CHAPTER XIV
ONE SIDE OF A BARGAIN
"It's the pig man," said a childish voice. "The man what lifted me outof the way of the boar."
Aylmer blinked. Himself in the shadow, he was aware of a figure oppositehim in the center of a circle of light. He lay, apparently, in acircular and unfurnished room, lit by an unglazed skylight alone. Thefigure, which sat cross-legged on a lump which his returning sensesdiscovered to be a dead horse, wore the white _haik_ and the bournous ofa Moor. The hood was drawn back, showing bronzed aquiline features and abrown beard, but the man's eyes were blue. Aylmer studied the face witha feeling of bewilderment which gradually became irritation. He wasstunned, but consciousness had so far returned that he knew himselfstunned, and knew, also, that his brain was confronting a problem whichhis normal powers would have grappled with easily. He ought to be ableto recognize his visitor; there was familiarity, there was recognitionin the man's sneering smile. And yet, who was he? Aylmer movedrestlessly, petulantly. An excruciating pang leaped up through hisshoulder and made him gasp. The man shrugged his shoulders.
"Dislocated, I fear," he said in level English accents. "And thecollar-bone most certainly fractured."
Aylmer's ear served him where his eyes had failed. The voice wasLandon's. It was his cousin who sat opposite him, smiling evilly fromthe shadow of the _haik_.
Something touched the wounded shoulder lightly, but not so lightly butthat Aylmer winced again.
"Poor--poor!" said the childish voice again commiseratingly. "Is itbadly hurted? When I fell off my pony they rubbed me wiv butter."
It was his little namesake, swaddled in white flowing garments, whostood at his elbow, peering into his face with anxious eyes.
Aylmer pulled himself into a sitting position, not without intense pain.But the throb of his wounded arm seemed to awake his dulledconsciousness. He looked from father to son without bewilderment. Hisunderstanding had fully regained command of the situation.
His first action was typical of the man; he fumbled with his left handat his holster.
Landon laughed.
"Empty, my dear John," he said. "Fogs, gales, the menacing hand ofnature I do not pretend to have my remedy for. But I retain thecommon-sense which deprives my enemy of a weapon, when opportunity is myfriend."
Aylmer was still silent. Landon gave a self-satisfied little nod of thehead, a little motion which implied the insolence of triumph fullyenjoyed.
"And by opportunity, please understand that I do not refer to merechance," he went on. "The little _ruse de guerre_ by which you and yourassociates were drawn into this trap was the product of an active brain,not mine, I grieve to say. A friend who has seen much of desertbickerings did not invent but adapted it. I don't think many of yourbeautiful Goumiers escaped him and his allies."
There was something more than disgust and repulsion in the glance withwhich Aylmer regarded his cousin. It was, perhaps, wonder.
"Libertine--blackmailer--spy--and thief--you have proved yourself all ofthese within the space of half a dozen years," he said quietly. "Andnow, traitor, and, I suppose, assassin. It puzzles me. Clean livingisn't so hard, and yet, you have never tried it, never!"
A queer line showed in Landon's cheek, as his lips tightened againsteach other. And then he laughed again--a harsh, unconvincing littlelaugh.
"Is the first line of attack an appeal to my better nature?" he asked."Omit it, my friend. However good your aim, you cannot reach a targetwhich, to be frank, is non-existent. Appeals to my self-interest find mealert, but to my conscience, chill as ice. We may chaffer, you and I,but on strictly business lines."
He settled himself back upon the dead horse's shoulder, pulled out asilver case, and selected a cigarette. He lit it, talking slowly,between puffs.
"My apparently unkinsmanlike conduct in offering no attention to yourwound is easily explained. It is a small matter, involved in far largerissues. If you meet my terms, our limited resources in that and othermatters will be at your service. If not--" He shrugged his shouldersplacidly. "Well, I do not suppose a prison governor pays attention tothe condemned's complaints of his breakfast egg on the morning ofexecution."
He moved, leaning forward at last, his elbows on his knees, his palmssupporting his chin. And he looked down at Aylmer malignantly.
"And I have you here to make or break as I will," he said. "By God!Opportunity doesn't call me twice. I clutch her!"
The child turned with a little start, looking at his father with puzzledbut not apprehensive eyes. The note of malice in that voice wasevidently strange to him, and Aylmer, as he understood this fact,breathed a tiny sigh of relief. The child, at any rate, did not sufferill-treatment.
Landon saw the motion and his features relaxed into something likeaffection.
He held out his hands.
"Come here, my son," he said. "Go and find Muhammed."
As the child ran forward, he caught him deftly and without a pause ofenergy tossed him up and out into the sunlight. Aylmer heard the boy'scry of welcome and laugh of delight, as his footsteps pattered over theroof of the cellar and were lost. Muhammed, whoever that might be, wasevidently not far away.
His father settled down upon his seat again.
"That," he said, with an upward jerk of the shoulder towards the openingabove his head, "that is one of the things I have been robbed of. Alsomy comfort, my credit, my security, my ease. I have had to endureunpleasantness. I have had to descend, though as a mental exercise I donot count it a descent, to crime. Life, in fact, has been difficult forme lately, owing to the action of certain people--with whom you appearto have allied yourself. You and they have to get matters in a differentperspective. Your efforts in future must be for, not against, me. Theymust, indeed, be directed to effacing unfortunate circumstances in thepast which are detrimental to my well-being. That must be fullyunderstood before we even begin to talk of terms."
He looked up at Aylmer with a sudden quick, speculative flash of theeyes. The other met it steadily and equably.
"Have we begun--to discuss terms?" he asked.
"No!" Landon snapped the monosyllable with contemptuous emphasis. "No! Idon't discuss them, let me tell you. I make them!"
Aylmer met the announcement with a smile.
"Ah," he said quietly, and something in his tone seemed to whip Landon'srestrained spite over the border-line of fury.
"Damn you!" he cried, "do you think I can't and won't humble the lot ofyou; do you think I'm to be robbed of the winning ace now, when I've gotit in my hand? I tell you there isn't a thing in me you can appeal to.I've shunted notions; I'm out for the stuff; I'm in business for myself,for me!"
He swayed to and fro upon the carcase, his face livid, his fingersunconsciously twining and plaiting the dead animal's mane. His teethflashed, attracting, as it were, the core of the little light whichreached the gloom--attracting it to intensify his fierce animal fury.For, as he swayed, and swore, the teeth shone behind his red lips likethe fangs of a cornered wolf.
And then, suddenly, darkly, the emotion was planed from his face. Hisfeatures became mask-like in their imperturbability.
"You had better listen carefully," he said. "First, I keep the boy. Thatgoes without saying. I've got him. Secondly, they give me theirengagement under bond not to molest me in my possession of him if Ichoose to visit America or England, or even if I marry again. Thirdly,old man Van Arlen pays me ten thousand pounds--pounds, mind, notdollars--within a week from now, and on the same date every year.Fourthly, you explain away the matter of the book I borrowed from yourlibrary. Explain it as you like; say I was drunk or insane or any sortof lie which suits you best. You'll have to give me your word of honorto do your best about that; I'll take it, because I know you believe inthese shibboleths. Lastly, they're to keep quiet while I have a freehand with Despard."
Aylmer gave an involuntary start, and Landon snarled--there is no otherword for it--with savage rage.
"By God, they've got to stand by and see me br
eak him! He's hunted methrough the courts and through the press of two hemispheres. He shallhave his turn. Not all in a moment, either. A word here and a wordthere. A paragraph or two where they can't well be missed. Then rumors,and then a circumstantial story. Rush him into action and then, slowly,thoroughly, and perfectly plainly, bowl him out. Eh, that will be thegilded roof on the whole thing. Despard down in the mud--Despard ...broken!"
His fingers ceased their wandering. He sat motionless, his eyes staringgloatingly into the gloom over Aylmer's head. It was as if he sawvisions of evil triumph limned upon the walls.
Aylmer lay very still. The sense of inertia which had been overpoweringwhen consciousness first revived was passing away. His brain was clear.He realized that for all practical purposes he was in the hands of amadman, or of a man so far enthralled by a very possession of wickednessthat he might be reckoned insane. There was nothing to do but awaitevents.
Landon dropped his eyes.
"Do you see?" he asked. "That's your job. To go to them and tell them.Do you understand?"
Aylmer shook his head.
"I hear your price--for what?" he asked. "It's a one-sided bargain, sofar."
"The goods that I have to deliver," said Landon, slowly, "are what I putsafely out of your way a moment ago. That boy's health, and mentaland--moral, too, if you like--strength. Do you get the notion?"
For a moment the silence remained unbroken. Then Aylmer spoke.
"You devil!" he said slowly. "You incarnate fiend!"
Landon laughed again, with complacent satisfaction.
"You do get the notion," he said. "Let your mind dwell upon it, give itdeliberation. I sha'n't kill the boy, oh, not for a long time. I shallkeep him alive; he'll even enjoy the process. I'll bring him upcarefully, very carefully. There isn't a form of life as I've seen itthat he sha'n't be familiar with. You may hunt me from England; you maymake it hot for me in Europe and America. There are plenty of livelyresorts in this good old continent of Africa which will amply fulfill mypurpose. I'll put him through the mill; I'll begin early, too. I sha'n'tleave much to luck. If by any chance you brought about my death, and Icredit you with grit enough to attempt it, you'll find the kidwell-grounded. He shall be his father's son, and a bit more. I hadn'tthe advantages he's going to have."
