The Air Pirate
there was no possible indication of the cave mouth where I now stood.
Moreover, the cave itself turned _inward_ from the sea, running parallel
to the cliff. _From the sea, as from the land, the opening of the cave
was entirely hidden._
Vargus was fumbling at a switch-board. He pulled down a vulcanite
handle; there was a green spark, and lights at the top, bottom and sides
of the entrance glowed out brightly.
Imagine an illuminated rabbit-hole in the side of a railway embankment,
and you have an exact miniature of what this vast secret cave had now
become. Go a little further and think of a bat whose lair was in this
hole, and was guided to it by the lights....
Vargus snapped another and smaller switch. I watched him with a sense of
complete detachment. I knew, as well as if I had been told, that he was
lighting guiding lamps somewhere on the two headlands that guarded the
entrance to the cave outside. No thought of danger came to me; I think
joy at this complete discovery, and wonder at the stupendous cunning and
achievement of it all were my only emotions.
"They may be here at any moment, Feddon. I tell you I don't like it at
all. I told the Chief that it was madness not to lie low for a bit. But
you know what he is. The Government has got the tip somehow, the Cornish
seas are _humming_ with enemies. That fellow, Custance, is smart as they
make them...."
He was moving towards me as these words came from him in a nervous,
disjointed stream of words. Then he saw me, and stopped bang in the
middle of a sentence.
It was my moment.
"How do you do, Mr. Vargus," I said. "You mentioned my name. Indeed, you
paid me a compliment for which I thank you. I thought I'd drop in for a
chat. Sorry to find Major Helzephron out."
I never saw a man in such deadly fear. His face went the colour of
cheese, and a horrible choking noise began in his throat. He staggered
to within a yard of the brink; another step and he would have plunged
into the abyss.
"You, you, _you_!" he said, the last word in a dreadful whisper.
"The Oxford professor--yes. Mr. Vargus, I am a lover of music, and you
have entertained me royally to-night. But you have played Chopin for the
last time in this world."
I lifted the pistol and covered his heart. His yellow mask quivered and
was still. "Quickly, please," he said, and there was even a faint smile
of relief about his pallid lips.
He could face death gladly, and I knew why. To have shot him there and
cast his body to the void would have been a mercy. I had other uses for
Mr. Vargus.
My pistol hand was steady as a rock. With the left I took out Danjuro's
handcuffs and walked up to him.
"Not yet," I said, when I was within a foot.
He saw what I meant. As comprehension leapt into his eyes he tried to
step back. He nearly did it, but I was just too quick for him. I caught
his ankle with the crook of my right foot, and he crashed on his back
with his head and shoulders actually over the chasm. Before he could
move again I had jerked him backwards by the legs, and had him
handcuffed.
I pulled him to his feet by his collar, and half marched, half carried
him back into the cave. He was nothing more than a bundle of clothes in
my hands.
"Now," I said, "take me _at once_ to the place where Miss Shepherd is
confined, and, though I make no promises, it may go less hardly with you
than the rest."
He twisted his head and tried to look me in the face. "If I do, will you
shoot me?" he whispered, fawning on me like a beaten dog. "For God's
sake shoot me, or give me an opportunity to shoot myself."
"The hangman will save you the trouble," I answered brutally. "Now then,
march!" He gave a great wail of despair.
"Ah, you don't know what I was once!" he cried, and there was such a
horror of remorse, a damnation so profound in that cry of agony, that a
fiend would have been moved.
"I heard you play the Third Ballade," I answered, and my voice was no
longer firm.
"Death, please, Death."
"Take me quickly to Miss Shepherd. Then perhaps--I can't kill you
myself, but ..."
It was as though my words poured a new life into his veins. His knees
still knocked together in a loathsome paralysis, but he made effort to
shamble forward.
CHAPTER XIV
THE AIR PIRATE AT LAST
Vargus was silent now. Our feet made no noise upon the sandy floor of
the cave. It was then that I heard something like a cat purring.
Unconsciously I stopped to listen. No, it wasn't a cat, it was the faint
drone of some night beetle; it was ...
On the right wall of the cavern, remember that my back was turned to its
mouth and the sea--there was a sudden flash of white light.
The rest happened in five seconds.
The light leapt out from the wall, and instantaneously the vast vaulted
place was brilliantly illuminated. I had a fleeting vision of wooden
galleries, a workshop and smithy, piles of stores, and then I wheeled
round with a shout of terror. The drone had leapt up to a deep, menacing
note, like the E string of a double bass. A circular furnace of white
light in the centre of a gigantic shadow rushed at me with incredible
speed.
A blast of wind struck me like the shell from a six-inch gun; the drone
rose to the echoing shout of an army as the Pirate Airship entered the
cave that was its home.
I had just the millionth part of a second in which to realize the truth
before my head struck; the wind seemed to tear out my very vitals, and I
knew nothing more.
* * * * *
Once, when I was a boy at the seaside in Wales, I dived into a deep rock
pool, and, deceived by the clearness of the water, hit my head against a
submerged ledge, and for several seconds was stunned. There was no one
with me, but, fortunately, I recovered in time, and with bursting lungs
regained the surface.
