THE BITE OF - - - THE LEECH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2566, 20 May 1903, Page 60

THE BITE OF - - - - THE LEECH.

Being one of the Memoirs left by the late Colonel Sir Nigal Lacaita, X.C.8., of Scotland Yard. Edited by Patrick Home. j

By W. A. MACKENZIE, '4uthor of " His Majesty's Peacock," " The I Glittering Road," etc., etc. j

[Copyright.]

CHAPTER XXH.— A RACE WITH A MOTOR CAR.

ROM St. Bernard's I returned -to the Yard. The shadowers of Sword had nothing to report : they could not even say that they were his shadowers, for they had not found him. From the time he had boarded the launch to set out for the house in Lower

Thames street we had no trace of him— nothing beyond what Marsh had told -iie. I gave orders for redoubled efrorts, for it was now essential that I Bhould lay hands on him and on the heads pi the syndicate. Men were told off for the whole gang. I began to fear that perhaps I had given Sword too much rope ; but I hoped for the best. Sword by himself, without the gang, would be no leather in my cap ; the gang without Sword would be- Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark ; o noose the complete cast of this more than transpontine drama would be something supreme in the annals of British Criminology. For a little I must wait patiently. Then my blow would come. A few hours, a day perhaps — and the greatest detective coup of modern times would be made. Many urgent affairs claimed my attention, affairs I had neglected for this case, and a pyramidal pile of papere on my desk clamoured for immediate perusal. I turned to them, hoping to find in them something of distraction from memory of the painful .Scenes of the afternoon. On the top of the bundle, conspicuously placed so as to catch my eye, was a cutting lorm nn evening paper. If this history were fiction I should be "qjiite ready to echo the sneering laugh of the reader who says : "What ! once more Ihat poor old over-taxed long arm of coincidence !" Being a record of actual facts, made by a mere mechanical official, this narrative must escape the infliction of having to .conform to the arbitrary rules of fiotional composition ; and I have only to include here, without comment, a copy of the newspaper cutting. Its authenticity land authority relieve me from apologising for what would be in fiction a most uncouth "way out"' : —

"A sad accident occurred ■this afternoon at Oxford Circus, when, as the l-esult of a collision between two hansom cabs, one of the bsst-k~nown men in the city, Mr Clayton Oxborrow, underwriter and financier, unhappily lost his life. The traffic at the ,Circus was very congested at the time (3.15), and the hansom, 29,561, in which !Mr Oxborrow was proceeding to the residence of Sir Thomas Fitzgerald in Harley «treet got wedged between an omnibus and another cab. The horse of 29,561 became festive, and ultimately succeeded in overcoming the driver's efforts to restrain him, bolting along Regent street towards Langham Place. Another cab was approaching from Cavendish square, and before the driver of it could take precautions the two vehicles collided with great force. One tof the shafts of the second ■■ab crashed (through the window of the first and struck (Mr Oxbonow on the side of the head, infiicting a terrible wound, smashing the left jpai'ieta 11 bone into flinders. The police soon ummoned a medical man, but, as was only to be expected from the appalling mature of me iniurv, Mr Oxborrow had succumbed. indeed, it is believed that death must have been instantaneous."

Hereafter followed the usual laudatory biographical notice. Mr Clayton Oxborrow was this, that, and t'oiher thing — jnosf-of which I now learned for the fiist Ifcime. I think I could have opened the ibioEriapher's eyes. But perhaps it is just j&s v ejl that, in newspapers at least, "De HinrtuU nil nisi bouum."

Cl.ivton was dead ! Upon my soul I felt jdm n relieved. My relief was purely peron purely selfish : I was freed from the tun gracious task of ordering his arrest, although Le well deserved that — that, and Jdire punishment, not only for the offences Jieain^t mere law, but far more for the uninidictable offences against his poor dead wife. Strange — husband and wife dead in pne afternoon, within an hour of each other, and two little ones made orphans by a single blow. For Lois Oxborrow the release from living was happy ; for Clavton — all my hope is — and it springs from the memory of our schoolboy days — that in the last second of conscious life he repented i>f all the evil he had wrought.

