"MYSTERY ISLAND."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20255, 15 May 1929, Page 22

"MYSTERY ISLAND."

BY PALMER WHITE,

SYNOPSIS. Pour men in the smoking room of an Auckland club. Barstow, a lawyer. Brockwood, a consulting engineer, Stoney Watson, bank manager, and Remington, who is on the club books as retired, discuss a client whom Barstow had successfully defended that day for the dissemination of seditious literature. Barstow says his client later thanked him. and whispered . lhe Power of Freedom. Remington insinuates that even in New Zealand sedition is a serious problem. That same evening Remington tells Barstow that during the war be (Remington) was on secret service disguised as a German officer, and had saved Barstow from facing a firing squad. . lhe latter now knows Remington as Captain Krost and realises why Remington had always seemed so familiar. Remington explains he is m New Zealand to counteract a revolutionary organisation. , ~, ~ , , • Mr. Remington further tells that his daughter Rita disappeared while with him in London, and that ho received a note from her saying she was trapped m faoho, but not to worry as she was sure no harm would come to her. Tho note ended with " Make believe." Remington took this to mean he must pretend he had K'Y" 1 secret service. He communicated with tho head office to this effect In a second communication Rita advised him to procure from a shop in Sobo, a book entitled lhe Power of Freedom." This he did, and became aware that the Solio • shop _ was a clearing house for Soviet communications. From there he followed the trail, which finally led him to Auckland where agents are at work. He implores Barstow to join him ill U'.s work, which Barstow, "Barstow therefore announces to hi. friend he is about, to take a lengthy holiday m Sydney. and makes his plans accordin r .y. Meantime Remington becomes suspicious that the affairs of the Soviet are not progressing too well at Sydne.y headouarters, and reckons that so far as Auckland is concerned the position is not at present par ticuiarly serious. CHAPTER Iff—(Continued.) "■'My scheme is this: You aro to go to Sydney on tho Niagara in your own name and ostensibly for an extended holiday in Australia and Europe. You will make no secret of it, and it will be widely known that you are off for a long holiday. You can study Brodi on the boat. I leave it to you to discover the best means of doing this. Such matters are better planned as the occasion arises. You will endeavour to keep track of him in Sydney and see what ho is up to. You will also link up with my organisation there, which is controlled by your friend Harry Worsley, and be guided by his experience in the conduct of your investigations. Then, as soon as you deem it expedient, to corne back here, in such disguise as Worsley recommends". " I'm optimistic about you, Barstow. I have a feeling that you are going to succeed, for you are fresh in the game and .keen as mustard. Added to that, you are above the average as regards brains. You are my trump card," said Remington. "You'are the brains of the outfit," I put in. " Possiblv so," he replied. " But I have a feeling that something is going to happen to me, and I want a keen brain to carry on." "Rubbish," I said sharply. " Y T ou're run down, and you ttre worrying about Miss Remington. I have a feeling that •we will find her safe and well, and that all your fears for tho future are groundless." " I hope so," he said wearily. Then his manner changed and he became keen and businesslike again. " Now, listen carefully while I give you details of your instructions: You will find Worsley in