Read Aloud the Text Content

This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.

Text Content or SSML code:

The lieutenant lowered the glass and looked the Captain straight in the eye. “Captain, are you calling off the raid?” Schneider returned the stare in silence. “I only inform you of my concerns. As head of the fliers, the decision is yours, Lieutenant Grass.” Grass lifted his chin. “My men will not fail.” “Very well.” The young man saluted and left the bridge. One more blimp manoeuvred close to the barge. Schneider raised his spyglass. Crew members on the barge threw mooring ropes to the people on the blimp. Once the ropes were secured a gangway was extended from the barge to the blimp. Schneider hoped that this time he would see Fleischer and his entourage walking across to the barge. But no, the people leaving the blimp were a man in a blue tailcoat with a woman in a pink dress on his arm. Ruskin and Saddler crossed the gangway leading directly to a golden tent. A man and a woman lifted two tent flaps. They both wore short skirts with Egyptian symbols. The woman’s skirt was white and decorated with gold while the man’s was black. The skirt was all the man wore while the woman had tied a scarf around the breast. It was so narrow and tied so tight it took away more decency than it added. The man took Ruskin to one side. “Sir, may I please ask you to hand over any weapon you are carrying.” Ruskin handed it over to the man who placed it in a safety box, carefully placing himself between the safety and Ruskin, not giving Ruskin a chance to see the combination. Ruskin noted a narrow stairway leading down to the lower deck. The man searched him for weapons, while the woman searched Sadler, and then they open the tent flaps in the other side of the tent and Ruskin and Saddler walked out on the deck. Around the edge of the barge stood palms made of cobber. The trunks polished while the branches had corroded to a green colour. The palms were obviously meant to give the impression that the inner part was an oasis. This part was lit by gas torches of lifelike sculptures of Egyptian warriors. In the centre, a circular dais raised a couple of feet above the deck. In the side were embedded metal grills shaped like hieroglyphs and the sound of drums and flutes came floating out. On the dais, a man and a woman danced in golden costumes. In concentric circles around the dais stood divans with serving tables. Here sat the guests, buyers and bodyguards, waited on by servants dressed like the ones that had greeted Ruskin, who brought wine and fruits on silver trays from a blue striped tent standing opposite the golden tent. Two servants led Ruskin and Saddler to a low divan filled with silk cushions. The woman asked Ruskin what he wanted. The expression in her dark eyes seemed to indicate that she wouldn’t be shocked if the answer was intercourse. He settled for champagne. Like patients waiting in a clinic for unmentionable deceases, the guests avoided looking at each other. Half of them seemed to be bodyguards. The rest would then be collectors of the kind that didn’t shy away from buying object d’arts they must have known were stolen. One of the servants, a woman with long black hair and tanned skin, rose up after having offered fruits to two men looking like twins and both wearing golden lorgnettes. “Hello there. You girl.” Called Ruskin. “I would like some grapes.” The woman turned to him and he gestured for her to approach. She knelt down beside him and held up the golden plate. He leaned forward and put his mouth close to her ear. Her skin radiated warmth. Her hair smelled of sandalwood. He whispered into her ear. “What brings you here? Signorita Caselli.” Caselli jerked her head away, jumped to her feet and looked at Ruskin with a startled expression. “Sir.” She cried, loud enough for all to hear. “Such a proposition is beyond inappropriate.” She stood up and strode toward the blue-striped tent. Mocking laughter and whispered remarks filled the deck. Ruskin turned to Sadler, who was blushing and looking at him with wide eyes. He leaned close to her and spoke in a low voice. “She’s a Neapolitan spy.” It took all his effort to produce an earnest expression before the doubt faded from her eyes. “Do you think she’s here for the pearl too?” “That’s what I was trying to find out.” “I have to say, one would expect a bit more finesse from a spy.” Caselli entered the blue tent. “What was the about?” The woman, who Caselli knew as thee Frau gave her a stern look. “I received an indecent proposal.” “Of course you did. Elena should have told you what you were getting into and how to behave. Now, hurry through to the gold tent. The man who hired us is approaching.” Caselli hurried down the stairs. Could Charles Ruskin be here for the pearl too? Then it would seem that she was right in thinking the pearl was Il Dispositivo. If he had been sent by his government, then he would surely