THE "MARIA BRAGANZA"
Once more were the Nine Men in the bill of every newspaper in London.
Once more the cables hummed from world's end to world's end, and
slowly, item by item, came fragmentary scraps of news which Scotland
Yard pieced together.
"Of all extraordinary developments," said the _London Journal_, "in
any great criminal case, nothing has ever equalled, in its
improbability, the present phase of this remarkable case.
"And now we have reached the stage which we confidently hope will be
a final one. It is clear that these men, having command of enormous
riches, gained at the sacrifice of life, and by the ruin of thousands
of innocent people, secured to their service the Captain of the
Brazilian warship, _Maria Braganza_. So that somewhere in the wide
seas of the world is a stolen battleship, having on board a
congregation of the world's worst rascals, Napoleonic in the
largeness of their crimes.
"Many and fantastic are the suggestions that have been put forward as
to the whereabouts of the Nine Men of Cadiz. One of our
contemporaries draws a fanciful picture of life on some gorgeous
Southern Pacific isle, out of the track of steamers, and pictures the
Nine Men living in a condition of Oriental splendour, an existence of
_dolce far niente_. Such a supposition is, of course, on the face of
it absurd. Such an island exists only in the fancy of the romantic
writer. The uninhabited portions of the globe are few, and are, in
the main, of the character of the Sahara desert. Wherever life can
be sustained, wherever comfort and freedom from disease wait the
newcomer, be sure the newcomer has already arrived."
This much is quoted from the _Journal_ because it approaches near
enough to truth and actuality to merit quotation.
That Baggin had based all his plans on the supposition that such an
island existed, and could be discovered, we now know. He was the
possessor of an imagination, but his geographical knowledge was
faulty.
The "idea," that scrap of paper which Count Poltavo had risked his
neck to obtain, was simple enough now--up to a point.
THE "IDEA" THE SOLUTION
"Suppose we separated, "Some spot," meant
where to meet? Must be some place on land.
some spot; yet that would
be dangerous."
"Otherwise, must be The latitude and longitude
easily remembered. of sea rendezvous
Especially as it is difficult must be easy to remember.
for non-technical (?) to fix in
mind, and one cipher
makes all the difference."
"Suggest we rendezvous
at Lolo."
This last was the only part of the little clue that offered any
difficulty to T. B. The _Gazetteer_ supplied no explanation.
Nor could the Admiralty help. The naval authorities did their best
to unravel the mystery of "Lolo."
A conference of the Ambassadors met in London, and it was jointly
agreed that the nations should act in concert to bring the _Maria
Braganza_ and her crew to justice as speedily as possible. The
Brazilian Government agreed to indemnify the Powers in their action,
and, in the event of the destruction of the ship being necessitated
by resistance on the part of its rebel captain, to accept an agreed
sum as compensation.
There are surprising periods of inaction in the record of all great
accomplishments, which those who live, rather than those who read the
stories of achievements, realise.
There were weeks of fretting and days of blank despair in one room at
Scotland Yard. For the examination of all clues led to the one end.
Somewhere in the world were the Nine Men of Cadiz--but where, none
could say. Every port in every civilised land was alert. Captains
of mail steamers, of grimy little tramps, of war vessels of every
nation, watched for the battleship. Three British cruisers, detached
unostentatiously from the Home Fleet, cruised unlikely seas, but with
no good result.
Then began the new terror.
T. B. had always had one uncomfortable feeling, a feeling that the
dissipation of the Nine had not dispelled, and that was the knowledge
that somewhere in Europe the machinery set up with devilish ingenuity
by Poltavo still existed. Who were the desperate and broken men who
acted as agents to the Nine? Whoever they were, they had been well
chosen.
The weeks passed without further news of the ship, and T. B. was
beginning to worry, for good reasons. He had an elaborate chart
supplied to him by the Admiralty, which showed him, from day to day,
the amount of provisions and coal such a ship as the _Maria Braganza_
would require, and he knew that she must be running short. Then, one
morning, he received a clue.
A telegram came to Scotland Yard, which began:
"Officer commanding Gibraltar reports that his wireless station had
been intercepting messages in code which bear some resemblance to
those of N.H.C. Full messages have been forwarded here for decoding.
Some of them are unintelligible, but one portion of a message we have
been able to make read: '... Accept your assurance and explanation;
we have still splendid field for enterprise; I will join you at Lolo
with shipload of provisions and collier on June 1st. In meantime, if
you do as I suggest, we can make terms with Governments and,
moreover, find employment for agents who are at present
discontented...' Message beyond this undecipherable with exception
of words 'destruction,' 'easily obtainable,' and 'insure.' This
message obviously between Poltavo and Maria Braganza--'Commander
Fleet, Gibraltar, has sent H.M.S. _Duncan, Essex, Kent,_ with six
destroyers, into Atlantic pick up _Maria Braganza_!"
T. B. read the message again, folded it carefully, and placed it in
his breast pocket. There was one word in Poltavo's message that
revealed, in a flash, the nature of the new terror with which the
Nine Men of Cadiz threatened the world.