CHAPTER XXIX
The "frying" of them took the shape of first going outside andwalking round the Stone Drum, and then of stepping back to thedoor and beckoning Narkom and Lord Fallowfield and young JamesDrake out to him.
"Anybody in the habit of sitting out here to read or paint oranything of that sort?" he asked abruptly.
"Good gracious, no!" replied Lord Fallowfield. "Whatever makes youask such a thing as that, Mr. Cleek?"
"Nothing, only that I have found four little marks disposed of atsuch regular distances that they seem to have been made by the fourlegs of a chair resting, with a rather heavy weight upon it, on theleads of the roof and immediately under one of the bowman's slitsin the Stone Drum. A chair with casters, I should imagine, from thecharacter of the marks. We are on a level with the sleeping quartersof the servants in the house proper, I believe, and chairs withcasters are not usual in servants' bedrooms in most houses. Arethey so here?"
"Certainly not," put in young Drake. "Why, I don't believe thereis a chair with casters on the whole blessed floor. Is there, LordFallowfield? You ought to know."
"Yes, there is, Jim. There are three in fact; they all are in the oldarmoury. Been there a dog's age; and they so matched the old placeyour poor father never had them taken out."
"The 'old armoury'? What's that, your lordship, may I ask?"
"Oh, a relic of the old feudal times, Mr. Cleek. You see, on accountof the position of the Stone Drum, the weapon room, or arming-room,had to be up here on a level with the wing roof, instead of belowstairs, as in the case of other 'towers.' That's the place overthere--the window just to the left of the door leading into thebuilding proper. It is full of the old battle flags, knights'pennants, shields, cross-bows, and the Lord knows what of those olddays of primitive warfare. We Fallowfields always preserved it,just as it was in the days of its usefulness, for its historicalinterest and its old association with the name. Like to have alook at it?"
"Very much indeed," replied Cleek, and two minutes later he wasstanding in the place and revelling in its air of antiquity.
As Lord Fallowfield had declared, the three old chairs which suppliedseating accommodation were equipped with casters, but althoughthese were the prime reason for Cleek's visit to the place, hegave them little more than a passing glance, bestowing all hisattention upon the ancient shields and the quaint old cross-bowswith which the walls were heavily hung in tier after tier almostto the groined ceiling.
"Primitive times, Mr. Narkom, when men used to go out with thesejimcrack things and bang away at each other with skewers!" hesaid, taking one of them down and examining it in a somewhatcasual manner, turning it over, testing its weight, looking at itscatch, and running his fingers up and down the propelling string."Fancy a chap with one of these things running up against a modernbattery or sailing out into a storm of shrapnel! Back to your hook,grandfather"--hanging it up again--"times change and we with time.By the way, your lordship, I hope you will be better able to givean account of _your_ whereabouts last night than I hear that Mr.Drake here is able to do regarding his."
"I? Good heavens, man, what do you mean?" flung out his lordship,so taken aback by the abruptness of the remark that the very breathseemed to be knocked out of him. "Upon my soul, Mr. Cleek----"
"Gently, gently, your lordship. You must certainly realize that inthe circumstances the same necessity must exist for you to explainyour movements as exists for Mr. Drake. I am told that in the eventof the elder Mr. Drake's death this property was to come to youwholly unencumbered by any charge or any restrictions whatsoever."
"Good God! So it was. Upon my soul, I'd forgotten all about that!"exclaimed his lordship with such an air that he was either speakingthe absolute truth or was a very good actor indeed.
"Jim! My boy! Oh, good heavens! I never gave the thing athought--never one! No, Mr. Cleek, I can give no account of mymovements other than to say that I went to bed directly I leftthe Stone Drum. Or--yes. I can prove that much, by George! I can,indeed. Ojeebi was with me, or, at least, close at my heels at thetime, and he saw me go into my room, and must have heard me lockthe door."
"Ojeebi? Who is he?"
