TREASURE HOUSE OF MARTIN HEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20331, 12 August 1929, Page 16

TREASURE HOUSE OF MARTIN HEWS.

BY E. PHILLX&& OFTEN HEIM.

SYNOPSIS. Almost penniless after tho war, Major Owston. former crack athlote, accepts the oiler of employment by Mnrtin Hews, a struma. 1 , legless cripple, who lives in Breeze - Jey Mansion, a great barrack of a budding in flat dyke country—a house ot eliding doore and ' mysterious peepholes. Hews, after interviewing Owston. and atnnv.inf; him with his marvellous motor-chair, bids him hide in a secret wall recess and bo ready to come to his employer's aid if necessary during the visit of two people who r-ro approaching the house. In his recess. Owston is approached by a beautiful girl, who states she is Hows' niece, and offers Owston money to desert his post and go back to London. This he refuses, and from his recess watches and listens to lho conversation between his employer, a girl named liachei mid Joe Donkin, who is seeking shelter from 'arrest for a. murder committed t!ie previous night. Donkin tells Hows that he had carried out his instructions to start a hooligan tight, and that several men had been killed. CHAPTER ll.—(Continued.) " I was expecting you, Jim Donkin. "But The young lady?" The man sank into the fixed chair with a littio groan of relief. " You'll have to look after her, guv'nov," ho declared. "If she can't come with me, you'll have to keep her safe. You know what happened last night ?" " I know that you committed a murder," Martin Hews observed calmly. " You aro trying mo very high, Donkin. You were on your own last night, you must remember, and it is not an easy thing to protect a murderer. Tell me about, the girl." You know who she is. This is Rachel. 'Tain't her fault, but it was because of her the row began last night. Tho newspapers haven't got half of it yet. Thero were a hundred of us fighting down in the Mews, back of tho Bethnal Green Road, and Phil Abrahams wasn't the only one who got his. We were obeying orders, too, you know, guv'nor. Tho cops were getting too inquisitive about what we were really out for. You wanted a real hooligan fight, and we—well had it."

" There isn't a great deal of time to ■waste if I am to get you away." Martin Hews warned him. " Why have you brought the girl with you ? It is quite true that I am willing to undertake the task of looking after her, but I did not

intend to have her here." " Where in hell could I Jeavo hor in London tho man demanded. "Abrahams look her from me, as ho had sworn to Joseph that he would, but ho was a dying man before he could hand her over, bleeding to death in Aldgato Passage. We're pretty well wiped out now, Ihough. They'll got her if I leave her in London." " Half a dozen of 'em/' the girl intervened, " half a dozen of em' who reckon I never ought to have'loft Joseph, and who mean to get me back if they can. Hind you they'll soon forget it," she .went on. " and I don't know that I'm so scared as it is. Joseph would have something to say if they turned ugly, but Jim here, he's all for the lying low. You're afraid Joseph will get me again, ain't you, Jim?" she asked, with a mocking laugh. •'l'd come back from tha dead if you went back to him," the man growled. " What about me, Chief ?" he went on, looking anxiously across the desk. "It wasn't exactly your work we were on last night, but you wanted a row—a real, ordinary row—to put the cops' off the scent. Yesterday's began on the race-

course, went on in the train from Newmarket, and finished—my Gawd, what a finish down Bcthnal Green Road way." Martin Hews leaned forward in "his chair, and contemplated the two. His face was unclouded, his smile almost benevolent. He might have been the head of some great charitable organisation. evolving his plans for the protection of this outcast.

" I grasp the position," he said at last. " Everything is arranged so far as you are concerned, Donkin. You must be prepared to leave here in five minutes. A car is waiting for you now. As for the young ladv—l shall offer her, at any rate, temporary shelter." "What, here!" she demanded, with a grimace.

" Certainly. You will be safer under this roof than anywhere. The housekeeper will look after you. As for you, Donkin, please follow my servant downstairs now. I shall keep my word ,and get you out of this, but you have disappointed me. I wanted Joseph's gang crushed. I wanted Joseph himself removed. You have failed me."

It I get over this," Donkin muttered. a spasm of pain suddenly contorting his face, "I'll get Joseph as soon as I can sneak back to the country." "That is your own affair," Martin Hews said equably. " I shall probably have settled with him myself before that can happen. In the meantime, kindly follow my servant downstairs. You will ho provided with ample funds, and I wish you well. At the same time, in the struggle between you and Joseph, you are up to now the loser, and I have no use for tho second best." He dismissed them with an imperative little wave of tho hand, and they disappeared, ushered out by the butler, who had entered without any visible or audible means of summons. The panels glided open in front of me, and I stepped out. Martin Hews looked at me thoughtfully. : " You can drive a ear?" he asked. " I can," I answered, with a sudden return of hope. You can fight, I knowj" ho continued. "Do your best to get Donkin away. If you come up against the police you had better offer no resistance, and ho sure that my name .is not mentioned. If any members of Joseph's gang try to intercept you that will be a different matter. Fight if' you have any chance at all. They will kill Donkin if tbey get hirn. . . Here." Ho opened a drawer and handed me a flat-handled automatic, of tho latest type, fully charged. Behind mo was standing once more tho übiquitous butler, .waiting to show me downstairs, " Don't use the gun if you can help it," Martin Hews enjoined. " Those things are for show more than for use; but remember they'll kill Donkin if they get him. You may report hero later ff all goes well. .

.Kivo minutes afterwards wo wore swinging down (he straight, muddy road leading towards tlio liver, in a large open touring car, Imilb apparently for speed. JJonkin was by my side, inuflled up in an overcoat, and groaning every now and then in pain. A dark complexioned chauffeur in the front crouched over his wheel. Ono glance I threw behind as "wo.parted off, and curiously enough I looked, as though by instinct, at one particular window. Leaning out of it was tho girl, who had offered mo the twentypound note, and assured me that Martin ew3 had decided to turn mo down. KhnM llko a statue watching us I bhook n, y ** at her. She turned away chapter in. • drive Across Tio af win U ghasily six r nilo testation, at the onSTI t ° f ,ny . dothan a roueh tnrkl v Vas to tho rivor m! ™ ,o;iclin K ''own "»*> isr;; ah " looked with anxious eyos lint * n —1 by which we had come, and" aftor° wards at the motor-launch moored a sco ™ of yards out ,n tho sluggish stream He «tapped 1 nto the dinghy! which waT wait! ng under Ihe bank, and for tho first <»m« he strained look of apprehension K.Linef] to pass from his face.

AN INSPIRING SERIAL BY A FAMOUS AUTHOR.

(COPnUGUT.)

lie's a rum little devil, but lie's kept his word," lie muttered, as I helped h:m in. "I knew ii' anyone could get ine away, lie could. Tell Rachel I'm safe." 'J hero was no other word of farewell. ; lie clambered 011 to the motor-launch, ; ('!•"> dinghy was drawn up, and tho ; former .swung lound and started off seaj ward, tho spray already breaking over | her as she crept into speed. I watched i her t\ir several inoinents, until she dis- | appeared into the grey, drifting mist, i Ihi n, just as I was turning around, the. chauffeur touched 1110 on the shoulder. lie pointed along the road by which we had come, and 1 saw a motor-car approaching furiusly driven. " This road don't lead anywhere, sir," he con tided. " There's 110 room to pass, and the dykes are full. I am thinking it means a bit of trouble for us." Anyhow, we've done our job." I remarked, peering forward. " We've got our man away, according to orders." " Yes, and they'll never catch him j now." the chaffeur agreed. " There j aren't, any boats round here and not a ! launch that could touch that one nearer ■ that Rotherhithe." | " I wonder if it's the police?" J sug- ! gested. j "I don't think!" he rejoined grimly. | " It's my belief it's some of tho gang he's been scrapping with. Ugly fellows ! they are, too." '1 he car rushed towards us. swaying from sido to side, splashing the water lying in the sunken pools of the road high into the air, more than once only j 11st avoiding a dangerous skid. When at last, with grinding brakes, and tearing of gears, the vehicle came to a standstill about a. dozen yards from us, we. ■were completely ignored by its occupants for several moments . An apparently voung man, wearing a long motoring coat of fashionable cut, a cap pulled down over his forehead, and unusually large spectacles, slipped from his seat by the driver, and strolled to the edgo of the muddy bank beneath which lapped the waters of the river. His eyes followed the trail left bv the disappearing motor boat, and he seemed to be doing his best to peer through the gathering gloom to her possible destination. Whilst ho watched, his hand as though mechanically sought his pocket, and mine immediately followed suit. Ho pulled out n cigarette case, lit a cigaette, and with a last look down the river, turned away and swung round towards us. He glanced at the chauffeur cursorily and addressed himself to me. Ife kept at least half a dozen paces awav, and his features were completely hidden. "To whom have I the pleasure of speaking?" he asked, a faint note of tiuculonce lurking in his tone. " My name is Owston—Ma jor Owston —at your service," I answered. " I have to thank Martin Hews for (his, I suppose?" ho demanded, pointing down the river. "I am not here to answer questions," I told him. " Mine was onlv a matter of form," he assured me. " You have spent, T trust, a pleasant afternoon assisting in the escape of a cowardly murderer. Present my compliments to Mr. Martin Hews, and my congratulations upon his organisation. You, T imagine, are one of his new mercenaries." T made no reply. It was an extraordinarily silent stretch of country, and there was no sound whatever, except tho gentlo gurgling of the water against the river bank. Curiously enough, the memory of thoso few seconds remained in my mind for long afterwards—the car, splashed with mud, steam rising from its bonnet, drawn tip by the side of the road, its three very formidable looking occupants staring menacingly across at us. the young man facing me, so thoroughly disguised by his coat and hat and spectacles, yet I with strangely subtle suggestions of something sinister and threatening in his

