"MYSTERY ISLAND."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20256, 16 May 1929, Page 16

"MYSTERY ISLAND."

BY PALMER WHITE.

CHAPTER IV. IN WHICH A BARRISTER TURNS BUftGLAR. Ono of my pals at the war was a certain Dick Somers, who afterwards won the V.C. H.o was a genius at one particular kind of warfare, and that was raiding. Dick's raids were successful where others failed, artel curiously enough, were carried out with very little loss. Dick would spend a lot of time prospecting round No Man's land. Sometimes lie seemed never to sleep at all, but the plans prepared as a result of ins nocturnal activities were invariably complete to the smallest detail. When he had found out all he wanted to know, he would pick the men who were to go on tiio raid with him, and explain over and over again what they were to do in anv of several different sets of circumstances. The result of this policy of preparedness was always success, and that too. at infinitesimal cost. As I drovo through the outer ring of the city I mused on this, and came to the conclusion that I could not do bettoi than to take a leaf out of Dick s book, and spy out. the land beforehand, was sure of one thing, that, where Farneau was, there also was an excellen chance of learning something of interest and of making a siart with my myestieation at a point which was, at least, somewhere within tho circle of possibilities. , «ii., I told the driver to stop a. few blocks before we came to Akerston Street, ihis he did, and I alighted and walked along till I came to the commencement of the street I was seeking. . When I got, there I made an interesting discovery. " The block of which Akerston Street was the northern boundary contained a feature which was not possessed bv its neighbours. Running along between the two rows of sections of which ■the block was composed and opening on to the backyards of the houses on either side, was a right of way about ten feet wide. I went, back to' the cab and told the driver to take me slowly through Akerston Street. I sat well back in the cab and watched sideways through the window. No. 8 was an old twostoried wooden building painted a dingy brown. It had a small porch over the eastern side. Above the porch a little to one side was a balcony opening on to which was a French window. These ■were all the details I could absorb before the car passed, but they were sufficient for my requirements. Once out of the street I leaned forward and directed the driver to turn back to town. Arrived at the hotel I dismissed' the taxi and slipped out to make a few purchases. Then I returned to my room and ceeded in a v leisurely fashion to dress for dinner. Dinner finished, I bad three and a-half hciurs to put in before 1 started on my investigation of No. 8, Akerston Street, Burwood. Now, lam not one of those ' happy-go-luckv, devil-may-care fellows who win V.C.'s, and cover themselves with glory. Trouble and fights I avoid if possible, but when I consider a thing is worth tackling, my. own self respect keeps me hard at it until I am finished. But, in common with most, highly strung people, I simply cannot sit still and wait for the game to begin. I must do something to make the time pass and to keop my mind occupied. On this occasion I put on an old lounge suit I had brought over with me, and a soft hat,; and slipped out to a picture theatre I had noticed a few streets away. The show came out at 10.30, and I went back to the hotel \to make my final preparations for the business in hand. First, I removed the tailor's name from my suit and emptied my pockets of anything which might serve to identify me, * keeping only some three pounds odd in notes and silver which I had by me. I locked all my personal papers in a small attache case, which I left at the office. I scribbled a short note to Worsley, which I left on the dressing table, with instructions to deliver to the address given if I were missing at nine o'clock the next morning. I had purchased in the afternoon a pair of black canvas tennis shoes with rubber soles, and a black handkerchief. I cut two small holes about two and a-half inches apart in the latter, tied a piece of string to each of the top corners, and placed it with the shoes and a cap in a cheap luncheon case I had bought in the afternoon. I also slipped a small automatic into my pocket and left the hotel by a> side entrance. Twenty minutes later a taxi dropped me two blocks from Akerston Street, Burwood. It was then eleven fifteen, and things were fairly quiet. There was a small reserve not far away, with shrubs and rustic benches. I took a seat behind some palms and changed my boots for the tennis shoes. I put the improvised mask in my pocket, crammed my soft hat into the case and put on the cap I had brought. I hate being wasteful, but I could not very well carry the case around with me so I heaved the boots and case into an ornamental pond and made tracks for the right-of-way I had noticed in the afternoon. I found it ■without much difficulty and made cautiously up the dark passage. I counted the houses carefully. Number 8 would be the fourth house on the right. Presently I came to what I took to be its hack entrance and discovered that the house was much nearer the back of the section than 1 had thought on my previous inspection. I recognised the porch and the small balcony. The night was ideal for my purpose. There was very little moon, the sky being overcast with dark clouds which portended bad weather to come. The house was all in darkness, but I could see a beam of light coming from the bottom of the blind which covered the French window. I resolved to see what was visible through the aperture from which the light came, so I slipped ■through the back gate and approached the house", taking care as far as possible to keep to the spots where the gloom was thickest. I had half expected a dog--that would have put the lid on my chances of success —but no growls came from the shadows, and I crept softly toward the house, my rubber shoes making. no noise on the hard asphalt surfaco of the yard. I paused in the lee of the porch to take off my cap and adjust tiie home-made black mask which J had brought with me. This accomplished, i cast around for means to ascend to the small verandah which gave access to the room in which I was interested. There was a short hand-rail on onn side of the porch, and I found that by standing on this 1 was just able to pull myself on to the roof which was of the lean-to type. The corrugated iron creaked abominably, and I lay flat 'on the roof, waiting with my heart going ninety to the dozen, for someone to come and investigate. But no one came, and I wriggled my way up till I could feel the bottom of the rail of the small balcony of which I have already spoken. Gradually I levered myself upright arid put one leg over the rail. Two seconds later I was kneeling by the French window with my eyes glued to the crack from which tho ray of light issued. The scene which met my eyes made me glow with satisfaction that I had taken the bull by the horns and risked coming. The room was a fairly large one about eighteen feet by twelve, sparsely furnished after the manner of a boardinghouse sitting room. An old fashioned bookcase decorated one wall, together with an ancient looking piano. A few cheap sporting prints adorned the walls, while a' settee and five or six chairs covered with American cloth comprised the bulk of the furniture. A small table occupied the pride of place in the centre of the room and around it sat four men intently engaged in conversation. Two of them I knew. Brodi, who was one, sat at tho far end of the table with a writing pad in front of him ; ou which he seemed to be making

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notes as the discussion progressed. The other ono I knew was Farueau, tho queer bird I had defended in the court in Auckland. Tho two others were a dark swarthy man with a black beard, and thick bushy eyebrows, and tho fourth chap I could not see much of, as ho had his back to me. I could tell, however, that his head was as innocent of hair as an egg, and that from tho dark flabby rolls on the back of his neck I might expect him to be a fat, swarthy gentloman, probably of foreign nationality. I could not hear a word. The glass in the French window cut down the noise of conversation to a burred murmur. I was partly content to watch, for, although I could not hear what was going on, I had proved' a connection between Brodi and Farneau beyond the shadow of doubt. I had also discovered one of their dens, or meeting places. Possibly I should have been content with what I had seen and retired. But tho success I had attained whetted my appetite, and I decided to stay for a while and see what else happened. I would have given lots to have seen what Brodi was jotting down on the pad, but that, of course, was out of the question, unless something happened. A second or two later something did happen, with consequence unexpected and very nearly disastrous for me: For a start, I found I had become terribly cramped with kneeling on the verandah. My feet felt as if they were broken and my toes had very nearly gone to sleep. I moved a little to give myself a rest and must Have trodden on a loose board. The result was a creak, that to my excitement-tensed ears sounded like the report of a rifle. The four, inside, stopped talking and the man Farneau got up and walked toward th° window. If he came out the game was up, for there was not enough cover on the verandah to shield a rabbit. I had just decided to risk a quick drop from the rail when