CHAPTER VII
Major Joseph Douglas
While Geoff and his friends are aboard that motor-vessel, on the pointof attacking the Turks aboard the steam-launch which had so unexpectedlyopposed their progress up the River Euphrates, let us for a moment turnaside to follow the fortunes of another individual who has already beenintroduced to our readers.
We have already recounted how Major Joseph Douglas, a "political"officer, said farewell to his friends in that frontier fortress far upamongst the hills of India, and how he disappeared, as indeed was hiswont, on another of those long expeditions on which the Government ofIndia employed him. We have said that he reached the Persian Gulf andmade his way to Basra, and thence up country on a river steamer till thewalls of Bagdad enclosed him. Then, having disappeared from the ken ofhis fellows entirely, and having contrived almost to reach the heart ofAsiatic Turkey, the war--which was to drag so many nations into itstoils--broke out, and saw the Kaiser's legions overwhelming Belgium, andinvading France and Poland.
That Turkey should have been drawn into this conflict was perhaps asmuch a matter for astonishment to the Turks themselves as to otherpeoples, for they had, in fact, no grievance against Great Britain orher allies. Indeed, Britain has always befriended the Turk, and donewhat she could for him; yet late years--those years just prior to theoutbreak of this vast war which now tears Europe into pieces--saw whatmay be termed a revolution in the country of the Sultan. The "Young TurkParty" arose, a party which grew in power--thanks, no doubt, to thescheming help of Germany--till it was able to dethrone the Sultanhimself and capture the reins of Government. In the hands of Germanschemers--the agents of the Kaiser and his war lords--these ambitiousyoung Turks were easily deluded, and, carried away by the successes theyhad already met with, listened eagerly to the words of the tempters.There was gold to be had in abundance, gold, if the Young Turk Partywould but carry out the behests of the German War Lord, if they wouldbut follow a plan which, they were told, would lead not only to theirown wealth--for rewards and presents would be poured upon them--but tothe greatness of Turkey. War was imminent, they no doubt were informed,and Germany had designs upon the conquest of all nations. Why shouldTurkey be unfriendly to the Germans? Why should the subjects of the newSultan fight with the subjects of the Kaiser? There was no desire on thepart of the War Lord of Berlin to conquer the dwellers by the Bosphorus,the Turks living in Europe or in Asia, but only the fervent wish to befriendly with them. Then here was the opportunity! Let Turkey side withGermany against France and Russia, and, if need be, against GreatBritain; let her close the Dardanelles utterly, and so shut off theRussian enemy from the Mediterranean; and then let her but wait tillGermany had broken the fighting forces of France and of the Tsar ofRussia; then would come the turn of those Powers in the Balkans--oncethe subjects of Turkey. Serbia would be overridden, would be decimated,would be stamped out of existence; if need be, Bulgaria, the ancientenemy of Turkey, would be destroyed completely. And then see what wouldhappen! The forces of Germany and of Austria would be linked up withthose of the Sultan, and who could stay their progress? With millions ofmen under arms, with engineers to construct railways throughout AsiaticTurkey, Egypt would be wrested for the Turks from Great Britain--Egyptthe heritage of Turkey; Persia could be gained; Afghanistan itself, andeven India conquered. Look at the prospect! The eyes of the Young TurkParty were blinded by the brilliance of such a proposition; and forthose who were more sagacious, who knew the German to be a schemer,there was gold--gold in abundance--with which to bribe them, gold withwhich to gild their doubt, and to make them unwilling friends ofGermany.
