The Mystery of Tunnel 51

by Alexander Wilson

  The Commissioner smiled at Batty’s enthusiasm.

  ‘You’re a lucky man to serve such people,’ he said. ‘And they are very lucky to have such a faithful henchman.’

  ‘I don’t know about the ’enchman, sir, but you’ve ’it it when you say I’m lucky. An’ now, if yer don’t mind, sir, I’ll just go on to the veranda an’ stand by in the offin’, ready to lay ’longside if the guv’nor gives me an ’ail.’

  He saluted and went outside. Major Watkins stood looking after him for a moment.

  ‘Thank God, there are still men left like that,’ he murmured, and sending for his car was driven to his office.

  Leonard spent nearly an hour and a half deep in thought, while Batty paced up and down the other end of the veranda, as though he were on watch. Then the former roused himself, and without looking round called quietly to the sailor.

  ‘Aye, aye, sir!’ replied the latter, and was immediately by his employer’s chair.

  ‘You and I are going on a little expedition this afternoon, Batty,’ said Leonard. ‘I have an idea that our friends Levinsky and Dorin may be hiding in that underground passage, so we’ll search it together. In the meantime get me some sheets of the thickest paper you can find, a large envelope, and some sealing wax!’

  ‘Aye, aye, sir.’

  Batty disappeared to procure the necessary materials. He soon returned, and under Wallace’s directions folded up the paper so that it fitted exactly into the envelope; then stuck the latter down.

  ‘What have you done with my signet ring?’ asked Wallace.

  ‘Carryin’ it aboard, sir, since I took it off your finger when you got burnt!’

  ‘Well, give it to me!’

  The sailor produced a large red handkerchief, which, was rolled in the shape of a ball, and carefully unrolling it brought forth the ring.

  ‘Now put five large seals on the back of this envelope!’

  Batty was ever thorough, and the seals he put on were enormous. Leonard pressed them down with the ring, on which was the crest of the noble house of Westcliff. When they had finished, the envelope presented a most official appearance.

  ‘Now get a pen, and as I can’t write, you’ll have to write for me!’

  Batty drew a fountain pen from his pocket and under Wallace’s instructions wrote in a large sprawling hand,

  ‘To His Excellency TheViceroy, Viceregal Lodge, Delhi.’

  ‘That’s that!’ said Wallace, with satisfaction. ‘You’re a fisherman, Batty! What do you think of this for bait?’

  The sailor scratched his head.

  ‘Don’t see what good that would be for bait, sir,’ he said in a puzzled voice.

  ‘Well, you might later on. If our investigations come to nothing this afternoon, I am going to fish tonight with this!’

  Batty only scratched his head the more.

  After tiffin Wallace announced his intention of searching the underground passage, and the Commissioner shook his head dubiously.

  ‘Do you think you are strong enough yet, Sir Leonard?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m all right. The only thing that annoys me is that with all these bandages on my hand, I couldn’t use a revolver properly if it became necessary.’

  ‘I don’t think you’ll find anybody down there. I have had the whole place thoroughly examined.’

  ‘I know, but I’d like to have a look myself, if only for the sake of curiosity. Perhaps you would like to come too?’

  Watkins said he would, so the three of them presently drove once more to Dorin’s late premises at Bunda Road and entered the building, which was still under the supervision of the police. The trapdoor in the office had been removed and a ladder was in place, so they descended to the regions below without difficulty. Watkins had brought a powerful electric torch with him, and he switched it on and gazed curiously round the cellar.

  ‘I wonder what they used this place for?’ he said.

  ‘Goodness knows!’ replied Wallace. ‘Nothing probably. But the passage was obviously meant as a way of escape in case of emergency.’

  ‘And they would have all got away when we raided the house, if you hadn’t already entered the office?’

  Wallace nodded.

  ‘That’s why I didn’t wait,’ he said. ‘I was afraid there might be something of this sort. The office, with its one innocent-looking door, looked too much of a trap for Dorin to use it with equanimity unless there was another outlet somewhere.’

  He went carefully round the walls, tapping them with the butt end of a revolver, and listening for a hollow sound.

  ‘No hidden retreat here,’ he announced at last. ‘These walls are solid.’

  They made their way along the passage, examining every foot of the walls on either side, and eventually came to the hole in the ground, which the police had carefully planked over. They removed the planks and looked down.

  ‘I’d like to go down there,’ said Wallace, ‘and have a look round.’

  ‘You couldn’t possibly get down in your present state,’ said the Commissioner. ‘And besides it’s unlikely that there can be any hiding place down there.’

  ‘There might be, and I loathe leaving any of this place without searching it. I think I’ll have a try – Batty, go back and see if you can find a stout rope!’

  The sailor departed, and Watkins spent the time until his return in protesting against Wallace exerting himself in any way in his weak condition.

  ‘My dear man,’ said Leonard, at last, ‘I’m going, so don’t make a fuss. You and Batty can easily let me down on the end of a rope – I’m not heavy.’

  ‘But how on earth are you going to hold on to the end of the rope. Your only hand is too badly burnt to enable you to hold anything?’

  ‘You can tie the rope round my waist!’

  ‘It seems to be so aimless, and such an unnecessary risk, Sir Leonard. There’s only a sort of underground stream down there.’

  ‘Probably, but why this hole? Somebody made it, and it was made for a reason.’

  ‘Well, let me go!’

  ‘No, I want to see the place for myself, and then I’ll be satisfied.’

  The Commissioner shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘I don’t know what the doctor will say,’ he said.

  ‘We’ll spare the poor man’s feelings by not telling him.’

  After that Watkins relapsed into silence until Batty returned with a coil of thick rope; then once more he pleaded with Leonard to let him descend, and Batty also asked to be allowed to go down; but it was of no use. The two of them reluctantly tied one end of the rope securely round Wallace’s waist, and taking the flash lamp in his bandaged hand, he was carefully lowered over the edge, first having instructed them to pull him up when he tugged on the rope. Almost at once his foot touched what appeared to be an iron bar in the side of the wall, and descending a little farther he found another, and then another. He brought the rays of the lamp to bear on the wall and discovered that there was a rusty iron ladder fixed there, starting about four and a half feet from the top. He announced his discovery to the others; thereafter his descent was much easier.

  After he had gone down about twenty-five feet he found himself over a rushing, bubbling torrent that sounded like a cataract in that confined space. There was a ledge of rock about two feet square at the bottom of the ladder, and he stood there gazing round him. There was not much to see but water and damp, mildewed walls. Suddenly, however, he noticed a narrow opening in the wall almost at his side; cautiously he crawled through, to emerge without warning into a large cave-like apartment, the sight of which pulled him up short and made him look round him with astonishment.

  The floor was covered with straw, and two native beds – on which a heap of bedding proclaimed that they had been recently occupied – stood on one side of the room. Three large biscuit tins stood by the side of the beds, and a pile of clothing, both Indian and European, was lying on the top of a wooden packing case stamped with the name of ‘Waller an
d Redmond.’ The room, or cave, was unoccupied. Leonard was unable to go any farther in on account of the rope, which was taut and had apparently gone its length. However, he was more than satisfied with what he saw, and presently he returned to the ledge and, tugging at the rope, was assisted up the step ladder. Watkins sighed with relief as he stood beside them once more.

  ‘Rather an aimless journey, wasn’t it, Sir Leonard?’ asked the Commissioner.

  ‘On the contrary,’ replied Wallace, ‘I have discovered where Dorin and Levinsky have been hiding, I think. Now all you have to do is to capture them.’ He described the cave-like apartment and what he had found therein.

  After Watkins had recovered from his surprise he decided to see the place for himself and, carefully instructed by Leonard about the ladder, he swung himself over the edge of the hole and descended, followed by Batty, who had asked and obtained permission to view the hiding place. When the two returned, the Commissioner asked Wallace what he proposed to do next.

  ‘Nothing at present,’ was the reply. ‘We’ll just put these boards in place and return to your house.’ The planks were carefully adjusted, and the trio returned the way they had come, and were soon back in the Commissioner’s bungalow. A bearer placed chairs for his master and Wallace on the veranda, and brought tea.

