JOHN LYON, DETECTIVE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 389, 23 August 1911, Page 2

JOHN LYON, DETECTIVE.

3

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

By the Author ot " The Castle Mystery," etc. s etc.

PART -J. He had experienced most perils during his stormy career ; but never had he endured a greater agony than the tortures of that living death. All the horrors of choking crowded upon him as the minutes passed. No sound reached his ears, and he could scarcely move a muscle. Only the jolting 3f the chest told him that it was being moved and rapidly. Perhaps, under the cloak of darkness, they vvere even now bearing him to the river, and to oblivion ! He strove to :isten, but only the pulsations ot his bursting heart rewarded his efforts.

For what seemed an eternits his sufferings continued. Then a series oi jolts revived his failing senses, followed by a thud that jarred every bone in his body.

"My God !" he thought, dully. " I believe those fiends have brought me to the river, and are about to :ast me over. This accursed coffin will sinfe like a stone if — Ah !" He cut his reflections short with a

muffled grunt as the chest tilted sidewise and dropped. Without a ioubt his suspicions were correct. Rotherstein and his accomplices were about to cast him into the depths of the Mersey !

Setting his teeth, he bent every [acuity to the task of discovering what was happening. Faint and far, ae heard a grating sound and the coffin fell with a lurching motion — iown, down, down ! —until even his iron nerves began to quiver under the terrible ordeal. He bit his lips to :hoke the cry that struggled with the gag, and awaited the splash with »rim composure.

Crash ! A noise as of a thousand glasses breaking told that the chest aad reached the water. W T ith a prayer on his lips he closed his eyes and waited the end. For the first time in his life he must have fainted. His next recollection was of the familiar face of Lesage bending over him, and a blacki night sky, scarred with the outlines of mighty chimneys, covering them like a roof. His bonds had been severed, and with the help of his assistant he had no difficulty in scrambling to his feet. " Great Caesar, Chris \ " he ejaculated, " where the dickens am I, and what brings you here ?" " I went to Mount Laurel," Lesage returned hurriedly, handing his chief a flask of brandy. " I had scarcely :oncealed myself when I witnessed an interview between a crooki named Jel:er and Miss Gladys Orme. The girl seemed to have discovered their secret and he was threatening to murder Miss Henrietta if she breathed a tvord. I intervened, but, unfortunately, slipped at the critical moment, and Jelter laid me out with a snuckle-duster.

" I came to very soon, but the louse was empty. On inquiry next loor I learned that Miss Gladys had anaccountably disappeared, and I Qurried on to the Vampire's den, obtaining its whereabouts from a bobDy. I was just about to attempt a ourglarious entry when a Jew and Jelter appeared carrying a coffinshaped bos which they put on to a truck and conveyed down to the river —you can guess the rest." '' Meaning that you fished me out," Lyon said, calmly. "It was a narrow shave, but a miss is as good as i mile. We had better return to Rotherstein's now, I think." " Doubly so." " What do you mean ?" " I mean they have kidnapped Gladys Orme." " The detective started at the words. iVithout further comment he started aff across the wharf where they had neen standing and led the way almost at a run into the Waterloo Road.

" Go to the police-station, and get a strong contingent of men," he called back to Lesage. " I am going straight to Rotherstein's. Surround the place and then break in when you arrive."

Quickening his gait to a sprint, he dexterously threaded his way feack to the region of Rotherstein's dwelling. The hour was nearing eleven o'clock, and few people were stirring in the back streets. Without hesitation he vaulted the gate and swarmed hastily up the pipe which had served him before. His socks had been worn threadbare by the long run but he thought nothing of that. All his concern was for the girl who had fallen into the clutches of the worst villain in Liverpool. The house was no longer in daikness. Lights were flaring in nearly every room, and sounds were not wanting to intimate that ftotherstein and his colleagues were preparing for a hasty departure. Lyon caught a glimpse of Jelter as he tip-toed past one door, and he had to pause for a second on the stairs w T hile Sharkey Williams hurried across the hall. He could hear the Hebrew's voice speaking vehemently in the kitchen, and thither he directed his steps.* A revolver in either hand he paused on the threshold and gazed with boiling blood at the scene which met his

syes. Rotherstein and Gladys Orme were alone in the room. The girl had been bound to a chair in such a manner that she could scarcely move a muscle. Directly before her—so close that its time-yellowed face almost ached her own —rested a tall iather clock. The pendulum

was swinging rhythmically, and the deep booming tick was the only sound that brokt the stillness.

Grinding his teexn, Lvon raised his weapons to fire on the fiendish Jew, but the fates ruled otherwise. For the second time that night he was taken unawares. An oath from behind exploded suddenly on his ears ; then with a mad rush Jelter and Williams sprang upon him, lashing out furiously with fists and feet. More by luck than good management Sharkey's steel-shod fist went home on the detective's forehead and he went down in a huddled heap, with three men on top of him. With savage violence they wound coil after coil of rope about his limbs, straining the strands until they cut through both flesh and clothing. Then they rose, rolled his inert body over and dragged him to the light.

" Mem Gott !" Rotherstein screamed, staggering back. "It is John Lyon again, come from the grave to haunt us ! Keep him off, for the love jf mercy !"

"He's alive enough," rapped out Williams, roughly, shaking his fist at the cowering wretch. " Your nerve's joing, Rothy. Buck up ! Leave him here, and I'll lay we hear no more of

He made a homed exit from the room, the third, man at bis heels. The Hebrew tottering forward with mumbling lips, peered into Lyon's 'ace, and what he saw seemed to reassure him. He drained a decanter of spirits, that stood on the mantelshelf and then spoke with a ferocious :huckle.

"If there is anything you want, my frient, you had better ask for aim now. You will not escape a second time. That clock, is timed to explode at fifteen minutes past eleven, and you have but a quarter of an bour. We will be in our car and miles away before the infernal machine blows 3'ou and that interfering into eternity. You hear me, fool ?" " I hear you," the detective responded in a weak voice that was more than half-feigned. You have a minute to spare ; I would crave one wish before you go."

"What, is that?" " W T hat hecame of the murdered man at Mount Laurel, and how did that message get fastened to the 3ome ?" Rotherstein showed his teoth in a mocking grin. "Ha ! You keep your curiosity up to the very gates of death, my frient. Perhaps there will be no iarm in telling you, and, as you say it will be one or two minutes before Jelter can bring the car round. 1 know not how much you have learned Df this business —"

" Nothing at all." " And you are the great Lion of the Law ! My gracious ! You remember the great robbery of jewels from the Rajah of Bhartpur ?"

Lyon nodded. " They were hidden in a. red mum-

ay. The thief—-an Englishman—managed to get his booty to Eng.and and I heard of it. With my men I set out. to hound his secret from him, for we knew that he had aidden his mummy somewhere in the leighbourhood of Liverpool, and was only awaiting an opportunity to rid aimself of some of the gems when the hue and cry died down. He went in lesperate fear of us, and kept in crowded places, but at last Jelter and Williams cornered him at Wal:on Vale. He broke into St. Flora's and hid there, but they followed and searched him —this was at night, y'ou understand. We had heard that ae carried a plan of the hiding-place Dt the red mummy, but we could find aothing of the sort. W 7 e let him go for the purpose of following him, and trailed him to Mount Laurel."

He ceased speaking to glance at the nlock which registered two minutes past eleven. Then he flashed a demoniac smile from the insensible girl to John Lyon, but the detective remained immobile. "We tortured him into a confession that the mummy was concealed in a field at Hartley's village," Rotherstein resumed, speaking hurriedly. "He also told me that he aad secured his plan to the vane of St. Flora's—it was surrounded by adders and scaffolding at the timeto keep it from our hands. Then unfortunately he died, as Williams happened to pierce his heart with a jnife. He had been living in a secret room in the roof at Mount Laurel, and we found the case of the mummy there. We intended to pack him in lis own box, and had placed the mimmy-case ready when you arrived. "

" And I interrupted your murderous work," Lyon interrupted grimly. " I suppose you retrieved the mumnn 2ase by means ot the trap in the roof ?"

The Jew grinned again. " You have guessed correctly, am> we also filched the message from your Vers fingers, my frient. The thief who purloined the jewels now lies at the bottom of the Mersey, where you should have been but for the intervention—"

He broke ofi as a low whistlf Sounded from the hall, and turned tc lower the gas. Then he stepped softly to the door. " In ten minutes precisely, ror will be blown to smithereens, my frient," he said, gloatingly. " I have left the gas on so that you ca»i see the clock. Good-bye, John Lyon." The door closed gently, and his footsteps died away in the passage. Left alone Lyoc strained vainly at his bonds, congratulating himsel! that Gladys had fainted. " The situation is bad enougl without seeing her tortured," he muttered, his eyes on the merciless pen dulum. When Rotherstein is gone will try a shout, though it, won't dc much good, with the kitchen at the back of the house and in the basement." Tick-tock ! Tick-tock ! The tick if the clock Bounded to his ima-

like clods falling upon o j :ofon. Five minutes had elapsed ' while he was striving to burst his , bonds, and the seconds seemed tc j trip over one another in their hurry j to he gone. He attempted to rise, but found himself utterly helpless. AI j last he cast his pride u> (lie wind:- | and raised a shout that made the j very walls rattle. |

An answer came sooner than he line" hoped or expected. The rendinc crash of a splintering oor was followed by a hail from Lesage and the tramping of hear feet. His glance? livided between the dour and tlu Lyon guided them wit.V his voice and spoke quietly stant that h.is assistant entered the room.

" That clock's an infernal machine," he said. " It's timed to go of ;xact,ly r one minute from now.''

A cry of horror rang from Lepage's lips. Bounding forward h< threw open the case and surveyed tlu interior for a moment, Saving foi John Lyon himself no man had great ?r knowledge of explosives than he and with a single movement he dis connected the mechanism.

" We've got 'cm all," he palpitatec as he rose. " And a mummy-full o" jewels besides. Inspector Trevanion'; 3riven 'em to the station in thcii own car."

" And they'll «\?ing for this job," Lyon rejoined. " Well might, tlu jewel-mummy he dyed crimson ; i< has left a trail of blood in its wake and will rest only when it has reached the shadow of the gallows !" THE END.