THE VENGEANCE OF HOP F1.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 161, 10 July 1928, Page 21

THE VENGEANCE OF HOP Fl.

By PETER CHEYNEY.

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS.

KEW READERS BEGIN HERB. JOHN RBLPH. an unemployed •* offlccr.

meets.. HENRI ZWEITT. a twiss, whose life he #aved during <• nost-war riot In Cologne. Zweitt take* Ralph to London, promising to dad him employment. Next morning. «<x>b after Zweitt i departure.a »y*terl#ti» Chinamen appears at bis rooms. He declines to leave a_ message with Relph, who is Inter engaged by the flrm ferwhjch Zweitt works. Tne same evening Belph has an appointment with Zweitt at the nhop of one SALVATORI. |n Angel Allay, near Piecedllly, but the Swiss falls to put In an appearance. Halve tori Is obviously in terror of something, and begins telling Relpb a strange story when ne Is Interrupted. Relph oromlses to retnrn later. and as be Is doing so obserTee a fcisantlful woman stealthily coming from the tlon of tne shop. He flnds Saleatorl stabbed, lying on the floor and gasping "Zweitt did not come—The end of tb# atopy—-Sour milk." CHAPTER IV. * London streets by night have always held a strange fascination for me, and to-night the Atmosphere of the last two days added to their mystery. I walked down Marlborough Street, finding some comfort in the tight of the burly policeman on duty outside the police station, and, erossing Regent Street, struck off down Maddox Street. I had walked half' way down the darkened street, when I stopped to light rny pipe. Turning to throw the match away, I saw a figure *link into one of the dark doorways a few yards behind me on the other side of the street. I walked on slowly for a few yards undecided. Then, aa ' approached Bond Street, I quickened my pace and suddenly turned round and faced about, Sure enough, on the other side Of the road a short figure disappeared from view. I earned on down Bond Street, glancing time and again over my shoulder, but evidently I was being followed no logger. I decided that the man I had ■eln wan possibly some half-drunken reveller returning home, and that my imagination was responsible for bis »udtUn Wwppearance. I walEsa up Piccadilly and through Park LaW.' I thought continuously of Zweitt, wSilierlng how much or how little he knew of the death of Salvatori. The thought Jtmck m* that he might have returned*® jfeoland Street in my absence, and I quickened my footstep#. As I hurried past the dingy little shop with the wooden tJuittlifchalf up, just.as they had been when I went to keep mj

appointment with Zweitt, a picture of Salvatori, came vividly to my mind. I saw him leaning across the table, his untidy black hair over his forehead, and that extraordinary frightened look in his eyes. Salvatori, as well as Zweitt, had been badly frightened of something or somebody. As I walked down Poland Street I could see that the light in Zweitt's room was still burning. I took out my key as I approached the house, bul when I attempted to insert it in the lock I was surprised to find the. door unlocked. I pushed it open. As I crossed the threshold a peculiar smell came to my nostrils, a smell that reminded lne of chloroformI stood still and struck a match. By jts flickering light I saw that the hall was empty. The match went out as I stepped forward. I reached the stairs and with a gasp of surprise tripped over something which lay at the bottom. I picked myself up, and standing against the wall on the right of the stairs fumbled with my matchbox. I was almost afraid to strike the matchafraid of what I might see at the bottom of the stairs. The match spluttered, and then burned brightly. Lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs was the plain clothes man who had bean left to guard Zweitt's room. He lay sprawled across the stairs, one arm hanging limply through the bannister rails. With an overwhelming ««nse of relief I saw that be was breathing heavily. I ran to the head of the basement stairs and shouted for Mrs. Game. Then, returning, I atraightened out the recumbent figure of the plain clothes man, and, possessing myself of his whistle, I ran out into Poland Street and blew vigorously. An hour later, sitting in Zweitt's room, the plain clothes man regarded Jaffray across the table with an air of an injured innocent. . "It was all over so quickly, sir,' he Hid, "I was outed before I knew where I waa. I beard the front door shut when Mr. Ralph went out, and looked out of the window after him. I suppose it was somebody tapped at the door downstairs about twenty minutes afterwards that I thought for a moment that Mr. Relph might hare left the door unlocked, and that it was the man on the Poland Street beat making his rounds. Anyway, I went down. As I caught hold of tha handle of the door and drew it towards me, somebody stepped slick into me and squeezed a handkerchief or something