  ‘There is one thing that I am suspicious about,’ said Wallace, as he lazily helped himself to sugar, ‘and that is, where were Levinsky and Dorin during our investigations? Knowing, as they must know, that the whole police force is looking for them, one would expect them to hide in the cave in the daytime and move about, if they wanted to, at night. Possibly that is explained by the fact that they are keeping a watch on the aeroplane, but then one would be sufficient for that purpose. Then where was the other?’

  ‘Do you think he was somewhere in the tunnel?’

  ‘That is exactly what I am wondering. He may have been listening to us all the time – he may have been hiding under that heap of bedding even, or those clothes in the cave. Unfortunately the rope prevented me from getting near enough to look.’

  ‘Dash it all!’ exclaimed the Commissioner. ‘I never thought of looking.’

  ‘No, but Batty did, because I gave him the hint.’

  ‘Then why do you say unfortunately you couldn’t?’

  ‘Simply because he could easily have got out of the cave, and gone somewhere else in between the time that I ascended and you descended.’

  ‘But there was nowhere else to go.’

  ‘To men of resource like Levinsky and Dorin there was. For instance they could easily have dropped into the water, and held on to a ledge until you had gone. You didn’t look in the water, of course?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. If they saw us it will only make them the more desperate to recover the plans and get away. If we were not seen then there is plenty of time to capture them. Now listen! I have here an envelope which looks very official and which I am guarding with great care.’ He took from his pocket the long envelope, which Batty had sealed carefully in the morning, and showed it to the Commissioner. ‘When I go to bed I am going to do so with the curtains of my room wide open, so that anybody who happens to be watching from amongst those bushes outside can see every movement. I shall wrap, or rather get Batty to wrap, this envelope inside one of my bandages, get into bed, the lights will be switched off, and I shall await events.’

  ‘Then you think you are being watched?’

  ‘I don’t know. But if Levinsky or Dorin, or both, know of our investigations of this afternoon, I shall be watched tonight, and I hope this packet will act as the bait necessary to make two desperate men enter even the Commissioner’s house. As soon as the light is out, I want you and Batty, and a couple of your men to come into my bedroom and wait with me.’

  The Commissioner nodded grimly.

  ‘And in the meantime,’ went on Leonard, ‘send half a dozen men down to that underground hiding place with orders to arrest anybody who enters it. As their wait down there may be lengthy, tell them to take some food with them, and also to go well armed.’

  ‘I’ll go down to headquarters myself and give orders,’ said Watkins, ‘so that there will be no mistake.’ And sending for his car he left immediately.

  Wallace sat for a long time thinking so deeply that he quite failed to notice that his pipe was empty. Rousing himself, at length, he took out his pouch and started to make awkward efforts to fill it, but Batty was on the spot in a moment and, taking the pouch and pipe, performed the necessary operation. Then holding the match carefully until the tobacco was burning evenly, he threw the stump away and looked at Leonard quizzically.

  ‘I’m wondering, sir,’ he said, ‘if you can go down on a rope with them burns, an’ one arm, what you’d do if you had both yer arms, an’ was quite fit.’

  ‘But I didn’t altogether go down on the end of a rope,’ said Wallace. ‘You forget the ladder!’

  ‘Well, you didn’t know of no ladder when you started, sir.’

  For a moment there was silence, and then Leonard smiled at the sailor.

  ‘If we don’t get Levinsky and Dorin this time,’ he said, ‘it will be a caution!’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Levinsky and Dorin Again

  Wallace went to his room, and prepared for bed just after half past nine. Everything was done exactly as he had decided. The curtains were not drawn, and with all the lights full on it would have been an easy matter for a watcher, if there was one, to see everything that took place.

  When he was in his pyjamas, Leonard directed Batty to unwind the outer bandage on his arm, put the long envelope in place, and rewind the bandage over it. That done, he smiled with satisfaction.

