The Gold Magnet

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 7, 30 March 1927, Page 14

The Gold Magnet

by

T.C Bridges.

i Author of " The Whip Hand** 41 The Price of Liberty,** " The Homo of Her Fathera,** Frc., &c.

•YNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. CHAPTERS I to lll.—Bruce Carey leaves Plymouth by the night mail for London. At the last moment an elderly man drops on the seat opposite to Bruce. Jte looks badly scared. He holds in his left hand a small leather bag, which is attached by a chain to a belt round his waist. The two men talk freely. They are nterested in mining. The stranger speaks of the Malayan tin mines, whereas Bruce says he specialises in gold He has come home to get capital and to get a half-brother out of a mess. The stranger’s name is Stuart Egerton. The train is crossing the wide plain of Somerset when Egerton’s face becomes transfixed with terror. Bruce sees a hard, cruel face pressed against the glass of the door. It disappears. Egerton tells Bruce that that man is his worst enemy. Just then there is a tremendous crash, and Bruce is reduced to unconsciousness. He wakes t<» find rain falling on his face, and the train on tire. He manages to rescue Egerton, who is so badly injured that he knows his time is short. He asks Bruce to do something for him, and tells him about his invention. which he carries in his bag. .This is useless without the directions which are in the possession of his daughter Silvia. He wants Bruce to take the bag to her and to tell her of her father’s end. Half the profits of the invention shout 1 go to Silvia. Egerton tells him he is accepting a very dangerous legacy. No living man is more pitiless and unscrupulous than James Lurgan, Bruce exclaims, for Lurpan is the man who has ruined his half-brother, Claude. Bruce, thinks that, as Lurgan was in this railway accident, he may be already dead. With face fast greying, Egerton gives Bruce his last injunctions, and dies. Bruce takes possession of the bag. and walks away. At Reading Bruce Carey is writing in the hotel when he has a visitor, Randolph Colt, a tall. lean American, of about thirty. Bruce details Egerton’s invention and death. He is going to see his half-brother soon, but first lie must see Egerton’s daughter. The two men drive in the direction of Deeping Cottage. The chauffeur pulls up because a big hay cart is drawn across the road and some men are unloading it. Two men run to the car. One jams the muzzle of a revolver against Bruce’s side. The other does the same for Colt. “ Hands up !” CHAPTERS 111. (Continued) to V.— The man pressing the revolver’s muzzle into his side tells him it’s the real thing. A man on the left bank is turning a cinema camera. Randolph Colt whispers, •’ James has got us. Give it up, Bruce.” Bruce hands over the bag containing the magnet. The two men reach Deeping Cottage. Colt remains in the car whilst Bruce makes the acquaintance of Silvia Egerton, a beatuitful girl of about 20. When Bruce tells her of the robbery of the invention entrusted to him she says it is useless without the directions, which cover it from Lurgan. Silvia warns him that he is up against desperate men. Sl.e gives him the papers relating to the magnet to place in a safe deposit. Bruce rejoins Colt. 43, Duke’s Gate, is a fine house near Hyde Park. Guests begin to arrive after 11 p.m. Claude Bryson finds his way to the gambling apartment, seats himself at a poker table, and is soon in full swing. Finally he flings his cards into the centre of the table. " Too rich for me, 1 die.” Bruce Carey says to his half-brotl r, ** You ought to.” Fiercely questioned by Crane, Bruce says that he and his accomplice. Stroud, are swindling Bryson. Colt breaks in by saying that in America they lynch men who play that sort of game. Crane shouts

to his boys to handle those two men. All four make a combined rush at Bruce and Colt.

CHAPTERS VI. to VIII. —A rough-and-tumble of four men against two. Claude wakes up suddenly and comes to the rescue of his brother’s friend. The final victory is with Carey and Colt. They leave, Claude with them. The taxi drops Colt at Artillery Mansions, Claude taking Bruce to his own digs. Bruce tells his brother about Egerton and Lurgan, and adds that Claude is to keep out of it ; then he walks back to Artillery Mansions, where Colt is waiting for him. The American rays that Lurgan will come along offering a fifty-fifty partnership. Bruce is indignant, but Randolph advises him to exercise diplomacy. The next day Bruce travels down to Mortimer, where Silvia dwells, to attend Egerton’s funeral. Afterwards he goes to Deeping Cottage. He expresses his anxiety about Silvia's future, and she assures him that she has an independency, inherited from her mother. Bruce gives her Colt’s idea as to what Lurgan is likely to do, then takes leave, as he intends walking back to Reading. On the way Lurgan steps out of a wood and joins him. He proposes a half share in the new Gold Recovery Syndicate. Bruce tells him that he would sooner go into partnership with the devil. “I do not wish you to run into danger "I don’t think there’s much danger,” smiled Bruce. “Anyhow, I’ve got a good cause to fight for, and a good man behind me. I will let you know as soon as anything happens.” It was a lovely evening, and Bruce’s way led through woods where the evening air was sweet with the resinous smell of the fir trees. Ide had gone about a mile, and was tramping steadily along the sandy track, with thick plantations on either side, when a man stepped suddenly out from among the trees, and faced him. “Good evening,” he said quietly. “Good evening," answered Bruce, and stood watching the stranger. The j latter was a tremendously big man, j huge rather than merely fat, yet so alert that you forgot until you looked at him closely liow unwieldy his body was. His face was like the rest of him, large and powerful: his mouth, wide, yet thin-lipped, reminded Bruce of a steel trap. But it was his eyes, flinty blue, cold and expressionless, which made his whole appearance utterly repellant. “Good evening, Mr. Carey,” he repeated suavely. “I think I am not mistaken in calling you so.” he*added. “Carey is my name,” replied Bruce quietly, “and yours I make no doubt is Lurgan.” Lurgan bowed slightly. “You are right. I am James Lurgan. May I walk with you a little?” Bruce hesitated. He badly wanted to tell Lurgan to go to a warmer place than Berkshire, but he remembered Randolph’s advice. “Very well,” he said coldly, and Lurgan fell into step. “I congratulate you on the fight that you and your American friend put up the ther night at Duke Street. M’\ Carey,” began Lurgan. “You are an adversary worthy of my steel." Bruce made no reply. He had no I idea of helping Lurgan out, and was wondering how the man would ap-

proach the real reason of their meeting. But Lurgan had no shame, false or otherwise. “I knew you would come to the funeral,” lie continued. “I suspected you would walk back, and I thought the present a good opportunity for a quiet talk.” “What have you got to talk to me about?” demanded Bruce bluntly. But Lurgan was not at all discomposed. T suggest a partnership.” he said. “What —in your gambling-house?” Lurgan smiled. “Give me credit for knowing you better than that. What I propose is a half share in the new gold recovery syndicate. With my knowledge of the city and of finance, there is a fortune in it for both of us.” The coolness of the proposal made Bruce gasp. “So you admit that you stole the model ?” he said sharply. “Pardon me,” Lurgan answered smoothly, “I admit nothing of the kind. I merely purchased a model which 1 believe to be the invention of the late Stuart Egerton, and since I cj,nj aware that Mr. Egerton made you his executor, and that you are therefore familiar with tiie method of using the magnet, it is only natural that 1 come to you with the suggestion of partnership.” “You know perfectly well that the model of the magnet was stolen from me,” said Bruce indignantly. “The fact remains that the model is in my possession,” said Lurgan cynically, “and that, therefore, you are helpless without my co-operation. May I take it that you agree to my- proposal?” Bruce boiled. All memory of Randolph’s warning tied. “Go into partnership with you!” he retorted. "I'd sooner go into partnership witii the devil.’” CHAPTER IX. —A WARNING FROM RANDOLPH, Lprgan’s , cold eyes narrowed a trifle, but otherwise he showed no sign of resenting the rebuff. “As an older man than you, Mr. Carey, you will allow me to say that you are acting very foolishly, but time will no doubt convince you of that fact. When you reconsider the matter, a letter to Duke Street will always find me. I am going to Paris to-morrow, hut I shall be hack in a week.” He turned, and vanished among the trees, with a swiftness that made Bruce blink.

