THE BADGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20229, 13 April 1929, Page 20 (Supplement)

THE BADGE.

BY BEN BOLT.

CHAPTER XIII. JJarbouchi shook his head, and the man JSmil ejaculated superstitiously: ■' Un fantome. The house is old " V Ghosts do not fall, you fool! One Of you go and " It was then that Dorrington saw his opportunity and acted. A sudden wellplanted blow drove the Berber back against thb rail. As he staggered he lell against Emil, who inadvertently thrust his lighted candle in Mallinson's eye, making, him cry out with the sharpness of the pain it caused. Dorrington Jeaped forward and was out of the room in a flash. He ran along the gallery, making for the stairs that led to the attic and the roof, and as he reached the doorway lie heard Mallinson s voice. " 1' ire v idiot There was a flash, a roar of sound, end a bullet plugged the woodwork about the dour. With a laugh he passed through and paused sufliciently long to llmg-to the half-unhinged door. Then using his flashlight he saw a man halfway down the stairs and recognised his iriend. " Back, Mike, for your life." The major turned instantly, and as he fled up the stairs Dorrington followed; while the door behind crashed violently as it was flung open by impatient hands. When Dorrington reached the attic by the window of which he had entered the liouse, 'the major was already on the ladder, and flinging the door to. he followed him with all speed. Beaching the leads, he turned and groped for the ladder, and as he found it he heard tomeone collide heavily against the closed door. He wasted no time, but with a great heave, lifted the ladder to the sill of the skylight, levered it high out of reach of the men surging into the room below and with the help of his friend dragged it clear on to the roof. From the darkness below there came a shout of baffled anger. A sudden flame split the darkness, and a bullet shattered what was left of the glass in the hinged window. Dorrington laughed as he dropped out of range and groped for his shoes. As he found them and began (o slip them on he heard Mallinson's voice shouting wrathfully: " The fire escape. He'll go that way. Quick ! / To the front of the house !" There was a scurry backward, the sound of a stumble, a shout as some man fell down the stairs leading to the gallery; and having finished tying his laces, lie ran after his friend who was already on the iron ladder. " Sharp's the word, Mike. They're going round to the front." The major went down the ladder with the. agility of an acrobat, and Dorintgon followed, jumping the last few rungs as he heard the hall door open, and two or three pair of feet grind the gravel. " This way," he whispered. " Across the crass and down the hill to the trees. If they've wit they'll make straight for the gato in the hope of cutting us off." They followed the slope of the ground and reached the, shadow of the trees which extended like a fringe round the high wall. There they stopped to listen, and distinctly caught the sound of feet in two directions. "' One's running for the gate," com nientcd Dorrington, whom many months of listening on a battle front and years nf hunting in wild places had trained to distinguish the direction of sounds with amazing accuracy. " Yes. And there are at least two questing round the house." " Our chance lies at the gate. There may be some other outlet, but we don't know of it, and it would be a waste of time to seek it. We can mange one

man."/ They began to move as quickly as circumspection allowed in the direction of the gate, keeping well in the shadows. In a very short time they reached the Neighbourhood of it, and there paused to reconnoitre, Dorrington creeping forward to learn what he could, while Major Darling kept watch on the backward way. Four minutes or so passed, then Dorrington returned. " The fellow—the Spahi, I think —is straddled across the gate, back to it. Too far from the bushes for a surprise rush, if he has the pistol. We've got to tempt him nearer the shadow." "Right!" whirpered the major coolly. " Which of us is going to tackle him 1" " I am, if you will get him to move rearer to the trees." " Good! but for heaven's sake be careful. Don'fc got, in front of his pistol." They crept forward again. As they did sp from the direction of the house came a suden "Co-00-eei" " That's Mallinson, I'll wager," commented Dorrington. " He's keeping in touch." The'man by the gate answered, but apparently did not move from his post; and keeping well in the shadow and using a hunter's caution so that only the faintest rustling sound resulted from their movements, the pair wormed their way forward. It was a game they had often indulged in between the trenches of the Somm'e with Bosche sentries for their quarry, and they played it with such skill "that when at length they were halted at the very edge of the trees, with perhaps half a dozen yards separating them, the man by the gate was entirely unaware of their nearness. Dorrington lifted himself up, well in the shadow of a tree, while his companion with infinite caution, piece bv piece gathered a handful of gravel, and then flicked a single chip so that it fell in the carriage way, half a dozen yards from the sentry and as many from Dorrington. The falling stone made a sound that was distinctly heard by the two stalkers, as by their quarry also.'foi the man turned quicidy and looked in the direction from which the sound had come. Dorrington waited coolly. Would the man advance or not ? lie remained whei'9 he was. Another chip left the major's finger and thumb, and as it fell the man took a single step forward and peered into the darkness, evidently r little puzzled by a sound that indicated movement- of which his eyes gave him no evidence. Half a dozen chips had been so flicked before the man's curiosity got the bettor of him. ''Allah!" lie grunted, and stepped quickly toward the trees in the direction whence the mysterious sounds had come. Before ho reached the tree, lie halted, doubtfully, warned perhaps by some sense of danger. He stared into the gloom before him, and Darling watching him alertly, distinctly say the whites of his eyes. After standing a moment the man turned to return to his post, and in that moment Dorrington left the shelter of his tree, making for the man in a rushing leap. The man heard him, half turned and lifted his pistol. But even as/he fired Dorrington's fist caught him. It was a staggering blow, arid the man went down as if stricken with sudden death, his pistol falling from his hand as lie fell. In a second Dorrington was on him, while the major groped for the pistol that had fallen from the man's hand. " Got it," he announced, just as from the direction of the house came a hail " Hola! Barbouclii." " Barbonchi's out of action for the present." said Dorrington, standing upright. " Arid now is the time to quit." Apparently it was more than time, for down the gravelled drive there came a sound of speeding feet. The major laughed. " We've time enough. They'll stop to examine tho Spahi as sure as a gun." They slipped though tho postern gate, and running lightly down the road to tho taxi, found their Jehu very much on the qui vive, with his engine running. 7 1 hoard tho shot," ho said. "And ihyught you gents might bo in a bit a hurry. All I hope is that it ain't jnurdcr/i

