THE CRY FROM THE ETHER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE CRY FROM THE ETHER

By MARCHAND BOSZEAT Author of " Death at the Dawning."

CHAPTER I High up in tho vast edifice of the International Securities Trust Bank in London was tho small but luxurious office of Doctor Hermann Grang. Everybody knew him by name as the head of tho concern, but few, excopt possibly tho employees, over saw him. This, perhaps, was not to bo wondered at, because Dr. Grang had no misapprehensions as to his looks. Ho was undersized—almost a dwarf — and his stunted body, deformed by a liump on his back, minimised as far as possible by careful tailoring. One of his passions was dress, and ho always appeared in such neat, sober morning wear that a person seeing him for the first time almost overlooked tho grotesqueness of his form. Probably they would have done, as he sat upright in the chair behind his great desk, were it not for his face, lined and wrinkled with ago, and his great, hooked nose jutting out. His close-set, beady black eyes shone like points of fire sot in his yellow skin. At the moment our story opens, he was directing a piercing glance across the room to where a well-built man, with a short-pointed beard, sat. When ho spoke, a croaking voice came from his gash of a mouth. "So you see how thoroughly the plans are laid, eh, Burton?" said Dr. Grang. "And you observe, too, how simple your part is, hein?"

The bearded man nodded. "I will do this," ho remarked in cultured tones, "but it is the last operation I shall undertake. I fear you are under-rating the intelligence and perseverance of the British agents. I admit your plans are ingenious and thorough, but, nevertheless "

"Bah!" croaked Grang angrily, "you fear when there is nothing to fear. Who suspects the International Securities Trust Bank? A bank is the very pinnacle of integrity and honour in this country, as you well know, eh, Kresilnski?

The third man gave a saturnine smile. Maxim Kresilnski was Grang's first lieutenant, and he held the position of acting-manager of the bank. His jet-black eyebrows and moustache contrasted sharply with his thinning grey hair. "Would you like to take a peep at my engagement book, Burton?" he asked banteringly, "where I jot down all tho places I am compelled by convention to visit and be stuffed with rich food and regaled with expensive wines by the elite of society—and all because I am a humble but respectable bank manager?" His sneering smile grew more pronounced, but underneath the sarcasm of his words Burton caught the steely inflection of his tone.

Maxim Kresilnski was not a man to lose his nerve easily, as many people, both in England and on the Continent, could testify. In a different way ho was as ruthless as Grang, and there was a look in his eyes that made the bearded man shudder, though he knew not exactly why. "Well?" rasped Grang menacingly, "are you prepared to note and carry out my instructions? You see, Burton, there are so very many things"—he leaned back in his chair, clasping together his yellow talons of hands and regarding the other through half-closed eyes—"which it would never do for certain persons to find out. There is, for instance, the " "Ye 3, yes, I know," broke in the bearded man hurriedly. "Have no doubt that I fully appreciate the position." Burton seemod to wilt a little beneath the concentrated gaze of the other two. "I will do as you say, but you must arrange for the drilling of the safe." "It is an added risK," said Grang, "but it seems the only way. The fewer operatives we have in action on the night the safer it will be. You are sure you have not the necessary technical knowledge?" "I know a great deal about some things, but the vital point to drill safes is not one of my accomplishments, I'm afraid. It must bo done in the proper way, so that the mechanism of the locks is put out of order and the door opened. Otherwise the police might suspect something when they are called in." "Very well," agreed Grang shortly. "As you do not trust to deposit your rewards from me in the vaults of our eminently respectable bank"—he gave a twisted smile in the direction of Kresilnski —"the money will bo forwarded to whatever address you choose by special messenger immediately the photographic copies'of the formula are in my hands." As soon as Burton had gone, Grang pressed one of the many buttons on his great desk. In an adjoining room a light blinked furiously, and Dandra, the giant of a deaf-mute whom the doctor had picked up years ago in some microscopic Balkan State, and who served him like a devoted dog, entered the office.

Grang motioned Dandra toward him, took hold of his wrist and fot- ten minutes tapped out a message in Morse codo on tho back of the giant's hand.

CHAPTER II Shortly after 6.15 one morning some little time after the sinister scene had taken place in Dr. Grang's olfice, there were frantic happenings in a confidential Whitehall department. Amid a hum of excitement from seven or oight officials, a tall, keen-looking man was questioning one of the assistants. " You say it was placed in the filing cabinet by you and Thompson last evening? " he queried, gravely. " Yes, sir." " That was after you had finished with it for tho purpose of tests and reactions under Section L? " " That's right, sir. Wo placed it there in the compartment indicated by Mr. Burton, and then he locked and double-locked the vault." " Very well." He dismissed tho assistant with a nod, and walked out of tho room, a serious frown on his brow. In his private office ho picked up a

(COPYRIGHT)

