Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

and they'll be foi* us when I let them know what's in the wind. I'll tell them to shoot anybody who sticks his head out of the caserne door during the night." "A good idea, Voisin," Schwartz com- mended. "It will enable all of us here to get some sleep without worrying about Maris and these Englishmen. All right, go on up and tell the sentries." Voisin glided from the caserne and passed forth into the enclosed parade- groimd of the military post. Yet, though the occupants of the barrack-room little dreamed it. Voisin had no intention of communicating with the guards. Instead, he slunk towards the quarters of no less a personage than Sergeant MarkofT, bent on cuiTying favour with the latter by re- vealing Schwartz' plan of mutiny, murder and desertion—a plan which Voisin would only have approved if he had been able to convince himself it could succeed. As It was, Voisin was as shrewd in judg- ment as he was treacherous by nature. He saw in Schwartz a leader who was too headstrong to be efiflcient, and he saw in the vastness of the surrounding Sahara a snare that would destroy the mutineers in the course of any desperate march they might make. For even if they eluded cap- ture by the French, there was every pos- sibility that they would become lost in the wastes—to die of thirst, or starvation, or to perish at the hands of merciless Arab tribesmen. Thus reasoned Voisin as he made for Markoff's quarters, and a minute or so after quitting the caserne he was lodged with the sergeant in the privacy of those quarters, and was embarking upon a de- tailed account of all that had transpired in the barrack-room following the an- nouncement of Lieutenant Martin's death. It was a narrative to which Markoff listened attentively and with gleaming eyes, and at the conclusion of it he ordered Voisin to return to the caserne and make out that he had talked to the sentries as arranged. Then, Voisin having departed, the sergeant settled himself in a chair and adopted the attitude of a man who was content to bide his time. For two hours he remained inactive, but at the end of that period he bestirred himself, provided himself with a revolver, left his quarters and warily approached the caserne. There he heard nothing but a commingling of snores, which satisfied him that slumber prevailed within the barrack-room, and, smiling a tv/isted smile, he straightway directed his steps to the quarters of that Corporal Rasinoff who had been mentioned by Schwartz during the plotting of the mutiny. Rasinoff was a compatriot of Markoff— a sly, fawning creature, who had ever dis- played an eagerness to toady to the ser- geant. This man Markoflf awoke out of a sound sleep, and, cm-tly explaining the position to him, commanded him to dress and to equip himself with a rifle. The coiTJoral did his bidding with feverish alacrity, and presently he and Markoff were crossing the parade ground to a flight of steps which led up to a fighting-platform behind the embrasured parapets of the stronghold's four walls. The sentries were up on that quadri- lateral platform, and, assembling them, Markoff covered them with his revolver and instructed Rasinoff to disarm them. This having been done, the guards were then marched quietly down from the ram- parts of the fort and locked in a cell used for the punishment of offenders, Markoff vowing that he would return and blow their brains out if they dared to raise the slightest outcry. With the sentinels imprisoned, sergeant and corporal now repaired to the doorway of the ban-ack-roony, and in a whisper Markoff told Rasinoff to enter the caserne and fetch out Voisin. Maris and the two Gesto brothers, adding that great care Wfus to be taken in rousing them. Noiselessly Rasinoff crept into the bar- rack-room, and in due course emerged from it again with the four legionnaires «i tohcr Htli, 19TO. BOY'S CINEMA whom Markoff had named, and whom the sergeant now addressed. "You will gather all the rifles in the caserne from the gim-rack," he stated, " and you will bring them out here. Mean- while Corporal Rasinoff and I will stand by and cover the interior of the room— ready to shoot any of those mutinous dogs in there who may chance to wake up and make a wrong move." Voisin, Maris and the two Englishmen re-entered the caserne, and reappeared one by one—each with a number of rifles in his grasp. These were stacked against the outer wall of the barrack-room, well to the left of the doorway, and it was as Beau Geste was oiling his quota of fire- arms there that Markoff stepped over to him and drew him aside. "There's a little matter I'd like to dis- cuss with you," he said. "It concerns a jewel you stole." He was levelling his revolver at Beau, and the latter stared at him blankly. "Jewel?" he echoed. "Don't try to look innocent," Markoff breathed impatiently. "I know all the facts, for I made it my business to check up on you to the best of my ability. I know that you and your brothers are the nephews of Sir Hector and Lady Patricia Brandon, of Brandon Abbas, in England. I know that Sir Hector Brandon was the owner of a famous gem called the Blue Water—a sapphire renuted to be worth thirty thousand pounds. I know chat it was stolen in circumstances which proved conclusively that a member of the family had committed the theft. And when I say ' a member of the family,' I do not include the servants of the household in that category. "You and your brothers lost your father and mother in your early childhood," he continued. "You were brought up by your aunt and v/ere residing at Brandon Abbas at the time of the robbery. It appears you had been a great comfort to your aunt, whose husband does not seem to be a very popular character. For I under- stand he spends most of his time abroad, living extravagantly, draining his estate of its resources and neglecting his lonp-suf- fering wife. She has to remain at Bran- don Abbas and listen to the complaints of tenants who live on your uncle's land and pav rent to him—tenants whose farms and cottages are going to rack and ruin be- cause he refuses to economise and lay out money for repairs and improvements to their homes." He paused, and leaned closer to Beau. "Now immediately after the theft of the Blue Water, it became clear that either you or one of your brothers was the culprit," he went on. "But before your aunt made up her mind to call in the police you disappeared one by one, each leaving a confession that exonerated the others. Your motives for writing three separate and conflicting confessions I do not know, but I'm convinced you were hand-in-glove with one another, and I'm convinced that as the oldest of the trio you were the ringleader. Moreover, as t,here is evei-y reason to believe the stolen jewel has not been sold, I am convinced you are carrying it on you. That's why I'm asking you to hand it over." Beau Geste found his voice. • Sergeant Markoff." he observed slowly, "you seem to be well informed, and most of your statements are connect. But you're wrong on one essential point. Neither I nor my brothers stole that jewel." "You lie!" the Russian snapped, and now a light of greed was visible in his eyes. "Give me that jewel, cui-se you!" Certain that Beau possessed the Blue Water, Markoff was obviously determined to obtain it—either because he intended to sell it himself, or because he hoped to secure a substantial reward by restoring it to its rightful owner. But the sergeant's grim, resolute mien left the Englishman unmoved. Nor did he so much as blink an eyelid when Markoff jabbed the re- Evciry Tuesday volver at him threateningly to lend emphasis to the demand he had made. "I have no jewel," Beau Geste said in a deliberate tone. For a brief space there was a silence, during which Markoff glowered at the Englishman menacingly. Then at length the sergeant lowered his revolver. " So you won't give up the gem, eh?" he grunted. "Well, I'll let you have an oppoi-tunity to think things over, and if you take my advice you'll change your mind. For after I've dealt with our would- be mutineers I'll take up this matter with you again, and I promise you I'll have that jewel before the night's out—even if I have to shoot you for it." While they had been talking. Maris and Voisin and John Geste had been quietly passing in and out of the Caserne, and they had denuded it of firearms when Markoff moved into the shadow of fne building with Beau again. Then, on the sergeant's instructions, Voisin and Mans and the two brothers furnished themselves with a rifle apiece and stationed them- selves by the barrack-room doorway with Corporal Rasinoff. They had no sooner posted themselves there than Markoff raised a bellow that startled the sleeping inmates of the caserne out of their complacent slumber, and less than a minute afterwards Schwartz and his fifty-odd partisans were stumbling forth in single file, their hands uplifted, their features wearing express sions of mingled chagrin, discomfiture and fear. With the rifles of the little party of loyalists trained upon them they were formed up on the parade-ground of the fort, and, releasing the imprisoned sentries. Markoff compelled these to attach themselves to the company of mutineers and addressed the rebels collectively. "I propose to demonstrate the best method of putting down an attempted military revolt," he announced with a leer. "First, however, I should like to thank you, for I am bound to profit by my handling of this eventuality. You may rest assiu-ed that after I have been made an officer and decorated with the Legion of Honour I shall often think fondly of the stupid, blundering pigs who enabled me to secure promotion." He now singled out Schwartz and Renoir and ordered them to stand with theu- backs to the massive wooden gates of the fort. Then he glanced at John and Beau Geste. "The punishment for mutiny is death," he remarked, "and I shall give you two the privilege of killing off the first pair of these rebellious pigs. Take aim!" Neither of the brothers obeyed, and, his brows contracting, Markoff spoke through gritted teeth. "Did you hear me?" he barked. "Very distinctlv, sergeant," John Geste replied. "But I do not consider it my duty to shoot down unarmed men who have not had the benefit of a court martial, and my brother apparently holds the same opinion." Markoff's face seemed to tighten. "Maybe you'd rather precede Schwartz and Renoir," he snarled, presenting his revolver at the Englishmen. "Take aim at those two mutinous dogs, or I'll give each of you a couple of shots in the belly!" It was plain that the sergeant was prepared to carry out his threat, and it was equally plain that he could drill the brothers ere they could make any move, to challenge him by bringing their rifles to bear on him. Yet neither John nor Beau had any intention of acting as cold- blooded executioners, and neither of tliem. flinched as Markoff's finger eurled on the trigger of his revolver. Next instant the blast of a shot split the quietude of the Saharan night. But it was not the weapon in the sergeant's fist which was responsible for the sound. The report came from somewhere beyond the gates of Fort Zinderneuf, and, suddenly whirling, Markoff bounded to those gates