OCR Text |
Show A A Sequel to Bulldog Drummond. . "H-T N.I I. .Pnr-vrnn CHAPTER XII Continued I "No go, darling," he muttered. I "And I'm afraid of making too much I noise. I'm going to try and force thl3 I window." j By a stroke of luck they hud not tak-I tak-I en his clasp-knife, and by a still greater j stroke of luck he found that the catch on the window had been broken, and I that It proved even easier to open I than he had thought. I The next moment be bad vanished lato the drawing-room. And now he I noticed that that strange noise which j he had heard while standing on the I lawn was much louder. As he cau-I cau-I tlously opened the door and peered I Into the passage the very faint hum I became a steady drone, while with I each successive thud the floor boards I 6look a little. I The passage was In darkness, I though light was shining from under Boaie of the doors. And as he crept I nlong in search of the stairs lie heard I voices proceeding from one of the I rooms he passed. Evidently a fairly I populous household, it struck him, as I he tested the bottom stair with his I weight to see If it creaked. But the I staircase was old and solid, and the I stair carpet was thick, and at the mo-I mo-I meat Hugh was not disposed to I linger. Afterward the house seemed I to promise a fairly fruitful field for I investigation; at present I'hyllis was I all that mattered. So he vanished up-I up-I wards with the uncanny certainty of I all his movements at night, and a mo-I mo-I ment Jater he was standing on the 1 landing above. I It was a long, straight corridor, a I replica of the one below, and he I turned In the direction in which lie 1 knew her room must lie. And he had I only taken a couple of steps when be j stopped abruptly, peering ahead with I eyes that strove to pierce the dark-I dark-I ness. For it seemed to him that there was something in the passage some-I some-I thing darker tbin its surroundings. I And at that moment something sprang I out of the darkness, and he found him-1 him-1 self fighting for his life. I For a second or two he was at a 1 disadvantage, so completely had he I been taken by surprise ; then the old 1 habits returned. And not a moment I too soon; he was up against an an-I an-I tagonist who was worthy of him. Two bands like iron hooks were "round his I neck, and the man who gets that grip I first wins more often than not. His I own hands shot out into the darkness, j and then for the first time in his life I lie felt a stab of fear. For he couldn't I reach the other man: long though his I arms were, tlr. other man's were far I longer, and as his hands went along I tliein he could feel the muscles stand-I stand-I tag out like steel bars. He made one I supreme effort to force through to his opponent's throat and it failed ; with I Ms superior reach he could keep his I I distance. Already Drummond's head I was beginning to feel like bursting j with the awful pressure round his : I iliroat, and he knew lie must do sonie-I sonie-I thins at once or lose. And just in nine lie remembered bis clasp-knife. I h went against his grain to use it ; iiHVcr before had he fought an un-I un-I "tilled man with a weapon and as I lar as lie co.uld tell this man was unarmed. un-armed. But it had to be done and (lone quickly. - - With all his force he stabbed side-"njs side-"njs at the man's left arm. He heard a snarl of pain, and the. grip of one the hands round his throat relaxed. And now the one urgent thing was to fevent him shouting for help. UUe a flash Drummond was on him, one hand on his mouth and the other tripping his throat with the grip he nad learned from Osaki the .Tap in ; (l!'s gone by, am had never forgot- ,w- And because be was lighting to kill now he wasted no time. The grip . tightened ; there was a dreadful wor- jj'n; noise as the man bit into his ttiunsb then It was over. The man J-'lM downward onto the floor, and Urumniond stood drawing in great Mnthfuls of air. But he knew tb.3re was no time to Though they bad fought In si- ne. and he could still hear the mo-B9 mo-B9 Nones, thud and the beat of the jod co?lne' at an' moment someone might a e upstairs. And to be found with ase t 'a1 "inn at one's feet in a Strang.' esh se I not the best why of securing Su i,rS!"tal,le welcome. What to do ort- C bocJ-v Hi'.t was the first in- Intrlr' VOm' Tllere Wils n" ti,ne f"r ma takin Sc'lemes: t was a question of at- a ra nsks and chancing It. So foi ftiorlT' r tW0 ne ist'iiecl at the Ists 01 room, then he gently opened win, as " beiIroin and empty, and T" liiM' fl'rth" hesitation he dragged on , 6 onDnent In, and left bin. lying ti, a nor- By the dim light from B tint lllCUrtlllnf1 winfiow, he could see I tarue ""m Wils aimst deformed, bo J " as the length of his arms. They must huve been six Indies longer than those of nn average man, and were almost as rowerful as his own. And as he saw the snarling, ferocious face upturned to his, he uttered a little prayer of thanksgiving for the presence pres-ence of his claspknife. It had been altogether too near a thing for his liking. He closed the door and stepped across the passage, and the next moment mo-ment Phyllis was in his arms. "I thought you were never coming, old man," she whispered. - "I was afraid the brutes had caught you." "I had a slight difference of opinion with a warrior outside your door," said Hugh, grinning. "Quite like old times." Then he grew serious. "No time for hot air now, old thing; let's have a look at this Jolly old chain effect of yours. Once we're out of here, you shall tell me everything and I'll eat several pounds of mud for having been such an unmitigated idiot as to let these swine get hold of you." He was examining the steel chain as he spoke, and gradually his face grew grave. The chain, which was about six feet long, was fastened at one