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Show 4----' . a SAX BOHMEB - ! L i i i it Copyright by Sax Rohmer. i I I I I k WXU Servlc. dSJXSSSSSSSSSS ii i ii hi i m ry.,---7?ra,TOJ7Wr ''" ,,Qi. S , frS.a K end W sa-e) two to Australia. Whit did their presence in the ship mean" And what was the con with the Limehouse murder? lie baffled Perhaps the most alarming feature of the case was the fact ha these people seemed to be supplied with deadly accurate Information Dur ham had been identified so much jas evident. Now they knew that he, Haig. was on board! Since he could not re-call re-call having ever seen one of the bus pects in his life-Franz Hartog except ered during their short acquantalnce, was his astonishing quality of soothing. They presently reached a hotel, turned into the little lounge oil the right of the door, and sat down at a table. "Good Lord !" said Eileen. "There's that ghastly woman with the chief!" Near a pillar leaning very close together to-gether across a small table, were the chief engineer of the Wallaroo and a big, dark woman, apparently half-caste, handsome In her way, but of a generously gener-ously curving figure not strictly fashionable. fash-ionable. "Good old Corky," said Jack Rattray. "He's a fast worker. He's well away with the lion tamer." "Look who's here !" Eileen exclaimed. ex-claimed. Doctor Oestler and Jack Rattray stared across the lounge. Their popular pop-ular fellow traveler, Mr. Durham, was crossing to them. "Ha !" cried Doctor Oestler. "It Is our Mr. Durham. He Is leaving us yes?" "Yes," Rattray confirmed. "I should like to have a final word with him before I go back to the ship." "He never even said good-by to me," Eileen complained. But Durham had joined them now. "Doctor and Mr. Rattray," he said, "I hope you will take a stirrup cup presently. Miss Kearney, if your friends can spare you for a moment I have a private message for you. But I shan't detain you more than two minutes." They left the house and walked upstairs, up-stairs, to where, upon a seat In an alcove outside the dining room, a man was waiting. A soft brown hat and a white raincoat lay beside him. "Oh !" Eileen gasped, and clutched Durham's arm. Her face grew suddenly sud-denly pale. Then this pallor was swept by a swift color. Dawson Haig stood up. "I haven't frightened you, Eileen? I couldn't think of any other way. . . ." When Mr. Franz Hartog came on board the Wallaroo at Marseilles to take possession of his cabin on D deck (both berths In which had been reserved In London), through a partly open door across the narrow alleyway Dawson Haig was watching. He saw the tall, blond German whom, with bloody mouth, he had seen coming down the stairs of the Restaurant Suleiman Sulei-man Bey! Unseen, Dawson Haig left his hiding place and went up to the captain's room. Captain Peterson was seated at his desk, which was littered with papers. He was badly worried about this voyage. The gold was a big re- captain ; because, if 1 do fiud It, I expect ex-pect to meet there the man who murdered mur-dered Detective Sergeant Norwich in Limehouse the night before the Wallaroo Walla-roo sailed." As a result of this conversation, a new passenger joined the ship only a few minutes before she left Marseilles: a certain Mr. Smith, who wore tinted spectacles. He was allotted a seat at the doctor's table next to the distinguished distin-guished Austrian scientist, Doctor Oestler. Oest-ler. On the following morning, one of the Chinese passengers, Mr. Len Chow of New York, went to the purser's office, lie had a serious complaint to lodge. While he had been absent in the bathroom, bath-room, some one rifled his cabin. He rather thought that his return had Interrupted In-terrupted the intruder, as all sorts of papers were left strewn upon the floor, indicallng a hurried retreat "Can you give me a list of the missing miss-ing articles?" asked Mr. Winter, the purser. Mr. Len Chow, his spectacled face unemotional, replied that none were missing. 