“You should have learned all this at school,” said the Pimple reprovingly; “you British are always deficient in foreign languages, but even so most of you know the French rudiments.”
“I was trained for India,” I said apologetically. “Eastern languages, you know. Perhaps that is why I find Turkish easier.”
“You are lazy and forgetful, both in French and Turkish.” He began to lecture us for forgetting our lesson of the day before. “Try je suis again and see if you can——” Suddenly his voice broke.
“Sir,” he said, excitedly, fixing his eyes on my fingers. I was twisting my coat-button.
The Spook began to speak through me, and Moïse was at once all ears. The change in his attitude was extraordinary. A moment before he had been a hectoring schoolmaster abusing his pupils, a Turkish conqueror in charge of his two prisoners, secure in his superior knowledge and in his official position. Now he was the disciple, humble, deprecating, almost cringing.
The Spook reminded him that both Hill and I were now in a trance and knew nothing of what was being said. Moïse was to keep it secret, lest we got frightened. For in order to justify, in the eyes of the authorities, the diagnosis and fears of the Yozgad doctors, we were to be controlled into hanging ourselves.
“Oh mon Dieu!” said the Pimple. He was genuinely shocked.
“Tais-toi!“ said the Spook angrily. ”Il ne faut jamais dire ce mot là’.” It began abusing him in French for his carelessness. The Pimple made a most abject apology in the same language, which the Spook was graciously pleased to accept. It then went on in English to describe the Pimple’s part in the coming suicide, and to impress upon him the importance of carrying out his orders exactly, for on that alone the lives of the mediums would depend.
The hanging, the Spook explained, would take place at night, at Mardeen, which was a little country town some sixty miles from Yozgad. The signal that the hanging had begun would be the extinguishing of the candle in the mediums’ room. As soon as he saw the room was in darkness, Moïse was to call out and ask why the light was put out. He would get no answer and would enter the room to see what was the matter. He would find Hill and Jones hanging by the neck, close together, and must at once do his best to lift them up so as to take some of their weight off the rope, and shout at the top of his voice for assistance, holding them thus till help arrived and they could be cut down. Any carelessness on his part would mean the death of the mediums and loss of the treasure, but beyond being careful to carry out his instructions he need have no other worries, for the mediums would feel no pain and would be quite unconscious of what they were doing.
The Spook made Moïse repeat his instructions, over and over again, until there was no doubt that he knew exactly what to do. Then I gave a sigh, let go of the button, and turned my eyes, which had been fixed steadily on the horizon, and said: