The chief event of the hours following the railway smash was histrionic rather than serious, although Nessa regarded it as both humiliating and tragic. And tragic it might easily have been.
Her courage was wonderful. Nothing could damp her spirits nor lessen her high confidence. She laughed at the idea of risks or danger, scoffed at difficulties, and made light of every obstacle as if ours was a mere holiday jaunt. An optimist to the very tips of her pretty fingers.
To be Hans, the mechanic, was just a delightfully farcical joy; she took pride in her skill in playing the part, and was so eager to show me how carefully she had studied it that I hadn't the heart to be a candid critic and point out that it was one thing to act a part for an hour or two on an amateur stage or when we were by ourselves, and quite another to keep it for days in circumstances when even a slight trip might spell grave trouble.
And that our situation was full of difficulties and even dangers was certain. She was still suffering from the inevitable shock of the railway smash; she was done up and sorely in need of rest; it was out of the question to think of seeking a lodging in Osnabrück; the best we could look for was to shelter in some barn or out-of-the-way shed; fifty miles or more lay between us and the frontier, any yard of which might bring some incident which would involve discovery; and even if we got through safely, the job of crossing the frontier would be the most difficult and dangerous of any.
The little incident in the shed as we were leaving kept us both silent for a while. It was the first sign since we had met in Berlin to suggest the renewal of our old relations; and it was not until we reached a good spot for ridding ourselves of our own clothes that the silence was broken.
We struck out to the north of the town and turned along a footpath which would lead us round the outskirts. This took us across a broad stream, and Nessa pulled up on the bridge to suggest we should sink the clothes. We made them into two parcels, put some heavy stones in each, and I sunk them under some trees which overhung the stream a little distance along the bank.
"And when do you propose to put your thinking cap on about our plans, Jack?" she chipped when I rejoined her.
"I'm not going to think of anything else from this minute."
"Hear, hear. The 'anything else' must wait, eh?" she cried, with one of her bright silvery laughs.
"That's not very much like a German hobbledehoy's laugh, is it?"
"Righto, matey, I forgot. That was Nessa; this is Hans;" and she guffawed in her best Hans' manner.
"Not so much of your forgetting, young 'un. This may be no mere picnic."
"Keep your hair on; but I'm going to have the time of my life. By the way, what's your name?"
"Been christened so often lately that I'm not too clear about it. You can call me boss."
"Boss, eh? Then you expect to be master, I suppose?" with a mischievous meaning chuckle. "Am I to keep it up always?"
"Jack's the English for it."
"Anything else?" she chuckled again.
"Wait till the time comes, my lad;" and she decided to drop the chaff.
"And what about our plans, boss?" she asked after a pause.
"I don't see anything for it but to tramp it, if you can stick it."
"How far?"
"The nearest road to the frontier is about thirty odd miles; but as we can't take that, we can put it down at fifty, say. There's no need to rush things, and if we can manage ten or fifteen each day, it ought to do the trick."
"Nothing in that to hurt me, boss. I've often padded twenty or twenty-five in a day, looking for a job, you know. But what's waiting for us at the end of the tramp?"
"I wish I could tell you. My rough idea is to make for a place called Lingen. There are two little dips in the Dutch frontier which come down close to it, and it looks like a fairly good jumping-off place. I'm out of it, if we don't run against some of the smuggling lot there, and the best plan I can think of is to try and join up with some of them and get across in that way."
"Looks all right. If we can get there, that is."
"Needn't worry about that, young 'un. We can tramp it at night, at the worst; but we're not likely to be interfered with. We can always be going to a job just a few miles farther on. I always thought of Osnabrück as the place where we might have to start our tramp, and I've a road map. What we want at the moment is a place where we can rest for an hour or two."
We plodded on steadily, avoiding the roads as much as possible, until we had left Osnabrück well in our rear, and then Nessa pointed to a cottage on the fringe of a wood, which appeared to be deserted.
"Looks like the very spot for us, young 'un. Stop here and I'll go and have a squint at it."
"Look sharp about it, boss, I'm getting a bit leggy and could do with a doss for an hour or two."
I reconnoitred the place cautiously from the back, where there was an untilled garden patch, and first made enough noise to rouse a dog, if there was one. All remained quiet; so I slipped along the garden and flashed my torch lamp through a broken pane of a back window. The room was quite bare, and I opened the window and went over the cottage.
It was deserted right enough. A four-roomed shanty, dirty and dilapidated, but good enough for a shelter; so I fetched Nessa. "A rough shop, young 'un, but better than none."
"Better quarters than those English swine get in the concentration camps, I'll bet," she said as we went up the ricketty stairs to an upper room.
"Bare boards only. It's a good thing you can rough it."
"Nothing to what our brave fellows have to put up with at the front," she replied; and without more ado she lay down with the suit case as a pillow and was soon fast asleep.
I crept out of the room, lit a pipe, and strolled round the cottage trying to think out a definite plan of operations. The most practical question was that of supplies. There would not be any serious risk of trouble with the police even if we kept to the main roads; and this would both shorten the tramp and enable us to get food at out-of-the-way inns.
