WANTED-A DYING MAN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 369, 14 June 1911, Page 7

WANTED-A DYING MAN.

._+ Being a Strange Chronicle frorr the Note-book of John Lyon, Elucidator, Known as the " Lion of the Law."

Bj S. H. Agnew, Author of "The Castle Mystery," etc.

PART 2„ The Lion of the Law was accustom ed to surprises but for once he die not have to counterfeit astonishment. " What !" he yelled in response The thunder of the motor made or dinary conversation an impossibility Silver Nob laughed good-humoured iy- " You must get used to little sur prises now you have entered my ser vice," lie said, coolly. " I am no or dinary man. I am a prince of scoundrels, and I glory in it ! As we havi not far to go I will be frank witt you, and it will save time when we arrive. You are to be married to s younp: lady named Ruby Foweraker It is essential that she should marrj a dying man, as otherwise I should be under the unpleasant necessity o' killing you afterwards. It will not of course, make any diilerence eithei way to you, as you will not see hei again after to-night." " Then why the dickens does she want to marry me?" Lyon asked bluntly. " She doesn't want to marry youor any other man for that matter." " What do you mean ?" " I mean that I havt been secretlj administering a poison to her for the last week, and that it has placed hei entirely under my control. I wil: make her speak and act by hypnotic suggestion, while in reality she wil'. be as dead to the world as if she were in her coffin. She will be wel! and truly married, nevertheless, 03 the time she comes to."

" I suppose there is money at the bottom of this," the detective said biting back the scathing words thai rose to his lips. "You bet there is. Five thousand for me and twenty times as much foi the fellow who is employing me. I've got a special licence for you—thirtj quid it cost me —and I had to resorl to some smart trickery to get it, too By Jove, here we arc." The car drew to a standstill for e moment, then whirled and crawled uj what appeared to be a long, straight drive. Lyon ascertained this much then sank back in his corner and turned all his wits to the task o: meeting the unexpected situation What part should he play in this strange midnight drama ? That he should allow himself to be married was, of course, an impossibility. He mentally cursed the luck which had involved his plans so completely ; he would find it difficufft to withdraw from the wedding and at the same time maintain his hold on Silvei Nob.

He had reached thus far in his ruminations when the car shivered tc a halt. Silver Nob opened the dooi promptly and sprang out, closelj followed by his clerical companion Then he beckoned to Lyon, and thai worthy somewhat reluctantly obeyed the signal. The storm had drawn nearer during the ride and the lightning was now playing almost incessantly from horizon to horizon, painting the countryside with a flare of electrical brilliance. One moment the night held sway, black as the inside of a hat. the next, and a great gloomy mansion and a wide-spreading park would be limned luridly on the darkness, only to be obliterated again as a sullen crask of thunder broke the hot stillness.

But the elucidator had little time to examine his surroundings.

Grasping his arm, Silver Nob hurried him up the steps and into the vestibule. The hall beyond was it darkness, saving for a single was candle guttering in the hand of a liveried manservant. Without pausing, Lyon's employer hurried him acioss the marble floor and forced his lagging footsteps up a broad and softly-carpeted stairway. " Remember !" he whispered suddenly, his lips not an inch from the detective's ear. " I am a dangerous man to monkey with. If you play m< false by so much as a hair's breath you are a dead man. I have already poisoned you, and I alone hold the antidote which will save you. In an hour from now you will be a corpse if yon happen to offend me !" Lyon gasped. The sound was only part feigned. " Poisoned me !" he vibrated. " How ?"

" That is my business," came the hissed reply. " Did I not tell you that I hold all the secrets of the Borgias and a thousand of my own ? I sprayed your clothes with a drug whilst we were in the car, and you have been inhaling it ever since. But you need have no fear ; so long as yon are true to me I will be true to you. Hush !" Lye n was about to speak again, hut the last warning crj stopped him. They had arrived in front of a closed door. Silver Nob rapped gently, and then entered. A shaded lamp was burning beyond, and its red glow shed a soft limelight radiance over the scene within. A hard-bitten, dour woman of middle age was standing by the fireplace, staring vacantly into the smoke and flame. Close behind her a stout man in butler's dress was gabbling over the marriage service to himself, moving a flabby thumb along the small type of the Prayer-book. Both man and woman looked up as Silver Nob and his companions entered, and examined John Lyon with an eager scrutiny. The detective, however, scarcelj vouchsafed them a second glance. H< had eyes only for the bride —hit bride ! —and he f«lt a hot wave of anger sweep savagely through bit

veins as he beheld her. She was clar in evening dress, and leaned torpidlj against the table, her eyes unseeing her face lacking the lustre of intelli gence. Her expression reminded Lyor of a sleep-walker he had once seen. She was quite young and strikingly lovely. Even the Lion of the Law, adamant as he had always proved tc feminine charms, felt compelled to ad mit the witchery of her beauty. Slight and petite in figure, she possessed features of unusual delicacy and charm, and a complexion as soft and clear as the pe£al of a rose. Wavy brown hair curled like grape tendrils into the light of her goldentinted eyes which appeared unnaturally dreamy in the glow of the lamp. " Your bride," Silver Nob said, mockingly, with a bow. " Upon my soul I can find it in me to envy you, Mr. Graham ! You would have tc search a long way ere you found a fairer spouse than Ruby Foweraker!" The elucidator made no reply. All his powers were concentrated ir an effort to meet the desperate situation. Three courses lay open to him. lie could allow himself to be wedded to the drugged girl —a safe expedient, but one from which his soul revolted; he could cover the occupants of the room with his revolver, or he could make good his escape by some trickery. Beyond the latter two alternatives lay the knowledge that he would die within the hour unless he could find an opiate to nullify the poison that had been sprayed upor his coat, and was drifting like gai fumes to his nostrils. The voice of Silver Nob broke ir upon his hurried reflections, and hj« lifted his head to see that the priesl had appeared, and was examining the special licence. All was satisfactory, he nodded to Silver Nob as he hand ed back the document, and thai worthy turned sharply upon Johr Lyon. " Come !" he cried. " All is readj for you to be joined in the holj bonds of . matrimony. Come, Miss Ruby ! The ceremony is about tc begin !" CHAPTER IV. THE SPELL OF THE POISONER. Clenching his hands upon the re volvers in his side-pockets, Lyor swayed round and faced the poisoner. " This can't go on," he blurted out savagely. Silver Nob's eyes narrowed ; th» innate cruelty of his nature showing suddenly from beneath the cole smile that was ever on his visage. " Can't go on ?" he repeated " Fool ! It must go on. Am I tc waste thirty pounds and more to be thwarted by a miserable consump tive like you ? Enough of this hum bug. Parson —" " It cannot go on because I am already married !" the detective inter rupted boldly. "I meant to gc through with it rather than lose the money you promised me, but I wil; not play you false. No parson or earth can marry me to this girl." The untruth was a bold one, but ii struck home.

Silver Nob almost staggered for a moment ; then he turned round hit face as white as paper, his eyes blazing like live coals. " Curse you !" he hissed malignantly. " Then you told me a lie at Manchester, and all my wbrk is undone. On your head be it ! You have inhaled enough poison to paralyse a horse, and you will be dead ir half an hour."

Lyon had been working to infuriate the poisoner, and he took immediate advantage of his position. He did not want to reveal his true identity, excepting as a last resource, and yet it was imperative that he should come to open rebellion with his quondam master. Snatching out one of his revolvers, he rammed it intc Silver Nob's very mouth, so suddenly that he had no time even to make a step backwards. The other actors in the midnight drama remained petrified by the sudden change in the course of events. The parson stood, Prayer-book in hand, staring openmouthed at Ljon ; the two servants seemed uncertain what to do, and compromised by doing nothing ; the girl leaned against the table in a semi-slumber, indifferent to the events of which she was the centre. Silver Nob was the first to recover from the shock of Lyon's change of front. Livid with rage, he chattered his white teeth upon the muzzle of the revolver, and for a minute was incapable of speech. " You threaten me !" he choked at last, spitting the words out as Dhough they tasted bitter in his mouth. " You fool—you poor fool ! Put down that toy, or I swear I will let the poison work its course." " Hand me the antidote," the detective coolly returned. " When I iave counted five I will pull the :rigger and your brains will be spattered on the wall unless you see reason before then." " Madman ! I tell you—" " One !" " I'll see you as dead as Adam before —" " The antidote, please." Lyon dieted the demand from betweer 2lenched teeth. " Two !" A grating noise came from the revolver. Even Silver Nob's steel nerves blanched at the sound and he paled perceptibly. " Lower this infernal shooter and you shall have it," he sibilated, hi? tone changing abruptly. " Do you think I am a murderer ?" " I know on your own confession that you are," the Lion of the Law snarled. "Three ! You had better be quick with that antidote." The poisoner cast a swift glance round the room. It was obvious that no help would come from his accomplices. The parson was pallid, and sick with fear, and the other two were edging towards the door, their eyes on Lyon's weapon. Ruby Foweraker remained motionless as a figure of wax, unconscious of the

