"Will you be good enough to tell me, then, M. Penurot, with whom I am to cla.s.s you?"

"I am willing from this moment to devote all my energies to the cause of the allies."

"Granted. But what are your wishes in the matter of reward?"

"I should like you to use your influence to obtain me the honour of an order."

Heideck was unable to conceal his astonishment at this strange request.

"Such distinctions are, as a rule, only given in Germany for acts of bravery or for services which cannot be adequately requited in hard cash."

"What I am willing to do requires bravery."

"You are only going to help me to find out the spies in Antwerp."

"But they are dangerous people to make enemies of--people whose tools would be capable of anything."

"Rest a.s.sured, M. Penurot, that your reward will correspond with the services rendered. You know that I have no order to bestow, and besides, I do not quite understand of what importance a decoration can be to you."

"You rate my sense of honour too low, Herr major! But in order that you may understand me, I will tell you a secret. I am in love with a lady of very good family, and her people would be more ready to welcome me, if I had an order."

"Then you have fixed your affections very high, I suppose?"

"That's as one takes it. In the matter of birth, I am in that painful situation which is the inheritance of all children born out of wedlock.

My mother was a Spanish dancer, my father is the wealthy Amelungen. He is fond of me and provides for me. It was he who bought the business in Breskens for me. But his wife, who is English, has no liking for me."

"I understand you even less than before. If you have such resources at your disposal, why on earth do you mix yourself up in such dangerous undertakings?"

"Herr Amelungen wished it."

"So, then, he really is the guilty party?"

"For G.o.d's sake, Herr major, you won't abuse my confidence. I should never forgive myself if anything I said were to harm Herr Amelungen."

"Do not be unnecessarily anxious. Nothing will happen either to you or to Herr Amelungen, if you can induce him to change sides and help us for the future instead of the English."

Penurot hung down his head and remained silent.

"And how about Herr van Spranekhuizen in Rotterdam?" continued Heideck.

"Of course he belongs to the league."

"He is my father's brother-in-law. His wife is an Amelungen."

"And what is the real reason why these two gentlemen, who I hear are wealthy merchants, have undertaken to act as spies for England?"

"Oh, there is nothing so wonderful in that, Herr major. France has occupied Belgium, Germany the Netherlands. Of course they are very bitter about it."

"That may be. But well-to-do merchants are not in the habit of risking their lives out of pure patriotism in such circ.u.mstances. As a rule, only those people do that who have little to lose."

"I have already told you that my father's wife is English. For love of her he does a great deal which certainly nothing else would induce him to do."

At this moment Heideck, being informed that the pinnace was ready, requested Penurot to accompany him on board. In the harbour of Flushing he took leave of him for a while, with instructions to call upon him in an hour at his office, having told him exactly where it was. He had no fear that Penurot would attempt flight. He felt absolutely sure of this gentleman.

XXVII

EBERHARD AMELUNGEN

On arriving at his office close to the Duke of Wellington Hotel, Heideck found his staff extremely busy. One lieutenant was looking through the French and German newspapers for important information; another was studying the Russian and English journals. The last were few in number and not of recent date, limited to those which had been smuggled across from England by daring skippers and fishermen. There were several despatches from St. Petersburg, containing news of fresh victories in India.

The Russian army had pushed on to Lucknow without any further engagement worth mentioning having taken place since the battle of Delhi. It seemed as if the English were for the time unwilling to meet the enemy in the open field. They apparently calculated that the heat and the enormous length of their line of communication would prevent the Russians from reaching the southern provinces in sufficient strength to overcome an energetic resistance there. But Heideck no longer believed in the possibility of such a resistance, concluding from the announcement of a stream of reinforcements arriving through the Khyber Pa.s.s that all the Russian losses would be speedily made up. In his opinion, practically the only thing left for the English was to embark the remnants of their army at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and to get a portion at least of their beaten forces safely out of India.

While he was in his office, despatches were continually arriving from Wilhelmshaven, Kiel, Brest, and Cherbourg. The intelligence department of the entire north coast was under Heideck's control.

Except for isolated naval engagements, the strategic position had, on the whole, remained unaltered for months. Both sides hesitated to risk a decisive battle. The English fleets did not venture to attack the enemy's harbours; the combined squadrons of the continental Powers seemed no more inclined to try their fortune on the open sea. Each was endeavouring to get in touch with the other, waiting for the favourable moment when his adversary's weakness might offer the prospect of successful action.

"The risks these dwellers on the coast run are astonishing," said one of Heideck's staff. "They cross the Channel in their fishing-boats and slip by the warships. The man who brought the last English papers told me that he pa.s.sed close by them to give the impression that there was nothing wrong. It needed considerable courage to risk that."

"But the enemy's spies are equally efficient. Yesterday, more by accident than any merit of my own, I caught a herring fisher in the mouth of the Schelde who was in English pay; I think I have hit on an apparently important clue, which I intend to follow up in Antwerp, after reporting myself to the Chancellor."

"He is no longer in Flushing. He has left for Antwerp with the Minister for War and the chief of the General Staff; I am told he has matters of importance to arrange with the chief of the French General Staff."

"Have you heard anything more definite as to the nature of these matters?"

"Only that the question of further mobilisation is to be discussed.

Apparently, however, the six army corps, which we now have on a war footing, are thought to be enough on our side. We are not waging war by land; why then should the burden of a further mobilisation be imposed upon the people?"

"Certainly, the sacrifices entailed by this war are enormous without that; trade and industry are completely ruined."

"The only gainer by this universal conflagration is America. Since the war broke out, the United States has supplied England with everything she used to get from the Continent."

"Well, it will all come right in the end. Now, as there seems nothing urgent for me to do here, it is time I went to Antwerp."

Eberhard Amelungen was unable to conceal his confusion, when an officer in the uniform of the Prussian General Staff appeared at the door of his private office.

Amelungen was a man about sixty years of age, a typical specimen of a substantial, respectable merchant.

"I am somewhat surprised, sir," he said in measured tones. "What can I do for you?"

Heideck introduced himself, and without wasting words told him the reason of his visit.

"I have reason to believe, Herr Amelungen, that you hold in your hands some, if not all, of the chief meshes of a widespread net of espionage.

And I think it would be to your interest to tell me the whole truth of your own accord. We know so much already that presumably it will be of little use to you to have recourse to lies."