第56章

"Kara had purchased a new monoplane and as you know he was an excellent aviator.With this new machine he flew to Devon and arrived at dawn in one of the unfrequented parts of the moor.

"The story of my own escape needs no telling.My narrative really begins from the moment I put my foot upon the deck of the Mpret.

The first person I asked to see was, naturally, my wife.Kara, however, insisted on my going to the cabin he had prepared and changing my clothes, and until then I did not realise I was still in my convict's garb.A clean change was waiting for me, and the luxury of soft shirts and well-fitting garments after the prison uniform I cannot describe.

"After I was dressed I was taken by the Greek steward to the larger stateroom and there I found my darling waiting for me."His voice sank almost to a whisper, and it was a minute or two before he had mastered his emotions.

"She had been suspicious of Kara, but he had been very insistent.

He had detailed the plans and shown her the monoplane, but even then she would not trust herself on board, and she had been waiting in a motor-boat, moving parallel with the yacht, until she saw the landing and realized, as she thought, that Kara was not playing her false.The motor-boat had been hired by Kara and the two men inside were probably as well-bribed as the warder.

"The joy of freedom can only be known to those who have suffered the horrors of restraint.That is a trite enough statement, but when one is describing elemental things there is no room for subtlety.The voyage was a fairly eventless one.We saw very little of Kara, who did not intrude himself upon us, and our main excitement lay in the apprehension that we should be held up by a British destroyer or, that when we reached Gibraltar, we should be searched by the Brit's authorities.Kara had foreseen that possibility and had taken in enough coal to last him for the run.

"We had a fairly stormy passage in the Mediterranean, but after that nothing happened until we arrived at Durazzo.We had to go ashore in disguise, because Kara told us that the English Consul might see us and make some trouble.We wore Turkish dresses, Grace heavily veiled and I wearing a greasy old kaftan which, with my somewhat emaciated face and my unshaven appearance, passed me without comment.

"Kara's home was and is about eighteen miles from Durazzo.It is not on the main road, but it is reached by following one of the rocky mountain paths which wind and twist among the hills to the south-east of the town.The country is wild and mainly uncultivated.We had to pass through swamps and skirt huge lagoons as we mounted higher and higher from terrace to terrace and came to the roads which crossed the mountains.

"Kara's, palace, you could call it no less, is really built within sight of the sea.It is on the Acroceraunian Peninsula near Cape Linguetta.Hereabouts the country is more populated and better cultivated.We passed great slopes entirely covered with mulberry and olive trees, whilst in the valleys there were fields of maize and corn.The palazzo stands on a lofty plateau.It is approached by two paths, which can be and have been well defended in the past against the Sultan's troops or against the bands which have been raised by rival villages with the object of storming and plundering this stronghold.

"The Skipetars, a blood-thirsty crowd without pity or remorse, were faithful enough to their chief, as Kara was.He paid them so well that it was not profitable to rob him; moreover he kept their own turbulent elements fully occupied with the little raids which he or his agents organized from time to time.The palazzo was built rather in the Moorish than in the Turkish style.

"It was a sort of Eastern type to which was grafted an Italian architecture - a house of white-columned courts, of big paved yards, fountains and cool, dark rooms.

"When I passed through the gates I realized for the first time something of Kara's importance.

There were a score of servants, all Eastern, perfectly trained, silent and obsequious.He led us to his own room.

"It was a big apartment with divans running round the wall, the most ornate French drawing room suite and an enormous Persian carpet, one of the finest of the kind that has ever been turned out of Shiraz.Here, let me say, that throughout the trip his attitude to me had been perfectly friendly and towards Grace all that I could ask of my best friend, considerate and tactful.

"'We had hardly reached his room before he said to me with that bonhomie which he had observed throughout the trip, 'You would like to see your room?'

"I expressed a wish to that effect.He clapped his hands and a big Albanian servant came through the curtained doorway, made the usual salaam, and Kara spoke to him a few words in a language which I presume was Turkish.

"'He will show you the way,' said Kara with his most genial smile.

"I followed the servant through the curtains which had hardly fallen behind me before I was seized by four men, flung violently on the ground, a filthy tarbosch was thrust into my mouth and before I knew what was happening I was bound hand and foot.

"As I realised the gross treachery of the man, my first frantic thoughts were of Grace and her safety.I struggled with the strength of three men, but they were too many for me and I was dragged along the passage, a door was opened and I was flung into a bare room.I must have been lying on the floor for half an hour when they came for me, this time accompanied by a middle-aged man named Savolio, who was either an Italian or a Greek.

"He spoke English fairly well and he made it clear to me that Ihad to behave myself.I was led back to the room from whence Ihad come and found Kara sitting in one of those big armchairs which he affected, smoking a cigarette.Confronting him, still in her Turkish dress, was poor Grace.She was not bound I was pleased to see, but when on my entrance she rose and made as if to come towards me, she was unceremoniously thrown back by the guardian who stood at her side.