THE WEB/

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 1353, 17 June 1907, Page 6

"THE WEB,"

By PAUL URQCJHART,

Author of "The Eagles," etc., etc. [COPYRIGHT.] CHAPTER XVlll.— Continued. " *Sse must push this thing in out of the way," he said. "We can put a man in charge of it. We daren't leave it at the door." Approaching on foot an ordinary looking house,., with Mosaic Hall and various other signs and symbols painted over the doorway, Medhurst pushed open the door. Leading immediately off a passage' was a fairly large hall, with seats running up to a certain point, where a square platform slightly raised ' from the ground was railed off. Behind this were two large stone tablets, immediately over which there was a, burning lamp with heavy curtains dropping down on either side. A stench of consumed incense pervaded the place, and there was an uncanny eerie light, jfrom the shaded windows and the (smouldering lamp. A recumbent figure jmside the platform, but shut off from ■ jthe tablets by brass gates, -vras inurImuripg some incoherent incantation, evidently performing some species of solitary early morning devotion. " The old man himself is behind there somewhere," whispered Medhurst. " I took the precaution to have a look in here one or two nights after you told me about your experience at the Holborn Town Hall in one of your letters. They have evidently had a high celebration for the faithful here last night, and one of them there is suffering from the rocovery. We'll slip by him and rush the place if we can." Thoy silently^ approached the railing j round the platform, and stepped quietly over it. An awed, wild-looking face looked up at them, and the praying man trembled in every limb, as Medhurst leaped over the brass gate. " The Holy of Holies f Desecrate not the sanctified ground!" he cried wildly, and held on to Jack with the tenacity of a maniac as Strangways lifted one leg over the gates. Jack threw him oft', and he fell down shrieking and trembling and praying to be delivered from the wrath to come. Roughly pulling aside the heavy curtain, Medhurst rushed forward. The struggle on the platform had evidently warned somebody. A huge negro, dressed in a hideously spangled kind of uniform, one of the mo» whom Jack had wrestled with in Holborn Town Hall, sprang upon the ex-detective, who, whipping out a lifepreserver, felled his assailant without a word, and rushed towards a door over which sparkled in the dim light some hieroglyphics in gold and imitation of precious stones. To his astonishment, it opened with a very slight pressure, and the men bounded into a luxuriantly furnished room. Couches and chairs, upholstered in bright red velvet, rich draperies trained in peculiar shapes, and yildod.-oruftmeuts of rich workmanship were scattered about the room. On the wall, with an electric light flaring full upon it, was an enormous picture of the Patriarch in a heavy gilt frame. The 1 room, however, was without an occup«ut, and Medhurst made a dash for another cloor, almost eoncoalod with drapery, au the other end of tho apartment. It opened just an inch or two, and a voico within shouted — "Who dnres to come unbidden to the sanctuary :*" ' "Come cut of that, you infernal old humbug, or we'll fetch you out," cried Jack in a towering rage. The excitement of the chase was too much for htm, and a minute later he repented his indiscretion. At the sound of his voico the door closed with a bang, and tho door through which the.y had just entered, at the same moment, clashed to also. The vibration of a wire 1 above their heads showed how this had been accomplished, and with a look, of reproach at his master Modhurst groaned — "Trapped!" [ The only light to the apartment was through the roof ; there was no window, not even a fireplace, not as much opening for speody escape as would accommodate a cat. The two men looked at, each other and swiftly examined the room. Medhurst, from the illimitable depths of his pockets, produced a jemmy and got to work on the inner door. He backed at the hard oak, and got the thin end of the instrument in tho opening it had carved for itself. Jerking and pressing till big beads of perspiration , stood out on his forehead, he tried to force tho lock. " We shall simply have to hammer our way out," he said. "The roof's tho only chance.',' ; At that moment a hissing sound above . was followed by a choking stench. " They have trained a gas pipe into the place, and they'll smother us," shouted Jack in alarm. '■ Picking Up a heavy ornament, Mcd- < hurst throw it at the glass skylight, but ■ it rebounded from a grating of fine steel, i Tho gas was pouring into the room foot \ after foot." The prisoners barked and \ coughed like choking dogs. Strangways felt that the enemy was going to triumph after all. He had simply led his faithful man after him £ through adventure after adventure, only to be smothered like mad animals in a l lethal chamber. While these thoughts were coursing wildly through his brain, 1 Medhurst had dragged the sofa into the j middle of the room, and was piling the ( furniture upon it. "You are a good shot, I think," he . whispered hoarsely to Strangways. y " Yes, but I haven't a thing of any ] sort to shoot with," cried Jack in •!©- i spair. <: " But I have," replied the ex-detec- j tive, pulling out a beautifully mounted 1 little silver revolver. I don't carry these things myself as a rule, they're un- ( business-like; but I thought it wise to f pick it up quietly last night instead of trusting that young lady with something she might hurt herself with." - I Although be had beepi chattering ,in s this way to keep up his companion's a spirits, be had been working as he spoke, I testing the stability of the little plat- i form he was building, and lifting Strang- r ways up to the third chair he handed \ him Miss Rentoul's revolver. * " You see that skylight is protected ~ i with a stout steel mesh. Go for a *

