CHAPTER XVI
THE AMATEUR DETECTIVES
I
By nine o'clock the last pantechnicon that was going back that nighthad rumbled off to Lowestoft, there to be entrained for London. Onestill remained on the drive, waiting to be taken back by the horsesthat would bring the first van in the morning.
With the last van went Bindle, much to his regret.
"It's like not goin' to yer own funeral," he grumbled.
Holmleigh was shut up and in darkness, save for a slit of light thatcould be seen beneath the Venetian blind of the dining-room. Insidethe room sat the foreman.
He was smoking a meditative pipe, and cursing the luck that left him atHolmleigh to play night-watchman. He was not a nervous man, but hismind instinctively travelled back to the events of the day. Why had somany people been desirous of seeing Bindle? He had subjected Bindlehimself to a very thorough and picturesque cross-examination. He hadtold him what he thought of him, and of those responsible for hisbeing. He had coaxed him and threatened him, but without result.Bindle had expressed the utmost astonishment at his sudden popularity,and professed himself utterly unable to account for it.
Once or twice the foreman thought he saw the shadow of a grin flitacross Bindle's face, especially when Bindle suggested that he shouldact as night-watchman, adding as an excuse the obvious fatigue of hissuperior. It was this that had terminated the interview with greatsuddenness.
Thus meditating upon the curious occurrences of the day, the foremandropped off to sleep, for he was tired, and the armchair, in which hehalf lay, half sat, was extremely comfortable.
As he slept a dark form moved stealthily up the drive towards thehouse. Keeping well within the shadow of the trees, it paused tolisten, then moved on for a dozen yards and stopped again. When itreached the top of the drive it crept off to the left in the directionof the tradesmen's entrance.
Displaying great caution, the figure finally reached the scullerywindow, which by a curious chance was unfastened. After greatdeliberation, and much listening, it opened the window, and insertingitself feet foremost disappeared.
Three minutes later the back door was noiselessly unbolted and opened.The figure looked out cautiously, then retreated within, leaving thedoor open to its fullest extent.
The first figure had scarcely disappeared before another approached theback door from the opposite direction. It must have come through thehedge and crept along in its shadow from the main entrance. The secondfigure paused, as if astonished at finding the back door open. Forsome minutes it stood in the shadow of the water-butt, listening.Finally, with a quiet, insidious motion, it slid through the doorway.
The first figure, passing cautiously through the servants' quarters,had reached the hall. Finding all the doors shut, it proceededstealthily upstairs to the large drawing-room that overlooked thedrive. The door was open! Groping its way with great care, the figurefor one second allowed the light of a dark lantern to show. The effectwas startling. The whole room was piled up with long narrow woodencases. On several tables, formed by boards on trestles, were laid outwhat appeared to be dozens of rifles. The figure gasped. The placewas apparently nothing less than a huge arsenal. The long narrow casescontained guns! guns!! guns!!!
The figure had just picked up one of the guns to make sure that itseyes were telling the truth, when there was the sound of a footfall onthe landing.
The figure turned quickly, and the rifle dropped with a crash to thefloor. For some time it stood as if petrified with horror, then with aswift, stealthy movement reached the door. Here it turned sharply tothe left and ran into something small and soft. With a yell thesomething turned. In a moment two forms were locked together. With athud they fell, and lay a writhing, wriggling mass at the top of thestairs.
II
The foreman had no idea how long he had slept, or what it was thatawakened him; but suddenly he found himself wide awake with a feelingthat something was happening. The lamp had gone out, there was nomoon, and he felt cold, although he knew it to be July.
For a minute he listened intently. Not a sound broke the stillness,save the rustle of the trees as the wind sighed through them. He wentto the window and looked out under the blind. It was quite dark. Heshook himself, then pinched his leg. Yes, he was awake.
Then he heard a creak overhead, and it suddenly came home to him thatthe house was being burgled. A passionate anger seemed to grip hold ofhim. Silently and swiftly he opened the door that led into the hall.He had not moved three steps before he was brought to a standstill by ayell that echoed through the whole place. It was followed a momentlater by what appeared to be an avalanche descending the stairs. Fromstair to stair it bumped through the darkness, and finally lay heavingand grunting almost at his feet. There were muttered exclamations,curses, threats, and the dull sound of blows.
The foreman sprang forward and clutched with his right hand a humanear. Feeling about with his left hand, he secured a handful of hair.Then he brought two heads together with a crack. The muttering andmovement ceased, and the foreman pantechnicon-man struck a match.
