THE SOLUTIONS OF RADFORD SHONE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8988, 25 November 1907, Page 2

THE SOLUTIONS OF RADFORD SHONE.

BEING NARRATIVES BY OFFICERS OF THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT, AND OF THE PROVINCIAL POLICE, IN RESPECT OF DEALINGS WITH THE EMINENT EXPERT, Mil RADFOUU SHONE.

COMMUNICATED TO AND KI>ITK» IIY

[Published By Special Ahrangemekt.]

[All Eights Eeserved.]

CHAPTER ll.—Continued. So we sought our two-berthed state-room, and there "Flash Taylor" unb.ircl;niii to me his wicked but sportsm\nlike soul to such a tune th it I fairly gasped. When it was all over I knew that the conveyance of t tat n anufacturer of bogus notes to England was by no means the most serious work before ma on the Petunia's homeward trip. It was one of the penalties of my official position on that trip that, travelling now strictly on duty, I was no longer able to use the saloon for meals. I could not well expect decent folk to sit at table with a notorious. forger, nor would the captain have permitted it, and I had therefore to mess in the seclusion of the stateroom with my prisoner. I had not looked forward to the prospect with much pleasure, but after Taylor s confidence I prepared to take full advantage of my enforced ostracism. On that first night, however, 1 contrived to take a peep into the saloon after the passengers had taken their places, and I saw that the Due de Vionville and his daughter no longer sat with Radford Shone and Martin. The two latter had been relegateJ to the lower social depth of tha doctor's table, and from Shone's lofty air and Martin's volubility I guessed that he was being lionised as the hero of the hour —almost to the effacemant of Lord Ravensbury and his bride, who occupied the post of honour light and left of the skipper. Later in the evening I obtained an interview with Captain Smithers in the chart-room, and asked his permission to see Phil Lancaster. The request was none too cordially received —for a reason that made me like the old man better than I had ever done before. "No," he said angrily. "There's a goo 3 deal too much detective business going on in this ship, what with that chap Shone getting himself gassed among the passengers over Lancaster's disgrace, and now you, Royds wanting, I reckon, to trip the poor la 1 into some sort of confession. No; I will take him home for a fair trial, but I'll be hanged if he shall be badgered into talking if he doesn't want, to!" "I have, no wish to entrap Mr Lancaster," I replied quietly. "On the contrary, I do not believe that he was in the bullion-room with guilty intent. All I want is to get an assurance from him to that effect, to guari against making a fool of myself, before considerably startling you, captain." "What! Lancaster innocent? Shone wrong! By the little cherub that sits up aloft, but you shall have your palaver, anyhow ! Come along, right here and now!" And the captain clapped his banded cap on to his grizzled head and led me down to the lower deck and unlocked a door. The cabin was cramped, and but ill-lit by an oillamp, but there was sufficient there ifor rough-and-ready comfort if the occupant had been free to come and go. But the chain at Phil's ankles—the "irons" which are part even of a modern shipmaster's creed —rattled as we entered, telling of his close confinement. At sight of me the young man's face cleared a little, and he rose from the bench on which he had been sitting dejectedly. "This is kind of you, Royds," he said; "that is, if you're going to put me with the other professional criminal. I'm a bit lonely and shall ibe glad of company." I saw that he was overwrought, and I sharply bade him not to be a fool, but to tell me as man to man why he went to the bullion-room that night and gave Radford Shone his chance. "Not a word more," I added; "only your reason. I think I can guess it, but I want to be sure." Lancaster shrugged his shoulders wearily. "'l'll tell you. Royds,, that I'd have bitten off my .tongue rather than tell Shone," he replied. "It was simply that my nerves wouldn't stand the strain any longer. I had no faith in the fellow, because his manner on the first day of the voyage showed that he suspected me. He might, therefore, have overlooked the real thief, and I went to the bui lion-room to satisfy myself that nothing had been tampered with. As God is my judge, that is the truth, though 1 do not suppose that it will avail me in court." "If I can lay my hand on the artist who ought to be in your place you will never have to go into court at all," I answered him. "Come, captain, let us get back to the chartroom and finish our chat." The next three days passed uneventfully, and then one morning the Vicomtesse appeared on deck alone. Luncheon time came, and her father not having joined her I ascertained from a steward that the Due de Vionville was ill. It was believed that he had developed a touch of influenza, which would keep him in his bunk for the rest of the voyage. ' Tin' news, when I imparted it to Taylo., vas received with a wink. "I w uder if the great Radford Shone knows what is the matter with him?" he said drily. "Am 1 in this with you, Mr Royds?" I nodded, and for the remainder of the day we stuck close to our stateroom, Taylor amusing himself with fastening and unfastening ths handcuffs which I had brought for Ut'e upon him if he had proved refractory. The cabin was in the same corridor as De Vionville's, and between the two was a suite of bathrooms. I was smitten with quite a craze for promiscuous "tubs" that afternoon, but nothing happened; or was it to be expected that vigilance would be rewarded while the passengers were in and out of their cabins. Jt was not til! dinner was in pro-

