WHEREIN I MEET THE PIRATE
WE were soon out of the narrow Soho street, and I observed that the time
was just half-past ten as Winter steered us carefully through Piccadilly
Circus. Colonel Maitland occupied a seat behind while I sat beside
Winter.
The car my friend drove was a magnificent 22-horse Daimler, built to his
own specification and capable of doing considerably more than any car I
had hitherto been privileged to ride upon. Of course while passing
through the streets there was little chance of exhibiting its
capabilities. Yet even there, the way the car glided in and out of the
traffic, delicately responsive to the slightest touch of the steering
wheel, was sufficient evidence of its quality to set the most nervous
passenger at ease. As it was as yet too early for the after theatre
traffic to fill the streets and compel us to stop every few minutes, we
followed the main road up Oxford Street as far as the Marble Arch. There
we turned to the right. Once clear of the narrow part of the Edgeware
Road, Winter put on his second speed and a very few minutes seemed to
have passed before we were bumping over a rough bit of roadway by
Cricklewood.
"There's not much of this," said Winter, cheerily over his shoulder to
the Colonel.
Our gastronomic friend merely grunted for reply, and I should have
thought him to be asleep had not the red glow of his cigar assured me
that he was still awake.
Winter jammed on his third speed and the hedges began to fly past us. We
were in the country now and were able to appreciate the fineness of the
night. Indeed it was a perfect night. The air was sharp but without
sting. The moon shone with a clear brilliance which betokened rain in
the near future. The road was clean and dry, and there was no dust in
the air except the thin cloud which floated behind us. We passed the
Welsh Harp without a check, and not until we reached Edgeware did Winter
revert to his second speed. We ran through the little town with only
momentary slackening of pace, and so we sped onwards until we opened the
stretch of road leading to Brockley Hill. Here Winter, seeing the road
clear ahead, jammed on his highest speed and the wheels droned like a
hive of bees as we darted towards the incline. We were half way up the
hill before Winter found it necessary to transform his speed into power,
and we finished the ascent with ease. Then once more the order was third
speed, and we whirled away through Elstree and passed through Radlett a
bare half hour from the time we started.
Just at this time I looked back to see how Colonel Maitland fared. His
cigar no longer glowed, though it was still tightly held between his
teeth. His head was bent forward, and the regular and gentle murmur
which came from his nose proclaimed that he slept. I had just mentioned
the fact to Winter, and had turned again to assure myself that he was
comfortably wrapped in his rug, when I thought I saw on the road behind
me another car.
"Hullo!" I said to Winter. "There's another chap coming on behind us.
Without lights, too!"
A slight bend in the road shut out the view, however, and made me doubt
whether or no my eyes had been deceiving me.
"Pooh!" replied Winter. "We've passed nothing on the road, and at the
pace we've been travelling there's not another car owned in this
district we should not have left miles behind us, even if it had started
at the same time as ourselves. You must have mistaken some of the
shadows from the trees. How much of that port did you drink?"
I laughed, but as we had now reached a straight stretch of road I looked
back again.
"I'm right," I said. "There is another car, and by jove! It's coming up
hand over fist."
"What?" shouted Winter. "What?"
He clearly did not appreciate the idea of being overtaken by any one,
for he whipped on his highest speed and jammed down the accelerator. The
change was enormous. Our powerful car, relieved from all restraint,
simply leaped through the air. Winter gave a pleased laugh as he
steadied her with the wheel.
"If the stranger can catch us now I shall believe it's the Motor Pirate
himself," he remarked in a pleased tone, that showed how proud he was of
his own car.
Our progress was so exhilarating that I wanted to shout defiance to the
stranger; yet I was so fascinated with the pace we were travelling, that
I could not take my eyes from the road which uncoiled before us.
Suddenly a humming sound forced itself upon my ear. For a moment I
thought it was due to the whirr of our own wheels. Then it struck me
that the note was a higher one. I half turned. The other car was within
a yard or two of us. In another second it was level and, running without
any visible vibration, indeed, without any noise save the snore of the
wheels as they raced round, the stranger slackened speed and ran by our
side.
Winter cast a hasty glance at the strange car, and I saw him bite his
lip with annoyance at finding his Daimler so outpaced.
