“RED FOR DANGER”

Manawatu Times, Volume 59, Issue 273, 21 November 1934, Page 9

“RED FOR DANGER”

The whole contraption, books as well, slid easily aside and disappeared into , some bidden slot In the wall. The small cabin now disclosed was .more than a little familiar to Timothy. On one never-to-be-forgotten night he had been cooped up - there ■•for longer than he liked to remember. The bookshelf was, in fact, the back of the cupboard in the B.S.T.A. Board Room..

There was no mistaking it. There was the cupboard door facing him, and there, too, a single strip of wood fitted with coat-hooks. A cunning device that, for when the bookcase was in position the wooden bar would look as though it were fixed to it. The sliding door was evidently fitted with a self-closing spring, for Gray held it open. “Quick,” he whispered. “There isn’t room for two at once. I’ll follow.”

Timothy grinned. He said not a word, but took hold of Gray by the scruff of the neck and forced him forward.

Gray began to tremble like a leaf, but he did as he was bid, and very cautiously opened the cupboard door a few inches. The Board Room was in darkness. Timothy gently propelled him forward. Behind him the sound of a faint click told him that the bookcase and slid back into position. Retreat was effectualiy cut off if Gray should play the traitor. Hfs grip tightened.

Utter silence and pitch darknessit might have been a tomb. ■ What it was that warned him Timothy could never have said, but in answer to some impelling urge he ducked suddenly. The blow missed his head and fell on his shoulder. The lights blazed, on, and Timothy, with the rage of a primitive savage, saw the trap that he had fallen into. There were five of them. Hennessey was there, Quinn was there. And they were all armed with clubs of one sort or another. Quinn wielded a heavy steel life-preserver—one hard crack on the head with that and a man’s skull would splinter like an eggshell. Hennessey carried a length of rubber tubing, and its rigidity was significant.

All'this Timothy took in in a fraction of a second. Then he caught Gray by the knees, and swung him bodily la the air. At ordinary times his strength was astonishing enough, but now fury lent him the strength of ten. Round and round he whirled, using Gray as an enormous club and clearing a wide circle around him. Then lie let go and the limp form of Gray flew from his arms and bowled over two of his attackers like ninepins.

Then all hell seemed to have broken loose. The fight only lasted two minutes, but what a two minute®! None of the five had ever known so much unpleasant eventfulness crowded into so short a space of time. Timothy made a rush for the window. Hennessey, trying to cut off his devastating advance, was hurled bodily through it. Quinn fared worse. He rushed at Timothy who was standing at bad amid the wreckage of the window. Timothy at the last, instant dropped on one knee. He caught Quinn between the legs with one hand and by the waistcoat with the other and flung him with a mighty heave clear over his head.

Quinn hung head down over the stone balcony. ’For a moment only his legs were visible jerking convulvisely, then they too disappeared into the night.

If he had done nothing else Timothy had at all events made enough din to raise the dead. But his mastery was brief. Hennessey had him by the legs. The other three were on him like a pack of frenzied wolves. Timothy went down under their combined weight and the savage blows they rained on him—head, shoulders, arms, body, wherever they could And a spot to strike.

For a time he was unoonscious, but the period must, have been quite short, for when he opened his eyes 'he was still in the Board Room.

There was really no need for Hensavage Injunction:

“ Jump to it, damn you, you thickheaded dolts. Get him below—Gray too. and clear out quick.” Timothy did not struggle. It would have been useless.' His wrists and ankles were manacled. Jill was down below; they were taking him there, too. He would And her after all—not quite as he intended, though. Still, lie was alive, and life meant hope. The smashing of the window and the dih of the Aght would attract attention, and might bring assistance. Judging by their frantic haste, Hennessey and his men evidently feared something of the sort.

Through drooping lids Timothy watched Hennessey go to & massive safe on the top landing. It was draped with a heavy curtain, which explained why Timothy had missed it on his tour of the premises. When the- door was opened it revealed. not the inside of a safe, but a well-lighted stone staircase -leading down. Thero followed for Timothy a most unpleasant and painful experience. Ho was kicked and pushed and rolled down the steps like a sack of coals. The descent was a long one with many turns. By the time he had bumped to the bottom there was habdly an inch on him that was not bruised or cut. Before them now wa.s an ordinary door, and above it a green light showed, to Hennessey's evident relief. “Quick 1 Shove ’em in!” he grunted. “’lt's Just on . eight.” He pushed open the door, and Timothy did his last stair-bumping act down half-a-dozen steps. By this time he was almost beyond feeling. When something thudded against his back and remained pressing down on him, he made no effort to throw off the weight. It was a woman’s cry—such a poignant heart-broken cry—that roused him.

“ Jill,” he whispered faintly and, orawding free, tried to blink the blood out of his eyes and see her. “HU.” But, all .he saw. as yet was the face of Dr. Aloysius Gray. It was set in a. stiff,, frightful grin of terror. He was stone dead. ' “ I did it,” thought Tirtiothy, vaguely surprised that 'he felt no sense of awe at having killed a man with his hands, but only quiet -.satisfaction. “I did It —and Quinn, too, probably. I wish I’d got Hennessey as well,”

(By Lindsay Hamilton)

Instalment 24.