Little wonder, perhaps, that the guileless and inexperienced, ifunscrupulous, "Young Turk Party" listened to the crafty words of theKaiser's agents, and decided to throw in their lot with them. Littlewonder that, following upon the outbreak of the war, they welcomed thecoming of the _Goeben_ and the _Breslau_--two of Germany's most powerfulvessels--and, having admitted them to the Bosphorus, closed theDardanelles entirely. Now, see the result of such a movement! In theBlack Sea itself the Turks were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned bythe vessels of the Russians--that is, prior to the coming of the_Goeben_ and the _Breslau_; but now that those two vessels had reachedthe scene, there was not a vessel in the Tsar's navy capable of easilystanding up to them. Those two, with the help of what Turkey could sendfrom her dockyards, might very well clear the Black Sea of all Russianvessels, and make the transport of Turkish troops to Trebizond, and tothe frontier lying between Turkey and Russia, along the CaucasusMountains, a matter of ease and safety. Then the coming of those twopowerful vessels would enable the Young Turk Party to reinforce theirarmy in the Caucasus, and, perhaps, to strike a blow there which wouldcause heavy Russian losses. In any case, a force so disposed wouldnecessitate the placing of Russian armies to oppose them, and Russianarmies so withdrawn from the forces of the Tsar would weaken the troopsneeded to stem the tide of Germans and Austrians then pouring intoPoland.
Looked at from every point of view, the coming of Turkey into theconflict was likely to be of enormous advantage to the Kaiser, and ofsignal disadvantage to Britain and her allies. That it was likely toimprove the fortunes of the Turks was problematical only. Indeed, thereis little doubt that if Germany had carried out to the full the firstportion of her programme, and had shattered the forces of France and ofRussia, Turkey would have become merely a puppet in the hands of theHohenzollerns. Germans would--and may even yet--sweep into AsiaticTurkey, and, had they broken the power of their enemies elsewhere--asfortunately they have not done--the Turks would undoubtedly have becomevassals of the Kaiser. As it is, they have thrown in their lot with theGermans, and it would appear as if they were to gain nothing but lossesand privations.
But, in any case, they had become enemies of Britain and her allies,and, seeing that Major Joseph Douglas was most decidedly a Briton, theywere enemies of his, and he was an alien in the midst of them. Such awell-known person as the Major--for let us say at once that if MajorJoseph Douglas was known far and wide in India, a welcome guest in manyan officers' mess and in a host of cantonments, he was, in a ratherdifferent way, just as well known in the heart of Mesopotamia--was nowan alien, an enemy, and must needs look to his own safety.
Douglas Pasha had, in fact, a most uncanny way of eluding the Turkishgovernors of the various provinces he visited. He came openly to them,and often enough called upon them in the most friendly manner possible,receiving from them the warmest welcome. Yet, under the silken cloak offriendship, and beneath the welcome which every well-bred man extends toanother--and your Turk is a gentleman, whatever else you may say ofhim--there existed always, when Douglas Pasha turned up upon the scene,a feeling of doubt, of hesitancy, almost of danger, in the minds ofthose Turkish governors. Crafty themselves, they knew well enough thathe had come to investigate every feature of the country, to ascertainwhat Turkish forces were maintained, to map the roads, no doubt, toinvestigate the progress of such railways as Turkey possessed, and tounearth a hundred different matters. It followed, therefore, oftenenough, that Douglas Pasha's exit from the palace of a governor wasfollowed, almost automatically, by the dogging of his footsteps. Spiesfollowed him from place to place, spies who watched his every movementlike a company of cats; spies whom the cheerful and cunning DouglasPasha on every occasion managed to elude.
Thus, he was within a few days of the outbreak of war at Bagdad, wherenews of European matters had not yet reached the populace. Yet thegovernor knew that war was impending--that Turkish governor upon whomthe Major had called that very afternoon, and who had bowed the gallantofficer out of his palace, had smiled in such friendly fashion upon him,and who, once his back was turned, had snapped his fingers, had clappedhis hands, and had set machinery in motion to have Douglas Pashafollowed and watched. Yet, strange as it may seem, Geoff Keith's mostexcellent guardian was by no means the simpleton he seemed, and by nomeans ignorant of events then impending.