The one thing that offered difficulties was Nessa's disguise. She was overacting her part considerably and, what was much worse, involuntarily had dropped now and then into her own dear self. The boy business was a blunder. She must turn woman again. It would be much safer if she passed as my sister or even my wife, or perhaps both at turns, according to circumstances.
She would probably kick against it a bit, considering the trouble she had taken and the pride and pleasure she felt in the part. But safety must come first. There was another consideration. If we were stopped, I should be asked for my identification card; and the lack of it might mean trouble. As my wife she wouldn't need one. I must therefore be re-christened and become Hans Bulich.
Over a second pipe the prudence of the change became more obvious, and I regretted the hurry we had been in to get rid of her dress, realizing the difficulty of replacing it without rousing suspicion. We should come across plenty of places where such things could be bought; but for a man and a boy to buy such things were almost certain to lead to awkward questions, especially anywhere near the frontier.
It was broad daylight before I finished wrestling with these new problems, and, as it was better not to run a risk of being seen about the cottage, I went into a little shed belonging to it, propped myself in a corner and dozed off. I was tired and must have slept heavily, and was awakened by a kick and the angry shout of a man asking what the devil I meant by sleeping on his premises. "Get up and be off with you, you lazy tramp," he said, when I rubbed my eyes and blinked at him.
"I'm not a tramp, guv'nor," I protested, getting up.
"Then I'm no farmer, you skulker;" and he looked like repeating the kick.
"Steady, man, steady. Keep your temper. I'm a mechanic on my way to a job in Osnabrück. My boy and I lost our way in the wood yonder and came here to ask the road. Finding the place empty, we decided to doss it till daylight. My mate's only a youngster and was regularly done up."
"You look dirty enough for a tramp anyhow," he growled. "I'm pestered with them. Got any money on you?" A rough-and-ready test of his tramp theory.
"Hope so. More than enough to pay for this sort of bed. Times are pretty good with us chaps now;" and I pulled out a handful of money.
His surly look cleared. "I don't want any of it. What sort of a mechanic do you call yourself?"
"Motors and aeroplanes and that sort of thing."
"The devil you are!" he exclaimed, and, after a pause: "Care to earn a mark or two?"
"Don't mind if I do? How?"
"My motor's in the lane yonder, and something's gone wrong with it. Do you think you could patch it up?"
"I'll have a look at it for you. I'd better get what tools I have with me. They're with my lad."
He opened the front door of the cottage and I ran up to fetch Nessa, fastening her hair up tightly. I told her about the farmer, and found him waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. He squinted so curiously at Nessa that I feared he suspected her sex.
"My name's Glocken," he said as we went to the car.
I didn't respond to the evident invitation. "Farmer are you?"
He nodded. "Got a couple. One here; the house is just over the hill yonder;" jerking a thumb in the direction; "and one out Lingen way."
"That's where we're padding it, ain't it, boss?" asked Nessa.
A nasty slip, but my fault, for I had not told her I had said I was going to Osnabrück. The farmer noticed it, of course. "Thought you spoke of a job at Osnabrück?" he said meaningly.
"Did I? Must have been half asleep, I suppose. It's Lingen we're bound for."
"No concern of mine. Here we are. Now let's see what you can do."
It was a curious composite; a cross between a touring car and a delivery van. The seats of the tonneau had been taken out to make room for goods, and there was a moveable arrangement for raising the sides at need. There were a few swedes and a tiny truss of hay in it, suggesting the use to which it was put; but there was something else which prompted very different thoughts.
"They've taken all my horses, so I have to fall back on this, to carry the fodder round," he said, noticing my curiosity.
I nodded and threw back the bonnet to find the trouble. It was a splendid engine, 40 h.p. but very dirty; and the dirt had caused the stoppage. Half an hour would put everything right; but I tinkered and fussed over it, as I wished to investigate what I had noticed in the tonneau.
The farmer watched me for a time; then talked to Nessa, who made great play with the Hans impersonation; and I found my chance. I was right. The farmer fed his cattle on very original diet; coffee, sugar, and cocoa seemed to be considerable ingredients, judging by the evidences I found under the swedes and hay. And his other farm was at Lingen! And Lingen was close to the Dutch frontier!
If circumstantial evidence went for anything, this meant that the chief use of the car was for smuggling, and that the agricultural produce was to pull the wool over the eyes of the curious.
I finished my work quickly, trying to see how to turn the knowledge to the best account. It looked like the chance of chances for us, for he might be the very man we wanted to find near the frontier.
"She'll do now, farmer," I called, and started the engine to prove it.
"You know your job, I see," he said, highly pleased, and gave me five marks, which I pocketed.
"She wants cleaning badly if you don't want to have her break down in running to and from that farm of yours at Lingen."
"No fear of that, is there?" he asked in concern.
"I wouldn't answer for her any time in the state she's in."
"Could you do the job for me?"
"Not now; but I may have a bit of spare time when I get to Lingen. I reckon you pack some weight into her at times, too. Groceries tot up, you know. Which is our road for Lingen?"
"What d'ye mean by groceries?"
I gave him a smile and a wink. "No concern of mine, farmer. I never talk about other men's business."
"I'll come along the lane and show you a short cut," he said and went off. "What are you two after?"
"Grub," exclaimed Nessa promptly. "Ain't had a bite since yesterday forenoon, 'cept some berries I picked to give my belly something to do." It was very naturally said, but a blunder, of course.
