TREASURE HOUSE OF MARTIN HEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20366, 21 September 1929, Page 16 (Supplement)

TREASURE HOUSE OF MARTIN HEWS.

BY E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM.

CHAPTER XXXVlll.—(Continued). " Did you como here to talk about, Abrahams ?" tho Ma jor demanded impatiently. "I accept the rebuke," Mr. Leopold ' /replied. "To tell you tho truth, tho Warmth of your room, tho excellence of your whisky and soda, tempted mo to •wander a tittle from the subject. .1 am tho bearer of a messngo from our friend." " From Joseph.?" Leopold shrugged his shoulders. "Why mention names? He has tried • half a clozen The ono that amuses him most is tho pseudonym fie adopted that night at Claridge's—'Mr. X.' You can understand that during tho lust month ho bus nou been too anxious for tho uamo . ; <if Mr. Ruben Sams to appear in tho newspapers. Shall we call him Mr. X ? lie wants to see you." " Not half as much as I want to seo him," I rejoined. " What aro you after—the five thousand pounds?" Leopold shook his head. " That is a sum which will never bo claimed," ho prophesied. " 1 am treating you with complete frankness, Major. I am an ambassador. Joseph wishes to dco you." " Then I wonder ho isn't here," I observed. "He teems to find his way in and out of my rooms at will." " He finds his way in and out of anybody's rooms ho wishes," Leopold declared calmly. " For the moment, how ever,' it ii his wish that you visit him. You have an unfortunate friendship with nn official of that terrible organisation upon' tho Embankment, a kindergarten of its sort, without a doubt, at the tame time State-directed, and a source) of possible inconvenience to a person in our friend's position. Mr. X felt no certainty that Inspector Bloor might not be spending the evening with you. Hence my visit. Mr. Bloor knows a little too / much. He was a long time starting, lie is moving rapidly enough now. \\ e ■wero walking a stretched wire last night, Major. Bloor made the mistake of bis lifo when he refused to listen to you in tho Grill Room of the Milan. I doubt whether he will ever have another chance?" "Why not?" I demanded. " Becauso we aro beaten," Leopold / said, calfhly. "It is like the Chief, though, when tho end comes, to see it. We have run our course." "So you've come for that fivo thousand pounds, after all?" My visitor looked at me as one might have looked at an ignorant child. " Tho person who earns that fivo thousand pounds," he said, " will spend it in eternity or nowhere. When 1 say that we aro "beaten, I mean that we must disband. Mr. X will leave this country ■when ho chooses, and how he chooses. Ho will live abroad when, where and how he" pleases. Five thousand pounds, fifty thousand or half a million, ( will never bring him inside any prison." "Swank!" 1 exclaimed contemptuously. •"Joseph's day is over, and he knows it." Leopold patted his stomach gently. " Answer mo this question, Major," he begged. " Why aro you occupying theso rooms ? Why did you begin combing tho West End of London with Miss Essiter to keep you company?" "To find Joseph," I told him; "and I damned well found him." " And lost Miss Essiter. Never inind that, though. You admit that your object was to find Joseph. Can you lay i your hands upon him at tho present moment? You cannot. Very well I am hero to take vou to him." "Thank you," I replied. "I am waiting until I can go with a police i tergeant and a warrant and I don t fancy it will be long." , "On tho contrary," Leopold assured me, " I think if you do not accept my uffor, you and Joseph may never meet in this world." " By-the-by," 1 reminded him. There is "a warrant out for Mr. Ruben Sams for swindling. That might possibly bring us together." " Not a chance. Mr. Ruben Sams has jnado a brief descent upon tho West Epd. He has done exceedingly well, -> hut he has done so well that he has — to put it bluntly—shut up the shop. Mr. Ruben Sams has evaporated, 'lliere ;s no such person. From now on, believe me, warrant or no warrant, Mr. Ruben Sams does not exist upon tho faco of the earth." I was beginning to get more interested. There might bo some definite purpose after all in this strange visit. " Let's get on. with this," I suggested. " Put your proposals into plain words before I decide what to do." "Mr X wants to see vou,".Leopold announced. " I am to offer you a safe conduct." ■ ' "And vour guarantee?" •' ilr. X's word—and tho young lady. "Miss Essiter?" I exclaimed. He inclined his head genily. " Since that unfortunate evening at the Ohio Skies," ho said, " tho young lady has remained under tho protection of my chief. If it is your wish to get into touch with her he will give you the opportunity. I am to take you to Joseph, arid he will make certain propositions to you. If you fail to come to terms there is no harm done. Your personal safety is guaranteed." "By vou?" He tapped a cigarette upon the table and. lit it. " You have always misunderstood my chief," he declared. " " Ho has never been blood-thirsty man. You have been an /p.nnoyanco to him. You have been in his power half a dozen times. You still live. You aro likely to live. When the tocsin sounds and the fight is on, ho fights—he fights like no other man on earth. When the battle can bo won bywits, he is one of the last persons to introduce tho wrong note." " What about that poor child Rachel?" Leopold wagged his head mournfully. " You speak of other tilings," he protested. ".Sho was on hor way to betray her master. For what other reason did sho como to .your flat ? You know, flhe was obsessed with jealousy. She carnc to play tho informer. Entirely through her Joseph was compelled to leave his old headquarters up in tho East End, ami blow them up. She was punished accord- ' Sng to tho law which prevails among tho Wolves, arid I venture to add that it is a just law. If Joseph had said the word you would have found a dagger in her heart." I filled my cigaretto case, placed it in my pocket, and rose to my feet. " Well," I announced. " I'm ready. How do we go ? Am I to be blindfolded nnd gagged ?" " Nothing of the sort," Leopold replied, shaking tho cigarette ash from his trousers, and also preparing for departure. " I have a car waiting, in which we can flrivo to tho house where Joseph is living without tho least pretence at concealment. You may possibly recognise it. You will certainly be able to find it again without difficulty. All that is demanded of you is that if you should fail to como to terms with my chief, for twelve hours after your return hero you keep silent." ' Just my word ?" I asked incredulously.

" Just youi word. It is ono of Joseph's great traits in life that, lie has the courago to trust. Ho loathes melodrama One might bee c/vcr tho top of a handkerchief, an odour, a keen sense of locality, any trifle might help you to triumph against the ordinary means of drugs or blindfolding. He scorns the obvious tricks. If ;t were daylight I should take you just the same. You are gojng.to be rrdught face tb face with the man for whom you have searched night and day, and you will leave him when your conversation is finished, as though you were an ordinary caller, but if, by any chanco. it should occur to you to break your . parole you would bo lying upon your back to-morrow night, "and tho stars might wink down at you, but you would tot wink back. No threat, you understand," lie webfc on—" no threat at all.

AN- INSPIRING SERIAL BY A FAMOUS AUTHOR.

(COPYniGUT.)

CHAPTER XXXIX.

It just tiappons. It has happened to on# or two; if my chief's judgment is right it won't happen to you. There aro men who keep their word as naturally as they breathe. Joseph thinks you aro one. If so, you aro safe. If ho is making a mistake", ho may suffer for it, but so most surely will you." I put on my hat and coat, assisted my guest into ins, and descended to the street. An ordinary limousine car, with a chauffeur in plain livery, wan waiting. We drove off together, and in unbroken silence I took note of our passage through the familiar thoroughfares.

Tho streets wero emptying, except for tho night traffic, as we turned up Baker Street, past' Grovo Road, and Lord's Cricket Ground, through Hampstead, Golder's Green and Finchlev, and increased our speed as wo came to the open country beyond. When wo turned off tho main road, about half-way to Hatfield, I asked Leopold a question. " Much farther ?"

" Wo are almost there," was the well satisfiod response. " You can see the lights of tho house among tho trees." Wo turned in through broad gates, guarded by twin lodges, drove for a mile along a well-kept, curving avenuo, and crossed a park studded with magnificent trees. Always in front of us, tho lights were twinkling from a largo Georgian mansion, which my companion pointed out to mo as our destination.

" You are paying a visit," ho confided " to Sii Bruce Pettefar."

"Tho devil!'' I exclaimed. "Is Joseph going in for titles ?" " All that you need to havo in your mind for the moment is that you aro paying a visit to Sir Bruce Pettefar," Mr. Leopold replied coldly. "Wo have finished, if you please, with all references to Joseph, Rubon Sams, and such mat ters. Sir Bruco is an invalid, who has lived hero for many years. lie still has affairs which need attention, however, and I have recently become his secretary." . A very handsomo and well-kept estato ; < so far as ono could judge in tho faint moonlight. A butler admitted us, and welcomed Leopold as though ho wero ons> of the household. " You will cxcuso the other servants having gono to bed, sir," ho begged. " Sir Bruco is a littlo restless to-night. You will find him in his sitting room, lie told me to take you and the other gentleman to him directly you arrived." We crossed a large, old-fashioned hall, and the butler knocked upon tho door of one of the front rooms. A languid voice bade us enter.