He strolled down the centre of the Bazaar,
a likeable figure in hisdust-coloured travelling-suit, a tall, active man, with the face and thebearing of a soldier. He stopped to converse with an Arab dealer inbrass-ware, seated cross-legged upon his little stall, and chatted withhim as if he were himself a native. Then he passed on to another stall,leaving the Arab, usually so uninterested in the affairs of this world,keenly curious as to the nationality of the stranger who had addressedhim. A dozen yards higher up, there was an Armenian Jew sellingjewellery, and with him, too, Douglas Pasha chatted in the most pleasantmanner and in the Armenian tongue; and then he strolled on for a while,till, noticing the angular figure of a big-boned Jew seated upon anotherstall, with a mass of embroidery laid out before him, he turned back andstrolled towards him.
"Many fine wares to sell, my friend?" he said, addressing him in theArmenian tongue. "Our brother yonder has jewellery beyond compare; but,in truth, these wares that you have to offer would delight the heart ofa houri."
Bending down, he picked up one of the gaudily-embroidered pieces ofcloth and admired it openly; while the Jew, after answering him in amonosyllable, and casting his eyes up at the Major's face for just onemoment, bent them down again upon his goods, as if fearful that someonemight filch them from him.
"Fine gold, friend, and stuff woven in the heart of Persia," the Majortold him. "And what may be the price of this, my friend?"
As might be expected, the price which this hook-nosed and somewhatancient Jew set upon the article selected was simply immense, more thantreble its actual value. But, then, it is a habit of the East, where apurchase more or less is not a matter of importance, where there is timefor everything, and hurry is a thing not to be dreamed of. Shopping inLondon or in some busy provincial city and shopping at Constantinople orin the Bazaar at Bagdad are two utterly different affairs altogether;the one all haste, intermingled with the most business-like methods, andthe other all dilatoriness, with a strong flavour of friendly haggling,when hours must be passed before the price of the simplest object issettled.
"And low in price," the Jew told the Major, glancing cunningly up athim. "Low in price, Excellency, as truly as I sit before you. But wait,there are other goods for sale within this store; be seated, take a postof honour on this bench, and let the youth bring coffee to us."
His bent figure became upright for a moment, and he clapped his handsloudly. At the same instant he swung his eyes round that portion of theBazaar visible from the stall where he was wont to sit the livelong day,and dropped them instantly. Yet that one glance seemed to have sufficed,for a smile seamed his face for just one second. Then he rapped out asharp order to the Turkish boy who appeared at his summons, and sat onmotionless, without a word, without even venturing to offer more of hiswares, till the coffee had been produced and laid before himself and theMajor. It was then, as the English officer tipped the tiny egg-shapedcup to his lips, that the eyes of the two met.
"Well!" demanded the Major.
"Excellency, beware! There is news from the outside world," the Jew toldhim, and then again swept a swift glance round the confines of theBazaar. "Listen, Excellency!" he said, snatching another piece ofembroidered ware and holding it up before the Major, while he madepretence to point to the gilded work upon it; "listen, Excellency! Thereis war!"
"Ah!" came from the Major.
"War between France and Russia on the one hand and the German enemy onthe other."
"And Britain?" asked the Major breathlessly, though to an observer, evenmore than casual, he seemed to be engaged in most carefullyscrutinizing the embroidery. "And Britain?" he asked again. "She----"
"There are things that seem strange to one of us people in this land ofTurkey," said the Jew quietly, stretching out a hand to pick up more ofhis wares. "There is a place, a country, perhaps peopled by a greatnation for aught I know, a country known as Belgium. Listen, Excellency!The Germans have invaded that country, have burst their way into it,have fired upon the people, and have killed many of them."
"That means war, war for Great Britain," said the Major, tossing thepieces of cloth down and shaking his head as though he could not agreeto purchase them. Then he picked up another piece, and while hescrutinized it told the Jew to go on with the story.
"Proceed!" he said. "Belgium is a country of much importance. Germanyhad sworn, with Britain and France and other nations, to preserve thatcountry inviolate. Then she has broken her word!"