There is little time now, as there was Jittle time then, for moralising. Although mv mind was keen to dwell on the appalling circumstances of the day, so 'omplex and merturbing, that pyramid of papers recalled tme to duty — to the duty I owed to the )State. i E=sex official arc aot so dilatory, I Jfound. as they were supposed to be : the jveiT first paper I examined proved to be a JBummons demanding my presence at the innutst on Coster. The inquest was fixed (For the next day at 11. This was most infSnvenient for me, as unless I managed to Bay Sword and his crew by the heels before jthe'J — and there seemed small chance of Ithat — my absence from the Yord during euch a time of critical stir might mean the

overlooking of some important pomt — some needful action. A strongly-worded appeal to the coroner mighty I thought, procure a postponement. I sent him an urgent telegram, but his little brief authority was in the pink of health, and after a lapse of two hours came his rep'y, a single word of refusal — "Impossible." While this was in pioce»s of adverse settlement Inspector Grant came in with information which, after the startling events of that most eventful of days, did not disturb my equanimity for a moment. I think I rather disturbed Grant, however, by my phlegm and the blase air with which I heard his news. Franklin, through his solicitor, intimated his desire to confess the truth about the gold robbery, on the condition that he was accepted as Queen's evidence. Grant added that Franklin's solicitor had fixed 12 o'clock next day as the hour when his client would speak.

After the coroner's '' impossible " had settled my fate for next day I resolved, in fcpite of the lateness of the hour, on trying to get Franklin to speak at once. Grant, being made aware of the urgency of affairs, was despatched to the solicitor's house in Harringay, with instructions to persuade him by hook or by crook to make Franklin confess right away. It was 2 o'clock in the morning before Grant returned — successful.

What need to recount my visit to Franklin? Let me give the salient points of his confession. He had been a member of Sword's gang for some time, and on more than one occasion had aided the arch-mover in great financial operations for the syndicate. This was the first occasion, however, of his taking a direct personal share in a coup. The matter of the gold was simple ; the van which Moss had driven was taken charge of by two men, who drove it to the Countess of Ullavan's, m Berkeley square. That was really all that Franklin knew : it was not much, but it served to fill the lacuna in fime that exiftcd between the hour of the disappearance of the specie and its reappearance in the Rue de Vaugirard, at the shop of Madame Tranchet. Moss, the driver, was guiltless ; he knew nothing of Sword's oiders, under which Franklin was acting. To my mind, Frmklin earned his liberty easily. The bank clerk also explained the mystic sign and numbers on his arm ; hits explanation was confirmed later on that very day, but that must come in in its proper place. Before going to my rooms in Pall Mall, to snatch an hour or two's sleep, I returned to the Yard to learn what progress the shadowers of the "gang" had made. Barker Bennet, Sir Windsor Newton, and the Countess of Ullavan were under the strictest surveillance ; a word would secure their arrest. The Marquis de Monteverde and M. Bruyere had departed that very evening for their respective capitals. I was in touch with the police centres at Naples and Paris, so that their arrest was merely a matter of a couple of telegrams, duly despatched. Oxborrow was, of course, dead, and Sword, for all we could learn of him, was as good as dead. The man had hidden himself as completely as if he had taken refuge from justice at the bottom of the Thames.

It was, then, with no very light heart that I laid my head on the pillow ; but I have the happy gift of the old campaigner — I am able to sleep at notice, and the moment my eyes close everyhing is forgotten. No dream e\er disturbs me, no nightmare troubles me. By 8 o'clock I was agair at Scotland Yard, where I issued my final orders for the arrest of Bennet, Newton, and the Countess of Ullavan. By 9 I was on my way to Dillingham, for the inquest on Coster. At a quarter to 11 my dog-cart was turning the corner of the main street of Dillingham, to pull up at the door of the Swan, where the coroner held his audiences.

Before the door of the inn stood what was then (he rarest of sights — a motor car. Now such common objects of the King's highway, motor cars were then in their infancy ; and those in use were only experimental models in tha j osse.->sion of the very rich or the company promoter. Thus, the appearance of an automobile in the sleepy little Essex village was a matter of no small interest. From all corners came curious spectator', eager to see the newfangled carriage that went "wi-oub 'osses."

In the car were seated two persons, their backs towards me — a man and a woman — both wrapped in heavy furs ; while at the moment mv cart stopped a «hort slim man. seemingly a servant, who had been handing a parcel to the constable stationed at the Swan door, stepped out f.nd swung bimself into the perch at the back oi the motor.

The woman was evidently the "steersman" of the car : for she touched a handle and the enpine began to crackle. Another touch, and the wheels began to move.

At that moment Mr Chillinpworth came out of the Swan and grasped my hand with a hearty "Good-morning, Colonel "

Chill ingworth's voice reached the occupants of the car. for the nan in the front seat turned round sharply, and for a second, ere he turned a sain to thrust aside the woman's hands and prasp the steering apparatus himself, his face was visible.