The flush of anger which had mounted to Aylmer's face was gone now. Helooked at Landon keenly, indeed, but with more curiosity than wrath.His voice was quite controlled.
"And in the alternative?" he asked. "In any case you keep him. What dowe gain by meeting your terms?"
Landon shrugged his shoulders.
"He has his chance, then, against the World, the Flesh and the Devilwith the rest of them. I sha'n't pose as a saint before him, but I'llsee that he behaves himself decently and plays the game. He'll go toEton and Balliol, if he has the sense. I sha'n't send him toSunday-school but he'll attend church on Sundays--once. I'll choose histailor and put him in the way of things. He'll learn, in fact, how toconduct himself as an ordinary English gentleman."
Aylmer nodded.
"From whom?" he asked quietly.
And then Landon flinched. The eyes which had been bent on his cousinwith eagerness, with greed alight in them, quivered. He gave a littleintake of the breath.
"You cursed prig!" he breathed thickly. "You cursed prig!"
Aylmer smiled.
"You've been out of it too long, Landon," he said. "For over a year Isuppose your only familiars have been Bowery ruffians or Sohoblackmailers. Did you think this could be done? Did you really makeyourself believe that I was likely to be an easy intermediary for such aproposition? And I imagine that you forget that it was entirely for yourwife's sake that your father-in-law dealt gently with you during yourmarried life. There's no need for any restraint in that quarter now."
Landon made a gesture of contempt.
"Are you making threats for that old tame cat?" he sneered.
"He's got claws that will reach out to scratch you at the world's end,my amiable cousin. They're made of dollars. And they'll be sharpenedwith American grit. Uncommon unpleasant, you'll find them."
Landon snapped his fingers.
"That for his dollars and his grit!" he cried. "It's no good raisingyour bluff on me. I'll see you every time, see you and take it! Leave itout; don't waste time over it. Are you going to carry my message tothem, or are you not?"
"No," said Aylmer. "You knew perfectly well what my answer was going tobe, but if it's any satisfaction to you to have it--No!"
Landon leaned forward.
"I guessed what your high falutin' ideas would answer," he said, "butI'm talking to you--to you about yourself." He pointed to the well-likeopening above his head. "Do you believe that you could climb out ofthere with a broken collar-bone?" he asked.
Aylmer glanced quickly in the direction of the extended finger.
"Perhaps not," he answered.
Landon nodded.
"You don't know what superhuman exertions a man will contrive when he isperishing--of thirst," he said. "But even he couldn't move the slab ofstone which ten men will drag over that opening, if I bid them. And thatwill be now, if you don't come off your high horse. This isn't a healthyplace for my friends of the Beni M'Geel. We have to be moving onimmediately."
A sudden quiver that perhaps was nearly akin to fear pulsed up intoAylmer's brain, showed, indeed, in his eyes. The fever of his wound wasalready upon him; his lips were parched, his tongue swollen. To be leftin that pit--to be sealed in--to die?
Landon grinned.
"Eh?" he questioned. "Are second thoughts best? Do you begin tounderstand?"
For a moment or two the stillness remained unbroken, and in Aylmer'sgaze there was little still but wonder--wonder that things like Landonshould continue to exist in this prosy work-a-day world of ours.Opportunities for unleashing a real lust of cruelty and evil come to fewof us. We argue therefore that they do not occur. A common error. Aglance at the pages of half a dozen reports of philanthropic societieswill refute it, but we, who are not engaged in social reform, are lostin amazement at the monsters when we meet them. It was incredulity whichwas in Aylmer's mind, and incredulity Landon imagined to bedeliberation.
"There are no two ways to it!" he cried sharply. "Don't think that. It'syes or no, now and here!"
Aylmer made a wearily contemptuous gesture.
"Haven't you had your answer?" he said. "It's no; it would be no if Ihad a thousand chances to say it--no--no--no!"
Landon rose. He looked down at the man at his feet malignantly,suspiciously. He shouted in Spanish to some unseen listener outside. Theend of a rope was dropped down through the opening. Methodically Landonknotted it about the dead horse's neck and forelegs.
"No, my friend," he said, as if in answer to some unspoken question,"you aren't going to exist by munching this dead brute's flesh orsucking its blood till help comes, if it comes at all. You are going tobe left in here with no more company than your own obstinacy, alone."
He shouted again. The rope tautened. Landon seized it, and with a coupleof energetic jerks swung himself up into the sunshine. And then thecarcase rose, dragged a little on the floor, and in its turn was hauledout of sight. The cellar loomed larger, gloomier, emptier when it wasgone. There was another dragging sound. Half the light which filteredthrough the opening was eclipsed.
Landon's voice rang hollow in the underground echoes.
"Is it no, still, you fool?" he snarled.
There was no answer.
With a curse, Landon made a significant motion of the hand. The brawnyArab shoulders were bent and their thews tightened. The great slab slidinto its appointed place.