"As Germans ever break their word," the Armenian Jew told him. "Yes,Excellency, in the years that have gone by, and increasingly so in theselast few years, I have met with German after German. In public life Iknow them not, but in trade, I say, beware of them! They steal behindthe scenes, they are mean, and thrifty, and energetic, and possessed ofmany virtues and many failings. I like them not, and trust them not atall! So, Excellency, they swore to defend this country! And yet tore upthat treaty, and poured soldiers upon her? Truly that is an act ofbaseness seldom heard of."
"And means war for my country," the Major told him. "And then, myfriend?" he asked swiftly.
"And then, from the same source, I gather that there is a stir inConstantinople, that there is a great movement of troops and of vessels,and that in a little while, even as we speak, perhaps, Turkey may havejoined in with Germany."
If Major Joe Douglas felt inclined to give vent to a shrill whistle ofastonishment, for, after all, he was astonished--though this was ahappening which he had expected now for many years past--he managed tosuppress the wish very promptly. He contrived to go on bargaining andhaggling with the old Jew for perhaps half an hour, and then, throwingdown another piece of embroidered cloth and shaking his head, he passedfrom the stall and again along the Bazaar.
Some twenty yards higher up, when near the Turkish portion, he cannonedinto a man of moderate height, dressed like himself in Europeanclothing, a fat, very stoutly-built man, possessed of a head so closelycropped that it was hideous, and of a face from which sprouted agreyish-brown moustache, the centre of which was stained a darker colourby much cigarette-smoking. This individual wore a broad-brimmed panamaupon his head, as a general rule, but at that moment carried it in onehand, and was fanning himself with energy.
"Pardon!" said the Major. "Sorry!"
"Ach! It vas you!"
Undoubtedly German, the stout individual into whom the Major hadcannoned turned at first an angry face upon him, a face which a momentlater was lit up by smiles and divided almost asunder by a capaciousgrin, stretching a most enormous mouth from ear to ear and disclosingtwo rows of stained and yellow teeth within it. Of a truth, theappearance of this individual was not altogether prepossessing; and yet,putting his yellow teeth aside, forgetting for one moment his huge andunwieldy proportions, and his smooth-cropped head and other undesirablefeatures, the frank expression of his face, the broadness of his grin,even, were at once captivating.
"My tear Major!" he exclaimed, holding one fat hand up, palm foremost,while he still continued to fan himself with his panama. "My tear Major,and who would have thought to meet you here, you of all people!"
"Why, von Hildemaller!"
"Jah! Von Hildemaller! Dis is der greadest bleasure in mein life. Meintear Major!"
The big, fat German stood back from the tall, sprucely-dressed, andbrisk-looking English soldier, and surveyed him with a smile which wouldhave melted the heart of the most implacable of enemies. Von Hildemallerwas geniality itself, brimful of smiles and of friendliness; and, havingmopped his streaming face and fanned himself again with his panama, hestretched out his broad palm and gripped the one which Major Douglaspresented to him.
"My tear Major!" he exclaimed again, puffing heavily, for, to be sure,what with his own stoutness of figure, and the close and confinedatmosphere within the Bazaar, the German was none too comfortable. "Andto think dat you vas here of all der places in der world!" He held uphis two hands now, the better to express his astonishment, while histwinkling and extremely merry eyes shot a swift, if not cunning, glanceat the soldier.
"And you vas here
long?" he demanded, mopping his face again withenergy, and using for that purpose a huge handkerchief of Turkish redsilk, which would have done duty at a pinch for a table-cloth. "Nein?Nod long, you say? Perhabs four, five, six days?"
The Major extracted his cigarette case from his pocket and offered itpolitely to the German, as if hinting at the same moment that questionswere hardly to his fancy.
"And you?" he asked when von Hildemaller had helped himself and lightedup. "But there, what is the good of asking you, my friend, vonHildemaller? You are here to-day and gone to-morrow. One finds you inBagdad perhaps, and then, within a week, in Constantinople; in Kut, oreven in Basra. And, ah! you are such a busy man, von Hildemaller. Men,such as you, who purchase in such large quantities the dates grown inthis country must be up and about, to make your businesses thrive."
Was there a cunning glint in those rather deep-sunk, small, yet merryeyes of the German? Did those two uneven rows of yellow teeth cometogether of a sudden with a snap indicative of annoyance? No, no! such asuggestion was entirely out of the question, for see, von Hildemallerwas smiling most genially at this tall Briton.
"Ah! der you vas!" he told the Major, laughing uproariously. "It vas youwho always liked to make der fun! 'Here do-day and gone do-morrow.' Ha!ha! you make me laugh! And you? And you, my tear Major, id is you whogo here do-day and dere do-morrow, and you do nod even buy dades or oderproduce of dis country."
Behind the cloud of smoke which he shot from between his thick lips, andsent bubbling out through his discoloured and drooping moustache, therewas a cunning leer on the face of the German--a leer hidden a momentlater by a smile transcending in its friendliness any that had gonebefore it. Fanning himself with his panama, and smoking violently thecigarette with which the Major had presented him, he stood in the centreof the Bazaar, careless of the obstruction he formed and of thedifficulties he made for the passers-by, while he chatted with Teutoniceagerness with Douglas Pasha. And all the while, as he smiled andsmirked, and sometimes leered, behind clouds of smoke, he was summing upthe appearance, the height, the broad shoulders, the shapely figure, andthe active limbs of the Englishman.
"Mein Gott! But if all my brothers were like him!" he told himself. "Ifall the subjects of the Kaiser were as tall, and as straight, and asslim, and as active! Then the thing would be done! There would be nodoubt about it; the World would be surely conquered! But, pshaw! It willbe done! The war-dogs are unleashed already, and though there is notmuch news as yet, though it is only Belgium which is already almostconquered, to-morrow, the next day perhaps, surely within a few hours ofthis, there will be news of the undoing of France and the capture ofParis. Himmel! And then?"
This breezy, stout, perspiring, and extremely genial fellow quite losthimself in a brown study as he reflected on the greatness of his owncountry and on the news of triumph which he anticipated.
Let us explain the case in regard to the jovial von Hildemaller--a manwho knew the inside of Mesopotamia almost as well as Douglas Pasha did.After all, though he might be a trader in dates, as indeed he professed,he was still before all a German. A German in heart and in thought; aGerman, above all, in ambition. Was it likely that he had come toMesopotamia for the single purpose of trading in dates alone? Bearing inmind the fact that practically no German has left the Fatherland forsome foreign country for the single purpose of following his own fortunealone, one may take it for certain that, like all the others, vonHildemaller also went on a mission for his Government. He was one ofthat enormous band which practised peaceful penetration for the Kaiser,who went armed with Government funds to some desirable spot in somestill more desirable country, and who there made for himself a businesswhich gave ample excuse for his remaining in the country. Yet all thewhile he was engaged, with Teutonic energy, in looking well about him,in discovering the secrets of the country, in ascertaining its defences,and in sending sheaves of notes to his Home Government. Let us say atonce that this von Hildemaller was none other than the stout and genialGerman whom Commander Houston had come upon in Basra--the one whom hehad indicated as von Schmidt--and from the gallant Commander we havealready learned that, genial, and smiling, and friendly though thisGerman trader might be, and very charming to those with whom he came incontact--whether they were Britons or not--yet behind his guise ofmerchant he was indeed a Government Agent--an energetic, far-seeing, andmost likely an unscrupulous agent--placed in Asiatic Turkey for the onepurpose of informing the Kaiser and his war lords of the doings of theTurks, of the British, and of the Russians; and kept there, ostensiblyas a merchant, but really as a spy, to foster the ambitious designs ofhis countrymen.