'Then what's the row about?" "The thief must be apprehended. He has rifled my papers. They are of great personal value." "But no value to anyone else?" "No." "Are any missing?" "No." There was silence for some moments. "I'll make inquiries, Mr. Len Chow, naturally," said Winter; "but as you say he has stolen nothing, I really don't know how we are going to Identify Iden-tify this person. Do you?" "I cannot say. But I must be protected pro-tected from such visits." "I'll see what can be done." At about which time, Dawson Haig, with his cabin door locked, was rap-Idly rap-Idly making pencil notes, while his memory served him. He had been unable un-able to complete his Investigation, owing ow-ing to the unexpected movements In the cabin which immediately faced that of Mr. Len Chow. He much regretted the disorder in which he had been compelled to leave the latter's apartment. apart-ment. It had been this or discovery, however. Briefly, he had learned that Mr. Chow, according to his passport, was an American citizen, and that he could have been in England only a week, or possibly less, at the time that the Wallaroo sailed. He found a receipted bill from the Grand Hotel, Birmingham. It was sufficient to convince Haig that Mr. Chow had been engaged upon the frustrated dope smuggling enterprise ; had probably been responsible for safe "Meurice Paris sixteen to eighteen signed Pascal." Mr. Len Chow's third message, addressed ad-dressed to "Pascal hotel Meurice Paris" read : "Your friend leaving us at Marseilles signed Chow." ' At which moment came the sound of a loud rap on the cabin door. Dawson Haig hastily adjusted his tinted glasses. Eileen Kearney stood outside. In a green jumper suit and beret, her cheeks freshened and her eyes brightened by sea breezes, she looked absurdly young and disturbingly beautiful. "You positively startled me, Eileen!" he said. "For heaven's sake, cut In quickly. Did anybody see you?" "No!" she said breathlessly. "But I heard some one coming along the main alleyway and had to run !" She stepped Inside and closed the door. "It's good to see you," Haig declared. "But, according to our arrangements at Marseilles, I'm not supposed to know you yet! What's happened?" "This," Eileen replied, speaking very rapidly: "Last night I was awakened by some one banging at a near-cabin door. I distinctly heard him say, 'Marconi 'Mar-coni message.' " "That would be Doctor Oestler's cab-In," cab-In," said Haig. He stooped over his notes, scanning them rapidly until he came to the last of several messages received by Doctor Oestler. "That must have been about half-past three this morning?" he suggested. "It was. Have you the message there?" Dawson Haig smiled wrily. "I certainly cer-tainly have It here," he replied. "Shall I read it to you?" "Yes, please do. Then I can tell you If It's the same." Haig stared at her in a certain bewilderment, be-wilderment, then: "This is it," he said: "Oestler passenger rms Wallaroo ibjh keeper searchlight near home stop know tell.' He looked up smiling. "Does that convey anything to you, Eileen?" "No!" she confessed blankly, watching watch-ing him. "It isn't the same. Of course, you can't possibly know what I'm talking talk-ing about, so I must explain. While I was in the bath this morning that sudden sud-den squall of wind and rain came. Do you remember?" Haig nodded. "I had opened the porthole and fastened fas-tened the door back to freshen the air in my cabin, and Doctor Oestler, whose cabin adjoins mine, must have done the same. Because, when I got back I returned first a lot of papers which had been lying loose on my table had been blown right out into the main alleyway." CHAPTER V Continued 6 "There Is Indeed a further Journey which you must take, little one," he Bald, "but surely you welcome It or ere you bo happy In the house of As-waml As-waml Pasha that you regret to leave Cairo?" "I have small love for .Aswami," she replied, "and less for Cairo. We are going, then, to Arabia? There, at least, I have my comforts my servants." - "In the morning, Orange Blossom." He walked slowly towards her. "You have until the dawn of tomorrow In which to talk to me, to bewitch me with your beauty, and make me more completely your slave." The woman smiled up at him as he bent over her. "You know that I love you, Yu'an," she whispered. "I begin to believe so, since you have followed me around the world." "Followed?" "You were free to leave me at any time." Dimly the note of a gong sounded In ome place below. "Go now to your room," said Yu'an Hee See. "This is AswamI who has arrived. I shall be detained, perhaps for an hour." In a small square room on the ground floor of the house, furnished very simply as an office, Aswami Pasha at waiting. To the gang assembled In the Restaurant Res-taurant Suleiman Bey in Paris he was known as the Chief, but here he was an Egyptian gentleman of established position. Nevertheless, he watched the door of the room with a certain nervousness ner-vousness not strictly In keeping with Moslem fatalism. Yu'an Hee See stood framed In the open doorway, looking at the Egyptian, his eyes nearly closed. "You are an hour late. What is the explanation?" "It Is simple," was the reply. "The pilot made a forced landing, but a good one. We were ten miles from Heliopo-11s Heliopo-11s which, I think, explains my delay." "It explains it," the reedy voice conceded. con-ceded. "I accept this explanation. I would add that if such accidents occur to others of our company disaster lies before us like a gulf which no man Can pass." "I have no fears," the Egyptian assured as-sured him. "nere is the roll. I can tell you where every man of the company com-pany Is at the present moment." "Or should be." "Some are out of reach, I admit, but with the others we can get in touch If you desire it." "I do not desire It. You are responsible." responsi-ble." He raised a plump hand, the pointed index finger curled. "I do not wish to see your report. Tell me that there has been no hitch." "No hitch." "Very good. I am perhaps foolish, but In London everything went wrong. Since this is our biggest venture, I thought that the auguries were unfavorable." unfa-vorable." Across the coarse but handsome features fea-tures of the Egyptian a momentary cloud passed, its passage Instantly detected de-tected by those nearly closed eyes of Vn'nn TToo Qdo Through a Partly Open Door Across the Narrow Alleyway, Dawson Haig Was Watching. ed he inclined to the Idea that Dur. ham, as well as himself, had been notified noti-fied to Doctor Oestler from some well-informed well-informed source. He bent over the messages which he FOR NEW READERS: THE STORY FROM THE OPENING CHAPTER Matt Kearney, young American living in London, Bays good-by to his sister Eileen, on board the Wallaroo bound for Colombo. The Wallaroo Is conveying 2,000,000 In gold to Australia. Kearney meets Inspector Dawson Haig, of Scotland Scot-land Yard, very much in love with Eileen. Haig is convinced opium is concealed In Jo Lung's warehouse. Called to other duty, he delegates Kearney, with Detective Norwich, to visit the place and And out what he can. While in the warehouse Kearney picks up a notebook. Yu'an Hee See, whom Haig has long been seeking as the leader of a band of International Interna-tional thieves, is at Jo Lung's. Discovering the loss of his notebook, he sends two of his followers after Norwich and Kearney, one of whom he realizes must have picked it up. Soon after leaving Kearney Norwich is murdered. Haig is puzzled over cryptic notes in the book, referring to stops to be made by the Wallaroo. While he is poring over them, a weird creature enters, seizes the book, and escapes. Matt's story of hearing horrible laughter while at Jo Lung's satisfies satis-fies Haig his quarry was hiding there, he recognizing the peculiar malignancy of Yu'an's laugh. naci aecoaeu. inose seut uy me womau obviously related to the chief engineer, one of them reading : "Organ grinder sure stop big boy and next of kin not running signed Val." This he had translated as follows: "Chief engineer captured. Commander Com-mander and chief officer no good. Val." That this meant that Corcoran had been bought over and become a party to some crooked deal, Haig did not believe for a moment. He read It to mean that the Infatuated engineer was playing Into the woman's hands. He was to be used, In some way, without his knowledge. But Haig stared up at the port-hole port-hole and asked the question aloud: "In what way?" Doctor Oestler's radio correspondence correspond-ence frankly defeated him. He could find no parallel, amongst the ship's company, to the strange names employed. em-ployed. And he had come to the conclusion con-clusion that it related to something taking place elsewhere. Evidently, Doctor Oestler was a sort of chief of staff; his out-going messages took the form of Inquiries as to the whereabouts where-abouts of certain persons, and the replies re-plies presumably contained the desired Information, which, however, conveyed nothing at all to Dawson Haig. These messages were sent to a telegraphic tele-graphic address