Colonel Thorndyke's Secret Part 39

The party was at once broken up, heavy blows were exchanged, the two pugilists rolling their a.s.sailants over like ninepins, but receiving several heavy blows from their a.s.sailants' clubs. A rush of five or six men separated Mark from the others. Those in front of him he struck down, but a moment later received a tremendous blow on the back of the head which struck him to the ground unconscious. His companions were all too busy defending themselves against their a.s.sailants to notice what had been done, and as the attack had taken place in the center of the roadway behind the quay, there was no lamp, and the fight was taking place in almost total darkness.

By this time many people had run up at the sound of the fray. A minute later there was a cry that the watch were coming, and four or five men with lanterns emerged from one of the streets leading down to the quays, and hurried towards the spot. The fight at once ceased, the men who had attacked mingled with the crowd, and when the watch came up they found the five Englishmen cl.u.s.tered together and ten or twelve men lying on the ground.

The instant that the fight had ceased d.i.c.k Chetwynd asked, "Where is Mr.

Thornd.y.k.e?"

No answer was given. The other four men simultaneously uttered exclamations of alarm. The crowd was thinning fast as the watch came up.

"What is all this about?" one of them asked in Dutch.

"Do any of you speak English?" d.i.c.k asked.

"I do," one of them said.

"We landed five minutes ago from that craft," continued d.i.c.k, "and as we came across we were attacked by a band of ruffians. An Englishman, one of our party, is missing."

"Whose bodies are these?" the watchman asked, raising his lantern and pointing to them.

"Perhaps Mr. Thornd.y.k.e is among them," d.i.c.k Chetwynd said.

The fallen figures were examined by the light of the lanterns. Mark was not among them. The watchmen uttered an exclamation of astonishment as they looked at the men's faces.

"What did you strike them with?" the one who spoke first asked.

"Struck them with our fists, of course," Gibbons replied. "They will do well enough; you need not bother about them, they will come round again presently. The question is, Where is Mr. Thornd.y.k.e?"

The whole of the lookers on had dispersed, each fearing that he might be charged with taking part in the outrage.

"This is a very serious matter," Chetwynd said. "We have every reason to believe that the attack was premeditated, for the gentleman who is missing was known to have some valuables on him; all these fellows ought to be taken and locked up and made to give an account of themselves. We are going to the Hotel d'Hollande where you can find us at any time. I dare say some of these scoundrels are known to you, and that may give you a clew as to where Mr. Thornd.y.k.e is.

"I have but little hope that he will be found alive; no doubt he has been stabbed and his body carried off so that they can search his clothes at their leisure. We came in a strong party to prevent the risk of an attack upon Mr. Thornd.y.k.e. Here is my card. It is of no use our attempting to search by ourselves, but if you will get these fellows taken to the watch house, and will call at the hotel, we will join your party and help you to search the places you think he has most likely been taken to."

"I think, sir, you had better come with me to the watch house, and see the Lieutenant, and tell him what has happened."

"I will just take my friends to the hotel, and shall be back from there before you have got men to take these fellows away. If you go to one of those ships and borrow a bucket, empty it over each of them; you will find that will bring them to!"

As soon as they arrived at the hotel d.i.c.k ordered a private sitting room and five bedrooms.

"We have made a terrible mess of this, lads," he said gloomily. "I don't say that it is any of our faults, but it is a horrible affair. I have not the least doubt that Mr. Thornd.y.k.e has been killed, and it is no satisfaction to us that we have pretty nearly done for a dozen of those scoundrels."

"I would not have had it happen for a hundred pounds, nor a thousand, sir. If there had been daylight we could have licked a score of them in spite of their bludgeons, but they came with such a rush at us that we got separated before we knew where we were. I don't think that it was our fault. I feel as much ashamed as if I had thrown up the sponge in the ring at the end of the first round. To think that we came over here, four of us, and yourself, sir, on purpose to take care of Mr. Thornd.y.k.e, all well save a few knocks with those sticks, and Mr. Thornd.y.k.e killed and carried off before we have been on sh.o.r.e five minutes. A better young fellow I never put on the gloves with;" and Gibbons pa.s.sed the back of his hand across his eyes.

"Well, I must be off now," Chetwynd said. "I feel heartbroken over it.

I have known him since we were boys together; and what makes it worse is that only three days ago he became engaged to be married. How we are going to take the news back G.o.d only knows!"

As he hurried down the street towards the wharf he saw a number of lanterns coming towards him, and ten or twelve watchmen came along escorting the prisoners, many of whose faces were covered with blood; then came four other watchmen carrying a body on a stretcher.

"One of them is dead," the watchman who had before spoken said to d.i.c.k.

"A foreign seaman, a Lascar I should say, from his color; we found an open knife by his side."