"Crikey!" The exclamation burst involuntarily from his lips. Herummaged in his pockets and presently produced about two inches ofcandle; this he lighted and held over the recumbent mass at his feet.
"Well, I'm--I'm blowed!" he stuttered, conscious of the inadequacy ofhis words. There at his feet lay Mr. Greenhales and Sergeant Wrannock,whom the foreman recognised only as two of the afternoon's visitors.For fully two minutes he stood regarding his captives; then, with agrin of delight, he blew out the candle, carefully opening the frontdoor.
There was nothing to be seen save the trees and the emptypantechnicon-van. The great black shape appeared to give him an idea.The doors were open, and without hesitation he stepped back into thehall, picked up one of the prostrate figures, and carried it into thevan; a moment later he did the same with the other. Closing the doors,he barred and padlocked them and re-entered the hall.
Later he returned to the pantechnicon, unfastened the padlock, and leftthe doors merely barred. Still grinning to himself he once moreentered the house, picking up an old-fashioned pistol from many thatlay upon the dining-room table. Next he opened the dining-room windowsat the bottom, performing the same operation with those in themorning-room.
Finally, locking the doors of both rooms from the outside, he made atour of the whole house, and, having satisfied himself that no one wassecreted within, he slipped out of the front door and closed it behindhim, unaware that a pair of terrified eyes were watching him from thehead of the stairs.
"There's two still to come," he muttered, and waited. At the end of anhour he heard a grind as of gravel beneath a boot. He listenedeagerly. After fully five minutes of silence he heard another grind,and a dark shape approached the dining-room window. The foreman stillwaited. It took a quarter of an hour for the shape to make up its mindto raise the window higher and enter. The sound of suppressed wheezingcould be distinctly heard. When the figure had with difficulty forceditself upon the window-sill, the foreman leapt out, grasped its leg,and pulled. There was a wheezy shout, and the foreman was kneeling onthe path, with a figure between his knees and the gravel.
Again he struck a match, which disclosed the ashen features of thelandlord of the Dove and Easel. Without hesitation the foreman pickedhim up and bundled him into the pantechnicon and once more barred thedoor. As he turned back he saw the hall door open slightly. At firsthe thought it was his imagination. As he watched, however, the doorcontinued to open stealthily, inch by inch, until finally a figureappeared.
Dawn was breaking, and in the half-light he saw a small man slide outand creep along by the side of the house. At first the foremanwatched; then, seeing that his man was likely to escape, he sprang out.The figure ran, the foreman ran, and ran the faster. Then the fugitivestopped, and facing round caught the foreman a blow in the chest as hecame on unable to stop.
With a yell of
rage the foreman lifted his pistol and brought it downwith a crash upon his opponent's head. In a grey heap the trespasserdropped. Another match was struck, revealing Sir Charles Custance'srubicund features, down which a slow trickle of blood wound its way.
"That's the 'ole bloomin' bag, I take it," commented the victor grimly,as he bundled the portly frame of the magistrate into the van, takingevery precaution against a possible rush for freedom on the part of theother captives. He then addressed the interior at large.
"I'm a-watchin' outside, and if yer so much as cough or blow yer nosesI'll shoot through the sides with this 'ere ole blunderbuss. D' ye'ear, cockies?"
With that he banged the doors to, barred and padlocked them, and sat onthe tail-board watching the greyness of the dawn steal through thetrees, as he struggled to keep awake.
He was so occupied when, at half-past seven, a distant rumble announcedthe arrival of the expected pantechnicon from Lowestoft. As it slowlylumbered up the drive the foreman grinned, and he grinned more broadlywhen he saw Bindle slip from the tail-board, followed by Ginger and twoother men.
"Mornin', Bindle; mornin', Ginger," he called out politely. "Slep'well?"
Bindle grinned, and Ginger grumbled something inaudible.
"Now, one o' you two go an' get my breakfast, and the other telephonefor the perlice."
The men stared at him.
"Ginger," he continued complacently, "you'll find two eggs and somebacon in the 'all, an' a stove in the kitchen, an' a pot of coffee wotonly wants warmin' up. I'm 'ungry, Ginger--as 'ungry as 'ell is foryou, Ginger. Bindle, give my compliments to the perlice at Lowestoft,and arst them to send a few peelers over 'ere at once to take charge o'what I caught last night."
Bindle scratched his head, uncertain whether or no it was all a joke.
"Yes, Bindle," continued the foreman, "I've got 'em all--all in BlackMaria," and he jerked his thumb in the direction of the pantechnicon."All yer very dear ole pals, cockie. Like to see 'em?"