BRILLIANT ROMANCE OF BURIfcJ TREASURE.

'VOPIRIGBT.)

"No! Secret Service!" chuckled the major. "My friend laid out with his fist the man who fired thd shot. But there are others. They may try to stop us at the gate. You must rush them." " Right-oh! " said the driver coolly, belonging as lie did to a class whom nothing can surprise. "Rush 'em, J will." They started forward, and before they drew level with the gate three dark forms broke from it into the road. One of them set himseli right across the fairway and stood thero shouting for the taxi-man to halt. In the headlights his face showed quite clearly as did the pistol in his hand. " Mallinson!" jerked the major over his shoulder to his friend. The taxi-driver by whose side he was seated saw the pistol. "A blooming hold-upper!" he ejaculated. " Well —here's for the swine." Ho accelerated sharply and drove straight for the menacing figure standing in the desolate road. For a second it seemed that Mallinson would keep his ground, but he leaped clear in the nick of time. The Jehu chuckled. " Thought we'd shift him. The old 'bus is like a tank." " You did very well," laughed the major. " But keep on, and take a few turns when the chance offers. The man has a high-powered car. He may take it into his head to follow." "Right! If he finds me, he's a bloodhound. I've bin at this Chase-merCharley game b'fore this; I'll dazzle him." He was as good as his word, taking many corners and devious turnings, and coming at last into tho straight by the East India Docks. "No pursuit!" announced Dorrington, who had been kneeling on the seat with his eyes at the little window at the back of tho cab. " Good! Now I'll change over, driver! Take us straight to Clarence Gate Gardens." "Right, sir!" Darling joined his friend, and as Hie taxi moved forward asked abruptly: "What happened in that liouse?" "Lots!" answered Dorrington, and gave a rapid summary of what had occurred. His friend listened without interruption until the end, then he in turn spoke. '• I heard Mallinson's car come in at the gate, and saw him enter the house. I hadn't the slightest idea what had become of you, but since from the lawn I could see Mallinson and the others confabbing in that lighted room, I wasn't worried. But presently I saw the woman leave tho room, and in no timo at all after the whole crowd rushed for the door. Then I grew mortal uneasy, suspecting you were in the house and that you had been discovered. 1 didn't like that. You know enough to hang Mallinson, and he knows you know it, and I knew ho wouldn't be so quixotic as to let a chance such as that desolate house afforded go by him. So I set out to follow you. I went along the terrace at the side of the house, and at one point I heard voices, coming as it seemed from above my head. That gave me an idea tiiat you were somewhere in the upper regions of the place; and sinco I could see that the ground-floor windows were shuttered, I guessed that you had somehow found a -means of entering tho upper storey. " I looked for ivy or some climbing tree against the wall and found that fire escape. The rest was "as easy as eating honey, except that I fell down that confounded ladder, and came near to breaking my neck."