a small office on the .third floor of the Globe Building in Pitt Street. He poses as a land agent, and goes under the name of Wellback and Co. l r ou will want credentials. We go by numbers and we quote them as telephone numbers. Thus you will elicit the fact that his number "is 61103. He will ask yours, which will Le 46087. Got that?" " Absolutely," 1 replied. " Rita's is 32423 and mine is 31131. I will advise him of yours by coded cable. Then, again, Rita and I havo used 3 - music as a means of identification when working apart. We have one of the Beethoven Sonatas Op. 49, No. 2, arranged between us. If one whistles any bar, the other picks up the air, whistles two bars, drops one, then whistles the next two It's certainly fool-proof, for even if anyone did pick up the air they would hardly know about the missing bar, or how far to carry on after it. By the way, I suppose you know the Sonata I mentioned. It goes on:—" And he whistled the opening bars. "I know it well," I said. "I used it as a study years ago." "Good!" he replied. "Now, we will run back to town. To-morrow I will ring you and tell you under what name Brodi has booked, and the rest I must leave to you. One more thing, however. Brodi has one distinguishing mark. You've never seen him. so it will help you to identify him. He has a muscle loose in tho right thumb, and sometimes he gets short spells of twitching when the thumb apparently gets out of control, and twitches three or four times before he recovers command of it. As a means of identification it's excellent, if .you can onlv be near him when he gets one of the twitching spells. Now, is there any more you want to know?" There'was. I plied him with questions on some matters of detail on which he had not touched, and finally repeated the numbers'he had told me to memorise, so that lie could finally check them, which he did. Ai, 11.30 p.m. he dropped me at thd launch steps at the foot of Queen Street with a silent pressure of the hand and a. murmured word of farewell. Then he steered the launch back toward Herne Bay, while I went home to bed with plenty of thoughts to occupy my mind. I am always ashamed of my initial performance on shipboard. Unfortunately my stomach is not the kind that is built for a life on the ocean wave and for 48 hours or so after going on board ship I can always look forward to a bad time unless the weather is very calm. On this occasion the weather was bad, even inside tho harbour, and I shuddered to think what it would bo like outside the gulf. I took the trouble, therefore, of making one necessary arrangement before the nauseous complaint peculiar to the sea was due to overtake me. I fcrictted out. tho chief steward and managed to persuade him to let me sec his mess lists. He did, and I noted with satisfaction that I was placed at the head of ;i table, and Brodi, or Brodv. as he showed on the list, was two seats along tho side on my right. Then I lost, interest in Brody and everyone else, and for 36 hours from the time we got outside Tiri I was, if not actually dead to the world, as nearlv so that the difference was not of great moment. Ono pood tiling about my attacks is that although they knock mo up completely at the time, they leave me very quickly, and after I have been on deck for a few hours I felt as fit as a fiddle. Thus, on -0 the morning of the third day, out I, appeared at breakfast, and showed by my performance at the table that I had entirely recovered from the effects of my 1)0" t. ■ I had never seen Brody before so I took good stock of the man in the second seat , to the .right, but could not overdo Dij scrutiny foj' obvious reasons.

THRILLING DRAMA OF LOVE AND INTRIGUE

(COPYRIGHT.)

I had been expecting to see someone obviously Russian in appearance, but this man looked a little different from what I had .expected. He was, I judged, about six feet tall, of slight Miild, and with arms which gave indication, of immensely long reach. His face could not by any stretch of imagination be taken for that of the typical Russian, but on the contrary he was medium in complexion and had peculiar, light brown eyes, which I would recognise anywhere. He had a wide face and a fairly long head—the kind of man who could bo depended to have things mapped out well in advance. I began to wonder if he was really Brody, when I caught sight of the thumb of which Remington had told me, and I was quite sui'e. Probably not two moil in a thousand would have the same peculiar affliction., which marked him as effectively as a brand. I had come to the conclusion that there was only one right course open to me. I had dono a fair bit of boxing in my time, and the old " pug," who taught me had told me that when in doubt as to whether the other man had the better reach, to get into close quarters and stay there. I opined that this advico would fit very well into the present situation. It seemed to me that no good could be dono by standing off and waiting for the game to begin, but my best plan was to get in early and open the ball myself. So I bumped into Brody on the promcnado deck just after breakfast, apologised, and took the opportunity of introducing myself. I said:' " I believe we sit at the same table so wo ought to know each other." " Assuredly," he smiled, and the smile was so frank and friendly that if it had not been for the twitching thumb I would have felt that I had sorted out the wrong man, for this chap, when, he smiled at any rate, looked less like a Bolshevik agent than our own Prime Minister. We walked up and down for an hour, and I laid myself out to interest him. I was the tired man of affairs, off for a two or three years' trip and I didn't care much what it cost me. I had been overworking and the doctor had ordered me away. He asked my plans. I had none in particular. I would spend a few weeks in Sydney, perhaps drift up to Melbourne and then back to Sydney and across to America. That would do for a beginning. He was interested. " I wish I were in your place, Mr. Barstow," he smiled, " but you see I have to work hard for my living." I asked what line he was in. " Oh, I'm a broker," he returned. " My business takes me back and forth between New Zealand and Australia re the financing of undertakings for which the capital is not forthcoming in New Zealand. It's a hard life, and one does much for nothing." " Well, all of us have to do a good deal of ' buck shee ' work," I returned, " but casting one's bread upon the waters is not a bad business if done judiciously." I could not forbear an inward smile for that was exactly what I was doing with him. The balance of the trip I cultivated him assiduously. I had to be careful. I couldn't depart from the role of the pleasure voyager and I had to use discretion in the choice of my conversational subjects. I itched to sound him on Russia, but it was too risky, so I had to be content with casting my bread upon the water as previously indicated, an.d awaiting for it to return with the expected increment attached. It did. We were in the thick of that bustle and pandemonium which accompanies the arrival of a big ship at its destination. Winches rattled, deckhands moved rapidly about, and stewards, not entirely uninspired by the hope of monetary gain, busied to and fro attending to the wants of the departing passengers. I was putting a few things together in my cabin, when I heard a knock on the door and shouted, " Come in." It was Brody. " Where are you putting up, Barstow ?" he queried. I thought at the Australia. " Good show," he replied. " I'm stay-_ ing with friends, but I'm knocking about the city quite a lot and am often at the Australia to' dinner." He consulted his diary for a moment. " By jove, I'm dining there on Wednesday night with a friend. Perhaps I will see you." I saw an opening and took it. " Well, why not dine with me, if your friend has na objection?" " Oh, I'm sure he will be only too pleased. It's Karnoff, rather a big financial man in the city. Know him?" I said I didn't, but would be charmed to meet so eminent a citizen. " Well, good-bye, Mr. Barstow," he said cheerily, " I'll see you to-morrow night at seven o'clock, and with a cheery wave of the hand he was gone. Truly luck was with me. 1 wanted particularly to keep this chap in sight and here was an opportunity ready to hand. The thought caused me to ponder a little. Was it too easy ? I'm always scared of things that look too good. There's usually a nigger in the woodpile somewhere. However, on looking back over my activities since I came into the game I could not see where there was a possible corner for the nigger to hide so dismissed the fear from my mind. After I passed through the customs I took a taxi to the Australia an(l booked a good suite to serve as a base for my operations It was early afternoon and I felt like a quiet stroll around the city. Soon I was walking along George Street idly and comfortably. I was in a lazy mood. I didn't feel like breaking the spell by seeing Worsley at once. To-morrow would do. This afternoon I would enjoy myself and perhaps I would do a show after dinner. Thus musing I walked slowly along, stopping now and then to look at a particularly attractive shop window. Then minutes later I got the shock of my life for getting into a taxi by the kerb was Farneau, the Communist I had defended in Auckland for distributing seditious literature. My first thought was to follow him. He had not turned his head my way, and therefore would not have seen me, but on second thoughts I decided ■ not to. It was a blue cab a.nd I knew that the drivers employed in such companies had to keep a sheet showing particulars of their trips. I took the cab's number, 31,427, and the time, 2.30. The rest should be easy, when the driver handed in his sheet. So, after enquiring the way from a policeman, I turned my steps in the direction of the office of the Blue Taxicab Company. I saw the manager and told him that a friend of mine had got into one of his cabs to-day, but I was too late to catch him. Possibly if I knew whero bo went I could make enquiries as to his whereabouts. The manager pondered a little: — " What number was the cab," he queried. "31.427." ! ' And the time." " Two-thirty." " Hm! Just a minute." He pressed a button on his desk, and a young lady answered. " Miss Belshaw, please find out from the despatcher what time No. 31,427 comes in," The girl was gone a minute, then she returned and said that, the cab in question came off at 4 o'clock. " I could tell you at four o'clock," he said, " But not until." I thanked him and said I would ring. Mv name I gave as Ronaldson. Then I strolled back to the Australia. I rang at four and got the information that cab No. 31,427 had gone to No. 3 Akerston Street, Burwood. Ten minutes, later I was in a taxi headed for the same i locality. (To be continued daily.) 1