“Let me translate. It reads, ‘By God’s Grace — F.J.’”
Jack stared blankly at Pendelshape. “F.J.?”
“Franz Joseph.”
Jack remembered the name but Angus shrugged, none the wiser.
Pendelshape rolled his eyes. “It means, boys, that we have here the ceremonial lance tip of one of the life guards of the Emperor of Austria.” His voice trailed off thoughtfully. “Or, to give him his proper name: Emperor of Austria, King of Jerusalem, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Illyria and Croatia, Archduke of Austria, and Duke, Markgraf, Prince or Count of some thirty other places in the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy… indeed.” He smiled grimly and snorted, “They don’t give them titles like that any more!”
“Indeed.” Angus said. Pendelshape narrowed his eyes and looked back at him sharply, trying to decide whether Angus was taking the mickey. Jack pressed on before he could make up his mind.
“Sorry, sir, I didn’t think there were any empires left; I mean Austria is not an empire… do they even have a king?”
Pendelshape was impressed, “Very good Jack. You’re absolutely right, but of course, this artefact is not modern. In fact, it is at least ninety years old…”
“And what’s that funny brown staining on the metal, sir?” Angus asked.
Pendelshape delayed his response, rubbed the back of his neck, and then said, matter-of-factly, “It’s blood.”
Jack’s heart jumped and he glanced at Angus.
Pendelshape stared out towards the window, deep in thought. A sparkling autumn day had gradually been enveloped by clouds that had rolled down from the hills. Suddenly, Pendelshape seemed to come to a decision about something. He stood up and kicked a rusty fan heater — it rumbled into life and reluctantly started to exhale tepid air into the classroom.
“The Schonbrunn raid,” Pendelshape finally muttered. “It might well be…”
“Sorry, sir — what’s that?” Jack asked.
“Little is known about it — some people think it did not happen at all — that it is just a myth. Apparently, there was some sort of raid on the Palace of Schonbrunn in Vienna — a few days before the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914. The Austro-Hungarian government was very embarrassed about an attack at the very heart of the empire. They tried to erase any evidence that it took place. The story goes that Austrian lancers took on a group of Serbian rebels in the gardens of Schonbrunn itself. There were a number of casualties.”
“You think this lance could somehow be linked to this… raid?”
Pendelshape shrugged. “Well, the design is distinctive and places it quite accurately at that time… and…”
“What?”
“It would certainly be an important historical find if we could place the lance to that date… it might even be evidence that the raid did indeed happen.”
“Wonder how Dad came to have it in his workshop…” Jack said.
“Yes — Jack…” Pendelshape said thoughtfully, “I would be interested to know that too.”
The room fell silent for a moment. Finally, Pendelshape announced, “Well, school’s finished for today. I suggest you two stay around for an hour or so. Maybe do your homework in the library. I will go to the staffroom and phone a few colleagues, make some enquiries. Let’s see if we can find out exactly what the piece is and perhaps discover its value — maybe even test my theory. That might be interesting, don’t you think?” He looked at his watch, “Why don’t you come back at, say, five or so?”
Jack looked at Angus with an enthusiastic nod. Angus shrugged.
“Great. Thanks, sir. If you’re sure.” And with that they left Pendelshape as he picked up his magnifying glass and looked at the lance head.
As they left the classroom, Jack turned to Angus, “Pretty cool, eh? What do you want to do, then?”
“Not go to the library for a start.”
“Agreed. Gino’s?”
“Nah. Boyle will be there — remember — four o’clock, Friday… and it’s Friday 13th — unlucky — I can’t face that lot.”
They walked slowly down the austere Victorian corridor past the old classrooms, wondering how to kill an hour.
“Watch out. Trouble ahead.” Angus suddenly said, and nodded in the direction of the far corridor as two burly uniformed figures approached.
“The terrible twins. What have we done to deserve this?”
Sure enough, the two school janitors, Tony Smith and Gordon MacFarlane, approached as they checked each of the empty classrooms before locking up for the evening. Tony was tall, with a ramrod back and puffed-out chest and, as ever, he was immaculately turned out. Gordon was shorter and stockier, but also strode around with the authority of an ex-army officer. Both men were feared and to be avoided due to the pleasure they took in enforcing the pettiest of school rules and their habit of dispensing discipline with the maximum level of sarcasm. There was a rumour in the school that Tony and Gordon were ex-SAS — a notion that neither janitor made any effort to dispel. There was another rumour, too, that they were actually ex-traffic wardens. This was the story that Jack and Angus thought more likely.
The boys looked for some way to avoid the two men. But it was too late. Soon the two large figures were looming over them, Tony peering down at Jack over a carefully trimmed moustache, an eager twinkle in his eye.
“Well now, what do we have here?” Tony said.
“One waif and one stray,” Gordon chimed.
“It’s Mr Christie and Mr Jud, is it not?”
“Yes Mr Smith,” Jack said.
Tony turned to Gordon and impersonated Jack’s voice mockingly, “Yes Mr Smith.”
Gordon laughed and repeated in a squeaky voice, “Yes Mr Smith…”
Tony said, “Remind me, Mr MacFarlane, what is the penalty for loitering in school grounds twenty minutes after the final bell, outside the designated zones?”
Gordon turned back to Tony taking his time to consider the answer. “Mmm… I don’t know, Mr Smith. Outside the designated zones, I think the penalty might be a detention… but actually, we could make up any penalty we want.”
Tony looked back down at Jack. “Shall we do that boys… shall we make up a penalty?”
“But… we were going to the library…”
Gordon exhaled sceptically making a sort of drawn-out ‘psshht’ sound as he did so. Thankfully, just at that moment, Pendelshape emerged from his classroom and marched down the corridor towards them.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen, anything I can help you with?”
Tony and Gordon’s manner changed instantly. It was as if the sergeant major had appeared and they snapped to attention.
“Good afternoon, Dr Pendelshape. I believe these are your pupils?” Tony said obsequiously.
“Yes, Tony, they’re with me. They were just off to the library — weren’t you?”
“No problem, sir — we were just closing down for the night. You know the rules, sir.”
“Very good — you can leave my room open for a little longer… I have the keys.”
“Sir.” And with that Tony and Gordon slunk off in disappointment.
“Right lads — along to the library — and I’ll make those calls.”
Five minutes after reaching the library, Angus was already fidgeting with boredom.
“Stop it,” Jack said, trying to focus on his maths homework.
“I can’t. I’ve got an idea.”
“Great. Not another of your ‘good’ ideas…”
“Yes,” Angus said. “One of those.” He lowered his voice and looked up and down the silent aisles of the old library furtively. “It’s our big chance.”
