AN IMPERSONATION
At least he now had a goal--"the center of the map, near the top"--the
Tatra region by which Goritz had passed (if he had not been intercepted)
into Galicia and so into Germany. Aside from the value of Selim's
information, one other fact stood out. The secret service men who had
visited Selim a month ago had not returned. Did this mean that Herr
Windt had already succeeded in closing the door of escape? The passes
through the Carpathians could of course be easily guarded and closed,
for there were few of them accessible to traffic by automobile. Was
Renwick's goal, after all, to be there and not beyond? He had put in one
summer in the Tatra region with Captain Otway of the Embassy, and he
knew the district well,--a country of mountain villages, feudal castles,
and rugged roads. Otway had been interested in the military problems of
the Austro-Hungarian empire, and Renwick remembered the importance of
the Tatra as a natural barrier to Russian ambitions. The shortest
automobile road into Silesia lay to the _east_ of the Tatra range--and
the passes through the Carpathians at this point were few and well
known. By process of elimination, Renwick had at last assured himself
that his first theory was tenable, for Selim had confirmed it. A hundred
conjectures flashed into the Englishman's mind as he trudged onward, to
be one by one dismissed and relegated to the limbo of uncertainty. But
assuming that Selim had told the truth, Renwick had found the trail, and
would follow wherever it might lead him, to its end.
His idea of traveling afoot by night and of hiding by day, at least for
the first part of his journey, was born of the desire to leave nothing
to chance. His own capture meant internment until the end of the war, or
possibly an exchange for some Austrian in England. But they should not
catch him! Concealed in his belt he wore the American revolver, and
carried some cartridges which Zubeydeh had restored to him.
The weather fortunately had been fine, and the days and nights in the
open were rapidly restoring him to strength. The discomfort at the wound
in his body which had bothered him for a few days had disappeared. He
was well. And with health came hope, faith even, in the star of his
fortunes. It took him two weeks to reach Polishka, below which he
crossed the Save at night in a boat which he found moored to the bank,
and daylight found him at a small village through which a railroad ran
north towards the plains of the Danube. Here he paused dead-tired for
food and rest.
The innkeeper, who spoke German fairly well, swallowed Renwick's story,
his taste somewhat stimulated by the sight of the ten-_kroner_ piece
which the Englishman used in paying for his breakfast.
But the time had now come for the execution of a bold plan which for
some days and nights Renwick had been turning over and over in his mind.
It was a good plan, he thought, a brave plan which stood the test of
argument pro and con. The British Embassy in many of its investigations
during times of peace,--investigations of a purely personal or financial
nature,--had been in the habit of calling in the services of one Carl
Moyer, an Austrian who ran a private inquiry bureau in Vienna. He was an
able man, not directly connected with the secret service department of
the Empire, but frequently brought into consultation upon matters
outside the pale of politics. Renwick's interest in Moyer had been
limited to the share they had both taken in some inquiries as to the
standing of a Russian nobleman who had approached the Ambassador with a
scheme of a rather dubious character. But a physical resemblance to
Moyer, which had been the subject of frequent jokes with Otway, had now
given Renwick a new and very vital interest in the personality of the
man which had nothing to do with their business relations. Moyer was
thinner than Renwick, and not so tall, but their features were much
alike. When at first the idea of an impersonation had come to Renwick,
he had rejected it as dangerous, but the notion obsessed him. The very
boldness of the project was in its favor. He could now move freely along
the railroads and if one ignored the hazard of meeting the man himself
or someone who knew him intimately, he could pursue his object of
following the trail of Captain Goritz with a brave front which would
defy suspicion. True, he would have no papers and no credentials, but
this, too, was a part of the guise of a man who might be moving upon a
secret mission. Carl Moyer, disguised as an Austrian of the laboring
class, moving from Bosnia to the Carpathians--what could be more
natural?
As Renwick ate his breakfast in the small inn at Otok, he came to a
sudden decision to put this bold plan into practice. And so, exhibiting
another ten-_kroner_ piece, he made known his wishes to the innkeeper.