"That is the man who began the fray," Chetwynd said. "He was on the point of stabbing one of my companions when another hit him under the ear."

"What!" the watchman said. "He must have been hit like the kick of a horse. All these prisoners seem to have been struck but once; two of them cannot speak. I think their jaws are broken; four of them have broken noses, and another has had all his front teeth knocked out, while the others are nearly as bad."

"I see you have brought with you some of their bludgeons," d.i.c.k said, pointing to one of the watchmen carrying a great bundle of sticks over his shoulder.

"Yes, sir, twenty-three of them; it certainly seems to show that it was a planned thing. Most of these fellows' faces are so bruised that I cannot say who they are at present, but two or three are known as the worst ruffians in the city, and I have no doubt we shall find that they all belong to the same gang."

By this time they had arrived at the watch house, a building of considerable size; the prisoners were first lodged in a strong room with barred windows and very heavy doors, and then the watchman went with Chetwynd to the Lieutenant's room. The officer had just returned, having hurried down with a reinforcement to the wharf as soon as he had heard of the fray, and tried to obtain some information from the people who had gathered round, attracted by the lanterns of the watch. He had already learned from the watchmen all they knew about the affair. As he spoke English well, he at once addressed d.i.c.k:

"This is a serious affair, sir."

"A very serious affair, for, indeed, I am afraid that my dearest friend has been murdered."

"Will you kindly give me the particulars?" the officer said, sitting down to the table with a pen in his hand.

d.i.c.k Chetwynd told him the story of how Mr. Thornd.y.k.e, having some very valuable jewels that he wished to dispose of, and believing that he would be attacked by a band of robbers, had asked him to accompany him, and had brought four detective officers and pugilists to protect him against any sudden attack.

"Ah, that accounts for the terrible blows that these fellows received,"

the officer said. "And your friend; was he a strong man?"

"He was a man exceptionally strong, and a match for either of the pugilists that he brought over. I have no doubt that he was stabbed, though of course he might have been brought down by a blow from one of the bludgeons. He must have been completely insensible when carried off.

"The watchman here tells me that three or four of these ruffians are known, and perhaps if you will give orders for the blood to be washed off the others' faces some more may be recognized and prove an aid in enabling you to form an idea where Mr. Thornd.y.k.e has been carried. I trust that you will send out a party to search for him. I and the four men with me will gladly join them, and may be of use if any resistance is offered."

The Lieutenant at once gave orders to the watchman to go down and see that the prisoners all washed their faces. As soon as he returned with the report that this was done the officer went down with d.i.c.k Chetwynd to examine them. Three or four of the men with lanterns also went in.

Eight out of eleven men were recognized; the other three, whose features were so swollen that they could not see out of their eyes, could not be made out, but their companions, on being questioned, gave their names.

"They all belong to a gang of wharf thieves and plunderers. They live in a slum near the water. I will have men posted in the lanes leading to it, and will myself go with you to see that a search is made of every house; but first I will try to find out from these fellows where he was to be taken.

"Now, my men," he said, "anyone of you who will tell me where one of the party you attacked was to be taken to will find things made easy for him at his trial."

None of the men spoke for a minute, and then one said:

"We know nothing about it; how should we, when we were all knocked stupid?"

"No, but you might know where he was to be taken."

"I know nothing about that. We all got word to mind we were on the wharf when a brig, that was seen coming up, came alongside, and that we were to have a hundred francs each for attacking some pa.s.sengers as they landed. Six of them came along together, and one said, 'These are the men.' A black sailor came up first and spoke to two or three men in some foreign language. I don't know who the men were; it was too dark to see their faces. It was one of them who gave the order. It seemed an easy job enough when there were twenty-five of us with heavy sticks, but it didn't turn out so. I only know that I hit one big fellow a blow that ought to have knocked him down, and the next moment there was a crash, and I don't know anything more about it until a lot of water was thrown over me and one of the watch helped me to my feet. I don't know whether the others know more than I do, but I don't think they do."

All the others protested at once that they were equally ignorant. They had gone to earn a hundred francs. They had been told that the money was all right, but who found it or who were the men to be attacked they had not the least idea.

"How was it that you all had these bludgeons--there were no knives found on any of you?"

The man who spoke before said:

"The order was 'No knives,' and before we went down to the wharf each of us was searched and a stick given to us. I suppose from that, that whoever paid for the job didn't want blood to be shed; it suited us well enough, for it was a job there was sure to be a row over, and I don't suppose any of us wanted to put his head in a noose. I know that we all said to each other as we went out that it did not want such sticks as we had to give a man a thrashing, but the man who hired us, whoever he was, knew his customers better than we did."

The officer translated the man's words as they were spoken to d.i.c.k, and on hearing the last speech, the latter said: