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“All right! All right! There's just one man, I swear. His nameis Smithers. He and Waite took Burton from a seance to PaddingtonStation. They were-” he groaned and whimpered, then continued in awhisper “-they were joined by Kenealy there and all rode a train toWinchester. Bogle met them at the station with a carriage, but justoutside Alresford the steam-horse broke down. They had to continueon foot, dragging Burton between them. As they crossed the grounds,Guilfoyle interfered and paid the price. Please, get me to thedoctor now. I don't want to die.”
Krishnamurthy, who was being supported by Herbert Spencer, sworevociferously. “Neither did Sam Hoare, but he's lying there dead,you swine!”
Jankyn fell onto his side on the table and said faintly: “Itwasn't me. Kenealy killed him.”
“Gentlemen,” Krishnamurthy said hoarsely, “if you'd be so kindas to help me bind and gag these three rogues-“he indicated theunconscious Kenealy, Bogle, and Waite”-I'll then remain here andsee what I can do for the cook. Maybe, if the mood takes me, I'llattend to Jankyn, too. On the other hand, I might just let him dielike the diseased dog he is.”
“Will you be all right? You look done in,” Swinburne said.
The commander was, indeed, in a bad way. There was blood oozingfrom his eyes, nose, and ears, and he was tremblinguncontrollably.
“I'm afraid I'm not much up to ru
It took a few minutes to tie the men's hands and feet, afterwhich Swinburne and the vagrant philosopher entered the pantrycontaining the door to the labyrinth. Fidget looked into thekitchen, saw that the violence had ended, and scampered afterthem.
They stepped into the tu
“Let's pull him along with us to the central chamber,” Swinburnepanted.
They took an ankle each and dragged the prone form the last fewyards until they exited the tu
“Is that you, um-um-um?” came a familiar voice.
“Algernon Swinburne. Hello, Colonel.”
“Bally good show! That is to say, I'm very pleased to seeyou.”
Lushington was sitting against the wall, hands bound behind hisback, looking bedraggled, with his extravagant side whiskersdrooping miserably.
“Burton's a goner, I fear,” he a
The king's agent was slumped lifelessly in the water cha
Swinburne let loose a shriek of rage and bounded across to hisfriend.
“Herbert, help me unbolt these bloody manacles!”
While he and the philosopher got to work, Lushington gave anaccount of himself.
“Not entirely certain how I came to be here, to be frank. Thesepast months have been rather hazy. Bit of a nightmare, really. WasI supporting that fat fake? Rather think I was. Couldn't helpmyself. Every time he was anywhere near me, I was convinced he wasSir Roger. By Gad, I even spoke for the bounder in court! Didn'tcome to my senses, regain my wits, start to think straight, until Ifound myself being held captive here, wherever here is.”
“You're under the Crawls,” Swinburne revealed.
“Am I, indeed? Am I? Closer to home than I thought, then! Barelyseen a soul for-how long? Days? Weeks?-apart from that scoundrelBogle, who's been keeping me fed, and Kenealy, damn him for therogue he is.”
“That's got it, lad,” Spencer muttered, yanking the manacles offBurton's wrists. He and Swinburne pulled the limp explorer acrossthe floor, away from the water, and laid him down. His eyes openedand rolled aimlessly. He mumbled something. The poet bentcloser.
“What was that, Richard?”
“Al-Masloub,” Burton whispered.
“What?”
“Al-Masloub.”
“What's he sayin’?” Spencer asked.
“Something in Arabic. Al-Masloub,” Swinburne replied.
“What's a bloomin’ Al-Masloub?”
“I don't know, Herbert.”
“He's been mumbling it over and over,” Lushington revealed.“Hasn't said another blessed word. Place in Arabia, perhaps?”
Spencer crossed to the colonel and began to pull at the cordsthat held the man's wrists.
Swinburne stared helplessly at the king's agent.
“What's happened to him?” he cried, aghast at his friend'svacant eyes. He took Burton by the shoulders and shook him. “Pullyourself together, Richard! You're safe now!”
“It's no use,” Lushington offered. “I'm afraid he's utterlyloopy.”
“Al-Masloub,” Burton whispered.
Swinburne sat back on his heels. He turned to Herbert Spencer. Atear trickled down his cheek.
“What'll we do, Herbert? I can't get any sense out of him. Idon't know what this Al-Masloub thing is!”
“First things first, lad. We should get him home.”
Burton suddenly sat up, threw his head back, and screamed. Then,a far more horrifying sound-he gave a mindless giggle.“Al-Masloub,” he moaned quietly. His eyes moved aimlessly. Hismouth hung slackly. He slowly toppled onto his side.
Swinburne looked at him and sucked in a juddery breath. Hecouldn't help but think that the enemy had won. London, the heartof the Empire, was in chaos, and Burton, the only man who couldpossibly save it, looked like he might return toBedlam-permanently!
M idmorning the following Saturday-two days after Burton'srescue-an extraordinary carriage thundered into Montagu Place. Itwas a huge box constructed from iron plate and mounted on six thickwheels. There were no windows in it-just a two-inch-high horizontalslot in each of its sides-and its doors looked better suited tobank vaults than to a conveyance. The driver, rather than beingsituated on top in the normal ma
It was nothing less than a small metal castle drawn by two largesteam-horses. Accompanied by four outriders from the King'sCavalry, it rumbled, creaked, sizzled, and moaned to a standstillbefore number
14.
Inside the house, Mrs. Angell, all petticoats and pinafore, toreinto the study and shrieked: “The king's here! The king's here!”She jabbed her finger at the window. “Lord Almighty! His MajestyKing Albert himself has come to the house!”
Algernon Swinburne, who'd been sitting in quiet conversationwith Herbert Spencer and Detective Inspector Trounce, looked upwearily. There were dark circles under his eyes.
“That's very unlikely, Mrs. A,” he said.
“It's impossible,” Trounce put in. “My dear woman, the king, Godbless him, is under siege in Buckingham Palace. He can't get outand no one can get in, and it'll stay that way until our riffraffrevolutionaries calm down and stop demanding that we become adamned republic! Pardon my language.”