The Earth in Anarchy
Urging the horses to a gallop, without respect to the rather rugged descent of the road, the horsemen soon regained their advantage over the men on the march, and at last the bulk of the first buildings of Lancy cut off the sight of their pursuers. Nevertheless, the ride had been a long one, and by the time they reached the real town the west was warming with the colour and quality of sunset. The Colonel suggested that, before making finally for the police station, they should make the effort, in passing, to attach to themselves one more individual who might be useful.
âFour out of the five rich men in this town,â he said, âare common swindlers. I suppose the proportion is pretty equal all over the world. The fifth is a friend of mine, and a very fine fellow; and what is even more important from our point of view, he owns a motor-car.â
âI am afraid,â said the Professor in his mirthful way, looking back along the white road on which the black, crawling patch might appear at any moment, âI am afraid we have hardly time for afternoon calls.â
âDoctor Renardâs house is only three minutes off,â said the Colonel.
âOur danger,â said Dr. Bull, âis not two minutes off.â
âYes,â said Syme, âif we ride on fast we must leave them behind, for they are on foot.â
âHe has a motor-car,â said the Colonel.
âBut we may not get it,â said Bull.
âYes, he is quite on your side.â
âBut he might be out.â
âHold your tongue,â said Syme suddenly. âWhat is that noise?â
For a second they all sat as still as equestrian statues, and for a secondâfor two or three or four secondsâheaven and earth seemed equally still. Then all their ears, in an agony of attention, heard along the road that indescribable thrill and throb that means only one thingâhorses!
The Colonelâs face had an instantaneous change, as if lightning had struck it, and yet left it scatheless.
âThey have done us,â he said, with brief military irony. âPrepare to receive cavalry!â
âWhere can they have got the horses?â asked Syme, as he mechanically urged his steed to a canter.
The Colonel was silent for a little, then he said in a strained voiceâ
âI was speaking with strict accuracy when I said that the âSoleil dâOrâ was the only place where one can get horses within twenty miles.â
âNo!â said Syme violently, âI donât believe heâd do it. Not with all that white hair.â
âHe may have been forced,â said the Colonel gently. âThey must be at least a hundred strong, for which reason we are all going to see my friend Renard, who has a motor-car.â
With these words he swung his horse suddenly round a street corner, and went down the street with such thundering speed, that the others, though already well at the gallop, had difficulty in following the flying tail of his horse.
Dr. Renard inhabited a high and comfortable house at the top of a steep street, so that when the riders alighted at his door they could once more see the solid green ridge of the hill, with the white road across it, standing up above all the roofs of the town. They breathed again to see that the road as yet was clear, and they rang the bell.
Dr. Renard was a beaming, brown-bearded man, a good example of that silent but very busy professional class which France has preserved even more perfectly than England. When the matter was explained to him he pooh-poohed the panic of the ex-Marquis altogether; he said, with the solid French scepticism, that there was no conceivable probability of a general anarchist rising. âAnarchy,â he said, shrugging his shoulders, âit is childishness!â
âEt ca,â cried out the Colonel suddenly, pointing over the otherâs shoulder, âand that is childishness, isnât it?â
They all looked round, and saw a curve of black cavalry come sweeping over the top of the hill with all the energy of Attila. Swiftly as they rode, however, the whole rank still kept well together, and they could see the black vizards of the first line as level as a line of uniforms. But although the main black square was the same, though travelling faster, there was now one sensational difference which they could see clearly upon the slope of the hill, as if upon a slanted map. The bulk of the riders were in one block; but one rider flew far ahead of the column, and with frantic movements of hand and heel urged his horse faster and faster, so that one might have fancied that he was not the pursuer but the pursued. But even at that great distance they could see something so fanatical, so unquestionable in his figure, that they knew it was the Secretary himself. âI am sorry to cut short a cultured discussion,â said the Colonel, âbut can you lend me your motor-car now, in two minutes?â
âI have a suspicion that you are all mad,â said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; âbut God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship. Let us go round to the garage.â
Dr. Renard was a mild man with monstrous wealth; his rooms were like the Musee de Cluny, and he had three motor-cars. These, however, he seemed to use very sparingly, having the simple tastes of the French middle class, and when his impatient friends came to examine them, it took them some time to assure themselves that one of them even could be made to work. This with some difficulty they brought round into the street before the Doctorâs house. When they came out of the dim garage they were startled to find that twilight had already fallen with the abruptness of night in the tropics. Either they had been longer in the place than they imagined, or some unusual canopy of cloud had gathered over the town. They looked down the steep streets, and seemed to see a slight mist coming up from the sea.
âIt is now or never,â said Dr. Bull. âI hear horses.â
âNo,â corrected the Professor, âa horse.â
And as they listened, it was evident that the noise, rapidly coming nearer on the rattling stones, was not the noise of the whole cavalcade but that of the one horseman, who had left it far behindâthe insane Secretary.
Symeâs family, like most of those who end in the simple life, had once owned a motor, and he knew all about them. He had leapt at once into the chauffeurâs seat, and with flushed face was wrenching and tugging at the disused machinery. He bent his strength upon one handle, and then said quite quietlyâ
âI am afraid itâs no go.â
As he spoke, there swept round the corner a man rigid on his rushing horse, with the rush and rigidity of an arrow. He had a smile that thrust out his chin as if it were dislocated. He swept alongside of the stationary car, into which its company had crowded, and laid his hand on the front. It was the Secretary, and his mouth went quite straight in the solemnity of triumph.
