As I picked up the bag the lightning flashed again, and from the window I could see the orchard as clearly as by sunlight. At the farther end near the wall someone was standing watching the house.
I went downstairs carrying the fatal bag, and rejoined the group in the hall.
"He will have to be got to bed," said Carneta, referring to the wounded man; "he will probably remain unconscious for a long time."
Accordingly, we took the patient into one of the few furnished bedrooms, and having put him to bed left him in care of the beautiful nurse. When we four men met again downstairs, amazement had rendered the whole scene unreal to me. Soar stood just within the open door, not knowing whether to go or to remain; but Hilton motioned to him to stay. Earl Dexter bit off the end of a cigar and stood with his left elbow resting on the mantelpiece.
His gaunt face looked gaunter than ever, but the daredevil gray eyes still nursed that humorous light in their depths.
"Mr. Cavanagh," he said, "we're brothers! And if you'll consider a minute, you'll see that I'm not lying when I say I'm on the straight, now and for always!"
I made no reply: I could think of none.
"I'm a crook," he resumed, "or I was up to a while ago. There's a warrant out for me — the first that ever bore my name. I've sailed near the wind often enough, but it was desperation that got me into hot water about that!"
He jerked his cigar in the direction of his grip, which lay now on the rug at his feet.
"I lost a useful right hand," he went on—"and I lost every cent I had. It was a dead rotten speculation — for I lost my good name! I mean it! Believe me, I've handled some shady propositions in the past, but I did it right in the sunlight! Up to the time I went out for that damned slipper I could have had lunch with any detective from Broadway to the Strand! I didn't need any false whiskers and the Ritz was good enough for The Stetson Man. What now? I'm 'wanted!' Enough said."
He tossed the cigar — he had smoked scarce an inch of it — into the empty grate.
"I'm an Aunt Sally for any man to shy at," he resumed bitterly. "My place henceforth is in the dark. Right! I've finished; the book's closed. From the time I quit England — if I can quit — I'm on the straight! I've promised Carneta, and I mean to keep my word. See here—"
Dexter turned to me.
"You'll want to know how I escaped from the cursed death-trap at Hassan's house in Kent? I'll tell you. I was never in it! I was hiding and waiting my chance. You know what was left to guard the slipper while the Sheikh — rot him — was away looking after arrangements for getting his mob out of the country?"
I nodded.
"You fell into the trap — you and Carneta. By God! I didn't know till it was all over! But two minutes later I was inside that place — and three minutes later I was away with the slipper! Oh, it wasn't a duplicate; it was the goods! What then? Carneta had had a sickening of the business and she just invited me to say Yes or No. I said Yes; and I'm a straight man onward."
"Then what were you doing on the train with the slipper?" asked Hilton sharply.
"I was going to Liverpool, sir!" snapped The Stetson Man, turning on him. "I was going to try to get aboard the Mauretania and then make terms for my life! What happened? I slipped out at Birmingham for a drink — grip in hand! I put it down beside me, and Mr. Cavanagh here, all in a hustle, must have rushed in behind me, snatched a whisky and snatched my grip and started for H—!"
A vivid flash of lightning flickered about the room. Then came the deafening boom of the thunder, right over the house it seemed.
"I knew from the weight of the grip it wasn't mine," said Dexter, "and I was the most surprised guy in Great Britain and Ireland when I found whose it was! I opened it, of course! And right on top was a waistcoat and right in the first pocket was a telegram. Here it is!"
He passed it to me. It was that which I had received from Hilton. I had packed the suit which I had been wearing that morning and must previously have thrust the telegram into the waistcoat pocket.
"Providence!" Dexter assured me. "Because I got on the station in time to see Hassan of Aleppo join the train for H—! I was too late, though. But I chartered a taxi out on Corporation Street and invited the man to race the local! He couldn't do it, but we got here in time for the fireworks! Mr. Cavanagh, there are anything from six to ten Hashishin watching this house!"
"I know it!"
"They're bareheaded; and in the dark their shaven skulls look like nothing human. They're armed with those damned tubes, too. I'd give a thousand dollars — if I had it! — to know their mechanism. Well, gentlemen, deeds speak. What am I here for, when I might be on the way to Liverpool, and safety?"
"You're here to try to make up for the past a bit!" said a soft, musical voice. "Mr. Cavanagh's life is in danger."
Carneta entered the room.
The light played in that wonderful hair of hers; and pale though she was, I thought I had never seen a more beautiful woman.
"Tell them," she said quietly, "what must be done."
Soar glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes and shifted uneasily. Hilton stared as if fascinated.
"Now," rapped Dexter, in his strident voice, "putting aside all questions of justice and right (we're not policemen), what do we want — you and I, Mr. Cavanagh?"
"I can't think clearly about anything," I said dully. "Explain yourself."
"Very well. Inspector Bristol, C.I.D., would want me and Hassan arrested. I don't want that! What I want is peace; I want to be able to sleep in comfort; I want to know I'm not likely to be murdered on the next corner! Same with you?"
"Yes — yes."
"How can we manage it? One way would be to kill Hassan of Aleppo; but he wants a lot of killing — I've tried! Moreover, directly we'd done it, another Sheikh-al-jebal would be nominated and he'd carry on the bloody work. We'd be worse off than ever. Right! we've got to connive at letting the blood-stained fanatic escape, and we've got to give up the slipper!"
"I'll do that with all my heart!"
"Sure! But you and I have both got little scores up against Hassan, which it's not in human nature to forget. But I've got it worked out that there's only one way. It may nearly choke us to have to do it, I'll allow. I'm working on the Moslem character. Mr. Hilton, make up a fire in the grate here!"
Hilton stared, not comprehending.
"Do as he asks," I said. "Personally, I am resigned to mutilation, since I have touched the bag containing the slipper, but if Dexter has a plan—"
"Excuse me, sir," Soar interrupted. "I believe there's some coal in the coal-box, but I shall have to break up a packing-case for firewood — or go out into the yard!"
"Let it be the packing-case," replied Hilton hastily.
Accordingly a fire was kindled, whilst we all stood about the room in a sort of fearful uncertainty; and before long a big blaze was roaring up the chimney. Dexter turned to me.
"Mr. Cavanagh," said he, "I want you to go right upstairs, open a first-floor window — I would suggest that of your bedroom — and invite Hassan of Aleppo to come and discuss terms!"
Silence followed his words; we were all amazed. Then—
"Why do you ask me to do this?" I inquired.
"Because," replied Dexter, "I happen to know that Hassan has some queer kind of respect for you — I don't know why."
"Which is probably the reason why he tried to kill me to-night!"
"That's beside the question, Mr. Cavanagh. He will believe you — which is the important point."
"Very well. I have no idea what you have in mind but I am prepared to adopt any plan since I have none of my own. What shall I say?"
"Say that we are prepared to return the slipper — on conditions."
"He will probably try to shoot me as I stand at the window."