game of lite and death that was -being played. " I give in, Graham !" Silver Not cried a,t length, laughing hollowly. " One would never take you for such a fire-eater to look at you. Here is the antidote, and good luck go with it !" He extracted a tiny phial, from his watch pocket. The detective took it with his left hand without lowering his weapon. As nc did so he saw that the bottle contained something of a greenish colour, which swirled and bubbled like a mist as he moved it. " A vapour," his employer explained, following his glance. "Don't lose it, for Heaven's sake. I have no more here. You must hold it to your nostrils and inhale it as you draw the cork." Nodding, Lyon backed slowly to the opposite side of the room, and then swiftly lowered his revolver. Then he drew the cork from the phial with his teeth, taking a deep breath as the gaseous fumes gushed into his nostrils. It was a desperate remedy, ior Silver Nob might well have played him false and given him another poison, but the elucidator made light Df such risks. " Good !" he ejaculated, with a short laugh. " Jack is himself again. What is to be done now ? It is, of course, impossible for the marriage to continue." Silver Nob nodded, black shadows chasing over his brow. " Yes," he said, gloomily ; "it would be worse than useless to enact in illegal marriage. My whole plot lepended upon the ceremony being in 3ue form." " You cannot blame me. You should have given me some warning of your plans." The poisoner grunted sulkily as he turned away. For five minutes or more he engaged in a whispered conversation with nis accomplices. Lyon did his best to play the eavesdropper, but the few words * that reached his ears were worse than useless. As the minutes ticked away a strange sensatirm of helplessness be?an to creep through his limbs. He had experienced the same feeling once or twice after squatting in a confined space for many hours ; it was as if 3very muscle in his body had been attacked by cramp. For a while he endeavoured to believe that his imagination was playing him false, but the effort was useless. At the end of five minutes he found himself swaying to and fro like a drunken man, his head whirling, a dark mist gathering before his eyes. By a tremendous effort of will he closed his fingers upon the butt of his revolver, but he could do no more. His arms had become as heavy and inert as so much lead.

"Villain .'" he shouted, thickly, peering through the darkness in the direction of Silver Nob. "You have drugged me !" A peal of laughter, cold as the ring of steel upon steel reached his ears. It sounded muffled and far away, and the words that followed seemed to come as through a long tunnel.

" You are dying of heart failure," it hissed. " You will be found in the morning a hundred miles from here—the motor will see to that. Goodbye, Mr. George Graham. No man has ever crossed swords with Silver Nob and lived to tell the tale !" John Lyon heard no more. A great swirl of darkness rose up to engulf him. He was conscious of dropping with a thud to the floor. Then sensibility faded and the black nese of death closed in upon him. CHAPTER V. BACK FROM THE TOMB. With an immense effort the Lion of the Law opened his eyes and stared in front of him. Blackness pressed upon hiß vision*"* blackness as incense as that which plagued Egypt. The gloom seemed to weigh upon his very lungs, and he found himself :hoking in the effort to draw a deep areath and relieve his bursting chest. Motionless he lay, thinking over ;he events of the week. Custom had inured him to waking in strange positions and places and he recognised ;hat he had fallen into some kind of iurance. " Caesar !" he muttered iat last. 'I remember now. I was posing as Seorge Graham, and fell a victim to Silver Nob in some strange house. Where in creation have I got to low ?" Lifting his arms, he gasped as he t'elt bandages, apparently of linen, restraining his action. At the same instant a strong odour of soil and ainewood assailed, his nostrils and brought complete realisation to his jrain. He had been buried alive ! Even John Lyon's iron nerves juailed slightly at the situation. For an instant he felt an almost irresistible tendency to struggle wildly and cry out. It was horrible —worse than any nightmare—to lie there with ;he darkness and utter silence crushing him down, seemingly depriving aim of his very breath. Cool reason, however, came speedily to his aid. It was obvious that the air must have some inlet to the ?rave ; otherwise he would have been suffocated long since. Without losing any time he quietly disengaged his arms from the coils of linen, and allowed his fingers to rove along the walls of his prison. The lid was secured in the usual way, and only or»aked slightly when he exerted enormous pressure upon it. proving that it wis weighted down by the earth above. To be Continued.