Show ahe A sequel to bulldog drummond dromi nond or BT BY BYC ARNEZ deml 11 DORAN CO jw CHAPTER XII continued 18 hut but not for long starting from 1119 waist and spreading downward sl to ills feet tint and outwards through ills shoulders dera to ills hands bunds there them slowly begun began to creep tile lie most agonizing agon ising cramp the torture wits indescribable and tit alio sweat dr dripped ippeI olt oft ills forehead fore liend into ills eyes liea and gradually it dacil dawned ed on him that tile effects of the poison were wearing souring olt off sensation yens atlon wua wits returning to ills bin limbs even through lily ills agony lie ho could feel that lie was as res resting against something under the water then lio lie hear it str strange ange noise lit d realized that it was us it tic himself groaning with the pain the uso of tits his voice find come back ile ho spoke a sentence maud and made certain and then drummond deliberately decided on doing one of those things which peterson rc terson had always failed to legislate for lit in the past ninety nine nien out of a hundred would have shouted themselves hoarse under such circumstances not so BO drummond Dru had lie done so BO a message would have reached peterson Pc terson in just so long ions as it took a trunk call to get through the man called franz was still assiduously helping alie 04 gatekeeper on tile bridge and the reverend Rev crand Theodos lus longmoor and tit his little janet would have vanished into the ho night leaving no traces behind them which all lashed flashed through drummonds mind as the cramp took and racked him and the impulse to shout grow stronger and stronger but bill a swore powerful force was at work with itin him film than mere pain a cold bitter ore resolve solve to get even with carl peterson and it required no great effort of brain to see that unit that would be moro easily done if peterson Ic terson believed lie had succeeded Alore moreover over it if he be shouted there would be ba questions asked the police would inevitably come collie into the matter demanding to know why lie adopted such peculiar forms ornia ot 0 amusement its as going into twenty leet feet of water waltr in it A perfectly rood good motor motoe car and all that would bican delay which was waa the last tiling thing lie he wanted lie ile felt tolerably C ort 11 in that for all its ills apparent confidence peterson was waa not going to top stop one minute longer in the country than was aa absolutely necessary so lie he stayed where lie was in allence und and gradually the crump pl bussed iasell away ile he could turn tits ills head dow and with eyes that had grun grown accustomed to tile darkness tie he saw what had happened on each side of ailin the river flowed past smoothly and he realized that by a wonderful stroke of luck lie he had struck it a small shoal ind had lie he missed it lind tie lie floated by on either side well petersons plait would have succeeded following the extraordinary motor accident reported in our proy previous lous issue wo we are arc now that tile body of the unfortunate driver has bus been ills covered some three miles front from the alie scene of the tragedy ile ho was drowned and had bud evidently been dead some boine hours drummond stalled grimly to himself HB as lie he imagined the paragraphs in the papers ills hla nonea nerves were far too hardened to let ills narrow escape airy vorry oiry jilin him for tin nil instant and lie he felt un till uti holy satisfaction in thinking of peter son eon searching the early specials anti and the late into extras for that little item it pal of news new a id liate hato you ou to be disappointed my friend lie he muttered to but have to lie ile content with tile the coat olid and tint hat tito the body hits baa doubtless drifted farther un on unit and will be recovered inter lie he took ort off tits hat fiat anil and let it drift away lie he unbuttoned hj overcoat und and vent bent it after the hot then letting himself self down into the lie feel deep vatar lie he buin noiselessly toward tile bank A little to ills his surprise lie found that ills his legs i not d anna felt perfectly normal it trifle bollt perhaps but beyond that the alio effects of the polson poison seemed to 0 o have worn olt off completely beyond being very wet vet lie he appeared to have suffered buffered no evil results nt at all and after hed done knees up on the bank for five minutes to restore his circulation lie he rat down to consider ills plan ot oc fiction action first Illy lils lit at maybrick Mabrl ck hall lie he must joust get lit at tier somehow and even eun if lie he get tier lier away tie he mu must mua A let tier her ww now that site she would bt b till right after that things must look after themselves everything would depend on circumstances always provided that those