Emboldened by our success in getting into the fort by day and night,
we then continued the experiment for several nights in succession,
watching the further practice with searchlights, star shells, and
light rockets. We had, however, collected all the information that was
necessary, and there was no need for us to go there again. But news
reached us that there was to be a final show for the Emperor himself,
and I could not resist the temptation of going once more to the fort,
as I expected there would be a grand pyrotechnic display for this
occasion.
I got there in good time before the Emperor's arrival, and made my
way into the place as usual, my brother remaining outside to see
the effect of the lights from the attacker's point of view. Inside,
however, all was not quite the same as it had been on previous
occasions. There were a very large number of officers collected
there, and a too larger number of police, officers for my liking. I,
therefore, repented of my intention and took myself out again.
Then as I walked back along the road in the dark I noticed the lights
of the Emperor's _cortege_ coming along towards me. As the first
carriage passed me I did the worst thing in the world I could have
done at such a moment--I turned my head away to avoid being recognised
in the lamplight. My action made the occupants of the first carriage
suspicious. They were some of the staff officers of the Emperor.
In a moment they stopped the carriage, rushed at me, and with scarcely
a word, seized and hustled me into the carriage with them, and drove
back to the fort again. They asked me a few questions as to who I was
and why I was there, and on arrival at the fort I was handed over to
some other officers and again asked my business.
I could only say that I was an Englishman who had been looking on at
the manoeuvres as a spectator and was anxious to find my way to the
station (which was some ten miles away). This was all fairly true, but
not quite good enough for them, and they presently packed me into a
carriage and sent me back--in charge of an officer--to the station,
with a view to my being handed over to the police and removed to the
capital.
It was in the days of my apprenticeship, and I had been exceedingly
foolish in taking a few notes, which, although undecipherable, perhaps
would none the less be used as evidence against me.
Therefore, so soon as we were under way I made it my business to
quietly tear these notes up into small pieces, and to drop them out
of the carriage window whenever my guardian was looking the other way.
When we arrived at the station there was some little time to wait, and
I asked if I might go to the inn and collect my belongings. Permission
was granted to me, and I was taken there under the charge of a police
officer.
Hastily I packed my bag, and the good officer endeavoured to help me,
packing up anything he could see in the room and thrusting it in with
my things. Unfortunately he kept packing my brother's things in as
well, and so when his back was turned I thrust them back into my
brother's bed, for I did not want it known he was about there too.
Having finally filled my portmanteau, my next care was to leave a
warning lest he too should be entrapped. So while ostensibly paying
the bill to the landlord of the house, who had been called up by the
police, I wrote a warning note on a scrap of paper, which I jammed on
the candle, where my brother could not fail to find it when he came
home later on, and then I went off to the station, and was taken back
to the capital by a Hussar officer of congenial temperament.
With all good feeling and the true hospitality of his kind,
he insisted on buying half a dozen bottles of beer for my
consumption--since I was an Englishman--and he helped me with the
ordeal during the small hours of the morning.
On reaching the capital I was put into a hotel, my passport taken from
me, and I was told that I should be expected to remain there until
called for. In the meantime I might go about the city, but was not
to take myself away without permission. I very soon found that I was
being watched by a detective told off for the purpose, and then it was
that I made the acquaintance of a foreign spy who was acting as waiter
in the hotel. He was so well informed on higher politics, as well
as on military matters, that I guessed he must be an officer of the
intelligence staff, and he was most helpful and kind to me in my
predicament.
He pointed out to me who were the detectives in the hotel staff, and
informed me that their duty was merely to watch me, to ascertain what
my moves were day by day, and to report them by telephone to the head
police office. He advised me before going out each day to inform the
hall porter, thereby letting the detectives overhear what were my
plans; they would then telephone to the police, who would have their
own detectives watching me while I was out.