Grimsby touched Matthew's hand in the darkness and indicated he should stand ready in case of trouble, then pressed the muzzle of his pistol against the head of the sleeping man and whispered harshly "Stay still, and surrender in the name of the Crown!"

Dash opens the door, covering the room with his Mauser...only to realize that everyone in the "room" is actually 20-feet below, down a shaft.

Dash turns to glare at Mercy for a moment -- this would be so much easier if Matthew were here with that damn electriky pistol.

Returning his attention to the mine pit, Dash ponders a moment, then -- making sure he was back away from the edge of the pit, and not in any line of fire from below -- Dash clears his throat, then speaks in a good, solid deck-hands voice.

"Right, then, Lads!" Dash calls out to those below, "Lord Kentigern says that the jig is up, and all operations at this here mine are to cease immediately.  We got a good bunch of lads up here, all armed and under authority of Lord Kentigern, so no funny business.  Just drop yer tools or any weapons ye might be carryin, and come up the ladder one at a time.  Let's keep this peaceable, and ye kin all be enjoying breakfast at the nearest pub in no time."

Matthew stands ready with Grimsby. He frowns with concern as Grimsby places the metal gun against the sleeping mans head, for if he were to shoot now, undoubtedly the charge would travel through the gun and shock both men. He can only hope Grimsby will pull back when the time comes to shoot.

Viktor's tactic works just fine. The butt of the gun sends the guard to the ground, unconscious. Fortunately, he wasn't wearing a helmet.


Grimsby and Matthew get the drop on the sleeping guard. With a gun barrel pressed to his head, he just continues to lay there.


Dash and Mercy, with Latimer following them, entered the shack, and Dash calls out for the guard or guards to surrender.

There's the sound of a brief scuffle, and a guard edges into sight with someone else held in front of him. The guard is holding a gun to the man's head.

"I think not, Amerikaner!" the guard replies. "You vill drop your veapons or I vill begin shooting the hostages!"

Grimsby whispers firmly to the man "Put your hands in front of you." and gestures for Matthew to tie them with some of the bedding.

Dash and Mercy, with Latimer following them, entered the shack, and Dash calls out for the guard or guards to surrender.

There's the sound of a brief scuffle, and a guard edges into sight with someone else held in front of him. The guard is holding a gun to the man's head.

"I think not, Amerikaner!" the guard replies. "You vill drop your veapons or I vill begin shooting the hostages!"

Dash takes a half-step back, making sure that the German can't see more of him than he can see of the German.

Then he smiles...and a half-second later he chuckles a little bit.

"Got it right on the first guess, kraut." Dash responds, "I'm an American.  In fact, most of us, up here, are.  His Lordship hired a bunch of us as mercenaries, seeing as how we Americans could give a spit about the lives of a bunch of gritty Brit miners.  So you just go ahead, shoot up all the rockgrubbers you got down there, use up your ammo, and once all the Brits are dead, we'll shoot the hell out of you, then tell the newspapers we didn't get here until after you'd done all the shooting."

Dash's smile turned to a sneer,

"C'mon, Fritz, think about it!  You're all alone out here.  We've got you outnumbered and outgunned.  Hell, I could order the boys to just roll a couple of cans of kerosene down into that hole you're in, and we could have us a real South Carolina-style barbeque.  And I'll still blame you to the authorities for the death of the miners!  I...still...win!  Kertigan still wins.  You die.  Pointlessly."

"Now, you're probably a mercenary, just like me.  Do the smart thing, cut your losses and surrender.  Lord Kertigan doesn't care about you, once he has his mine, here, back, he'll probably just turn you loose with a boot to the ass.  Unarmed, of course."

"So, stop fooling around.  Throw your weapons up here, then climb out one at a time -- or start shooting. Either way, I'm sending one of my boys to get the kerosene."

Dash turned momentarily -- making sure the German couldn't see his face -- and flashed a wink and a smile at Mercy and Latimer.

