WATCHING EYES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21473, 22 April 1933, Page 13 (Supplement)

WATCHING EYES

By T. C. BRIDGES Author of " Messenger's Million," " The Price of Liberty," " The Other Man's Crime," u Etc., Etc.

(COPYRIGHT)

ABSORBING NARRATIVE OF LOVE AND ADVENTURE

CHAPTER XVI X'LUCK, THE BEST POLICY " We'll have to do something pretty soon," Fowler said. " The fellow's got more guts than you'd credit to a bank clerk. And finding that plate has given him a fresh lease." " That fool Vidal messed it," snarled Harmer. " Why the devil didn't ho wait until night before trying for the stuff?" "No use, crying over spilt milk," said Fowler, coolly. " Anyhow, it only paid the death duties." " But thero was some balance at the bank," replied the other. " Silver may carry on ior a year or more." " He won't," said Fowler briofly, and this time Jim felt a prickle of real fear. He heard a match strike as Fowler lit a fresh stogy, thon Harmer spoke again. " What's Harvey done with those bonds?" Before Fowler could answer a blaze of lightning split the blackness, followed by a bellow of thunder. Then the whole sky was filled with the roar of the approaching tempest. The sound was so tremendous it drowned all else. Next instant the first blast of the great wind sweeping in from the sea struck the house. Jim heard a crack loud as a canon shot as ono of the beeches snapped like a carrot. The lamp flame jumped as the back-blast stirred tho stagnant atmosphere of the room. " Shut that window," he heard Harmer shout from within, and since thero was not timo to get away he dropped flat on his face on the verandah in an effort to avoid being seen. The darkness was intense, and he would have been safe enough, but while Fowler tugged at the stiff sash a second flash filled the night with its white blaze. " Who's that?" came Fowler's voice sharp and hard. " Harmer, there's someone outside." Up went the win T dow again and Jim had cause to bless the damp that had swollen the wood, for it gave him time to gain his feet and hurl himself off the verandah. Shade was mighty quick, too, for a pistol cracked, but Jim expecting something of tho sort had whirled to tho right and was running close under the wall of the house. Head down, he drove into a rush of wind so furious it felt solid as a water flood. Again the pistol barked, but Jim know that Shade could not see him and was not greatly alarmed. Crack, crack, crack! Fowler was raking tho rhododendrons with his automatic and Jim actually chuckled as he swung round the back of the house and stood an instant under cover of a tall clump of laurels to recover his breath. The bright white glare of a powerful electric torch cut the gloom and Jim realised that both men were searching for him. A spirit of recklessness seized him, and instead of making away against the wind towards the cliff path, he ran on round to the north side of the house, up which he sprinted until ho came to the same tall thicket of rhododendrons which had hidden his approach. Plunging into this, he gained its centre and hid. Again the whole world glowed in a bath of electric fire and the momentary blaze showed Jim the huge figure of Harmer plunging like an elephant through the shrubbery opposite the south end of the verandah. As the crashing darkness shut down, the light of the torch which Harmer carried was tho only thing visible. The first violence of tho wind had passed and Jim knew that the rain was coming. All the rain in the world was rushing upon him off the Atlantic. Suddenly, he remembered Chowne's remark about tho inadequacy of his raincoat, and once more he almost laughed. All the same, it was not going to be any joke sticking out here in the open under the deluge that would break in a moment. It would be equally bad, if not worse, to try to find his way homo in tho storm. Indeed, that cliff path would be abominably dangerous in weather like this. A crazy idea flashed through his mind. Why not the house? It was the very last place where they would think of looking for him, and surely there were plenty of hiding-places. A huge warm drop splashed in his face, but still ho paused. His idea was to wait until the next flash had come and gone, then make his bolt. He had not long to wait. Within five seconds a many-tentacled flash twisted across the firmament and tho instant it was gone Jim bolted for the house. As he came opposite the window he could still see Harmer's torch among the shrubs to the south, but if there was one thing more sure than another, it was that Harmer could not see him.

