CHAPTER V
ON THE WAY.
After posting the letter, Frank made several small purchases, and wasmore than an hour away. On his return he saw a cab standing at the door.As he approached, Beppo came out with a portmanteau, handed it up to thedriver, jumped in, and was driven off.
"So Beppo has gone, mother," he said, as he joined her in thedrawing-room.
"Yes. He came in directly you had left. He said that his feelings hadbeen outraged by a servant being placed at the door. He could not saywhy she was there, but thought it seemed as if he was doubted. He couldnot but entertain a suspicion that she was placed there to prevent anyone listening at the keyhole; after such an insult as that he could notremain any longer in the house. I said that he was at liberty to leaveinstantly, as his wages had been paid only three days ago. He made noreply, but bowed and left. Mary came up and told me ten minutes laterthat he had brought his portmanteau down, left it in the hall, and goneout, she supposed, to fetch a cab. I heard the vehicle drive up justnow, and the front door closed half a minute ago."
Signora Forli came into the room as she was speaking. "Mary tells methat Beppo has gone. It is a comfort that he is out of the house. Whenyou once begin to suspect a man, the sooner he is away the better. Atthe same time, Frank, there can be no doubt that his going will notincrease your chances of reaching Genoa without being searched. I shouldsay that he had made up his mind to leave before you did, and he wasglad that the fact of Mary being at the door gave him a pretext for hissudden departure. In the first place, he could conduct the affair betterthan any one else could do, as he knows your face and figure so well.Then, too, he would naturally wish to get the credit of the matterhimself, after being so long engaged in it. Of course, you may as wellcarry out the plan we arranged, to start in the morning; but you mayfeel absolutely certain that, whatever you may do, you will not throwhim off your track. He must know now that he is suspected of being aNeapolitan agent, and that you will very likely change your route andyour time of starting.
"I regard it as certain that the house will be watched night and day,beginning from to-morrow morning, an hour or so before the trains leave.There will be a vehicle with a fast horse close at hand, possibly two,so that one will follow your cab, and the other drive at once to someplace where Beppo is waiting. As likely as not he will go via Calais. Ifyou go that way, so much the better; if not, he will only have to posthimself at the station at Paris. It is likely enough that during thelast day or two he has had one or two men hanging about here to watchyou going in and out, and so to get to know you well, and will have oneat each of the railway stations. He may also have written to the agentsin Paris to have a look-out kept for you there."
"But how could they know me?"
"He would describe you closely enough for that; possibly he may havesent them over a photograph."
Frank got up and went to a side table, on which a framed photograph thathad been taken when he was at home at Christmas, usually stood. "You areright," he said; "it has gone." Then he opened an album. "The one herehas gone, too, mother. Are there any more of them about?"
"There is one in my bedroom; you know where it hangs. It was there thismorning."
"That has gone, too, mother," he said, when he returned to the room.
"So you see, Muriel, I was right. The one from the album may have beentaken yesterday, and a dozen copies made of it; so that, even if yougive them the slip here, Frank, you will be recognised as soon as youreach Paris."
"Well, mother, it is of no use bothering any more about it. I have onlyto travel in carriages with other people, and they cannot molest me; atworst they can but search me, and they will find nothing. They cannoteven feel sure that I have anything on me; for now that Beppo knows heis suspected of listening at doors, he will consider it possible that wemay have changed our plans about where we shall hide the money. It isnot as if they wanted to put me out of the way, you know; you and thesignora agreed that that is certainly the last thing they would do,because there would be a tremendous row about it, and they would gain noadvantage by it; so I should not worry any further, mother. I do notthink there is the slightest occasion for uneasiness. I will just go byCalais, as I had intended, and by the train I had fixed on; that initself will shake Beppo's belief that I have the money with me, for hewould think that if I had it I should naturally try some other way."
"At any rate," Mrs. Percival said, "you shall not go by the line that wehad intended. You would be obliged to travel by diligence from Dole toGeneva, thence to Chambery, and again by the same method over the Alpsto Susa. You shall go straight from Paris to Marseilles; boats go fromthere every two or three days to Genoa."
