CHAPTER XII
DAWSON PRESCRIBES
The mind of Dawson has the queerest limitations. He is entirely freefrom any sense of proportion. If I wrote of those incidents which hepressed upon me, this book would be intolerably dull. He sees nointerest in any episode which is not Dawson, Dawson, all the time. Theemotion which was aroused in the hearts of Cary and myself byTrehayne's letter caused Dawson no small anxiety. He feared lest inrendering this episode I should turn the limelight upon Trehayne andleave the private of Marines in the shadows. Which is precisely what Ihave done. From his "sick bed" he sent me a letter explaining that hisown honourable weakness of sympathy with an enemy spy was physical,not moral--reprehensible failing induced by lack of sleep. He labouredto convince me that the spirit of Dawson in the full flush of healthwas of a frightfulness wholly Prussian in its logical completeness.But I smiled, went my own way, and Dawson, when he comes to read thisbook, can swear as loudly as he pleases.
If I had depended only upon Dawson, I should never have secured thedetails of the story which I am about to write. It was Froissart whofirst put me upon the track of it during one of those visits which Ipaid to him when I was investigating _l'affaire_ Rust. Froissart, inimaginative insight, is as much superior to Dawson as the averageFrenchman is to the average Englishman. But in execution he admitssorrowfully that he cannot hold a candle to his brutal secretiveEnglish chief. "I have genius," exclaimed Froissart, "of which thesacred dog Dawson has not a particle. I know not whence come hisideas, the most penetrative. It cannot be from _son Esprit_ of whichhe has none; his brain reposes, without doubt, in his stomach. Yet,_ma foi_, that man whom I detest and to whom I am a colleague mostloyal, is of a practical ingenuity most wonderful. Did you ever learnhow he hid the great cruisers _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ from thewatching eyes of the Boche, and won, here in England, a gloriousvictory for the English Navy, eight thousand miles away? I was withhim, and at the end, falling upon his bosom in generous admiration, Ikissed him on both cheeks. And what was my reward? It was to receive ashort-arm blow upon the diaphragm. That man of mud took my wind, as hecalled it, and I was laid gasping upon the floor. It was in thisfashion that he repulsed me--me a Count of _l'ancien regime_. I couldhave his blood."
I soothed Froissart, and extracted enough from him in rapid Frenchspasms--his idiomatic staccato French is often beyond myunderstanding--to give me a general idea of what Dawson had done.Thereafter I pursued my inquiries, pumping Dawson himself--who, forsome reason, did not greatly value the affair--tackling others whoknew more than they were always willing to tell, even to me theirfriend. Yet in many ways, of which it were well not to be particular,I arrived at the full story which I now tell. To my mind it showsDawson at his best, and Dawson's best is very good indeed.
* * * * *
It was early in November, three months after war had begun. Dawson, towhom had been committed the general supervision of all known enemyspies in London, and who had already put in force that combination oftight net and loose string which I have described, received a summonsfrom his Chief the moment he arrived at his office at the Yard. "Youare wanted at the Admiralty," said the Commissioner--"and wantedbadly. You are to report at once in the First Lord's private room."
"What is the game?" inquired Dawson. "I have lots to do here which Icannot well leave."
"I don't know. But I have orders to send you, and to relieve you fromall other duties. If you want help, you can take Froissart, thatFrench detective who has just been sent to us from Paris as a sort ofliaison officer. He is strongly recommended as a first-class man."
"Hum," said Dawson, between whom and his Chief was a very closefriendship. "I suppose I must toddle round and see what the little manwants this time. Last month he had secret wireless installations onthe brain."
Dawson found the First Lord striding up and down his big room. Allround the walls were set great maps bristling with pins to which wereattached numbered labels. Each pin represented a ship, and each shipwas obedient to an order flashed from the big aerials overhead. Herewas the Holy of Holies, the nerve ganglion of the English Navy, andhere, striding up and down, the man who could jab the nerve-centrewith his finger whenever he pleased. He often pleased. Then he wouldgloat over the pins as they skipped about the maps.
Chief Inspector Dawson was announced, and stood to attention.
"Ha!" cried the First Lord, "so you are Dawson, the Master of Spies.We need you, Dawson; the country needs you; I need you. You have agreat chance this day to show your quality, Dawson. Those of whom Iapprove, I advance. They become great men. Am I to approve of you?"
Dawson observed that he could not well say until he learned what waswanted of him.
"Ha!" cried the First Lord again, "you are a man of few words. I likethose with me who do not talk. When there is talking to be done--well,I can do a little in that line myself. Among my instruments I demandsilence."