He was a Bosnian, he said, but in Hungary he did not wish to attract
attention by wearing his native costume. In parts of Hungary there was a
feeling that the Bosnians who lived near the Serbian border were not
loyal to the Emperor and this, it had been said, might make it difficult
for him to obtain employment. His purse was not large but if his host
would procure for him a suit of western clothing, a coat, a pair of
trousers, a shirt, a cravat, and a soft hat, he, Thomasevics, would
offer his Bosnian clothing in exchange and do what was fair in the
matter of money. The train from Britzka did not go north for an hour.
Would it be possible to find these things in so short a time? The
innkeeper regarded the worn and mud-stained garments of his guest rather
dubiously, but the terms of the offer in the matter of money having been
made clear, the transformation was accomplished without difficulty and
Renwick boarded the train rather jubilant at the celerity and speed of
his journey. By nightfall, with luck, he would be across the Danube and
well within the borders of Hungary, mingling in crowds where all trace
of his identity would be lost. He spent most of his afternoon on the
train trying to recall the mannerisms of the man Moyer, a trick of
gesture, a drawl and a shrug which he thought he could manage. Carl
Moyer he now was, on a mission from Bosnia to the North, in which the
better to disguise himself he was permitting his hair and beard to grow.
Hut success had made him over-confident, for at the Bahnhof at Zombor
where he had to change into a train for Budapest, something happened
which drove all thought from his head save that of escape from the
predicament into which his imprudence had plunged him.
He was sitting upon a bench on the platform waiting for his train when a
man approached and sat beside him. Renwick needed no second glance to
reassure himself as to the fellow's identity. He was Spivak, Windt's
man, the fellow who had kept guard on the cabin at Konopisht. The
Englishman feared to get up and walk away, for that might attract
attention. So he sat, slouched carelessly, his hat pulled well down over
his eyes, awaiting what seemed to be the inevitable. Spivak--one of
Windt's men sent of course to Zombor, one of the important railway
junctions, to watch all arrivals from the south. Renwick had been ready
with his story when he debarked from the train but there had been a
crowd and he had been in the last carriage. Renwick's mind worked
rapidly, and to an imagination already prescient of disaster, the man
seemed to be inspecting him. As Spivak's chin lifted, Renwick faced him
squarely. Their glances met--and passed. Renwick calmly took out a
cigarette and bending his head forward lighted it coolly, aware that the
man was saying something in Hungarian.
Renwick made a gesture of incomprehension, wondering meanwhile how he
could kill the man on the crowded platform without attracting
observation.
"The train from the south was crowded today," said Spivak in German.
"Crowded? Yes."
"Do you come from Brod or Britzka?"
"From Britzka," said Renwick without hesitation, and then with the
courage of desperation--
"I have seen you before," he went on, calmly puffing at his cigarette.
"I have, I think, the same impression."
"Your name is Spivak--of the Secret Service----"
"You----"
"My name is Carl Moyer."
It was a gambler's chance that Renwick took. If Spivak intimately knew
the man--but he did not and the effrontery disarmed him.
"You are Carl Moyer? I must have seen you," he muttered. "I have been in
Vienna a little--with Herr Windt, but I am of the Hungarian branch. You
have been in Sarajevo?"
"Yes," said Renwick easily following out a wild plan that had come into
his mind. "I have been employed by the Baroness Racowitz to find the
Countess Marishka Strahni."
"Ah, I see. It has come to that!" And then, regarding his companion with
a new interest, "When did you come from Sarajevo?"
"Last night. It is a strange case."
"And you have found a lead?"
"Several----"
"You can do nothing against such a man as Goritz."
"It is Goritz--yes--but I will find her if I have to go through Germany
with a harrow."
"They have not gone to Germany, my friend. Every gate out of Hungary has
been closed to them since the assassination."
Renwick smiled. The thing had worked. The spirit of the venture glowed
in him--its very impudence fascinated.
"Perhaps!" he replied. "Still, a man who could outwit Nicholas
Szarvas----"
Spivak caught him so suddenly by the arm that Renwick trembled.
"You think he killed Szarvas----?" whispered Spivak eagerly.
"If not himself, it was by his orders. And the Englishman--Renck----"
"Renwick."
"I've found the evidence that Renck was lured to Sarajevo. He possessed
a secret dangerous to Germany and so Goritz killed him."
"And this Peter Langer--who escaped from the hospital----?" asked Spivak
cynically.
