The night was moonless but strewn with stars. A tonic north-east
wind hummed over the high moors, and seemed to prick old Dapple,
prescient of his own straw and rack, to his very best trot. It was a
penetrating wind, too; but Doctor Unonius, wrapped in his frieze
coat, with the famous Penalune brandy playing about the cockles of
his heart, defied its chill. At this rate half an hour would bring
him to the gate of Landeweddy Farm, under the lee of Four Barrows;
and beyond Landeweddy, where the road plunged straight to Polpeor and
the coast, he would reach complete shelter. Let the wind blow from
this quarter never so fiercely, in the steep lanes under the seaward
edge of the moor a man could hear it screaming overhead and laugh at
it, lighting his pipe.
The sound of hoofs and wheels died away down the westward road.
Doctor Unonius, with face set for home, pursed his mouth and
inaudibly whistled a tune,--
'In the month of November, in the year 'fifty-two.'
'Whoa there, Dapple! Steady! Why, what ails the horse?'
For Dapple, as the gig turned a corner of road, on a sudden had shied
violently, half reared, and come to a halt with a jerk that set the
gig quivering, and had almost broken its shafts.
'Why, hallo!' exclaimed the doctor, peering forward.
To the right of the road, a little ahead of him, stood a woman.
She had drawn aside, close to the hedge, doubtless to let them pass.
The rays of the gig lamp fell full on her--a broad-shouldered woman
of more than ordinary height. Over her head was flung a dark shawl,
and her left hand held its edges tightly together at the throat.
In her right she carried a leathern bag. This was as much as the
doctor could see, for the shawl concealed her features. He could not
recognise her at all, though he knew, or believed that he knew,
everybody--man, woman, or child--within a radius of ten miles.
But Doctor Unonius was ever polite.
'Hey? Good-evening, ma'am!' he sang out. 'You startled the old
horse a bit. I hope he has not frightened you?'
There was no answer.
'Can I offer you a lift, ma'am, if you're going my way? The hour is
late, and the weather none too pleasant for tramping these high
moors.'
Still there was no answer.
'You needn't be afraid of Dapple,' he assured her. 'He'll stand
still as a rock now, if you'll climb up.'
'Thank you,' she answered at last, with a hesitating step forward,
and the voice was hoarse and constrained.
'Come round to the other side then. Here, give me your bag.'
The woman crossed in front of Dapple--who backed a foot or so
uneasily--came around to the step, and handed up her bag. It was a
two-handled bag, of japanned leather, and Doctor Unonius, as he took
it from her and rested it against the splashboard, noted also that it
was exceedingly heavy. He held out his hand. The woman grasped it,
and clambered up beside him.
He gave a sharp look at her and called to Dapple. The horse pulled
himself together and broke into a brisk trot, which continued for
hard upon half a mile before either occupant of the gig broke
silence.
For Doctor Unonius was considering. Though a student he was a man of
considerable courage and cool-headed in emergency, as he was now not
a little pleased to prove, for hitherto life had provided few
emergencies to test him. But here was an emergency, and--at this
time of night, and in this place--it looked to be an ugly one.
He had to deal with a discovery, and the discovery was this.
The hand he had just gripped was no woman's at all, but the hand of a
man.
He stole another glance at his companion. She, or he, was leaning
forward in a huddled attitude to meet the wind which now, as they
rounded an edge of the down, blew crosswise athwart the gig and a
little ahead. Nothing of face could be seen, only--and this dimly by
the starshine--the hand that grasped the shawl. But it was enough; a
man's hand, the doctor could almost swear. He recognised this with a
slight thrill. He was not afraid, but he was undeniably excited.
What on earth should a man be doing in woman's clothes, on this road
and at this hour? The road led no whither but to Polpeor and the
coast, and passed on its way no human habitation but Landeweddy Farm
and a couple of cottages half a mile beyond it, close under the dip
of the hill. . . .
'You are shivering,' said Doctor Unonius, after a pause.
The crouching figure nodded, but did not speak.
'Are you cold? Here, take some more of the rug.'
For a moment there was no answer, then a shake of the head.
'Ill, then? Feverish? I am a doctor: let me feel your pulse.'
His companion made a quick gesture as if to hide the hand grasping
the gig-rail: but after another pause, and as if reluctantly, it was
reached across. The other still clutched the shawl.