Did Douglas Pasha suspect this German? Did he realize that behind thosesmiling eyes and those wide curving lips there was a cunning brain and alying tongue, ready to deceive and thwart him? If he did, he gave noindication of that fact. For he chatted easily, smiling back at theGerman in as friendly a manner as possible, apparently watching moreclosely the people passing to and fro in the Bazaar than the face andthe figure of the man who had accosted him. It was with a heartyhandshake and a friendly nod that he parted with the German, and wentstriding up through the Bazaar, past the hook-nosed Jew with whom he hadappeared to bargain, and so on to the rooms he was occupying.
As for von Hildemaller, he tossed away the stump of the cigarette he hadbeen smoking, and watched the departing figure of the British officerthrough half-closed lids, while he still panted and mopped his forehead.Then, thrusting his panama upon his shaven head, he looked craftilyabout him for a moment, and, having assured himself that no one inparticular was watching him, lifted his right hand to his shoulder andmade a sudden signal. A moment later a tall, sleek Turk slid up from anadjacent stall, and halted beside him:
"My master?" he asked, in the Turkish tongue.
"You saw him," demanded the German curtly, with that brutal abruptnesscommon to the German. "That man--that Douglas Pasha--you saw the man?"
"I did. I watched and waited yonder. And then?" asked the Turk.
"Go and kill him, that's all! Go and slay the man!" von Hildemaller toldhim, turning upon his emissary just as friendly a smile as ever he hadturned upon Joe Douglas. "There is no need to discuss the matterfurther, for you know the man and you have the method. Go then! When itis done come back to me and you shall be rewarded."
Who would have thought the worthy von Hildemaller capable of such words,or of giving such a dastardly order? Indeed, at the very moment when hewas condemning the gallant Major to death by the hand of this Turkishassassin, the stout German looked so utterly genial, so entirelyfriendly and harmless, that none could possibly have suspected the realgist of his orders. Yet, as we have inferred already, behind thosesmiling, merry eyes, which looked so frankly and so honestly at people,there was a clever scheming brain, and behind those lips which werenever stern, and seemed ever to be parted amiably, was a tongue given tomuch lying. Let us add, too, the fact that that brain was capable ofinventing acts which would have shamed an Englishman, and of producingorders even more dastardly than that which had already been given.Indeed, there was no limit to the crimes which von Hildemaller couldperpetrate, more particularly if they were for the ultimate benefit ofhis own country. With the smooth, smiling, genial face almost of achild, he was at heart a wretch, a cruel, scheming, cunning creature, anunscrupulous agent, capable of planning any atrocity. When that wassaid, we have von Hildemaller's full character, and we have merely toadd that, like many of his kidney, when the planning was done, when theschemes for assassination and murder were arranged, the power for evilof this German suddenly subsided. He could scheme, but he lacked thecourage to carry out his enterprise. His was the crafty brain whicharranged the deed but contrived to get another to carry it out for him.Thanks to a Government which supplied him with ample funds, he couldcommand in this country a host of ruffians. Pooh! The assassination of aBritish officer was quite a small matter, to be arranged on the spur ofthe moment, and to cost not so much as a second thought, and no greatsum of gold w
hen all was considered.
Von Hildemaller snapped his fingers and mopped his face again as theTurk sped away from him; then, lighting a German cigar, and puffing atit till he got it going to his satisfaction, he strolled--waddledrather--through the Bazaar, and on to his own quarters.
"Quite a nice sort of fellow, that Douglas Pasha!" he was tellinghimself as he went. "For a Briton, quite a respectable individual!Conceited? Yes! But then, that's a fault of the nation; but honest,clear-headed, I think, friendly and--yes--certainly--simple!"
"Simple!" did he say? If the worthy German, waddling through the Bazaar,could have seen Major Douglas at that moment, he might have had cause toreflect a little, and to change his opinion. For, though the gallantMajor may have made pretence at simplicity when meeting the German,though he may have given the impression of being shallow, of beingthoughtless, and of possessing not so much as an atom of cunning, yetDouglas Pasha had not travelled through Mesopotamia, had not met hostsof Germans, had not studied the history of Germany and her people,without learning many lessons. It was a habit of this gallant officer tostudy unconsciously the character of every individual with whom he camein contact, and thus it happened that the worthy von Hildemaller had, asit were, come under the microscopic examination of this British officer.