"Funny. You must have been off the track a lot," he said. "There's plenty of places everywhere. Which way did you come?"
"It's which way we've got to go, that matters now, farmer," said I.
"That's true, and here's the footpath. You strike me as the sort of man one could work with. Come and see me when you get to Lingen;" and he told me how to find the farm and offered his hand.
He let us get a few yards and then called me back. "It's no concern of mine, but that's a delicate youngster of yours; any one would more likely take him for a wench than a lad, when he's off guard. Anyhow, come and see me at Lingen;" and without waiting for my reply, he walked off.
"What did he want?" asked Nessa.
"Spotted you for a girl."
"Jack! He couldn't!" she protested indignantly.
"He did;" and I used the fact as a text to urge the change I had in my thoughts. She did kick at it, as was to be expected; but a little later we had a powerful practical proof of its necessity.
We turned into the first inn we came to for some breakfast, and I was talking to the woman of the house, a very kindly-looking motherly person, about it when there was a commotion outside. I ran out to find Nessa being rough-handled by a man who was trying to snatch her cap off. A word or two stopped any mischief, but it also drew the woman's attention very pointedly to Nessa.
"You can have your breakfast in my room, if you like," she said, and, when I thanked her, led the way to it, and closed the door and stood with her back to it. "You've taken your cap off, can't the lad do the same?" she asked very meaningly.
"Got a sore place on it, mum; 'fraid of a chill," said Nessa.
"I'm good at curing places of that sort, let me have a look at it."
"No, thank you, all the same, I don't take kindly to coddling," replied Nessa, colouring.
The woman smiled. "You do it very well, my girl, but I'm a woman myself and know my own sex," she replied drily. Then to me: "You're an honest man, I'll wager, by your looks. Hadn't you better tell me what it means?"
"She's my wife," I said. "She's English and——"
"Glory be to God!" she interposed excitedly, in English, with a strong brogue. "If I didn't guess it the instant I clapped eyes on the both of ye!" and the tears welled in her eyes as she rushed to Nessa, took off the cap and kissed her. "Ah, ye poor Mavourneen, ye! And, saints alive, look at the lovely hair it is. And to think ye're from England, only I wish it was dear old Oireland, that I do! Whisht now, or Oi'll be making an ould fool of mysilf. We'd best just shpake in German. That I should live to see the day! And out in this divil of a hole of a place! It's making for the frontier ye are, of course! And it's glad that I am I can help ye, so I can. And it's breakfast ye want, is it? Sure I'll see to it; but I must dry my eyes first and get sober."
She kissed Nessa again and almost kissed me also in her joy, wiped her eyes, looked in the glass to see that all was right and bustled out to see about the breakfast.
"Something like a stroke of luck, this," I said; but Nessa was too cast down at her failure in the part to answer, so I looked out of the window to give her time to get over it.
She rose presently and I felt her hand on my shoulder. "I'm a failure, Jack," she said wistfully, struggling to smile at it.
"And thank Heaven for it, sweetheart."
"But even that brute of a farmer found me out. I wouldn't care so much if it had only been this good soul."
"She spotted me as English too," I reminded her.
"I know. You're trying to make it easier for me; but that man didn't spot you, the beast!" She smiled then at her own vehemence. "Well, it's good-bye, Hans, I suppose," she said with a sigh.
"And good riddance, too."
"And yet you said I was doing it so well."
"And so you were, child, for the stage, but this is different."
"It's taken all the fun out of the picnic for me."
"What? To be my wife?"
She laughed and shook her head. "Well, there's one thing, you won't be the boss any longer."
"We'll see about that, young 'un."
"Don't, Jack. Don't ever dare to refer to this again or I'll—I'll—I don't know what I'll do!" she cried with a stamp of the foot. Then she caught sight of Han's cap. "It's that horrid thing that's the cause of it all;" and she picked it up and flung it from her.
That was the overt act of renunciation of the part; and as she turned to me I put my arm round her and kissed her.
"I thought there was to be no more 'anything else,'" she laughed.
"Mustn't a man kiss his own wife?" I cried.
"That hopes to be, Jack," she whispered.
And that was Hans' funeral ceremony.
When the woman returned to us she had quite thrown off her emotional outburst at our meeting, and her first words were a warning not to speak another word of English.
"I couldn't help it at first, I was so excited; but it would ruin me if it was known that I'm British," she declared, and over the breakfast she told us her story.
She was from Cork, where she had married a German baker named Fischer, had come to Germany a few years later, had been a widow for five years, and had continued to carry on the business of the inn. She was very curious to learn the truth about the war; and when I had satisfied her, we settled down to the consideration of her own affairs.
We returned confidence for confidence: that Nessa and I were engaged to be married; how I had come from England to find her; the plight she had been in owing to von Erstein's persecution; that we had been in the train smash, and had escaped with our lives, but had lost the passports.
She knew the von Erstein type of German well enough to sympathize deeply with Nessa and listened in tears to that part of the story.
"I can help you both, and I will; but you'll have to be as cautious as a pair of wild birds. They're just grabbing the men into the army with both hands, for one thing, and they'll take you at sight, and then what would she do, poor thing?"
