CHAPTER XVI
I TRACK ZARMI
"What does it mean?" said Nayland Smith wearily, looking at me throughthe haze of tobacco smoke which lay between us. "A well-known man likeSir Baldwin Frazer is decoyed away--undoubtedly by the woman Zarmi;and up to the present moment not so much as a trace of him can befound. It is mortifying to think that with all the facilities of NewScotland Yard at our disposal we cannot trace that damnable cab! Wecannot find the headquarters of the group--we cannot _move!_ To sithere inactive whilst Sir Baldwin Frazer--God knows for what purpose!--is perhaps being smuggled out of the country, is maddening--maddening!"Then, glancing quickly across to me: "To think ..."
I rose from my chair, head averted. A tragedy had befallen me whichcompletely overshadowed all other affairs, great and small. Indeed,its poignancy was not yet come to its most acute stage; the news wastoo recent for that. It had numbed my mind; dulled the pulsing lifewithin me.
The s.s._Nicobar_, of the Oriental Navigation Line, had arrived atTilbury at the scheduled time. My heart leaping joyously in my bosom,I had hurried on board to meet Karamaneh....
I have sustained some cruel blows in my life; but I can state withcandor that this which now befell me was by far the greatest and themost crushing I had ever been called upon to bear; a calamity dwarfingall others which I could imagine.
She had left the ship at Southampton--and had vanished completely.
"Poor old Petrie," said Smith, and clapped his hands upon my shouldersin his impulsive sympathetic way. "Don't give up hope! We are notgoing to be beaten!"
"Smith," I interrupted bitterly, "what chance have we? what chancehave we? We know no more than a child unborn where these people havetheir hiding-place, and we haven't a shadow of a clue to guide us to it."
His hands resting upon my shoulders and his gray eyes lookingstraightly into mine.
"I can only repeat, old man," said my friend, "don't abandon hope. Imust leave you for an hour or so, and, when I return, possibly I mayhave some news."
For long enough after Smith's departure I sat there, companioned onlyby wretched reflections; then, further inaction seemed impossible; tomove, to be up and doing, to be seeking, questing, became animperative necessity. Muffled in a heavy traveling coat I went outinto the wet and dismal night, having no other plan in mind than thatof walking on through the rain-swept streets, on and always on, in anattempt, vain enough, to escape from the deadly thoughts that pursuedme.
Without having the slightest idea that I had done so, I must havewalked along the Strand, crossed Trafalgar Square, proceeded up theHaymarket to Piccadilly Circus, and commenced to trudge along at theOriental rugs displayed in Messrs. Liberty's window, when an incidentaroused me from the apathy of sorrow in which I was sunken.
"Tell the cab feller to drive to the north side of Wandsworth Common,"said a woman's voice--a voice speaking in broken English, a voicewhich electrified me, had me alert and watchful in a moment.
I turned, as the speaker, entering a taxi-cab that was drawn up by thepavement, gave these directions to the door-porter, who with openumbrella was in attendance. Just one glimpse I had of her as shestepped into the cab, but it was sufficient. Indeed, the voice hadbeen sufficient; but that sinuous shape and that lithe swaying movementof the hips removed all doubt.
It was Zarmi!
As the cab moved off I ran out into the middle of the road, wherethere was a rank, and sprang into the first taxi waiting there.
"Follow the cab ahead!" I cried to the man, my voice quivering withexcitement. "Look! you can see the number! There can be no mistake. Butdon't lose it for your life! It's worth a sovereign to you!"
The man, warming to my mood, cranked his engine rapidly and sprang tothe wheel. I was wild with excitement now, and fearful lest the cabahead should have disappeared; but fortune seemingly was with me foronce, and I was not twenty yards behind when Zarmi's cab turned thefirst corner ahead. Through the gloomy street, which appeared to bepopulated solely by streaming umbrellas, we went. I could scarcelykeep my seat; every nerve in my body seemed to be dancing--twitching.Eternally I was peering ahead; and when, leaving the well-lighted WestEnd thoroughfares, we came to the comparatively gloomy streets of thesuburbs, a hundred times I thought we had lost the track. But alwaysin the pool of light cast by some friendly lamp, I would see thequarry again speeding on before us.
At a lonely spot bordering the common the vehicle which containedZarmi stopped. I snatched up the speaking-tube.
"Drive on," I cried, "and pull up somewhere beyond! Not too far!"
The man obeyed, and presently I found myself standing in what was nowbecome a steady downpour, looking back at the headlights of the othercab. I gave the driver his promised reward.
"Wait for ten minutes," I directed; "then if I have not returned, youneed wait no longer."
I strode along the muddy, unpaved path, to the spot where the cab, nowdischarged, was being slowly backed away into the road. The figure ofZarmi, unmistakable by reason of the lithe carriage, was crossing inthe direction of a path which seemingly led across the common. Ifollowed at a discreet distance. Realizing the tremendous potentialitiesof this rencontre I seemed to rise to the occasion; my brain becamealert and clear; every faculty was at its brightest. And I feltserenely confident of my ability to make the most of the situation.
Zarmi went on and on along the lonely path. Not another pedestrian wasin sight, and the rain walled in the pair of us. Where comfort-lovinghumanity sought shelter from the inclement weather, we two moved outthere in the storm, linked by a common enmity.
I have said that my every faculty was keen, and have spoken of myconfidence in my own alertness. My condition, as a matter of fact,must have been otherwise, and this belief in my powers merelysymptomatic of the fever which consumed me; for, as I was to learn,I had failed to take the first elementary precaution necessary insuch case. I, who tracked another, had not counted upon being trackedmyself! ...
A bag or sack, reeking of some sickly perfume, was dropped silently,accurately, over my head from behind; it was drawn closely about mythroat. One muffled shriek, strangely compound of fear and execration,I uttered. I was stifling, choking ... I staggered--and fell....