[_Michael Cospatric again resumes speech._]
CHAPTER XVII.
VENTRE A TERRE.
"Now," said Haigh, as the anarchist reappeared dressed, and tore awaydown the stairs, "it seems to me a reasonable supposition that there'smovement in front of us to-day, and so it's as well to prepare for it.I'm not a breakfast eater myself, and coffee and cognac will be all Ican manage; but I'd advise you, as you are talented in that direction,to stow away as much solid food as you can lay your hands upon. TheLord knows what wild paper-chase that frock-coated idiot will try tolead us on when he turns up again. That is always supposing he doesturn up, for, to tell the truth, I shouldn't be surprised if he made abolt of it at this stage of the proceedings, and just played on for hisown hand. And to let you into a secret, dear boy, I shouldn't be verysavage if he did sell us in that way. We've got some good plunder as itis, and there'd be a devil of a lot of bother with one thing andanother if we set about to collar the rest."
"I can't say," I observed, "that I should object to being a billionairemyself. I've never tried the sensation, and I dare say there aredrawbacks to it; but still, after a man's been beastly hard up all hisdays, he doesn't mind going to a little trouble to make a big haul."
"You're energetic, old man; I'm not, and that's the difference betweenus. When I've specie in my pocket, I've never been in the habit ofexerting myself to grab more till that's spent. I adopt the principlewhich obtains hereabouts, and shrug my shoulders, and say,'_Manana_.' However, if you're still on the gathering tack, I'm onfor helping you to the limit of my small ability. Only, as I say, I'mnot wonderfully keen on it from my own point of view."
We breakfasted at leisure, the one sketchily, the other with emphasis,according to our appetites, and had just lit tobacco when theswing-doors of the _cafe_ clashed and the anarchist rushed in.
"I have ordered a carriage," he exclaimed. "Come at once; we must meetit at the stable. There is no time to drive round here. We shall barelycatch them as it is."
"Ho, ho!" said Haigh placidly; "so you've hit off the trail, have you?Pollensa and Soller, is it?"
"No, senor; your guess was a true one. They drove off to catch thePalma train at La Puebla. But come at once, or I must go alone."
So we went off with him to the _establo_, climbed into asacking-floored shandrydan, and rattled boisterously through the narrowstreets of Alcudia. Once on the broad level road beyond the walls, thedriver, who had already received his orders, made the cattle stretchout into a canter, and the pace was pretty smart. But it did not equalTaltavull's impatience, and every minute or so out went his head andbeard bidding the driver to hasten and hasten; and the driver, crouchedthere in his little penthouse, rumbled out fierce _arr-e-ees_, andprodding forth a blue-sleeved arm beneath his blanket, lashed thescraggy mules into a gallop.
"Good for any one with a torpid liver this," said Haigh.
"Senor," exclaimed the anarchist, "how can you have the face to speakof trivialities at such a moment? Is it nothing to you what we have atstake?"
"On the contrary, it is decidedly something. But I don't let thatconfounded Recipe worry me unduly, as you appear to do. Cospatric, giveme a match--there's a good fellow."
The old man glowered on him sourly, and turned to urge the driver forincreased speed.
We flew past the brown vine-stumps, and the mule-gins above the wells,and the many ducts and gutters which drain the marshes, our animalssteaming as they strained at the traces, and the driver jerking aboutlike some frenzied jumping-jack as he forced them on. The pace wasalmost racing pace, and to be in a race always warms one's blood. Ibegan to share Taltavull's excitement. He was looking at his watch everand anon, at each time crying that we should have scarcely time to meetthe train. And yet it was evident that the mules could go no faster.
I cast about me for some means of increasing the pace, and I was notlong in hitting off an idea. It was not very brilliant, but I thoughtit worth sharing, and so spoke,--
"Look here, Monsieur Taltavull: if we chuck some of the ballastoverboard, the mules will have less to drag, and we shall go faster.The only thing is, have we enough money with us to afford it?"
"Explain, explain! I cannot understand your barbarous sentences."
"Why, we can smash off the lid and most of the sides of this ramshackleNoah's ark till it's as light as a Kentucky trotting wagon. The onlything is, we must pay the driver cash down, or he may object and stop,and we shall lose time that way."
