A Modern Mercenary

by K. Prichard and Hesketh Vernon Hesketh Prichard

  CHAPTER XXV.

  A QUESTION OF TWO MORALITIES.

  The road towards the block-house ran along the river bank past the KofnFord. They went slowly on together through the starry windy night,Rallywood with his hand on the bridle and the wounded man holding limplyto the saddle.

  The _tsa_ raved and rocked in the pine trees, through the pauses of thestorm a wolf barked, and the black, tumbled water was still swelling andgulping under the low stars. But the tumult of noises only served toaccentuate the hideous loneliness which is the salient characteristic ofthe Frontier.

  Counsellor, with an unaccustomed warfare in his heart--rage and the pityof it working together--stared into space across the leaping river.

  As the two men drew near the ford, they saw the dim figure of a horsemanriding down the bank on the opposite side, with the evident intention ofcrossing. The approaches to the ford were flooded, for the angry waterfretted out its banks at such times and deepened into dangerous swirlsover the crossing-place.

  Rallywood checked the horse to shout and signal to the man that the fordwas impassable, but his voice was drowned by the harsh throated noisesof the night. Weak as was the starlight, something of the loose recklessswing in the saddle told Rallywood that the rider was Anthony Unziar.Unziar galloped down the stones of the incline and plunged into thetorrent. It was clear from where he took the water that he intended tomake for the little beach below the block-house. His course was markedby a whitish rise in the water; now and then the watchers on the banklost sight of the struggling figure as a tree-trunk whirled past and hidhim, or he seemed to sink in some tormented eddy, but he came into viewagain and always nearer. At the last moment, whether horse and man wereexhausted or whether a furious tangle of cross-currents caught them,they were swung round and away from the landing-point.

  It was now evident that Unziar saw Rallywood, for in answer to thelatter's signs that he must make for the shallows lower down, Unziarwaved some object over his head as if to call attention to it. The suckof the current was fast drawing him away, but with another strong efforthe got the horse's head round; they heard his faint shout upon the windthen the words came more clearly:

  'Carry them on--Selpdorf!' He flung something forwards; the gale caughtand hurled it on to the rocks at Rallywood's feet.

  When they looked again Unziar had disappeared.

  Hurrying up to the block-house, Rallywood sent off some troopers toUnziar's assistance; then with some difficulty got his prisoner, who wasstiff and dizzy, on his feet and supported him to the room where Madamede Sagan and Valerie had rested on the night of the snow-storm.

  Rallywood did all that could be done for Counsellor, then he sat down atthe narrow table to face his position. The _tsa_ battered at the littlewindow, and the camp-bed creaked under Counsellor's weight as he turnedand groaned upon it, while Rallywood sat with soul and body absorbed inthe consciousness that at last the time of which Counsellor had warnedhim was come, the time when he should find his enemies dressed in red.Under almost any other circumstances it would have been possible toretire from the position with honour. Had war been declared betweenEngland and Maasau, he could have resigned his commission. But to-nighthe found himself without any such means of escape, fast in the jaws ofthe cleverly-contrived trap set for him by Selpdorf.

  But he scarcely yet knew the worst. Presently Counsellor spoke.

  'This thing has gone beyond a joke,' he said, 'What does it mean?' Theglance from under the overhanging gray brows had regained its fire.

  'My orders are simple enough. I am to keep you here until to-morrowafternoon at three o'clock.'

  'By doing so you will ruin Maasau as a free State and bring a mostserious defeat upon the British policy.' Counsellor's voice wasrasping. 'Are you prepared for that?'

  Both men were strenuous, and bred deep into the bone of each were thesame dominant qualities.

  'I am prepared to carry out my orders,' answered Rallywood; 'I had thempractically from the Duke himself.'

  'The Duke is of the same mind in which I found him at the Castle, thoughhe may be forced to dissemble,' asserted Counsellor; then with a twisthe sat up as his glance fell upon the square dark object lying on thetable between them. 'John Rallywood, do you know what that is?'

  'The despatches thrown to me by Unziar.'

  'That case is mine; it contains my private instructions; you can guesssomething of their importance from the fact that I have been robbed ofthem. You must give them back to me! As an Englishman and an honest man,I call upon you to give them back to me.'

  Rallywood's long nervous fingers closed over the packet.

