Storm Music (1934) (16 page)

"Whatever happens." said Helena. My blood was boiling.

"Is that an order?" I said.

"You gave it that name," said Geoffrey. "But we're going to do the same."

"All right," I said. "I don't care." I made my way back to Barley and opened my door.

"I've got to leave you," I said. "They want me to ride with them. You're to go first now and to drive like hell. Don't lift your foot till you get to the castle gate. You'll be keeping them back as it is, for the coupe's the faster car."

"Very good, sir," said Barley.

I slammed the door and stood back and he let in his clutch.

As the car leapt forward, I fell on my face in the road.

I watched him pass the coupe— and, a moment later, the coupe draw into his wake.

In a savage triumph I watched its tail-light diminish. Then the road bent round to the left and it flicked out of sight.

MY six-mile walk to Starlight did me a world of good. It seemed to limber my muscles and steady my wits; the darkness secured me, the cool night air refreshed me, the silence rested my mind. Though I wasted no time, I did not hasten unduly, for, for one thing, it seemed as well to conserve my strength and, for another, I wanted to use my ears. As luck would have it, a quilt of cloud had risen to mask the moon, so I walked in the midst of the road with nothing to fear.

My sole concern was Sabre.

I was sure that no car would come back— when convicts escape, they cannot be rounded up with the prison van. I was equally sure that my cousin would never permit the Countess to take part in any search; but if he and Barley came out with Sabre in leash, and if they set the dog free at the mouth of the entrance drive—well, once that day he had found me on far more difficult ground: and that with no scent to help him. Besides, my way led past the mouth of the entrance drive ...

The place seemed destined to be the very covert of Fear.

A furlong before I reached it I was careful to leave the road and to make my way through the woods for the next half-mile.

I believe it was that that saved me, for, as I shall presently show, half an hour later Geoffrey and Barley and Sabre in fact came down to that sinister three-way spot.

Be that as it may, for my six miles I had the world to myself and by the time they were past, my senses were tuned to what is called concert pitch. I have always seen well in the dark, but that night I could see as though my eyes were alight. I could separate all the scents with which the country was stuffed. Not the slightest sound could escape my vigilant ears, and as I stepped out of the roadway and into the track I heard the Alsatian coming a minute before he arrived.

For a moment my heart stood still, and then I saw that if Helena was not with them I ought to be able to charm him from his duty to Geoffrey into a service he knew.

He found me seated a little way up the track.

In a flash I had him by the collar and had flung an arm round his neck.

"Sabre," I breathed, "Sabre, don't let me down. Stay with me, Sabre. I'll be so glad to have you. I'm on a good thing, Sabre. And you can help me, old fellow, to pull it off."

And other nonsense I whispered, in my frenzy to cheat pursuit.

The great dog nosed my temples, moving his tail. For a moment he seemed uncertain, turning his head to look back the way he had come. Then he lay down by my side and rested his head on my thigh.

I made much of him, naturally.

Sabre had crossed the floor.

So we stayed for five minutes. Then, with my hand on his collar, I got to my feet.

I AM sure the dog knew that the business on which I was bent was perilous stuff. From that time on no man could have been more sagacious, more swift to make report, more scrupulous to obey. And, well as I saw, his sight was better than mine, for he saw the Rolls before I did, and checked me by standing still.

The car had been backed up the track and so stood ready to leave. No one at all was with her. Her radiator was cold.

For a moment I hesitated, wondering whether or no to make some disconnection and so disable the car. And then I decided against this. The outlook was too uncertain: before now I had wanted a car, and wanted it quick. I took my knife from its sheath and turned to the delicate business of running my quarry down.

And here for the first time I saw that Sabre alone was going to save my venture from becoming as abject a failure as ever was seen.

I had set out to prove the country which lay between the castle and where I stood. I wished to make for the meadows from which the castle rose. But already I had lost my bearings. I had only the faintest idea in which direction to move. I had never set foot on the ground which I was to search and knew no more what to expect than the man in the moon. And the night was almost dark.

As though I had told him my plight, I felt Sabre lower his head. Then he moved past the Rolls, led me up a sweet-smelling bank and presently out of the coppice and into the rolling park.

"WHEN the lighth go out," said Dewdrop. "Thath what he thaid."

"That's right," said Bugle. "That's 'ow we done that villa down in the souf of France. That was a show, that was. You never see such precautions against a poor — — thief: 'ouse like a — prison turned inside out— an' 'alf a packet of candles between two 'undred rooms. Ally Sloper was in that with Pharaoh. I can hear him laughin' now as he opened the garden door. 'Dear brothers,' he says, 'I'm afraid there's some bandits inside. So don't you go for to cross them by showin' a light.' Just as we makes the ballroom, a flunkey comes bustlin' in with a candle in each of his hands. 'All lights out,' says Pharaoh, and shoots him dead. Talk about panic ... We— well helped ourselves."

"But the stuff was there." said Rush. "That's what gets me. Panic's all right, but we don't know the way to the gold."

"Pharaoh's fly," said Bugle. "It ain't only the keys you can make wot can open doors."

There was a little silence.

The three were sitting in the meadows, just clear of the woods—not between the castle and Starlight, but close to the entrance drive. The lights of Yorick were showing a furlong away.

I was crouching directly behind them, against the trunk of a tree. Sabre, beside me, was standing still as a rock. I could, I believe, have killed two— perhaps all three. But it was Pharaoh I wanted, and Pharaoh was not there.

I could not follow their reasoning. Why should the lights go out? In the ordinary way the lights were put out at midnight— perhaps before. But now the case was altered: the drawbridge had to be watched. And then this talk of panic ... Had Pharaoh suborned some servant to do his will?

Rush lifted his cuff from his wrist. "Twenty past eleven," he said. "Gawd, wot a day."

"When the lighth go out," said Dewdrop. "Unleth,— of courthe, he thould happen to talk before."

I felt more confounded than ever. Dewdrop's final sentence did not make sense.

Rush led me back on to ground on which I could stand.

"Td like to know where those two — was takin' that — dog."

"Dogs is all right," said Bugle. "You've only got to face 'em and put out yer 'and."

"You bet," said Rush, warmly. "Besides, I don't fancy Alsashuns: they aren't no better than wolves. But that ain't the point. I'd like to know wot they're up to: they haven't come back."

"We've left no trail." said Bugle. "We never got out of the car."

"We're out of it now," said Rush. "An' I don't want no more surprises not after las' night."

Dewdrop shifted uneasily.

"Ith very awkward," he said, "your lothin' that car. Pharaoh won't like that, he won't."

"Well, he'll have to lump it," said Rush. "By—, I wish he'd been there. I tell you. I never saw nothing: there weren't no scrap. We don't even know who took it. Some — performin' goriller, if you ask me. An' wot 'arm 'ad I done the —? Pharaoh won't like it, won't he? 'Ow would he like to be wiped off one of them benches on to them flags? Backwards, too. I dunno why I'm not dead. An' you talk about losing the car."

"It wasn't our fault," said Bugle, "and that's Gawd's truth."

But Dewdrop had no comfort to offer.

Like some dreadful bird of ill omen—

"Ith very awkward," he said.

There was another silence.

I was once again out of my depth.

That the three were waiting for Pharaoh seemed pretty clear. But where was Pharaoh now? And what had Pharaoh been doing since seven o'clock? He had not seen Rush or Bugle, nor had he learned their news. More. While his men had the use of the Rolls, Pharaoh was using his feet. And that was not like Pharaoh ...

Somewhere in the pile of the castle a new light leaped into life—a definite eye of radiance, unshaded and unconfined. For a moment it stabbed the darkness, a steady pin-prick of light. Then it broke into a series of flashes— a silent luminous stutter that no one could ever mistake.

And so my eyes were opened. Before his fellows could tell me, I knew the truth.

Pharaoh was on the ramparts, and Pharaoh was going to "talk." Pharaoh had been in the castle the livelong day. He had never left with Dewdrop. And now he was going to quench the lights of the castle, and when he had put them out he would let his accomplices in.

Dewdrop deciphered the message, word by word.

"Clothe-up-to-bridge-thtand-by-to-enter-by-latht-nighth-pothtern-directly-lighth-fail."

The lamp flashed once more and went out.

Before I had gathered my wits, the three were afoot.

TO this day I cannot decide what I should have done. Had I left them and dashed for the castle to give the alarm, before I found the warden the lights would have failed. Had I attacked, whatever the result of my effort, I think it is clear that I must myself have gone down, but Pharaoh would still have been rampant: and Pharaoh was the head of the corner, supporting his own supporters— each one of whom he could replace.

