The Island Mystery Part 38

Smith stepped forward and followed him. It is interesting to notice that the sailors who guarded him made no attempt to stop him. It is unlikely that they understood English well enough to know what Donovan said to von Moll. But they were somehow aware that their captain's authority was failing.

At the door of the hall Donovan stopped and turned to von Moll.

"Things seem to be happening," he said, "right up to expectation, only more so. I own I didn't look for that British ship quite so soon."

He stood in the doorway and pointed out to sea. Gorman hurried across the hall, pa.s.sed Donovan and went out. The Queen left her chair and ran to her father's side. Konrad Karl followed her. Von Moll looked round him, astonished, slightly dazed. Then he, too, went out, pushing his way past Donovan.

Outside the reef, plunging and rolling heavily, was a small steamer.

She was stumpy, high bowed, low waisted, with a short black funnel.

Her bridge and single deck-house were disproportionately high. She was shabby and rusty. She looked insignificant. She was swept frequently with showers of white spray. On her bow and on her funnel could be seen the white letters and numbers which proclaimed her proper business. She was a trawler. In peace times she cast nets for fish in the North Sea. Now she flew the white ensign and on her fore-deck, above the high blunt bows, she carried a gun.

There were men handling the gun amid a smother of spray and the swirl of water round their legs. The deck on which they stood was the worst of all possible gun platforms. In the course of each few minutes it was set at a dozen angles as the little steamer plunged and rolled.

But the men fired. Their shot went wide of the submarine which lay in the harbour, and spluttered against the side of the cliff. The trawler staggered on towards the end of the reef. Out of the welter of grey water to windward came another trawler, then a third appeared and a fourth.

Gorman edged up close to von Moll and caught him by the elbow.

"I say, von Moll," he said, "it's jolly lucky for you that you didn't have time to shoot Smith. That ship of yours is a goner, you know.

It'll be a jolly sight pleasanter for you to be a prisoner of war than to be dangling about on the end of a rope in this beastly wind. And Donovan would have seen to it that you did swing if you'd shot Smith.

There's n.o.body so vindictive as your humanitarian pacifist, once you get him roused."

The first of the little fleet of trawlers swung round the end of the reef into the sheltered water of the bay. She fired again. Her deck was steady. The target was an easy one. One sh.e.l.l and then another hit the submarine, ripped her thin hull, burst in her vitals.

Half an hour later Maurice Phillips landed on the palace steps.

CHAPTER XXVI

Von Moll, though courteously invited, refused to dine with the Queen that night. Gorman, I think, was sorry for this. He was curious to see how a German naval officer behaves as a prisoner of war. The rest of the party felt that, for once, von Moll had shown good taste. His presence would have interfered with the general cheerfulness.

Donovan tried hard to induce Smith to sit at table, taking his proper position as Head of the Intelligence Department of the State. But the party was a large one. Besides Phillips, who sat next the Queen, the commanders of the three other trawlers dined in the palace. King Konrad Karl appeared decorated with all the stars, badges and ribbons which had fallen to him while he sat on the throne of Megalia. Madame Corinne wore the finest of the dresses she had acquired from the Queen, and was in high good humour, though a little vexed that her pearls were in the keeping of a banker in Paris. Smith felt that on such an occasion the dinner should be properly served, and he dared not leave it to the native servants. After dinner he consented to sit at the foot of the table with a gla.s.s of wine in front of him.

Konrad Karl, bubbling with excitement, proposed the Queen's health in a speech full of mangled English idioms. Then he presented the Star of the Megalian Order of the Pink Vulture to Phillips. He took it from his own breast and pinned it on to Phillips' coat with a perfect shower of complimentary phrases. It was not quite clear whether the decoration was meant as a reward for sinking the submarine or for winning the affection of the Queen. Donovan made a speech, a long speech, in which he explained exactly why it was impossible to remain a consistent pacifist in a world which contained Germans. Phillips was dragged to his feet by Gorman. Goaded by the derisive shouts of his three fellow officers he gave a short account of himself.

"There's nothing much to tell," he said. "The whole thing was rather a fluke. I was called up at the beginning of the war. R.N.R., you know.

They gave me command of a trawler, a perfectly beastly kind of boat.

Been hunting the submarines ever since. Infernal dull job. Heard this fellow was mouching around but couldn't find him. Guessed he'd want supplies sooner or later. Remembered that cave and made a bee line for Salissa. Never was no pleased in my life as when I caught sight of him. But there was such a sea running that we couldn't shoot for nuts.

Had to wait till we got inside. Sunk him then. That's all there is to tell."

That, of course, is not all. There is a lot more to tell. What flag flies over Salissa now? Who governs the island? The Emperor knows.

Bland-Potterton knows and often tells his friends in confidence. I know. Donovan knows. So does Smith. But we cannot make our knowledge public. Gorman tried, by means of a carefully worded question, to induce the Prime Minister to make a statement in the House of Commons about Salissa. He was told that it was contrary to the public interest that any information should be given. In the face of that it is, of course, impossible for me to write anything. What happened to King Konrad Karl and Madame? Again, I must not give an answer. The censors have decided, quite rightly, that the movements of royal personages are not to be published. Does Smith still act as Donovan's valet, and if so where? It is plain that nothing should be said on this subject.

Smith was and may still be the head of the Intelligence Department of Salissa. Information about his doings would be particularly valuable to the enemy.

But I may say that a marriage took place between Lieutenant-Commander Maurice Phillips, R.N.R., and a lady described as "Daisy, daughter of William Peter Donovan, Esq." A bishop officiated. No mention was made in the announcement of the rank and t.i.tle she held, and perhaps still holds.

BY G. A. BIRMINGHAM

THE ISLAND MYSTERY

GOSSAMER

MINNIE'S BISHOP AND OTHER STORIES

GENERAL JOHN REGAN

THE LOST TRIBES

SPANISH GOLD

LALAGE'S LOVERS

THE SEARCH PARTY

THE SIMPKINS PLOT

THE MAJOR'S NIECE

PRISCILLA'S SPIES

THE RED HAND OF ULSTER

THE ADVENTURES OF DR. WHITTY

THE SEETHING POT

THE BAD TIMES

HYACINTH FROM DUBLIN TO CHICAGO

NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY