CHAPTER III
WHEREIN I MEET THE PIRATE
WE were soon out of the narrow Soho street, and I observed that the timewas just half-past ten as Winter steered us carefully through PiccadillyCircus. Colonel Maitland occupied a seat behind while I sat besideWinter.
The car my friend drove was a magnificent 22-horse Daimler, built to hisown specification and capable of doing considerably more than any car Ihad hitherto been privileged to ride upon. Of course while passingthrough the streets there was little chance of exhibiting itscapabilities. Yet even there, the way the car glided in and out of thetraffic, delicately responsive to the slightest touch of the steeringwheel, was sufficient evidence of its quality to set the most nervouspassenger at ease. As it was as yet too early for the after theatretraffic to fill the streets and compel us to stop every few minutes, wefollowed the main road up Oxford Street as far as the Marble Arch. Therewe turned to the right. Once clear of the narrow part of the EdgewareRoad, Winter put on his second speed and a very few minutes seemed tohave passed before we were bumping over a rough bit of roadway byCricklewood.
"There's not much of this," said Winter, cheerily over his shoulder tothe Colonel.
Our gastronomic friend merely grunted for reply, and I should havethought him to be asleep had not the red glow of his cigar assured methat he was still awake.
Winter jammed on his third speed and the hedges began to fly past us. Wewere in the country now and were able to appreciate the fineness of thenight. Indeed it was a perfect night. The air was sharp but withoutsting. The moon shone with a clear brilliance which betokened rain inthe near future. The road was clean and dry, and there was no dust inthe air except the thin cloud which floated behind us. We passed theWelsh Harp without a check, and not until we reached Edgeware did Winterrevert to his second speed. We ran through the little town with onlymomentary slackening of pace, and so we sped onwards until we opened thestretch of road leading to Brockley Hill. Here Winter, seeing the roadclear ahead, jammed on his highest speed and the wheels droned like ahive of bees as we darted towards the incline. We were half way up thehill before Winter found it necessary to transform his speed into power,and we finished the ascent with ease. Then once more the order was thirdspeed, and we whirled away through Elstree and passed through Radlett abare half hour from the time we started.
Just at this time I looked back to see how Colonel Maitland fared. Hiscigar no longer glowed, though it was still tightly held between histeeth. His head was bent forward, and the regular and gentle murmurwhich came from his nose proclaimed that he slept. I had just mentionedthe fact to Winter, and had turned again to assure myself that he wascomfortably wrapped in his rug, when I thought I saw on the road behindme another car.
"Hullo!" I said to Winter. "There's another chap coming on behind us.Without lights, too!"
A slight bend in the road shut out the view, however, and made me doubtwhether or no my eyes had been deceiving me.
"Pooh!" replied Winter. "We've passed nothing on the road, and at thepace we've been travelling there's not another car owned in thisdistrict we should not have left miles behind us, even if it had startedat the same time as ourselves. You must have mistaken some of theshadows from the trees. How much of that port did you drink?"
I laughed, but as we had now reached a straight stretch of road I lookedback again.
"I'm right," I said. "There is another car, and by jove! It's coming uphand over fist."
"What?" shouted Winter. "What?"
He clearly did not appreciate the idea of being overtaken by any one,for he whipped on his highest speed and jammed down the accelerator. Thechange was enormous. Our powerful car, relieved from all restraint,simply leaped through the air. Winter gave a pleased laugh as hesteadied her with the wheel.
"If the stranger can catch us now I shall believe it's the Motor Piratehimself," he remarked in a pleased tone, that showed how proud he was ofhis own car.
Our progress was so exhilarating that I wanted to shout defiance to thestranger; yet I was so fascinated with the pace we were travelling, thatI could not take my eyes from the road which uncoiled before us.
Suddenly a humming sound forced itself upon my ear. For a moment Ithought it was due to the whirr of our own wheels. Then it struck methat the note was a higher one. I half turned. The other car was withina yard or two of us. In another second it was level and, running withoutany visible vibration, indeed, without any noise save the snore of thewheels as they raced round, the stranger slackened speed and ran by ourside.
Winter cast a hasty glance at the strange car, and I saw him bite hislip with annoyance at finding his Daimler so outpaced.
