THE KILLERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21932, 16 October 1934, Page 15

THE KILLERS

By LEONARD R. CRIBBLE

CHAPTER XVll.—(Continued) The four figures dissolved. Five minutes later they stood on the other side of a low stone wall with a mouldering cement top and Pitt and Trench moved off to reconnoitre. In a couple of minutes they were back with the others. " As [ thought,'' s«id Trench, a faint noie of elation in his voice, " there's a well in this landing which leads under the nearer wall. Probably used in the first place for malt barges to run close up at low tide. The tide's about right for us now." The break in the flooring of the land-ing-stage left a gap of about ten feet by . six. While the others waited lionald climbed down some slippery stone steps until his legs wero kneehigh in the water. Then, ducking under a series of stout iron stanchions which ran alongside the wall of the well, he felt his way over a concrete shelf which ran below the level of the water. Ten minutes' careful work brought him to another flight of stone steps. Quickly ho mounted, and, taking a torch from his pocket,, switched on its bright ray. The light swept over a green-lined damp wall and focussed on a low door. He crossed to the door and tried its latch. It was unbolted. Cautiously opening it, he peered beyond, but saw nothing. All was dark as a tomb. Taking a chance, he passed beyond the door and moved up a narrow passageway, to be brought up by another door, under the bottom of which he traced a thin line of yellow light. Applying his ear close to the hinge, he listened, but heard nothing. Several minutes he waited, then decided to go back. His story, after his return to the landing-stage was received with mixed enthusiasm. The fact that there was no direct way into the building was a little dampening, but at least the path Ronald had travelled offered a means of approaching close without the enemy becoming aware of the movement. And who could say what lay beyond that farther door? Twenty minutes passed before all four stood on the concrete floor on the inner side of the wall. As best they could they dried their clothes, and then another rapid counsel was taken. Their numbers, they agreed, warranted their trying to get beyond the door at the end of the passageway. Ronald took up the lead again, his electric torch in his left hand, and in his right an automatic. Half a pace behind him, almost brushing shoulders, came Pitt. Ronald's torch played around the lock of the door. Trying several keys on a ring Maude passed to him, he found one which clicked against the wards. But the lock was rusty, and in the stillness the fumbling sounded with alarming loudness. Brown flakes of rust peeled off under. Ronald's fingers, but at last the key turned. Switching off his torch, Ronald pushed the door open a few inches. Revealed in the poor light of a single low-powered electric globe set high in the ceiling was a square, stone compartment. Half-empty sacks were piled against two of the four walls, and against another were ranged stacks of 1 wooden crates. Opposite was a short flight of three worn stone steps, with a door at the top. This door was ajar, and from beyond came the sound of voices. Ronald and the others passed, into the chamber, and the beam from Trench's flashlight, searching among the sacks and crates, sent a large brown rat scurrying into a far corner. "Listen!" whispered Maude suddenly, catching Ronald by the arm as he was about to advance. " Grigorni!" Low and sibilant, they heard a voice muttering, but could not distinguish the words. All at once Ronald stiffened, and his right hand jerked to the horizontal. For startlingly clear rang out a sharp cry of fear —a woman's cry. " Zita!" he muttered hoarsely. He took another pace forward, but Maude caught his shoulder. " Steady, Ronnie," he whispered fiercely. " We're come too far to make a mistake." Mutely the young man nodded, his eyes still staring at the small door above the steps opposite. Maude turned back to the other two, and whispered something hurriedly. The next moment Trench and Pitt moved off, examining the walls of the compartment. "Just to see if friend Grigorni has taken any special precautions," explained the diplomat to Ronald, who scarcely heard him. Within three minutes Trench and Pitt returned, to report that all was safe. A general advance was made in the direction of the steps, and the sound of voices grew louder, but still they could not make out the words spoken. At the foot of the steps they halted again, and Ronald, the foremost, peered through the narrow opening. The room within ivas more brightly lighted than the stone chamber, but all he could discern was a stretch of wall, covered with some old and faded wallpaper. Suddenly a woman's voice spoke, defiantly. At sound of it Ronald thrilled, and an eager light flashed in his eyes. Although he did not understand the words lie knew who was speaking, and could picture her there, standing before Grigorni, - undaunted and unyielding. But if Ronald did not understand the words Maude and the American did. They exchanged rapid glances, and the look of puzzlement in the eyes of the former deepened. Pitt shook his head and gnawed at his nether lip. The woman's tones were suddenly drowned in a harsh, brutal laugh. There was a moment of silence, then an agonised shriek which trembled to a deathly pause, and again the woman's voice came to them, this time not so defiant. There was a queer little break in it. Konald passed a hand across his forehead. " My God!" he muttered. " I believe that friend Grigorni is torturing the old man to make htm speak!" Had it not been for Maude's restraining hand he would have thrown himself forward up the stairs. Another voice spoke, one they had not heard before. A quiet voice, modulated and calm, but something in its very calmness sounded sinister. Trench started. " The fellow who met Kolletski at the. Franfrolica!" he exclaimed in a hushed whisper. Maude threw him a questioning glance. " Sure?" Trench nodded vigorously.

