by W E Johns
“I don’t know what department he has in mind because Hampstead is already involved over the attack on Mrs. Smith. But that’s his worry. I’d better keep out of his way. What about you, Bertie? How did you get on?”
“No bother at all, old boy. I just whistled around until I saw no more of the Vauxhall; then I came here.”
“Where’s the car?”
“I left it parked outside.”
“Good, we shall need it. Go and get the tank topped up. I’ll be with you in a couple of minutes. You’d better come to Saxton with me as you’ve nothing else to do. I hope you won’t need it but put a gun in your pocket. I’m taking one. I’m not for taking on with my bare hands people who carry knives, as we know from what happened to Algy.”
As Bertie went out Biggles turned back to Algy. “How’s your hand?”
“Not too bad.”
“Have you had it dressed?”
“Yes. The surgeon here did it.”
“Good. You hang on here where I can get you on the phone should I need more help. Let the Air Commodore know this latest development. There’s a chance, too, you may have a call from Chief Superintendent Lowe who’s in charge of the Mrs. Smith case at Hampstead. I’ll be back as soon as possible, but if the house at Saxton is being watched it means that Anna will still be in danger and I shall have to do something about it.”
“How did you get on at Hampstead?”
“Pretty well. Chief Superintendent Lowe’s all right. He knows the position and has promised to co-operate. He was in a bit of a fog when I got there, stuck for a motive, which wasn’t surprising. Now he has the general set-up I’ve left that end of the business to him. Which reminds me. Another little job you might do is ring the house agent, Mr. Carson, at Hampstead, and ask him if he has had any more inquiries about Doctor Jacobs. If anyone should call he’s to let us know at once.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll get along. Expect me back when you see me.”
Biggles went out and joined Bertie at the car. “Right,” he said crisply. “Let’s press on to Saxton.”
CHAPTER XI
GINGER TAKES CHARGE
Now to return to Ginger at Saxton.
As soon as he was inside the house he took Anna by the arm and said: “Stay in. On no account go out.”
Something in his voice must have startled her. Her eyes went round. “Not even in the garden?”
“Not one step outside the door.”
“Why?”
“Because the house is being watched. I don’t know by whom but we can guess. A moment ago I saw a man lurking in the bushes. I must speak to Doctor Jacobs at once to find out if he knows anything about it.”
“He’s not well.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s so crippled with rheumatism that he can move only with difficulty.”
“Does that mean he’s confined to his bed?”
“No. Miss Johnson, the nurse, helps him to dress, and then he sits in a chair all day. She used to work with him in his surgery.”
“Have you told him what has happened, why you have come here?”
“Yes. I have told him everything.”
“What did he say to that?”
“He is alarmed and says I must stay here.”
“That sounds as if he doesn’t know there are prowlers in the garden.”
Anna opened a door leading off the hall and took Ginger into what was clearly the drawing-room, where he was introduced to Doctor Jacobs, a frail-looking white-haired old man seated in a wheel chair near the fireplace. His legs were wrapped in a travelling-rug. A fire was burning although the day was warm.
Ginger wasted no time coming to the point. “I hope you won’t think I’m being too abrupt, sir, but there is a question I must ask you at once. Anna tells me she has explained the situation. Do you know there’s a man outside, watching the house from the bushes?”
The Doctor looked startled, and agitated. “No, I was unaware of that. When I came here I did my utmost to keep my address secret, always being afraid I might have unwelcome visitors. I have taken such precautions against interference as are possible.”
“Why should you be afraid?”
“A man who has been concerned with political events in Germany must always be a little fearful. I knew one day I would have to write letters, and a letter can be intercepted. I wrote a letter recently to Anna’s father. It might well have fallen into wrong hands had you not brought it to England.”
“Have you any idea of how anyone in Germany, apart from Anna who opened your letter, could have traced you to this address?”
“None whatever.”
“Have you written to anyone else in Berlin?”
“No.”
“Do you never receive a letter?”
“I couldn’t quite say that. On occasion I have had bills from local tradesmen, who of course know I live here, although they are usually paid at the door. That cannot be prevented. The only other mail I have received since I came here is the monthly journal from the professional society of which I am a member. That comes from London.”
“So you might have been traced through the Society.”
“That is possible. The thought has never occurred to me.
“Do you know of any man who has a right to be in the garden?”
“No.”
“You haven’t a gardener—an outside man?”
“No. I used to have a gardener but I couldn’t afford to keep him on.”
Ginger shook his head. “How it has happened I can’t imagine, but from the behaviour of the man I saw outside I’m pretty certain your house is being watched. The man I saw in the bushes must have been here when we arrived. I’m prepared to swear we were not followed. The reason why you’re under surveillance is fairly obvious, of course. It’s the same one that took these enemy agents to Hampstead. Did you by any chance send the Roths your new address, in the same way that you wrote to Professor Lowenhardt?”
