The Devil's Cocktail (9 page)

‘Your new friends must think you a bit eccentric to take up a post like this, when you have private means, don't they?'

‘Not a bit of it! They know I have come out partially through a desire to return to India and partially because I am interested in Muslim education.'

Cousins chuckled. Hugh stopped in the act of putting a coat on to a coat hanger.

‘If you've finished unpacking your stuff,' he said, ‘why don't you go out and see if you are any more successful in tracing that car than I was? I told you the number!'

‘My son, it has been done!'

‘Good Lord! When?'

‘When you and Miss Shannon piously went to church this morning, I looked up my police sergeant friend and asked him where I was likely to find taxi number seven-nine-seven-six. I might say that I invented a totally fictitious story to account for my inquiry. He told me of several taxi stands, and after visiting two, I ran the car to earth on a rank near Queen Victoria's statue.'

‘Well?' asked Hugh eagerly.

‘The driver proved to be a Sikh of much hair and more stupidity. At first I could get nothing out of him – my Hindustani and his English being more or less negligible. However, to cut a long story short—'

‘Yes do!' said Hugh sarcastically.

‘I discovered that he had driven the two men to Martin's in the Mall.'

‘You mean the restaurant?'

‘Yes. I went there, but there was nothing doing. None of the waiters or the manager remembered to have seen the man I described. When I asked the hall-porter, he looked at me blankly, until he caught the word “man” issuing from my lips, whereupon he broke into a torrent of Punjabi, which I translated as meaning that mangoes were not in season!'

‘Damn!' said Hugh with emphasis.

‘Why? Are you fond of mangoes?'

‘Don't be an ass! That fellow Kamper is like will-o'-the-wisp. What are we to do now?'

Cousins shrugged his shoulders.

‘What's the hurry?' he asked. ‘We have three years.'

‘Yes, but two of them are not necessarily to be spent twiddling
our thumbs, and from signs around us I should imagine that there is something happening.'

‘You mean the arrival of Kamper?'

‘Yes; and Hudson being met by those two fellows in Bombay!'

The ideal valet nodded his head slowly.

‘I have an idea,' he said, ‘that Kamper has known of your voyage and its purpose all along, and that is why he is in India now. Furthermore that is probably the reason why those two fellows met Hudson at Bombay.'

‘How could they know anything about it?'

‘Shannon, Shannon,' said Cousins reprovingly, ‘where are those supposedly quick wits of yours? Either Hudson or Kamper could have cabled to them from Port Said, or Hudson might have wirelessed.'

‘Of course!' said Hugh. ‘But why should they meet him at Bombay?'

‘Why shouldn't they? Hudson does not know that we suspect his association with these people and—'

‘By Jove!' said Shannon suddenly. ‘They all stayed in Bombay, probably to meet Kamper!'

‘I think you have hit the nail on the head,' said Cousins. ‘I thought of that when I heard that the three of them were staying behind, and I asked Miles to keep his eye on them. That's why I am so bothered about not hearing from him.'

‘Do you think that anything could have happened to him?'

For once in a way Cousins' mild expression left his face, and a look of inflexible resolve and grim purpose took its place. Hugh had never seen such a transformation in the little man before, and a new feeling of respect and confidence took possession of him.

‘If anything has happened to Miles,' said Cousins, through set teeth, ‘then God help those who have touched him.'

For a moment there was silence, then he looked at Hugh and smiled.

‘There aren't many men with the cleverness of Oscar Miles,' he said, ‘and I have never met a man better able to look after himself!'

There came a loud knocking at the front door. Cousins stood up and settled his jacket to his figure.

‘This is where my duties commence,' he said, ‘“
iacta alea est
.” Are you at home, may I ask, sir?'

There was another and even louder knock, then the sound of the wire doors opening.

‘Say,' called a well-remembered voice; ‘is every darn soul out?'

‘Miles!' exclaimed Cousins and Hugh together, and dashed out of the room.

Joan was before them, and the three surrounded the American, who was grinning with delight. After vigorously shaking hands with them all, he was escorted into the sitting room. Then placing a hand on the shoulder of each of the men, he looked at them grimly.

‘Say, boys,' he said. ‘I guess I've tumbled on one of the finest plots that ever was. If you two don't get busy right now, there's going to be a sensation that will set the world aflame.'

There was a silence for several seconds as the three looked at Miles. He was not the type of man to raise needless scares, or, in fact, say anything without being perfectly sure of his ground. Shannon and Cousins felt that he had news of the gravest import to tell them, but Joan was the first to speak.

‘Where is your luggage, Mr Miles?' she asked.

‘It's at the hotel,' he said. ‘When I arrived in Lahore I went straight to the Punjab Hotel and they told me where to find you, so I dumped my baggage there and came right along.'

‘Well, you had better send for it. We have a room here ready for you!'

‘That's real nice of you, but I couldn't think of putting myself on you like that.'

‘There's no question of putting yourself on us,' said Hugh. ‘We shall be disappointed if you don't make this your home, while you are in Lahore.'

‘But I guess I shall be here for a long time.'

‘That doesn't matter!'

He looked from one to the other, and smiled.

‘Well, it would be churlish of me to refuse such a kind invitation. I've kept the taxi waiting outside, and I'll tell him to go back for my bags. Can you provide me with paper so that I can send a note to the manager?'

The paper was speedily forthcoming, and the taxi sent to the hotel.

‘Now as tiffin is nearly ready,' said Joan, ‘perhaps you will postpone your talk, which I suppose is going to be a long and serious one, till afterwards?'

‘Yes,' said Cousins ‘I consider that a very good idea. One can always talk better after victuals – I can.'

‘Guess nobody wants you to talk, Jerry,' remarked Miles, ‘at least, not until after I have said my little bit.'

‘I suppose I shall have to keep out of the way?' said Joan a trifle wistfully.

The three men looked at each other.

‘She's my sister, and I'll go bond for her, if—' began Hugh.

‘A woman's mind often goes right bang to the point,' said the American, ‘and I would take my solemn oath that anything Miss Joan hears in this room will never go further.'

Cousins looked from Joan to the men and back again.

‘Miss Shannon,' he said, with a bow, ‘obviously everyone is in favour of admitting you to our secret council – I can only express my delight.' He bowed deeply.

Joan looked at them with glowing eyes.

‘How perfectly sweet of you all,' she cried. ‘I am so pleased.'

‘The pleasure is entirely ours, Miss Shannon,' said Miles. ‘This is going to be some combination!'

After tiffin they adjourned to the sitting room, and when everyone was comfortably settled, the American began his tale.

‘When I say I have tumbled on a plot against Great Britain,' he said, ‘perhaps I am going a little too far. As a matter of fact I found out that there is a plot and what it is about, but the details are missing – those we shall have to discover, and mighty quickly, too.

‘Jerry here asked me to keep an eye on Hudson and the two fellows with him and find out if a little Russian Jew called Kamper arrived in Bombay. Well, his description of Kamper was so good that I couldn't have missed him in a fog, but Hudson knows me; so I went back to the wharf after you had left and rang up the American Consulate. There's a little fellow there who's as cute as pork and beans, and he's nothing much to look at; the sort of mean little guy that nobody would gaze at twice, kinder like Jerry in fact.'

Cousins grunted and Hugh grinned.

‘Well, I'd better get right along and miss the frills, I guess,' went on Miles. ‘I told Parkinson to meet me on the wharf at once – Hudson and company were still hanging round, apparently waiting for some one, and they were still waiting when the little fellow arrived. I took him behind some cases and told him to watch them and report to me. I also described Kamper, so that there couldn't be any mistake. Then I beat it for the Consulate and sat down and waited.

‘At three-thirty Parkinson rang up to tell me that the three had met another man, who had arrived on a boat from Basra, and that they had all gone along to the Taj Mahal Hotel. It wasn't Kamper, for this guy was fat and tallish. So I went right along and booked a room too. That evening I came upon them all in the lounge comfortably settled round a group of cocktails. I greeted Hudson like an old friend, and would have passed on only, to my surprise, he seemed tickled to death at seeing me and introduced me to his
three friends, whose names were Novar, Rahtz, and Oppenheimer. They were all so mighty glad to meet me that I got a hunch that there was a catch somewhere, but I had no objection to drinking their cocktails and accepted their invitation to join them. Conversation was very ordinary and general for a time, and then came the catch, as I expected. Hudson turned to me in a casual manner and said, “You were rather friendly with Shannon, and his sister, Miles; what did you think of them?”—Say, Shannon, I don't want you to get annoyed at what I replied,' he broke off.

‘I suppose you gave me a bad character,' grinned Hugh.

‘No; I didn't go as far as that, but I said that I thought you were a bit slow on the uptake and a few things like that. Then, still in the same casual way, Hudson said, “He always gave me the idea that he had some other reason for coming to India than to take up the post of professor in a college. Did he ever hint to you what it was?” The other three guys all appeared most uninterested, but I could see that they were waiting keenly for my answer. I laughed and said that it was obvious Shannon had only come to India for one purpose, and that was to profess, because he was always so full of how he was going to raise Muslim education, and so on. That didn't appease Hudson, and he kept on at me to cast my mind back in the effort to remember if you had ever let anything drop which would suggest another motive, but of course I remembered nothing; and then I suddenly asked him why he was so almighty anxious to know. That caused some confusion, but Hudson gave a lame reason, and nothing more was said. Later on that night after dinner I watched the four of them go off to an entertainment, so I looked through the visitors book and found out the numbers of their rooms. They were all on the same corridor, and when there was nobody about I nipped into Novar's room – I have a bunch of little instruments in my pocket that will open most doors.'

He smiled and paused to light his cigar which had gone out. His three auditors waited with impatience until it was going again.

‘Well, what did you find?' queried Hugh.

‘Just nothing! That is, nothing of the least interest to you or me. I was disappointed some, for Jerry had made me get down to things with my old instincts. However, I reflected that if there was anything crooked about Novar and Rahtz they were too fly to leave anything about, and that I was far more likely to find something in Hudson's room. So I went in there. I searched thoroughly, and it seemed that I was due for another disappointment, when just as I was leaving I noticed a lounge jacket hanging on the end of the bed. I searched the pockets and I found something which was mighty puzzling, and might prove useful, so I kept it for further reference.'

‘What was it?' demanded Shannon.

‘I'll show it you when I'm through. There wasn't time to search any more rooms that night, so I beat it before they came back and caught me. All next day I had Parkinson tracking them, but with no result, and I had a casual drink or two with them. I told Hudson that I was coming to Lahore some time or other and accepted his invitation to look him up. Novar and Rahtz also held out the welcoming hand and I promised to give them both a call.'

‘Who is Oppenheimer?' asked Cousins suddenly.

‘He a fat German guy! What he had to do with the others I couldn't quite figure out but he told me he was in India for some time on business for an educational firm. But I guess this is becoming a mighty long yarn; I had better cut it short. That night they again went out and I got into Rahtz's room. I had almost finished my search with the same negative result, when I guess I got a jar – I heard somebody at the door.'

Joan sat up with excitement and Cousins and Hugh leant
forward more intently. For a moment there was silence, then the American went on:

‘Luckily I had locked myself in,' he said, ‘so I had a moment in which to look round, while the key was being fitted into the lock and turned. There was nowhere to hide except the bathroom, a large wardrobe, or under the bed. I chose the wardrobe, and only just got inside when the door was opened. I felt real queer when I heard the voices of Oppenheimer and Rahtz. They were presently joined by the other two, and I was in a fine trap.

‘“Shut the door!” said Rahtz and I heard the door closed and locked.

‘“Now, gentlemen,” he went on in German, “I think that our preparations are almost complete. We have only to wait for the signal from Moscow which will convulse the world. But we must not remain idle – all those in India who have been persuaded into our service will have to be kept up to scratch; the invasion cannot take place until September next – nearly ten months – and the waiting is likely to break the spirit of our allies in this country unless something is done to keep them enthusiastic.”

‘“Why delay till next September?” asked the voice of Hudson.

‘“Because my friend,” replied Rahtz, “the entire force in Russia will not be complete till July, and as the monsoon will then be on, we must wait till September. Once the invasion commences there must be no hitch, no mishap; the startling suddenness of it all will ensure its complete success. Our friend, Herr Oppenheimer, has brought us the news that Germany will be ready to act immediately – the Russian fleets have swooped on India, and doubtless our other allies will fall into line without fail. Everything must work with clockwork smoothness.”

