The Danger of Life

by Ken Lussey

  ‘And then you finished digging up the gold?’

  ‘Yes, sir. And then we walked out to Mallaig. That was hard. As you know, the weather was appalling, and the gold was very heavy. Add in the roughness of the terrain and... This isn’t what you want to hear about, is it, sir?’

  ‘What route did you take?’ asked Bob.

  ‘Sergeant Quinlan knew the area well, sir. We came along Glen Pean to the end of Loch Morar, then skirted along its northern shore. We were careful not to be seen at Swordland Lodge, which Sergeant Quinlan said would be heavily guarded, and from there it was a case of following a track, and then a road. When we got to Mallaig we cut across country, behind the village, so we could avoid any patrols, and dropped down on the east side of the bay. Patrick threw gravel at the window of the flat of the man whose boat he wanted to use. Captain Gunn, Quinlan called him. After we agreed a price the captain went and fetched a luggage trolley from the harbour. He’d put sets of oilskins and rubber boots in this, which we changed into. He also told us that there were patrols out around the harbour and we’d be challenged getting to the boat. He thought the bad weather and the oilskins would be enough to put anyone off looking too closely, even in the middle of the night. Patrick said it would be alright, as he also had false identity documents which he’d had illicitly made while working with the SOE. I was worried because I guessed that the patrols would be formed from trainees at Achnacarry, who might know us by sight. As it turned out, we were challenged, but only Captain Gunn had to do any talking and the sou’westers helped hide our faces. We reached the boat without problem and we stayed there throughout the day. You know the rest, sir.’

  ‘You moved the gold coins onto the Silver Darling?’

  ‘Yes, sir, along with our weapons and other kit. It all fitted neatly in Captain Gunn’s trolley, with a fishing net on top to avoid it being too obvious.’

  ‘How much did you agree to pay Gunn to take you to Ireland?’ asked Bob.

  ‘A hundred gold coins in advance, and 200 more when we arrived. He argued with Quinlan about the price, but I think he knew he would do really well from it.’

  ‘How many coins had you found in total?’ asked Bob.

  ‘We’d never had chance to count them exactly until today, sir. We simply divided them roughly by weight, first between the packs and subsequently between the packs and the pouches. It was obvious there were a good few thousand, though. We had nothing else to do on the Silver Darling today, so we properly counted the coins, and divided them between us, again, using the packs and pouches to spread the weight.’

  ‘And how many were there?’

  ‘Eight thousand, two hundred and eight, sir. That didn’t include the hundred we had already given Captain Gunn before we left his flat, or the two we took initially as souvenirs.’

  Bob did a quick calculation. ‘That much gold must weigh something close to 150 pounds. Are you telling me that the two of you managed to carry it over rough country at night and in bad weather for 25 miles to Mallaig in under 10 hours, in addition to your weapons and other kit?’

  ‘Remember, sir, that instructors at Achnacarry have to be able to do everything that we demand from the trainees. It was the toughest march I’ve ever had to do, though.’

  ‘And it could be the last, as well,’ said Bob.

  ‘I know that, sir. And throughout the march I had the feeling that Patrick simply saw me as a means of helping transport his gold to Mallaig rather than a real partner. I knew I was going to have to watch him very closely on the trip to Ireland. I’d already decided to offer Captain Gunn more gold if he’d drop me, by myself, somewhere other than the place he’d agreed with Patrick.’

  ‘Well that’s a fairly full account,’ said Bob. ‘How do we know that what you’ve been telling me is the truth?’

  ‘Why would I lie, sir? I’ve had to try to accept that I murdered a woman in Belgium and tried to murder her son. I’m nowhere near understanding how that happened. And now I’m an accessory to two murders and an attempted murder in Scotland, not to mention what happened with the hand grenade. I know that I’m going to hang for what I’ve done, whatever I say.’ There was a long pause as the sergeant again made an obvious effort to control the shaking of his hands. ‘I might as well face the noose with the little integrity I’ve still got intact.’