A THRILLING STORY OF MYSTERY AND ROMANCE

telephone and gave a number which does not appear in the public directory. " I am sorry to trouble you at this early hour, Sir Geoffrey," ho began, "but it is a matter of the deepest importance and has only just been discovered." Ho went on to speak earnestly for several minutes. Ho had only just finished tho conversation, and replaced the receiver, when a hurried knock came at tho door. Hardly waiting for the ensuing "Come in," an official entered eagerly. " They've found it, sir. It had been replaced in the wrong compartment—tho ono below the proper Eection," he said. His superior stroked his chin, absently, for a few seconds. "Very well," lie said, shortly. Some five minutes later a reception clerk came in and announced "Mr. Marshall Long." It was followed by tho entrance of a tall, clean-shaven, younglooking man, with a genial expression but very shrewd, searching eyes. He lounged cheerily into the room. " Hello," ho greeted, taking one hand out of his trouser pocket. " A long time since I saw you, Bradsliaw. Sir Geoffrey's just 'phoned. Something about .the Milleur-llosenfell formula, he said. And what now? " Bradshaw continued to stroke his chin slowly, as ho brought his gaze down from tho ceiling to meet Marshall Long's. "It was supposed to be missing, but just after I had rung up Sir Geoffrey tho confounded thing turns up in the wrong drawer and makes mo look like a fool. Now what would you say to that? "

Both men divined what was in the mind of the other. "Tell me more," said Long, briefly. " You're sure that Thompson and the other man are quite reliable? " he queried, after explanation had been made.

" Absolutely," returned Bradshaw, "and if —" Ho was interrupted by the shrill ringing of the telephone bell. "Hello? What? Good heavens! But— Well, we have had a little confusion, Mr. Burton. The keys have been stolen, you say. Yes, the Milleur-Rosenfell formula is the one. I have rung up Sir Geoffrey. Yes. Very well, Mr. Burton. " That was Jefferson Burton, the head of the research department. He's my chief. I don't know whether you've met him."

" No, I only know him by sight." " Well, he's one of the three men who have keys to the vault. The others are Smythe, of tho Estimate Bureau, and Barrington; the patents johnny. Mr. Burton has just rung up to say that during the night his safe was drilled open and his set of keys to the vault taken!" For years it had been the habit of Marshall Long to preserve a wooden countenance in the face of startling news. It was only with the utmost difficulty that he maintained his record. " Let's go and hare a word with Thompson—or fetch him here. Personally, I think it would bo better for me to go and take a squint at the spot," Long said, after a few moments of tense silence."

The two men walked together to the vault. " Thompson," said Marshall Long, lounging against one'of the great doors of the open . vault, and sticking his hands deep into his trouser pockets, "are you perfectly sure that the formula was returned to its correct compartment? " " Positive, sir," replied the assistant, confidently. "H'm," returned Long. "Very well." After the man had gone ho turned once more to Bradsliaw. "You know as well as I do, old man, that there's some very deep work going on here. Can you got me a magnifying glass?" he asked, as the other nodded assent. " "Whatever for?" asked Bradshaw.

" Have you ever rephotographed a print or a document with a camera, a portrait-attnehment and a few pennyworth of magnesium ribbon?" " Well, I guessed that the formula might have been photographed, but I don't see how you're going to find out for sure that it has."

Long got down on his hands and knees in a corner of tho vault behind the great, steel doors, and peered through tho glass. It was not very long bofore he found what he wanted. " There she is," he said with satisfaction. "Quite a nice little heap." He scooped a fragile wisp of grey ash on a pieco of paper and put it in a clean envelope. "Just the ash from a piece of magnesium ribbon," he explained to Bradshaw. "I imagine he must have exposed the plates or films, or whatever he used, in this corner to reduce the likelihood of tho glare from the ribbon being seen. You will notice that he could not quite shut the vault doors as they don't open from the inside. Now we must seo how the man got into tho building if we can. Wait a moment, though. That's hardly feasible. We must remember that he had the keys and could havo come in half-a-dozen ways. If there —" At that moment the sound of an agitated footstep could bo heard outside. Mr. Jefferson Burton entered, "This is a dreadful state of affairs, Bradshaw," he began. " And a very serious one, too, Mr. Burton," broke in Bradshaw. " Mr. Marshall Long, here, from Sir Geoffrey Bartram's department, has just demonstrated that the docximent has almost certainly been photographed and put back by a blunder into the wrong drawer."

" Very grave, indeed," said Burton, with a shako of his head. "As you know, there might be the most unfortunate consequences if such copies fell into the hands of certain people. I feared this when I saw the safe drilled open and my keys gone." " Have you notified the police in your district? " asked Long. " Oh, forgive me, Mr. Long. I haven't said how pleased I am to meet you. No. I have not told the police. I thought it far better to allow a civil investigation, of course. I rang you up, Bradshaw, immediately I found out what had happened." (To be continued daily.)