"I heard you!" chuckled Dorrington. " The sound of your fall created a diversion and gave me my chance to make a' break. It was close running though." " Very. . . . You say Mademoiselle Dauvray is there?" " Yes. I had a talk with her. She was with me when they surprised me." " Then if I know Mallinson, she is in for trouble. He'll keep an eye on her in future. . . . You, found the thing you were looking for ?" " I don't know till I've examined the find. It was where No. 54 told me that Frenchy said it was hidden; but its value I don't know till I've gone over it. It seemed to be some kind of regimenal badge and no more. Darling nodded. Mu.it be a key to something, _ though. A fellow doesn't hide a regimental badge under the floorof a derelict house for nothing." " Not usually," agreed Dorrington. " One thing is certain, and is that Mallinson knew that the secret was somewhere about the place, for when he saw the disturbed boards lie tumbled to the truth at once, and cried out that I had found it." , "So!" For a moment Major Darling was silent, then he said thoughtfully: "I wonder if Mallinson had anything to do with the mental asylum that was run at Linden House—or that man Frenchy who died at Dartmoor ? That seems a fruitful line of inquiry. I must follow it up. But one thing is certain, and that is that we shall have to act quickly. Mallinson won t let the daisies grow under his feet if he guesses or knows that you have the secret he wants so badly, he'll nose you out. if possible; and after that, well, things will begin to happen. If he feels safe about the Barnsdale business he may give you away to Scotland Yard, if only to scotch your doing anything about the Dauvray collection, and the fact that you haven t already done the same for him will militate against your story being believed. He'll guess that, and "lie's a man who won't shrink from taking a' narrow He's good to go straight to Scotland Yard or to write a letter—or do any other Mame thing that will help him to his end. . . . Ah! Here we arc." The taxi glided to the pavement, and stepping out, Dorrington hurried into the flat, leaving tl»? Major to settle with the driver. The latter was in cheerful mood. " I reckon we diddled those blighters nicely, sir." " Yes," answered the Major, and on the top of the fare put a pound note. " That's for silence my man." " Oh. I'll keep mum, sir," answered I ho man. thrusting the money in his pocket. " Good! " The Major's eyes turned down the street and grew suddenly alert. A big touring car was standing at the corner, which he had not before observed, and a man on the causeway was talking to the chauffeur as he himself was talking to the taxi-driver. The thing looked innocent enough, yet ho had an uneasy feeling that it was not so innocent as it appeared. Suppose, after all, they had been trailed! That was only remotely possible—one chance in a thousand, yot it was not to be ruled out of the chances to be faced. Mallinson had arrived at Linden House in a car, and the car had been left standing outside the door. After tho taxi had gone by, a short run up the drive would have taken him to it., and if he had followed without headlights As the taxi drove away lie determined to put the matter to the test. Walking straight into the entrance to the flats, instead of making for the lift or for his own chambers, he swerved sharply to the little room which Bishop used. Quick. Bishop! Go and stand on the steps, and see if anyone in the street is betraying an abnormal interest in this block.'-' " Bight, sir." Bishop saluted and disappeared, and Major Darling waited, hoping that his suspicions were groundless, but, with an uneasy conviction that they were not. CHAPTER XIV. In his friend's sitting room, just under the light, John Dorriiigton was already seated, staring at tho thing which at so much risk he had found at Linden' House. It was valueless enough, so far as appearances want. just an officer's metal col-lar-ba'dge, triangular in shape, with a device stamped on it in relief. His vonder grew as he considered it< Why any lnan^

except possibly for some sentimental reason, should have sought to preservetfiis pyramid-shaped piece of bronze, was beyond him, and what it had to do ■with Dauvray's lost collection was not apparent. j Yet No. 54 had been in earnest, and Frenchy had been a dying man when lie had communicated the secret of this thing hidden in Boom 7at Linden House. Then an explanation occurred to him. That house, ap the taxi-driver had learned, had been a private mental asylum. What if some afflicted patient had hidden this badge, and in his hallucinations had connected it with tlio missing Dauvrav treasure? That was a more than likely thing; anil if it, were the explanation " Mallinson! " The word broke from him quite suddenly. He believed in the treasure, and however knavish he might be, he certainly was 110 fool. He had shown his hand in that cry of his when he had seen the disturbed boards, and his mere presence at Linden House with associates, two of whom were French, and a third who might have served in a French Colonial regiment, was a pointer not to be ignored. It could scarcely be a mere coincidence that he and his cronies should have a rendezvous at Linden House, which by no stretch of even a house agent's imagination could be described as a desirable place of residence. Ho looked at the triangle of bronze again. It told him nothing. Even a closo examination of the faco of it did not reveal anything that seemed of importance. He turned it over, with the same result, and was still staring at it with puzzled eyes when his friend came into the room his face, to one who knew him, displaying distinct signs of perturbation. " What's up, Mike ? " asked Dorrinj;ton quickly. "There's trouble in the wind, I'm afraid. We were followed here after all. Mallinson must have been amazingly quick. Ho described how he had seyi the car at the corner and had set Bishop to watch, and continued: " Bishop says a tg)l, sharpfeatured man walked down toward the flats here, and seeing him standing on the steps, stopped and asked if there were any vacant flats in this block. Bishop answered in the negative, and then the man who had very keen eyes " " Mallinson, of course," interjected his friend. "Yes! Haven't a doubt of it! But as I Mas saying, having got his answer the fellow looked at the name of the flata and the numbers, and then gave an ejaculation of surprise, which I heard myself. I " 'Great Scott!' ho cried, 1 I have just remembered I have a friend who lives in these flats. * . * Major Darling. Is he at home ?' " I recognised Mallinson's voice, and was on the point of emerging when I heard Bishop answer stolidly: "'No! The major's in Geneva and not expected home for a fortnight.' " That put me in a dilemna. If I emerged I should give the show away, while if I let the thing go, there was just the remotest possibility that Mallinson might swallow the story, and be persuaded that he had been mistaken in my identity, so I remained where I was/| " But how could he know that you—"Put two and two together the other day when I identified him as Pere Tabac, and to-night you shouted my name when you saw me on those stairs. He must have heard it." " That seems probable." Darling nodded. "At first I thought ho must have trailed us after all, but now T incline to the conviction that ho drove straight here. He owes me one for that old business at the estaminet nf the Havens. I daresay that he went to some trouble to learn who had checkmated his nefarious designs, and if ho got hold of mv name and remembered it, (lie rest was as simple as you please. The War Office list, a question or two in the gardens here, or a directory—and there you are!"

"Yos!" said Dorrington thoughtfully. " "What happened after Bishop's explanation?" " Oh, the fellow merely expressed disappointment. said he'd look me up at the end of the fortnight and walked back to the ear which was waiting for him, and drove away." Dorringon whistled softly to himself and said nothing. After a moment the major spoke again. " The trouble is that the fellow has made the connection between you and me. 1 rather gave that away the other dayhut then he didn't know my identity then; now ho does, and he'll guess that you have shelter here, where the authorities will never dream of looking for you." " But Mallinson will never daro to give me away to the police! He simply dare not! He knows that I know the truth about Barnsdale's death. " But he'll bank on everyone discrediting your story. And if ho can get you arrested " " Ife won't do that yet awhile," broke in Dorrington. " Not while I have this in my possession." Ho thrust the badge forward holding it in the palm of his hand. " What the dickens is that ? " "Regimental badge! It's the thing T found hidden at the place No. 54 told mo of; and it holds the secret to the Dauvrav collection, I fancy, though it isn't plain on the face of it." Ma'jor Darling took the bronze triangle and stared at it curiously. " The beast in relief is the Sphinx. Probably means that the regiment served in Egypt and " The whirr of the telephone bell broke on his words, and setting the badge down he went to the instrument to answer the call. With an odd intuition of impending disaster, Dorrington watched his face, and inside half-a-minute his intuition was vindicated, as he listened to the onesided telephone conversation. " Yes," answered Major Darling to some question. " I have power of attorney." " Yes. Of course." " No. Not since he was removed from Wormwood Scrubbs." " What utter rot! Who can have sent such a silly yarn. Someone's pulling your leg! " " Eight! I am just going to my club. .... See you there in half-an-hour. . . The Junior Carlton. I'll be on the lookout for you." He rang off and turned sharply to his friend. " You've got to quit, old son. Mallinson has done the unexpected. Scotland Y'ard lias just received a 1 telephone message that you are in hiding here. The inspector in charge is sceptical, but would like a word with me. That may just be a blind to lull us to security while they descend like a wolf on the fold. There's no time to waste " "No!" answered Dorrington, swiftly rising. " I've got to run or you're in the soup, Mike. Get me all the cash you can spare " "I've pots of it; sent Bishop to draw a heavy cheque this morning in case of eventualities. . . . Question is where are you to go?" " Oh. the wide world's in front of me." " No! You must be where I can locate you. . . By Jupiter! I have it! There's a 1 house of mine, inheritance from a maiden aut, at fishponds, Charmouth, Dorset. A lonely show as I remember it. though I haven't been there since my callow youth. It's in the agent's hands for sale with the furniture, lock, stock and barrel. You can lie there for a year if necessary. Nobody but a rustic or so ever goes near it. . . . I've a set of keys here, and in the morning I'll telegraph tho agent to withdraw (he sale. If you start now " He broke off, and from tho pigeon-hole of a bureau took out a time-table. " There's a train to Southampton in all hour. From there you can work across to Biidport. If you start at once for Waterloo Bishop can follow you with a bag, and in the morning you will bo able to hop along to Dorset " "The money. Mike. I'll lake the chance, but 1 won't let you into trouble. You'd lie broko for good and all if tho truth, came out. Better tell Bishop to call a taxi.". (To bo continued dnily.)