CHAPTER XXI
Through the ever-deepening dusk Cleek and Arjeeb Noosrut moved onwardtogether; and onward behind them moved, too, the same dilatory messengerboy who had loitered about in the neighbourhood of the park, squanderinghis halfpence now as then, leaving a small trail of winkle shells andtrotter bones to mark the record of his passage, and never seeming tolose one iota of his appetite, eat as much and as often as he would.
The walk led down into the depths of Soho, that refuge of the foreignelement in London; but long before they halted at the narrow doorway ofa narrow house in a narrow side street--a street that seemed to havegone to sleep in an atmosphere of gloom and smells--Cleek had adroitly"pumped" Arjeeb Noosrut dry, and the riddle of the sacred son was ariddle to him no longer. He was now only anxious to part from the manand return with the news to Lady Chepstow, and was casting round in hismind for some excuse to avoid going indoors with him and wastingprecious time in breaking bread and eating salt, when there lurched outof an adjoining doorway an ungainly figure in turban and sandals and thefull flower of that grotesque regalia which passes muster at cheaptheatres and masquerade balls for the costume of a Cingalese. The fellowhad bent forward out of the deeper darkness of the house-passage intothe murk and gloom of the ill-lit street, and was straining his eyes asif in search for someone long expected.
"Dog of an infidel!" exclaimed Arjeeb Noosrut, speaking in Hindustani,and spitting on the pavement as he caught sight of the man. "See,well-beloved, he is of those 'others' of which I spoke when I first metthee. There are many of them, but true believers none. They dwell in aroom huddled up as unclean things in the house there; they drink andmake merry far into the night, and a woman veiled and in European garbcomes to them and drinks with them sometimes--and sometimes a man of herkind with her; and they speak a tongue that is not the tongue of ourpeople; yet have I seen them go forth into the city and do homage as weto the sacred son."
Cleek sucked in his breath and, twitching round, stared at the dimfigure leaning forward in the dim light.
"By George!" he said to himself; "if I know anything, I ought to knowthe slouch and the low-sunk head of the Apache! And the womancomes!--And a man comes!--And there are five lacs of rupees! I wonder! Iwonder! But no--she wouldn't come here, to a place like this, if she hadventured back into England and had called some of the band over to help.She'd go to the old spot--to the old haunt where she and I used to lielow and laugh whilst the police were hunting for me. She'd go there, I'msure, to the old Burnt Acre Mill, where, if you were 'stalked,' youcould open the sluice gates and let the Thames and the mill stream rushin and meet, and make a hell of whirling waters that would drown a fish.She would go there if it were she. And yet--it is an Apache: I swear itis an Apache!"
He turned and looked back at Arjeeb Noosrut, then raised his hand andbrushed it down the back of his head, which was always the sign "Wait!"to Dollops--and then spoke as calmly as he could.
"Brother, I will go in and break bread and eat salt with thee," he said."But I may do no more, for to-night I am in haste."
"Come then," the man answered; and taking him by the hand, led him inand up to a room at the back of the second storey, where, hot as thenight was, the windows were closed and a woman squatted before a lightedbrasier, was dripping the contents of an oil cruse over the roastingcarcass of a young kid.
"It is to shut out the sounds of the vile infidel orgies from the houseadjoining," explained Arjeeb Noosrut, as Cleek walked to the tightlyclosed window and leant his forehead against it. "Yet, if the heatoppresses thee--"
"It does," interposed Cleek, and leant far out into the darkness asthough sucking in the air when the sash was raised and the thing whichhad been only a dim babel of wordless sounds a moment before, became nowthe riotous laughter and the ribald comments of men upon the verses of acomic song which one of their number was joyously singing.
"French!" said Cleek under his breath, as he caught the notes of thesinger and the words of his audience--"French--I knew it!"
Then he drew in his head, and having broken of the bread and eaten ofthe salt which, at a word from Arjeeb Noosrut, the woman brought on awicker tray and laid before them, he moved hastily to the door.
