Maurice Leblanc - The Secret of Sarek

"Yes."

"All right. We'll take our precautions."

"How? There may be several of them."

"I don't care if there are ten of them; it would make no difference. Where's Conrad?"

"By the foot-bridge which we put in the place of the bridge that was burnt down. He's keeping watch from there."

"Conrad is a clever one. When the bridge was burnt, we were kept on the other side; if the foot-bridge is burnt, it'll produce the same hindrance. Veronique, I really believe they're coming to rescue you. It's the miracle you expected, the assistance you hoped for. But it's too late, my beauty."

He untied the bonds that fastened her to the balcony, carried her to the sofa and loosened the gag slightly:

"Sleep, my wench," he said. "Get what rest you can. You're only half-way to Golgotha yet; and the last bit of the ascent will be the hardest."

He went away jesting; and Veronique heard the two men exchange a few sentences which proved to her that Otto and Conrad were only supers who knew nothing of the business in hand:

[Pg 232]"Who's this wretched woman whom you're persecuting?" asked Otto.

"That doesn't concern you."

"Still, Conrad and I would like to know something about it."

"Lord, why?"

"Oh, just because!"

"Conrad and you are a pair of fools," replied Vorski. "When I took you into my service and helped you to escape with me, I told you all I could of my plans. You accepted my conditions. It was your look-out. You've got to see this thing through now."

"And if we don't?"

"If you don't, beware of the consequences. I don't like shirkers…"

More hours passed. Nothing, it seemed to Veronique, could any longer save her from the end for which she craved with all her heart. She no longer hoped for the intervention of which Otto had spoken. In reality she was not thinking at all. Her son was dead; and she had no other wish than to join him without delay, even at the cost of the most dreadful suffering. What did that suffering matter to her? There are limits to the strength of those who are tortured; and she was so near to reaching those limits that her agony would not last long.

She began to pray. Once more the memory of the past forced itself on her mind; and the fault which she had committed seemed to her the cause of all the misfortunes heaped upon her.

And, while praying, exhausted, harassed, in a state of nervous extenuation which left her indiffer[Pg 233]ent to anything that might happen, she fell asleep.

Vorski's return did not even rouse her. He had to shake her:

"The hour is at hand, my girl. Say your prayers."

He spoke low, so that his assistants might not hear what he said; and, whispering in her ear, he told her things of long ago, insignificant trifles which he dribbled out in a thick tone. At last he called out:

"It's still too light, Otto. Go and see what you can find in the larder, will you? I'm hungry."

They sat down to table, but Vorski stood up again at once:

"Don't look at me, my girl. Your eyes worry me. What do you expect? My conscience doesn't worry me when I'm alone, but it gets worked up when a fine pair of eyes like yours go right through me. Lower your lids, my pretty one."

He bound Veronique's eyes with a handkerchief which he knotted behind her head. But this did not satisfy him; and he unhooked a muslin curtain from the window, wrapped her whole head in it and wound it round her neck. Then he sat down again to eat and drink.

The three of them hardly spoke and said not a word of their trip across the island, nor of the duel of the afternoon. In any case, these were details which did not interest Veronique and which, even if she had paid attention to them, would not have aroused her. Everything had become indifferent to her. The words reached her ears but assumed no definite meaning. She thought of nothing but dying.

[Pg 234]When it was dark, Vorski gave the signal for departure.

"Then you're still determined?" asked Otto, in a voice betraying a certain hostility.

"More so than ever. What's your reason for asking?"

"Nothing… But, all the same…"

"All the same what?"

"Well, I may as well out with it, we only half like the job."

"You don't mean to say so! And you only discover it now, my man, after stringing up the sisters Archignat and treating it as a lark!"

"I was drunk that day. You made us drink."

"Well, get boozed if you want to, old cock. Here, take the brandy-bottle. Fill your flask and shut up… Conrad, is the stretcher ready?"

He turned to his victim:

"A polite attention for you, my dear… Two old stilts of your brat's, fastened together with straps… It's very practical and comfortable."

At half-past eight, the grim procession set out, with Vorski at the head, carrying a lantern. The accomplices followed with the litter.

The clouds which had been threatening all the afternoon had now gathered and were rolling, thick and black, over the island. The night was falling swiftly. A stormy wind was blowing and made the candle flicker in the lantern.

"Brrrr!" muttered Vorski. "Dismal work! A regular Golgotha evening."

He swerved and grunted at the sight of a little black shape bounding along by his side:

"What's that? Look. It's a dog, isn't it?"

[Pg 235]"It's the boy's mongrel," said Otto.

"Oh, of course, the famous All's Well! The brute's come in the nick of time. Everything's going jolly well! Just wait a bit, you mangy beast!"

He aimed a kick at the dog. All's Well avoided it and keeping out of reach, continued to accompany the procession, giving a muffled bark at intervals.

It was a rough ascent; and every moment one of the three men, leaving the invisible path that skirted the grass in front of the house and led to the open space by the Fairies' Dolmen, tripped in the brambles or in the runners of ivy.

"Halt!" Vorski commanded. "Stop and take breath, my lads. Otto, hand us your flask. My heart's turning upside down."

He took a long pull:

"Your turn, Otto… What, don't you want to? What's the matter with you?"

"I'm thinking that there are people on the island who are looking for us."

"Let them look!"

"And suppose they come by boat and climb that path in the cliffs which the woman and the boy were trying to escape by this morning, the path we found?"

"What we have to fear is an attack by land, not by sea. Well, the foot-bridge is burnt. There's no means of communication."

"Unless they find the entrance to the cells, on the Black Heath, and follow the tunnel to this place."

"Have they found the entrance?"

"I don't know."

"Well, granting that they do find it, haven't we just blocked the exit on this side, broken down the[Pg 236] staircase, thrown everything topsy-turvy? To clear it will take them half a day and more. Whereas at midnight the thing'll be done and by daybreak we shall be far away from Sarek."

"It'll be done, it'll be done; that is to say, we shall have one more murder on our conscience. But…"

"But what?"

"What about the treasure?"

"Ah, the treasure! You've got it out at last! Well, make your mind easy: your shares of it are as good as in your pockets."

"Are you sure of that?"

"Rather! Do you imagine that I'm staying here and doing all this dirty work for fun?"

They resumed their progress. After a quarter of an hour, a few drops of rain began to fall. There was a clap of thunder. The storm still appeared to be some distance away.

They had difficulty in completing the rough ascent: and Vorski had to help his companions.

"At last!" he said. "We're there. Otto, hand me the flask. That's it. Thanks."

They had laid their victim at the foot of the oak which had had its lower branches removed. A flash of light revealed the inscription, "V. d'H." Vorski picked up a rope, which had been left there in readiness, and set a ladder against the trunk of the tree: