“Well, wot of it?” said the other. “I said a path – not a by-pass. An’ all hid up with the ferns.”
“Boney,” said Forecast, grimly, “if you don’t mind your mouth, one of these — days I shall put you where you belong. As for coming by day, if you an’ Gulf weren’t lying, you’ve been here by night before.”
“No, you don’t,” said Boney. “We never say that. Got ’ere by daylight, we did. On purpose to see our way.”
“That’s right,” said the man with the torch.
“Well, you had to get back,” said Forecast.
“Wot if we ’ad? “ said Boney. “This is a drive, this is. But that’s a path. An’ it’s goin’ to take some findin’, torch or no torch.”
“Well, carry on. We’ve got to find more than that.”
“Sez you,” said the torch-bearer. “You wait till you see them ferns.”
“—needle in a — ’aystack,” said Boney, “if you ask me. An’ I’d like to meet the — that done it, — interferin’ body-snatcher.”
“You’ve said it,” said the other. “Took the words out of me mouth. A body-snatcher, that’s wot he is. To think after all we done–”
“Easy now,” said Boney. “This ’ere was an accident. Knock down an’ killed, he was, by a runaway car.”
“Quite so,” said Forecast, “quite so. And perhaps the driver got wind up…and, after you’d gone, came back…and dragged the body into the forest… Or, if not the driver, then someone – some god-damned, meddling fool.” I heard him suck in his breath. “Any way, show me the doings. And when I’ve got my bearings, we’ll have a look round.”
“Yes, an’ wot if there’s nothin’ there?” said the man with the torch. “Just because some body-snatcher has stuck in his — oar, me and Boney’s to drop four ’undred quid.”
“Gulf,” said Forecast, “I’ll give you a piece of advice. When next you’re arraigned for felony, don’t go into the box. As sure as you do, you’ll put the rope round your neck. And now lead on, you wash-out. I want to see exactly what happened and where it took place. If, after that, there is anything more to be done…”
“Yes?”
“You’d — well better do it,” said Forecast.
The meaning with which he invested this blunt apodosis was unmistakable. Even I, an eavesdropper, found it most sinister: and I was not surprised when, after a little silence, the other turned on his heel and led the way to the road.
Now all this confirmed so precisely what Mansel had always said that I felt as though some nightmare had come to life and I wished with all my heart that he had been standing beside me to hear what had passed. And, with that, it came into my mind how very important it was that Mansel should know at once as much as I knew. Before, however, I ventured to cross the road, I must give the servants orders concerning the car.
By now the rogues had come to the edge of the road, and, though Gulf had put out his torch, I could see the four of them peering and looking to right and to left. So for a moment or two; then one – I think it was Boney – took the lead, and the others followed behind in a little bunch. Since they did not cross directly, but bore to the right, in two or three seconds they had passed out of my view.
At once I turned – to find Carson standing beside me two paces away.
He put his lips to my ear.
“Shall we chock the car, sir?”
“No,” I breathed. “We’ll have to do better than that. I want you to do in her lights. Don’t cut the wires. Unscrew the dash-board connections and pocket the nuts. Use your torch if you need it; it won’t be seen. But Bell must keep a look-out at the mouth of the track.”
“Very good, sir,” said Carson. “And then?”
“You both cross over the road and pick us up. I’m going to find Captain Mansel and put him wise.”
“Very good, sir.”
As Carson slid into the shadows, I made for the track… I could not see the rogues, when I came to the road, but, in view of the line they had taken, I knew it was safe to cross. I did so at once. Then I turned to my right and began to move through the woods towards the path.
Now though Gulf was not permitted to use his torch on the road, I had no doubt at all that he would be encouraged to use it as soon as he and his fellows entered the woods; for to anyone not accustomed to moving in the country by night, the forest was by no means a ‘joyride,’ as he had foretold. But as the moments went by, yet no torch was lit, I began to think that caution had taken charge and that Forecast had made up his mind that no more light must be shown. I therefore stood still and listened, for I was perfectly sure that, light or no, their movements in country like this would give them away. And, as I stopped, I heard the approach of a car.
Automatically I took cover and stood by to use my eyes; and, as I looked, the head-lights made everything plain – in more senses than one.
Disliking the idea of the forest, the four had been walking along the crown of the road. So they had made good progress and had almost reached the culvert, when the beam swung round and caught them full in the midst of the way.
For a moment they stared at the lights, as though they were hypnotized. Then, as though the spell were lifted, they sprang to life.
To the scream of a high-pitched horn, they broke and ran, and two, to my great delight, fell into the ditch. Which goes to show what a guilty conscience will do, for they had but to stand to one side and suffer the car to go by. Still, in their defence, I must say that, on that particular reach, a car was upon you almost before you could think. For all that, when the car was gone by, the four fairly sacrificed caution upon the altar of rage; for they roared and cursed and swore like so many lunatics, and they very near came to blows, because Boney and Gulf had said nothing about the ditch. These two insisted with oaths that they had forgotten it was there, but the damning fact stood out that neither of them had fallen, but both had jumped clear.
As well as affording us pleasure – I frankly admit that I laughed till I could hardly stand up – this childish exhibition stood us in excellent stead; for, before the flurry was over, I had fetched a small compass and struck the path. And there I found Mansel and George, both of them weak with laughter, but both of them all impatience to hear what I had to tell.
But we none of us smiled when I had made my report and I often wonder how I could have laughed as I did, for here were two filthy blackguards seeking to prove to their master that they had done his bidding to put a poor soul to death: and here was the man who had ordered this pitiless crime, come like a ghoul in the night, if it could, to smell out its victim and ravage the field of blood.
“And the fourth man?” breathed Mansel.
“I’ve no idea. He hasn’t opened his mouth.”
“More than one torch?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only seen one.”
“All right. Steady. They’re moving. From what you say, they’re going to make for this path. I’m going over to join them, and you go up to its mouth. George and Rowley beside it, between there and here.”
The four were now in the bracken, moving in single file by the edge of the ditch. Their progress was very slow, for Gulf, with the aid of the torch, would move a few feet and would then stand still and turn round and throw the beam down on the ground for the others to see their way. Even so, they tripped and stumbled and cursed aloud; and two more cars came by, to reveal them standing like dummies, watching them pass.
As the snarl of the second faded, Forecast burst out.
“Blind leading the — blind. Where is this blasted path? And put out that — torch before the next car comes by.”
“I told you,” said Boney, “it was all hidden up with the ferns.”
“ Either there’s a path, or there isn’t.”
“We’ve walked the —,” cried Boney, “Gulf an’ me. It sort of goes on from the one that runs down by the inn. If we’d ’ave come that way–”
“God knows where we’d be,” said Forecast. “You c
an’t lead us three hundred yards, let alone four miles. You an’ Gulf go on; and China and I’ll wait here. And when you’ve struck it, come back and light us along.”
By this time they were, of course, quite close to the path, for I could hear all they said, although I was standing upon its opposite side: with the result that Forecast had hardly sat down before Gulf declared in triumph that there it was. To make matters worse, both he and Boney agreed that ‘that would be right’ and proceeded by calculation to show that only a fool would have thought it lay anywhere else. And this, I suppose, was more than Forecast could bear, for he leapt to his feet and, disdaining the use of the torch, blundered to where this was shining as fast as he could. Then he snatched the torch from Gulf and flashed its light on the ground.
“Are you sure this is it?” he said, quickly.
“This is it right enough,” said Gulf. “ I always said–”
“–what you always said. Get down to it – both of you. Show me exactly what happened from first to last.”
As may be well believed, neither Gulf nor Boney was anxious to do as he said; but Forecast was merciless. He cross-examined and bullied and lashed the two with his tongue, until the beasts had lost what spirit they had, and at last they threw in their hands and answered directly whatever he chose to ask.
From all they said it was easy to reconstruct the whole crime, and here, leaving out the detail, I may as well set it down.
They had followed Bowshot from Latchet one Monday night and had seen him met by a car on the Salzburg road. They had waited until his return, in about two hours, and had heard him make an appointment for just such another meeting in three nights’ time. The next day they had taken their car and had reconnoitred the place. It was then that they had marked the track in which the car was now berthed. On Thursday they had arrived before the daylight was gone, had left their car on the track and had made their way to the path. It was after night had fallen that Bowshot had come. They had let him go by to his meeting, and, as before, had waited for his return. It was then that ‘the accident’ had happened – sullenly enough, the murderers showed the place.
“And then?” snapped Forecast.
“We pulled out the tab, as you said, and then we took him back an’ laid him full in the road.”
“Show me the place again.”
In silence the four proceeded as far as the ditch.
Then–
“It was just along there,” said Gulf. “Jus’ short o’ that culvert. We ’ad a job, I remember, to get ’im out o’ the ditch.”
There was a little silence. Then—
“Have you any doubt he was dead?”
“’E was dead all right,” said Boney.
“That’s right,” said Gulf. “The – the car wot hit him done in his spinal cord.”
There was another silence.
“Did you meet any cars when you left?”
“Nothing,” said Gulf. “We turned at the first crossroads.”
“He was found, of course,” mused Forecast. “The body was found. But why wasn’t it reported?”
Nobody answered, and presently he went on.
“Why didn’t the inn report that he didn’t come back?” In a sudden passion, he turned on the man called ‘China,’ “And you said that you could talk German!”
“So I can,” declared China. “I learned it off of a deck–’ and wot came from Bruges. But they talk a dialec’ here.”
“You filthy liar,” said Forecast. “You can’t talk a — word. But that’s for later. Some — shifted that body to suit himself. A gypsy, as like as not, that fancied his purse. But he didn’ want no trouble; so, when he’d robbed him, he dragged him into the ditch. Give me that torch.”
Now between where he stood and the culvert, the ditch was resembling a trench, being fully six feet deep and not more than three feet wide. Add to this that Nature had taken a hand and that the sides as well as the bottom were thick with ferns. It follows that, standing above, a man could by no means be sure what was lying below, and, after some fruitless endeavours to plumb the depths with its beam, Forecast handed the torch to China and told him to hold it whilst he got into the ditch.
Mansel breathed in my ear.
“Get hold of the others, William. Everyone back to the cars and wait there for me.”
As I turned to the path, I saw China kneeling down by the edge of the ditch. Then the torch left his hand for Forecast’s, and the light which it gave disappeared.
As I made the path, I felt a touch on my shoulder and there was Bell. (He was a splendid servant. Whenever I wanted something, he always seemed to be there: indeed, I think the truth is that in such a business as this he was always watching me with the tail of his eye and could interpret whatever movement I made.)
“Can you find the others, Bell?”
“Yes, sir. We’re all in touch.”
“Then pass the word – we’re all to go back to the cars.”
“Very good, sir.”
As he moved away, I turned to look at the ditch. In that moment a match was struck, and I saw three forms together lighting their cigarettes. Then the match went out, and I moved again. I wondered how Forecast was faring – and whether Mansel had decided to take a hand. I reached the ditch and looked down it. Forecast was making good progress, for, not very far from the culvert, I saw the glow of the torch. But the others had not moved with him – their cigarettes told me that. And as I looked, they sat down…
I slipped across the road, made my way through the bracken and reached the track. And there I was standing, regarding the strangers’ car, when Jonathan Mansel came limping up to my side.
“I’m inclined to think,” he said, “they should have a flat tyre. One of the back ones, William.” I stooped to unscrew the valve. “I want to have a look at their luggage, and we don’t want to be disturbed. They may be able to get along without lights, but changing a wheel in the dark is a hell of a job.”
“They’ve got the torch,” said I.
“It’s broken,” said Mansel, and laughed. “I followed Mr Forecast and laid him out. Then I did in his torch: then I lighted my own and went on – for the look of the thing. When I was close to the culvert, I had a look back. As you probably know, the three were sitting down, smoking, quite close to where Forecast went in. So that was all right. I doubt if they’ll take any action before he comes to – that’ll be in about twenty minutes. When he does, there’ll be trouble to burn; and he’ll have the deuce of a head for twenty-four hours. And here are the others. Before we move, we’d better go through their car.”
The search revealed the car’s papers, but nothing else. And those we left. Then we re-entered the cars, and ran without our lights for a couple of miles. Then Mansel put on his sidelights, as much to help me along as anything else, and twenty-five minutes later we stopped at the top of the hill below which Latchet lay.
Carson and Rowley stayed with the Rolls and the Lowland, with orders to turn them about, so that, if we had to leave quickly, the cars would be ready to move the way they had come. Mansel and George and I were to enter the inn: but Bell we took as far as the forecourt and posted him there.
As before, the door was unlatched, and there was no light to be seen. We passed upstairs quietly enough.
It was easy to guess that Gulf and China and Boney were sharing poor Bowshot’s room: for a second, smaller bed was standing against a wall, and three dirty pairs of pyjamas had been laid out by some maid. As may be imagined, they travelled extremely light, and our disagreeable search was very soon done. We found no papers at all, but a clip of ammunition suggested that someone went armed.
On the opposite side of the landing we found a sitting-room, far too handsome and pleasant to lodge such villainous guests. That this room, too, had been Bowshot’s, there can he no doubt; and the thought that its present tenants included the two who had actually shed his blood for some reason made me more angry than anything else. And here perhaps I should say that I
was very much disappointed that, now that we knew the truth, no violence at all had been offered to those two men. That Mansel’s judgment was good, I knew very well: but an hour ago all four had been at our mercy, if we had cared to strike, and, knowing what Fortune is, I doubted that such a chance would occur again.
It was in Forecast’s bedroom that we found a battered dispatch-case, right at the back of a wardrobe, behind some clothes. The thing was locked, but we very soon had it open – to find what Mansel had hoped for, and more than that.
Mansel was after their passports: “for,” said he, “without their passports, they cannot leave Austria. They dare not go to a Consul, men like this. And so they will stay – at our convenience. And before they go – if they go – I’ll have the truth of this murder from bottom to top.” And now their passports were there – the four of them tied together – and George slid them into a pocket and said, “What next?”
‘Next’ was a quarto envelope, such as some lawyers use. It was neither addressed nor sealed, and when Mansel drew out its contents, I saw him open his eyes. There were some typewritten sheets, and pinned to these was a map, very roughly done. There was also an envelope, addressed to Duke Saul of Varvic, which was unsealed.
Mansel flicked this open and drew out the sheet it held, and I looked over his shoulder, to see what it said.
I saw the heading, and that was enough for us both.
Solicitors head their letters with the name of their firm. And this particular letter was headed WORSTED & CO.
An ample supper was laid, awaiting our coming in, and the servants heated and served some excellent, soup.
As we took our seats—
“And very nice too,” said George. “Better than the picnic in progress by the side of the Salzburg road. But I shall always be sorry we didn’t hear Forecast wake up.”
I laughed.
“He’d better save something for Latchet. He’ll feel the need of expression when he finds his papers have gone.”
Mansel nodded.
“Till then, he won’t be quite sure. Almost, but not quite. But then all doubt will vanish. More. The theft of the papers and passports will hit him over the heart. Of course he’s played into our hands; but we’ve had a good night out.”
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