The Councillors of Falconhoe

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 26

The Councillors of Falconhoe

By FRED M. WHITE.

CHAPTER "*TX. | ON THE WAY. 'Enderby was not the sort of man to waste time. He gave a few crisp, curt orders to the old soldier who acted as general factotum at Falconhoe Manor,' and whilst the others were throwing ai few things into a suit-case, he hurried; down the slope to the shelving rock justj above the beach to the whitewashed cot-j tages where the Helicop was stored.] Half an hour later, the machine had; been run out on to a wide stretch of, lawn beyond the tennis court, and was! tuned up under the powerful ray 3 of al searchlight, so that in ten minutes she was ready for flight. It was a machine entirely of Enderby*. own invention, built of aluminium with large hollow struts, and the double casing of the 'plane contained a powerful gas evolved out of Enderby's own mind Which was wonderfully light in lifting, so that in the Helicop he possessed a machine which was not only driven by enormously high-powered engines, but which, owing to the gas, was lighter than air. If anything happened to the engines, there was no more chance of the machine crashing than if she had been a dirigible in a gale of wind. And she was a helicopter in the best sense of the: word. She had the power of rising from' the ground in eccentric circles, and asl perpendicular as a bird rising from a twig. She could lift off a patch of ground not more than twice the area ofl her wings, and drop down again as easily, so that she could have landed on the deck of a battleship, or even a destroyer, without the slightest danger of damage. Moreover, her wings were folding, as waa the body of the car, and with seating accommodation for three. She could be packed at almost a moment's notice, and transferred from place to place on the wagon of a train. Enderby smiled to himself as he saw how smoothly everything was working. ■ "It's all ready," he said, as he walked hack into the work-room. "I am sorry j we can't take you, Nelson, but we are only built to carry three, so you will have to go by train. We shall want! you, unless I am greatly mistaken. Take the car, and drive yourself to' Taunton. Leave the car there and get; on to Southampton by train. From there you can take the boat to Brest,' and directly you get to Madrid, report! yourself at the residence of the Marquis; el Navarro. I think that is about all." . Five minutes later, and the three adventurers were on their way. The -plane rose almost noiselessly,, for the engines were working with amazing smoothness, when she turned her nose towards the south, and sped across the afea. _ Hour after hour went quietly on, with now and again a message out of the ether for the listening ears cf Farncombe, who was being steered from! Madrid, until: at length.the soft purple' Velvet .of the night against the pallid itars began to whiten, and just before dawn appeared a light softly luminous l>ke some moth attracted to a planet all aflame. At this sign Farncombe touched Enderby on the shoulder and the engine of the Helicop began to slacken. For the luminous moth down below lay in the Marquis el Navarro's ground, and as the -plane swooped down, nearer and nearer to the earth, four glittering, hbnduig points shot upwards, some twenty yards apart, and the night hawk, hovering over them, began to spin round 9 k f., a _Br eat '•*■* 'n dazzling concentrics, until it dropp.,;. light as a thixiledown. Ui the very centre of the --aiding beacons. Then a voice -p-k*. * "That you, Marquis r the unseen speaker asked. "Good. Here we are, and no time lost either. Where's the garage?" .i "Ah, the new HeUeo engines" d Navarro cried. "I have been longing to have a sight of the wonderful Helicop. To see your lights a mile ahead, and then to watch you spin-down as if sliding along a watch spring without a hair's deviation-amazing!. Then the new engines are all you claim for them?" «--i -- th f-- some '" Farncombe laughed, say so t rf l fa S-i* e ? h --*V 9 to ° a*-***-*-- -o sayso, eh, Enderby! At ten-thirty last night we were seated in our library at Falconhoe Manor w_ en your calf Tame 1w _ W a 1 not -------- --*-- r four a.m. Two hundred mil es an hour . yJZ __r_W*iA r mOV ' mg > Mar, -*-- s - '» c&il_tsa^**^«p* f The wing- of the amazing Helicop plane L7i° Ide f i RCk Uke - on *° bird and the whole stowed away in the aero drome aUa ,hed to the Palazzo l_co which was the name of UwMaroS' vants, for the Marquis hadrfiUf-_2_' EL _ he m - e * f w *-° dispensed the neceasary ho-pitalitv. He was not I „ ,\ -ious for his domestic staff To know fa l had at a^-vel he *!__■&" ° f *p£l eision £ success of his scheme *' *° *?" the-Ln n^ e y nt, W of U, ti s * ed had the thrP- few hour - the librarT I*L 6 mc ? Beated --« -hich enab,ed .the %, gftj off when moving at dazzlin_-g-<.ed come to earth iTa series I _*?*? }* #- c -*- tre °- a Pocket -hand* his six foot four of lean irianhW, long ?* f f? an <- neavy of limb; and in con* pact, with the face of leather-coloured mahogany,-tanned by tropical suns in many climes, and the man who could live and work and plan on a handful of dates "*"?■_ _*** wh< > "-ever knew the meaning of the word thirst. Last, and by-no means least, Jelicorse, trim and faddy aa to his clothes, with small fair moustache, and inevitable monocle'pver i-_S W ThU". ■? *S oat i?>" Jelicorse -'-■X k_?7 ** lf re -- eß »ed them-.-.sas b * gone the Üble? -T>ii „7 "? d »°«-».""a, on ■npposer.Has '"oportance, I 'fAUM aids of th» mbßarehy-sr?* ■«"•.? on

