The Island Mystery Part 27

"Do you know the flag, Smith?" asked Gorman.

"No, sir, can't say I do. But she looks like a foreigner. Not English.

Shall you want anything more, sir?"

Gorman did not at the moment want anything which Smith would supply.

He wanted information, but it was useless to ask for that. Smith, who seemed uninterested in the steamer, left the balcony.

Donovan gazed at the steamer through the gla.s.ses.

"Well," he said, "if it's not an Emperor, it's the next thing. That's our little friend Konrad Karl standing on the deck."

He handed the gla.s.ses to Gorman.

King Konrad Karl stood beside the gun on the after-deck of the steamer. He looked neat and cool. He was dressed with care in well-fitting light grey clothes, a soft grey hat and white shoes. The gla.s.ses were powerful. Gorman could even see that he wore a pale mauve tie.

"I'm pleased to see that monarch," said Donovan. "He seemed to me less starched than most members of your aristocracies when I met him in London. Where's Daisy? She'll be sorry if she misses the opportunity of welcoming a fellow monarch to her sh.o.r.es."

"I'm afraid," said Gorman, "that she's off at the far side of the island. She told me this morning that she was going over there to plan out an electric power station. There's a waterfall somewhere. I haven't seen it myself. The Queen's idea is to make use of it to light the island."

Donovan took up the gla.s.ses when Gorman laid them down. He watched the steamer.

"The King is wasting no time," he said. "He's coming ash.o.r.e right now.

They're lowering a boat. I wonder what brings him here."

"He's probably come to persuade you to give the island back to him, re-sell it."

"That deal," said Donovan, "is closed. I'll be obliged to you, Gorman, if you'll make that plain to him."

"I expect the Emperor has sent him."

"I'd expect some pretty lively bidding," said Donovan, "with the Emperor and a king in the ring, if the island was up for auction. But it's not. I'm not going back on my bargain. I'm very well satisfied with Salissa as a place of residence. I feel I might live a long time on Salissa. Come to think of it, there's no reason why any one should ever die here. It's worry and annoyance preying on the human heart, which kill men."

A boat put off from the steamer's side as Donovan spoke. It rowed towards the palace steps. King Konrad Karl sat in the stern.

"Gorman," said Donovan, "it will prolong my days if you go down and meet that king. Make it plain to him that it's no kind of use his trying to talk me round, because I'm not going to listen to him. He's welcome to stay in the palace as long as he likes. But he's not to worry me. If he seems any way determined on talking business, you quote the certificate of that doc."

CHAPTER XX

King Konrad Karl took Gorman's hand and wrung it heartily.

"My friend Gorman," he said. "How are you? But I need not ask. I see.

You are top-tipping."

"Thanks," said Gorman. "Salissa agrees with me. And Paris does not seem to have done you any harm."

"Paris! Ah, in Paris one lives, and I am in the pink. But, alas and d.a.m.n, I leave Paris. I take trains. I travel fast. I embark." He waved his hand towards the steamer. "Finally, I arrive."

"How did you come to embark in that curious-looking s.h.i.+p? I never saw a steamer like her before."

"That," said the King, "is the navy of Megalia. I come as a King, in a state."

"I rather wonder that you trusted yourself to that navy," said Gorman.

"After what you told me about the fate of the late king. It was that same steamer, I suppose, which brought the Prime Minister and the rest of them out here to cut your predecessor's throat."

"Otto? Yes. It was the navy. You are right. They killed poor Otto. No doubt they would jump up to the chance to kill me too. But just now they cannot, and I am safe as a bank in England. The Emperor----"

"Ah," said Gorman, "I thought we'd get to the Emperor soon."

"The Emperor said, 'Carry the King to Salissa in the navy of Megalia.'

That is all, but that is enough. No, my friend, they will not kill me now. Afterwards perhaps. But afterwards I shall not be here. I shall return to Paris."

"I wonder you ever left Paris," said Gorman, "but I suppose that was the Emperor too."

"You are right. You hit it the first time you shoot. The Emperor sends to me Steinwitz--a cursed pig--a cur dog with mange on him--an outsider from the ranks, that is, I think you say a rank outsider--a bounder, my friend Gorman--a sweeper of chimneys--a swine----"

"I'm sure he's all that. I don't care for the man myself, but tell me what he said to you."

"Steinwitz came into my hotel. He said, 'The American will not sell Salissa. It is necessary that you marry the girl.' I said 'Good. Where is she? To-morrow I will do it.' But he said, 'The girl is not here.

It is for you to go to Salissa at once. She is there.' Conceive it, my friend. I did not want to leave Paris. We were happy there, Corinne and I. But at once, in a jiffy, I am off to this place and without Corinne. It is a hard line, for me the hardest line."

"But why the deuce did you do it? Oh, I needn't ask that. The Emperor, of course. Well, I don't know whether you'll be pleased to hear it or not, but you can't marry the girl."

"But--you do not quite understand. For me there is no choice. It is: d.a.m.n it, I must. The Emperor----"

"Even the Emperor can't make the same girl marry two men. I happen to know that Miss Donovan is engaged to a young fellow called Phillips, and fifty Emperors yelling at her at once wouldn't make her give him up."

The King seized Gorman's hand and shook it heartily. His face expressed great delight.

"Where," he said, "is the young fellow called Phillips? I wish to see him at once, to embrace him. I shall bestow on him the Order of the Pink Vulture of Megalia, First Cla.s.s. I shall make him a Count. Do you think, my friend, that he would wish to be a Count? His action is most n.o.ble. He is a good sporter. I will now go back to Paris. The Emperor can say no more to me. The young fellow Phillips has married the girl."

"Not quite married her," said Gorman, "but it's nearly the same thing."

The King waved his hand airily.

"It is quite the same thing. No man of honour--the young fellow Phillips is above all a man of honour--would go backwards from his word. Besides there is your English court of broken promises of marriage. He would not face that. I write at once to the Emperor. I tell him that I regret, that I am desolate, but I can do no more. The young fellow Phillips has cut me up--no, has cut out--that is, he has cut me in. Then I return to Paris. To-day I shall start. The navy of Megalia will get up steam and----"

The King stopped abruptly. The smile died on his face. He had all the appearance of extreme dejection.

"My friend," he said, "it will not work. I forgot one thing. I am up in a tree. What am I to do?"

"What's the matter?" said Gorman. "You were just saying you'd go back to Paris. That strikes me as an excellent plan. What's the matter with it?"

"I had forgotten one thing," said the King. "If I cannot marry the girl, I am no longer any use. The Emperor will not care a d.a.m.n what happens to me. The Admiral of Megalia is there, Gorman, on the navy.

The Emperor's command no longer protects. The admiral will say, 'h.e.l.l and Hurrah! Now is my chance.'"