  ‘They told me they’d pay me fifty gold coins in advance and a hundred more when we reached Ireland, Group Captain.’ Alasdair Gunn seemed calm, almost matter-of-fact.

  Bob sat back in his chair. ‘Those coins may look very pretty, but the gold content of each is worth around two pounds and five shillings, Mr Gunn. Would you really have risked everything for that much money? Well let’s see, shall we? We’re searching your flat right now and believe me we will find anything you’ve hidden there.’

  ‘Alright, it was a hundred gold coins in advance, and 200 on arrival in Ireland,’ said Alasdair Gunn. ‘They’re not hard to find, I just left them in a dresser drawer in the bedroom.’

  ‘Where were you going to take the two men?’

  ‘Quinlan wanted me to take them to Galway, about halfway down the west coast of Ireland. I agreed to take them as far as Bundoran, on Donegal Bay, rather further north and less distance to sail. That would give them access to a railway station, and they could travel on from there. That’s all I know.’

  ‘Who were the crew?’

  ‘I had in mind a couple of old friends who need work from time to time. I contacted them today, though I said nothing about the gold. I need to get hold of them to tell them not to bother. We were due to sail at first light tomorrow.’

  ‘What happens now? Is your boat insured?’

  Alasdair Gunn laughed. ‘Hardly, Group Captain, and I have a feeling the military isn’t going to look sympathetically on a claim that it was sunk by you. I don’t know what happens now, to be honest, but I’m sure I’ll get by.’

  Bob had little doubt that that much, at least, was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. ‘You are free to go, Mr Gunn, but stay away from your flat until we’ve finished our search. If anything turns up that doesn’t square with what you’ve told me, I will be in touch.’

  It began to get light at Mallaig a little before 8 a.m. next morning. The MacLeod sisters’ guesthouse had been full to bursting overnight, but Bob had pulled rank to ensure he had use of a tiny single room. That ensured he had a break from Lieutenant Dixon’s snoring.

  Bob had asked Sergeant Potter and Private Jenkins to escort Sergeant Mallory back to Achnacarry, where he would be handed over to the military police for later transport south. They were then due to make their way back to Edinburgh.

  The morning was chilly enough for Bob to be wearing his recently-acquired smock, but it was wonderful to see blue skies. The absence of the perpetual rain of the previous 36 hours and the oppressive wind was also very welcome.

  The navy divers were waiting beside their lorry on the harbourside when Bob, Lieutenant Dixon and Petty Officer MacDonald arrived.

  ‘Good morning, gentlemen,’ said Bob. ‘I’m grateful. It couldn’t have been a very pleasant drive from Fort William in the dark.’

  ‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world, sir,’ said Petty Officer Johnson. ‘I understand we are treasure hunting again?’

  ‘Yes, we are.’ Bob indicated the sunken form of the Silver Darling below them, with a little more of its bridge roof clear of the water than there had been the previous night, thanks to a lower tide. ‘I believe there are two army issue canvas packs and four ammunition pouches on board which between them contain about 150 pounds in weight of the gold coins you found at Loch Arkaig. I’m afraid there is also a body to be recovered. The gold coins are likely to be in the crew quarters in the deckhouse, accessed through the doorway at the rear of the vessel, which as you can see is currently totally submerged. The body is likely to be in the engine room, whi
ch is accessed from the front of the deckhouse. The gold was divided between two men who didn’t trust each other. It is likely that it was stowed in two different places.’

  ‘Bodies are more our stock in trade than treasure, sir. How long has this one been in the water for?’

  ‘Less than twelve hours,’ said Bob. ‘But I’m afraid he was rather close to a grenade detonation, so it may not be very pleasant.’

  ‘Is that what sunk the boat?’ asked Petty Officer Johnson.

  ‘Yes,’ said Bob. ‘The grenade went off in the engine room, and the sergeant was in the doorway between the engine room and the crew quarters so took the full blast. The boat sank soon afterwards.’

