CHAPTER XXI
METHOD AND FORESIGHT
Without a word--with merely a careless glance at Neeland, who remainedseated under the level threat of Ali Baba's pistol, the big, handsomeGerman removed his overcoat. Under it was another coat. He threw thisoff in a brisk, businesslike manner, unbuckled a brace of pistols,laid them aside, unwound from his body a long silk rope ladder whichdropped to the floor at Ilse Dumont's feet.
The girl had turned very pale. She stooped, picked up the silk ladder,and, holding it in both hands, looked hard at Golden Beard.
"Johann," she said, "I gave my word of honour to this young man thatif he came here no harm would happen to him."
"I read the note you have shoved under his door," said Golden Beard."That iss why we are here, Karl and I."
Neeland remembered the wax in the keyhole then. He turned his eyes onIlse Dumont, curiously, less certain of her treachery now.
Meanwhile, Golden Beard continued busily unwinding things from hisapparently too stout person, and presently disengaged threelife-belts.
One of these he adjusted to his own person, then, putting on hisvoluminous overcoat, took the pistol from Ali Baba, who, in turn,adjusted one of the remaining life-belts to his body.
Neeland, deeply perplexed and uncomfortable, watched these operationsin silence, trying to divine some reason for them.
"Now, then!" said Golden Beard to the girl; and his voice sounded coldand incisive in the silence.
"This is not the way to do it," she said in a low tone. "I gave him myword of honour."
"You will be good enough to buckle on that belt," returned GoldenBeard, staring at her.
Slowly she bent over, picked up the life-belt, and, looping the silkrope over her arm, began to put on the belt. Golden Beard, impatient,presently came to her assistance; then he unhooked from the wall acloak and threw it over her shoulders.
"Now, Karl!" he said. "Shoot him dead if he stirs!" And he snatched asheet from the bed, tore it into strips, walked over to Neeland, anddeftly tied him hand and foot and gagged him.
Then Golden Beard and Ali Baba, between them, lifted the young man andseated him on the iron bed and tied him fast to it.
"Go out on deck!" said Golden Beard to Ilse Dumont.
"Let me stay----"
"No! You have acted like a fool. Go to the lower deck where is ouraccustomed rendezvous."
"I wish to remain, Johann. I shall not interfere----"
"Go to the lower deck, I tell you, and be ready to tie that ropeladder!"
Ali Baba, down on his knees, had pulled out a steamer trunk from underthe bed, opened it, and was lifting out three big steel cylinders.
These he laid on the bed in a row beside the tied man; and GoldenBeard, still facing Ilse Dumont, turned his head to look.
The instant his head was turned the girl snatched a pistol from thebrace of weapons on the washstand and thrust it under her cloak.Neither Golden Beard nor Ali Baba noticed the incident; the latter wasbusy connecting the three cylinders with coils of wire; the former,deeply interested, followed the operation for a moment or two, thenwalking over to the trunk, he lifted from it a curious little clockwith two dials and set it on the railed shelf of glass above thewashstand.
"Karl, haf you ship's time?"
Ali Baba paused to fish out his watch, and the two comparedtimepieces. Then Golden Beard wound the clock, set the hands of onedial at the time indicated by their watches; set the hands of theother dial at 2:13; and Ali Baba, carrying a reel of copper wire fromthe bed to the washstand, fastened one end of it to the mechanism ofthe clock.
Golden Beard turned sharply on Ilse Dumont:
"I said go on deck! Did you not understand?"
The girl replied steadily:
"I understood that we had abandoned this idea for a better one."
"There iss no better one!"
"There _is_! Of what advantage would it be to blow up the captain'scabin and the bridge when it is not certain that the papers will bedestroyed?"
"Listen once!" returned Golden Beard, wagging his finger in her face:
"Cabin and bridge are directly above us and there remains not asplinter large like a pin! I know. I know my bombs! I know----"
The soft voice of Ali Baba interrupted, and his shallow, lightish eyespeered around at them:
"Eet ees veree excellent plan, Johann. We do not require these papers;eet ees to destroy them we are mooch anxious"--he bent a deathly stareon Neeland--"and this yoong gentleman who may again annoy us." Henodded confidently to himself and continued to connect the wires."Yes, yes," he murmured absently, "eet ees veree good plan--veree goodplan to blow him into leetle pieces so beeg as a pin."
"It is a clumsy plan!" said the girl, desperately. "There is no needfor wanton killing like this, when we can----"
"Killing?" repeated Golden Beard. "That makes nothing. This Englishcaptain he iss of the naval reserve. _Und_ this young man"--noddingcoolly toward Neeland--"knows too much already. That iss not wantonkilling. _Also!_ You talk too much. Do you hear? We are due to dropanchor about 2:30. God knows there will be enough rushing to and froat 2:13.
"Go on deck, I say, and fasten that rope ladder! Weishelm's fishingsmack will be watching; _und_ if we do not swim for it we are caughton board! _Und_ that iss the end of it all for us!"
"Johann," she began tremulously, "listen to me----"
"_Nein! Nein!_ What for a _Frauenzimmer_ haff we here!" retortedGolden Beard, losing his patience and catching her by the arm. "Go outund fix for us our ladder und keep it coiled on the rail und lean oferit like you was looking at those stars once!"
He forced her toward the door; she turned, struggling, to confronthim:
"Then for God's sake, give this man a chance! Don't leave him tiedhere to be blown to atoms! Give him a chance--anything except this!Throw him out of the port, there!" She pointed at the closed port,evaded Golden Beard, sprang upon the sofa, unscrewed the glass cover,and swung it open.
The port was too small even to admit the passage of her own body; sherealised it; Golden Beard laughed and turned to examine the result ofAli Baba's wiring.
For a second the girl gazed wildly around her, as though seeking somehelp in her terrible dilemma, then she snatched up a bit of the tornsheeting, tied it to the screw of the porthole cover, and flung theend out where it fluttered in the darkness.
As she sprang to the floor Golden Beard swung round in renewed angerat her for still loitering.
"Sacreminton!" he exclaimed. "It is time you do your part! Go to yourpost then! We remain here until five minutes is left us. Then we joinyou."
The girl nodded, turned to the door.
"Wait! You understand the plan?"
"Yes."
"You understand that you do not go overboard until we arrive, nomatter what happens?"
"Yes."
He stood looking at her for a moment, then with a shrug he went overand patted her shoulder.
"That's my brave girl! I also do not desire to kill anybody. But whenthe Fatherland is in danger, then killing signifies nothing--is of noconsequence--pouf!--no lives are of importance then--not even ourown!" He laughed in a fashion almost kindly and clapped her lightlyonce more on her shoulder: "Go, my child. The Fatherland is indanger!"
She went, not looking back. He closed and locked the door behind herand calmly turned to aid Ali Baba who was still fussing with thewires. Presently, however, he mounted the bed where Neeland sat tiedand gagged; pulled from his pockets an auger with its bit, ascrew-eye, and block and tackle; and, standing on the bed, began tobore a hole in the ceiling.
In a few moments he had fastened the screw-eye, rigged his block, madea sling for his bombs out of a blanket, and had hoisted the threecylinders up flat against the ceiling from whence the connecting wiressagged over the foot of the bedstead to the alarm clock on thewashstand.
To give the clock more room on the glass shelf, Ali Baba removed thetoilet accessories and set them on the washstand; but he had no room
for a large jug of water, and, casting about for a place to set it,noticed a railed bracket over the head of the bed, and placed itthere.
Then, apparently satisfied with his labours, he sat down Turk fashionon the sofa, lighted a cigarette, selected a bonbon from the boxbeside him, and calmly regaled himself.
Presently Golden Beard tied the cord which held up the sling in whichthe bombs were slung against the ceiling. He fastened it tightly tothe iron frame of the bed, stepped back to view the effect, thenleisurely pulled out and filled his porcelain pipe, and seated himselfon the sofa beside Ali Baba.
Neither spoke; twice Golden Beard drew his watch from his waistcoatpocket and compared it carefully with the dial of the alarm clock onthe washstand shelf. The third time he did this he tapped Ali Baba onthe shoulder, rose, knocked out his pipe and flung it out of the openport.
Together they walked over to Neeland, examined the gag and ligaturesas impersonally as though the prisoner were not there, nodded theirsatisfaction, turned off the electric light, and, letting themselvesout, locked the door on the outside.
It lacked five minutes of the time indicated on the alarm dial.
The Dark Star Page 23