A Soberside Story

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22050, 25 March 1937, Page 8 (Supplement)

A Soberside Story

s•**<- • (ay v.* %£ Johnny' Dynei looked up qwcklyj WSm Tanning jerked his head round IPJfti the same direction. Hector,. #'Johnny's ten-year-old brother, cdnf&tinued to nibble his Easter Egg , < ..unconcernedly. were in a jeweller's shop, Sie largest in Mangahapara. Johnny yne, who was known at Mangai Jwpara High School as Soberside, ', defective the boy who never smiled, 1 flia waiting with Tiny Tanning, one v,,«Mhe biggest boys in the . ' for Hector to get a watch which he j, had left for repair. ,r L Hector was standing in front of a s,"ilass case which served both as "<f*'ihowcase and counter. Beside him '-"was a tall man in an immaculate ■1 I navy blue suit talking to the *:? jeweller. Soberside and Tiny were - /wailing away the time by examining the shining and sparkling -. ornaments and precious stones in "; another case in the middle of tne V < ihop. fU ' It. was a remark passed by the .\ jeweller that caused Soberside and ,* Tiny to take a sudden interest i»« i ytb&t was going on. i'fV' "This," said the jeweller, "is a IT; E?t, of a once famous diamond. .PviSfe Price is 1000 guineas." ;£CTIny whistled softly. Soberside his mouth, and blinked JfctStough his black-rimmed spec-i Sfttacles. Hector looked up for a wtaoment from his chocolate-covered WkHl then bent down again t& suck Jllaiiocolate from the tips of his SPtogers. ■" ■ ■•'■.■ iffe™e immaculately:dressed man *mm& the diamond between his ;iMWgtra and allowed the lights to '2M*rkle from it. Just then the VjLJ*weller bent down to secure antray of precious stones for If? toe customer's inspection. At that Mnioment, the big man, who was tyH«tanding first on one foot and then &£s*• the other, overbalanced To save himself, from ; Availing he grabbed Hector's hands Mjtnd seemed for a moment as if he fiS2Es uld crush the Easter Egg. Ijfpfcaightening himself quickly, the wkf a ' n apologised to Hector, took a from his pocket to

iNtoe the fingers whicJMiad become J«afoeolate stained frorfrthe egg, and tamed to the jeweller, who was MrSSjHnff up straight again'. deciding finally to buy P&ft ..diamond," the man said, I l/jspuld like to bring a friend of !£sJ&l« to inspect it. He knows more few diamonds than I do." feShe man handed the diamond to and left the shop. bsFhat is what the boys saw. What fiwtually happened: was this: The s?*g, overbalanced purposely, .took M01»..0f Hector's hands and quickly B-iES*** the- diamond into the rgWter Egg, which was packed with S*®|fcr" Ailing. When the man took fe«fc>his handkerchief to wipe his ff&gers, he also took from his pocket |*.j«ubstitute imitation diamond. fSMch he handed to the Jeweller. ffliUibis was done so cleverly that Pl*2»ssed unnoticed by the boys. yJMBPrt egg was an excellent ISBw'Pfeee for the diamond in the the substitution being iMM|re.d before the man left the JMJBBfcynector had' received his stlSPSlK&hree boys went outside. %%s&£3sa&„in the middle of the Ijßjtoath'Trtttr'- nibbling his Easter lS§R> Srtille Soberside and Tiny con.to ,look at fhe many IPSlttftil things in the window. jjJßgK'then. a strange man,, a short

GOOD EGG

(ByV.B. Murray)

"Hullo, young man," the stranger said, "That is a.nice chocolate egg you have." "Easter Egg," corrected Hector, who changed the egg from one hand to the other so that he could suck his chocolate-stained fingers. "I'll give you sixpence for it," the man suggested. . •• • Hector looked at the egg, his brown fingers, and then at the man,. "No," he answered curtly. "A shilling, then." ■..;.:. "No." "Then, half-a-crown"; Hector put his head on one side, and stared at the man suspiciously. "Hey!" he said in a loud voice. "What's the big idea? Half-a-crown for a thrupenny egg!" , Soberside and Tiny turned round when they heard Hector's exclamation. They were just m tune to

see the mail glance humbly this way, then that, grab hold of Hector's arm, and shove him roughfy into a big red coupe parked on The e engin b e of the car was already running, and it soared suddenly as the driver prepared for a Quick Sove-off as soon as Hector and his captor were properly inside. Tiny and Soberside gasped. They had a fraction of a second to decide W »Quick£ 0 ' Soberside snapped. " K it ST2L moment, he darted forward Tiny at his heels. In two HnnTids they crossed the footpath. T»st as the coupe was drawing out ftom the kerb, they Jumped up on to the rear bumper, and held on to over the -ved: ng strSSteSde he out itor a police constable, but saw "The car soon turned down a back street, and swung into an alley W As the car jerked to a standstill, i dressed ? e °\ out «£S ThJy Sped from his and I

charged at the man. • Although taken completely by surprise, the tall man was not outmatched. He swung round, and slashed viciously with his fists. Tiny ducked, and closed in to administer a couple of short-arm jabs. Tiny was the school boxing champion, and was not afraid of anybody. Soberside, however, was not robust, and when the short man in the grey suit came out one punch to the plexus settled Soberside's interest in the proceedings, leaving the short man to go to the other's assistance. Hector, now free to nibble his Easter Egg, got out of the car to view the fight. He gulped down his egg in big bites, frequently emptying his mouth to shout encouragement to Tiny, who was wheeling, ducking and diving in his attempt to face both of his adversaries at the one time. Suddenly, Hector became silent. His mouth opened, and his eyes bulged, as hfs Hand • wert to hu throat. Tears came to his Then, he gulped hard. "Swallowed something," he snouted in alarm.

The two men heard him. . Tneir fists dropped to their sides, and they looked at each other m dismay. "The diamond!" the tall man exclaimed. "He's swallowed the diamond. Why didn't you look after the kid? A thousand guineas worth inside the kid's stomach isn t anything in our pockets." The short man looked at the other blankly. "Eh!" he exclaimed.-

"Didn't I tell you," the tall man replied, "that I put the diamond in the kid's Easter Egg, and gave the imitation to the jeweller?. Now you've let the kid swallow egg, diamond and everything."

Tiny understood now why Hector was kidnapped. When the two men dropped their hands, he had stood quietly by and listened. Now was the time for action once more. Before the men could recover, he seized them by the scruffs of their necks, and bumped their heads together. The impact was so hard that the men were temporarily stunned, and they fell to the ground. Tiny bounded over to the car, looked in the luggage receptacle, and returned with rope, with which he bound the two men. By that time, Soberside had recovered sufficiently to assist, and Hector stood mutely by, one hand to his neck and the other to his abdomen.

After trussing the men up, Tiny drove the car to the police station, and the three boys carried their captives into the watch-house, where heads peeped out of doors, and uniformed men came in to see the strange sight of three boys with two bound men.

"They're diamond thieves," Soberside explained, adjusting his spectacles. "Stole a thousand guinea diamond."

A portly man whom the - men called inspector came forward. "Where is the diamond?" the inspector asked. "It's gone." Hector breathed. "I swallowed it." i A loud guffaw went up from the ! policemen standing round. The inspector smiled, and went to the telephone, picking up as he went, I a book from a table. Sitting down at the telephone, he asked for the I number of . the . jeweller's shop,, 'at the same time turning over pages of the book, which contained photographs of large numbers of men. While the inspector was speaking into the telephone, the-captives were released from the bonds, and they stood up. The inspector then put down the receiver, and rang off. Still turning over the pages of the book, the inspector spoke to the boys. . , "You must be wrong, young fellows," he said. "The jeweller has not missed any thousand-guinea diamonds." The boys looked at each other in amazement, then glanced at the Inten. The big man's jaw dropped, as he glancea nervously at his companion, whose oyes glinted up at the tall man. Then they laughed nervously. "I could have told you that," the tall man said. "You should never believe anything that boys of this type tell you, Inspector." "We never do," the inspector replied, "until we have checked Up on their statements. The jeweller said that you," pointing to the tall man, "called to see the diamond. The jeweller was suspicious of you. and what he showed you was a very clever imitation, so he does not worry whether you have stolen it or not."

Soberside gulped, and looked at Tiny, who made a disgusted gesture. Hector opt-ned his eyes wide, arc. held his stomach.

"But I swallowed it," he cried in dismay. "Then." the inspector retorted, without look:rg up from his booK, "we will have to lay a charge against you for stealing it." • . Hector bolted out the door, followed by roars of laughter by the policemen. The two captives laughed also. "We may go, then," the tall man suggested. The inspector Jooked up from his book, studied the two men closely, looked at the oook again, then spoke: "No," he replied. "You may not go. Because that nipper swallowed the diamond, or imitation diamond, we have no evidence against you on that charge, Mr George Addelby and Mr Charles George James Willband, but we have plenty against you for other crimes." The two men gulped, and . their jaws, dropped. The inspector smiled.

"You didn't think you'd be known in these parts," he said. "But your pictures are here, and you are wanted for crimes in many" other towns. Now we've got you, thanks to our boy detectives." "And Hector's egg," Tiny added. "Good egg!" supplemented the inspector.

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