  Removing Sergeant Quinlan’s badly damaged body was a grim job for the divers and the commandos who assisted on the harbourside. Petty Officer Johnson and Petty Officer Heal then began their search for the gold, with Able Seaman Pym watching over proceedings from the quayside, alongside Bob, Lieutenant Dixon and Lieutenant Darlington.

  The two packs and one set of pouches proved easy enough to find and were hauled out and into the back of an army lorry. It took rather longer to find the remaining set of pouches, which were on the bridge of the Silver Darling.

  The gold was then moved the very short distance to Mallaig police office, where the coins were counted by Bob and the two lieutenants with the police constable, and, once he had changed out of his diving suit, Petty Officer Johnson, as witnesses.

  ‘It seems that whatever their other failings, Mallory and Quinlan could count,’ said Bob. ‘That’s a total of 8,208 gold Louis d’or coins carrying various dates before 1746. We also have the one hundred coins found when we searched Alasdair Gunn’s flat, making 8,308 in total. That’s not a bad haul, given that I’d been expecting to find 5,700 at most.’

  Lieutenant Dixon looked at Bob. ‘Sir, what about...?’ He saw the look on Bob’s face and stopped.

  ‘What happens to this now, sir?’ said Lieutenant Darlington.

  ‘Do you have somewhere secure where it can be kept under lock and key at Achnacarry?’ asked Bob.

  ‘I’m sure we can find somewhere, sir, in the armoury or the guardroom,’ said the lieutenant.

  ‘Could you do so, please?’ said Bob. ‘I have a feeling that this will end up belonging to the Crown, which is a little ironic as it was originally landed on these shores to try to overthrow the person then wearing the crown. But until it’s been decided who should take possession of it, we need to make sure it’s kept safe.’

  ‘Yes, sir, I’m sure we can manage that, though I’m equally sure that Lieutenant Colonel White will want it moved away from Achnacarry as quickly as possible. I’ll get an armed guard together now and oversee its return myself.’

  The lieutenant was as good as his word and the gold coins, returned to the packs and pouches Mallory and Quinlan had used to carry them in, were taken back outside to begin their journey to Achnacarry.

  The last three men in the interview room were Bob, Lieutenant Dixon, and Petty Officer Johnson. Bob turned to look at Petty Officer Johnson with his good eye. ‘You’ll be able to tell your grandchildren that you really did find a hidden treasure.’

  ‘Yes, sir, I will. Now I just need some grandchildren to tell.’

  ‘Give it time,’ said Bob. ‘Do you have children?’

  ‘No, not yet, though my wife talks about it every time I’m on leave.’

  ‘Well, perhaps the grandchildren might take rather longer,’ said Bob. ‘But when you do tell them about the gold, this might help convince them you aren’t pulling their leg.’

  Bob held out a gold coin. ‘Go on, take it. It was only thanks to you that we found it.’

  Petty Officer Johnson took the coin and held it up between his fingers. ‘Is that the one we found off the pier, sir? Doesn’t this belong to the Crown, like the others?’

  ‘Yes, it is, and I suspect it probably does. But the Crown is going to get 8,308 of the coins, and I’m sure it won’t miss that one.’

  On the way back towards Edinburgh with Lieutenant Dixon and Petty Officer MacDonald, Bob made a courtesy call on Lieutenant Colonel White at Achnacarry. He wanted to thank the colonel for all his help, to let him know how impressed he had been by Lieutenant Darlington, and to discuss the safekeeping of the gold until it could be collected.

  Bob also wanted use of a secure telephone. His first telephone call was to Major Leclercq, Hannes Lambrechts’ commanding officer in South Wales. The major agreed to let Anne Davies and her mother Mary Davies know that, thanks to the description Mary had provided, Hannes’ killers had been caught.

  Bob also had a rather longer telephone conversation than he had been expecting to have with Flight Lieutenant George Buchan, who he found at his desk in the office at Craigiehall. Then he had a third conversation, this time with Monique Dubois, who was still in Glasgow, before talking again to Flight Lieutenant Buchan.

  Lieutenant Dixon and Petty Officer MacDonald were waiting in the car when Bob went back outside. ‘There’s been a slight change of plan, gentlemen,’ he said. ‘You will travel back to Craigiehall by road as discussed earlier, but I want you to drop me off at Spean Bridge railway station to catch a train to Glasgow. It seems the rest of the world has not been standing idly by while we’ve been busy here.’ Bob looked at his watch. ‘We’ve got plenty of time, though, to do one final thing here.’

  ‘Do you want to go to Clunes, sir?’ asked Lieutenant Dixon.

  ‘After the war is over, you’ll be able to make your living as a mind reader, Michael,’ said Bob.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  ‘Hello, Group Captain. I wondered whose car had stopped outside my cottage.’

  ‘Hello, Archibald. Can we come in? You remember Lieutenant Michael Dixon, I’m sure. And this is Petty Officer Andrew MacDonald.’

  Archibald seated them in the lounge, as before. And as before, a black cat lay curled up in front of the fire.

  ‘Does your cat ever move, Archibald?’ asked the lieutenant.

  ‘Judging from the mice and other creatures I find as presents most mornings, I think Satan enjoys a full and active night life. He seems to make up for it during the day, though. Now, gentlemen, is this another occasion for breaking out the whisky?’

  ‘You might think so, Archibald,’ said Bob, ‘but I’m afraid we have a long way to travel today, so we’ll have to decline.’

  ‘That’s a shame,’ said the older man, with a smile. ‘So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?’

  ‘I thought you might like to hear the final instalment of the tale of the Loch Arkaig gold,’ said Bob.

  ‘Very much,’ said Archibald.

  ‘Last time we were here we discussed the history of the gold and you told us about your ancestor, Archibald Cameron. I can now add an account of what has happened much more recently. One night late last month, two instructors from the Commando Basic Training Centre mounted a mock ambush on a group of trainees high on the north side of the glen above Murlaggan. As part of their ambush they planted explosives under a tree that had been struck by lightning, to bring it down. They subsequently discovered that their explosion had uncovered a large quantity of gold coins under the roots of the tree, placed there in sacks that had rotted away over the years.’

  ‘Was this in the valley of the Allt na Caillich?’ asked Archibald.

  ‘Interestingly enough, no,’ said Bob. ‘It seems to have been in the valley of the Allt Mhurlagain, the next valley along to the west.’

  ‘So, my uncles were looking in the wrong place that summer,’ said Archibald.

  ‘It certainly seems so,’ said Bob. ‘I wondered if perhaps, when the gold was hidden there in 1753, they’d simply misidentified the valley, in the absence of detailed maps.’

  ‘My namesake Archibald Cameron knew the area too well to make that mistake,’ said Archibald. ‘When you
and I last discussed this, Bob, you suggested that Alexander MacMillan of Glenpeanmore might have re-hidden the gold when things quietened down. That may be exactly what happened.’

  Bob said, ‘When I stood in the old graveyard at Murlaggan, what you told me about your ancestor’s injuries and age came to mind. Looking up at the north side of the glen from there, it would certainly have been easier for him to have hidden the gold in the nearest side valley, rather than in the valley of the Allt na Caillich, which is much further away.’

  ‘Aye, perhaps you are right, Bob. If the story was later told by someone other than my ancestor, then the wrong name could have become attached to the hiding place at that point. We are never going to know, are we?’

  ‘That’s true,’ said Bob. ‘Anyway, to return to more recent developments, the two Achnacarry instructors who uncovered the gold then hid it in an old wall beside the loch near the graveyard at Murlaggan. They later reburied it in what they thought was a more permanent location, not far from the old barracks near the head of the loch. When we started to close in on them they dug it up again and carried it to Mallaig. That’s where we caught up with them. One of the men was killed there and the other is in custody for various murders and attempted murders, both recently at Achnacarry and in Belgium in 1940.’