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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1930-07-10, Page 7**5 Hill ll£ THE EXETER TIMES^AWPCATE THURSDAY, JVLY 10th, l&emple flower | -vl SAPPER t Mr, Grang- IgM traip haa 1 thanked her and let the subject •drop. There was ‘uothln^ more- to he got out of her, and it seemed to me that she was already looking at me a little curiously* What had happened was clear, After laying nie /out he had calmly packed hii kit and walked out of the hotel. And we were none pf us any nearer tq knowing what he looked like than we were before. That was the sick ening part of It, Bqj I’d got th© plqn, and that was worth half a dozen stiff necks. I sat down secluded spot and ordered the est whisky and. the smallest that the hotel could produce, I pulled thp precious piece of parch ment out -of my pocket and proceed ed to- examine it, Th© plan’ itself was dated M,L- XXXII,, which I calculated as 1532, And though my hist'ory was ex tremely rusty, I worked that date out as being |n the reign of Henry the Eighth. It showed the original house of Temple Tower, though, of course, not under that name, and the guarding wall. It alsp showed another building situated about a hundred yards from the house, which I assumed must have been the now non-existent chapel. Gonnect- ing the two buildings from outside wall to outside wall, there ran the secret passage clearly marked on the plan. ;So that, at' first sight, it appeared that once one was inside "the grounds, witli a tape measure, the entrance to the passage would be easy to locate. “Good Lord! Darrell, where did you get that?” I glanced up quickly, to find John James regarding me in amazement. “Hullo!” I said, “Here’s your bally old plan.” “So I see,” he cried. “I didn’t think it was a copy of the Pink ’U-n. But how did you get it?” “Sit down,” I i-emarked, “and order the Necessary. I, could do ’ with another. And I will tell you the doings,” “What’s stung you-r face, laddie?” he said, “^t looks kind of fixed it position.” “It is,” I answered, “And it’s ‘ all part of the doings.” He sat down, and I told him brief ly what had happened, “Well, I’m damned,” he muttered, when I’d finished. “He’s, a cool customer. However, let's get -back to the old plan. Turn it over, and Ye’ll see what is on the other side.” The writing was crabbed and old- fashioned, and being in pencil, the words were none too easy to- de cipher. But at last we maaged to make them out, “When tower and eastern turret come in line, a tree is found. Thirty long- paces north, and in the ground the answer lies. But should you hear the sound of turning wheels—-beware.” “Seems helpful,” he murmured. “The only drawback is that we’ve gpt to get inside the grounds to make use of it. . Moreover, we’ve got to get in by.day.” j For a moment or two I did no( get his meaning. “At% night we p.ro'bably shouldn’t be able to see the h&lly turret,” he explained. “But look here,’’ I said, “this, bit of doggerel is only a repetition of the information in the plan. There’s the passage clearly marked.” He shook his head. “That’s, where you’re answered positively. t “The only shows the spot' where the sage passed underneath the old side wall. The actual entrance somewhere inside the chapel, as the entrance at the other end is somewhere in-side Temple Tower.” “Then it seems t*i me,” I remark ed, “that I’ve got a stiff neck nothing. For I’m darned if i see how we’re- going ta get into place by day.” “It’s just possible that the might be able to help us there,” he said thoughtfully. “.Scott’s girl, I mean. She’ll have to go back for her kit, and then she ought to have no difficulty in, spotting and marking it for us Anyway,” he continued pause, “what d-o- we do geant-major? There doesn’t isee-m much good our sitting on here.” “Let’-s- give it a little longer,” I said. "I feel there is a bare pos- sibilty of our friend returning to find this. And it would be a pity to miss the blighter.” “Right ho!” he agreed. “As long as you like as far as I’m concerned. But my own opinion is that he’s not ■going to come back for that. Why should he? He’s read the verse at the back, and it’s not' difficult to remember. iSo that no-more use to him that it is to'us.” “Perhaps you’re “Let’s give it ten minutes Or so, and then we’ll push back for dinner.” I replaced the -plan in my pocket, and lit a cigarette, whilst he got up., “I’ll Wander down to the station,” he said, “and get .an evening paper. Then, if you’re ready, we’ll toddle when I get back.” He strolled out, leaving me to finish my drink. The. lounge was empty, and the soft evening light slanting through the old-fashioned windows gave it a particularly peaceful aspect. Then four men, two of whom I recognise! as golfers of Walk,er ing shop, what they -into their No other Orange Pekoe can equal thia in flavour IIIHIIIIIIUIq occasionaltogether, save for an bump. With its cessation I self together: there was remaining found the about Mr. very well, him at home there was no- excuse for my remaining in his must go down and resume in the hall. And even as I came elusion. I happened to glass in front of me. oyer my shoulder the me. , Tlie door . .,, With a great effort' J forced myself to lopk around. Evidently Mr. Thomas had returned. But it wasn’t Mr, Thomas. Stand ing almost' on top of me was a masked figure, that in the fading light seemed of monstrous size. In a flash I took in the hump on -his back, realized it was. Le Bossu Mas que himself, and then his hands shot and he got my throat. I struggled wildly, and I am not generally con sidered a weakling. But in that man’s hands I might have been a child. The silent strangler had got me. Soon there came a roaring in my ears, and still the grip held. I was losing -consciousness: he was throt tling me. • And the last thing I re member, before everything went ' black was the look of fierce triumph in big. eyes, CHAPTER In Which uLe Bossu” Retrieves His Error came to myself, for a two I could recall noth in a wave it all came to again I saw that terrible Number 19 was' Le' figure crouching over me, and felt ■not 18. The door was’those vicelike hands on my throat. I .Feeling a little dazed and sick, ! T anvamhUrl fn .yyiv Of /ftiy <XS- THE STORY SO FAR JHugh Drummond and Peter Farrell are interested in Mr. Granger, who ■lives at Temple Tower, which is strongly fortified. Miss Verney mccepts a position as private se cretary to. Mr. Granger and her friend (Freckles) Tom Scott is , staying with Hugh, John, an old . 'friend of Hugh’s,, has the plans of \ ’Temple Tower but someone stole - them out of his room. A boarder ’ at Spragge’s Farm hides a rope < ladder near the tower and at night R- uses 'ft to climb the wall. Hugh and his three? frjends also go in to find the big Mog poisoned and > The servant Gaspard choked to death. They meet Victor Mat thews, a member of the New York " police, who Tetuns with them and gives the history of this myster ious person in black. The next -day, ..the body 'of the boarder who dias' been staying at' Spragge’s :Farm was found outside the ^grounds, he also has been choked to death. The inspector is then called. Mias Verney discovered the dead deg. and* Gaspard’s body xand returns t?& Hugh’s. Matthew throws liis lot’in with Hugh and - Peter and the h<?xt day they all " *lrift away to fin’d any clues. Pe ter goes to the Dolphin-and meets Tandali and the girl. iNOW GO/ON WITH THE STORY S went qtjickly out into the hall Md looked upstairs,. True enough,' JNnmber 18 was over-the little room wJiere we had been talking, and so jfar Hugh was. ri'gh't. But he had snot seen the position of the opening xn the chimney, and I had. And I pulled my* no good my there now tliat I had room empty. "The bluff Harold Thomas was all but not having found room. I my watch tliat con.to look in the I could see room behind was slowly shutting. When I jshw at once that that opening could - uiomei}2 or snot'-have been made from Number jL8_, but must have come from, the’™e. room next it. F5"’’ IBossu’s room- ssliut, and for a* moment I had an I —.....