Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-11-05
CHAPTER Ix-COntinued

ID
''In certain eventualities- Captain
Drummon | propose to send an
anonymous letter to Scotland Yard.
Surprised though they would be to
get it, it might help them to clear up
the mystery Of Mr.. Latter's insanity.
1T may prove rather unpleasant for
you, Of course, but that can't be
helped"
ITS kind of you to give me loop
hole of escape" said Drummond pleas
antly. what are the eventualities
to which you alludeT
THE nonreturn to me Of a little
bag containing diamonds" remarked
the hunchback quietly. "They were In
the desk which was wrecked by the
bomb"
Dear, dear" said Hugh. "Am {
supposed to have them in my posses
STOMP
81 can only hope most sincerely for
your sake that you have" returned the
other. Otherwise I'm afraid that let
ter will go to the police"
For a while Drummond smoked in
silence; then, with lazy smile on his
face, he IS down in an armchair fac
ing the hunchback.
There are one o. two things 1 have
to say to you before depriving myself
of the pleasure of your company. BY
the post following the one which car
ries your interesting disclosure will
go another letter addressed to Sir
Bryan tombstone himself. l shall be
in the Office when he opens it-and we
shall both be roaring with laughter
over the extraordinary delusion that
quite the biggest fool Of his ac-
quaintance-could possibly be the
leader Of the Black Gang. And, as If
to prove the utter absurdity of the
suggestion, this second letter will be
from thu leader of the Black Gang
himself. In it he will state that he
was present at Green street, Hoxton,
last night in an endeavor to obtain
possession of the anarchist and Boil
shevist literature stored there. That
he took with him a professional bur-
glar to assist him in opening the safe
and other things which might be there,
and that while engaged in this emil
nently virtuous proceeding he found
that he was trapped in the room by
some mechanical device. And then
will come a very interesting disclosure.
He will state how suddenly he saw
through crack in the door a pair of
eyes looking at him. And their color
see, what Is the color Of your eyes?
-gray-blue, very noticeable. Much
the same as old ongmoors-though
his are little bluer. And then the
owner Of the eyes was so ipconsider-
ate as to throw a bomb in the room !;
a bomb which killed one of the men,
and wrecked the desk. So that the
owner Of the eyes, gray-blue eyes Just
like yours, is murderer common
murderer. And we hang men in Eng
land for murder" He paused and
stared at the hunchback. "This is a
jolly game, isn't it?"
"And you really imagine" said the
hunchback contemporary, ''that even
your police would believe such story
that a man would wreck his own Of
fee, when on your own showing he
had the men trapped inside it?"
Probably not" said Drummond af-
fably. "Any more than they would
believe that was the leader of the
Black Gang. So since they're such a
wretched crowd of unbelievers don't
think It's much good playing that
game. Waste Of time, isn't it? So l
vote we play another one, all on our
own-a little game of make-believe-
like we used to play in the nursery"
81 haven't an idea what you're talk
ing about, Captain Drummond," said
the hunchback, shifting uneasily in his
chair. For all trace of affability hi. j
vanished from the face Of the man
opposite him, to be replaced by an
expl ession which made Mr.. Atkinson
pass his tongue once or twice over lips
that had suddenly gone dry.
Haven't you you rat?" said Drum-
mond quietly. "Then I'll tell you. Just
for the next five minutes we're going
to pretend that these two astonishing
statements which the police-stunid
fellows-won't believe are true. We're
going to pretend-only pretend. mind
you-that am the leader of tba
Black Gang; and we're ICING to IRE.
tend that you are the man who fluno
the bomb last night. Just for FIVE
minutes only, then we go back to real
lty and unbelieving policemen"
And If during the following five min
utes strange sounds were heard nv
Denny in the room below, he was far
too accustomed to the sounds NJ
breaking furniture TO worry. II
wasn't until the hunchback pulled a
knife that Drummond warmed TO his
work, but from that moment he Loot
his temper. And because the buncb-
back was a hunchback-though on
dowed withal by Nature with singular
strength-it Jared on Drummond 70
fight him as If he had been a normal
man. So he logged him with q
rhinoceros-hide whip till his arm
ached, and then he flung him into
chair, gasping, cursing, and scarcely
human.
"You shouldn't be so realistic IN
your stories, Shocks, 1 shall call Won
Snooks," he remarked affably, though
his eyes were still merciless as he
looked at the wrlthing figure. "And
/ feel quite sure that that is what the
leader Of the Black Gang would have