by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XX.
At ten o'clock a constable came with a message from the Lieutenant toMr. Chetwynd that he would be glad if he would come down to the watchhouse. Dick did not wake the others, but freshening himself up bypouring a jug of water over his head, went at once with the constable.
"Have you news?" he asked eagerly as he entered.
"Yes, the men returned an hour ago. At four of the houses they went toa foreign sailor had been lodging there for the last day or so, butyesterday afternoon all had paid their reckoning and left. Then the ideastruck me that it would be as well to ask if they had been seen on thequays, and I sent off a fresh batch of men to make inquiries. A quarterof an hour ago one of them came back with the news that he had learnedfrom a sailor that he had noticed a dark colored foreigner, whom he tookto be a Lascar sailor, talking to a boatman, and that they had rowed offtogether to a barge anchored a short way out; he did not notice anythingmore about him.
"Now, I should not be at all surprised if the fellow went off to arrangewith the bargeman for a passage for himself and four or five comrades tosome port or other, it might be anywhere. It would make no difference tothem where the barge was bound for. No doubt he saw the man again afterthe brig was sighted, and told him that they should come on board soonafter it got dark, and told him to have the boat at the stairs. Yousee, in that case they might not have carried Mr. Thorndyke above fiftyyards. They would probably get him on board as one of their party whohad been drunk. The barge, no doubt, got under way about nine o'clock,which is the hour when the tide was high last night, and during thenight the Indians could easily drop your friend overboard--and mayeven have done so before they got under way, which would have been theeasiest thing to do. There would have been no one at the helm, and theycould have chosen a moment when the crew, probably only three, werebelow. I am afraid that this is not a cheering lookout, but I havelittle doubt that it is the correct one.
"I have told my men to find out what barge was lying at the spot thesailor pointed out, and if we discover her name, which we are likely tobe able to do, there will be no difficulty in finding out to whom shebelongs and where she was bound for. Then we can follow it up; thoughthere is little likelihood of our finding the murderers still on board."
"Thank you very much for the pains that you are taking, sir," Dick said."I am afraid that there is no shadow of hope of finding my poor friendalive. I have no doubt that the thing has happened exactly as yousuggest; the whole course of the affair shows how carefully it wasplanned, and I have no hope that any scruple about taking life would befelt by them for a moment. I will go back to the hotel, and I shall beobliged if you will let me know as soon as you obtain any clew as to thebarge."
An hour and a half later the officer himself came round to the roomwhere Dick Chetwynd and the two pugilists were sitting. The detectiveshad started out to make inquiries on their own account, taking with thema hanger on at the hotel who spoke English.
"The barge's name was the Julie," he said; "she has a cargo on board forRotterdam."
"I think the best thing would be to take a carriage, and drive there atonce," Dick said.
"You can do that, sir, but I don't think you will be there before thebarge; they have something like eighteen hours' start for you, and thewind has been all the time in the east. I should say that they would bethere by eight o'clock this morning."
"No, I don't know that it would be of any use, but at least it would bedoing something. I suppose we could be there in four hours?"
"From that to five; but even if the barge were delayed, and you gotthere first, which is very unlikely, I do not think that there would bethe remotest chance of finding those villains on board. I reckon theywould, as we agreed, launch the body overboard even before they gotunder way here, and they may either have landed again before the craftgot under way, pretending that they had changed their minds, and thenwalked across to The Hague or to Haarlem, or have gone on with the bargefor two hours, or even until daybreak. If by that time they were nearRotterdam, they may have stayed on board till they got there; if not,they may have landed, and finished the journey on foot, but they wouldcertainly not have stopped on board after six or seven o'clock thismorning. They would calculate that possibly we might get on their trackat an early hour this morning, and set out in pursuit at once.
"However, it will doubtless be a satisfaction to you to be moving,and at least you will be able to overhaul the barge when you get toRotterdam, and to hear what the boatmen say. The chances are they willnot even have noticed that one of the men who came on board was missing.The men may very well have made up a long bundle, carried it on shorewith them, or three of them may have carried a fourth ashore; and in thedark the bargemen were unlikely to have noticed that the number was lessthan when they came on board. However, it will be something for you tofind out when and where the fellows landed."
"Yes; I should certainly like to lay hands on them, though I am afraidwe should find it very hard to prove that they had anything to do withthis affair."
"I think that also, Mr. Chetwynd. Morally, we may feel absolutelycertain; but, unless the boatmen noticed that one of their number wasmissing when they landed, we have at present no evidence to connect themwith it."
"We will set out as soon as my other two men return. I told them to beback soon after twelve. I will write to you this evening from Rotterdam.Ah! here are the men."
The door opened, and, to the stupefaction of the party, Mark Thorndykeentered the room.
"Good Heavens, Mark!" Dick exclaimed, springing forward and seizinghis hand, "is it really you alive in the flesh? We had given you up fordead. We have been searching the town for you all night, and were justgoing to set out for Rotterdam in search of a barge on which we believedyou were carried. Why, it seems almost a miracle!"
The two prize fighters also came forward, and shook hands with apressure that would have made most men shrink.
"I am as glad, Mr. Thorndyke," Gibbons said, "as if anyone had given mea thousand pounds. I have never quite given up hope, for, as I said toMr. Chetwynd, if you got but a shadow of a chance, you would polish offthose nigger fellows in no time; but I was afraid that they never wouldgive you a chance. Well, I am glad, sir."
"Mark, this is the Lieutenant of the watch here," Dick said. "He hasbeen most kind, and has himself headed the search that has been made foryou all night. Now tell us all about it."
"First of all give me something to drink, for, except some water, I havehad nothing since dinner yesterday. You are right, Dick; it is almost amiracle, even to me, that I am here. I would not have given a penny formy chance of life, and I can no more account for the fact that I am herethan you can."
Mark drank off a tumbler of weak spirits and water that Gibbons pouredout for him. Chetwynd rang the bell, and ordered lunch to be broughtup at once. Just at this moment the two detectives came in, and wereastonished and delighted at finding Mark there.
"Now," he said, "I will tell you as much as I know, which is littleenough. When I came to my senses I found myself lying on the deck of acraft of some sort; it was a long time before I could at all understandhow I got there. I think it was the pain from the back of my head thatbrought it to my mind that I must have been knocked down and stunned inthat fight; for some time I was very vague in my brain as to that, butit all came back suddenly, and I recalled that we had all got separated.I was hitting out, and then there was a crash. Yes, I must have beenknocked down and stunned, and I could only suppose that in the darknessand confusion I had been carried off and taken on board without any ofyou missing me; my hands and feet were tied, and there was somethingshoved into my mouth that prevented me from speaking.
"I should think that it must have been an hour before I quite recoveredmy senses, and got the thing fairly into my mind. Then a man with aknife leant over me, and made signs that if I spoke he would stab me,and another took the gag out of my mouth and poured some water down mythroat, and then put it in again. I saw that he was a dark colo
red man,and I then understood it all; it was those Hindoos who had got up theattack upon us and had carried me off. I had no doubt they had got thediamonds I had sewn up in the waistband of my trousers.
"I wondered why they were keeping me, but was sure they would stabme presently and throw me overboard. I knew that they had killed twosoldiers for the sake of the diamonds, and if it hadn't been that theyhad given me the water, I should not have had a shadow of doubt about myfate."
"I puzzled over why they should have done so, and came to the conclusionthat they dared not do it on board, because of the crew, and that theyintended to take me on shore somewhere, and there dispose of me. I mademany attempts to loosen my ropes, but they would not give the slightest.At last I think I dozed off for a time. After I had had the water theydrew a blanket or something of that sort over me. It had been therebefore, but it had only been pulled up as high as my nose, and I feltsure that it was only done to prevent the Dutchmen on the boat seeingthat I was bound and gagged; this time they pulled it right over myface. When they took it off again I could see it was nearly morning, forthere was a faint light in the sky. They were moving about on the deck,and presently I saw one of the sailors get into the boat and pull italong, hand over hand, by the rail, until he was close to me. Then fourLascar sort of chaps--I could scarcely make out their features--liftedme and lowered me into the boat and got in themselves.
"I did not attempt to struggle. No doubt they had made up some talethat I was mad or something of that sort, and I thought that I had bestpretend to be quiet and peaceable till I could see some sort of chanceof making a fight for it. It was but a few yards from the shore. The manlifted me out onto the bank, and the sailor then started to row backto the barge; they carried me a few yards away, and then laid me facedownwards on some grass. Now, I thought to myself, it is all over; theyare going to stab me and make off. To my surprise I felt they weredoing something--I could not make out what--to the ropes; then therewas quiet. I lay there I should think for half an hour, wondering whyon earth they did not finish me. At last I made up my mind to move,and turned round onto my back. As I lay there I could see no one, and,raising my head, looked round. To my amazement I found that I was alone.It was now almost light, and as I craned my head in all directions Iassured myself that they had gone; then I began to try again at theropes.
