The bold course was the only one possible. I walked straight to the
Correo Central, and, entering the _poste restante_, inquired casually
for a telegram addressed to the name of Fontan.
"It was called for half an hour ago," was the gruff reply of the little
old Spaniard at the counter, who shot a quick look of suspicion at me,
wondering, no doubt, how it came about that a second inquiry should be
made for the same telegram. I bit my lip, but tried to appear
unconcerned, and, after dispatching another message, went out filled
with chagrin at having missed my objective by so narrow a margin. The
time left me for action was growing desperately short, yet, rack my
brains as I would, I could think of no way out of my difficulty.
But my suspense was not to last long. As I walked slowly back to the
Ezcurra, my heart gave a sudden leap as I recognised, walking parallel
with me on the opposite side of the road, one of the two mysterious
"Italians" whom I had encountered a few days previously in the little
_fonda_ at Azcoitia. He was walking at about the same pace as myself,
and I very quickly realised that he was carefully "shadowing" me. But
that was a game at which two could play!
Turning into a shop where there was a public telephone, I rang up Madame
Gabrielle at the Continental, swiftly explained the circumstances to
her, and implored her to hurry to meet me, so that she could take off my
hands the task of watching the "Italians."
Purposely I set my steps toward the Continental, making a sharp turn
from my direct road to do so, and my suspicion that I was the object of
the "Italian's" attention was instantly confirmed. He turned at once to
follow me, though apparently with so little of set intention that no one
whose suspicions had not been aroused would have dreamed that he was
being shadowed by a clever hand at the game.
Ten minutes later a grave-looking Spanish lady, wearing an ample
mantilla, came slowly towards me. I was eagerly on the look-out for
Madame Gabrielle, but I confess that for a moment I never suspected that
she and the Spanish lady were identical. Indeed it was not until she
had attracted my attention by a slight but peculiar flip of the hand,
which was one of our recognised private signals, that I realised who she
was, so perfect was the disguise.
However, my course was easy enough now; all I had to do was to indicate
the "Italian" to her, and I knew I could safely leave in her hands the
task of finding out all there was to know about him.
I had crossed the road and the "Italian" was some fifty yards behind us.
As Madame Gabrielle approached I turned down a side street, and, when I
judged the "Italian" must be near the entrance, walked smartly round the
corner to meet him. I had judged the distance well; we came into
violent collision, and with every indication of helplessness that I
could assume I fell headlong into the roadway.
Instantly the "Italian" was all helpfulness and apologies. He assisted
me to rise and helped me to brush away some of the dust with which I was
covered. Of course I could not, for this occasion at least, speak
Italian, but the language of signs was sufficient, and at length I left
him apparently much distressed, and started for the Ezcurra, limping
with an ostentatious painfulness which I hoped would effectually
convince my antagonist, firstly, that I was really hurt, and, secondly,
that I had not the smallest suspicion of his real identity and object.
We signalled good-bye with every appearance of cordiality.
I took good care not even to look round on my walk back to the hotel. I
knew the "Italian" would be safely under the observation of Madame
Gabrielle, and that I should get the information I wanted in good time.
My spirits rose. I felt sure that at length I was on the right track.
Returning to the hotel, I volubly explained my dirty and dishevelled
appearance in full hearing of a small crowd of idlers in the lounge. I
did not know whether among them there might not be another agent of our
enemies, and, by way of concealing my suspicions, I spoke warmly of the
essentially Italian courtesy of my late antagonist. It came out
afterwards that I had done a good stroke of work. The lounge did
contain an enemy agent who was watching me, but so naturally was I able
to speak that he actually reported that I had obviously not the smallest
suspicion of the real calling of the mysterious "Italian."
Until I received some word from Madame Gabrielle there was absolutely
nothing that I could do, and I passed hour after hour in an inward fever
of impotence and anxiety, though outwardly, I dare say, I was cool and
unconcerned; one does not wear his heart upon his sleeve in the Secret
Service! Dinner came and I ate with an appetite, well knowing that at
any moment a call might come which would tax my physical and mental
powers to the uttermost.
Having finished my dinner, the big Swiss porter came into the room and
handed me a note, remarking in French: "This has just been brought by a
boy, monsieur."
Inside it I found a plain visiting-card of the size used by gentlemen.
There was nothing else.
Here, indeed, was the call to action. That plain visiting-card was a
signal from Madame Gabrielle that she was hot on the scent, but that
either because she feared she might be under suspicion, or would not run
the risk of her message falling into the wrong hands, she could not
write a letter.
