THE STORYTELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 59, 3 April 1909, Page 3

THE STORYTELLER.

THE HOUSE ON THE CLIFF. SEXTON BLAKE I'NDEIUIINES A .ULXEIt'S i'LOT. I. Tip; cliff formed one oi the horns of a little bay about ten milos north of Whitby. The house stood in a plot of jultivated ground some fifty yards from [he edge of the cliff and three-quarter A a mile from any other habitation. It \yas a very small house—a mere cot;age, in fact—and was llanked ou eat-h ,jde by the ruins of several other cot-

;ages. In former times, when the trade in et had beea a nourishing industry, hese ruined cottages had been tintomes of the sturdy miners who hail forked, intho jet-mines, with which the tiff was honeycombed. With the decay f tlie industry, however, the millers ad departed, the cottages had fallen lto ruin, and ths only men who now orked in the mines were two or three icu from the neighboring village of miki'sby, each of whom was "On his un" in a difereMt part of the old orkings, picking up such scraps of jet i lie could find, and paying one-third f tlie proceeds of his find to the local rd of the manor. The one House that remained intact—ic hou.se already referred to —had Ibeen jved from falling into ruin, like its felws, through having been purchased, ugyears before the date of the folloxvg e vtniU), by an eccentric individual, imed Knock Verrill. "Old Enoch," as he was always called, ill formerly been a master mariner, id, as such, had saved: a comfortable inpeteucy. la the heyday of his reer, however, a shipwreck, in which ! had lost his wife and only child, had igkUxl his life, and had changed him to a miserly recluse. After the deaths of his wife and child had retired from the sea, had bought e house on the cliff, and had taken up i residence there. He had fitted each the six windows With iron bars and sel-lined shutters, and had furnished b two -outer doors Vri'th massive bolts chains and patent looks. He kept Tvant, seldom went out, and never, fcy pretext whatever, allowed anyy to enter the house. .t the time when this Wring happened was close upon seventy, and had a living in this fashion for over ty years. As previously remarked, had saved a considerable sum of ley; and, according to the village lip—which, for once, was true —he converted his savings into cash, and , tliem in a box beneath his bed. Ilusion has been made to the nfiighag village of Snakesby. This village ' of such importance that its resident ' « officer enjoyed the rank of £ert. And it was Sergeant Walker,', officer ill question, who rang up the 11 lin on the drama now about to be 11 Wed. i had been out all night, on patrol , and was returning to Snakesby he footpath which ran along the of the cliffs. The season was midber, the time was half-past seven e morning, and it Svas raining cats logs. the sergeant was passing "Old h's" house, he was startled to hear mtic shout of "Help—help!" The une from <tbe interior of the house, he sergeant had no doubt that it from Enoch Verrill. ran to the front door, but found it was locked and bolted. He liamI ob the door, but received no reHe ran round to the back door, ound that it was also locked and I. He applied his ear to the keyand distinctly heard somebody g to and fro inside the house, en, this door!" he called out. II hear? In the name of the law, mand you to open this door!" eiving no reply, he tried to burst >or open. Finding this a task bestrength, he examined the wrabut, as all of them were protected a outside by iron bars, and were on the inside by steel-plated shuthe soon abandoned any hope of g admission in that way. this 'time 11-' Was convinced that !noeh" had be».. murdered. If his ■ were correct, it followed, as a : of course, that the murderer ill in the house. If, therefore, the at "were to leave and go flown to lkge to summon help to break ie house, he would give the murin opportunity of escaping. Yet Id' not break into the house witlip. What, then, should lie do ? st he was debating this question, tor of Snakesby, who was on his visit a sick parishioner, appeared soeii'-'. To him the sergeant rertiat had happened, and what lie ed. The rector then ran back to

age, leaving the sergeant to keep oil tlie house, and presently rewith the village blacksmith, with a sledgehammer, front door having been smashed he three men entered the silent At the foot of the stairs they red the huddled and unconscious f Enoch Verrill, clad only in his

irt, and bleeding from an ugly at the hack of his head. On prorupstairs they found that the which the old man kept his nav--fras a brass-bound sea-ehest — tn dragged from under his bed, ibeea broken open. Except for two silver coins and a roll of iU contettts had disappeared. <thae it was only too clear that fa had gained admittance to the had stunned '"Old Enoch," and ten his savings. It was equally ttt the thief had been in the t the moment when the sergeant trd "Old Enoch's" cry for help, t though «the sergeant and the and the blacksmith searched jom, no trace of the thief could

