| Show 44 athe ago af N 1 A N by CYRIL mcneile S A P P E R by ti DORAN CO 11 U bervic T BULLDOG AGAIN heres a to bulldoze Bull doit dole drummond by cyril who writes under the pen name of sapper r Bull doir drummond was a success na as book serial stage play and moving picture and the hlach black gang blanc willbe like unto it capt blugh bulldog drummond phyllls phyllis ills his wife carl Il eterson the tile the girl inna ilina and tile the principal character char cha arter in tle tile first story are all in this with equally exciting parts and encounters and adventures tills this time carl il eterson heads hada a gang cane of and drum druin trond and his aids arra combat inic them thein organized as aa the black colang rn askel and in long ions black choals scotland yard rard cure care particularly what happens happen to tile the bolshevists but to 7 law Is involved so it sets beta itself to tile the task of solving the mystery of the mack gang and stopping its operations so there Is ie a three handed war and it cornea comes pretty near beinar real war bulldog null doB and phyllis captured and a member of tile the Itus chelca chela standing with a musket raised about to dash out tho the g girls ris bruins with the I 1 CHAPTER I 1 in which things happen near burking Bar Icing creek the wind howled dismally round 11 house bouso standing by itself almost on lie shores of barking creek the house seemed deserted every window aa avas shuttered the lie was for and a mass 0 of f wel weeds the ile gate ente loading leading on to the road tip ap patently parent ly feeling the lie nee need of a def deficient lelent top hinge lil lige propped itself drunkenly on what once had been a R flower hed A few gloomy trees swaying dismally in the wind surrounded the house louse and completed tile lie picture one that would have lave caused even the least live of men to drav dra v his coat a 11 little tighter round him film and feel thankful that it was not ills his fate to live in such it a place pince but then few people ever came near enough to the house to realize its sinister appearance apie arance the rond lt it was little bertei than a cart track which passed tle gate was out of tile the benten beaten way only an occasional fishe fisherman or farm 19 laborer borer ever used it und that generally by day when aben things assumed their proper proportion tind it was merely an empty house gradually falling to pieces through luck lack of attention at night they avoided it if pos pis bible olka did say that twelve years ago some prying explorer had found the bones of a skeleton lying on tile lie floor in one of the upstairs rooms with a mildewed mil dewed rope fixed to one of the beams lu in the ceiling cel ling and then lien it had find been empty for twenty years even now when tile the wind lay in the past east or northeast tind and tile tide was setting in there were those who vrho sald that you cout colli see a light shining through the lie cra crai brals I s in the shutters la in that room upstairs and that should a man climb tp op and look in hed see no skeleton hut but it a body with purple face and staring eyes swinging gently to and fro and tied by the neck to a beam with a rope which showed no trace of mildew ridiculous of course but then lien so many of these local super sti eions tire lire useful too in some cases they afford a privacy from the prying attentions R of local gossips far cheaply and effectively than fiig i walls walla and bolts and bars so a 1 any ny rate one of the two men who were walking briskly along the rough track seemed to think admirable he remarked no he paused for n moment ut tit the entrance of the weed grown drive quite nd ad in frable my friend A house situated as tills this ne Is la is an acquisition and when it Is haunted in addition it becomes a godsend Rod send ile he spoke english perfectly with a foreign accent and ills his companion nodded abruptly front from what I 1 heard about it I 1 thought it would do tie he un N personally I 1 think its a dani damnable pot hilt but since you were so BO sot set against g coming to london I 1 llad hod to find somewhere in tills neighborhood 1 I 1 will explain my reasons bensons in flue course said tile farst speak er shortly yu nay may take it from me that they were good that ile he swung round with a little gaar qui huiching lutch ching lne his 1113 companions arill nothing cried tile the other irritably for it moment or two th they ey stood still peering into the file dark undergrowth whai did you think it wit enst 97 1 I thought I 1 heard a bush art us if us LIS if someone was moving lie bild relaxing ills his grip it must have j leen been tile wind I 1 suppose lie ile still peered fedr fearfully fully into tile the until tile other man dmn glo gloom oln garden lalni i roughly toward the house of conse it was the lie vind lie he rout red for hen hengens hc vens sake dont get the jumps jump if you vill insist on aming tt mang to an infernal 1 place like tills ills to transact a little perfectly normal business you must mint expect fer strange noises and sounds lets 9 in minors tile the ott others i ers should it to dike ve oe here by now and you can be on hour icorn hini ilia an inlo lone before bufore dawn W M M the man who alto halt had been addressed no na ceased looking over oer ills shoulder find and follo followed Wild tie the other through it a broken down don lattice gate to tile the rear of tile house aliey they paused in front of tile he back door and on it the leader knocked three times imps in it peculiar way it wils s obviously a prearranged sigi signal all for almost nt at once steps could coald ile be heard coming alonz the lie passage in side the ho door was vas pulled back A inches In clies and a ginji peered out only to throw it open wide with n R faint sigh of relief its you mr 11 it tie ho muttered fit buo youve ouo pot got ere eie nt at lust last this place Is fair giving us nil all the hie ump jim up ile stepped inside followed by h Zah oleff ani and tile door closed our friends bout bollt was A little title late Is ever everyone one here bep yep nn aim arod the other all the six of us and I 1 reckons ved cd like ilke to pet get it m over er as soon as possible tills lias lie ahli ht 4 mik to a hoar so undertone tone has lie he brought the money Yon ll till nil lipar hinr in rood gool time said hildrick Vil Mil dock drick curtly cuite which li Is the room ure ire it Is guvnor pin nor ll 11 jim flunk flung open a door and lave ae to sit on tile noor floor as the chairs aint anfe two candles guttered sutter cd on nn it square tattle table in tile the center of 0 tile the room showing up the lie faces of the lie five men w alo 1 1 sat on oil the floor leaning alie t le walls alls three ahree of them were nondescript eni of humanity of tile type that lint may be seen scon by the thoua hurrying into the city by the early business trains they were represent athe alive of the alio poorer type of clerk and ct t to lie lose observer something more marlit ile be rend read on their faces a greedy hungry look it a shifty entrust vol thy look the look of those who tire lire of everyone better placed than themselves but who ho are inca inca pille of trying to better ther their own position except hy hv the lie relative method of dragging back their more fortunate the lie look of little men dissatisfied not so much with their own on littleness na as with the bigness of other people the two others were ere jews a 1 ittle atle flashily Ir essed distinctly addicted to client jewelry they were mere sitting apart from the other three talking in low tonel hut but us as tile the door opened their conversation cowed abruptly and they hev looked up nt at the newcomers with the keen searching look of their race Will dock they hardly glanced nt fit it tile the stranger strang pr Zabo lefT who riveted their attention they tool took in every detail of the shrewd foreign fave face the olive skin tho the lark dark piercing eyes the alne pointed beard they tilea measured him up tip na as a boxer men measures up tip his opponent or a Ni business siness man tales of the second party in a deal then once again they conversed together in lo 10 tones were barely above a whisper it was war jim who broke the silence flash jim to give him the full name to which he answered in the haunts he frequented wot abicht retting getting on with it ganv nor lie he remarked with lh nn attempt nt at it genial smile this opre ere louse ouse nent wot id choose for a bloomin blo oney moon with an abrupt gesture waldeck silenced hllen ced him film anti advanced to the balje this Is mr leff gentlemen lip lie quietly we tire anre a little late I 1 tim in afhild hilt it unavoidable lie he will explain to you now tile the renso vily hv yo ou were asked to come here and not meet illece at our usual rendezvous in solio ilk HP stepped buck n couple of paces tind ely goolt hla his place for n moment 0 or two he glanced round at tile lie faces turned expectantly toward him then resting refit lna ills his two hands on tile lie table tit in front frint of hlin him he leant forward toward them c gentlemen ent lemen lie he began and the for eign accent seemed a little moro more pronounced noun ced 1 I have asked you to come here tonight through my rood good friend mr air Wa idock it tuis ailts come to our ears no mutter how that lon ion don la Is no longer