The anarchist unbuttoned his waistcoat, and, ripping away the lining,brought out a sheaf of notes. "A man," said he, "who never knows oneminute whether he may not be arrested and have his pockets cleared thenext, should never be without these. Senor Briton, use your bigstrength and tear away all that seems you good. I will satisfy thedriver."
"Hooray!" shouted Haigh. "If there's one thing I do love, it'sdestruction. Cospatric, I'll bear a hand here. Now, then, heave withthose big shoulders of yours; tear and rip; splinter and smash; don'tspare; the thing's got no friends. Use your feet, old chappie, if youwant to; all's fair here. Faith, look at that worthy farmer toting uphis mule-cart load of seaweed for manure!" He broke off into a roar oflaughter, and hove a cushion right against the man's gaping mouth as wetore past. "If he doesn't go home and report us to his wife and croniesas stark staring maniacs, I'm a Scotsman. _Whoop_! work away, DonMiguel. There's more joy over one brick hove through a windowpane thanin a whole house furnished on the hire system. Ain't we making a ballywreck of it? Good business! Wrench away the back of this seat, and I'lllug off the steps. _Arr-e-ee!_ Send those beasts along, Pedrillo.Make 'em burn the ground."
The lust for destruction, when once thoroughly lit in an able-bodiedman, is not an easy flame to extinguish, and in consequence we wentruthlessly on with the dismantlement of the carriage, till evenTaltavull, hardened destructor as he was himself, was fain to call uponus to leave off.
"But don't you think," said Haigh, "that we might just snap the thingin two amidships, and leave the hind wheels and all the back partbehind? It would ease the load by at least three hundred-weight, and Ithink we could all perch on the foot-board in front. I'm sure the polewould keep it right side up."
However, it was judged that quite enough was done already; and thoughHaigh seemed inclined to argue, further freaks were put a stop to byanother incident turning up.
The pace had slackened.
Taltavull shrieked for the driver to quicken, and the driver used thebutt of his whip-stock with true Southern mercilessness.
"Why, that poor brute of a near mule has a stone in its shoe," Haighcalled out. "It's going dead lame."
"I know," said Taltavull. "It's a great nuisance, but it can't behelped. The stone may be knocked out again."
"The stone won't be knocked out again. It's jammed firmly in, and getsset tighter every time it touches ground. The mule's in awful pain."
"I can't help that."
"By God, I can though. Here, pull up."
"Senor Haigh, you must be mad."
"I may be that, but I'm hanged if I'll sit here and see that poormiserable mule tortured. Here, Cospatric, stand by to grab this elderlyperson if he interferes.--And now, Mr. _Cochero_, pull 'em up intheir tracks or I'll do it for you."
The driver did as he was bade willingly enough, and Haigh nipped downand levered out the stone with his knife. I stayed where I was. I hadmy arms full. To be accurate, they were wrapped round the third memberof our trio, who was wriggling like a demon, and foaming at the mouthin his wrath.
But after all the halt was only a short one. "All clear," shoutedHaigh, thirty seconds after he had descended. "_Arr-e-ee_, andaway you go, my tulip. Not much time lost there, Senor Taltavull, afterall."
The anarchist favoured him with the most poisonous look of hatred thatI ever beheld, and spoke with shut teeth: "If we fail through thishalt, Senor Haigh, look to yourself."
"Thanks," replied Haigh, squinting at him coolly enough; "I'm quitecapable of doing that same, so think well b
efore you play any pranks."
We didn't talk much after that, but squatted upon our ruin like threebears, the mules meanwhile being sent along for all they were worth. Itwould be hard for me to say how long we took over the passage, as Ididn't clock it, but I dare bet that we covered the ground in recordtime for a four-wheeled conveyance.
Only once Haigh spoke. "If we miss this 7.55 train, when's the next?"he asked.
"Five fifty-five in the afternoon," returned Taltavull gloomily.
"Surely there's a train out of La Puebla before. The service can't beas fragmentary as all that."
"Yes, another train leaves there at 2.45 for the San Bordils Junction;but it doesn't go through, and there is no connection on."
"And how far is it by road to Palma?"
