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Show Ihe RETURN 7 WYNDHAM " CHAPTER VIII Continued 17 It was not easy lor him, tonight, to give his attention to the dancing. The hours passed with Intolerable slowness. slow-ness. He knew that not notll every guest had gone, and those staying In the house were asleep, would the dan gerous Pierre Redlich evolve from the Bomber, square-shouldered detective. The Bixels did not stay late. In a sense their going broke up the party. They were so socially pre-eminent that the lesser lights did not care to remain. re-main. At two the last motor had , rolled down the drive. By three there was not a light in any window. The men had become tired and the women kDew the value of sleep. Redlich had abandoned his resemblance resem-blance to a rugged guardian of the law. He was crafty, creeping and sinuous. Tonight he was determined to take no risks. He wanted to make certain that Anthony Trent had gone to bed and was not about to patrol the exterior of the house. But he assumed as-sumed the YeatmaD carriage as he knocked upon Trent's door. . After a pau?e a sleepy voice bade him enter. Redlich saw that Trent had been compelled to rise from his bed, assume a dressing gown and come into the sitting room of his suite. He was not in his customary good temper. "lou are the third," he began crossly, cross-ly, "who has tried to preent me from sleeping. First, Mr. Gimbert wanted me to share sentry-go with him. Secondly, Sec-ondly, Payson Grant thought 1 ought to be out ttere on the wet grass looking look-ing for burglars In every bush. And now you come. What's your especial grievance?" "Merely to suggest that you might desire to patrol the grounds with me." Redlich was smiling amiably. "1 am going now." "Then you go alone," said Anthony Trent Irritably. "What's this con spiracy to make me a martyi for another an-other man's house and lot?" Then he paused as though struck by a sudden perplexing thought. "What's It to do with you? Why should an accountant figure in a thins; like this?" "The time Is come," said the other Impressively, "to tell you the truth. 1 am a detective engaged by Mrs. Grant to protect her guests." He was gratified at the astonishment astonish-ment he had produced. Redlich had never liked Trent. He could see that over this young man they thought so bold and debonair fear was creeping. "Is there any danger, do you sup pose ?" "We hope not," Redlich answered, "but 1 shall not sleep tonight. I shall watch particularly this floor, because it is here that they will come for the Jewels. 1 shall not ask any lurking creature what his business is. I shall shoot" It was plain that Anthony Trent did not relish danger so close at hand. "I'm going to lock my door," he sold firmly, "and that's a thing I never do." When he had dosed Trent's door and heard the key turn in the lock Redlich made a gesture of vulgar derision de-rision at the bolted door. On his side ot It, Anthony Trent was chuckling softly. What infernal impudence for a crook like Redlich to think he could outwit or outgame the man who hud been the master criminal crim-inal I He did not waste much time in laughing. Pulling the shades down he took from a locked trunk the second of the bathing suits he had bought that afternoon. I It was a eult of knitted wool, black in color, which covered him from neck to toe. The sleeves were wrist length. On his bend he put an aviator's casque; to this he straped an automatic auto-matic pistol. When the lights were put out, the shades raised and the window softly opened, he drew on the same heavy gloves he bad used to climb the lightning rod. and lowered himselt to the marble terrace. He had noticed from his window that the white tnus: head light of the steamer was osrll luting far more markedly than on the previous night. It was a symptom ol the sea. which was growing rougher. Wheu he came near the bathing houses Trent could at first detect nothing. Then his straining eyes made out, Just beyond the while fringe ol surf, a boat rising and falling In t tie tide. He could see, every now and then, that a man at the oars had to work to keep the boat In the same posltlou. Plainly he was waiting midway mid-way between shore and ship. Aod Trent guessed shrewdly that he was walling for Pierre Redlich. Authony Trent hoped Redlich would succeed. He had two principal accounts ac-counts against him. The tirst was his maltreatment of Mademoiselle Dupin. The other was the poisoning of the (Vigs. The man in the boat, leaning on his oars and dreaming of the ease Red-llch's Red-llch's work would bring him. did u.it see anything at which to bo alarmed during his vigiL He wished his leader would make haste. These summer storms along the Jersey coast had an almost tropical violence at times. So fixed were his eyes on the spot where the signals would flash that he had no Idea a swimmer passed a few yards from him. The men on the tramp were leaning anxiously over the vessel's side when the black-clad swimmer swim-mer clambered up the anchor chains, got a grip of the hawse-hole opening, and pulled himself on deck. Merging Into the black night he crept to the unoccupied bridge and climbed to the top of the little deckhouse. Here,' where no light shone on him, none would look for Invaders. Although Redlich's launch was swamped he clambered safely aboard the broad-beamed rowboat and was pulled to the side of La Belle Alliance. The captain, cheered at the news of complete success, took the wheel, slg- i ' i i -i , : " 1 Behind the Weapon Was a Most Sur prising Being. naled his orders, put the vessel Into the teeth of the wind and stood out to sea. In the cabin Redlich was descrlb Ing his exploits. The sense of achievement led to much boasting, , He described, with scornful laughter, the kind of people he had lived among for the past week and had fooled so neatly. And in his Jeers he remembered, with special emphasis, Anthony Trent. The men about him made him repeat re-peat how he had won his victories. They laughed particularly at Gimbert, who had finally been beaten and robbed of a diamond of five carats which Redlich Qas-hed before them. No person In the Grant household had been more puzzled than Thorpe the butler wheu, during the dancing, Trent drew him aside. "Thorpe." said Trent, "I'm on the track of the man who poisoned those two dogs. . 