circumstances led to the oue one great goal once phyllls was safe bate everything ever thing was waa subservient to that lint i deburen clock near by began to toll tite me hour and drummond counted the strokes elleven eleven not two hours bours since he had gone over the bridge aind it six so much r f hetter it enve anve him so anany more hours houra of darkness ant and lie wanted lark dark ness for ills explorations at mayarick hill anti ami it suddenly dawned ou on him that lie the faintest idea where the house wits it might have deterred boino men it merely made drummond laugh if III he know hod hed find out even if it became necessary to pull fco soi meone neone out of bed and ask the first tiling thing to to du was to get back to the spot where hire UK the car laid halted and tu to do that lie must RO go across country activity wits on the bridge but lie could still fet lanterns dancing about ond the sudden appearance of a very wot wet man might lend lead to lo awkward aku ml questions so tie it struck off in the direction lie judged to bo be right nic moving iving with that grunge strange tr eat cut like silence which wits a never ceasing source of wonderment even to those who knew liliu him best no man ever heard drummond coining coating und and very few ever saw haw him until it was too late if lie intend that they should and now in utterly unknown country with lie ho knew nut not liow how ninny unde gentlemen about lio lie wits was taking no risks mercifully for him it was a dark night just such a night in fact as lie he would have chosen cli find and na as lie he parsed like a huge shadow front from tree to tree only to vanish silently behind a hedge and reappear two hundred yards farther on lie began to feel that life was waa good the k beyond being very wet he appeared to have suffered no evil results joy of action was in ills veins lie was going to get ills his hands on oil somebody boon preferably the italian or the man who called himself franz frany for hill bill lie he had a sneaking regard bill tit at tiny any rate could appreciate it good cur car when lie saw one tho the only trouble double way was that lie he was unarmed und and un unarmed nian man cant afford to stop and the view I 1 in a mix up nil nut not that tile the point deterred him fur for it a liioi inui nent it only guide him doubly cautious lie ile must inist see sec without being seen seel lie must act without being heard afterwards would be a different dlf dIf Terent matter suddenly lie he stiffened and crouched lied motionless behind a bush up lie lind had heard voices and tile the sound of footsteps crunching on oil the gravel grael no good waiting tiny any more said it a nion man whom lie he recognized as franz lles lead dead tor for a certainty and they cant pull him out till tomorrow have gone better lie he swayed right ovel met just us as the car took the the gates hall the saw it think lie fainted their voices died away in the 09 batice and Drunin Dru nimond nond cattle out trout behind the bush lie stepped forward cautiously and found lilii self confronted with a high wire fence through it lie ho could see sec a road along which tile the two men must have been walking and then through a gap lit in the lie trees lie he saw a light in tile the window of it house la so 80 ills farst difficulty wits was solved the man culled called franz anti and tits his companion could have lint but one destination in all probability maybrick liall hall and that must be tile the house lie could acco ce through the trees while the road on tie lie other side of tile fence was ilai the drive lt trading up to it lie he gave them half a minute or so ren lie he climbed through the fence it was a fence with horizontal strands of thick wire about a foot apart anti and the top toll librand was two feet above drum igonda head an expensive fence he reflected an unusual fence to put round any property of such a sort an admirable fence for cattle in a corral because of its strength but for or a house and grounds peculiar to say the least it was not a tiling thing of beauty it afforded no concealment and it wits was perfectly simple to climb ugh anil and because drummond imd lidid been trained la in the school which notices ices details ven apparently trivial ones he for a moment or two staring nt at the fence after tie he had find cl clambered through it wits the lie ex license of 0 tile the thing finoro thain anything an thing tilbe else that puzzled him film it wits was new liew was obvious and ami after a u while tie lie proceeded to walk along it for a short wily and another pecullar peculiar tiling thing struck him when he be came to the first upright it was tin n iron T shaped post and each strand of wire passed through a hole in the bottom part of tile the T A perfectly simple dimple and sound arrange anent and but for one little point just the type of upright one would have expected to aind in such a fence round hound veo every hole wits waa a small white collar through which each strand of wire passed to so that the wires wins rested on the collars and not on the th holes in the iron upright truly a most re maiki ible fence tie reflected again lit in fact it thoroughly eccentric fence kilt but tin lie got no farther titan than that in fit ills thoughts the knowledge which would have supplied film hani with tile the on one clue acci necessary to account for that fence fensod 4 eccentricity of appearance was 1111 nut ills tim the facts tie lie could notice the reason for the facts was beyond him and lifter a further lie shrugged ills shoulder 4 and ami gie gave it up there were ilal eer er things attend abend of him than it a mere inere question of fencing and keeping lit in the shadow of the shrubs mitch fringed each side of the drive lie crept silently toward the house it was vas I 1 low rambling type of build in ing covered as far as lie could nee lice with ivy and creepers there were only two stories and hugh nodded ills satisfaction it made things sim when outside work was more than likely for a long little lie stood carefully surveying every possible line of approach on and flight and it was while lie was balancing up chances that lie gradually become aware of n pecullar peculiar dolse proceeding from tile house it sounded like the very vav faint liuni huni of art an in the lie fin fill distance except that every eiry two or three seconds there came a slight thud it wits quite regular and during the four or ho five wint ites whilst he stood there listening there was no var Mirl atlon littlon in the ohp monotonous rhy rhythm thin thud thud thud raint faint but very ery distinct anti and till all the alie time the gentle whirring of some smooth running powerful engine the hie house was in darkness save sae for one room on the ground floor from froin which tile the light was streaming sti earning it was ais empty and appeared appealed to be tin an or sitting room and as it a lust last resort hugh decided lie he would go in that way if outside methods failed hut but to start with w ith lie he hod had no nf intention of entering the house it struck him that the odds against him were annee essa es rily large lie ile retreated still farther into ohp shadow and then quite clear and dis als the hoot of if tin an owl was heard in tile the silent garden lie he knew that phyllis would recognize the call if she heard it lie he knew that site would give gho him sonic some sign if she could and so ao lie stood tin and waited eagerly watching tile house for ony any sign of nin hut but none came tin arl 1 after a pause or of halt half a minute lie hooted again of course it was possible tint that site was in it room facing the other way wa find and lie had already planned tits ills line of if nd vance ance round to the bik back of the boue and then lust just its as lie he was preparing to to skirt round and bild investigate it lie aa hs v the lie curtains of one of the upper appe r rooms shake ahnke and open slightly very verv faintly fauntl tie he repeated the lie rail call and to tits his joy jo e saw it a head polled through he be wren thein but lie wits was taking no bances and it was impossible to tell to whom the hend held belonged it might twilight be phyllis and on oil the other liand blind it might not so once again lie repelled repeated the call barely above ills arenth broat li and then lie waited for some answer it conic almost nt onro once ills own raine culled called very ory gently tint unil he besl arit tadd d no more ile he was across the lawn in it a flash and standing under tier window unit anil once antio again lie heard tier her voice gensei witt with anxiety Is that you ou hugh yes darling its me right enough lie he whispered back hut but theres no tinto time to talk now I 1 want you ou to jump onto thu the flower alow cr bed its soft landing anil it wont won t hurt YOL ou tint I 1 rant can t old ninn man she salil said with a little catch in tier lier breath Il iee got trio me lashed up with a savel clinin all right kid if you ou cant come to inc I 1 must list collie to you jini well soon deal with that chain lie he glanced into the room under neath liera hers and saw that eliat it looked like i drawing room the windows seemed easy aas to force if necessary necess iry hut but lie he de elded first of nil to try the ivy out slue side tint but it vs ars useless for it man of ills weight just at ohp holtom it sup ported film hut but as soon ns as lie started to leml it give gave way nt lit once twice lie got ot up about six sl feet twice lie fell back again its as the ivy broke away brorn lie wolf wall and after the second attempt lie he looked up it at thu anxious faco of tits his wife above TO HE CONTINUED |