by John Buchan
“There’s a sixth,” said Jaikie, “whom I have seen myself. I saw him in Allins’s company, and I saw him at a Labour meeting. He’s a short, very powerful fellow with big glasses and an underhung jaw that sticks forward. I know his name, too. He’s called Mastrovin.”
It was a bombshell of the largest size. “Mastrovin!” each of them exclaimed. It was as if a flood of dark memories and fears had been unloosed, and every eye was troubled. “Gracious God!” Casimir murmured. “And Ricci and Dedekind in conjunction! Crime and fanaticism have indeed joined hands.” He leaned over to Prince John. “I fear that we have brought your Royal Highness very near to your most deadly enemies.”
Then he bowed to Jaikie. “You have given us news of extreme importance, and we are most deeply your debtors. If you are to help us — and I think you desire to — it is necessary that you should understand the situation. . . . The present Government in Evallonia is Republican. We believe that it is not loved by the people and but ill suited to the national genius. But it is loved by the Powers of Europe, especially by Britain. They see in it a sober, stable, bourgeois government such as those enjoyed by France and Germany, and in their own interest the present rulers of Evallonia play up to them. They are always ready with the shibboleths of democracy, and at Geneva they speak wonderful things about peace and loving-kindness. But we, Mr Galt, we who are in close touch with the poor people of Evallonia, know better. We know that the Government is a camarilla of selfish adventurers. Already in many secret ways they are oppressing the poor. They think, most of them, not of Evallonia, but of their own power and their own pockets. And some think of darker things. There are among them men who would lead Evallonia into the black ways of Russia. There is above all this Mastrovin. He holds no portfolio — he has refused many — but he is the power in the background. He is the most subtle and dangerous mind in Europe to-day, and he is a fanatic who cannot be intimidated or persuaded or purchased. Why is he here? Why are Dedekind and Ricci and Calaman and Rosenbaum here? They cannot harm us with the Evallonian people — that they know well, for every day among the Evallonian masses disquiet with their régime is growing and enthusiasm for our Prince as their deliverer. . . . They are desperate men, and they must mean desperate things.”
“I daresay they’re all that,” said Jaikie. “But what kind of desperate act would profit them? That’s what puzzles me.”
“They could kidnap his Royal Highness,” Prince Odalchini put in. “Here — on a foreign shore — far from his friends.”
“I don’t think so,” said Jaikie. “Britain is a bad place for that kind of game — our police are too good. Besides, what would they do with him if they got him? Kidnapping would be far easier on the Continent, and if they wanted that they must have had plenty of chances. . . . Suppose they meant to do him bodily harm? Could they choose a worse place than this, where a foreigner is uncommon and conspicuous, and would half-a-dozen of their chief people turn up to do the job? It would be insanity, and they don’t strike me as insane.”
“What then is your explanation?” the Professor asked sombrely.
“They want to discredit his Royal Highness and his party. You say they can’t do that with the Evallonians. But they can do it with the Powers. They can do it with Britain. Suppose they publish to the world details of his Royal Highness and yourselves plotting a revolution on British soil with Mr Craw. We’re a queer people, and one thing we can’t stand is having our country used for foreign intrigues. The news of it would put up the back of Tory and Socialist alike. And the notion that Mr Craw was in it — well, it would be the end of Mr Craw and the Craw Press.”
“Of course it would,” said Alison, who had followed Jaikie’s exposition with appreciative nods.
“I’m certain I’m right. They want to compromise you. They and Allins believe that Mr Craw is at Castle Gay. They know that you are at Knockraw, and they know that what they hoped for has happened, and that his Royal Highness is here. They are waiting to find just the kind of compromising situation they want. And they’re desperate men, so they won’t stick at much to bring it about. I have no doubt at all that Mastrovin has ways and means of mobilising some pretty tough elements in Portaway. Remember, too, that the election is on Friday, and the Canonry will be all upside down that day.”
