THE COTTESMORE CASE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1846, 14 January 1920, Page 2

THE COTTESMORE CASE.

iv JOJiV OAKI.EY, author of "The Blackmailer." -The Great Craneboro' Conspiracy," "A Gentleman in Khaki," etc. (Copyright in U.S. America. All Rights Reserved). CHAPTER XXVI. IX WHICH I REACH MY DESTINATION. The voyage passed very pleasantly, and at length we reached the evening of iiie fourth day. We were seated at supper, and I had eaten and drunk, as usual, unsuspectingly. Loxdale kept good wines, and his Hungarian cook made even better coffee, and I had taken of both several times without dreaming of plots or after-effects. This particular meal, however, was different. When it was over I lit, as usual, a cigarette, but curiously enough I had some little difficulty in bringing the match to the exact spot. I seemed somehow to have lost control of my limbs, and it was only by a prodigious effort of will, and an excessive muscular strain on the arm, that I was aide to light up. And then the smoke, instead of taking on the usual blue-grey colouring, appeared as if shot with streaks of red and yellow hues. When I moved my eyes they went too. I strove to rise from my seat, but found that impossible, and then, looking across the table, I saw amid the ever-increasing mist and rabble of colours, the heavy, fleshy face of William Loxdale grinning at me in sardonic amusement. My brain was yet clear — it was the last to go —and I knew with a lightning-like flash of intuition what had occurred. "Curse you!" I said thickly, "you have drugged me." "Yes," I heard him say, "I have drugged you. We arrive to-night. I am to place you in a box carefully corded, and carry you on shore, and then convey you in a- swift motor car " His voice died away in a series of loud clicks like the ending of a phonographic record, there was a sound in my | ears like the crash of waves on a rockycoast, then one final boom and—silence. Xever before - nor since have I suffered the appalling feeling of physical contraction and utter helplessness which fell upon me when I awoke from that trance and found myself in the narrow limits of my coffin-like prison? I was lying on my back. I could not move. I could do nothing but lie motionless and helpless in blank darkness and an interminable horror of silence.

I think voices came only just in time to save me. To listen was at least something to do. And I lay straining my I ears to catch the words, warding off thus something of the mental frenzy that had been threatening me. Not that I could understand a word of what was said. The language the speakers used was an unknown tongue to me. But there seemed a gracious nearness of humanity, a sense of companionship in the very sound of their voices. There were other sounds, too —a scraping against the side of the box, the grind of j metal against metal. And presently somebody outside, one | of the speakers, perhaps, lifted the lid of the box and peered down at me. He J said something gruffly to his companion, j then, bending down, seized me by the ! leg of my trousers and the collar of my. coat, and drew me up. A moment later, i ere I could move or speak, dazed as I j was by the sudden glare of light, his companion had snapped handcuffs on my wrists and heavy rings joined by i chains on my ankles. j "I think those will keep you safe,"l the man who had lifted me from the box said in good English, though with a strong foreign accent. "I think you will not run away —eh?" Ho laughed loudly, and the other | man joined him. "Come," the former said roughly,; "where is " «■ I He turned to the other, who supplied I him with the name.

| "Ay, that was it. Where is the English girl, Marjory Ciaysfordt" I stood gazing at him with dull un- ! emotion, my wits not yet clear enough I to admit of reply. "Where is she—tell mo that?" he repeated. And lie kicked mo heavily on the knee. That, although he had no such intention, was the beginning of my recovery. The sudden sense of sharp physical pain stimulated my nerves, and my brain began to clear. "AVho are you?" I demanded. "And i where am I?" I " You are in the Castle of Obeniberg," lie responded with another Ihoarse laugh. "Who I am does not | matter to you. It is for me to ask questions and you to answer. That is J why you are here —in order that you mnv answer.'' The Castle of Obenberg! Prince Karl 'of Obeuberg-Sulzbach! The Prince was, then, the author of the attack upon me. Though, for that matter, I had known it Jail along, despite Loxdale's refusal to give me any specific information. "I am told to ask you a question," the man went on. "I know nothing of it. I have never heard of the girl before. But I am to make you answer, and then to keep you here while I verify Ihe information you give me." "I shall give you no information," I said. "I meant to say the address." "I shall give you no address. For the very sufficient reason that I do not know it." "We shall—what you call —ah, yes — we shall jog your memory." "I cannot tell you what I do not know myself." "You* will tell me. And then I shall send to England, aud the day the girl arrives here- " He paused and grinned with sardonic meaning. "I shall ask the Prince for fresh orders as to what shall be done with you. Come, answer the question." And he kicked me again, this time on the other knee. Fettered as I was, I was not entirely helpless, and I made an effort to throw myself at him. But, he only stepped aside with a laugh aud tripped mo up, bringing me upon my face to the floor. "Sit on him," he said to the other man, "and twist his ears until he answers.'' I made a lightning calculation as the second man obeyed orders, plumping down on my back with a shock that nearly drove the breath from my body and seizing an ear in either hand. If I gave them an apochryphal address, it would occupy them a week at least in going and coming. And a lot might happen in a week —even an opportunity for escape! (To he continued. )