Waylaid by Wireless/Chapter 17
CHAPTER XVII
A MESSAGE FROM MANLING—WITH POSTSCRIPT BY "WIRELESS"
"Well! He got away with it again!" The people at the breakfast table verily seemed to be congratulating her when at last she came down in the morning.
"Away with it again, and never a clue!" Her nodding acquaintances upon the deck seemed to pursue her to add their felicitations as she went out for refuge.
"I say, but he seems quite to have got away with it once more, hasn't he?" Mr. Dunneston met her with undisguised admiration finally and caught step with her upon the promenade.
"And really, you know," he went on solicitously, "I almost wish he might get away with this 'wireless' business, too. Really, it seems he deserves it, what? Here he has made away with the pools every night; and if we hadn't his track from the 'wireless,' he might easily walk off the dock at New York unsuspected. But I am afraid now that any moment we must get word from land now—the American side—and the captain will be locking him up. He's too clever to take chances with. And really, I am afraid that the captain will be locking him up just when I'm to win this last pool and am to have my go with him!" the Briton mourned.
"Why, Mr. Dunneston, are we in communication this morning?" the girl asked, glad of any chance to occupy herself.
"With the Salvadore and the St. Petersburg, I am told, both Europe bound. The Salvadore is now passing us about a hundred and fifty miles to the south; but the St. Petersburg is between us and the American shore. We picked her up about three hundred miles away. She has not been in communication with land, but is trying to get some land station now to report to us."
"And listen a bit!" The Englishman halted the girl a moment later as they came under the "wireless" operating-room, and the faint "plu-u-ush" of the hissing current became just audible. "Our operator is back; the St. Petersburg must have been relaying some message out to us. That which we just heard was our acknowledgment—'wireless' for 'thank you.'"
"I hope that it is not our message which is causing that trouble down the deck there," the girl said, wondering at her flutter of apprehension as she observed the commotion. "See! There is the captain and the second officer again—and the purser. And—whom are they stopping?"
"I say!" the Englishman cried, aroused to interest, "but they seem to have Mr. Preston again! But I say, they weren't to do that, unless we caught him at the pools, till New York!"
"Perhaps," the girl felt herself weaken queerly, "they caught him with the pool!"
"What?" the Englishman asked as he listened. "What's that?"
"You're an idiot, Captain!" Preston's words came hotly and uncontrolled then as the group drew nearer. "Good Heavens, sir," he objurgated a little more calmly, "I say, do anything you well please with me, but don't drag a girl into this fool's business. I can stand the racket, I say, till this wild trip is over, and I'll show you what jacks you all are," he went on diplomatically, "but don't disgrace a girl by holding her, too, for the reporters to stare at." He hesitated impotently. "Captain," he tried again, "I say, I don't hope to convince you about myself; but, believe me, she isn't in this! She hasn't had anything to do with any of it!"
The captain and the officers hesitated as they came up to the Englishman and the girl standing together.
"Miss Varris," the captain began unwillingly, "I am sorry that now I must—"
"Captain," the girl swallowed nervously and then faced the officer resolutely, "I heard. Mr. Preston, of course, thinks he does me a service by denying utterly that I have any connection with the robbery of the cabin next to mine last night."
The captain started, but the girl, disregarding Preston's warning gesture, went on.
"But I prefer not to conceal it. I hid Mr. Preston in my stateroom for just an instant as he came out of cabin one hundred and forty-one. I do not know why I did it. I—"
Preston was trying to speak, but the officer shut him off triumphantly.
"What—what have I done?" the girl stammered. "What is it?"
"It is merely, Miss Varris," the captain replied with careful politeness, "that we are not now arresting Mr. Preston-Manling, or whatever his name may be, for the theft of the pool last night. We had no direct indication till now that he was concerned with that.
"Really, a police examination added to quarantine and your beastly customs inquisition would be the last straw now, would it not?"
"But I have just received final instructions by the 'wireless'—relayed by the St. Petersburg—to arrest at once and hold for delivery to our special officers in New York, the man named Preston, now known to be identical with the one who was under surveillance at Ely for the cathedral crimes but was let go upon representations to the police now discovered to be false. He was actually arrested at Polporru, but again freed upon the representations of the same friends who are now known to have perjured themselves for him and sworn, for him, to an absolutely false alibi. The identification is further fixed, if necessary, by cables from Brazil, where the Bahia has arrived.
"And further, I am instructed to arrest and hold with him for complicity and conspiracy—to what extent is not now known—but certainly for perjury at Ely and later at Polporru, Miss Ethel D. Varris, upon whose false representations this man was allowed to pass our police in Cambridgeshire, and upon whose alibi, absolutely false, he was released from arrest in Cornwall.
