“What you want?” she sobbed.
“Did you go in Mr. Questing’s car to Pohutukawa Bay on the day when Smith was nearly run over?”
“I never do anything bad with him,” roared poor Huia, relapsing into pidgin English. “Only go for drive to te Bay and come back. Never stop te engine, all time.”
“Did you see the pootacows?” said Simon.
“How can we go to Pohutukawa Bay and not see pohutukawas? Of course we see pohutukawas like blazes all over te shop.”
“Did Eru Saul change his shirt in the kitchen that night?”
“What te devil you ask me nex’! Let me catch him change his shirt in my kitchen.”
“Oh, gee!” said Simon disgustedly and Huia plunged back into the house.
“It must be nearly lunch time,” the Colonel remarked vaguely. He followed Huia indoors and shouted for his wife.
“This is a madhouse,” said Dr. Ackrington.
Webley came out of Questing’s room. “Mr. Bell,” he said, “may I trouble you, please?” iv
“I couldn’t feel more uncomfortable,” Dikon thought as he walked along the verandah, “if I’d killed poor old Questing myself. It’s extraordinary.”
Webley stood on one side at the door, followed Dikon inside and shut it. The blind was pulled down and the light was on so that Dikon was vividly reminded of his visit of the previous night. The pearl-grey worsted suit was still neatly disposed upon a chair. The ties and the puce-coloured pyjamas were in their former positions. Webley went to the dressing-table and took up an envelope. Dikon saw with astonishment that it was addressed to himself in the neat commercial script of Smith’s talisman.
“Before you open this, Mr. Bell, I’d like to have a witness.” He put his head round the door and mumbled inaudibly. Mr. Falls was cautiously admitted.
“A witness before or after the fact, Sergeant?” he asked archly.
“A witness to the fact, shall we say, sir?”
“But why in heaven’s name did he write to me?” Dikon murmured.
“That’s what we’ll find out, Mr. Bell. Will you open it?”
It was written in green ink on a sheet of business paper on which printed titles were set out, representing Mr. Questing as an indent agent and representative of several firms. It bore the date of the previous day and was headed: “Private and Confidential.”
Dear Mr. Bell [Dikon read],
You will be somewhat surprised to receive this communication. An unexpected cable necessitates my visiting Australia and I am leaving for Auckland first thing tomorrow morning to see about a passage by air. I shall not be returning for some little while.
Now, Mr. Bell, I should commence by telling you that I appreciate the very very happy little relationship that has obtained since I first had the pleasure of contacting you. The personal antagonism that I have encountered in other quarters has never entered into our acquaintance and I take this opportunity of thanking you for your courtesy. You will note that I have endorsed this letter p. and c. It is rather particularly so and I am sure I can rely upon you to keep the spirit of the endorsement. If you are not prepared to do so I will ask you to destroy this letter unread.
“I can’t go on with this,” said Dikon.
“If you don’t, sir, we will. He’s dead, remember.”
“Oh, hell!”
“You can read it to yourself if you like, Mr. Bell,” said Webley, keeping his eyes on Mr. Falls, “and then hand it over.”
Dikon read on a little way, made an ejaculation and finally said: “No, by George, you shall hear it.” And he read the letter aloud.
Now, Mr. Bell, I am going to be very very frank with you. You may have understood from remarks that have been passed that I have become interested in certain possibilities regarding a particular district not ten miles distant from where you are located.
Mr. Falls murmured: “Enchanting circumlocution.”
“That’ll be the Peak,” said Webley, still watching him. “Quite.”
I have in the course of my visits made certain discoveries. To put it bluntly, on Friday last, the evening before the S.S. Hokianga was torpedoed off this certain place, I was on the latter and I observed certain suspicious occurrences. They were as follows. Being on the face overlooking the sea, my attention was arrested by a light which flashed several times from a spot some way farther up the slope. For personal reasons I was undesirous of contacting other persons. I therefore remained where I was, some nine feet off the track, lying behind some scrub. From here I observed a certain person, who passed by and was recognized by myself but who did not notice me. This morning, Saturday, I learnt of the sinking of the Hokianga and at once connected it with the above incident. I sought out the person in question and accused him straight out of being an enemy agent. He denied it and added that if I went any further in the matter he would turn the tables on myself. Now, Mr. Bell, this put me in a very awkward spot. My activities in this particular place have leaked out and there are some who have not hesitated, as I am well aware, to put a very very nasty interpretation on them. I am not in a position to right myself against any accusations this person might bring and in his position he is more likely to be believed than I am. I was forced to give an undertaking that I would not say that I had seen him. He adopted a very threatening attitude. I do not think he trusts me. I don’t mind admitting I’m uneasy. He seemed to think I had inside information about his code of signals, which is not the case.
Now, Mr. Bell, I am a man of my word but I am also a patriot. I venerate the British Commonwealth of Nations and the idea of a spy in God’s Own Little Country gets my goat good and proper. Hence this letter.
So it seems to me, Mr. Bell, that the best thing I can do is to fix up this little matter of business across the Tasman right away. I shall tell Mrs. C. I am going in the morning.
So I drop you this line which I shall post before taking the air for Aussie. You will note that I have kept my undertaking to this person and have not mentioned his name. I trust you, Mr. Bell, not to communicate the matter of this letter to anyone else, but to take what action you think best in all other respects.
Again expressing my appreciation for our very pleasant association.
With kind regards,
Yours faithfully,
Maurice Questing
Dikon folded the letter and gave it to Webley.
“ ‘I do not think he trusts me,’ ” quoted Mr. Falls. “How right he was!”
“Yes,” Dikon agreed and added, “He was right about another thing too. He was an appalling scamp, but I always rather liked him.”
Huia rang the luncheon bell.
Chapter XIV
Solo by Septimus Falls
Before they left the room Webley showed Dikon how Questing had already packed most of his clothes. Webley had forced open a heavy leather suitcase and found it full of pieces of greenstone, implements, and weapons; the fruits, he supposed, of many nights’ digging on the Peak. Rewi’s adze, Webley said, had been locked apart in another case. Dikon guessed that Questing had planned to show it to Gaunt when they returned from the concert and had kept it apart for that purpose.
“Do you suppose he meant to try and sell the other stuff in Australia?” he asked.
“That might be the case, Mr. Bell, but he would never have got it past the Customs examination. The export of such things is strictly prohibited.”