Show BANNER SERIAL FICTION she painted her race face A d of kw fow W 0 ay DORNFORD YATES WRITES 1 0 Vorn cornford ford yat vwe I 1 CHAPTER IX continued I 1 can never describe the magic hannever that i hung in her steady gaze before foi faiell ell it th the e rabble melted the mob dispersed I 1 and my plight became an adventure wa was sharing with her a very insignificant business 1 because that we were together was so much more important than L thy lyth thing ng I 1 else I 1 tried tiled my best to tell her that all was well and I 1 think that she understood der stood for the rarest smile stole into her lovely eyes and then scarlie I 1 came back to earth like a giant refreshed she was gagged and bound as 86 1 I was but her ankles were tied together as well as her delicate wrists cord had bad been used to do this sacrilege she was clad in a blue cloth dress that I 1 did not know no doubt to beabout be arout the suggestion of sudden flig flight hi her beautiful hairway hair wai was tumbled but that was all virgil was speaking again you win will have observed mr exon perhaps with hope that while we have bound my cousins we have not bound your teet feet I 1 win will tell you why because s she le Is to light to rabe carry but you are not t and so you will waleto the car now lest you should abuse this freedom im going to put you on a lead he held holdup up his cord one end Us this end will be fastened about your waist and the other about my cousins most excellent neck you see I 1 have made a slipknot slip knot the knot that they hang people with so that any irregular movement which you may see see fit to make wa will 11 put to inconvenience your er hearts desire in fact if I 1 W were you I 1 should emulate marys mary lamb amb not that thatis it matters if you like to choke her yourself but ive really made other arrangements a shade less exact exacting ink I 1 think but ill leave it to you to judge alt with that he stepped acro across ss me and set the loop he had made about elizabeths neck before my horrified eyes he drew this tight not tight enough to choke her but so tight that the loop could not lie be as a necklace does but stayed where he had put it against h her er throat a t then he be and elgar between betwee anthem nt them hem got her on cigars back somehow I 1 got to my knees and so BO to my feet and without a word he fastened the end of the cord about my waist aalst I 1 saw elsa standing above with a dressing case in her hand then elgar began to go down and I 1 turned in behind him weak kneed lor for fear of stumbling and corning coming down and being unable to rise because my hands bands were tied not thit that tt it mattered perhaps but 1 I 1 I did not want to choke my darling myself As we went down to the terrace I 1 reflected on an the truth 61 what vir had said the way to win this world Is to go all lengths the man was right it was manifestly simpler and swifter direct action always w aal ayl is but it was safer boobe cause cause it was the w way of a monster ao listers end and we we believe in m monsters no more than we do in giants virgil was playing the monster and that as calmly as though he were e not playing bridge in other words word she he was as doing the incredible thing jt X I 1 had not seen and heard what I 1 saw and heard that night I 1 would not have believed the truth though one rose from the dead and so n no one else would bel believe lieve it that elizabeth elizabeth virgil and exon had been baled out of the castle and put to death bya by a man who six hours later was taking his early tea with a cigarette 1 I cannot clearly remember our leaving leavi fig the staircase turret and passing jassin ginto into the air tor for the cord tyas ivas none too long and I 1 could think of nothing but keeping it slack but I 1 know thattie that the moon was not up that virgil was moving behind me that elgar turned to the right and topped stepped buffor out for the entrance drive per perhaps haps ten minutes wently went by it me may have been less but I 1 know we had bad p parsed ased the thel point from which herrick herrick and I 1 had surveyed the castle at down dawn when I 1 saw in the shadows ahead the shape of f a car ar this was open and low lowit it proved to be own car now under repa repair fill and elgar eiger discharged his burden directly ovir over its side it will be understood that I 1 didiot did not have to be told to enter myself and an instant later I 1 was upon the he back seat beat with elizabeth virgil virgil beside me so tar far as I 1 could hear drawing remar breall 1 I suddenly realized that I 1 was streaming with sweat the dressing case cape was set at our feet ind and virgil and elgar eiger got in pori fori a m moment the self starter whirred whirled then all was silence again except c pt tor for thi the puri purr of aidi an engine g ine in excellent trim virgil sat back ui in his bis seat and let in his clutch it was as he did this and we moat moved that my fingers encountered I 1 something which did not belong to tee a seat in an instant they had bad it j fast stud and the moment I 1 knew what it was the hope which virgil had murdered came back to life it was a small screwdriver which elgar or some mechanic had left in the back of the car some eight inches long over all with a fine enough blade for all I 1 kno know knowin wIt it may have been there tor for weeks for the seat being tilted up it had lodged between the sealand seat and the padding on the back of the car and I 1 should never have ha ve found it or known it was there if my wrists had not been fastened behind my back xo now as I 1 have said my wrists were strapped together not bound with cord and every strap has a buckle and every buckle a prong when a man or a beast is restrained by a leather strap it Is upon the prong of the buckle that such restraint must depend dis engage the prong from its hole and the stoutest strap will be loosed and all restraint be at an end my fingers were free if I 1 could contrive to thread the blade of the screw driver over the frame of the buckle and under the prong it was a difficult business I 1 was working blind and my fingers had n not ot fair play and though I 1 soon found the buckle I 1 could not reach this with nay my fingers and so could not guide the blade while the movement of the car was distracting the mhd aim which I 1 tried to make again and again I 1 was on the edg edge e of success and then the car would lurch arid and I 1 would lose prong and buckle and sometimes my balance too and once the blade was in place but before I 1 could drive it home a wheel dropped into a pothole and shook it out I 1 could have