CHAPTER 111

gress in the saloon, and after our steward had brought us our tray and departed, that anything happened; and then it was only the faint click of a door-latch some way along the corridor, but it sufficed. Flash Taylor laid down his kr.ifo and fork, and took up the handcufi's which I had entrusted to him. "You fool!" I whispered. "You'll never live up to your adage that way. Go on eating. Clatter your crockery, and don't be so keen." My prisoner looked his chagrin, but obeyed, and ten minutes later, when the. distant door clicked again, I unleashed him with the possibly unkind remark—- ■" There must be a crime before there can be a conviction, my son, as your own experience ought to have told .you. If I am not mistaken the crime has now been accomplished, and you can have your i-evenge. Come along." The door of the Due de Vionville's state-room was our goal, and ! our united' efforts broke it down in time to prevent its occupant from throwing Lady Ravensbury's milliondollar tiara through the port-hole into the sea. My prisoner snapped the handcuffs on to the "French nobleman's" wrists, while I covered him with my pistol. "There, Toff Larkin," Taylor panted. "That'll pay you for rounding on a pal three years ago!" ****** Mr Radford Shone was not seen much during the last days of the trip; but when he did appear his sublime egoism carried him through without any confession of defeat. His mouthpiece, Mr Samuel Martin, laboured to explain that Shone would have caught the sham Due had it not been for Lancaster's folly in attracting suspicion by his overanxiety. The eminent expert had, I was told, I some very bitter things to say about my alliance with a convict in order to gain my ends. As a matter of fact, I never tried to conceal that my capture of "Toff Larkin" was entirely due to his chance recognition by "Flash Taylor," whose faithless comrade he had been in a former enterprise. Taylor was able to tell me that "the Due" was one of a gang who had begun to systematically work the mail steamers by assuming a rank that was above suspicion and having as a confederate a young and pretty woman. They had procured a key to fit the bullion-room by taking a wax impression of the captain's key, and after all that was plain sailing with the exception of getting the proper lettering of the combination lock. This they contrived by closely studying the custom of the ship, which was for the captain and the second officer to decide upon just before sailing. One or other of the confederates generally managed to be in the vicinity of the chart-room at the crucial moment and overhear the letters. Larkin had abstained from robbing the bullion-room on the outward voyage this time because he had ascertained that better plunder was to be obtained on the homeward one, and because he knew that Shone's vigilance would be relaxed after his apparent success. I considered that I was more than justified by the clearing of Phil Lancaster, who was on the bridge when we reached Liverpool, and, as a free man, was able to wave a glad greeting to the girl waiting for him on the quay.

THE MISSING BOMB. A few weeks before the great Durbar at Delhi in the Coronation year, I was sent for by one of the chiefs at the Yard and told that I was to proceed to the East forthwith. An anonymous letter had been received at the Indian Office, conveying the information that a gang of "swagger" criminals, led by one of the most daring operators in Europe, was going to Delhi to attempt to steal the celebrated diamond known as "The Star of the South," which the Nizam of Goojerat would be >wearing during the festivities. There was, of course, the possibility that the communication might be a hoax; but to be on the safe side the authorities had decided to treat it as a genuine warning of a disaffected confederate, and to de«patch to Delhi an officer acquainted with the personality and methods of the leaders in the world of crime. The choice had fallen on me, because as a soldier's son I had been born and brought up till the age of eighteen in India, and could speak Hindustani like a native. Also the chief was good enough to add, because I possessed certain other qualities which modesty prevents me from specifying here. (To be continued.)