by Ronald Seth
While he went on ahead I drew into the deep shadow at the end of the building. Somewhere in the distance some children were playing hide-and-seek in the dark street. I wondered whether they knew the terror under which many of their parents lived, and if they would laugh and shout and quarrel among themselves if they did.
When I judged that the little man would have reached his floor I came out of the shadows and made for the door of the building. As I stepped inside an old woman with a shawl over her head was knitting on the other side of a window.
She threw up the window and barked: "Who do you want, comrade?"
"Comrade Zinkas," I said.
"Fifth floor. He came in ten minutes ago."
I thanked her and began to climb the turning, narrow stone stairs.
Juri was waiting for me when I arrived on the fourth floor and without a word beckoned me into his flat. It was a small, two-room apartment with a kitchen. In one corner of the sitting room stood a bed, which I presumed would be Mrs. Drevas' because of the lace coverlet adorning it.
In the middle of the room was a table with three places already laid, and a boy of fourteen or fifteen by it had knives and spoons in his hands. He was a solemn-looking boy and, I was soon to discover, a silent boy, who "walked alone." His loneliness was responsible for his being thought simple.
"This is Jo," his uncle said. "Jo, this is Captain Martel, who has come secretly all the way from England to help us."
The boy put down the spoons and knives and held out his hand to me with a bow. But he did not speak. The Tortoise, I thought, as I looked at his dark, stocky figure and compared it with my five foot ten, was certainly right when he said he did not remember faces well. Admittedly, I had hunched my shoulders, but I could never have reduced myself to Jo's four foot six.
A woman came from the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron. She was a spare woman in a black dress, with her hair swept back into a bun. She must have been fifteen or twenty years younger than her brother.
"You are very welcome, Captain Martel," she greeted me calmly, as though she was used to meeting British secret agents every day. "I am afraid our hospitality will not be lavish, but what we have we gladly share with you."
"I am very reluctant…" I began.
"There is no need to excuse yourself, captain," she cut me short. "It is a great honor for us to help."
As Jo set a place for me his mother bustled back into the kitchen and presently came back carrying a large steaming bowl of meat and vegetable soup such as the Marans had had for their midday meal. For the poor, there is very little food in Gallonia. It was not until I began to eat that I realized how hungry I was, and I had to restrain myself so that I should not appear to be a glutton.
When the soup and the black bread and the cheese were cleared away, she brought us coffee. A grandfather clock in a corner of the room struck seven, and without a word—he had spoken only twice during the meal—Jo went to the radio and switched it on. We waited for a moment or two as the set warmed up, and then the announcer's voice burst into the room.
"Attention! Attention! Attention! By an emergency decree signed by the state's president this afternoon, the minister of police enforces a curfew on the capital, Tredentz, from nine o'clock this evening until five o'clock tomorrow morning. All citizens are to be in their houses by nine p.m. Anyone found in the streets after that hour will be shot on sight… Here is the news. The security police this afternoon arrested Dr. Samakis on charges of endangering the state. Samakis, who had been working at…"
Juri got up, muttering, "Arrests… arrests… only arrests!" and switched off the set. He had been looking at me very concernedly while the decree was being read.
"What time did you say you have to visit Dr. Paranu, captain?" he asked.
"Half past nine," I told him. "But I think I should go now."
"Listen, captain," the little man said. "Has it struck you that they will know you should be going to see Dr. Paranu tonight? He told you to go quite openly in front of the nurse, didn't he? You may be quite sure that she will have been put in the doctor's consulting room to spy on him and will have told them of the arrangement."
"Yes, you are right," I said. "But it is absolutely essential for me to see the doctor. That is why I have come here, and having got so far now, I cannot go away without seeing him, nor can I stay here longer than is necessary."
"No, I can see that. You must see him."
For the first time, Jo spoke more than two or three words.
"You see what they have done," he said. "By now they must suspect Paranu. They have made the curfew, hoping that it will force the captain to go there before it starts. Then they will know that Paranu is plotting something and arrest both of them."
I looked at the boy in admiration. Old Juri seemed to read my thoughts.
"Our Jo is no fool," he laughed. "He pretends that he is, because it helps him in his work."
"His work?" I exclaimed.
"Yes… Jo is one of Gallia's couriers."
I looked at the boy with even more admiration. First there had been Raymond, and now Jo. I know what being a secret messenger means, the dangers to be run, the quick thinking, the great care and the patience which he must have.
I did not know what to say to him to express what I thought, and before I could collect the words he said: "I will take the captain to Dr. Paranu's by a way I know so that he will not be seen. But first I think I must go and reconnoiter. It would be bad if we ran into a patrol that we did not know was there."
I suppose I ought to have stopped him, but even while he was speaking he had been taking off his jacket and putting on a pair of overalls. In any case, he spoke with such authority that I do not think I could have said anything which would have made him change his mind.
His mother had obviously stopped protesting at her son's activities long ago, and old Juri, who understood him and was very proud of him, would never have attempted to stop him.
"Be careful, Jo; that's all," I said.
"I know how valuable I am to Gallia, captain." The boy smiled for the first time. "I shall be careful."