"But aren't a lot of mechanics exempted?"
"Do you know anything about such things really?"
"Most there is to know about motors and aeroplanes."
"Oh, that's better," she cried, rubbing her hands. "They're making that sort of thing now at a place called Ellendorf, out Lingen way; and they're wanting men badly. You can say you've heard of it and are on your road there, and it may help you through. But understand that all strangers about here are suspected and the police are mighty curious; and it's worse the closer to the frontier you get. Have you thought how you're to get across?"
"If we're as lucky there as we have been here, it mayn't be so difficult. My rough idea was to join up with some of the folk who are smuggling things over and look for a chance to slip across."
"I'd thought of that, too, and I can help you," she said, and then explained her plan.
She declared that nearly every one near the frontier was taking a hand in the smuggling game and that the authorities, both police and military, not only winked at it, but secretly encouraged it. Lately, however, owing to the more drastic rounding up of men for the army, there had been a good deal of the slipping over which we wished to do, and stringent measures were being taken in consequence.
"That makes it more difficult," she continued; "but my late husband's brother, Adolf Fischer, lives there. I'll give you a note to him and he'll help you."
"Is he one of them?" I asked.
She smiled and nodded. "He's getting rich at it and has several people working with him. I'll have to lie for you; but I don't mind. I'll tell him I know all about you and that you want to join him; but don't say a word about skipping over, or he'll put the police on you. He's very thick with them, but that needn't scare you. They won't touch one of his men."
"We're awfully obliged to you."
"I only wish I could do more. Of course, I'll find some clothes for you," she said to Nessa. "They'll only be rough working things; but then nothing else would do; and if you'll both be guided by me, you won't think of risking the walk to Lingen. What you'd better do is to stop here and rest till to-morrow morning, get away early and foot it to Massen; it's only a matter of four or five miles: and catch the train there; and it would be all the better if you were to wear overalls. I can get you some."
"I have some already," I put in.
"All the better, but whatever you do, don't carry that grip with you. Might as well write who you are on your back. Much better carry a tool or so in your hand as if you were off to a job in a hurry; and she might have a small market basket. She'll be your wife till ye reach Lingen; and don't forget that most Germans treat their wives pretty gruffly. There are plenty of spies about with sharp eyes for trifles of the sort. They might even see that you don't eat like them. I should have known you by it," she declared.
We both laughed as we thanked her again; and soon afterwards she took Nessa away to see about the change of dress.
We had fallen on our feet in all truth. Her help was literally invaluable. Every one of her suggestions was practical and opened my eyes to the many little difficult details and pitfalls which had never occurred to us when planning our escape.
An hour or two later she came back saying she had left Nessa making some few necessary alterations in the dress and wanted to speak to me alone. "Just like me, I've put my foot in it with her. I told her what's only the truth, that you'll never be able to get over the frontier together, and she swears nothing shall make her go alone. You must talk her round or——" and she shook her head doubtfully.
"That'll be all right."
"Perhaps. She's just the bravest darling in the world, but my, what a will!" and she threw up her hands and smiled. "The frontier men will always wink at a woman crossing, but if they catch a man trying it they shoot him and done with it. Now what'll you do if she won't give in?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"Well, I'll tell you. Go to that factory at Ellendorf and get a job. You'll both be safe there; they'll find you a cottage, and you'll have to wait till a chance comes to get away together. Tell my brother-in-law you're going there and that you can do his work from there. But if she sticks out, don't try anything from Lingen; he's sure to hear about it, and then you may look out. Don't forget that and think that because he speaks you fair, he's soft. He isn't. He daren't be, either."
She went on to give me a host of details about the smuggling, and I took an opportunity to ask about the farmer whose car I had repaired.
"Old Farmer Glocken, you mean. He's deep as a well and as dangerous as St. Patrick found the snakes. If he can make use of you, all right; he'll do it so long as it pays him; but he'd sell his own wife, poor wretch, for a few marks. Don't go near him."
"He does a little smuggling?"
"A little! He's in it up to his eyes. He could get you both across easily enough, if you paid him, supposing he didn't take your money first and then sell you. And that's as likely as not."
Some one knocked at the door then and she went out, returning with a servant who clumped noisily after her and began to lay the cloth for dinner.
"Be careful, Gretchen," she said sharply as the girl nearly let some glasses fall. She was a stoutish, rather slatternly girl, with particularly grimy finger nails, and a shawl over her head which concealed most of her face. She was very clumsy, too, and set everything down awkwardly with a guffaw.
"What do you think of Gretchen?"
I started and they both laughed. It was Nessa, of course, and she whipped off the shawl, clapped her hands, and turned completely round so that I might study her get-up.
"Better than the boy, eh?" laughed Mrs. Fischer.
"It's wonderful. I should have passed her in the street with that shawl over her head."
"It's how the workgirls wear it."
"Look at my boots, Jack," cried Nessa, holding up a foot. "Aren't they just lovely?" Great clumsy thick-soled things they were.
"Her own were just danger signals. But she'll do as she is. Now, I've told my servants you're old friends of mine, and that you'll be here till to-morrow morning. You had better not go out. A day's rest and a long night's sleep won't hurt either of you;" and with that she hurried away.
