Evening star., 1927-12-07

hail you as a greater than himself
yes, as greater even than any
criminal in all France. I heard you
check him with your name on his
lips. / heard him call your attention
to my presence there. l heard you
say you had not forgotten-and in a
flare of light l saw you with your
rife across your knees, its muZzle
only a few feet away from my head.
Then in the ensuing darkness 1
was lucky enough to be able to wrfg-
gle silently back few yards in
among the trees-and second later
I saw the flash of your rifle shot"
Locke stopped. His lips were dry.
He touched them with the tip of his
tongue.
The two men stood eyeing each
other. Neither moved.
Locke spoke again:
"As / crawled out of that thicket
swore that / would pay you for that
shot if it took all my life to bring you
to account. did not know your
name. l did not know where you
came from or where you lived: but
knew your face-and l was sure, as
we are sometimes strangely sure of
the future, that some time, in some
place. YOU and / would meet again.
But it was four years before we did;
and in those four years, during which
/ have travelled a great deal on my
fathers business, no mans face. IN a
crowd or merely passing on the
street, whether here or abroad. but
that I searched in the hope that 1t
might be yours. And then / saw
you-in London-just a few days BE-
fore we sailed. / followed you 70
YOUR apartment, and I saw the other
nd IA.
whose name I discovered was PAU
Cremarre. I secured an Introduction
to you at your club, and l learned
from YOU that you were salllng
within a day or so on certain snip.
/ told you ! was sailing on the same
ship. Within an hour after | had
left YOU at the club ] did two things;
I booked passage on that ship; ana
engaged a man who was recon-
mended to me as one OF the best PR
vate detectives in England. With the
knowledge that you were criminal
1t was only a question of a short time
then before the detective would un
earth your record, or that you would
be caught in some new venture, ana
meanwhile, leaving him to work UP
YOUR history / crossed with you ana
suggested the yachting trip, as DID
not intend to let you out of my sight
again until you were trapped. And |
think but for the fact that you have
been told now, that would have been
accomplished even more quickly than
/ had expected. AT one of the stops
that | purposely made on the way
down the coast on the Talofa | re-
ceived a letter from the detective,
mailed in London the day after we
sailed. He said that developments
had been such that he was working IN
conjunction with Scotland Yard, and
that he expected to be able to send
me a very satisfactory report within
a day or So"
Capt. Francis Newcombe took his
cigarette case from his pocket for the
second time-but now he calmly
lighted a cigarette.
"And So" he said smoothly, "just at
the moment when, after four long
years, you are about to reap the fruits
of your labor, you tell me to go.
Where? Into the trap waiting for me
over there on the mainland"
mo" said Locke bitterly. Where
YOU will: you and Runnells-and Paul
Cremarre Wen have no more trou-
bic from any of you here"
Capt. Francis Newcombe paused
suddenly in the act of lifting his ciga
rette to his lips.
This Pdul ITelldETe you SIedh u,
he said, what makes you think he is
here?"
Because I expected him to be
here" said Locke shortly. He was
one of the three of you. He could not
very well form part of your retinue
as Runnells did.
"He would have to come separately.
I know he is here because / saw
man wearing a mask last night. !
have reason to know it was not you;
and since I superintended the packing
of Runnells' baggage and have also
seen Runnells himself, know-for
reasons that need not be explained
that it was not Runnells."
IT see." said Capt. Francis New
combe. $50 it must have been this
Paul Cremarre-since the three would
be here together. | regret that | was
not fortunate enough to have the al
vantage of your viewpoint, ever
though you honor me with the credit
of having arranged all these little de,
tails. And so, at the moment of youl
supreme success we are to go-we
three. May l ask why this change
Of hearth
Howard Locke reached into his
pocket and took out a faded envelope
that was torn at one end.