SCORPION'S REALM

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 115, 17 May 1932, Page 15

SCORPION'S REALM

By L. C. DOUTHWAITE

CHAPTER XXI.

The Scorpion Tries to Temporise. "Sure," said Parrot laconically, and took the paper in his. hand. A few moments, and when having mastered the contents, he looked up, he was pokerfaced. "I'm not ehowerin' choice blooms on myself on account of that hunch of mine—only it happens to be right," he said. "Listen: "That which this paper lias enclosed," ho read, "will have served as a warning. Should that warning be disregarded, it will havo served, also, as a portent. For unless, within a time-limit that will expire at midnight on the third day following the above date, iny terms as laid down hereunder are accepted, a further and more authentic specimen will be sent, not to Scotland Yard, but to the American Embassy, and with that specimen an intimation that, failing a favourable response within a period similar to the first, they will receive a second and similar exhibit. Failure to comply to that further reminder within a further seventy-two hours will react in a fashion I venture to predict will bo of greater satisfaction to myself than it will be to the personal well-being of an incumbrance whoso only remaining utility will have been fulfilled in the manner of her passing. "My terms for the release, unharmed, of my hostage, are as under: "1. That I am given a free pardon for any and every breach of the laws of Great Britain of which I may have been guilty, together with safe conduct, and by whatever method of transport I may select, to a part of the world of my own choosing; as a safeguard to the British Government the document to be so worded as to render it nugatory in the event of my failure to carry out the terms of Miss Denstone's release.

"2. That I am paid the sum of /500,000 dollars (five hundred thousand dollars) in United States Bearer Bonds.

"3. That botli pardon and money are handed to mo at a place of my own selection, of which upon your acceptance of these terms through the Personal Column of 'The Times' newspaper, I shall advise you. "Immediately both money and immunity are in my hands I shall bo prepared to accompany a representative of your own selection to the place where my present security is housed, there to release her into the custody of that messenger. "A word of warning; I shall have provided amply against any attempt at double-dealing. I would remind you of the system by which explosives may be set to detonate at any given, and future, moment, and while I shall leave ample time for my return journey from the place I have appointed to receive your representative, any undue delay will be unfortunate, not only for my hostage, but for a largo area of the surrounding property and to a considerable number of the residents therein."

Parrot laid down the paper; pokerfaced looked from one to the other of his audience.

"I don't often get these hunches," he said .quietly, "but* when I do—they're certain as rent-day. This letter is signed 'The Scorpion."'

Without speaking further, his hand went to the telephone. Two minutes later the members of that conference were on their way to the office of Sir Redvers Conquest, the Chief Commissioner. Then minutes later still that conference was joined by Lord Julian Roper, the Home Secretary.

Lord Julian, a broad but well-condi-tioned little man with a wide red face, button jaw, and indomitable eyes, was already au fait with the reports of the case that had been sent in to him. Nor was there any doubt of the gravity witli which ho regarded this new phase of the situation.

Tapping with a well-kept forefinger the ultimatum in his hand, he turned to that grey-faced haggard man who was Beth Denstone's father.

"There is no getting away from :t, that from the standpoint of the writer, the scheme here is fool-proof," he said quietly. "Either that criminal genius obtains his demands or, alternatively— painful as it is, I think that essentially this is a case for plain speaking—your daughter will suffer mutilation and, subsequently, death from the detonation of a time-bomb that, as well a.s herself, will destroy many other innocent people."

Upon the dignified half-study, halflibrary, wherein is housed the Home Secretary of Great Britain, descended a silence that might have been the precursor of the very hush of death itself; vibrant with an intensity of emotion that was as a living thing about them.