"Isn't she a dear old soul? She's been mothering me up there, as if she couldn't do enough for me, and ransacked every nook and cranny to fish out these things."
"She's a very shrewd old party, too."
"And are you proud of your wife, or sister, whichever I'm going to be?"
"Which would you prefer?"
"Don't be silly. Don't you think this is ripping? And she's been drilling me about how to behave. I think she's wonderful."
"What sort of drilling was it?"
"No end of things. How to eat; what to do; how to walk; always to have my knitting in hand; not to talk to strangers, especially women; one or two phrases I was to use; how to carry my market basket; a regular rehearsal of everything, and we're to have another this evening. Look at my hands;" and she held them out.
"I saw your nails when you put the tray on the table."
"Yes, but look how she's managed to make them coarse. We scrubbed them all over with bath brick and then rubbed in the dirt. They're smarting, as if they were chapped. And look at my hair, plastered right down on my head. Did you ever see such a fright as I am? And then this bunchy business on my hips;" and she laughed as she looked at herself in the glass.
"That all?"
"Not a bit of it. There was a regular lecture on the proper behaviour of working men's wives; sort of fetch and carry dogs with the tails always between their legs and never a wag except when the master condescends to give them a nod or so."
"Going to do it all?"
She was fingering her hair and started, glancing sharply at me in the glass. "Sisters don't, by any means. But I know that tone of yours. You mean something. What is it?"
"Mrs. Fischer told me she had been giving you some hints."
She paused and then turned and faced me, putting her hands behind her back with her head thrown well back—a pose I knew well. "I think I know what you mean and I'm not going to do it, Jack."
"Do what?"
"Innocent! But it's no use, Jack, I won't."
"Very well."
"You don't mean that a bit. I know. You mean just the opposite. It's about my getting over the frontier alone. Isn't that it?"
"She said something to me about it."
"Of course. She tried all she knew to persuade me and now she's been at you, of course. I'm ready to listen to you; but I warn you it won't make a pennorth of difference."
"Very well."
"Oh, don't 'very well' me in that tone. You don't expect me to desert you when you've done all this and got into this mess solely for me, do you?" she cried vehemently.
"We won't worry over it now; but there's just one point you might keep in mind. It may turn out to be necessary for my safety. What then?"
Her face clouded at that. "How could that be?" she asked.
"We can answer that better later on," I said with a shrug. "But if it should be?"
"Did Mrs. Fischer say anything about that to you?"
I nodded. "Said it might be easy enough for you to get over, but very risky for us both to try it together. Suggested that if you held out I had better get a berth at Ellendorf; but there's the question of my leave. It's nearly up, and either you or I must be able to wire explanations from Holland within the next day or two."
"I never thought of that. What would happen?"
"Possibly nothing; but it doesn't help a man to play the absentee. They've a nasty term for that in the army."
"You always mean such a lot when you speak in that casual tone of yours," she exclaimed. "Of course, if my stopping meant any sort of trouble to you, it would be different. Nothing else would make me go. And if you're only saying it to force me you're—well, it's cowardly and you ought to be ashamed to do it."
"Well, think it over, and we'll see how the cat jumps. I promise you this, faithfully, I won't ask you to do it if it isn't necessary."
She paused and then came and laid a hand on my shoulder. "You won't ask me to go unless it's necessary for your sake, will you, Jack? It would be awful for me to feel that you were left here in danger. I know you're thinking all about me and not about yourself, and—oh, Jack, I don't believe I could bear it."
"We won't worry any more about it till the time comes. I think it's splendid of you to want to stick it, but it's better to tell you;" and we let the matter drop.
But Nessa did worry about it exceedingly for the rest of the day. She spoke very little and appeared to have lost interest in things; and just before she was going to bed she came with a suggestion that we should make at least one attempt to cross the frontier together. I yielded very reluctantly, as it meant the hash of a great part of our plans. But she was so downcast, so troubled, and pleaded with such wistful earnestness, that I hadn't the heart to refuse.
Mrs. Fischer declared it was rank madness; that if we tried it, we mustn't go near her brother-in-law; and that we had better go straight to Ellendorf.
Nessa was in much better spirits early the next morning when we bade good-bye to our new friend.
"How are we to repay you for all this?" I asked.
"It isn't money you mean, is it?" she asked, almost indignantly, although she was so affected at parting from us that the tears were in her kind motherly eyes.
"No money could repay all your kindness and help."
"Then don't offer it to me. Sure, it's enough that we're all of the same blood, and all I'll want is to know that you get home safe and sound. I'd like to know that," she said wistfully. "Sure my heart's still over there. There, be off with you, or I'll be making a fool of myself."
"I'll write to you, Mrs. Fischer," said Nessa, kissing her.
"Not on your life, child. It's in gaol I'd be in no time, the divils that they all are!" she exclaimed, relapsing into English.
"We'll manage to let you know," I promised, shaking her hand warmly; and we were turning to leave the room when Nessa had a most happy thought.
"We'll send you a sprig of shamrock, dear."
The thought of it broke the dear soul up entirely. "Oh, the blessed darlin'!" she cried, seizing Nessa and kissing her again. "What my ould eyes would give for a sight of it!" and she burst into a passion of sobs. "Go now, go, the pair of ye, or I'll——" Sobs choked her utterance and she leant her head on the table, motioning us to go.