CHAPTER XVII MAN TO MAN

The only danger was of his being spotted through the south window, for the lamplight was bright in the dining room. But there was no need to run that risk, for the front door was not locked. Jim opened it, slipped in, and closed it behind him just as the rain broke in earnest. Ho found himself in a small hall with the dining room on the left and the sitting room to the right. Stairs wont up from the back of the hall, and a passage ran past them on the left, leading to the back regions. Jim's first impulse was to go straight through to the back, for tho back door would give him a useful bolt-hole. Then he remembered that Harvey was expected and that he would ho sure to want supper. Probably all three would have supper together, and Harvey's man would be busy getting it. No, tho kitchen would certainly be most unsafe. The only alternative was to try tho top floor. There must be ono or more unused bedrooms with cupboards in which he could lie " doggo," and Jim ran lightly up. Though he knew tho ground floor of Greystone, he hud never before been upstairs. Arrived at tho top, he found himself on a broad landing with two bedroom doors on either side. He tried the first on the left and as ho opened it a flash of lightning showed liim that this was Harvey's own room There were his boots against the wall and above the dressing-tabJo a largo photograph of Crag Head. Jim closed the door and tried tho next. It was locked. What was worse, so were the other two. There was nothing for it but to go downstairs again and mako for the back of the house, [f ho could not find a hiding-place in the house there might be shelter in the garage outside. It was too late, for as ho reached the top of the stairs the front door burst open and in stumbled Harmer, torch in hand and fairly streaming with water. Shade Fowler was behind him. Jim did the only thing possible—bolted back into Harvey's bedroom and holding the door just ajar, stood quiet. His idea was to wait until Harmer and Fowler were back in the dining room, then slip softly down and mako his escape. Below, Harmer was shaking himself like a great dog. " Rain! My God, it's a water-spout! I'm soaked to the skin I " he bellowed. " Curse that fellow, whoever he was! " " No need to make such a song about it," camo Fowler's thin, sarcastic voice. " I'm at least as wet as you. We must have a lire." " Fire —what's tho good of that? " snorted Harmer. " Mo for some dry clothes. I'm going up to Harvey's room to find some." Jim's heart seemed to stop beating and for a moment something like panic seized him, but only for a moment; then his head cleared and he was desperately striving to see how he could escape from the trap into which ho had walked. His first idea was to make a dash downstairs, catch his enemies by surprise, knock one or both down, and

get out the front way. If ho could reach them before Fowler reached his automatic there was every chance of success but tho pistol weighted the odds against him. Another tiling, even if ho got out he had given himself away. Tho men below were bound to recognise him., Harvey would bo warned and if Harvey had the bonds he would have every chance of getting away with them before Jim couid stop him The second choice was to stay in tho bedroom and hide. Ho glanced swiftly round. There was no wardrobe, merely a hanging cupboard, and that was no use, for these men wore looking for clothes. The only other hiding-place was under the bed. Tho bed was covered with one of those brightly-coloured Italian blankets, the edges of which hung down almost to the floor, and the bed itself was in a corner. Jim heard steps on the stairs. He waited no longer, but, dropping down on hands and knees, crawled under the bed. Next moment his two enemies were in the room. " You'll have a job to find anything to fit you, Harmer," said Fowler with his usual sneer. " Curse you, aren't you ever tired of twitting mo about my size?" snapped the big man, who was clearly in a most evil temper. "Anyhow, I could break you in two if I tried! " Fowler gave his evil chuckle. " Why didn't you break Silver then when you had the chance? " " The swine's a boxer —almost a pro.," snarled Harmer. Fowler seemed to be thinking as he stripped. " D'ye know, Harmer, I've a notion that Silver was our visitor to-night." " You never saw his face." " No, but he was a long, active sort of chap." " It's not likely," growled Harmer. " He'd know better than to visit this place after nightfall." " Your head's as thick as your body, Harmer. Harvey and he are like brothers." " What—with Harvey after his girl? " " Harvey's clever. He's kept on the right side of Silver all through. _ It's a pity you haven't some of his brains." "Shut your mouth!" thundered Harmer. " I'm tired of your dirty sneers. At any rate, I've been the ono to keep in with Noel Carrow." As he spoke he sat down on the bed, which creaked under his enormous weight, and began pulling on a pair of Harvey's pyjama trousers. " You may keep in with him. You haven't got much out of him yet," retorted Fowler, who was already dressed in some of Harvey's clothes. _ " Wait till he's twenty-one. Wait till ho gets his money," boasted Harmer. " Then we'll all be in clover." Fowler laughed nastily. " We shall see," ho said. " Meantime, I'm going down for a drink." He left the! room and a moment later Harmer, having got his great body into Harvey's silk dressing-gown, followed. Jim breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the stairs creak under Harmer's heavy footsteps. He was safe for the moment. He began to feel that he had bitten off enough risks for one night and that the sooner he got out of this place the better. His interview with Harvey could wait until next day. Tiptoeing out of the room, he glanced down the stairs. Tc his great relief, the dining room door was closed. With the rain still thundering on the roof he could get safely out of tho front door and be away, with no one the wiser, for whatever Fowler suspected, it was certain from what he had said that he knew nothing. Jim's foot was on the top stair when a klaxon hooted, and the headlights of a car showed through the fanlight above the front door. Harvey was back and once more escape was cut off.

