Besides if he is recognised it’ll mean very short shrift for him.’
Rahtz nodded.
‘Still he’s quite the best man we have out here, and if there is anything to be discovered about Shannon and his pretended manservant, he’ll discover it. I suppose there is no news from the postal department?’
‘No; so far only three letters of Shannon’s have been intercepted and they were perfectly harmless. Now what is to be done about Sayed? He is badly wounded and must have a doctor, and if he does all sorts of inquiries will be made. The police out here are very interested in cases of shooting and stabbing, you know.’
‘They shouldn’t have come here – the fools!’ growled Rahtz. ‘If they had gone to their own homes and reported it as an attack by Hindus, it would have been put down as due to the communal feeling.’
‘I’m glad you take the matter so coolly,’ said Novar, rather impatiently.
‘There is no reason for taking it in any other way. It is very unnecessary and irritating, but that’s all.’
‘Come along and see Mushtaq!’
When they entered the dining room, they found that Sayed had recovered consciousness, and his companion had done his best to make him a little comfortable.
‘Well, you’re a nice pair of bunglers,’ said Rahtz gruffly. ‘You’ve behaved like a couple of madmen!’
Mushtaq started to explain all over again.
‘I don’t want to hear your excuses,’ interrupted the other. ‘Since you did attack Cousins, why the devil didn’t you make a better job of it. As it is,’ he added callously to the wounded man, ‘it’s rather a pity he didn’t finish you off! It would have saved a heap of trouble.’
‘Talking like that won’t get us anywhere,’ put in Novar. ‘What is to be done with him?’
Rahtz thought deeply for a moment with a scowl on his face, then:
‘I’ve got it!’ he said. ‘There’s a small hospital of sorts near my place, and I know the doctor in charge. I’ll take Sayed there, and say that I found him lying wounded in the Lawrence Gardens, and that as it is obviously a case of Hindu–Muslim trouble he had better keep it quiet. Now, you two,’ he added to the Indians; ‘all you know is that you were fired at by a Hindu in the Gardens – you wouldn’t recognise him again as it was too dark! Do you understand?’
They both nodded. Novar took Rahtz aside.
‘Supposing that Shannon and Cousins report the matter; what then?’ he asked.
‘It’s the very thing they will not do, as you know. Besides, I’ll see that not a whisper gets outside that hospital!’
A few minutes later the wounded man was helped into the car, and Rahtz drove away.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Snobs
Cousins took extraordinary precautions in order not to be followed to Bombay, when he left with Hugh’s bulky despatch for the Chief. Shannon was now the proud possessor of a small, speedy car, and on the evening of mail day, he took Cousins for a run in the direction of the Cantonments and then doubled round on to the Grand Trunk road and headed for Amritsar. They soon left all motor traffic behind and, with the exception of occasional bullock carts and tongas, had the road to themselves on the thirty-three mile run to the Sikh city.
Cousins had been busy in the tonneau with a box of grease paints, a looking-glass and a few other odds and ends, and when Hugh stopped the car on the outskirts of Amritsar a fresh complexioned little man, with a dark pointed beard turning grey, stepped from the car and hailed a tonga.
‘Splendid!’ said Hugh admiringly. ‘If there is a spy on the train he’ll never r
ecognise you in that make-up!’
The tonga drove up, and Cousins transferred a small suitcase and his roll of bedding – which had been hidden under a rug on the floor of the car – to the vehicle.
‘Our faithful watchers will be much intrigued when you arrive back without me,’ he said. ‘Goodbye!’
‘Goodbye!’ said Hugh. ‘Be very careful!’
He turned the car and drove away. Cousins was conveyed to the station where he had a wait of three hours before the mail train for Bombay was due. However, he left his luggage in charge of a ticket collector, and had a leisurely dinner in the first-class refreshment room. He then booked a berth in the name of ‘Mr Sutton’ – Sutton being his home – and sat down in the waiting room to wait with exemplary patience for the train.
It ran slowly into the station at last, and he found his compartment – a coupé – which he was to share with a frank-faced, boyish-looking Englishman, who turned out to be a subaltern of a famous line regiment on his way home for a spell of leave. The young man was delighted to be going to England, and his jolly chat and high spirits kept Cousins very entertained on the tedious journey to Bombay. He saw nobody he could regard with suspicion, and the great seaport was reached without incident.
Leaving his belongings in the cloakroom at the station, Cousins went straight to the ship and asked to see the Captain. He found it rather a difficult matter, but when he sent a message on board to the effect that he was on private Government business, he was shown to the Captain’s cabin, where that important personage was awaiting him.
‘I’m afraid I cannot give you more than five minutes, Mr—?’ He looked inquiringly at Cousins.
‘It doesn’t matter about my name, sir,’ said the latter briskly. ‘I am a member of the British Intelligence Department, and I am here to ask you to convey, under your personal care, a despatch to Sir Leonard Wallace.’
The Captain, who was a genial man of about fifty, looked surprised, then smiled.
‘In other words you want to make a secret agent of me, eh?’ he said.
‘Put it that way if you like, sir; but the information contained in the despatch is extremely important, and we dare not risk sending it through the ordinary channels.’
Devil's Cocktail (Wallace of the Secret Service Series) Page 14
