The Coming Conquest of England Part 33

The men pretended not to hear.

Heideck repeated his request in a stern and commanding tone. The men looked at each other; then one of them went to the cupboard, took out the white bread, and set it on the table. Heideck cut it and found it very good. He ate heartily of it, wondering at the same time why the men had been so disobliging about it at first. When he took up the bread again to cut himself off a second piece, it occurred to him that it was remarkably heavy. He cut into the middle and, finding that the blade of the knife struck on something hard, he broke the loaf in two. The glitter of gold met his eyes. He investigated further and drew out, one after the other, thirty golden coins with the head of the Queen of England upon them. Thirty pounds sterling had been concealed in the loaf.

"Very nourishing bread of yours," said he, looking keenly at the men, who merely shrugged their shoulders.

"What has it to do with us how the captain keeps his money?" said one of them.

"You are quite right. What has it to do with you? We will wait till the captain comes. There, put the bread and the money back into the cupboard, and then make a nice gla.s.s of grog for my men, the poor fellows will be frozen. Here are three marks for you."

The men did as they were asked. One of them went upstairs with the smoking jug, bringing it back empty some time afterwards, with the thanks of the Herr major's men.

A few minutes later one of the soldiers appeared at the cabin door and announced that two men were approaching from land. "Good," said Heideck; "keep quiet, till they are on deck; then don't let them go down again, but tell them to come here."

Almost immediately steps and voices were heard above, and in a few minutes two men entered the cabin. The first, who wore the dress of a skipper, was of unusually powerful build, broad-shouldered, bull-necked, with a square weather-beaten face, from which two crafty little eyes twinkled. The second, considerably younger, was dressed rather foppishly, and wore a beard trimmed in the most modern style.

"Mynheer Brandelaar?" queried Heideck.

"That's me," replied the man with the broad shoulders, in a brusque, almost threatening tone.

"Very glad to see you, mynheer. I want to speak to you on a matter of business; I have been waiting for you more than an hour. May I ask you to introduce me to this gentleman?"

The Dutchman was slow in answering. It was evident that he was in a very bad temper and did not quite know what to do. The officer's quiet, somewhat mocking tone obviously disconcerted him.

He signed to the two sailors to withdraw, then turned to Heideck.

"This gentleman is a business friend. And I should like to know what I and my affairs have got to do with you at all. I am here to sell my herrings. I suppose that isn't forbidden?"

"Certainly not. But if you have your business, mynheer, I have mine. And I think it would be pleasantest for both of us if we could settle the matter here at once without having to row over to the Gefion."

"To the Gefion? What's the meaning of that? What right have you to use force with me? My papers are in order; I can show them to you."

"I should like to see them. But won't you be kind enough to tell me this gentleman's name? It is really of interest to me to make your business friend's acquaintance."

The second visitor now thought it advisable to introduce himself.

"My name is Camille Penurot," said he; "I am a grocer in Breskens.

Maaning Brandelaar has offered to sell me his cargo, and I have come with him to inspect the goods."

"And no doubt night is the best time for that," rejoined Heideck in a sarcastic tone, but with an imperturbably serious air. "Now let me see your papers, Mynheer Brandelaar."

Just as he had expected, the papers were in perfect order. The fishing smack Bressay, owner Maximilian van Spranekhuizen of Rotterdam, sailing with a cargo of pickled herrings from Lerwick. Captain, Maaning Brandelaar. Attested by the English harbour officials at Lerwick.

Everything perfectly correct.

"Very good," said Heideck. "Rear-Admiral Sir Frederick Hollway of Dover has not endorsed them, but that was not necessary at all."

These words, uttered with perfect calmness, had an astounding effect upon the two men. Penurot's pale face turned almost green; Brandelaar's hard features were frightfully distorted in a grimace of rage. Half choking in the effort to keep down a furious curse, he drew a deep breath, and said--

"I don't know any Admiral Hollway, and I have never been in Dover in my life."

"Well, well! Let us talk about your business--or yours, M. Penurot. Of course the cargo of herrings which you want to buy is not meant to be sold at Breskens, but to some business friend at Antwerp? isn't it so?"