'‘CHAPTER XXV f* The Death Chamber*

There was cause enough for .Till’s cry, for Timothy presented a horrifying spectacle. Every visible part of his body was smeared and caked with blood and dirt, and his clothes hung from ihlm in rags. It was little wonder that Jill thought at first, that she was looking at his mangled remains. Timothy collected his dazed wits, sat up, and wiped his arm across his eyes. He saw Jill was unharmed, and his slow grin then, grotesque and terrible though it looked through the stains of war, was a very creditable performance. “Dear heart,” he murmured, “here we are again, and, as usual, well in the consomme. The Little Pickles,, that’s what we are—'Jack and Jill, only it’s Jack that comes tumbling after.” Jill found relief in spontaneous laughter. Whatever else had befallen her, she had at all events not lowered her flag. Her high spirit was not dashed. “Oh, my dear, dear savage,” she crooned. “You look awful —perfectly awful.” She had risen to her fet and Timothy saw that she, too, was shackled hand and foot. Beside her chair was a bench against the wall, and on it a figure reclined motionless. > Timothy crawled along on hands and knees, and presently he saw who it was that lay so still on the bench . “What! Sam!” he exclaimed. “He’s asleep,” said Jill. “Poor Sam. He’s had a fearful time of it. Dr. Gray has been using him for his ghastly experiments. He’s all right, I think, but terribly weak. As far as I can gather Dr. •Gray has been experimenting with fibrinogen—you know, the stuff that makes your blood clot. They used his blood, pints of it, according to Sam.” “Good Lord, the poor devil!” Timothy gasped. ‘“But how did they come to get hold of Sam? I thought he was safe in my flat. I'd never given him a thought.” Jill explained. “Well, when you let him down into the yard he began to investigate on his own in the wane cellars.” “I can believe it,” said Timothy, with a dry chuckle. “Sam's a connoisseur in wines.” “He was moving some empty crates aside when he discovered a narrow passage with a door at the far end. As soon as he touched the handle of the door he was knocked clean out; or, as he puts it, an elephant kioked him in the back. 1 think myself that he was electrocuted, and il was a jolly good thing for him he was wearing rubber gloves at the time. “Sam , always was a creature of habit,” said Timothy with a grin of amusement. “And when he came to he was in the Nursing Home. They brought him down here to-day.” Their voices woke Sam. He blinked violently on seeing Timothy and tried to rise, but Timothy gently pushed him back. “Been getting into bad company, 3 hear, Sam.” Sam puckered his face up. “I ain’t no plaster saint as you know, sir,” he observed, “but that there blinkin’ saw-bones-strike me pink if he ain’t nutty. Do you know what he said, sir? ' He said as 'ow my blood was just what he wanted, ’cause it was full of fibre and gin.” Timothy laughed. “Fibrinogen, was that it?” “Well, some kind o’ gin," said Sam. “I’m sorry, Sam, very sorry,” said Timothy, with sudden gravity. “J never expected to see you here.” Sam winked. “Nor me you either, sir.” “Well, since we are here, we’ll sil the show out, what—to the fall of the ourtain.” “No choice.” “And call for the author,” put in Jill flippantly. “Though, from all I’ve heard, he won’t wait, till he’s called. Do you know, my Timothy, that in a few moments we shall be called upon to entertain hia Infernal Highness, the one and only mystery man, Okay, or K.i., or whatever he calls himself?” Timothy bad always admired her cool courage, but never more so than at that moment. His twinkling eyes found hers, but there was a deeper message behind the twinkle. “And after the show,” he. said, “whichever way it goes,” we 11 gc home together.” Her fettered hands closed in an impulsive grip over his. A passion oi tenderness welled in her lustrous eyes, But for one brief instant only. Then her tantalising laugh rang out. "Shocking boy! What would Mr Garter say?” “Damn Mr Carter.” “By all means." said Jilt, “if—and what a. big ‘if’ it is—if we ever get the chance. Sh! Can you hear anything —overhead, I mean?” They listened. Certainly something was going on in the room above, but it was impossible to say what, for the sounds were so faint. “They’re clearing out," said Timothy. “It may be that. But I thought 1 heard something that might have been a shot. Gosh! I wmnder if that hullabaloo I raised has brought in the cops.” He was silent for a moment. “I'm afraid that wouldn’t help us. Gray was right. This place is about aa safe as the Bank of England vaults. Our only hope is to tiok’.e the tender heart of K.i. How about one of those nice glass bottles over there? I might get a chance to reach his heart through his skull.” Timothy hopped and hobbled across to the laboratory bench and selected the largest of the glass flasks. Another idea had meanwhile occurred to him. There was strong sulphuric acid in most labs.—a persuasive kind of weapon. But K.I. and his underlings were no fools. They had left nothing •lying about that would serve for either defence or attack, except the flasks, and they were of quite' thin glass. He' could probably do more damage with the steel manacles' on his' wrists. Nevertheless, Timothy got back to his seat with it- and secreted it behind him. He began now to take a critical survey of the room. Except for the absence of windows there was nothing about it to suggest an underground cellar. It was well lit, the ceiling white, the walls done in white tiles, the floor covered with a thick layer