Doctor Unonius, drawing off his right-hand glove with his teeth,
reached across also and laid his fingers in professional fashion on
the wrist. Yes; he was right. The wrist was a man's wrist, large
and bony. He screwed up his eyes and peered down as well as he might
at the upturned hand. He could see that the finger-tips were square,
and the palm, if he mistook not, showed a row of callosities at the
base of the fingers. Something in the pulse's beat caught his
attention, and almost at the same moment his nostrils expanded
suspiciously. Doctor Unonius had a delicate sense of smell.
'This man,' he thought, 'is in a blue fright; and moreover, and
although he smokes a deal of rank tobacco, I am open to bet he is a
butcher by trade.'
He relaxed the pressure of his fingers very slightly, and the hand
was sharply withdrawn.
Almost at the same moment the doctor's own hand went swiftly to his
head. There was a tug at the reins, and it fetched old Dapple up
with a sprawl.
'My hat is gone!' exclaimed the doctor.
Sure enough it was: and as he leaned and peered after it, he could
just discern it for a moment before it dropped like a sable bird
against a dark furze bush a few yards away to the left.
'My hat is gone,' he repeated.
His companion did not budge, hardly so much as turned a glance, but
sat as before, shivering and dumb.
'I am very sorry to trouble you, ma'am,' ventured the doctor
politely. 'But would it inconvenience you very much to climb down
and recover my hat? It lies yonder, against the furze. With one of
the lamps you will find it easily.'
'Can't you climb down yourself and fetch it? I'll hold the reins.'
The voice was husky, the tone ungracious.
'No, ma'am. Dapple is restive to-night, and I prefer--if you'll
forgive me--not to trust him to a lady and a stranger. If you
refuse, my hat must e'en remain where it lies.'
The figure rose, as if upon a sudden resolve, and set one foot on the
step.
'I'll fetch it for you. But being driven to-night is cold work, and
I won't trouble you any further. Hand me down my bag, please.'
The stranger climbed out and stood beside the step, with one hand
holding on to the edge of the footboard.
'Come, hand me down my bag.'
For answer Doctor Unonius lifted his foot and brought it down
suddenly on the hand, grinding his heel into the fingers. At the
same moment the whiplash fell over Dapple's haunches. There was a
yell of pain, a wild curse, a scuttering of hoofs, and the old horse,
unaccustomed to the whip and well-nigh scared out of his senses,
plunged forward into the night.
For a minute or so Doctor Unonius, as he called to Dapple and plied
the whip, fancied that in the intervals of these encouragements he
caught the sound of footsteps pursuing him down the hard road.
But the chase, if chase were given, was vain from the first: for
Dapple tore along as though the devil himself sat behind the
splashboard.
But while the gig swayed and rocked, and while the wind sung past his
ears, Doctor Unonius thrust a foot out, and steadying it against the
hard bag, enjoyed some crowded moments of glorious life. After all
these sedentary years adventure had swooped on him out of the night
and was wafting him along in a sort of ecstasy. If the hand were,
after all, a woman's, he could never forgive himself. . . . But it
was not: of that he felt sure. Complete success had crowned his
simple manoeuvre. He felt all the exhilaration of a born student who
suddenly discovers he can be practical--the sort of exhilaration
Cicero felt, to his surprise, in dealing with the conspiracy of
Catiline, and never during the rest of his life forgot.
It was hard on Dapple, but the doctor urged him for a mile before his
natural kind-heartedness reasserted itself and he reined up the good
old horse, to breathe him.
Now was his time to have a look at the bag. He reached down and
lifted it to his knees, and again its weight surprised him. 'It will
be locked, no doubt,' said the doctor to himself, as he drew the off
gig-lamp from its socket to light his inspection.
But no: the bag was fastened by an ordinary spring-catch, and, when
he pressed this, fell open easily. He listened for a second or two,
with a glance over his shoulder into the darkness behind. But
nothing could be heard--nothing but the night-call of a curlew
somewhere on the moor, far to his right. Holding the lamp a little
higher in his left, he thrust his right hand into the bag, groped,
and drew out--
First of all, a pistol, and whether loaded or not he deferred
for the moment to examine.
Next, four small but heavy canvas bags, each tied about the neck
with a leathern thong. By the weight and the look, and also by
the sound of them when shaken, they contained money.
Next, a pair of rubber-soled Blucher boots.
Next, a small square case, which he opened and found to contain
a pocket-compass.
Next, a pair of night-glasses.
Next, a neck-comforter of knitted gray worsted
And, lastly, a folded map.
While he made this inventory, Doctor Unonius kept Dapple at a
standstill; for thus only was he secure of hearing the smallest sound
on the road behind. But now he judged it prudent to put another half
a mile at least between him and pursuit, and so, replacing the lamp
and hastily repacking the bag--with all but the pistol, which he kept
handy on the seat beside him, and the map, which he thrust into the
breast of his greatcoat--he urged the old horse into a fresh trot,
nor pulled up again until he came to the glimmering white gate of
Landeweddy Farm.
The courtlege of Landeweddy was hedged with tamarisks, now leafless,
and through these, above the wall's coping, the upper part of the
house loomed an indistinct mass against the indigo-gray night.
No light showed anywhere--as why should the widow Tresize or her maid
Tryphena be awake at such an hour? The doctor would have required
sharp eyes indeed to note, as he drew rein, that the blind of an
upper window at the south-east corner had been drawn aside an inch or
so out of the perpendicular. Had he detected this, indeed, it would
have meant no more than that the widow, awakened from her slumbers by
the sound of wheels, had arisen to satisfy the curiosity natural to
women.
But Doctor Unonius, noting it not, drew forth the map from the breast
of his greatcoat, unfolded it, and was proceeding to study it, again
by help of the lamp. He recognised it at first glance for a map of
the coast and country about Polpeor, and for this he was prepared;
but the same glance showed him a slip of paper pinned to the map's
left upper corner. The paper bore a scrawl in pencil, ill-written,
but decipherable--
'Mrs Tresize at Landeweddy. 48. White gate, entrance back.
By Celler. Mem. I large chest. To be handled quick and hidn
in orchd if necessry. Reported good money, but near. No help
here but 1 servt maid.'
Doctor Unonius stared at the paper, and from the paper lifted his
eyes to stare at the black bulk of the farm-house buildings, the
stretch of roof, the tall chimneys looming above the tamarisks.
But the close rays of the lamp dazzled his eyes, and he saw nothing--
nothing but the white gate glimmering at the end of the courtlege
wall. While he peered and blinked, memory recalled to him old Mrs
Puckey's tale of the money-chest kept by the widow Tresize beneath
her bed.
Mischief was brewing, beyond a doubt. Precisely what that mischief
might be he could not determine. But somewhere behind him was a
man--a stranger, dressed in woman's clothes--making at dead of night
for a house occupied by two women only; for a house that held money.
And this man had been carrying a bag which contained among other
things a pistol, probably loaded, a pair of boots with rubber soles,
a map, and a memorandum which said (and almost certainly with truth)
that the house was unprotected save by one servant maid.
It was clear that he must call at once and give warning; that he must
awaken the widow, at whatever cost to her nerves, and offer his
protection. It might be that he had checkmated the ruffian and
thrown him off his game. Very likely he had. A man with this
evidence against him, and minus the pistol with which he had intended
to do his infernal work, would--ten to one--be heading away from
justice, and for dear life. Still, where so much was mystery, the
doctor decided to take no risks. Whatever the event, his course of
action--his only possible course--lay plain before him. Here of a
sudden it occurred to Doctor Unonius that the man, though travelling
alone, might be travelling to meet accomplices; and these accomplices
might be hiding around and waiting, even at this moment.
He remembered that beyond the white gate a short farm-road led around
to the back entrance of the building. With this new suspicion of a
conspiracy in his mind, it cost him no small effort of courage to
dismount, pistol in hand, from the gig and push the white gate open.
It fell back, as he remembered later, on a well-oiled hinge, and he
stood aside while old Dapple, doubtless greatly wondering, obeyed his
call and dragged the gig through. This was a nervous moment, for now
the doctor could not rid himself of the apprehension that eyes might
be watching him from behind the hedge. He remembered, too, that the
widow Tresize kept a couple of sheep dogs, notoriously savage ones.
It was strange that they did not awake and give tongue.
On the thought of this, as Dapple drew the gig through the gateway,
Doctor Unonius edged up close to the step. . . . It might be all very
well for Odysseus to squat on the ground when attacked by the hounds
of Eumaeus, but Odysseus had not the resource (perhaps better) of
springing into a gig.
Idle precaution! The widow Tresize's dogs were peradventure caught
napping. At all events, neither one nor the other uttered a sound.
Doctor Unonius, wrenching a lamp from its socket, walked boldly
forward at Dapple's bit and, coming to the back entrance by the
midden-yard, knocked boldly.