Wallace at Bay Read Free Page A

the lounge below, while another had watched the window from the street. It had been ascertained that he had not been staying at the Canute, having merely taken a bed for that night for some reason or other. Now he had been lost again, and the king was due to land in England within a few days. To make matters more serious, nothing had been learnt of the whereabouts of the other two anarchists. Beust, one of the most reliable men in the Secret Service, who had lived in Austria since he was a child, was certain they had left the country with the intention of reaching England. There was no information whatever regarding their movements after they had departed from Vienna. It was because of this that Pestalozzi had been so carefully shadowed. He had visited three dwelling houses in which were living compatriots of his, and taken meals in four different restaurants, as a result of which all the places, and the people who inhabited or frequented them, were now under surveillance.
    It was certain that he must be lodged more or less permanently somewhere. He had taken no luggage with him to the Canute Hotel, and had paid in advance for bed and breakfast from a greasy pocketbook packed with banknotes. He was, therefore, not short of money. Sir Leonard Wallace felt certain in his own mind that he had found a retreat with people of his own breed living in a district devoted to foreigners, possibly Soho, and that the other two were with him. The difficulty of finding them was that the Secret Service possessed a description only of Pestalozzi. Beust had even managed, somehow, to obtain a snapshot of the man – it had been in Carter’s possession when he had found and recognised him. He knew nothing about the other two, however,except their names – one was Zanazaryk, a Czechoslovakian, the other, Haeckel, a German – he possessed neither photographs nor description of them, and names were very easily changed.
    When Major Brien had left his room, Sir Leonard telephoned through to the Assistant Commissioner of the Special Branch at New Scotland Yard, and suggested simultaneous raids that night on the three dwelling-houses which Pestalozzi had been known to visit. Two were in Kennington, not far from the Oval, the other was close to Vauxhall Station. He did not expect that either the Italian or his companions would be in any, but there was just a possibility that they might, or perhaps information regarding their whereabouts could be discovered. The Assistant Commissioner thought the idea a good one, declared he would make arrangements at once, and submit his plans to Sir Leonard that evening. As Wallace turned from the telephone a knock came at the door. In reply to his invitation there entered a young man who looked every inch an athlete from the top of his dark brown hair to the soles of his feet. His merry, laughing eyes, and altogether good-humoured as well as good-looking face suggested a happy-go-lucky disposition. He was one of the most efficient and certainly one of the most daring members of Sir Leonard’s gallant band of assistants, although the youngest by two or three years. Wallace nodded to him.
    ‘They’ve lost him, Carter,’ he observed quietly.
    ‘I’ve just heard about it, sir,’ replied the young man. ‘Shannon, of course, is taking it as all in the day’s work, but I believe he is thoroughly fed up. He blames himself for not telling the SB men to keep parallel with Pestalozzi on the other side of the road.’
    ‘Of course that should have been done,’ commented SirLeonard, ‘but it was not, and it is no use crying over spilt milk. It is essential that we get in touch with Pestalozzi again at the earliest possible moment,’ he observed. ‘King Peter arrives in this country next Wednesday. Today is Thursday. There is little over five days, therefore, in which to accomplish work that twenty-three have failed to bring to a successful issue. I am convinced that Zanazaryk and Haeckel are also in the country,