"Nothing quite so big as that, I am afraid," the Marquis smiled. "As a matter of fact it isn't political at aIL" '_0 I gathered from your rather agitated message," Enderby said. "The line was not quite clear, and I waa getting somebody else's call ail the time. Still, my dear fellow, we are always quite ready to consider a commercial proposition." »> "Well, it's hardly that either," the Marquis explained. "You fellows are doing wonderful work for civilisation,. and the betterment of stricken humanity. And you will have to do a lot more before the old order of things is restored. I want you to take a hand in something that sounds like romance. It is rather painful, hut if I may venture to introduce a sordid element, you will be well paid. Have either of you ever met the Duke of Lom'baso's mother}" "Once," Jelicorse said, with a wry face. "That ia, I was once in the same room with her. I was once in the same room with Queen Victoria, for the matter of that, and she didn't frighten mc as much as the Duchess did. A cold, hard woman, I should 6ay, and absolutely eaten up with family pride.". "Not just at the present moment," el Navarro -aid drily. "In fact, she is overwhelmed with trouble. To put it plainly, that infatuated young ass L~mi baso was fool enough to borrow the I dynastic emeralds and lend them " I "By Jove," Farncombe cried. "Do you mean the Lombaso emeralds that are i practically Spanish Crown property!" | "The same," el Navarro • went on. "Without saying a word to anybody, he took the emeralds from the strong-room • and lent them to a lady who ia singing " "Do yon mean Inez Salviatl?" Jelicorse broke in. "I do. Mind you, she Is quite innocent in the matter. It was only a little vani ity on her part." "That I am sure of," Jelicorse said al- ' molt combatively; "I am notjjoing to sit here and hear a word said against Inez Salviati. She is perhaps more than a •j friend of mine, and nobody knows her ,' record better than myself. And if the i Duchess is under the impression that ;| Inez " 1 "But she isn't," the Marquis hasIj tened to say. "As it was her first ap- • pearance here, Inez was naturally anx- | ious to make an impression, and saw no I objection when the Duke suggested that !| she should wear the emeralds. My dear 'i Jelicorse, I know Inez as well as you [■ do. Her late father was a friend of mine, and if I had not been living here 'en garcon,' I should have offered her '' the hospitality of my 'palazzo.'" . 1 "I beg your pardon," Jelicorse apolo- ', gised. "But am afraid I am a little bit 1 touchy on the subject of Inez." ] ' "Oh, quite so, quite so," the Marquis; ' smiled. "Well, she wore the emeralds • to-night—in fact, she wore them at ' | dinner in her hotel. Some euper-thief > must have spotted them, anyway, when • she was going to the.Opera House in a I thick fog, her motor was pulled up and ! she was violently robbed of the stones ■ by a man who got away, leaving no trace 1 behind.;. Of course, the Duke had to tell I his mother all about it, and now you si know exactly how things stand. I sugr gested sending for you, and the Duchess II expressed ' herself ■ willing to pay I' ten thousand pounds for your services. [ i That, I take it, is if you are successful." "Well, I suppose beggars can't be , choosers,*' Enderby said.' "Great ladies are great ladies all the world over, and. I I .suppose the Duchess merely regards us aa a sort of glorified police. Well, let it go at that. But we are not prepared to take the business on without some sort of understanding. For instance, it may be necessary for one of us to see 1 the Duchess, painful as it may be to ' her. • Is them any objection to that?" 1 "No, I think not," the Marquis said. , "What the Duchess is so afraid of is an ' open and public scandal." i • "Quite bo," Jelicorse remarked ; thoughtfully. "But, you see, my dear Marquis, somebody does know already. ' I am alluding, of course, to the thief 1 himself. He never took all that risk on " the off-chance of picking up what, might have been, a handful of stage emeralds. • An artist like that knows exactly what • he is after." The others nodded approvingly. The • psychological side of the mystery would • be entirely in the hands of Jelicorse, • and the others looked to him with rapt « attention. v > "You see what I mean, Marquis," he ' went on. "He knew, not guessed, he knew. That is, tbe thief knew. But how? Where.did he get his information? , What cue had he to go on? This is the • first question we have got to answer.' I , rather flatter myself that I can answer ' it now, but there are more sides to the x question than cine. Did the Duke talk? ' Did he take anybody into his confidence? J 1 Did he drop a hint at the club by any ! chance? He is rather an impulsive t youth, and regards everybody as being •las straightforward as himself. He ' might have mentioned the matter quite ,' casually, even in a public restaurant. Is • he handy by any chance? If so, I should -1 like to have a word with Mm.'' ._ ij The Marquis rose and crossed over, to j| his telephone standing on a bracket in a • corner of the library, j "I don't suppose our young friend has gone to bed," he said.: "At any rate, I I will try arid get-hin_"- ;- , (To' be continued dally.) "When mun I come to see yo*?"' said • one Lancashire woman to another.----"Well, dunnot.come on Monday, for I've t'clooas to side." "Will t'day after do?" , "Eh! nowo; that's weeshin' day. Ant Wednesday's. smoothing .day, an' Thurs- j day bakin' day, ant Friday's'clennin' iup day." "An' what about twee-end?" f-WcU, I'se ha' to goa an' buy in "a* Sctt'day.an' o' Sunday I alius-go'to t'church, so I dunno gradcly when yo' • con cornel" ..,.; MASSEUR PRAISES Q-TOL. A well known masseur, of Government sanatorium ' experience, constantly uses Q-tol- In conjunction, with his electrical treatment. Excellent for tired muscles. 2/. * \ .- ■ .. . ,Dir,