DRAGEN AGAIN
I had made a pretty mess of things, and now that it was too late I began
to appreciate what a fool I had been.
Von Felsen had outplayed me at every point, and chance and my own folly
had helped him to score a complete victory.
The charge of murder was the merest bluff, and he had imposed upon Hagar
for the purpose very cleverly. He had probably found Althea unexpectedly
resolute not to yield to his wishes without some actual proof of my
arrest, and had then vamped the charge, through Hagar, and planned that
Althea should see me in the hands of men in police uniform.
He had calculated that, relying upon my ability to clear myself of the
charge in Hagar's eyes, I should go at once to her to get her assistance
in tracking Althea; and I had walked straight into the trap.
I had of course been closely shadowed, and as soon as I had reached
Hagar's house, he had been informed, and had brought Althea in the car
to be a witness of the arrest.
With one cunning stroke he had thus got rid of me, had convinced Althea
of my arrest, and probably freed himself from the embarrassment of Hagar
at the same time. I did not doubt that the men he had taken to her
house would see that she gave no sort of trouble.
These thoughts flashed through my mind in the few seconds after I was in
the carriage, together with some exceedingly disquieting speculations on
my own plight. It was about as bad as it could be, but I was not going
to give up all hope without an effort.
The men thrust me into a corner of the back seat, and one of them held a
revolver close to my head, threatening to fire if I made any trouble.
But this did not scare me as badly as they thought. I knew they would
not dare to shoot me in the street. Their own safety would be
endangered, and the risk was too great for them to run it except in the
last resort.
I affected to be very frightened, however, and waited for a chance to
try and attract attention and bring help. The opportunity came as the
carriage had to stop when crossing one of the main streets.
With a sudden kick I broke the glass of the window near me and gave a
yell for help. The fellow opposite seized my legs while his companion
thrust his hand over my mouth. But I wrestled violently, and in the
midst of the struggle a policeman's head appeared at the window of the
carriage.
"What's the matter there?" he asked.
"I think you'd better get in and give us a hand," answered one of my
guards very coolly. "He's a lunatic; just cut his wife's throat."
The man's coolness and his uniform had the effect of quieting all
suspicion. "All right. Strap his legs and gag him, why don't you?
Don't let him make that racket."
I got my head free then. "I am an Englishman, these are not----" I
began when I was silenced again.
"He's been yelling that all the time," was the reply, with an oath and a
laugh. "I wish you'd lend a hand. We don't want to hurt him."
"I can't come. Drive on there," he told the coachman; and on we went.
As soon as the policeman's face disappeared from the window, the fellow
at my side flung me heavily back into the corner of the carriage, and
together they fastened a large handkerchief over my mouth, one of them
twisting his fingers into it so tightly behind my head that I was
powerless to open my lips. And he held me in this fashion for nearly
all the rest of the drive.
Further resistance was now out of the question. I had made my effort
and it had failed, and all I could do was to keep still and wait with
such resignation as I could summon for what was to come to me.
If I escaped with my life, I should have reason to be thankful. I had
already had ample proof that the men whom von Felsen employed were quite
capable of going to any extreme. My life had been attempted more than
once; and at the time of the previous abduction, when I had not been
nearly so dangerous to him as now, I had only escaped death by the
narrowest of margins.
Yet it was not for myself that I was mainly afraid now. Von Felsen had
so planned things that Althea had been persuaded of my arrest; and I
could not doubt for an instant that she would at once agree to do
anything he demanded. That night she would certainly consent to the
marriage; and the thought was like the sear of a hot iron on a nerve.
Compared with the agony of that dread, nothing else seemed to matter. I
would cheerfully have given my life to have saved her from such a fate;
but even if I lost my life now, I should be powerless to help her.
Maddened by this reflection, I made another and desperate struggle with
my captors. Wrenching myself free from the gag which held me like a
vice, I fought and kicked and writhed, yelling for help at the top of my
lungs all the while in a furious effort to escape.
But it was useless. Both were strong men, and they overpowered me and
forced me down, this time on to the floor of the carriage, and held me
there until we stopped. One point only did I gain by the effort. One
of the handcuffs came unfastened and could not be relocked on my wrist.
But this did not help me much. One of the brutes seized my arms and
held them behind my back, and twisted them till I thought the very
sinews would break.
