"MYSTERY ISLAND."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20257, 17 May 1929, Page 18

"MYSTERY ISLAND."

BY PALMER WHITE,

CHAPTER IV.—(Continued). We picked up his car, a powerful closed Delarge two streets away, and as we started to spin back toward the city he said. " Now Barstow, K.C., turn loose tho flood of eloquence." I took no notice of his facetiousness, but merely replied. " In this game, my boy, one has- to be cautious. You may be Harry Worslcy. Then again you may be a jolly good imitation. Before I turn loose the desired flood of eloquence, perhaps you will tell me, whether you are on the telephone?" "Good man!" he said appreciatively. "I am, and my number is 61103. I presume you are also connected." " Rather," I replied. " Mine is 46078." " Well, now we've exchanged credentials," he continued, " You had better give mo an account of your doings. Start at tho beginning, please." I did, and gavo him the whole story right from the moment of my original talk with Remington to the time 1 had found myself looking into Brodi's revolver and had presented him with a useful knock-out punch on tho jaw. Worsley chuckled. " Well, for an amatuer, and considering you have been in Sydney only twelve hours or so you have done extremely well. This is my show. Come inside and I'll have a look at the stuff copied from old Brodi's writing pad. Then you can take a taxi back to the hotel," Worsley had a small fiat quite handy to the city, and after he had switched on his sitting room radiator I got out the paper and we sat down and pored over it. " Some kind of code of course," said Worsley. " better give me a copy and keep that yourself. Two heads are better than one even if they're only sheep's heads. We must get to work and puzzle this out. It may be big medicine. Who knows? Brodi's a shrewd lad." "Not a doubt of that," I replied. " For he has Remington thinking, and lie is no fool at this game." Worsley thought for a little. " Now" let me see," he mused. " You are at tho present time ostensibly a world tourist having a good time seeing things. I think you mentioned you had invited Brodi to dine with you." " To-morrow night," I replied. " Well, you'll have to keep to that, otherwise Brodi will smell a rat at once. Do you think he will recognise you ?" "Not a chance," 1 replied, "I wore an old suit and a cap besides a mask which showed only my eyes, and I spoke only once and then in Russian, which language he' is not aware that I speak, besides I'll be in evening togs, and a man looks mighty different in .that rig from what he does in what you termed a ' Kelly Gang ' outfit." " True," said Worsley, thoughtfully. " Well you had better not come to see me. We can communicate by telephone, for Brodi must not get an inkling of the fact that you are in the game with me. By the way, who is the chap he is bringing with him?" . " My invitation included a friend, with whom he said he would be staying. Worsley thought again. '' You mentioned a bald, dork, fat man in your description of the, four at No. 8 Akerston Street, from your description of the fellow I think he might be Karnoff, a Russian who looks like a Polish Jew and who has a regular palace out at La Perouse. We have him listed, and we feel that queer things take place at his house, but so far we have been unable to get at him from the inside. However, vou will be able to make sure who the extra man is when your guests arrive. It will be interesting to dine with two opponents, not knowing how much they know about your share in the whole "business, particularly when you've socked one of them on the jaw the night previous.'' ' "It will," 1 smiled. " Well 1 must be going, for it's after one o'clock." I picked up a taxi not far from Worsley's flat and ran around to the Australia. l|rescued my note to Worsley from the dressing table, destroyed it, and hopped into bed to sleep the sweet dreamless slumber for which a kind and thoughtful nature has given me ample capacity. CHAPTER V. AXD GETS INTO QUEER COMPANY. I felt pretty tired the next morning and decided to have a lazy day. I spent the - best part of the afternoon surfing at Manly and returned for dinner ravenously hungry 'and as happy as a sandboy. I had almost forgotten I was dining with Brodi and his friend or rather that they were dinrtig with me. I tipped the head waiter and secured a small table which suited me splendidly. The table was a corner one. fairly secluded, and by manoeuvring I could sit with my back to the source of light, which is always an advantage in a game of the present character. I had discovered in the morning, that I had cracked the skin of my left knuckle punching Brodi's head, and although it was not a very noticeable scar, I was a little apprehensive lest the gentleman concerned should notice it. Not that it would convey much, but to a man of keen observation and intuition such as I elieved Brodi to be, it might be just the link he wanted in connecting me with the desperado who put him to sleep on the previous night. , However I had to take my chance of Brodi arrived to time and I could have shouted with joy when I saw his companion When be removed his hat 1 recognised the egg-bald head and dark skin of the man who had sat with his back to the window at No. 8, Akerston Street. I was not surprised when Brodi introduced him as Mr. Karnoff. " 1 am charmed to make your acquaintance, Mr. Barstow," he said in English which betrayed just, a trace of loreign accent. He shook hands with that excess of cordiality which seems to be part and parcel of the foreigner. I don't know why, but there and then I felt an instinctive loathing of the man, and I am sure that if it had not been for the deep game I was playing, I would have dropped his fat hand as a thing unwholesome and unclean. He was of the typo I have never been able to like. Excessively fat about the face and with the extreme thickness of lip which is tho index of sensuality. Yet, withal, there was a look of competence about the face which belied any indication of laziness which might have been suggested by his build. Tho eyes were dark and shrewd and be kept them half closed. I felt sure that if he opened them wide they would betray some mental kink, at which, at the moment I could hazard only a guess. The shiny dark head, like the egg of some huge bird, fascinated me. It was the head of i scientist but I observed the square flat neck which confirmed the indications of sensuality previously noted, and which also suggested a trace of th ® Teutonic somewhere in his origin. As 1 have said before I instinctively disliked Kar rift but it was my job to be pleasant, so f swallowed n*y feelings and did iriy best to reciprocate the cordiality which lie extend?'!. Before wo had got half way through our dinner I had made up my mind that the peculiar whispers of strange doings at the big house in La Perouse were not without foundation. Tho man had a mind like a sink. He told stories which would have .been out of place in tho forecastle of a fourth rate dago tramp, and I could not hide the disgust which I felt and which Biust have plainly shown on my face.

THRILLING DRAMA OF LOVE AND INTRIGUE.

(COPYRIGHT.)

However it was my business to keep in with the man, and eventually I succeeded in drawing rhe conversation on to more general lines and started to 'talk of the labour troubles which had just been cropping up among the seamen. I mentioned that I had heard that there was a lot of misch ef done by paid agitators. Karnoli's face became set. " Nothing of the kind, my friend," he said testily, '' There is a lot of idle talk of that kind, but we in Sydney, we know!" I saw I was on dangerous ground explained tha': of course I was relying for my information on the press which after all contained a lot which was considerably exaggerated. " Exactly," said Brodi. " Now what about doing a show with us ?" " Then come out to my place for a bit of supper," put in Karnoff. I affected to hesitate. ' Oh. come on, old man," urged Brodi, " Karnoff has a beautiful place he'd like you to see. By the way what did you do to your hand ?" " Bumped it on my dressing table," I lied readily. " It must have been a nasty crack," he said. "It was," I replied, and could not forbear an inward smile at the recollection. We did the show which was on at the St. James', and my fondness for Karnoff did not increase by the time the per-, formance was over. Brodi was an enemy proved, probably working tooth and nail for all sorts of rotten schemes, and yet in my estimation the comparison between the two men was analogous to that between a sea breeze and tho breath of a sewer. Karnoff's own car picked us up after the theatre. It was a big, closed car, a Daimler, I thought, and it whisked us through the suburbs with a speed which, if frequently indulged in, would have earned the driver enough endorsements to make his licence look like the back of a continental ' passport. Both Karnoff and Brodi spoke little. The Daimler swept on through tho night, eating up fhe miles with silent efficiency. I strove to make conversation, hut my companions were evidently not in a talking rnood, so I gave it up and huddled back in the car between them. For a minute or two I had the queer feeling that I was between warders and was being escorted to a prison. What if Brodi had discovered that I was tho person who had laid him out on the night before ? The thought made me shiver with apprehension, and my nerves jumped. But bolder thoughts restored my mental poise. It. was extremely unlikely that he had found out. All the odds were in my favour. In any case, I was committed to a risky game, and this was all part of the job. I got a lot of comfort, too, from the recollection that when I had gone upstairs to get my coat before leaving the theatre I had telephoned Worsley as agreed and told him the night's programme. I had got as far as this with my speculations when I was conscious that the car was slowing down, and presently it turned through a stone gateway into the drive of what appeared even in the half moonlight to be the grounds of a magnificent residence. A few seconds later we ran under the portico and the car stopped. The chauffeur who opened the door looked foreign, being extremely dark of skin. 1 noticed in my casual glance that he had a kind of wart just below the right nostril. A useful identity mark at any rate. Then we were in a lofty entrance hall, and a solemn-faced Japanese butler took our things. Karnoff seemed suddenly to lose the lethargy he had displayed in the car, for he became almost, jovial. " Mr. Barstow, Brodi," he exclaimed, " come into my study—we will have a drink of something." " Thank you," I said. Karnoff led the way through the hall and turned to the right into a magnificent room which must have measured thirtysix feet by twenty. It was all panelled in dark oak and furnished Tudor fashion in the material. Some ten or eleven men sat or stood about, some reading .and others talking. As we entered a hush fell on the gathering—the kind of silence which descends on a group of school children when the headmaster enters the room. Karnoff gave a short, " Godd evening," and the nearest of the assembly gave similar greeting. Karnoff continued his way to the end of the room and turned off into a small room arranged like a study. He established us 'in comfortable chairs and pressed a bell set in the fireplace. A second or two later Farneau entered the room, obviously not in answer to the summons, for he advanced straight to me and with a genial smile exclaimed: " Why, Mr. Barstow, who would have thought of finding you in Australia. This is indeed a pleasant surprise." Brodi and Karnoff looked puzzled. " You know Mr. Barstow," queried the latter. " Well, he did mo a very good turn in New Zealand," replied Farneau. " Rot," I said. "It was only my job." " Nevertheless," put in Brodi, " Farneau is a friend of ours, and we are pleased that you should have been able to heip him."

While he was saying this a girl came in, apparently in answer to' the bell. She bore a tray containing whisky and a siphon of soda and two bottles of wine of good vintages. I was not so interested in the contents of the tray as in the bearer. The girl had a wonderful face, fine features, and fair skin, with lovely golden hair. The face was disfigured, however, with a red weal which extended from the right ear to the eyebrow. Moreover, her right shoulder was quite obviously two inches higher than the left and she was noticeably hunchbacked. Apart from these defects she was a fine-looking girl, and I could not help wondering how so obviously a fine woman could work in the house of a man like Karnoff. I must have gazed more intently than I thought—perhaps by mind was dwelling on the thought of Remington's daughter, and I forgot for a moment the necessity of appearing unconcerned at anything I saw. In this haze of thought T heard a voice say. " A pretty girl, eh '!" " Rather!" I replied. I could have cut rny tongue out the next second, for the remark to which I had replied had been made in Russian and by Karnoff himself, who stood at my side with an enigmatic leer on his face. " You understand Russian ?" he queried. " A few phrases," I replio:!. " 1 had a trip there before the war, and for his information I gave, in stumbling fashion some of the commoner guide book phrases which are tho stock in trade of the casual tourist to Russia. But even as I spoke I realised that 1 was treading on very shaky ground, for the remark which ho had made had been spoken with great rapidity, and ho made use of. a colloqualism which only a trained ear and mind would have recognised. My brain worked quickly, and [ realised I should have to be extremely careful or I would give mself away if I had not probably done so already. (To be continued daily.)