Jacob's ladder
Chapter 8: An eventful voyage

His mind was empty. He couldn’tunderstand, he didn’t dare to move. The pistol was cocked, ready to fire, andGonzalo’s finger seemed ready to press the trigger. His eyes did not show theleast hesitation. The coach jolted on the forest road, while the driver did notseem interested on the drama being acted inside.

“Where are we going?” asked Luis in avery low voice, through dried lips which seemed to have stuck to one another.

“To Waterloo,” answered Gonzalowithout dropping the weapon.

“What are you going to do with me?What will happen in Waterloo?”

“Somebody is waiting for you.”

“Blatsov?”

Gonzalo didn’t answer.

“Why are you doing this? Lady Borlandwould pay you more.”

Gonzalo’s lips were pursed in abitter grimace.

“It’s not the money.”

“But you are Wellington’s man! Whyare you selling me to his enemies?”

“A spy works for everybody. Both sidesmust believe that he is their man.”

“Whom do you serve?”

Gonzalo’s smile was belied by his diamond-hardeyes.

“Nikomakos.”

Luis shuddered. Nikomakos again, themysterious and sinister unknown who was trying to capture him! Whatever for? Hedid not dare to think about it. He knew that Waterloo was three hours fromBrussels, at the other side of the forest of Soignes. He had only a couple ofhours of freedom left, for his current situation seemed like freedom, comparedto what he could expect after falling in Blatsov’s hands.

Suddenly they heard a crack and thecoach jolted violently. Something heavy fell on the ceiling, while the horses gallopedwildly. Gonzalo peered out of the window, cursed, drew his pistol out andfired. There was a grunt, shouts and another shot. Gonzalo fell inside thecoach, his left hand against his right side, soaking in a dark liquid whichlooked almost black in the dusk of the forest and the darkness inside thevehicle. Luis was huddled in a corner, so frightened that he dared not move amuscle. The horses ran away, threatening to crush the coach against the treesbordering the road.

Then Luis saw, through the nearest window,a rider galloping. He was marvelous, a true acrobat. Reaching one side of thevehicle, he grasped both hands in the window posts, pushed with his legs on hissaddle and launched himself to the top of the coach, entangling his feet withthe roof rail. After hanging upside down for a few seconds, he took impulseagain and fell on the roof with a dull blow.

Forgetting the danger of being shot, Luisleaned out and looked up, but couldn’t see anything, for the rail cut hissight. Looking back, he saw several riders behind the coach, recognized their bossand saw that he was just passing from one kidnapper to another. In this case, however,he knew what the newcomers wanted and could do something about it. He put hisright hand inside his clothes and extracted Jacob’s ladder which, as always,hanged from his neck by a string. He broke the string with a sharp wrench, tookthe amulet, gazed at it for a moment, put it in his mouth and, with an effort,swallowed it. Then he threw the broken string out of the window and waited.

In the meantime, the man above hadcrawled to the front of the box, took the reins, which had been trailing on theground, and controlled the horses. One minute later, the coach stopped. Half adozen riders circled it with their weapons ready, but they were not using themto threaten Luis. One of them approached the vehicle, touched his hat and saidin French:

“So it’s you! I thought it would be!That’s why you were staring at me in the gambling house. I’ll introduce myself,although I don’t believe you need it. I’m major Gérard.”

“I am Luis García. What do you wantwith me?”

“You know very well. Give it to me!”

He held his hand, but Luis didn’t moveand Gérard’s face darkened.

“This is going to get disagreeable,”he added.

While they were exchanging those words,another two men had climbed the coach and forced Gonzalo down. The man waswounded and could not offer resistance. When he was left on the ground, Gérardlooked at him for an instant, then drew his pistol out, pointed at Gonzalo’s headand pulled the trigger. Luis shouted:

“He was helpless!”

“I’ve been merciful,” answeredGérard, blowing off the smoke at his pistol’s mouth. “He was mortally wounded. Inany case, he was going to die real soon: there’s a death penalty on his head.During the Spanish war, he was Wellington’s spy. The French army has been tryingto replace him. This has just been a delayed execution.”

“But he is Blatsov’s man, and Blatsovis your friend!”

“Who says so?”

“I heard you talking in the inn nearCiudad Rodrigo.”

“Then you should know that Blatsovand I were only temporary allies. I was after your tutor and the amulet, he wasafter you. We were complementary, thus joined our forces, but when wediscovered that we were actually after the same person, automatically becamerivals.

“Then why didn’t you follow me toLisbon?”

“I couldn’t do that, in Portugal I amwell known, they’d be glad to arrest me. But I sent a man. Once in Lisbon, he gotfriendly with Blatsov and took part in his mad sea voyage.” Gérard shook hishead. “It was a truly romantic action, more appropriate for a German than for aRussian. When their ship was dismantled by the frigate, it took them severaldays to reach land, but they did. My agent slipped off and came to inform me.By then, I was in Montsegur.

“How did you learn that I had gone toBrussels? When we left Lisbon, we were going to London.”

“The emperor’s secret service is verygood and covers all of Europe. We had only to replace Lady Borland. When I knewthat she was here, I joined the emperor’s ambassador and came to replace you.Blatsov has probably done the same. You haven’t been too subtle; it was easy toreplace you. I had you watched. When they told me that you had left the town, Ifollowed. So, here I am. This is talk enough! The way is long and the eveningnear. Give me the amulet!”

Gérard held his hand again, but Luisignored him. Then the Frenchman turned to his men and ordered:

“Search him.”