"Very well, mother; I don't care which it is. Certainly there are farfewer changes by that line; and to make your mind easy, I will promiseyou that at Marseilles, if I have to stop there a night, I will keep mybedroom door locked, and shove something heavy against it; in that way Ican't be caught asleep."
"Well, I shall certainly feel more comfortable, my dear boy, than Ishould if you were going over the Alps. Of course, the diligence stopssometimes and the people get out, and there would be many opportunitiesfor your being suddenly seized and gagged and carried off."
"They would have to be very sudden about it," Frank laughed. "I dothink, mother, that you have been building mountains out of molehills.Beppo may not be a spy, after all; he may have heard you talking of thisten thousand pounds, and the temptation of trying to get it may be toomuch for him. He will know now that I shall be on my guard, and that,even if I have the money on my person, his chance of getting it is smallindeed. I believe that you and the signora have talked the matter overtill you have frightened yourselves, and built up a wonderful story,based only on the fact that Mary thought that she caught Beppo listeningat the door."
"How about the photographs?" Mrs. Percival asked.
"Possibly he has a hidden affection for me," Frank laughed, "and hastaken these as mementos of his stay here. Well, don't say anything moreabout it, mother; I am not in the least nervous, and with a brace ofloaded pistols in my pocket and the fair warning that I have had, I donot think I need be afraid of two or three of these miserable Neapolitanspies."
Accordingly, Frank started by the morning mail, as they had arranged.The carriage was full to Dover; and at Calais he waited on the platformuntil he saw an English gentleman with two ladies enter a compartment,and in this he took a vacant corner seat. On his arrival at Paris hedrove across at once to the terminus of the railway to Marseilles,breakfasted there, and sat in the waiting-room reading till the door onto the platform opened, and an official shouted, "Passengers for Melun,Sens, Dijon, Macon, Lyons, and Marseilles." There was a general movementamong those in the waiting-room. Frank found that there was no fear ofhis being in a compartment by himself, for only one carriage door wasopened at a time, and not until the compartment was full was the nextunlocked. He waited until he saw his opportunity, and was the first toenter and secure a corner seat. In a short time it filled up.
He had slept most of the way between Calais and Paris, feelingabsolutely certain that he would not be interfered with in a carriagewith three English fellow-passengers. It was twelve o'clock now, and hewould not arrive at Marseilles until seven the next morning, and hewondered where all his fellow-passengers, who were packed as closely aspossible, were going, for although he did not wish to be alone, it wasnot a pleasant prospect to be for eighteen hours wedged in so tightlythat he could scarcely move. Then he wondered whether any of the men whomight be following were also in the train. He had quite come to theconclusion that his mother and grandmother had frightened themselvesmost unnecessarily; but he admitted that this was natural enough, afterthe losses they had had. At Dijon several passengers got out, but otherstook their places; and so the journey continued throughout the day. Thecarriage was generally full, though once or twice there were for a timebut five besides himself. He read most of the way, for although he spokeItalian as fluently as English, he could
not converse in French. Whentired of reading he had several times dozed off to sleep, though he haddetermined that he would keep awake all night.
At ten o'clock in the evening the train arrived at Lyons. Here there wasa stop of twenty minutes, and he got out and ate a hearty meal, anddrank two or three cups of strong coffee. He was not surprised to find,on returning to his carriage, that all the passengers with twoexceptions had left it. These had got in at Macon, and were evidentlymen of good circumstances and intimate with each other; he had nosuspicions whatever of them, for it was certain that men who had anyintention of attacking him would appear as strangers to each other. AtVienne both left the carriage. Frank was not sorry to see them do so.
"If there are really fellows watching me," he said to himself, "thesooner they show themselves and get it over the better; it is a nuisanceto keep on expecting something to take place when as likely as notnothing will happen at all." He examined his pistols. They were loadedbut not capped, and he now put caps on the nipples, and replaced them inhis pocket.
Just before they had left Vienne a man had come to the window as ifintending to enter, but after glancing in for a moment had gone toanother carriage.
"HIS ASSAILANT FELL BACK AND DISAPPEARED"]
"That is rather queer," Frank thought. "As I am alone here, there wasplenty of room for him. Perhaps he had made a mistake in the carriage.At any rate, they won't catch me napping."