over my nose. He must have been a pretty big man, too, for I hadn't a chance against him, and I won the Metropolitan Police heavyweight championship last year," said the plain clothes mnn somewhat apologetically. '"That's all I know about it. Next thing I knew was Mr. Relph here bending over me." Jaffray looked round Zweitt's room. The place had been thoroughly searched. Drawers were ransacked and the contents strewn over the floor. The bed had been pulled out and the bedclothes flung over the rail. Whoever had searched the place had done his work thoroughly. Jaffray filled bis pipe. "Well, it's no good crying over spilt miik, and they certainly put it over neatly," lie said. "You're certain it was a big man. Stevens?" he asked. The plain clothes man nodded. "Absolutely certain, sir," he said. "Directly I felt the chloroform cloth over my nose I put my bauds up and his shoulders wtre well above the level of my own. I'm five feet nine," he added. Jaffray smoked silently for a minute. "That disposes of Zweitt," he said. "He's just under middle height. It looks to me like a carefully planned job," he acded. "They knew that I should be here first thing in the morning to look through Zweitt's things, if he hadn't turned up in the meantime, and tLty I took good care to get here first. The man you saw following you, Mr. Relph, must have been a look-out man. I suppose he saw you well on your way dov n Bond Street and then ran back and let. the other fellow know that the coast was clear for a quick job. They knew what they were after, too," he glanced round the disordered room. "I wonder if they found it?" he added. "It's a funny business." It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about the woman and the identification bracelet, hut the presence of Stevens deterred me. I was not quite certain how Jaffray would take my admission of withholding the information, and I thought I would wait until ve were alone. After a few minutes, with a final glance round the room and a word to the man who was taking the place of the unfortunate and drowsy Stevens, Jaffray prepared to depart. I volunteered to accompany him to the end of Marlborough Street, thinking that an opporturity would present itself for me to make my confession about the mysterious woman, but Jaffray was preoccupied and evidentty desirous of thinking, so I made up my mind to wait. At the end of Marlborough Street Jaffray stopped. "Good-night, Relph," he said. "I shall be coming down to Cannon Street tomorrow morning to see your Mr. Brandon. See you then. So long." With a cheery emile he went off. As I returned to the house I wondered how Brandon would take the news of the murder and the disappearance of his

trusted henchman Zweitt. 1 wondertd, too, how it was that Jaffray was so cei -! tain that Zweitt would not return. At the back of my head was an idea that the quiet Chief Inspector knew more about the whole business than appear! on the surface. Just outside the front door I found Mrg. Game and the new plain clothcs man deep in conversation. Mrs. Game 8 opinion of Zweitt seemed to have changed in a remarkable manner, for she was confiding to her companion that "she 'ail always thought that there was souuthink funny about 'iin, but then orl thege foreigners are alike, ain't they ':" I said good night and went up to my room. It was half-past three and the r'.vcitement of the evening had reacted ->n my nerves. I felt tfred out. I lit the gas and walked over the dressing table. A glance showed me that Vanipy's identittcation disc was gone! Then my eyes fell on the looking glass which stood on the dressing table, and beside which I had placed the identification disc. Stuck between the frame and the mirror in the bottom right hand corner was a dirty piece of paper. At the top was a cru.'e drawing of a German steel helmet, and underneath, scrawled in an almost illegible hand were the words:

"Mind your own business—and live!

(To be continued daily.)