The ARROW by NIGHT

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 285, 1 December 1932, Page 22

The ARROW by NIGHT

by LESLIE CARGILL

CHAPTER IX.—(Continued.) Helmuth's wiping-up action, with the heavily stuffed footrest, cleaned the edges of glass away tolerably well. IN'ot well enough to permit us to escape scot free, but sufficiently so to avoid serious injury. Anyway, an extra, cut or two were not going to make much difference. "We had a fair share of minor injuries already. The thing to avoid was a major injury, and I was sure enough that this was in store for us if wo agaiu fell into the hands of the Red Brotherhood. Scrambling through the opening, we found ourselves on a stone-flagged path at tbe side of the house —a splatter of light marking the automobile which was drawn up at the front. This was the most likely way of escape, in spite of the presence of attacking forces. To make for the back of the police station was asking for trouble, as there was no knowing what obstacles would be in the way. So we rushed right ahead, and as nobody thought of cutting back to head ofl" our escape, we got a good start while the men were wriggling their way through the broken window. When. I battered away at the sash the F-tool I used for the purpose Buffered rather eeverelj', and by the time I had finished only "one leg remained in my hand. This I retained, for' defensive requirements in case of necessity, and it was quite a cheerful thing to hold. It pleased me very much more than it did a. man who. had been left behind in the car. Hearing the commotion, he had got out and was making for the front door, when Helmut and myself scurried out of the side passage, bringing him up with a frtart. He attempted to cluteh hold of me, yelling out in the meantime, so, with a. quick jab, I put him out of action, almost in my stride. "The car." Helmuth was ebouting excitedly. 'To the car." He was in the driver's seat almost before I understood his intentions, but I acted promptly in following him into the saloon and we were away, leaving the sound of frenzied pursuit fading away in the background. "The engine was running. That was what made me think of this way," Helmuth explained. I lolled back comfortably on the padded seat, calmed by the pleasant luxury of these new surroundings. It was a nice car, with a perfectly tuned engine, that hummed a jolly song as wo sped along the road, tho village now far behind and the open country before us. "Do you know where we are? asked mj friend. < "Haven't the foggiest idea. The road seems a bit rough, but as long as it takes us well away from trouble who cares about that?" "The fact is, Dick, I am -not so sure that we are driving away from, trouble, but into it again. This road has a familiar look about it, and I imagine it is taking us back to the monastery." "What?" '"To the monastery. You see there was no time to decide where to go. It was a question of straight ahead, and bope for the best. I take it that the car came in some other way to that we chose for entering the village, and it was pointing in the direction of our lane when we jumped into it." "If that's the case, we'd better think cut a plan. Everything has a different appearance from a car than from on foot, and it's always a job to pick out landmarks you've noticed driving one way when you return along the same route. But now you mention it, I think you're right. We're heading bang into more trouble—and I've had my fill of it for one night." "So bave I. Shall I turn back?" "M'm. I don't know that that would work out very well. Don't forget that in the eyes of tbe police we are a couple of escaped lunatics. That means we bave to fear the authorities as well as the mysterious brethren. We can take it for granted that a special watcb will be, kept out for this car. . Already it bae done its turn as an asset and now is a danger. All sorts of people will be looking for it, and. ■. < "And what?" "And we're in. a bopeless mess at any irate. Wbat the deuce we can do next is beyond me. Who can we ask for help ?" ■"Don't you tbink if we found the nearest big town there would be a more intelligent type of officer available, who would act in a sensible way I" ' Frankly, I didn't. My admiration for the police forces of Great Britain u> profound. No finer men are to be found. Anywhere, and in dealing with ordinary crime they can be depended upon to bring the culprit to justice. _ ■ • This was no ordinary crime. In fact, the element of fantasy was so much in evidence that we could hardly expect the keenest detective brains available to be of any immediate use. Wβ couldn t rproduce evidence of 'a crime at all, Unless tbe body was still in the copse, which wasn't in. the slightest degree Pr The b beaa of the Scarlet Brotherhood bad it is true, ordered his men to search the spinney, but be bad pretended to tbe policemen that tbe whole of our Btory was pure invention. Evidently, then he bad assisted in covering up tbe crime for purposes of his own. TJnlikely as it might be, the body might etill be there in the copse in wbicb case we ought to be able to get bold of some police officer more amenable to reason £han Constable Burton, and with, this <-rim evidence as a starting, point a fuller investigation would naturally take in a search of the monastery, where there should be sufficient signs to demonstrate how accurate our recital lad been. "I suggest we abandon the car here . and now," I observed. "Then we'll do a bit of scouting." '•"More cross-country work, I suppose," Helmuth groaned. "Well, I'm about as worn out as a man can be, so wo might as well finish the job and wear ourselves right out. We'd better bide this automobile as thoroughly as possible." This was a sensible idea. It was cruel to sucb a fine piece of machinery to force it through, a scrubby hedge and dump it in a ditch at" the other side — where it was well hidden from sight and also sufficiently stuck in the mud to give anybody a pretty tough time getting it into action again—but we did it. From where we dumped the car to the copse which bad been the starting place of tbe adventure was a stiff fourney, even when we could get a "limpse of the monastery wall to guide ?is in "the right direction. It gave me tbe shudders, that uncompromising streak that held unknown terrors "behind its bleak mass. Momentarily, however, it was not unfriendly. Silhouetted against the sky its massive bulk could be seen a long way away—and tbe farther we were ■from it and the menace of the inhabitants behind the better we were pleased. Only a stern sense of duty held me to

picking up the strings afresh. Also_ I was beginning to worry about the girl in tho cell. Surely there could be nothing in the story the Red Abbott had told, about mental deficients, locked up for their own good. She had seemed reasonable enough. Of course. Like a flash. I remembered that there were proper ways of restraining unruly inmates, and ropes and rough gagging did not come within the scope of those methods. No, she was involved somehow or other in the mystery, and was being held a prisoner not because she was insane but because she was too sane. Probably she knew too much. She might even hold the key to the whole puzzle. And she had advised us to '"go to Verenov," , and was in the act of telling us where to find him when the interruption had occurred which had sent Helmuth and myself helter-skelter across the. country. ' "''Avoid tho village and cross the stream,' the girl said," I murmured. "It's queer you should say that," Helmuth retorted. "I had been worrying over the same thing just before you spoke. But who is ■ Verenov ?" "Ask mo another. There's a whole bookful of questi6ns that badly want answering, and every time one of them looks on the verge of being told there's merely another added to tangle things up more and more." "Some things are clear enough, Dick." "Are they? I'd like to know them at any rate." "First of all, Verenav. We know that the Red-Abbott hates him, and possibly fears him. The way he questioned ue proves that, doeen't it?" "Y-Yes. At least, I suppose so. He did mention the man's name, and told us not to be facetious when there wae a reference made to the famous scientist. By tho way, the names are not identical, only similar." '"Quite so. Personally I didn't imagine he referred to the monkey gland gentleman. But to proceed. Granted that the Ped Abbott hates and fears this Verenov, the opposite applies in the caee of the girl. She distinctly told us to eeek his help. Therefore our sympathies are apparently with the Verenov forces." "That doesn't get us any farther. You're right enough, Helmuth, as far as it goes, only it doesn't go far enough. If only wo had the faintest glimmering of the why's and wherefore's, it might help. Better still would be to dump the whole affair at the feet of the propor authorities, and let them get on with it. By the way, did you know what that Red Abbott person eaid to the bobby 1" "I heard lots of things, including the suggestion that two eminently respectable young men had bats in the belfry. To what particular thing do you refer V "He said that among our delusions was an idea that we were threatened by red monks. That's queer. It shows that the very distinctive garb which attracted our attention so unfavourably is not the normal dress of the people at the monastery—at leaet it isn't known to the outside "world." "The man you slogged with the chair leg was in ordinary clothes." vr Was he? I didn't have time to look at him carefully. You see now that there are two sides to what is going on in this part of the world. One side is that which appears obvious to the outside world. The other side is the one ■we glimpsed last night." "Granted, old man. How you do talk." "It helps to get things off your chest. I'm getting interested in this business, and as officialdom has gone phut over the introductory episodes, I've a mind to keep my finger in the pie, and feel around for any plums. What have you got to say to that?" "You know you can count on me, my friend. There ought to be a few interesting episodes to come, hein!" "I think we can be sure of that. Look! there's the copse." We had come quite close to the little wood while we had ibeen talking. No suspicious movements had worried us since we left the village, and I hoped that the chase had lifted. If it was believed that we had driven right away from the neighbourhood, the Red Brethren would not worry much, about it. There was little fear that the abandoned car would be discovered for the time .being, which gave us an hour or two to indulge in a little preliminary skirmishing. Dawn was yet some hours away; longer-' than one might think from the lightness of the summer night. Even inside the tree belt there was enough light to pick our way—making it much more comfortable than during the blackness of the storm when we first entered its tragic shade. One or two marks helped us to fix the spot, and after a bit of fumbling about we came to the clearing, peering round' cautiously. "Look!" Helmuth pointed ahead excitedly. ■ "Look, over there." Like a black sack thrown carelessly on the ground was an ominous patch which, to my overwrought senses, had a tangible aura of horror. (To be continued daily.)