WHAT THE CARAVAN LEFT BEHIND
Swinging round in the direction from which the voice came, Mr Frazer
stood still to stare. The girl, rising to her feet, stared also; with
her pale cheeks a little paler, and her eyes wide open.
The speaker was one of those shambling, half-grown youths who are
generally found attached to gipsy caravans, as hangers-on. That he had
gipsy blood in his veins, his hair and eyes and skin suggested; but
that he was as much Cockney as gipsy his tongue betrayed. With a
ragged cloth cap on the back of his head; the remains of a
black-and-white checked woollen scarf about his sinewy neck; a faded
old red flannel shirt plainly visible under an unbuttoned sleeved
waistcoat; his fingers thrust into the band of his trousers: he
grinned first at the man, and then at the woman, in evident enjoyment
of their something more than surprise. He showed no inclination to
break the silence which followed his wholly unexpected, and undesired,
appearance on the scene; from his point of view the joke was
apparently too good a one to spoil. It was Mr Frazer who spoke next.
"Who are you?--and what business have you to be here?"
The stranger's grin grew more pronounced, so that he showed a set of
perfect white teeth; which again suggested the gipsy.
"I'm General Lord Kitchener, that's who I am--don't you know me from
the photographs? And as to what business I have to be here, I always
thought that Newcaster Heath was common grazing ground, and that
people could go about all over it just exactly as they please."
"What have you been doing behind those bushes?"
"What have I been doing?--that's it, what have I?"
"Have you been listening?"
The stranger looked his questioner straight in the face, with a grin
in his eyes and on his lips; then he winked. The action was more
significant than any words could have been; it moved the man to sudden
anger.
"You young hound!"
"Steady on! I'm no more a hound than you. No names; if it comes to
that perhaps I'm as good at chucking names about as you are--Mr
Frazer."
"You know my name?"
"I heard you tell her what it was; and very nice it was of you to tell
her."
There was an insinuation in the grin with which the words were
accompanied which stung the man again.
"My lad, I've a mind to break your neck."
"Have you? Then you take my tip, and keep your mind to yourself. I've
some friends not far from here, and if you try to come any of your
games with me I'll give them a call, and they'll be here in double
quick time; then you'll find that breaking necks is a game that more
than one can play at."
Mr Frazer regarded the speaker as if he were considering whether or
not to take him at his word, and let him give his friends a call. Then
he turned to the girl, his tone as easy and courteous as ever:
"I think I'll put this parcel inside there, and then, while you're
changing, I can have a talk with this young gentleman."
The girl seemed uncomfortable, undecided.
"What does he want?"
It was the younger man who replied:
"That's it, miss--what does he want? I wouldn't mind having what he
thinks he's going to get; you can take that from me."
Mr Frazer ignored the other's words. Going to the caravan with the
parcel in his hand he placed it just inside the door. Then he turned
to the girl again, beckoning to her with his hand.
"If you please! You remember what I said about half-an-hour? I shall
be so glad if you can make it convenient to be ready."
She hesitated; looking sideways at the stranger. Then she moved to Mr
Frazer, who was by the steps which led into the caravan.
"Why won't you tell me what he wants?"
"Because I don't know--but I soon shall; and all the sooner if you'll
leave us alone together."
The young man called out from among the gorse:
"He thinks he's going to bounce me as soon as your back's turned,
miss--oh, he's a deep 'un!"
Mr Frazer, still ignoring him, said to the girl:
"Please will you try to be ready inside those thirty minutes?"
"Will you be ready?"
"I think I shall--I don't think you'll find I'll keep you waiting."
She looked into his blue eyes, as if she were trying to decipher what
was in them; then, glancing half affrightedly over her shoulder, she
went up the steps into the caravan. She paused on the ledge to give a
flying look at Mr Frazer, and another at the lad among the bushes,
then passed inside, drawing the door to behind her. Mr Frazer said: "I
think that, if I were you, I should bolt the door, and close the
window."
