Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1925-09-11

For a while Drummond smoked IN
silence: then, with lazy smile on his
face he sat down in an armchair fac
ing the hunchback.
"There are one o" two things / 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 Johnstone 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 &C.
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 the 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 a crack in the door 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 ngmoor's-though
his are a little bluer. And then the
owner of the eyes was so inconsider-
ate as to throw q bomb In the room );
q 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-a 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 contemptuously, that even
your police would believe such a 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 l was the leader of the
Black Gang So since they're such a
wretched crowd Of unbelievers I don't
think it's much good playing that
game Waste Of time, isn't it? SO I
vote we play another one, all on our
own-a little game Of make-believe-
II 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 had
vanished from the face Of the man
opposite him, to be replaced by an
expression 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-stupid
fellows-won't believe are true. We're
going to pretend-only pretend, mind
you-that l am the leader Of the
Black Gang; and we're going to pre-
tend that you are the man who flung
the bomb last night. Just for five
minutes only, then we go back to real
ity and unbelieving policemen"
And If during the following five min
utes strange sounds were heard by
Denny in the room below, he was far
too accustomed to the sounds of
breaking furniture to worry. 1t
wasn't until the hunchback pulled a
knife that Drummond warmed to his
work, but from that moment he lost
his temper. And because the hanch-
back was a hunchback-th Igh en-
dowed vithal by Nature with singular
strength-it Jared on Drummond to
fight him as If he had been a normal
man. So he fogged him with a
rhinoceros-h whip till his arm
ached, and then he flung him into a
chair, gasping, cursing, and scarcely
human.
"You shouldn't be 80 realistic In
your stories, SnoOks, I shall call you
snooks," he remarked affably, though
his eyes were still merciless as he
looked at the writhing figure "And
l feel quite sure that that Is what the
leader of the Black Gang would have
done If he had met the peculiar hu-
morist who threw that bomb last night
Bad habit-throwing bombs"
With a final curse the hunchback
staggered to his feet, and his face was
diabolical in Its fury.
"You shall pay for that, Captain
Drummond, stroke by stroke, and lash
by lash," he said in a shaking voice.
Drummond laughed shortly.
"All the same, old patter," he re-
marked TELL old Longmoor with
nv love-" He paused and grinned.
mo, on second thoughts / think I'll
tell his reverence myself-at the aD-