"What's it gonna be, Fritzi?"

Both Mercy and Latimer--especially Latimer--are shocked at Dash's words. Dash can tell that Mercy was eager to shoot the villain, though.

Mercy picks up on the bluff almost right away, but it takes a nudge from Mercy for Latimer to catch on.

As the guard seems to hesitate while thinking over his options, Latimer quips up then. "I'll get the kerosene."

He actually goes over to the door, opens it, and then lightly slams it closed again.

That seems to galvanize the guard into activity. He pushes the miner out into the pit. "Climb!"

A moment later, he pushes a second miner out into the pit with the same instruction. Then he tosses his gun out onto the floor of the pit. He steps out then with his hands raised. He seems half expecting to get shot, but apparently that's better than being burned alive.

Dash takes a steady bead with his Mauser, as the German climbs up out of the pit.

"I'll keep him covered, Mercy, while you tie his hands behind his back."

Though he keeps his eye on the German, Dash then adresses the miners,

"Sorry about the threats to you chaps, but as you can see, I've got Mister Latimer here, with me.  He's going to take all of you outside and explain the situation to you.  Now, just in case any of you were cooperating with this Kraut, I want you to remember that he was willing to use you or your friend as a bullet stopping device -- so ask yourself, is that the kind of person you really want to work with?  Now outside with Mister Latimer, the lot of ya."

Dash keeps a careful eye on the German as/if the men file out, but he keeps the possibility in his mind that one, or more, of the miners might try to grab him or his pistol, so he remains wary until they are all outside with Latimer.

About the time that Dash escorts the two miners and the German guard outside of the shack, Hugo and Lord Kentigern and Samuel Clemens arrive.

The guard that Viktor bashed on the head is still unconscious, and Grimsby and Matthew have the other guard tied up.

"Where's Cavor?" Kentigern asks. "Where are their bosses?"

Once their prisoner's hands have been tied, Grimsby says "On your feet, come with us outside, and don't try to run or I'll shoot your legs." He then herds the prisoner out to join the others. He adds to Matthew "Thanks for your help with this fellow. Let's see what our friends have found."

Dash leans close to his German prisoner and, in a stage whisper, says,

"Hey, Fritzi, here's your chance to get in good with Lord Kentigern.  Tell his Lordship what he wants to know, and you might, yet, leave here with a jingle in your pocket..."

Matthew is numb, moving like a man in shock as he diligently binds the man as instructed. Having since stashed the gun in the back of his pants, so he could tie a proper knot, he pulls it back out, pointing at the half awake man before motioning with a wave to follow Grimsby outside the tent. He does his best not to think about what he's doing and simply just doing it. Once again, the time to reconsider his brash decision has long since passed, all he can do now is follow through on the choice. Right? Wrong? He did his best to ignore any internal moral nagging as he pushed the lightning gun in the mans back to emphasize that they still had the upper hand in this hostile take over.

The guard that Dash is interrogating ignores his questions and just stares straight ahead.

However, he does notice that the guard has a familiar tattoo on the back of his hand.

Standing behind his German prisoner -- the mans hands are tied behind his back -- Dash calls out quietly,

"Grimsby, old chum, take a look at this." Dash says, indicating the tattoo when Grimsby comes closer,

"Look familiar?" Dash asks quietly, "Why don't you go check your chap, and I'll check the fellow Viktor took down.  Mercy can watch Fritzi, here."

Grimsby says to Matthew "Keep an eye on this fellow while I see what Denholm wants." He goes over and looks at the tattoo and nods, saying "Yes, I believe that matches the ones we saw earlier." He then returns to his prisoner and examines his hands to see if there is a matching tattoo.

As Grimsby walks away, Dash leaves his German prisoner in Mercys care, and walks over to the former guard that Viktor laid out.  With a nod to Viktor, Dash kneels and rolls the unconscious man over to get a look at his bound hands, checking for the distinctive tattoo.