And he was not boasting.
"It will take me half an hour to get to Dr. Paranu's house," he said, tying a frayed length of rope about his waist and pulling on an old cloth cap. "Maybe it will take me half an hour to reconnoiter and half an hour to get back. It is now half past seven. Don't expect me back until just before curfew."
"But how shall we return to Dr. Paranu's house after curfew?" I asked.
"I will guarantee to get you there unseen, captain," he replied, and I had to be satisfied.
As he was about to open the door onto the landing, I called him back.
"I've had an idea," I said. "Could you telephone Dr. Paranu?"
"His line will be tapped," Juri said.
"I realize that," I said. "But supposing you telephoned Dr. Paranu from a public phone booth and said you were speaking for me and explained that I cannot come tonight because of the curfew. Don't you think it might put them a little off his scent, and perhaps mine?"
"It can't do any harm," the boy replied. "I could give him the secret sign so that he would know you were not wanting another appointment. Yes, it is a good idea. I will do that, captain, but I don't expect for a moment that Gombroch will change any of his plans. Still, it may make him uncertain."
Before any of us could say another word, he had gone.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Waiting for Jo
I don't think I have ever spent a more anxious hour and a half than the time we waited for Jo to return. It was not so bad to begin with, but as the grandfather clock in the corner struck away the quarters, a silence fell over the three of us.
Juri saw my mounting anxiety and tried to reassure me. "Don't get worried, captain," he said. "Jo is a clever boy and he's done things much more dangerous than he's doing tonight."
"If he were doing it for Gallia," I answered, "I would not mind so much. But it is on my
account that he's risking himself now, Juri, and if anything happened to him…"
"Nothing will happen to him, captain!" And the silence came down on us again.
At last nine o'clock came, and still there was no sign of the boy. I stood up and began to pace about the room. Juri and Mrs. Devas said nothing, but I could see that the mother was having a great struggle also not to give way to her fear. She laid aside her needlework and went to the kitchen, and ten minutes or so later returned with coffee.
By quarter to ten I was quite certain that Jo had met with disaster, and there was nothing we could do about it. A feeling of great helplessness came over me now, replacing, to a large extent, the anxiety I had previously felt.
"You are upsetting yourself for no reason at all," Juri exclaimed. "It is not always easy to avoid patrols after curfew. But Jo will do it, captain. An hour or even two means nothing when the police are on every corner, as they will be tonight, and the army as well."
He switched on the radio again. This time the announcement of the curfew was omitted and the news began with the arrest of Dr. Samakis.
"Was he a member of Gallia?" I asked.
"I don't know," the old man answered. "We are not a large movement, but we are well organized. Few of us know more than the immediate members of our own little circle. I did not know Dr. Paranu was a member until you told me, though I was not surprised. He has always opposed the regime, but up to now he has been too much loved by the people for his work for the government to dare to touch him. He has performed miracles, that man. As you saw, Jo knew. But Jo knows many things I do not know, or even many of our leaders know; and he is as secret as the grave. Not all those who are enemies of the regime belong to Gallia."
"Who was Dr. Samakis?"
"A scientist. One of the few really brilliant atomic scientists we have. They must have discovered something very serious against him to arrest him, because he is very valuable to them."
Ten o'clock struck by the grandfather clock, and it was as the last stroke died away that a sharp tapping noise came from the kitchen.
Mrs. Drevas jumped up and hurried across the room and Juri got up from his chair, exclaiming: "Ah, here he is, captain. Quite safe! You'll see!"
We followed Mrs. Drevas into the kitchen and were in time to see her push up the window and Jo tumble, almost headfirst, through.
"We were sure you'd been caught, Jo," his uncle said.
The boy was flushed, as if from some exertion. He passed his sleeve across his forehead and smiled.
"No, not this time, Uncle," he replied. "But I had difficulty at Dr. Paranu's. I imagine they have two companies of soldiers hidden away in the surrounding streets. Gombroch must want you very badly, captain."
"Did you telephone Paranu?" I asked.
"Yes. I think he understood. He said you were to go to the Central Hospital at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, and he would give you the tests then. He asks you not to be late."
"What now?" I asked.
"If you're ready, I will take you to him now."
"Can't you tell me the way? I don't want you to…"
This time Jo laughed outright.
"You would never find it even if I drew you a detailed map, captain. No, I will come with you. It is my duty."
I almost gave up then and there. The odds were too great. I would try to elude Gombroch and get back to England and someone else would have to make a second attempt when the vigilance of the secret police had relaxed. It was the height of stupidity to run any more risks. Supposing Jo were caught with me? Gombroch would have no hesitation in torturing him to get every scrap of information out of him he could; and the boy, strange though it may seem, was a key member of Gallia. The whole movement might be endangered.
However important our missions may be, we are forbidden to take too great risks. There are not so many fully trained agents, and each of us is very valuable. We may not, therefore, deliberately endanger our lives in the hope that some great stroke of luck will save us. And yet—if Jo could take me to Paranu…
He decided my problem for me.
"Are you ready, captain?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm ready," I answered, and turned to Mrs. Drevas and Juri to thank them for all that they had done for me.
