The Wind on the Moon (30 page)

They were carried along a corridor, and the wardrobe was set down in a room of some sort, more gently this time. They waited in silence, not daring to speak, and for half an hour or more they listened to the noise of men bringing more and more pieces of furniture into the room, and loud voices talking. Then there was silence, and Dinah, tapping gently on the partition between her and Dorinda, whispered, ‘Are you all right?'

‘I think so,' Dorinda answered. ‘Do you know where we are?'

‘I haven't any idea,' said Dinah. ‘I'm going to count a thousand, very slowly, and then, if it's still quiet, I'll look out and see. And if it's safe I'll let you out then.'

She counted a thousand, and gently opening the door, not more than an inch or so, looked out. She could see, on the opposite side of the room, some part of a huge oil-painting of a man in a plumed hat and a scarlet cloak on a dapple-grey charger. The man looked fierce and masterful, but the horse had a kindly eye and an expression of great goodwill. A little to one side of the picture there was a handsome suit of armour. The room, which appeared to be large, was dimly lit.

She opened the door a little wider, and saw more pictures on the wall, more suits of armour, and a great many pieces of furniture, in no sort of order, all over the floor. So far as she could discover, there was nobody in the room except themselves.

Cautiously she got out of the wardrobe, and tiptoeing here and there made certain that they were alone. A single electric light shone high on the gilded ceiling. ‘I suppose,' she murmured, ‘that the men who brought up the furniture forgot to turn it out. That was very careless indeed, but lucky for us, so perhaps I shouldn't blame them.'

Then she unlocked Dorinda's door, and Dorinda, she perceived, was looking pale.

‘You haven't been sick again, have you?' she asked.

‘Very nearly,' said Dorinda, ‘but not quite.—Oh, look, Dinah! Look!'

From behind a suit of armour on the other side of the room appeared the figure of a man. ‘So we are reunited!' he said. ‘How very fortunate we are!'

‘You gave us rather a fright,' said Dinah severely. ‘Why is your face all black?'

‘Is it?' asked Mr. Corvo. ‘I didn't know. It must be dirt and grease from the under part of the furniture van. I had to conceal myself beneath it when the searchlights went on. I was on my way back to tell you that I had found an open door when suddenly, as though the moon had come down too close upon the courtyard, like a shining lid, everything was staring-white in that fearful brilliance! So I ran, I ducked, I dived, and took cover under the van. And there I lay while they unloaded it, wondering all the time, with agony in my heart, what would become of you when they found you. But they did not find you, and I guessed what had happened. I said to myself, “They have hidden themselves in the great wardrobe! Ah, clever girls!“ Then I spoke to myself the second time and said, “I, Casimir Corvo, shall not fail them!“ So I watched carefully for a chance to escape, and presently I saw two men carrying a huge and heavy carpet. It had been rolled up like a sausage, but it was beginning to unroll, and the man at the back end was not only staggering under the weight of it, but half hidden by the folds of it. So I crept out and gave him a little prick with my sword. He screamed, dropped his end of the carpet, looked round to see who had pricked him, and ran in the wrong direction. Immediately I gathered up the carpet, which fell all round me, hiding me almost completely, and shouted to the man at the front end, “Ruhry, mai, reeth tse chum a refai!“ That, is Bombast, which is our language here, and means “Hurry, friend, there is much to do.“ So on we went, following the great wardrobe, and came into this room, which is the banqueting hall, and I took a favourable opportunity to hide myself in that suit of armour.'

‘It's very comforting to see you again,' said Dorinda.

‘And it was very clever of you to hide under the carpet,' said Dinah.

Mr. Corvo bowed his thanks and asked where the Puma was.

‘Oh dear!' exclaimed Dinah, ‘I hope she isn't suffocated!'

Hurriedly she unlocked the wardrobe drawer and the Puma, yawning widely, lifted a drowsy head.

‘There was very little air in that drawer,' she said. ‘To be shut inside it was not a pleasant experience.'

Slowly she got out, and stretching her limbs, yawned again and again. Then she lay down and went to sleep.