The old man did not know, and so I mentioned that the fifty-fivekilometre post was by the quay at Alcudia Port.
"Oh, come," said Haigh, "that isn't so bad after all;" but what hemeant I did not understand, as he relapsed into silence again. But wewere pulling in the last knots very rapidly then, and presently wepassed the cemetery, and got into the wished-for La Puebla. We torethrough the place with the one casualty of a small black porker runover and left squalling in the road, and pulled up before the stationin time to see the 7.55 train steam out along the metre-gauge track.
Taltavull rushed into the waiting-room, and tried to storm thebarricade, offering threats, money, anything to have the train stopped,if only for three seconds, whilst he got on board. But the officialswere stolid and obdurate; they were unaccustomed to hurry and flurry,and they refused to do anything to help him; and the old man came outto us again, wringing his bony hands, and using language that wasplaintive and powerful alternately.
Meanwhile Haigh had shown unwonted activity. The populace of La Puebla,roused by our furious passage through the town, had followed hot-footafter us to stare at the ragged vehicle, and to throw ten score ofquestions at the driver, who, from a casual acquaintance of most ofthem, had sprung into a public character. So hurried had the summonsbeen that many of them--of both sexes, save the mark--had apparentlyrun out of doors in the apparel which served them under the bedclothes.Through this crowd Haigh shouldered his way, with a leery grin whichseemed to win every heart (more especially the female ones), and wentover to a double-muled carriage that was drawn up in front of thelittle _casa_ across the way. It was a private carriage, and thecoachman naturally did not own the animals; but Haigh flourished underhis nose three hundred-peseta notes, and before that mine of wealth theman's honesty fell. With his own hands he started untracing his cattle.
Seeing what was in the wind, I stepped down and with ready help fromthe crowd set free the jaded animals that had brought us so far; andbefore our frock-coated companion had well emerged from the stationagain, we had picked him up and were off once more as hard as we couldpelt. He was a goodish man at plotting and planning beforehand, thatsame Taltavull; but when it came to brisk action, he wasn't alwaysprompt enough. A bit of a reverse seemed to daze him.
"It's money that makes the world go round," remarked Haigh after we hadgot beyond the cheerful howls of the crowd, and our two fine mules hadsettled down to a steady hand-gallop. "If you look, you'll just see thetail end of the train swinging out of sight round that curve. If wehave any luck, and the engine yonder doesn't forget its dignity andexceed the orthodox Spanish crawl, we should overhaul 'em before theymake the next station. Our present pace is distinctly good. It's aclinking fine pair this I've requisitioned, and from the conditionthey're in, it's plain to see they haven't been rattled along like thisfor a longish time. I guess somebody'll be wrath when he sees the twoscrews his coachy has swapped for them. However, the resultant ructionsare for _manana_, and suffice it for the present we're having aregal time. Come, cheer up, Monsieur Taltavull; you aren't halfenjoying yourself."
"It is terrible this uncertainty," groaned the old man, the words beingjolted out of him in gasps. "We do not know whether or no the wretchesare in that train after all. We may even be racing away from them.Senores, you have been too precipitate."
"Precipitate?" rejoined Haigh; "not a bit of it, _amigo_. Both'wretches,' as you are pleased to style them, are in a drab-linedfirst-class compartment in the middle of the centre coach. I saw MadameCromwell looking at us through the window, and took off my hat to her.She bowed, and mentioned our presence to M. l'Aveugle. So you see theyunderstand our game, and see that we have tumbled to theirs. ThreeA.B.'s to a clever woman and a wily blind man. The latter combinationis slightly the weaker of the two, and therefore is allowed startaccording to the ordinary handicap. Nothing could be fairer. I'm opento back either side for a win in anything up to ten carats ofdiamonds."
Bar accidents, it seemed to me certain that we must overtake the train;but as we went along, the Book of our Fate read otherwise. Apparentlythat was the only day in the record of the world when a Spanish trainhad run true to time, and with anything approaching speed. There wasonly one explanation for it: our rivals must have "got at" theengine-driver. However, be that as it may, we hung very closely on totheir heels, and always viewed them when the course of the line was atall straight.
Indeed, at the junction of the Manacor branch the train was still inthe station as we drove up outside at a furious gallop; but before wecould get in and past those infernally placid officials, she steamedout again, and we had a desperate run along the platform for nothing.At least, Taltavull and I did. Nothing could induce Haigh to pick uphis feet for anything quicker than a walk.
We lost ground over this excursion, as the old man was so infernallyblown with the sprint that he could scarcely totter back to thecarriage; and by the time we had got under way again, the tail of thetrain was a good two kilometres ahead. But the mules were all thebetter for the short breather, and entering gamely into the spirit ofthe thing, stretched out into a long swinging lope that kept the chasefrom gaining a single inch.
It was their frequent halts at the little wayside stations that helpedus on, and if we had only had the gumption to fly on past the junctionwhen we were level, we should have been able to board the train at thenext stop without hurry. However, we only discovered that afterwards,and as the mistake once made could not be rectified, we held grimly on.
Hills bothered us a little at times, and the windings of the road addedto our handicap; but when at last we came down to the semicircularplain on whose edge Palma stands, we thought we saw victory ahead.
"There's between eight and ten kilometres to do," said Haigh, "and asit's all on the flat and straight, we should, with luck, be home first,and waiting to meet them."
"Don't you be too cocksure," said I. "It isn't all over but theshouting by a very long chalk. If you notice, there's been some rainfalling here, and down on the flat there's been a lot by the look ofit. I'm afraid that will mean heavy going for our wheels."
As we got down to the level this evil prophecy showed itself a trueone. There was gluey mud on the well-made track often three inchesdeep, and though our driver flogged industriously, the tired mules wereseldom able to muster up anything better than a lumbering canter. Wehad the train in sight all the time, and could see that we weredropping astern at every stride. It was very mortifying.
But as the race neared its close Fortune again pulled a string in ourfavour. A distant whistle screamed, and we saw the train graduallybring up to a standstill alongside a signal-post. The respite was notfor long, for the barrier was soon withdrawn, and she steamed into thestation; but it had enabled us to see the pair we were chasing comesharply out of the buildings, enter a carriage, and get driven awaythrough the gate into the city.
"What now?" demanded Haigh.
"On after them," exclaimed the anarchist.
"What! in this rattletrap?"
"Of course," said I.
"But everybody will stare."
"Oh, what the devil does that matter?"
"Why, for myself, I must say that in a fashionable place like this,with a lot of girls about, I----
Hullo! that settles it, though."
"What?"
"Look ahead, dear boy. There's a heavy cart just shed a wheel slap-bangin the middle of the _puerto_. The way will be blocked for an hourat least."
"Out we get then, and follow 'em to earth on foot. Thank goodness, thestreets are very crowded, so their carriage won't be able to get alongat more than a foot's pace."
Our pursuit was not very rapid. Haigh flatly refused to move atanything beyond a smart walk, saying that he should collapse if he did.I could have run them down if I had wished, but had no hankering for arow in the public streets, and so stayed with my shipmate. AndTaltavull we kept with us whether he liked it or not. I do not think,though, that he was very keen to race on alone. "They cannot get out ofthe island, senores," said he, "as no steamer leaves to-day, and theymust understand by this that they cannot escape us. I suspect that theywill go to the Fonda de Mallorca, and await us there to treat forterms."
So we wound our way down the narrow, busy streets (wherein every fifthbuilding was put to ecclesiastical uses), and finally landed out intothe head of the Calle de Conquistador, where another surprise awaitedus.
The hotel is in the middle of the hill, and as we arrived in sight ofit we saw our two birds, accompanied by a dark-complexioned chap (whomI took to be Sadi, Pether's confidential valet), get out of the vehiclewhich had brought them so far, into another smarter one, which droveoff at a rapid pace as soon as they were under the tilt.
Taltavull started wringing his hands. "What now? what now?" moaned he.
"The Lord knows," said I. "Where's the nearest hack-stand? Say, quick."
"At the bottom of the street."
"Well, here's a tram going down. Up you jump."
The three of us hung on the tail-board, and rode to the bottom of theCalle de Conquistador, where we exchanged to the most likely-lookingvehicle we could see.
"You saw that carriage that just rushed by down towards the harbour?"