"Brother and son of the faithful, peace be with thee--I must go," hesaid. "But I come again; and it is written that thou shalt be honouredabove all men when I return to thee, and that the true believers--thetrue sons of Holy Buddha--shall have cause to set thy name at the headof the records of those who are most blest of him!"
Then he salaamed and passed out; and, closing the door behind him, ranlike a hare down the narrow stairs. At the door Dollops rose up like theimp in a pantomime and jumped toward him.
"Law, Gov'nor, I'm nigh starved a-waitin' for yer!" he said in awhisper. "Wot's the lay now? A double-quick change? I've got the stuffhere, look!"--holding up the package he was carrying--"or a chance forme to do some fly catchin' with me bloomin' tickle tootsies?"
The man in the Cingalese costume had vanished from the doorway of theadjoining house, and, catching the boy by the arm, Cleek hurried him toit and drew him into the dark passage.
"I'm going to the back; I'm going to climb up to the windows of thesecond storey and see who's there and what's going on," he whispered."Lie low and watch. I think it's Margot's gang."
"Oh, colour me blue! Them beauties? And in London? I'd give a tanner fora strong cup o' tea!"
"Sh-h-h! Be quiet--speak low. Don't be seen, but keep a close watch; andif anybody comes downstairs--"
"He's mine!" interjected Dollops, stripping up his sleeves. "Glue to theeyebrows and warranted to stick! Nip away, Gov'nor, and leave it to thetickle tootsies and me!" Then, as Cleek moved swiftly and silently downthe passage and slipped out into a sort of yard at the back of thehouse, he pulled out his roll of brown paper squares and his tube ofadhesive, and crawling upstairs on his hands and knees, began operationsat the top step. But he had barely got the first "plaster" fairly madeand ready to apply when there came a rush of footsteps behind him and hewas obliged to duck down and flatten himself against the floor of thelanding to escape being run down by a man who dashed in through thelower floor, flew at top speed up the stairs, and, with a sort ofblended cheer and yell, whirled open a door on the landing above andvanished. In a twinkling other cheers rang out, there was the sound ofhastily moving feet and the uproar of general excitement.
"Oh, well, if you won't stop to be waited on, gents, help yourselves!"said Dollops with a chuckle. Then he began backing hastily down thestairs, squirting the contents of the tube all over the steps, andconcluded the operation by scattering all the loose sheets of paper onthe floor at the foot of them before slipping out into the street andcomposedly waiting.
Meantime Cleek, sneaking out through the rear door, found himself in asmall, brick-paved yard hemmed in by a high wall thickly fringed on thetop with a hedge of broken bottles. At one time in its history the househad been occupied by a catgut maker, and the rickety shed in which hehad carried on his calling still clung, sagging and broken-roofed, tothe building itself, its rotten slates all but vanished, and itsinterior piled high with mildewed bedding, mouldy old carpet, brokenfurniture, and refuse of every sort.
A foot or two above the roof-level of this glowed--two luminousrectangles in the blackness of darkness--the windows of the back room onthe second storey; and out of these came floating still the song, thelaughter, and the jabbered French he had heard in the house next door.It did not take him long to make up his mind. Gripping the swayingsupports of the sagging shed, he went up it with the agility of amonkey, crawled to the nearer of the two windows, and, cautiouslyraising himself, peeped in. What he saw made him suck in his breathsharply and sent his heart hammering hard and fast.
A dozen men were in the room--men whose faces, despite an inartisticattempt to appear Oriental, he recognized at a glance and knew betterthan he knew his own. About them lay discarded portions of Cingaleseattire, thrown off because of the heat, and waiting to be resume
d at anymoment. The air was thick with tobacco smoke and rank with spirituousodours. Sprawled figures were everywhere, and on a sort of couch againstthe opposite wall, a cigarette between her fingers, a glass of absintheat her elbow, her laughter and badinage ringing out as loudly as any,lay the lissom figure of Margot!