Bindle still looked puzzled; but when the foreman had explained hisgrin transcended in its breadth and good-humour that of his superior.Then the foreman changed the style of his idiom, and his subordinateswent their ways as he had intended and directed that they should.
The foreman was just finishing his breakfast by sopping up thebacon-fat with a piece of bread, when there reached him the sound of amotor-car chunking its way along in the distance.
The news of the night's doings had spread rapidly, and a small crowdwas collected round the gates of Holmleigh. Bindle grinned through thebars, and occasionally threw to the curious neighbours bits ofinformation.
The car approached and drew up. In it was a tall, spare man of aboutthirty-eight or forty, with thin, angular features. He seemedsurprised to see the crowd; but turning the car through the open gatesdrove slowly up to the house.
The crowd recognised the stranger as Mr. Richard Miller, the new tenantof Holmleigh. He nodded to the foreman, who immediately descended fromthe tail-board and approached.
"Good-mornin', sir," he said. "You're earlier than wot I 'ad 'oped,sir; but that's on the lucky side. I been 'avin' rather a livelynight, sir."
At this moment there was a loud and continuous pounding from within thepantechnicon that he had just left.
"If you're not quiet I'll shoot--God forgive me, but I will," heshouted over his shoulder. Then turning to Mr. Miller he winkedjocosely. "Gettin' a bit impatient, sir. They 'eard you come, Is'pose. I've 'ad 'em there for several hours now. Ah! 'ere's theperlice!"
As he spoke another car appeared round the bend of the drive, and aninspector in uniform and three plain-clothes men got out.
"Now there's goin' to be some fun," the foreman chuckled to himself as,addressing Mr. Miller, he told of the happenings of the night before.
When he had finished, the features of Bindle, who had been relieved byGinger, were suffused with a grin so broad and good-humoured that itcontrasted strangely with the astonishment written on the faces of theothers.
"That's the story, gentlemen, and there's my bag," jerking his thumb inthe direction of the pantechnicon. "Four of 'em there are, I counted'em carefully, an' every one a Charles Peace. You'd better be carefulas you let 'em out," he added. "I 'adn't time to search 'em. Theycame so quick, like flies in summer."
The inspector breathed hard, Mr. Miller looked grave and concerned, theplain-clothes men looked blank, Bindle looked cheerful, whilst theforeman looked as a man looks only once in a lifetime. Deliberately heapproached the tail of the van, undid the lock, removed the bar, threwopen the doors, and stood quietly aside. For fully half a minutenothing happened; then the portly form of Sergeant Wrannock emerged.
"Wrannock!" gasped the inspector from Lowestoft. The sergeant forgotto salute his superior officer. He was humiliated. His collar wastorn, one eye was blackened, and his nose was swollen.
Closely following him came Sir Charles Custance and Mr. Greenhales, whobetween them supported the inert form of Mr. Gandy, wheezing pitifully.All were much battered. Sir Charles's face was covered with blood, Mr.Greenhales had lost his wig and his false teeth, whilst Mr. Gandy hadlost the power to move.
"What in heaven's name is the meaning of this?" asked the inspector.
"It means," thundered Sir Charles, who was the first to find his voice,"that we have been brutally and murderously assaulted by a band ofruffians."
"That's me, and me only!" commented the foreman complacently. "I'm theband, cockie, and don't you forget it."
"It means," said Sergeant Wrannock, "that having information that thishouse was packed with firearms, I came to make investigation and----"
"Got caught, cockie," interrupted the foreman.
"Hold your tongue!" shouted Mr. Greenhales, in a hollow, toothlessvoice, dancing with fury. "Hold your tongue! You shall suffer forthis."
At last, from the incoherent shoutings and reproaches in which thewords "Germans," "Spies," "Herr Mueller," were bandied back and forth,Mr. Miller and the inspector pieced together the story of how fourpatriots had been overcome by one foreman pantechnicon-man. Theinspector turned to Mr. Miller.
"As a matter of form, sir, and in the execution of my duty, I should beglad to know if it is true that your house is full of arms andammunition?" he asked politely.
"Of arms, certainly, Inspector, most certainly," Mr. Miller replied."I am supposed to have the finest collection of firearms in thecountry. Come and see them, or such as are unpacked."
And the inspector looked at Sergeant Wrannock, and the plain-clothesconstables looked away from him, and Sir Charles and Mr. Greenhaleslooked irefully round for Bindle; but Bindle was nowhere to be seen.
"Funny none of 'em seem to see the joke!" he remarked to a clump ofrhododendrons half-way down the drive.