The strong coffee that he had taken at Lyons had sharpened hisfaculties, and he never felt more awake than he did after leavingVienne. He sat with his eyes apparently closed, as if asleep, with awarm rug wrapped round his legs. An hour later he saw a face appear atthe opposite window. At first it was but for an instant; a few secondslater it appeared again and watched him steadily; then the man movedalong to the door and another joined him. Frank without moving cockedthe pistol in his right-hand pocket, and took a firm hold of the buttwith his finger on the trigger. The door opened noiselessly, and thesecond man thrust in an arm holding a pistol; so it remained for half aminute. Frank was convinced that there was no intention of shooting ifit could be avoided, and remained perfectly still; then the arm waswithdrawn, and another man, holding a knife in one hand and a roll ofsomething in the other, entered. In a moment Frank's right arm flew upand his pistol cracked out: his assailant fell back and disappearedthrough the open door. Frank sprang to his feet as he fired, and stoodwith his pistol levelled towards the window, where the head of thesecond man had disappeared as his comrade fell backwards.
"He knows I have the best of him now," Frank muttered to himself; "Idon't think that he will have another try."
Advancing cautiously, he pulled the door to, lowered the window, andputting a hand out without exposing his head, turned the handle, andthen drew up the window again. His foot struck against something as hebacked to his seat in the corner. As he still kept his eyes fixed on thewindow, he paid no attention to this for a minute or two; then he becameconscious of a faint odour.
"I expect that is chloroform or ether or something of that sort," hesaid, as he lowered the window next to him; and then, still keeping aneye on the door opposite, moved a step forward and picked up a largehandkerchief, steeped in a liquid of some sort or other. He was about toopen the window and throw it out, when an idea struck him.
"I had better keep it," he said: "there may be a beastly row over thebusiness, and this handkerchief may be useful in confirming my story."
He therefore put it up on the rack, lowered the window a few inches, anddid the same to the one opposite to it. Then wrapping the handkerchiefup in two or three newspapers he had bought by the way, to prevent theliquid from evaporating, he sat down in his corner again. He feltconfident that the attack would not be renewed, now he was found to beon the watch and armed. It was probable that the two men were alone, andthe one remaining would hardly venture single-handed to take any stepswhatever against one who was certain to continue to be vigilant. He hadno doubt that he had killed the man he fired at, and that, even if thewound had not been instantly fatal, he would have been killed by hisfall from the train.
"It seems horrid," he muttered, "to have shot a man; but it was just asmuch his life or mine as it would have been in battle. I hope no oneheard the shot fired. I expect that most of the passengers were asleep;and if any one did hear it, he might suppose that a door had come open,or had been opened by a guard, and had been slammed to. Of course, theman's body will be found on the line in the morning, and I expect therewill be some fuss over it; but I hope we shall all be out of the trainand scattered through the town before any inquiries are set on foot. Ifthey traced it to me, I might be kept at Marseilles for weeks. Ofcourse, I should be all right; but the delay would be a frightfulnuisance. There is one thing,--the guard looked at my ticket just beforethe train started from the last station, and would know that I was alonein the carriage."
In a few minutes the speed of the train began to slacken. He knew thatthe next station was Valence. He closed his eyes and listened as thetrain stopped. As soon as it did so, he heard a voice from the nextcarriage shouting for the guard. Then he heard an animated conversation,of which he was able to gather the import.
"The sound of a gun," the guard said. "Nonsense; you must have beendreaming!"
"I am sure I was not," a voice said indignantly. "It seemed to me as ifit was in the next carriage."
The guard came to Frank's window. "Ah, bah!" he said. "There is only onepassenger there, an Englishman. He was alone when we left Vienne, and heis sound asleep now."
"Perhaps he is dead."
It was possible, and therefore the guard opened the door. "Are youasleep, monsieur?"
Frank opened his eyes. "My ticket?" he asked drowsily. "Why, I showed ityou at Vienne."
"Pardon, monsieur," the guard said. "I am sorry that I disturbed you. Itwas a mistake," and he closed the door, and said angrily to the man whohad called him: "It is as I said. You have been asleep; and I have wokethe English gentleman up for nothing."
A minute later the train moved on again.
"So far so good," Frank said. "I should think that I am all right now.We shall be in at seven, and it will not be daylight till half-past six;and as I fancy that we must have been about midway between Vienne andVallence when that fellow fell out, it is not likely that his body willbe found for some time. They are sure to have chosen some point a goodway from any station to get out of their own carriage and come to mine.Even when they find him, they are not likely to make out that he hasbeen shot for some time afterwards. I hit him in the body, somewherenear the heart, I fancy; I did not feel sure of hitting him if I firedat his head, for the carriage was shaking about a good deal. It willprobably be thought at first that he has either fallen or jumped out ofhis carriage. I suppose, when he is found, he will be carried to thenearest station, and put in somewhere till a doctor and somefunctionaries come, and an inquiry is held; and as he probably has beenbadly cut about the head and face, his death will be put down to thatcause at first. Indeed, the fact that he was shot may not be found outtill they prepare him for burial. I suppose they will take off hisclothes then, as they will want to keep them for his identification, ifany inquiries should ever be made about him. At any rate, I may hope tohave got fairly away from Marseilles before the matter is taken up bythe police, and even then the evidence of the guard that I was alonewill prevent any suspicion falling especially on me."
He had no inclination for sleep, and although he felt certain that hewould not again be disturbed, he maintained a vigilant watch upon bothwindows until, a few minutes after the appointed time, the train arrivedat Marseilles. Having only the small portmanteau he carried with him, hewas not detained more than two or three minutes there, took a _fiacre_and drove to the Hotel de Marseilles, which his Bradshaw told him wasclose to the steamboat offices. After going upstairs and having a wash,he went down again, carefully locking the door after him and putting thekey in his pocket. He then had some coffee and rolls, and while takingthese, obtaine
d from the waiter a time-table of the departures of thevarious steamers from the port, and found, to his great satisfaction,that one of the Rubattino vessels would leave for Genoa at twelveo'clock.
As soon as the steamboat offices were open he engaged a berth, walkedabout Marseilles for an hour, returned at ten to the hotel, took ahearty lunch, and then drove down to the port. On questioning thesteward he found that there were not many passengers going, and with atip of five francs secured a cabin to himself; having done this, he wenton deck again and watched the passengers arriving. They were principallyItalians; but among them he could not recognise the face of the agentwho had levelled a pistol at him. Both men had, indeed, worn blackhandkerchiefs tied across their faces below their eyes and coveringtheir chins, and the broad-brimmed hats they wore kept their foreheadsand eyes in shadow; and although he watched his fellow-passengers withthe faint hope of discovering by some evil expression on his face hislast night's assailant, he had no real belief that he should, even underthe most favourable circumstances, recognise him again.
Two or three of the men wore beards, and seemed to belong to the sailorclass--probably men who had landed from a French ship, after perhaps adistant voyage, and were now returning home. He saw no more of these, asthey at once went forward. There were only eight other passengers in thesaloon; seven of these were Italians, of whom three were evidentlyfriends. Two of the others had, Frank gathered from their talk, justreturned from Brazil; the sixth was an old man, and the seventh atraveller for a firm of silk or velvet manufacturers in Genoa. The threefriends talked gaily on all sorts of subjects; but nothing that Frankgathered, either from their conversation on deck or at dinner, gave anyclue as to their occupation. They had evidently met at Marseilles forthe first time after being separated for a considerable period--one hadbeen in England, one at Paris, and one at Bordeaux; their ages were fromtwenty-three to twenty-six. Their names were, as he learned from theirtalk, Maffio, Sarto, and Rubini. Before the steamer had left the porthalf an hour, one of them, seeing that Frank was alone, said to him ashe passed, in broken English,--
"It is warmer and pleasanter here, monsieur, than it is in London."
"It is indeed," Frank replied, in Italian; "it was miserable weatherthere, when I left the day before yesterday."
"_Per Bacco!_" the young man said, with a laugh, "I took you to beEnglish. Allow me to congratulate you on your admirable imitationof----"
"I am English, signor--that is, I was born of English parents; but Ifirst saw light in Rome, and my grandfather was an Italian."
This broke the ice, and they chatted together pleasantly.
"We are going to Genoa. And you?"
"I also am going to Genoa, and perhaps"--for he had by this time quitecome to a conclusion on the subject--"on the same errand as yourselves."
