UNKNOWN

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13781, 20 June 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

UNKNOWN

THE EX-PRISON ERS*IK£P ! : BY ' r AX. "Hallo! Jock, Tamson, whaur liae re btsui this last, si-veil years'.'" ' ; i Such was {.ho greeting of one of a. pair of ■ decently 'men on rolling in : a..by-; street of the Kn>oiniela-w in the. city of ■Glasgow, The ■ person'"aiddrevscd had a slignuy furtive look, but was open-eyed awake it used to be called), as was and is the characteristic of those who have dwelt under the bright sunshine of the southern hemisphere, and it seemed as if those eyes were searching the dull, smoky atmosphere of the Scottish Cottonopolis for the clarified blue sky they had left behind them. "Weesht, Willie man, weesht," said the other. I've a lot to say to ye. Come into the public-hoose and I'll tell you something to open your eon." The pair adjourned accordingly, atid after due libation Jock Tamson, began his narrative. "I'm just back, hack frao New Zealand, where I've had a rough time. _ In fact, I'm just six months oot o' the prison in Auckland, where I served twa years. Never mind what for, the , jaud lured me on, < and escaped herself; and I got pinched. _ I was well behaved in the prison, and got into the camping gang that worked ootside in an' # aboot the forts, and there I foregathered wi'* a German fellow, fair-haired, well set up, and very clever. His name was Hans Slochen. He had been a leftonant in the German army, but had to bolt. He was a smart, kenspeckle chap, could speak an' write three languages. Whenever there was a chance he was aye talkin' about the Kaiser and the great and growing r German navy and the world's work (the veldt politik' ho ca'd it), that. navy was - destined;to perform. ', Often he said, '-what a chance Tit ■■would be to get drawin's of the forte in baith Auckland and Wellington. He ■'declared: that he knew the secret intelligence people of the German war office, and the' Admiralty would pay handsomely for trustworthy plans of the forts, their strength, and dimensions. :He had been a; draughtsman in the war office, and' if wo could make a fackseem ilie o' the forts, we should be paid hundreds of pounds. Ye ken, Willie, I was mysel' weel up in drawin', baith landscape an' architect-oral, at oor school. An' so atween the twa o's we managed to get a fell guid idea of the whole of the forts, for as we were weel behaved and respectful to the warders, aye savin' ' sir ' to them, an' that, though it sometimes against the grain, we managed to get a guid deal'of lioerty. Ony bit of paper wo saw we pickit up, and wi' a wee bit pencil a warder droppit, }wo contrived to make sketches and hide them as prisoners often do. I had a guid e'e for scenery and locality, and could estimate distances an' altitudes an' dimensions, an' knew the subsfcansheality o' the forts an' the walls, the size of the* disappearing guns and the gun-pits, and the ranges and circuitous capacity of their firing power. We used to draw little maps on the palms of oor hands to keep then} fresh, an' tear oot the blank leaves o' the books we were alloeed to read, and jot down the palm sketches and whatever memory helped us with.

"Well, we bait'h got outthcgitherwi'good-, conduct marks and a blessin' from the nice old chaplain, and went to Wellington, the capital; "but wo could not get near the forts there, for the Government permitted nobody. to get near them. To male it short, Slochen an' me between lis, by oor , sketches an' memories, contrived to get a really fair an' good workin'. plan of the forts. Slochen was ■ specially clever, for he knew all the technicalities of the system, and dinned into my cars 'descriptions and.'uses of the bastions, ramparts, curtains,' barbettes, parapets, ravelins, glacis, scarps, and coun-ter-scarps, and other names, till they were as familiar to me as an auld sang. There was one word, circumvailation, Hans sometimes used, but that, he said, applied mainlv to field forts, or what he called the open. As I tell ye, we contrived by recollection and oor rough sketches, palmistry, and other, an' particklarly Slochen's clever drawin' (for he was very accomplished and highly educated), wo produced a fair an' trustworthy plan o' the Auckland forts, gun-pits, and all. An' now-I'll'show you the drawin'," '

Jock Tamson here produced from under his vast a roll of super royal- drawing paper on which was traced, as by the hand of a master architect, a well-delineated and apparently accurate plan of the Auckland fortifications: line upon lino in finished drawing. After a brief inspection William. Gaudie, Tamson's friend, ejaculated: "Losh, Jock, that German must be a grand chap, look at his, delicate lines, man, it's like cop-per-plate." "Yer richfc, Willie, ho wag clever an' talented; an' if you can help me to ony person'that can enable me to get the ear of the secretary to the German Embassy in London, I'll make it well worth your while, for- it means hundreds of pounds, greedy though the Germans are." "Ow, aye," said Jock's interlocutor," I am ready, but first tell me what became of your, friend Slochen? Ye didna' chisel him,* did ye, and prig 'his plan?" " Me chisel him," said Tamson, indignantly, "never, 1 wadn'a have cheated him for the warld. Puir deeyij, he- got'.drank several times on the sailin' ship we caxne home in; got delurious, an' a'e dark nichfc he jumpit ower.the bulwarks, and was never seen again. Isna' that a bomrie map; and think o' the man that drew it gaeti to feed the fishes' through that curst drink? Let's •hare another gill, have plenty of money to keep us baith in London for months to come till we can pee thao German secret billies, and carry oot the.transaction. Ring the bell, Willie", an' I'll just put this? oot o' s<x-hfc. Tamsou was proceeding to restore the precious roll to its place under his vest, when the door of the little room Where the foregoing colloquy occurred- was quietly opened.' and gave entrance to a- quiet-looking old gentleman with gray hair and big spectacles, who .addressedTamson thus:-' '•"I must trouble you for that document. I have been waiting for/you for nearly a month.. .Hand it over;: hold, out your hands* and come with me. 'We heard all about you and Hans Slochen a month ago. Gaudie, -you can go until I want you.". Tableau! He.was a detective -from Scot- ' land Yard.