ergeant had kept watch on the ■om the moment be had heard man's cry to the moment when his companions broke ia. All rs and windows 'were securely on the inside. And yet the i escaped'! the village doctor had heen gum,nd "Old Enoch" had been put the rector, who was an old eolm of Sexton Blake's, returned rectory, and told his wife all L happened. e often asked Wake to come i with w," hj« 6a id, "but we've iceeeded in bagging him. But J him now, as sure as eggs art

asked his wife. V of replv, the rector wrote out tm to Sexton Bkike, giving him ynopsis of tlie case, hief was in the house when tho ►arrived on the scene," he eoa"Sergeant kept Watch on the p to time we broke in. \Mi i.doore and windows fastened et thief had escaped. Caa you uch a problem, even though 11 be no fee ?" u fetch him!" =«> d th-> rector Iv to his wife. did- for two hours latcr jceived the following telegram ion Blake: Arrive Snnkesby 7.4«j to-morrow L>

e London at elever. o clock on f nieht, and travelling by way and Stockton, Sexton Blake arRnnkesbv at a quarter to eight horning. It U still raardng End had been raining since WedctOT, m a macintosh and fioit',et him at'the station, and eonfci to the house on the cliff, Sid Enoch." still unconscious fin bed, with the district nurse Ifpolice have discovered no,r. tl,an rou have told me. ton Blake' to the rector, who, a* from the station, had given lU account of all the known itely'nnthiilg." said the rector., entered the house. "How the iped, in *P ite of locked doors ,jed windows, and in spite or that the sergeant was keeping itside the house all the time. e rv which you alone can solve. said Sexton Blake. sll solve it, right enough! fector confidently, s-my best, anyhow," said sex-

0 f a "beginning, lie carefully all the doors and windows, wo™* the hrawe. woollen trapdoor in the similar cisterns, fo» water-supply here,

i .^ ou know. its piot/iiitM from one or Uo wells in the <[isLiu l, j but for all oth.i- purposes « c are del pendent on rainwater.' ' Sexton Blaku opened the trapdoor.' Underneath the kiteheii was a deep, opiate tank, into whieh a pipe eondueted the lainwater from the roof 01 the house. As it was Mill rauunjr heaviiv, water was pouring into the cistern i u j considerable volume.

Kneeling down, the detective struck a match, and p.-ered through the op I ,n trapdoor into the cistern. Although it had been raining fast nince Wednesday night, there was only almut a foot of water in tlic cistern. That struck r>e\ toil Make as somewhat curious, and t. struck iiiin as still mole curious that the walls of tile cistern were wet for ten or twelve feet above the level of j the water.

'\\ ithin the last twenty-lour hours this cistern was nearly full,'' he muttered to himself. "Now it is almost empty, though rain has been falling all the time. Why is thatr" He pondered for a moment or two; then, struck by a sudden idea, he turned to the vector. "I ■want a lantern and a rone," he said. When the lantern and the rope had been procured, the detective 'took oil' his boots and socks, and rolled his trousers up to hiii knees; then he lowered himself through the trapdoor, and groped tur a liitl L , while „n the lloor of the tank. "1 think I'm on the track of the solution now," he said, when the rector had hauled him back into the kitchen. "llow'i AYhy'! What do you mean'!" asked the bewildered rector. Instead of replying, Sexton Blake donned, his lioots and socks, rolled down his trousers, and led the way to the edj£; of the c!iIV, where he pointed to an opening in the face of the rock, midway between the summit and the beach. "What's that'!" he asked.

"The mouth of one of the old workings of the jet-mines," said the rector. "And from that opening." said Sexton Blake, ''a tunnel-like passage—drift, I .believe, is the technical name leads I into the "heart of this cliff?" ! "Of course," said the rector. '•Then I think we'll explore that drift," said Sexton Blake.