a safe meeting place two or three things have occurred lately the llie of which I 1 Is to disregard our chief with will altom i I 1 spent last evening la Is seriously cincer concerned ned about those these things lings ti you spent last night ath tho the chief raid mahlock Wali Wah lock and ills his voice held n tremor of excitement while the ho others benned forward eagerly la Is he then hen in Holl holland tind ite he was at six yester yesterday dair evening answered Zab Za boletT oleff with a faint smile today new I 1 know no more than lhnn you yon where lie he Is allo la is lie he this man inan were always henring about find anil never see seeing ing demanded one of the three clerks aggree ile he Is the chief replied ed the other cither while his eyes seemed to bore into the speakers spen kers brain just that and no more and that is s quite enough for SOU jou ills his glance traveled round tie the room mid and ills his all aud lenco rei relaxed axed illy ily tile lie tay Is not th that a t li a chink in the shutter there I 1 all tit the e safer grull granted ted flash jim 1 by on P Pl passing Issing will think the ghost Is 1 4 I 1 nevertheless kindly car it up I 1 ll 11 ordered Zab oleff arid and oue one of the i fra fr 0 ha roso and wedged his fits docket chandker hand ker kerchief into the crak there WAN silence in tile room while lie he did go BO it silence broken only by tho the mournful hooting of an owl outside owls Is a the only things wot cornea to tills this d n museum said bald flush flash jim moro morosely mely owls and blinkin fools like us Is stow it jim ll 11 snarled furiously anyone would think you wanted a nurse 0 gentlemen en ti chii en pt please case held up tip a protesting land wo do not want to prolong mutters matters but one or two explanations tire ore necessary to return then to these liase things that have happened recently anti which nece necessitated al it a fresh areah rendezvous for tills this evening one which our friend air so BO obligingly found three nies mes senders sent over during the last three weeks bearing instructions rind what Is more important money lioney have disappeared a ppe ared disappeared echoed st stupidly absolutely and completely money and nil all two moro more have been abominably in ill treated and had their money taken from them but for somo some renson they were allowed to go free themselves it Is from them that we have obtained our information Illin blamey blimey leyl 1 niu erod ered flash jim la is it tile the police it Is IB not the police which la in what makes it tie so much more sor louy lous nn Zab oleff quietly and flush flash jim breathed a sigh of relief it to la easy eagy to keep within the law but if our information Is correct wo we are up against a body of men who aro not nol within tile the law themselves A body of men who are absolutely unscrupulous and utterly ruthless a body of men who appear to know our secret plans as well aa wo we do ourselves and tile he difficulty dl of it Is in gentlemen that thai though legally speaking on account of the absurd legislation in tills country we may keep within the law ourselves we are hardly in a position to appeal to tile the police for protection our activities though allowed officially are hardly such RS RR would appeal even to the english authorities and on tills this occasion particularly that la Is the case you may remember that hat the part I 1 played in stirring up bloodshed at Cowden cowdenbeath beath it a few months ago under the name of Blac Tavish caused me to be deported so though our cause to Is legal my presence pre senco in tills this country to Is not which was why tonight it was particularly essential that we should not bo be disturbed not only are we nil all up against this unknown gang of men but 1 I in addition aro am up against the police have you any information with regard to this gang it was wall tile the jew who had closed the chink in tre shutters abutters speaking for the first time none of any use save that they tire are masked in black and cloaked in long black cloaks ile he paused a moment as it if to collect his thoughts they are all armed and who escaped from them was very insistent on one point it concerned the leader of the gang who lie he affirmed was wag a man of the most gigantic physical strength a giant powerful as two ordinary strong men ha said ahl ah 1 gott ill t ills his voice e rose to a scream us sa he cowered back while the others with terror on their faces rose hurriedly and huddled together in tile the corners of the tha room heres mystery tho the very first thing one gangoff gan aang of desperadoes beset by another gang equally mysterious and danger oual V TO BE CONTINUED |
