An Ultimatum
Confronted with the mysterious problem Sub-Lieutenant Fordyce made
his way to a secluded part of the sea-front. With a true sailor's
instinct he paced up and down, debating with himself as to the course
of action he should pursue.
If only he had a witness to the conversation. He racked his brains to
formulate a scheme whereby he could discuss the matter again with
Councillor Mindiggle, this time with a third person unseen but within
earshot. Failing that there was little use in reporting the matter.
As the fellow said, it was one man's word against another's, and the
charge would appear so preposterous that it would stand no possible
chance of being substantiated.
For similar reasons he dismissed the idea that he should report the
case to his skipper, the Hon. Derek Stockdale, Lieutenant-Commander
of R19. Mindiggle's statement that the Sub had informed him of the
vessel's date of departure and destination would be an awkward factor
in the matter.
So, rightly or wrongly, Noel Fordyce resolved to keep secret the
interview with Councillor Mindiggle, at least for a time. Meanwhile
he would fight to the bitter end to save Flirt from the lethal
chamber.
Having shut the front door on his caller, Councillor Mindiggle
returned to his study. As far as the rest of his household was
concerned he was free from interruption. He had no wife; his
housekeeper was stone deaf; the servant who had shown Fordyce into
the room was going out for the evening.
It would have been a great surprise to Fordyce if he had known that
there had been a third person within earshot, but such was a fact.
Unlocking a door leading into an inner room Mindiggle released a man
who, although he looked an Englishman, spoke in Russian.
"Don't you think, comrade, that you were much too rash?" he asked
anxiously.
"Not at all, Boris Platoff," replied Mindiggle coolly. "On the
contrary, I have hopes that we shall be relieved of a considerable
amount of bother and danger. The diamonds will be in Petrograd before
the great day. That young man will consent to my terms. It's
wonderful what a hold one has over an Englishman who owns a favourite
dog. Inform the police--bah! He would not dare risk the ridicule his
action would bring upon him. Those diamonds will go in the submarine,
you mark my words."
"Let us hope so," rejoined Platoff. "Then, either they will reach
Comrade Klostivitch or else it will be an end to R19. It depends
largely on the temperature in the Baltic, eh?"
Both men laughed softly.
"Supposing," continued the Russian--"Supposing--and we must consider
possibilities--this English officer takes the diamonds and then hands
them over to the authorities?"
"I'll have to take the risk of being convicted as a smuggler,
comrade," replied Mindiggle.
"But if they are subjected to a test?"
"They will discover nothing. I defy the efforts of the world's
laboratories to analyse the stuff," declared Mindiggle. "Acid, heat
--nothing will avail."
"Except cold," added Boris Platoff.
"Then it will be what the ancient Egyptians call Nirvana," said the
other grimly.
Boris Platoff was a Leninist, a member of the ultra-extremist party
in Russia. Having, under German influence, taken a prominent part in
wrecking the Russian Empire as a fighting-machine, he was doing his
best to supplant the Kerensky regime by one of red-hot anarchy. While
on a mission to the Russian Anarchist colony in London he had been
given an introduction to a member of the World's Workers--a
revolutionary society the object of which was the social democracy of
every nation under the sun. This member's name was simply given as
Comrade Ivan, known outside the brotherhood as Mr. John Mindiggle.
While posing both as an Englishman and a Russian, John Mindiggle was
neither. He was a German--a Secret Service agent--whose work was
entirely for the futherance of Kaiserism. During twenty years of
practically continuous residence in Great Britain Ernst von
Verbrennungsraum had been working unostentatiously, yet deliberately,
for the Fatherland, for the day when Germany would become the
mistress of the World and when freedom would be denied to all other
nations large or small.
Von Verbrennungsraum's chance came when Russia took the suicidal step
of exchanging the yoke of Czardom for that of unbridled "liberty".
The first revolution that resulted in the abdication of the Czar
Nicholas was a step in the right direction so far as Germany was
concerned, but it was not far enough. The new republic still
maintained an army on its Austro-German frontier--an army in which
bravery and cowardice existed cheek by jowl. Utter internal chaos was
what was desired in order to remove a menace to Germany's eastern
frontier and thus enable her to throw thousands of troops into other
sectors of battle.
To compass the downfall of the Kerensky regime the anarchists were to
resort to a favourite device--explosives. In a secret laboratory was
manipulated a new and extremely powerful chemical, which, in its
final state, resembled, and could hardly be distinguished from, cut
diamonds. It was a sample of this diabolical stuff that Mindiggle was
in hopes of sending to Petrograd through the agency of Noel Fordyce.
Impossible to detonate by combustion, friction, or the application of
heat, the explosive was perfectly safe to handle until the
temperature fell below -5° C. The moment the mercury dropped to that
point the explosive would simultaneously and spontaneously act.
In his attempt to induce Fordyce to convey the "diamonds" to Russia
the German agent was employing a double-barrelled weapon. If the
stuff did get to Petrograd well and good. If, on the other hand, the
temperature on board the submarine should fall below -5° C. while
running awash towards the port of Cronstadt, it meant utter
annihilation to R19 and terrific damage to everything within a mile
of the source of the explosion.
And, confident in his ability to make use of Flirt as the deciding
factor, von Verbrennungsraum duly applied for and obtained a summons
against Noel Fordyce.