VIII.

"It occurred to me next morning that, considering the nature of the work

that was cut out for me, it might be prudent to depart from my usual

custom by leaving the diamonds at home in Christina's charge, as she had

herself suggested; and I took the earliest opportunity of mentioning

this proposal to Kate. To my surprise she at once expressed a decided

dissent from the arrangement, and indeed seemed so much perturbed by it,

that I at once relinquished the idea. But I begged her to tell me the

reasons of her objection.

"'Not now,' she said hastily; 'I hear papa coming; wait till after

breakfast, and then you shall know.'

"We were standing at the gate of the courtyard, breathing the fresh

morning air. She left me, and returned to the house, whence Mr.

Birchmore almost immediately issued, and saluted me with more than his

usual cordiality. I wondered what his behaviour would have been had he

known of the transactions of the past night, or of what was in store

for us during the day! He began to talk about Kohlstein, and related

several anecdotes of the bandits, by whom it was said formerly to have

been inhabited. 'I have been up there more than once,' he remarked, 'and

the traces of their occupation are still visible. I remember one feature

that particularly impressed me--a narrow cleft or chasm of considerable

depth, into which the old fellows are said to have thrown their

prisoners when they became refractory.'

"'Would the fall kill them?'

"'I should say not; the bottom seemed full of chopped brushwood and

other such rubbish. But no human being could have got out unaided;

and probably a day or two's lonely sojourn there would bring the most

resolute malcontent to terms. It would be a ghastly fate to fall in

there, nowadays, and have one's skeleton fished out again the following

year, perhaps, and a sensational paragraph in the newspapers. You young

folks must pick your steps carefully to-day.'

"'Forewarned is forearmed!' rejoined I, with a short laugh. Further

conversation was cut short by a summons to breakfast. On this occasion

Slurk waited at table, and I observed him with more than usual attention

and toleration, as one with whom I was so soon to try desperate

conclusions. He was certainly a villanous-looking character; but he

appeared to be, for reasons best known to himself, in excellent spirits

this morning; a circumstance which stirred up an unwilling kind of

compassion within me, reflecting what a speedy and final end was going

to be put to all his possibilities of enjoyment. Vile though his life

had been, it was the only one he had.

"Kate likewise had the semblance of unusual gaiety, but I could see

that it was either feigned, or the result of nervous excitement. And my

judgment was justified when, after breakfast, she overtook me as I was

on the way upstairs to my room to make my final preparations, and said,

in a voice unsteady with emotion:

"'Tom dear, you asked me why you might not leave your diamonds with

Christina. You do not know what danger you were in last night! On my way

back to my room I heard--two people talking together, and they mentioned

your name; so I stopped and listened. One said: "The bolt is all right:

I had better go in and risk it; he'll be certain to be asleep by this

time!" And then the other said: "He has his revolver; leave it to me; he

believes he can trust me. To-morrow, when he goes out, I'll get him to

leave them with me for safety!" and then they both laughed. My darling,

this house is a den of thieves!'

"'Were the persons you heard--who were they?'

"'Christina, and that creature she calls her father. Hush! there she

comes. She must not see us together;' and in a moment Kate had glided

away. I went on up the stairs with a heavy heart. I would almost rather

not have heard this last revelation; my confidence in my penetration had

received a humiliating shock. To think that Christina's innocent face

and modest maidenly air concealed the heart of a thief, or, worse still,

of a decoy-duck, was a blow to my vanity as well as to my faith in human

nature. How artful she had been, when I fancied her most ingenuous and

kind! And then it all at once flashed upon me--what if Heinrich Rudolph

himself were in the plot! what if he had written them to be on the

look-out for me! and what if Slurk, being secretly in league with him,

had contrived to get the Birchmores, and me along with them, into the

house, intending to divide the spoil with Herr Rudolph and Christina!

Many signs seemed to point to this as a true deduction from the

circumstances; and even as I was rather grimly considering the matter, a

new confirmation of Kate's discovery awaited me. Christina was standing

at my room door, and, as I came up, she curtsied and said:

"'I was wishing to speak a moment to Herr Gainsborough, if he would

permit me.'

"'What do you want?' I asked somewhat roughly.

"'Does the honoured Herr remember what I said yesterday----?'

"'That you wished me to give you my diamonds for safe keeping? Yes; and

I have to answer, that I am not quite so trustful as you seem to think!'

"The scornful and severe tone in which I spoke evidently startled

her; but she still affected not to understand. 'It was for Herr

Gainsborough's own sake----' she began; but I interrupted her.

"'Do you remember what _I_ said yesterday? that I went armed; well, I

am armed to-day, and whoever tries to teach me how to take care of my

diamonds may happen to get a bullet instead; so let him beware. If Herr

Rudolph is anxious about me, you can tell him that!'

"'Herr Gainsborough will be sorry to have spoken so,' said Christina,

colouring deeply, and with tremulous lip.

"'I am sorry to have to say it, Christina. But, can you tell me how the

bolt of this door came to be in this condition?' and I pulled out the

loose socket as I spoke, and the screws fell to the floor.

"'Indeed I did not know this!' exclaimed she; but the dismay and

confusion which were but too plainly visible on her face belied her

words.

"'You will understand, however, that a house whose fastenings are so

much out of order would not be a proper place to keep treasures in.

Well, good-bye, Christina. I am going to Kohlstein, and probably I shan't

spend another night here. When you write to your brother in Paris, you

may tell him that the diamonds are quite safe, though they may have been

in danger.'

"'Will Herr Gainsborough let me say one word?'

"'It's too late--I have no time,' returned I, with an emphasis all the

more coldly contemptuous because of the secret inclination I felt--in

view of her youth and prettiness--to be compassionate and forgiving; and

perhaps I was half sorry that she attempted no further self-vindication;

but, obeying my gesture of dismissal, passed out of the door and down

the passage, with her bare feet, and her blue eyes downcast, and no

backward glance. When she was gone, I shut the door in no enviable mood,

and walked to and fro about my room like a surly bull in a pound. For

the first (though not for the last) time I heartily cursed the diamonds;

they seemed to raise the devil wherever I carried them. In the midst

of my anathemas Mr. Birchmore knocked at the door, and told me that

everything was ready downstairs for the start.

"'And, by-the-bye, Gainsborough,' he added, with one of his point-blank,

icy glances, 'I have arranged that our luggage shall be removed to-day;

and if you leave yours here, I advise you to seal it up in my presence.

I found the lock of my door in rather a strange condition this morning.

I have my own opinion of what our landlord may be.'

"'Who recommended you to this place, Mr. Birchmore?' I demanded curtly;

for I was getting to feel something like contempt for my intended

father-in-law. It was not easy to respect a man who, under whatever

stress of circumstances, allows another man to make a slave of him.

"'It was that fellow Slurk; and he deserves a good horsewhipping for

it!' replied Birchmore, thrusting his hands resolutely into his pockets.

"'I think he deserves at least that,' I rejoined with a significant

laugh; 'and whenever you're inclined to operate on him, I'll stand by

you.'

"Mr. Birchmore said no more, and we went downstairs in silence. Kate

was already seated in the carriage; Slurk was on the box, with a large

basket containing our provisions for the day beside him. Mr. Birchmore

and I took our places--one of us at least with a heavy heart. The

landlord stood at the door and nodded us a surly farewell.

"'Where is Christina?' I asked him.

"'She has gone to the town to sell eggs: did the Herr want anything?'

"'I should like to have sent for a screwdriver; but probably I can get

one on our way back,' was my answer; and with that we drove away.

"In about half an hour, proceeding by unfrequented roads, we came in

sight of Kohlstein. It was a vast four-sided mass of gray rock, seamed

with deep clefts and fissures running horizontally and vertically, so

that it appeared to have been built of gigantic blocks of stone. It was

considerably over one hundred feet in sheer height, and it stood upon a

rising ground of shifting sand. Slender trees grew here and there out

of the crevices of its headlong sides, and straggled nakedly along its

level summit, outlined against the sky. It was an ideal place for a

robber stronghold; impregnable, certainly, to any attack save that of

the heaviest modern artillery.

"'We must get out and walk from here,' remarked Mr. Birchmore. 'There's

only one way of getting to the top, and that's on the other side. I have

got a touch of my rheumatics to-day, and hardly think I shall be able to

do the climbing. However, that needn't interfere with you young people,

of course.'