bitter words. " I wonder," lie speculated at last, and his tone seemed to crow in insolence, " whether you are likelv to he any trouble to rne in the future? Why not. a life for a life, eli ? It's a sound doctrine, a lonely spot, and the river's deep just here." I answered him, T hope, with equal coolness. At all events, I know that the hand which gripped the butt end of my automatic was firm and steady. "Your car leaves tracks," f reminded bini. " Your presence here was expected. There is no part of that river so deep but that it cives up its secrets with the flow of the tide." Perhaps he saw the dull glitter of metal raised an inch or two from my pocket. He waved his hand contemptuouslv towards it. " We kill when the need comes," ho said. " without fear or scruple, but we are not butchers. Add this to my message. Tell Mr. Martin Hews that I hear his gewgaw castle has#become the asylum for damsels in distress. Neverless, when the fancy takes me to recover Rachel, I shall come and fetch her." He touched his hat, and mounted again to his place by the side of the chauffeur. 'lhe car, with its evil-looking load, moved slowly back in reverse, until it reached a turning place, when it was driven off at such a reckless pace that it was speedily out of sight. My first enterprise in the service of Martin Hews v\as over. Not a blow had been struck. I he afternoon had ended, in fact, a little tamelv, but T could very well guess what would have happened if the young man who had accosted nie, and his friends, had arrived before Donkin had boarded the motor boat. Again I sat in the fixed chair of audience, and made rny report to the master of Breezelev Mansion. He listened to me with a changeless, sardonic smile. It was almost as though he. found food for humorous reflection in the tardy arrival of Joseph and his friends. " So we are in the position," he remarked, when I had finished, "of holding an unwilling Helen, with Hector flving for h ; s life, and Joseph advancing to the assault. Dear me, what troubles our good nature may lead us into. Come, Major Owston, do you feel inclined to help in the defence of this eagerly-sought-for young woman ?" tl At your sir," T ronlied. " May T take it from the suggestion that I am engaged?" " You are engaged," he told ine calmly. " Your salarv will be a thousand a vear. and if you fail to givo mo satisfaction T shall ask you to walk out at a moment's notice."

" What about my duties?" I queried. " Your first and principal one is to guard my person. I have enemies. The man Joseph, whom you probably sawtoday, is ono of them. So long as Donkin's gang was in existence, I was comparatively safe. Now that they are wiped out, Josoph will look this way. I have treasures, bought and paid for, which he thinks should havo gone to hint. He is I a fool. He was outwitted. He will always be outwitted." " Tho man with whom I spoke to-day," I ventured, " seemed to me anything but a fool." . My new employer scowled. Tho effect upon his features was singular. His lips were withdrawn, showing his white teeth, and his beady eyes seemed to recede a little into his head. He rather resembled the statuette of some malevolent Oriental deity. " You are light," ho acknowledged. " Joseph is not a fool. He has a cunning brain, he has genius, he is a great opponent. Ho has moments of weakness, though. He smarts always under tho sense of fancied wrongs. He permits himself to hate—ho hates me. Passion of that sort disturbs judgment. Feeling for niy throat, ho will somo day thrust his neck into tho noose." (To bo continued daily.)