No answer was given. Heideck, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, turned to the cupboard and, before the others had grasped his intention, took out the second white loaf and broke it in two. This time a folded paper came to light. Heideck spread it out and saw that it was covered with a long list of questions written in English.

"Look here," said he, "the gentleman who had this paper baked with your breakfast bread must be confoundedly curious. 'How strong is the garrison of Antwerp? What regiments? What batteries? Who are the commanders of the outer fort? What is the exact plan of the flooded district? How is the population disposed towards the German troops? How many German men-of-war are there in the harbour and in the Schelde? How are they distributed? Exact information as to the number of cannon and crews of all the men-of-war. How many and which ships of the German navigation companies are allotted to the German fleet? How many troops are there on the island of Walcheren? How many in the neighbourhood of Antwerp? How are the troops distributed on both banks of the Schelde?

Are troops ready to be put on board the men-of-war and transports? Has a date been settled for that? Is there a plan for employing the German fleet? What is said about the German fleet joining the French?' That is only a small portion of the long list; but it is quite enough for anyone to guess at the nature of the rest of the questions. What the deuce!

Admiral Hollway would like to learn everything for his paltry thirty pounds! or were they only a little on account? I cannot believe, M.

Penurot, that your Antwerp correspondent would be willing to sell so much for thirty pounds."

The two men were clearly overwhelmed by the weight of the unexpected blow. For a moment, when Heideck drew the paper out of the bread, it looked as if Brandelaar would have thrown himself upon him and attempted to tear it from him by force. But the thought of the soldiers probably restrained him opportunely from such an act of folly. He stood where he was with tightly compressed lips and spitefully glistening eyes.

"I don't understand you, Herr major," exclaimed Penurot with a visible effort. "I know nothing whatever about this paper. I am an honest business man."

"And of course, Herr Brandelaar, you had no suspicion of the important stuffing in your white bread? Now, I am not called upon to investigate the matter further. It will be for the court-martial to throw light on the affair."

The grocer turned as pale as death, and lifted up his hands imploringly.

"Mercy, Herr major, mercy! As true as I live, I am innocent."

Heideck pretended not to have heard his a.s.sertion.

"Further, I must tell you, gentlemen, that you are confoundedly bad men of business, to risk your lives for a miserable thirty pounds. That was an inexcusable folly. If ever you wanted to make money in that way, really you would have done better to work for us. We would pay a man five times as much without haggling, if he would furnish us with really trustworthy information of this kind about the English fleet and army."

At these words, spoken almost in a jovial tone, a gleam of hope showed itself in the countenance of the two men. The grocer had opened his mouth to reply, when Heideck signed to him to be silent.

"Be so good as to go on deck for a while, Penurot," said he. "I will call you when I want to continue the conversation. You shall give me your company first, Brandelaar. I should like a few words with you in private."

The man with the fashionably pointed beard obeyed. Then Heideck turned to the Dutchman--

"This Penurot is the guilty party, isn't he? As a skipper you have probably never troubled yourself much about politics during your lifetime: you scarcely had a correct idea of the risk you were running.

If the court-martial condemns you, you will only have your friend Penurot to thank for it."

"What you say is quite true, sir," replied Brandelaar with well-acted simplicity. "I have my cargo to sell for the firm of Van Spranekhuizen, and I don't care a d.a.m.n for war or spying. I beg the Herr major to put in a good word for me. I had no suspicion of what was inside the bread."

"So this Penurot has drawn you into the affair without your knowing it.

Did he intend to go with you to Antwerp?"

"I will tell you the whole truth, Herr major! Admiral Hollway at Dover, who is in control of the intelligence department for the Channel and the coast from Cuxhaven to Brest, gave me the two loaves for Camille Penurot. That is all I know of the matter."

"Was it the first time you had to carry out such commissions for Admiral Hollway?"

"So help me G.o.d, the first time!"

"But Penurot was not meant to keep these peculiar loaves for himself?

He, like yourself, is only an agent? If you want me to speak for you, you must tell me unreservedly everything you know about it."

"Penurot has a business friend in Antwerp, as the Herr major has rightly guessed."

"His name?"