"_Si, senor_," grinned the driver.
"Then after it like blue hades, and there's a hundred pesetas for youwhen we're alongside."
"_Ah, senores, muchos grac----_"
"Drive, you scoundrel; don't talk."
Away we went again, clattering, jolting, rattling, till the teeth of uswere fairly loosened in their steps. Sharp to the right it was, pastthe Longa, and on by the tram-lines alongside the old walls; then anS-turn; and then a sweep round to the left; always with thetram-lines beside our tires. We were heading out for the white suburbwhich is beneath the Bellver Castle, and what harbourage the fugitivescould hope to find in that direction we couldn't for the life of usimagine. But that was their affair. Our business--or the business wemade for ourselves--was to get within speaking range.
Up the hill we spun, and through the pretty suburb, with itsorange-trees, and its tattered palms, and its sprawling clumps ofprickly pears; and past Porto Pi, the silted-up Carthaginian harbour;and then, leaving population and tram-lines behind, we opened out on tothe magnificent road that sweeps round the western horn of Palma Bay.But always at a fixed distance in front of us hovered a billowing haloof amber-coloured dust, which no frenzied strain on our part couldbring a metre nearer.
Once where the road wound in stately zigzags down the cliff of a slope,our driver took the ditch and cut an angle, heading across the roughground which intervened; but the pace had to be lessened, and thecarriage was nearly wrenched to pieces, and the experiment was notrepeated. We had lost time by it.
And so the race continued, and the monotony of it dulled our interestin surroundings.
We thought only of the conclusion. Where the actual winning-post couldbe we had given up trying to conjecture. "It seems," Haigh remarkedonce, "that those two fools have made up their minds to race round thisfive-franc bit of an island for so long as we three fools choose tochivy them. It's a mad set-out whichever side you take it from, and thefun's evaporating. I don't know what you chaps are going to do, but thenext chance I see I'm going to get down for a drink. I'm parched withinan inch of dissolution."
How long this state of things went on I can't tell. I was bruised bythe bumping from hat to heel, and was much engaged in fending myselfagainst further abrasions. But at last a sharp cry from the driverroused me to look out of one of the window-ports, and I saw that we hadopened out a small bay that was backed by a high rocky island of redand yellow stone. One end of the island showed a curious profile of aman's face, and I recognized it as Dragonera; but what the bay wascalled I didn't remember, though I had a sort of dim recollection of ananchorage for small craft there.
Anchorage it was sure enough too, for as we rose the inlet further, Isaw a small screw boat riding there to some sort of moorings andlifting languidly to the swell. She was an ex-yacht, Cowes or Clydebuilt for a wager, of the sort one sees in small Mediterranean portsfor the petty coasting traffic; a lean, slender craft of some eighty orhundred tons register, with all her pristine smartness thoroughlysubmerged in southern happy-go-lucky squalor. There was a faint graypencil of steam feathering away from her escape-pipe, and as we drewnearer I saw she had hove short, and was ready to break her anchor outof the ground at a moment's notice.
Another cry from the driver called off my attention. The carriage aheadhad stopped; its three passengers had descended, and hand in hand wererunning over the rough ground towards the shore. A small dinghy waswaiting for them at the edge of the shingle. So there had been methodin their mad scurry after all.
Our driver cursed and _arr-e-e'd_ and forced his cattle into ascrambling gallop, and we drew up with the deserted carriage, whosemules were standing straddle-legged, and panting as though they weregoing to burst. He pulled up there, but Haigh snatched hold of thereins through the front window, and turning the animals off the road,sent them with a yell into the palm scrub that fringed it. The poorbeasts took fright and sprang off at fresh gallop, the carriage leapingand bumping after them like a tin kettle at a dog's tail, till at onejolt stronger than the rest it lost balance, and fell over with asplintering crash to its side.
We were all heaped over to leeward amongst a tidy heap of wreckage; butwe soon managed to scramble out, and saw the fugitives making rapidgoing towards their boat.
"Now, Cospatric, ye wiry divil," shouted Haigh, "run for all you'reworth, and put Pether in your pocket."
Off I started, and measured my length twice in the first fifty yards.The ground was awfully uneven, and the palmetto scrub so thick that onecould not see where to tread. The trio ahead were close upon theirboat, and it seemed to me an absolute certainty that I should be toolate. But a fresh crashing amongst the spiky shrubs behind made me turnmy head, and I saw the absurd figure of the old man charging down on amule that he had cut adrift. He passed me like a flash, his faceglowering like a fiend's, and he reached the shingle just as the dinghyhad got two boat-lengths away.
The passengers were encouraging the two sailors at the oars to everyexertion; but Taltavull pulled up as his mule's feet splashed in thewater, and whipping out a blue revolver covered the two rowers andsharply bade them stop. They easied in the middle of a stroke, andraised their oar-blades, glistening and dripping.
"And now, Senor Pether, I hold you covered. I am a dead shot, and ifyou carry the Recipe a yard farther away you bring your fate upon yourown head. I, Taltavull, swear it."
I saw Mrs. Cromwell lean over and cover the blind man's body with herown. Sadi also made a movement, apparently for the same purpose. ButPether waved them both back. He slipped a hand into his breast-pocket,and brought out the little mahogany case.
"Here it is, Senor Taltavull. You'll share the contents with your twofriends?"
"Yes," exclaimed the old man, stretching out his bony hands; "I havepromised."
"Then there you are, Senor Taltavull," said the other quietly. Hedeliberately drew back the shutter, exposed the yellowy-green film tothe full sun-glare, and flung it from him with a sideways jerk.
It flew circling to the anarchist's feet; and for a moment w
e were allso paralyzed with the action that no one spoke or moved. Sooner thanshare or surrender, the man had deliberately destroyed the Recipe forgood and all.
The anarchist was first to act. Slowly I saw him raise his weapon, andas if fascinated I could not move to interrupt him. With a leatherygrin of cruelty he had brought it to bear, and in another moment therewould have been murder done. But at that instant a flash of somethingbrown shot by, and Taltavull and his mount were bowled over amongst thepalmettos.
A cavalry reinforcement had arrived. Haigh had cut loose another of themules, and had deliberately ridden the old man down.
"It's an old polo trick," said he, with a pleased grin. "Useful when aman persistently crosses you; quite simple when you knowit.--Good-afternoon, Mrs. Cromwell.--Afternoon, Juggins, dear boy. Letme congratulate you on drawing this game. I thought we were going togather in the beans.--Eh, what's that?"
Taltavull was sitting up amongst the scrubs, and was shaking atrembling fist at the boat and snarling out the word "iconoclast."
"'Iconoclast' indeed. Faith, that's the pot libelling the kettle mostunjustly.--I say, Cospatric, just take that melodramatic old fool's gunaway from him, and wring his neck if he won't behave himself.--My dearMrs. Cromwell, I must really apologize for our companion. I assure youthat nothing but stress of circumstances could have driven us into suchdubious society. Well, the fun's all over now, and I hope you and Mr.Pether bear no ill-will. I'm sure Cospatric and I harbour no grudge."
Mrs. Cromwell gave an order, the boat backed in to the shingle, and wefound ourselves shaking hands with one another, as if we were dearfriends who had always worked for one another's welfare.
"Mentone and Paris will be our neighbourhoods for winter and summer,"said Pether, "and you two men must contrive to beat us up somehow andcompare notes over this mutual score."
"Ladies are seldom averse to jewellery," said Haigh. "Will Mrs.Cromwell deign to accept from Mr. Cospatric and myself this smallpacket of diamonds, to be mounted as she sees fit?"
In fact, for the space of half an hour we were fulsomely civil to oneanother; and then they bobbled off in the dinghy, and the yacht tookthem I know not where; and we, after putting Taltavull in one of thecarriages, drove off ourselves to Palma in the other.
"Faith," said Haigh, "it's a different man I am this day from when Isaw you first in Genoa, old chappie. But after all this fresh air andexercise I must really go on the rampage for a bit. Come now, Palma fora few days, and then we'll hark back to the ugly cutter and go offsomewhere else. Where shall we go?"
"Note which way the wind blows, and start before it."
"Right," said Haigh. "There's nothing like having definite plansbeforehand."
THE END.