NEMESIS
For a long space of time Fenwick stood there, his head buried in his
hands. All the way through, he had never been able to disguise from
himself the feeling that, sooner or later, this dread thing must happen.
Years ago he had taken his life in his hands in exploring the recesses of
the Four Finger Mine; he had more or less known what he had to expect,
for the mine had been a sacred thing, almost a part of the religion of
the diminishing tribe which had imparted the secret to Le Fenu, and any
intruder was bound to suffer. So far as Fenwick knew, the last survivor
of this tribe was Felix Zary. Leaving out of account altogether the
latter's religious fanaticism, he had been deeply and sincerely attached
to the family of Le Fenu, and now he was playing the part of the avenging
genius. All these things came back to Fenwick as he sat there.
He knew full well the character of the man he had to deal with; he knew
how clever and resourceful Felix Zary was. Hitherto, he had scorned the
suggestion that there was some mysterious magic behind Zary's movements,
but now he did not know what to think. All he knew was that he was
doomed, and that all the police in the Metropolis could not shield him
from the reach of Zary's long arm.
And here, indeed, was proof positive of the fact. Two hours before,
nobody, not even Fenwick himself, knew that he would spend the night at
the little house in Poplar. And here was Zary already upon his track,
almost before he had started on the long journey which was intended to
lead to the path of safety. Fenwick never troubled to think what had
become of the meal prepared for him, or how the extraordinary change had
been brought about. Gradually, as he sat there, something like strength
and courage came back to him. Come what might, he would not yield, he
would not surrender himself into the hands of the foe without a struggle.
He replaced the cover on the dish, and rang the bell for his landlady.
She came in a moment later, comfortable and smiling, the very picture of
respectable middle-age. As Fenwick glanced at her, he at once acquitted
her of any connection with his final warning.
"I am sorry to trouble you," he said, "but I should like to know if you
have any other lodgers. You see, I am rather a bad sleeper, suffering a
great deal from nightmare, and I should not like to alarm your other
lodgers in the middle of the night."
"Lord bless you, sir," the woman said, "we haven't any lodgers at all. We
don't need to take them, seeing that my man is comfortably fixed. Of
course, we are pleased to do anything we can for you, but we shouldn't
have had you here at all if it hadn't been to please Mr. Venner. We'd do
anything for him."
"No doubt," Fenwick said, hastily. "I suppose your husband sees a good
many of his old friends occasionally?"
"No, he doesn't," the woman replied. "I don't suppose we have had anybody
in the house except yourself for the last two months. I hope you have
enjoyed your supper, sir?"
"Oh, yes," Fenwick stammered. "I finished all the meat. There is one
thing more I should like to ask you. I may have to go out presently, late
as it is. Do you happen to have such a thing as a latchkey? If you
haven't, the key of the front door will do."
The latchkey was forthcoming, and presently Fenwick heard his landlord
and his wife going upstairs to bed. He did not feel comfortable until he
had crept all over the house and seen that everything was made secure.
Then he sat down to think the matter out. Twice he helped himself
liberally to brandy, a third time his hand went mechanically to the
bottle--then he drew back.
"I mustn't have any more of that," he said. "It would be simply playing
into the hands of the fiend who is pursuing me."
With a resolution that cost him an effort, Fenwick locked the brandy
away in a cupboard and threw the key out of the window. In his present
state of mind he dared not trust himself too far. Partially divesting
himself of his clothing he drew from about his waist a soft leather belt
containing pockets, and from these pockets he produced a large amount of
gold coins and a packet of banknotes. Altogether there were some hundreds
of pounds, and Fenwick congratulated himself on the foresight which had
led him to adopt this plan in case necessity demanded it. He had enough
and more than enough to take him to the other side of the world, if only
he could manage to get rid of Felix Zary.