in Paris which he had no means of tracing. It was all very maddening, because one fact emerged from all this mystification. mystifi-cation. This complicated conspiracy had nothing to do with drug running. That enterprise had been merely a side line, abandoned at the first hint of danger. What, then, did It mean? He thought of that hurried removal of the crates from Birmingham-the "ates which almost certainly had been In charge of Mr. Lon Chow Dawson Haig sat, his head resting upon one upraised hand-for five i wlfomVJoh t1, J L"ng' or 'o man of , 10,13 Jo L'"iR as merely a creatm-o learnea of the instructions,, " Yard , y, nd 1)0011 S0,lt e ofiicer Cde to t,lft clr customs Hnlg suddenly 8tood heavens I" lle whl spor ed "Til, K have known-thov ,. ' , 7 mn t -as a den o 1 0010118 consignment because ? Because of wimtT ' (TOBRCtmiNUKD) x u uu nee oee.. "You also have been disturbed?" The voice was very soft but incredibly incred-ibly high. "No, no, Excellency 1" Aswami forced a smile. "One of the men rather alarmed me on the night we met In Paris." t "It was the Scotsman? He must be watched." "No, not Maclles. I distrust him only when he Is sober. Also, I have arranged to replace him If necessary. But Kid Brown exchanged words with a stranger downstairs in the restaurant. restau-rant. He went down with Franz Hartog, Har-tog, our second engineer, whom he had thrashed for a breach of orders. And this stranger, except for some Russian idiots, was the only person In the restaurant. Too late, he reported the matter to me, admitting that he may have been Indiscreet" There was a momentary silence; then : "Kepeat to me," said Yu'an Hee See, "In the man's own words, exactly what te reported to you, Including his de-ecrlptlon de-ecrlptlon of this stranger." Those desperately drab streets which lead from the docks at Marseilles to the more habitable quarters of the city were several Inches deep In an unpleasant un-pleasant kind of light yellow mud. The buildings were yellowish gray; the sky was of this muddy complexion also. "Simply too unbelievably pigsty," Eileen declared, as the taxi floundered and thumped through the morass. "And I'm real sorry I started." "That's rather mean of you, Eileen," said Jack Rattray, the ' first officer, smiling his slow smile. "Don't you think so, .ctor?" Doctor Oestler patted Eileen's arm soothingly. "At least, Miss Kearney," he said, "It makes a small change. We shall not be ashore again until we reach Port Said. Yes? And what does It matter, this mud and the gray sky? Ha? Presently we shall be convivial ' -with a little cocktail ha? And it nakes a small change." V Eileen turned to him and laugned. i'he outstanding characteristic of the - Austrian doctor, as she had discov- sponsibillty, In the first place, and now, to his other troubles had been added this sudden appearance of an official from Scotland Yard. "I was right, captain," said Dawson Haig. "It's my man!" The captain smiled resignedly. "It's a complete muddle to me, Inspector," he confessed. "Whatever is it all about? If this fellow is a criminal, why don't you arrest him? I shall be glad to be rid of him." "Thank you," said Haig. "It Isn't so simple as that. But here's the position, posi-tion, roughly: You have five passengers passen-gers on board the Wallaroo, whom I suspect with good reason of being members mem-bers of a dangerous international gang." "Five!" said the skipper, staring under un-der tufted eyebrows. "Have they all come aboard here?" "No. Four joined you In London." "Holy smoke! What's afoot, Inspector?" In-spector?" "If I knew that, sir, I should know what I'm here to find out," was Haig's reply. "Certain evidence came Into our possession in London which seemed to point to the fact that members of a gang of dope dealers, receivers of stolen property, and other undesirable trades, were sailing in your ship. The exact number of the rooms occupied by them were discovered" "Got those numbers?" "I am almost certain I have. My list, however, was made from memory. But In a certain Paris cafe, which we believe be-lieve to be a meeting place of these people, I recently had a sight of a certain man. Today he has joined the Wallaroo, as a passenger. His room, booked In London, is one of those which I have on the list! I think It's safe to presume, captain, that the other oth-er four suspects should be watched?" "I