“By God, I believe the boy is right,” said Casimir, and the Professor acquiesced with a solemn nod.
“I’ve got it,” Jaikie cried. “I believe Friday — the day after to-morrow — is the day they’ve chosen to act. The countryside, as I say, will be upside down, the police will all be at the polling stations, and there will be a good chance for high-handed proceedings. I can’t just guess what these will be, but you may take it that they will be adequate.”
“But they won’t find Mr Craw,” put in Alison.
“I don’t think that that will matter. If they can get you somehow connected with Castle Gay, we’ll never be able to persuade people that Mr Craw was not there, or at any rate was not privy to the meeting. Not after that interview in the Wire,” and he looked across at Alison. “The world knows his opinions, and will assume Barbon to have his authority. No, Allins has been lucky, and things up to now have turned out rather well for him.”
“What do you advise?” It was Prince John who spoke. He looked at Jaikie as at another young man, who might be more useful than middle-age.
“Well, sir, if we know what they intend — and I think my guess is right — we start with one big advantage. Besides, I may find out a great deal in the next two days. But there’s one thing to be done at once. We must shorten our front of defence, and get rid of Knockraw.”
“Will you please explain?” said Casimir.
“You must give up your mission. You must see that it’s impossible. You can’t do anything with Mr Craw. Even if he were hot on your side, and not scared to death at the very mention of you, you can do nothing with him now. Your business is to prevent this mission of yours becoming a deadly blow to your cause and setting Britain violently against you. You see that?”
The silence proved that they did see it.
“May I ask, Mr Galt,” Casimir spoke, “what exactly is your position in this affair? Are you one of Mr Craw’s journalists, like Mr Crombie?”
“No, thank Heaven. I’ve nothing to do with journalism. My position is the same as Miss Westwater’s. We like Mr Craw and we don’t like Allins, and we’re going to do our best to protect the one and down the other. Our attitude to you is one of benevolent neutrality, but we’re for you against the other blighters.”
Prince John laughed. “That is candid and fair. Go on, sir. What is your plan?”
“You must leave Knockraw, and the sooner the better. It’s a rotten place to defend. It’s as open as a cricket-field. You and your household must clear out. You’ve no local people indoors, so you should be able to do that unostentatiously. But you mustn’t take his Royal Highness with you. You must depart exactly the same party as you arrived. We must take no chances. Nobody knows that he is with you except Allins and his friends, and nobody else must ever know. He can join you in London, where nothing matters.”
“And meantime what is to become of him?”
“You must entrust him to us. Miss Westwater and I will undertake to get him somehow quietly into England — and alone. What do you say, sir?”
“I will gladly entrust myself to Miss Westwater,” said Prince John with a bow.
“Then you must be the first to leave, sir,” said Jaikie. “Every hour you spend in this house and in this company increases the danger. I think Castle Gay is the right place for you, for it’s not very easy for anybody to get near it. But we’ll have to move cautiously. I think that the best place to go first will be the Mains.”
Casimir brightened. “I have a high regard for Mrs Brisbane-Brown,” he announced. “She might be of the utmost service.”
“I’ll back Aunt Harriet to put anything through,” said the loyal Alison.
Jaikie was aware
that four pairs of eyes were scrutinising him closely, and small wonder. He had wandered in out of the rain an hour ago, a complete stranger, and here he was asking four men of ripe experience and high position to put their fortunes in his hands. He faced the scrutiny with his serious, gentle eyes, very little perturbed, for he had a purpose now, and, as was his custom, was wholly absorbed in it. They saw his small wedge-shaped countenance, his extreme youthfulness, his untidy hair, his shabby clothes, but, being men of penetration, they saw something else — that sudden shadow which seemed to run over his face, tightening it into a mask of resolution. Every line of Jaikie spoke of a brisk purpose. He looked extraordinarily dependable.
Prince John spoke first.