In any case it was an urgent call for urgent help. The hunt was up!
Towards us, urged by the full power of her twin screws, a British liner
was being driven at top speed by her giant engines; awaiting her,
securely hidden in some sheltered spot I had yet to find, was one of the
undersea assassins of our enemy. And the lives of two thousand men,
women, and children were at stake. At last the hour for swift, dramatic
action had come.
Certainly matters had now assumed a very critical aspect. I hurried out
along the broad, tree-lined Paseo, where the moon was now shining
brightly over the Bay of San Sebastian, to the Hotel Continental. Here
the gold-laced _concierge_ told me that Madame Tavernier had left about
an hour before.
"Did she say where she was going?" I inquired.
"Yes, to Santander," replied the _concierge_; "the Hotel Europa she gave
as her address, so that we might forward her letters; she said she had
not expected to leave so soon."
The meaning of the visiting-card was now plain. Evidently the
resourceful Madame Gabrielle had made some important discovery. She
dared not communicate with me, but, of course, she knew I would make
inquiries, and for this reason she had left her address with the hotel
porter. But why had she gone to Santander? Cost what it might, I must
find the answer to that question.
"What about the gentleman who was with her?" I asked the porter, making
a blind shot to try to find out something.
"Gentleman?" he queried. "Madame was alone in the omnibus except for an
Italian gentleman, who went to catch the same train to Bilbao."
"An Italian gentleman!" I echoed. Here might be the key to the
mystery. "He was about forty--pale, with a dark-cropped moustache and
rather bald--eh?"
"Yes," replied the man, "that is Signor Bruno."
"What about his friend?" I asked.
"He left for Madrid by the early train this morning," was the reply.
Matters were now becoming clear. Evidently the second "Italian" had
cleared off, leaving "Signor Bruno" in charge of the developments of the
plot. I had now to find "Bruno," and through him to get on the track of
"Fontan."
Pleased with my success, I slipped a few pesetas into the willing hand
of the _concierge_ and left the hotel, directing my steps back to the
Ezcurra. Why had Madame Gabrielle left for Santander when obviously San
Sebastian was the real centre of the plot? The cryptic telegram I had
received told us that. It was, in fact, a spy message sent from
Holland, which had been intercepted by the French Secret Service and
duplicated to me; the real message, of course, had been duly handed to
"Fontan" at the post office in San Sebastian.
How to get to Santander was now the problem. The last train had gone.
But after half an hour's deliberation I hit upon a plan which at least
held out a good promise of success. I returned to my hotel and gave
strict orders that, as I was not feeling well, I was on no account to be
disturbed until noon the following day.
It was just two o'clock in the morning when I rose and exchanged my
Dutch-made clothes for another suit so glaringly redolent of the
American tourist that no one, seeing me in them, would have associated
me for a moment with the demure and retiring Dutch theological student,
whose absorbed interest in old churches had been the source of many a
friendly joke at the hotel. A false moustache helped further in the
metamorphosis, and when I looked at myself in the glass I felt tolerably
certain that I should pass even a close scrutiny without arousing
suspicion. Still, I meant to take no chances.
The hotel was now profoundly silent. Here and there a single electric
light glowed, left for the convenience of visitors who might be moving
about late; but there was no night-porter, a fact which I had previously
ascertained.
Carrying my boots in my hand, I stole noiselessly to a little side door,
and, dropping a few spots of oil on the lock and bolts to obviate any
sound of creaking, I opened it noiselessly and stepped out into the
old-world courtyard. The moon was high and it was almost as light as
day. But I had little fear of being observed; the courtyard could not
be seen from the street, and at that hour there was little likelihood of
anyone being about.
The hotel garage was my objective. I had noticed a day or two before
that among the visitors staying at the house was a young fellow who
possessed a swift and powerful "Indian" motor-cycle. I decided that the
urgency of my business amply justified what might have looked like theft
had I been detected.
Drawing from my pocket the bunch of skeleton keys which I usually carry,
I succeeded after a few minutes of perplexity in opening the sliding
door of the garage. With the help of my pocket flash-lamp, I picked out
without difficulty the machine I wanted and filled up the ample petrol
tank with spirit from one of the many tins lying about the garage. I
was ready at last for my race to Santander.
After a hasty glance up and down the road to make sure no one was in
sight, I wheeled the machine through the courtyard, under the old
archway and out on to the broad roadway, closing and locking the door of
the garage behind me to avoid suspicions being aroused. I knew the
removal of the machine would probably not be noticed for a day, or
perhaps two, as the young owner had gone off with a companion on a
fishing excursion.