"To my surprise I found that they were much looser than they werebefore, although still tight enough to give me nearly an hour's workbefore I got my hands free. Then it took me almost as long to getthe ropes off my legs, for they had knotted them in such a fearfullyintricate way that it was a long time before I could even discover wherethe ends were. At last I finished the job, stood up, and looked round. Aquarter of a mile off there was a good sized town, but not a soul couldI see.
"Till now I had hardly thought of the diamonds; I put my hands to mywaistband and found, as I expected, that they were gone. I think I feltnothing but pleasure: the confounded things had given trouble enough,and I was well rid of them. Why they should have spared my life I couldnot imagine. If they had finished me, which they could have done withoutany risk to themselves when they got me ashore, they could have gone offwith the diamonds without the slightest fear of pursuit, while now therewas, of course, a chance that I might follow and recognize them."
"Would you know them again?" the Lieutenant interrupted.
"Not in the slightest; it was light enough to see that they were dark,but from the time the boat came along the blanket was over my head,and except when they gave me the water I had no chance of seeing anyof their features. Still, if I had gone straight to the town I saw andreported the matter to the authorities and sent mounted men to all theports to warn them not to let any colored men embark, I might have giventhem a lot of trouble, but I don't suppose any of them would ever havebeen caught. After the craft they had shown in the whole matter, it iscertain that they would have laid their plans for escape so wellthat the law would never have laid hands upon them. I put my handmechanically to my watch to see the time, and to my astonishmentdiscovered that I still had it in my pocket, and was equally surprisedto find that the money in my trousers' pockets was also untouched. Thewatch had, of course, stopped. I first of all went down to the water andhad a good wash; then I proceeded to the town, and, going to a hotel,ordered breakfast."
"Why, I thought you said that you had had nothing to eat, Mark."
"Yes? Well, I had forgotten all about that breakfast. The people lookeda good deal surprised at an Englishman walking in in that way. WhileI was eating my breakfast two men--who were, I suppose, authorities ofsome kind--who spoke English, came and questioned me. As I had made upmy mind to say nothing more about the affair, I merely told them that Ihad come for a sail from Amsterdam, and that I wanted a carriage to takeme back. They were evidently astonished at my choosing a dark night forsuch a trip, but I said that I had some curiosity to see how the boatmennavigated their vessel when there were no lighthouses or anything tosteer by. They asked a few more questions, and then went away, evidentlythinking that I was a little mad. However, they must have spoken to thelandlord, who in a short time made signs that the carriage was at thedoor.
"I had avoided asking the men either the name of the place or how farit was from any big town, because that would have made the whole affairmore singular. It was a quarter past eight when I started, and beyondthe fact that I know by the sun we came pretty nearly due east, I havenot the slightest idea of the road. The coachman could not speak a wordof English. I should say we came about seven miles an hour and stoppedonce to bait the horses, so I suppose that it must have been betweenfour and five miles from Rotterdam when I landed."
Lunch had by this time been laid on the table, and at Dick's invitationthe Lieutenant joined them.
"It is an extraordinary story!" he said. "That your life should havebeen spared is altogether beyond my comprehension, still more so whythey should have left you your money and watch."
"The whole story is extraordinary," Dick Chetwynd said; "for we haveevery reason to believe that those fellows, or at least one or two ofthem, have been patiently watching for a chance of carrying off thosediamonds for twenty years. When my friend told me of it ten days ago Idid not believe that it could be possible; but he has certainly shownthat he was correct in his opinion."
Mark then related the history of the jewels, surprising the pugilistsand detectives as much as the Lieutenant.
"It is extraordinary indeed," the latter said. "I should not havebelieved it possible that men would devote so many years to such apurpose, nor that they could have succeeded in tracing the diamonds inspite of the precaution taken by your uncle, and afterwards by yourself.It would seem that from the time he landed in England he, and after himyour father and yourself, must have been watched almost night and day.I can understand now why they did not take your watch and money.They evidently acted from a sort of religious enthusiasm, and were noordinary thieves, but as evidently they did not hesitate to kill, Icannot understand why they should have added to their risks by sparingyou."
"No, that is what puzzles me," Mark agreed. "I was thinking it overwhile we were driving here. Now let me hear about the fight, Dick. Howdid you all come out of it?"