have enough funds to win the auction, and if he got to safety with the pearl there would be very little she could do. She would be dspisedd as the Neapolitan spy who had come close to Il Dispositivo, only to let an Englishman grab it. Only one thing could help her. Chaos. She reached the bottom of the stairs and walked down a corridor. When she came to a door marked no entrance she put on an expression of cute confusion and barged through the door. A man in an engineering coverall looked up “Hey, what are you doing here.” She looked around as if in confusion. In the middle of the room the music machines. As two men approached she looked around. Marked every lever and. “Are you here to dance for us?” The man held his arms above the head and swung his hips. “I’m looking for the ladies—sorry.” She backed towards the door, held out her hand behind her back, slipped the key out of the lock and palmed it. She walked out, closing the door behind her. She placed the key on the upper side of a beam, then hurried down the corridor and up the stairs to the golden tent. The Frau looked at her suspiciously, as Caselli found her place in the row of servants, just as the tent flaps were opened. Five men entered led by a middle-aged man who gave an overall impression of greasiness. Not only from the glistening hair and moustache, but the face itself shone as if the man had been recently anointed. The four men who followed behind him rolled steamer trunks on trolleys. Caselli stared at the trunks. In one of those lay Lucifer’s Eye. The men when the trolleys rolled them through the tent and out of the exit to the deck, but the greasy guy, who must be Fleischer stopped and let his gaze wander over the half-naked men and women. “Nice. Very nice. Have you treated my guests well? Tonight will add to my fortune, and you will not find me ungrateful when it comes time to tip you. Especially those of you who may wish to stay behind and help me and my people celebrate.” For a moment he seemed lost in his fantasies. Then he continued in a sterner voice. “But for now, you must do as I say. You will go back and stand outside the blue tent. And you must not move. Even if some of my guests call or wave at you, you must not approach them. Not without my permission or that of Frau Ermelin.” He walked out of the tent. Ruskin recognized Fleischer when he stepped out of the tent. He and Saddler had only spent a few minutes with the man that afternoon. Saddler had shown a surprisingly large diamond to Fleischer. He had given her a value, which was the maximum bid she could place at the night’s auction. A few more technicalities and they had been instructed to be at a certain rooftop café at 8 pm. Fleischer spread out his arms and shouted “Good evening, dear friends.” He went around and exchanged pleasantries with the guests, while his men placed the trunks on dias and opened them up. After the meeting, Ruskin had escorted Sadler back to their hotel and then went back out and hired a hansom cab. On the way, he had written a note to The Kennel which he had delivered at the embassy. Like all embassies, this one also had a number of staff members who in addition to their nominal duties, had basic education in clandestine work. Ruskin had asked to be assigned two of these. He had instructed them to follow himself and Sadler when they left their hotel, and if they at any time saw Sadler alone, they were to follow her. They had agreed on a number of locations and times where could meet as well as locations where they could leave messages. What had his two assistants done after the blimp had picked up Ruskin and Sadler and carried them to the barge. Had they given up or were they even now keeping an eye on the barge? “My dear friends,” Fleischer called out, “step closer and admire the great beauty of tonight’s fantastic selection.” Like the other guests Ruskin and Sadler rose and approached the dais. Ruskin leaned close to Sadler. “Don’t show too much interest in the eye.” The trunks had been opened up and now resembled a display in a exclusive shop. The items had been placed in compartments of varying sizes lined with black velvet. Each compartment had a gold plague engraved with the lot number. Mingling with the other guests, Ruskin and Sadler passed by Chinese vases, Renaissance portraits, and Russian eggs. Lot number 14 was a brooch, or maybe it was a buckle that eons ago had closed the cape on a priest in the Indus valley. It was made of filaments of a silvery metal, intricately woven together to form a chamber in the middle, and a chamber within the chamber, and in there sat a pearl so black it seemed a bit of the world was missing, and you looked directly at the primordial nothingness from before the universe was born. So, this was the most dangerous weapon in the world. No envious accusations of luck and coincidence could prevent the one who brought it home to Britain to forever be regarded as the top Hound.