as we were leaving the house a constable gave the inspector a note. having read it he passed it to me. it was from the local office.
‘message received that an arab with a big bundle on his head has been noticed loitering about the neighbourhood of st pancras station. he seemed to be accompanied by a young man who had the appearance of a tramp. young man seemed ill. they appeared to be waiting for a train, probably to the north. shall i advise detention?’
i scribbled on the flyleaf of the note.
‘have them detained. if they have gone by train have a special in readiness.’
in a minute we were again in the cab. i endeavoured to persuade lessingham and atherton to allow me to conduct the pursuit alone,—in vain. i had no fear of atherton’s succumbing, but i was afraid for lessingham. what was more almost than the expectation of his collapse was the fact that his looks and manner, his whole bearing, so eloquent of the agony and agitation of his mind, was beginning to tell upon my nerves. a catastrophe of some sort i foresaw. of the curtain’s fall upon one tragedy we had just been witnesses. that there was worse—much worse, to follow i did not doubt. optimistic anticipations were out of the question,—that the creature we were chasing would relinquish the prey uninjured, no one, after what we had seen and heard, could by any possibility suppose. should a necessity suddenly arise for prompt and immediate action, that lessingham would prove a hindrance rather than a help i felt persuaded.
but since moments were precious, and lessingham was not to be persuaded to allow the matter to proceed without him, all that remained was to make the best of his presence.
the great arch of st pancras was in darkness. an occasional light seemed to make the darkness still more visible. the station seemed deserted. i thought, at first, that there was not a soul about the place, that our errand was in vain, that the only thing for us to do was to drive to the police station and to pursue our inquiries there. but as we turned towards the booking-office, our footsteps ringing out clearly through the silence and the night, a door opened, a light shone out from the room within, and a voice inquired:
‘who’s that?’
‘my name’s champnell. has a message been received from me from the limehouse police station?’
‘step this way.’
we stepped that way,—into a snug enough office, of which one of the railway inspectors was apparently in charge. he was a big man, with a fair beard. he looked me up and down, as if doubtfully. lessingham he recognised at once. he took off his cap to him.
‘mr lessingham, i believe?’
‘i am mr lessingham. have you any news for me?’
i fancy, by his looks,—that the official was struck by the pallor of the speaker’s face,—and by his tremulous voice.
‘i am instructed to give certain information to a mr augustus champnell.’
‘i am mr champnell. what’s your information?’
‘with reference to the arab about whom you have been making inquiries. a foreigner, dressed like an arab, with a great bundle on his head, took two single thirds for hull by the midnight express.’
‘was he alone?’
‘it is believed that he was accompanied by a young man of very disreputable appearance. they were not together at the booking-office, but they had been seen together previously. a minute or so after the arab had entered the train this young man got into the same compartment—they were in the front waggon.’
‘why were they not detained?’
‘we had no authority to detain them, nor any reason. until your message was received a few minutes ago we at this station were not aware that inquiries were being made for them.’
‘you say he booked to hull,—does the train run through to hull?’
‘no—it doesn’t go to hull at all. part of it’s the liverpool and manchester express, and part of it’s for carlisle. it divides at derby. the man you’re looking for will change either at sheffield or at cudworth junction and go on to hull by the first train in the morning. there’s a local service.’
i looked at my watch.
‘you say the train left at midnight. it’s now nearly five-and-twenty past. where’s it now?’
‘nearing st albans, it’s due there 12.35.’
‘would there be time for a wire to reach st albans?’
‘hardly,—and anyhow there’ll only be enough railway officials about the place to receive and despatch the train. they’ll be fully occupied with their ordinary duties. there won’t be time to get the police there.’
‘you could wire to st albans to inquire if they were still in the train?’
‘that could be done,—certainly. i’ll have it done at once if you like.
‘then where’s the next stoppage?’
‘well, they’re at luton at 12.51. but that’s another case of st albans. you see there won’t be much more than twenty minutes by the time you’ve got your wire off, and i don’t expect there’ll be many people awake at luton. at these country places sometimes there’s a policeman hanging about the station to see the express go through, but, on the other hand, very often there isn’t, and if there isn’t, probably at this time of night it’ll take a good bit of time to get the police on the premises. i tell you what i should advise.’
‘what’s that?’
‘the train is due at bedford at 1.29—send your wire there. there ought to be plenty of people about at bedford, and anyhow there’ll be time to get the police to the station.’
‘very good. i instructed them to tell you to have a special ready,—have you got one?’
‘there’s an engine with steam up in the shed,—we’ll have all ready for you in less than ten minutes. and i tell you what,—you’ll have about fifty minutes before the train is due at bedford. it’s a fifty mile run. with luck you ought to get there pretty nearly as soon as the express does.—shall i tell them to get ready?’
‘at once.’
while he issued directions through a telephone to what, i presume, was the engine shed, i drew up a couple of telegrams. having completed his orders he turned to me.
‘they’re coming out of the siding now—they’ll be ready in less than ten minutes. i’ll see that the line’s kept clear. have you got those wires?’
‘here is one,—this is for bedford.’
it ran:
‘arrest the arab who is in train due at 1.29. when leaving st pancras he was in a third-class compartment in front waggon. he has a large bundle, which detain. he took two third singles for hull. also detain his companion, who is dressed like a tramp. this is a young lady whom the arab has disguised and kidnapped while in a condition of hypnotic trance. let her have medical assistance and be taken to a hotel. all expenses will be paid on the arrival of the undersigned who is following by special train. as the arab will probably be very violent a sufficient force of police should be in waiting.
‘augustus champnell.’
‘and this is the other. it is probably too late to be of any use at st albans,—but send it there, and also to luton.’
‘is arab with companion in train which left st pancras at 12.0? if so, do not let them get out till train reaches bedford, where instructions are being wired for arrest.’
the inspector rapidly scanned them both.
‘they ought to do your business, i should think. come along with me—i’ll have them sent at once, and we’ll see if your train’s ready.’
the train was not ready,—nor was it ready within the prescribed ten minutes. there was some hitch, i fancy, about a saloon. finally we had to be content with an ordinary old-fashioned first-class carriage. the delay, however, was not altogether time lost. just as the engine with its solitary coach was approaching the platform someone came running up with an envelope in his hand.
‘telegram from st albans.’
i tore it open. it was brief and to the point.
‘arab with companion was in train when it left here. am wiring luton.’
‘that’s all right. now unless something wholly unforeseen takes place, we ought to have them.’
that unforeseen!
i went forward with the inspector and the guard of our train to exchange a few final words with the driver. the inspector explained what instructions he had given.
‘i’ve told the driver not to spare his coal but to take you into bedford within five minutes after the arrival of the express. he says he thinks that he can do it.’
the driver leaned over his engine, rubbing his hands with the usual oily rag. he was a short, wiry man with grey hair and a grizzled moustache, with about him that bearing of semi-humorous, frank-faced resolution which one notes about engine-drivers as a class.
‘we ought to do it, the gradients are against us, but it’s a clear night and there’s no wind. the only thing that will stop us will be if there’s any shunting on the road, or any luggage trains; of course, if we are blocked, we are blocked, but the inspector says he’ll clear the way for us.’
‘yes,’ said the inspector, ‘i’ll clear the way. i’ve wired down the road already.’
atherton broke in.
‘driver, if you get us into bedford within five minutes of the arrival of the mail there’ll be a five-pound note to divide between your mate and you.’
the driver grinned.
‘we’ll get you there in time, sir, if we have to go clear through the shunters. it isn’t often we get a chance of a five-pound note for a run to bedford, and we’ll do our best to earn it.’
the fireman waved his hand in the rear.
‘that’s right, sir!’ he cried. ‘we’ll have to trouble you for that five-pound note.’
so soon as we were clear of the station it began to seem probable that, as the fireman put it, atherton would be ‘troubled.’ journeying in a train which consists of a single carriage attached to an engine which is flying at topmost speed is a very different business from being an occupant of an ordinary train which is travelling at ordinary express rates. i had discovered that for myself before. that night it was impressed on me more than ever. a tyro—or even a nervous ‘season’—might have been excused for expecting at every moment we were going to be derailed. it was hard to believe that the carriage had any springs,—it rocked and swung, and jogged and jolted. of smooth travelling had we none. talking was out of the question;—and for that, i, personally, was grateful. quite apart from the difficulty we experienced in keeping our seats—and when every moment our position was being altered and we were jerked backwards and forwards up and down, this way and that, that was a business which required care,—the noise was deafening. it was as though we were being pursued by a legion of shrieking, bellowing, raging demons.
‘george!’ shrieked atherton, ‘he does mean to earn that fiver. i hope i’ll be alive to pay it him!’
he was only at the other end of the carriage, but though i could see by the distortion of his visage that he was shouting at the top of his voice,—and he has a voice,—i only caught here and there a word or two of what he was saying. i had to make sense of the whole.
lessingham’s contortions were a study. few of that large multitude of persons who are acquainted with him only by means of the portraits which have appeared in the illustrated papers, would then have recognised the rising statesman. yet i believe that few things could have better fallen in with his mood than that wild travelling. he might have been almost shaken to pieces,—but the very severity of the shaking served to divert his thoughts from the one dread topic which threatened to absorb them to the exclusion of all else beside. then there was the tonic influence of the element of risk. the pick-me-up effect of a spice of peril. actual danger there quite probably was none; but there very really seemed to be. and one thing was absolutely certain, that if we did come to smash while going at that speed we should come to as everlasting smash as the heart of man could by any possibility desire. it is probable that the knowledge that this was so warmed the blood in lessingham’s veins. at any rate as—to use what in this case, was simply a form of speech—i sat and watched him, it seemed to me that he was getting a firmer hold of the strength which had all but escaped him, and that with every jog and jolt he was becoming more and more of a man.
on and on we went dashing, clashing, smashing, roaring, rumbling. atherton, who had been endeavouring to peer through the window, strained his lungs again in the effort to make himself audible.
‘where the devil are we?’
looking at my watch i screamed back at him.
‘it’s nearly one, so i suppose we’re somewhere in the neighbourhood of luton.—hollo! what’s the matter?’
that something was the matter seemed certain. there was a shrill whistle from the engine. in a second we were conscious—almost too conscious—of the application of the westinghouse brake. of all the jolting that was ever jolted! the mere reverberation of the carriage threatened to resolve our bodies into their component parts. feeling what we felt then helped us to realise the retardatory force which that vacuum brake must be exerting,—it did not seem at all surprising that the train should have been brought to an almost instant stand-still.
simultaneously all three of us were on our feet. i let down my window and atherton let down his,—he shouting out,
‘i should think that inspector’s wire hasn’t had it’s proper effect, looks as if we’re blocked—or else we’ve stopped at luton. it can’t be bedford.’
it wasn’t bedford—so much seemed clear. though at first from my window i could make out nothing. i was feeling more than a trifle dazed,—there was a singing in my ears,—the sudden darkness was impenetrable. then i became conscious that the guard was opening the door of his compartment. he stood on the step for a moment, seeming to hesitate. then, with a lamp in his hand, he descended on to the line.
‘what’s the matter?’ i asked.
‘don’t know, sir. seems as if there was something on the road. what’s up there?’
this was to the man on the engine. the fireman replied:
‘someone in front there’s waving a red light like mad,—lucky i caught sight of him, we should have been clean on top of him in another moment. looks as if there was something wrong. here he comes.’
as my eyes grew more accustomed to the darkness i became aware that someone was making what haste he could along the six-foot way, swinging a red light as he came. our guard advanced to meet him, shouting as he went:
‘what’s the matter! who’s that?’
a voice replied,
‘my god! is that george hewett. i thought you were coming right on top of us!’
our guard again.
‘what! jim branson! what the devil are you doing here, what’s wrong? i thought you were on the twelve out, we’re chasing you.’
‘are you? then you’ve caught us. thank god for it!—we’re a wreck.’
i had already opened the carriage door. with that we all three clambered out on to the line.