"I exchanged a covert look with Kate as I helped her to descend from

the carriage; and she pressed my hand and smiled. I admired her courage

as much as I lamented the apparent lack of it in her father. The horse

having been unharnessed and tethered where some cool grass grew beside

a stream, we struck off across the sandy upland; Slurk carrying the big

basket, Mr. Birchmore walking with a rather feeble step near him, and

Kate and I in front. It was an even hotter day than yesterday, and the

tramp was a wearisome one. By the time we arrived at the foot of the

Stein, we were quite ready to rest a few minutes in the shadow of the

rock, for coolness and breath.

"'No, I can't do it!' said Mr. Birchmore, wiping his forehead and

glancing hopelessly up at the narrow white footpath that seemed to mount

almost straight upward to the distant summit. 'Just leave me here, with

a few sandwiches and a bottle of hock, and I shall do very comfortably

till you come back.'

"It was certainly very arduous work clambering up that ladder-like path,

and I doubt whether Kate's determination and mine would have held out,

had the motive which urged us been merely one of curiosity. But the top

was gained at last, and we threw ourselves down on the dry grass to rest

and to be fanned by the welcome breeze that blew there. Slurk placed the

basket in a little hollow where some bushes kept off the direct rays of

the sun, and stretched himself at full length beside it.

"'Now, let us walk about,' suggested Kate at length in an undertone;

'we must see what there is to be seen.'

"We had already arranged all the steps by which we were to proceed

to the achievement of our purpose, and we felt that the sooner it was

ended now the better. The surface on which we stood, though preserving

a general level, was full of irregularities and unevennesses; it was

overgrown with low bushes and parched grass, with perhaps half-a-dozen

starved and meagre trees. Here and there the naked rock jutted forth

from the thin soil, crumbling and weatherworn, its surface stained in

places with dry lichens. The entire table was scarcely two-thirds of an

acre in area; and a more forlorn and uncongenial spot, even in the midst

of summer, it would be hard to find. The cave in which the robbers lived

was somewhere lower down; we had passed its entrance on our way up; but

it was here, probably, that an outlook was kept over the country, to

spy out the approach of victims or of enemies. It struck me that it was

hardly worth while to be a bandit, if one must put up with such bleak

and unattractive quarters in which to carry on the business.

"Kate and I wandered over this barren summit hand in hand. The moment

was now very near that was to make a great change in the world for both

of us. We felt, somehow, as if we were taking leave of a certain part

of our lives then. At least, I remember gazing out across the wide

expanse of sunlit country that stretched far away on every side, and

wondering whether it would look the same an hour hence. Slurk all the

while lay beside his basket, and appeared to be asleep.

"We came to the brow of a sort of shelf or shallow declivity, descending

which we found ourselves on a lower level by some six or seven feet; and

so much of the area as lay behind us ceased to be visible. Advancing a

few paces farther, we paused abruptly on the edge of a dark, profound

cleft, which gaped right at our feet. It was so narrow that one might

easily leap across it at its widest part; but it was so deep that, for

all that I could see, it might descend to the very base of the Stein.

Peering downwards earnestly, however, my eyes, becoming accustomed to

the gloom, could dimly discern what seemed to be a bottom at a depth of

not more than twenty feet.

"'It's an awful thing to do, after all!' I murmured after a long

inspection, looking up at Kate.

"'Are you ready?' was all her answer.

"'Yes,' said I, shamed by her resolution. 'Let him come.'

"She mounted the little ridge, and stood with her graceful figure

silhouetted against the blue heavens. I, below, turned up the cuffs of

my sleeves and buttoned my coat across my chest.

"'Slurk!' called she, in a clear penetrating tone, 'bring the basket

here, if you please. We mean to take our luncheon on this side.'

"She remained standing there, with her back towards me. From my lower

position I could not see whether Slurk were answering her summons with

alacrity or not; but since it would be his last opportunity of obeying

her orders, I was content to let him take his time. By-and-by he

appeared, with the basket on his arm; he descended the ledge, and Kate

followed him, with her eyes on me.