" The gentleman you wero expecting, Sir Bruce," ho announced, and left us. So the supreme moment had arrived at last, and I must confess that I entered that room with all tho nervous excitement of a schoolboy. I knew from Mar tin Hews and Bloor, and also from my own observation, of this man's amazing skill in making-up, and in counterfeiting personalities, but I still, for a moment, thought that I was confronted by a stranger when I glanced toward tho tall man in a well-cut but rather shabby dinner suit, who stood with his back toward a roaring firo, a cigarette in his mouth.

His black hair, no longer sprinkled with grey, was brushed smoothly from his brow. His cheeks wero hollow to emaciation, A kindly critic would have called his nose aquiline, whereas it was in reality almost hooked. He had a high forehead and tho mouth and jaw of a strong character. It was actually not until he smiled that I was ablo to trace tho slightest resemblanco to the man whom I had fashioned in my thoughts. "Well, major!" he greeted mo. "Welcome ! I thought I could count on you to take the risk Wo meet for the first time under our proper personalities. Not a touch of make-up, not a flick of the paint brush, not a layer of wax, not a wad of stuffing under iny clothes. Here I am for what I am—Joseph." " I didn't come to seo you," I told him bluntly. " You aro no uso to me under my parole, although," I added, looking at him closely, "I am very glad to have seen you as you really are. I shall not forget." He smiled.

" It will bo of very little service to you," ho assured me. "If tho circumstances wero propitious, I should bo veryglad to havo a little wager with you. Within a few houra of your leaving here I would pass you in tho street or sit in the same restaurant with you, or even tall; to you, and you would not recognise me. We all have our gifts, you know," he added, with a queer little touch of vanity. " I must admit that you are an exceedingly useful man in a scrap. You keep your head better fighting than you do in tho amenities of life. I am the greatest master of disguise who ever breathed, either in the criminal world or upon the stage." I was fuming with impatience, " I didn't come down here to discuss your accomplishments," I reminded him. " I wish to see Miss Essiter."

" That," he admitted, " is part of the bargain, but you can imagine that I did not take tho trouble to send for you simply to afiord you an interview with the .young lady. I havo businoss with you, myself." " Is Miss Essiter here?" I demanded. " She is. You see, Ido not attempt to deceive you. Sho has been with me for some time, tho companion of those weary hours which I have to spend in my establishment hero to keop up this rather troublesome identity—tho identity of Sir Bruce Pettefar. Will you bo content with my assurance that vou will see her before you leave this place?" " Sho will leave it with me," I declared. Joseph sighed gently. "This British truculenco!" he murmured gently. " Do please get this into your head. This is not an encounter; it is a meeting. I doubt whether there is a firearm in tho place except a shot-gun or two a long way from here. lam Bruce Pettefar, an invalid, who made his money in South Africa, and who has owned this property for over eleven years. Compose yourself, and pray do not remain standing."

I sank into an easy chair. L was curious that, unscrupulous though I knew Joseph to be, and in desperalo straits at this particular time, I never dreamed of disbelieving him. Tho situation was making its appeal to my not over-acute sense of humour. This was tho very pleasant library of .'in English country gentleman, in which I took my ease. Leopold was perhaps a little out of the picture. Joseph, however, notwithstanding his slightly Jewish typo of features, might well havo been tho host of such an establishment.

" You havo courage, Joseph," I acknowledged. " There is ;i reward of five thousand pounds for your apprehension, nrid half 'Scotland Yard, including mv friend, Bloor, arc searching for you. ' " Ah, no," lie pointed out, " thev lire searching for Mr. Ruben Sams. I should imagino,' 'ho went on, a whimsical smilo parting his lips, " that thcro aro a great many people, including a duke, a lord, and various members of Parliament who aro very anxious to find Mr. Ruben Sams. It was a cleverly worked-out affair, that. I happened to know that Ruben Sams was detained in Buenos Aires—an affair not to be mentibned ia thfc newspaperfl, or tho shares of a certain company might have gono down. To transform myself into Mr. Ruben Sams, arrived in England, according to schedule, wasn't the easiest thing ■in the world, but I had the good fortuno to colloct a little of that money which in duo oourse, if my noblo' clients had not boon so impatient, almost greedy, I may say, would havo been paid to tho credit of the gonuino Argentine millionaire," (To bo continued diilr.)