Dawson said nothing. The First Lord struck a bell; a servant in blueuniform appeared. "Will you please tell his lordship that ChiefInspector Dawson is here, and that I await his presence."
The man retired and presently returned. "His lordship is in his roommaking out the orders for the Fleet. He bids me say that he is quiteat your service."
The First Lord flushed, and glanced hurriedly at Dawson, who stood atattention, stolid, silent, immovable. It would seem that he readnothing in the message.
"The Mountain is old and stiff in his joints," remarked the First Lordplayfully. "When he settles into his chair, it would take a bomb tolift him out. We are young and active; we must consider theinfirmities of age. Mahomet will go to the Mountain, and you willplease to follow."
Mahomet, swinging his long coat-tails, strode out of the room and downa passage, whence they emerged into another room also set about withpin-studded maps.
"Ha!" said the First Lord, "as you would not come to us, we haveunbent our dignity and come to you. This is Chief Inspector Dawson."
"So I supposed," growled the grizzled old man, who sat at a big deskupon which was piled many flimsies. It was the great Lord Jacquetot,who for all his French name was English of the English.
"Will you explain to Mr. Dawson what we want of him or shall I?"inquired the First Lord. Lord Jacquetot rose from his chair, showingnothing of the infirmities of age. He approached Dawson, looked overhim keenly, and said, "You don't look like a civilian policeman. Wherehave you served?"
Dawson explained that he had in former days been a Red Marine.
"I thought as much," said Jacquetot. "There is no mistaking the backand shoulders of them. Once a Pongo, always a Pongo." He held out hishand, which Dawson shook diffidently. An ex-private of Marines doesnot often shake the hand of a First Sea Lord.
Lord Jacquetot walked over to one of the maps and beckoned to Dawsonto follow. The First Lord hovered in the background, ready to put in aword at the first opportunity.
"There has been a serious naval disaster in the South Seas," saidJacquetot, "and we must clean up the mess, pretty damn quick. The newscame yesterday. Orders were wired at once that two battle-cruisers,the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, should be sent at full speed fromScotland to Devonport to dock, coal, and complete with stores. To keepthem outside the enemy's observation, and to avoid any risk of minesor submarines in the Irish Channel, they have been sent far out roundthe west coast of Ireland. Here they are; we get messages from themevery hour." He indicated two pins. Just then a messenger entered andhanded to the First Sea Lord a wireless flimsy. Jacquetot read it,slipped a scale along the map, took out the two pins, and shifted themfurther south. "They are going well," said he; "doing twenty-fiveknots. They should be off Plymouth Sound by to-morrow evening."
"It is a long way," put in Dawson, deeply interested. "Fifteen hundredmiles."
"There or thereabouts. The coast lights are all out, so that they willsteer a bit wide. They should do it in sixty hours."
"I gave the order within thirty minutes of getting the news of thedi
saster," remarked the First Lord, smacking his lips.
Jacquetot made no reply, though his eyes hardened and his mouth drewinto a stiff line. It was his province to give Orders to the Fleet.
"Those battle-cruisers," went on Lord Jacquetot, addressing Dawson,"will go into dock at Devonport as soon as they arrive. They will bethere forty-eight hours at least. They must be clean ships before theygo through the hot tropical water if their speed is to be kept up.They have gun power, but power without speed is useless for the workwhich they have to do. After leaving England it will be a month beforethe Squadron, of which they are to form the chief part, will beconcentrated in the South Seas. For two days at Devonport, and forfour weeks while at sea, there must be the completest secrecy if ourplans are to succeed. Without absolute secrecy we shall fail. TheBoard of Admiralty is responsible for the sea, but not for the land.We can make certain that no news of the despatch of these two cruisersgets out at sea; can you, Mr. Chief Inspector Dawson, undertake thatno news gets out on land--that no whisper of their sailing reaches theenemy by means of his spies on land?"
"It is a large order," said Dawson thoughtfully.
"It is a very large order," asserted Lord Jacquetot, frowning.
"But large or small, the thing must be done," broke in the First Lord."If this news gets out, and we fail to come up with the GermanSquadron down south, the effect upon the public will be horrible. TheEnglish people may even lose their perfect, their sublime, faith inME."
"They may lose their faith in the Navy," muttered Jacquetot.
"It is the same thing," said the First Lord.
"Can you let me know more details, my lord?" asked Dawson. "What isthe programme? I don't see at present how the arrival, docking, andsailing of the battle-cruisers can possibly be kept secret, but theremay be a way if one could only think of it."