“No. I never knew the Roths.”
“But you knew Professor Lowenhardt. He could have told them. Anna did, in fact, give the Roths your address, but at the time she didn’t know you had moved. Naturally, when the spies discovered you were no longer at Hampstead they would concentrate on finding out where you had gone. It begins to look as if they’ve succeeded. My Chief sent Anna here thinking she would be safe, but she may have jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire. I must tell him at once what has happened. May I use your telephone?”
The nurse spoke. “I’m sorry, but it’s out of order.”
Ginger frowned. “Since when?”
“I discovered it this morning when I went to phone a tradesman in the village for some groceries. I can’t get a sound out of it, which is a nuisance because it means I shall have to go to the shop. However, I have a bicycle.”
“Has this ever happened before?” asked Ginger.
“Never.”
“Strange that it should have happened at this moment, just when it is most needed. Or is it strange? I wonder.”
The Doctor had obviously not lost his faculties, for he said quietly: “You suspect the line may have been cut?”
“That could be the answer. We shan’t know it for certain until the breakdown has been reported. Where is the nearest telephone?”
“There’s a public call-box outside the village shop, which is also the post office,” volunteered the nurse.
“I shall have to go to it right away.”
“It won’t take long in the car,” said Anna.
Ginger looked at her. “I shan’t take the car.”
“Why not?”
“If I leave here alone in the car the man outside will know you are still in the house, presumably intending to stay. I’d rather he didn’t know that.”
“I could go with you and come back here.”
“I don’t like that idea, either. Don’t forget the car we saw on the road. I’m staying here until my Chief arrives. He’ll d
ecide what’s to be done about this. No. I’d rather go to the village without being seen to leave the house. With the car outside it will be supposed I’m still inside.” Ginger looked at the nurse. “What’s at the back of the house?”
“At the bottom of the vegetable garden there’s a hedge. Beyond it is farm land, mostly grass fields.”
“That’s the way I’ll go,” decided Ginger. “The village is no great distance so I shouldn’t be away long.”
“And when you come back?” queried the Doctor.
“With your permission I shall wait here for orders.”
“Very well. I must leave it to you to do whatever you think best. As you see, I’m practically helpless.”
“Will you show me the way out of the back door?” Ginger asked the nurse. “Anna, you stay here with the Doctor till I come back.”
The nurse took him to the rear of the house and let him out. “Keep this door locked,” he warned her, and went on down a path between rows of vegetables. Reaching the hedge that marked the boundary he stood still for a minute to listen and survey the scene. All was quiet. Seeing nothing to cause him uneasiness he found a gap in the hedge and so reached a field where some cows were grazing. He was tempted to do some scouting in the direction of the road to see if the suspicious car was still there but decided that could wait. The road was less than a hundred yards away, as he could see from the telegraph poles that followed it, and he set off keeping more or less parallel with it. A two-decker bus heading towards the village was reassuring. He could not actually see the village as it lay in a slight hollow, but the church tower rose above it to give him the direction.
He had no trouble in reaching his objective. He didn’t expect any. The phone-box was disengaged. He had to go into the shop to get some change to pay for the call. This done he went into the box and put through a trunk call to Scotland Yard. The switchboard operator connected him with the Air Police office where, to his great satisfaction, he was answered by Algy. He had been afraid there might be no one there. He asked for Biggles, but Algy told him he had not yet returned from Hampstead. He thought he could get in touch with him there. Failing that he would give him a message as soon as he came in, which might be any minute.
Whereupon Ginger explained the situation and concluded by saying he would wait at Doctor Jacobs’ house until he received instructions, which would have to be in person as the phone was out of order. That was all. Much relieved at having been able to pass his information to the office, confident that Biggles would be along as quickly as he could get to Saxton, he stepped out of the phone-box just as a car drew up outside it.
It was the Triumph he had noted parked near the Old Hall.
There was only one man in it, the driver. He got out quickly and took a pace towards the phone-box, obviously intending to occupy it. In doing this he came face to face with Ginger, as was inevitable. Recognition must have been mutual, for the man was the one who had followed him from Berlin. He was also the man, now recognizable by the material of his suit, who had put his head under the bonnet of the car when it had been parked near the entrance to the Hall.
Ginger was almost caught on one foot, as the saying is, but accustomed to shocks he didn’t turn a hair. His face as they passed each other might have been that of a statue.
It was the other man who half paused in his stride and gave a slight start of surprise; and Ginger knew why. He had not seen Ginger come out of the Hall drive so he must have wondered how he had got to the village. Ginger did not enlighten him. All he wanted to know was if the man intended using the telephone. If that was his purpose it would probably be to report Anna’s arrival. Wherefore he turned aside and went into the shop where he made a business of buying some cigarettes, taking as long over it as possible by chatting with the woman in charge. Through the window he saw the man go into the phone-box, make a call that lasted two or three minutes, then get back into his car and drive off, back the way he had come, in the direction of the Hall.