But even as Cleek looked in upon it the picture changed. Swift, sharp,and sudden came the rattle of flying feet on the outer stairs. Margotflung aside her cigarette and jumped up, the song and the laughter cameto an abrupt end, the door flew open, and with a shout and a cheer a manbounced into the room.
"Serpice! Ah, _le bon Dieu!_ it is Serpice at last!" cried out Margot injoyous excitement, as she and the others crowded round him. "Soul of asluggard, don't waste time in laughing and capering like this! Speak up,speak up, you hear? Are we to fly at once to the mill and join him? Hashe succeeded? Is it done?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" shouted back Serpice, throwing up his cap and capering."It is done! It is done! Under the very nose of the cracksman, too!Merode's got them--got them both! The little lordship and theMademoiselle Lorne, too! They took the bait like gudgeons; they steppedinto the automobile without a fear, and--whizz! it was off to the milllike that! La, la, la! We win, we win, we win!"
The shock of the thing was too much for Cleek. Carried out of himself bythe knowledge that the woman he loved was now in peril of her life,discretion forsook him, blind rage mastered him, and he did one of thefew foolish things of his life.
"You lie, you brute--you lie!" he shouted, jumping up into full view."God help the man who lays a hand on her! Let him keep his life from meif he can!"
"The cracksman!" yelled out Serpice. "The cracksman! The cracksman!"echoed Margot and the rest. Then a pistol barked and spat, the light wasswept out, a bullet sang past Cleek's ear, and he realised how foolishhe had been. For part of the crowd came surging to the window, part wentin one blind rush for the door to head him off and hem him in, and,through the din and hubbub rang viciously the voice of Margot shrillingout: "Kill him! Kill him!" as though nothing but the sight of his bloodwould glut the malice of her.
It was neck or nothing now, and the race was to the swift. He droppedthrough a gap in the ragged roof--sheer down, like a shot--into therubble and refuse below; he lurched through the shed to the door, andthrough that to the black passage leading to the street--the clatter onthe higher staircase giving warning of the crowd coming after him--andflew like a hare hard pressed toward the outer door, and then--justthen, when every little moment counted--there was a scrambling sound, achorus of oaths, a slipping, a sliding, a bang on one step and a bump onanother; and, as he darted by, and sprang out into the street, the hallwas filled with a writhing, scuffling, swearing mass of glue-covered menstruggling in a whirling waste of loose brown paper.
"This way! come quickly, for your life!" he shouted to Dollops, as hecame plunging out into the street. "They've got them--got his littlelordship! Got Miss Lorne--in spite of me. Come on! come on! comeon!"--and flew like an arrow from crossing to crossing and street tostreet with Dollops, like a shadow, at his heels.
A sudden swerve to the right brought them into a lighted and populousthoroughfare. Italian restaurants, German delicatessen shops, eatingplaces of a dozen other nationalities lined the pavements on both sidesof the street, and, in front of these a high-power motor stood,protected by the watchful eye of an accommodating policeman while thechauffeur sampled Chianti in a wine-shop close by. With a rush and aleap Cleek was upon it, and with another rush and a leap the constablewas upon him, only to be greeted with the swift flicking open of a coatand the gleam of a badge that every man in the force knew.
"Cleek?"
"Yes! In the name of The Yard; in the name of the king! get out of theway! In with you, Dollops! We'll get the brutes yet!"
Then he bent over, threw in the clutch, and discarding all speed laws,sent the car humming and tearing away.
"Hold tight!" he said, through his teeth. "Whatever comes, we've got toget to Burnt Acre Mill inside of an hour. If you know any prayers,Dollops, say them."
"The Lord fetch us home in time for supper!" gulped the boy obediently."S'help me, Gov'nor, the wind's goin' through my teeth like I was amouth organ--and I'm hollow enough for a flute!"