CHAPTER VII
REVEALS A PLOT
The next that I recollect is, with my brain awhirl, I tried to open my eyes, but so painful were they, that I was compelled to close them again in fearful agony.
Somebody whispered close to me, but my mind was too muddled to understand what was said.
My eyes burned in their sockets; my brain seemed unbalanced and aflame. I tried to think, but alas! could not. When I tried to recollect, all remembrance of the past seemed as though it were wrapped up in cotton wool.
How long I remained in that comatose state I have no idea.
Some unknown hand forced between my teeth a few drops of liquid, which with difficulty I swallowed. This revived me, I know, for slowly—very slowly—the frightful pain across my brow decreased, and my burning eyes became easier until, at last, blinking, I managed to open them just a little.
All was dead white before me—the white wall of a hospital-ward I eventually discovered it to be—and as I gazed slowly around, still dazed and wondering, I saw a man in black, a doctor, with two nurses standing anxiously beside my bed.
'Hulloa, Mr. Munro,' he exclaimed softly. 'You're better now, aren't you?'
'Yes,' I whispered. 'But but where am I?'
'Never mind where you are. Just go to sleep again for a bit,' the doctor urged. 'You're all right—and you'll very soon be up again, which is the one thing that matters,' I heard him say.
'But, tell me' I articulated with great difficulty.
'I shan't tell you anything, just yet,' said the man in black firmly. 'Just go to sleep again, and don't worry. Here. Take this,' and he placed a little medicine-glass to my parched lips.
The effect of the drug was sleep—a long sleep it must have been—for when I again awoke it was night, and I saw a stout, middle-aged night-nurse seated at my side, reading beneath a green-shaded lamp.
As soon as she noticed me moving she gave me another draught, and then, thoroughly revived, I inquired of her what had actually happened.
I saw her motion to some one behind her, and next moment found Roseye bending over me, pale-faced and anxious.
'Oh! I'm so glad, dear,' she whispered eagerly into my ear. 'Once we thought you would never recover, and—and I've been watching and waiting all the time. They wouldn't let me see you until to-night. Teddy has been here constantly, and he only left at midnight.'
'But—darling but—what has happened?' I managed to ask, looking up into those dear eyes of hers utterly amazed.
'May I tell him, nurse?' she inquired, turning to the buxom woman beside her.
The nurse nodded assent, whereupon she said:
'Well—you've had a nasty spill! One of your wings suddenly buckled—and you fell. It's a perfect miracle that you were not killed. I saw the accident just as I was going up in a spiral, and came down again as fast as ever I could. When I reached you, I found you pinned beneath the engine, and everybody believed you to be stone-dead. But, happily, they got you out—and brought you here.'
'What is this place?' I asked, gazing around in wonderment. 'Where am I?'
'The Hendon Cottage Hospital,' was her reply.
'How long have I been here?'
'Four days. The papers have had a lot about your accident.'
'The papers make a lot of ado about nothing,' I replied, smiling. 'To them, every airman who happens to have a nose-dive is a hero. But how did it happen?'
'Nobody knows. You seemed to be ascending all right, when suddenly I saw your right-hand plane collapse, and you came down plumb,' she said. 'As you may imagine, darling, I rushed back, fearing the worst, and through these four awful days I have dreaded that you might never speak to me again.'
'What does Theed say?'
'What can he say? He has declared that before you started everything was perfectly in order.'
'Has Teddy examined the bus?'
'I think so, but he's entirely mystified—just as we all are,' said my well-beloved. 'Dad and mother are dreadfully worried about you.'
'Thanks,' I replied. 'I'll be all right soon—but I'm stiff—jolly stiff, I can tell you!'
'That doesn't matter,' said the nurse cheerily. 'No bones are broken, and Doctor Walford has said that you'll be up again very soon.'
'Well—thanks for that,' I replied with a smile. 'My chief desire at the present moment is to know why my machine failed. Yet I suppose I ought to be thankful to Providence that I wasn't killed—eh?'
'Yes, Claude, you ought. Your smash was a very bad one indeed.'
'Has the guv'nor been here?'
'Every day. But of course you've been under Doctor Walford, and he's not allowed anyone to see you.'
'I suppose the guv'nor has been saying to everybody, "I told you so,"' I remarked. 'He had always said I'd kill myself, sooner or later. My reply was that I'd either fly, or kill myself in the attempt. Have there been any more Zeppelin raids while I've been lying here?'
'No raids, but gossip has it that Zeppelins have been as far as the coast and were afterwards driven off by our anti-aircraft guns.'
'Good. When will Teddy be here?' I asked, raising myself with considerable difficulty.
'In the morning,' was my love's response, as she took my hand in hers, stroking it softly, after which I raised her slim fingers to my lips.
Seeing this, the nurse discreetly left us, strolling to the other end of the ward, in which there were about twenty beds, while Roseye, bending down to me, whispered in my ear:
'You can't tell how I feel, dear Claude, now that God, in His great goodness, has given you back to me,' and she cried quietly, while again and again I pressed her soft little hand to my hot, fevered lips.
Teddy Ashton, bright and cheery at news of my recovery, stood by my bed at about nine o'clock next morning. The doctor had seen me and cheered me by saying that I would soon be out. My first questions of Teddy were technical ones as to how the accident happened.
'I really can't tell, old chap,' was his reply. 'I've had the bus put into the hangar and locked up for you to see it just as it is.'
'Is it utterly wrecked?' I inquired anxiously, for I feared the guv'nor's wrath and his future disinclination to sign any more cheques.