His mind was made up at length; he would creep out of the house in the
dead of the night and make his way down to the Docks. At every hour ships
of various size and tonnage put out of the port of London, and, no doubt,
the skipper of one of these for a consideration would take him wherever
he wanted to go; and Fenwick knew, moreover, that there were scores of
public-houses along the side of the river which are practically never
closed, and which are run entirely for the benefit of seafaring men. It
would be easy to make inquiries at some of these and discover what
vessels were leaving by the next tide, and a bargain could be struck
immediately, go far as Fen wick was concerned, he inclined towards a
sailing ship bound for the Argentine. His spirits rose slightly at the
prospect before him; his step was fairly light and buoyant as he
proceeded in the direction of his bedroom. There was no light in the
room, so that he had to fumble about in his pockets for a box of matches
which fell from his fingers and dropped on to the floor.
"Confound it," Fenwick muttered. "Where are they?"
"Don't trouble," a calm, quiet voice said out of the darkness. "I have
matches, with which I will proceed to light the gas."
Fenwick could have cried aloud, had he been physically able to do so.
There was no reason for a light to be struck or the gas to be lighted so
that he might see the face of the speaker. Indeed, he recognised the
voice far too well for that. A moment later, he was gazing at the
impassive face of Felix Zary.
"You did not expect to see me," the latter said. "You were under the
impression that you were going to get away from me. Never did man make a
greater mistake. It matters little what you do, it will matter nothing to
you or anybody else in twelve hours from now. Do you realise the fact
that you have but that time to live? Do you understand that?"
"You would murder me?" Fenwick said hoarsely.
"You may calm yourself on that score. You are unarmed, and I have not so
much as a pocket knife in my possession. I shall not lay a hand upon
you--I shall not peril my soul for the sake of a creature like you. There
are other ways and other methods of which you know nothing."
"How did you get here?" Fenwick asked hoarsely. "How did you put that
dreadful thing on my table?"
Zary smiled in a strange, bland fashion. He could have told Fenwick
prosaically what a man with a grasp like his could do in connection with
a water pipe. He could have told, also, how he had dogged and watched his
victim within the last few hours, with the pertinacity of a bloodhound.
But Zary could see how Fenwick was shaken and dazed by some terrible
thing which he could not understand. It was no cue of Zary's to enlighten
the miserable man opposite.
"There are things utterly beyond your comprehension," he said, calmly.
"If you look back to the past you will remember how we laid our mark upon
the man who stole the Four Finger Mine. That man, I need not say, was
yourself. To gain your ends you did not scruple to take the life of your
greatest friend, the greatest benefactor you ever had. You thought the
thing out carefully. You devised a cunning scheme whereby you might
become rich and powerful at the expense of George Le Fenu, and scarcely
was the earth dry upon his coffin before your warnings came. You knew
the legend of the Four Finger Mine, and you elected to defy it. A week
went by, a week during which you took the gold from the mine, and all
seemed well with you. Then you woke one morning to find that in the night
you had lost your forefinger without the slightest pain and with very
little loss of blood. That was the first sign of the vengeance of the
genius of the mine. Shaken and frightened as you were, you hardened your
heart, like Pharaoh of old, and determined to continue. Another week
passed, and yet another finger vanished in the same mysterious fashion.
Still, you decided to stand the test, and your third warning came. With
the fourth warning, your nerves utterly gave way, and you fled from the
mine with less ill-gotten gain than you had expected. It matters nothing
to me what followed afterwards, but you will admit that at the present
moment you have not benefitted much by your crime. I have nothing more to
say to you. I only came here tonight just to prove to you how impossible
it is for you to hide from the vengeance of the mine. In your last bitter
moments I want you to think of my words and realise--"
As Zary spoke he moved across the room in the direction of the gas
bracket; he laid his hand upon the tap, and a moment later the room was
in darkness. There was a sound like the sliding of a window, followed by
a sudden rush of cold air, and by the time that Fenwick had found his
matches and lighted the gas again there was not so much as a trace of
Zary to be seen.
"I wish I hadn't thrown away the key of that cupboard," Fenwick said,
hoarsely. "I would give half I possess for one drop of brandy now. Still,
I won't give in, I won't be beaten by that fellow. At any rate, he can't
possibly know what I intend to do. He could not know that I shall be on
board a vessel before morning."
Half an hour later, Fenwick left the house and made his way straight to
the Docks. At a public-house in the vicinity he obtained the brandy that
he needed so badly, and felt a little stiffened and braced up by the
spirit. He found presently the thing he wanted, in the shape of a large
barque bound for the River Plate. The skipper, a burly-looking man with
an enormous black beard, was uproariously drunk, but not quite so
intoxicated that he could not see the business side of a bargain.
"Oh, you want to go out with me, mister?" he said. "Well, that's
easily enough managed. We've got no passengers on board, and you'll
have to rough it with the rest of us. I don't mind taking you on for
fifty pounds."
"That's a lot of money," Fenwick protested.
The black-bearded skipper winked solemnly at the speaker.
"There's always a risk in dealing with stolen goods," he said. "Besides
fifty pounds isn't much for a man who wants to get out of the country as
badly as I see you do, and once I have passed my word to do it, I'll see
you safe through, and so will my crew, or I'll know the reason why. Now,
my yellow pal, fork out that money, and in half an hour you'll be as safe
as if you were on the other side of the herring-pond and not a policeman
in London will know where to find you. Now, is it a bargain or not?"
Fenwick made no further demur; he accepted the conditions there and then.
There was nothing to be gained by affecting to pose as an honest man, and
he was a little frightened to find how easily this drunken ruffian had
spotted him for a fugitive from justice.
"I can't give you the money just now," he whispered. "I've got it
concealed about me, and to produce a lot of cash in a mixed company like
this would be too dangerous."
The skipper nodded, and proposed further refreshment. Fenwick agreed
eagerly enough; he was feeling desperate now, and he did not seem to care
much what happened to him. He could afford to place himself entirely in
the hands of the black-bearded skipper, who would look after him closely
for his own sake. After all said and done, he had no cause to doubt the
honesty of the seaman, who appeared to be fairly popular with his
companions and well-known in the neighborhood. It was the best part of an
hour before the commander of the barque staggered to his feet and
announced in an incoherent voice that it was time to get aboard.
Presently they were straggling down to the dock, Fenwick propping up his
companion and wondering if the latter was sober enough to find his way to
his ship. It was very dark; a thin rain had begun to fall, and the waters
of the river were ruffled by an easterly breeze. The skipper stumbled
down a flight of steps and into a roomy boat, which was prevented from
capsizing by something like a miracle. Presently they came alongside the
black hull of a vessel, and Fenwick found himself climbing up a greasy
ladder on to a dirty deck, where two seamen were passing the time playing
a game of cards. Down below, the skipper indicated a stuffy little bunk
leading out of his own cabin, which he informed Fenwick would be placed
at his disposal for the voyage.
"If you don't mind I'll turn in now," the latter said. "I'm dead tired
and worn out. My nerves are all jumping like red hot wires. Do you think
I shall be safe here?"
"Safe as houses!" the skipper said. "And, besides, we shall be dropping
down the river in about an hour."
Just as he was, Fenwick rolled into the bunk, and in a moment was fast
asleep. When he came to himself again, the vessel was pitching and
rolling; he could hear the rattling creak of blocks and rigging; there
was a sweeter and fresher atmosphere in the little cabin. A sense of
elation possessed the fugitive. It seemed to him that he was absolutely
safe at last. The skipper had evidently gone on deck after having
finished his breakfast, for the plates lay about the table and some tepid
coffee in a tin had apparently been left for the use of the passenger.
"I don't think much of this," Fenwick muttered. "Still I daresay I can
better it if I pay for it. I'll go on deck presently and see what the
black-bearded pirate has to say. At any rate, I am absolutely safe now,
and can afford to laugh at the threats of Felix Zary. If that man
thinks--"
Fenwick paused, and the knife and fork he was holding over the cold bacon
fell from his hands. It was too cruel, the irony of Fate too bitter, for
there, just in front of him, propped up by the sugar basin, was a cabinet
photograph of the very man who was uppermost in his thoughts. It was
Felix Zary to the life; the same calm, philosophic features, the same
great round eyes like those of a Persian cat. It all came back to Fenwick
now, the whole horror of the situation. His head whirled, and spots
seemed to dance before his eyes; a string snapped somewhere in his brain.
Zary was behind him, he thought, close behind him like an avenging fury.
With a horrid scream, Fenwick tumbled up the stairs on to the slippery
deck. All round him was a wild waste of white waters. The ship heeled
over as Fenwick darted to the side....