The Sultan's Daughter by Dennis Wheatley Page B

At that distance, had you declared yourself in what you assert to be your true colours, the members of the boat’s crew could not have shot you down or even heard you. Yet, instead of hailing your compatriots with joy, you shot one of them with a pistol and smashed the butt of it into the face of the other. If you are, as you claim, a Colonel in the Army of France, what possible explanation have you to offer for attacking two members of our Coastguard Service?’
    This was the big fence and, pulling himself together, Roger took it to the best of his ability. Pointing to the Coastguard who had been among the first to arrive on the scene of the affray, he said, ‘That man has told the Court that at the time of the occurrence the beach was lit only by starlight so faint that it was impossible to see an approaching figure at more than a few yards’ distance. The men who attacked me were running full tilt towards me and I towards them. In such circumstances a yard can be covered in less than a second. They were upon me before I had even the time to shout. One of them had a sabre raised above his head with intent to cleave my head from scalp to chin. Instinctively, as the only chance of saving my life, I fired upon him. As he fell his companion charged at me. I barely escaped his thrust, and in swerving struck wildly at him with the hand that held my pistol. It caught him in the face and he went down.’
    â€˜And then,’ the Chairman remarked acidly, ‘instead of remaining to give such aid as you could to these compatriots you had injured, you ran off into the sea, leaving them, perhaps, to bleed to death.’
    â€˜There was no question of their bleeding to death,’ Roger cried indignantly. ‘The one was shot only in the shoulder and the other had but a bloody nose. Besides, their comrades came up with them no more than two minutes later. It was the thudding of the patrol’s footsteps on the sand as they came charging towards me that caused me to act as I did. Had I remained beside the men I had wounded, their comrades would not have waited to listen to any explanation but would have struck me down where I stood and made an end of me. My only hope of preserving my life lay in immediate flight and the hope that their resentment against me would have cooled a little by the time I gave myself up.’
    The Prosecutor made no attempt to sum up, neither did the magistrates leave the Court to debate the evidence in private. No further evidence being offered, they began openly to discuss the case among themselves. The Chairman asked his two colleagues for their opinions and the little man with the ruddy cheeks, who had not so far spoken, said:
    â€˜He is a Frenchman. There can be no doubt about that. And he has an answer for everything. One must admit that his account of himself is entirely plausible.’
    â€˜Except about the Cherry Brandy,’ put in the innkeeper. ‘I am convinced that he was lying about that.’
    â€˜If so,’ commented the Chairman, ‘he was then lying to us on other matters. If he obtained the bottle from Grove Place that means he did contact his relatives at the house. His doing so would greatly increase the probability that he is Sir Brook’s son rather than a French cousin who could not readily have accounted for his presence in England and who, on disclosing himself, would almost certainly have been detained.’
    At that, Tardieu jumped to his feet and cried, ‘He is lying, Citizen Chairman; and I can prove it. When I woke him this morning and charged him with being Admiral Sir Brook’s son, his first words were, “Admiral Brook? I’ve never heard of him”. Yet now he declares himself to be a French relative of the Admiral and tells us that he spent several years of his youth in the Admiral’s house. He cannot have it both ways.’
    Shaken as Roger was by this bolt from the blue, he rallied all his resources to