THE TOKEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18679, 8 April 1924, Page 3

THE TOKEN.

BY LOUIS TRACY. Author of 44 The Second Baronet," " Rainbow Island," " The House of Peril," " One Wonderful Night," etc., etc..

(Copyright.) CHAPTER Xn. " THE VOLCANO." Sheldon had rooms in Shaftesbury Avenue, so Linton walked with him up Whitehall, after sending his bag in a taxi to the Army and Navy Club. The aftertheatre rush of traffic had practically ended and the spacious streetin many ways the most dignified thoroughfare in London was empty enough to reveal the placid beauty of its varied architecture. The Government offices on the west side were impressive in the half light of a June evening. They bore the guise of a solid purpose, and seemed to represent the power and majesty of Britain. It was almost impossible to believe that the stage thunder of a number of crazy theorists could lay in ruins nob only these stately buildings, but all that they stood for. Linton said something of this to his companion, of whom he knew nothing save that he was evidently a trusted associate of Winter and Furneaux.

"I wouldn't have had the slightest hesitation in agreeing with you before the war," commented Sheldon thoughtfully. "To-day I am not so sure, I think we are passing through a transition period. Unknown forces have been let loos©, and, whether we like it or not, will direct our public life into new channels. If our people retain their traditional commonsense, all will he welL If they yield to hysteria, and they are perilously near the border-line just now, we may still survive as a nation, but there will be some remarkable changes in the British temperament. lam certain of one thing. We in our time will never again see the contented and prosperous England of 1914." "But change is inevitable. Surely the future of the British Empire is not at the mercy of fanatics like Lefevre T" "Not if we can make people understand the real peril of the situation. If Russia, some years ago, could have visualised her condition to-day, the Revolution, even if it broke out, must have followed a very different course. That is the trouble. Political and economic experiments often produce unforseen and lamentable results, but it's a deuce of a job to get their advocates to admit the fact and mend their ways." ( "So you share Mr. Furneaux's rather disconcerting pessimism ?" "One never Knows what Furneaux actually has at the hack of his head. For one thing, quicksilver, not. red blood, runs in his veins. For another,, he is a creature of impulse, and is horribly annoyed because he has failed so far to arrive at some convincing and acute bit of inductive reasoning which shall tell us who Lefevre actually is and what he is aiming at. Of course, we can all of us fall back on Communistic shibboleths, but Furneaux believes — I agree with him —that this particular gang is working on a definite programme. I tell you_ candidly, in my opinion we are up against something startling in the methods of the social revolution." "But you yourself said you were satisfied with the progress made by the Department in one complete day, and our inquiry literally began with the stabbing of Foster last night." 1 am satisfied, yet I hate to see Furneaux unsettled. For instance, any other man, and he himself on any other occasion, would have crowed over the confirmation of his snake theory to-night, but he let it go by as if of no importance. • "What's this about the snake? I haven't heard."

"Ah, I forgot! You put us all on a new scent when yoij produced Jenks, though, oddly enough, it was just the appearance of Jenks which unsettled the little man more than anything else. He was disturbed at finding that Lefevre's teachings had reached Jenks and his class. There are millions of Jenkses, you know. That is why Furneaux hurried off to interview the two fellows grabbed in Curzon Street. But— the snake. Someone unknown, a man not answering in any respect to Lefevre's description, called at a naturalist's shop in the Old Brompton Road long after closing hours last night, and bought a common green snake, a perfectly harmless creature, and took it away in a black box exactly similar to the one you saw on the table in the Dorking house. And, by the way, a call came through from Charing Cross about eight o'clock- this evening, for Ruffini at Mr. Thistleton's place. The policeman on duty there said that Ruffini was not in, but he would deliver any message. The inquirer, a foreigner, who spoke English well, asked if Ruffini had gone to London as arranged, and the Eoliceman answered that he had not, ut was probably engaged with the head gardener, the long drought having rendered it necessary to water the flowerbeds thoroughly to-night. The voice requested him to tell Ruffini not- to travel to town at all this evening, as the theatrical performance was postponed until this day week, or even later. Of course, the call came from a public telephone office." "So that is why Mr. Winter was so ready to wager a new hat?" "Possibly. However, Furneaux knew all about it when he took the bet. The Chief almost keeps him in new hats. I believe he does it purposely, just to find out what really is in his mind." "All the same, I am convinced Furneaux won by mere chance."* "Why?" "An explosion in a furniture repository ! What an absurd setting for a tragic occurrence meant to shock England, to say nothing of worrying the police." "But, suppose it was intended to destroy evidence ? Lefevre knows that we are on his track, and, it may be, not so I far off the true line as we ourselves

imagine. That is a feature of this affair. Destruction, complete annihilation—these are the things aimed at, and secured, as well. There doesn't appear to be a shred of anything left in Avenue House which dffers a clue. .... Well, you cross the road here. Gopd night! We shall be older and wiser this time to-morrow."' Next morning Linton telephoned Curzon Street as arranged. Miss Peggy announced that she had slept "like a top" once her head reached the pillow. "But,", she went on, "I want to know at once, please, whether yon are speaking from Scotland Yard or from some place where no one has authority to cut me off without any word of explanation." "This time you are secured from interruption," he laughed. "I am talking from my club." "Well, wouldn't anyone be annoyed by such treatment ? This is the second time it has happened." "If you knew the excuse on each occasion you would pardon us, Miss Mainwaring. Last night, especially, we were throbbing with excitement." "Can you tell me anything?" "Not publicly." "Will you lunch here or come to tea ?" "May I 'phone you later ? Surely Providence will be kind, and permit me to keep one fixture or the other "I'm awfully excited. Is there any real news ?" I "Lots, though not what you and I want most to hear." "I don't quite get that." "Well, our efforts can only have one successful outcome —the capture of certain persons." . "Oh, that would spoil everything. _ "I fear the telephone is now affecting, my intelligence, as I don't understand that remark." "Isn't it clear that, as soon as the chase ends I revert into a perfectly normal young person?" "I see now. Unfortunately the death roll is mounting rapidly." Peggy was regretful, and said so. "I know I mustn't ask any questions," she declared. "I'll curb my curiosity till you arrive. But do tell me one thing. Will there be any interesting paragraphs in the early editions- of the evening newspapers?^

"Undoubtedly. There are two importarf items in this morning's press—the . tart cab incident in Praed Street, which yen* witnessed, in a sense, and the blowing up of business premises in South London, which you heard. Read these in the light of'your own knowledge, and you will guess a good deal." "Don't go yet, for goodness sake ! What became of Jenks?" "Ho is well, and happy, I hope. lam now about to meet him. Not anothpj word dare I utter, or you will be sure to use other names." "How delightfully mysterious! I shan't stir out of the house till you 'phone, so please remember you are keeping me interned on a lovely day." "I take it, of course, you are not going North ?" "How stupid of me ! That is the firstthing I meant to tell you. My people are coming to town by the night mail. 1 shall be in London for weeks" Quite regretfully, Linton broke off the conversation. Not that he lacked words. The trouble was he might not utter them. For he had taken thought during {Tie (.old light of early morning, when the events of life, even its waking dreams, lose a good deal of the glamour they borrow from evening shadows. . It would have been difficult enough to disrupt all his material prospects so that he might r.ot only marry but live happily with a girl (ihoseu from the wage-earning classes. But the social distinctions set up in Maylair were just as potent as those Chat obtain in Bermondsey. The daughter of a wealthy posr, one already marked out l '°- the high places of political preferment", was nearly as far out of reach ior a young Chief Constable of Police, as the said young Chief constable for a, housemaid! . "This will never do!" he told himself, lighting the first pipe of the day. "I really ought not to go either to luncheon or tea.*

He ended by going to both, an unlookedfor development which came about in the most natural way. When he reached Scotland Yard shortly before ten o'clock, he met a rejuvenated Jenks and a spruce Blenkey. Though awed by their surroundings, the two men were conscious of being distinctly removed from the common order of mankind, inasmuch as, each in his own way, they had an inner and peculiar knowledge of the sensational tetories anient Lefevre and his gang pubfished in the morning newspapers. The (ingenuity of modern journalism had not failed to connect the series of crimes which had occurred the previous day, while disclaimers from a bank and a firm of wellknown stockbrokers, stating that they had no client of the name of "Lefevre," focused public attention on the owner of a large house who had so thoroughly destroyed his own property. Ruffini's arrest was known, toe, as well as the scuffle in Curzon Street, "outside the Home Secretary's London residence." One adroit writer, remembering that a man was under remand for purveying a new and exceedingly harmful drug, went into & detailed description of certain phases of the night life of Loudon, and stated categorically that the Continental Squad "of the C.I.D. was particularly active just now in its surveillance of the most noted members of the under-world, both men and women.

Sir Arthur Monson and Mr. Winter were annoyed when they read this effusion. It was altogether too clever an assumption, since none of the officials conducting the inquiry would breathe a word. as to departmental methods to anyone connected with the Press, "We cannot guard against this sort of thing. Sir Arthur," said the Chief resignedly. "These young gentlemen attend the law courts, and remember how and when certain evidence has been obtained. Though the exact system employed to get it or the actual source whence it came may . be concealed, they ferret out some of the facts subsequently, often from the prisoner when released. All these things are on record in a newspaper's 'library,' where your biography and mine are already written up, ready for instant use if one or other of us meets a sudden and violent death.'' "In this case, wouldn't it be. wise "to enlist the aid of the Press ?" "You mean in relation to the facts still withheld?" "Well —yes. How about a photograph of a 'token,' for instance?" "Furneanx, who telephoned early to say he may not put in an appearance at any time to-day, is dead against any reference to the numbered half-crowns. ' "But Lefevre and his crew know that we know ?" "Yes, sir. I admit it. • But, when Furneaux makes a special request " The Commissioner laughed. i "Oh, of course," he said. "We have just to do as we're told. "Very well, jjet us discuss this point fully when he does turn up. Have you any notion as to what he is doing V 1. ' "He wants to roam about in disguise. Probably I shall pass him in the street. But he can get hold of us quickly enough, if necessary." 4 (To bo continued daily.)