Show Y n L kcjr copyright by box sax rohmer by SAX S A ROHMER RICO H M E wm W service CHAPTER VI 7 the night train from cairo to asuan pulled into the station at deneh only two first class passengers alighted there a man and a woman a small very tery slender woman the woman shivered as they entered a saloon car which awaited them in charge of a nubian chauffeur and broom groom ton you shiver little one said yuan bee see the woman leaned against him I 1 am so cold yuan yu an she explained in two days you will be in your own apartments amongst il your scents and jewels and those other toys you love with service and warmth and those treasures amid which I 1 delight to see you playing he stroked her slender knee with a plump tapering hand and his words came as a high croon the car passed swiftly and almost ain ost allent ly along a street in chich were lighted cafes above the v a tawdry gaiety glimpsed through open wind vs where a large mosque grotesquely broke the continuity of these h uses they swung into a narro v b ie turn ing the driver skirted one high wall of the mosque came into the very shadow of the minaret and turned left j again through an ui uzi i ived aved lane run bing ding parallel and behli d tl e rowdy treet street they proceeded slowly now twenty yards alo aio they pulled up the nubian groom deftly unrolled a j length of carpet across the muddy path to a gate which was suddenly opened in an otherwise blank wall an old arab black robed and white turbaned stood there holding a lantern high above bis his head its yellow light fell upon a wrinkled face which had earn earned ed for its owner the title of father of cunning cull ning yu yuan an hee see and the woman passed across a roughly paved court t yard g light shone out from rooms on the ground floor and there was an outer staircase leading up to a balco balcony ny illume bated by two fine lattice windows one would have judged and judged correctly that this was an old arab mansion around it the sordid life of renell had crept fungus like al most concealing but not defacing the borne home of some former merchant prince yu an ilee see and his companion entered a lighted room on the threshold they were met by aswani pasha he bowed low over the he ex tended hand of orange blossom deeply saluting yuan yu an hee see we have done our best my ray lord be said I 1 trust you will be happy here for one night he clapped his bands hands and an old arab woman appeared my lady he bowed to yuan yu an ilee see s companion your apartment Is 4 orange blossom followed the aged attendant from the apartment prepared magrena Ala greba will attend you 1 orange blossom followed the aged at from the apartment all are here yuan asked upon a very high note which betokened anxiety all AIL I 1 have the list showing where tach each man Is tonight yuan hee see waved a plump hand 1 11 I do not wish to see it next the detective from scotland yard rho tho Is on the wallaroo has been fidfl fed he ile Is in touch with the american girl whom your excellency has taken under your protection I 1 yu tuan fill hee see began very softly to faiss it Is almost certain then that this man had read the notes in my book before I 1 1 I tear fear so excellency su yu an bee see his ebes ei es apparently quite closed nodded slowly even s sim said the E egyptian alone b be e could do nothing he ile has had time to inform others but he cannot know all yet this man it etwas was who followed me to S a icay ic ay age and ins escaped me L since the hangman Is on board he whimpered he Is A pause then instruct doctor bestler said yu yuan an hee see aswani pasha nodded comprehend angly whereupon ilu u an hee see began to laugh his red lips seeming to swell but his teeth never showing the oblique silts slits of his eyes turned in the tb egyptians egyptian s direction for five ten seconds aswani sus talked the gaze of those eyes which be he could not see then his own bold glance faltered he dropped his dark lashes and turned aside the lau laughter abter of yu an flee see reached a note so high as to be al most audible a a a dawson halg haig sat in the room of jack rattray the chief officer or rather he sat at intervals pacing up and down like a wild animal its a most unholy business said rattray in his slow fash on I 1 ve been looking on and I 1 ive ve seen things first thing thin you re spotted I 1 I 1 I 1 know and I 1 cant can t read Oest bestler lers s messa messages gesl 1 they re in a perfectly un decipherable code second thing rattray went on two members of this slimy gang gan are watching eileen meaning doctor 0 and mr chow what for ashes she s not in their way Is she dawson turned just inside the cabin door and stared at the speaker then you youre re right jack he said s ald I 1 ve seen them myself I 1 don t like it and I 1 don dont t understand it but what s it all about rattray asked helplessly what are all these birds doing on board they re a pretty unsavory crew in my reckoning any way Oest lers plausible enough but theresa there s a nasty nasry brate bidden hidden under that amiable smile As for the snake charmer shed drown her own twins then there are the two chinks on D deck the learned one with the glasses the little bloke I 1 mean len chow doesn t seem in the number one list to me but his long pal with the strangled