"Very charming, ahem! I am sure. A most excellent fellow to meet in acafe, say on the Grand Boulevard in Paris, or in the Unter den Linden inBerlin. A generous host, a loud-speaking, merry fellow, but insincere,unscrupulous--like his people--out for something big, something tobenefit his own country; to be carefully watched, and distrusted, andyet to be met in the most friendly manner possible."
That was the Major's summing-up of the excellent and cunning vonHildemaller; and now, as he took the nearest cut back to his ownapartments in the city of Bagdad, apartments which he had occupied onmore than one occasion, there was something in his face which, if theGerman could have seen it, would have warned him that Douglas Pasha washardly so simple as he anticipated.
"Unfortunate meeting that German," Joe Douglas was telling himself as hehurried along. "Of course he knows just as well as I do that war hasbeen declared between Great Britain and Germany, and that Turkey islikely to come into the conflict. That being the case, he and I arehardly likely to remain on speaking terms after this; indeed, he'll lookupon me as a dangerous enemy, just as I look upon him. Shouldn't wonderif his hirelings are already watching me, and--yes--there are tales ofthe worthy Herr von Hildemaller which aren't too pleasant."
Rapping sharply on the door of his lodgings, he was admitted by anArmenian servant, and at once strode into his sitting-room. Throwinghimself into a cane-seated chair and lighting a cigarette, he thenrapped sharply on the table.
"Pack up," he ordered; "we leave in five minutes. Wait! What's that?"
Someone was rapping on the floor below them, someone who called in lowtones for admission. Instantly Joe Douglas sprang to his feet, and,pulling the chair away, and the table, dragged a piece of Turkish carpeton one side, disclosing a narrow trap-door.
"Enter!" he called, and helped the person below who had demandedadmission to raise the opening.
And slowly, as he did so, there emerged from a dark hole below, by meansof a roughly-made ladder, the big, bony, angular form of that samehook-nosed Jew with whom he had haggled in the Bazaar not half an hourbefore.
"H-h-'sh! Listen, Excellency!" The man stood half in and half out of theopening, one warning talon held upward, his beady eyes fixed on DouglasPasha, his lips trembling. "That man! That German hound! Thatscoundrel!"
The gallant Major was the very last individual to show alarm. In fact,fuss and worry were things he hated intensely, and his nonchalance onall occasions was something which long ago had attracted the admirationof his comrades. He still smoked on, and, throwing himself into hischair, and flinging his legs on the table, he smiled at the Jew and badehim proceed with the story.
"Yes, the German, von Hildemaller!" he said. "A most excellentgentleman! And you said beware, my friend, did you not? But surely----"
He gave vent to a laugh, an ironical laugh, which grated on the ears ofthose listening, and which warned them that, though the German may haveconsidered this British officer to be childishly simple, he was yet wellaware of the danger which surrounded him.
"Listen, Excellency!" said the Jew, emerging now completely from thechamber beneath the room in which Joe Douglas was seated. "I watched thescene from my stall. Long ago I warned Your Excellency that this Germanhad no love for you, that his hirelings were watching you and doggingyour steps, and that some day he would do you a mischief. Now the dayhas arrived! Even as you hurried away from that accidental meeting withhim, I saw him call to one whom I know to be nothing but an assassin--awretch--whose knife is at the bidding of anyone who can pay himmoney--one who should long ago have been hanged in the market-place.Leaving my stall, I followed this rascal, and saw him call to others.Even now they are arming, and, as dusk falls--which will be within anhour perhaps--they will break a way into this dwelling and carry out thepurpose of this German."
Joe Douglas whistled, a merry whistle, and smiled in the most friendlyfashion at the Jew. He even got up from his chair, still smoking, andpatted him reassuringly on the shoulder.