= - ------ ------- ---- ----■ ftnsane impulse to stroll casually up I scrambled to my feet. Of my as- open the door, and walk sailant, there was no sign: the room ' was empty. And’then another thing and ’ struck me: the kit that had been ly- 4**~ about was no longer there, had gone, including the Then Once the stairs, . „ . . . an. I could pretend I had come into‘was empty, the wrong room- by mistake, ; ire could, not do me any harm in-ing aim Dolphin. ‘ ’| EXerytlling However, I decided against it,'and suitcase. jsvalked 'over to” the Visitors’ Book. J For a while I sat on the bed trying There wab the-entry right enough: • to pull myself together. My neck TL Thomas, Lpndon. No. 1$.” I was most infernally sore: undoubt- “I see you", have a Mr. Thomas • edly Le Bossu well' deserved his se cond nickname of the Strangler. Be cause it was- useless, to -blind myself to the fact that had he wished to kill so. and due had whilst he packed his things and left the hotel, ail’d had calmly proceeded to do so. I glanced at my watch: it was se ven o’clock. I had been uncon scious for roughly an hour. And it was as I replaced- it in my pocket that my eye was -caught by a big piece of folded paper lying half un der the- bed., I picked it up mech anically and opened it -out. And then a time, I stood gazing at it, staying here/’^said to the girl. “I ■wonder if that'is* the Harold Thomas K arsed to play -golf ’with? Is he Ibig’man with a slight stoop?” ■“He,s is a biggish unaii, but' a me he , could easily have done Luckily he had not so wished, I wa.s still alive, but it was. not to any prowess on my part. He decided to make me unconscious I Sun’t think he stoops,” she answer- ■“Fair moustache?” I asked. **I think-Ji'b- is clean shaven,” she meplied. “I -ideally couldn't say for ssure. But I expect he will be back £dr dinner.” “He is uot & the hotel, then?” said quietly. “No, I haven’t seen him all day.” , She turned to a new arrival, and S -went back into the annexe. What utas to- be..done now? That the man who called himself Tho-mas was in ♦fhe hotel I knew! But it was mani- j for ffestly impossible for me to tell the (literally unable to believe my eyes, girl how I knew it. If a man lays It was the actual plan of Temple sclalm to having seen eyes, peering i Tower which had been stolen from ^atbim out of chimneys, his audience ‘ Laidly Towers the preceeding night. ....,j turned it over: on the back were . written some lines in pencil.| I crossed to the window to exam- t ine it better: then, on second thoughts, I crammed it in my pock et. There would be plenty of time to study it later: the immediate ne cessity was to get out of he room. I calculated that he must have ■ dropped it inadvertently .when he was packing, and once he discover ed hiS loss he would almost certain ly return for it. And I had no wish whatever to encounter the gentle man by myself again. True, I 1 could accuse him of half murdering me, but who was there to‘ prove it? A stiff neck gives no outward and visible sign of its existence; it would only be my word against his. Where as it would be obvious to all con cerned that I \vas in a room where I had no right to be. I >opene‘d the door cautiously and peered out. And with a sigh of re lief I saw that no one was -about. , Even if I was- seen leaving the room I should render myself liable to sus- >uWng a bold fabe^dn it, J walked picion, but luck was. with me. And 3.S more than likely to make rude ansinuafions concerning alcohol. And it was utterly' imperative that, jsomehow*-or other, I should see in- sslfle Number- 19. ?How to do it: aft-at was the* problem. v I ■'wandered ^restlessly back into Jthe hall: what about sitting down in ■ja spot which commanded a view of tthe room? And to 'my amazement, Jound., on looking up, that the j^oor was open. Mechanically I or- Mered a whisky and soda; how did ^iha^ fact affect things? Did if mieanrthat the owner of Number 19 lhafl gone out in reality, or what? 3 finished my’ drink, and as I IJawl down.the glass I came to a de- ^Cjsion. I would go- up and walk straight inter- the - room. If there iM’fts.j.aiiy unpleasantness I could pre- SLeniLjtbat- I thought- it was my my- ajiical Harold Thomas and apologise jS&M’ my'-Thtrusion, But I should Stave seeit/ttie man we wanted: and' ithat, -so it S^^tted to me, Was worth sa big risk. "There was nd -o>ue about, and so, VarviriG’i-'#-?«S *4-. ’ T **•»♦■«■* 1 "I> A straight up the stairs. Then for a mioment I admit I he'sitateds visions. being arrested as an hotSl thief, pocket, floated before me. BuL I banished' flUmm, and with a preliminary knock <?o.u the dbor, I went into Number 19. " There was' no one in it, and I gjlgtsicod quickly rotirtd. . A. weatlier- iJbeaten suitcase stood in one corner: -wu life bed lay a pair of pyjamas. A sftian’t • . toilqt accessories—rhair 'Sirushes;’ shaving gear, and the‘like In ten seconds later I was in the hall again, with the precious plan in my There was o hurry -nbw: I could afford to take my time. And the best thing to do,- it struck me, Thomas’ over to a . |n a larg- soda Then wond- Bossu James , .And “Excuse me,” I might aay, “in terrupting your dissertation on put ting, but have you seep a masked hunchback lying about anywhere? Because X’ve just beeu very nearly strangled by p-ne.” I began to chuckle inwardly as I imagined their expressions. Ap'd yet it was true, damn it, it was true. It wasn’t a dream, and it wasn’t an attack of delirium tremens. Then the clergyman came in, with the two elderly ladies ip tow, and one of the goffers, 'who has abandoned his hobby for the latest from the Stock Exchange, lowered his voice ‘discreet ly. I lit another cigarette and ered if by any chance Le would return. Probably John was right', and he wouldn’t, even if he did, unless he actually walked into Number 19, how should I know him? I glanced upstairs opce again, and as I did so J sud denly remembered that strange drumming noise that I had heard before Le Bossu attacked me. It had come from Number 18, the Van- dalis’ room, and I began wondering What had caused it. It had been such a peculiar noise, unlike any thing that I could recall having heard before. It had sounded al most' as if someone was knocking on the wall’ with a mallett, Could it have been a signal of some sort? If so, it must have been intended for Le Bossu himself, and that' proved at. O'nce that I was wrong, and the three of them were in collusion. But then, if that were the case, why bother to signal, when all that was necessary* was to walk into the room and talk? After a while I gave it up: like so many ordinary a dozen sumably, at some I felt I couldn’t- see the forest for the -trees. The door swung open, and I look ed up hoping it was John James. I was beginning to agree with him that there was but little object in remaining here any longer. But it 'Proved to be the inspector, and with him a shrewd-looking red-haired young man with journalist written all over him, who paused the instant, lie saw me, and then came over and spoke. , “Good evenifig, Mr. Darrell,” he :said “You’ve forgotten me: on vthe Folkstone Courier. You were good enough to give me an interview when you were playing for Middlesex in the Canterbury Cricket Week twd years ago. Extraordinary affair this, isn’t it?” “Very,” I agreed, “What 'did you find out, Inspector? You were just going to Temple Tower when you left' us this morning.” ■—-“Ah! ‘Of course*,"” he* said, “you were with Captain Drummond. Just . for .a moment I did not recognise you. Well, sir, you’ll understand that I can’t say much. 'Though, to tell you the truth,” he added rue- ■ fully, “I haven’t got much to -say. I’m' 'defeated—for the moment only, of course.” “Quite,” I agreed gravely. “You other things, in this extra affair, there seemed to be different possibilities. Pre in time, we should arrive result, but at the moment TT jfth Vreah from the gard nothing,” me the my way and again, and noth- woman lie admitt- best of ‘an in. I rang wrong,” he plan pas- out- was just for can tlie girl the tree somehow, after a now, ser- the plan now, any right,” I is of more said. radOrned the- dressing-table. <nnt; it was without exception the least suspicious looking,room I have tteveii been iit,\ t And tlieh I suddenly became aware* of a most peculiar aroise.’ If carnbifrom the next room, sttii'd it sottnjded't’h.s-if someone was iMtrumminig with Ills feet on the pur* iOn Walk JtlwiV after a It ctihie" fitfully, and while/’it died away al* was to inquire into Mr. movements. So- I walked the office. “By the way,” I said to “has Mr. Thomas returned yet? -She looked at me in -some prise. “Mr. Thomas paid his bill left half a.11 hour ago,” she “He didn’t say anything about- ing back.” “I must have misunderstood his plans,” I remarked. “Did he say if he was returning to London?” anything,” said' can’t get back from here. The “He didn’t sisy the girl. “But he to Lotidob to-night the girl, sur and said, com- I Cup repute, came in talk- And would conver I wondered idty think if I hutted sation. * Rev. John Eider, Cromarty* Presbyterian Church Vas accepted a call from Milverton and will preach, his farewell sermon on July 13th. Mrs, Charles Camm, of were in London recently, Camm underwent an op* one eye, The operation Mr. and Woodham, where Mr. eration on was successful and he is doing nice* ly. Certainly the younger generation is willing to stay in -at night—if pa* pa has a closed car. have found out nothing from er himself?” “Practically . ed, “It took hour to force the bell again ing happened. • Finally a came to the gate, and I told her un less she opened it I would break it down: that a murder had been committed in the grounds, and that by law I must investigate. As soon as I said that she turned as white as a sheet, and opened the gate. “ ‘A murder!’ she stammered; ‘Who's peen murdered?” “Now, she was lying:, I enough knowledge of hupian nature to know that. She knew nothing about' it; -of that I -am convinced. She-shut the gate-.and bolted itr* then she fol lowed behind me. And when we came to the body she let ou.t a scream and nearly fainted. I don’t blame her, for the dead man was her husband. He was strangled just like the other, and lie was not a pretty sight'. (To be continued) L Packet of WILSON’S FLY PADS ' I / i I I I f WILL KILL MOPE FLI£S TH4 L/ L .SEVERAL DOLLARS W0RTH/, ^OF ANY OTHER FLY KILLF ‘tf b” Fire -broke out in the Crawford Block, Wingham, .on Friday and for a time threatened three stores in the building. It required about an hour to get the outbreak under con trol, The d'amage is covered by insurance. Best of all flyJEiners. ■ Clean, quiesy sure, cheap. Ask your Drug gist, Grocer or General’ Store. lOc WHY PAY MORF ' THE . WILSON FLY PAD GO;, HAMILTON, ONT. Nasty/Pimples- On Her Face ■; DreadedrGqing Out Mra. F. G. BarwijCk,. McGc6?,Saak.^ writes:-—-‘1 After.my Jaijt bafey was born my blood became •very bad and' my faqO4broke*out.in-.naily-pimple^ and.'! dreaded,' going out.: anywheije. One dayT aaW Bucdock. BlooSL.'Bittonr advortiSed^ so yr&nt ^P - store,-and- purchased, uv. boftib/ a^h^t*^Hta^Mi'e^imples’<h«tkall-dis appear^,^nd,-^niy face ibjAaa .qf Vfptir *M1- dren and I^am^gdipg.to'gef a bot'tto TUF t Mil RIIIDN rn Llmitfirf for .them as,.their blood/is none*too’ ™E T* Um,ted f as much good, as it did/me- ■ "I told a friend aboi|i B.B.B,l;andj For the past 51. yearns MANUFACTURED ONLYJBY BURDOCK J 1 B LOOP 1 B ITTERS^j results she received?’ STOP means The HON. GEO. S. HENRY, CW™<w» SENSE Safety The STOP signs on streets and highways are there for’yow protection. They protect you and all other drivers only to the extent that you obey them. There’s a STOP sign at every intersection The King’s accident results you are responsible^ You cannot depend on other complied with the law by co exercise care in entering While you may have g to a full stop, you should still traffic stream of a main highway. eystone of Safety n The King’s Highway ,$hd all other roads and streets J .1