When I had reached some distance from the hotel I lit the headlamp,
started the machine, mounted and rode away.
From the map I had carefully committed my route to memory, and I let the
powerful machine "all out." Travelling at considerably over fifty miles
an hour, with the engine pulling as smoothly as a watch, I first went
along the winding sea road, then away into the fertile valley of the
Oria and by the village of Aguinaga, down to Zarauz, which was on the
Biscayan beach again.
The early morning came, balmy and beautiful, as, covered with dust, I
shot down the steep winding road into the chief centre of the life of
Santander, that spacious promenade known as "The Muelle," with its
luxuriant gardens, from which I could see the blue mountain ranges of
Solares, Valnera, and Tornos beyond.
Once in the gardens, I dismounted, and, watching for an opportunity when
I was unobserved, I wheeled the motor-cycle into some low bushes, where
I abandoned it. Thence I strolled down to the dock, where in a narrow,
unclean street I soon found a dealer in second-hand clothes, of whom I
purchased a most unsavoury rig-out. It was evident that the man was
well used to proceedings of this kind, and, as his business quite
clearly depended upon his knowing how to hold his tongue if he were paid
for it, I paid him generously, and was quite assured my secret would be
safe with him. He took me into a dark little den at the rear of his
stuffy shop, where he helped me into my disreputable disguise, adding
here and there a skilful touch which showed me plainly that he was no
novice at the business.
Arranging with him to keep my own clothes until I called again, I
sallied forth, quite confident that I had effectually destroyed all
traces of my identity, and evaded the men who had been watching me at
San Sebastian. To further my plans I bought in the market a basket such
as street hawkers carry and a quantity of oranges.
Having done this, I sought out a quiet corner, and, sitting down on the
pavement, began eating some bread and olives I had bought, just as any
other equally disreputable Spanish pedlar might have done. I could
hardly help laughing at the incongruity of my surroundings--Gerald Sant,
to whom pretty well every fashionable hotel in Europe was intimately
familiar, taking his breakfast of bread and olives seated on the
pavement in a Santander slum.
But my breakfast was only a part of the work I had to do. Taking a
cigarette from my case, I carefully slit it open, threw away the
tobacco, and wrote a message upon the paper. Then, rolling the thin
scrap, I placed it within a quill toothpick, plugging the sharpened end
with a scrap of orange peel. Afterwards I inserted the quill into the
centre of one of the oranges, carefully covering up the puncture and
drying it. Inside the quill was the translation, for Madame Gabrielle's
benefit, of the "Fontan" cable.
Then, in the guise of a poor fruit-seller, I sought out the hotel in the
Calle Mendez where I knew that Madame Gabrielle had arrived. I knew, of
course, that she would be eagerly on the look-out for me, and that, as
she would guess I should be disguised, she would station herself in some
prominent place, where I could see her at once.
Evidently, however, she did not expect me so soon. No doubt she had
looked up the trains, and, knowing that I must have missed the last one
the previous night, would naturally conclude that I would arrive about
midday. The stratagem of the bicycle had evidently not occurred to her.
I drifted slowly backwards and forwards in front of the hotel, and after
a time had the intense satisfaction of seeing the "Italian," Signor
Bruno, come lazily out and seat himself in a comfortable chair in the
ample porch. It was obvious that he was expecting someone, for his eyes
constantly searched the long, straight roadway.
A moment later Madame Gabrielle, daintily attired in the latest Parisian
mode and carrying a sunshade, strolled leisurely into the porch. She
was accompanied by a lady, obviously Spanish, with whom she had no doubt
scraped a breakfast-table acquaintance.
Despite the need for hurry, I could not help being amused at her evident
failure to recognise me. Twice or three times I slouched past the
hotel. The next time I caught her eye, and, as I made the almost
imperceptible signal, I saw the answering flash of intelligence in her
eyes.
"What lovely oranges!" I heard her say to her companion. "I really
must have some."
And she rose indolently and came down the steps to me. As if I had
heard and understood nothing, I placed myself directly in her path,
saying in a loud, whining voice in Spanish: "Buy some Naranjas, lady--do
buy some. Very fine Naranjas."
Taking out her purse, Madame Gabrielle handed me a coin, and, as she did
so, swung her sunshade round so as to interpose it directly between the
"Italian" and myself. With the coin came a tiny folded note, which
passed so swiftly into my hands that there was no prospect of the
"Italian" observing it.
