Hora laughed good-naturedly. "There—there, Guy, take matters a bit easily. There's plenty of time before you yet, if you decide to go on with the job. It's more risky than the last."
"The greater the risk, the better I shall be pleased," exclaimed Guy, as he dropped again into his chair, "though how you are going to evolve anything of a risky nature from those paragraphs you have just read, I entirely fail to understand."
"You'll understand soon enough," remarked Hora quietly, "and you will then be surprised that the meaning of these three items of news should have conveyed so little to you. Let me reverse the order and read into these three facts my own conclusions. What can be the reason for the delay in the transmission of the cable containing the cricket result? Either the cable had broken down, or it was monopolised for more important work. The former theory is untenable, for if you take the trouble to compare the time of the insertion of the news with the time when it should have been inserted, you will find a delay of three or four hours only has to be accounted for. Thus I arrive at the decision that the cable was fully occupied by someone with a prior claim for its use. Who could that be? Here again the choice is between two possibilities. Either some big financier or body of financiers or the Government. Again the indications point to one conclusion. The City was merely uneasy by reason of German selling, which could not be accounted for, and not because of information which had come over the wires. Therefore, the wires must have been occupied by important despatches to the British Government. I think," said Hora, "that if the knowledge of what has passed over the cable is in my possession by to-morrow morning, we shall be in a position to spoil the Egyptians of Throgmorton Street to some purpose."
Guy looked at Hora with admiration. Some idea of his companion's purpose dawned upon him—but only faintly. He asked eagerly for further guidance.
"As to the nature of the despatch which has been received at the Foreign Office, I have no more idea than yourself," he continued, "though it probably affects Germany, and it is hardly worth while troubling to guess. I am only concerned with times, places, and people. As I calculate, the cable was not clear for ordinary business until close upon six o'clock. Six would, therefore, be very near the time when the end of the message was delivered at the Foreign Office. Of course it would have been cabled in the official cypher. By the time the message would be de-coded there is only one train by which a special messenger could take the de-coded despatch to his chief, who happens to be the minister in attendance upon His Majesty at Sandringham."
Hora looked up at the clock. "That train starts from St. Pancras at 9.50. It proceeds as far as Lynn, where the messenger carrying the despatch will probably be met by a motor-car. It is just nine o'clock now, Guy, so there is plenty of time for you to decide whether it is worth while making an effort to obtain the information which will be in his despatch box."
Guy's eyes sparkled. "It's worth while trying any way, Commandatore." He turned to the young woman. "Wish me luck, Myra," he said.
CHAPTER VI
WHEREIN A KING'S MESSENGER IS DESPOILED OF HIS DESPATCHES
Guy had ten minutes to spare as he stepped out of the cab at St. Pancras Station, and, handing a bag to a porter, made his way leisurely to the booking office and took a ticket for Lynn. He would have been easily recognised by any of his acquaintance, for he had made no effort to disguise himself. Hora professed no liking for physical or material disguises, contending, indeed, that such were merely the clumsy devices of incompetence. "The man who anticipates being seen in any affair in which he is not prepared to meet scrutiny is anticipating failure," he was accustomed to declare. "In all other cases," he had told Guy, "your own identity will be your most certain protection. A bourgeois reputation for wealth and half a dozen society acquaintances will provoke apologies from inquisitive persons when a mere hint that you had dyed your moustache would mean instant arrest." Guy was disposed to agree with him. He disliked the theatrical, as much as he was enamoured of the dramatic, aspect of his profession.
Yet on this occasion he had not been long on the platform before he was betrayed into the wish that for once he had assumed some disguise. The porter to whom he had entrusted his bag had deposited it in the corner of a first-class smoking compartment, and Guy strolled along the waiting train, glancing into each compartment in turn, in order to locate the messenger who, if Hora's deductions were correct, was to travel by it. He had made no plans as to the means he was to take to obtain a knowledge of the despatches. Nor had Hora made any suggestions.