CHAPTER XIV

THE AIR PIRATE AT LAST

Vargus was silent now. Our feet made no noise upon the sandy floor of

the cave. It was then that I heard something like a cat purring.

Unconsciously I stopped to listen. No, it wasn't a cat, it was the faint

drone of some night beetle; it was ...

On the right wall of the cavern, remember that my back was turned to its

mouth and the sea--there was a sudden flash of white light.

The rest happened in five seconds.

The light leapt out from the wall, and instantaneously the vast vaulted

place was brilliantly illuminated. I had a fleeting vision of wooden

galleries, a workshop and smithy, piles of stores, and then I wheeled

round with a shout of terror. The drone had leapt up to a deep, menacing

note, like the E string of a double bass. A circular furnace of white

light in the centre of a gigantic shadow rushed at me with incredible

speed.

A blast of wind struck me like the shell from a six-inch gun; the drone

rose to the echoing shout of an army as the Pirate Airship entered the

cave that was its home.

I had just the millionth part of a second in which to realize the truth

before my head struck; the wind seemed to tear out my very vitals, and I

knew nothing more.

* * * * *

Once, when I was a boy at the seaside in Wales, I dived into a deep rock

pool, and, deceived by the clearness of the water, hit my head against a

submerged ledge, and for several seconds was stunned. There was no one

with me, but, fortunately, I recovered in time, and with bursting lungs

regained the surface.

The experience was repeated now, or so it seemed, with a curious

subconscious memory. I thought that I was rushing violently upwards

towards the light out of a well of darkness. Each moment the radiance

increased and my speed grew greater. There was a sound as of many waters

in my ears.

I opened my eyes. The light was brilliant, painful. Also, it moved and

flashed, and so it was not the sun of twenty years before beating

down....

Someone spoke: "Yes, it's the man himself. He's shaved off his

moustache, and his hair and skin are dyed. He's a fair chap really.

Look at his lower neck and chest. It's Sir John Custance right enough!"

I lay and listened. Although I heard every word, and perceived that an

electric torch was dancing about, the conversation hardly seemed to

concern me.

There was another voice: "Vargus said he admitted it, but Vargus has

fainted again."

Hands felt me all over. Things were taken from my pockets, and there

were sharp exclamations of surprise. Somebody gave a long, low whistle.

"No bones broken. His eyes are opening. Give me that flash, Gascoigne."

Someone poured brandy down my throat--I knew it was brandy--and I moved

my limbs and groaned.

Then I heard a shout as a door that I could not see was burst open.

"Feddon's killed!" came in a high, excited voice. "Poor old Feddy's shot

through the heart."

I think it was at this precise moment that I regained full

consciousness, and realized that I was not badly hurt. My whole body

felt as if it had been severely beaten, but instinct told me that there

was no real damage. As for the shock, it was not until several hours

afterwards that I felt its effect, though then it meant collapse.

I lay perfectly still, this time by design, and closed my eyes.

Everything had come back to me; I remembered every incident from the

moment I had cut the barbed wire to that when I had escaped, by a

miracle, death from the returning Pirate Ship.

My first thought was one of bitter disappointment. So they had run the

gauntlet, after all! The mystery ship had escaped the swarm of cruisers

and patrol boats that were looking for her. I believe I ground my teeth

with rage. A second afterwards I groaned out loud. The sound was wrung

from my very heart. I was too late to rescue Constance now....

All round me there was a buzz of low-pitched voices. Without any trouble

at all, I could detect the note of fear and consternation. And it was

tonic. My plight seemed desperate enough, but there was a chance yet.

They had taken my weapons from me, but others might prove as valuable.

The pirates were disorganized, alarmed. Well, craft should meet craft!

Surely, the moment was favourable?

I was in a dimly-lit place, surrounded by dark figures. How long I lay

thus I do not know, probably for no great space of time. At any rate, I

had not been in full possession of my faculties for many minutes when a

door opened, and a voice spoke in accents of authority.

It was a voice that I had never heard before, but I knew whose it was.

"I have made a careful examination of the house," came in clear,

well-bred tones, "and there is no one there. It is the same outside and

all round the fence. I let the dogs loose and they discovered nothing."

"How did this"--I was kicked brutally in the side--"get in, Chief?"

asked a voice.

"Cut the fence wire, and managed to open the door in the east wall. Then

climbed the porch and entered through Feddon's bedroom. The dogs

followed the scent and showed. That doesn't matter much now. The point

is that he's here."

"And we know what to deduce from that!" I heard, and pricked up my ears.

My friend Mr. Vargus had revived then! There was a soft malignancy in

his voice that made me shudder.

"Vargus is right. It is fairly certain that the game's up as far as this

place is concerned. They've marked us down, sure enough. In a few

minutes I shall take steps to find out exactly how much they _do_ know.

Meanwhile we appear to have some time before us, and we must carry out

the emergency plan that we've so often rehearsed. Gascoigne, Jones and

Sutton, Pointz, fill all the petrol tanks to full capacity, load

emergency stores, examine and reverse ship. When finished, report to me

in my room."

The men hurried away.

"Philips and Minver get on to the moor and report any man or body of men

advancing on the house. You will take rifles and act as outposts. At any

sign of approach, don't hesitate to fire. Then fall back on the house."

"Shall we take the dogs, Chief? They would be useful."

"No, I shall need them. The rest of you will hold the house till the

last moment. Then get into the lift and come down. It will take them

some time to find out the way and follow, while one man can hold the

passages for any length of time. We shall all be fifty miles out at sea

before anyone can break in down here, and all the swag is packed ready

to go on board. Vargus, you will stay down here and help me in what I've

got to do."

Several other men left the room.

In a lower voice, though I heard every word, Helzephron went on talking

to his lieutenant.

"... Mind you, I don't actually expect an attack in force, but we must

be prepared. For all we know, there may be a hundred men waiting on the

moor. One thing is certain. They know where, or whereabouts we are, or

that gentleman on the floor would not have got in, nor all those ships

be cruising about outside. So we must be off with all we can take to our

emergency base in the Hebrides. Once outside, nothing can touch us, of

course, and we'd get up to sixteen thousand feet at once. Barometer

readings make it pretty certain that it will be cloudy at dawn, and it's

a million chances to one against our even being seen."

I lay not three yards away. I had not noticed it until now, but my

ankles were tied together, and, weak as I was, any physical effort was

impossible. Helzephron had talked over his plans with an absolute

disregard of my presence. He may or may not have known that I was

conscious; quite obviously he didn't care twopence one way or the other.

And that meant one thing and one thing only.

Before the Pirate Ship fled from its lair for the last time John

Custance would have ceased to exist in the body.

"... Now for Sir John. How do you feel, Vargus? You took a nasty toss,

and it's damned lucky for you we turned up when we did! Do you feel

strong enough to drag Sir John into my room? If so, I'll go ahead and

turn on the lights."

"I'm quite strong enough for _that_," said Mr. Vargus, with a nasty

laugh, and in a few seconds he had me by the heels, and was towing me

like a log over an uneven floor. It was only by stiffening the muscles

of my neck till they cracked that I could keep my head from bruising

badly. Then a cloth of some sort was dropped on my face and tied round

my head. I felt myself carried for a yard or two, put into a chair with

an upright back, and then lashed securely to it by strong cords.

"I'll call you when I want you again," said the voice of Helzephron. "Go

and help the others load the ship. And remember that we must take every

round of ammunition we can stow in her. Twenty-four hours' rations will

be ample. We can renew those at any time. Shells are quite another

matter. Sacrifice everything to them."

A door closed. I heard the creak of a chair as Helzephron sat down.

There was a long silence, and through the cloth I could feel that he was

watching me.

The duel to the death began. I was as a naked man before another with a

sword. I braced every nerve and stiffened my will!

"You are in a very unpleasant predicament, Sir John Custance."

The voice was passionless, even a little weary.

"I think it's mutual, Mr. Helzephron," was my answer, and I put an

accent on the "_Mister_." He should have no honourable military title

from me.

"Well, that is possible. Indeed, I admit that you have seriously

deranged my plans. But the trumps are mine, after all. With your

intelligence you must be aware that you have a very short time to live."

"I don't doubt that, but I dispute your estimate of your hand."

"May I ask why?"

"With pleasure. I don't care twopence about my own life in comparison

with my duty to society. You care a good deal for yours, and you also

have a short time in front of you. If it is any satisfaction to you to

know, you're in a net from which even the particular minor devils that

preside over thieves can't free you."

Thus I lied bravely. A good deal, I thought, might depend on my ability

to get the scoundrel into a furious rage, and, anyway, it was a delight

to insult him.

A sharp breath told me that I had drawn blood.

"You use dangerous language, Sir John. You'll be sorry if you go on."

"Now, look here," I rapped out, in the tone I should have used to an

impudent office boy, "please understand that you can't frighten me. I

know that bounders of your type don't understand a gentleman and how he

feels about things. I only assure you that you will waste your time. And

time _ought_"--I said it with meaning--"to be worth more to you now than

all the valuables you picked from the pockets of the _Atlantis_

passengers."

He came up to me, and I thought that this was the moment. But he only

tore the cloth from my head and returned to his chair.

I looked round with interest. The room, no doubt part of the cavern

system into which the mine had penetrated, was matchboarded all round.

The boarding was painted white, and a cluster of electrics hung from the

ceiling. There was a carpet on the floor, a couple of arm-chairs, a

writing-table, and a big steel safe. In one corner was another door than

the entrance one, partly concealed by a green curtain hanging from a

brass rod.

Helzephron himself sat opposite. The handsome, hawk-like face was badly

bruised. He stared at me with concentrated malignancy. Then he smiled,

with a flash of large white teeth.

"Really, I should hardly have known you," he said.

"I should have recognized you anywhere, even with the bruises!" I

replied. "Mr. Ashton left you your teeth, I see."

His face grew dark. He nodded twice. "I thought that," he said, half to

himself.

"I saw the whole thing, and it was most amusing, Mr. Helzephron. I was

sitting in the smaller arm of the gallery at the 'Mille Colonnes,'

behind a centre-piece of flowers. I, _and my companion_, had concealed a

periscope in the flowers, and got the whole thing framed, as it were. It

gave a zest to the Burgundy. But I thought you'd have made a better

fight of it!"

The man leapt from his chair with a savage curse and took two steps

towards me, with clenched fist and lifted arm.

I looked up in that convulsed and purple face.

"Quite so!" I said quietly. "I'm tied up. It's quite safe to hit me."

If he was going to torture me, and I had few illusions on the matter, I

was having my innings now. He _had_ been a gentleman once, he had been a

brave soldier. It was because I knew this that I could stab him.

He didn't strike. He began to walk up and down the room, swallowing his

rage with an almost superhuman effort--being what he was. Perhaps shame

helped him, perhaps it was cunning, but he sat down again, and though he

trembled, his voice was calm.

"So you think me a coward, do you?" he said. "I'll do you the justice to

say that you're none."

My mind was working with an insight that it has never possessed before

or since. The key to the man's psychology was in my hand at last.

All criminals are vain. In great criminals vanity assumes colossal

proportions until it becomes a real madness. Criminologists call it

megalomania. It is egotism fostered and indulged to the point of

monstrosity, when all moral considerations are swept away, and the

subject thinks himself superior to all law, and glories in his

greatness.

_Lord of himself, that heritage of woe!_ I think Byron said that.

"You've correctly expressed me," I told him.

"Perhaps your detective work has not gone so far as to inform you that I

hold the Victoria Cross?" Yes! he was mad! No sane man of his extraction

would have said that.

"It is a distinction above all others, Mr. Helzephron. And you'll have

another very soon. Indeed, you'll never be forgotten. You'll be historic

as the one V.C. who was degraded. They'll do it the day before they hang

you at Pentonville, and it will be in the _Gazette_."

He grew quite white, whether from anger or shame I do not know. But I

went on. Something inside me that was not myself seemed to be speaking.

"You've been living quite an artificial life, you see, surrounded by

your amicable young friends and the artistic Mr. Vargus. You, no doubt,

think of yourself as of a very glorious order. Making war on society,

Ajax defying the thunder, King of the air, and all that sort of thing.

I'll bet anything you've compared yourself to Napoleon a thousand

times! It's the way the late Kaiser of Germany fell. It's called

megalomania. But you aren't anything of the sort, you know. You are a

cowardly thief, who steals and murders for the sake of his pocket. You

asked me a question and I've answered it."

He heard each word. His eyes became glassy and his jaw dropped. For all

the world he was like an evil child who hears the truth about itself,

and all the power was wiped out of his face as chalk marks are wiped off

a blackboard.

He got up abruptly, and left the room by the curtained door. He was away

for ten minutes. When he returned he was his old self, but with an

addition--he had been drinking back his devilishness. There was a strong

odour of brandy as he entered. His eyes were full and liquid, and he was

amazingly vital. I knew that I could hurt him no longer. He wore

impenetrable armour. He sat down and lit a cigarette. He smiled with an

evil good-humour. It was his hour now.

"Well, we've got acquainted at last," he began in an easy conversational

tone. "You've been excessively clever in hunting me down, and your

powers of insult are exceptional. I admit again that you have smoked me

out here, but as to putting an end to my activities, that's a very

different story. Your people can't get at me once I'm out of this snug

retreat, and they can't force an entry here until I'm gone. So much as

between the Commissioner of Police and the Pirate. You've had your say

and I've had mine."

"Then there is nothing more to be said."

"Excuse me, as man to man, there's a good deal. I purchased an evening

paper on the afternoon of the evening when I was attacked by your hired

bully."

At last the conversation was growing interesting.

"With stolen money?" I asked impudently. But it fell dead flat. I don't

think he even heard me.

"The paper made public some news that I had already gathered from

another source. The news of your engagement, Sir John Custance."

We stared at each other in dead silence for half a minute.

"To Miss Constance Shepherd," he went on.

I said nothing.

"... Who at this moment is not twenty yards away from you, and who will

fly with me to-night to where all your police boats will never find us."

"By force."

"Well, up to the present I admit that I have had to take the law into my

own hands. I am a man who believes in getting what he wants. Your

arrival, the fact that you're my guest for a short time, has given my

thoughts quite a new direction."

I saw that there was a deep and sinister meaning in what he said, but

not an inkling of the abominable truth came to me. He understood that

from my face, and he laughed out loud.

"Oh, this is going to be enormously refreshing!" he cried. "This is

going to make everything worth while!"

My heart turned to stone as I watched that unholy merriment.

When he had finished laughing, he said: "Miss Shepherd does not know as

yet that I have the honour of entertaining you. I am about to inform

her. And then, if she wishes it, as no doubt she will, you must really

meet. Journeys end in lovers' meetings, they say."

He was about to add something when there was a knock at the door. Mr.

Vargus came in.

"All loaded," he said, looking nervously at me, as if wondering what had

passed during his absence. "All loaded and everything ready for a start.

The others have gone up to the house."

"Well, there's nothing to report, or they would have telephoned down.

There is no hurry for an hour yet...."

Helzephron took the short man by the arm and drew him into a corner of

the room. They whispered together for nearly ten minutes. I could not

catch a word.

Then Vargus nodded with an air of triumphant comprehension, and left the

room.

"On second thoughts," said Helzephron, "I am not going to prepare Miss

Shepherd. We will let it be in the nature of a pleasant surprise."

He disappeared through the green-curtained door.