  ‘It would be hard to find a safer place for these – er – plans, Batty,’ he said. ‘The bait is prepared, the scene is set, and now all we have to do is to await events.’

  Batty grinned.

  ‘When you talked about them papers as bait this morning, sir,’ he said, ‘I thought you really meant you was goin’ fishin’ with ’em.’

  ‘So I am!’

  ‘Arter proper fish, sir?’

  ‘Well, what fish could be more proper than Levinsky and Dorin?’

  ‘I mean fish wot swims in the sea, sir.’

  ‘Batty, I gave you credit for more intelligence. Considering our long association in crime, your wits should be keener by now!’

  The mariner stared at his employer with perplexity.

  ‘Long ’sociation in crime, sir!’ he exclaimed.

  Leonard laughed.

  ‘Oh, Batty, Batty, wake up, or I shall have to pension you off and employ somebody in your place.’

  The sailor certainly woke up at that announcement.

  ‘Belay,’ he said, and then added hastily: ‘Beggin’ yer pardon, sir – but don’t let thoughts like them get adrift in yer head. I don’t want ter be pensioned off nowise, no’ow and never, an’ if it’s all the same to you, sir, I ain’t goin’ ter let no other craft take my place, until I ’ands in me papers, an’ sails away nice an’ taut on me last voyage to Davy Jones’s locker.’

  Leonard put his bandaged hand affectionately on the startled man’s shoulder.

  ‘Don’t worry, Batty!’ he said. ‘I was only joking. You and I will never part company until death comes to one or other of us.’

  ‘Bless yer, sir! That’s ’ow I likes to ’ear yer speak – them other words made me old timbers shiver just as if I’d got out o’ me bearings an’ run ashore.’

  ‘And now,’ said Leonard, ‘I’m going to get into bed. Put out the lights, and call Major Watkins!’

  The Commissioner arrived quietly and, feeling his way to an armchair, sank into it. Batty at Wallace’s command sat in another, while two policemen squatted on the mat at the door.

  ‘I wonder if we will have to wait long, or if anything will happen at all,’ said Wallace. ‘It is going to be pretty tedious anyway – I hope you won’t get hopel
essly bored, Watkins.’

  ‘Rather not!’ replied the Commissioner. ‘I feel keyed up to top pitch, as a matter of fact, and I shall be deucedly disappointed if nothing happens.’

  ‘Brien will feel very annoyed if anything does and he is not here to share in it,’ chuckled the other softly. ‘Poor old Bill, he always complains that he misses most of the real excitement.’

  ‘He doesn’t seem to have missed much since the two of you started operations in India. That must have been a thrilling chase of his after Levinsky from Lahore.’

  ‘Yes, and I missed that. I hope he’ll get through to Delhi safely, though I don’t think there is much fear on that score.’

  ‘None at all!’ decided the Commissioner. Thereafter there was very little conversation, and after a while Watkins came to the conclusion that Wallace had fallen asleep, for he made no movement, and his breathing was very regular. But Leonard was very far from sleep. He lay there thinking deeply, and turning plans over in his mind – plans of action to bring into operation, if the night passed quietly and nothing transpired.

  Time passed slowly, and in spite of his assertion the Commissioner began to feel rather bored, while Batty found the waiting very wearisome, and gave vent every now and then to prodigious yawns suggestive of the desire for action of some sort. No sound of any kind came from the policemen – Indians seem to have the gift of complete inaction, and can wait for hours in the same position, almost without movement.

  A clock somewhere struck ten then after what seemed an interminable period, the half hour. Still nothing happened and the minutes crawled by to eleven and then half past. Batty, with a grunt, began to rub his left leg, which had gone to sleep, and Watkins, who for the last half hour had found great difficulty in keeping his eyes open, could do so no longer and fell asleep.

  Another twenty minutes must have gone by when suddenly there came a sibilant whisper from Wallace.

  ‘There is a scratching sound coming from the window of the dressing room,’ he said.

  Watkins woke up, and Batty forgot to rub his leg. The two of them listened intently but heard nothing, and another few minutes went by. Then there was a faint noise, as though somebody was pushing back a curtain.