CHAPTER XXVIII
--AND A NIGHT
TRESSIDAR extricated himself from his uncomfortable position.Although considerably shaken, he was practically unhurt. His firstthoughts upon realising that there had been a smash was for the otherformer occupants of the car. Some distance from and well above himthe dimmed light of one of the lamps still flickered. The other hadbeen extinguished, either by the sudden jolt or owing to the glassbeing fractured. He could distinguish the voices of Doris and Norahand the mild expostulation of Mr. Greenwood to the accompaniment ofthe bark of the Irish terrier.
He started to ascend the incline. It was so steep that he wonderedwhy the car had not crashed to the bottom of the valley instead oflodging a mere thirty or forty feet below the road.
Before he had taken half a dozen steps his foot came in contact witha human body. It was Dr. Cardyke, still gripping the steering-wheel.The impact had snapped the steering-column like a carrot, and thedoctor, describing a parabola over the shattered screen, had carriedthe wheel with him.
"Hurt?" enquired the sub. anxiously.
"No, only meditating," replied the imperturbable doctor. "I'll be allright in a few minutes. See to the others, please."
The two girls and the A.P. had already alighted, more or lessgracefully, while Greenwood senior was wedged in between the seat andthe sadly depleted hamper. All had come off lightly, but not so thecar.
Its downward career had been stopped by a large boulder. The force ofthe impact had telescoped the fore part. The front wheels wereshattered, the chassis splintered. As a car its days were ended.
"Where's Cardyke?" enquired Mr. Greenwood as he was being extricatedfrom the wreckage.
"Nursing the steering-wheel," replied Tressidar. "He says he isn'thurt."
"Neither am I," added the doctor, who, having regained his feet, wastoiling up the slope. "Sorry I landed you all in this pickle.Greenwood, I'm afraid your Ferncoombe Reservoir business is off."
"Not if I know it," resolutely replied the member of the NationalGuard. "I'll get there, even if I have to tramp it."
"What's the programme, sir?" enquired Tressidar, who, after havingfound a derelict cushion for the girls, was surveying the wreckage inthe dim glimmer of the expiring lamp.
"We'll try to reach the nearest village and find a conveyance,"replied the doctor. "It can't be very far. We must be almost on theedge of the moors, although I find I was mistaken just now. Icertainly don't remember this place."
"May as well leave everything ship-shape as far as possible,"suggested Eric. "My word, what an escape we've had!"
All hands set to work to retrieve the scattered articles. Cushions,portions of the mechanism, fishing-rods, Mr. Greenwood's rifle, theclock and speedometer and a number of other articles were picked upat varying distances from the wrecked car, some having rolled fardown the valley. These were placed for safety in the car.
"By Jove, sir!" exclaimed Tressidar. "How many clocks do you carry?I've already found three."
"Three?" echoed the doctor. "Never."
"I'll prove it," continued the sub., leaning over the side door andgroping for the floor of the car. This he failed to find, for thesimple reason that it no longer existed. Instead was a gaping cavitythrough which the retrieved articles rolled out as fast as they werestowed away.
Just then the terrier gave a bark.
"Quiet!" ordered Doris. "Quiet, Mike!"
"There's someone coming," declared Eric. "Sounds like a horse andcart."
"Then, thank goodness, we'll be able to find out where we are," addedMr. Greenwood, as the whole party scaled the bank and waited in theroad for the approaching vehicle.
It proved to be a pony-trap driven by a very stout farmer. Thelatter, recovering from his astonishment at being hailed in thisout-of-the-way place, informed the doctor that they were four milesfrom the nearest house, five from the nearest village, and twelvefrom a railway-station.
"Any motor-cars to be had in the village?" asked Dr. Cardyke. "We'vehad a bad smash."
"Yes, there be a car o' sorts, zurr," replied the man, laying stressupon the "o' sorts." "Maybe you'll be wantin' oi' tu ax the moty tufetch you?"
"If you would," said the doctor, "we'll be most obliged. I suppose wecan rely upon it being sent?"
"You can rely on oi, zurr, tu giv' the message," was the countryman'snon-committal reply, and, overcoming his curiosity to alight andexamine the wrecked car, he touched the pony with his whip and droveoff.
"Five miles," commented the doctor. "It will take at least an hourbefore the car arrives. Let's make ourselves as comfortable aspossible in the circumstances. Has anyone a match?"
After another twenty minutes the conversation flagged. Everyone wasmore or less tired, after the day spent in the bracing air.
Presently Mike began to show signs of uneasiness, straining at hiscollar, through which his mistress had slipped her fingers.
"He smells a rabbit, I think," suggested Tressidar.
"Yes, and if I let him go he may not return for hours. I know himwhen rabbits are about," replied Doris. "Hold him, Ronald; he'stugging awfully hard."
The sub. did so, at the same time encircling the terrier's muzzlewith his left hand. For the time being Mike was silent.
Stealthy footsteps could be heard on the stony road. These were thesounds that had aroused the dog, who had detected them long beforethe rest of the party.
With a sudden, furious twist Mike broke away from Tressidar's graspand darted off through the darkness, in spite of insistent calls forhim to come to heel.
"Dash it all, Doris!" exclaimed her father. "The brute will frightenthe man into fits. If I have to pay for any damage, I'll have theanimal dest----"
His threat regarding Mike's future was interrupted by a yell,followed by an oath--and the oath was uttered in unmistakableGerman.
"That's good enough for us, old man!" exclaimed Tressidar to the A.P."Come along. Let's see who the Hun is."
The two officers gained the road and made their way swiftly in thedirection of the indiscreet stranger, who was now having a battleroyal with the terrier. On hearing footsteps approaching, he bawled,
"Call off your dog, will you? If you don't I'll----"
The words trailed off into another yell, as Mike nipped a piece outof the fellow's trousers, together with a square inch of adiposetissue.
"By Jove!" exclaimed Tressidar. "It's Jorkler."
The A.P. knew the name perfectly well. He remembered that a Jorklerwas reported killed on the occasion of the loss of the "Pompey"; buthe was unaware that his real name was Oberfurst and that he was aspy. Tressidar had kept his promise to the rear-admiral in thatrespect, but now arose the necessity for explanation.
"He's a spy," he said hurriedly. "Take care, he may be armed."
"Not likely," replied the A.P. "If he were, he would have potted thetyke by this time."
Almost before he was aware of it, Tressidar was upon the man.Oberfurst, having ascended a slight bank on the opposite side of theroad, was kicking at the terrier, who with canine insistence wasstriving to get an opening and remove another patch of the German'sclothes.
"We've got you, Oberfurst," exclaimed Tressidar. "There are four ofus."
The spy recognised the sub.'s voice. Sheer astonishment on beingconfronted in that remote part of Dartmoor by a man whom he imaginedwas still interned in Denmark "took the wind out of his sails." Mike,seeing the advantage, leapt forward, only to be hurled backward by apowerful kick of the German's boot.
Simultaneously Tressidar and the A.P. threw themselves upon the spy,but they had not taken into account the slippery state of the groundowing to the heavy mist. Eric, his feet sliding from under him, fellon his face across the body of the still yelping Mike. The sub.,adopting Rugby tactics, tackled his man low, but was unable to securea hold.
In a trice the spy broke away and ran swiftly along the stony road inthe direction of the doctor and the rest of the party.
Too late did Oberfurst make the
discovery that there were more thantwo adversaries, for Dr. Cardyke and Greenwood senior gamely soughtto bar the German's way.
At the first alarm Mr. Greenwood had seized his rifle. True, he hadno cartridges; perhaps for his son's and Tressidar's safety it was aswell that he had not.
The doctor, being slightly in advance of his friend, received thebrunt of the second phase of the night operations, for the spy, usinghis feet in the approved Continental style, kicked Cardyke on hisleft knee, at the same time gripping the doctor's arm.
Then it was that Oberfurst met his Waterloo, for his palm came incontact with the formidable array of fish-hooks that the doctor stillkept in his coat-sleeve. Uttering a yell as the barbs lacerated hisflesh, the spy again attempted to break away. As he did so, Greenwoodsenior prodded him in the ribs with the butt-end of his rifle andstretched him out breathless on the road, just as Tressidar and theA.P. again appeared upon the scene.
Otto Oberfurst had been far from inactive since the "Nordby"incident. Having given the Danish skipper the slip, the spy made hisway to Aarhuus, whence, having obtained false papers, he posed as aBritish mercantile seaman whose vessel had been mined in the NorthSea.
It was his intention to return to Great Britain with the leastpossible delay and resume his nefarious operations. For two reasons:firstly, that he thought it unlikely that the British authoritieswould suspect his presence after what had occurred. The very audacityof his plan would tend to put them off the scent. Secondly, he knewfull well that the Head of the German Secret Service would notoverlook his blunder unless he promptly outweighed his error by abrilliant coup.
Accordingly he landed at Hull, and before twenty-four hours hadelapsed was within an ace of destroying a munitions factory. Foiled,he went south, and, by blowing up two unguarded railway tunnels,delayed important movement of troops on the way to Flanders. Here,again, it was only by a sheer fluke that the troop train was notderailed.
In due course accounts of the demolished tunnels appeared in thePress, with the suggestion that the disasters had been caused bysubsidences after the heavy rains, and thus public apprehension wasallayed.
Having reported himself to his chief, von Schenck ordered him to theWest of England to assist in the escape of three German officers fromthe detention camp, and to help them to cross to Ireland in readinessfor a revolt of the Sinn Feiners. Already the German authorities werein full possession of the knowledge that an armed rising was imminentin Ireland, and in addition to arms being conveyed thither in Hunships disguised as neutral merchantmen, arrangements had been madefor several German officers at present prisoners of war to join theinsurgents.