The lad called out:
"That won't keep the cops out, miss, don't you think it!" Mr Frazer
waited, as if to ascertain that his hint had been acted on. Then he
crossed the little hollow, towards the bushes on the slope among which
the lad was standing. "Don't you come too close," observed the lad.
"I don't intend to; I only wish to come close enough to enable you to
hear what I have to say without making it necessary for me to raise my
voice."
He ascended the slope until he was within a few feet of the other.
"That's near enough; none of your games."
"There's a bush between us; that is something. Now, sir, what is it
you want?"
"What do I want? Why, I want five and twenty pounds, that's what I
want."
"What for?"
"You know what for."
"Since, from your appearance, you never had so much money in your
life, I suppose, in a general way, I do know what for. But do you
expect me to give you five and twenty pounds?"
"That's for you to say. If you don't I can get it from someone
else--that all."
"From whom?"
"From the police over at Newcaster."
"Indeed; why should they give you five and twenty pounds?"
"Oh, come off of it!--what do you think you're playing at? You know
very well why they'll give me five and twenty pound, and if you don't
I'll tell you--I'm not afraid."
"Why?"
"Why!--for putting them on to Miss Dorothy Gilbert, what's wanted for
that little job last night at 'The Bolton Arms.' Now do you
understand?"
"I hope I don't."
"Then you needn't hope; because you do. I speak plainly enough, Mr
Frazer."
"From your post of vantage, behind these bushes, did you hear all that
was said?"
"I did; every blessed word; and I'm not going to forget one either, so
don't you make any blooming error."
"Then, in that case, you are aware that this lady is guiltless."
"If she didn't, her father did, or one of her lot--you told her
yourself his name was Gilbert--so what's the odds? She can explain all
about that to them when they've got her, and I hope she'll like the
job. Anyhow, it's no business of mine, all that; it's the pieces I'm
after. I lay they offer more than twenty-five, and I'm going to have
it. All the same, I'll take twenty-five from you, if I lose by it. You
give me five and twenty pounds, where I'm standing now, and I'll keep
my mouth shut--I don't wish no harm to no one; I can't say nothing
fairer."
"Till when will you keep it shut?"
"Why, till----"
The youth seemed to hesitate; Mr Frazer finished his sentence for him.
"Till the money's spent: or till you get within hail of a policeman."
"Now, governor, you didn't ought to talk to me like that; you really
oughtn't--I'm not that kind at all--I give you my word I'm not. When I
say I'll do a thing, I do it; I'm not like some of them. You can trust
me--straight, you can." Apparently he was endeavouring to train his
countenance to wear an expression which would inspire confidence. All
at once he seemed to see something in the steadfast gaze with which
the other was regarding him which filled him with uncomfortable
qualms. "Now then, stow it--I'll call!"
Shaping his lips to whistle, he moved back. But before he could utter
a sound, or get out of reach, or make an effort to defend himself, Mr
Frazer had sprung at him over the intervening bush. With one hand he
gripped his throat, with the other his arm; with a sudden, curious
twisting movement he spun him round, and flung him face downwards,
with a force which seemed amazing. Where the lad fell he lay,
motionless. Mr Frazer looked down at him.
"One doesn't always spend money in acquiring the art of ju-jitsu for
nothing, after all. I always had a feeling that that fall might come
in useful one day; and it has. For the present, you young blackguard,
I can trust you; but the point is, for how long. I sent him down with
a little more vigour than was perhaps absolutely necessary; there
wasn't time to be particular; so it'll probably be a good twenty
minutes before he comes back to consciousness; but I'm afraid that's
not quite long enough. Better make sure." He took the woollen scarf
off the young man's neck. "There's not very much strength about it;
but I think it'll serve." He drew the young man's arms behind his
back, and with his own scarf he tied his hands together, being careful
about the sort of knot he used. Taking off the belt with which the lad
held up his trousers, placing his ankles close together, he passed it
round, then drew it as tight as he could, with the buckle behind.
