The Black Mountain

Wolfe raised his brows. "I'm surprised that you ask. You said everything would get to you." "Perhaps it has. I would like to hear it from you." "You may. We went first to the house where I visited my friend Grudo Balar many 251 years ago. A stranger was there who had never heard of him. We went next to an address that someone in Albania had given me. I had been told that a man named Danilo Vukcic could give me much information if he would, particularly about the Spirit of the Black Mountain." "Who in Albania told you about him?" Wolfe shook his head. "I told you yesterday that I will not cause trouble for anyone who has helped us. We found Danilo Vukcic at that address, and he did indeed have information. It seemed to me that he was over-ready to impart it to strangers, but later, thinking it over, I realized that it was only such matters as were probably common knowledge -- or merely current rumors. I was quite candid with him. You may remember I told you that we had cached a considerable sum in American dollars somewhere in the mountains, and I told him about it too. I now think that was a mistake. I now think it was my telling him about that cache that caused him to offer to take us to a place in the mountains where we could meet one of the leaders of the Spirit of the Black Mountain. Anyway, we accepted the offer, and he took us. After a difficult journey we arrived --" "One moment. Did you see Jube Bilic 252 anywhere? The boy who brought you here yesterday?" Wolfe was surprised and puzzled. "Him? Where? In the mountains?" "Did you see him anywhere after you left here?" "I did not. Why?" Stritar waved it away. "Go on." "We arrived at a cave -- near the Albanian border, I was told -- in the middle of the night. There were five men there, and Vukcic said that one of them was a leader of the Spirit, but he didn't impress me as a leader of men or of a movement. By that --" "What was his name?" "I was given no names. By that time I was suspicious of the whole business. They insisted on knowing where our dollars were cached, and at one time I thought they were going to try to force us to tell by methods that I consider barbarous. Also I distrusted Vukcic. I have had many dealings with men, mostly in America, and I concluded that Vukcic was not honest or sincere, and that I would have nothing to do with a movement in which he was prominent or influential. I didn't tell him that, of course. If I had we might not have left the mountains alive, in spite of the fact that they would 253 rather not lay a hand on American citizens. The question was, how to get away from them without serious trouble, and I think I managed it pretty well. In the morning I said we would like to have a look at the border, at Albania, and Vukcic went with us to show us where the border is, since it isn't marked. When we got there we simply kept on going. Vukcic wanted to stop us, but we paid no attention to him. He stuck to us for a distance, protesting, but stopped when we emerged from a defile. We soon knew why, when we saw the fort. We went to it and were about to enter, when we heard a scream, and we went in to investigate. You have heard the rest from Comrade Zov." "I want to hear it from you. All of it -- if you can, every word." When Wolfe reported to me later, I liked that. Up to that point the indications were that Stritar really trusted Zov, which would have been silly. The one rule everybody in Yugoslavia stuck to was: never trust anybody, anywhere, any time. I don't need to report the rest of it to you, as Wolfe didn't to me. He gave it to Stritar just as it had happened, omitting only his conversations with me and Danilo's visit to the fort. I will, however, include some254 thing that he tacked on at the end, after he had got us into the truck on our way to Titograd. "My son and I," he said, "claim no special credit for what we did, but you expressed appreciation for it. If you would like us to have a token of your appreciation, one little favor would be welcome. For some time my son has wanted a Luger pistol, and he says that Comrade Zov's is in excellent condition. He would like to trade his Colt for it if Comrade Zov is willing." Of course I didn't know then what he had said, but I saw he had made a mistake. Zov's reaction, which was prompt, was merely a loud and emphatic protest, but Stritar narrowed his eyes and tightened his lips. Later, when I learned what Wolfe had said, I thanked God Stritar hadn't been quite keen enough. He had suspected there was something phony about it, but he hadn't gone a step further and realized that Tone Stara was from America and that Zov's gun had been used to commit a murder in America. If he had, good-by. I'm not blaming Wolfe for making the try. He wanted me to hang on to that Luger if I possibly could, and he took the chance. He saw at once that it wouldn't work and he had nearly gummed it, and was quick to repair the damage. 255 He raised a hand to stop Zov's protest. "No, Comrade Zov, not if you feel so strongly about it. It was just a suggestion, of no importance. I thought you might welcome it. Alex, give Comrade Zov his gun." I took it from my pocket, went over and handed it to him, and returned to my chair. Stritar's eyes were back to normal. "You will be glad to know that your account agrees in every respect with Peter Zov's. Of course you could have arranged for that, there was plenty of time, but I have at present no reason to suppose that you did. You can tell your son that the man he killed was Dmitri Shuvalov, one of the three top Russians in Albania." Wolfe told me, and I said that was interesting.