And, without any further explanation, he led the way down the narrow, zigzag path that ran from the summit of the cliff to the mouth of the driit. in. "What is your theory?" asked the rector, as he and Sexton Blake plunged into th c drift and groped their way by lantern-light along an underground rocky passage six feet high and four feet wide. "Can't you guess?" said the detective. "No? Yet you saw that rainwater cistern?" "Yes." "And you observed that the walls of the tank were wet almost up to the top?" j "I did." . |

"Yet tlrere was only a foot of water in the cistern, in spite of the fact that it has rained continuously since Wednesday night." "That is curious, certainly. But what does it point to!" "It points to the fact that that cistern has recently been emptied." "But how, and by whom?" Sexton Blake shrugged his shoulders. "You're very dense," lie said. 1 This drift apparently runs under -Mr. Verrill's house. (Suppose a man were working i' l this drift yesterday morning, blasting the rock in search of jet. Suppose that, in the course or his blasting operations, he blasted a hole in the floor of Mr. Vernll's rainwater tank. What would happen?" "All the water in the tank would run out ,md flow into this drift." "And when all the water had run out, there would be a hole in the bottom ot the taqk. through 'which the man might enter Jlr. Verrill's house and afterwards make his escape." _ "You believe " began the rector. "I do!" said Sexton Blake. "I believe | that sonwlmdy was working in this drift yesterday morning, and—possibly bv accident—blasted a hole in the bottom of Mr. Verrill's cistern. I believe that when he discovered what lie had done, and realised the chanev winch Fate had placed in his hands, he hauled himself through the hole-, climbed out of the cistern into the kitchen, was »m----prised by Mi'. Verrill, stunned him, secured the contents of the sea-chest, and departed by the same way that he had arrived." The rector shook his head. "Plausible, but impossible!" he said. "If there was a hole in the bottom of | the cistern, there wouldn't lie a foot of water in it now!" "True!" said Sexton Blake. "11"' same objection occurred to me. and that is why I went down into the cistern and examined the floor." "And what did you find';'' "I found ample evidence that there had been a hole in the floor, which had rec-Mitly been repaired by plugging it with stones and cement. In other woid*. after the thief-had escaped yesterday morning, he had set to work to plug up the hole, in order to cover up all trace# of his crime. Probably h<> did not complete til,, repair of the breach until late last, niirht. and that is why there is only a foot of'water in the tank this morning. You don't happen to know, do you, who usually works in this drift?"

| "Yes." said the rector. "The landlord of the iSnakesbv Arms, a man named Vorritt, has b;*en working in this I drift for the last "

He paused, and caught life breath, for at that moment they perceived a feeble glimmer of light aliout twenty yards ahead of them.

i '"lt's Porritt!" whispered the rector. [ as. a moment later, they came within I sight of a man who, bv the light of a i lantern, was industriously drilling holes in the roof of the drift and plugging them with blasting-powder. 1 Porritt paled at th e sight of the two men, and regarded- them with glances of obvious uneasiness. They chatted to him fof a moment or two, the Tector ! explaining that he was showing ''hi* friend" what the interior of a jet-mine was like. They then resumed their I tramp, and presently came to the end I of the drift.

Here they found conclusive pi-oof of the truth of the detective's theory: for tht-rc was a hole in the roof, which had recently 'been repaired, and the floor of the drift was six inches deep in wafer which had gushed out of the cistern. "I Haiti you would solve the mystery, and you haw!" said the rector. "We | are liow standing., no doubt, under ''Old Enoch's' house. That hole, or that which was a hole yesterday, leads into the rain-water cistern under the kitchen floor, and it was through that hole that the thief gained admittance to the house." '•Without, a doubt," said Sexton Tl!ake. "And l'orritt, as you saw a few moments ago, is now drilling holes in the roof of th* drift and plugging them with blasting-powder. Why?" The rector shook his head. "With the intention." said Sexton Blake, ''of bringing down a portion of the roof and blocking up the drift, and so preventing anybody discovering tlnsc proofs of " The sentence ended in a startled gasp, for at that moment the striking ot a match fell oil the detective's ears. Porritt had acteil sooner than Make had expected. Suspecting that the two men were on his track, he had determined to bring down the roof and bury them alive! "I'.un! Run for your life! yelled Blake.

Tliev dashed down the drift, and were just iii -time to see I'orritt apply a lighted match to the train which lie had laiil. At the sight of the two men he rapped out a furious oath, and took to his heels. Pressing their elbow* to their sides, the. detective and the rector lmunded after liini; and even as they overtook him, and Hung themselves upon him from lcliind. the drift re-echoed with a deafening explosion, followed by the crash of hundreds of to',is or falling rock. . I So violent was the concussion or the I air. even at that distance, that all three men were hurled to the ground. None jof tlieni was seriously hurt, however; and three-quarters of an hour later I'orritt hart been safely lodged in the villa"e !»ek-up. anil the stolen money hud been found in a cupboard at the Knakesi bv Arm*.—"'Answer*.''