Eyes Like the Sea Part 29

"The information was written in a secret cipher.

"'I must decipher this first. There will be a meeting to-night of the Committee of National Defence. Early to-morrow morning you will appear before me. Now go to the "White Horse." Speak to n.o.body. Keep your room!'

"Nevertheless, an hour afterwards he sent for me.

"He led me into his inner room, for he allowed himself the luxury of a double-roomed apartment at Debreczin. Two other ministers, Paul Nyary and Joseph Patay, were not so fortunate. They had to be content with a double room between them.

"The General was now very gentle with me. He made me sit down at table, and poured me out some tea. He offered me a cigar too, and although I ought not to have done so, I lighted it. It nipped my tongue a good deal, but I had to show them that I was a man.

"Then he made me tell them how I had got out of the fortress, and how I had forced my way through the hostile camp. My relation made a great impression. When I was dismissed, they pressed my hand and a.s.sured me that my good and boldly executed service should be rewarded. They further commanded me to come to them early the next day.

"I appeared next day at his headquarters in full parade, and they admitted me before any one else.

"Again they made me sit down in the inner apartment, and drew the bolt before the door of the outer room.

"Stretched out on the table was a large military map which embraced Upper Hungary and Galicia. 'You have brought very important information with you from Comorn,' said he, in a low voice. 'Considering the time when you set out, you have arrived here with astonishing rapidity. You must now take the reply back, which will contain the directions of the Council of War and the appointment of the new Commandant, who will be gazetted to-night. Can you make your way back to the fortress with this despatch?'

"'I'll try.'

"'You must get back without fail. What's your plan?'

"'To go back by the same road in the same manner and the same disguise is impossible. The wolves tore two of my comrades to pieces, the Croats captured the third, and as he may have confessed everything, they would recognise me at once if I appeared before their eyes as I am now.

Besides, there is no conceivable reason why gipsies should wish to leave the open plain in order to get into a bombarded town. This despatch can only be conveyed to Comorn by a woman who is _obliged_ to go there on some unimpeachable business, and is provided with an Austrian safe-conduct.'

"The General clapped his hands together in amazement.

"'And do you know of any woman who would undertake such a thing?'

"'Certainly I do.'

"'Where? What's her name?'

"'That's my secret, General. The difficulty of getting into the fortress is also very much increased by the fact that the appointment of Richard Guyon as the new Commandant has already become generally known.'

"The General leaped furiously from his seat.

"'Who, then, has made this public?'

"'It is here in the official gazette,' I replied, drawing out of my pocket that morning's issue of the _Kozlony_.

"The General tugged his short moustache still shorter.

"'Well, well! I see that we Magyars have yet to learn the art of keeping a secret. The enemy knows it now, but the Comorn folks do _not_ know it.'

"'I have already hit upon a good idea of enabling the mandate of the Council of War to reach their hands.'

"'By a carrier-pigeon or a balloon, I suppose?'

"'A foreign pa.s.sport is necessary for my plan.'

"'That you shall have--an English pa.s.sport _vised_ by the Emba.s.sy. In whose name?'

"'In the lady's.'

"'Then you must give us the lady's name.'

"Then I gave him my real name as the lawful wife of Muki Bagotay.

"'And you? Will you get into the fortress?'

"'Possibly, as that lady's coachman--possibly not at all; but the despatch will get in, anyhow.'

"'And how will this lady of yours manage to hide the despatch? I can tell you beforehand, that even if your lady were provided with a safe-conduct from the Princess Windischgratz[86] herself, and so got right through the hostile camp into the invested fortress, the Austrians would indeed welcome her most courteously; but they would at the same time say to her: "Would your little ladyship be so good as to step into that side-chamber; there you will find a complete set of lady's clothes, would you be so kind as to put them on--if they are a little more abundant than your own, that doesn't matter? The toilet you have brought with you may remain here, down even to the shoes and stockings; whenever you like to come back again, you can re-exchange your clothes." For they know that it is possible to write on chemises with invisible ink and reproduce the writing by means of chemical re-agents. It is also possible for the heels of your boots to have secret openings, in which a letter written on straw-paper might be inserted. They might also retain the comb with which you fasten up your hair, for a valuable message might be written thereupon in microscopic letters.'

[Footnote 86: The wife of the Austrian Commander-in-chief.--TR.]

"'All this they may do if they like, and yet this lady of mine will convey the despatch into the fortress.'

"'I should like to know her secret.'

"''Tis a very simple one. She will learn the whole despatch by heart from beginning to end.'

"The General began to laugh.

"'Oho ho! My dear friend, you don't suppose that we would entrust our couriers with a despatch in good Hungarian for the enemy to snap it up on the way, and thus learn all about our military operations. It may also be deliberately betrayed. In the times in which we now live men are quick enough to discover excuses for _changing their saddles_. This despatch contains all our secrets: where we are strong, where we are weak, where we want to a.s.sume the offensive, where we are obliged to stand on the defensive. Such a despatch would be worth 200,000 florins to the enemy at the very least.'

"'I can a.s.sure you, General, that neither I nor this lady will betray it.'

"'You couldn't if you would, for the whole despatch is in cipher. Take it, and look at it. Do you understand a word of it? Can any one possibly learn it by heart?'

"The writing which he placed in my hand was composed of a jumble of letters grouped into words--characters whose contents could scarcely be called language at all. I nevertheless a.s.sured the General that this lady of mine would learn the despatch off by heart all the same.

"''Tis impossible.'

"'Nothing is impossible. Once, when we were actors ...'

"'Then you were actors? And this lady was an actress too, eh?'

"'Yes. Once our whole company went to Eszek, and there we acted a whole piece in the Croatian tongue without understanding a word of its meaning. A man is like a starling. If he repeats a thing a hundred times it remains in his head although he does not understand it.'

"'Look here, then! Read but two lines of this despatch a hundred times over, half an hour will do, and see if it remains in your head.'

"I consented. A quarter of an hour had not yet elapsed when I said that I was ready. I gave the General the despatch back again, and asked for ink and paper. And then slowly, meditatively, I wrote down the contents of those two lines letter by letter.

"'You've got a marvellous headpiece,' said the General, in amazement.

'And has that lady of yours just such a marvellously retentive capacity as you have?'

"'Just the same.'