  'It is impossible!' he said. 'As an Englishman, yes, but as an honestman, well, it--it is hard to say.'

  'Are you mad?' cried Counsellor.

  'I have not had long to think it out, and it is a tangled question,'replied Rallywood wearily.

  'A tangled question? I take it you are first of all an Englishman?'

  'In my private capacity, and that deals with my private honour; but Ihave undertaken another responsibility from which I cannot withdraw atpleasure. I am a sworn soldier of Maasau, and as such my public honourhas first claim.'

  It was a simple rendering of a tremendous problem, but it served forRallywood.

  'Then----' said Counsellor.

  There was a rush and a scuffle, but Rallywood was young and strong andmore active than the Major.

  'Confound you!' Counsellor fell back a step or two, breathing hard.There are some situations which by their elemental force destroy allother emotions. The situation at Kofn guard-house was one of these. Thepoint at issue between these two men pierced to the bed-rock of nationalloyalty. Perhaps Blivinski was right. Love of country was part of theirphysical equipment, yet by the irony of circumstances they were pittedagainst each other.

  'Will you give me your parole?' asked Rallywood with his back to thedoor.

  Counsellor drew out a big watch.

  'For fifteen minutes,' he said. 'It is now half-past nine; at forty-fiveminutes past I shall hold myself once more free to do what I can. Youunderstand? In the meantime we will talk.'

  Rallywood motioned Counsellor back to the camp bed while he himself satdown on the table.

  'I fancy, John, we are both rather in the dark about all this,' beganCounsellor. 'Tell me your story, and I'll tell you mine.'

  'My orders were clear enough,' Rallywood said. 'I was to take charge ofa prisoner, to be brought to me by the incoming mail at the spot where Imet you. You arrived queerly, I admit, rolling along the down line, butyou are undoubtedly the person of whom I was instructed to take charge.'

  'Ah--I begin to see. There may be many men in Maasau who would rob me,but there is only one man who could do it so clumsily.'

  'Count Sagan?'

  'Naturally. But to return, I left you at the Castle looking forColendorp; whether you found him or not does not come into this affair.Perhaps he was in Sagan's way and he removed him----'

  'With a knife.'

  'That is quite in the Count's manner. Well, I got safely to England,where my business took a day and a half longer than I expected. Ireceived my despatches, and five hundred miles from here I took theprecaution of removing them from my despatch-box. After we left theFrontier station I noticed that our train had lost half its length, andthat I was in the last carriage. I didn't like it. It is never healthyfor a despatch-box to travel in an end compartment. That is tempting ofFate.'

  Counsellor stopped as if to collect his thoughts again.

  'After a little the pace slackened and I felt a sharp jolt. They wereswitching me on to the down line, an improvement upon the original planso like the Count's manner that it almost proves he must have been onthe spot superintending operations. Next it was a face at the window. Iused my revolver, but they stunned me and robbed me and left it to thenight mail to close my mouth for good. Now you know where you are, JohnRallywood; you are abetting a crime, and a crime against your owncountry, against England!'

 
; Rallywood laughed, but a laugh against oneself has a bad sound with it.

  'It seems the day has come when I find my enemies dressed in red!' hesaid.

  'Why, yes, if you choose to put it so. If you either carry thesedespatches on for Unziar or remain to keep me prisoner, you playGermany's game for her.'

  'Perhaps not,' suggested Rallywood. 'The Chancellor sent me here.'

  Counsellor's short angry grunt of derision surprised him.

  'Mademoiselle Valerie may be loyal, but Selpdorf is at the bottom of thewhole plot. Does he guess there is any bond of liking or interestbetween you and his daughter? If so, he sent you here to break you! Heknew that between the conflicting claims of a man's public and privatehonour lie shame and often death. Do you not see that amongst them theyare bent on ruining you? Just now, when I hoped all might be yours thata man can ask for! Your Chicago cousin at Queen's Fain is dying and youare his heir. Yet you are to be ruined--ruined by the hate of Elmur andSagan, and what are you to Selpdorf but a fly to be crushed whosepresence annoys him?'

  'Are you sure of this? His sending me to be witness of yourassassination fits in badly with the theory of his collusion.'

  'Perfectly; Sagan stultified the scheme, that was all. Selpdorf forgotthat Sagan is a wild beast who can only be fed with blood!' Counsellorpaused. 'The highway robbery with violence to which I have beensubjected is Sagan's bull-headed translation of Selpdorf's hint todetain me. Thus, according to their calculations, before I can get toRevonde the Duke will have been induced to lend himself to some othercourse. It is not hard to read their tactics. They run on old lines. Soyou see there is only one way out of it--you must help me, John.'

  What advice he might have offered to Rallywood as simple man to manoccupied no place in Counsellor's intentions. He was England's envoy asopposed to her antagonists, and into the scale in her favour he meant tothrow the whole of his personal influence with Rallywood.

  Rallywood made a sign of dissent.

  'But surely you will not side with Sagan's party as against the Duke?'urged Counsellor.

  'The Duke has been known to change his mind before now.'

  Counsellor bit savagely at his moustache. The minutes were flying.

  'I wonder if old Gustave has allowed himself to be humbugged yet oncemore!' he said to himself. 'John, on which side do you suppose ValerieSelpdorf would wish to see you?'

  'We need not mention her,' answered Rallywood stiffly.

  'What? Have you not spoken? Does she not know?'

  'She knows--yes, and others know too that I love her. But it is ended.There is nothing more; there never can be now.'

  Counsellor put his hand to his head.

  'Will you help me? That after all is the question.'

  Rallywood looked down at him, and Counsellor fancied there was a shadowof reproach in the glance.

  'For you that is the question, but for me there is another,' Rallywoodsaid deliberately. 'Until I can resign my oath to Maasau, honour holdsme her sworn soldier.'

  'Of all things in the world what is so arbitrary as honour?' criedCounsellor. 'Honour is a wild flower; God plants it, but man prunes it,and the devil only can be responsible for the sports one sometimes meetswith. Well, go your own and the devil's way!' The Major turnedirritably round. 'In my creed a man's first duty is to his country.'

  'I wish I could see it so,' said Rallywood sadly. Then the hush of themighty battle fell upon the little room. The air was stifling to both,for Counsellor knew what was in his companion's heart and even felt afar-off pity for him, but no relenting. Rallywood's handsome brown facehad grown suddenly sharp and aged, and his gray eyes contracted to darkpoints under their frowning lids. The man was looking on the wreck ofhis life, and slowly coming to the conclusion that he must choose thatcourse which would add the defeat of the land he loved to his own ruin.He would have died for England, happy in the sacrifice, but to lose allin her despite was a bitter thing.

  'Time's up,' said the Major. 'You have one minute to give me yourdecision.'

  'A soldier should see no further than the point of his sword,' repliedRallywood. 'An oath stands between me and my desires. These despatchesmay be yours, but you know how they have come into my charge. As long asI am a soldier of Maasau, my duty to her comes first of all. I cannotlet you go nor can I give up these despatches! Curse you!' a strongflash of emotion breaking in upon the restraint of his speech, 'why haveyou no sword? If you had killed me----'

  Counsellor put his watch back into his pocket.

  'A man's country should be his conscience,' said the old diplomatist,as one who pronounces a definite and unassailable truth. Then he waited.

  Rallywood stood up.

  'I cannot argue,' he said, 'but Major, you will believe me when I saythat I see my duty plainly. I refuse!'

  'I have had a great regard for you,' replied Counsellor slowly, 'but ifyou were my own son, by Heaven, I'd blow your brains out to-night! Giveme those despatches.'

  There was a rapid movement and the gleam of a pistol barrel in his hand.

  'Thank God!' It was not more than the faintest whisper from Rallywood ashe sprang at his companion.

  But there was no report, only an ominous click as Counsellor flung theunloaded revolver in Rallywood's face with a bitter word.

  'It was not loaded.'

  Hardly had they closed when the door was opened and a couple of mensupported Unziar into the room. The water ran in streams from hisclothes to the floor, while he stood and stared at the two combatantswho had fallen apart.

  'I suppose they sent you to meet me, Rallywood,' he said in English; 'itis lucky, for I'm done! You must carry those despatches on withoutdelay, for they must reach the Chancellor at the earliest possiblemoment. Go; there is no time to lose!'

  Rallywood pointed to Counsellor.

  'This gentleman is my prisoner. You will keep him here until furtherorders. Meantime I will ride on with these to Revonde.'

  Counsellor and Unziar remained together, but no word passed between themtill out in the windy night they heard the beat of hoofs as Rallywoodrode away on his mission.