One glance at the stranger was enough to tell me with whom we had todeal. In the brilliant moonlight, the boat-shaped car with its sharpprow, the almost invisible wheels, the masked occupant, assured me thatthe evening papers had not been the victims of a hoax.
"It's the Motor Pirate himself," I said to Winter, and my voice washoarse with excitement.
"Motor Pirate be d----d!" replied Winter. What more he would have said Ido not know, for at this moment the stranger turning his mask towards uscalled out in the most urbane manner--
"I must trouble you gentlemen to stop that car."
Winter at the best of times is of rather a peppery disposition, andwhenever any one requires him to pull up, his temper invariably gets thebetter of his manners. His reply was an unnecessarily verbose, andneedlessly forcible negative.
I heard the stranger chuckle. "I really must trouble you to obey mywishes," he replied, with ironic courtesy. "Otherwise I shall becompelled to do some damage to that car of yours, a proceeding I alwaystry to avoid if possible."
"Do what you please," was in effect Winter's luridly adjectived answer.
"If you do not pull up within thirty seconds your fate will be upon yourown heads," said the stranger, shortly, as he laid his hand upon alever.
His car leapt away from ours, and though we were running nearly sixtymiles an hour, we might have been standing still, he dropped us sorapidly. In fifteen seconds he had vanished in a cloud of dust ahead.
"I'm going to stop," said Winter, abruptly. He suited the action to theword, and none too soon.
Again we heard the curious drone of the strange car as it swooped downupon us, coming to a sudden halt a yard distant, with really beautifulprecision.
"What do you want?" shouted Winter, in his gruffest tones.
"I'm glad to find you have had the wisdom to do as I desired you," saidthe Motor Pirate; for it was indeed he with whom we were now face toface. "It would have deeply grieved me to wreck so good a car as thatyou have there. A Daimler, I believe?"
"Oh, d----n your compliments! What is it you want?" growled Winter.
"Merely any articles of jewellery and any money you may happen to haveabout you," remarked the stranger, pleasantly.
I saw the moonlight glitter on the barrel of a revolver as he spoke, andhe now lifted the weapon and pointed it towards us.
"I do not wish to proceed to extremities, and, as I gather from yourspeech that I am dealing with gentlemen"--really Winter's language hadfully warranted the sarcasm--"if you will give me your word of honourthat you will hand over to me all articles of value in your possession,I will leave your car untouched. If, on the contrary, you decline tooblige me, I shall be under the disagreeable necessity of ruining thatvery handsome car you are driving. I do not like to hurry you, but I amafraid I must ask you to come to a speedy decision on the matter, forthese roads in the vicinity of London are not quite so secluded as oneof my profession could wish."
He delivered this speech with an air of mock politeness, which madeWinter writhe. He did not, however, reply. I think he was too angry.
"Come, gentlemen! Make up your minds. Your money or your--car!"
He made a slight pause before he said the word "car," and his fingersplayed with the revolver in a manner that sent a cold shiver down myspine.
"It's his turn now," I
whispered to Winter. "It may be ours presently."
"Come, come, gentlemen!" said the stranger again; "do you give me yourwords?"
"D----n you! I suppose we must," jerked out Winter, almost inarticulatewith rage.
"Each of you will dismount in turn and lay the contents of your pocketsbefore me here." He indicated a level shelf, which formed apparentlypart of the casing of one of the wheels. "I must insist upon seeing thelinings of your pockets; and I need hardly warn you that it will beextremely undesirable for you to make any movement liable tomisconstruction. This toy"--he lifted his pistol--"has a very delicatetouch. Now, gentlemen. One at a time, please, and do not wait to discussthe question of precedence. I am quite willing to overlook any littleinformality."
I listened closely to his speech, but the voice was so muffled by themask he wore, that I felt I should be unable to recognize it again. Onlyone point I was assured upon--that the Pirate was an educated man.
Meanwhile what were we to do? All sorts of wild plans were dartingthrough my brain, and I knew that Winter's mind must be equally active.But out of the medley no coherent scheme took shape. Winter dismounted,and, throwing off his overcoat, advanced into the brilliant circle oflight cast by our lamps, and proceeded to empty his pockets. He laid hisnote-case, his watch and chain, and sovereign-purse upon the car infront of the highwayman, and, in obedience to a further command, addedthe diamond which shone upon his little finger, and another whichadorned his shirt-front, to the pile. Then he resumed his place in thecar, and I passed through a similar humiliating ordeal. All the whilethe stranger kept up a flow of apologies for the inconvenience which hisnecessities compelled him to occasion us. I kept silence, though I mustconfess the effort was a considerable strain upon my temper. Still, apistol with a business man at the butt end of it, is of considerableassistance in preventing the exhibition of annoyance.
