THE KILLERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21919, 1 October 1934, Page 15

THE KILLERS

By LEONARD R. GRIBBLE

CHAPTER ll.—(Continued) " Ro:.iald stepped out. into the road to check the flow of abuse at its source. " Lfcok here, you've got to listen to lis!" he cried. " There's been some foul play going around here " " Foul play!" echoed the voice at the window. " Murder for all I know I" "Murder!" Yes, you'd better look sharp, or this way have serious consequences for you. Have you got a phone?" "No." " Well, whose Bentley is that in your shed rpund tho back?" " Bentley? I —l don't understand." " Yes, Bentley. A large saloon car. Whose is it? There's blood on the floor of it, and there aire some rugs in the shed that are soaked with blood. You'd better come down quick. And put your thinking cap on. The police will hrfve to he informed straight away." 'The heacl disappeared from the winifiovr and the window was closed, <juie;ly this time. There followed a shor; spell of silence, broken only by the sound of whispering voices inside • ?. the i nn. " Rummy place, sir," remarked Hannibal just before a bolt was shot back and the heavy door swung inward quietly on its hinges. Ronald had no opportunity to a.nnwer before a figure in a dressing-gown appeared in front of them, and the voice which had Bpoken from the window abovo addressed them. " Step this way, gentlemen. The parlour is the first door on your right. I'll fetch a light right now." The front door closed, and Ronald groped his way along the dark passage, feeling for the opening on his fight. He started as his ears caught a. «li.ght sliding sound. He could not be mistaken. The bolts on the front -door Ira-re being shot again! He half turned, one arm outstretched, ,'tfhen something struck him with i.i dull 'thud on the back of the head and he crumpled up with a short, broken gasp. CHAPTER 111 When Ronald regained consciousness Ibis head was throbbing painfully; a pulsing ache seemed concentrated some'srlusre in the region between the base of his skull and his right eye. In dazed Tonder he craned his neck forward and ataired at the ropes, shackling his limbs. Then he peered round the room, and •recollection flooded back on him. The room was low and dingy, lit with a ismoky oil-lamp, and at a table near a window covered with nailed boards li&t a woman. Her back was to the young man, but from his reclining position on the floor he could s«e her hands, spread on the table in front of her, She was sorting over the contents of his pockets, and was apparently engrossed in what she had found. Ronald, peered at the wall opposite ■y the door, and was not pleased with g 'R'hiit he saw. Trussed up like himself, and lying motionless as a log, was his f sturdy retainer Hannibal Skuats. He stared round him helplessly, his gi Ibody raised iD a position as nearly up-

(COPT RIGHT)

A STORY OF THRILLS, ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE

right as he could attain. He glanced j at the log-like Hannibal, and received another surprise. For closer scrutiny revealed that one of Hannibal's eyes was open and the other shut. Even as he stared the closed eye opened, and the next instant a whole unworded paragraph was conveyed to him in a solemn wink. Obediently Ronald resettled himself on his back. Hannibal was alive to what was going on, and his game was to play 'possum. So much had been communicated in the wink. Ronald closed his eyes again, and not a moment too soon.. A tap sounded on the door, and the woman at the table turned round and called " Come in 1 ." Between his eyelashes Ronald surveyed the newcomer, a large man with a thin face and long arms. He watched him approach the woman in a manner half deferential, half defiant. " Mullens wants you downstairs. There's a call through from the Chief." " Very good, Crane. I'll be down directly, tell him." The man hesitated, glancing from the woman to tho objects on the table. " What about these? " He jerked a finger from Ronald to Hannibal., " They will be all right, Crane." The woman spoke sharply, and this time the man retreated. As soon as the door had closed she gathered the objects on the table into a bag she wore strapped tc- her wrist. Then, with a hurried glance at the two captives, and satisfied that they were far from taking any intelligent interest in their predicament, she left the room. , Several seconds passed after the second closing of the door before Hannibal raised liimself on to one elbow and half-faced his master. "Don't know what their game is, sir, but we've struck a low-down lot." Ronald grinned sheepishly. " My head's telling me it's they who did the striking, Hannibal." He winced as a twinge of pain more acute than most seemed to press upon the backs of his eyeballs. "They put me out with a beautv. What was it, a sandbag? " "That or a blackjack," grunted Hannibal. " I'\e got a lump on the back of my nut as big as my fist. And I didn't get a chance to touch a single face," he lamented. , "I wish I knew what they were up to, Hannibal. I'd feel a lot easier if I knew why they were here." " Not much chance of finding out as long as we're tied up here, sir." " No. We've got to find a way out, Hannibal, and quick, too." The young man spoke more excitedly, as though cheered by the prospect of action, but Hannibal stared at him with a melancholy expression. " Get me out of these ropes, sir, and you won't have to wor?y much about that lot. There's one fellow in particular downstairs who I'm just longing to meet. He's got no idea what's coming to him." "At the moment, Hannibal, I can see nothing for it but to lie doggo and see what they're going to with us. They've got us where they wai;t us, apd that's all there is to it just now. Presently—Hist 1 Someone's coming up the stairs." Tho door opened, and the woman entered, followed by Crane and a short, stocky individual in shirb-sleeves, whoso unattractive features were further accentuated in unpleasantness of expression by the addition of a broken nose.

" Now, Mullens, get tliem downstairs. This change of plan means that they'll have to be disposed of without delay. You understand? " " 1 understand all right, Madame." Ronald started at the sound of that thick rasping voice. It belonged, to the man who had opened the door to them. " Very well, then. Move to it." ' Between them Crane and Mullens carried Ronald out of the room, down a flight of rickety stairs which creaked at every step, across a dimly lit parlour which stank of beer and gin, and into a stone-room, where they hastily deposited their unweildy burden on the cold flags. A few minutes later they returned, staggering under the heavier weight of Haunibal. The woman stood in the doorway and watched. When they had completed their task she came forward and inspected the prisoners. " It won't he long now before they come to, and then I shall have some •questions to ask them. Meantime I'll lock this door, and you two can get some rest. To-morrow will be a long day." She turned to Crane, her face set. " And no more drinking, Crane. Get that? Because we've got no use for drunken louts." The man squared his shoulders aggressively. " What's that? " he rumbled thickly. " Who says—" " That'll do, Crane. I don't want any maudlin threats, and you'd be wise to remember that. Mullen;?, no more beer. That clear? " The short man nodded his head ponderously and glanced at his companion, whose ahoulders had resumed their natural droop. The two slouched out without another word, and the woman, followed them. Ronald listened to the key turning in the lock, and then, when the retreating footsteps had died away, propped his shoulders up against a large metal bin. " Well, Hannibal, we haven't got long to do the trick in. The question is, how are we going to do it? " Hannibal jerked his head in the direction of the boarded ceiling. " The bulb! " Ronald stared upward at the light in the centre of a massive rafter. The bulb was coated thickly with dust, and gave but a poor light. But at the moment he was not heeding the quality of the light. "Good for you, Hannibal 1" ho grunted, his breath still coming in gasps. Then a doubt struck him. " But where's the switch?" Hannibal shook his head. " Probably outside. I can't see one in here. Anyway, they've only got electric light on the ground floor. I saw the light in the parlour as they brought me down. Evidently connected with that shed at the back." Ronald nodded. " How are we go : ng to break it, though?" ie asked. " That pole in the corner." Ronald looked ip the corner indicated, and saw a long pole, of the kind used in hopfields. Get me propped on my feet, and I'll just about manage to reach it." Without more ado, the plan was put into execution. Some five or six precious minutes were occupied with obtaining the polo and manipulating it so that Hannibal, tottering on his lashed feet like a drunken man, could bow his body sufficiently to swing the top of the pole in an arc some eight feet or so from tip to tip. "Ready?" breathed Hannibal, rocking from- toe to heel precariously. " Yes." Swish —crack! The room was plunged in darkness and Hannibal came toppling over on to Ronald, who had placed himself so as to break the other's fall. Fragments of broken glass tinkled against the stone flooring, and the pole clattered noisily on oiiie of the metal bins. For the instant it seemed as though the noise mufit bring some one hastening to the scene, hut as the seconds passed and no footsteps were heard tho chances of success loomed brighter. "Quick!" muttered Hannibal, squirming on his stomach in the darkness.

" I've got a bit of glass hero, sir. Can you move round? That's right. A bit nearer. Don't press, or 1 might cut you." The sharp glass bit through the hard strands slowly but steadily, and nearly another five minutes had passed before Rouald was able to free himself of the ropes binding him. Then with a will he set to on the ropes securing Hannibal. Three minutes later both were standing up rubbing their numbed limbs. " Now what?" asked Ronald in a low voice, but he could not keep an exultant note out of it. " Now we get ready to wait for 'em," responded Hannibal. " If they didn't hear that pole clatter down they won't hear mo snap it." He groped in the darkness, found the pole, measured its length with his hands, and broke it in half across his knee. One half he pressed into Ronald's hand. " Let me get the first one in," he urged. Honald, feeling brighter now that their chances were bettered, smiled in the darkness and chuckled softly. Moving across the room, he collided with the large metal bin, and his chuckle changed to a curse. " Wonder what's in the confounded thing?" he muttered, rubbing his shin. " P'raps something heavier than these sticks, Hannibal." " Might be, sir," answered the other from close at hand, although his tone rather suggested that he thought not. lionald placed his stick against the side of the bin and grasped the handle of tho lid with two hands. It was heavy, and he had. to tug before he could move it. " Here, Hannibal, give me a hand. This isn't any ordinary lid. There's something fishy about the way it's fastened." " Coming, sir." Tho two pulled together, turning at the same time, and. the heavy lid slid round in a groove and then came away from the bin easily. Ronald stared down into the depths of the bin, to where, several feet below the floor-level of the room, a thin, narrow shaft of light spanned the interior. " Look, Hannibal, tho rung of a ladder!" exclaimed Ronald excitedly. " That chink of light is coming through a keyhole in a cellar door." " You're right, sir!" muttered Hannibal, no less excited at this discovery. " I wonder who's down there?" Scarely was the question asked than it was answered. From the other side of the door below, muffled and indistinct, rose the sound of a woman's voice exclaiming: "I would sooner die!" (To be continued daily)