"'Set it down there, near the edge of this pit; not quite so near,

please. Now take hold of him!'

"The last words were spoken in a sharp, ringing tone; and at the same

moment the girl drew a long knife from beneath the overskirt of her

dress, and stood with it in her hand. Surprised at her action, I

hesitated half an instant; in that half-instant Slurk had thrown himself

towards me and grasped me round the body with his long powerful arms.

Almost simultaneously with his attack, I felt myself borne down by a

heavy weight from behind, and my arms pinioned. The struggle for a

minute or two was tremendous, but I felt that I was overpowered. A hand

was pressing hard against my windpipe. Kate stood there with her knife,

a new and strange expression on her face; but she did not stir.

"At length a panting voice close to my ear--a voice which I knew well,

and which, heard now, so amazed me that I almost ceased to resist--said:

"'I've got him safe here, Captain; have you got his legs?'

"A grunt from Slurk intimated that he had.

"'Now then, Kittie,' continued Mr. Birchmore; 'be quick there, will

you?'

"Kate came towards me with her knife. At that sight I uttered a yell of

animal rage, and made one more desperate effort to be free.

"'Hold him tight, can't you?' said Kate, in a voice that I scarcely

recognised as hers; 'I don't want to hurt him.'

"They mastered me; and then, with a rapidity and deftness that showed

the practised professional, Kate made a circular cut through the breast

of my coat and drew out the diamonds.

"'That's all right,' remarked Birchmore. 'Now the rope!'

"She went to the basket, and took from it a coil of fine rope. The two

men threw me upon my face, and bound my arms and my feet securely. I

made little resistance, but submitted in sullen silence.

"'Don't forget his revolver,' said Birchmore, when this was done; and

turning me over, they took the weapon from my pocket.

"'How do you feel now, young gentleman?' inquired the fellow, addressing

me with a smile. 'This is the result of plotting to throw unfortunate

valets into deep pits, and of flirting with strange young women. I

warned you, you remember, to keep out of our way; but idle curiosity has

been your ruin. Kittie, put on the diamonds; he says they become you!'

"Slurk grinned at this sally, but the girl said moodily: 'Don't bother

the boy, Jack; he behaved like a gentleman all through; he'd make a

great deal better husband than you do! Heigho!'

"'Well, Captain,' continued Birchmore, addressing Slurk in English,

'what are your orders? Shall we lower away now, and be off? It's nearly

half-past one, and we've a good distance to go before three.'

"'Listen to me, Mr. Gainsborough,' said Slurk, also speaking in English,

though with a foreign accent; 'we've got what we wanted out of you, and

we don't want to do you any more harm than is necessary. But we must

have time to get safe away, and to do that we must allow twenty-four

hours. We shall leave you at the bottom of this pit, with some

provisions; and I shall loosen your arms enough so that you can feed

yourself. After we are safe, I shall write to your friends at the

farmhouse, who are very honest persons I believe, and they will come

here and get you out. That is the best we can do for you. Now then,

Jack!'

"They loosed the cord a little round my arms; then, taking it by the

slack end, they lowered me into that dark chasm until I rested at the

bottom. Then I saw Kate's face above the edge, between me and the sky,

with something wrapped up in paper in her hand.

"'Here's some sandwiches for you, my poor boy,' said she. 'I'm sorry to

say good-bye to you in this way, really! But I don't suppose you'd have

me now, even if Jack weren't my husband already. Well, good-bye. Don't

flirt too much with that silly little Christina when you get out. There

are the sandwiches.'

"She let them fall beside me, nodded, and was gone. I lay on my back,

with nothing to look at but the narrow strip of blue sky overhead. It

was quite cool where I lay, on a bed of sand and rubbish; and it was

still as death. I was buried alive to all intents and purposes, and the

chance of my ever being disinterred rested upon a basis of probability

so narrow, that I judged it wisest not to hope. I lay there, gazing up

at the sky, and thinking over my adventure; beginning at the beginning,

with my meeting with Birchmore at the hotel, and tracing the progress

of the conspiracy step by step to its conclusion here. It was very

ingenious, and very well carried through. It had taught me a lesson that

I was likely to profit by, if I ever got out.