Something lighter and more airy than the proverbial feather would have knocked me down then, for the man was ft word.

I cried to th* 1 crowd to seize him ; but the car had already moved some 20 v arris or so. and I could see Sword pushing the handles to get top speed out of the motor.

I sprang into my cart ucrain. nnd. seizing reins and whip from the astonished driver, lashed the horse into a gallop.

Already the car had turned the corner of the road by the Market Cms?, a pood 50 yards away. I called to Chill in cwortli and the constable to follow. "For«e~ bicvoleg, anything — a criminal escaping'" I shouted.

If you know the road from Dillinpham to Bradminster quay, you will remember hovr it winds like a seroftit between high hedges of quickset, making nearly four miles out oi a jross-couritry two. You will

remember, too, the sharpness of the curves ; and you will the more easily understand the difficulty of guiding a galloping horse round these corners and of avoiding almost inevitable spills.

At that moment I thought little of the difficulties, for before me was there not Sword, the head and front of all the offending? Every now and again he turned to send an inquiring glance behind, and once or t^ice he waved a deriMve hand. The start he got he kept, and little by little increased. Inch by inch he drew away, until by the time we reached the vicious angle at the King's Head, where the road branches off to Bradminster quay, he had added other 50 yards to his advantage.

Four times had we passed carters with theii waggons, but, although, I shouted with all the vigour of still unimpaired lungs, either I did not make myself heard or my wild words did not penetrate to the sluggish Essex brains.

On we went, now on the beautifully smooth road that slopes towards Bradminster quay. My horse seemed to have found new strength, and he stepped out bravely. He warmed to the chase and needed no urging.

The man at my side pointed across the fields and cried, "There goes Master Chillin'worth." I cast a glance in the direction indicated, and saw th.it it was he indeed ; pounding madly across country, taking hedges and gates in fine btyle on a magnificent hunter. He was evidently making for the quay, and as the road was so tortuous he stood a capital chance of cutting off the fugitives before they reached their destination ; and the quay must be their goal, for the road stopped there as if at the world's end. Sword, I was sure, knew this, too; and my swift deduction was that the Hirudo was lying off the pier, waiting for him. I was right.

Nearer and naarer we drew to the village. The Norman tower of the church showed above the leafless elms. Chillingworth disappeared for a few moments, and then came into sight again, crossing the broad level paddock behind the vicarage. He had 400 yards to go before he reached the village street; the car had a good quaiter of a mile ; I a quarter of a mile and 50 or 60 yards. I could have wept when I saw Chillingworth's horse stumble, recover himself, fall, and remain on the ground. As it was, I only swore a deep oath, which Heaven forgave, I am sure, as soon as it was uttered.

We were round the corner now, and into the village street. Sword had to slow a bit, for the angle was too sharp to be taken at full speed. I gained there, and as the church was passed I was only about 25 yards behind him.

Ah! the quay is in sight. Yes, there is the yacht, a volume of black smoke streaming up from her funnel. Everything seems to be in readiness for immediate departure. It looks useless to follow any further now, for only a few yards separate Sword from freedom, and how can I ever hope to stop him? Yet I lash the willing horse once more.

A low broad gangway slopes gently from the side of the yacht on to the pier (if pier the paltry patch of stone and cement may be call 0 ?). Sword slows the motor now, and sends it at the gangway. In less than 10 seconds he is on the deck of the Hirudo, waving his fur cap derisively at me, and calling in a contemptuous tone, "Too late, Lacaita — toe late !"'

As soon as he is on boaid the yacht moves, and in a few minutes is well out in the Whitewater, making swiftly for the open sea. That moment was the bitterest, the most humiliating, in my life — the most thoroughly exasperating. Yet Ido not know that it was. I think I was a trifle more irritated when on my return to Dillingham I learned that there was telephone communication between the police station there and the constguard station at Bradminster quay, and no one had thought of using it ; and perhaps mv nerves were a shade more rasped when the coroner reprimanded me — me — for being late for the inquest ! After I stepped from the witness-box the Dillingham constable placed in my hands a parcel addressed to me. "This," said he, "was left for you by the man in the motor car."

When I had broken the seals ancf read the first pat;?, do you wonder that I muttered to mvseif. "What '.olossal impudence ! Is the man a liar or x genius?" What I read then you may read now in the following chapter.

(To be concluded.)