I did not give in until my strength was utterly exhausted and my head
reeled dizzily; and in this condition, with no power left for
resistance, I was hauled out and carried rapidly into a house.
There I was gagged again, my arms and legs were tied, and I was flung
down on the floor of an empty room, the door of which was locked upon
me.
Bruised and sore from head to foot although I was, and aching in every
muscle of my body, I thought nothing of my hurts. I was on fire with
impotent rage and belated repentance for my stupidity. Only an hour or
two before I had had the upper hand. There was apparently nothing to
prevent my gaining a complete victory. If I had only gone straight to
Feldermann or Herr Borsen, von Felsen would now have been grovelling at
my feet begging for mercy.
What a credulous fool I had been to believe for an instant that that
ridiculous charge of murder had really been made! What would I not have
given to have been able to set the clock back for those few hours!
Gnashing my teeth at my idiotic blundering, I passed hours of torture.
I was left alone, except that now and again the door was opened and some
one came in with a lantern to see that I was still securely fastened.
I abandoned all hope, and each time I heard the key turned in the lock,
I made up my mind that some one was coming to take my life. I grew
utterly reckless also, and slowly a fresh thought began to take shape in
my mind.
Save my life I could not, but if a chance came I would at least send one
of the scoundrels who had taken a hand in the business to his last
account. It was just a wild impulse to have revenge; but I hugged it
close to my heart until it became my one cherished object, the one thing
I could do before they took my life.
That thirst for revenge, that lust for blood, if you like, put strength
into me, gave tone to my nerves and purpose to my thoughts when all else
in that hour of black despair had failed.
I began to test the strength of the bonds which held me, and gradually
to loosen them slightly, as I tugged at the cords which bound my arms
and strove with frantic struggles to ease the pressure of those on my
legs.
The exertion brought the sweat of effort and pain to my brow; but I was
nearly what they had termed me, a madman, in my furious desire for
revenge; and although every movement racked and tortured me, I did not
cease until I had so far succeeded that the blood began to flow freely
once more in my veins.
Faint and exhausted at last with the struggle, I was lying quiet, to
regain strength for a further effort, when the key was turned in the
lock once more. This time two men entered; the gag was taken from my
mouth, and I was ordered roughly to sit up.
I took no notice of this. It was my cue to affect to be helpless. One
of them dragged me to the wall and propped me up in a sitting posture,
while the other held the lantern close to my face.
A movement of the light enabled me to see his face, and I recognized
him. He was Dragen, the man who had carried me off before.
"Ah, you know me, I see," he said with a chuckle. "That will save
trouble perhaps, as you'll know I'm not likely to let you fool me a
second time."
The wild desire to take life which had so possessed me before now
focussed into a set purpose that his should be the life; and I lowered
my eyes quickly lest he should read something of the thought in my mind.
"You know what we want, Mr. Englishman, and what we mean to have. Those
papers. Where are they?"
I made no reply, and he thrust his hands into all my pockets to search
for them. A bitter oath showed his disappointment. I smiled in
triumph; and this so exasperated him that he struck me in the face.
Then I understood why I was still alive. Until those papers were
regained, von Felsen knew that he would be in danger of losing
everything despite his present victory over me.
"You are a brave fellow, Dragen, to strike a helpless man."
He raised his hand to repeat the blow, but his companion stopped him.
"What's the good of that?" he said gruffly. "You know what we were
told."
"Hold your tongue, curse you," cried Dragen. "I mean to get them, and
shall go my own way to do it. Where are they?" he demanded of me.
"What papers do you mean?"
"To hell with your questioning me. You know what I mean. Where are
they?"
"You think you can make me tell you?"
"I'm sure I can," he retorted with an oath.
"Try then;" and I looked up and met his angry eyes firmly.
"Give them up and no harm shall come to you."
"This looks like it, doesn't it?"
"Don't you anger me, or it'll be the worse for you."
"You can only take my life, but even then you can't save your
employer's; nor your own, for the police know all about that other
affair."
"You'll be short of breath long before you get a chance of saying any
more about that or this."
"That's only what I know already. If I were to tell you where the
papers are, I might whistle for a chance of getting out of this. But
I'll tell you one thing. They are in the hands of those who will know
how to use them, whether I am alive or dead, by this time to-morrow
morning. Do what you will."