bull's eye every time, and shoot through the rings." Strangways took a steady aim. There was a crack and a splash. A tiny stream of inrushing air met the furious gas. He took further aim and drilled six holes one after the other. "That saves us," croaked Medhurst. " Now to get out." By this time ho had his ready wits at work again. " Balance yourself as well as you can on those chairs," he said, "I am coming up on your shouledrs." Jack sat himself squarely on his topmoat chair, and tho detective, putting one foot on each of his shoulders, got his fingers through the mesh of the steel grating. With his jemmy in the other hand he hammered at thd glass just immediately around the tiny holes drilled by the revolver. In a few seconds he had got a big enough aperture to wedge in the point of the jemmy. He worked it backwards and forwards; the glass began to fall in little bits, and the air very gradually lightened. "We must have that grating out now," he said, slipping down over Jack's back; anti glancing hurriedly round the room. As his burden suddenly lifted off him. Jack swayed slightly, and the whole of the impromptu scaffojdingcame down with a crash. The sound cf his falling body had evidently attracted the attention of somebody outdclo. The door through which they had come was wronched open, and ono of tho bullies whom Jack had seen at the Holborn Town Hall pushed his head in. He had evidently come to relieve the man who was lying senseless outsido, and from the noise suspected that he was wanted within. The Patriarch obviously had not had time to warn everybody of what had happened. While these natural deductions were rapidly evolving themselves- in Jack's mind, Medhurst was doing something more practical. Before the owner of the head knew what was happening to him, he was lying in unconscious partnership beside his brother of the , patriarchal bodyguard. He fell forward when he was hit, and thus formed a useful wedgo to keep tho door opon. As they boundod out into the hall, and from there to the street, Modhurst sharply instructed his master. " Round for tho motor car and drive hard for Hampstead Road!" As fast as it was safe to risk it in the busy London streets, they sped along to the den in Hampstead Road. Away in the distance as they neared the place they could see another motor car drawn up outside. At that moment they were approaching a crossing. It was not a traffic point, but the policeman held up his hand. Jack felt like rushing through, but in a moment he saw the , reason why lie had been stopped. An- \ other motor was coming across the road, and had ho not obeyed the policeman's j hand there would have bpen a collision. A carriage en me behind the crossing motor, and half a dozen nureeniaids who had been waiting on the Icerb took advantage of the opportunity to wander across at their leisure, with their little charges pattering along beside them, j Tho engines of tno motor groaned and j snorted as though in sympathy with j their fuming human controller, but there was no help for it; three precious minutes at least wfcro wasted and, when they got fairly <bfo again, Medhurst and Jack almost screamed-with-disappoint-mont as they saw two figures jump into the waiting motor and drive rapidly off. ' Putting on 1 as much speed as ho dared Strangways crashed up the hill. " They have found that the place bos been cracked, and they have made off jwith cvrything incriminating. Drive on! D the regulations 1 We'll explain when we got summoned," howled Medhurst in his master's ear. Jack nodded and let the thing rip. The huge racer bounded off like a horse at the starting jrate, to the astonishment of the passers-by, who a moment or two afterwards let out a combined yell of "Stop! s*op!" A wild-looking, figure had run off tho pavement, and planted himself right in the middle of tho road. Jack thumped the india-rubber bulb, and the horu rang out its hoarse warning, but the man still stood in the way. The motor swerved aside, and the man followed it, within almost an inch of this human obstruction, . Jack managed to bring the thing to a standstill. (To be continued^