Vargus was silent now. Our footsteps made almost no sound on the sandy floor of the cave.
Then I heard a faint noise, almost like a cat purring.
I stopped and listened.
No. It wasn’t a cat. It was the soft buzzing of some night insect. Or at least, that was what I thought.
Then, on the right-hand wall of the cavern—a wall behind me, since my back was toward the cave entrance and the sea—a sudden flash of white light appeared.
What happened next took no more than five seconds.
The light burst from the wall, and the enormous vaulted cavern was instantly flooded with brilliant illumination.
For a fraction of a second, I saw everything: wooden galleries, a workshop, a blacksmith’s forge, piles of supplies.
Then I spun around and shouted in terror.
The soft buzzing had become a deep, threatening roar, like the lowest note of a huge double bass.
A great circle of white light appeared in the middle of the darkness and came rushing toward me at terrifying speed.
A blast of air hit me with the force of a heavy artillery shell.
The roar rose into a deafening thunder as the Pirate Airship entered the cavern that served as its hidden home.
I had barely enough time to understand what was happening before my head struck something.
The wind seemed to rip the life from my body.
Then everything went black.
When I was a boy on the Welsh coast, I once dived into a deep rock pool.
The water was so clear that I misjudged its depth and struck my head against a submerged ledge. I was knocked senseless for several seconds.
There had been no one with me, but fortunately I recovered before my lungs gave out and managed to reach the surface.
Now the same thing seemed to be happening again, although my memory mixed the old experience with what was happening to me.
I felt as if I were being shot upward through a dark well toward a distant light.
The light grew brighter with every second, and I seemed to be moving faster and faster.
A great rushing sound filled my ears, like the roar of countless waters.
I opened my eyes.
The light was brilliant—almost painful.
It moved and flashed, so it clearly wasn’t the sunlight I had remembered from twenty years earlier.
Then someone spoke.
“Yes, it’s the man himself. He’s shaved off his moustache, and they’ve dyed his hair and skin. He’s actually fair-haired. Look at the lower part of his neck and his chest. That’s Sir John Custance, all right.”
I lay still and listened.
I could hear every word, and I could see the beam of an electric torch moving over me, but somehow the conversation seemed to have nothing to do with me.
Another voice spoke.
“Vargus said he admitted who he was. But Vargus has fainted again.”
Hands searched my body.
Things were removed from my pockets.
Then came several sharp cries of surprise.
Someone gave a long, low whistle.
“No bones broken. His eyes are opening. Give me that torch, Gascoigne.”
Someone poured brandy into my mouth.
I knew at once what it was.
I moved my arms and legs and groaned.
Suddenly there was a shout.
A door somewhere nearby was forced open.
“Feddon’s been killed!” a high, excited voice cried. “Poor old Feddy! He’s been shot through the heart!”
I believe that was the exact moment when I fully recovered consciousness.
I realized that I wasn’t seriously injured.
My whole body felt as though I had been beaten from head to foot, but instinct told me that nothing important was broken.
The shock itself did not affect me immediately.
It was only several hours later that its full effect struck me, and then I collapsed completely.
I lay perfectly still, this time deliberately, and closed my eyes.
Everything had come back to me.
I remembered every detail, from the moment I had cut the barbed wire to the instant when, by some miracle, I had escaped being killed by the returning Pirate Ship.
My first thought was bitter disappointment.
So they had escaped after all.
The mysterious ship had somehow slipped through the net of cruisers and patrol boats searching for her.
I was furious.
A moment later I groaned aloud.
The sound came straight from my heart.
I was too late.
I could no longer rescue Constance.
All around me, men were speaking in low voices.
Their voices carried an unmistakable note of fear and confusion.
Strangely enough, that gave me strength.
My situation looked hopeless, but perhaps there was still a chance.
They had taken away my weapons, but there were other weapons in the world besides guns.
The pirates were frightened and disorganized.
Well, let intelligence fight intelligence.
Perhaps this was exactly the moment I needed.
I was lying in a dim room surrounded by dark figures.
I don’t know how long I remained there. Probably not very long.
I had only been fully conscious for a few minutes when a door opened and an authoritative voice spoke.
It was a voice I had never heard before.
Yet I knew exactly who it belonged to.
