“Nothing at all,” I said. “The Pimple knows X was playing the ass, and is laughing at him for being so wide of the mark. We’ll carry on as usual. The Spook business is still going strong, and we’ve got the plan for your inclusion well worked out.”
“You think no harm was done?”
“None at all,” we said.
We were wrong. For several days we “carried on” boldly with our plans, but with each visit of the Pimple we became more and more certain that there was something in the wind of which we were ignorant. We dared not question, and could only wait. Then came an evening when the Pimple burst in on us in high excitement.
“The Commandant is a timid fool,” he said viciously. “He is troubled about X. I tell him it is all right. But still he is troubled. Mon Dieu! He is no man, but a woman in the uniform of Bimbashi.”
Hill and I laughed.
“You mean he believes X, and thinks we are going to try and escape?”
“O no! No!” the Pimple said. “He is not so great a fool as that. He knows you are too weak to go ten miles. For are you not starved? Are you not lame? But he is troubled. He thinks this is a warning, not of what you intend to do, but of what our Spook or perhaps OOO intends to do for you. He fears the Spook or OOO will make you disappear.”
“But how could X know what the Spook——”
“You see,” the Pimple interrupted, “X is the medium of OOO. He has been the mouthpiece of OOO in asking many questions. Now he is the mouthpiece of OOO in giving a warning. That is what the Commandant thinks. I tell him no doubt X is the medium of OOO; no doubt this message is from OOO, but the object of it is plain! It is evident! Have we not had experience to tell us what it means? Is it not one last despairing effort by OOO to frighten the Commandant, to stop him from sending the mediums to find the treasure? But he will not listen to me. He is troubled, much troubled. Even now he has gone to his witch, to ask her to read the cards. He is a damn fool, and a coward! Why does he not trust the Spook? Everything it has promised the Spook has done, and still he is afraid! He will spoil everything!”