The Classic Mystery Collection - Arthur Conan Doyle [1065]
'It may be anywhere from Emden to Hamburg.' _[See Map B]_
'Ho, there's a limit; it's probably somewhere near. Grimm was to come, and he's at Memmert.'
'Here's the map... Emden and Norddeich are the only coast stations till you get to Wilhelmshaven--no, to Carolinensiel; but those are a long way east.'
'And Emden's a long way south. Say Norddeich then; but according to this there's no train there after _6.15_ p.m.; that's hardly "night". When's high tide on the 25th?'
'Let's see--8.30 here to-night--Norddeich'll be the same. Somewhere between 10.30 and 11 on the 25th.'
'There's a train at Emden at 9.22 from Leer and the south, and one at 10.50 from the north.'
'Are you counting on another fog?' said Davies, mockingly.
'No; but I want to know what our plans are.'
'Can't we wait till this cursed inspection's over?'
'No, we can't; we should come to grief.' This was no barren truism, for I was ready with a plan of my own, though reluctant to broach it to Davies.
Meanwhile, ready or not, we had to start. The cabin we left as it was, changing nothing and hiding nothing; the safest course to take, we thought, in spite of the risk of further search. But, as usual, I transferred my diary to my breast-pocket, and made sure that the two official letters from England were safe in a compartment of it.
'What do you propose?' I asked, when we were in the dinghy again.
'It's a case of "as you were",' said Davies. 'To-day's trip was a chance we shall never get again. We must go back to last night's decision--tell them that we're going to stay on here for a bit. Shooting, I suppose we shall have to say.'
'And courting?' I suggested.
'Well, they know all about that. And then we must watch for a chance of tackling Dollmann privately. Not to-night, because we want time to consider those clues of yours.'
'"Consider"?' I said: 'that's putting it mildly.'
We were at the ladder, and what a languid stiffness oppressed me I did not know till I touched its freezing rungs, each one of which seared my sore palms like red-hot iron.
The overdue steamer was just arriving as we set foot on the quay. 'And yet, by Jove! why not to-night?' pursued Davies, beginning to stride up the pier at a pace I could not imitate.
'Steady on,' I protested; 'and, look here, I disagree altogether. I believe to-day has doubled our chances, but unless we alter our tactics it has doubled our risks. We've involved ourselves in too tangled a web. I don't like this inspection, and I fear that foxy old Böhme who prompted it. The mere fact of their inviting us shows that we stand badly; for it runs in the teeth of Brüning's warning at Bensersiel, and smells uncommonly like arrest. There's a rift between Dollmann and the others, but it's a ticklish matter to drive our wedge in; as to _to-night,_ hopeless; they're on the watch, and won't give us a chance. And after all, do we know enough? We don't know why he fled from England and turned German. It may have been an extraditable crime, but it may not. Supposing he defies us? There's the girl, you see--she ties our hands, and if he once gets wind of that, and trades on our weakness, the game's up.'
'What are you driving at?'
'We want to detach him from Germany, but he'll probably go to any lengths rather than abandon his position here. His attempt on you is the measure of his interest in it. Now, is to-day to be wasted?' We were passing through the public gardens, and I dropped on to a seat for a moment's rest, crackling dead leaves under me. Davies remained standing, and pecked at the gravel with his toe.
'We have got two valuable clues,' I went on; 'that rendezvous on the 25th is one, and the name Esens is the other. We may consider them to eternity; I vote we act on them.'
'How?' said Davies. 'We're under a searchlight here; and if we're caught--'
'Your plan--ugh!--it's as risky as mine, and more so,' I replied, rising with a jerk, for a spasm of cramp took me. 'We must separate,'