“I’ve searched the house carefully,” the man said in a clear, educated voice. “There’s nobody there. I’ve searched outside as well, all around the fence. I even released the dogs, but they found nothing.”
“How did this man get in, Chief?”
Someone kicked me hard in the side.
“He cut the fence and managed to open the door in the east wall. Then he climbed onto the porch and entered through Feddon’s bedroom. The dogs picked up his scent and followed it. That doesn’t matter much now. The important thing is that he’s here.”
“And we know what that means.”
I recognized Vargus’s voice.
He had recovered.
There was something quietly vicious in his tone that made me shiver.
“Vargus is right,” the other man said. “It’s fairly clear that our game here is finished. They’ve found us.”
He paused.
“In a few minutes I’ll find out exactly how much they know. Until then, we have some time. We must carry out the emergency plan we’ve rehearsed so many times.”
He began giving orders.
“Gascoigne, Jones, Sutton and Pointz—fill every fuel tank to maximum capacity. Load the emergency supplies. Inspect the ship and turn it around. When you’re finished, report to me in my room.”
The men hurried away.
“Philips and Minver, get out onto the moor. Report immediately if you see any man or group of men approaching the house. Take rifles and act as our outer guards.”
“If anyone approaches?”
“Don’t hesitate to fire. Then fall back to the house.”
“Should we take the dogs, Chief? They could be useful.”
“No. I need them here.”
He continued giving orders.
“The rest of you will defend the house until the last possible moment. Then get into the lift and come down here. It will take the police some time to discover the entrance and find their way through. One man can hold these passages for a very long time.”
He sounded completely calm.
“We’ll be fifty miles out at sea before anyone can break into this place. All the stolen goods are already packed and ready to go aboard.”
He turned to Vargus.
“You’ll stay down here and help me with what I have to do.”
Several more men left the room.
Helzephron lowered his voice, but I could still hear every word.
“I don’t actually expect a full-scale attack,” he said. “But we must be prepared. For all we know, there may be a hundred men waiting on the moor.”
He paused.
“One thing is certain. They know where we are—or at least roughly where we are. Otherwise that gentleman lying on the floor could never have got inside, and all those ships wouldn’t be cruising outside.”
“So we must leave.”
He spoke with cold certainty.
“We’ll take everything we can to our emergency base in the Hebrides. Once we’re out at sea, nobody can touch us. We’ll climb to sixteen thousand feet immediately.”
He seemed almost amused by the situation.
“The barometer readings make it almost certain that there will be clouds at dawn. The chances of anyone seeing us will be practically one in a million.”
I was lying less than three yards away.
Until that moment I hadn’t realized that my ankles were tied together.
Even if I had possessed the strength, I couldn’t have moved.
Helzephron had discussed his entire escape plan as if I wasn’t there.
Perhaps he knew I was conscious.
Perhaps he didn’t.
It clearly made no difference to him.
And that told me everything.
Before the Pirate Ship escaped from its hiding place for the last time, John Custance would be dead.
Helzephron turned toward Vargus.
“Now, what about Sir John? How are you feeling, Vargus? You took quite a fall. It’s lucky for you that we arrived when we did.”
He paused.
“Are you strong enough to drag Sir John into my room?”
“I’m more than strong enough for that.”
Vargus gave an ugly little laugh.
A few seconds later, he grabbed me by the heels and began dragging me across the rough floor like a log.
The only way I could keep my head from being smashed against the ground was by tightening the muscles in my neck until they almost cramped.
Then someone threw a cloth over my face and tied it around my head.
I felt myself being carried a short distance.
Then I was dropped into a straight-backed chair and tied tightly to it with strong cords.
“I’ll call you when I need you,” Helzephron said.
“Go and help the others load the ship. And remember, we must take every round of ammunition we can possibly fit aboard.”
“Twenty-four hours of food will be enough. We can replace the supplies whenever we need them.”
He paused.
“Shells are different. Sacrifice everything else for them.”
The door closed.
I heard a chair scrape across the floor as Helzephron sat down.
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Even through the cloth, I could feel him watching me.
The duel to the death had begun.
I was like a naked man standing before someone armed with a sword.
I gathered every ounce of courage I possessed and prepared myself.