"The chauffeur of Goritz, left for dead in the fight with Szarvas and
stripped of his clothing to hide all marks of identity. It is no wonder
that he wished to escape----" The Englishman broke off with a rough
laugh and rose. "But this won't do, I'm giving you all my thunder. Herr
Windt does not relish my employment in this service, but since he has
accomplished nothing you cannot blame my clients. I am on my way to
Germany. The surest way to catch a fox is to smoke him out of his hole."
Spivak took a few paces away, and then slowly returned.
"What you say is interesting, Herr Moyer, and the theory hangs together,
but you will waste your time in Germany."
"Why?"
"Because Captain Goritz is still in Hungary."
"What further reason have you for believing that he is here?"
Spivak smiled and hesitated a moment. And then, "You have talked freely.
One good turn deserves another. I will tell you. We know that Captain
Goritz is still in Hungary because within the past week the
Wilhelmstrasse has sent urgent messages to Vienna inquiring for him."
"Ah--that is interesting," said Renwick slowly, trying to hide the throb
of triumph in his throat. "Then you think----?"
"Merely that he is in hiding--with the lady," said Spivak with a leer.
"It is no new thing for a man to go in hiding with a lady."
Renwick's laugh was admirably managed, for fury was in his heart. "This
information is helpful," he said. "You believe that it is true?"
"I am sure. Berlin is anxious because he has not returned. I do not know
what they suspect over there, but the situation is changed. The war has
made a difference. We have no idea where he has gone. All that we know
is that it will be very difficult for him to get out."
In the distance the train was rumbling up the track, and Renwick was
thankful. But he caught the fellow by the hand.
"You are a good fellow, Spivak. If at any time you wish to leave the
government service and take a good place at a fair payment, you will
come to see me in Vienna."
"Thanks, Herr Moyer. I shall remember. You are going on to Budapest?"
"Yes. And you?"
"I am detained here to watch for a Russian spy who is trying to get
through to the Galician border." He laughed. "You're sure you're
not----?"
"That's a good joke, Spivak," he smiled. "A Russian! I'd have precious
little chance----" And then as the train rolled in--
"Don't forget--Ferdinand Strasse, Number 83----"
"I will not. Adieu!"
"Adieu, my friend."
And with a final wave of the hand Renwick turned and slowly mounted into
his third class carriage. The plan had worked and the man, it seemed,
had not the slightest suspicion. He was, as Renwick remembered from
Konopisht, not infallible, and the ease with which Renwick had
accomplished his object and the remarkable nature of his newly acquired
information could only be explained by the fact that Spivak was seeking
the Russian and not himself, and by the boldness of his impersonation,
which had immediately pierced the crust of Spivak's professional
reserve. All had gone well, but it seemed an age before the train drew
out of the station. Renwick did not dare to look out of the window to
learn if the man were still there, and until the bell of the locomotive
rang announcing the departure of the train, he was unpleasantly nervous,
for fear that a suspicion might dawn in the man's mind which would lead
him to pursue the conversation.
Renwick never learned whether Spivak's second thoughts had warned him
that all was not as it should be, for instead of taking any chances, the
Englishman got down from the train at the first stop and disappeared
into the darkness.
It was with a feeling of elation mingled with apprehension that Renwick
made his way forward. Elation because of the new crumbs of information,
apprehension because of the definite assurance that Goritz still held
Marishka a prisoner somewhere within the borders of Hungary. Definite it
seemed, for Spivak had spoken with the utmost confidence of things with
which he was intimately concerned. The trail narrowed. It seemed as
though Providence, aware of past impositions, was bent on making amends
to one who had suffered much from her disfavor. The sudden appearance of
Spivak, which had seemed to threaten disaster, had been turned by a bold
stroke from calamity to good fortune. But Renwick determined to avoid
further such encounters if possible. And so, resuming the mode of
progress which had been so effective on the way to Tuzla, he walked at
night, and slept under cover by day, reaching a town upon the banks of
the Danube, where he bought new clothing, a straw hat, a change of
linen, and a hand bag with which (representing himself as a grain
merchant of Ujvidek), he boldly boarded a steamer upon the river,
reaching Budapest without further incident.
It was not until he had passed the Quai and was safely in the Karoly
Korut that Renwick breathed easily. He was now safe, finding his way to
his immediate destination, the house of a person connected with the
English Secret Service, into whose care he confidently entrusted
himself.