entirely agree with you, Inspector." Inspec-tor." . "The French authorities have just notified me," Haig went on, "that three other men all they could trace who were present at the restaurant I have mentioned, have all set out by different routes for the Near East. . . . Looks like a general assembly at some spot unknown. It's my job to find that spot, delivery in Sydney, to which port, apparently, ap-parently, he was booked. A puzzling feature of his passport, which spoke of extensive traveling mostly In the Near East, was a visa, bearing yesterday's date, by the Egyptian Egyp-tian consul in Marseilles, which strongly strong-ly suggested that Mr. Chow's plans had been changed and that he was going ashore at Port Said. Haig presently presented himself in the captain's cabin. There, he remained for a whole hour, busily transcribing from the borrowed Marconi books a number of incoming messages and outgoing out-going messages, received or dispatched by the suspected five. While some of the messages seemed Innocent enough, others, notably those sent by Doctor Oestler, quite obviously were compiled in some sort of code. Haig went to his cabin and settled down before the little table to see what he could make out of this new material. mate-rial. The half-caste woman known as Miss Ednam, and supposed to be a vaudeville vaude-ville artist, Mr. Len Chow, and Doctor Doc-tor Oestler were the suspects whose names appeared In the Marconi books. Studying a list of telegraphic addresses, ad-dresses, which the captain had borrowed bor-rowed from the wireless room, Haig discovered that Mr. Chow's first two messages had oeen addressed to "Lll-ung "Lll-ung Causeway London." "Excellent," he murmured. "Lllung Causeway London" was the telegraphic address of Jo Lung's establishment in Limehouse ! The messages themselves were simple sim-ple enough. They were these: One: "Arranged to transfer or signed Chow." "Your friend is on board signed Chow." "That's clear enough," Haig mused. "He is Informing friend Polodos that he has arranged to cancel from Port Said to Sydney and Is leaving at the former. He later sends the Information that there is a 'friend' on board, meaning mean-ing Durham, of course. Durham thought he was spotted. He was quite right" Then, In order of date was an Incoming In-coming message which read : Dawson Haig was thinking. "I have so little to offer this glorious girl. Yet, If I lose her, life won't be worth a hoot. It seems like Fate that we've been brought together." "I didn't realize, until i looked through them, that some of the papers didn't belong to me. There were sheets of notes in German, some sort of scientific scien-tific leaflet, and one or two other odds and ends, which I gave to the stewardess, stew-ardess, asking her to find out where they had come from. I suggested, as his door was open, that they probably belonged to Doctor Oestler. I was right, and he sent a message back, thanking me. But later, when I was dressed, I found another fragment." She slipped a hand Into a pocket of her jumper and produced a half sheet of thin paper. "When I saw this," she continued, and her voice grew very serious, "I thought you ought to know at once." Haig removed "Mr. Smith's" glasses and took the torn sheet from Eileen's hand. Scribbled in pencil upon the paper pa-per were the following words: "Haig, chief inspector Scotland Yard on board. Identify and advise." Alone once more, but unaccountably happy amid his difficulties, Dawson Haig bent over his notes. Eileen had slipped in unnoticed. Sheer luck, and her keen wit, had come to his aid Doctor Oestler's penciled scrawl was obviously a translation of the message- "Ibjh head keeper searchlight near home stop know tell." Thp8mTnly Simp'icity betl'a'cd genius. The IBJH was elementary the letters being merely those next In the alpha bet to HAIG, but the fact that Head Keeper Searchlight" meant Chief In spector Scotland Yard, was one which no cryptographer could ever be eV pected to discover. "Near home" -vl dently corresponded to On board-Known" board-Known" to Identify; "Tell" to advise was a system of analogies and h proceeded to apply it to the other mes sages with the result that by 1 "c t time he was satisfied that at least tho gist of these was In his possZn He leaned back 1 his chair unu whistled softly, rive memhen a ? mysterious organi-,tlon, professedly |