Syme was leaning hard upon the steering wheel, and there was no sound but the rumble of the other pursuers riding into the town. Then there came quite suddenly a scream of scraping iron, and the car leapt forward. It plucked the Secretary clean out of his saddle, as a knife is whipped out of its sheath, trailed him kicking terribly for twenty yards, and left him flung flat upon the road far in front of his frightened horse. As the car took the corner of the street with a splendid curve, they could just see the other anarchists filling the street and raising their fallen leader.
âI canât understand why it has grown so dark,â said the Professor at last in a low voice.
âGoing to be a storm, I think,â said Dr. Bull. âI say, itâs a pity we havenât got a light on this car, if only to see by.â
âWe have,â said the Colonel, and from the floor of the car he fished up a heavy, old-fashioned, carved iron lantern with a light inside it. It was obviously an antique, and it would seem as if its original use had been in some way semi-religious, for there was a rude moulding of a cross upon one of its sides.
âWhere on earth did you get that?â asked the Professor.
âI got it where I got the car,â answered the Colonel, chuckling, âfrom my best friend. While our friend here was fighting with the steering wheel, I ran up the front steps of the house and spoke to Renard, who was standing in his own porch, you will remember. âI suppose,â I said, âthereâs no time to get a lamp.â He looked up, blinking amiably at the beautiful arched ceiling of his own front hall. From this was suspended, by chains of exquisite ironwork, this lantern, one of the hundred treasures of his treasure house. By sheer force he tore the lamp out of his own ceiling, shattering the painted panels, and bringing down two blue vases with his violence. Then he handed me the iron lantern, and I put it in the car. Was I not right when I said that Dr. Renard was worth knowing?â
âYou were,â said Syme seriously, and hung the heavy lantern over the front. There was a certain allegory of their whole position in the contrast between the modern automobile and its strange ecclesiastical lamp. Hitherto they had passed through the quietest part of the town, meeting at most one or two pedestrians, who could give them no hint of the peace or the hostility of the place. Now, however, the windows in the houses began one by one to be lit up, giving a greater sense of habitation and humanity. Dr. Bull turned to the new detective who had led their flight, and permitted himself one of his natural and friendly smiles.
âThese lights make one feel more cheerful.â
Inspector Ratcliffe drew his brows together.
âThere is only one set of lights that make me more cheerful,â he said, âand they are those lights of the police station which I can see beyond the town. Please God we may be there in ten minutes.â
Then all Bullâs boiling good sense and optimism broke suddenly out of him.
âOh, this is all raving nonsense!â he cried. âIf you really think that ordinary people in ordinary houses are anarchists, you must be madder than an anarchist yourself. If we turned and fought these fellows, the whole town would fight for us.â
âNo,â said the other with an immovable simplicity, âthe whole town would fight for them. We shall see.â
While they were speaking the Professor had leant forward with sudden excitement.
âWhat is that noise?â he said.
âOh, the horses behind us, I suppose,â said the Colonel. âI thought we had got clear of them.â
âThe horses behind us! No,â said the Professor, âit is not horses, and it is not behind us.â
Almost as he spoke, across the end of the street before them two shining and rattling shapes shot past. They were gone almost in a flash, but everyone could see that they were motor-cars, and the Professor stood up with a pale face and swore that they were the other two motor-cars from Dr. Renardâs garage.
âI tell you they were his,â he repeated, with wild eyes, âand they were full of men in masks!â
âAbsurd!â said the Colonel angrily. âDr. Renard would never give them his cars.â
âHe may have been forced,â said Ratcliffe quietly. âThe whole town is on their side.â
âYou still believe that,â asked the Colonel incredulously.
âYou will all believe it soon,â said the other with a hopeless calm.
There was a puzzled pause for some little time, and then the Colonel began again abruptlyâ
âNo, I canât believe it. The thing is nonsense. The plain people of a peaceable French townââ
He was cut short by a bang and a blaze of light, which seemed close to his eyes. As the car sped on it left a floating patch of white smoke behind it, and Syme had heard a shot shriek past his ear.
âMy God!â said the Colonel, âsomeone has shot at us.â
âIt need not interrupt conversation,â said the gloomy Ratcliffe. âPray resume your remarks, Colonel. You were talking, I think, about the plain people of a peaceable French town.â
The staring Colonel was long past minding satire. He rolled his eyes all round the street.
âIt is extraordinary,â he said, âmost extraordinary.â
âA fastidious person,â said Syme, âmight even call it unpleasant. However, I suppose those lights out in the field beyond this street are the Gendarmerie. We shall soon get there.â
âNo,â said Inspector Ratcliffe, âwe shall never get there.â
He had been standing up and looking keenly ahead of him. Now he sat down and smoothed his sleek hair with a weary gesture.
âWhat do you mean?â asked Bull sharply.
âI mean that we shall never get there,â said the pessimist placidly. âThey have two rows of armed men across the road already; I can see them from here. The town is in arms, as I said it was. I can only wallow in the exquisite comfort of my own exactitude.â
And Ratcliffe sat down comfortably in the car and lit a cigarette, but the others rose excitedly and stared down the road. Syme had slowed down the car as their plans became doubtful, and he brought it finally to a standstill just at the corner of a side street that ran down very steeply to the sea.
The town was mostly in shadow, but the sun had not sunk; wherever its level light could break through, it painted everything a burning gold. Up this side street the last sunset ...