CHAPTER III.
A FRIENDLY CHAT.
Soon after eight the next morning Colston came into the sitting-roomwhere Arnold had slept on the sofa, and dreamt dreams of war andworld-revolts and battles fought in mid-air between aerial naviesbuilt on the plan of his own model. When Colston came in he was justawake enough to be wondering whether the events of the previous nightwere a reality or part of his dreams--a doubt that was speedily setat rest by his host drawing back the curtains and pulling up theblinds.
The moment his eyes were properly open he saw that he was anywherebut in his own shabby room in Southwark, and the rest was made clearby Colston saying--
"Well, comrade Arnold, Lord High Admiral of the Air, how have youslept? I hope you found the sofa big and soft enough, and that thelast cigar has left no evil effects behind it."
"Eh? Oh, good morning! I don't know whether it was the whisky or thecigars, or what it was; but do you know I have been dreaming allsorts of absurd things about battles in the air and droppingexplosives on fortresses and turning them into small volcanoes. Whenyou came in just now I hadn't the remotest idea where I was. It'stime to get up, I suppose?"
"Yes, it's after eight a good bit. I've had my tub, so the bath-roomis at your service. Meanwhile, Burrows will be laying the table forbreakfast. When you have finished your tub, come into mydressing-room, and let me rig you out. We are about of a size, and Ithink I shall be able to meet your most fastidious taste. In fact, Icould rig you out as anything--from a tramp to an officer of theGuards."
"It wouldn't take much change to accomplish the former, I'm afraid.But, really, I couldn't think of trespassing so far on yourhospitality as to take your very clothes from you. I'm deep enough inyour debt already."
"Don't talk nonsense, Richard Arnold. The tone in which those lastwords were said shows me that you have not duly laid to heart what Isaid last night. There is no such thing as private property in theBrotherhood, of which I hope, by this time to-morrow, you will be aninitiate.
"What I have here is mine only for the purposes of the Cause,wherefore it is as much yours as mine, for to-day we are going on theBrotherhood's business. Why, then, should you have any scruples aboutwearing the Brotherhood's clothes? Now clear out and get tubbed, andwash some of those absurd ideas out of your head."
"Well, as you put it that way, I don't mind, only remember that Idon't necessarily put on the principles of the Brotherhood with itsclothes."
So saying, Arnold got up from the sofa, stretched himself, and wentoff to make his toilet.
When he sat down to breakfast with his host half an hour later, veryfew who had seen him on the Embankment the night before would haverecognised him as the same man. The tailor, after all, does a gooddeal to make the man, externally at least, and the change of clothesin Arnold's case had transformed him from a superior looking trampinto an aristocratic and decidedly good-looking man, in the prime ofhis youth, saving only for the thinness and pallor of his face, and aperceptible stoop in the shoulders.
During breakfast they chatted about their plans for the day, and thendrifted into generalities, chiefly of a political nature.
The better Arnold came to know Maurice Colston the more remarkablehis character appeared to him; and it was his growing wonder at thecontradictions that it exhibited that made him say towards the end ofthe meal--
"I must say you're a queer sort of conspirator, Colston. My idea ofNihilists and members of revolutionary societies has always taken theform of silent, stealthy, cautious beings, with a lively distrust andhatred of the whole human race outside their own circles. And yethere are you, an active member of the most terrible secret society inexistence, pledged to the destruction of nearly every institution onearth, and carrying your life in your hand, opening your heart like aschoolboy to a man you have literally not known for twenty-fourhours.
"Suppose you had made a mistake in me. What would there be to preventme telling the police who you are, and having you locked up with aview to extradition to Russia?"
"In the first place," replied Colston quietly, "you would not do so,because I am not mistaken in you, and because, in your heart, whetheryou fully know it or not, you believe as I do about the destructionthat is about to fall upon Society.
"In the second place, if you did betray my confidence, I should beable to bring such an overwhelming array of the most respectableevidence to show that I was nothing like what I really am, that youwould be laughed at for a madman; and, in the third place, therewould be an inquest on you within twenty-four hours after you hadtold your story. Do you remember the death of Inspector Ainsworth, ofthe Criminal Investigation Department, about six months ago?"
"Yes, of course I do. Hermit and all as I was, I could hardly helphearing about that, considering what a noise it made. But I thoughtthat was cleared up. Didn't one of that gang of garotters that wasbroken up in South London a couple of months later confess tostrangling him in the statement that he made before he was executed?"
"Yes, and his widow is now getting ten shillings a week for life onaccount of that confession. Birkett no more killed Ainsworth than youdid; but he had killed two or three others, and so the confessiondidn't do him very much harm.
"No; Ainsworth met his death in quite another way. He accepted fromthe Russian secret police bureau in London a bribe of L250 down andthe promise of another L250 if he succeeded in manufacturing enoughevidence against a member of our Outer Circle to get him extraditedto Russia on a trumped-up charge of murder.
"The Inner Circle learnt of this from one of our spies in the RussianLondon police, and----, well, Ainsworth was found dead with the markof the Terror upon his forehead before he had time to put histreachery into action. He was executed by two of the Brotherhood, whoare members of the Metropolitan police force, and who were afterwardscomplimented by the magistrate for the intelligent efforts they hadmade in bringing the murderers to justice."
