THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES

Franklin Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 119, 12 October 1936, Page 2

THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES

[(BY A HODGINS)

When he awoke again the darkness of eternity surrounded him —darkness black as the pit. His head hammered as if it was being beaten upon a red hot anvil, and a nausea sat upon his stomach as if he had imbibed a gallon of sea water. A slight groan escaped his compressed lips, and the perspiration trickled through his matted hair. His body ached in dull agony.

He moved slowly to a sitting position, suffering excruciating torment. There seemed to be a wall behind him and he leaned against it, feeling the damp of slime as it soaked through his clothes.

Suddenly as if rising from a cruel dream a mocking voice broke in chilly wavelets upon his tortured ears. “I hear you stirring John Trent. Now perhaps you will realise your bumptious inquisitiveness has brought, you to this pass. You may have the reputation for being a clever detective, but in dealing with me you will require more than a reputation.” Here a hissing laugh chilled the prisoner's spine. “You don’t know 7 who I am — I will tell you—The Master Mind, Mr Trent. Think now what chance has your infinitesimal brain. Your little span on this earth is at an end, simply because you could not rnind your own business. There is food there for you—it is poisoned, and water —it is poisoned. You must eat and drink or starve. This is the last, human voice you will hear, Mr Trent, so I hope you have listened carefully.”

There was a sickly cackle of laughter following those bitter words, and John strained his bursting ear drums 1 to catch the sound of the dying footfalls. They receded in hollowmess somewhere in silence—silence, and then came the soft drip of water, drop . . . drop . . . drop, monotonously regular. John felt the scream of his burning nerves as each tiny sound amplified a hundred times.

He w j as alone in some underground cellar where no one could possibly find him, cut off completely from the world as if he was dead. Despair burst upon him with a sudden thrust. So this w 7 as the end of the great adventure called life, with the cruel intensity of a mad man.

But despair did not grip for long. He was young and an animal love for life, imbued by that cunning lady Nature for her own purposes, stirredl again. He had to get out of the place and continue on with the chase before the fiend who had trapped him could further his mad schemes.

He felt the stones beneath turn an<l raised his aching body. He seemed to have been deposited upon a rough kind of bench. Before he attempted to get down he struck a match, the sudden light seared his eye-balls, and ripped at the retina like a galvanic battery. He had scarcely reached a normal state when the match burnt his fingers and went suddenly out. He swore, and lit another. This time the light was kinder ito his eyes. The first thing he saw upon the rough floor was an earthenware pitcher, and a wicker tray, with squares of bread, cheese and butter upon; there was even a piece of fruit cake. Subconsciously his mouth watered, but he knew the penalty of eating even one tiny morsel. He shivered at the devilish ingenuity of the man’s physehological knowledge. Starvation and thirst would drive him mad until’ at last he would eat the poisoned victuals to die in horrible agony.

He was not far from Hie floor and he slipped down. His legs were we ah for a start hut soon they strengthened. He was about to strike another match when he suddenly remembered that, he had a tiny flashlight. lie groped for it and clicked it on. The thin pencil of light slabbed the darkness, flashed over the slimy green walls, over the rough floor that was patterned by inky pools of water. The light moved on and rested on a recess in the wall. John knew that it was the door and lie moved quickly across. Somehow it seemed to spell the way to freedom. Perhaps I hat was only because it was synonymous of Ihe prosaic everyday door which opened and shut at will. There was only will that opened this door. The searching light made this irrefutably plain to him. ft was a massive wooden affair bound in heavy iron. He searched 'for a lock Inif it. was indisputably evident that it opened only from Ihe outside. Peculiarly enough the door had been battered at some lime or another seemingly as if with heavy stones. There was a fissure-perhaps two inches wide at the bottom between the door and the massive stone that if closed against. John swore under his breath and his heart raced as his nands flashed over his pockets. He drew forth a dozen bullets, and bit Ihe tops off them. Luckily they were soft nosed. In a few seconds he had a match box full of cordite. With swift, dexterous movements lie thrust Ihe box into Ihe Assure, leaving a match with its head outward to act as a. fuse. Then he wrung out his handkerchief in one of the pools of wafer upon Ihe floor and thrust, it in behind .jamming it hard with a pointed stone, lie selected another stone, dry, and struck a match, applying if rapidly to the improvised fuse. Like a flash he took shelter in a distant eor-

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ner and placed his fingers in his ears. A second later it happened. A thunderous burst of sound shook the confined space, almost tearing the ear drums from his head, and shaking him until he was on the verge of collapse.

Great masses of stone and wood were flung against the opposite wall, falling in powder long after the initial shot. John fervently hoped that no one would hear that terrific detonation. He guessed he was abor.l thirty feet beneath the level of the Thames, but if there was anyone in the building above him the sound would easily travel to them through the underground passages and up the winding stone stairways. He stirred himself; he felt like a runner preparing for a desperate race, his nerves keyed to their highest pitch. For all he knew he might yet have to run the gauntlet of many enemies ere he regained his freedom. “I’ll have to get out of this pretty quickly,” he muttered to himself. “God, I wish I had a gun.”

It must have been taken from him w§en he was brought down, but his captors missed the loose bullets. He usually secreted some about his person for he invariably found that they came in useful, but never so useful as on this occasion. t

With swift, silent movements he slipped through the door that was shattered into long strips. His feet stumbled over the stone steps at first but soon he became more confident. He dared #to flash his light upwards, and saw that the stairs he was now traversing ended in a landing. He guessed that more stairs continued from there.

The door he finally arrived at was slightly ajar. He pushed it slightly outwards praying that it would not squeak, then stiffened suddenly and gasped for breath for directly under his gaze was a man who seemed to be watching him. He felt sure that he had been discovered but the fellow made no atempt to reach for the re-, volver in front of him. .John came to the sudden realisation that he was asleep, then he saw the hilt of a dagger protruding from above the man’s shoulder. . He shuddered. What grim tragedy had he stumbled upon now? He had no time to question further for his own case was desperate. Continuing in his lithe, noiseless fashion he stepped into the room, which was bare and unfurnished except for the table over which the dead body huddled, gud the chair upon which it sat. John took up the gun first then lifted up the head of the man. He was quite dead. “Drop that gun!”

The voice seemed to come from behind him, and there was an open door to the right. Like a flash he turned and took a pot-shot, and swung in a continuous movement and leapl for the door. If he expected to feel a bullet sear into his flesh he was mistaken. Apparently his own shot had upset, his interrupter.

He found himself rushing down a flight of «taits. He reached the bottom in quick time, his gun in his hand !':r immediate action. That he would strike trouble he did not doubt. A murmur of voices and a shout of surprise told him that someone had made a discovery, there was a sound of rapj ’ footsteps at the head of the stairs, lie hesitated whether to turn to the left or the right. A sudden slamming of a door to the left decided him, and he rushed down a gloomy corridor. No one attempted to stop him, something for which lie was duly thankful. He found., himself in in a liny room littered with worked lurniture. For a second it' seei'-md as if he was trapped, and his eyes" flashed to the only exit, a Pry window bristling savagely with broken giass. He was not the only one who thougnl he was trapped for lie heard a triumphant shout. Snarling voices rune down the corridor like the haying of bloodhounds that have sighted their quarry.

]ntuition' dictated all his actions now. He grabbed a chair and thrust it under Ihe door knob Tt was somewhat rickety and he had no confluence of it holding long, hut perhaps long enough for him to get through the liny window.

His examination of the window was Wifi. He saw all the possibilities at . glance. Most oi the glass had men broken out but Hie .jagged pieces lioved a problem. Swiftly be strip-

,1 off bis coat and lay it across the

,CL The window was fairly high, but fortunately if bad a wide ledge and lie managed to swing himself up. ') here was a misty darkness which his o\ cs could not penetrate High up he saw the aurora of London lights, lights that he had not expected lo see again.

He was not yet through the window and- the angry shouts and thudding upon the door which cracked ominously told him that it was time he was L'.y inveigling his feet first he managed to sit upon the outside ledge. ■ iei bring the upper part of his body am read through. P was a difficult job and he came near slipping ol leuge. The glass in Ihe upper window cut him severely.

A chill thought suddenly struck him hat he might he sixty or seventy feet hove* the street. If so he was

SassanassmaEaroia BUMBBißaainnißßai maamm.

doomed. Perhaps it might be bette to make a jump for, it and break hi! neck rather than fall into the clutches of the mad-man who termed himset the Master Mind. Suddenly he lugged the revolve! from his pocket and dropped it. / gasp of relief escaped him as it thudded a few feet below him. He balanced himself well enough to gram the window ledge and slid his fee down tiie wall until his whole bo In was suspended. The sounds of desperate hammer] ing still came through the window then a crash. The door was down A grim smile flickered at Hie corn] ers of his mouth as lie diopped tej the ground. I (To be Continued). 1 • I