Sant of the Secret Service: Some Revelations of Spies and SpyingLe Queux, William
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Sant of the Secret Service: Some Revelations of Spies and Spying
Le Queux, William
Spy stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- Secret service -- Fiction
Just as sunset was darkening into night I caught sight of two men coming
along the road. Through my small pair of powerful glasses I instantly
recognised one of them as the "Italian." The other, no doubt, was
Fontan. Their figures showed black and sinister in the last gleam of
the sunlight. They were walking quickly, and Fontan, if indeed it was
he, carried in his hand a well-filled sack.
As they drew near they left the road and made straight for the edge of
the cliff, disappearing into the cleft almost beneath the very branches
of the big tree. It was now or never for me, and, loosening my
automatic in my pocket, I cast all prudence aside and raced at top speed
for the cliff.
Arriving at the edge, I flung myself flat on my face and peered over.
Below, to my intense gratification, I could see assembled on the sands a
dozen sailors in German uniforms, while only a few yards from the shore
lay a big German submarine, its conning-tower and fore and aft guns
showing clear of the long grey hull, which lay almost awash. The crew
were being exercised along the sands, while Fontan was handing to an
officer a quantity of fresh vegetables, with a packet of letters and
telegrams, from the sack. Close by, the "Italian" and another officer,
evidently the captain of the U-boat, were in earnest talk.
The light was failing rapidly, and soon it became too dark to see more.
A lantern twinkled on the beach, and I could plainly hear steps and
voices ascending the rough path to the top of the cliff. It was
essential I should hear more, therefore I took the desperate course.
Swiftly climbing into the tree, I laid myself down at full length on a
big branch which jutted out over the path.
Preceded by a sailor bearing a lantern, three men came up the path. Two
of them I knew to be the "Italian" and the captain of the U-boat. The
third was Fontan, at whom I particularly wanted to have a look, for
something in his walk reminded me of someone I had failed definitely to
recall.
As the sailor reached the top of the cliff he turned and swung the
lantern so as to show the last few steps of the rugged path. Its rays
fell for a second upon the face of Fontan, and I nearly fell from my
perch with amazement. Willi Bernhard, by all that was wonderful! One
of the Kaiser's most expert spies, who was head of one of the
departments of the Koniggratzer-strasse, posing in Santander as a humble
boatman. No wonder I had failed to recognise him until I saw his face!
"No need for me to come any farther," said the deep voice of the U-boat
captain in German. "We shall lie here until midnight to-morrow, and
will expect you at sundown with the latest instructions. I only want to
make sure the others are ready at their stations. And then," he added,
with a cruel laugh, "good-bye, _Athabasca_!"
The _Athabasca_ was the liner I had come out to save!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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