{COPYRIGHT

A STORY OF THRILLS, ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE

" Positive." Maude's lips grow thin. " We've struck a pretty little hive!" he muttered under his breath. " Hell," grunted Pitt, restively. " Ain't that what you expected to strike? Say, Lester, this here waiting gives nie the willies. What about —" Maude shook his head. " You heard what she said, Ferny? A few minutes more may reveal a lot that we don't know." Pitt shrugged his shoulders and resigned himself to the enforced waiting. Grigorni and the unknown man were talking in turns, the former the more loudly, but both were pressing their arguments. From the woman and the old man came not a sound. All at once Grigorni was talking alone, mockingly, in n tone which rose every second, ringing with threatening menace. Ronald, with Maude's fingers pressed deep into his shoulder, chafed at the delay, a thousand harassing fears besetting his mind. Thought of the girl there, a few yards from him, in the hands of a monster like Grigorni, who knew no pity for anything or anyone who stood between the attainment of his ideals and himself, goaded him. The seconds ticking b3 r seemed to him like hours. Crack! A revolver-shot split the silence. A bullet flattened itself against stone. With a bound Ronald had wriggled free from Maude's withholding grip. His lowered shoulder hit the partially opened door on a level with the centre hinge; it flew back, striking the wall inside. Only for an instant did Ronald glimpse the scene within the room: the two men—Grigorni and another — standing under a window set high in the farther wall, the old man tied to a chair, and the girl crouching at his side, terror stricken; the gun. in Grigorni's hand, the startled look of surprise on the face of the man next to him, and the red rag at the old man's throat. The next moment two stabbing spurts of flame gushed from the thin lip of his automatic. The man at Grigorni's side clapped a hand to his shoulder, and Grigorni dropped to his knee. Maude and Pitt entered the room together as Grigorni fired a second time, upward. ' The electric-light globe shivered to a thousand fragments, which fel.l tinkling to the floor. Ronald, Maude and the American jerked their triggers, and bullets ploughed across the room, striking the wall. A couple of answering bullets held them in leash, and then someone blundered into a chair and swore thickly. Trench joined the otjiers, and Ronald, desperate, and filled with a sudden hate, hurled himself toward the wall with the window. A ploughing bullet whined past his head, and he threw himself to his knees. Before he could get to his feet again a door slammed shut He rose as Maude's torch flashed round the room. Grigorni and the other had vanished. " Great Crete! If the devils haven't slipped us!" swore Pitt. He charged the door through which the others had disappeared, but the stout structure held rigid. " Bolted!" he grunted, desisting. " Fetch that bulb from outside. Trench," said Maude, his practical mind already shaping to meet the urgency of a fresh situation. By piling several of the crates one on the other Trench succeeded in reaching the electric-light globe in the stone chamber. Luckily Grigorni's shot had not smashed the fittings, and a few minutes after Ronald had crossed to the girl's side and taken her tremb- : ling hands in his a wan light illuminated the strange tableau. Maude, staring round, saw the girl's face clearly for the first time. He started, and glanced quickly at the old man, who had fainted, and was supported by the rope binding him to the chair-back. Pitt gave vent to a short exclamation as his gaze met Maude's. Then the girl, turning her gaze from Ronald's •anxious face, saw them • and started in turn. Maude bowed. " My dear Duchess," he said in English, "this is a meeting both regrettable and opportune." The smile on his face faded as he glanced at the old man. " But if I am uot very greatly mistaken this has proved a most harrowing experience for His Excellency." (To be continued daily)