The Kingdom of Slender Swords
CHAPTER XLIV
THE LAYING OF THE MINE
Doctor Bersonin lunched at the Tokyo Club.
For three days the rain had fallen steadily, in one of those seasons oftorrential downpour which in Japan are generally confined to the typhoonseason and which flood its low-lands, turn its creeks into raging riversand play havoc with its bridges. For three days the sky had been a dullexpanse of pearl-gray, and the city a waste of drenched green foliageand gleaming tile, whose roadways were lines of brown mud with a surfaceof thin glue, dotted with glistening umbrellas of oil-paper and bamboo.Under their trickling eaves the shop-fronts, dark and hollow andcomfortless, had held the red glow of _hibachi_; teamsters had shownbristling tunics of rice-straw and loads covered with saffron tarpaulin;_rick'sha_ had reeled past with rubber fronts tightly buttoned againstthe slanting spears of rain, and the foreign carriages that dragged byhad borne coachmen swathed to the ears. This morning, however, the rainhad ceased and wind had supervened.
The Club was cheerful, with a sprinkling of the younger diplomatic set,Japanese business men and journalists, all men of note. The up-stairsdining-room was full of talk as the expert arrived and chose a smalltable by himself.
While he waited, the boy brought him one of the English-printednewspapers, and he cast his eyes over the head-lines. He read:
SQUADRON'S SAILING ORDERS
To Leave To-morrow Morning. An Answer to the Alarmists.
All Differences Between the Two Governments to Yield to Diplomacy.
On the other side was the caption in smaller type:
BEAR RAID ON MARKETS
Mysterious Selling Movement Causes Uneasiness.
He read the latter despatch--an Associated Press wire, under a New Yorkdate-line:
"At noon to-day the bear movement, heretofore regarded as a natural reaction following an over-advancement, and hence of purely academic interest, suddenly assumed such proportions as to make the outlook one of anxiety. It seems significant that before the Wall Street opening this morning the London market responded to an attack of the same nature. In an era of industrial prosperity and general peace such a phenomenon is alarming, and a serious decline is anticipated in some quarters. The short sales which were such a factor in to-day's market were so distributed that it seems impossible to trace them to any single interest."
Bersonin's face expressed nothing. He folded the crackling sheet andlaid it to one side.
Most of the comment about him turned on the departure of the Squadron.Since the royal death, whose announcement had so abruptly ended thefestivities, the black battle-ships had lain motionless in the bay. Theappointment of a regent of confessedly more positive policy had givenrise to many speculations, and the apostles of calamity had seized theopportunity to sow the seeds of disquiet. The great world, however, hadas yet given little thought to their prognostications. The bourses hadgone higher and higher. Only in diplomatic circles, where the mercury ishabitually unquiet, had there been perceptible effect. To-day thecomment showed a sub-tone of relief.
The doctor ate little. He left the _petit verre_ with his coffeeuntouched, signed his _chit_ and went down to his automobile.
"Bersonin must be under the weather," one of the men at another tableobserved, as he passed them. "He looks like a putty image."
"Curious chap," remarked the other. "Got a lot in his head, no doubt.Some queer stories afloat about him, but I don't suppose there'sanything in them."
The other lit his cigar reflectively. "I can't somehow 'go' him,myself," he said.
Bersonin was whirled to his house, and presently was in his laboratorywith its glass shelves, its books and its wall-safe. A cheerful fireburned in the grate against the dampness.
He began to walk restlessly up and down the floor. To-day his governmentcontract expired and Japan had not asked its renewal. He thought of thiswith a sudden recrudescence of the hatred he had nurtured for theEmpire. This had been based on fancied slights, on his failure toreceive a decoration, on the surveillance he had lately imagined hadbeen kept on his movements. Well, to-morrow would repay all withinterest! There was no hitch in the plan which chance had aided so well.The Roost was the one house on the Yokohama Bluff that could have servedhis purpose, planted on the cliff-edge and in line with the anchorage.And it had happened to be in the hands of this weak fool for hiscat's-paw!
His great, cunning brain turned to the future--to that vast career whichhis stupendous egotism had painted for himself. His discovery was soepoch-making, so terrifying in its possibilities to civilization, thatit had nonplussed him. It was too big to handle. He had made thegreatest dynamic engine the world had seen--possibly the greatest itwould ever see--and yet he knew that the Ambassador had laid his fingeron the truth when he had said: "_Humanity would revolt! The man who knewthe secret would be too dangerous to be at large!_"
But with wealth--wealth enough to buy men and privilege--what might henot do? It would take time, and scheming, and secrecy, but he had themall. And the great secret was always his, and his alone! It would makehim more powerful than Emperors, for he who possessed it, with the meansto use it, could laugh at fleets and fortifications. Before the machinesthat he should build the greatest steel-clad that was ever floated wouldvanish like smoke! He clenched his great hands and his massive framequivered.
"The future, the future!" he said in a low, tense voice. "I shall begreater than Caesar, greater than Napoleon, for I shall hold the forcethat can make and unmake kings! So surely as force rules the world, sosurely shall I, Bersonin, rule the world!"
A knock came at the door and Phil entered. He was as pale as the doctorand his clothing was soaked with the rain. Without a word Bersoninlocked the door, wheeled an arm-chair before the blaze, pushed him intoit and mixed him a glass of spirits. Then he stood looking at him.
"It's all right," said Phil. "The tripod fitted to a hair. It can't beseen from either side, and I've sent the boy away and locked the house."
"Good," said Bersonin. "All is ready, then. The mechanism is set for themoment of daybreak. Our gains will be enormous, for in spite of theselling the market is up. There has been a little distrust of thesituation here and there, though the optimists have had their way. Andthis latent distrust will add to the _debacle_ when it comes. We arejust in time, for the Squadron has its sailing-orders for to-morrow.Strange how near we were to failure! Who could have foreseen the deathof the King? And the rains, too. They say it is doubtful if the trainswill run to-morrow."
Phil's hand, holding the drink, shook and wavered.
"The damned clock-work in the thing!" he said. "I could hear it all theway--I thought every one would hear it. I can't get the ticking out ofmy brain!" He set down the glass and turned a glittering gaze on theother.
"It's worth all that comes from it," he said. "You play me fair! Do youunderstand? You'll play me fair, or I'll settle with you!"
The doctor smiled, a smile of horrible cunning.
"As you settled with your brother?" he said.
Phil shrank into the chair speechless, looking at him with trepidationin his eyes. The shot had gone home.
"Pshaw!" said Bersonin. "Do you take me for a fool not to guess? Come,we needn't quarrel. Our interests are the same. Go home, now, to yourJapanese butterfly--and wait!"