Moon of madness
the absence of O’Shea. I hung about until after nine o’clock and was
prepared to go out, when I saw him crossing the lounge. He beckoned to
me, and:
“They are not idle, Decies,” he said. “Da Cunha’s radio has been
busy.”
“Have you picked anything up?”
“No. Conditions in the town are bad. But there’s something afoot.”
“Short of burglary, what can they do?”
He stared at me vacantly; then:
“I don’t know,” he confessed.
But we were to learn--and very soon.
A disturbance in the lobby proclaimed itself.
“What’s the trouble?” said I.
Even as I spoke, the worthy man from Lancashire, whose wife had taken
Nanette under her wing, came hurrying in. He was pale.
“My God! Decies,” he exclaimed. “Did you send a car to the Casino for
Nanette?”
“No!” I replied blankly.
“Damn it! I suspected there was something wrong!”
“Quick!” said O’Shea. “What has happened?”
The other spoke very breathlessly.
“Someone brought her a message--from _you_, Mr. Decies. She ran out
without a word. Young Clayton, the cadet, ran after her.”
“Well?” O’Shea urged.
“When I got to the door, they told me that both had driven off in a
car that was waiting by the gate.”
“Did anyone actually see this car?” O’Shea demanded.
“No. It stood out in the roadway.”
“Then who brought the message?”
“A boy idling at the gate.”
“You questioned him?”
“Closely,” replied the man from Lancashire. “He did not know the
chauffeur and only had a glimpse of the car.”
“But I don’t understand,” said I dazedly.
“I followed,” the hoarse voice went on, “but just this side of the
bridge, where it’s so lonely and dark at night, I nearly ran over
Clayton! He was insensible. He’s out in the hallway now! Nanette--has
disappeared!”
Very deliberately, O’Shea adjusted his monocle.
“Decies,” he said coldly, “why, in God’s name, didn’t you stick to
your post?”
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PORTFOLIO
Born leaders of men do not achieve leadership; men force it upon
them. Here was a panic-stricken group, soon augmented by the manager
and a doctor who chanced to be in the hotel. One was for communicating
with the police; another urged the military; all were anxious to
enlarge the news.
We were in a room on the right of the entrance, the medical man
bending over an insensible cadet. O’Shea quietly closed the door. And
I have since remembered how instinctively we all turned and faced him.
“Doctor,” he said, “how soon will he recover?”
The Portuguese physician shook his head.
“Do not count upon him,” he answered gravely. “A tremendous blow on
the back of his skull. I cannot examine him properly here. He must be
taken at once to the hospital.”
“An accident?”
“But certainly, no! Foul play. Some blunt weapon. I suspect a
sandbag.”
“Shall I telephone the police?” the manager asked.
“No,” said O’Shea. “Get young Clayton away as quickly as possible.
Gentlemen”--he included us all in a comprehensive glance--“let us keep
this affair to ourselves.”
“What!” I cried.
But indeed, beyond that one word I could not go. Inertia at such a
time astounded me.
“There is a well-known policy of war,” O’Shea went on: “Masterly
inactivity. We have no Service de Sûreté and no Scotland Yard in
Madeira. A clumsy hue and cry could serve no better purpose than to
drive the enemy into some more remote hiding place.”
“But, Nanette!” I burst out.
Then I met O’Shea’s glance. I noted the grim set of his jaw. I saw how
pale he was.
“Your remark was rather unnecessary, Decies,” he said. “I recently
pointed out to you that Madeira is a very lonely island. If you can
suggest any plan for locating the whereabouts of Nanette, do so.”
Then I understood. And I think I groaned.
“There are so many roads they might have taken,” the manager
explained. “And what means have we of tracing the car? There are no
traffic police in Madeira. Such a thing has never happened here
before. Certainly not in my time.”
“What villain has done it?” came in agonized North Country dialect.
“Oh, the poor little lass!”
“Madeiran blood runs very hot,” said the physician.
“No doubt,” O’Shea agreed. “And Nanette is a lovely child. But do you
believe there is any one amongst her acquaintances mad enough to
commit such an outrage?”
“Why do you say ‘amongst her acquaintances’?” I asked stupidly.
“Because _your_ name was used to induce her to go,” O’Shea answered.
“Ultimately, she must be found. Her abductor knows this. Therefore he
is prepared to make terms.”
Came a rap on the door.
“Yes?” said the manager.
A hall porter appeared. Major O’Shea was wanted on the telephone. As
he went out:
“Come to my room in five minutes, Decies,” he directed.
The five minutes that followed form a blur in my memory. There were
hushed voices. There was movement; a still figure being carried
through the hall to where a car waited out in the scented darkness.
Someone kept saying, “We must _do_ something. We must _do_ something,”
over and over again. There was a woman who sobbed with a Lancashire
accent.
Then I stood in O’Shea’s room. He was seated on the side of the bed.
“I was right,” he said. “It’s a move in the Red game!”
“What!”
My wild, distorted ideas were tumbled over one another by that
statement. They fought in my brain, seeking fresh formation.
“I knew that if my theory were sound they would waste no time. That
was Julian Macalister on the ’phone. It’s the photographs they’re
after, Decies!”
Whereupon: “Thank God!” I exclaimed.
O’Shea raised his eyes to me.
“I forgive you,” he said softly, “for preferring my ruin to
Nanette’s.”
Certainly the swift tragedy of the last half hour must have numbed my
brain. O’Shea had watched me, not angrily, for several moments before
the full meaning of his words gripped my mind.
