World's End Part 37

"Ah," said Fulk, "I cannot swim."

"I can," said Aymer; "I learnt in the sea." He remembered his few bright months of wandering before he had met Violet.

"I am glad of it, though I had provided for that. The bladders that would have supported you, can carry our dry clothes to change."

"The bladders--have you got some to float you?"

"I have; but, first of all, the courtyard and the wall. We must not descend into the courtyard, because at one end there is a window-- Theodore's window--and he is here now; at the other it opens on the grounds, and warders are sometimes about. It is the wall we must attack."

"All we want now is a rope and a grapnel."

"I have a rope and a grapnel. Where? In my bed. What rope? Bell-rope partly, partly bed cording. How did I get it? By being mad. By picking everything to pieces with my fingers, as mad people will. They humoured me, and I secreted half the pieces while they carelessly removed the other. I have a long, strong rope; long enough to go up the wall and down the other side. I have also a grapnel."

"That is fortunate. How did you make a grapnel?"

"I did not make it; the warder brought it to me. You wonder. But you noticed the crenelated wall: that is the secret. My grapnel is simply a very long, strong ruler, such as are used in keeping ledgers, and in some mechanical drawing; I had it ostensibly for drawing. This ruler must be tied across the rope; when the rope is flung over the wall, the ruler will catch across the crenelation. There is the grapnel. The rope at its lower end will be fastened to the upright pillar, or whatever the technical name may be, which divides my window into two.

There's the ladder."

"And the swimming bladders?"

"I made them out of an old Macintosh, which I also tore up: I sewed them together. Mad people have whims: one of mine was to mend my own clothes; so I got needles and thread. They are also in my bed. They have simply to be inflated with air; they have cords to fasten to the body."

"How clever! I should never have thought of such things. But why did you not escape before I came? You had all the materials required."

"True--all the means; but not the physical strength, nor the physical courage. I could not do it without a companion to a.s.sist me. You forget my leg was broken; it is still weak. You forget that I have been confined without exercise for two years--enough to weaken any man; and I was never strong. I used to envy Odo as he climbed trees, like the wild man of the woods he is by nature. Besides, I wanted courage; don't despise me. I have moral courage, but I have no physical courage. I jumped from the wall--yes; but under extreme excitement--this must be done coolly; and I could not climb the rope. You must climb first, and drag me up by sheer force."

"I will do it somehow," said Aymer. "But why not tie loops in the rope for your feet and hands? Is it long enough?"

"Plenty; I never thought of that. Two heads are better than one. I will do that this very night. How long do you think it will take you to recover yourself?"

"I will try it to-morrow," said Aymer.

"No; that is too soon. Say the night after. We must go as early in the evening as is compatible with being unseen, so as to have the whole night to escape in. Now sleep. I shall not say another word."

He withdrew, and Aymer vainly tried to slumber. He could not sleep till morning, and he did not wake till far into the day. His breakfast was waiting for him. As he sat down to it with a better appet.i.te, Fulk spoke to him from the picture.

"You look better," he said; "your long sleep has refreshed you. Shall we try it to-night? I own I am afraid lest some trifle should delay us."

"To-night, certainly," said Aymer. "I feel quite well now. It was simply a heaviness--a drowsiness--a narcotic, perhaps. Let it be to-night. I must go to Violet."

"Ah, Violet!" sighed Fulk. "That was my poor wife's name too. I shall love your Violet. I will help you. I know more of the world than you do."

The day pa.s.sed slowly. They conversed in low tones nearly all the time.

Aymer, led on by Fulk's gentle ways, frankly told him all his struggles, his disappointments, his hopes. Fulk was deeply interested.

At last he said--

"At ten we will do it, or perish. I have a mind," he said, "to let you go alone; you are stronger than I am. Very likely my nervousness or weakness will spoil the whole enterprise; but you could do it certainly."

"I will not hear of such a thing," said Aymer; "I will not attempt it without you. Do you think I am a cur?"

The dusk fell gradually--so slowly that it tried Aymer's patience terribly. Davidson lit the gas, and left him the evening paper.

"Glad to see you getting better, sir," he said, civilly.

He withdrew, and nothing now remained between them and the task except the twilight. Aymer kept urging to commence. Fulk thought it was not dark enough. At half-past nine a cloud came over the sky.

"_Now_," said Fulk; "I have got the rope ready. Take the picture down, and scramble through the hole. No; hand me your change of dress first.

There is the rope."

Aymer had no difficulty in getting through, and at once picked up the rope. At one end he found a heavy k.n.o.b of coal fastened.

"That is to throw it up by," said Fulk, "and to make the rope hang down the other side. I hid it for that purpose."

Fulk put the window open, shading the gas by the blind. Aymer coiled up the rope on his left arm to let it run out easily; and was glad now of the physical education he had unwillingly imbibed at old Martin Brown's.

Many a time he had cast the cart-line over a tall waggon-load of straw.

He looked out, measured the height, and hurled the k.n.o.b of coal. It flew straight up into the air, carrying with it the destinies of two men, like a shot from a mortar over a s.h.i.+p in distress. A moment of suspense--it cleared the wall, the rope ran out quickly, till but a few feet were left in Aymer's hands. Fulk opened the other half of the window; the rope was pa.s.sed round the upright and secured. Next the air-belt had to be fastened under Fulk's chest and inflated. Aymer tied his change of clothes and Fulk's in the other air-belt, and adjusted them to his back. These inc.u.mbrances gave him some little uneasiness.

He pulled at the rope--it was firm; the ruler had caught the crenelations. Then arose the difficulty as to who should go first; Aymer, with a lurking suspicion lest Fulk's heart should fail, compelled him to take the lead. He helped him at the window, and saw a new danger. Their shadows were projected on the wall opposite; if any one looked that way it would be seen in an instant that something was going forward. Below on the right was a bow window, and from this bow window a stream of light fell upon the rope. However it was too late to hesitate.

Folk clung like a cat till he got his foot into the first loop, then he went up fairly well. As soon as he was up, and Aymer could see his form dimly astride of the wall, he followed. Halfway up, as he looked down, he saw a man in the bow window approach and draw down the blind. If he had looked out he must have seen the rope and Aymer, but he did not.

When the blinds were down the rope became invisible. With a beating heart Aymer found himself at the top of the wall, astride, facing Fulk, who pressed his hand.

"I feel all right now we have started," he whispered; "I think I shall manage it yet."

There were no loops for the descent. Aymer, after one glance at the city lights before him, slid down first, and let himself into the water gently. He adjusted the load on his back on the float: then shook the line as a signal to Fulk, who came halfway down well, but his nervous excitement overcame him, and he rather fell than slid the remainder, reaching the water with a splash. His head did not go under, but they feared lest any one had heard it. In a few seconds, as all was quiet, Aymer struck out, pus.h.i.+ng the float in front and dragging Fulk behind.

He had no load to support, but simply to force his way through the water. It was chilly, but not so cold as he had feared. It smelt unpleasant--some chemical works discharged into it. Though a fairly good swimmer, Aymer had a hard struggle to cross the broad ca.n.a.l, and more than once paused to recover his strength. At last they landed on the towing path, and without a moment's delay got over a low wall into some back garden and changed their clothes, wrapping the wet things round a loose brick from the wall and dropping them in the water. They then made haste along the towing path, Aymer leading, and emerged at a bridge into a broad thoroughfare, gaslit but deserted.

"Come on," whispered Aymer. "There is the station; we shall catch the up 10:15 train to London."

"Is that the station?" said Fulk. "Then here we part. Good-by."

"Part? What do you mean?"

"I mean this: that I owe you my liberty--I shall repay you. I shall stay here and watch for your Violet--I am sure she is here."

It was useless arguing with him: Fulk was determined.

"I shall easily hide in this great city," he said. "We shall be on the watch in two places at once--you at Belthrop and World's End, and I here. Make haste. By-the-by, can you lend me a pound or two? I have no money with me."

Aymer insisted upon dividing the sixty-five pounds he had left. Then they shook hands.

"Stay," said Fulk, "our rendezvous?--Where shall we meet again?

Quick!--your train."

"At The Place, World's End," said Aymer at a venture, and with one more rapid handshake ran off. He caught his train, and by one in the morning was in London.

Poor Fulk, wandering he hardly knew where on the look out for a quiet inn, came suddenly into a crowded street, and amidst a number of carriages evidently waiting. He looked up--it was some theatre or other. There was a large poster announcing that the famous singer Mademoiselle F--o would perform that evening in the Sternhold Hall, and as he read, he heard a loud encore which reached even to the street.

"I remember her," he thought. "I saw her at Vienna the year before I was captured. They said she was this Marese Baskette's mistress--a splendid creature. I've half a mind--I haven't heard a song for so long--"