The others looked at him in some little surprise, and then glanced atone another. That this young Englishman should be going upon such anexpedition as that upon which they were bound, seemed to be out of thequestion.
"You mean on pleasure, signor?" one of them said, after a pause.
"If excitement is pleasure, which no doubt it is--yes. I am going tovisit an old friend of my father's; he is living a little way out of thetown at the Villa Spinola."
The others gave a simultaneous exclamation of surprise.
"That is enough, signor," the one called Rubini said, holding out hishand; "we are comrades. Though how a young English gentleman should cometo be of our party, I cannot say."
The others shook hands as warmly with Frank; and he then replied,--
"No doubt you are surprised. My father fought side by side with the manI am now going to see, in the siege of Rome, so also did my grandfather;and both have since paid by their lives for their love of Italy. My nameis Percival."
"The son of the Captain Percival who was murdered while searching inNaples for Signor Forli?" one of them exclaimed.
"The same. So, gentlemen, you can perhaps understand why I am going tothe Villa Spinola, and why, young as I am, I am as eager to take part inthis business as you yourselves can be."
"Yes, indeed; your father's name is honoured among us as one of ourgeneral's friends and companions in South America, and as one of hiscomrades at Rome; still more, perhaps, for his fearless exposure of thehorrors of the tyrants' dungeons. However, it were best that we shouldsay no more on the subject at present. It is certain that the general'spresence at Genoa is causing uneasiness both at Rome and Naples. Rumoursthat he intends to carry out some daring enterprise have appeared innewspapers, and no doubt Neapolitan spies are already watching hismovements, and it may be there are some on board this ship. Our greatfear is that Victor Emmanuel's government may interfere to stop it; butwe doubt whether he will venture to do so--public opinion will be toostrong for him."
"No one can overhear us just at present," Frank said. "Certainly theNeapolitan spies are active. My mother's house is frequented by manyleading exiles; and we have reason to believe that it has been watchedby a spy for some time past. I know that I have been followed, under theidea, perhaps, that I am carrying important papers or documents from thegeneral's friends there. An attempt was made last night to enter thecarriage, in which I was alone, by two men, one of whom was armed with apistol, and the other had a handkerchief soaked with chloroform.Fortunately, I was on my guard, and shot the fellow who was enteringwith the handkerchief; he fell backwards out of the carriage; I heardnothing more of the other one, and for aught I know he may be on boardnow."
"You did well indeed!" Sarto said warmly. "I was in the next carriage toyou. I did not hear the sound of your pistol-shot--I was fast asleep;but we were all woke up by a fellow-passenger who declared he heard agunshot. When we reached Valence he called the guard, who said that hemust have been dreaming, for there was only a young Englishman in thenext carriage, and he knew that when it left the last station he wasalone. When the train went on we all abused the fellow soundly forwaking us with his ridiculous fancies; but it seems that he was rightafter all. You say there was another. What became of him?"
"I saw nothing more of him. He may be on board, for aught I know, forthey had black handkerchiefs tied over their faces up to the eyes, andas their hats were pulled well down, I should not know him if I sawhim."
"Well, you have struck the first blow in the war, and I regard it as agood omen; but you must be careful to-night, for if the fellow is onboard he is likely to make another attempt; and this time, I should say,he would begin by stabbing you. Are you in a cabin by yourself?"
"Yes."
"Then one of us will sit up by turns. You must have had a bad nightindeed, while we slept without waking, except when I was aroused by thatfellow making such a row."
"Oh, I could not think of that!"
"It must be done," Rubini said earnestly. "However, I will lay themattress of the spare bed of your cabin against the door, and lie downon it--that will do just as well. It will be impossible then to open thedoor; and if any one tries to do so, I shall be on my feet in a moment.I shall sleep just as well like that as in my berth. I have slept inmuch more uncomfortable places, and am sure to do so again before thisbusiness is over."
"Thank you very much. I will not refuse so kind an offer, for I doubtgreatly whether I could keep awake to-night."