Farneau, apparently yielding to a reassuring opinion expressed inside the room, turned round and resumed his seat. The murmur of conversation recommenced and I breathed freely once more. They had just settled down again to their conference when a frowsy-looking woman apeared in the doorway, addressed some remarks to the company in general and disappeared. The effect on the four men was electrical. Pushing back their chairs they rose hurriedly and crowded through the doorway like schoolboys anxious to get out of school. This was an unexpected turn of affairs. I wondered what had happened to necessitate so rapid an evacuation. All was quiet on my side of the house. Whatever was amiss must be on the other side. I looked at the table longingly. If only I could get in and have a glance at the pad. I tried the window. It rattled a bit, apparently loose. I debated in my mind as to whether I should risk putting my shoulder to it, but dismissed the idea as being too noisy. Then I remembered that most windows of this type have a catch revolving on a pin which goes right through the frame. This was no exception, and I found that there was just enough flange to the outside end of the pin to allow me a* slight purchase with my finger-tips. \ Had tho door been tight I would have had no chance of opening it without a pair of pincers, but some three minutes' work, during which I broke a fair proportion of my finger-nails, was rewarded with success, for the pin finally turned over and removed the bar from its catch. The way was open. I listened for a minute or so, but no noise came from the other part of the house. I decided to taktf the risk and enter. Pushing the door open I stepped over to the ta'ble. In fron£ of a heavy glass ink-stand was the pad Brodi had used for his notes, and on it was written in a neat, legible hand, the following jumble of figures and abbreviations: — 12 3 4 12 16 23 24 Int. 5 6 7 9 8 10 E and 0 11 13 15 17 19 12 16 14 18 20 21 22 A.P. I took a piece of paper from the back of the pad and made a copy. That finished I put the paper in my pocket and was just turning to go, when that sixth sense which seems to develop when one is strung up for a ticklish job, told me that there was someone else in the room. I looked up—and looked right into the muzzle of a revolver, behind which was the keen face and watchful eyes of iny late ship-mate, Brodi. " Good evening, my friend," he said evenly. "To whom am I indebted for the pleasure of this unexpected visit ? " I said nothing, but in the whole of my life I had never thought quicker or harder than I did in the few minutes that followed. I was in a quandary. Once my identity was known everything was finished. Remington would be in a hole. The success of his plans would be jeopardised for lack of my assistance, and, moreover, I would be liable to be clapped into gaol for breaking and entering. A blacker vista never confronted anyone than confronted me as I gazed into the black ring of the revolver's muzzle, and wondered what to do. Then inspiration struck me. " I come from the chief, M. Brodi," I said quickly in Russian. Then added in the same language, " The Power of Freedom." That did it. The revolver dropped only for an instant, but long enough for me to land Brodi the sweetest punch on the jaw that man ever had the misfortune to receive. He dropped like; a log, knocking his head against the door frame as he fell, while I turned and dashed for the window. Dropping on to the iron roof of the verandah I jumped to the ground and landed on the asphalt of' tho yard with a jar that shook every bone in my body. I tore out of the gate and along the right-of-way. An excited murmur back in No. 8 told me Brodi had been discovered. Ripping off my mask, I crammed it into my pocket as I ran. I was not particularly frightened of pursuit, for I had taken nothing and they could see that at a glance. Moreover, the gentlemen concerned had too much at stake to risk creating a disturbance and drawing attention" to themselves. Of this much I was tolerably sure, but I put my best foot forward and slowed down only when I reached the right-of-way. A big form partly blocked the entrance, and I found myself blinking into the blinding glare of a powerful electric torch-. "Good Lord!"' exclaimed a familiar voice. " What in the name of goodness are you doing here done up like a cheap edition of tho Kelly Gang?" I had recognised the voice tho moment I heard it. " If I don't get out. of this locality at the double, my friend," I snapped. " I'll be doing time or something equally unpleasant." " Good oh!" said Worsley for it was no other. " I have a car a block or two | away. Let's get out of this and then I you can give me an account of your misdeeds. You had better come along to my place for an hour or two." (To be continued daily.)