Evening star., 1938-12-30
BY H. G. WELLS.
CHAPTER Xxx.
SadiStic?

CHAPTER Xxx.
Sadistic?
Rud saw.
The arcana of the basement and
cellars of No. II and the flavor of
the locked-up garage behind al
tered the whole complexion of the
day for Rud. He had been living
triumphantly in a storm of rhetoric
all day, living gloriously by the
spoken word. II Am the Common
Man." He had been carried by
the torrent of his own speech into
the very seat of the boss. In the
absence of the boss. Now here was
something more fundamental than
rhetoric.
Bodisham had closed and relocked
the double doors behind them. The
second one was covered with green
baize for the evident purpose of
making it sound proof. The main
cellar was a sort of arsenal with a
newly made bolt hole and dug out
below it. There were only about a
dozen rifles in the arms collection,
but there were three or four guns
with short barrels, considerable
miscellany of pistols, life preservers,
a Lewis gun, assorted ammunition,
trunk of knuckle busters, sheath
knives, store of razors and razor
blades, truncheons, bludgeons and a
number of other murderous looking
implements whose use was not i'm
mediately apparent.
"Golly!" said Chiffan. 'It's bit
out of gangster film. It's a school,
boys dream. At least. 1t would
have been dream Is years ago.
But now. Of course, weapons!
weapons. Human beings have
always loved weapons. Hardly a
man alive who does not love to
careSS a good rifle. :"
He became exceedingly thought
full for space.
This isn't ALL" said Bodisham.
There's more yet"
Go to Prison Cells.
He unlocked door at the back
of the cellar and led the way along
a paved passage to a group of ILL
lit and cramped apartments, three
on either side. They had heavy
doors with bolts and locks on the
outer face, and each had a small,
square peep hole in the upper panel.
They look like prison cells said
Rud.
They are prison cells" said Bodi-
sham.
But. Illegal?"
Party discipline. kidnapping
How should I know?"
Hes never used them?"
1--WE don't know. Ones rather
dirty and has you know - the
prison smell"
"I know, anyhow" said Chiffan.
Let me sniff. Yes, some ones been
in this one
But who?" asked Rud.
Bodisham shrugged his shoulders
to express the completest ignor-
ance.
"It reminds one a little of the sort
of thing they had under the
chateaux of the Loire" he said. "Or
in High Germany. Picturesque ro-
mantle old High Germanee."
Those things in a row there?"
asked Rud, strolling back into the
arsenal. "They caught my eye.
What are they?"
Bodisham looked "Thumbscrews!"
He picked one up and showed it
to Rud. Yes. I've seen them before
somewhere. Some museum. The
thumb goes-so. And then-you
turn All, that things a gag"
"Its-antiquarian," said Rud. Its
the Middle Ages. It's a sort of hor-
rible dilettantism. Not real. It's a
collection. But queer . The Boss
must be a collector. Unless he's
crazy"
New Style in Politics.
"Crazy!" said Chiffan. But is he?
Dilettantism. you say? Middle Ages!
No! It's the new style in politics.
He's merely been studying continent
tai models. This sort of thing is cur
rent political reality in a dozen
countries today. Dilettantism-no
Grim reality. It's spreading. Why
shouldn't it spread here? Garry men
off and twist their thumbs a bit.
He's just been doing his best to keep
up with the times. Why in Belgium,
for example. there must be dozens
and dozens of little caches like this
now. And in echo-Slovakia. Not
to speak of France and Germany.
Wherever plotting and terrorism is
going on. And where isn't plotting
and terrorism going on today?"
"It's sadism," said Rud.
"A pretty widespread sadism,"
said Chiffan infectious sadism.
He seems a bit short of bombs and
as yet Nothing much
that makes noise"
ri don't believe" said Rud.
"I'm not telling you things" said
Bodisham. I'm showing you things"
Just Sample.
"Kidnaping. Secret arrests. Dis
Torture" said Chiffan.
There's enough here to show you
what the Boss has been dreaming
about. Dreaming, do I say? Con-
Continental methods.
Criminal politics.
He's just a sample. It's all coming
back. It never really left of. The
little ways of man with man. I sup
pose they kept stuff like this in the
tower. The Bourbons did it. Lettres
de cachet. Napoleon kidnapped and
murdered people. The Brown House.
The Lipari Islands. Quiet corners of
the Ogpu life. Under the British raj,
in some of the princes palaces. Un-
der any dispensation. Here it is
right under our noses"
But to find this in England~ said
Rud.
Why not in England?" asked
Chiffan.
"Or America" said Bodisham.
Much more probable in America"
TN a great free country like
America!" protested Rud.