"As well as could be expected. Gibbons and Tring both got some heavyblows with the cudgels, as indeed we all did more or less, but they didgreat execution. Eleven fellows were left senseless on the ground, andone of them, that black fellow who came over with us, was killed. Theother ten are all in prison. All of us did our best, and managed toleave our mark on eight others, who were in consequence picked out, andare also in jail."
Dick went on to relate the particulars of the search.
"You see, our friend here had traced you to the barge and found out herdestination, and if you had come ten minutes later you would have foundthat we had all just started for Rotterdam. I was only waiting forChester and Malcolm to return to set out. I am sorry, Mark, that youhave lost your diamonds; not so much because they are gone, for I c
anwell understand you to be thoroughly glad to be rid of such dangerousarticles, but because they have carried them off in our teeth, after wehave been specially retained to protect you. I certainly thought thatwith such a bodyguard you were absolutely safe from any number ofHindoos."
"Yes, we made a regular mess of it, Mr. Thorndyke," Gibbons said. "Inever felt so certain of winning a battle as I did that you would notbe touched as long as we were looking after you. Tring and I, if we hadbeen asked, would have said that we could each have taken on a dozenforeigners easily. Mr. Chetwynd is handy with his fists too, though hehasn't your weight and reach, and your two other friends are both prettywell accustomed to deal with rough customers. As for Tring and me, itmakes one feel small to know that we have been bested by a handful ofniggers, or Hindoos, or whatever the chaps are, whom a good sized boy oftwelve ought to be able to polish off."
"Now, Mark, what is to be done next?" Dick Chetwynd asked.
"The next thing will be to get back as soon as we can, Dick. I, for one,have had enough of Holland to last me for a lifetime."
"I am afraid, gentlemen," the Lieutenant said, "you will have to waita day or two before you can leave. I have nineteen men in prison, andthere will be a meeting of magistrates this afternoon. Now you have comeback, Mr. Thorndyke, the charge against them won't be as serious asit would have been before, but they are guilty of a desperate andpremeditated assault upon six passengers on their arrival here; theyhave already admitted that they were paid for their work; and as amongthem are some of the worst characters in the city, you may be sure thatnow we have got them fairly in our hands we shall not let them go. It isso simple an affair that the investigation ought not to take long, butwe shall want to find out, if we can, who acted as the intermediarybetween the Hindoos and the prisoners. I should think that two meetingsought to be sufficient for the present, but I am afraid that there maythen be a long remand, and that you will either have to remain here orto come over again."
"It would be a horrible nuisance," Dick said; "still it would be betterto come back again than to wait here indefinitely, and anyhow I don'tsuppose it would be necessary for all of us to come back again."
"I should not mind if it could be arranged for me to be here again in amonth's time," Mark agreed, "for, to tell you the truth, I am going tobe married in less than three weeks, and as I had intended to come toBrussels, and afterwards to travel for a while, I could make a visithere without greatly putting myself out."
"I will try and arrange that, Mr. Thorndyke."
"I shall be glad," Mark said, "if you can manage to get the mensentenced without going into the question of the diamonds at all, andtreat the matter as a mere attempt at robbery. It surely would not benecessary to bring the question of my being carried away into the matterat all; I can give evidence that I was knocked down and stunned, andthat I was robbed of some jewels that I had about me, which were theobject of the attack."
"I think we should have to admit that," the Lieutenant said; "it mustcome out that the attack was an organized one."
"Well, if it must, it must," Mark said reluctantly; "but then, you see,no end of questions would be asked, and the thing might be delayed whilea search is being made for the men who stole the bracelet."
"Well, we will keep it out of the inquiry if we can," the Lieutenantsaid. "The meeting will be at three o'clock. I will send a man to takeyou to the Town Hall."
At the appointed hour the party proceeded to the court, and the eighteenprisoners, under a strong guard, having been brought in, six magistratestook their places on the bench; the rest of the court was crowded, thefray on the wharf and the number of captures having created quite astir in the city. They had arranged that Tring should first givehis evidence, which he did, the Lieutenant of the watch acting asinterpreter, though most of the magistrates understood English. Theappearance of the prisoners created quite a sensation in the court, forthe injuries that they had received were now even more conspicuous thanthey had been when they were first captured; some of them had to be ledinto court, their eyes being completely closed, others had their headsbandaged, and all showed signs of tremendous punishment. Tring relatedthat he, with five others, had come ashore together; one of hiscompanions had a row on board a ship they had crossed in, with aLascar sailor, who was a passenger, and they kept together as they werecrossing the wharf, thinking that possibly the man might attempt to stabhis companion.