Ginger left the shop and looked up the road. There was no traffic, the Triumph already being out of sight, presumably on its way to resume its position near the gate. There was one pedestrian, a stoutly-built man going the same way. Ginger did not know him. He had seen him enter and leave the shop as he had gone into the phone-box.
Ginger set off back the way he had come, breaking into a trot as soon as he had left the road, by climbing over a convenient gate. It struck him that it might be a good thing to check if the car had in fact stopped. Now that he had reported to the office he could afford to take a chance to find out. With this object in view, just before reaching the vegetable garden he climbed a fence and struck off on a course which would take him a roundabout way to the back of the shrubs that lined the drive. Reaching them he steadied his pace and advanced with caution, for on his left now were the laurels in which he had seen the face of the man watching the house. With him he was not for the moment concerned, and he continued on, looking for a place that offered a view of the main road.
He stopped short when to his ears came the sound of quick footsteps on the gravel drive. They ended abruptly and at once came voices talking urgently but in tones too low for him to catch the words. Now what? he thought, trying to work it out. He made a reasonable guess at what was happening. The man in the Triumph had come to tell the watcher in the bushes that he had seen him in the village, using the telephone. So there were two of them, pondered Ginger. It was something to know that.
That was really all he wanted to know; at any rate, it was as much information as he could hope to gather in the present circumstances. There was nothing he could do to prevent the men from keeping watch on the house. They were at the moment trespassing on the Doctor’s property, but there was no point in ordering them off knowing they would return as soon as he had gone. Apart from that it might start an argument that could end in violence. The time had not come for a show-down. It was sufficient to know they were there. Biggles would know how to deal with the situation when he arrived.
He was backing away intending to re-enter the house by the back door when he heard more footsteps coming up the drive. The fact that they were approaching, not receding, told him they were not being made by the man in charge of the car, returning to it. Ginger stopped. Did this mean there were three of them? If so, they were certainly concentrating on the house in force. That suggested alarming possibilities.
A sudden outcry banished all such thoughts. He stiffened, and decided quickly that this was something he could not ignore. Someone, he could not imagine who, was in trouble. It was obviously not a friend of the men already there so it followed it must be somebody on his own side. Abandoning caution he thrust his way through the bushes regardless and reached the drive to see two men, one of whom he knew by sight, holding a third. He was the stout man he had seen come out of the shop in the village. Ginger had not the remotest idea who he was, but he was not prepared to stand by and watch two men rough-handling a man much older than themselves.
“What’s the idea?” he snarled, getting between the aggressors and their victim, using his hands with some force to get them apart. Taking advantage of their surprise he went on: “I’m a police officer. Get out, you two ruffians, or I’ll clap you in gaol for assault.” To the other man he said: “Were you going to the house?”
“Yes.”
“Then go and wait for me there.”
The man hurried on without looking back.
The other two would have followed but Ginger barred their way. For a few seconds the situation looked ugly. Ginger rapped out: “You heard what I said. Clear off and don’t come back. I know who you are and why you’re here. Any more trouble from you and you’ll find yourselves under lock and key for illegal entry into the country.”
This may have been bluff but the threat went home. The two men hesitated, looking at each other. One said something in a low voice. He spoke quickly and in German so Ginger didn’t catch the words. Anyway, they turned and walked towards the ga
te.
Ginger breathed a sigh of relief, for he was in no state to take on two men who would almost certainly carry weapons. He watched them until they had passed out of sight and then walked sharply to the house to see a spectacle which really did astonish him. The door was open. Standing just inside the hall was Anna and the man he had just rescued, their arms round each other.
“What’s all this?” asked Ginger as he strode up looking bewildered.
“This is my father,” said Anna, with tears in her eyes. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
“For you I suppose it is,” replied Ginger, trying to keep pace with the situation.
“I’m much obliged to you, sir,” said Professor Lowenhardt.
“Don’t mention it,” murmured Ginger. “Let’s get inside and shut the door. It may be too early for congratulations.”
CHAPTER XII
BIGGLES PLANS ACTION
To say that Ginger was shaken by the arrival of Professor Lowenhardt would hardly express his feelings. How the Professor had found his way to Saxton, or rather, how he had learned Doctor Jacobs’ new address, as obviously he had, was beyond his comprehension. It was a development he could not have imagined. However, he was glad because it meant there would be one problem fewer to solve.
He had to wait until reunion with Doctor Jacobs had been effected, and Anna had explained the present situation, which took some time because the Professor knew nothing of the letter which Ginger had brought from Berlin, before he could put the question that was worrying him.
“How did you get here?” he asked.
“By train to Flaxham and then the bus,” he was told. “I didn’t know where the house was so I went to the shop to inquire the way.”