CHAPTER XIII

AT THE ADMIRAL

This and last night's affair was asking too much of coincidence. They must be related and instigated by the same hand, and I decided to finish the rest of my homeward trip by taxi. I had been foolish not to return in the one that brought Mr. Hannay and myself to the Tombs.

As I reached the sidewalk, on the opposite side of the street, somebody stepped up quickly behind me and, my nerves being jumpy by this time, I whirled round with ready fist, thinking another play was being made for my life. Indeed I had almost swatted the man before I recognized him as Tommy Ashton. The relief was so great that I burst out laughing.

I may pass over our initial greeting; Ashton, of course, was delighted to see me, but not greatly astonished, for news of my miraculous return was pretty well over town by this time and, no doubt, would appear in the evening papers.

"Yes, I've a story to tell, but I don't want to tell it here," I said, anxious to get away from the scene of my recent "accident" before Ashton got wind of it. "I've told it three or four times already to-day so it's getting pretty monotonous. Suppose you come home with me and then we'll call up Hewitt----"

"Bob's in Florida on business and won't be back for a month or more--the plans of that new hotel at Ormond, you know. I'm leaving for Philly myself in an hour or so. Let's beat it to the Admiral for a bite and your story; that's all I've time for."

"My story will keep, Tommy, and you'll see it in the papers----"

"I want it at first hand--now. I'm entitled to it. Come on."

So we hopped a taxi--I said I wanted to dodge reporters--to the huge new hotel where Ashton, a bachelor, had recently installed himself, and secured a quiet corner table in the grill. He received a shock when I turned down the wine card but, a true friend, climbed up on the wagon beside me.

"Far be it from me to add to your temptations," he said as I protested. "And it's really no sacrifice on my part. I know what it is to have that stuff shoved under your nose. I must say you're looking prime, Pete, whatever you've been doing with yourself. If you're really on this water-wagon game for good----"

"I am, booked through for life. I mean it, Tommy."

"Shake hands on that!" he exclaimed. "I believe you _do_ mean it and that you're capable of pulling it off. You've changed a whole lot; even the loss of that alleged mustache is an improvement. And now let's hear all about it."

"Well, to begin with, if I didn't win that bet I came mighty near it. I earned my keep by the sweat of my brow for three whole weeks, if not a month. You see----" And I proceeded to tell the whole thing over again, omitting, as heretofore, all reference to the Black Company.

"Well?" queried Ashton as I finished.

"Well what?"

"Your adventures are all very interesting, but what about the rest?"

"There isn't any more; I've told you everything."

"Oh, no, you haven't; you've omitted the most interesting part."

"I don't know what you mean."

Ashton raised his eyes and they met mine over the planked steak. "You're a poor sort of liar, Pete; you always were, even if an industrious one, and you forget I'm a lawyer. Also, my friend, I saw what happened on the subway platform."

"Oh, that accident? Was it you who called me? There was such a crowd, and you see I fell----"

"Naturally, after such a shove. It's no use, Pete; I was there and saw the whole thing. Yes, I was on my way up here. I couldn't get near you, and the fellow who did it escaped in the crowd."

"He didn't mean to shove me; it was an accident, or he was drunk."

"Neither one nor the other, and you know it. Why, when I overhauled you, you almost smashed me! You thought I was going to jump you. Somebody's after your life, Pete, and you can't tell me anything different. Aside from all else, the way you keep looking round as though expecting----"

"I'm looking at Frean," I said. "He has just come in. I hope he doesn't land over here."

But he did, seeing that I observed him. "Killing the fatted calf, eh, Ashton?" he greeted.

Ashton received him coldly and didn't ask him to join us; nor, naturally, did I. Frean didn't appear to notice this; he draped his elegant person over the back of a chair and smiled at us, particularly at me. There was something very irritating in his smile.

"Lawton's been having a wonderful time," he continued. "I suppose he has been telling you all about it? Romantic rural drama, you know, with me for the villain of the piece. Only for me, he'd still be down in Sea Bright washing automobiles and paying court to the cook. I turned up at the wrong time."

"I thought," said I, keeping my temper, "you'd have spread the joyful news of my being alive. It seems you didn't. I wonder why?"

"Why should I?" he asked blandly. "I'm not your press agent, no, nor your conscience either. It wouldn't have been a very friendly act to set the police after you. I knew you'd give yourself up; better late than never. I don't suppose you're hiding here, eh? Oh, no offense, Lawton; don't get excited now, it's so dangerous for a man of your build. I'm afraid you'll have a stroke some day. Well, cheerio; I've got to amble. Sorry I can't partake of the fatted calf."

"Rotter!" muttered Ashton, as Frean smiled himself off. "It's clear he doesn't believe your car was stolen, so I didn't say anything about your satisfactory interview with the district attorney. Let him find it out for himself; it'll make him mad. He never liked you, Pete, even at college. I've always felt that."

"I suppose he didn't, and yet I hardly knew him."

"No, but he knew you, of course. That little set of decadent highbrows he flocked with had no use for Brokaw Field; they were jealous of any reputation made there. There's a set like that at every university, more's the pity; fake highbrows who pretend to scoff at athletics, fake high priests of culture. He has turned out just what I expected."

"I'm sorry for his people, yes, and for him too. I mean, Tommy, I know what it is to have too much money; believe me, it's worse than having too little. Oh, I don't mean in a physical sense; but if you aren't mighty careful, it rots you body and soul. I've been through it and you haven't. I think Frean's people are to blame in a way; they shouldn't have allowed him all that dough----"

"You're too soft, Pete. I've tried to help Frean but I'm through, like all his friends, and you are too, if you've any sense. Cut him out; he's a total loss. I haven't even words to waste on him, for I want to hear about this enemy who's trying to measure you for a wooden kimono. Who is it? Come, out with it!"

"I'd rather not, Tommy, if you don't mind. Of course, it isn't a question of not trusting you or anything like that; aside from all else, I don't want you to get mixed up in it. It isn't any little simple affair--no, I won't tell you----"

But I did; I had to. He gave me no peace until I had told him practically everything. Ashton was like that, pertinacious and dogged; he would have stuck to me all night, canceled his Philadelphia engagement, until he had got the truth out of me. Nor was it simply curiosity on his part, though he had seen and guessed so much that he was dying to hear all; no, he had a very real regard for me and wished to be of service. After all, I couldn't have had a better adviser; he was junior member of a noted criminal law firm and well on the way to making a name for himself. All the same I didn't want to tell him.

"Well, that's the queerest thing I ever heard, and I've heard some queer things in my time," he said as I finished. "The Black Company! No relation, I suppose, to Conan Doyle's 'White Company?'"

"I knew you'd laugh, Tommy, but----"

"I'm not laughing; not a bit of it. But if I hadn't actually seen that fellow shove you--and at that I never got a good look at him. I think I was the only one who saw him do what he did. What sort of a combine is it? And the Black King! It must be some political conspiracy, not necessarily against America. I mean actively. For instance, there may be a plot brewing to put a new ruler on one of the tottering thrones of Europe; they're all pretty wabbly these days. And, of course, if wind of this plot got known--you see it may mean a new ally for the Central Powers----"

"I've thought of all that, but Varney could have nothing to do with it."

"You never can tell; he's living at Sea Bright and that's Washington, you may say, for the next three months. Every political adventurer will make it his stamping ground. Intrigue is in the air; everybody seems to be engaged in it and the country is overrun with secret agents. It may not be a coincidence that this summer Varney should be a neighbor of President Wilson. No, you can't tell, Pete; he may have more interest in world politics than you or any one imagines. Why, if I'm not mistaken, his brother has some political job. This alleged disease may be only a blind, something to keep him under cover----"

"I don't believe Varney has anything to do with the Black Company; I mean he's not a member but a potential victim, though I don't know in what way."

"And yet he's intimate with Frean who, you say, is a member?"

"Yes, on probation--according to the man Corby. You see I really know nothing for certain; I can't find out anything. It's all guesswork, but after those two attempts on my life I can't think the thing a joke; at least I fail to see the humor. The whole thing is so bizarre that the police would only laugh at me; you know they would. I haven't any real evidence to give them."

Ashton nodded and fell silent. "You were wise in keeping this to yourself," he said at length. "I understand why you didn't want to tell even me. Of course it won't get past me. But it's far too big a thing for any amateur handling; it may prove bigger even than we suspect. And we've got to do something, Pete. Now there's only one man to handle a case like this--Lisping Jimmie."

"I agree with you. He's the very man I had in mind from the first, the only man I meant to tell. I've got the money and can give him a free hand till the cows come home. That's one advantage of wealth."

"Well, see him first thing to-morrow," said Ashton with decision. "I would say to-night only that I happen to know he's in Washington and won't be home till to-morrow. See him as soon as you can. Meanwhile I'll see what I can find out in Philly. As it turns out, it's a providential thing that I've got to go there to-night, that I met you and had this talk. You drew blank in Philly, but I should have better luck; I mean that I'm educated to the investigating business and you aren't. I think I'll be able to find out something for Blunt to work on, put him that much ahead of the game."

"Well, for Heaven's sake, be careful, Tommy! You don't know these fellows. I'd much rather you stood out of it; I do indeed----"

"Rats!" laughed Ashton. "I've legitimate business there and they'll never suspect me. Anyway, I'm a match for these cowardly highbinders. You'll see."