"That, unfortunately, is a fact there's no getting over," Sir Julian went on, breaking at last into the stillness. "Also, and however appalling the nature of his offences, once a criminal is in possession of a free pardon ho is as immune

from punishment as tlie most law-abid-ing citizen in tlio land; it would be the very negation of that document's intention if it were otherwise. That being the ease, both in order to avoid any cause for complaint from your Embassy, to save valuable life, and even though these terms constitute the very antithesis of our conceptions of human liberty and justice, I propose advising that they be accepted." And now there was one of those long

and palpitant silences that fellow so often upon decisions of major moment. In the case of the Chief Constable and Colin, tempered as was that defeat by relief inexpressible, it was a silence in which, stark and monstrous, gibbered the fact that by the acceptance of those terms would be turned loose upon society one whose existence was sworn to the destruction of all that in life men hold as decent and of good repute. Involuntarily Colin glanced across at the senator, and if ever in his life he had seen a human soul in travail, it was at that moment; tortured, agonised, the American's face was that of a man at the stake. And when his voice broke into the silence, it was to leave those others gasping and almost faint at the realisation of the heights to which man-

kind is capable of rising. "No!" he said, and though his eyes were lighted by torture his mouth was resolute and his voice vibrant. "No!" if

ever there wan a ease when it was necessary to sacrifice the individual for the good of the community, it is the one that confronts us now. At the moment, a hunted man—or fiend—his organisation scattered, and, if we may judge from his demand, funds dissipated, The Scorpion is comparatively powerless for harm. On the other hand, to turn him loose with liberty to wreck the bodies and souls of those'who are, or should be, civ.iisation's greatest asset, would be a supreme wickedness that, at whatever cost to himself, I'll fight to the last ditch. But" —here

the deep voice quivered as vibrates a tautened spring—"once he has much as laid a finger on my daughter, he II find no spot oil the earth's surface where, ultimately, I won't trace him. And once we're face to face —"

Pin-points of sweat glistening on his forehead, his hands clenched so that the knuckles showed ivory white and gleaming, the old man fell to silence —one that only for a moment remained unbroken. "There are occasions, Senator Denstone," the Home Secretary said, speaking very quietly and deliberately, "when the more eloquently one speaks, the greater becomes one's realisation of the inadequacy of words. So now, on behalf not only of myself, but of the British nation, I will centent myself with saying how deeply I appreciate and sympathise with your attitude. In the meanwhile we can pray only that no such ultimate sacrifice from you will be necessary."

Until the last few moments the one who had contributed least toward the

discussion was Dr. Valentine Gage. In the attitude he found most favourable for contemplation, the quaintly strappedtrousered legs in the liiglily-polished, plain-fronted boots outstretched before him; hands folded loosely; chin sunk deeply into the folds of his stock; eyes watchful and introspective; detached, remote, but strangely and dominantly virile, hitherto he had remained quiescent. But now, that fateful letter in his hand, he was studying it with a concentration that left him oblivious of all about him.

"A moment, please," he said as the Home Secretary rose, and when he went over to the window they saw that in his hand was the inner of the two papers in which had been wrapped that sinister reproduction that was the inspiration of the interview.

A second or so later, when he turned to face them, though both voice and expression were under his usual control, at the back of his eyes was a light that Colin had not seen there before. Yet even on the point of speaking he seemed to check himself; instead, strode over to the door.

There, he turned to Colin. "Come with me, Mr. Riversleigh, if you don't mind," he said. And to the others: "Within an hour it is possible I may have information of value," he said quietly. They passed down Whitehall, crossed Trafalgar Square into Cockspur Street, and so into the Carton. Here, in the room he engaged, Gage spent a quarter of an hour waiting for the trunk call he

had put through, and, when that came, a further five minutes in conversation. There was a further and more prolonged delay until the telephone tinkled again, when the exchange of questions and answers was resumed. I And when he replaced the receiver Colin saw that the unusual gleam in the calm eyes had accentuated. Ten minutes later they back in the Chief Commissioner's room. "I want you to understand," Gage said after tliey had questioned him, "that what information I've obtained I regard only as a promising line of inquiry. In other words, I wish to avoid building up hopes that it is not at all certain are destined to be realised." Parrot reached for the telephone. "You may talk like a dictionary, but you think like a ready reckoner," ho said. "That you, Exchange? Put a call through to the Chief Constable of Tidemouth. And make it snappy." Excepting for Lord Stonehouse, who as a Foreign Office officio 1 was not departmentally concerned, an hour later they had all piled into a fast police tender, and were eating up the miles of the Great North Road. (To be continued daily.)