For the ghost of the past was still watching, silent and hideous, against the railings of Berkeley Square.
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
CONTAINS A SURPRISE.
That short February day was indeed an eventful one, both for the rival investigators, and for the whole Hebrew race.
Almost at that same hour when Sir Felix Challas left his London mansion so hurriedly, and in such fear, "Red Mullet" was being conducted up a long, wood-built, unpainted corridor where the uncarpeted floor was full of holes and the broken windows were patched, to a small shabby little reception-room--the waiting-room of the Sublime Porte, or Government Offices at Constantinople.
A Turkish servant in a dingy red fez, handed him the usual formal cup of blade coffee and cigarette, and he was left alone to await his audience with the Grand Vizier of his Imperial Majesty, the Sultan.
It was not the first time in the course of his adventurous career that he had had audience at the Sublime Porte. He knew the shabbiness and the decay of that great shed-like building, its lack of order, its seedy-looking officials, and its altogether incongruous appearance as the centre of the administration of a great empire.
Smoking the cigarette, he stood gazing thoughtfully out upon the rubbish heap in the courtyard below. Beyond, lay Pera, and the blue Bosphorus.
The room, with its bare walls, faded Oriental carpet, rickety writing-table and few shabby chairs, was the apartment where the Ambassadors of the Powers awaited audience of the Grand Vizier, or of his Excellency, Tewfik Pasha, his Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs. A contrast indeed to the fairylike glories of the palace of Yildiz.
Five minutes later, the tall, red-moustached Englishman was conducted to a private room, shabby as was all at the Sublime Porte, where, at a table, sat a benevolent white-bearded old gentleman in frock-coat and fez, the Grand Vizier of the Sultan.
The high official greeted him in French, and having motioned him to a chair on the opposite side of the table, said:
"I am greatly obliged to you, M'sieur Mullet. I have read with intense interest the document you gave me yesterday, and last evening I placed the matter before his Majesty, my sovereign, at the Palace. As you are aware, his Majesty is always tolerant of other religions that are not our Faith, and has ever been most lenient towards the Hebrew race. This discovery, and your statement that certain persons hostile to the Jewish religion are in search of the supposed sacred relics, have both interested him, and he has commanded me to tell you that inquiries have been made by telegraph in Jerusalem. It appears that a certain Englishman named James Jannaway is staying at the Park Hotel, and is in treaty with the owners of two plots of land at the base of the Mount of Offence, one belonging to Poulios, a Greek, and the other to a certain Hadj Ben Hassan, an Arab. The Governor of Jerusalem reports that the price is fixed, and only the contracts remain to be drawn."
"The man Jannaway, your Excellency, is the agent of Sir Felix Challas,"
declared Mullet.
"As you yourself have been when you have visited Constantinople to obtain concessions from us on previous occasions, M'sieur!" remarked the wily Turkish official. "Why have you betrayed your employer?"
"For reasons which I have already explained in the document I handed to you. Your Excellency has always been extremely good to me personally, and I deemed it but my duty to inform you of the secret excavations about to take place in Jerusalem."
"You have no ulterior motive--eh?" asked the old man, fixing his eyes keenly upon him.
"None whatever, your Excellency. On the contrary, I shall be the loser."
The Grand Vizier stroked his beard for a few moments in thoughtful silence. Then he said:
"His Majesty never fails to repay generously any service rendered him.
I may as well tell you he considers the rendering of this information a very valuable service. It might easily have happened that the most sacred relics of the Hebrews could have been taken from our country in secret by enemies of the Jews, a circumstance which would have caused his Majesty the utmost annoyance and anger."
"Your Excellency has already satisfied yourself that I have told the truth, I hope?"
"Certainly; during the night I have had several long telegrams from the Governor of Jerusalem, all of which bear out your allegation of a secret attempt about to be made to excavate in the Mount of Offence."
"And what action will the Ottoman Government take?" asked "Red Mullet,"
eagerly.
"His Majesty has already taken action," was the Grand Vizier's reply.
"This morning he signed an irade which I placed before him, prohibiting the sale of any of the land of the Mount of Offence to any foreigner, and forbidding any excavations or any investigation whatsoever being made there."
"Red Mullet" was silent. The situation was an unexpected one. Such an irade would prevent Griffin and Diamond--the rightful holders of the secret--from taking any action, or making any investigation! By successfully opposing Challas, he had unfortunately also opposed Professor Griffin!
"Is not that--well--well, just a little in opposition to his Majesty's well-known policy of progress? The Imperial irade forbids any investigation whatever, I take it?"
"It forbids every investigation, of whatever nature," slowly replied the white-bearded mouthpiece of the Sultan. "Besides, there is a Jewish cemetery in close proximity; we will not have that desecrated, by either archaeologists or treasure-hunters."
"Then the secret cipher elucidated by Professor Griffin is to remain an unsolved problem?" Mullet said in a tone of great disappointment.
"For the present, yes," was the old gentleman's response. "There are many difficulties. Suppose the sacred relics were really discovered, to whom would they belong?"
"To the Hebrew race--and permit me to express the opinion, your Excellency, that they should be searched for, and given over to the Jews."
"I am not yet in a position to advise his Majesty upon that point. For the present, investigation and excavation are absolutely prohibited.
But, rest assured, that no one is more alive to the importance of Professor Griffin's discovery than his Majesty himself. Indeed, he wishes for an exact transcript of this extraordinary record in your Bible."
"That investigation by the anti-Semitic group should be prohibited, I am, of course, much gratified, your Excellency. But I do hope sincerely that one day his Majesty will allow the right of research to the rightful holders of the secret--who, as I have stated, are the discoverer, Professor Griffin, and his friends."
"Including yourself, M'sieur Mullet--eh?"
"Yes, including myself, your Excellency," laughed the red-moustached man. "I would most humbly petition his Majesty, through you, to grant to me the concession to search after the truth, if his Majesty ever grants one."
"For the present, rest assured, Mr Mullet, that no permission will be given to any one. There are many eventualities to be considered, as well as international complications. But if any concession be granted in the future, his Majesty will certainly accord it to you, in consideration of the important and timely information which you have so generously furnished to us."
"Then we need not fear the success of our enemies," laughed the tall Englishman, with much gratification.
"Certainly not," answered the venerable old gentleman with a smile.
"See here," and he pointed to an open telegram before him, "this is the last despatch from the Governor of Jerusalem, an hour ago. By my orders the Mount of the Offence is surrounded by a cordon of military, who have instructions to allow no one to pass. I have taken this precaution in case the affair gets into the press, and the spot is visited by great crowds, as it well may be. So," laughed the Grand Vizier, "you have to-day given your friend, M'sieur Jannaway, a rather unpleasant surprise, I should fancy."
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
IS THE CONCLUSION.
The anxiety of Erich Haupt may easily be imagined when, next day at the Waldorf Hotel, he received a telegram from Challas, despatched from an obscure place in Holland, saying that he had been called away unexpectedly, and telling him to go to Berkeley Square and open any telegrams that might be there.
He drove westward in a "taxi"--and found one message. It was in code from Jim Jannaway. The old German had noticed where the financier kept the code-book, and had but little difficulty in finding it.
"We have been given away," it ran. "The spot is now guarded by military. Sale of land, and all investigation forbidden, and we have received an intimation to leave Palestine at once. Coming home."
Haupt's dismay and chagrin was complete. He drove to the nearest telegraph-office and "wired" to Jannaway that Sir Felix had been called away.
This telegram, however, did not reach Jerusalem before Jim had left.
Therefore, when he alighted from a cab in Berkeley Square some days later and knocked eagerly at the door of Sir Felix's house, he was surprised to find it opened by a strange man.
When the hall door had closed behind him again, another man advanced, and asked:
"I believe you are Mr Jannaway?"
"That's my name," replied Jim. "Where's the gov'nor? Who the dickens are you?"
"I'm Inspector Attwell, Criminal Investigation Department," replied the other, "and I arrest you, on a warrant granted in France, for the wilful murder of Henri Laroche, banker of Rue de Rouen, Bordeaux, on December 6, 1907."