"My friend," he said, "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for thiswarning; not this time alone, but on many occasions, have you proved areal friend to me, and may it be many a day before I forget yourloyalty. But, as it happened, I guessed the intentions of our worthyfriend von Hildemaller. Already I have given orders to pack up all mybelongings, and soon, in a little while indeed, we shall be out of thisplace, leaving it to the hired assassins of the German."
There was bustle in that little house in the ten minutes which followed,all hands being engaged in packing the Major's belongings. Then, havingcompleted the work to his satisfaction, the Jew and the Armenian servantof Douglas Pasha dragged his trunks through the opening down into thecellar beneath. Long before that, Joe Douglas had transformed himselfinto an absolute replica of the Jew who had come to warn him, and,indeed, looked the part to perfection. Then, casting a hurried glanceround, and throwing the light from an electric torch into everycorner--for already the dusk was falling, and the house oppositedarkened that in which he had been living--he slid through the openingin the floor, and gently lowered the trap-door after him, having justbefore that dragged the table across it. Then the three made their wayto the far edge of the cellar, and, ascending some steps, entered anarrow alley. There, at the bidding of the Major, his two companionswent off to their left, while Joe Douglas made ready to venture into theopen.
"You will go to the old quarters," he told them in a whisper, "while Isee what is happening in the street yonder. To-night, as the moon rises,you will have a conveyance ready for me, and to-morrow we shall be wellout in the desert."
But a minute before, Douglas Pasha, in spite of the rags with which hewas now covered, was without doubt the tall British officer who had madehis way into the heart of the city of Bagdad; but now, as the need toact up to his disguise arrived, he became transformed in a manner whichwas really remarkable. Leaning on a long, stout stick, his head andshoulders bent, and his legs tottering, he stumbled from the alley intothe open street, and shuffled and clattered his way along past the doorof his own dwelling. It was there that he almost collided, in the dusk,with three Turkish rascals, one of whom was preparing to break the doorin with a crowbar. Yet the Jew took no notice of them, but stumbledpast, muttering into the cloak which covered his head, talking tohimself, and pulling his rags round him. A little farther on, less thana hundred yards, perhaps, he caught sight of a rotund and perspiringfigure in a sunken doorway--a figure which was faintly illuminated by anoil lamp hanging in a passage opposite. It was the figure of vonHildemaller, who had crept to this spot to watch the doings of his hiredassassins. Again it was characteristic of the Major that he halted infront of the man, careless of the consequences.
"Money! Money to buy food and
lodging," he whined, holding out ashuddering, shaking hand, while his whole frame swayed and tottered."Money, Excellency, to keep body and soul within me!"
"Money! Bah!" The German struck at him with the light cane he wascarrying, and threw a glance of hatred and contempt after the totteringfigure of the Jew as he retreated.
Then with wide-open ears he listened as the door of the house along thestreet was burst open, and waited breathlessly for news from hisassassin. It was with a storm of rage and disappointment that he learnedthat the place was empty, that Douglas Pasha was gone, and that thescheme for ending his energies in Mesopotamia had been defeated.
Yet the cunning of this German was not always to meet with such illsuccess, for though Douglas Pasha contrived to escape from Bagdad thatnight, and made his way into the desert, there came a day when vonHildemaller traced him. Also there came a day when Douglas Pasha--aprisoner then, and none too well treated--contrived to get a message outof the Turkish fortress in which he was incarcerated. Even as GeoffKeith, and Philip, and Commander Houston braced themselves for a stiffengagement with the Turks aboard the steam-launch which had beenpursuing them, that message was speeding down the Tigris towards theBritish forces. It was a request for help, but with no definitestatement of the position where Douglas Pasha was imprisoned. And therewere miles of desert country to traverse, and hundreds of enemies topass, ere the messenger could bear his missive to our Head-quarters. Itwas a toss-up, indeed, as to whether the news of the Major's plightwould ever reach his own people; just as it was a toss-up whether Geoffand his comrades would ever contrive to beat off the Turks who wereabout to assail them.
On the Road to Bagdad: A Story of Townshend's Gallant Advance on the Tigris Page 7