"If the other gentleman will make haste, I shall be the sooner able torelieve you of my unwelcome society," the Pirate remarked, as I returnedto our car after handing over all the valuables in my possession.
In the excitement, I had, until this moment, entirely forgotten thepresence of Colonel Maitland; and now, looking closely at him, Idiscovered that he was still in happy ignorance of the _contretemps_which had befallen us. Swathed in rugs, he was propped up on the seatbehind us slumbering peacefully. A smile was upon his rosy face, andever and again he smacked his lips. He must have been dreaming of afiner vintage than ever terrestrial vineyard produced.
"What the deuce can we do?" I asked Winter.
"Hullo, Colonel!" shouted my friend.
"What's the matter?" inquired the Pirate. "Does your friend refuse toacknowledge the compact?"
"I'm afraid he can hardly be said to be a party to it," I replied. "Hehas dined, and now he sleeps."
"Well, you will awaken him less roughly than I shall," was the retort.
"Any one who knows Colonel Maitland is aware that he is exceedinglyannoyed if awakened from his after-dinner nap," I urged.
"Colonel Maitland? Colonel Maitland the gourmet?"
"You know him?" said Winter.
The Pirate laughed pleasantly. "I have met him on one occasion, and, assome slight return for a very excellent dinner which he ordered, and forwhich--doubtless by an oversight--he left me to pay, I will not troubleyou to awaken him on this occasion. I wish you good evening, gentlemen."
As he finished speaking he backed his car for a few yards. His handmoved to a lever. The car turned. He waved the hand which wasdisengaged, and in a moment he was gone, attaining at once a speed,which, until then I had thought it impossible for a motor-car ever toachieve.
Both Winter and I sat stock still, gazing after the fast disappearingcar. We could not watch it for long; as in fifteen seconds it was out ofsight, and even the dust-cloud it had raised in its progress hadcleared.
Then Winter turned to me and muttered a few expletives gently in my ear.I followed his example and we both felt better, at least I think so;for, without rhyme or reason, Winter burst into a fit of laughter, and Ifollowed his example, though I cannot explain now, any more than I couldhave done then, why I laughed.
When we had done laughing, Winter turned to me and said--
"Sutgrove, old fellow, would you mind punching me? I'm not quite surewhether it is the Colonel who is asleep or myself. I feel as if I havejust awakened from dreaming of the story those newspapers printed."
"It's not much of a dream," I remarked. "I little thought that we wereto have the good fortune of so early an introduction to the MotorPirate, however. The Colonel will be quite cross to think that hisbottle of port prevented the renewal of an old acquaintance."
Then Winter laughed again. I think he saw the amusing side of ouradventure more clearly than I did, for I said sharply--
"Hadn't we better be getting on to St. Albans, and giving information tothe police?"
"H--m--m!" he answered meditatively. "I think perhaps we had betternot."
"Not?" I replied in surprise.
"In the first place it is after dinner," he said.
"What of that? We dined wisely."
"One of us knows nothing about it." Winter jerked his thumb in thedirection of the slumbering warrior. "We could hardly explain the reasonwhy the Colonel slept so soundly through the adventure. The explanationcould hardly please him, would it?"
I muttered an assent.
"Besides," continued Winter, "for three of us to admit that we tamelyallowed ourselves to be held up by one man, and forced to hand over tohim all our valuables, well it--er--it hardly seems heroic, does it?That wouldn't create a very favourable impression upon Miss Maitlandeither."
I was compelled to agree with him.
"I think perhaps we had best keep the matter to ourselves. I have nodesire to provide another sensation for the evening papers to-morrow."
"At any rate I'm not going to sit down quietly under my loss if youare," I responded irritably.
"That's another matter altogether," replied Winter, as he set our car inmotion once more. "I did not say that I was going to grin and bear iteither."
"What do you propose?" I cried eagerly.