"What beautiful fruit!" she said aloud; adding in a faint whisper: "Be
near the fountain in the gardens in half an hour."
"Thank you, lady," I whined in Spanish in true hawker fashion, handing
her the oranges. As I did so, I tapped one of them three times, taking
care that she observed the action. It was enough for her swift
intelligence.
The next moment, touching my battered hat in respect, I slouched off, my
basket on my arm, while she, apparently a summer visitor, carried the
fresh-cut fruit, each with a leaf attached, just as dozens of others
were doing when out for a walk before luncheon.
I watched her return to the hotel, of course, to examine her oranges.
Lazily drifting along the road, I made my way to the gardens, and was
soon stretched indolently in the sunshine within easy sight of the great
fountain. Under cover of my battered hat I read Madame Gabrielle's tiny
note. It had evidently been written to be ready for a hurried meeting,
and ran:
"_They will meet to-night on the coast road a mile out of the town near
the big oak. Bruno and Fontan will be there at ten-thirty. The attempt
is to be made shortly. I dare not risk speaking_."
But it was essential we should speak, and I had my plan cut and dried.
When Madame Gabrielle came in sight, I was startled to see the "Italian"
following her. Could his suspicions have been aroused, I wondered?
Hitherto Madame Gabrielle had been shadowing him; were the positions now
reversed? I noticed she looked pale and anxious; it was evident
something untoward had occurred.
Long before, we had taught ourselves to send messages in the Morse code
by finger movements, the raising or dropping of a finger representing
the dots and dashes of the code. Thus so long as we could see each
other's hands we could communicate rapidly and silently; failing direct
sight, we had only to tap out the message. Gabrielle seated herself
negligently on a seat and produced a book, which she read industriously,
quite unconscious to all seeming of the disreputable fruit-seller lying
asleep on the grass, his face shaded from the hot sun by his
broad-brimmed hat. The "Italian," in the meantime, had seated himself
on a seat a few yards away.
Whether he suspected me I do not know; probably not. But beneath the
brim of my hat I could see Madame Gabrielle's delicate hand and arm
flung carelessly across the back of the seat. Her fingers, screened
from the Italian's sight, rapidly ticked out their message.
"I got your note; it confirms what I have found out. The attempt is to
be made to-morrow night. Bruno has been talking with a dark,
sailor-looking man who, I think, must be Fontan. I overheard them from
the balcony outside their room. I suppose I must have made some sound,
for Bruno came out hurriedly on to the balcony. He looked as if he
could kill me, and ever since he has been following me. I dare not
attempt to follow him when he leaves the hotel this evening. The
arrangement may be a blind; you must watch him all you can. I will risk
everything to get a message to you if I hear any more, but I am afraid I
can do no good now."
"You have done very well," I signalled back. "Go to the hotel and get
on the 'phone to the British Consul. Tell him to recall Jeans by
wireless at once for instant action. I shall stake everything on
to-night. After that, go straight back to San Sebastian, and let it be
clearly known in the hotel that you are going. We must throw Bruno off
the scent."
Madame Gabrielle signified that she understood, and soon after got up
and moved listlessly away. She had no sooner turned the corner than the
"Italian" rose and followed her. Of me he took no notice whatever, and
apparently he had not the least suspicion that Madame Gabrielle and I
had been in communication.
I was burning with impatience to be off, but I dared not hurry. The
"Italian" was evidently no fool. I lay still, apparently asleep, but
keenly on the look-out. A few minutes later the "Italian" suddenly
returned; evidently he meant to make sure I had no sort of association
with Madame Gabrielle. Had I foolishly got up at once as soon as she
went, his suspicions would almost certainly have been aroused. But I
lay still, seemingly asleep, and, after a scrutinising gaze at me, he
turned away, obviously satisfied.
The course was clear now, always assuming that the rendezvous arranged
between Bruno and the supposed Fontan was real and not pretended. But
that I had to chance. As a matter of fact, the spot was well chosen for
any business connected with the Huns' submarine activities. It was in a
lonely spot, the road ran near the edge of the cliffs, and the coast at
that point was studded with deep coves where a lurking U-boat could lie
concealed without much fear of detection.
During the afternoon I saw Madame Gabrielle leave for the station in the
hotel omnibus, the "Italian" following in a cab. So anxious was he to
make sure she had gone that, as I heard afterwards, he actually followed
her to the train, and did not leave the station until after it had
started. Probably his suspicions were lulled by the pretty little
Frenchwoman thus leaving the field apparently clear for him; but, be
that as it may, he later walked straight into our trap.