Show ahe I 1 ILI I 1 AP A sequel to bulldog drummond Dru inmond ST BT rf r E cappen sappen IL 11 IT annat rN DORATT nAT CO JU CHAPTER XIV continued 22 carl peterson Pe torson was no coward in the world in which lie he moved iii oed there were many strange stories told of his iron nerve and his complete disregard of danger moreover nature lind had endowed him with physical strength far above the average but ile now for perhaps tile the first time in his life he knew the meaning of stark abject terror the sinister men inen in black i members embers comet of that very gang lie he had conic over to england to destroy seemed to fill the room silently as if they had been drilled to it they disarmed everyone then they stood round the walls walla waiting wat ting no one spoke only the horrible imprecations of the lying dying rus elan broke the silence as lie strove feebly to 0 o pull out the he rifle and bayonet from ills hla chest which had fixed him to tile tho wall as a dead butterfly Is fixed in a collection with a pin I 1 peterson hail had a fleeting vision of a girl with white face and wide staring eyes beside whom wore were standing two of tile the motionless black figures as guards tho the girl whom ho he had just sentenced to a dread dreadful rul and horrible death and then his eyes cino came buck back again as if fascinated to the raan man who was coming toward him ile he tried to 0 o shrink back farther into ills his corner plucking with nerveless fingers at ilia his cler clerical leal collar while tile the poured off his hie face in a stream for there was no mercy in hugh Drun drummonds amonds eyes no mercy in tile the great arms that hung loosely forward and peterson realized lie he deserved none and then it came no word was froken drummond was beyond speech ills his hands shot out and peterson felt himself drawn relent relentlessly lesly t word ward the tha man lie he had planned to kill not two minutes before it was ills his turn now to wonder desperately despe rotely it if it was some hideous nightmare even while lie he struggled impotently in hla his final frenzy with a man whose strength seemed equal to the strength of ten ile iio was choking the grip on lila ills throat was not human in its ferocity there ans a great roaring in his ears and suddenly he ceased to struggle the glare in drummonds Drum monda eyes hypnotized him and for the only time in his life he gave up hope the room was spinning around the silent black figures the dying aulow the girl all seemed merged in one vast jumble of color growing darker and darker out of which one thing and one thing only stood out clear and distinct on ills his dying consciousness tho the blazing eyes of tile the man who was throttling him and then ns he felt himself sinking into utter blackness some dim sense less paralyzed than the rest seemed to tell min him that a change had taken place in the room something new had come into that eliat whirling nightmare that spun round him dimly he heard a voice loud and agonized a voice he recognized it I 1 I 1 41 1 0 drummonds Drum ands monda hands shot out and peterson felt himself drawn relent lessly lossl toward the man he had planned to kill was a womans comans voice and after a while the grip on hla his throat relaxed he fie staggered back against the wall gasping und and spluttering splutter ing and gradually the room erased ceased to whirl ro round und tho the iron bands ceased to press upon ills his heart and lungs it was irma who stood there irma inna w hose piteous cry had through to ills brain irma who had caused ulnae awful hands handa to relax their grip i 1st before it was too late little by totne ever athing stead steadied led down he bo bund bound he fie could chuia s see be 11 again ddn othild cou c ou hear J aka still baill crouched fied shaking against the roll bm bat ho he hand had scot not a respite anyway a breathing space and that was vaa nil all that mattered for the that and the fact that the mildness biti gone front from hugh drummonds eyes cos the black figures were still standing there motionless round tile the walls the was lolling loll liiK forward dead phyllls phyllis was lying hack back in her ter chabr unconscious but peterson hit lanil eyes for none of those these things count shivering in a corrier corner the huddled group of ills hla own men inen standing in the contor center of the lie room lie passed by without a glance it wits on drummond Dru inmond ills gaze was fixed drummond who stood facing iran with an almost lazed flawed expression on oil his face whilst she ahe pleaded with him lit in nn agony of supplication ile ho ordered that ninn man to brain my wife with a rifle butt said drummond hoarsely and yet you ask for mercy ile he swung round on the towering cowering clergyman tin and gripped lihn him once again by the throat shaking ill him in as aa a terrier shakes a rat lie ile felt tile the girl irma plucking feebly at his arm ann but he took no notice I 1 i but once again fitte fate was to intervene on petersons beli behalf alf through the instrumentality of a woman and mercifully for him the intervention came from the only woman from the only human being who could have influenced drummond at that moment it was phyllls phyllis who opened lier her eyes suddenly tin and halt dazed still with the horror of the itlie last few minutes gazed round the room for a second she stared at hughs face and saw on it a look which she had never seen before a look so terrible that site she gave a sharp convulsive cry ry let him go hugh let mm him go dont do it her voice pierced ills hla brain though for a moment it ninde made no impression on the muscles of his arms A slightly bewildered look came into ills hla eyes lie he felt as a dog must feel who Is called off kis lawful prey by his master let him go let carl peterson Ic terson got go I 1 that was what phyllis was asking him to do 11 hyllis who had stood at deaths deaf fis door not five minutes before let him got gol and suddenly tile madness faded from his eyes his hands relaxed their grip and carl peterson Pete raon slipped unconscious to the floor unconscious but still breathing he le had lot him go and after a while lie he stepped back