“I was never much in love with this venture, my dear Casimir, and now I have only one wish — to be well out of it. We shall be well advised if we are guided by Mr Galt. You and I must clearly separate and not reunite till London. I am the compromising article, but I shall be much less conspicuous alone.”
“We go — when?” said Casimir, looking at Jaikie.
“I should advise to-night — a moonlight flitting, as we say. You can send the keys to the lawyers — say you were called home suddenly — anything. It’s a foul day, so you’d better stop indoors, or if you go out leave word with your servants to keep a good watch and let nobody in. You have two cars, I think, and they’re both hired from Portaway. Leave them in a Gledmouth garage and catch the night train to London. I’ll arrange with the Portaway people to send for them — they’re friends of mine.”
“And his Royal Highness?”
“I want him out of this house now. This dirty weather will help us. Miss Westwater can arrange for a groom from the Castle to fetch his kit — he’d better come in a dogcart, as if he were on an errand to the servants. Our first job is to get the Prince out of Knockraw and safe in the Mains without any mortal eye seeing him. . . . I’m ready, if you are, sir.”
Jaikie stood up stiffly, for the armchair had been very deep and his legs were rather cramped, and the others rose with him. He asked one more question: “Was the Prince out of doors yesterday?” and was told that he had been on the moor for some rough shooting. He had worn a different suit from that which he was now wearing, and a white mackintosh. “Good,” said Jaikie. “I want him now to put on the oldest and dingiest waterproof you can raise. But you must be sure to have that white mackintosh sent to Castle Gay.” A plan was vaguely building itself up in his head.
Jaikie arranged the departure with an eye to the observation-points on the hill and in the by-road. The mere exit from Knockraw was not a difficult problem; the real trouble would come when they were beyond the policies and in the rough pastures which stretched to the eastern wall of Castle Gay park. Once at that wall they were safe for a time, for there was a gate of which Alison had the key, and inside the park there were Mackillop and his myrmidons to ward off strangers.
Alison had her pony brought round, and set off at a canter down the avenue. Her arrival had been observed, and her going must be not less conspicuous. She rode fast through the drizzle till she reached the steading of Kirnshaw, which is one of the Castle farms. There she left her pony, and returned on foot to a clump of birches at the edge of a broomy common, where she was to meet the others. Her local knowledge could not be dispensed with.
The first part was easy. Jaikie and Prince John emerged from a scullery window and by way of a thicket of laurels reached a fir planting which led to the park boundary. The rain now descended in sheets, and soon they were both comprehensively wet, but it was the right weather for their task. There must be but poor visibility for the watcher on the hill, and the car in the by-road controlled only the direction of Portaway. . . . It was easy, too, to cross the road by which Tibbets had pursued the Knockraw car. It was full of twists and turns and at this hour as empty of humanity as the moor. After that came half an hour of slinking through patches of furze and down hedgerow ditches, till the clump of birches was reached, where Alison awaited them. So far the Prince had behaved well, and had obeyed Jaikie as a docile novice in a deer forest obeys a masterful stalker.
But with Alison in the party complications began. They had still three-quarters of a mile to cover before they reached the Castle park wall, and, since they were descending a slope, they were more or less in view of the road from Portaway which followed the left bank of the Callowa. Jaikie, who had a sense for landscape like a wild animal’s, had this road always in his mind, and sometimes he made them crawl flat for yards, sometimes run hard in cover, sometimes lie on damp earth till some alarm had ceased. The trouble was Prince John, who became suddenly a squire of dames. He wanted to help Alison over every difficulty. He would rise to his full height in crossing a brook that he might give her a hand, he did the same thing in parting the bramble coverts, and he thought it his duty to make polite conversation in spite of Jaikie’s warning growl.
The girl, as active as a squirrel, needed no assistance, and was much embarrassed by these attentions. Already Jaikie had forced the Prince’s head down into the heather several times when he had raised it to address Alison, and he was just beginning to wonder how his companion was to be sternly reprimanded without lèse-majesté, when Alison anticipated him.
