| Show BLACK By CYRIL SAPPER Copyright gd by a it DOWN CO cOl C tt U. U S W CHAPTER XIII 20 G- G ich Things Happen at May Maybrick brick H Hall II the Italian come up five live minutes Lt s minute even even all all would have fell ell AS It was at the ver very moLien mo mo- Lien hen Drummonds Drummond's crashing blow lm m on the point of the Jaw with precision another mothe- mothe began to operate else else- I III w IV ie the law o of gravity Something m a s ceiling onto a n table tollie In the below that ceiling even aa as In one by an Rn apple descended Into of ot the discoverer o of that law two IWO men o seated In Ih the room bee be be- e calling In question failed tailed to toj j It at al fi first D i one stared upward and gave a ary ary avry v-ry v ry of It horror Slowly spreading the IheI I white plaster was OS a n great grent n D stain whilst from a n crack In Iddle the steady drip fell felt onto I tile leere's le Ie lore's lores eres ere's teen been murder done he hed d hoarsely and dashed out of the Doors DOIrs were flung open and halt half fen n mm meu rushed up the stairs after doubt which the thew I There Thre was no I w BUS as and headed by i crowded In only In-only only to stop slop and andal fat at al what lay Iny on the floor noor s the Greek muttered one of lie Ill was guarding the girl someone has severed the main N m ID his arm fth Ii h one accord they dashed across to 10 the room where Phyllis wen In Jn a second the door was wasn n In and they saw the the bed i lying on he I e pluck Gang muttered some- some fearfully and cursed him cowardly swine And It was his hla hise Drummond heard hearding e I Voice olce that ing lag for tor the power to be switched Is s he lie turned and darted across the Ignorant of or what l had nd place he was Just ns as Ignorant hat was Willi meant by switching snitching on the tr r. r Ills HIs one thought now was to way with Phyllis A A start start meant meant thing and ami at lit the best he couldn't for tor a u long one With his arm ugh gh hers he lie urged her forward I i behind bellind hIm lie he heard a confused ting which gradually died away r the peremptory orders of ot som some sonie- who seemed to be In command I almost subconsciously he noticed the thudding noise had ceased t the taint faint humming bumming of the engine e I the silence In front of ot him he saw fence which had caused him to 10 toder der earlier curlier In the evening e He was wai flu flip feet ft from It 10 when whon hn It Ir hap on ow r d d the the amazing and at the mot mo- mo fit t Inexplicable thing For months Ir r he be used to wake In la the night and sweating with horror at the tile near near- of th the escape For It would have ha i Ilij thyllis Ills who would would- have hn gone ugh first i It would have been fills Ills who who who- Hut But It did happen happen- I In lime Be e saw a n dark shape dart across the thein then in n toward the fence an animal cars cur car bs I s something In Its mouth It bed hed the fence and the next Ink Int In- In k It t It bounded an Incredible height phe he air only to fall tall backward onto nto 1 ground 1101 lie motionless almost feet feel It was so utterly Hint he paused used Instinctive Instinctive- laud and 1 Hu red at ul It It It was a fox tox and fowl foal It hud hind been blen currying carrying lay Iny a aId ad ad Id d away It ll lay IllY there rigid and s and completely bewildered bent henl and touched It It only to draw tk k hl hU Ids hand hl as na If hed he'd been stung slung sharp pain shot Up his P as ss I If hed he'd had Imd an un electric tic shock pud nil nd suddenly he understood and anda h a cry try of fear he drugged dragged Phyllis k Ii Just In lu time lie he fox fUl hud had been ele electrocuted at was Has what the man had meant shouting for the power to 10 I be he itched on And as ns he stood there 11 clutching 1 lh Ills Ills' arm and shaken the moment out oUI of his hla usual calm fere re cattle carne from frum the direction o of the Ibe these use se the throated deep baying of a hound What Is It Hugh said Bald In i agonized whisper With tt eyes e she was staring staring- the boll body of the fox e still stiff lIlt and und rigid I death wath and with its Jaws purled parted in la a II snarl rl Th Then n suddenly she realized that her was speaking quietly quietly intently In- In ve We cant can't climb through e t fence dear he was saying calmly almly ou oil u see they're they've switched an n electric electric rr went nt through the wires und and If It you ou Del one you'll be electrocuted So going to 10 throw you over the top 1011 In mi 1111 agon ligon Of fear she e clung to ma fur for ii a moment nt then Ihen as os she saw a 8 Mulet quiet