Wallace of the Secret Service by Alexander Wilson Read Free Book Online

water carriers, merchants, peddlers, closely-veiled women, beggars, donkeys, horses, goats and, here and there, camels. After walking for some time they reached a slightly wider, almost deserted, thoroughfare containing houses of a better class. Before one, surrounded by a high wall, Achmet stopped.
    ‘This is the place, Excellency,’ he announced simply.
    Walking on a dozen yards, Sir Leonard squatted down in the deeper shadows on the opposite side of the road with his companion beside him. For a long time he contemplated the building in silence, then whistled softly to himself.
    ‘It is going to be a bigger job to enter that place than I imagined,’ he murmured at last. ‘I thought we might have been able to climb the wall and get into the garden easily enough, but it’s too high.There is only one thing for it, and that is to knock at the gate, overcome the man who opens it, and truss him up somewhere where he won’t be discovered until we have finished our job. Once in the garden, the rest shouldn’t be too difficult.’
    Achmet nodded but made no comment, and the two continued to squat where they were for another half hour. Then Wallace rose. Ten minutes before, a belated string of camels had passed, moving with stately deliberation towards the bazaar. Since then not a human being, or an animal of any sort, had been seen, and it seemed safe enough to make the attempt.
    ‘As soon as the gate opens,’ he whispered, ‘push your way in with me, and shut it directly we are inside. Don’t bother about the gatekeeper, I’ll deal with him.’
    In response to his knock a little grill opened, and he could dimly see the outlines of a dark face beyond.
    ‘What dost thou require?’ a voice asked.
    ‘We have a message for the Lord,’ replied Achmet promptly.
    The heavy wooden door swung open, and Wallace entered immediately, pushing back the man who stood before him. Achmet followed, and closed the barrier. The gatekeeper commenced to utter protests, but Wallace produced his revolver, and brought down the butt on his head. He collapsed without a sound, the Englishman catching him as he fell, and lowering him to the ground. Looking round the small garden, Wallace noticed the dim outlines of a well, and thither he and his companion conveyed the unconscious form of their victim. Once there, they tore strips from his own clothing, and gagged and bound him, leaving him lying well hidden behind the wheel. The first part of their task had been easy, now it remained for them to get into the house, which was in complete darkness, as though the inmateshad gone to bed. Henderson’s description of the interior had left a picture in Sir Leonard’s mind, and once inside he felt he could not go wrong.
    It was a peculiar building, half ancient, half modern, part of it having obviously been pulled down and rebuilt. Wallace studied it in silence for some minutes, endeavouring to calculate where the room, which was his objective, could be. He was not long making up his mind, and crept towards a low balcony followed by his assistant. He could just reach it, and with remarkable agility, considering he was only able to use one arm, which brought a low grunt of admiration from Achmet, swung himself up. The Arab was soon standing by his side, and they found their further progress barred by two French windows. But to a man who had studied the intricacies of safe-breaking, the opening of a locked window presented little difficulty. He produced a bunch of small steel instruments from somewhere among the folds of his clothing, and worked silently at top and bottom where the bolts were sheathed. In five minutes they were in the room, listening intently. No sound disturbed the silence, and presently a thin ray of light shot out, circled quickly round, and was gone. Sir Leonard Wallace had taken his bearings, found also that his calculations had been correct; he and Achmet had undoubtedly come to the right apartment. In his rapid survey he had