"Now let us say no more about it, for we may be quite sure that the manis still on your track, and there may be other Neapolitan agents onboard. We cannot be too careful. It may be that old man who was sittingfacing us at the table, it may be that little fellow who looks like theagent of a commercial house, and it may be one of the two men who saythey come from South America; there is no telling. But at any rate, letus drop the subject altogether. We have said nothing at present thateven a spy could lay hold of, beyond the fact that you are going to theVilla Spinola, which means to Garibaldi."
They did not go up on deck again after dinner, but sat chatting in thesaloon until nine o'clock, when Frank said that he could keep his eyesopen no longer. After al
lowing him time to get into his berth, Rubinicame in, took off his coat and waistcoat, pulled the mattress andbedding from the other bunk, and lay down on it with his head close tothe door.
"Will you take one of my pistols, Rubini?" for by this time they calledeach other simply by their surnames.
"No, thank you; if the scoundrel tries to open the door and finds thathe cannot do so, you may be sure that he will move off at once. He hasbeen taught that you are handy with your weapons."
Frank was sleeping soundly when he was woke by Rubini's sharp challenge,"Who goes there?" It was pitch dark, and he was about to leap from hisbunk, when Rubini said,--
"It is no use getting up. By the time I got this bed away and opened thedoor, the fellow would be at the other end of the boat. We may as welllie quiet. He is not likely to try again; and, indeed, I should notcare about going outside the door, for it is pitch dark, and he mightat the present moment be crouching outside in readiness to stab you asyou came out. However, he is more likely to be gone now, for directly heheard us talking he would know that his game was up." He struck a match."It is just two o'clock," he said; "we may as well have four hours' moresleep."
In a few minutes Frank was sound asleep again, and when he awoke it wasdaylight. Looking at the watch, he found that it was seven o'clock."Seven o'clock, Rubini!" he said.
The Italian sat up and stretched his arms and yawned. "I have had acapital night. However, it is time to get up; we must turn out at once.We can't be far from Genoa now; we are due there at eight o'clock, so weshall just have comfortable time for a wash and a cup of coffee beforegoing ashore."
Frank dressed hastily, and then ran up on deck, where he stood admiringthe splendid coast, and the town of Genoa climbing up the hill, with itschurches, campaniles, and its suburbs embedded in foliage. They werejust entering the port when Maffio came up to him.
"Coffee is ready," he said. "You had better come down and take it whileit is hot. We shall have the custom-house officers off before we land,so there is no hurry."
After making a meal on coffee with an abundance of milk, rolls andbutter, Frank went up again. He then, at the advice of Rubini, drew thecharges of his pistols and placed them in his portmanteau.
"We must go ashore in a boat," Sarto said. "I have just heard thecaptain say that the wharves are so full that he may not be able to takethe vessel alongside for a couple of hours."
"Are you going anywhere in particular when you land?" Frank asked.
"We all belong to Genoa, and have friends here. Why do you ask?"
"Could you spare me an hour of your time to-day? I should not ask you,but it is rather important."
"Certainly; we are all at your service," Rubini said in some surprise."At what hour shall we meet you, and where?"
"I am going to the Hotel Europa. Any time will suit me, so that it is acouple of hours before dusk. I will tell you what it is when you meetme; it is better not to speak of it here."
The young men consulted together. "We will go to our friends," Rubinisaid, "take our things there and spend an hour, and will call upon you,if convenient, at eleven o'clock."
"Thank you; and you will see, when I have explained my reason fortroubling you, that I have not done so wantonly."
They landed at the step of the customs. "Have you anything to declare?"the official asked Frank, after his passport had been examined andstamped.
"I have nothing but this small portmanteau, which contains only clothesand a brace of pistols. I suppose one can land with them on payment ofduty."
"Certainly, monsieur; but why should an Englishman want them?"
"I intend to make a walking tour through Italy"--speaking as before inEnglish; "and there are parts of the country where, after dark, I shouldfeel more comfortable for having them in my pockets."
"You are strange people, you Englishmen," the officer said; "but, afterall, you are not far wrong, though it seems to me that it would be wiserto give up what you carry about you than to make a show of resistancewhich would end in getting your throat cut." He glanced at the pistols,named the amount of duty chargeable; and when this was paid, Franknodded to his companions, who were being much more rigorously examined,took one of the vehicles standing outside the custom-house, and drove tothe Hotel Europa.