One glance at the stranger was enough to tell me with whom we had to
deal. In the brilliant moonlight, the boat-shaped car with its sharp
prow, the almost invisible wheels, the masked occupant, assured me that
the evening papers had not been the victims of a hoax.
"It's the Motor Pirate himself," I said to Winter, and my voice was
hoarse with excitement.
"Motor Pirate be d----d!" replied Winter. What more he would have said I
do not know, for at this moment the stranger turning his mask towards us
called out in the most urbane manner--
"I must trouble you gentlemen to stop that car."
Winter at the best of times is of rather a peppery disposition, and
whenever any one requires him to pull up, his temper invariably gets the
better of his manners. His reply was an unnecessarily verbose, and
needlessly forcible negative.
I heard the stranger chuckle. "I really must trouble you to obey my
wishes," he replied, with ironic courtesy. "Otherwise I shall be
compelled to do some damage to that car of yours, a proceeding I always
try to avoid if possible."
"Do what you please," was in effect Winter's luridly adjectived answer.
"If you do not pull up within thirty seconds your fate will be upon your
own heads," said the stranger, shortly, as he laid his hand upon a
lever.
His car leapt away from ours, and though we were running nearly sixty
miles an hour, we might have been standing still, he dropped us so
rapidly. In fifteen seconds he had vanished in a cloud of dust ahead.
"I'm going to stop," said Winter, abruptly. He suited the action to the
word, and none too soon.
Again we heard the curious drone of the strange car as it swooped down
upon us, coming to a sudden halt a yard distant, with really beautiful
precision.
"What do you want?" shouted Winter, in his gruffest tones.
"I'm glad to find you have had the wisdom to do as I desired you," said
the Motor Pirate; for it was indeed he with whom we were now face to
face. "It would have deeply grieved me to wreck so good a car as that
you have there. A Daimler, I believe?"
"Oh, d----n your compliments! What is it you want?" growled Winter.
"Merely any articles of jewellery and any money you may happen to have
about you," remarked the stranger, pleasantly.
I saw the moonlight glitter on the barrel of a revolver as he spoke, and
he now lifted the weapon and pointed it towards us.
"I do not wish to proceed to extremities, and, as I gather from your
speech that I am dealing with gentlemen"--really Winter's language had
fully warranted the sarcasm--"if you will give me your word of honour
that you will hand over to me all articles of value in your possession,
I will leave your car untouched. If, on the contrary, you decline to
oblige me, I shall be under the disagreeable necessity of ruining that
very handsome car you are driving. I do not like to hurry you, but I am
afraid I must ask you to come to a speedy decision on the matter, for
these roads in the vicinity of London are not quite so secluded as one
of my profession could wish."
He delivered this speech with an air of mock politeness, which made
Winter writhe. He did not, however, reply. I think he was too angry.
"Come, gentlemen! Make up your minds. Your money or your--car!"
He made a slight pause before he said the word "car," and his fingers
played with the revolver in a manner that sent a cold shiver down my
spine.
"It's his turn now," I whispered to Winter. "It may be ours presently."
"Come, come, gentlemen!" said the stranger again; "do you give me your
words?"
"D----n you! I suppose we must," jerked out Winter, almost inarticulate
with rage.
"Each of you will dismount in turn and lay the contents of your pockets
before me here." He indicated a level shelf, which formed apparently
part of the casing of one of the wheels. "I must insist upon seeing the
linings of your pockets; and I need hardly warn you that it will be
extremely undesirable for you to make any movement liable to
misconstruction. This toy"--he lifted his pistol--"has a very delicate
touch. Now, gentlemen. One at a time, please, and do not wait to discuss
the question of precedence. I am quite willing to overlook any little
informality."
I listened closely to his speech, but the voice was so muffled by the
mask he wore, that I felt I should be unable to recognize it again. Only
one point I was assured upon--that the Pirate was an educated man.
Meanwhile what were we to do? All sorts of wild plans were darting
through my brain, and I knew that Winter's mind must be equally active.
