Page:The Submarine Boat.pdf/2

74 thirst for privacy. Settling himself in an easy position, Pringle closed his eyes, and while appearing to resume his slumber, strained every nerve to discern the lightest word that passed at the next table. Dressed in the choicest mode of Piccadilly, the Frenchman bore himself with all the intolerable self-consciousness of the Boulevardier; but there was no trace of good-natured levity in the dark aquiline features, and the evil glint of the eyes recalled visions of an operatic Mephistopheles. His guest was unmistakably an Englishman of the bank-clerk type, who contributed his share of the conversation in halting Anglo-French, punctuated by nervous laughter as, with agonising pains, he dredged his memory for elusive colloquialisms.

Freely translated, this was what Pringle heard:

"So your people have really decided to take up the submarine, after all?"

"Yes; I am working out the details of some drawings in small-scale."

"But are they from headquarters?"

"Certainly! Duly initialled and passed by the chief constructor."

"And you are making"

"Full working-drawings."

"There will be no code or other secret about them?"

"What I am doing can be understood by any naval architect."

"Ah, an English one!"

"The measurements, of course, are English, but they are easily convertible."

"You could do that?"

"Too dangerous! Suppose a copy in metric scale were found in my possession! Besides, any draughtsman could reduce them in an hour or two."

"And when can you let me have it?"

"In about two weeks."

"Impossible! I shall not be here."

"Unless something happens to let me get on with it quickly, I don't see how I can do it even then. I am never sufficiently free from interruption to take tracings; there are far too many eyes upon me. The only chance I have is to spoil the thing as soon as I have the salient points worked out on it, and after I have pretended to destroy it, smuggle it home; then I shall have to take elaborate notes every day and work out the details from them in the evening. It is simply impossible for me to attempt to take a finished drawing out of the yard, and, as it is, I don't quite see my way to getting the spoilt one out—they look so sharply after spoilt drawings."

"Two weeks you say, then?"

"Yes; and I shall have to sit up most nights copying the day's work from my notes to do it."

"Listen! In a week I must attend at the Ministry of Marine in Paris, but our military attaché is my friend. I can trust him; he shall come down to you."

"What, at Chatham? Do you wish to ruin me?" A smile from the Frenchman. "No; it must be in London, where no one knows me."

"Admirable! My friend will be better able to meet you."

"Very well, as soon as I am ready I will telegraph to you."

"Might not the address of the embassy be remarked by the telegraph officials? Your English post-office is charmingly unsuspicious, but we must not risk anything."

"Ah, perhaps so. Well, I will come up to London and telegraph to you from here. But your representative—will he be prepared for it?"

"I will warn him to expect it in fourteen days." He made an entry in his pocketbook. "How will you sign the message?"

"Gustave Zédé," suggested the Englishman, sniggering for the first and only time.

"Too suggestive. Sign yourself 'Pauline,' and simply add the time."

"'Pauline,' then. Where shall the rendezvous be?"

"The most public place we can find."

"Public?"

"Certainly. Some place where everyone will be too much occupied with his own affairs to notice you. What say you to your Nelson's column? There you can wait in a way we shall agree upon."

"It would be a difficult thing for me to wear a disguise."

"All disguises are clumsy unless one is an expert. Listen! You shall be gazing at the statue with one hand in your breast—so."

"Yes; and I might hold a 'Baedeker' in my other hand."

"Admirable, my friend! You have the true spirit of an artist," sneered the Frenchman.

"Your representative will advance and say to me, 'Pauline,' and the exchange can be made without another word."

"Exchange?"

"I presume your Government is prepared to pay me handsomely for the very heavy risks I am running in this matter," said the Englishman stiffly.

"Pardon, my friend! How imbecile of