"My father's Japanese valet," put in young Drake. "Been with him forthe past five years. If he tells you that he saw Lord Fallowfieldgo into his room and lock the door after him, you can rely upon thatas an absolute and irrefutable truth. 'Whitest' little yellow manthat ever walked on two feet; faithful as a dog, and as truthful asthey make 'em."
"And they don't make 'em any too truthful, as a rule, in his country,by Jove!" said Cleek. "Still, of course, as he could not possiblyhave anything to gain----Call him up, will you, and let us hear whathe has to say with regard to Lord Fallowfield's statement."
Young Drake rang for a servant, issued the necessary order, andsome five or six minutes later a timid little yellow man with thekindest face and the most gentle step a man could possess came intothe room, his soft eyes reddened with much weeping, and tear-stainsmarking his sallow cheeks.
"Oh, Mr. Jim! Oh, Mr. Jim! the dear, kind old 'boss'! He gone! hegone!" he broke out disconsolately as he caught sight of his latemaster's son, and made as if to prostrate himself before him.
"That's all right, Ojeebi--that's all right, old man!" interruptedyoung Drake, with a smothered "blub" in his voice and a twitchingmovement of his mouth. "Cut it out! I'm not iron. Say, this gentlemanwants to ask you a few questions, Ojeebi; deliver the goods just asstraight as you know how."
"Me, Mr. Jim? Gentleman want question me?" The small figure turned,the kindly face lifted, and the sorrowful eyes looked up into Cleek'sunemotional ones.
"Yes," said he placidly; and forthwith told him what Lord Fallowfieldclaimed.
"That very true," declared Ojeebi. "The lord gentleman he right aheadof me. I see him go into his room and hear him lock door. That verytrue indeed."
"H'm! Any idea of the time?"
"Yes--much idea. Two minutes a-past twelve. I see clock as I go pastLady Marj'ie's room."
"What were you doing knocking about that part of the house at thathour of the night? Your room's up here in the servant's quarters,isn't it?"
"Yes, sir. But I go take ice-water to the boss's room. Boss nevergo to bed nights without ice-water handy, sir. 'Merican boss neverdo."
"Yes! Quite so, quite so! Where did you get the ice from--and how?Chop it from a big cake?"
"No, sir. It always froze to fit bottle. I get him from the ice-makeroom downstairs."
"He means the refrigerating room, Mr. Cleek," explained youngDrake. "You know, I take it, what a necessary commodity we Americanshold ice to be. Indeed, the dear old dad wouldn't think a dinnerwas a dinner without ice-water on the table, and ice-cream forthe final course. And as there was no possibility of procuring aregular and adequate supply in an out-of-the-way spot like this, hehad a complete artificial ice-making plant added to the place, andovercame the difficulty in that way. That is what Ojeebi means bythe 'ice-make room.' What he means about its being frozen to fitthe bottles is this: The ice which is to be used for drinkingpurposes is manufactured in forms or vessels which turn it out incubes, so that whenever it is wanted all that a servant has to dois to go to the plant, and the man in charge supplies him with allthe cubes required."
"Ah, I see," said Cleek, and stroked his chin. "Well, that's all, Ireckon, for the time being. Ojeebi has certainly backed up yourstatement to the fullest, your lordship, so we can dispense with himentirely. And now, if I have your permission, gentlemen, I shouldlike to feel myself privileged to go poking about the house andgrounds for the next hour or so in quest of possible clues. At theend of that time I will rejoin you here, and shall hope to havesomething definite to report. So if you don't mind my going----Thanksvery much. Come along, Mr. Narkom. I've a little something for youto do, and--an hour will do it, or I'm a dogberry."
With that he took his departure from the armoury and, with thesuperintendent following, went down through the house to the groundsand out into the screen
of close crowding, view-defying trees.
Here he paused a minute to pull out his notebook and scribblesomething on a leaf, and then to tear out that leaf and put itinto Mr. Narkom's hand.
"Rush Lennard off to the post-office with that, will you? and have itwired up to town as soon as possible," he said. "Prepay the reply,and get that reply back to me as soon as telegraph and motor can getit here."
Then he swung off out of the screen of the trees and round the angleof the building, and set about hunting for the refrigerating plant.