Nessa touched my arm and we stole out, both of us deeply moved by the emotion which Nessa's offer had stirred in the heart of the lonely Irish exile.
On the walk to Massen we concocted our story. I was to be Hans Bulich and Nessa my sister; we were alone in the world except for an aunt in Holland; Nessa had recently lost her lover on the Russian front, and her supposed grief at this was to account for her gloomy silence; I was likely to be called up, and as this would leave her without friends or money, she was anxious to get to the aunt in Holland.
They were parts easy to play, thanks to our warm-hearted Irish friend; we looked the characters quite well enough to pass muster. The absence of any luggage, my overalls and tools and a big German china pipe, and Nessa's market basket and knitting were shrewd little touches of realism which carried us through the preliminary difficulties without any trouble.
There were several people in the carriage with us, one of whom, an old man who sat next me, was going as far as Lingen. The men were soon talking and the one subject was the food supply, which was evidently becoming a serious matter. I didn't pay much attention until a question was asked about the frontier smuggling. The matter interested them all keenly, and I threw in a remark now and then to draw the rest.
The old fellow next me seemed to know a good deal about it, and when we three were left alone in the carriage he let drop a remark which showed he had noticed my interest in the subject, and then asked if I'd been at the front yet.
"They think I'm more use at my trade," I replied, making play with the spanner in my hand.
"Engineer's mechanic, may be?"
I nodded. "Motors and aeroplanes and so on."
"Going to Lingen, aren't you?"
"Yes. How far's Ellendorf from there?"
"A matter of a league or two. I hear they're making these new aeroplanes there. Got a job there?"
"Shan't know till I get to Lingen; have another little matter to see to first, anyway."
"A good few people have little matters to see to there, these days," he replied drily, with a suggestive glance out of the corner of his eye. "I live there, and you can take it from me that if you're any good at your job, there's plenty of work waiting for you."
"Government work?"
"If they weren't all blind, yes;" and he launched into a description of the extreme difficulty of getting repairs done. "Can't get so much as a screw driven in without one of their infernal permits. I've been to Osnabrück about it now trying to get a man. Might as well have asked for the moon!" he said disgustedly, and went on grumbling about it, at intervals, for the rest of the journey.
When we reached Lingen he said he'd like to have a chat with me and suggested we should go to his shop. "Won't do you any harm to be seen with me, either; I'm well known; and what with escaped prisoners and our skulkers trying to jump the frontier, the police are pretty curious about strangers of your age and build especially."
He was well known, as he had said. Several people nodded to him on the platform, and one man came after him. "Good-day, Father Fischer, can I have a word with you?" and they stopped to talk together.
"Hear that, Nessa?" I asked excitedly. "By Jove, we're in luck if it's our man!" and when he rejoined us I asked him if he was Adolf Fischer.
"I am. Every one in Lingen knows Adolf Fischer."
"Have you a brother out Massen way?"
"I had, but he drank himself to death five years or so back, poor fool. Why do you ask?"
"I've a letter for you;" and I gave it him.
He read it and pocketed it with a chuckle of pleasure. "Couldn't be better. Friends of Martha's are friends of mine. Come along."
We had not left the station before we had a proof of our good luck. We were in front of him as we went out and the police sergeant at the door stopped us and was beginning to question me, when he intervened.
"It's all right, Braun. They're friends of mine. A stroke of luck, too," he said with a wink, which suggested there was a mutually satisfactory understanding between them.
We were allowed to pass at once, and he stayed talking to the sergeant for a couple of minutes. "Lucky you gave me that letter when you did," he said when he caught us up. "They've been ordered to keep a special look-out for a couple such as you. But they won't worry you while you're with me."
Ominous news in view of what had occurred just before the train smash outside Osnabrück, and it made me more anxious than ever to get Nessa safely over the frontier.
"You'll bide with me, of course," he said when we reached his house, a flourishing grocer's store in the main street of the little town. "I don't have any one in the house nights. We'll have a bite of food and then talk things over."
He was silent and thoughtful during the meal, and the trend of his thoughts was shown in a question he put.
"There's nothing black against you, is there?"
"Nothing to make me afraid to face any man in the Empire," I replied positively. It was the truth, if not quite as I meant him to understand it.
"I only asked, because I have to be very careful," he said; and nothing more passed until we were smoking, while Nessa had resumed the knitting which she had kept up incessantly in the train.
"Now, you'd like to tell me your story," he opened.
I told him the tale we had prepared and he put a question or two which were easily answered.
"I'm sorry for you, my lass," he said to her. "Very sorry; you're only one among too many thousands; and you shall get away all right. They're not particular about women and girls, you know," he added to me. "But it's different with men. Their orders are to shoot first and ask questions afterwards. Three were found trying to jump the frontier last week and were shot. Two the week before; and one of 'em was our only engineer. So if that's what's brought you here, I can't help you. We'd all the trouble we wanted over the last affair."
"I'm no skulker, I assure you. If they call 'em up, I'm ready any time."
"You'll give me your word to stop here then?"
"Unless I have to go anywhere else. I'm pretty handy at my job, you know."
He seemed satisfied, and then told me his plans.
Nessa was to leave that night. He had a nephew in the Landwehr regiment at present guarding a part of the frontier, which was especially promising for the scheme, and we were to run out there in his car. I was to stay with him in Lingen, partly to help in the smuggling operations but largely to keep in order his and his associates' motors. There were a number of Lingen people in the thing, which was winked at by the authorities, who would not ask any questions about me if I was known to be in the swim.
He gave me a host of details, took me out later to see the place where I was to work; a very well-equipped place it was, too, but with only a lad and a doddering old fellow as the staff: explained that they often lost considerably by breakdowns; and then left me to return to Nessa, saying that he must go and arrange about the night's venture.
I found Nessa very dejected, buried in thought, with her knitting on her lap.
"Looks good enough, eh?" I said to cheer her.
It wasn't a success. She did not answer for a while. "Do you trust him?" she asked, looking up at length.
"Why not? He was frank enough; and we should have been in a deuce of a mess without him. It can't be worse even if he gives us away. But he won't. I'm sure of that."
"But about you?"
"Meaning?" I knew what was coming, however.
"You heard what he said about those men being shot. It brought my heart up in my mouth."
"It's no more than we heard at Massen."
"We agreed to try together, remember."
"I haven't forgotten. We'll see what happens to-night."
"You don't want me to go by myself? You promised, Jack."
"Better one than neither of us, surely. That reminds me. You must have some money in case I fail;" and I offered her some notes.
She shook her head and pushed them away. "I have more than enough for my purpose."
I knew what she meant. She was resolved not to go alone, and it worried me considerably. It was splendidly staunch and lovable and brave, but none the less quixotic and a serious blunder. "You heard what that police sergeant had told old Fischer?"
"Of course," she nodded casually, as if it didn't make the least difference.
"You shall settle it for yourself, Nessa." There was nothing to be gained by trying to dissuade her then, so I left it until the moment for action should arrive. After my promise, it was impossible for me to think of going with her.
Fischer came back chuckling. "We're in luck," he declared. "I met my nephew, Fritz, in the town just now. He'll do it all right. He'll be on guard at one of the roads; the very spot of all others for us; near a little thicket they call the Pike Wood. We're to be there about nine. I explained everything to him, and of course I've pledged my word that only your sister's going over. That's right, eh?"
"Quite," I assured him.
Nessa's needles stopped clicking for an instant and I heard her catch her breath. It augured badly for the night's enterprise; but if I had wished to renew the attempt to persuade her, I could not have done it, as we were not left alone altogether again until the time came for us to set out.
I drove the car with Fischer at my side, and by his instructions, Nessa lay on the bottom of the tonneau which was constructed much like that of the farmer's I had mended at Osnabrück. She was hidden under a rug and a tarpaulin, and he told her to cover up even her head if any one spoke to us on the way.
We had some dozen miles to run, and for the greater part of the way no one attempted to interfere with us. The old fellow seemed to be hugely pleased by the way I handled the ramshackle machine; and even more so when I explained the reason of some of the queer noises and jumps which the engine developed. "You're the man for us!" he exclaimed more than once.
When we reached the outskirts of a village close to the frontier, he bent over and told Nessa to hide herself completely. "We shall be questioned here; but it won't matter. Go slow for a bit," he added to me; "and pull up at once if they order us."
The village was full of soldiers, and I began to realize in earnest then the difficulties of our escaping without his help. We were pulled up twice in the village, but allowed to proceed the moment he was recognized and produced some authority he had.
After we left the village behind us there were plenty of people, both men and women, all with their faces turned frontierwards. "What are all these doing?" I asked.
"Crumb-hunters, we call 'em." Descriptive enough, too; and he told me they were out in all weathers to pick up any trifles from the Dutch side, and that passes were given to them for the purpose.
"And what about the Dutch guards?"
"Getting fat on it," replied Fischer, rubbing his palm and then putting a finger to the side of his nose. "Bleed us to a tune, too. Their people try to stop it; change the men often enough; but it only means that Peter gets a greasy palm instead of Paul. We turn off into the next lane on the right: it runs across the frontier; the Pike Wood's just there; but you'll have to stop a little short of it to turn the car."
We ran about half a mile along the lane to the spot where I turned and we all got out. He led the way across a field or two, and, as we were rather before our time—nine o'clock—he posted us at a point in the thicket from which we could see the guards at the gate which marked the boundary on the German side, and then left us.
I was beginning to get a little excited by that time, but Nessa seemed quite unmoved, except that she shivered once or twice, for the night air had a nip in it. Whether she persisted in her intention not to go without me, I could not say. She had heard me tell old Fischer that I wasn't going; but she maintained a sphinxlike silence all the time he was away.
He went up to the guards and I could just make out their figures as he stood talking to them; and presently he disappeared into the darkness through the gate. A minute or two later some shots were fired from the other side of the barrier; soon afterwards a loaded wagon came dashing from that side, the three horses galloping at full stretch, and a man I took to be Fischer jumped from it.
An exhibition of organization followed. A number of men sprang up from nowhere; the wagon was unloaded almost instantly; and they scuttled off into the night with cases and barrels and packages of all descriptions and sizes. It was done like a flash; and the wagon was galloped back across the frontier. It had just disappeared when an officer rode up, presumably to learn the cause of the firing. Just then Fischer rejoined us, out of breath, but hugely pleased.