Turning him over on to his back, tearing off a handful of grass, he
crammed it between the young man's jaws. Then he regarded the result
of his labour with what seemed to be a smile of satisfaction. "When he
does come to I don't think he'll be able to make much noise; he
certainly won't be able to make enough to attract the attention of
those friends of whom he spoke; and I doubt if he'll be able to move
much either. By the time a friend does come and find him we ought to
have reached a port of comparative safety; and if it's some time
before a friend does come, it'll serve him right--and that'll pay him
anyhow; it's more money than he ever had in his life." He took a piece
of crinkly paper out of his own hip pocket which he placed in the
inside pocket of the young man's jacket. "Still, lest a friend should
come too soon, we'll place him a little more under the shade of the
bushes; which will also serve to protect him from the heat of the
sun." Lifting the unconscious lad, he placed him right among the
gorse, in such a position that, as he put it, not only was he
sheltered from the glow and glare of the sun, but also from the
observation of any stray passer-by; indeed, so long as he kept still
it would be necessary for such a one to look for him in exactly the
proper place before he would become aware that he was there. "He
remains quiet; with luck he may continue quiet for quite a
considerable number of minutes. When he finds out what has happened to
him, and where he is, he'll find it difficult to make much noise, for
a time. He'll have to chew, and swallow, a good deal of that green
stuff before he'll be able to make much use of his lungs. Before then
we ought to be--some distance from this." Leaving the lad under the
gorse, moving to where they had had their morning meal, gathering
together the breakfast things, Mr Frazer deposited them, together with
the bundle which contained what had served him as a bed, on one side
of the broad ledge which was outside the caravan door. In a few more
minutes he had the horse harnessed between the shafts, and was ready
to start. He rapped at the door.
"Are you all right in there? Don't worry if you've not quite finished;
only look out for yourself, because we're starting."
A question came from within:
"What's become of that man?"
"Man!--boy, you mean. I soon disposed of him. Are those things a
decent fit?"
The girl's voice seemed tremulous:
"They're--they're not at all a bad fit, thank you. What did that boy
want?"
"What I gave him."
"What did you give him?"
"Just enough to keep him quiet. Don't you bother about that boy. How's
that hat do?"
Again the tremor in the voice.
"I--I haven't put it on yet; but it's a very nice one; it must have
cost a great deal of money; I don't know how I shall ever pay you back
again."
"I'll see that I'm paid; you'll be surprised when you know how little
it did cost--I'm an expert in the art of shopping. You'll notice
there's a window at the end inside there, which looks out over the
horse's head. When you've quite finished, if you open it you'll find
me sitting on the shelf immediately beneath, ready to be entertained
by any remark which you may deign to address to me--for making the
miles seem less there's nothing like a little intellectual
conversation."
He had taken his place on the shelf to which he had referred, and had
gathered the reins in his hand, when he was hailed by a woman who
appeared on the crest of the slope behind him.
"I say, mister!--one moment, if you please!"
He looked round.
"Two, madam, if you desire it."
"Have you seen a young chap anywhere about here?"
"I believe I did see one, some time ago."
"Did you notice what he looked like?"
"I fancy he had on a red shirt."
"That him--he's my husband, he is--I thought he came this way, he said
he wouldn't be gone more than five minutes, but he's been gone a good
deal more than an hour--I can't make out what he's up to, because he
knows we're in a hurry. Did you notice which way he was going?"
"I rather think he was going over there."
He motioned with his whip towards the horizon on his right.
"Was he? That's very nice of him, I don't think, as he knows very well
I'm over here. I should like to know what he's thinking of. If you
come across him, mister, I wish you'd ask him if he's Ben Hitchings;
and if he says he is you tell him that I've had about enough of
waiting, and that I've gone on to the course, and if he wants me he'd
better come and look for me there--see?"
"Yes, madam, I think I see; and if I do come across Mr Hitchings I'll
make a point of giving him your message."
Mr Frazer gave a jerk to the reins; the horse moved; the caravan was
off.