"I must, therefore, keep this man in confinement," the captain continued, "till I can put him into the hands of the officers waiting for him at New York. But as this despatch seems uncertain as to the entire extent of your complicity with this man, my dear young lady, in spite of the damaging evidence you have just given against him and yourself, I prefer to be as lenient toward you as possible. I believe that if you report yourself to the head stewardess, I shall merely hold her responsible for your care till we reach America."
The captain, with the miserable Preston beside him, bowed and passed on. The girl turned, beaten and helpless, to the Englishman; but he was considerately looking ahead over the bow at the clear, smooth water which the vessel ploughed through steadily, speedily, as it felt the nearer challenge of the land.
"High field is absolutely certain to win to-day!" he lamented. "And I shall have no 'go' with it after all!"
| · | · | · | · | · | · | · |
Fire Island passed astern to starboard. Ahead the big hotels and, under the glass, even the bathing-houses of Rockaway Beach appeared. On the port side Navesink and Sandy Hook took form.
Miss Varris put on her heaviest veil and, with the head-stewardess's permission, went out and stood at the rail.
She happened to be just below the "wireless" cabin, and overhead, in the silence, the faint "plu-u-ush" of the "wireless" hissed softly.
"What is that, Mr. Dunneston?" she asked humbly, as the Englishman, recognizing her, came and stood by her.
"We received word direct from the Nantucket land station early this morning," the Englishman explained," that under cabled advices from England the ship will not discharge even first-class passengers till the police have had a chance to board and examine us. Of course, we can avoid that scandal now. So the captain sent back word that he had positively identified and now holds Mr. Manling under arrest. He has taken upon himself the responsibility of handing Mr. Manling over to the police, and they will not, therefore, board the vessel till after all the other passengers are landed."
"And what have you determined to do with me, Mr. Dunneston?" the girl asked.
"I believe, Miss Varris, that we received no special supplementary instructions about you—in fact, there was no further mention of you at all. That 'wireless' which we have just heard was, I believe, the final confirmation that there would be no police examination till the passengers were landed. Really, a police examination added to quarantine and your beastly customs inquisition would be the last straw now, would it not?"
The whistle and the heavy passing signals of the great vessels in the Narrows changed to the confusion and tumult of the North River. Even Preston, confined below, knew by the wash of the ferries and the puff of the tugs, and all the rest of the medley, that New York was at hand.
The great engines stopped at last, backed, and stopped again. One screw pushed forward, the other pulled back. At the bow, half-a-dozen tugs grappled and pressed to port; at the stern, six others bumped in, snorting, and pressed to starboard, and at last the great liner was straight with its pier. Then came cries and the rush and rattle of feet.
Preston sank back.
"Well, now they'll be coming for me, I suppose!"
He arose as he heard steps approaching his door.
"I think, perhaps, I can tell you who he was, gentlemen." Preston greeted the astonishment of the special officers calmly. "But don't ask me how he did it. That is what I myself want to know."
"Will you be good enough to accompany us to the captain, sir," one of the astounded officers recovered sufficiently to request. He handed Preston his cabled descriptions and instructions. "Obviously, sir, this man cannot be you."
Preston read the long cablegram through and whistled appreciatively.
"Quite as I thought!" he laughed. "But look here, men," he put in fairly, "don't blame the captain. These aren't quite the descriptions and instructions he received by the 'wireless'!"
"By the 'wireless,' sir?" one of the men asked, more puzzled.
"Yes. Hadn't you heard? Oh, I'll gladly go with you to the captain!"
He strode rapidly ahead of the others to the captain's cabin. But, as he swung in, he knew that he was robbed of his triumph; for the captain had Ethel Varris waiting him there, and, as she looked up, Preston forgot the captain and his other triumph entirely.
The captain, however, faced the accusing line of police officers fairly, handing over his carefully preserved sheaf of the transcripts of his "wireless" messages, and watched without comment as the detectives read them through.
"Let me understand you, gentlemen, again," the commander said humbly. "You say you are certain that no official 'wireless' messages were sent after us either from England or America in regard to the man aboard the ship known as Manling?"
"None, sir," the police inspector replied certainly. "All information gained about Mr. Manling both from England and from Rio de Janeiro, where the Bahia has arrived, was sent to us by cable. The only message communicated to you by 'wireless' from England was the first warning, sent direct from the shore station, that you probably had Mr. Manling on board. The only 'wireless' communication sent from this side was the one sent you this morning directly from the Nantucket land station, warning you to hold your passengers till we could examine them. The only message received from you was your acknowledgment and assurance that you had already positively identified Mr. Manling, and were holding him, and that you would be responsible if we held off till all the other passengers were landed."
