"THE SCARLET TERROR"

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 22

"THE SCARLET TERROR"

VIII. ".".''• . ' „ •By Cavell Nichol. d- Vr Tl]^ Ye t<? ll u«^'" said Peter, seriously, can't go on in .KichfordManpr.. But. first we put on more clothes and make some cocoa to keep ourselves warm." . Creeping stealthily upstairs they reached, their room and pin some more-clothes on, then Bill went down to the kitchen and made two cups of steaming.hot cocoa. When they had drunk the cocoa they returned to thqir room'again; ' Switching off the light the two pals set off towards Peter's uncle's room. . . :. > . . ■:. Tap? tap!—rap! rap|. Peter knocked on the door. No response He looked in—the bed was empty! "#z\ gone, Bill. Uncle's not in his room!" cried Peter. "H'm!" Bill cleared his throat. "Say, what if that was your uncle creeping along the hall?" , "But Uncle Dick wouldn't creep along in his own house. It must have jDeeri someone else," retorted Peter; hotly. ' "Oh, it was someone else, then, to please you," replied' Bill wryly. Peter Ross flushed but said nothing, for he did not want to quarrel with BilJ. ' ; •;' - "Come a little way along, and hide behind the armour, and we'll see who is right," said Bill, confident that, he was right. . So> creeping back a little wav they crouched down in the shadows beside tie stiff steel armour, Hall an hour they waited—three-quarters of an hour—an hour, but still no sound, came to their ears. Peter's luminous watch showed the hour of one. Peter bfegan to dose but Bill shook him into wakefulness. '".Oh, how long must we wait?" Peter grumbled sleepily. They became stiff and sore, cramped up by die armour, and then Bill crept to the bannister, for be thought he had heard a creak. Ah! there it was again. Bill peeped over and what he saw sent a thrill running down hiss spine, for a dark, shadowy figure was ascending the stairs. Quietly he made his wayback. ' "Sh!!" he whispered to Peter, "here comes someone." Presently a man clad in black, so as not to be seen easily in the dark, opened Uncle Dick's door. A light switched on and the light flodded the room into brilliant day. It shone oh the many face—Uncle Dick's! \\Vhat could it mean? " . ' ' (To be Continued.)