CHAPTER XXIV.
THE NIGHT OF TERROR.
The fear which my prisoner displayed led me to prolong the interval before I questioned him. It was essential for my purpose that he should be thoroughly frightened; and the suspense was enough to try much stouter nerves than his. I let him have some two or three minutes, therefore, so that his fears should have full scope; and just as my first question was on my lips, a happy thought occurred to me. I saw that I could make valuable use of the Russian reputation for doing ugly things.
He was more likely to fear the Russians than any other party concerned; and if I could make him believe he had now fallen into their hands, he would be far more likely to answer my questions than if I played the more difficult part of an army officer, believing him false to the army.
“Stand over there,” I cried, sternly and suddenly in Russian, pointing to the wall; and the start he gave at hearing the unwelcome language, proved to me that I was right. He moved to where I pointed, his eyes on me all the time. “Attempt to move and the dog will be on you,” I added, as brutally and coarsely as I could.
Then I rang the bell, and when Buller came I said in Russian; “Tell General Minzkoff I have the prisoner and am questioning him.” But Buller didn’t understand Russian and stood staring at me in hesitation what to do; so to give the thing colour, I jumped up, swore vigorously, and, as if in a paroxysm of rage, thrust him violently out of the room, pretending to kick him, as I shouted: “Do as I say at once.”
I flung myself back in my seat only to jump up again and, as though I had forgotten something rushed out of the room after Buller. I explained matters, and told him to find a servant who could speak Russian and send him to me to say that “I was to see General Minzkoff with my report as soon as possible.”
This particular Russian officer had just the reputation for violence that was certain to impress the spy; and the more bullying and brutal I could make my manner, the more characteristic would it be of the general’s agents.
“You speak my language?” I jerked out in Russian.
“I understand it a little,” he answered with difficulty.
“Then we’ll use your own cursed tongue,” I said in Serb. “I have no time to waste over you, so if you don’t answer plainly I’ll find means to make you. How much money did that soldier give you just now?”
He started at finding I knew this and looked about for a lie. “Money? I don’t understand your Excellency.”
“It’s in that pocket.” I pointed to where I had seen him place it. “Take it out, you lying dog. Quick,” I thundered, as he still hesitated. “I know everything.”
Slowly, for it cost him a pang to part with it, he drew out the bundle of bills. “It is my own,” he faltered.
“The gold, too. Quick.”
Again he trembled, but dared not refuse. I had now impressed upon him that I knew his secrets.
“Put it there,” I said, pointing to a chair. “Now. I’ll test your power of speaking the truth. What was that money paid for?”
He stared at me in a sweat of fear, trying to moisten his parched lips with a tongue as dry as leather, wishing to lie but yet afraid; and in his fright unable to coin a plausible tale.
“It was money—owing to me,” he stammered.
I paused a moment to let him hope the lie had imposed upon me; and then pointed to the bell. “If that bell is rung it will bring my men here with the means you may have heard we use to make prisoners speak the truth. Go and ring it now—or tell me the truth of your own accord.”
It was a touch of refined cruelty eloquent of Russian methods to make him summon his own torturers; and it did much to carry conviction now.
“I don’t wish to deceive your Excellency,” he murmured.
“Is that why you want me to believe that when a man owes you money he comes in the dead of night to pay it after waiting for your signals from the house—the light three times flashed. You lying cur. Ring that bell—I have no more time to waste.”
“You won’t torture me?” he cried, in anguish.
“Ring that bell,” I thundered. “It pleases me for you yourself to call your torturers;” and I laughed, as if the grim joke were really to my taste.
Down he went on his knees. “Not the torture, Excellency. Not the torture. For God’s sake, not that.”
“You’ve had a taste of it before, eh?” I said, with another grin, feeling an awful beast as I did it. “You can choose—the torture or the truth of your own will.”
“My God!” he exclaimed, covering his white face and writhing; and then the truth came slowly and with labour, as he thought how little he dared to tell and yet save his skin. “It was for my mistress’s sake—the Princess. We were all afraid in the house because we are so weak. I had arranged to let some soldiers in to protect us all.”
“You must do better than that, dog. Try again,” I sneered, coarsely. “Men don’t pay you to come and protect you. You’ll have to lie better than that to convince me.” Then I changed the sneer to a tone of anger. “I’ll have no more of this; the truth, or—” and I laid my hand on the bell.
At that moment the man Buller had sent with the message in Russian came in and delivered it.
“Very good,” I said to him; and added; “Tell black Ivan and Loris to come the instant I ring. I find I shall need them. They know what to bring with them.”
The bluff worked. I saw that the instant the servant left the room.
“I’ll give you one minute; no more,” I declared.
“I’ll tell your Excellency all I know,” he stammered at once. “I was paid to let the soldiers into the house at two o’clock in the morning.”
“For what purpose?”
“I don’t know that.”
“For what purpose?” I repeated sternly.
“They wouldn’t tell me.”
At that I appeared to fly into a passion. I seized the revolver and going up to him clapped it to his head.
