CHAPTER XXVIII

DRAGEN AGAIN

I had made a pretty mess of things, and now that it was too late I began to appreciate what a fool I had been.

Von Felsen had outplayed me at every point, and chance and my own folly had helped him to score a complete victory.

The charge of murder was the merest bluff, and he had imposed upon Hagar for the purpose very cleverly. He had probably found Althea unexpectedly resolute not to yield to his wishes without some actual proof of my arrest, and had then vamped the charge, through Hagar, and planned that Althea should see me in the hands of men in police uniform.

He had calculated that, relying upon my ability to clear myself of the charge in Hagar's eyes, I should go at once to her to get her assistance in tracking Althea; and I had walked straight into the trap.

I had of course been closely shadowed, and as soon as I had reached Hagar's house, he had been informed, and had brought Althea in the car to be a witness of the arrest.

With one cunning stroke he had thus got rid of me, had convinced Althea of my arrest, and probably freed himself from the embarrassment of Hagar at the same time. I did not doubt that the men he had taken to her house would see that she gave no sort of trouble.

These thoughts flashed through my mind in the few seconds after I was in the carriage, together with some exceedingly disquieting speculations on my own plight. It was about as bad as it could be, but I was not going to give up all hope without an effort.

The men thrust me into a corner of the back seat, and one of them held a revolver close to my head, threatening to fire if I made any trouble.

But this did not scare me as badly as they thought. I knew they would not dare to shoot me in the street. Their own safety would be endangered, and the risk was too great for them to run it except in the last resort.

I affected to be very frightened, however, and waited for a chance to try and attract attention and bring help. The opportunity came as the carriage had to stop when crossing one of the main streets.

With a sudden kick I broke the glass of the window near me and gave a yell for help. The fellow opposite seized my legs while his companion thrust his hand over my mouth. But I wrestled violently, and in the midst of the struggle a policeman's head appeared at the window of the carriage.

"What's the matter there?" he asked.

"I think you'd better get in and give us a hand," answered one of my guards very coolly. "He's a lunatic; just cut his wife's throat."

The man's coolness and his uniform had the effect of quieting all suspicion. "All right. Strap his legs and gag him, why don't you? Don't let him make that racket."

I got my head free then. "I am an Englishman, these are not----" I began when I was silenced again.

"He's been yelling that all the time," was the reply, with an oath and a laugh. "I wish you'd lend a hand. We don't want to hurt him."

"I can't come. Drive on there," he told the coachman; and on we went.

As soon as the policeman's face disappeared from the window, the fellow at my side flung me heavily back into the corner of the carriage, and together they fastened a large handkerchief over my mouth, one of them twisting his fingers into it so tightly behind my head that I was powerless to open my lips. And he held me in this fashion for nearly all the rest of the drive.

Further resistance was now out of the question. I had made my effort and it had failed, and all I could do was to keep still and wait with such resignation as I could summon for what was to come to me.

If I escaped with my life, I should have reason to be thankful. I had already had ample proof that the men whom von Felsen employed were quite capable of going to any extreme. My life had been attempted more than once; and at the time of the previous abduction, when I had not been nearly so dangerous to him as now, I had only escaped death by the narrowest of margins.

Yet it was not for myself that I was mainly afraid now. Von Felsen had so planned things that Althea had been persuaded of my arrest; and I could not doubt for an instant that she would at once agree to do anything he demanded. That night she would certainly consent to the marriage; and the thought was like the sear of a hot iron on a nerve.

Compared with the agony of that dread, nothing else seemed to matter. I would cheerfully have given my life to have saved her from such a fate; but even if I lost my life now, I should be powerless to help her.

Maddened by this reflection, I made another and desperate struggle with my captors. Wrenching myself free from the gag which held me like a vice, I fought and kicked and writhed, yelling for help at the top of my lungs all the while in a furious effort to escape.

But it was useless. Both were strong men, and they overpowered me and forced me down, this time on to the floor of the carriage, and held me there until we stopped. One point only did I gain by the effort. One of the handcuffs came unfastened and could not be relocked on my wrist.

But this did not help me much. One of the brutes seized my arms and held them behind my back, and twisted them till I thought the very sinews would break.

