登陆注册
15467200000031

第31章 CHAPTER SEVEN The Dry-Fly Fisherman(4)

'Harry talked dashed nonsense, did he? I quite believe it. He's as good a chap as ever breathed, but his idiot of an uncle has stuffed his head with maggots. Go on, Mr Hannay.'

My day as roadman excited him a bit. He made me describe the two fellows in the car very closely, and seemed to be raking back in his memory. He grew merry again when he heard of the fate of that ass jopley.

But the old man in the moorland house solemnized him. Again I had to describe every detail of his appearance.

'Bland and bald-headed and hooded his eyes like a bird ... He sounds a sinister wild-fowl! And you dynamited his hermitage, after he had saved you from the police. Spirited piece of work, that!' Presently I reached the end of my wanderings. He got up slowly, and looked down at me from the hearth-rug.

'You may dismiss the police from your mind,' he said. 'You're in no danger from the law of this land.'

'Great Scot!' I cried. 'Have they got the murderer?'

'No. But for the last fortnight they have dropped you from the list of possibles.'

'Why?' I asked in amazement.

'PrincipallybecauseIreceivedaletterfrom Scudder.Iknewsomething of the man, and he did several jobs for me. He was half crank, half genius, but he was wholly honest. The trouble about him was his partiality for playing a lone hand. That made him pretty well useless in any Secret Service - a pity, for he had uncommon gifts. I think he was the bravest man in the world, for he was always shivering with fright, and yet nothing would choke him off. I had a letter from him on the 31st of May.'

'But he had been dead a week by then.'

'The letter was written and posted on the 23rd. He evidently did not anticipate an immediate decease. His communications usually took a week to reach me, for they were sent under cover to Spain and then to Newcastle. He had a mania, you know, for concealing his tracks.'

'What did he say?' I stammered.

'Nothing. Merely that he was in danger, but had found shelter with a good friend, and that I would hear from him before the 15th of June. He gave me no address, but said he was living near Portland Place. I think his object was to clear you if anything happened. When I got it I went to Scotland Yard, went over the details of the inquest, and concluded that you were the friend. We made inquiries about you, Mr Hannay, and found you were respectable. I thought I knew the motives for your disappearance - not only the police, the other one too - and when I got Harry's scrawl I guessed at the rest. I have been expecting you any time this past week.' You can imagine what a load this took off my mind. I felt a free man once more, for I was now up against my country's enemies only, and not my country's law.

'Now let us have the little note-book,' said Sir Walter.

It took us a good hour to work through it. I explained the cypher, and he was jolly quick at picking it up. He emended my reading of it on several points, but I had been fairly correct, on the whole. His face was very grave before he had finished, and he sat silent for a while.

'I don't know what to make of it,' he said at last. 'He is right about one thing - what is going to happen the day after tomorrow. How the devil can it have got known? That is ugly enough in itself. But all this about war and the Black Stone - it reads like some wild melodrama. If only I had more confidence in Scudder's judgement. The trouble about him was that he wastoo romantic. He had the artistic temperament, and wanted a story to be better than God meant it to be. He had a lot of odd biases, too. Jews, for example, made him see red. Jews and the high finance.

'The Black Stone,' he repeated. 'DER SCHWARZE STEIN. It's like a penny novelette. And all this stuff about Karolides. That is the weak part of the tale, for I happen to know that the virtuous Karolides is likely to outlast us both. There is no State in Europe that wants him gone. Besides, he has just been playing up to Berlin and Vienna and giving my Chief some uneasy moments. No! Scudder has gone off the track there. Frankly, Hannay, I don't believe that part of his story. There's some nasty business afoot, and he found out too much and lost his life over it. But I am ready to take my oath that it is ordinary spy work. A certain great European Power makes a hobby of her spy system, and her methods are not too particular. Since she pays by piecework her blackguards are not likely to stick at a murder or two. They want our naval dispositions for their collection at the Marineamt; but they will be pigeon-holed - nothing more.' just then the butler entered the room.

'There's a trunk-call from London, Sir Walter. It's Mr 'Eath, and he wants to speak to you personally.'

My host went off to the telephone.

He returned in five minutes with a whitish face. 'I apologize to the shade of Scudder,' he said. 'Karolides was shot dead this evening at a few minutes after seven.'

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 亡神大人您别跑

    亡神大人您别跑

    什么,你说我是亡神,听起来就好麻烦,没兴趣,没兴趣,n多美男环绕我也没兴趣,没兴趣。离我远一点,不要打扰我,可你们怎么就这么的锲而不舍呢,那我只好跟天斗跟地斗,其乐无穷喽……
  • 幽静城

    幽静城

    你知道吗?没有什么比带着怨恨死去更痛苦的!也没有什么比带着怨恨重活一次的更幸运的!她需要将之前的如今的所有的怨恨积累,来毁灭所有愚蠢的亲人与朋友……
  • 星神巅峰

    星神巅峰

    古时有宝,名曰:星珠。生于天地混沌之时,乃天地至极之物,有夺天地造化之能,改变天地规则之力。蕴含无比纯净庞大的星辰之力,万年一蜕变,千万年可孕育为人……一枚神秘古戒,改变了南同学的人生轨迹……
  • 卫生宝鉴

    卫生宝鉴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 史上第一废物家族

    史上第一废物家族

    废物家族有七宝,护短的祖宗,糊涂的长老,家族的族长墙头草,三老爷的嘴,九老爷的腿,大少爷是个败家鬼,对了,还有七少爷短路的脑。飞扬世界九天大陆,门派林立,家族无数,高手如云,天才辈出,大能多如狗,恐怖的老怪物满地走,资源丰富,仙灵之气充足,算计阴谋比比皆是,在这种环境下废物家族又该何去何从呢?别急,我们的故事才刚刚开始。写作,我们是认真的。
  • 人族不灭

    人族不灭

    全球一夜之间,发生了巨大灾变,人类赖以生存的电力无法在使用了,人类文明一下子从信息时代,变成了蒸汽时代,生产力大幅度下降。面对70亿的人口,各种资源应付相形见拙,地球村也不再是地球村。交通、通讯工具落后的隔离,使得地域分化也日益显著。以此同时人类也遭到外来种族的入侵.........
  • 欺骗无期——君莫悔

    欺骗无期——君莫悔

    一对高中情侣穿越至未知时代。女子为嫔男子为王,王力排众议,封女为后,许诺一生一心一人,如若负心,一死相还······最终男子只得一句:“你不配”,于是血染古寺,雨停了,烟散了,心死人灭······
  • 魔法少女的命运

    魔法少女的命运

    逆袭?反派?叛逆?其实都只因一件小小的起因。
  • 佛说自誓三昧经

    佛说自誓三昧经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 神术时代

    神术时代

    代表魔法师辉煌与战师荣耀的魔法圣殿与战神殿稳稳的屹立大陆已过万年,魔法圣殿以11种法术的驾驭而闻名,战神殿以不同的军事才能驰名天下,而在上古时期流传的术之一脉因具有与魔法圣殿相悖的法术理论被视为异端剿杀渐渐绝迹。在魔法与战技的巅峰时代下,曾被视为魔法异端且拥有上古的术之一脉能否重现天下,撼动两大神殿的统治?!画阵与刻阵演绎术临天下,术元与术芒神秘缤纷看上古异兽的人性转变,感重现古术的坎坷磨难因人欲而被掩埋的除魔之战,真实到底是什么?术元引你君临天下,刻阵助你荡平八方,术芒覆体,成就霸业的即将是你!------------------------------------