"If the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_ arrive according to programme," saidJacquetot, "they will not come up the Sound till after dark. Then inthe small hours they will slip into dock, and no one but the regulardockyard hands will know that they are there. We will haul them outalso in the middle of the night, and they will be clear away bydaybreak, forty-eight hours after arrival. Coal and other stores areon the spot in plenty, and the shells and cordite for the twelve-inchguns can soon be got down from the Plymouth magazines. The secrecy ofthe operation seems to me to turn on whether we can trust the dockyardhands."
Dawson shook his head. "I wouldn't plump on that, my lord. There havebeen enemy agents working in every dockyard in the kingdom for yearspast, and we haven't spotted all of them. Still, we have our own menworking alongside of them--Scotland Yard men engaged from among theshipbuilding trades unions--accounting for every one, so that no mancan be away from his post without our knowing and shadowing him. It isnot easy to get any information out of the country nowadays. Thesecret wireless stories are all humbug. Wireless gives itself away atonce. If one wants to get news to the enemy, one has to carry itoneself, or hire some one else to carry it. Most of that which goes weallow to go for our own purposes. I am pretty sure that no dockyardhand could get anything away to Holland without our knowledge, so thatit doesn't matter whether they are trustworthy or not so long as we'renot fools enough to trust them. You may not know it, but I have my ownYard men among your messengers here in this building, and among yourclerks too."
"What!" cried the First Lord. "You don't even trust the Admiralty!"
"Least of all," said Dawson grimly. "If I was head of the GermanSecret Service, I would have my own man as your private secretary."
The First Lord sat down gasping. Jacquetot nodded kindly to Dawson,and laughed in his grim old way. "You are the man we want," said he.
"I am not thinking much of the dockyard hands," went on Dawson; "I canlook after them. They're all provided for. The danger is in the gossipof a seaport town. I have lived in Portsmouth for years, and Plymouthis just like it. You may take my word for it that the arrival of the_Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ in dock at Devonport will be known all overthe Three Towns half an hour after they get there. Their mission willbe discussed in every bar, and it won't be difficult to make a prettyuseful guess. Here is a disaster in the South Seas--which will bepublished all over the country by to-morrow morning--and here are twoof our fastest battle-cruisers summoned in hot haste from Scotland tobe cleaned and loaded for a long voyage. Any child, let alone alongshoreman, could put the two things together. 'So the _Intrepid_and _Terrific_ are off to the South Seas to biff old Fritz in theeye.' That is what they will say in the Three Towns where there mustbe hundreds of men--British subjects, too, the swine, and many of themnatural born--who would take risks to shove the news through toHolland if they could get enough dirty money for it. Our worst spiesare not German, you bet; they are Irish and Scotch and Welsh andEnglish. That's where our difficulties come in. I am not afraid of thedockyards, but the gossip of the Three Towns gives me the creeps."
"Then what can we possibly do?" wailed the First Lord, who saw hisprospect of a brilliant coup wilt away like a fair mirage. "The secretwill get out, our plans will fail, and MY Administration, my beautifulAdministration, will have to stand the racket. How shall I defendmyself in the House?"
"That won't matter much to the country," put in Jacquetot bluntly."What matters, is that we should do everything possible to keep thesecret in spite of all the inherent difficulties. Sit down, Mr.Dawson, and do some hard thinking."
"I prefer to stand, my lord. When I want to think I do a bit ofsentry-go."
"So do I!" exclaimed the First Lord. "All my most famous speeches werecomposed while I walked up and down my dressing-room before my--" Hebroke off hastily, but as neither Jacquetot nor Dawson were listening,he might have completed the sentence without revealing the secrets ofhis looking-glass.
"May I speak my mind, my lords?" asked Dawson.
"It is what you are here for," replied Jacquetot.
"I always work on certain general principles. They apply here. Peoplewill talk; that is certain. If one doesn't want them to talk aboutsomething really important, one puts up something else conspicuous,harmless, and exciting to occupy their minds. In your politics"--turning to the First Lord with an air of simplicity--"whenyou've made a thorough mess of governing England, and don't want to befound out, you set the people fighting about Home Rule for Ireland. Idon't mean you, sir, but politicians generally."
"Quite so," said the First Lord, blinking.