"Mister Latimer, sir!" Dash calls out, as he checks the unconscious man, "Ask your lads, there..." Dash indicates the two miners with a nod of his head, "...if they overheard anything about the whereabouts of the 'Bosses', or even this Cavor gentleman."

Upon examining the backs of the hands of the guards, the same 'V' symbol can be found on the left hand of all three of them.

The two miners that were down in the mine are Welsh, and don't speak English all that well. Latimer asks them about anything they overheard, but they can't help as they didn't understand much of anything the guards said. They do tell him, which he relays to the others, that Cavor left the pit about two hours ago.

"Is this Cavor fellow known for taking early morning constitutionals," Dash asked, "or could he be headed to a nearby village to meet a train, or something?  Anyone know the local train schedules?"

In reply to GM StarMaster (msg # 146):

Once Grimsby has confirmed the symbol on the hands of the prisoners, he says to Matthew, "These fellows are part of the same lot we met in London. Keep a sharp eye on them so they don't escape -- but if they run, try to stop them without frying them too thoroughly with that gun of yours--we need them in shape for more questioning."

"I suppose Cavor could have left to catch a train," Latimer replies. "The London daily comes up here as the first leg of its trip because of the school, so it departs here about this time."

"If he did, though, it would have been at gunpoint! These Germans were keeping him a prisoner, too. He's the one that insisted on supervising the mining. He was very particular about the ore they were digging."

"Speaking of which, has anybody searched the tent? The ore was in a small chest."


Lord Kentigern stalks off to the tent, and a few moments later a lot of cussing and swearing can be heard from inside.

" Grimsby..." Matthew says, looking a bit puzzled by his own thoughts, " When I first met Hugo, there appeared to be a 'ghost in the machine' as it were. His amber eyes flared a bright electric blue for only a moment and he said... now what was it?" He scratches at his head with his free hand, trying to coax the memory from the chaos of his mind, " Ah yes, he said... 'Cavor. In. Graustark.' ...could this be the same man? Is he the one behind their tattoos? The wrist of the black hand perhaps?"

Grimsby said "Thank you for sharing that data, Matthew. Graustark is one of the smaller Balkan principalities, recently locked in a bitter struggle with its neighbor Axphain, but its connection with this affair has yet to be discovered.
If what Latimer says is true, Cavor could hardly be the mastermind behind the
group with these symbols on their wrists. The black hand proved to be literally a cover for another symbol of an even more sinister sort, but who does lead the group is a matter we must compel these prisoners to discuss."

At the mention of Cavor in Graustark, the guard that was sleeping in the tent has a momentary reaction of surprise, puzzlement and concern before his expression returns to one of stoic determination.

Dash does a double take, then breaks into a big grin, and gestures at the man Grimsby and Matthew had captured.

"Oh, ho!  Oh, ho!  I saw that, Buster!" Dash chortles, as he walks over and pokes the barrel of his Mauser into the man's chest, "That means something to you, yeah?  Maybe you know all about Cavor going to Graustark, huh?  Maybe you know how, and why?"

Dash suddenly shoves his face up close to the prisoner's, and glares at him.

"Hmm.  Yeah.  I can tell...you're a tough guy.  Hard as nails. One of them square-jawwed Teutonic types.  Hmmf!  You'll never talk, no matter how hard we beat you, or how much Lord Kentigern offers to pay you.  Well, when I was fighting in Cuba, the local rebels had a way of getting hard-ass Spanish Army types to talk..."

Dash turns away, gesturing wildly skyward with his pistol.

"Boys, strap him to a table and take off his shoes, but leave the stockings!" Dash suddenly stops and spins back around to face the prisoner -- a maniacal grin on his face.

"And get me a can of kerosene..."

Grimsby says "Very good, Denholm. If the kerosene doesn't work, I've seen a few things up beyond the Northwest Frontier. There's one with a red-hot iron rod..." He makes no attempt to match Denholm's grin, but suggests a casual willingness to experiment.