"Then how," the captain cried in his bewilderment, "how under the sun, gentlemen, did I get these?" he pointed helplessly to the sheets which the officers had returned to him.
The men looked uncertainly from one to the other. The purser knocked, entered, and glanced about with embarrassment, then he moved over to young Preston and handed him a box.
"The steward brought me this from your cabin, sir," he said. "It contains your watch and other personal things, I believe, as well as the rings stolen from Miss Varris. They are all there, are they not?"
"All except the money," Preston smiled as he and the girl examined the things together. "Are all your things there, too, Miss Varris?"
The girl looked at the rings closely and then concealed them hastily, coloring strangely as she did so.
"All!" she murmured quickly.
"Oh, by the way, Purser," Preston asked, "did he return your studs and sleeve buttons this way, too?"
The purser looked sheepish. "No, sir. He—handed them back to me just before landing. But there is a note addressed to you in the bottom of the box, Mr. Preston, which you did not see."
Preston caught up the papers and glanced over them quickly.
"Of course!" he cried. "Mr. Manling not only returns the things he doesn't need, but he also considerately gives away the plans he no longer has use for. I am afraid that most of this is pretty personal, Captain, and a good deal of it won't mean much to you," he said, "but as it explains everything, apparently, including the little matters which you touched on rather publicly yesterday, sir, I think I may as well read it all to you—though most of it is rather hard on me.
"'Dear Mr. Preston,' he begins. 'I am giving my whole last evening to this for you, dear chap, for I fear many things must be explained. But to be fair to you, let me assure you that you are far from the first person I have poggled up for profit. Nor must you imagine that I misled you in all matters.
"'Actually, as I told you, dear chap, an ancestor of mine—who got together quite a fortune in rather devious ways, I fear—repented before he died and took a tour of all the cathedrals in the Kingdom. And, exactly as I told you, he enjoined this practice upon his descendants and made it perpetual with the property. A bit more perpetual than the property, indeed; for, when the entail got down to me, about all I could see in it was my pious ancestor's promise of sure profit for me in making a tour of the cathedrals.
"'Of course, I'd been living by my talents for ten years or so before this. In my time, I've done my bit of almost everything, and picked up more than a few tricks like telegraphing, etc., to help on in my trade. But just this spring I made a slight slip, which made it advisable for me to shave my mustache, change my name, and strike for something new. So, when I looked about a bit and saw how you Americans were travelling about the cathedral towns and, at the same time, my uncle passed on to me the hereditary assurance that I would find sure profit from touring these towns, I thought I would try it.
"'I must say that, from the first, the profits of the tour exceeded my most sanguine expectations—especially since they could be so easily taken. Of course, I had to keep myself from being suspected. And, obviously, both the safest and surest way to turn away suspicion from one is to turn it upon some one else. So, you see, I have merely been carrying out with you, Mr. Preston, the first law of larceny, viz., see that some one else is suspected; the rest is infantile.
"'Even before St. Albans, I noted your extraordinary actions in the cathedral cities, and, though I suspected its true explanation, I saw how extraordinarily useful you might become to me. Therefore, I was careful to collect the different dividends of my tour only when you were conspicuously about, and let the logic of events take care of themselves.
"'When you joined with me at St. Albans, of course, it mightily simplified matters. And when I saw that you seemed to positively delight in the excitement of being suspected, I wrote the letter to the News at Ely, suggesting to the paper and to the police the simple theory of the thefts which they so thoroughly adopted. You will remember that my communication convinced them that an American was the fellow doing the robbing. So, when they wired about for confirmation of that theory, from every town where the thefts occurred, your name was immediately wired back. I, being an Englishman, was not noted in this connection.
"'I may say further, that the decided interest which I had myself already taken in the part I was playing against you was only increased by the lively defence of you by the delightful young friend, Miss Varris, to whom you presented me at Ely. When I suggested to her the possible danger of trusting any chance acquaintance, she took issue hotly—and from that point, dear chap, it became more than a matter of security; it became a point of honor, also, to play the game out against her. And, though I really hated to rob so charming a young lady, I wished to test as soon as possible the sincerity of her assertions to me; and, therefore, I relieved them of their things in such a way that, if they themselves would not suspect you, they must, at least, throw the serious suspicion of the police upon you.
"'And now let me confess to you the very sincere admiration I felt for the young lady who not only proved herself sincere, but met me at once with a counterstroke, cleverer than mine, as she put into your hands the investigation I had started against you.