1 take It you'd like to be In at the death." Thorpe breathed heavily. "1 hope I'll get the chance." "I'm going to give It to you. Now pay great attention to what I say." Thorpe listened wide-eyed with astonishment as-tonishment when he heard. "It's like a book, sir," said Thorpe, "It's like the sort of bouk I fancy, something red-blooded." "Books don't all have happy end lugs," Trent reminded him. "I'm not too sure of this. Itemenilier all ot you must be armed and all of you must t;:vti.:ii-.v-K;v::Ait:A-:;:V-::--::-e-A'-Ks-'r: have flashlights There'll possibly be no need to shoot, but every man of the bunch must be captured or I shall be branded as the prize fooL Sou under stand," he said as the music stopped, "that one Incautious move on the part of you and your men, the lighting of one match or the smell of tobacco smoke, may rob you of all this fun. As for me, well 1 don't want to think of what they'll say to me If anything goes wrong." The captain of the tramp steamer La Belle Alliance was reflecting on the perils of the sea and the unfortunate unfor-tunate accidents which often occur, and associating Pierre Redlich with some of the most deadly, when he stared Into the mouth of a blue-black barrel. Behind . the weapon was a most surprising being. In the dim light It looked as though some strange creature of the sea had risen from his kingdom to Invade that of man. Tall, dripping wet, and crested In an Inhuman Inhu-man manner, this apparition advanced closer until the captain gasped with a certain emotion of relief when he saw he had to do with a man. But a man with a loaded pistol may not be welcomed as a friend- In situations of this sort. There was menace In the eyes that stared into those of the captain. "I've taken charge," said Anthony Trent, "and if 1 near anything from you you go back the way I came." He made a free and sweeping gesture ges-ture toward the open sea. Keeping his weapon pointed to the sailor, Trent stooped and picked up a small coll of rope. Hardly resisting, the captain was bound hand and foot. Then he was shoved into a corner and Trent took the wheel. The wind was freshening from the east The storm long expected was at hand. Only the captain knew that the madman at the wheel was altering the course of the vessel. On shore Thorpe, the footman, and the four men from the garage were waiting in states of varying excitement. excite-ment. Thorpe would tell them no more than there was danger ahead, and probably, monetnry reward for it In his struggle to gain the very position po-sition he now occupied, Trent had somewhat lost sight of the ending of the adventure. He was doing a foolhardy fool-hardy trick, and It might cost him a great deal. Incidentally it might cost him his life. There was no moon to show him the landmarks on which he relied. He signaled half-speed-ahead, and strained his eyes to see. Presently Pres-ently the white line of breakers showed ahead. . And then, lifting itself above the waterside mist, he saw the white Italian palace Guggensohn had built Now that he was sure of his direction, direc-tion, and knew he was headed for the abandoned harbor, he signaled full-speed-ahead. It was one of the most thrilling moments of his- life when be saw La Belle Alliance dart forward and begin to climb the private beach. A wave lifted her so high at the last that her blunt old bow smashed the ornamental bathing-houses and came to a shuddering rest among the splintered splin-tered wood. It would have been Impossible Im-possible to have a prettier landing. Piled up on a beach, and not for the first time, lay La Belle Alliance. At least, Trent thought, there need be no loss by drowning through his exploit Eight men came swarming up on deck having no idea where they were. They wasted no time in cursing curs-ing an unskillful captain. They saw the shining sands and they heard the breakers behind them, and they leaped ashore. Thorpe's instructions, while concise, had not been explanatory. He had been bidden gather his six men and keep them hidden in an unlighted garage ga-rage until the moment came. The particular par-ticular moment was to be indicated by Mr. Yeatman himself, who would act all unconsciously. The amazing news was that this Yeatman, so far from being a detective, was a burglar, bur-glar, and a dangerous one. Should Yeatman discover Thorpe spying upon him Trent thought he would shoot the butler, unless the butler was quicker with the gun. It had been a moment of the utmost tenseness when Yeatman passed with-ing with-ing five feet of the watching butler, and even stopped for a moment as though listening. Thorpe's six men, denied the little knowledge of the matter he possessed, kept silence admirably. They were conscious of a certain mysterious sense of imminent danger. Crouched on the damp sand they waited for some terror to creep upon them from the deep. (TO BE CONTINUED.) ::'.-::-v-:::7sKKa;.'-an-.v-t:iitt |