Jack Harkaway and his Sons Escape from the Brigands of Greece | Page 9

the gardens.
Close by the spot where he had previously met his companions in crime, there was a man awaiting him with a big bundle.
"Matteo, is it you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good; give me the other dress out. Quick! I must change, and be back before my absence can be noticed."
As he spoke, he had already torn from the hands of the man Matteo a pair of trunks of blue cloth slashed with amber silk, and quick as an eye could wink, he was into them.
And then he fastened on a similarly coloured mantle.
"Tell me, Matteo, does that change me?"
"Yes, perfectly."
"Good! take this."
"What, jewels?"
"Hush! hear all, see all, and say nothing. Away with you, now."
"Yes. Where to?"
"Back to the mountains, where we can always guard what we ourselves have made."
"True."
Just then there was a commotion in the ball-room, and a voice was heard to cry out--
"The contessa has lost her richest diamonds and other precious stones. There are robbers here. No one must leave the grounds."
"By Heaven!" ejaculated Hunston; "we are lost."
CHAPTER IV.
HUNSTON'S ADVENTURE--MOLE IN A MAZE--HE MEETS AN EVIL SPIRIT-- GROSS OUTRAGE ON HIS WOODEN LEGS--MATHIAS IN TROUBLE-THE ASSASSIN'S KNIFE.
Quasimodo, who had detected one of the devils, was Magog Brand.
The audacity of the fearless Greek had carried him through so far, but Quasimodo had spoilt him at last.
A number of gentlemen in the company began to inquire very minutely into the affair.
Prominent amongst them was Harkaway.
He and Jefferson, prompt to act as ever, inquired into the circumstances of this gross outrage, and then it was elicited that the depredator was seen last in diabolical costume.
"A devil!" ejaculated one of the company. "Of course, I saw the man myself."
"I too," said another.
"Yes, he wore a red feather in his high-crowned hat."
"No," said another; "a feather, it is true, but the feather was green, I am sure."
Upon this, Magog Brand came forward.
"I saw it all done," he said. "I saw the man who did it"
"What, rob the contessa?"
"Yes, and as soon as I saw what It meant, I gave the alarm; but the devil disappeared like greased lightning."
"There!" exclaimed half a dozen at once, "I said it was the devil."
"Yes," added one of the guests, eagerly. "What coloured feather had he?"
"Red," ejaculated another, immediately.
"Green," retorted the opposite faction, loudly, but Magog Brand said--
"It was neither red nor green," said he, "but a bright yellow."
Now, while this inquiry was being proceeded with, nobody happened to observe one singular circumstance.
That was the presence, the whole of the time, in the motley-coloured crowd, of one of the diabolical trio in question.
This very devil no sooner heard the question raised about the coloured feathers in their head gear, than he doffed his hat unperceived and pulled out the feather.
And then, as the controversy grew warmer, he sneaked off.
He made all possible haste for the garden gate.
Once here he was about to rush through, when he was accosted by two men, whose uniform gave him an unpleasant twinge.
They were gendarmes.
"You cannot leave the ground yet, sir," said one of them sharply.
"I don't wish to," replied the devil, promptly. "I come to bring you orders."
"I beg your pardon," said the gendarme.
"A robbery has been committed."
"Yes, sir."
"That is the reason you have had your orders to guard the gate. Oh, you know it. Well, what you don't know is that the robbery is supposed to have been committed by a masker dressed as I am. Take particular note of my dress."
"Yes, sir."
The gendarme grinned as he said this.
"Keep your eyes open. These are the contessa's particular orders."
"Trust me, sir."
"There is a reward if you capture the thief."
The gendarme laughed at this, and said, with an air of self-confidence --"I think I shall get him."
The merry devil slapped the gendarme upon the back heartily.
"You are the sort of man for my money."
Saying which, he turned and left the spot.
Making his way to a place in the grounds previously agreed upon, he ran across the brigand Matteo armed with a change of dress for him.
The spot selected was up one of the narrowest alleys in the grounds, at the end of which was a species of Hampton Court maze in miniature.
Just as the diabolical one was about to divest himself of half of his skin, Matteo gave the alarm.
"The devil!" ejaculated the masker, which was, perhaps, the most natural exclamation he could make, all things considered. "What can this be? Somebody watched me here."
He waited a minute or so in anxiety.
An unsteady footfall was heard upon the gravel walk, and a man in a cloak came staggering along.
"They may call this a grand _f��te_ if they like," he mumbled. "I call it a shabby affair. Why, there's not a respectable drink in the place. The lucky thing is that I have provided my own."
He had a bottle with him, and he sucked at it