"Found Dead"

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 71, 26 April 1929, Page 11

"Found Dead"

BY FRED M. WHITE

COPYRIGHT I PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT | M— —a— — m iiiiiiii— i iiiiii ii ■in iiiii ii u laiiiinTTrm

Author of **The Shadow of the Dead Hand," "Ths Price of Silence," "The Golden Bat," eto.. eto.

CHAPTER XVIII. TT WAS AX HOUK OR TWO laicr when Blake walkeil into TVa tersi louili with Margaret as lus c oni]);tnion. 81ie had takeu licr photogi aphs and had her Ica, duriug vhich the Mihject oP lier recent cunversation witli -Murtmaiu liad cropped np. And Blake had bcen entirely on Margaret's side t.. rnughout. He had 1 1 > k e 1 1 quite ! plainl.v on the sub.ject. so that there j had heen ahnost a quarjel hetwecti the > two nien. whieh liail lieen niore or less ; I ntc-hecl np, owing to IMargaretts pres- j ence. Tt was ,shc who tlirow oil on the trouhled waters and brought the others | kaek to the nornial again. Still. Blake was feeling a little heat- ' ed and onlv too pleased to invent sonie ^ reason for leavitig the house i'or a little j time.^ He had no partienlar lnt>ine«.s m V atersniouth. hnt there was no roason why Margaret shonld bo tohi ; that. _ rl liei'eiore, he strode along hy her side and droppod her just as'they eanie to the house wliere l)r. Deaeou lived. Blake held out his hand. "I ani going in here," he said. "Oue vord, if l may he allowed the liherty. You were iiorfeetly right in the view you took this aftei'iioon and I ean see tl.at you are going to abide hy it. But don't lo^e heart and don't despair.. I ean promiso you that Ihe my.st ery is going to he (loared up." "Then you think that mv husband \vas " » • • "TVfbRDERED. Yes. I certainly do. i And. wha.t is moro, I liavc a; haz.v idea of liow it was done. AVhv it i •was done is another niatter. It is this ! 'why' that is puzzling ine . A'err fre- i cjuentlv, in niy ivav of business, the ! ■how' i.s subordinate to the 'whv.' In j othor words, thev react upo-n one-an-j oi her. And. as a- rule, when yoit get i the 'why,' the 'how' follows. as a : niatter of eourse. 1 don't mind telling | you that this is one of the most amaz- I ing ease.s J have ever liandled. Xow, j go along, Alargaret. and don't worrv j toa juuch. beeause it isn't necessary." AA ith that. Blake turned into the l doctor s gate and asked to see liim. i a.s he stopped into the hall, a nian I eame out of the consulting room and ' pas.sed him. It was a nian of mediunt height; with rather sharp features and a slight droop in the right shoulder that imraediatelv attracted Blake's aitention. He liad a vague idea that j he had seen this nian somewhere beiore though he could not think where and in what circumstancos. He was still puzzling over the niatter when Deaeon greeted him hreezily. "Hello." he said. "AVhat's up now? Have you come consult the oracle, or merolv to beg a cigarette." "AVell. as a matter of faet, I came, beeause 1 had nothing else to do." Blake explained. ''I walked in with Alrs Grimshaw, rather glad to turn mv haek upon Alortmain, who seems to j be suffering from a had attack of hver. But. be that as it may, liis eempany latterly is well nigh unbearable. But never mind Mortmain for t ihe moment. AVlio is that man who just went out?" * * * " A' PAT1ENT," DEACOX SA1D a little shortly. I "Aly dear ehap, 1 know all about | tliat. I am not asking you to give | any professional seerets away, but I i have a strong impression that I have ■ met that t-hap before in verv different : cireum.stanees. Xow, come, can't you i stretch a point when a Scotland Yard | man asks you what he believes, to be a i [crtinent question?" "Oh, well. ]iorhaps, in tliat case." ' Deaeon agreed. "As a matter of fact, ' 1 nevei;¥;aw the man before. His name : is Barton and be is staying at Alrs : lbWge's rottnge." "Oh, the deuee he is. So that is the. man. m ii Wduld vmi nnml lelliug me what is wrong will) him ?'' "X'iT verv lnm !i." Dc-'mui /-\i i n- ! cd. :He has had a bit of an nccidcnt and came to me to put him riglit." i 'T wonder if I cau guess what the tiouhle is." Blake sinilcd. "AYas the : accident in conneetion with a sliot giui "\A"elI, that's true." Ihe puzzled i Beacon replied. "He wa.^ wandering ■ about over the monr ye.sterday after- ! nnon when somebodv ncarhy lircd a ! slioi. presumahly at a rahhit. Aly pa- , licrit could not see who the sportsman v as, and lic doe^n't know now. But | iie got a few pellot^ in liis boly and ' he came to me iuA now to extract i ihem, X'othing serious of cour^e. luii > verv uncomlortable. f can't think v hy he dirln't come to me vestcrdav. : though he did say that he felt no par- ; ticular inconvenience till al'ter he had gone to bed." ! ^ * * * OLAKE MAHE 80AIE CASEAL ; comment and allowed the suhjecl j to drop. All the same, he felt that he had not been wasting lii.s time. He knew, now. beyond the shndow of a ; cloubt that the man called Barton was ' the owner of the blue spectacles. and also the man who, for some mysterions reason, had come from a loug way off into these remote paris for the expivs-. purpose of Imi-gling a small farmho" Lo Mortmain, s. still puzzled and nn A ed with himsclf beeause he could • i on a lonoly Devonshire moor. Blake ■ thought it all over as ho walker! Ivack rememher in what eireumstances he had met the man called Barton hel'ore. vdicre had lm seen that pecular droop j of ihe right shoulder? He knew that : he had done so somewhere, under rather dramatic: conditions. though the man's face conveyed nothing to liim. But, then. Blake was familiar enough ! with the various ingenious inanners in ; whieh the hunia n features ean he dis- 1 guised, almost heyond recognition. A ; pad in tlie mouth, the drawing up oi' ■ an evebrow, the twist of a lip, and the thing was done. It was more tinui possihle that Battrey might be able to help him in this diroetion. Anyhow, it was possihle to disoover where those hlue sjiectacles had come from. He would sencl tliem up to Lonrlon and get some offieial from Scotland Yard l.i make inquiries. * » * TT WAS C'H A 1 1 ACTERI STI 0 of the ; * nian that he liad put these details I entirely out of his mind, and was work- | ing along another trade by the time lie had dressed for dinner. Moreover, he ; was pleased to find Mortmain iii a : much more amiable frame of mind. i "I wailt to apologise to you, olcl : ehap." the latter said. "I know I be- i haved very badly this aftfernoon, and, i now tliat 1 liave come to think' mattcrs over quietly. I s6e that I was altogether wrong. But you must make allowances. I have been terribly worried lately, and when Margaret spoke to me as she did this afternoon, I nmst liave gone ofF the deep end altogether. When I asked you to come down liere f had a plot for a new story practically jvorked out in rny