face ought to be put overboard if im any judge then there theres s the big german hartog he seems harmless enough and not in the same galley at all I 1 don t know what to make of it and I 1 said dawson halg haig contina ing his restless pacing don dont t know what to make of my report to the chief im I 1 m acting on information rat tray that this scheme whatever it Is comes to a head before we reach aden and as I 1 don t know what the scheme may be I 1 can cant t reasonably ex peet scotland yard to go on granting me leave of absence and paying my expenses indefinitely you see im I 1 in supposed to be in charge of the lime house murder case I 1 I 1 know said rattray and pro deuced his slow smile its never been clear to me what the passenger list of the wallaroo had to do with if it it isn t clear to me haig con fessel but I 1 know there Is a con and I 1 know I 1 have my hand on the solution of the mystery if only I 1 can grasp it he paced up and down awhile longer then do you remember jack he be jerked suddenly the loss of a big german freighter somewhere off shakim about two years ago jack rattray shook his head I 1 wasn gasn t on this run two years ago why well there theres s no point in telling you why if you don t remember the case halg haig replied but do you recall the wreck of the american steam yacht miss minnesota Clear clearly lyl we were only forty miles off at a the time I 1 an aunt of elleene lady lost in her the chief idea grilling in your brain pan there are several ideas but I 1 admit they re a trifle hazy did you get an S 0 S from her not a thing then how do you know you were forty in les off at the time vine ran into bits of wreckage and alg ared it out gasn wasn t it funny they didn dian t send out a call for help dawson halg haig asked rattray stared at him no he re piled plied in my opinion they hit some small heavily laden craft and the pair of era em sank almost at once but surely there would have been a few survivors have you ever had a good loot look at a shark eald jack rattray grimly followed a short silence then halg haig asked Is there much drug smuggling down that way lots hashish tor for egypt mostly also the good old slave trade flour ashes exceedingly rm told the poor devils are driven up from central africa I 1 the caravans travel at night of course and d g in during the day they run motorboats across nowadays high powered craft developing forty knots I 1 ive ve seen em from the bridge once or twice they cross on dark nights as a rule but where can the markets be jack there s mecca alecca that s still a closed city fez rez up in africa and I 1 im in told there s a small sort of exclusive mar bet ket somewhere on the nile in egypt A rap on the door come in I 1 rattray called the door opened and elleen eileen entered closing it carefully behind her lye I 1 ve caught them she declared her eyes sparkling with excitement at list I 1 what dawson halg haig demanded I 1 saw the snake charmer slip a note into the hand of mr len chow as they passed on the promenade deck three minutes ago I 1 0 0 0 0 there was a dance after dinner that night daw dawson son halg haig desperately worried went up onto the boat deck quite de sorted at the moment and leaned over the starboard rail at a point just aft the bridge staring across calm sea in the direction of the african coast he tried to think to think calmly the problem was one demanding the exercise of all his powers and set like a jewel in this dark affair was eileen a distracting figure he could not be blind to the truth and one upon which all too often he found his thoughts focused that elleen eileen had twice proved of incalculable service did not alter the plain fact that many times when he should have been con cent rating upon the mystery he found himself concentrating upon elleen eileen from a professional point of view he w was as faced either with something very like ruin or alter alternatively nathely with a tri which must prove a stepping stone in his far flung ambitions granted this success now doubly to be prayed for he might dare to think about elleen eileen as he longed to think about her not as the charming sister of an old friend nor even a capable little helper but as eileen where did the clew lie ile to these mysterious activities what should be his next move it was maddening to watch to know some incomprehensible plot stretching from limehouse to paris paris to marseilles and thence to port said further perhaps was fermenting under his very eyes corn com ing to maturity and yet to do noth ing I 1 at which point in his reflections ne was seized from behind in a steely grasp and lifted lightly aa as a nurse might lift an infant he was in the grip of that creature of yu yuan an hee sees called the hangman but of this tact fact he was ignorant swung back over the shoulder of his unseen but incredibly powerful assail ant he recognized with a cold chill of dread that he was about to be hurled into the seal sea I 1 automatically to his mind sprang those instructions which every police officer receives in jiu jitsu his fists were useless flung high impotent above his head but the cunning grip which told him that he was dealing with an expert held him so poised that only at one moment for which dangerously halg haig must wait could he counter that moment came