‘And what are we going to do now?' asked Dinah.

‘You and Dorinda will sleep in Count Hulagu's bed to-night,' said Mr. Corvo.

‘Oh,
no!
'

‘Where will he be?' asked Dorinda.

‘Far away,' said Mr. Corvo. ‘Listen carefully to what I am going to tell you. While I was hiding in the suit of armour Count Hulagu and the Lord Chamberlain came and stood in front of me, no more than two feet away. They were planning where all the furniture should go. Then an Officer of the Guard arrived and told Count Hulagu that seven men, who for a long time had been plotting against him, had been captured at a place called Lodoban, which is nearly two hundred miles away. “They will be shot at dawn to-morrow,“ said Count Hulagu, “and I shall be there to see their execution.“—He is very cruel, he likes to see people being shot.—Then he told the Lord Chamberlain to get his motor-car at once, and said that no more furniture need be unpacked to-night. So he has gone to Lodoban. It will take him at least five hours to get there. Then there will be the execution. Then he will have breakfast. Let us suppose that he begins to return at nine o'clock to-morrow morning: he will not be here before two in the afternoon. So it will be quite safe for you to sleep in his bed, and you will not even have to get up early.'

‘But what will happen if somebody comes in?' asked Dorinda.

‘Nobody ever enters the Tyrant's private rooms unless he has commanded the presence of somebody by firing his revolver at the ceiling.'

‘Do you know where his rooms are?' asked Dinah.

‘My friend Bultek gave me a plan of the Castle,' said Mr. Corvo, and taking a rather crumpled piece of paper from an inner pocket he pointed to a room marked
Banqueting Hall
.

‘That is where we are now,' he said. ‘and this corridor, you see, goes straight to the Tyrant's suite. It is only a few yards away.'

‘But won't the doors be locked?' asked Dinah.

With a smile of magnificent triumph Mr. Corvo pulled from another pocket a large bunch of keys. ‘These are, or used to be, the property of the Lord Chamberlain,' he said proudly.

‘However did you get them?' asked Dorinda.

‘I told you,' said Mr. Corvo, ‘that when I was hiding in that suit of armour Count Hulagu and the Lord Chamberlain stood in front of me. Some soldiers were carrying in a grand piano. It was very heavy, and they were moving slowly. Count Hulagu shouted to them to make haste, and the Lord Chamberlain, to show how eager he was to help, took off his coat and went to assist them. But he made the mistake of hanging his coat on the helmet of my suit of armour, and so it was very easy for me to feel in his pockets to find out if there was anything interesting in them.'

‘How lucky!' said Dinah.

‘When I was a little boy,' said Mr. Corvo, ‘I used to be told that heaven helps those who help themselves. And now, if you will wake the Puma, we shall go to our rooms. That is to say, Count Hulagu's rooms! And then, if you are not too sleepy, we shall think of plans for to-morrow. We have made a good beginning: do you not think so? And to-morrow, perhaps, we may decide to lie in wait for the Tyrant, till he returns from Lodoban, and take him prisoner. That would be a good thing to do, but not very easy. Come along. We shall think of something else.'

Count Hulagu's bedroom was very large and magnificently furnished. The bed, which was big enough for four people, was made of solid silver, the peach-coloured sheets and pillow-slips were the finest silk, and on it lay a plum-red satin eiderdown embroidered in gold with the Tyrant's arms. The other furniture was equally handsome, and there were two mirrors each six feet high and four feet broad. There were three doors in the room: one opened into the private sitting-room, one into a marble bathroom with a silver bath, and one into a dressing-room which was as big as the bedroom and the walls of which were lined with wardrobes full of the Tyrant's gorgeous uniforms. From large windows in each of these rooms there was a magnificent view over miles and scores of miles of rolling, well-wooded, and watered country.

Dinah and Dorinda were lost in admiration for the marvellous bed, and showed very clearly that what they wanted to do was not to discuss plans, but to get between its soft sheets, and stretch their legs in the huge space of it, and lay their heads on the peach-coloured pillows.