“Prince,” she said in her clear high voice, “do you mind if I mention that for the present the Age of Chivalry has gone?”
They crossed the high-road when, after a reconnaissance by Jaikie, the coast was pronounced clear, and with some difficulty induced the gate in the park wall to open. Now for a space they were safe, so they restored their circulation by running down a glade of bracken to where the Callowa lay in its hollow. The river was rising, but it could be forded at a shallow, and the three splashed through, Alison going first to escape Prince John’s obvious intention of carrying her across. After that they went more warily, for there were points in the neighbourhood from which this section of the park could be commanded. Indeed their route was very much that taken by Jaikie and Dougal on their first visit, and they passed under the very tree in which Alison had been perched. Just before noon they reached the gate in the further wall.
Jaikie, with the help of the bough of an adjoining tree, shinned up, raised his head above the top, and cautiously prospected the highway. Opposite was a low fence, and then a slope of hazels and rhododendrons which was part of the Mains demesne. Once inside that pale they were safe. The road was empty. He gave the word, and Alison and the Prince darted across and in a moment were out of sight.
An instant later a man appeared round the bend of the road. He was a fisherman, for he carried a great salmon-rod and he wore brogues and waders. As he came nearer Jaikie recognised him and tumbled off the wall. It was Mr McCunn, who proposed to fish the Bridge pool of the river and was taking the quickest way to it.
Jaikie cut short his greeting, for a car was coming down the road. “Not a word,” he whispered. “Let me speak. . . .” Then, raising his voice, “It’s a grand day for a salmon. . . . What’s your fancy for flies? . . . The water is three feet up already. . . . I saw a big one in the Bridge pool, thirty pounds if he was an ounce, but pretty black. . . .”
So he chattered as the car passed. It was a two-seater, and in it was one man, Allins. He slowed down, and Jaikie’s babble must have come clearly to his ear.
“Have you taken leave of your senses, Jaikie?” the mystified Dickson asked.
“Yes. I’m as daft as a yett in a high wind. D’you know what I’ve been doing all morning? Dragging a prince through burns and bogs by the hair of his head. . . . I’m going to watch you fishing for ten minutes and you’ve got to answer me some questions.”
When Alison and Prince John halted in a recess of the hazel thicket, whence ran a rustic path to the upper garden, they found another occupant of that hermitage. This was a small man, very wet and muddy, in a ruinous waterproof, rather weary, and apparently in some alarm. It was a full minute before Alison recognised in the scarecrow the celebrated Mr Craw.
&n
bsp; CHAPTER XVI. ENEMY’S COUNTRY
Jaikie, being very wet, trotted most of the way back to Portaway. The rudiments of a plan were growing in his mind, and he had a great deal to think about and a great deal to do. . . . The enemy was keeping a close watch, and must have got together a pretty considerable posse to help him. It was a bold thing for Allins himself to be in the neighbourhood of Castle Gay. But then, he reflected, Allins’s visits there had not been frequent — he generally took his holiday abroad in the autumn — and, when there, he probably never stirred much outside the park gates. Besides, he would not be easy to identify with the collar of his ulster turned up and a cap pulled over his brows. Only one who, like Jaikie himself, was on the look-out for him, would be likely to recognise him. No, Allins was safe enough.
He reached the Green Tree to find no Mr Craw or any message from him, and learned from a maid that he had sallied forth about half-past nine. . . . Jaikie sat down and considered, while he ate a luncheon of bread and cheese. Mr Craw could not be wandering about Portaway — he knew the risk he ran in the town. He must have gone up the water. But where? Had he taken the bit between his teeth and returned to Castle Gay? It seemed the only explanation. Mr Craw, puffed up with last night’s achievement, had discovered a new self-reliance, and proposed to steer his own course.
It was an unforeseen complication, but there was no help for it. He must trust to luck, and go on with his own preparations. After all, for the moment Mr Craw was not the chief piece on the chess-board.