screamed with the rage of a thwarted child and then at last the blade slid under the prong what happened I 1 do not know for I 1 never examined the strap but I 1 know I 1 was trying to lever ever the prong from its place and the buckle was turning with it and spoiling my game when all of a sudden the strap went slack on my wrists and I 1 knew I 1 was tree free N now ow my impulse ivas was to do murder and do it at once break el gars neck and then choke virgil to death and but for elizabeths presence I 1 think that I 1 should have done that and as like as not lost my own life when the car which was traveling fast crashed into a tree but elizabeth had bad to be saved and so I 1 did nothing at all but shake the strap from my wrists and keep my hands behind me and use my brain at once I 1 saw that tie the first thing for me to do was wa to free myself from the cord which put my lady in pe peril ril whenever I 1 moved with my eyes upon virgil and elgar I 1 felt for the knot at my waist this I 1 found and untied then thai I 1 made a bowknot bow knot in IU its stead which ico I 1 could ul d un undo dola in a flash whenever I 1 pleased then I 1 saw that for better or oil W worse ois e I 1 must not mot launch my attack until the car was at rest for or if in the struggle thecae the car were to leave thi the road elizabeth bound bod hand and foots foot might fare very UL and then I 1 remembered that percy virgil wAs was armed this show showed edme me that come what might I 1 must deal with him first else whilst I 1 was dealing with elgar he might very well put me out and there without any warning burll our lights were dipped and virgil reduced his speed i TUI till now I 1 had veen been too too much Fin engaged to observe our way andl and now 1 I could see fee next to nothing from wille where re I 1 sat but the road was rough gh and winding and though there were trees on the right there were rions none on the left we might be bound for I 1 judged we were nearly there and I 1 held myself all ready to strike the instant we stopped I 1 have said that the night was dark and since we were in some valley which ian ran north and south we were denied thi the glow which heralds the rising moon st still I 1 could see somi some six feeland fee tand that was more than I 1 needed to do what had to be done and there as though iri id reply cepl ir the car passed over some rise and then swept into surroundings of which I 1 shall always think as the mouth of hell in a flash bash the world was trans figured the air which had been sweet became the breath of corruption reeked ot of decay the sudden chill of a morgue displaced the pleasant cool of the summer night the steady purr of the engine changed to a snarl and the darkness became so thick that I 1 could not have seen my hand in front of 0 my face then I 1 knew that we were on cobbles and when I 1 lifted my head I 1 saw th the e lines of three ridge poles against the sky we were in the great court of some so mansion long uninhabited now what possessed elgar to do it I 1 do not know but as the car came to rest and I 1 rose to my feet the man slewed round in his seat and dropped down a hand for foi elizabeths dressing case As he heaved this up it struck me under the knees and because I 1 was rising and was neither up nor down the blow blow made me lose my balance and sent ent me backwards into the seat I 1 had left since this was low and tilted I 1 as good as fell on to my back and before I 1 could rise again percy virgil was out of the car on the opposite side not that I 1 saw him the darkness was tar far too dense and so at least I 1 knew that I 1 had not beeri been seen but I 1 knew where he be was for I 1 heard hi him musing using my name the er cemetery mr exon its irs better known as palfrey nobody nobody ever comes here because it is said to be cursed but blessed or cursed it has a magnificent well ninety feet deep mr exon and 52 feet of water I 1 measured it yesterday and its parapet is of white marblean mar bleat least it used to tc be white and I 1 it t has hag three statues about it statues of men la in armor leaning upon their swords hows that for or a sepulchre I 1 wish you could see it it mr exon im stand ing beside it now elgar you see has gone to borrow some stones to go into the dressing case As anchors go it wa bret quits quite heavy enough by now my door was open and I 1 was hall half out of the car with elizabeth 1 in my arms you see we shall lower that first and that will be attached to my cousins feet and then we shall lower her and as ashes already attached that will bring us directly to you I 1 was on the cobbles now and was stealing the way we had come I 1 never found it so hard to turn my q x y AN 0 f g af A 1 4 A 5 xv ar 7 I 1 was on the cobbles now and was nj the way we had come back on a man but elizabeth had to be saved before anything else and so you see mr exon and there I 1 saw elgar approach ing against the dusk prevailing without the court for a second I 1 hesitated then I 1 laid elizabeth down and twitched the cord from my waist and then I 1 went to meet elgar eiger who could not see me and as I 1 went I 1 ripped the gag from my mouth m auth he must have found the case heavy for when I 1 was almost upon him he laid it down for a moment to rest his arm As he be straightened his back I 1 took the man by the throat it was a curious business and seemed to belong to the stage or the cinemas screen for whilst we two stood silent virgil a little way off was addressing the empty car I 1 could not hear all he said but his tone was as careless as ever and once he laughed but elgar could not laugh he never struck me from first to last his hands were tearing at mine they might as well have torn at the cobbles bo be neath our feet so for perhaps a full minute then his knees knee sagged and his arms fell down by his sides still gripping his throat I 1 lowered his weight to the ground then I 1 cracked his skull on the cobbles and let him go the sound was slight enough but percy virgil heard it and found it strange TO BE CONTINUED intermountain intel mountain pork production contest closes record books from 4 11 and future farmer boys who participated in the pork production contest which closed december 31 1938 are being mailed to ray hay H wood at the ogden union StIck yards the books must all be turned in by february 1st ast at which time a committee from the agricultural college will examine dil all record books and market ratings tor for each boy and make recommendations for awards prize money amounting to one hundred dollars Is donated by the co lorado colorado animal BI products company ol of salt lake city |