CHAPTER XCI.
MARKBY'S NEXT STEP--THE PREFECT OF POLICE--THE PLOT THICKENS--A GLIMPSEOF MARKBY'S PURPOSE--A DOUBLE TRAITOR--DEADLY PERIL.
Markby went off muttering to himself.
"Wish that scamp could only share the fate I have reserved for thataccursed Harkaway. However, I can't manage that, so I must be thankfulfor small mercies."
* * * *
A short walk brought this Markby to the office of the prefect ofpolice, and his business being of considerable importance, he wasfortunate in soon obtaining an interview with that great man himself.
"This is an excellent opportunity," said the head of the police, "ifyour information is thoroughly reliable, although I confess that italmost sounds too good to be true."
"Pardon me, monsieur," said Markby, "the expression you use sounds asthough I had got information second-hand; I am a principal. On the10th, you will please to remember. I have to be of the party."
"It is a very important matter," said the prefect, "that I will notattempt to disguise from you. This Lenoir is evidently at the head of agigantic conspiracy. We have been long seeking to discover how hedisposed of his counter----"
"Stock," said Markby, interrupting the prefect, with a smile. "He isthe quintessence of caution, sir, and he never alludes to it by anyother term."
"You really think that these English people are their confidants?"
"The chief confederates; yes. They are the heads of the English part ofour scheme."
"How many men should you require?" demanded the prefect, changing thesubject abruptly.
"A dozen fully armed, in plain clothes. These can descend into the_caveaux_ to make the capture."
"A dozen!"
"Yes."
"So many!"
"You don't know Lenoir," said Markby; "he's the very devil when he'saroused. A dozen will have all their work to do. As for the twoEnglishmen----"
"They are young," exclaimed the prefect.
"They are young fiends. I have seen them fight like devils. They arejust as dangerous as Lenoir. They are an cunning as the evil onehimself, and will gammon even you, by their plausible tales."
"Let me see," said the prefect, thoughtfully. "I will take note of thenames which you tell me they are likely to assume."
"One has been calling himself Jack Harkaway."
"And the other?"
"Harry Girdwood."
"Good--and you can prove that both the persons whose names are assumedare in Turkey?"
"I can."
"Very good," said the prefect, rising, to intimate that the intercoursewas over. "Our men shall be there in force for the capture."
Jack Harkaway's Boy Tinker Among The Turks Page 33