Harvey's arrival was a nasty shock to Jim. Just five minutes later, and it would have been all right, but now he was nicely caught. He stepped back into the bedroom and stood just inside the door, where he could see without being seen. He thought swiftly. After all, it might still be all right. Harvey would go into the dining-room for a drink, his man would drive the car round to the garage, and the coast ought to be clear long enough for him to make his escape. Harmer and Fowler had, of course, also heard the car. They came out into the hall as Harvey entered. " Hullo, Harvey!" cried Harmer jovially. "So you got caught. A snorter, wasn't it?" There was nothing jovial in Harvey's reply. " What are you doing in my silk pyjamas?" he asked coluly. " My dear chap, I got wet in your service and had to have a change." " Then I wish you'd taken the cotton instead of the silk. Those cost three guineas a suit, and they'll never be fit to wear again." Jim was surprised at the tone Harvey took with this big man who could have killed him with a blow. His opinion of his cousin was altering rapidly. " Come in and have a drink," said Fowler. " You look a bit moist." " Moist I'm wot through!" snapped Harvey. " The hood was about as much use as a paper parasol. I shall have to change—if you've left mo anything to change into." " We were chasing a burglar," put in Harmer. " That's how we got so wet." " A burglar!" Harvey's voice was sharp. "What d'ye mean?" " A chap who was lurking under the window," Harmer explained. " Shade saw him when he wont to shut it. The fellow ran like a rabbit, and though Shade potted at him, he got away." "Who was ho?" demanded Harvey, turning to Fowler. Fowler shrugged. " 1 had a sort of notion it might be that cousin of yours, but I never saw his face. I couldn't see much, anyhow, for it's black as pitch outside." "Silver!" said Harvey and Jim could tell by his tone that he was much disturbed. " What in sin would he be doing here?" "That's what 1 said," put in Harmer. " Can't imagine any reason for his coming round here at this hour, specially with a storm like this brewing." " If he'd found something," said Harvey slowly, " that would havo brought him.' 1 " The cave, you mean?" said Fowler brief I v. " Yes." " It's not likeiy," said Fowler. " Yec he found the old cave," retorted Harvey. " But that's blocked off from ours. It would take a week to get through. And the odds are all against his over hitting on the sea gate." " I don't know. He has tho devil's own hick. I'm getting a bit soared, Shade It's time we did something drastic." " That's what I've boon tolling you. If I'd had my way he'd never havo reached Crag Head in tho first place." " It's no use crying over spilt milk," said Harvey. " I'm free to own 1 was wrong, but I didn't want any police business. Once suspicion is roused wo should never feel safe." "There wouldn't havo been any police interference if you'd left it to mo," said Fowler, and quietly as ho spoko Jim shivered a little. " We must talk it over," said Harvey coolly. " Now I'm going to havo ono drink and thon change. Merrick will get some supper for us." They all went into the dining-room and for a moment .Tim's spirits rose. The car had gone, and if ho could once get outside he could trust his legs to carry him out of danger. (To be continued daily)