THE LAVENHAM TREASURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20985, 23 September 1931, Page 17

THE LAVENHAM TREASURE.

By OTTWELL BINNS.

(COPYRIGHT.)

Author of "Diana of the Islands," "The Trail of Adventure," " The Mystery of the Atoll," etc., etc.

A STORY OF TENSE AND DRAMATIC ACTION BY POPULAR WRITER}

CHAPTER VL—(Continued). As events befell, he did not require to go to the Priory to communicate with the police. Half a mile from Notanam, a bulky figure in uniform came into view riding a bicycle. "There is Jago—tho constable!" cried the girl. " Yes. Please stop. .1 can give him the news and he will make the report." " But I shall see you again. You will tell me what' happens? I simply must know, Mr. Lavenham." " Yes," he said " You shall hear everything, at the very earliest moment." The girl set him down and drove on. Lavenham waited for the constable with whom, owing to his previous visits to Notanam, he had a slight, acquaintance. He signalled to the officer who promptly descended from his machine. " Good morning, sir," said Jago genially. " Wonderful nice day for the time of the year." " Yes," answered the artist; then without preliminary opened out. " Jago, there's a job waiting for you up on tho mcor, back of The Three Feathers. In the wood on tho further side of the hill, there is a dead man hanging from one of tho trees." " A dead man!" Constable Jago was startled, then recovering, sought information. "Hanging did you say, sir? Then it is a caso of Suicide." "I don't know. Possibly uol. His hands are tied; and that may mean foul play. But you will bo able to judge when you see him." "Who is the man? S&rno tramping fellow. I daresay ?" " Not quite that, Jago. He called himself Charles Lavenham." The constable stared at him like a man who was unable to believe his cars. " Charles Lavenham, but sir—- " But that is my name, you would say ? Quite true, but whether it was really his or not 1 don't know. 1 met him yesterday at The Three Feathers. Ho lent mo his car to come to Notanam. I have it hero still, as he was going away. It appears that he started out rather lato last night, walking and carrying a suitcase—" "Queer thing to do!" interrupted the constable, instantly fixing on a weak point in tlie story. " You'd have thought lie wanted the car—" " That's just what he didn't," broke in | Lavenham. "It might have helped him | to get away quickly; but also it would ! have made his departure conspicuous, ! and ho wished to avoid that, for the very j good reason that there were men watchj ing him, or so he averred, though I ! myself saw only' one." ! "Watching him?" the constable grew j round-eyed. "What for, sir?" j " That he did not explain. But listen, ' and yon shall have tho story of my mcet- ! ing with tlie man." The constable listened in growing : amazement to tho account, and at tho ! finish exclaimed: " Looks as if be expected trouble." ! "No doubt about that." i " And if it's true that he's dead in tho | wood, ho found what ho expected, I j reckon. I'd best slip along at c>ncc; j though I'm due to meet tho sergeant at the <toss roads in half an hour." '* That, is fortunate. You ride along and wait for him. I will go into Notanam and get. tho man's car, and wo will run I over together. That way you will both j get to The Three Feathers quicker than j by pedalling." lie hurried on to the inn. Spanish | John, he saw, was in front of tho fire, reading the morning paper; but there | was no sign of Mr. Hammerton, and ■ with a thought that lite latter was still j on the watch at the Priory, ho avoided j the other man, and getting out the car, i drove away to meet the officers, i He found them waiting for him, tho ser- | geant a keen-eyed man, who was plainly !an enthusiast at his work. He took his i seat by Lavenham, whilst J;igo found j accommodation at the back, and as they j started off he spoke quickly. " Queer story Jago's been telling rne, sir. Did you know the man before you met' him yesterday ? I mean, had you ever seen him before?" "Never!" , , "Yet ho loaned you his car? That s rather odd, isn't it?" Lavenham forced a laugh. ' used me as a decoy, I fancy, as I explained to Jago. Meant me to draw orf the fellows who were watching him." The sergeant was silent for a full minute, then he leaned forward towards the dashboard, and after that *l™ke again. » " T should have said he was a very confiding man—no personal reflections, Mr. Lavenham—if tho car had been his own. " Isn't it ?" For answer the sergeant stretched a hand and touched a plate upon tho dashboard, reading aloud: — William Melhuifh, Automobile Engineer. Tavistock. " 1 know Melhuish. He lets out cars by the week. I fancy I've driven this one myself. I'll wager the man who lent it you was not the owner. Didn I caio what happened to it if lie got awav, hey " There may be something in that, agreed Lavenham, with a side thought that if he were to keep Helen Lavenham out of the inquiry, he would have to walk very discreetly before this quick-eyed officer. "You found things belonging to tho dead man, I gather?" " Yes. There's a revolver in my pocket that I am morally certain was his. There was a suitcase, but as I have explained to Jago, it was stolen by two men who went off in a car." " Cm! Business gets queerer. What made you go down to that wood ? I never heard of any on o going there at this timo of the year." . "Curiosity, and a premonition the man might be there. You see, I d found I the pistol and the suitcase, whilst there I was a hat blowing about tho hillside that i f guessed was his. It was a natural i conclusion that something had happened to that man, and as I could see nothing of him on the hillside, the wood seemed a likely place to find him." "Yes. That is true." They reached tho top of tho hill above The Three Feathers, and as they did so, came on a man with a push cycle toiling up the slope on foot. To his amazement Lavenham saw that it was the bluespectacled Hammerton, whoso face as they passed gave no sign of recognition. " Queer-looking bird, that," commented tho sergeant, looking round. " Name of Hammerton," said tho constable. " Lodging at Smale's, at Notanam. Hunts moths at night. I've seen him. " Yes," said Lavenham. "An enthusiast." " A bit cracked, I should say, commented Jag'j. To hear him talk about the insects you'd think they were diamonds." t . Tho sergeant lost interest in the mothhunter. Lavenham, on tho contrary, found his deepening. Ho had left Ilammerton in the grounds of the Priory, and hero ho was no more than half a milo from the Throe Feathers. Ho found that fact puzzling, for while there had been ample time for him to make the journey twice over since their parting, he had no remembrance of having seen any cyclist other than the constable. Did the man know of the tragedy in tho wood It seemed almost, impossible, unless—" Lavenham was so startled by the thought that camo to him that unconsciously he pressed tho accelerator rather heavily, causing the car to spurt forward, and moving the sergeant to a caution. " Steady, sir. These hills—" " A little mistake! " laughed Lavenham, and transferred his foot to tho brake, while his mind fairly raced. Hammerton knew of tho man who had been at the Three Feathers. He was named for a scoundrel. He knew far more than he himself did about tho mysterious business in which the dead man had been engaged. He had been out

late last night. Was it possible that he had been over here; that ho had been involved in that tragedy on the other side of tho tor there ? It was possible, and his unexpected presence in the neighbourhood seemed to indicate an interest that implied knowledge. Suppose it were so, then —. Ho was still debating the matter as ho toiled up the hill with the two officers, and while they descended toward tho wood, which, the sun being clouded over, had a sombre look ft began to rain before they reached it, wild moorland rain, whirling across the slope, and lashing I hern like whips. The last four hundred yards they covered at a. run, and arrived at the wood drenched to the skin. " Phew! " whistled the sergeant. " That was a steeper." " It still is," commented his subordinate, as the rain drove through the wood. "Well, we'ro soaked; and there's no sense in trying to shelter. Lead the way, Mr. Lavenham." Lavenham guided them in the direction of tho treo where tho dead man hung. It was still raining in sheets as they came in sight of it; and Lavenham gave an involuntary shudder as he looked at the hanging figure, which now was dripping as if it had been taken from tho river and hung there to dry, with the hair plastered grotesquely over the forehead by the swishing rain. The sergeant stood in front of tho dead man, wiping tho rain from his eyes with the back of his hand, then lie rattled a sharp question. " Mr. Lavenham, 1 thought you told Jago that this fellow's hands were tied '! " Lavenham thought quickly. Had Helen Lavenham made a, mistake or had someone been here fpnee, someone who had removed tho bonds ' He had little doubt of the answer. The girl had been too positive to bo mistaken; and it was not a thing that if she had not seen she would have thought of. Someone had been here. Who? Then he answered carelessly: " I had that idea. 1 must have been mistaken." " You certainly were. The man's hands are quite free." Tho speaker took a step forward, and again brushing the water away, looked at tho dead man more closely, while Lavenham, keeping his counsel, considered the problem of those free hands. CHAPTER VII. Careless of tho drenching rain, the sergeant, continued his examination, and as he did so offered a running comment. " Look at the rope. Tt's made up of his own necktie and a long silk scarf tied together. Plain case of suicide, I should say. Knotted the silk round his neck and the tree, and then stepped off the rock there. You can seo where he dislodged the moss. Ho took chances with that rope, I reckon, but it held. It's wonderful how strong silk is. Hemp's nought to it." Lavenham, listening, looked about as well as he. could in the rain. Not for a moment did he accept tho sergeant's reading of tho case. Remembering Helen Lavenham's statement about the tied hands, lie was morally certain that someone had visited thr? dead man since last he had been in the wood. And that visitor, whoever he. was, had cut the bonds from the dead man's hands. He was as sure of that as of anything in the world. But why had it been done ? Tho sergeant's voice still expounding the matter provided the answer. " There's not a doubt about it, Jago. The man was scared half to death, crazed, and hanged himself. But why he should be scared —?" Yes, reflected Lavenham, there was the answer. It was meant that it should be thought that the victim of this crime had died self-slaughtered. Whoever had been responsible for the dreadful deed had remembered tho tell-tale bonds on the wrists of the dead ; and had returned to remove them, and so turn aside possible investigations. But who was the man or men who so returned ? As ho stood, staring through the rain, he saw in vision blue-spectacled Ilammerton pushing his bicycle up Ihe hill; not half a mile from The Three Feathers. Was he. the man ? lie had named tiio dead man for a scoundrel. He was, it appeared, involved in this mysterious business which had brought this man to his dreadful end; was he the one who had come here in the interval since Helen Lavenham and he had left the place? If so— Tho conclusion was inevitable. Whoever had come here had known of this dreadful thing, and the man who had that knowledge must have been a participant in the crime, if not the actual perpetrator. Again the sergeant's voice broke through his reflections. " It is no good sticking here in this downpour. We must get someone to help carry the corpse to The Three Feathers. "We'll want a hurdle and two other men. You'd better walk over to Salter's farm, an' get- the farmer and two of his labourers to come along, Jago. I'll have a talk with Mrs. Havnes. Maybe T shall learn something about this poor fellow. But first help mo to cut him down, and I'll go through his possessions. 'Twon't hurt him none, now, to lie on tho damp ground." Jago gave the desired assistance and then departed. Lavenham waited, watching the sergeant go through xthe dead man's pockets and transfer all that he found there into a handkerchief. There was a well-filled wallet, a letter or two, some small change, a watch, a penknife, a leather keyease, and some other trifles. " The lot," said the officer, straightening himself. " Except that pistol you found Mr. Lavenham." Lavenham handed it over, and the sergeant considered it critically. " Uni! One chamber discharged. Wonder if the fellow tried to shoot himself and lost his nerve at the last moment? I've known a man do that just as ho was pressing the trigger. A shotgun it was that lie was using; and he broke half the panes in the window by moving his head out of tho way of the charge." There was an alternative which did not seem to occur to tho sergeant, and Lavenham forebore to press it. So long as the officer regarded Ihe crime in that light, there was little likelihood of Helen Lavenham being brought i in, and that was-all to the good. A moment later the officer spoke again. " Queer thing tho man should have your name, don't you think, Mr. Lavenham ?" Lavenham nodded. " I have an idea he may have borrowed it. He didn't know me from Adam, and when I gave him niv name he was more than a little incredulous. Though why he should take my name—" " Saw it in the paper, as I did myself, yesterday," answered * tho sergeant promptly. "The devil you did?" " Yes, 'twas in connection with a picture of yours bought by some gallery. Can't remember the name, but l'vo an idea it is linked with sugar—" " The Tate?" asked the artist excitedly. " That's tho name, sir. Tate's sugar and Iho Tate Gallery." " Sergeant, you'ro a bringer of good tidings. When wo get to The Three Feathers you can have the longest drink you caro to order. Tho news you bring is great. I've been half expecting it, but I haven't had a letter for a week, nor seen a paper for three days. But I dare say you're right. The man saw my name and borrowed it for some reason." " Better than Smith, Brown, Jones or Robinson," grinned the officer, " which are the usual aliases. It's more natural and toney. Wonder what the fellow's real name was? Maybe those letters will tell us. But that was a funny business about the suitcase. Looks as if that pair might belong to the crowd who were watching him, that is if ho wasn't just suffering from hallucinations." " There certainly was one man," answered Lavenham. " I myself saw him. He was behind a wall by the inn, using a field glass." (To be continued daily.)