HORRIBLE CERTAINTY
"What has happened to that idiot Juve? Here for three days I've been
shut up in this beastly prison and no sign of him."
As the days passed, Fandor gradually lost his buoyancy of spirits and
became more and more anxious.
"What can Juve be doing?" he repeated for the hundredth time.
The continual obscurity of the place began to weigh him down. This was
relieved each day for a few moments by a thin shaft of light. Fandor was
quick to account for the phenomenon.
"It happens exactly at noon when the sun is directly overhead," he
reasoned, "and finds an entrance through a crack in the bronze."
Many times he climbed to the body of the naiad in the hope of
discovering some method of escape, but at length he realized that the
thing was impossible.
He was seated one night deep in thought, puzzling his brains for the
reason of Juve's defection, when a voice suddenly broke the silence.
"Can you hear me?"
Fandor bounded to his feet.
"Yes, I hear you."
"You must be getting uneasy?"
"Uneasy! I'm going mad! What a long time you've been!"
"That's true, I am a little late, but it hasn't been very easy."
Now that Fandor's mind was set at rest about his deliverance, he grew
curious to know the results of the detective's investigation.
"Well, you were successful?"
"Yes, quite successful."
"Do they know in Glotzbourg?"
"They must have some suspicion by now."
"When did you get back?"
"This morning."
"Only this morning! And did you get my letter?"
"Your what, Sire?... I don't catch."
"I say you must have got my letter, since you are here, and now please
get me out of this hole as quickly as possible ... it's awful being shut
up here ... you can't imagine how I long for a breath of fresh air."
"Yes, yes, I understand, but I'm wondering how I'm to get you out."
"What's that?"
"Have you thought over a way we can effect the exchange?"
"But, my dear fellow, you must know what to do. I gave you full
particulars in my letter."
"In your letter?"
"Yes.... I even enclosed a diagram."
There was a pause, the voice then asked:
"Will you pass me up this letter by ..."
Fandor interrupted:
"Why, it's quite simple! Find the third naiad, counting from the one
nearest the bridge."
Suddenly the voice explained:
"Look here, Sire, we are talking at cross purposes. I am asking you
where we can exchange the diamond."
"The diamond?"
"Yes! Your diamond."
Fandor's face grew pale.
"My diamond!"
"The diamond I went to Glotzbourg to get ... what's the matter with you,
Sire? Don't you remember?... And what's all this about a letter?"
"Why, Juve! I'm talking of the letter I left at your apartment in which
I explained how you may reach me!"
"Juve! Juve! Oho!"
A burst of strident laughter, infernal and diabolical, reached Fandor,
who now guessed the horrible truth.
"If it isn't Juve who is speaking, who is it?" he cried. "For the love
of God, who are you?"
"The person speaking to you ... is Fantomas."
"Fantomas!"
Staggering, terrified, Fandor screamed:
"Fantomas! Fantomas!... It can't be possible! Fantomas has been
arrested! Fantomas is in the hands of Juve!"
"Fantomas arrested?... Fantomas can't be arrested! He will never be
caught! He is above and beyond every attack, every menace! Fantomas is
Death, Eternal Death, Pitiless Death, King Death! Good-bye!"
A long silence followed. Fandor was stunned by the awful reality. He
experienced all the sensations of a man buried alive, condemned to death
with torture. And then another thought flashed through his mind:
"The papers spoke of Fantomas's arrest. But if Fantomas is at liberty,
it must mean that Juve has been beaten! Juve went to Glotzbourg to
arrest him. A man has been arrested under the name of Fantomas. That man
must be Juve himself!"
And his letter! The first thing Fantomas would do would be to go to
Juve's apartment and destroy it.
"He has got me," he exclaimed. "He can choose his own time to kill me.
He can send down asphyxiating gas or a deluge of water through the
connecting tube, or he can just leave me here to die slowly of hunger
and thirst."
The journalist began pacing up and down his prison. He tried to recover
his calm and argue the case out:
"Here I am in perfect health, clear in my mind and able to struggle to
the bitter end. I have enough food and water to last me about nine or
ten days. In my pocket I have my revolver, so that I can blow my brains
out if it comes to the worst. But I won't. I'll fight! I'll fight until
I drop!"