set face fuce she Bhe pulled herself ft and smiled sallied 1 There was no nu me for r argument now there was no me for tor anything thing except Instant noon ac- ac on And An 1 being a u thoroughbred slie Ilia at as not not nol going to binder hinder him by any on her part parI Of tent fear for f she felt no trace her faith and I In m her husband was wall absolute net ad Ku o she stood waiting there silently lie ii h he height and orid distance lib Ith i his Ids eye fe Come Corne ne der he said aid a after fl pr a u moI no- no a. a I a Pause Put Tut your our knots s 8 d close lIl 1 up to your Tour chin and tr try and keep like Uke a ball until you OU feel yourself falling She doubled herself up and he be picked her up One Ont hand held both her feet the feet the other gripped the waistband waistband waist waist- band at the back Mck o of her skirt Once he lifted her above his Ills head to the full extent of his arms to free his muscles then lie he took a n little run and nd threw her herup herup herup up and forward with nil all his strength And she cleared the top strand by two feet She landed unhurt In tome some bushes and when she had scrambled to her feet she realized r. lie Ill W was I speaking again Imperatively again Imperatively ur urgently Get the gang darling somehow or other get the gang Ill I'll try and get ret you a good glad start But hurry flut hurry The next Instant he had disappeared Into Inlo the undergrowth And then loud and ond clear dear the hoot of an owl thrice repeated It was a message for tor her she che knew knew not not a senseless piece of nr bravado a message to ten tell Her lIer that lie Ill was all right Dut But the call at the end ml was the tile urgent call of the gang and though he hl was safe at nt the moment moment moment mo mo- ment she knew there was no time to tobe tobe tobe be lost 1081 And with a little prayer that she would choose the right direction she broke Into Inlo the steady run of the girl who beagles when she goes goeR beagling and doesn't sit on the top of a hut hill and watch Hugh had never ne let her down yet el It was her turn now To what extent It was was her turn perhaps It was as 08 well that she did not realize reaUze Even n Drummond was Ignorant of the nature o of the odds against him He lIe had bad not the slightest Idea how many then men were in the house and and while It remained dark he didn't I much care In the tile dark he felt confident confident con con- of dealing with any number or at any rate of eluding them But since the inmates were Ignorant of what they were up up against they somewhat t foolishly decided on Instant action They came streaming across In a body and by so doing they played straight Into Inlo the tile hands of the man who crouched In the shadows close by them Without a sound Round he be faded away from fros his hiding biding place und and emerged from the undergrowth ten yards nearer the house Then with his collar turned up and his Ills shoulders hunched together lie he Joined the tile group roup And a man man eating eating tiger in their midst would have hae been a safer addition to the party Slowly the line of shadowy men moved forward through the undergrowth undergrowth under under- growth and creeping behind them came the man mon they were out to kill And gradually he edged nearer and nearer to the tile wire fence until he be was following tile the outside man u of the line He Ill saw him pause for a moment peerIng peering peer peer- Ing lag round a a hush bush with his revolver reo ready rendy in his hand band And then the Ibe terror ter started The beater bealer next to the victim had a fleeting vision Islon of a n huge black object springing through h the darkness a muttered curse and a gurgle gur gur- gle gle and and a II dreadful strangled scream And the outside beater Leater was no more lIe He had been hurled the live live- n un un wire fence as ns It If lie Ill was n a child child and and the tile exhibits hind had been lIeen Increased by byon byon byon on With a hoarse cry of fear the man who had been next him turned and ran toward the house only to find himself seized front from behind with a n grip o of Iron It was Franz and ns liS he stared Into Inlo the face of the man whom hom he knew to 10 be lie drowned he gave a n squawk like a trapped rabbit nut But there was nothing ghostly about the time hands bonds round his neck and us he felt himself being rushed toward the fence of death he began to 10 u struggle le furious furiously ly Iy But Bul Drummond was Insane at the moment and though I Franz ranz was wall a powerful pow erful man than he might aught have lia saved sated himself him him- self the troll trouble hie A terrific blow hit hill him tom on OD the face and with n a grunt h he fell buck hack against 1 the fence The Time exhibits ex ex- hibits were Increased by hy two Iwo and through the fH rang ra n cheerful laugh followed by the hool hooting In of an owl 0 And now the line win iss broken and amid I men were crushing about In nil all directions shouting hoarsely Here lItre there Ihre and everywhere e they heard the hootIng hooting hoot hoot- Ing of un an owl 1 they formed Into bunches of twos and threes s for protection pro If they blazed a away 11 with com com pressed air revolvers nt III harmless rho rho- rhododendron rhododendron bushes and ancl I times some nt at their own 1111 pals Is And And every now und and then a great black figure would leap silently out of the tile darkness n onto some come I straggler straggler there would be n bellow of fear and pain ell ollo followed by hy an omi ominous noun silence which W IS broken u a second second sec sec- ond and or two later luler by bv the hooting of ot otan an nn owl twenty t yards And Anti at nt last they could stand It hi no noI I longer ong They hind had no 1 Idea how haw mun many men amen they were up against mind u n com complete plate panic set In With one line COfI they rushed for or the house and n mocking peal o of laughter followed Id them ns us they ran run For Drummond Ind gambled on that und and he I mil had won von In Inthe Inthe I Ithe the position of knowing that every nan lIan vile his Imis enemy he had been heln nt tit titan un an advantage u over tile the others who were n never npr pr sure who was n II friend lie begun lu to thread Ms his WilY way swiftly and silently In the direction of th the drive e. reached the edge elle without lad dent elent and started to 10 skirl kart along aIling U It U II away from the house At last he taw saw I the gate gale end and turned deeper Into the undergrowth lie He wanted to examine I It at leisure before making up his bin wind salad as to what be he would do As Aa Asfur fur as he could 8 see 8 from the outU he could make out against the ro It was nn un ordinary heavy wooden such ns as may be seen frequently entrance to small country In hou Drummond became aware j was wu approaching Now how i chance and with the QuI quick b bora bom rn soldier h lie he acted on I was ivas to come In they m gate gale and since one s so completely ns as Biron strong headlights he be heto heto to tn slip out ln unseen ln ju had passed through Idly to one side o 0 oj beam beum then he ma j the lodge pin keeping flank flunk And from under cover of of h I dee A 1 ItU o If It he was be a u matter mailer Little Littleto b to the thel drive as ns a nl t to tj lJ a huge bue g glove glov ov approached the gate There w bright Hush bash as he pressed down the catch and the circuit was broken and at nt the same moment the headlights on the car went out while an Inside light was switched on And Drummond stopped dead dead dead- frozen In his hili tracks The car was vas movIng moving mow ing lag forward forward slowly and ond he could see seethe seethe the people Inside clearly One was Count atlas alias Mr Atkinson one was the Longmoor But Dut the other other and ther-an ther and 1 It was the third person on whom his hla eyes tyes were ere fixed with a n hopeless feeling of impotent rage the rage the other ther wils was Phyllis herself The two men were holding her in front of them so that to fire a mis an Impossibility and Peterson was smiling out of the window with the utmost benevolence Then Ihen they were past him and he watched the red lamp tall disappearing up the tho drive while the tile gate was shut behind them Another flashing spark stabbed the darkness the circuit was complete complete com com- again And with a feeling of sick helpless fury tury Drummond realized real that It had all nil been useless He lIe was exactly where he had been half an nn hour before with the vital differ ence that the ev events of the last half bait hour could not be repeated He Ill was waa caught It was the finish Somehow or other the poor girl must have blundered blun blun- blundered dered right into the car and probably asked the occupants for help She wouldn't have known who they were shed she'd Just Jut stopped the car on spec and lie He shook his fists Impotently impotently Impo Impo- tE and at lit that moment he hearth heard a aloud aloud aloud loud powerful voice which he be recognized nixed nt at once speaking from the direction then tion o of the time house hO Unless ss Captain Drummond comes Into Inlo the house within five fi minutes I Ishall Ishall Ishall shall personally kill Mrs Mra Drummond And the voice voke was the voice o of Carl Peterson TO BE nl CONTINUED |