This infuriated him, and he seized and shook me violently in an
uncontrollable frenzy of rage, and then flung me down violently on the
floor. He caused me severe pain; but except for this, the rough
handling benefited me rather than him. He had seized me by the arms,
and the cords on my wrists were perceptibly slacker for the severe
shaking.
My head struck the floor heavily when he threw me down, and I lay still
as a corpse, letting all my muscles relax and breathing as slightly as
possible, that he should think I was on the verge of unconsciousness.
He questioned me again about the papers, but I gave no sign that I even
heard him; and when he kicked me and then tugged at my arms and lifted
my head in the effort to rouse me, I made no sign of life.
The second man was scared at this. "You've done for him now," he
muttered.
"Serve him right," growled Dragen, with a savage oath. "He tricked me
before."
"But what about serving me? What's the good of this to me? How are we
going to earn the money, with him in this state?"
Dragen swore again and was aiming a vicious kick at my head when his
companion stopped him so suddenly that he overbalanced and fell to the
ground close to me. In the fall something dropped from his pocket and
rolled near me. It was a small sheath knife, and to my infinite delight
neither man saw it.
Dragen rose in a rage and a fierce quarrel broke out between the two.
This enabled me to shift my position unobserved, so that I first lay on
the knife and then rolled forward until my hands could reach it, when I
tucked it up underneath the back of my waistcoat.
The quarrel ended without blows; and presently they drew aside and
talked together in low muttered tones, the purport of which I could not
hear. After a time they crossed and looked at me, and the fellow who
had been protecting me from Dragen's violence knelt down and tried to
feel my pulse. He was clumsy at the business, however, and could not
find it. "I believe you've finished him," he muttered and laid me down
gently at full length and loosened the cords on both wrists and legs,
and began to chafe my limbs to restore circulation.
"That's better," he said at length, feeling again for my pulse and
finding it this time. "Get him some brandy or something. But you'd
better do what I said, Dragen," he added, rising. "If those papers are
in safe hands, as he said, we'd better know what to do next."
The man's evident alarm infected Dragen. "Curse the whole business," he
growled uneasily.
"That won't help us far. If you hadn't been in such a devil of a rage,
this wouldn't have happened." Then he knelt down by me again. "Can you
hear me?" he asked anxiously. "No harm will come to you. Can you hear
me?"
My reply was the faintest of faint moans.
"He's coming round all right. Get him some brandy and don't let him see
you, and we'll have him round all right," he said in a tone of great
relief, as he rose once more. "I'm for fetching him; let's see what the
others say," he declared as he picked up the lantern. "We must know what
to do next."
There was another conference, and then they went away together, leaving
the door unfastened.
In another moment I had slipped my hands out of the cords which had been
so considerately loosened and with the knife I cut those which bound my
legs. Then I kicked off my boots and stole out of the room in my
stockinged feet, resolved to make a fight for my freedom.
The passage outside the room was in darkness; but I knew in which
direction I had been carried into the room, and crept noiselessly toward
the front door of the house.
But there was a room between, the door of which stood open. I heard the
voices of the men there, and one of them was standing close to the door.
To pass this meant a great risk of being either seen or heard, and as I
hesitated whether to take the chance I caught fragments of the talk.
They were discussing the advisability of fetching some one or of going
to some one for further instructions in view of my statement about the
papers being in the hands of those who would use them.
Presently the man by the door, interested in the discussion, went a
little way into the room, and I seized that moment to creep past.
The house had double doors, and the inner one was pressed back against
the wall. I ran my fingers lightly up and down the outer one searching
for the fastenings, when a general scuffling of feet in the room
announced that the men were moving, having apparently come to a
decision.
I slipped back and hid behind the inner door and held my breath as they
came out into the passage, talking excitedly.
The suspense of those few moments was more trying than words can
describe.
I had failed to find the means of opening the front door; and if they
went back into the room where I had been lying, I should be caught like
a rabbit in a snare. The instant I was discovered my life would not be
worth a spent match.
They stood wrangling in the passage for a time that seemed an age to me
in my excited suspense; and every second I expected one or other of them
to go back to the room and then announce my flight.
"Well, let's have a look at the beggar first and see if we can't drag it
out of him," said one, whose voice I recognized as that of the man who
had been standing by the door.
They moved in a body toward the room.
My heart sank and I gave myself up for lost. My only chance, and that
the faintest and feeblest, was that I might seize the moment of respite
to get the door of the house open.