The Law of the Land

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6, 7 January 1908, Page 6

The Law of the Land

.•: ,V ' CHAPTER XXVTL BARCA CLIMBS DOWN. Ralph stood listening, but utterly unable to speak and, indeed, hardly com-, prehending what was going on.- During; the past few hours he had vaguely expected something to turn up in his favour, but had not anticipated anything so startling and dramatic as this. He glanced hesitatingly at Charteris, who, undoubtedly, was master of the situation. A sudden change had come over Dick. He had lost all his listless manner; the affectation of simplicity had departed. His Jace was hard and set, his eyes alert and gleaming Barca was the first to remember himself. He moved in the direction of the door, and asked to be allowed to pass. The matter had nothing to do with him, he said. "I beg your pardon," Ford exclaimed. "It seems to mc that it has a great deal to do with you. I have a -warrant for the arrest of- Stephen Holt on a charge of robbery from the house of Mr. Vandemort, and it is my duty to execute that warrant. Before I came here I had information that Holt was hiding in this house; indeed, Mr. Charteris says so." "The whole thing is a conspiracy," Barca cried. "Stephen Holt is no thief. He never took anything from the American's house. Let mc pass." "No," Ford said firmly. "I have my duty to do. lam going to search your bedroom to see if Mr. Charteris is correct. You will be so good as not to interfere. You had better stay here till I come back." Dick smiled to himself, as he could well afford to do, seeing how, step by step, the various pieces of his plan were dove-tailing together. Aβ yet he had said nothing about the way in which he was going to work out his stratagem. To a certain extent Fate had played into his hands, and he was not slow to make use of such weapons as his own good fortune had brought him. Clarkson had been used as a pawn in the game, though Dick, with characteristic good nature, had taken steps to save him from the result of his folly. And though Clarkson was saved, this had not prevented Dick from persuading Vandernort that Stephen Holt was the thief of the jewels, and thus had caused the American to apply for a warrant for bis arrest. The thing would have to be explained later, but up to the present it was one of the strongest cards Dick had in his hand. He looked at Barca and smiled. The latter for once in his life failed to grasp what was going on, though his fine instinct for danger told him that there was some hidden peril here. He could afford to meet the trouble in the open, but as it was he felt helplessly incompetent. There was only one thing for him to do, and that was to fall back on bluster. "What on earth do you mean?" he cried. "WTiy should you treat mc in this way? Do you suppose that I have anything to do with Stephen Holt? He is no friend of mine." "Nevertheless," you -will do exactly as you are told," .Eord said grimly. "If you are the innocent man you so indignantly protest yourself to be, your indignation is out of place." "That is all very well," Barca sneered. "But police or no police, I am not going to be treated in this fashion. You'll be telling mc next that you have a warrant for my arrest also. Things have come to a pretty pass when a guest in a private house is ordered about by a stranger as if he were a dog. Now, I'll tell you what it is, my friend, and I ask you to pay careful attention to what I am saying. A vain man dressed in brief authority, such as you appear to be, is not capable " Barca stopped and coughed as if something had stuck in his throat. Dick regarded him with a quick suspicion which had flashed into his mind. Usually Barca was taciturn enough; probably no man of his acquaintance had heard him say so much in so short a space of time. Obviously the man was talking for the sake of talking, with a view to causing a delay. What delay it was, and for what purpose, Dick neither knew nor eared, for he was going to stop it, and stepped forward with this intention. Barca began to speak again, but Dick cut him short without ceremony. "I had no idea you were an orator," he said. "My dear Ford, I am quite sure there is something behind this. Instead of frittering away the precious minutes in this fashion, I would suggest that we went immediately to work. I daresay if you wish Dr. Barca to remain here you will find some means of persuading him. It will be to his best interests to raise no objection." To Ralph's surprise, Barca burst into a loud fit of laughter as soon as Ford had opened the door. It was so unlike Barca to behave in this fashion. Now his voice ran through the hall in scornful gibes. He seemed to be very sure of his ground. "This is a farce," he yelled. "A pretty thing for the police to invade the house of a gentleman at this tune in the morning. Surely, you could have waited till daylight. The police have come for a person who is hiding in my bedroom, eh? My friend Stephen Holt is" to be arrested for robbery. Did anybody ever hear the like?" At a signal from Charteris, Ford darted up the stairs. He called over the banisters to know what room it was. Barca saved Ralph the trouble of replying. "Why ask?" he said. "You will see a light a little way down the corridor. That is my room, and so are the bedroom and bathroom beyond. Help yourself to what you like; do not go out of your way to consider mc. Bring down the prisoner." Ralph turned to Charteris for an explanation. But the latter had vanished. He had disappeared from the. hall at the very instant that Barca had raised his voice. Ralph wondered whether he had gone into the garden. He was to learn a little later. Meanwhile, Barca had ceased to scoff and sneer; he was listening intently to what was taking place overhead. Ralph could see fronts the flicking of his nostrils that he was painfully moved. ...._. " Ford appeared to be a long time upstairs. Surely -it need not take all this time to arrest a prisoner, Ralph thought. Charteris, who did not make mistakes as a rule, had plainly stated where Holt was. That being the case, what was Ford bungling about? What if there had been some strange mistake? Indeed, the more Ralph reflected the more certain he was. He had killed Holtj -Jie could see the

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By FRED. M. WHITE

body lying at his feet now. Why had he allowed himself to be buoyed up with false.hopes? " ' OLcourse, they were false, the whole picture was false. ..Ralph had only to glance at .the face of Ford as he emerged from the bedroom. He looked foolish and confused. "There has been an error somewhere," he said, trying to speak lightly. " I appear to owe an apology to Dr. Barca, which I offer in all sincerity. Wherever Holt may be he is not in Dr. Barca's rooms." •'I could have told you that from the first," Barca muttered. Ralph could see that his face had grown steady again. " The mistake belongs to Charteris. Don't you think that you had better continue your search, Captain Ford?" " No, I don't," Ford said, curtly. "And I have my own idea as to what has happened. I should like to have a word er two with Charteris." But Charteris had vanished. He had bolted through the front door and out into the night, a very foolish thing to do, considering his recent accident. Barca's voice sounded uneasy as he referred to this. " Well, I am only wasting your time and mine," Ford said. " I shall take the liberty of borrowing Charteris's motorcar. Tell him I will send it to the Park in the morning." "The motor-car is damaged," Barca put in, quickly. " It was in the accident to the motor that Charteris was hurt." Ford muttered something in reply. He had come very near to committing a grave indiscretion, nothing less than the betrayal of the fact that he was more or less acting as an accomplice of Charteris in the matter. And evidently something had gone wrong, the amateur detective's plan had miscarried. Ford hastened to get away before Barca could ask more compromising questions. The representative of the law disappeared, and Ralph and Barca were alone. There was an awkward pause. " What are you going to do about this ? " Barca asked at last. "What could I do about it?" Ralph stammered. " It does not concern mc. Stephen Holt appears to have done something wrong, and the police are here to arrest him. I did not give them the information." " That is certainly true," Barca sneered. " It is hardly likely that you informed the police that Stephen was in this house alive, or dead for the matter of that. So far as you are concerned, it is quite obvious." Barca broke off suddenly, for Charteris had come back. He did not appear to be in the least put out; on the contrary, bis face wore a smile. He took a cigarette from the table and lighted it with great zest and enjoyment. "On the whole, a most delightful evening," he said. "Wbers is Ford? Gone away a little disappointed perhaps to find ho had made a mistake. Also disposed to blame mc. Well, I shall make amends for that later. I« always keep my promises. By the way, Ralph, it is not a long drop from your first floor to the ground." Barca started. He saw what was the drift of Charteris' remark. He wondered, too, what was the big key that Charteris was dangling in his hand. " Anybody could leave the house that way in a hurry," Dick went on. "By the by, what a capital strong-room the place over the stables makes. Also a cell." '"What are you driving at?" Barca demanded. "Perhaps I had better tell you," Charteris said with the utmost good humour. '•When I informed Ford "that Holt was hiding in your bedroom I told him the truth. I saw him there. I got into the room whi?n our host had lured you away from your chamber under the pretence that there were burglars in the house. And Holt nearly caught mc, so nearly that I had only time to get out of the window. That is how I hurt myself, and the story of the motor was \>urc fiction. Oh, I told Ford the truth. And when you began to shout in the ball I felt sure you were giving Holt a warning. So I slipped out of the house just in time to see him land in the garden. 1 told him what Ford was after, and nearly frightened him to doath. Stephen Holt's strong point is not physical courage. I told him I would hide him, and I did—in the loft over tho stables, in a fit of absent-mindedness I locked him in and brought away the key. 1 fear lie will find it impossible to get out " Barca glanced furtively at Ralph, who was following Charteirs' story with rapt attention. . "What are you going to do with him?" he asked gloomily. "That will depend upon circumstances," Dick said. "If Holt likes to tell the truth, I can see a way of making things easy for him. I could get that warrant withdrawn, for instance, because i have a pretty good grip of the real facts of the case. I could have prevented tfte issue of the warrant altogether, but it did not suit mc to do so. And if Stephen Holt once stands in the dock it will he all over with him. Thers arc more than a dozen shady transactions that could be proved against him, and once the ball was set rolling lots of people who now do not regard the game as worth the candle would come forward and prosecute him. But if Holt tells the truthTrta 1 go scot free and I will arrange that Mr A'nndernort will do nothing " imSL'uy! ,1 ab ° Ut What? " Barca "k-d "The mystery in tha house," Charteris said slowly. "Why this show of inno eence to mc? Why did you hide Holt n your rooms if there was" not a reason 1 ? f * ou dlr <-y rascal, I know the Whole of your conspiracy from one end WhaTha^d Barca started, but made no reply. £ go U on' WaS Walting f ° r Chart^s "Let mc tell you what I know," Dick proceeded. -The night before last Holt came here to blackmail Ralph Kingsmill. He heard that our host was engaged to my sister and this gave him his opportunity. He was jealous and revengefulhe could see his way to make money at the same time. He had stolen Ralph Kmgsmill's letters to Kate Lingen, and then threatened to show them to my sister. There was a chance to make money. But the pretty scheme was spoilt by Kingsmill losing his temper a.nd nearly killing the blackmailer. He thought that he had killed him. Then Kingsmill plays the coward, and a pretty price he looked like paying for it. He goes to bed and says nothing. When he

comes down in the morning, there is no sign of Holt, no" sign of a struggle, no blood on the carpet. Why? Because you, Barca, have dragged the body to your room, and' have found that Holt is suffering from nothing more than shock and loss of blood. Being an exceedingly, clever doctor, you patch him up again. Then you cast around for a way in which you may profit by your action. You remove all trace of the fray. Your plan is to prey upon Kingsmill's nerves and imagination; until you- have him in your hands, body, and soul, to bleed him as you please. And Holt is in the conspiracy. As long as he keeps out of the way, the programme can be played for all it is worth. It was. a very pretty scheme, and I congratulate you upon the ingenuity of it. As for the rest, it can be told before a magistrate." "You are very clever," Barca sneered. "But you have no proof of this." "Indeed I have. That is" my proof. He will do and say anything to save his skin. You have a cheque for £ 5000 from Mr. Kingsmill in your pocket. You need not trouble to cash it, for payment will be stopped in the morning." (To be continued daily.)