‘But first,' said Dinah, ‘we must have a bath in the silver bath.'

‘Very well,' said Mr. Corvo, shrugging his shoulders. ‘Go to sleep now and we shall talk in the morning. I am sorry that you will have so unpleasant a picture to greet you when you wake.' And he pointed to an enlarged photograph, framed in gold, that hung on the wall opposite the bed.

‘What an ugly little boy!' said Dinah. ‘Who is it?'

‘Count Hulagu, when he was seven,' said Mr. Corvo.

‘Let's turn his face to the wall,' said Dinah.

‘Look what I've found,' said Dorinda, opening a large paper bag that lay on a bedside table.

‘Peppermint creams! There must be about four pounds of them.'

‘The Tyrant is very fond of sweets,' said Mr. Corvo. ‘He likes to see people being killed, and he likes peppermint creams. He is a strange man. And now, if you will permit me first of all to wash my face and hands—which I now see are as black as a negro—I shall say good-night. The Puma and I will sleep in the sitting-room, so you will be quite safe. There is a very comfortable sofa for me, and a Persian rug for her. I hope you will have pleasant dreams.'

‘Fancy sleeping in Count Hulagu's own bed,' said Dorinda half an hour later.

‘Fancy sleeping under the same roof as Father,' said Dinah. ‘Isn't it exciting to think we're quite near to him again? Oh, I wish we could let him know that we are here!'

‘So do I,' said Dorinda.

‘Poor Father, he's probably cold and miserable, while we're enjoying every luxury.'

‘I don't suppose we'll enjoy luxury for long,' said Dorinda. ‘Not after Count Hulagu comes back.'

‘I wish I could think of some way to get him out of his dungeon. Father, I mean. Have you thought of anything yet?'

‘No,' said Dorinda, ‘but I expect Mr. Corvo has. Or if he hasn't, he will. He's very clever, isn't he? Dinah, I think I'll have just one more peppermint cream before I go to sleep.'

‘Don't make yourself sick again.'

‘Of course not. You talk as though I were always being sick.'

‘You nearly were, in the wardrobe.'

‘Well, it's very different being in a wardrobe and being in bed.'

‘Don't make a mess of the pillow,' said Dinah sleepily.

‘They're not our pillows,' Dorinda answered with her mouth full. And then, almost before she knew what was happening, she too was asleep.

They hardly stirred till eight o'clock, when Mr. Corvo came in to wake them. Drowsy as they were, they could see at once that he was very pleased about something, and almost his first words were, ‘I have found some information of the greatest importance! But I shall not tell you now. Not till we have had breakfast. And do not be alarmed when, in order to get breakfast, I make a great noise.'

Mr. Corvo explained the Tyrant's system of calling his servants by firing a revolver at the ceiling, which Professor Bultek had told him about, and added. ‘Count Hulagu went away so hurriedly last night that very few people know he is not here. It will be quite safe, or almost quite safe, to order breakfast. I have found two loaded revolvers in the sitting-room, and three more in the billiard-room which is beyond it.'

‘There are some here too,' said Dinah, ‘and one in the bathroom.'

‘The Tyrant is very fond of revolvers,' said Mr. Corvo. ‘When he was a little boy, like you see him in that photograph, he shot his school teacher with one. Now I have written this message, ordering breakfast, which I will place upon the table. Then I will fire a revolver four times at the ceiling, go quickly into the bathroom, and turn on both the taps, so the butler when he comes will think Count Hulagu is having a bath. This is the message.'

Printed in capital letters on a sheet of notepaper were the following words:
Gribn unjerdee tevi. Chi issu resh grunhy. Gribn chess fosue, telpyn skepc, chum feekfa, satto, titsanpipse, lamrameda dun rubeer, dun eni fabseeket
.

‘It is written, of course, in our language, in Bombast,' said Mr. Corvo. ‘In English it means: Bring breakfast quickly. I am very hungry. Bring six eggs, plenty bacon, much coffee, toast, rolls, marmalade and butter, and one beefsteak.'