"'Obviously, dear chap, much as I would have liked to let up on you then, I could not cease with the honors so clearly in her hands. And by merely tracing down your luggage—after you wired for it—and by making my hauls in your convenient vicinity, I kept the police from myself by still keeping them after you. Of course, however consistently they kept at you, they could never get any proof against you.
"'During those weeks I was as careful to keep unobserved by you as by the police. But when I finally encountered you in Plymouth I was ready to leave England, and could use you better in closer and more conscious—co-operation with me, I might say.
"'I was very glad, then, to meet you at breakfast and find out exactly how matters had been at your end. And I prepared and primed you, as you may remember, for the operations which were to follow. I need not say that I entered into the game with added zest when I found that my saucy but capable opponent was again at your side. And the next morning, in the train, though I felt that she was commencing to better formulate her ideas, I felt secure that she would not comprehend the instrument which alone seemed to threaten my immunity and freedom to leave the country—the "wireless." For, as I explained the operation of the "wireless" to her that morning, I did not point out the essential weakness of all "wireless" communication—the weakness which I had determined to employ, viz., the impossibility of any receiving station knowing from what source any messages come.
"'As I explained that morning to her, any "wireless" station can scatter waves in all directions and establish communication with any other station within a reasonable distance—but there is no certain way of identifying the waves from a certain station.
"'Therefore, as I had already recognized the dangerous possibilities contained in the "wireless," I did not forget the little aerials which hummed above me that night I put Mr. Hareston aboard the Bahia. In fact, I very scrupulously visited the "wireless" room and, by carefully removing a few plugs, effectively wrecked their resonators. And, having already prevented the "wireless" from being turned against me, I made it doubly safe by turning it against you, old chap.
"'Therefore, when we reached Polporru, and the police and all the town folk had assembled at the new "wireless" station, I simply entered the old station and, by graduating the current to give the effect of a ship answering off Land's End, I replied as the Bahia, and sent in your description in detail to the police. But one thing destroyed the full effect. In the train that morning, I saw that you had hurt your wrist, so I sent that along with the rest of your description. But that circumstance happened so to establish your innocence with Miss Varris that she cleared you at once with her clever alibi.
"'I did not find out that morning by precisely what means she again took the honors from me. But, as it was clear that she did, I was very glad, indeed, to find her with you upon this vessel to meet me in a final contest. And, really, I began to regret that to beat her I had constantly to take recourse to the "wireless," which she entirely mistrusted, I knew, but which she could not understand.
"'So, as she alone suspected me and yet could bring nothing against me, I was safe in employing the same simple weakness of the "wireless," which helped me so at Polporru.
"'The first "wireless" message—the one which warned the captain of my presence on board—came directly from shore and was bona fide. The succeeding messages, until the one from Nantucket, were mine, and manipulated in this simple manner:
"'Since the ship has but one "wireless" operator, he was often out of the cabin. Now, I had been given free access to the "wireless" room, and I was able to operate. Therefore, whenever I wished the captain to receive a message, I merely had to wait till I was left alone in the "wireless" room, and then send my message to the Hibernia, which was following us.
"'I informed the Hibernia that I was the shore operator with messages for this ship. I gave the message to the Hibernia then, and left. The Hibernia, believing she had really received a message for us from shore, then called us by "wireless" and sent back my message to the ship for our regular operator to take down.
"'In that way I composed a message to fit every occasion and had it arrive when I needed it. Of course, I took risks. Many passengers heard my sending. But the "wireless" room is away from the officers, and the others supposed our regular operator was at work.
"'As we approached the American side, I merely had to repeat the same operation via the St. Petersburg. And, dear old chap, believe me, I would not have put it over you so violently these last days—particularly have had you locked up as I did to-day—for the mere carrying out of my little game. As you know now, I had to do it to get off the ship myself. Really, I had no choice. For, you see, I rather feared, as it developed, that the beastly old Bahia had reached Brazil, and that my true description must be on the cables, even if our stupid police had not already gained it in England and cabled it across. Truly, I felt that I was cutting it a bit too fine unless I could have the police held off until after I landed. Therefore, dear chap, I had to lock you up. But, to compensate you for that as much as possible, I took care to have your really most wonderful friend, Miss Varris, held with you till you could read her this—if, as I scarcely believe, it may still be necessary. For I more than half suspect that this morning, though she was meek enough, she had begun to appreciate that the night before you had gone down to punch the head of the beastly, drunken boor, whom I sent to insult you; for I myself felt so certain that that would be your impulse—to punish him at once—that I followed him a bit ahead of you and, after collecting the pool, got away by the deck door just before you tramped in to reprove him.