The experience was repeated now, or so it seemed, with a curious
subconscious memory. I thought that I was rushing violently upwards
towards the light out of a well of darkness. Each moment the radiance
increased and my speed grew greater. There was a sound as of many waters
in my ears.
I opened my eyes. The light was brilliant, painful. Also, it moved and
flashed, and so it was not the sun of twenty years before beating
down....
Someone spoke: "Yes, it's the man himself. He's shaved off his
moustache, and his hair and skin are dyed. He's a fair chap really.
Look at his lower neck and chest. It's Sir John Custance right enough!"
I lay and listened. Although I heard every word, and perceived that an
electric torch was dancing about, the conversation hardly seemed to
concern me.
There was another voice: "Vargus said he admitted it, but Vargus has
fainted again."
Hands felt me all over. Things were taken from my pockets, and there
were sharp exclamations of surprise. Somebody gave a long, low whistle.
"No bones broken. His eyes are opening. Give me that flash, Gascoigne."
Someone poured brandy down my throat--I knew it was brandy--and I moved
my limbs and groaned.
Then I heard a shout as a door that I could not see was burst open.
"Feddon's killed!" came in a high, excited voice. "Poor old Feddy's shot
through the heart."
I think it was at this precise moment that I regained full
consciousness, and realized that I was not badly hurt. My whole body
felt as if it had been severely beaten, but instinct told me that there
was no real damage. As for the shock, it was not until several hours
afterwards that I felt its effect, though then it meant collapse.
I lay perfectly still, this time by design, and closed my eyes.
Everything had come back to me; I remembered every incident from the
moment I had cut the barbed wire to that when I had escaped, by a
miracle, death from the returning Pirate Ship.
My first thought was one of bitter disappointment. So they had run the
gauntlet, after all! The mystery ship had escaped the swarm of cruisers
and patrol boats that were looking for her. I believe I ground my teeth
with rage. A second afterwards I groaned out loud. The sound was wrung
from my very heart. I was too late to rescue Constance now....
All round me there was a buzz of low-pitched voices. Without any trouble
at all, I could detect the note of fear and consternation. And it was
tonic. My plight seemed desperate enough, but there was a chance yet.
They had taken my weapons from me, but others might prove as valuable.
The pirates were disorganized, alarmed. Well, craft should meet craft!
Surely, the moment was favourable?
I was in a dimly-lit place, surrounded by dark figures. How long I lay
thus I do not know, probably for no great space of time. At any rate, I
had not been in full possession of my faculties for many minutes when a
door opened, and a voice spoke in accents of authority.
It was a voice that I had never heard before, but I knew whose it was.
"I have made a careful examination of the house," came in clear,
well-bred tones, "and there is no one there. It is the same outside and
all round the fence. I let the dogs loose and they discovered nothing."
"How did this"--I was kicked brutally in the side--"get in, Chief?"
asked a voice.
"Cut the fence wire, and managed to open the door in the east wall. Then
climbed the porch and entered through Feddon's bedroom. The dogs
followed the scent and showed. That doesn't matter much now. The point
is that he's here."
"And we know what to deduce from that!" I heard, and pricked up my ears.
My friend Mr. Vargus had revived then! There was a soft malignancy in
his voice that made me shudder.
"Vargus is right. It is fairly certain that the game's up as far as this
place is concerned. They've marked us down, sure enough. In a few
minutes I shall take steps to find out exactly how much they _do_ know.
Meanwhile we appear to have some time before us, and we must carry out
the emergency plan that we've so often rehearsed. Gascoigne, Jones and
Sutton, Pointz, fill all the petrol tanks to full capacity, load
emergency stores, examine and reverse ship. When finished, report to me
in my room."
The men hurried away.
"Philips and Minver get on to the moor and report any man or body of men
advancing on the house. You will take rifles and act as outposts. At any
sign of approach, don't hesitate to fire. Then fall back on the house."
"Shall we take the dogs, Chief? They would be useful."
"No, I shall need them. The rest of you will hold the house till the
last moment. Then get into the lift and come down. It will take them
some time to find out the way and follow, while one man can hold the
passages for any length of time. We shall all be fifty miles out at sea
before anyone can break in down here, and all the swag is packed ready
to go on board. Vargus, you will stay down here and help me in what I've
got to do."
Several other men left the room.
In a lower voice, though I heard every word, Helzephron went on talking
to his lieutenant.
"... Mind you, I don't actually expect an attack in force, but we must
be prepared. For all we know, there may be a hundred men waiting on the
moor. One thing is certain. They know where, or whereabouts we are, or
that gentleman on the floor would not have got in, nor all those ships
be cruising about outside. So we must be off with all we can take to our
emergency base in the Hebrides. Once outside, nothing can touch us, of
course, and we'd get up to sixteen thousand feet at once. Barometer
readings make it pretty certain that it will be cloudy at dawn, and it's
a million chances to one against our even being seen."
I lay not three yards away. I had not noticed it until now, but my
ankles were tied together, and, weak as I was, any physical effort was
impossible. Helzephron had talked over his plans with an absolute