I dropped into an armchair.
Gabriel da Cunha and Julian Macalister, Communist agents, had
triumphed at the eleventh hour!
“My special duties as a secret service officer end to-night.” It was
O’Shea who spoke, but his voice seemed to come hollowly from a great
distance. “My resignation from the regiment must follow.”
I spoke never a word.
“There is just one thing, Decies, you can do.”
Then I roused myself. I looked eagerly at O’Shea. I think, in that
dark hour, I would have crawled through the hottest alleyways of hell
to save him. “Why, in God’s name, didn’t you stick to your post?”
Those words of his would sound in my ears for many a long day to come.
“You can enable me to resign,” he went on. “It would be preferable to
being gazetted: ‘The King having no further use for this officer’s
services.’”
“Anything,” I said. “I will do anything.”
A party of serenaders, playing gently on guitars and singing a
languorous love-song, passed along the road below. Their voices
mingled in perfect harmony. A sea breeze bore perfume into the room.
And I thought that this soft island, set like a jewel above the brow
of Africa, might once have been the home of Calypso, stealing men’s
senses.
“It may seem mere splitting of hairs,” O’Shea went on. “But it serves
my purpose, and so I ask you to do it.”
He took up the precious portfolio, which lay upon the bed beside him.
“I forced the lock last night,” he said, “but had it repaired and
fitted with a key in the town this morning. I removed the seals intact
and replaced them. Here is the key.” He held it out upon his open
palm. “Take it.”
I took it, wondering and waiting.
“Now take the portfolio,” said he. “You will find it is locked. Hide
it where you please. But its security means everything to me, to
Nanette, and to England.”
“You mean,” I began, “that I----”
“I mean,” O’Shea took me up, “that _you_ may pay this price to ransom
her. _I_ cannot. You have sworn no oath of allegiance to the Crown. I
have.”
“Good God!” I cried. “The decision is to rest with _me_!”
“As a private citizen you can choose between the claims of your
country, in this very difficult matter, and the claims of a helpless
girl who has been given into your charge. As an officer, I have no
choice.”
He spoke in a low, monotonous voice. But I shall remember every word
of his instructions whilst memory lasts.
“You must not tell me where it is concealed. It should be in some
place, though, that is quickly accessible.”
“But, O’Shea! Are they sending someone to make terms?”
“They are. At eleven o’clock to-night.”
“Why not have him arrested?”
O’Shea stared at me, and smiled. But it was a cold smile.
“Julian Macalister is coming in person,” he replied. “News of this
unfortunate occurrence having reached him and our mutual friend,
Gabriel da Cunha, both are anxious to place their extensive knowledge
of the island at our disposal. On what charge should you propose to
arrest Macalister?”
“Directly he declares his real object, upon a triple charge of
blackmail, abduction, and attempted murder!”
“And then?”
“Well, surely----”
“My dear fellow!” O’Shea stood up and sighed wearily. “Racks and
boiling oil would never be sanctioned by the civil governor.
Personally, I should prescribe them.”
I was silenced. O’Shea was right.
“Under Portuguese law the case would take weeks,” he added. “It would
be adjourned to Lisbon. No. We cannot leave her in unknown hands----”
He turned, the sentence unfinished, and walked across to the balcony.
I knew that if she had never met Edmond O’Shea little Nanette would
have been safe in England that night. And I knew that he knew.
Taking up the portfolio, I went out, closing the door very quietly.
CHAPTER XV.
TERMS WITH THE ENEMY
I had noted a loose floor board in my room. With the aid of a knife
blade, I succeeded in lifting it, revealing a dusty cavity. Here I hid
the portfolio. I replaced the board and slipped the key on to my ring
with others that I habitually carried.
That I was destined to be present at the interview with Macalister, I
foresaw clearly enough. How best to prepare myself it was not easy to
determine. Primarily I had to focus upon keeping my temper. O’Shea
plainly wanted to be alone.
I looked into the cocktail bar. Two men whom I knew were drinking
highballs, and:
“Hullo, Decies,” said one, “what’s this crazy rumour about your little
friend?”
The words offended me. I suppose I was in a mood for it. Since the
fateful morning that Nanette had missed the boat, many questionable
glances had been cast upon me.
“It’s what you say,” I answered shortly: “a crazy rumour.”
Then I went out.
I crossed the lobby and stood in the porch for a while, breathing the
warm perfume of the gardens. A man and a girl were walking down the
slope toward the terraces. He had his arm about her waist.
The open road called to me. Lighting my pipe, I set out. Drivers of
bullock carts solicited my patronage, but I ignored them and walked
on. I had no idea where I was going. I think I was merely running away
from myself. I could not banish the illusion that Nanette was hiding
behind some tree; that she would suddenly leap out at me with mock
reproaches for my neglect of the grass orphan.
Twice I thought I saw her slender figure in the distance.
O’Shea was ruined. This was the idea that ultimately came to the top
and stayed there. O’Shea was ruined. The blind love of a child-woman
had wrecked the best man it had ever been my lot to know. She had
stayed for O’Shea. No one suspected it. But I knew.
This was the sequel.
Lonely in my knowledge of all it might mean--when, willy-nilly, I
should have surrendered the portfolio--I tramped on. A great, cold
jewel, the moon lighted my way. By a stagnant cistern, green with
slime, I pulled up. I had walked half the distance to the Casino.
This cistern was infested by poisonous insects with nasty habits in