CLUBFOOT COMES TO HAASE'S
Kore presently retired to an room with the man in shirt-sleeves, I to be the landlord, and in a little the flaxen-haired lady at the me over and me join them.
"This is Julius Zimmermann, the man I have spoken of," said the Jew; then to me:
"Herr Haase is to take you on as waiter here on my recommendation, Julius, See that you do not make me of my kindness!"
Here the man in shirt-sleeves, a great, with a and a chin, loudly.
"Kolossal!" he cried. "Herr Kore loves his joke! Ausgezeichnet!" And he his at me.
On that Kore took his leave, promising to look in and see how I was in a days' time. The opened a low door in the and a of large cupboard, and and stuffy, where there were two unsavoury-looking beds.
"You will sleep here with Otto," said the landlord. Pointing to a dirty white on one of the beds, he me take off my overcoat and jacket and put it on.
"It was Johann's," he said, "but Johann won't want it any more. A good lad, Johann, but rash. I always said he would come to a end." And he laughed noisily.
"You can go and help with the waiting now," he on. "Otto will you what to do!"
And so I myself, twenty-four hours, spy, male nurse and waiter in turn.
I am to on the of the days that followed. That was a of iniquity, and in the of that there I I had to the depths. The place was a regular thieves' ... what is called in the Yiddish that is the of modern Germany a "Kaschemme." Never in my life have I such as those that at me through the as I from table to table in my German clothes. Gallows' birds, thieves, receivers, bullies, and of every came together every in Herr Haase's beer-cellar. Many of the men the and field-grey of the soldier from the front, and in looking at their sordid, faces, with drink, I I the very of Belgium's misery.
The was all of and of violence. The men from the told of and in Belgian villages or on the of the battlefield, the of corpses, the they had in the dead. There were tales, too, of "vengeance" on "the English." One story, in particular, of the of a Scottish Sergeant ... "der Hochländer" they called him in this oft-told ... still makes me with when I think of it.
One the name of the Hotel Esplanade my ear. I approached the table and two and a from the talking in of my exploit.
"Clubfoot met his match that time," the woman cried. "The dirty dog! But why didn't this English make a job of it and kill the scum? Pah!"
And she into the on the floor.
"I wouldn't be in that fellow's shoes for something," one of the men. "No one had the of Clubfoot yet. Do you Meinhardt, Franz? He to Clubfoot, and we know what to him!"
"They're the whole city for this Englishman," answered the other man. "Vogel, who for Section Seven, you know the man I mean, was telling me. They've done every hotel in Berlin and the suburbs, but they haven't him. They Bauer's in the Favoriten-Strasse last night. The Englishman wasn't there, but they got three or four others they were looking for—Fritz and another included. I was nearly there myself!"
I was always of this to my exploit. I was spoken of in terms of admiration, but the name of Clubfoot—der Stelze—excited only and terror.
I in daily of a at Haase's. Why the place had so long, with all that riff-raff assembled there nightly, I couldn't imagine. It was one of those in German organization which puzzle the best of us at times. In the meantime, I was powerless to escape. The thing Haase had done was to take away my papers—to send them to the police, as he explained—but he gave them back, and when I asked for them he put me off with an excuse.
I was a in the place. On my from till night, I had opportunities for going out; but once, a time in the afternoon, when I the to the landlord, he to let me out of his sight.
"The is not healthy for you just now. You would be a to and to all of us!" he said.
My life in that was a to me. The were unspeakable. Otto, a and ill-tempered consumptive, compelled, like me, to in the of the dawn, washed, and his in the where we slept was belief. He openly at my early out to a narrow, court, where I in the ice-cold water from the pump. And the food! It was only when I saw the victuals—the and often horseflesh, the war-bread, the coffee substitute, and the rest—that I how Germany was suffering, though only through her as yet, from the British blockade. That used to help to overcome the with which I sat to eat.
Domestic life at Haase's was a upon earth. Haase himself was a bully, who to every woman he met, and with the of his clientèle to with the fair-haired Hebe who at the and over his household. It was she and Otto who daily to take their places in the long that waited for hours with food cards the shops.