In this West Country detention camp it was a matter of consummateease to communicate with the imprisoned German officers. Many of thelatter were on parole (although it is generally recognised that a Hunregards the breaking of his plighted word as a smart piece of work),and were permitted to go freely into the neighbouring town on twodays a week. They were also allowed to purchase English daily paperswithout the latter being examined when brought into the camp, andthus many a ciphered communication passed between the prisoners andtheir compatriots without.
Otto Oberfurst's method of getting into touch with the three Huns wassimplicity itself. He would buy a daily paper and make a pinprickthrough those letters required to make up a word or sentence. Only byholding the paper up to the light could the minute holes be detected.Nor was it a difficult matter for the prisoners to obtain maps,pocket compasses, and small but powerful wire-cutters.
The next business was to arrange for the German officers to be takenacross to Ireland. In view of the strict regulations governing thedeparture of British subjects from British ports, it was obviously amatter of almost impossibility to smuggle three young Teutons onboard a ship lying in port. Oberfurst had thought of stealing a yachtfrom some unfrequented harbour, until he realised the risk of beingcaught by the vigilant patrols in the Bristol Channel and especiallyin the Irish Sea.
Eventually through an intermediary--he was too wily to negotiatedirect--he arranged with the hyphenated American skipper of a Yankeetramp, that was shortly to leave Bristol for New York, to close withthe North Devon coast in the vicinity of the unfrequented HartlandPoint. The skipper was to heave-to and send a boat ashore at 3 a.m.,and pick up the three fugitives.
Oberfurst left little to chance. A powerful motor-car took him fromExeter to a point four miles from the camp. He intended to proceed onfoot to a prearranged rendezvous, await the German officers and walkwith them for another four miles across the moors, and to pick upanother car which was to convey the fugitives to within a shortdistance of the coast.
Unfortunately for him, on leaving the first car he had followed theroad by which Tressidar and his companions were keeping their wearyvigil, and now he was a prisoner.
In the event of his plans going awry, he had firmly decided not to betaken alive. At the same time he would make a desperate bid forfreedom before proceeding to the last extremity. In this resolve hewas thwarted. The intense pain of the laceration of his hand by thefish-hooks, quickly followed by Mr. Greenwood's drastic and effectualaction, had completed his discomfiture before he realised that thegame was up.
"Now, my fine bird," thought Tressidar as he surveyed his captive,"I'll take good care you don't slip through our fingers this time."
The spy made no movement, nor did he speak a word. Lying on theground with his legs and arms tied and Mr. Greenwood proudly mountingguard over him, he looked helpless enough; but the sub. knew his manand took no risks. He stood by, ready at the first suspiciousmovement to act promptly and effectually.
At length the expected motor-car arrived. At the very most it couldaccommodate five, not including the chauffeur. Here, indeed, was apuzzle. Someone had to be left behind. Mr. Greenwood was on hishonour to turn up at the reservoir for guard duties. Tressidar andthe A.P. were necessary, being the only active male members of theparty, to guard the spy, who could not very well be placed in theseat alongside the chauffeur. Doris and Norah could not be leftbehind, nor was it desirable for them to be in close proximity to theHun. Dr. Cardyke was beginning to feel the effects of his tumble,and, taking in consideration his age, it was unwise to leave himexposed to the cold night air longer than could be avoided.
"Then Eric and I will remain with our old pal Oberfurst," saidTressidar. "The rest of you carry on. Don't wait if you find a trainat the station. The car can come back for us. How about the wreckage,doctor?"
"Can stop," decided Dr. Cardyke firmly. "I've done with the thing.I'll send a cart in the morning to collect the luggage and thingsthat are of value. Well, good-bye, Tressidar, Wish you luck with yourcapture."
The car, a wheezy, American-built one, started and was soon lost tosight and hearing in the darkness, while the two naval officers wereleft with their prisoner.
In an hour and a half the motor returned. Oberfurst, offering noresistance, was placed therein, Tressidar and the A.P. sitting on theseat facing him and keeping a watch on every movement.
Without incident the spy and his escort arrived at the littlevillage. Here Oberfurst was handed over to the care of the localconstabulary, the police-sergeant having been cautioned concerningthe desperate character of the prisoner. The last train having gone,Tressidar and Eric were obliged to engage the chauffeur to drivehome. After a tedious journey they reached the Greenwoods' house tofind that the girls had not arrived, and that Mrs Greenwood was in astate of great nervous anxiety.
To make matters worse, two telegrams were awaiting the sub. and theA.P. The former's had been forwarded from his home in Cornwall. Bothwere of the same nature:
"Report for instant duty at Naval Barracks, Devonport--urgent."