end to a big staple in the wall and at the other to a bracket which encircled encir-cled his wife's right wrist. And the bracelet could only be opened with a :ml i A1' Wr i He Had Only to Lower Phyllis Out of the Window and Let Her Drop on the Flower Bed Below. key. Any idea of breaking the chain or pulling out the staple was so preposterous pre-posterous as not to be worth even a moment's thought; so everything depended de-pended on the bracelet. And when he came to examine it more carefully he found that it had a Yale lock. lie sat down on the edge of the bed, and she watched him anxiously. "Can't you get it undone, boy?" she whispered. "Not if I stopped here till next Christmas, darling," be answered heavily. "Well, get out of the window and go for the police," she Implored. "My dear." he said still more heavily, "I hud, as I told you, a little difference of opinion with the gentleman gentle-man outside the door and he's very dead." She caught her breath sharply. "A nasty man with long anus who attacked at-tacked me. It miglu be all rigid, of t.0l.si;hut I somehow feel that this matter is beyond the local constable, even if I could Bud him. You see. 1 don't even know where we are." He checked' the exclamation of surprise lhat rose to her lips. "I'll explain after, darling; let's think of this now. II only I could get the key; if ouly I knew where it was. even." " foreigner came in about an hour go" answered bis wife. "He had it then. And he said he'd come again to- "'lle did, did he?" said Hugh slowly 1 wonder if it's my friend H'e It'diiui. nvway. kid. it's the only chance.' Suv something; get him mm the room and then leave him to me. Am if f,- any reason he doesn come 1 11 ,iave to leave you here and raise the B"ne'r.e and paced sofrly up ami dmvn ,he room trying to '"' was the best thing to do. It .. a , i ,,i" circle whichever way be ! end od as he tried to make up In-, In-, To go or to wait.; to go a. once Phyllis alone. And so he decided on & compromise. If when daylight cam. no one had been up to the room, h would go; but he would wait untl' then. And he was just going to tell Phvllls what he had decided, when be heard a sound that killed the words on his Hps. A door had opened below, and men's voices came floating up the stairs. "Lie down, darling," he breathed In her ear, "and pretend to be asleep." Without a word she did as he told her, while Hugh tiptoed over toward j the door. There were steps coming up the stairs, and he flattened himself! against the wall waiting. The period ! of Indecision was passed; unless he I was wry much mistaken the time of j action had arrived. How it would pan ! out whether luck would be in, - or whether luck would fail was on the lap of the gods. The steps paused outside the door, and he heard a muttered ejaculation in Italian. Apparently he was concerned over something, and it suddenly dawned on Drummond that it was the absence from duty of the long-armed bird that was causing the surprise. In the excitement of the moment he had forgotten all about him, and for one awful second his heart stood still. Suppose Sup-pose the Italian discovered the body before he entered the room, then the game was up with a vengeance. Once the alarm was given he'd have to run the gauntlet of the whole crowd over ground he didn't know. lint his fears were groundless; the nondiscovery of the watcher by the door took the Italian the other way. His first thought was to make sure that the girl was safe, and he flung open the door and came in. He gave a grunt of satisfaction as he saw her lying on the bed ; then like a spitting cat he swung round as he felt Drummond's Drum-mond's hand on his shoulder. With every ounce of weight in his body behind the blow, Hugh lilt, the Italian on the point of the jaw. Without With-out a sound the man crumpled up and pitched on his face. And now there was not a moment to be lost. At any moment one of his pals might come upstairs, and everything every-thing depended on speed and finding the key. Hugh shut the door and locked it ; then feverishly he started to search through the Italian's pockets. Every thing up to date had panned out so wonderfully that he refused to believe be-lieve that luck was going to fail him now, and sure enough he discovered the bunch. Phyllis was free, and he heard her give a little sob of pure excitement. ex-citement. He heaved the Italian onto the bed, and snapped the steel bracelet onto his arm. Then he slipped the keys Into his own pocket, and crossed to the window. The engine was still humming hum-ming gently ; the thudding noise was still going on ; nothing seemed in any way different. No light came from the room below them, everything had worked better than he had dared to hope. He had only to lower Phyllis out of the window, and let her drop onto the flower bed and then follow himself. After that It was easy. "Come along, darling," he said urgently, ur-gently, "I'm going to lower you out first then I'll follow. And once we're down, you've got to trice up your skirts and run like a stag across the lawn till we're under cover of those bushes. We aren't quite out of the woods yet." They were not Indeed. It was just as Phyllis let go, and he saw her pick herself up and dart across the- lawn, that he heard a terrific uproar in the house below, and several men came pounding up the stairs. He vaulted over the windowsill himself, and lowered low-ered himself to the full extent of his arms. Then he too let go and dropped onto the Mower bed below. And it was as he was picking himself up, preparatory pre-paratory to following Phyllis whom he could see faintly across the lawn waiting for him. that he heard someone some-one in the house shout an order iu a hoarse voice. "Switch on the power at once, you d (j fool; switch It on at once!" (TO BE CONTINUED. ) |