"I was walking behind him," Tring went on, "when the Lascar jumpedsuddenly out from among the men standing about, and was about to stab mycompanion, when I hit him just in time, and he went down; then there wasa rush, and we all got separated, and did as well as we could until thewatch came up; that is all that I know about it."
"Is the Lascar among the prisoners?" one of the magistrates asked theLieutenant of the watch.
"No, sir, when picked up by one of my men he was found to be dead; theblow had apparently killed him instantly."
The other five then gave their evidence; it was similar to that ofTring, save that being in front of him they knew nothing of the attackby the Lascar. All they knew about it was that there was a suddenrush upon them by a number of men armed with bludgeons, that they wereseparated, and that each defended himself until the guard came up.
Some of the watch then gave evidence, and told how on arriving atthe spot eleven of the prisoners were found lying senseless; how, onrecovering, they were all taken to the watch house, where several ofthem were recognized as notoriously bad characters; they had admittedthat they were paid to make the attack, which was apparently the resultof the private enmity of some person or persons unknown to one or moreof those attacked.
The Lieutenant then related the steps that he had taken to captureothers connected with the attack, and that he found eight men bearingmarks of the fray, and that all these were also notorious characters,and associates of the prisoners first taken. The first witnesses wereagain questioned; five of them said that, so far as they knew, they hadno personal enemies. Mark, who was the last to get into the witness box,said that he himself had no enemies, but that an uncle of his, who wasin the British Indian service, had a sort of feud with some members ofa sect there on account of some jewels that he had purchased, and whichhad, they declared, been stolen from a temple. Two soldiers throughwhose hands these things had passed, had been successively killed bythem, and his uncle had to the day of his death believed that theirvengeance would one day fall upon him.
"I can only suppose," continued Mark, "that I have inherited the enmitythey bore him, as I inherited the jewels, and that the attack was reallydesigned solely against me, and the consequences might have beenfatal to me had it not been for the strength and courage of my fellowpassengers."
"Did they come with you for your protection, Mr. Thorndyke?"
"To some extent, yes. The fact is, that I have for some time beenconvinced that I was followed about by natives of India, and rememberingwhat my uncle had said on the subject, I became to some degreeapprehensive, and thought it as well to leave London for a short time.That this attack was really instigated by the men I have no doubtwhatever, since, as you have heard, it was begun by a Lascar, who triedto stab one of my companions and who received a knockdown blow thatcaused his death from one of the others. It is a well known fact thatthese people will cherish for many years a determination to avenge anyinjury. However, I hope that after the failure of this attempt upon mylife I shall hear no more of them."
"Were any knives found on the prisoners?" the magistrates asked theLieutenant of the watch.
"No, sir; all carried clubs. And they told me that they had beenespecially ordered not to take knives, and had indeed been searchedbefore they came out."
"What impression do you gather from that, Mr. Thorndyke?"
"My impression is, sir, that they desired to overpower those with me andto beat them down, in order to carry out their revenge upon me."
After some consultation the magistrate who had before spoken said:
"The pr
isoners will be remanded. It is necessary that we should find outwho was the chief culprit who bribed this gang."
As soon as the prisoners were taken out of court Mark slipped across tothe magistrates, accompanied by the Lieutenant as interpreter.
"I hope, gentlemen, that our presence here will not be necessary, for itwould be a matter of extreme inconvenience. I may say that my marriageis fixed for today three weeks, hence you can well imagine that I wantto return as soon as possible. Two of the men are, as you have heard,Bow Street officers, whose presence could not well be spared."
The magistrates again consulted together.
"Your evidence has all been taken down by the clerk of the court.Certainly we should not require your presence at the remand; but whetherwe should do so at the trial would, of course, depend upon whether thesemen all own their guilt, which, having been taken red handed, it islikely enough they will do. We will consent, therefore, to your leaving,if you will give us an undertaking to return for the trial if yourpresence is necessary, and that you will bring with you the man whostruck down the Lascar who commenced the fray, and one of the others."
"That I will do willingly," Mark replied. "We are much obliged toyou for your consideration. I shall be traveling for a time after mymarriage; but I will as I pass through Belgium after my marriage giveyou the route I intend to take and the address at which letters willfind me, and if you send me a sufficiently long notice I will at oncereturn for the trial."