Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-05-22
The Stolen Lady By f 1ss. R:;:'s'
cop,risht: Is4a By News Syndicate Co. In'
IN TWO PARTS-PART TWO


corner room, the Sale d'Apis. Vaszi
was waiting when she appeared. There
would have been no need Of words.
for they had rehearsed each move to
be made. Germaine put the glasses
into her bag and drew on a pair OF
loose silk gloves. They listened. Silence.
They tiptoed quickly into the hall Of
Egyptian relics.
Vaszi slipped the coat from her
shoulders and dropped it into the
pharaoh's tomb She uncoiled the rope
encircling her waist. With practiced
speed he tied 1t about her. Then he
picked her up in his two great hands,
one cupped around the back of her
neck, the other clutching her under
q knee, and, while she held rigid as
though in q trance, he hoisted her
to the granite ledge. For time she
lay in precarious balance, Vasl still
reaching up to hold her. When she
felt the rope tighten she knew he
was ready to lower her within the
tomb. Hanging on desperately by an
arm, she let her feet fall into shadowy
space, and a moment later the rope
went slack as they touched the floor.
Then she drew it in.
Germaine admitted to feeling terror,
alone in that somber home of the
dead. She chung to the image of her
Christophe while waiting for Ferenc
Vasz to Join her. But there were
sounds of feet on the stairs, followed
by voices speaking English-inaudible
words which approached and passed,
receding quickly, and then were gone.
Emerging once more from the Sale
d'Apis, where he had hidden on hear
ing those steps, the Hungarian chinned
himself up the wall, like scaling a
fence, and dropped lightly inside. He
had already lowered her bag with
cord, as yesterday he had lowered the
copy made by Dugat and, the morn
ing before. tight little bundle con-
tanning his tools. The expedition was
now complete. There was nothing to
do but wait in the tomb.
The closing hour was o'clock. They
knew it had come from the sound of
visitors passing to reach the eastern
exit. Then the drone of guard like
some weary shepherd calling his flock
as night draws near, "Fermeture-clos-
ing time A-a-all out" A final hurried
patter of feet. The great doors shut
ting. The clack of locks. The scuffling
of soles as two attendants, their days
work done, recrossed the great hall.
Then stiffness settled over the palace.
Outside, the day was dying at last,
but night had already invaded the
Louvre Germaine and WASH emerged
from the tomb and prepared for the
step to be taken next. Oddly enough,
1t was Haines himself, something
which he had said years before, when
he and the Due de Moret and others
were talking lightly around a table,
who inspired Germaine to attempt her
coup. He had forgotten. But she had
not.
He had said that no thief would
tackle the Louvre. Most Of its treasures
were far too bulky-the priceless Venus
de Milo, say, was not to be taken
under ones arm or dropped in the
pocket like somebody's watch. But sup
pose that picture, not too large, were
slashed from It's frame and stolen
what them No art collector would dare
to purchase masterpiece which every
one knew.
This was the reason, Haines had
said, that the Louvre looked so de-
serted at night. Your French, to be
sure, were a thrifty folk who hated
the thought Of wasting current. But
here they were not being merely
frugal. The fewer the lights in the
palace the better, since the thing to
be feared was fire, not theft, and
flames could be sooner seen in the
dark as the watchmen plodded upon
their rounds.
One of those lights was burning
dimly at the foot of the steps by the
Sale d'Apis. In this corner room
Germaine made ready the picture wire
and adhesive tape which she took from
her bag. And then they waited. 1t
must have seemed hours before the
Waterman was heard on the stairs,
descending slowly. For a moment his
shadow, thrown by the light, appeared
before him. He followed after.
Vaszi sprang at the man from be-
hind, hooking one arm across his
throat so he could not call. While he
held him helpless. little Germaine
came up with her tape and plastered
a strip across his eyes. A longer length
went around his head, twice around it.,
to gag his mouth. Then VasA tripped
him and sat on his back as he bound
the fellows wrists and legs with pic
ture wire and searched for his keys.
Nun, jetzt." he grunted in throaty
ItTuldIl, d SIIdLdSelIl uSeu " Alloledo
the police, I'VE shall bury our friend
in the royal tomb"
BY means of the rope the big Hun
garian hauled him up that granite
face like the side Of a ship and, clear
ing the edge, lowered him into the
Stygian hold.
They climbed the stairs, she with
the keys and bundle of tools, he bear
ing the spurious Leonardo. Only some
of the doors would be locked. But
there were other guards on duty, each
making his rounds and from time to
time meeting one of his fellows for
talk. Sooner or later that man would
be missed. Before this happened to
raise the alarm they would have to
be finished and out Of the Louvre.
The first scare came as Germaine
and Vaszi were stealing across the
Sale des Bijoux to open the door
leading into the room where the cell
ing was painted by Delacroix. They
were halfway to it when she heard
footsteps climbing the broad and
sweeping stairs which passed the Nike
~ Copotbroco tho co-col1od Win o6