CHAPTER VIII
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.”