"That is a question we will discuss over a whisky and soda, when we havedeposited the Colonel safely at home;" and he refused to say anythingfurther.
Our car was once more put at full speed, and in five minutes we reachedthe cross-roads on the outskirts of St. Albans, where the road toWatford makes a junction with that on which we had come from town. HereWinter pulled up, and, much to my surprise, dismounted and made acareful examination of the road by the light of our lamps.
"I just want to see in which direction the fellow went," he answered, inreply to my inquiry as to the meaning of his action.
He was still engaged on the task when we heard in the distance theregular beat of a petrol motor approaching us on the Watford road.
"If it's another pirate, he won't get much plunder," I remarked.
"That's no pirate," replied Winter, as a couple of lights came intoview. "Cannot you recognize the rattle of Mannering's old car? I shouldknow it anywhere. He will be able to tell us if any one has passed himon the road."
As soon as the new-comer came within range of his voice, Winter hailedhim.
"That you, Mannering?"
"Hullo, Winter! Got a puncture? Can I be of any assistance?"
Was it indeed Mannering's voice, or were my ears deceiving me? Theintonation was remarkably like that of the stranger, who so short a timepreviously had bade us stand and deliver, that I sprang to my feet withan exclamation of astonishment. My eyes at once convinced me that myears had played me false. There was no mistaking Mannering's lumberingold car for the graceful shape of the Motor Pirate's vehicle. I resumedmy seat, taking my nerves seriously to task for generating thesuspicion, if suspicion it could be called, which had flashed across mymind. If anything further had been needed to dispel it, the replyvouchsafed to Winter's query as to whether he had met any one on theroad would have
done so.
"Met any one?" said Mannering; "I should think I have. Met the mostwonderful motor I've ever seen, about a couple of miles back. 'Pon mysoul, I'm not sure even now whether it was not a big night bird, for itjust swooped by me with about as much noise as a humming-top might make.It must have been travelling eighty miles an hour at least. Recklesssort of devil the driver must be too. He hadn't a single light. Isuppose his lamps must have been put out by the rapidity with which hewas travelling. Never had such a scare in my life. I'd like to meet theJohnny. I'd welcome an opportunity of telling him what I thought of hisconduct."
"So should I," replied Winter, grimly; "and I fancy Sutgrove would notbe averse to a meeting with him."
"Why, what has he been doing?" asked Mannering.
"It's too long a story to tell you now," said Winter, as he climbed backinto his seat; "but if you will come up to my place as soon as you haveput your car to bed, I'll tell you all about it."
"Right!" sang out Mannering, as we once more set out upon our homewardway. We had not much further to go. In two minutes we had pulled up atColonel Maitland's door.
I leaned back and shouted, "Here we are, Colonel," in the slumberingwarrior's ear.
"Eh! What--what?" he replied, as he awakened with a start. "When are wegoing to start?"
"Start? Why we've brought you safely home to your own threshold," saidWinter.
"'Pon my soul! I remember now," he answered. "I just shut my eyes tokeep the dust out of 'em, and---- You will come in for a peg, ofcourse," he continued, as he emerged from the rugs in which he had beenenveloped.
I glanced at the windows. There was only a light in the Colonel's study.If there had been another in the drawing-room, I should have acceptedforthwith. As it was, I merely said that I could not think of disturbingMiss Maitland.
"Pooh!" said the Colonel, with the usual callous disregard of the merefather for his children's beauty sleep.
But he did not press the invitation. Indeed it was with difficulty hesucceeded in repressing a yawn.
"I'll call to-morrow, and get a considered opinion upon my Soho house ofentertainment," I remarked, as the Colonel opened his door, and pausedat the entrance to bid us a final good night.
"Glad to see you," he replied, as he grasped my hand and shook itwarmly. "But of one thing you may rest assured. So long as that bin ofport holds out, your house of entertainment may count upon me as aregular customer whenever I dine in town."
"Opium isn't in it," commented Winter in a low voice, as he set the carin motion and wheeled out of the drive. "How he could have slept sosoundly through it all absolutely beats me."
I did not reply. My attention was concentrated upon one of the upperwindows, at which I thought I had seen a form I knew very well make abrief appearance. But we left the window and house behind us. Winter'splace was only about a hundred yards further up the road.