Wild to exploit the advantage I clearly held, in fear of wasting this by striking too soon, in fear of losing it by holding my hand, I moved ten paces behind the shambling thieves, with one hand on Sabre's collar and the other on Geoffrey's knife.

They never could have heard me, for Rush and Bugle made enough noise for six: and had they looked back, I am sure they would not have seen me, for I could only see them because they moved between me and the lights of the lodge.

So far as I had gathered, they knew no more than I did what Pharaoh was going to do. He was going to cut off the light— disable the main switchboard, without a doubt. Then they were to use the postern—

The vision brought me up with a jerk.

How could they use the postern? The postern was fast. Pharaoh must have opened it somehow. Unknown to the warden, he must have obtained the key. But how on earth had he done this? And how could he know which key would unlock the postern which he had used last night?

A sudden apprehension lifted its ugly head. In Pharaoh's presence Helena had handed the warden a master key. That was the key with which Pharaoh had opened the postern: though no alarm had been raised, because nothing was known. Pharaoh had killed the warden and had taken the master key.

That this was so, I instantly made up my mind. My way at least was clear. The thieves would bring me to Pharaoh and everything was to be gained by my holding my hand.

And here, as though by magic, the lights of Yorick went out.

There was now less need of silence and more of speed, for the three rogues ran for the drawbridge as hard as they could. Sabre and I ran behind them, as though we belonged to the crew.

Over the bridge they clattered and up the sweep to the gate, on to the turf that was growing beneath the ramparts and past the spot at which the Count had rested the night before. Ahead I saw something white by the castle wall. The three turned aside to avoid it, and I did the same. As I went by, I saw that it was a sheet. At that moment Sabre left me—he seemed to stop. But I had no time to wrangle ...

The postern-door was open. The three stumbled in and stood waiting. And I stood waiting without, with a foot on the step and my head close against the wall.

If there were sounds in the castle they did not reach my ears, for the rogues were not used to running, and all I could hear was a noisy chorus of breathing, heavy and hoarse.

So for less than a minute— and then came Pharaoh's voice.

"Bugle."

" Ere." said Bugle at once.

"Don't talk, you —. Whisper. Here. Take these goods ... Have you got them?"

"I've got a shoe," breathed Bugle

"Wot's this?"

"A wipe," said Pharaoh. "To which side of the drive are the cars?"

"To the right from here."

"Drop the wipe on the drawbridge: and sling the shoe into the fields to the left of the drive. If you want to live, make it snappy. They're going to open those gates before you get back."

As Bugle went by me, I saw that here was a chance which would never return. Pharaoh had used no torch. If Bugle's reminiscence were true, the probability was that he would not use one tonight: I was tall and thickset, very much about Bugle's build—a suit I had left at Plumage was fitting him very well: and Bugle had been told to whisper . . .

In a flash I was running for the drawbridge in Bugle's wake.

The castle was alive with murmurs— sounds of disorder and distress; someone was out on the ramparts, raving "To me!" Men were trampling and shouting: I could hear blows falling upon woodwork and the shiver of breaking glass. But I heard these things as in a dream, for now I knew whose key had opened the postern, whose handkerchief would lie on the drawbridge, whose slipper fall in the fields ...

What then took place happened more swiftly than I can set it down.

Bugle was on the drawbridge, and I was standing, ready and waiting to kill him, three paces away. I saw the man drop the handkerchief and I saw him draw back his arm to discharge the shoe. It was then that I noticed Sabre—nosing the scrap of linen, white on the bridge ...

As the shoe left Bugle's hand the Alsatian crouched, and as he turned to come back the great dog sprang.

The shock would have sent a giant flying, for Sabre weighed fully six stone.

As Bugle met the rail of the drawbridge I heard a bone snap, and then the two went over, into the moat.

The splash they made must have been heard, but for the outcry within the castle itself.

I ran for the postern I heard a hubbub in the archway and Florin's voice calling on Hubert to open the gates.

As I stumbled into the passage—

"This is the stuff," breathed Rush. "Up the stairs on yer left. I've got to lock this door."

It seemed best to do as he said. Pharaoh and Dewdrop were gone. I needed Rush to bring me to where they were.

Without a word I turned to the steps

I knew ...