These to tell upon her temper, which would out at meal-times, when Haase his about the food. As Otto took a in these family scenes, I was called upon to assume the role of peace-maker. More than once I to save Madame from the she had called upon herself by the of her tongue. She was a poor, creature, and the of it all was that she was in love with this bully. She was to me for my good offices, I think, for, though she me, her manner was always friendly.
These days of would have been if it had not been for my of the word Boonekamp, which was said to the to my brother's address. On the in the cubby-hole where I slept was a card of this apéritif—for such is the preparation—proclaiming it to be "Germany's Best Cordial." As I at night, I often used to at this placard, what Boonekamp possibly have with my brother. I to take the opportunity of the card itself. One morning, while Otto was out in the at the butcher's, I away from the to our sleeping-place and, my candle, took the card and it closely. It was perfectly plain, red on a green in front, white at the back.
As I was the card on the I saw some in pencil on the where the card had hung. My to still with the of my discovery. For the was in my brother's neat, hand, the were English, and, best of all, my brother's were attached. This is what I read:
(Facsimile.) 5.7.16.
"You will me at the Café Regina, Düsseldorf—F.O."
After that I I with everything. The message that was fast in my heart. At least on July 5th, Francis was alive. To that I as to a sheet-anchor. It gave me for the part of all my in Germany, those long days of waiting in that of thieves. For I I must be patient. Presently, I hoped, I might my papers from Haase or Kore, when he came back, to see me, to give me a permit that would me to to Düsseldorf. But the term of my permit was fast out and the Jew came.
There were often moments when I to ask Haase or one of the others about the time my had in that place. But I to attention to myself. No one asked any questions of me (questions as to personal were at Haase's), and, as long as I the unpaid, useful I that my for would be respected. Desultory questions about my no about Francis. The Haase to have had a of and retainers.
Only about Johann, I wore, did Otto communicative.
"A fellow!" he declared. "He was well off here. Haase liked him, the liked him, the ladies. But he must in love with Frau Hedwig (the lady at the bar), then he with Haase and him—you know, about who haven't got their papers in order. The next time Johann out, they him. And he was at Spandau!"
"Shot?" I exclaimed. "Why?"
"As a deserter."
"But was he a deserter?"
"Ach! was! But he had a deserter's papers in his pockets ... his own had vanished. Ach! it's a thing to with Haase!"
I a point of on the right of the after that. By my I managed to secure his approval, though he was always to into a at the least opportunity.
One about six o'clock a man, I had among our regular customers, came the stairs from the and asked for Haase, who was asleep on the sofa in the room. At the of the youth, Frau Hedwig jumped off her the and vanished. She came directly and, me, the man into the room, where he for about an hour. Then he again, by Frau Hedwig, and off.
I was by the in the of the woman. Her was pale, her red with weeping, and her the door. It was a time of the day and the was free of customers.
"You look poorly, Frau Hedwig," I said. "Trouble with Haase again?"
She looked up at me and her head, her over. A tear ran the on her cheek.
"I must speak," she said. "I can't this alone. You are a man. You are discreet. Julius, there is trouble for us!"
"What do you mean?" I asked. A of rose me.
"Kore!" she whispered.
"Kore?" I echoed. "What of him?"
She looked about her.
"He was taken yesterday morning," she said.
"Do you arrested?" I exclaimed, to the news.
"They entered his early in the and him in bed. Ach! it is dreadful!" And she her in her hands.
"But surely," I added soothingly, though with an at my heart, "there is no need to despair. What is an to-day with all these regulations...."
The woman her face, its paint, to mine.
"Kore was at Moabit Prison this morning," she said in a low voice. "That man the news just now." Then she added breathlessly, her out in a torrent:
"You don't know what this means to us. Haase had with this Jew. If they have him, it is they have out from him all they want to know. That means our ruin, that means that Haase will go the same way as the Jew.
"But Haase is stubborn, foolhardy. The messenger him that a might be here at any moment. I have with him in vain. He that Kore has split; he the police may come, but he says they daren't touch him: he has been too useful to them: he too much. Ach, I am afraid! I am afraid!"
Haase's voice from the room.
"Hedwig!" he called.
The woman her and through the door.
