now!” exclaimed Lupin, struggling to free himself, “what does this mean? When one of us has conquered the other, what good will it do? You will not know what to do with me, nor I with you. We will remain here like two idiots.”
The two oars slipped into the water. The boat drifted into the stream.
“Good Lord, what a fuss you make! A man of your age ought to know better! You act like a child.”
Lupin succeeded in freeing himself from the grasp of the detective, who, thoroughly exasperated and ready to kill, put his hand in his pocket. He uttered an oath: Lupin had taken his revolver. Then he knelt down and tried to capture one of the lost oars in order to regain the shore, while Lupin was trying to capture the other oar in order to drive the boat down the river.
“It’s gone! I can’t reach it,” said Lupin. “But it’s of no consequence. If you get your oar I can prevent your using it. And you could do the same to me. But, you see, that is the way in this world, we act without any purpose or reason, as our efforts are in vain since Fate decides everything. Now, don’t you see, Fate is on the side of his friend Lupin. The game is mine! The current favors me!”
The boat was slowly drifting down the river.
“Look out!” cried Lupin, quickly.
Someone on the bank was pointing a revolver. Lupin stooped, a shot was fired; it struck the water beyond the boat. Lupin burst into laughter.
“God bless me! It’s my friend Ganimard! But it was very wrong of you to do that, Ganimard. You have no right to shoot except in self-defense. Does poor Lupin worry you so much that you forget yourself?… Now, be good, and don’t shoot again!… If you do you will hit our English friend.”
He stood behind Holmes, facing Ganimard, and said:
“Now, Ganimard, I am ready! Aim for his heart!… Higher!… A little to the left.… Ah! you missed that time…deuced bad shot.… Try again.… Your hand shakes, Ganimard.… Now, once more…one, two, three, fire!… Missed!… Parbleu! the authorities furnish you with toy-pistols.”
Lupin drew a long revolver and fired without taking aim. Ganimard put his hand to his hat: the bullet had passed through it.
“What do you think of that, Ganimard! Ah! that’s a real revolver! A genuine English bulldog. It belongs to my friend, Sherlock Holmes.”
And, with a laugh, he threw the revolver to the shore, where it landed at Ganimard’s feet.
Holmes could not withhold a smile of admiration. What a torrent of youthful spirits! And how he seemed to enjoy himself! It appeared as if the sensation of peril caused him a physical pleasure; and this extraordinary man had no other purpose in life than to seek for dangers simply for the amusement it afforded him in avoiding them.
Many people had now gathered on the banks of the river, and Ganimard and his men followed the boat as it slowly floated down the stream. Lupin’s capture was a mathematical certainty.
“Confess, old fellow,” said Lupin, turning to the Englishman, “that you would not exchange your present position for all the gold in the Transvaal! You are now in the first row of the orchestra chairs! But, in the first place, we must have the prologue…after which we can leap, at one bound, to the fifth act of the drama, which will represent the capture or escape of Arsène Lupin. Therefore, I am going to ask you a plain question, to which I request a plain answer—a simple yes or no. Will you renounce this affair? At present I can repair the damage you have done; later it will be beyond my power. Is it a bargain?”
“No.”
Lupin’s face showed his disappointment and annoyance. He continued:
“I insist. More for your sake than my own, I insist, because I am certain you will be the first to regret your intervention. For the last time, yes or no?”
“No.”
Lupin stooped down, removed one of the boards in the bottom of the boat, and, for some minutes, was engaged in a work the nature of which Holmes could not discern. Then he arose, seated himself beside the Englishman, and said:
“I believe, monsieur, that we came to the river today for the same purpose: to recover the object which Bresson threw away. For my part I had invited a few friends to join me here, and I was on the point of making an examination of the bed of the river when my friends announced your approach. I confess that the news did not surprise me, as I have been notified every hour concerning the progress of your investigation. That was an easy matter. Whenever anything occurred in the rue Murillo that might interest me, simply a ring on the telephone and I was informed.”
He stopped. The board that he had displaced in the bottom of the boat was rising and water was working into the boat all around it.
“The deuce! I didn’t know how to fix it. I was afraid this old boat would leak. You are not afraid, monsieur?”
Holmes shrugged his shoulders. Lupin continued:
“You will understand then, in those circumstances, and knowing in advance that you would be more eager to seek a battle than I would be to avoid it, I assure you I was not entirely displeased to enter into a contest of which the issue is quite certain, since I hold all the trump cards in my hand. And I desired that our meeting should be given the widest publicity in order that your defeat may be universally known, so that another Countess de Crozon or another Baron d’Imblevalle may not be tempted to solicit your aid against me. Besides, my dear monsieur—”
He stopped again and, using his half-closed hands as a lorgnette, he scanned the banks of the river.
“Mon Dieu! they have chartered a superb boat, a real war-vessel, and see how they are rowing. In five minutes they will be along-side, and I am lost. Monsieur Holmes, a word of advice; you seize me, bind me and deliver me to the officers of the law. Does that programme please you?… Unless, in the meantime, we are shipwrecked, in which event we can do nothing but prepare our wills. What do you think?”
They exchanged looks. Holmes now understood Lupin’s scheme: he had scuttled the boat. And the water was rising. It had reached the soles of their boots. Then it covered their feet; but they did not move. It was half-way to their knees. The Englishman took out his tobacco, rolled a cigarette, and lighted it. Lupin continued to talk:
“But do not regard that offer as a confession of my weakness. I surrender to you in a battle in which I can achieve a victory in order to avoid a struggle upon a field not of my own choosing. In so doing I recognize the fact that Holmes is the only enemy I fear, and announce my anxiety that Holmes will not be diverted from my track. I take this opportunity to tell you these things since fate has accorded me the honor of a conversation with you. I have only one regret; it is that our conversation should have occurred while we are taking a foot-bath…a situation that is lacking in dignity, I must confess.… What did I say? A foot-bath? It is worse than that.”
The water had reached the board on which they were sitting, and the boat was gradually sinking.
Holmes, smoking his cigarette, appeared to be calmly admiring the scenery. For nothing in the world, while face to face with that man who, while threatened by dangers, surrounded by a crowd, followed by a posse of police, maintained his equanimity and good humor, for nothing in the world would he, Holmes, display the slightest sign of nervousness.
Each of them looked as if he might say: Should a person be disturbed by such trifles? Are not people drowned in a river every day? Is it such an unusual event as to deserve special attention? One chatted, whilst the other dreamed; both concealing their wounded pride beneath a mask of indifference.
One minute more and the boat will sink. Lupin continued his chatter:
“The important thing to know is whether we will sink before or after the arrival of the champions of the law. That is the main question. As to our shipwreck, that is a fore-gone conclusion. Now, monsieur, the hour has come in which we must make our wills. I give, devise and bequeath all my property to Sherlock Holmes, a citizen of England, for his own