‘Oppenheimer grunted agreement and Novar laughed.

‘“What a surprise for England,” he said. “Lulled into security by the apparently chaotic state of our country and the quiescence
of Germany, and acting as policemen in China over a nation which for their benefit is pretending to be at sixes and sevens, they are benevolently backing the League of Nations and pushing disarmament. And not only that but their labour party sympathises with poor downtrodden Russia, and is doing its best to help her. Was there ever a more amusing situation?”

‘There was a general laugh at this, and Oppenheimer used some particularly choice expressions to denote his contempt of England.

‘“Still we must take no risks,” went on Rahtz. “England is always lucky and on many occasions has been saved by sheer good fortune. The Spanish Armada was scattered by the elements; we must ensure that our armada does not suffer a similar fate. At last,” he added enthusiastically, “Russia is within grasp of the ambition which has been hers for decades.”

‘“Have you thought of America?” asked Hudson. “She will, of course, side with England.”

‘“By the time America knows anything about events it will be too late, and then she'll find it to her advantage to keep quiet, otherwise our German friends will settle her.”

‘The German agent grunted his agreement – That man seemed to be full of grunts.

‘“And France?” asked Hudson.

‘There was a chorus of contempt from the other three.

‘“France and Italy will go into the melting-pot of Germany,” replied Novar.

‘“And now,” said Rahtz. “We must watch that fellow Shannon. You are sure he is a secret agent, Hudson?”

‘“Absolutely certain,” was the reply; “and Kamper will confirm it. He had a very narrow escape when he was in London recently from being captured by Shannon.”

‘“Kamper takes too many risks,” said Novar; “he should not have returned to England.”

‘“It is lucky he did,” replied Hudson significantly. “I might have had the wool pulled over my eyes by Shannon, but for Kamper's discoveries.”

‘“That's true,” replied Rahtz, “but what a devil Wallace is! He obviously sent Shannon out here on suspicion that something was wrong. He is the most dangerous man we have to face.”

‘“It's time he was put out of the way,” said Novar.

‘“He bears a charmed life,” remarked the other. “It would be impossible to count the number of times he has escaped death by a miracle. But now he has sent Shannon out, we'll have to watch that young man with the greatest care, and if he becomes a nuisance – well, he must be killed. Kamper will look after him, and I have already warned two other fellows who have been entered as students in his college to shadow him, so we have nothing to fear from him, or from his pretended valet.”

‘“Then you think Cousins is also a secret agent?” asked Hudson.

‘“Of course he is!” said Rahtz. “And now, gentlemen, remember that there is a very important meeting in Lahore on December the twenty-first. The time and place will be notified to you later on, and very important representatives of our other allies will be present. Shall we now go below and refresh ourselves? Perhaps that foolish American with the glasses will join us! I confess he amuses me.”

‘To my relief they then departed, and when I was sure that it was quite safe, I came out of the cupboard. I was cramped some, and I had to give myself a mighty rubbing before I could move much. Then I cautiously left the room, and as Rahtz showed such an inclination for my company, I obliged him by going downstairs and joining them.'

His three hearers were sitting in a state of absolute amazement. Joan's face was white with excitement and fear; Hugh was biting the end of his pipe with such force that it presently snapped, and Cousins looked straight in front of him, his face creased in a conflict of emotions. Nobody spoke, and after a moment Miles went on:

‘The next day Parkinson again followed them, and sure enough Kamper arrived. He had apparently disembarked at Goa, in Portuguese territory, and travelled to Bombay by train. They met him at the station. They avoided me more or less that day, but in the evening invited me to dinner, as Rahtz, Novar and Hudson were leaving for Lahore the following morning. We had a real merry time, believe me! Kamper, of course, was not present. When the three had left the next day, I stopped behind and kept Parkinson shadowing Kamper, until he also left for Lahore. In the meantime I sent along a cable in code to my headquarters telling them that I was stopping in India for some time on urgent business and promising a long report. I stayed in Bombay until Oppenheimer left for Calcutta – he told me he would be in Lahore himself later on – It strikes me all roads lead to Lahore!