"Well, see here. We don't want any talk about the _Intrepid_ and_Terrific_. So, before they arrive, we must give the people of theThree Towns a real titbit of excitement. Battle-cruisers come to dockin Devonport quite often when they are damaged. Two battle-cruiserswhich had been mined or submarined, one towing the other, would be apretty picture in the Sound. It would set all the folk talking fordays, and no one would think that two damaged cruisers had anything todo with the South Seas. Everybody would say, 'What cruel luck. If the_Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ hadn't got blown up they would be just rightand handy to send down south. As it is--' And then the German agentswould somehow get the news to Holland--we would help them all we couldin a quiet way--that the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, two fastbattle-cruisers, had been nearly lost, and were being patched up atDevonport. The Germans, hearing the glorious news, would hugthemselves and say that now was the time for the High Seas Fleet tocome out and smash Jellicoe. The last thing in their minds would beany concentration in the south against their own Pacific Squadron.That's how I apply my general principles to this case. Meanwhile, ofcourse, the _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_, well and sound, would be racingaway down to the South Seas and no one in the Three Towns--except thedockyard hands, whom we would look after--and no one at all inGermany, would have a glimmer of the real truth."
While Dawson was thinking aloud in this rather halting, stumbling way,the First Lord and his chief naval colleague were looking hard at oneanother. The politician, with his quick House-of-Commons wits, jumpedto the idea before his slower thinking expert colleague could sort outthe two
battle-cruisers who were to be mined or submarined from thetwo which were to speed away south to avenge the recent disaster.
"If the two battle-cruisers are mined or submarined--which Godforbid," said Jacquetot, "how can they sail for the south?"
"Need they be the same ships?" inquired Dawson, whose eyes had begunto flash with excitement. "Need they be the same?"
"Don't you see?" interposed the First Lord. "The idea is quite good. Iwas just about to suggest something of the kind myself when Mr. Dawsonanticipated me. That is where the mind with a wide universal traininghas a great advantage over the narrow intensive intelligence of theprofessional expert. Even in war. What I propose, what Mr. Dawson hereproposes with my full concurrence, is that two severely damagedbattle-cruisers, known temporarily as the _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_,should be brought into the Sound in broad day and displayed before theeyes of the curious in the Three Towns. The real ships will slip in,be docked and coaled, and slip out again. The two others, upon whompublic attention has been concentrated, shall be put aground somewherein the Sound to be salved with great and leisurely ostentation. Wewill keep them well away from the Hoe, and allow no one whatever toapproach them. We will, unofficially, allow the news of their sorrystate to get out of country and into the Dutch papers. Meanwhile, asMr. Dawson says, the real _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ will be speedingtowards the south, and the saving for the nation's service of myinvaluable public reputation for accurate judgment and quick decision.Mr. Dawson's suggestion--I should, perhaps, rather say my ownsuggestion--shall be laid before the Board at once."
Though the stiff mind of Lord Jacquetot was not very quick to take ina new idea, no man alive was better equipped for practically workingout a naval scheme. While the First Lord was assuming that sorelydamaged battle-cruisers, or vessels which could be passed off in placeof them, needed but his summons to spring from the deeps, Jacquetothad pressed a bell and ordered a messenger to request the immediatepresence of the Fourth Sea Lord, within whose province was the wholeart and mystery of ship construction. Upon the appearance of thisofficer the plan was gone over anew, and he was asked whence andwithin what time he could produce two presentable dummies to do dutyin the Sound for the entertainment of the population of Plymouth,Devonport, and Stonehouse. There were, said he, two if not three atPortsmouth, constructed out of old cargo tramp hulls for themystification of the enemy. They had already done duty as newlycompleted battleships, but with a little alteration to the canvas oftheir funnels, the lath and plaster of their turrets and conningtowers, and the wood of their guns, they might be made into perfectlikenesses--at a distance--of the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_. Theships' carpenters, he explained, could make the changes while thedummies were coming round to Plymouth. Seated at the desk of LordJacquetot he wrote the necessary orders in code, his Chief signedthem, and they were put at once on the wires for Portsmouth. Thesea-cocks, said the Fourth Lord, would be opened twenty miles fromland so that the "_Intrepid"_ might come in sadly down by the bows,and the "_Terrific"_ with a list of twenty degrees, pluckily towingher sorely crippled sister. With a chart of Plymouth Sound beforethem, the two officers settled the precise spot, sufficiently remote,yet well within sight of the Hoe, at which the two unhappybattle-cruisers should come to rest upon the mud. "It will be a mostpathetic spectacle," said the Fourth Lord laughing, "and I will bet amonth's pay and allowances that at the distance not a man in the ThreeTowns will have the smallest suspicion that the genuinecopper-bottomed _Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ are not ditched before hisblooming eyes." He rose from the table, upon which the chart had beenlaid, walked over to Dawson and shook him warmly by the hand. "Youwon't get any credit for the idea," he whispered. "One never does. Butit was a damned good notion. What are you going to do now?"
"I am going to Plymouth this afternoon to make sure that the Germantruth gets over the water to Holland, and that the English truth stayssafely behind. If you will all do your part, I will do mine."