But out of the medley no coherent scheme took shape. Winter dismounted,
and, throwing off his overcoat, advanced into the brilliant circle of
light cast by our lamps, and proceeded to empty his pockets. He laid his
note-case, his watch and chain, and sovereign-purse upon the car in
front of the highwayman, and, in obedience to a further command, added
the diamond which shone upon his little finger, and another which
adorned his shirt-front, to the pile. Then he resumed his place in the
car, and I passed through a similar humiliating ordeal. All the while
the stranger kept up a flow of apologies for the inconvenience which his
necessities compelled him to occasion us. I kept silence, though I must
confess the effort was a considerable strain upon my temper. Still, a
pistol with a business man at the butt end of it, is of considerable
assistance in preventing the exhibition of annoyance.
"If the other gentleman will make haste, I shall be the sooner able to
relieve you of my unwelcome society," the Pirate remarked, as I returned
to our car after handing over all the valuables in my possession.
In the excitement, I had, until this moment, entirely forgotten the
presence of Colonel Maitland; and now, looking closely at him, I
discovered that he was still in happy ignorance of the _contretemps_
which had befallen us. Swathed in rugs, he was propped up on the seat
behind us slumbering peacefully. A smile was upon his rosy face, and
ever and again he smacked his lips. He must have been dreaming of a
finer vintage than ever terrestrial vineyard produced.
"What the deuce can we do?" I asked Winter.
"Hullo, Colonel!" shouted my friend.
"What's the matter?" inquired the Pirate. "Does your friend refuse to
acknowledge the compact?"
"I'm afraid he can hardly be said to be a party to it," I replied. "He
has dined, and now he sleeps."
"Well, you will awaken him less roughly than I shall," was the retort.
"Any one who knows Colonel Maitland is aware that he is exceedingly
annoyed if awakened from his after-dinner nap," I urged.
"Colonel Maitland? Colonel Maitland the gourmet?"
"You know him?" said Winter.
The Pirate laughed pleasantly. "I have met him on one occasion, and, as
some slight return for a very excellent dinner which he ordered, and for
which--doubtless by an oversight--he left me to pay, I will not trouble
you to awaken him on this occasion. I wish you good evening, gentlemen."
As he finished speaking he backed his car for a few yards. His hand
moved to a lever. The car turned. He waved the hand which was
disengaged, and in a moment he was gone, attaining at once a speed,
which, until then I had thought it impossible for a motor-car ever to
achieve.
Both Winter and I sat stock still, gazing after the fast disappearing
car. We could not watch it for long; as in fifteen seconds it was out of
sight, and even the dust-cloud it had raised in its progress had
cleared.
Then Winter turned to me and muttered a few expletives gently in my ear.
I followed his example and we both felt better, at least I think so;
for, without rhyme or reason, Winter burst into a fit of laughter, and I
followed his example, though I cannot explain now, any more than I could
have done then, why I laughed.
When we had done laughing, Winter turned to me and said--
"Sutgrove, old fellow, would you mind punching me? I'm not quite sure
whether it is the Colonel who is asleep or myself. I feel as if I have
just awakened from dreaming of the story those newspapers printed."
"It's not much of a dream," I remarked. "I little thought that we were
to have the good fortune of so early an introduction to the Motor
Pirate, however. The Colonel will be quite cross to think that his
bottle of port prevented the renewal of an old acquaintance."
Then Winter laughed again. I think he saw the amusing side of our
adventure more clearly than I did, for I said sharply--
"Hadn't we better be getting on to St. Albans, and giving information to
the police?"
"H--m--m!" he answered meditatively. "I think perhaps we had better
not."
"Not?" I replied in surprise.
"In the first place it is after dinner," he said.
"What of that? We dined wisely."
"One of us knows nothing about it." Winter jerked his thumb in the
direction of the slumbering warrior. "We could hardly explain the reason
why the Colonel slept so soundly through the adventure. The explanation
could hardly please him, would it?"
I muttered an assent.
"Besides," continued Winter, "for three of us to admit that we tamely
allowed ourselves to be held up by one man, and forced to hand over to
him all our valuables, well it--er--it hardly seems heroic, does it?
That wouldn't create a very favourable impression upon Miss Maitland
either."
I was compelled to agree with him.
"I think perhaps we had best keep the matter to ourselves. I have no
desire to provide another sensation for the evening papers to-morrow."
"At any rate I'm not going to sit down quietly under my loss if you
are," I responded irritably.
"That's another matter altogether," replied Winter, as he set our car in
motion once more. "I did not say that I was going to grin and bear it
either."
"What do you propose?" I cried eagerly.
"That is a question we will discuss over a whisky and soda, when we have
deposited the Colonel safely at home;" and he refused to say anything
further.
Our car was once more put at full speed, and in five minutes we reached
the cross-roads on the outskirts of St. Albans, where the road to
Watford makes a junction with that on which we had come from town. Here
Winter pulled up, and, much to my surprise, dismounted and made a
careful examination of the road by the light of our lamps.
"I just want to see in which direction the fellow went," he answered, in
reply to my inquiry as to the meaning of his action.
He was still engaged on the task when we heard in the distance the
regular beat of a petrol motor approaching us on the Watford road.
"If it's another pirate, he won't get much plunder," I remarked.
"That's no pirate," replied Winter, as a couple of lights came into
view. "Cannot you recognize the rattle of Mannering's old car? I should
know it anywhere. He will be able to tell us if any one has passed him
on the road."
As soon as the new-comer came within range of his voice, Winter hailed
him.
"That you, Mannering?"
"Hullo, Winter! Got a puncture? Can I be of any assistance?"
Was it indeed Mannering's voice, or were my ears deceiving me? The
intonation was remarkably like that of the stranger, who so short a time
previously had bade us stand and deliver, that I sprang to my feet with
an exclamation of astonishment. My eyes at once convinced me that my
ears had played me false. There was no mistaking Mannering's lumbering
old car for the graceful shape of the Motor Pirate's vehicle. I resumed
my seat, taking my nerves seriously to task for generating the
suspicion, if suspicion it could be called, which had flashed across my
mind. If anything further had been needed to dispel it, the reply
vouchsafed to Winter's query as to whether he had met any one on the
road would have done so.
"Met any one?" said Mannering; "I should think I have. Met the most
wonderful motor I've ever seen, about a couple of miles back. 'Pon my
soul, I'm not sure even now whether it was not a big night bird, for it
just swooped by me with about as much noise as a humming-top might make.
It must have been travelling eighty miles an hour at least. Reckless
sort of devil the driver must be too. He hadn't a single light. I
suppose his lamps must have been put out by the rapidity with which he
was travelling. Never had such a scare in my life. I'd like to meet the
Johnny. I'd welcome an opportunity of telling him what I thought of his
conduct."
"So should I," replied Winter, grimly; "and I fancy Sutgrove would not
be averse to a meeting with him."
"Why, what has he been doing?" asked Mannering.
"It's too long a story to tell you now," said Winter, as he climbed back
into his seat; "but if you will come up to my place as soon as you have
put your car to bed, I'll tell you all about it."
"Right!" sang out Mannering, as we once more set out upon our homeward
way. We had not much further to go. In two minutes we had pulled up at
Colonel Maitland's door.
I leaned back and shouted, "Here we are, Colonel," in the slumbering
warrior's ear.
"Eh! What--what?" he replied, as he awakened with a start. "When are we
going to start?"
"Start? Why we've brought you safely home to your own threshold," said
Winter.
"'Pon my soul! I remember now," he answered. "I just shut my eyes to
keep the dust out of 'em, and---- You will come in for a peg, of
course," he continued, as he emerged from the rugs in which he had been
enveloped.
I glanced at the windows. There was only a light in the Colonel's study.
If there had been another in the drawing-room, I should have accepted
forthwith. As it was, I merely said that I could not think of disturbing
Miss Maitland.
"Pooh!" said the Colonel, with the usual callous disregard of the mere
father for his children's beauty sleep.
But he did not press the invitation. Indeed it was with difficulty he
succeeded in repressing a yawn.
"I'll call to-morrow, and get a considered opinion upon my Soho house of
entertainment," I remarked, as the Colonel opened his door, and paused
at the entrance to bid us a final good night.
"Glad to see you," he replied, as he grasped my hand and shook it
warmly. "But of one thing you may rest assured. So long as that bin of
port holds out, your house of entertainment may count upon me as a
regular customer whenever I dine in town."
"Opium isn't in it," commented Winter in a low voice, as he set the car
in motion and wheeled out of the drive. "How he could have slept so
soundly through it all absolutely beats me."
I did not reply. My attention was concentrated upon one of the upper
windows, at which I thought I had seen a form I knew very well make a
brief appearance. But we left the window and house behind us. Winter's
place was only about a hundred yards further up the road.