"It's nothing," they said. "We have only done our duty."
That was the one thought of these brave people—to do their duty.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dr. Paranu Again
When Jo had appeared in the kitchen I had had the idea that he had come up by a fire escape, but now, when we went to the window and he threw up the lower sash again, which his mother had lowered after him, and beckoned me to his side, I looked out and saw that there was nothing between us and the ground, forty feet below.
The moon was as brilliant as it had been two nights ago when I had left the train at Kobo and begun my strange journey to Tredentz. But for the moon I would never have dared to attempt what Jo was expecting me to do.
"It may look dangerous," he remarked casually, "but it is really quite easy. Below the window there is a ledge one brick wide. Swing your legs over the window sill onto the ledge keeping hold of the side of the window, here, and stand up straight. Holding on here by your left hand, reach out with your right hand for the drain pipe. It stands out from the wall so that you can get a good grip with your fingers."
The drain pipe was, in fact, a square one, and as far as I could judge had a side of about five inches. I was to find, when I came to it, that it not only gave a good grip for the hands, but the knees as well.
"Every one and a half meters," Jo went on, "the pipe is fastened to the wall by a metal clamp. These clamps are thick enough to support the tips of the toes quite well. So, gripping the pipe with both hands, you let your feet slide down the sides of the pipe until you reach the first clamp. Resting your feet on that, you let your hands slide down, bending you knees and arching your back as far as it will go. Then you let your feet slide down to the next clamp, and so on. It is as if a caterpillar were moving backward. Do you understand, captain?"
I said that I did.
"The pipe is firmly clamped to the wall and is quite safe," Jo assured me. "I will go first. Ready?"
"Yes," I replied, and the next moment he had swung over the window sill and disappeared.
I watched him until I saw him waving up from the safety of the ground.
A dozen years ago, when I was at Cambridge, I had done a fair amount of climbing into my college after midnight. It had never occurred to me then that the experience I was gaining in breaking the university rules would ever prove useful to me in my later life. Now I felt the same sort of thrill, the thrill that comes over us when we know we are doing something wrong.
I swung my right leg over the window sill and felt for the ledge. It seemed to be quite wide and gave me initial confidence, which, I must admit, I needed very badly. My left leg followed, and a moment or two later I was grasping the square drainpipe with both hands and my knees and gingerly letting my feet slide down to the first clamp.
By forcing myself to believe that I was not vertical on the side of a wall but doing a kind of crawl on a flat horizontal surface, from which I could not fall, I slowly descended toward the ground. The farther I went the more confident I became.
Perhaps I became overconfident and tried to move too quickly, but when I was a little over halfway down my feet refused to find the next clamp. I have thought since that at the last section I had bent my body too much, and this had brought my hands very near the clamp, with the result that when I slid my knees and feet down the pipe toward the clamp below, I overshot it.
I felt up and down with my feet, but they failed to find any purchase, and after a few moments of taking most of my weight on my arms, I found they were beginning to ache badly and that cramp pains were shooting through my biceps into my shoulders, into my neck, making my ears sing.
I do not think I panicked, but after some seconds I found myself slipping rapi
dly down the pipe, the friction of my hands against it, as I tried to strengthen my grip, burning into the flesh of my palms as though I were holding them on live coals.
From below me I heard Jo call softly: "Careful! Careful, captain!"
Fortunately I was gripping still with my knees, and as I went slipping down, my toes stubbed themselves on a clamp. Instinctively I put all the strength I could muster into my hand and knee grips and came to a stop. I clung to the pipe, my heart thumping in my ears, and my breath coming in painful gasps. My clothes clung to me with the clammy damp of the sweat which had broken out all over me.
"Slowly does it, captain!" Jo called up. "You've only another ten feet!"
I took a deep breath and began my descent again, and at last my feet touched the firm ground. Never, I think, in all my life, have I been so relieved to have both feet firmly planted on the unmoving earth.
"Phew!" Jo whispered. "I thought you were a goner that time, captain."
"So did I," I whispered back, my breath still coming in deep gasps.
I squatted down with lowered head until I was feeling fairly normal once more.
I stood up. "Let's go, Jo," I said.
"Captain, we must not talk at all now until we reach Dr. Paranu's," the boy said. "At one place a dog will bark. But take no notice. The old man who owns the dog is stone deaf. Besides, he is now asleep."
We had not gone far before I realized how right Jo had been when he had said that even with a detailed map I should never find the way. Over walls, through private gardens, down narrow, dark passages we went. The dog yapped as we passed within a few feet of it and went on barking until we were out of hearing.
Our strange route took us, I estimated, about three-quarters of an hour to cover, until at last Jo stopped at the foot of an eight-foot wall near a tall apartment house.
"Dr. Paranu lives up there on the third floor, where the light is," he whispered, pointing up at the house on the other side of the wall. "A narrow passageway leads all along the back of the building from the street to this wall. When I was here earlier there were two soldiers with rifles at the street end. They may be patrolling the passage. I will get up and see. If all is clear, come over quickly, because you will be against the skyline."