"A near thing," he panted. "If that officer had been a minute earlier he'd have commandeered the lot. He's a swinehound. You must lie doggo till he's gone; but it's all right. Fritz will give you the tip. You're to go forward the moment you hear him whistling 'The Watch on the Rhine.' Don't lose a second. Give him a twenty-mark note; it's for his two pals. And now I can't stop with you, I must see to things. I'll wait for you at the car."
"What was that firing?" I asked as he turned away.
"To fool the Dutch officers," he said over his shoulder as he went.
Nessa's intention was still a riddle. She stood leaning against a tree, motionless as a statue and up to this point as silent. But the time had come when I must know what she meant to do.
"You're going, Nessa?" I whispered.
No answer; not even a shrug of the shoulders.
"Nessa, dear, you're going?"
"Are you?"
"No. I gave my word. Besides I've half a notion that this is a sort of test. Fischer has told the men that I am not, and even if they didn't shoot us both, I should be ruined with him. And you can see for yourself there isn't one chance in a hundred of our getting through."
She listened but made no reply.
"We shall have that signal in a moment. That officer is riding away."
A long tremulous sigh from her. "Do you wish me to go, Jack?"
"Yes, most certainly. It's the luckiest chance in the world."
"Is it?"
"You can see it for yourself, dearest." I tried to put my arm round her, but she drew away.
"Don't, Jack! After what you've just said."
There was a pause in which we could catch the guttural tones of the guards and hear them stamping their feet. Precious seconds were flying and I was getting into a positive fever of impatience and anxiety.
"I'm only thinking of you, Nessa. You know that. Do make up your mind to go. You must surely see that it's the one course for you. There's the road to England and your mother and——"
"And you're to stop here in all this danger alone."
My patience began to give out. "I know you're thinking of me, but I can get out of it all ever so much better alone. But there, if you won't, you won't, and there's an end of it."
"You promised to make an attempt together. Have you done it?"
"For Heaven's sake, Nessa, don't let us split hairs at a moment like this. Here's the chance of chances for you, and you may never have another. If you wish ever to see England again, or at all events until after the war's over, you'll take it."
"That shows what little chance you think you have of getting away," she retorted, and made me wish I'd said something else.
"I didn't mean anything of the sort, only that it will be infinitely easier for me alone."
She didn't answer, and in the pause the first bars of the "Watch on the Rhine" were whistled in a low cautious pitch.
"Come, dearest," I whispered and put my arm about her.
"Oh, I can't go, Jack. I—I can't be such a coward!" she whispered, trembling in her agitation.
"For Heaven's sake, dearest!"
The whistling had ceased, but she still hesitated.
After an interval, very short, the whistle came again, slightly louder.
There was only one last plea I could think of. "It may cost me my life if you don't go, Nessa."
I felt her shudder convulsively as she yielded, and clung to me for an instant. "I'll go. Oh, God!" she moaned piteously under her breath.
I hurried her across the intervening field, and as we reached the other side of it, the man at the gate called to us impatiently to hurry.
But Nessa stopped. "I've forgotten, Jack," she whispered. "I must have that money after all."
I had it ready, thrust it into her hand, and helped her over the field gate. In her agitation she fell and dropped the notes. It was as dark as pitch on the ground at that spot and I had to grope with my hands to find them.
The man called to me urgently to come at once, and I had just found them when we heard the sound of a horse galloping in our direction.
"Back to the wood," growled the man almost fiercely. "If the captain noses you, you'll be shot."
I lifted Nessa over the gate and we darted back to cover, as the officer rode up. We waited for some breathless anxious minutes for him to go, hoping that the signal could be repeated.
But he did not go; and soon afterwards the guard was changed.
The chance was gone and there was nothing for it but to return to the car.
The failure was bitterly disappointing, but Nessa was glad, and laughed. "Here's the money, Jack," she said as we left the wood.
I pocketed it in silence.
"I suppose you're awfully angry and disappointed and all that, but I'm not. The only thing I regret is that I was persuaded to go."
"I'm not angry about it. It's a great pity; but the only thing to do is to wait for another opportunity. I dare say Fischer can manage it."
"You needn't look for one, if you mean me to go alone. I won't do it. You'll never get me to consent again; and you said I was to settle it, remember."
"I remember," I replied.
"I'm absolutely determined," she declared; but something was to happen that night which shook that determination to ruins.
Fischer expressed great surprise at seeing her; but I explained that at the last moment the money had been lost and that the officer had come back in time to prevent Nessa's escape.
The car was now loaded with some of the spoils from the wagon and Nessa had to ride in front with us. We made a quick run back to the town, where I helped in the unloading, and then with Nessa took the car to the place where I was to overhaul it in the morning.
"I feel a thousand times more light-hearted, Jack," she said slipping her hand in my arm as we walked back to Fischer's shop.
"That's as it should be. I was rather bearish over it, I'm afraid; but it was such a chance."
"You won't ask me again to—— Good heavens, look, Jack, look!" she broke off, her voice shaken with agitation as she clutched my arm convulsively and pointed to a small poster outside the police station.
She might well be agitated. The poster was headed:
MURDER1,000Marks Reward