I did not give in until my strength was utterly exhausted and my head reeled dizzily; and in this condition, with no power left for resistance, I was hauled out and carried rapidly into a house.

There I was gagged again, my arms and legs were tied, and I was flung down on the floor of an empty room, the door of which was locked upon me.

Bruised and sore from head to foot although I was, and aching in every muscle of my body, I thought nothing of my hurts. I was on fire with impotent rage and belated repentance for my stupidity. Only an hour or two before I had had the upper hand. There was apparently nothing to prevent my gaining a complete victory. If I had only gone straight to Feldermann or Herr Borsen, von Felsen would now have been grovelling at my feet begging for mercy.

What a credulous fool I had been to believe for an instant that that ridiculous charge of murder had really been made! What would I not have given to have been able to set the clock back for those few hours!

Gnashing my teeth at my idiotic blundering, I passed hours of torture. I was left alone, except that now and again the door was opened and some one came in with a lantern to see that I was still securely fastened.

I abandoned all hope, and each time I heard the key turned in the lock, I made up my mind that some one was coming to take my life. I grew utterly reckless also, and slowly a fresh thought began to take shape in my mind.

Save my life I could not, but if a chance came I would at least send one of the scoundrels who had taken a hand in the business to his last account. It was just a wild impulse to have revenge; but I hugged it close to my heart until it became my one cherished object, the one thing I could do before they took my life.

That thirst for revenge, that lust for blood, if you like, put strength into me, gave tone to my nerves and purpose to my thoughts when all else in that hour of black despair had failed.

I began to test the strength of the bonds which held me, and gradually to loosen them slightly, as I tugged at the cords which bound my arms and strove with frantic struggles to ease the pressure of those on my legs.

The exertion brought the sweat of effort and pain to my brow; but I was nearly what they had termed me, a madman, in my furious desire for revenge; and although every movement racked and tortured me, I did not cease until I had so far succeeded that the blood began to flow freely once more in my veins.

Faint and exhausted at last with the struggle, I was lying quiet, to regain strength for a further effort, when the key was turned in the lock once more. This time two men entered; the gag was taken from my mouth, and I was ordered roughly to sit up.

I took no notice of this. It was my cue to affect to be helpless. One of them dragged me to the wall and propped me up in a sitting posture, while the other held the lantern close to my face.

A movement of the light enabled me to see his face, and I recognized him. He was Dragen, the man who had carried me off before.

"Ah, you know me, I see," he said with a chuckle. "That will save trouble perhaps, as you'll know I'm not likely to let you fool me a second time."

The wild desire to take life which had so possessed me before now focussed into a set purpose that his should be the life; and I lowered my eyes quickly lest he should read something of the thought in my mind.

"You know what we want, Mr. Englishman, and what we mean to have. Those papers. Where are they?"

I made no reply, and he thrust his hands into all my pockets to search for them. A bitter oath showed his disappointment. I smiled in triumph; and this so exasperated him that he struck me in the face.

Then I understood why I was still alive. Until those papers were regained, von Felsen knew that he would be in danger of losing everything despite his present victory over me.

"You are a brave fellow, Dragen, to strike a helpless man."

He raised his hand to repeat the blow, but his companion stopped him. "What's the good of that?" he said gruffly. "You know what we were told."

"Hold your tongue, curse you," cried Dragen. "I mean to get them, and shall go my own way to do it. Where are they?" he demanded of me.

"What papers do you mean?"

"To hell with your questioning me. You know what I mean. Where are they?"

"You think you can make me tell you?"

"I'm sure I can," he retorted with an oath.

"Try then;" and I looked up and met his angry eyes firmly.

"Give them up and no harm shall come to you."

"This looks like it, doesn't it?"

"Don't you anger me, or it'll be the worse for you."

"You can only take my life, but even then you can't save your employer's; nor your own, for the police know all about that other affair."

"You'll be short of breath long before you get a chance of saying any more about that or this."

"That's only what I know already. If I were to tell you where the papers are, I might whistle for a chance of getting out of this. But I'll tell you one thing. They are in the hands of those who will know how to use them, whether I am alive or dead, by this time to-morrow morning. Do what you will."

