CHAPTER XLIV
DEAD!
There lay the body of the King of Asturia without a doubt. The firstpainful shock of surprise over, Lechmere was his cool prudent selfagain. He knew that Loti was watching him, so it behoved him to becareful. He bent down and made a long examination of the body. He wouldhave given much at this moment for a few words with Peretori, but thelatter seemed to have vanished and apparently had repudiated any furtherresponsibility after sending the telegram. But then perhaps Peretori wasplaying some game of his own.
"Do you know anything about this gentleman?" he asked of Loti.
The ragged peasant shrugged his shoulders indifferently. Obviously theman had no suspicions that he was so closely on the fringe of aninternational tragedy. He was quite sure that the disaster to thespecial had not come about by accident and he murmured something aboutsocialists. So long as he was well paid for what he was doing, hisservices could be relied upon.
"There is more money for you, here," Lechmere said, placing the soundestargument before the peasant, "if you are silent. If you go to the policenow they will ask awkward questions. And they will pay you nothing. Canyou procure a plain coffin and convey the body by road to, say, Amiens?Only the coffin must be packed in another case so as to disguise what itis, and I will give you the name and address whereby I can pick up thecase to-morrow. If you can do this thing for me I will pay you no less asum than two thousand francs."
Loti's eyes gleamed. Such a sum was beyond his wildest dreams. It wouldmake him independent for the rest of his life. He nodded eagerly.
"Well, that is settled," Lechmere proceeded. "Listen. Later on in theday I will give you the address to be placed on the case. Bring me backthe receipt from the railway people at Amiens and the money is yours incash, so that no suspicion need be excited. I will meet you hereto-morrow at the same time. You quite understand?"
Loti nodded, his eyes were gleaming like stars. It was obvious that heunderstood perfectly. Lechmere made his way back to the cottage where hehad obtained shelter, and there wrote a long letter to the Head of thePolice in Paris. This he despatched by special parcel so that it wouldbe delivered in the course of the afternoon. He waited till dark beforesetting out with the object of seeing Maxwell and Alexis. There wasconsiderable danger in this course, seeing that Mazaroff was close athand, and, above all things, Lechmere had no idea of being seen by theRussian.
That the train had been deliberately and wantonly wrecked with a view topreventing the journey of the king to Asturia, Lechmere knew quite well.To further their own design these people had taken no heed of humanlife, they had stopped at nothing. And yet their plan had not beencarried out quite so successfully as they had hoped though a great meedof triumph had been theirs. No doubt Mazaroff was hanging about theneighbourhood to report progress. But Mazaroff would be puzzled andrendered somewhat uneasy by the strange disappearance of the king. Thathe was dead the Russian could not possibly know or he would have visitedPierre Loti.
All these things Lechmere turned over in his mind as he made his wayafter dark to the cottage where Maxwell was lying. The primitivepeasants who gave him shelter had already retired to bed, but the doorhad not been fastened, possibly to permit the visit of the doctor.Lechmere cautiously opened the door and looked in. The commonsitting-room of the family had been divided by a couple of sheets over aclothes-horse, and behind this Lechmere guessed that the patient lay,from the smell of carbolic on the sheets. Lechmere secured the door as ameans of precaution, and passed behind the sheet. As he expected,Maxwell lay there.
His face was terribly bruised and battered, but the restless motion ofhis limbs testified to the fact that the nervous vitality was notgreatly impaired. Maxwell opened a pair of languid eyes as Lechmeretouched him on the shoulder.
"Go away," he said. "Why do you bother? There is nothing much the matterwith me if I were not so terribly sleepy. I can't get my head right. Idon't know what that peasant fellow is doing? I gave him all the money Ihad, too. What's the matter?"
Maxwell's eyes suddenly changed, he identified Lechmere with a smile ofpleasure.
"I felt quite sure that you would turn up," he whispered. "Was Isuccessful? Did I baffle them? But you don't know anything about thator about the king----"
"Indeed I do," Lechmere hastened to reply. "I know everything. The kingis dead, because I have seen his body. And by this time the little plothas been successful. The king has not returned to his capital, and itwill be understood by his people that he has taken advantage of theaccident to go off on one of his dissipated excesses, and the revolutionwill be in full blast."
"But those people don't know that the king is dead?" Maxwell askedeagerly.
"They don't. You worked that business very cleverly. And Peretori musthave been pretty near, for he sent me a cablegram telling me what to do.I found your Pierre Loti. He shewed me the body of the king covered withstraw in his cottage. Did you manage all that?"
"I did," Maxwell said, not without a smile. "When the accident happenedit came to me like a flash that the whole thing had been brought aboutby design. Our carriage was literally smashed to pieces and we werethrown on the permanent way. The engine-driver and stoker were killed,so I and Alexis managed to stagger as far as the engine. The king layperfectly motionless and I felt that I was going to collapse. It was atthis point that Pierre Loti came up. I gave him all the money I had inmy pocket to get the king out of the way and say nothing till he heardfrom me again. I should say that he has obeyed instructions."
"To the letter," Lechmere said. "The king is dead, he must have beenkilled on the spot. I compliment you sincerely on the manner in whichyou contrived to keep this thing a secret. So long as the foe are inignorance of the full measure of their success we have a chance. And Ihave made arrangements for the king to be conveyed to England secretly,Mazaroff is still hanging about here on the off chance of pickingsomething up."
"Which he will not do. But what has become of our new ally, Peretori?"
"That I can't say," Lechmere replied. "Though I have a pretty shrewdidea. But it is useless to speak of that just now. What does the doctorsay is the matter with you?"
"Shock, and yet I feel quite well at times. I can't keep my eyes open. Ihave the strange sensation of being drugged. I am so thirsty that I haveto have a big jug of lemonade always by my side as you see. I am astired as a dog again now."
And Maxwell closed his eyes. There was the sound of a step outside thecottage and the door opened very cautiously. With a sudden instinctLechmere passed at the back of the sheets into the glow beyond just intime to avoid Mazaroff, who was the newcomer. Holding the sheet slightlyback, Lechmere could see exactly what was taking place. He saw Maxwelllying as if in a heavy sleep, he saw the sinister smile that came overMazaroff's face. The longer the protectors of the absent king lay therehelpless so much the better for Mazaroff and his party. The Russian tooka little bottle from his pocket and proceeded to drop a few spots fromit into Maxwell's lemonade. With the same sinister smile on his face hecrept away in the direction of the door. Was he carrying on the samegame with Alexis, Lechmere wondered, or was some confidante doing thework?
Lechmere looked grim rather than angry, as he followed the Russian intothe open air. He was going to see if the experiment was destined to berepeated on Alexis. It would be the last time, Lechmere told himself,for he had that morning put a spoke in Mazaroff's wheel which ought tostop the coach at any moment. Near the little village hotel to which theRussian made his way two official looking men were standing, a bluepaper in the hand of one of them. One of them stepped up and bowedprofoundly.
"Prince Mazaroff," he said. "Surely I have the honour. Ah, I thought so.You will consider yourself my prisoner in the interests of the CriminalDepartment of Paris. It is the warrant that I hold in my hand. You willhave to come with me to Paris."
Mazaroff swore and threatened. He would like to know something of thecharge. As the charge was read over his bluster and threats subdued to alittle cry of dismay.<
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"It is a case of mistaken identity," he said. "Where are you going totake me? To Paris? It is very unfortunate, but circumstances are toostrong for me, and I yield."