"I don't know how long I lay there; probably but a short time. All at

once another face intervened between me and the sky. It was not Kate's

this time; it was a very different one--Christina's.

"After peering anxiously downward for several moments, she asked:

"'Is Herr Gainsborough there?'

"'Yes.'

"'The Herr is not badly hurt?'

"'Not a bit, Christina!'

"'Gott sei Dank!' she exclaimed, heartily; and adding: 'it is all well;

you will be helped out immediately,' she vanished.

"Soon other faces appeared, with beards and helmets--the faces of the

'Polizei.' In a few minutes, by the aid of ropes and stout arms, I was

drawn up once more to the light of day, blinking like an awkward bat.

"Before me stood nearly a dozen persons: a squad of police-officers,

with their swords and carbines; Herr Rudolph and Christina; and three

prisoners--a woman and two men, whose faces were unpleasantly familiar

to me.

"Some little official ceremony of identification, and so forth, having

been gone through with, we all started for our various places of

destination. The trial took place not long afterwards in Dresden; the

prisoners were all convicted, and sentenced to----I don't care to

remember what. They were a dangerous gang of thieves, whom the police

of several countries had long been vainly endeavouring to capture. But

meanwhile, I went back to spend the night at the farmhouse of Herr

Rudolph. I need not say that I scarcely had the courage to look him

and his daughter in the face. Herr Rudolph was a most excellent and

blameless person; and as for Christina----! I knew not in what terms to

begin my apologies to her.

"It appeared that my little friend Heinrich, in Paris, had had his

suspicions of the man calling himself Birchmore from the first, and,

in writing to his father and sister, had mentioned as much. When,

therefore, the Birchmore party unexpectedly turned up at the farmhouse,

along with the owner of the diamonds, a good deal of perturbation was

created. Afraid openly to warn me, in the absence of direct evidence,

Christina had done what she could indirectly to excite suspicions in

my mind. Failing in this, the girl had actually gone down to Schandau,

on the evening of my interview with Kate in my chamber, and laid her

information at the police bureau. The next morning she met the officers

by appointment at some distance from the house, and they followed us to

Kohlstein. After seeing the whole party of us to the top of the Stein

(Birchmore followed a few minutes after myself and the others), they

formed a cordon at the foot of the path, and one of their number went up

to reconnoitre. Peeping over the edge of the plateau, he saw Birchmore

just making his attack, and immediately signalled to those below to

approach. Thus it happened that the thieves, as they were making off

with their plunder, found themselves confronted by an impassable cordon

of six loaded carbines. Resistance was out of the question, and they

surrendered at discretion.

"'And what can I do, Christina,' I said, 'to show you how much I thank

you? Of course I don't speak of cancelling the obligation--that nothing

could do; but I should like to leave you something to--to remind you

that you saved my life and my diamonds. Would you wear a diamond ring

for me, or a pair of earrings?'

"'No, many thanks, Herr Gainsborough,' replied the little maiden,

gravely. 'You owe me nothing; and as for diamonds, I shall never like

them, since I have seen them the cause of so much trouble and danger.'

"'But unless you let me do something, Christina, I must think you refuse

to forgive me for my inexcusable impertinence and stupidity.'

"She looked down at her bare feet, and smoothed her apron. 'Well, lieber

Herr, I would not like to have you think that, truly; I do forgive you

with all my heart; and just before you go away to-morrow--just when

you are ready to start--perhaps, if you please, I will ask you for

something.'

"'You shall have it, whatever it is!' I answered.

"So, the next day, when the droschkey was at the door, and my trunk

packed and put on the box, I left Herr Rudolph conversing with the

driver, and went back into the house to find Christina. She was standing

in a shadowy corner of the kitchen, so absorbed in scouring plates that

she did not appear to notice me until I spoke.

"'I am come to say good-bye, and to claim your promise, Christina.'

"She put down her plate, and blushed, with downcast eyes.

"'Herr Gainsborough will not be offended? it is something I have no

right to ask--only--it will show I am not unforgiving--and--it would be

better for me than the diamonds.'

"'What is it, dear Christina?'

"She looked up in my face, shyly and yet frankly, and said:

"'Kiss me!'"