Bruce, walked on. He was simply seething, and although his long tramp

to Reading cooled him a little, even when he reached London he was stili in a state of suppressed fury. Reaching the hotel, he found Randolph stretched in a deep chair in the smoking-room, but his usual cigar was not between his lips, and he seemed half-asleep. As Bruce came in, he looked up lazily, then sat up straight. “Hello, what’s bitten you ?” he inquired. “Have you been in another scrap?” Bruce tried to laugh, but it was a poor attempt. “Only a verbal me? he answered. “But—but I got the worst of it.” “You have seen Lurgan?” “I don’t know how you know, but you’re right. And—and I forgot all your good advice, and made a hopeless ass of myself.” “Tell me,” said Randolph. Bruce, repeated his interview with Lurgan practically word for word. Randolph listened in silence, then he shook his head. “It’s a pity you lost your wool, old son,” he said quietly. “What else could I do —accept that fat swindler’s offer of partnership?” “You needn’t have gone so far as that, but you should have let him think that you were willing to discuss it. We’ve simply got to find out where! Lurgan keeps that model.” “‘And what then?” ‘“Get it!” snapped Randolph. “Don't look so shocked.” he added with a smile. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done the Bill Sykes act. I once stole a perfectly good set of plans from a Bolshy commissary in Siberia.” He. paused. “But you’d better feed, Bruce. They have kept some ‘“Have you dined?” asked Bruce. “No, I don’t feel like food to-night r guess I’ve got another touch of that infernal ague.” “You’re not looking too fit,” said Bruce. “You had much better turn Randolph nodded. ’ 1 reckon I will I’ve a head on me like a ton of lead." Next morning there was no doubt about Randolph’s state of .health. He had a high tempera tp re and a bad headache, and, although he declared that there was mighty little the matter with him. Bruce insisted on sending for a doctor. Bruce himself had to go to the city about some of his own business. He was dismayed to find how scarce money was. Quite rich gold propositions were going begging, and he was told that there was not a ghost of a chance of getting funds to work his New Guinea reef. This was seri-

ous, for he had only a few hundreds left at his bank. He was earning nothing, and had no idea where any more money was coming from. On his way back he called at Claude’s club in St. James Street, and found a message from Claude asking him to come at once to the latter’s rooms. Claude was eager and excited. “Bruce, I’ve got some information for you,” were his first words. “I’ve found where Lurgan lives.” Bruce frowned. “You promised you’d have nothing more to do with the gang.” “I’ve not. \ . just a bit of luck. I met l. rter chap, Duggan, in the street. It seems he has got the push. Crane, who was in a filthy temper that night, cursed him out. Duggan answered back, and was sacked instanter. I took Duggan into a pub, gave him a drink, and pumped him. He told me where Lurgan lives, and a lot of other things. I tell you. Bruce, he may be jolly useful.” Bruce nodded. “p does seem so. It was smart of you Claude. Did you get the man’s a d’-ess?” “‘You bet I did, and I can get hold of him any time you want him.” “I shall certainly have a talk with him. But tell me, Clause, where is Lurgan’s place?” “It’s called Friars Bonk and i ’s only three or four miles Mortimer.” “The deuce you say! ’Then that explains Lurgan being on the spot yesterday.” “How do ygu mean—what spot?” Bruce explained, and Claude’s eyes widened as he listened. “You mean the fellow had the infernal cheek to propose partnership?” “That was his offer —on a 50 per cent, basis.” “He ought to he boiled!” cried Claude indignantly. “T say, Bruce, what are you going to do? Can’t I help you?” “You may have helped more than you think, old chap.” said Bruce. “This man Duggan may prove most valuable. But tell me, is he trustworthy?” “1 don’t really know much about him,” Claude answered. “He has always been very civil to me, but then I tipped him.” “Then it won’t do to trust him too far. Still, I’ll see the man and have a talk with him. Can you arrange for me to meet him some time to-day?” “Yes —this evening. I’ll get him here. You’d better dine with me. Bruce.” (To he continued.)