THE NINE BEARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14565, 30 December 1910, Page 3

THE NINE BEARS.

rCELISHED BT STECIAL ASEA>*GBS£E>"T.

BY EDGAE WALLACE, Author of "Mission That Failed." "Writ in Barracks." " Unofikcial Despatches." " The Four Just Men.' etc., etc.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The telegraphist recovered consciousness with a shiver and a groan. For £ quarter of an hour, bo sat with his face hidden in his hinds. Another pull at the editor's i3a.>k aroused him to tell his story— narrative which is valuable as being the- first piece of definite evidence Iviu against the Nine Bears.

He began, hesitatingly, but as the story of his complicity was unfolded lie warmed to his task. With the true Garid's love for the dramatic, he declaimed, with elaborate gesture and sonorous phrase- the pan he had played.

, "My name is Jules Escoltier. I am a. I telegraphist in the corps of engineers. On j the establishment of the wireless telegra- ; phy station on the Eiffel Tower in con- ! noction with the Casa- Blanca affair. I was ■ appointed one of tin? operators. Strange ; as it. may sound, one does not frequently ■ intercept messages, out J was surprised i ,i year ago to find myself taking code. . uospatciies from a station which called itI self " X.H.C.* There is no such station j known, so far as I am aware, and copies , of the despatches which I forwarded to i my superiors were always returned to me J .is " con-decodable.' I "'One. day 1 received a message 'in i English, which I can read. It ran : i "'All those who know N.H.C. call ; h.a.'

'"-Although I did not. know who N.H.C. | was, 1 haa the curiosity to look up H.A. i on the telegraph, map. and found it was j the Cornish Marconi Station.- Taking adi vantage of the absence of my officer, I • sent, a wireless message : ' I desire inforj illation, L.L.' That is not the Paris "inI clicator.' but I knew that I should get the j reply. I had hardly sent the message | when another message came. It was from I Monsieur Hyatt. 1 got, the message dis- | tinctly : ' Can you meet- me in London I on the 9th, Gailini's Restaurant?* To this jl. replied: 'No. impossible.' After this 1. had a long talk with the Oornishmau. and then it- was that he told me that Ids name was Hyatt. He told me that he was able to decode the N.H.C. messages, thatha had a book, and that it was possible I to make huge sums of money for the ini formation contained in them". I thought j that it was very indiscreet to epeak so j openly, and told him > so. " lie asked me for' my name, and I, gave it. and thereafter I regularly received letters from him, and a •correspondence began. i " Not being au fait- in matters affecting the Bourse, I did nob know of what value the information wo secured from N.H.C. could be, but Hyatt said he had a friend who was interested in such matters, and that if I 'took off' all N.H.C. messages that- I got, and repeated them to him, I should share in the proceeds. I was of great value to Hyatt, because I received j messages that never reached him in this way. He was able "to keep in touch with all the operations on which N.H.C. were engaged. "By arrangement, we met in Paris— Hyatt, his friend of the London Bourse, Monsieur Moss and myself, and Hyatt < handed to me notes "for 20,000 francs (£800); that was the first payment I received from him. He returned to England, and things continued in very much the same way as they had done, I receiving and forwarding N.H.C. messages. I never understood any of them, but Hyatt was clever, and he had discovered the cods and worked it out,

"About a fortnight ago I received from him ,5000 francs in notes, a letter that spoke of a great coup contemplated by N.H.C. 'Ii this materializes.' he wrote, ' I hope to send you half a million francs by the end of next week.' "The nest morning I received this message—'' He fumbled in his pocket and produced a strip of paper, on wEicli was hastily scrawled:

" From N.H.C. to L.L. Meet me in London on the sixth, Chairing Cross Station." " It was, as you see, in French, and as if came I scribbled it down. I would have ignored it, but that night I got a message from Hyatt saying that N.H.C. had discovered we shared their secret and had offered to pay us £5000 each to preserve silence, and that, as they would probably alter the code, I should be a iool not to accept. So I got leave of absence and bought a suit of clothing, left Paris, and arrived in London the following night. A dark young man who said his name was Silinski met me at the station, and invited me to come home with him.

" He had a motor car at the entrance of the station, and after some hesitation 1 accepted. We drov3 through the streets filled with people, for the theatres were just emptying, and after an interminable ride we reached the open country. Silinski drove the car and I was the only other occupant. I asked him where was Hyatt.; and where we were going, but lie refused to speak. When I pressed him he informed me he was taking me to a- rendezvous near the sea.

" We had been driving for cloj?e on three houre, when we reached a lonely lane. By the lights of the car I could s«e a steep hill before us, and I could hear the roar of the waves somewhere ahead.

" Suddenly he threw a lever over, and as the car bounded forward he sprang to tho ground with a mocking laugh. ''Before I could realise what had happened the machine was flying down the steep gradient, rocking from side to side. "I have sufficient knowledge of motorcar engineering to manipulate a cir, and I at once sprang to the wheel and felt for the brake. But both foot and hand brake were useless. In some manner he had contrived to disconnect them.

" It was pitch dark, and all that I could hope to do was to keep the car to the centre of the road. Instinctively I knew that I was rushing to certain death, and, messieurs. I was! I was dying down a. steep gradient to inevitable destruction, for at the bottom of the hill the road turned sharply, and confronting me, although I did not know this, was a stone sea wall.

" I resolved on taking my life in my hands, and putting the car at, one of the steep hanks which ran on either side, I turned the steering wheel and shut my eves. I expected instant death. Instead, the car bounded up at an angle that almost threw me from my seat. I heard the crash of wood, and fitting splinters struck my neck, and the next thing I remember was a series of bumps; as the car jolted over a ploughed field. " I had achieved the impossible. At the point I had chosen to leave the road was a irate leading to a field, and by an act of Providence I had found the only way of

escape. " I found myself practically at the very edge of the sea, and in my first terror I would have given every sou I had to escape to Prance. All night long I waited by the broken car, and with the dawn some peasants came and told mo I was only five miles distant from Dover. I embraced the man who told me this, and would have hired a conveyance to drive me to Dover, en route for France. I knew that N.H.C. could trace me, and then I was anxious to get in touch with Hyatt and Moss. Then it was that I saw in an English newspaper that Moss was dead."

Ho stopped and moistened his lips. "M'sieur!" he went on, with a characteristic gesture, "I decided that I would come to London and find Hyatt. I took train, but I was watched. At a little junction called Sandgat© a man sauntered past my carriage-. I did n.>t know him; he looked like an Italhin. As the train left the station something smashed the window and I heard a thud. * There was no report, but I knew that I had been fired at with an airgnn, for tho bullet I found embedded in the woodwork of the carriage." " Did nothing further happen?" asked T.B. "Nothing till I reached Charing Cross, then when I stopped to iwk a policeman to direct mo to the Central Police Bureau I. (

. ! saw a man pass me in a motor-car, eyeing j me closely. It was Silinski/' j "And then':" \ "Then I saw my danger. I was afraid i of the police. I saw a newspaper sheet. > It was a great newspaper—l wrote a letter j —and sought lodgings in a little hotel near j the river. There was no answer to my let.- | ter. I waited in hiding for two day's before I realised that I had given no address. | I wrote again. All this time I have been J seeking Hyatt. I have telegraphed to Cornwall, but the.reply comes"that he is not. there. Then in the newspaper I learn j of his death. M'sieur. I am afraid.*' | He wiped the drops of sweat from his i forehead with a shaky hand. ! He was indeed in a pitiable condition of ; fright, and T. 8.. upon whose nerves the I mysterious '"bears" were already begin- I ning to work, appreciated his tear without ! sharing it. * | _ There came a knock at the outer door '■ of the office, and the editor moved to \ answer it. [ There was a whispered conversation at : the door, the door closed again, and the ! editor returned with raised brows. i "T.Li..*' he said, "that wretched market j has eone again.'" j "' Gone?" ! "Gone to blazes! Spanish fours are so ; low that you'd get pain in your hack if ; Vou stooped to pick them up."*' j T.B. nodded. | "I'll use your telephone." lie said, and I j stooped over tlte desk. He called for a . j number and after an interval— "Yes—that you, Maitland? Go to 375. ; .St. John-street, and take- into custody (ire- , gory Silinski on a charge of murder. Take : with you fifty men and surround the place. ! Detain even - caller, and every person you i find in the house." "I H* hung tip the receiver. • , "Now. my friend," he said in French, ■ "what shall we do with you?" j The Frenchman shrinked his- shoulders i listlessly. . • - j "What does; it matter." he said: " they j will have me—it is only & -matter of , hours." " i "I take a brighter view." said T.R. } cheerily: '"you shall walk with us to Soot- ' land Yard and there you .shall be taken j care of." j But the Frenchman shrunk back. J " Come, there is no danger." smiled T.B. ! Reluctantly the engineer accompanied j the detective and the editor from the build- j | ing. A yellow fog lay like a damp cloth ! over London, and the Thames Embank- j ment was almost deserted. j " Do von think he followed vou here?" I asked T.B. * j "I am sure." The Frenchman looked j | from left to right in an agonv of appre- j j hension. " He'killed Hyatt and he killed j Moss—of that I am certain—and now—" A motor-car loomed suddenly through the fog, coming from the direction of j Northumberland Avenue, and overtook j them. A man leant out of the window as J the car swept abreast. His face was | masked and his actions were deliberate. I " out '." cried the editor and { clutched the Frenchman's arm. i The pistol that was levelled from the j window of the car cracked twice and T.B. j felt the' wind of the bullets as they passed ] his head. j Then the car disappeared into the mist, j leaving behind three men, one half-fainting j with terror, one immensely pleased with j the novel sensation—our editor you may be sure—and one using language unbecoming to an assistant-commissioner of police, for T.B. knew that the mask was Silinski. and that the detectives even now on ■their way to St. John-street would find the cage empty and the bird flown. (To bo continued daily.) - i