Colston told the dark story in the most careless of tones between thepuffs of his after-breakfast cigarette. Arnold stifled his horror aswell as he was able, but he could not help saying, when his host haddone--
"This Brotherhood of yours is well named the Terror; but was not thatrather a murder than an execution?"
"By no means," replied Colston, a trifle coldly. "Society hangs orbeheads a man who kills another. Ainsworth knew as well as we didthat if the man he tried to betray by false evidence had once setfoot in Russia, the torments of a hundred deaths would have been hisbefore he had been allowed to die.
"He betrayed his office and his faith to his English masters in orderto commit this vile crime, and so he was killed as a murderous andtreacherous reptile that was not fit to live. We of the Terror arenot lawyers, and so we make no distinctions between deliberateplotting for money to kill and the act of killing itself. Our law iscloser akin to justice than the hair-splitting fraud that istolerated by Society."
Either from emotional or logical reasons Arnold made no reply to thisreasoning, and, seeing he remained silent, Colston resumed hisordinary nonchalant, good-humoured tone, and went on--
"But come, that will be horrors enough for to-day. We have otherbusiness in hand, and we may as well get to it at once. About thiswonderful invention of yours. Of course I believe all you have toldme about it, but you must remember that I am only an agent, and thatI am inexorably bound by certain rules, in accordance with which Imust act.
"Now, to be perfectly plain with you, and in order that we maythoroughly understand each other before either of us commits himselfto anything, I must tell you that I want to see this model flyingship of yours in order to be able to report on it to-night to theExecutive of the Inner Circle, to whom I shall also want to introduceyou. If you will not allow me to do that say so at once, and, for thepresent at least, our negotiations must come to a sudden stop."
"Go on," said Arnold quietly; "so far I consent. For the rest I wouldrather hear you to the end."
"Very well. Then if the Executive approve of the invention, you
willbe asked to join the Inner Circle at once, and to devote yourselfbody and soul to the Society and the accomplishment of the objectsthat will be explained to you. If you refuse there will be an end ofthe matter, and you will simply be asked to give your word of honourto reveal nothing that you have seen or heard, and then allowed todepart in peace.
"If, on the other hand, you consent, in consideration of the immenseimportance of your secret--which there is no need to disguise fromyou--to the Brotherhood, the usual condition of passing through theOuter Circle will be dispensed with, and you will be trusted asabsolutely as we shall expect you to trust us.
"Whatever funds you then require to manufacture an air-ship on theplan of your model will be placed at your disposal, and a suitableplace will be selected for the works that you will have to build.When the ship is ready to take the air you will, of course, beappointed to the command of her, and you will pick your crew fromamong the workmen who will act under your orders in the building ofthe vessel.
"They will all be members of the Outer Circle, who will notunderstand your orders, but simply obey them blindly, even to thedeath. One member of the Inner Circle will act as your second incommand, and he will be as perfectly trusted as you will be, so thatin unforeseen emergencies you will be able to consult with him withperfect confidence. Now I think I have told you all. What do yousay?"
Arnold was silent for a few minutes, too busy for speech with therush of thoughts that had crowded through his brain as Colston wasspeaking. Then he looked up at his host and said--
"May I make conditions?"
"You may state them," replied he, with a smile, "but, of course, Idon't undertake to accept them without consultation with my--I meanwith the Executive."
"Of course not," said Arnold. "Well, the conditions that I shouldfeel myself obliged to make with your Executive would be, brieflyspeaking, these: I would not reveal to any one the composition of thegases from which I derive my motive force. I should manufacture themmyself in given quantities, and keep them always under my own charge.
"At the first attempt to break faith with me in this respect I wouldblow the air-ship and all her crew, including myself, into suchfragments as it would be difficult to find one of them. I have andwish for no life apart from my invention, and I would not surviveit."
"Good!" interrupted Colston. "There spoke the true enthusiast. Goon."
"Secondly, I would use the machine only in open warfare--when theBrotherhood is fighting openly for the attainment of a definite end.Once the appeal to force has been made I will employ a force such asno nation on earth can use without me, and I will use it asunsparingly as the armies and fleets engaged will employ their ownengines of destruction on one another. But I will be no party to thedestruction of defenceless towns and people who are not in armsagainst us. If I am ordered to do that I tell you candidly that Iwill not do it. I will blow the air-ship itself up first."
"The conditions are somewhat stringent, although the sentiments areexcellent," replied Colston; "still, of myself I can neither acceptnor reject them. That will be for the Executive to do. For my ownpart I think that you will be able to arrive at a basis of agreementon them. And now I think we have said all we can say for the present,and so if you are ready we'll be off and satisfy my longing to seethe invention that is to make us the arbiters of war--when war comes,which I fancy will not be long now."
Something in the tone in which these last words were spoken struckArnold with a kind of cold chill, and he shivered slightly as he saidin answer to Colston--
"I am ready when you are, and no less anxious than you to set eyes onmy model. I hope to goodness it is all safe! Do you know, when I amaway from it I feel just like a woman away from her first baby."
A few minutes later two of the most dangerous enemies of Societyalive were walking quietly along the Embankment towards Blackfriars,smoking their cigars and chatting as conventionally as though therewere no such things on earth as tyranny and oppression, and theirnecessarily ever-present enemies conspiracy and brooding revolution.