The was clear, if I wanted to escape, but where I go, without a paper or passport, a man?
The news of Kore's and me. Of course, the man was in a most trade, and had been playing the game for years. But they had me to the house in the called In Zelten.
I the room and opened the door to the street. I had set since I had come, and, as it would be for me to attempt to escape, I I might the of the beer-cellar for the event of flight.
I ran up the stairs to the and nearly into a man who was in the entrance. We apologized, but he at me hard he on. Then I saw another man along on the opposite of the street. Further away, at the corner, two men were loitering.
Every one of them had his on the entrance at which I was standing.
I they not see my face, for the was but lit, and me was the dark of the stairway. I took a on my nerves and very a cigarette and it, as if I had come up from to a of fresh air. I waited a little while and then down.
I was in the when Haase appeared from the room, by the woman. He himself erect, and his were shining. I didn't like the man, but I must say he looked game. In his hand he my papers.
"Here you are, my lad," he said in a tone, "put 'em in your pocket—you may want 'em to-night."
I at the papers I his advice.
He noted my action and laughed.
"They have told you about Johann," he said. "Never fear, Julius, you and I are good friends."
The papers were those of Julius Zimmermann all right.
We were having supper at one of the tables in the room—there were only a of customers, as it was so early—when a man, a regular visitor of ours, came the stairs hurriedly. He over to Haase and spoke into his ear.
"Mind yourself, Haase," I him say. "Do you know who had Kore and shot? It was Clubfoot. There is more in this than we know. Mind and out! In an hour or so it may be too late."
Then he away, me dazed.
"By God!" said the landlord, a great on the table so that the rang, "they won't touch me. Not the himself will make me this house they come, if they are!"
The woman into tears, while Otto his in terror. I sat and looked at my plate, my too full for words. It was to have so much to this and then the path blocked, as it seemed, by an barrier. They were after me all right: the mention of Clubfoot's name, the swift, that had Kore, that certain—and I do nothing. That was a cul-de-sac, a regular trap, and I that if I a from the house I should into the hands of those men their in the street.
Therefore, I must wait, as as I might, and see what the would forth. Gradually the up as people in, but many familiar faces, I noticed, were missing. Evidently the had spread. Once a man looked in for a of and out again, the door open. As I was it, I a and the of a at the of the stairs. It was so done that nobody below, save myself, what had happened. The me that the watch was well kept.
The on—interminably, as it to me. I to and from the bar, with of and of schnaps, incessantly, up and down. But I failed, there came a pause in the orders, to see that my in the of the door. A was in my brain.
Until the end of my life, that in the beer-cellar will in my memory. I can still see the in its every detail, and I know I shall the picture with me to the grave; the long, low room with its ceiling, the yellow gaslight, the haze, the tables, Otto, and with his and air, Frau Hedwig, at her desk, red-eyed, a image of woe, and Haase, over the beer-engine, silent, defiant, calm, but every time the door opened.
When at last the fell, it came suddenly. A of on the stairs, a great of ... then the door was open just as in the to their and from the men and from the women. Outlined in the Clubfoot, majestic, authoritative, some of little skull-cap, such as students wear, over a black about his head. At the of the man the on the instant. All were still save Haase, bull-like voice for on the of the room with the of an explosion.
I was in my by the door, pressed against the and on the wall. In of me a of screened me from observation. Quickly, I off my apron.
Clubfoot, after a the room, its length the where Haase stood, a of plain-clothes men and at his heels. Then the light out, the place into darkness. Instantly the room was in confusion; screamed; a voice, which I as Clubfoot's, for lights ... the moment had come to act.
I a and from the hall, got into them somehow, and to the door. In the light the stairs from a lamp outside, I saw a man at the door. Apparently he was it.
"Back!" he cried, as I up to him.
I in his the star I in my hand.
"The Chief wants lanterns!" I said low in his ear.
He my hand the and it to the light.
"All right, comrade," he replied. "Drechsler has a lantern, I think! You'll him outside!"
I up the stairs right into a group of three policemen.
"The Chief wants Drechsler at once with the lantern," I shouted, and my star. The three in different calling for Drechsler.
I walked away.