"'But now, old chap, for America and—oh, I can't myself quite say what else yet, you know. But, dear old Preston, I am glad to leave you this to assuage the captain, the dutiful representative of Scotland Yard, and any others who may still be dubious about you—a company which, I hope, does not longer number—Miss Varris.'"
Preston's voice dropped.
"That is all, sir?" the captain inquired, crestfallen.
"That is all which in any way concerns you, sir, or these officers, and I believe this is sufficient explanation of the facts?"
"Oh, quite!" the captain replied, glancing about the little circle of officers who silently bowed their assent. "But, tell me, how does he sign himself, sir?"
Preston smiled.
"Oh, he merely says at the end—
"'Again many, many thanks, my dear young friend, for the repeated service you have been to me. As I have used this name with you for the past few weeks, let me still remain
"'Dunneston.'"
"Thank you, sir!" The captain turned to consult with the officers.
Young Preston drew the girl aside. She had arisen and faced him with steady eyes.
"What else does he say?" she asked haltingly.
"That which doesn't concern the captain or the others?"
"Yes."
"Oh, he says he is glad that his little game with us appears to have been of assistance in bringing about the—the happy result toward which, he says, he has really labored earnestly."
"Is that all else he says?"
"All except some sort of a queer line here as a postscript. It seems to have been scribbled in pencil after the rest was written.
"'Dear P.,' he says, 'believe me, I hated especially to have to use Miss Varris to perfect my plans the way I did—the anæsthetizing and robbing again, and all. Of course, I have no use for her things, which I am here returning. And finally, as my gift to you both and to make everything up to you both as well as I can, ask to see her rings.'"
"Yes," the girl murmured vaguely.
"Why?" the other caught her up suddenly then. "Why did you ask if he said any more and—and why did he say that?" he demanded. "Let me see the rings he gave back to you! Why—they're three!" he exclaimed. "I thought that only two were taken."
"Only two were."
"Oh; then he meant to make things up with you by giving you another?" Preston wondered at first. "But no!" he denied. "He says a gift to us both! What kind of a ring is that—let me see it!" he commanded.
"Here it is!"
"It's a single diamond—why, it's an engagement ring, of course!" he cried incautiously, as he grasped both it and the hand which held it. "And he's had the—the brass to scratch our initials in it!"
"Hush!" the girl warned. "Put it away!"
"I won't—unless I may put it on you!"
"Quickly, then!" she whispered. "Quickly!"
And quickly—very quickly indeed, the young American moved. But before he could well do more than slip the little band of stolen gold upon her finger and conceal it and her hand with it under his own, the captain had turned again and come to the young people. He cleared his throat nervously. But as he saw them better, his embarrassment melted quickly away into a smile.
"Your friends who came down to meet you," he said, glancing out his window overlooking the decks, "have evidently become anxious waiting for you upon the dock and are now storming the ship. Before you go to them, I had intended to ask," he looked from one to the other, "your forgiveness. But instead, may I not now be the first to offer to you—"
A hurrying step from without interrupted, and the "wireless" operator burst in upon them.
"Message for Mr. Preston!" he cried, handing it over, smiling. "I was still up in the room testing the apparatus when I heard our call from somewhere, and this came in for you, sir!"
Preston snatched it and read it hurriedly. He, too, smiled largely, and handed it over to the girl beside him.
"You do not know at what station he is?" he asked the operator.
"No, sir. It is impossible to tell. He may have sent it even from one of the other ship stations in any of the slips about, and there are several shore stations near here in New York. But, sir," he recalled, "if I merely send your answer blindly, he will get it, and—I think, sir, he would wait for an answer!"
"I think he would!" Preston agreed heartily. "Then send back to him this for me," he wrote hurriedly. "'Thanks! They are in order!'"
"And now, Captain," the young American returned to the commander as the "wireless" operator hurried off, "I know, of course, what you were about to say, and I—we thank you. But you cannot now be the first to offer them, sir!"
"Not the first?" the captain asked in surprise, not having entirely grasped the meaning of the interruption the instant before. "Why, I did not know that this was standing before—before—"
"No, Captain," Preston finished for him. "And it was not. It did not happen finally till just a moment ago."
"Ah, then am I not the first, Miss Varris?" he appealed.
"No, Captain," she laughed. "You helped us a very great deal, sir, too. But he—he helped us, oh, very much more. And, you see, just the moment before you were speaking, Mr. Dunneston had already sent us his congratulations," she held out the message to him, "by 'wireless'!"
THE END