A TELL-TALE LIGHT
“I cannot make out our friend the Count,” Galabin observed, as the two
walked back to their temporary home. “The whole business is a puzzle,
but I must say an interesting one, and I am not sorry for having set
myself to unriddle it. He is sharp and clever--unpleasantly so--but I
do not think he has any idea that I am here less for sport than to keep
an eye on him.”
“No,” Von Tressen agreed. “I could have kicked the fellow, though, for
the bullying suggestion in the way he spoke to that girl. I fancy, by
the way, one of the hardest riddles you have to solve, my friend, is
whence he, lately a poor man, has got all the money of which that place
gives evidence.”
“Yes; the Herr Count is interesting game to stalk, and not easy. But a
slight chance may show us a way of coming close to him and getting in a
shot. We must go back there to-night for a further examination of that
mysterious window. You’ll come?”
“Decidedly. I shall not rest till I have found out at least that
secret.”
When they got to the tent it was already dusk, and they found Von
Tressen’s man Bela lamenting an over-cooked dinner. During the meal
their talk was guardedly of a simpler kind of sport than they were in
reality pursuing. Presently Bela, who was waiting on them, observed--
“There is another gentleman shooting in this part of the forest. Yes,”
he went on, in answer to their exclamation of surprise, “he passed by
here this afternoon.”
“Herr Harlberg, no doubt,” Von Tressen said to Galabin. Then to Bela:
“A short, elderly, gentleman, with a military air, was it not?”
The man shook his head. “Military, perhaps,” he replied. “But not old
or short; he was tall and fierce looking, with black eyes that looked
through one.”
The two men glanced at one another. “Who can this be? A sportsman, you
say, Bela?”
“Yes, mein Herr; he had a sporting gun.”
So the stranger’s identity was a puzzle. “After all,” Von Tressen said
at length, “we have no monopoly of the forest; it is open to all as to
us. There may be other sportsmen about.”
Darkness having fallen by the time the meal was over, they lighted
their cigars and strolled off again towards Rozsnyo. The sky had become
cloudy and threatened rain; it was, however, a night well suited to
their purpose. This time they made their way directly to that side of
the castle where they had seen the mysteriously lighted window. No; not
a trace of it was to be noticed; the wall was dark and presented the
blank, unbroken surface they had seen there in the afternoon. Even in
the darkness an unlighted window could not have escaped their scrutiny,
and there certainly was none. They had the bearings exactly from the
tree which Von Tressen had climbed; but opposite to it now was nothing
but bare wall.
“I cannot understand it,” Galabin said.
“Could we have made a mistake about the light?” Von Tressen suggested.
“Both of us? Impossible! And yet--ah!”
He was looking towards the spot as he spoke, and now, breaking off
suddenly, clutched his companion’s arm. The Lieutenant turned eagerly.
“What is it?” he asked, after looking in the direction for a few
moments. “I can see nothing.”
“Wait! Watch!” Galabin returned in an excited whisper. “There! Look!
Above the wall,” he continued as Von Tressen made no response. “There!
again!”
“It was nothing but a bird flying over----”
“Yes, a bird. You saw it plainly?”
“Quite.”
“For how long?”
“For a second.”
“Why no longer?” Galabin asked, with the triumphant satisfaction bred
of a discovery.
“The bird was lost in the darkness.”
“And yet it flew nearer to us. Ah, there is the same thing again! How
did we see it at all, my friend? I’ll tell you. The bird was attracted
by and flew over a light. A vertical shaft of light this time; not
strong enough to be apparent of itself from here, and only to be
detected by the evidence of an object passing through it. Now, watch
again.”
They remained intently looking for a few seconds when the phenomenon
was repeated. A large bird became suddenly visible for an instant out
of the darkness and then disappeared.
“Now are you satisfied, my good friend?” Galabin asked.
“Perfectly. And the light----?”
“Must come from a skylight. There is a room below there. And if a room,
why not a concealed window? though how contrived in that thick stone
wall, I cannot tell. At the same time that is to me less interesting
than to discover what the room is used for, who inhabits it, since it
clearly is inhabited.”
“If we could only get up there and look down,” Von Tressen said. “But
it hardly seems possible, at least from this point.”
“No,” his friend agreed. “Our only chance will be to scale the wall at
some place farther along if we can find one practicable, and so make
our way to where the light shines.”
“Come,” Von Tressen said; “let us set about finding a likely
place. Who knows what discovery may be in store for us? It is an
altogether unjustifiable liberty we are taking with our friend the
Count’s domestic arrangements, but State service must over-ride that
consideration.”
“You may take my word for that,” Galabin replied. “The Chancellor
would blame us if, having seen this much, we were to neglect to find
the explanation. In these secret services the authority cannot give
explicit instructions; nearly everything must be left to one’s own
discretion and enterprise.”
Cautiously they crossed the disused moat, and began a close inspection
of the walls in search of a place where a climb might be feasible. They
had not proceeded far when Von Tressen turned and held up his hand with
a warning gesture.
“Hist! I thought I heard something,” he said under his breath. “It
sounded like a man’s footstep in the wood.”
They listened intently, the stillness preceding the threatened storm
making it easy to hear a very slight sound.
“There!” ejaculated Von Tressen, in scarcely a whisper.
Now from the other side of the moat came distinctly a slight cracking
noise of footsteps on the twigs and dead leaves that carpeted the wood.
They strained their eyes in the direction of the sound, but could
make out nothing. The person, whoever it was, seemed to be stopping
and then moving on, for the footsteps would cease for a time and then
be heard again. Presently they could just see a black figure moving
against the dark background of trees at the edge of the wood. Then it
seemed to come boldly forward, and stood out in the open space between
the trees and the moat. A man evidently, a tall man; that was all they
could discern. He remained there for a while motionless as the two,
who watched him with intense curiosity. Soon he moved and began to
walk slowly along the edge of the moat, as though making the circuit
of the house. The two men looked after him until he disappeared in the
darkness, then Galabin said in a low voice--
“I think we had better abandon our attempt for to-night. I do not know
who our friend may be; one of Zarka’s men on the watch, most likely.
Anyhow, it will not do for us to be caught. The sooner we get across
the wood the better.”
“He evidently did not suspect we were here,” Von Tressen said.
“No; and should we be seen it will be less suspicions if we are found
over there than here under the wall. Now, as quietly as we can.”
They crept for a short distance round by the wall in the opposite
direction to that which the man had taken. Then, stooping, they ran
across the moat and gained the shelter of the wood.
“I should like to see what that fellow’s game is,” Galabin said, as
they halted under cover of the trees. “After all, we are doing no harm
here, and have a right to an evening stroll even in the precincts of
our friend Count Zarka’s stronghold.”
Accordingly they began to move slowly and alertly after the man. They
had not gone far when they stopped simultaneously, for his figure had
suddenly appeared out of the darkness a few yards in front of them.
Luckily he was just outside the edge of the wood, they just within,
consequently he was much more easily visible to them than they to him.
The two friends stood still, pressed close against a tree. Evidently
the man had no idea of their presence, for he passed slowly on without
any sign of suspicion, and they could hear his footsteps until he had
gone some distance. Then Galabin touched his companion.
“Did you make him out?”
“Hardly. Could you?”
“I think I know something,” Galabin answered. “It is the fellow your
man saw passing the tent this afternoon.”