This infuriated him, and he seized and shook me violently in an uncontrollable frenzy of rage, and then flung me down violently on the floor. He caused me severe pain; but except for this, the rough handling benefited me rather than him. He had seized me by the arms, and the cords on my wrists were perceptibly slacker for the severe shaking.

My head struck the floor heavily when he threw me down, and I lay still as a corpse, letting all my muscles relax and breathing as slightly as possible, that he should think I was on the verge of unconsciousness.

He questioned me again about the papers, but I gave no sign that I even heard him; and when he kicked me and then tugged at my arms and lifted my head in the effort to rouse me, I made no sign of life.

The second man was scared at this. "You've done for him now," he muttered.

"Serve him right," growled Dragen, with a savage oath. "He tricked me before."

"But what about serving me? What's the good of this to me? How are we going to earn the money, with him in this state?"

Dragen swore again and was aiming a vicious kick at my head when his companion stopped him so suddenly that he overbalanced and fell to the ground close to me. In the fall something dropped from his pocket and rolled near me. It was a small sheath knife, and to my infinite delight neither man saw it.

Dragen rose in a rage and a fierce quarrel broke out between the two. This enabled me to shift my position unobserved, so that I first lay on the knife and then rolled forward until my hands could reach it, when I tucked it up underneath the back of my waistcoat.

The quarrel ended without blows; and presently they drew aside and talked together in low muttered tones, the purport of which I could not hear. After a time they crossed and looked at me, and the fellow who had been protecting me from Dragen's violence knelt down and tried to feel my pulse. He was clumsy at the business, however, and could not find it. "I believe you've finished him," he muttered and laid me down gently at full length and loosened the cords on both wrists and legs, and began to chafe my limbs to restore circulation.

"That's better," he said at length, feeling again for my pulse and finding it this time. "Get him some brandy or something. But you'd better do what I said, Dragen," he added, rising. "If those papers are in safe hands, as he said, we'd better know what to do next."

The man's evident alarm infected Dragen. "Curse the whole business," he growled uneasily.

"That won't help us far. If you hadn't been in such a devil of a rage, this wouldn't have happened." Then he knelt down by me again. "Can you hear me?" he asked anxiously. "No harm will come to you. Can you hear me?"

My reply was the faintest of faint moans.

"He's coming round all right. Get him some brandy and don't let him see you, and we'll have him round all right," he said in a tone of great relief, as he rose once more. "I'm for fetching him; let's see what the others say," he declared as he picked up the lantern. "We must know what to do next."

There was another conference, and then they went away together, leaving the door unfastened.

In another moment I had slipped my hands out of the cords which had been so considerately loosened and with the knife I cut those which bound my legs. Then I kicked off my boots and stole out of the room in my stockinged feet, resolved to make a fight for my freedom.

The passage outside the room was in darkness; but I knew in which direction I had been carried into the room, and crept noiselessly toward the front door of the house.

But there was a room between, the door of which stood open. I heard the voices of the men there, and one of them was standing close to the door. To pass this meant a great risk of being either seen or heard, and as I hesitated whether to take the chance I caught fragments of the talk.

They were discussing the advisability of fetching some one or of going to some one for further instructions in view of my statement about the papers being in the hands of those who would use them.

Presently the man by the door, interested in the discussion, went a little way into the room, and I seized that moment to creep past.

The house had double doors, and the inner one was pressed back against the wall. I ran my fingers lightly up and down the outer one searching for the fastenings, when a general scuffling of feet in the room announced that the men were moving, having apparently come to a decision.

I slipped back and hid behind the inner door and held my breath as they came out into the passage, talking excitedly.

The suspense of those few moments was more trying than words can describe.

I had failed to find the means of opening the front door; and if they went back into the room where I had been lying, I should be caught like a rabbit in a snare. The instant I was discovered my life would not be worth a spent match.

They stood wrangling in the passage for a time that seemed an age to me in my excited suspense; and every second I expected one or other of them to go back to the room and then announce my flight.

"Well, let's have a look at the beggar first and see if we can't drag it out of him," said one, whose voice I recognized as that of the man who had been standing by the door.

They moved in a body toward the room.

My heart sank and I gave myself up for lost. My only chance, and that the faintest and feeblest, was that I might seize the moment of respite to get the door of the house open.