: mind. All I needed for my melodrama wa- to one of the hig men | fiom Scotland Yard actively at work i and study liis methods. I didn't want i i.nv trite coinmonplace sort ot stulf one rtaiD in the avcrage delective story. 1 wa-, looking lorward to sceing vou and learning soniething of your arti- ■ lires, never dreaniing for a, moiiicm: that I was going to become tlie centre of ;t vi\ id roma nce niyself. For the Tinic being. at, nnv rate, T slinli ha\e to abamhm niy plot ahogether "Are you quite sure of that?" Bhtke asked qitietlv. "Are you quite >uro tl.at you can't help me, just as ntuch as I tan help you? Oh, l know I am firing a rimu at randoin." "T^VrDEXTLY A BLAXK ear--s--^ tridge." Alorimain langhed a little unsteadily. "Aly dear ehap. you ltiu.st iind your own salvation. And now, al'ter that apology ot litine. let's droj) the suhject for a bit. A'ott were very anxious to h> a morning's jirawntng. and if we started very early the tide will serve us to-morrow." "Xothing I should like better." Blake responded. "But don't you ! want all sorts of traps? Nets and all that kind of thing. And 1 sujtpohC I couldn't go in an ordinarv tuit of clothes?" "That you could not." Mortmain sniilod. "A'ou want a sort of hag ncl v\ itli a long handle that you can shovc u.ndcr the crannies of the rocks at low Ude, and a tislierman's hiiskct to ettrry 1 yottr prev is as you cutch them. There is very little skill about it. You will requiro a pair of flannel shorls and a fishertuan's jer.sey, and, last. hut not letist a pair of shoe«. Slioes with indiarubber soles would be (he hest, beeause tliev give you a ftrm fooiing. But you can leave ;tll that to me. J can fit you with a kit . I will ask Farthing to lonk you out one and put it in your room to-night. J don't disturb tlie household in tlie morning when I am going fishing, so, to save that, 1 set i tnv alarm clock at an early liour. vhich wakes me when I am required. Then T will come along to your room and pull vou out of bed." It seemed io Blake that he had oniy been asleep a few minutes when lie felt a hand sliaking him by tlie shoulder, and he opened liis eyes in the still, dini light to see Mortmain standing over him. • * * '•fYOME ALOXG," the latter said. ^ "Get into your tliings. It's halfpast four — that is. half-past tliree by Greenwich time, so that it will be light enough to see by ihe time wc get down to the Castle Rock., Come along !" The morning was beginning to brighton as tliey reached the sands and niade their way round into the next hay under the shadow of tlie Castle Rock. Tliey skirted it fairly closely, 1-ocause, as Mortmain explained, tliero were jagged fbnts just under ihe sand 1 bcre. and tbey were apt to prove painful to thinly shod feet. Then tliey c.merged onto tlie wide stretch of sand leit by the receding tide and, for ihe best part of tbree Jionrs, were engaged in probing the tiny pools on the edge of tlie surf, until tliat time had passed away and the wltole landscape was flooded with tlie sunshine of a perfect morning. AVlien they got back to the house again the servants were about and Farthing had provided a preliminarv hreakfast in tlie dining room. "Xow jnst a mouthful or two," Afort-n-ain suggesled. "And then a. warm ba1li. and al'ter that. whai you like. You go on first and get off those moi.st. sandy rags." Blake accordinglv went up to tlm hathroom. after whieh he repaired to i'is heclroom. where he dressed hiinsell' slowly. wondering what he was to do with himself for ihe next hnur or two. Then, as a siidden thought occurred 10 him, lie picked up Ihe right shoe of the pair with whieh Mortman had provided him and examined it closely in ihe strong liglit. After tliat. from a drawer in his warhrohe, he prodmcd ihe photograph that Deaeon had takou from ihe wax cast whieh he had ma'le -ome days before. "Identical.Y he whispercd softlv. "identical." To be Continued.