“Answer me, or I’ll scatter your brains here on the floor.”
He shrank and groaned as he felt the cold steel on his forehead.
“To arrest the Princess, Excellency. Oh, my God, my God,” he cried and burst into tears.
I went back to my seat. “You are a faithful servant to your mistress. Do you know what’s going to happen to-night—the night you’ve chosen for this infamy?”
“N—no. Yes,” he changed his words almost eagerly as he caught my eye.
“Give it words then.”
“They told me it was for her safety, Excellency. They did, they did, I swear they did, on my soul. When the King and Queen and the others are taken from the Palace, the Princess would be in danger in her house, and they mean to put her in a place of safety.”
This was news, indeed; and in my consternation at hearing it, this coward and his treachery became of little importance. I did not doubt he was speaking the truth about that, whatever his own motives may have been for his act. And then a plan occurred to me.
“How many men were to carry out the arrest?”
“I don’t know—only a few; four or five at most, we have no means of resisting them in the house.”
“You are to let them in by the stable door?”
“Yes, Excellency, at two o’clock. They could force their way in even without my help.”
I paid no heed to his attempt at exculpation. “What is your name? The name they know you by?”
“Michel.”
“How many men servants are in the house?”
“Two besides myself. Two are away, Excellency.”
“Anyone sleeping in the stables?”
“No one, Excellency.”
“Any of the others know of your plan?”
“No, Excellency.”
“You have the key of that stable door. Give it to me.”
He handed it over with a deep sigh.
“You have saved your skin,” I said curtly; “but you must remain here. You will be safe, if you make no effort to resist. If you do that, I shall leave orders that you are to be shot.” I said this much as though it were my daily custom to catch men and murder them; and the very tone I used added to his fears.
I left him a minute in the care of Chris; and as Karasch had arrived I told him to have the man bound and locked up in one of the many vaults in the basement of the house.
I was glad to be relieved of his presence, and then set to work to carry out the scheme which his story had suggested. When Karasch came back I told him what I had learnt and asked him how he had fared.
“Except the handful of men on whom I knew I could trust, I have done little,” he said.
“They may be enough for my altered plans. Can you get them to-night, and above all can you get uniforms for them?”
“I fear not, Excellency. It is past midnight.”
“Get the men then. I’ll find uniforms for them.”
“My plan is to go to the Princess’s house at once; to wait for the men who are coming to arrest her; make them prisoners and then play their part. They will be able to provide us with the costumes,” I added, smiling grimly.
“It is very dangerous,” was his comment.
“You mean for them? Yes, it will be.”
“I mean for you, and all of us.”
“If anyone is afraid, let him stay away. I can go alone. It is no work for children, of course,” I exclaimed, impetuously.
“Have I deserved that from your Excellency?”
“No, Karasch; I know you haven’t. I am excited.”
“Tell me what has to be done; and I will do it,” he said, simply; and then we discussed very hurriedly the plan and completed the preparations which had to be made.
I told him to meet me near the Princess’s house with as many of the men as he could get together, and to bring with him a few lengths of stout cord for binding the soldiers we hoped to capture. That made clear I packed him off to hunt up his men.
It was a desperate step I had resolved to take, and the penalty of failure would probably be serious. I realised that to the full; but on the other hand, I could see no other means of gaining my end.
If Gatrina would have listened to me, the course would have been simple enough. I could have given her warning of her danger and have removed her to a place of safety. But she would not let me approach her nor admit there was anything perilous to her in the situation. Thus, if I was to save her it must be done against her knowledge and almost against her will.
I left my house about half an hour after midnight, having appointed with Karasch to be at the Princess’s by half past one, or as near to that hour as he could reach there. In no event was he to be later than a quarter to two, even if he had to come alone.
Having ample time, I resolved to make a detour and see if any movements were going on in the neighbourhood of the Palace. With Chris close at my heels I walked at a rapid pace, choosing the most unfrequented ways I could find.
The whole city appeared sunk in the slumber of unsuspecting security. Scarcely a light glimmered in any one of the houses. The streets were deserted, and the only sounds to disturb the quietude were those of my own footsteps. If the army were really going to move that night, they must have kept their intentions entirely secret from all who were not concerned in their work.
One o’clock was chimed as I came in view of the Palace; and save for the sentries pacing their rounds with mechanical steps, not a soul was to be seen. The Palace itself was wrapped in comparative darkness, the inmates secure in their belief in the fidelity and watchfulness of their guards.
There was absolutely nothing to suggest that a violent outbreak was on the very eve of consummation; and that a deed of horror was in the making, the shame of which would before morning spread to the uttermost confines of the civilised world, to set men seeking its parallel in the darkest epochs of history.
I turned from the Palace, indeed, hoping and more than half convinced that the spy had been misled, and that if the army really nurtured thoughts of force, their plans were not yet matured. I was intensely relieved by this apparent dissipation of my gloomy fears and at the same time profoundly perplexed as to my own course.
If I forced my way in the dead of night into Gatrina’s house and nothing occurred to justify my act, discovery would overwhelm me with both confusion and shame. In her eyes I should not only look like a rash, intermeddling fool, but my conduct would be open to a thousand misinterpretations, all ominous and all ruinous to my hopes.
But I was not long to be a prey to these distracting doubts. On leaving the Palace I hurried toward one of the barracks; and then, all suddenly, on turning the corner of one of the main streets, I heard the measured tramp of many feet; and had just time to conceal myself in the gateway of a house, when a large body of troops passed me, marching in dead silence.
They numbered some hundreds, marching straight on the Palace; and I knew then, indeed, that trouble was abroad and that my worst forebodings were to be realised.
The night of terror for Belgrade had come; and when I saw the strength of the force and thought of Gatrina, my heart sank within me at the paltry effort I was about to make to secure her safety. My plan seemed so puny, so less than weak, so hopeless in the face of this overawing display of force, that I could have gnashed my teeth in despair.
I gazed after the troops, when they had passed, like a fool bereft of his wits by fear, until a sound broke and roused me from my lethargy.
The sound was that of gunshots in the direction of the Palace. I guessed that the stern band had met with some opposition from the guard, and that the deadly work on which they were bent had already commenced. They had staked their lives on the issue; and even thus early, some had paid the forfeit.
It was just the spur my sluggish wits needed and I slipped from my hiding-place and ran at utmost speed in the direction of Gatrina’s house. It was nearly a quarter to two when I reached it, to find with intense satisfaction that all was still quiet there and that Karasch had arrived and was awaiting me with four companions.
Taking the utmost precaution to make sure we were unobserved, I unlocked the little door in the stable gates and we entered. Locking it behind me, and leaving the men at the end near the stable under the shadow of some trees, Karasch and I stole up the garden to the house, and found the unlocked door by which the spy had left.
The time was so short before we were to look for the coming of the soldiers that not a moment was to be lost in finding a place where we could carry out the plan of capture. Karasch, most thoughtfully, had brought a lantern with him, and stealing noiselessly through the passages, we explored the whole of the underpart of the house; and I decided upon two large cellars and explained to him hurriedly how to act.
We would let the men in two at a time, Karasch guiding one, I the other; and lead them each to a different cellar, where we would overpower and bind them. All would be in darkness on the plea that suspicion had been aroused in the house and any light would be dangerous; and as each man entered the cellar he would be seized.
He fetched the men and by the light of the lantern I had a good look at each. They were a sturdy, resolute lot; and when we explained the work to be done, they seemed to enter into it with willingness and determination.
The traps were in readiness before the hour struck, and Karasch and I went out again to the stable gate to wait for the soldiers.
We stood in deep shadow and I then told him what I had seen in the streets and of the firing I had heard at the Palace.
“The city will soon wake,” he muttered. “And if the people side with the troops, as I believe they will, we shall soon have the mob here.”
“It will at least convince the Princess of the need to fly.” I sought hard to persuade myself of this; for my chief fear was that Gatrina herself would yet prove the greatest difficulty.
We stood in silence for many minutes and now and again the sound of hurrying footsteps without told us that the news of the doings at the Palace was spreading and that the people were scurrying to learn what was going forward.
“They are late,” muttered Karasch, impatiently, more than once; and then: “They are coming,” he declared, as his quick ear caught the sound of slower footsteps before I heard anything.
I soon heard them, however. They halted outside the gates; and someone knocked. I opened the little door a couple of inches and peered through.
There were six of them only.
“Is that you, Michel?” came a whisper.
“Hsh. Yes. How many are there of you?”
“Six.”
“There is danger. I am suspected. You must enter two at a time. I daren’t let you all pass together through the garden. Cautiously, my friend, cautiously,” I said, as someone tried to force the door.
A consultation was held and the man who had spoken to me explained to the rest what I had said. Some difficulty was raised by one of the soldiers; but I got my way.
Two men slipped through the door as I held it; and the instant the second was through, I locked it behind him.
“Follow us,” I said, not giving either of them time to see my face; and we led them to the house. “Give me your hand,” I told the man with me. “We daren’t have a light, and the place is pitch dark.”
He suspected nothing and I led him into the cellar, clapping my hand on his mouth as he entered, while the two men in waiting seized him and in less than a minute he lay bound and gagged. The other had been dealt with in the same way.
Karasch and I went back to the stables; but the time occupied, swiftly as we had acted, had roused some kind of suspicion; and when I opened the little door, one of the men thrust the butt of his musket in the way and despite my strenuous efforts, before I could close it all four had forced themselves through.
“We’ll go in together, my man,” said one of them, linking his arm in mine and holding me firmly. Another man did the same to Karasch.
It spelt crisis; and for a moment or two I breathed hard. My fingers closed round my revolver, and his life hung by a much thinner thread than he dreamt.
I stood fighting with the impulse and thus the chance passed.
“See if he’s armed,” cried the soldier, and his companion plunged a hand into my pocket and wrenched my weapon roughly from me. Karasch was served in the same way; and from the confidence of success we were thus suddenly brought face to face with the threat of disastrous failure.