“You are in a very unpleasant position, Sir John Custance.”
His voice was calm and almost tired.
“I think the same could be said of you, Mr. Helzephron.”
I deliberately emphasized the word “Mr.”
He would receive no honorable military title from me.
“Perhaps.”
His voice remained calm.
“I admit that you’ve seriously disrupted my plans. But I still hold the better cards. With your intelligence, you must understand that you have very little time left to live.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
I smiled slightly.
“But I disagree with your assessment of your own position.”
“Why?”
“Gladly. I don’t care about my own life compared with my duty to society.”
I paused.
“You, however, care very much about yours. And your time is running short too.”
I continued confidently.
“If it gives you any comfort to know, you’re caught in a trap. Not even the minor devils who look after thieves could get you out of it.”
It was a lie.
A bold one.
But I thought my best chance was to make him lose his temper.
And, frankly, insulting him gave me considerable pleasure.
I heard him draw a sharp breath.
I had hit my target.
“You use dangerous language, Sir John.”
His voice had hardened.
“You’ll regret it if you continue.”
“Now listen to me.”
I spoke as if I were correcting an insolent office boy.
“You can’t frighten me. Men like you don’t understand gentlemen or what matters to them.”
I leaned back against the chair.
“All I’m telling you is that you’re wasting your time.”
I emphasized the next words.
“And time ought to be more valuable to you right now than all the valuables you stole from the passengers of the Atlantis.”
He walked toward me.
For a moment, I thought he was finally going to strike.
Instead, he ripped the cloth from my head and returned to his chair.
I looked around.
The room was clearly part of the underground cavern system into which the old mine had broken.
The walls were covered with white-painted wooden panels.
Several electric lights hung from the ceiling.
There was a carpet on the floor, two armchairs, a writing desk and a large steel safe.
In one corner was another door, partly hidden behind a green curtain hanging from a brass rod.
Helzephron sat opposite me.
His handsome, hawk-like face was badly bruised.
He stared at me with pure hatred.
Then he smiled, showing a row of large white teeth.
“Really, I would hardly have recognized you.”
“I would have recognized you anywhere, even with those bruises.”
I smiled.
“Mr. Ashton left your teeth intact, I see.”
His expression darkened.
He nodded twice.
“I thought so,” he muttered.
“I saw the whole thing. It was extremely amusing.”
I leaned forward slightly.
“I was sitting in the smaller section of the gallery at the Mille Colonnes, behind a flower arrangement.”
I smiled.
“My companion and I had hidden a periscope among the flowers. We saw the entire fight as clearly as if we’d framed it for a photograph.”
“It certainly made the Burgundy more enjoyable.”
I paused.
“But I expected you to put up a better fight.”
Helzephron suddenly jumped out of his chair.
He cursed violently and took two steps toward me, his fist clenched and raised.
I looked straight into his purple, distorted face.
“Yes, exactly.”
My voice was quiet.
“I’m tied to a chair. It’s perfectly safe to hit me.”
If he intended to torture me—and I had very little doubt that he did—then this was my turn to hurt him.
He had once been a gentleman.
He had once been a brave soldier.
That was precisely why I knew where to strike.
But he didn’t hit me.
Instead, he began pacing around the room.
He was swallowing his rage with an almost unbelievable effort.
Perhaps shame stopped him.
Perhaps calculation did.
Whatever the reason, he eventually sat down again.
He was still trembling, but his voice was calm.
“So you think I’m a coward?”
“I’ve never said anything of the kind.”
“You’ve been investigating me for a long time. Perhaps your detective work hasn’t gone far enough to discover that I hold the Victoria Cross.”
There it was.
He was completely obsessed with himself.
No sane man of his background would have felt the need to say such a thing.
“The Victoria Cross is an extraordinary distinction, Mr. Helzephron.”
I looked him in the eyes.
“And you’ll soon receive another distinction.”
He stared at me.
“You’ll never be forgotten.”
I continued mercilessly.
“You’ll go down in history as the one Victoria Cross holder who was degraded. They’ll do it the day before they hang you at Pentonville, and the whole thing will appear in the Gazette.”
His face went completely white.
I couldn’t tell whether it was anger or shame.
But I continued.
Something inside me seemed to be speaking, something beyond my ordinary self.
“You’ve created an artificial world around yourself. You’ve surrounded yourself with agreeable young men and that artistic little creature, Vargus.”
“You probably imagine yourself as some great figure.”
“At war with society.”
“Ajax defying the thunder.”
“King of the air.”
I smiled coldly.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve compared yourself to Napoleon a thousand times.”
He stared at me.
“It’s the same kind of madness that destroyed the late Kaiser of Germany. There’s a name for it—megalomania.”
I leaned forward.
“But you’re nothing like the great figure you imagine yourself to be.”
“You’re simply a cowardly thief who steals and murders for money.”
“You asked me what I thought of you.”
I paused.
“Now you have my answer.”
He listened to every word.
His eyes became strangely empty.
His mouth fell slightly open.
He looked like an evil child who had suddenly been forced to hear an unpleasant truth about himself.
All the power seemed to drain from his face.
Then, without a word, he stood up and walked through the green-curtained door.
He was gone for about ten minutes.
When he returned, he looked like his old self again.
But there was something different about him.
He had been drinking.
A strong smell of brandy filled the room.
His eyes were bright and watery, and he seemed almost unnaturally energetic.
I understood at once that I could no longer hurt him with words.
He had rebuilt his defenses.
He sat down, lit a cigarette and smiled with an almost friendly wickedness.
“Well,” he said casually, “we’ve finally become acquainted.”
He took a slow drag on his cigarette.
“You’ve been remarkably clever in hunting me down. And your talent for insults is exceptional.”
He smiled.
“I’ll admit that you’ve driven me out of hiding. But stopping my operations is another matter entirely.”
“Once I’m out of this comfortable little retreat, your people can’t touch me.”
“And they can’t force their way in here before I’ve gone.”
He shrugged.
“So that’s where we stand. Between the Commissioner of Police and the Pirate.”
“You’ve said your piece, and I’ve said mine.”
“Then there’s nothing more to discuss.”
“Excuse me.”
His smile disappeared.
“Man to man, there is still quite a lot to discuss.”
He paused.
“On the afternoon of the day I was attacked by your hired bully, I bought an evening newspaper.”
“With stolen money?”
I couldn’t resist.
He ignored the interruption completely.
“The newspaper reported some news that I’d already learned from another source.”
He looked directly at me.
“The news of your engagement, Sir John Custance.”
We stared at each other in complete silence.
“To Miss Constance Shepherd.”
I said nothing.
“Who, at this very moment, is less than twenty yards away from you.”
He smiled.
“And tonight she will fly away with me to a place where none of your police boats will ever find us.”
“By force.”
“Until now, yes.”
His tone was almost conversational.
“I’ve had to take the law into my own hands. I’m a man who believes in getting what he wants.”
He leaned back.
“But your arrival here—and the fact that you’re my guest, at least for a little while—has given me some very interesting new ideas.”
I knew there was something sinister behind his words.
But I had no idea what he truly meant.
He saw the confusion on my face.
Then he burst out laughing.
“Oh, this is going to be enormously entertaining!”
My heart seemed to turn to stone as I watched him laugh.
When he finally stopped, he spoke again.
“Miss Shepherd doesn’t yet know that I have the honour of entertaining you.”
“I am going to tell her.”
He smiled.
“And then, if she wishes—as I’m sure she will—you two must meet.”
He spread his hands.
“After all, they say every journey ends with lovers meeting.”
Before he could say anything more, there was a knock at the door.
Vargus entered.
“Everything’s loaded,” he said.
He glanced nervously at me, as if wondering what had happened while he was away.
“Everything is ready for departure. The others have gone back up to the house.”
“Then there’s nothing to report,” Helzephron said.
“If there were, they would have telephoned down.”
He looked at the time.
“We still have an hour or so.”
Then Helzephron took Vargus by the arm and pulled him into a corner.
They whispered together for nearly ten minutes.
I couldn’t hear a single word.
At last Vargus nodded.
He looked almost triumphant, as if he had finally understood something important.
Then he left the room.
Helzephron turned toward me.
“On second thought, I’m not going to prepare Miss Shepherd.”
He smiled.
“We’ll let it be a pleasant surprise.”