find glanced slowly round the room ills his eyes lingered for a moment on the lead dead russian they traveled thoughtfully on along the line of black figures and gradually a smile began to appear on his face a smile which broadened into a grin perfectly sound advice old thing he remarked at length straight fron from the stable I 1 really believe id almost lost my temper CHAPTER XV in which the threads are gathered up it was waa a week later in sir bryan Johns John tonea stones office two men were seated tho the features of one of whom at any rate were well known to the public st bryan encouraged no notoriety the man in the ho street passed him by without recognition every time but with ills his companion it was different as a member of several successive cabinets ills face was well known and it Is safe to say that never in the course of a life devoted to the peculiar vagaries of politics had that face worn such an expression of complete bewilderment but its incredible johnstone he remarked for the fiftieth time simply incredible nevertheless sir john returned th the e other it Is true I 1 have absolute indisputable proof of the whole thing and it if you yon may remember I 1 have long drawn the govern meus ats attention to the spread or of these activities in england yes yes I 1 know said sir john II averton a little testily but you have never given us chapter and verse like this before in incredible redl ble lie he muttered incredible and yet the truth said the other that there Is an organized and well financed conspiracy to preach bolshevism in U england we have known for some time how well organized it Is wo we did not realize but as you will see from that paper there Is not a single manufacturing town or city in great britain that lias has not got a branch of the organization installed which can if need be draw plentifully on funds from headquarters sir john haverton averton II nodded thou thoughtfully ht 1 I must po go inta all this in detail he remarked but in the meantime you vo uliche hove raised my e anost lu ju fertally fer nally about this black cung onn ot of yours sir bryan leaned baft bad la in hla his ahral and lit a cigarette clen there are ono one or two caps I 1 filled in myself lit tile the moment lie he answered hut but I 1 vin tell you very briefly what led us its to our discoveries nt lit that house in III essex of which 1 I spoke shohe to ID you Slay brick hall about till six lays ugo ago I 1 received a typewritten communication of a similar illar type to ono one or two which I 1 lind had seen before A cor certain defect in the typewriter mado it clear that tho the source wits the saine and that source was tile lender leader of tho the black baug hero here Is 18 the conini unica alvn ile ho opened tt a drawer in lila ills desk and passed it a of paper across to tile thu cabinet in hilster if it ran jolly old mciver will take lit ills morning to Mily brIck hull lit in 1 lio lie will find much anuell to interest him in that delightful wid rund spot many nie its both dead tin and alive will be found there nil all in it splendid state of preservation llo ile will also find ant it a grent many interesting devices in the alie house above all lot alilin be careful of tin an elderly or of aspect whose beauty Is only marred by a stiff anil and somewhat swollen neck no compan led by a charming lady who answers to the name of janet they forni form the tha peerless genii gems of the he callec out but its incredible johnstone Johnsto nc he ha remarked for the fiftieth time simply incredible tion lion and were on tile the point of leaving the country with the enclosed packet willell which I 1 removed from them for sate safe keeping my aly iro modesty desty forbids me to tell an unmarried man like illie you in what portion of dear jenets garments this little bag was found but theres no harm in your guessing what the devil sputtered sir jollin john Is tt it a practical joke par far from it answered tile the other read head to the end enad after melv mclver er has done tills this little job sir john readout road out lie he might like a trip to tho the north there was waa on an uninhabited island off the west coast of mull which Is uninhabited no longer lie ile may have everything lie he finds finds there with my love tho lender leader of the black gang I 1 sir john laid down the paper and stared nt at the director of criminal investigation vesti gation Is this the rambling of a partially diseased intellect lie he inquired with mild sarcasm nothing of the sort returned the other shortly mclver and ten plainclothes men went immediately to maybrick liall hall and they found it a very peculiar place there were some fifteen men there trussed up like so many fowls and alave they were I 1 laid aid out in a row in the hall enthroned lit in state in two chairs it at the end and also truss trussed etl hand and foot foot were the beneficent clergyman and miss janet so much for the living ones with tile the exception of tin an italian who was found peacefully 8 sleeping leeping upstairs with ills right wrist padlocked to the wall by a ion long chain ive mentioned him last because lie he was destined to play a very important part in the matter tie he frowned suddenly A very important part confound him ho be repeated however we will now pass to the other specimens lu in the grounds were discovered a dead fowl a dead fox and three dead men sir john ejaculated explosively sitting up in ills his chair they had all died from the cause continued the other imperturbably electrocution but that was nothing compared to what they found inside in tin an room a n dreadful looking bellmen more like an ape than a man whose neck was waa broken in addition the main artery of his left arm had been severed vitt a knife and even that was mild to what they found downstairs supported against the wall ilas waa a redheaded red headed man stone dead A bayonet fired to d rifle had been driven clean through his Is chest and stuck six inches into the wall behind him and on that the body was ans supported hut but my dear fellow sputtered the cabinet minister you cant expect me to believe all this youre putting pulling my leg I 1 TO DE DB CONTINUED |