After a complete and degradingsearch, his men informed Gérard that the boy did not have on his person what hewas looking for. He then ordered them to search the coach, whose cushions weredestroyed uselessly. When they had looked, even inside the smallest cracks inthe wood of the vehicle, Gérard thought deeply for some time, pushed Luis inthe carriage and went in too. One of his men climbed the box, whipped thehorses and made them trot. The others rode after them. Luis sat on the barewood and looked wondering at his captor, who was sitting in front of him.

“Where are we going?”

“To Valenciennes. I believe theemperor is there.”

“Are you going to hand me over tohim?”

“Of course!”

“Why?”

“Do you take me for a fool? You wouldnever have parted from the amulet. However, you don’t have it on your personand it’s not hidden in the coach. There are two possibilities: either you have thrownit out, or you have hidden it where I cannot reach it, namely inside yourself.The first is not probable, we are in the middle of a forest, the amulet issmall and you would have put it out of my reach at the expense of losing itforever. You wouldn’t be able to replace it again. Therefore, I assume that youhave swallowed it. The emperor ordered me to recover the amulet and bring it tohim. This is exactly what I’m going to do. When I put you in his hands, I’llhave fulfilled my mission. He may do with you whatever he likes.”

“Will he kill me?” asked Luis, alittle pale.

“I don’t know; I don’t care. You havegiven me enough work. Do you expect me to worry about your fate? Shut up. I’mbored by this conversation.”

It was night when they went throughWaterloo. Several persons came out when the carriage went by, or looked out ofthe windows. Among them, Luis saw a pallid man, clad in black, at the door ofan inn. Their eyes met and he couldn’t look elsewhere until he was lost from hissight. In spite of what Gérard had said, he would rather fall in Napoleon’shands.

They voyaged all the night and thenext day without speaking a word. The horses were exchanged twice in relayhouses, but the men were not given a moment to rest. It was evening again whenthey went through Valenciennes. At the other side of the town, they found a largeencampment. Gérard took Luis by his arm, made him get down from the carriageand pulled him to the center pavilion, the largest and most adorned. A soldierguarding the entrance stopped them.

“You can’t get in, major.”

“I must see the emperor. I’ve justcome back from a very special mission.”

“The emperor is not here. He left onan inspection. We expect him tomorrow.”

“All right, I’ll wait.”

Cursing in a low voice, Gérard took Luisto the tents of his regiment, made him go inside one, put one man watching himand went away without any comment. A little later, a soldier brought him a campration which he could scarcely eat. Alone in the dark, he felt so exhaustedafter the journey that he fell on the ground in a corner, covered himself withan overcoat, closed his eyes and did not open them again until the morning.

About noon, his guard brought him tothe central pavilion, where Gérard was waiting. As soon as he arrived, themajor took his arm and pulled him inside the tent. This time, the soldier didnot prevent their entrance. When his eyes got used to the dusk, Luis saw forthe first time in his life the most feared man in Europe. He was a littledisappointed at seeing him so short, thick rather than strong, with a fringe inhis short hair. He was wearing a uniform, but his head was bare and his sword waslying on a divan. When Gérard and Luis came in, Napoleon turned, exchanged asignificant look with the major and stared at the boy.

“This is Luis García, sire, ward of leComte de Philippe.”

“Give me what I sent you to fetch.”

“It’s in the boy’s stomach, sire. Hehas swallowed it.”

Bonaparte’s surprise at these words turnedsuddenly into a hearty laughter.

“You saw him do it?” he asked.

“No, sire, but it’s the only possibleexplanation of its disappearance.”

“Is this true, boy? Have youswallowed my amulet?”

“Yes,” answered Luis, who wanted togain time and had come to the conclusion that confessing the truth was lessdangerous than trying to mislead Bonaparte. If he denied it, the emperor couldorder him carved to discover whether he had actually swallowed Jacob’s ladder.With his confession, he had the hope that Napoleon would wait and see whetherhe could eventually get it, in a simpler though not cleaner way.

The emperor did not look angry; hewas enjoying Gérard’s obvious confusion. He even patted Luis on the back in afriendly way.

“I like you, boy,” he said. “You havecourage and resources. Some day I’ll make a good soldier of you, but not yet,you are too young. In the meantime, you will be my amulet.”

“What, sire?” asked Gérard,astounded.

“The amulet was always in my luggageuntil your tutor stole it,” explained Napoleon, ignoring Gérard. “I don’t needto touch it, I don’t mind if you carry it inside you. Of course, we’ll have towatch, so that you don’t lose it. I’ll talk about it with my personal doctor,but I don’t think we’ll need to make a hole in your stomach. We’ll wait untilit gets out by itself. If it doesn’t, never mind. For me, it’s enough to knowthat it’s again in my power. From now on, you’ll live with me in this pavilion.

With a sign, he dismissed Gérard,whose dark gesture showed his displeasure. The emperor had not even thanked himfor his service.

Interlude in the second echelon

“Things are getting back to normal.”

“For the time being. They seem to havegot rid of Blatsov.”

“Anyway, I’m not happy. Something isnot working as it should.”

“Working is not the appropriate word,but you are right, something is fishy.”

“Blatsov has diverted our course, butI think the experiment will take place without further problems. We are verynear the bifurcation.”

“We’ll see. I’m afraid Nikomakos hasnot spoken his last word.”

“But what can he do? Napoleon hasrecovered the amulet.”

“I’m worried by the simple fact thatthere is a Nikomakos.”

“All right, we’ll keep on watching.”