'No. Not so much as we expected. One plane is smashed—the one that buckled. But, somehow, you seemed to first make a nose-dive, then recover, and glide down to a bad landing.'
'But how could it possibly have happened?' I demanded. 'All was right when I went up, I'm certain. Theed would never have let me go without being perfectly satisfied. That I know.'
'No, he wouldn't,' Teddy agreed. 'But the affair has caused a terrible sensation at Hendon, I can tell you.'
In an instant the recollection of that podgy man, with those black eyes set askew, crossed my mind.
Yes. After all, sight of him had been an omen of evil. Hitherto I had scorned any such idea, but now I certainly had positive proof that one might have a precursor of misfortune. I deeply regretted the accident to my Breguet for, not knowing the true extent of the damage, I began to despair of bringing our secret experiments to a satisfactory issue.
'Look here, Claude,' Teddy said at last, bending over me and speaking in a low tone. 'Has it struck you as rather peculiar that the appearance of those strangers at Gunnersbury should have been followed so quickly by this accident of yours?'
'By Jove! no!' I gasped, as the true import of his words became instantly impressed upon me. 'We have enemies, Teddy—you and I—without a doubt. We've made a discovery which is destined to upset the enemy's plans—therefore they want to wipe us, and all our knowledge, out of existence. That's what you mean—isn't it?'
My chum nodded in the affirmative.
'That's exactly what I do mean,' he said in a hard, meaning tone.
'Then my accident was due to treachery!' I cried angrily. 'We must discover how it was all arranged.'
'Yes. Somebody, no doubt, tampered with your machine,' Teddy declared very gravely. 'Because I believe this, I've left it just as it was, and locked it up safely with a man to look after it. We'll examine it together later on, when you're fit to run over.'
Well, to cut a long story short, we did examine it about a week later. With Harry Theed, Teddy and Roseye, we made a very complete survey of every strainer, wing-flap hinge, nut-bolt, taper-pin, eye-bolt, in fact every part of the machine, save the engine—which was quite in order and practically undamaged.
For a whole day we worked away, failing to discover anything, but late in the afternoon I noticed one of the bolts missing, and called the attention of both my companions.
'By Jove!' exclaimed Teddy. 'Why, that's the weak spot where the plane must have buckled!' Then, bending closer to the hole in which the missing steel bolt should have been, he cried: 'Look! What do you make of this—eh, Claude?'
I bent eagerly to where he indicated, and there saw something which caused me to hold my breath.
In the hole where the steel bolt should have been was a plug of broken wood!
Wood! The truth became, in that instant, quite plain. The tested steel bolt, which was most important to secure the rigidity of the aeroplane, had been withdrawn, and in its socket a plug of wood had been placed by some dastardly and unknown enemy!
The Invisible Hand, of which I had spoken so many times, had very narrowly sent me to my death!
Who could have tampered with my machine?
All four of us stood gazing at each other, aghast at the discovery of that wicked plot against my life. My escape had been miraculous. I had risen easily from the ground, the wooden bolt holding the plane in position, but as soon as I had attempted to turn, strain had, of course, been placed upon the machine, and instantly the wood had snapped, so that I had come down to earth like a log.
'If there is a desperate plot against me, Roseye,' I said, looking straight at her, 'then there is, surely, a similar one against you, and also against Teddy. Our enemies are desperate, and they know a good deal—that's certain. Perhaps they have somehow learnt that we four possess the secret of how the Zeppelin menace can be combated. No secret however is safe from the owner of the Invisible Hand. Hence, if an attempt is made to send me to my death—attempts will also be made against you both.'
'Well—that seems quite feasible—at any rate,' remarked Teddy. 'I don't think Roseye should go up again—just for the present.'
'Certainly not,' I said. 'There's some deep-laid and desperate scheme against us. Of that, I'm now convinced. Our enemies do not mean to allow us to conduct any further experiments—if they can help it.'
'But they don't know the truth, Claude,' chimed in Roseye.
'No. They are working most strenuously to get at it. That's quite clear.'
'But who can they be?' asked my well-beloved.
'Ah! That's a mystery—at least it is at the present. It is a very serious problem which we must seek to solve.'
'But we shall do so, sooner or later, never fear,' Teddy exclaimed confidently. 'We hold the secret, and our enemies, whoever they may be, shall never learn it.'
A silence fell between us for several moments.
At last I said:
'I wonder who that woman was that old Theed declares he saw on that night out at Gunnersbury?'
'Ah! if we knew that, my dear chap, we might make some progress in our inquiries. But we don't,' Teddy said. 'Her identity is just as much of a mystery as that of the owner of the Invisible Hand—that hand that took out the steel bolt and replaced it with one of wood.'
'But I mean to discover the author of this infernal attempt upon me!' I exclaimed fiercely. 'Whoever did it intended that I should be killed.'
'Never mind. You've cheated them finely, Claude,' Teddy laughed. 'Get quite well, old man, and we'll set to work to fathom this mystery, and give whoever is responsible his just deserts.'
'That we will,' I said resolutely. 'It's the dirty work of somebody who is jealous of us.'
'Yes. And I think that Miss Lethmere ought to exercise the very greatest care,' he remarked. 'As they failed in their attempt upon you, they may very probably make one upon her.'
'By Jove! I never thought of that!' I gasped, staring at my friend. 'And they might form a plot against you also—remember that, Teddy.'
'Quite likely,' said my chum airily. 'I'll keep wide awake, never fear. What about getting old Theed to suggest some good private detective?'
'No,' was my prompt reply. 'We'll be our own detectives. We'll watch and wait.'