, 1925-10-21
CHAPTER XI-Continued

at seems to have acted most excel
lently," remarked the Reverend Theo-
| dosius. and Drummond found he could
hear quite normally; also his sight
II improving; things in the room
seemed steadier. And his mind was
becoming less confused-he could
think again. But to move or to speak
was utterly impossible; all he could
do was to sit and watch and rag in
wardly at having been such a fool as
to trust Peterson.
But that gentleman appeared In no
hurry. He was writing with a gold
pencil on a letter pad, and every now
and then he paused and smiled
th%oughtfully. At length he seemed
satisfied, and crossed to the bathroom
door.
1--WE are ready now" DrummOnd
heard him say, and he wondered what
a going to happen next. To turn
his head was impossible; his range of
could turn his eyes. And then, to his
amazement. he heard his own voice
speaking from somewhere behind him
not, perhaps, quite so deep, but an
extraordinary good imitation which
would have deceived nine people out
of ten when they could not see the
| speaker. And then he heard Peter
sons voice again mentioning the tele-
phone, and he. realized what they
were going to do.
II wnnt you," Peterson was say
ing. ito send this message that l have
written down to that Misunderstanding
this gentleman's voice" .r.
They came into his line of vision.
and the new arrival stared at him
curiously. But he asked no questions
merely took the paper and read It
through carefully. Then he stepped
over to the telephone. and took off the
receiver. And, helplessly impotent.
Drummond sat In his chair and heard
the following message spoken in his
own voice:
SIS that you. Peter. old bird? I've
mnde the most unholy bloomer. This
old bloke T~heodosius isn't Carl at all.
He's a perfectly respectable pillar OF
the church"
And then apparently Darrell said
something; and Peterson. who was
listening through the econd ear
piece, whispered urgently to the man.
Phyllis" he went on-'she's as
| right as rainl The whole thing Is a
Joss shot of the first order. ;"
Drummond made another stupendous
effort to rise, and for a moment every
thing went blank. Dimly he heard
his o'vn voice still talking into the
instrument, but he only caught a word
here and there, and Their It ceased. and
he realized that the man had left the
room. 1t was Peterson's voice close
by him that cleared his brain again.
"I trust you approve of the way our
single has started, Captain Drum
mond." he remarked pleasantly. "YOur
friend Peter. l am glad to say. Is
more than satisfied. and has an
nounced his intention Of aiming with
some female charmer. Also he quite
understands Why your wife has gone
into the country-you heard that bit,
l hope, about her sick cousin?-and
he realizes that you are joining her"
And suddenly the pleasant voice
ceased. and the clergyman continued
in n tone of cold. malignant fury.
"You rat! You id interfering
young swine! Now that you're help.
less I don't mind admitting that | am
the man you knew as Carl Peterson,
but I'm not going to make the mistake
he made a second time. underesti.
mated you. Captain Drummond. I left
things to that fool darlington. |
treated you as n laundering young ass,
and l realized too late that you
weren't such a fool as you looked.
This time ! am paying you the com
pllment of treating you as a danger
Gus enemy, and n clever man. l trust
you are flattered."
He turned as the door opened. and
the man who had te%lephoned came In
with two others. One was n great,
powerful-looking man who might have
been n prize-ighter; the other was Il
lean. swarthy-skinned foreigner. and
both Of them looked unpleasant Gus.
toners. And Hugh wondered what
was going to happen next. while his
eyes rolled wildly from side TO side us
II In search OF some way OF escape.
1t was like some CHASTITY nightmare
when one Is powerless to move before
some dreadful Pigment of the brain,
only TO be saved nj the last moment
by waking up. Only In Hugh's case
he was awake already. and the dream
was reality.
He saw the men leave the room. and
then Peterson came over to him again
First he took the little bag OF din
monds out Of his pocket. and IL struck
Hugh that though he had seer the 9th.
er's hand go into his pocket, he had
felt nothing. He watched Peterson and
the girl MS they examined the stones
be watched Peterson ~ he locked them
up in II steel d~lspatch-case. And then