Jack Harkaway and His Son's Escape from the Brigands of Greece Part 24

After a pause he continued--

"Mr. and Mrs. Harkaway have the first room; Mr. and Mrs. Harvey the second; the third is a double-bedded apartment, one couch being occupied by the American, the other by the two boys."

"You seem to have pretty exact information, captain," said Hunston.

"Yes, there is little going on there that does not come to my ears. One of the porters is a spy in my employ."

"Why did you not get a key from him?"

"I have one; it opens the back door."

Toro had, during the last bit of conversation, been growling to himself a choice vocabulary of Italian oaths, occasionally shaking his fist at the building which contained the objects of his hatred.

He now turned to his companions.

"And where do you propose to pa.s.s the two hours that must elapse?"

"At the bottom of yonder field is a thicket, where we shall be free from observation. We can smoke our pipes there. By-the-bye, the patrol goes round about midnight."

"We must be cautious," said Hunston.

"Come along, then."

The three villains then walked off in the direction of the thicket where they were to hide.

A minute afterwards a shadow rose from the ditch where he had been crouching, and stood looking after them long after they had been lost in the gloom.

"Just in time," muttered the so-called shadow, who was in good truth as substantial flesh and blood as any in Greece.

"If I had not wandered hither in search of my daughter, probably half- a-dozen murders would have been committed. However, I'll thwart the rascals, as sure as my name is Petrus."

For Petrus it was, from Magic Island, who had been playing spy on the movements of the three conspirators.

He stood there in deep thought for a few minutes.

"I must warn some of the people in the hotel, but I should like to get this business over without alarming Mrs. Harkaway or the other lady.

The question is, how?"

He reached the front door of the hotel, and pulled at the bell handle.

After an interval of two or three minutes, a light shone through the keyhole, and a voice asked--

"Who is there?"

"A traveller, in search of food and bed."

"Are you alone?"

"Yes."

Then the door was unbolted, and the traveller entered.

"Is the proprietor of the hotel in bed yet?" he asked.

"I don't know, sir."

"He must be roused at once. I have important news for him from a distant land."

The porter stared, but did not seem inclined to call the proprietor, noticing which, Petrus said--

"I shall be sorry to alarm all the house, when I only want one person; but if you don't quickly bring him, I'll ring half a dozen of these bells at such a rate that he'll think the house is on fire."

Seeing the stranger was in earnest, the porter went to the proprietor's room, and soon returned with him to the hall where Petrus was waiting.

"I should like to have a few words with you _in private_, sir,"

said the traveller, with a strong emphasis on the words we have italicised.

"Certainly. You may go to bed, Theodorus."

The porter somewhat sulkily retired to a kind of pantry, where he slept, and the proprietor of the hotel, softly following, turned the key upon him.

"I have my doubts about that fellow," he said as he returned. "But now, sir, what is your pleasure with me?"

Petrus at once told him what he had heard, and great was the alarm of the hotel-keeper.

"What shall we do? Send for the police?"

Petrus, after a short silence, said--

"No."

"What then? I cannot allow my guests to be murdered. Why, these scoundrels have already made one attempt on Mr. Harkaway and his friends at a masquerade."

Just at that moment a guttural voice was heard singing--

"Ole Ikey Mole Was a lushy ole soul, And a lushy ole soul was he."

"Now den, you n.i.g.g.e.r, be quiet," said another voice.

"Who are these people?" asked Petrus.

"Two black men in attendance on the Harkaway party," said the proprietor of the hotel.

"Just the men. I know a little of them. I have fought side by side with them. Now I have a proposal to make, which is that we put these brigands to flight in a ludicrous manner, which will annoy them more than being beaten in fight. Myself and the black men will do it with your a.s.sistance and permission."

"Anything, so that there is no bloodshed."

"That I will guarantee. Please call the two worthy dark-skins."