Then he asked if he might consult the Spook about the War Office telegram ordering our release. The explanation of the wire turned out to be simple enough to a true believer.
“You remember,” said the Spook, “how I said I might cause Constantinople to send a telegram (see p. 175)—Well, I had everything ready. Their minds were prepared to send a wire as soon as I put it into their heads what to say. OOO got wind of our intention through his medium, who must have picked up your thought-waves.”
Moïse (aside). “Who is this damned fellow?”
Spook. “It is X” (naming a friend of ours in the camp). “OOO got this wire sent because he was able to use the ground previously prepared by me. Do you understand?”
Moïse. “Yes, Sir. We understand.”
Spook. “OOO is determined to stop us finding the treasure. He hoped the wire would arrive in time to stop the search for the first clue, because he thought if the Commandant got this wire before anything had been found he would not believe in me, and being frightened, would send the mediums back to the camp.”
The Pimple was much impressed by the cunning of OOO. He agreed that had the telegram arrived before the finding of the clues, Kiazim Bey would have been frightened out of his wits. It was, of course, obvious that our Control had delayed the delivery of the telegram for three days! As things stood, with two out of three clues already discovered, Kiazim would not dream of putting an end to our solitary confinement: he fully trusted our Spook to keep the War Office in order.
The Turks were now entirely in our hands. Their confidence in the Spook was absolute. They had reached the high-water mark of faith, and we determined to rush things through on the full tide of their credulity. For there was no more “planted treasure” to be dug up, nor could we hope to increase the trust in us which they already showed, so there was no sense in delay.
But their offer to keep us locked up, though satisfactory as a proof of their faith, did not quite fit in with our plans. Our first object was to get into touch with somebody in the camp, and give him the negatives and other proofs of Kiazim’s complicity. Not until then would we be free to go ahead with our two alternative plans, which, as has already been explained, were either to get Kiazim to send us somewhere whence escape would be easy or, failing that, to sham madness in the hope of being exchanged. At the same time, while gaining access to one man in the camp, we desired to maintain our splendid isolation so as to enable us to spook at high pressure without fear of interruption from our brother officers; for once we had handed over our proofs we intended to rush the Turks off their legs, while they were still ecstatic over the finding of the two clues.
The contingency had already been foreseen and prepared for before we were locked up, and we got rid of our proofs easily enough. It was done thus: