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Show 11 BULL-DOG IKDRUMMOND KpHMfk The Adventures of A mLsjWskmL Demobilised Officer V'hA Etrfflfek found Peace Dull KhHBlL CYMt MC-NEILE IKS7 Jrlk. lututraiUnt by V RtiSOnM VIRKIN MYERS 1 taiJiani - Copyright by Geo H Do ran Co finm rose, and the girl Introduced the two men. "An old friend, daddy," she said. "You must have heard me speak of Captain Drummoml." "I don't recall the nsrao at the me-ment, me-ment, my dear," he answered courteously courte-ously n foct which wns hardly surprising sur-prising "but I fenr I'm getting a little forgetful. Yon'll stop and hnve gome dinner, of course." Hugh bowed. "I should like to, Mr. Benton. Thank you very much. I'm afraid the hour of my call was n little Infonnnl, but being round In these pnrts, I folt I must come and look Miss Benton up." His host smiled uhsentnilndedly, and walking to the window, stared through the gathering dunk at the house opposite, half hidden In the trees. And Hugh, who wns watching him from under lowered lids, t-aw him suddenly clench both hands In a gesture ges-ture of despair. I! cannot be said that dinner was it meal of sparkling gaiety. .Mr. lU-n-tnn was palpably III at ease, und beyond be-yond n few desultory remarks spoke hardly at nil; while thu girl, who sal opposite Hugh, though sln made one or two valiant attempts to break the long silences, spent most of the meal In covertly watching her father. If anything more had been required to convince Drummond of the genuineness genuine-ness of his Interview with her nt the Carlton the preceding day, the atmosphere atmos-phere nt this strained and silent party supplied It. As If unconscious of anything peculiar pecu-liar he rumbled on In his usual Inconsistent In-consistent method, heedless of whether wheth-er he wus answered or not; but nil the time his mind was busily working. He had already decided that a Ilolls ltoyce was not the only car on the market which could break down mysteriously, mys-teriously, and with the town so far nwoy, his host could hardly fall to nsk him to stop the night. And then ho had not yet quite settled how-he how-he proposed to liavu a closer look nt The Kims. At length the meal was over, and tho maid, placing the decanter In front of Mr. Benton, withdrew from the room. "You'll have a glass of port, Captain rmmmondV" remarked his host, removing re-moving tho stopper, and pushing the bottle toward him. "Au old pie-war wine which 1 can vouch for." Hugh smiled, und even as he lifted the heavy old cut glass, lie stiffened suddenly In his chair. A try hulf shout, half scream, nnd stilled at onci had come echoing through the open windows. With n enisli the With a Crash the Stopper Fell From Mr. Benton's Nerveleaa Flnura, Breaking the Flnger-Bowl In Front of Him, While Every Veatlge of Color Left His Face. stopper fell from Mr. Ilenton's nerve-less nerve-less lingers, breaking the llnger-buwl In front of him. while every vestige of color left his face. "It's something these days to be able to say that," remarked Hugh, pouring out himself a glass. "Wine, Miss llenton?" He looked at the girl, who was staring fearfully out of the window, and forced her to meet his eye, "It will do you good," Ills tone was compelling, and ufter a moment's hesitation, sbo pushed the glass over to him. "Will you pour It out?" she said, and he saw that sho was trembling all over. "Old you did you hear auythlng?" With u vain endeavor to speak calmly, his host looked at Hugh, "That nlght-hlrd?" ho ttpsvvqred easily. "Kerle noises they make, don't they? Sometime In I'ronce, when .everything wns still, and only the ghostly green flares went hlslng up.-ono up.-ono used to hear 'cm. Startled nervous nerv-ous sentries out or tbelr Ihes." Ha talked on, nnd gradually the color enme bark to the other man's face. Hut Hugh noticed that he drained his port at a gulp, und Immediately refilled re-filled his glass. . . . Outside everything was still; no repetition of that short, strangled ery again disturbed the silence. With the training bred of many hours In No Man's I.nnd, Druiumond was listening, lis-tening, even while be was speaking, for the fulutcit suspicious sound but ho heard nothing. Tin- soft whispering whisper-ing night-noises vitum gently through the uludow; but the mini who bad screamed unco did not even whimper ugiiln. He remembered bearing a similar cry near the brick-stuck at flulncby, and two night later he had found the giver of It, nt the odgo of a mlnecrater, with gl.nr.ed eyes that still held In llu'iii the horror of tho final heroiiiK And inoit persistently than ever. Ids thoughts centered on the fifth occupant of tin; Itolls-Itoyce. Itolls-Itoyce. It was Willi almost a look of relief that Mr. llenton listened to his talo of ,woe about Ids car, "Of course you must slop here for (the night," he cried. "Phyllis, my dear, will you tell them to get a room ready'" With an Inscrutable look ul Hugh, In which thankfulness and apprehension apprehen-sion seemed mingled, the girl left tho room. There wus nn uumitural glitter glit-ter lu her father's eyes a flush on his cheeks hardly to be accounted for by the warmth of tho evening; and It struck Di'Utmaouil that durlug the time be had been pretending to look at bis car, Mr. llenton had been fortifying forti-fying himself. It was obvious, even to the soldier's unprofessional eye, that the man's nerves had gono to pieces, his daughter's worst forebodings forebod-ings were likely to be fulfilled. He talked illsjuliiteilly and fast ; his hands were not steady, and he seemed to be always waiting for something to happen. Hugh had imt In lu the room ten minutes before his host produced the whisky, and during the time that he took to drink u mild iilghtcup. Mr. llenton succeeded In lowering three extremely strong glasses of spirit. Anil what muile It the more sad was that the man wus obviously not n heavy drinker by preference. At eleven o'clock Hugh rose and Mild good ulgU. "You'll ring If you want anything, won't you?" wild his host. "We don't have very many visitors here, but I hope you'll find everything you require. re-quire. llreakfiiNi at nine." Drumiuoml closed the door behind him, and stood for a moment lu silence, looking i-ouuil the bull. It was de.-icrted, but he wanted to get the geography of the houe firmly Imprinted Im-printed on his mind, lie stepped across toward the drawing-room. Inside, In-side, us he IiommI. be" found the girl. .She rose the lntnnt he lume In, and stood by the mantelpiece with her hands locked, "What was It?" she half whispered "that awful noise at dinner?" lie looked ut her gravely for a while, and then be shook his head. ".Shah we leave II as a nlght-hlnl ror the present V" be s.nld quietly. Then he leaned toward her, and look her hands lu his own. "t!o to bed, little girl." he ordered; "thi Is my show. And. may I say. I think you're Juat wonderful. Thank tied you saw my advertisement I" (icntly he released her hands, and walking to the door, held It open for her. "If by any chiilice you should hear things lu the night turn over and go to sleep again." "Hut wbut are you going to do? she cried. Hugh grinned. "I hnven't too ro-molest ro-molest Idea." he answered. "Doubtless "Doubt-less the Lord will provide." The Instant the girl had left the room Hugh switched off the lights, und stepped across to the curtulns which covered the long windows. He pulled Uiein Inside, letting .them come together to-gether behind him; then, cautiously, he unboiled one side of the big center cen-ter window. Silently he dodged across the lawn toward th'. big trees nt the end, uml leaning up ugulust one of them, he proceeded to make o more detailed surve of his objective, The Kims, It was the eanie type of house us the one he had Just left, and the grounds seemed about the sumo sire. A wire fence separated the two places, und In the darkness Hugh could Just make out u small wlcket-gute, closing clos-ing a path which connected both houses. Ho tried It, nnd found to his satisfaction that It opened silently .s'uvo for one room on the ground-floor ground-floor the house wus in darkness, and tugh determined to have; u look ut 'lint room. There nM u chink In the curtains, through which tho light wns streaming out, which struck him as having possibilities. Keeping under cover, he edged toward it, and, nt length, he got Into a position from which he could see Inside. And uliut hu saw made him decide to' chance It, and go even closer. Seated at tljj) tnble whs a man he did not recogulzo; while on either side of lilin sat Luklngtnii and Peterson. Peter-son. Lying on u sofa smoking a cigarette und reading u novel was u tall dark girl, who seemed completely uninterested In the proceedings of the other three. Hugh placed her at once as the doubtful daughter Iriiin, and resumed his watch on thu group Ht the IhIiIc. A paper was lu front of the man, and Peterson, who was smoking a large elgnr, was apparently suggest-lug suggest-lug that he should make use of the pen which l.aklugton was obligingly holding lu readiness. In nil respects u harmless tableau, save for one small thing the expression on the man's fats-. HiikIi had seen It before urten only then It had been called shell-shock. shell-shock. The ninn was dazed, semi-unconscious, semi-unconscious, Kvery now and then he stared round the room, as If bewildered; be-wildered; then he would shake his head and pass his hand wearily over bis forehead, I-'or a quarter of an hour the scene continued; then l.nk-Ington l.nk-Ington produced an Instrument from his pocket. Hugh shw the man shrink back In terror, ami reach for the pen. Hut what Impressed him most lu that momentary flash of action was Peterson. There was something Inhuman In his complete passivity Kveu nn he watched the man sinning his name, no trace of emotion showed on his face whereas on I.aklaxton's there shone a fiendish satisfaction. The document was still lying on the table, when Hugh produced his revolver. He knew there was foul play about, anil the muilness of what he hud suddenly made up his mind to do never struck him; behig Hint manner of fool, he was uiade that way. Hut he breathed u pious prayer that be would shoot straight und then he held bis breath. The crack of the shot and the bursting of the only electric light bulb In the room were alinot simultaneous, and the next second, with a rour of "Come on, boys," be burst through the window. win-dow. At an Immense advantage over the others, who could see nothing noth-ing for the moment, be blundered round the room. He timed the blow ut Liiklngtoii to u nicety; he hit htm straight on the point of the Jaw and he felt tlm man go down like u log. Then he grubbed at the paper on tho table, lil tli tore lu his hand, and picking the dazed signer up bodily, hu nulled through the window onto the lunu. Thero was not un Instant to be lost; only thu Impossibility of seeing when suddenly plunged Into darkness, hud enabled him to pull the thing on so fur. And before that nil-vuiitiigo nil-vuiitiigo disappeared lie had to bo hue); at The Larches with his burden, no light weight for even u mun of his strength to carry. ISut there seemed to he no pursuit, no hue mid cry. As he reached the Utile gate he paused und looked buck, nnd he funded he saw outside tho ..i..jow, it gleam of white, such as a v. shirt fronl.. He lingered for an Instant peering Into thu darkness nua recover lug his breath, when with n vicious phut something burled Itself In the tree beside him. Drummond lingered no more; long years of experience left no doubt In his mind as to what that something wns. "Compressed-air rifle or electric," he muttered to himself, stumbling on, nnd half dragging, half carrying his dazed companion. He wns not very cieur In his own mind what to do next, hut the matter mat-ter was settled for him unexpectedly. Itately had he got Into .the drawing-room, drawing-room, when thu door opened und thu girl rushed In. "Oct him awuy at onco," she cried. "In your cur. . . . Don't waste a second. I've started her up." "UoimI girl," he cried enthusiastically. enthusiastical-ly. "Hut what about you?" She stumped her foot Impatiently. "I'm all right absolutely all right, (let him iiwuy that's all thut matters." mat-ters." Drutiimoud grinned. "The humorous humor-ous thing Is that I haven't an Idea who the bird Is except that" He pnused, with his eyes fixed on the man's left thumb. The top Joint was clashed Into u red, shapeless pulp, and suddenly the meaning of the Instrument In-strument Lal'lngtou hud produced from his pocket became clear. Also the reason of that dreadful cry at dinner. . . . "Uy Clod!" whispered Drummond half to himself, while his Jaws set like a steel vise. "A thumbscrew. The devils . . . the swine . . ." "Oh I quick, quick," the girl urged lu nn agony. "They may lie here at ,uny moment." She dragged him t the door, nnd together they forced the man Into the cur. "l.kliigtnn won't," said Hugh with a grin. "And If you see him tomorrowdon't tomor-rowdon't nsk after bis Jaw. . . , (lood-nlghl, Phyllis." With a quick movement he raised her hand to his lips; then hu allpticsl In the clinch ami the car disappeared flown the drive. . . . He fell n sense of elation und of triumph ut having won the first round, and us the car whirled back to London Lon-don through the cool night air his heart was singing with Joy of nctloti. And It was perhaps as well for hi. peace of uiliid that he did not witness the scene lu the room nt The Kim I.ukiifgtou still lay motionless on the floor; Peterson's cigar still glowed steadily lu the dorkness. It was hard to believe that he hud ever moved from the table; only the bullet Imbedded Im-bedded In a tree proved that souio body must have got busy. Of course, It might hnve been tho girl, who was Just lighting another cigarette from the stump of the old one At length Peterson spoke, "A young man of dash und temperament." he said genially. "It will he a pity to lose him." "Why not keep him and lose the girl?" yawned Irmu. "I think ho might nniiisu me " "We hnve always our dear Henry to consider," answered Peterson. "Apparently the girl appeals to him. I'm itfruld, Irmu, boil luvu to go . and at once, . . ." The speaker wus tupping tils left knee softly with his hand; save for thut slight movement he gut us U jaBSKAw Mbtf ( IBkMb7 vrap bks HBilsn Mm " "The Humorous Thing Is That I M Haven't an Idea Who th BIN la H Kxctpt that" H ..... nau mippenso. And yet iu M minutes before a carefully planned M coup had failed at the Instant f M success. Kven his most feurlesa ai :ompllces had beeu known to con-l H ess that Peterson's luhuraan ralmoest jpjjsjj vnt cold shivers down their Mdu. (Continued Next Week) SI |