Wenk entered the houses, many of which, he perceived, led at the back
to the park. He spoke to all their occupants separately. Some had heard
a noise in the night, but they did not consider that anything unusual,
and in the houses themselves, as they told Wenk, they had heard nothing.
He examined the park on the other side of the wall. There was nothing
to be seen there beyond a trace of many footprints in one spot,
where they had apparently jumped down, for some of the impressions
were fairly deep. But this spot had been raked, and carbolic acid
thrown upon it. There was an empty tin near, which from its smell had
evidently contained carbolic. This precaution was doubtless taken in
case the police hounds should be requisitioned, and it might have been
put there beforehand, but he did not quite understand the reason, and
decided to test it by means of a hound. It took up the scent in the
Jägerstrasse, ran to the wall and jumped up on it, but when they lifted
it on the other side it went no further. It turned away in disgust
at the smell of the carbolic, ran up and down the wall and then back
again, always in the same direction, and yet always as if irresolute.
It tried to spring into the air.
Wenk had it lifted over the wall again, but when the hound was on the
top, and the man on the other side ready to receive it, it escaped from
him and ran, barking furiously, along the top. It did not run far, but
remained in one spot, barking, with its head downwards, towards the
yard of one of the houses, trying to jump down there. Then with one
spring the hound was over, running towards the house, where it stood
still at the outer wall. This Wenk examined closely, perceiving marks
of scratches occurring at regular intervals upwards. Here undoubtedly
people had climbed up by means of a ladder, and the tracks led to a
window on the first floor. The room it belonged to was empty, and he
asked the people of the house how long it had been so. Then all the
other lodgers were astonished, for they said it was occupied. One of
them exclaimed, “But Georsh is living there!”
Wenk’s heart gave a sudden leap.
“Who?” he said quickly. “What was his name?”
Again the answer was “Georsh.”
“Did you know him?” he asked of one woman.
“Certainly I knew Georsh!” she replied.
“Was that his surname?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who used to call him that?”
“The fellows who were always coming to see him.”
“So his name was George?” went on Wenk, desirous of being quite
certain.
“No, he was called Georsh,” answered one of them.
“Has he lived here long?”
Nobody knew exactly; some thought it was about a year, but he was
hardly ever at home. He tried to get a description of the man, but then
a curious fact came to light. Even about the colour of his hair they
could not agree. One said he was blue-eyed, another declared his eyes
were dark. He was rather tall and thin, and dressed like a sailor.
Again, he looked rather like an athlete.
“What was he then? What was his calling?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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