as the seeming ly irresistible forward swing corn com fenced which was to hurl him into the sea he ile checked a cry in his throat he was icily cool and fol lowing the curve of that mighty throw instead of endeavoring to check it as an Ill informed victim would have done he swung forward drew up his knees wd and kicked backward with all his strength I 1 it was sheer guesswork but one heel registered dully upon the head of the athlete who held him aloft that death swing was never corn com plated halg haig dropped with a crash upon the rail hung perilously for a mo ment and felt a vise like grip upon his ankles he was tipped forward forward ir resistibly until he saw the lights of portholes beneath the lower ones reflected in the sea he clawed at the rail that silent horror was behind him hanging above him I 1 clutching grimly he kicked kicked licked again got a hold with his left hand higher up and realized that the man was craning right over was reach ing down to relax that detaining grip in desperation resting his head against the lower rail he managed at last to free his ankles to draw his legs down then with all his remaining strength he shot both feet upward 1 there was an impact a stifled cry his jacket held in clutching fingers swept down over his head but he clung on clung on dizzily A wrench a bulky shape streaked past him a dull splash the hang man had falledo f ailed 1 disheveled panting halg haig dragged himself back to the deck he leaned dizzily against a boat striving to ad just his disorder already the plan v ras as forming which later be he carried out no one knew that the thug was over board no one should ever know but the sharks until his absence was dis covered when bewilderingly came the swish of a silken shawl a patter of feet a soft terrified cry and eileen s sweet arms were about bis his neck billy billy dearl dear I 1 oh my gd G dl d I 1 you re covered with blood I 1 what Is it what is it my dear dearl I 1 he said its it s nothing im I 1 safe and no one must know she bhe was staring into his face eager ly IY ber her own raised in a sort of agony of apprehension halg haig began to trem ble gone was every resolution he be so recently had made useless hopeless he held her so close that she thought he ile will break breal me in half and exulted he kissed her until she was breathless helpless oh my darling he whispered whisp gred he had so little to offer this won der girl locked happy in his arms so much to tell her so much to ex plain tet yet somehow all he could say over and over again was oh my darling a a a A few moments after the wallaroo dropped her anchor off port said the british consul came aboard there was a conference in the captains cabin halg haig bad had deliberately failed to reveal the fact that there was a man over board it had gone into his scotland yard dossier but he had suppressed it from those on board with a specific object the first news was given by a steward entering the missing mans room in the morning the conclusion was come to that the morose chinese passenger had committed suicide dur ing the night by jumping overboard now in the closed cabin of the corn com mander dawson halg haig revealed the truth to captain peterson and the british consul 1 I take full responsibility he said you can see for yourselves the sort of gang I 1 have to deal with first the limehouse outrage and now this mur derous attack on me I 1 got off lightly with a cut scalp and a torn sleeve I 1 the commander scratched his grizzled head what do you wish me to do in the consul asked in my opinion the persons whom you sus peet of being associated with the miss ing assassin should be detained dawson halg haig stood up grinning sav say abely and shaking his head upon what evidence he demand ed I 1 assure you that except for a scrap of paper providentially dincov ered by miss kearney there s nothing to associate doctor bestler for in stance with any conspiracy directed against me and even that Is far from conclusive I 1 mean he could explain it in all sorts of ways he ile doesn doean t ap pear to be acquainted either with miss valeric valerie ednam or with mr chow and certainly not with the german har tog on the lower deck and what have I 1 aganet aga ast these three people which would justify detention I 1 as sure you he shook his head em absolutely gotling noti ing then what are we to do said the consul of course I 1 could detain them here for a time no no nothing official was haigs haig s reply with the coming of daylight the babel of the curious port rose to full blast sellers of all kinds of wares carpets lace jewelry airm engham antiques and the rest set up their shops on deck turning the ship into a miniature bazaar the inevitable conjurer was there with his little brass cups and there were divers in boats who shouted who never stopped shout ing except when they actually dived which was rarely dawson haig very reluctantly had agreed to allow eileen to pursue her inquiries in her own way but he didn dian t realize that she had actually left the ship until she had been gone some time he ile was watching len chow who having collected his baggage was now following a porter towards the ladder hartog had quietly gone ashore an hour before just before mr air chow reached the gangway he passed a fortune teller an evilly |