OCR Text |
Show 'ff HEE SEE H'fbp LAUGHS Bv SAX BOHKIER W.N.U. SERVICE SYNOPSIS .mfV young American 4 " KSon, says good-by to 1Een,non board the Wal-is Wal-is conveying 2,000,-i 2,000,-i T1,m to Australia. On his way i '!S' Ineets Inspector Daw- kr$ S " Yard' very . ( 3a:S',! with Eileen. Haig is 1 :;i ot "opium, which he is fie f concealed in Jo Lung's r. ' (Slled to other duty. " ?aS Kearney, with De-, De-, M'Sich to visit the place cl Ibouse Kearney picks up I notebook, which 1 SV;,i. over to Halg. J CHAPTER II Continued 3 "' o-r bine-black hair gleamed like a "ii wing. Her long dark eyes 'H ctx so slightly oblique, and , a petulant red mouth, small " delicately chiseled features, " i keia her head disdainfully U Her complexion was peach-"' peach-"' 5 tit dark, and silk-clad ankles Clin? shoes peeping beneath the B! "a of i black lace frock had a s iiij and patrician elegance, cl at ms Imperially petite, allur-tifel allur-tifel menacing. The Greek and wi ,'i Uiig stepped aside deferential - Tin," she said, and the voice . ills cold woman had a deep, I nn dressing note, "who were , Ben? I saw them from the 1 ri' I'H fine In and shut the door," " CMmman replied. "Did either . J f.tm see you?" ')', I don't think so." Do job suspect them?" Kudos solicitously passed her a d "This Is the Introduction :; brought, my lady, and Mr. j iardson had . advised us that :! were coming." ill It woman took the card, rad at It, and tossed It onto a 1 table. i 'Ire you ready to leave, Yu'an?" nj 'I lire a telephone call to make t lie Wallaroo," he replied. Dili Tat has been much bungling. I R speak to the doctor." jjj 3e stooped, dipping his hand, a f I -P, waien hand with tapering tin, into an Inside pocket of the hh hi; fir coat which lay at his - j '"'. Suddenly he glanced up, the '" I " white of his eyes glaring. j framed my coat as I entered "rehouse," he said, "and car- here, I have dropped my Mij Something In those j broke through the high dis-j dis-j " l He woman watching him. j Jour notebook ?" clutching the arms of the M, continued to watch her, his illds slowly, slowly cover--jiiose ominous eyes. The oth-'j, oth-'j, watching her also. - It contains ... our ''warrants I" ' -a woman clasped her slender ' 7 curious gesture. "Ahl" ere am blind t It must " Hi of those men pick 0. notebook! It was like .;; have been yours! -steps from the Silver room." this, Poiodos?" Yu'an I" flute-like tones. 1:4G:tWaS Pale."I had i'liTr 1 rememer turning V: Vm od the 8talr" & ejes now apparently ,.! 1 the woman's lRh , ,pen the door, go down Cl tmT QUlckly' and . v on deceived yourself." j ""'"U her disdain de- ! 1 th h woman turned, Noor.and swept out of M Mtfe ana mine de- i0"i!Ho? dra taken tflat fi Thea:e,hUfng UPD , rhoLvJ9' 13 fog-but d ta f,! takea- That book hr.. UP0n thls table, $ silently toward ."'Hen" v, I UuV0r fte Adder. . . n, "disappeared, Vtfin B . t nam? "dos- At fflen-J fflen-J : ''s fac k!7 the Adder"- : Miration an6rown clammy 'l to his thick eye- felt ' '" ' 10 --f h"h(. !emen3us sense 1 5C;Iane- Even the De fre of that struuge building, with its silence out of which the breathing of hidden hid-den watchers seemed to come; Its ghastly emptiness, as of a place unoccupied, un-occupied, deserted; yet which he knew by virtue of some extra sense to be illusive. The Arab doorkeeper, doorkeep-er, the Greek and that strange woman had not been the only occupants oc-cupants of Jo Lung's emporium that night There were others many others, watching, listening. He knew it-he it-he had felt it all the time. By virtue of some mutual understanding, under-standing, Kearney and the Scotland Yard man paced along to the neighboring neigh-boring street in unbroken silence. But, the corner turned: "Those opals!" Kearney began. "I knew you had spotted something some-thing there I" "I had. You've got your case clearly enough if they don't dispose of them before tomorrow. Those opals belonged to Lady Dakenham, who was lost at sea ten months ago ! How In the name of all that's wonderful did Jo Lung get hold of them?" "ITm!" said the Scotland Yard man, and his tone betokened disappointment disap-pointment "There's no case in that, sir. I suppose they must have been washed ashore. Where did the accident happen?" "In the Red sea or the Persian gulf!" Detective Sergeant Norwich laughed. "Outside our beat!" he said. "Then you mean there's nothing you can act upon?" "I'm afraid there isn't," Norwich confessed. "Everything in the place is of number one quality. But there was nothing that I definitely recognized. recog-nized. In fact, if you ask me, we were spotted !" "Do you think so?" "I'm positive !" "Yes," Kearney murmured, "I'm afraid we have wasted our time. Somewhat annoying in view of the fact unless we can get hold of a wandering tad that I have a long, foggy journey ahead." Norwich laughed again. "Hard luck, sir," he said. "There's a cozy fire, an armchair, and a pair of slippers slip-pers waiting for me at Stockwell. But my orders are to report back to Leman Street." "That being the case," said Kearney Kear-ney cheerfully, as they groped out onto Commercial Road East "we part company. I shall head toward the station. I'm calling Halg as soon as I get back !" Kearney peered through swirling mist along perhaps the unloveliest thoroughfare In all London. Not a figure moved as far as his sight could pierce the fog. He glanced back. Norwich had disappeared. He had gone ten or fifteen paces when suddenly he pulled up again. ... A sound had reached him a short, muffled scream. Stockstill he stood, and listened. Dim, distant noises reached him, the rumble or remote lorries; umi muted booming which Is the life-blood life-blood of the port of London pumping pump-ing through Its many arteries; fog signals. He could detect no footstep foot-step no other sound. It was close upon midnight. He pulled up again as he saw two things of Interest; one, definite, the other, perhaps chimerical. Either unpleasant memories of the establishment estab-lishment of Jo Lung still haunted him, or he had seen a curiously small, active figure dart into the shadow of a doorway not twenty paces behind! His heart beat faster. The head lamps of what looked like a taxi-cab taxi-cab dimly visible through fogl Indeed, In-deed, perhaps the sound of the motor, mo-tor, although he had not recognized the fact, had prompted him to pause, to turn. The little notebook in his pocket 1 He had meant to speak to Norwich Nor-wich about it, but changing his mind had determined to examine It himself and then to hand It over to Haig when he met him. His Idea that It might prove to contain some piece of evidence of value to Scotland Scot-land Yard assumed a new and grave Importance. Coming upon it after the discovery discov-ery of the Dakenham opals, he had appropriated it without scruple. Now, watching slowly approaching head lamps, and questioning the reality' of that figure which he believed be-lieved he had seen dart into hiding, he remembered that he was unarmed. un-armed. And he wondered. . . . Nearer and nearer came the lamps. He stepped out onto the edge of the curb and raised his arm. The man pulled up. Kearney opened the door, uttered an audible gasp of relief, jumped in, and banged it shut behind Twisting about, Matt looked throun" the rear window. 2st is Kiureu in at him 1 Some one, Indistinguishable except' for Ms eyes, was clinging to the back of the cub ! 1 the 7nLGrd'i Kearney whispered. seemed to' hh,SeWeird which seemed to belong to no tangible body, disappeared. . . The tar? was well under way now window, looking back. Ing?S ' ' ' desolatloa loth- But one or two belated pedestrians, pedes-trians, notably a constable, as the taxi passed into Fleet street, observed ob-served upon the luggage rack surmounting sur-mounting its roof what looked like a rolled up blanket, or, as another thought, a very dilapidated kit Dawson Halg hurried across the little court in which Kearney's rooms were situated. The old manservant man-servant who looked after the place opened the door at once. He knew Halg well. "I'm sure it's very Important, sir " he said, "but Mr. Kearney had to go across to the office the moment he arrived home." "But what's this about some book?" "The book is lying on the desk upstairs, sir, with a note, and my orders are for you to go up." Two minutes later he sat at Kearney's table, reading the note which his friend had left. Halg had not removed his white raincoat. A Yard car was waiting and a ghastly ghast-ly duty called. ... But, as he read, his expression changed grew puzzled and then indicated sudden excitement. The little leather-bound memo book, to which Kearney's note chiefly related, re-lated, lay upon the table beside him. It was really an advertisement issued is-sued by one of the shipping companies, com-panies, containing a calendar and all sorts of odds and ends of Information In-formation about tides and such like material. He picked it up again, glanced at the curious penciled entries it And Yu'an Began to Laugh. contained. The book was newly issued, and these were few. Some were unintelligible, being written in what looked like a combination of cipher and Chinese. But others, opposite to certain dates, set him furiously thinking. Suddenly he stood up, shed his raincoat, and dropped It with his hat on the floor. By heavens! he might be better employed here than down In LImehouse! The first of these intriguing notes appeared against the date the 11th the day which had just passed. It read as follows: "D 212532. B 7 B 4." The last number B 4 had been written on the margin of the opposite oppo-site page as though it were an afterthought, aft-erthought, but a delta and pencil line indicated that It should be added to the others. Under the date of the 13th was: "Paris. Suleiman Bey's." For the following three days the diary contained no notes, but under un-der date the 17th the following appeared ap-peared : "D 41." A gap until the 22d, and then occurred oc-curred the entry: "Mohammed." On the following day, the 23d, the writer had scribbled something which Haig was unable to read. But on the 24th came this curious item : "18 34' N. and 44 5' E." Finally, against date the 25th. appeared ap-peared a cross In red Ink. This was the last entry. Dawson Halg reread Kearney's note and looked for and found a leaflet referred to. It was one Issued Is-sued by the steamship company, and U gave the dates at which the Wallaroo Walla-roo touched ports en route to Bris- bTeryAUdeHberately, although his brain was on fire, he compared certain cer-tain entries In the memo book with his leaflet. The date, the 17th, corresponded cor-responded to that at which the ship reached Marseilles; the next-the oe4to that when she arrived a Port Said- The final dates meant ...... v,im except that ne es- iCt t - to correspond to the 'wanaroo's position at some place smith of Suez. , . And "B 4" was the number of jBr-en's stateroom ! who -. with thb. "What the devil does it mean?" ne said aloud. He turned the leaves back. If only he could read those hieroglyphic hieroglyph-ic notes! But they were meaningless. mean-ingless. He stared again at the entries en-tries In the diary. Then a possible explanation presented Itself. Of course! He should have thought of It before ! These notes related to Jo Lung's abandoned dope-running enterprise! This theory almost covered the facts, but left him uneasy about the entry "B 4" until, sitting back In Kearney's chair and smoking furiously fu-riously a possible explanation came of this also. The cabins of all suspected persons who might be revenue or police agents, had been marked by the plotters, and for some reason Eileen had fallen under suspicion! "That's it!" he muttered. At which moment the phone bell rang, .and : "Is that you, Halg? Kearney speaking. I'm hung up at the office. of-fice. Have you grasped the facts about the memo book I pinched from Jo Lung's?" "Some of them. It needs a good many hours' work and a man who knows Chinese. But I think it does the hanging trick. Good for you! Shall you be long?" "I may be an hour. Can't say." "Then I shall have to push off. Fll take the book with me. I'm on my way back to Limehouse " "LImehouse! Why at this hour?" "An awful thing has happened. Matt Norwich has been murdered mur-dered !" "What !" The words had a stupefying effect upon Kearney. Norwich murdered ! . . . That cry In the fog! The shadowy figure in the doorway . . . the unmistakable figure which had looked in at the back of the taxi-cab taxi-cab I "You left him somewhere at the corner of Three Colt Street?" Dawson Daw-son Haig went on rapidly. "Yes yes that's right." "He was found some time later, dead In the door of a warehouse. His pockets had been rifled everything taken. Looked like the work of a common footpad, but I know it wasn't! I didn't know until Wilson Wil-son phoned me and told me about the book. Now I've read your note and studied those entries. I'm pret ty sure the murderer was looking for this Incriminating evidence on the table before me! You had a d d lucky escape !" "But " Kearney gasped "how was poor Norwich killed?" There was a slight interval, then: "I don't know," Halg replied. "From the account given by Lime-house Lime-house and confirmed by Leman Street, he seemed to have fallen in with a stray panther." "Stray panther? What on earth do you mean?" "Well, they tell me his throat Is horribly torn but not by a knife cut. The thing's teeth pierced his jugular. He bled to death. Thank God you're safe, old scout" "But the Wallaroo." "I'm putting a good man aboard the Wallaroo. . . ." CHAPTER III THE person variously known as "Yu'an" and "Excellency," wearing wear-ing a plain blue house robe, paced up and down Jo Lung's office. The dark-eyed woman seated In a chair near the door watched him uneasily. "They do not return," he crooned presently. "This may mean death, but you sit there very quietly, tender ten-der blossom." "What can I do?" "You have done all that it lies in a woman's power to do. You have perhaps ruined me. Jo Lung, who did his share, will fall in that ruin. and Poiodos with him." Ceaselessly he paced the floor, until: un-til: "AH left more than an hour ago," said the woman suddenly; "and we cannot trust the Adder. If he has . . ." "His orders would justify it" Into the high voice crept a soothing note. "What does It matter, most beautiful, beauti-ful, provided that It corrects the consequences of your folly?" "My folly!" the woman exclaimed, and laughed indignantly. "How was I to know when I saw the man pick the book up that it was not his own that It meant so much?" He resumed his promenade and presently began to laugh. As the short squeals of his evil merriment rose higher and higher, reaching a note unattainable by any normal human voice, the woman shrank back in her seat "Tonight," said the man who laughed, "I shake off the dust of t. faot- fnrpupp ftp t;ngianu uuui ujj , I lay my bones In this cold Island." "Let us start!" the woman implored. im-plored. "What are you waiting for?" "Tender flower," the reedy voice replied caressingly, "a clever man knows how long to wait It is only the fool who flies when no enemy pursues him. I have promised you a rope of pink pearls twice as long as vour body. This, also, Is the length ,of the rope used at executions execu-tions In England." . Dawson n.tlg sat back in the chair, replacing the telephone. A tramcar was passing along the embankment em-bankment beyond the gardens. He knew those all-night trains with their cargo of weary Fleet street workers. He listened to the familiar sounds audible through an opened bedroom window behind him. (TO BE co.vrnxTW |