THE SOLUTIONS OF RADFORD SHONE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 9000, 10 December 1907, Page 2

THE SOLUTIONS OF RADFORD SHONE.

CHAPTER Vl—Continued. . I had accomplished this, during the day, and the culprit l had confessed that he ha i beckoned the Co'onelinto the wood and had there'kilteff him with one of the clubs which, 4)eing damaged, the Neils had given'him to carry back to their "lrpu.Se. After they had passed he had, runv but and laid 'tie body on the green "in,.the hope of diverting suspicion to them. He had committed the crime partly ,out of rage at Chetwynd's language td.after lunch, and partly to rob him; though he had been cunning enough "to take only coin, leaving tne gold watch'and such articles as could be traced. "But how —how —?" Shone blegan to stutter. ...... *",;; "How did my suspicion firs.t'come to rest on Raffles?" I laughed. "Well, Mr Radford Shone, I didn't haye to look underground for my,. due".,' The golf ball with which the Colonel had been practising was nowhere to be' found. I knew that the two gentle-' men, if they had been guilty, wmM not have taken the .ball,' whereas a caddie, whose naturat.;jprey (! is a golf ball, wouldn't circumstances, have been; to keep his; hands off one."

"Quite, a commonplace affair, after all," Shone plucked up.spirit to say in his old superior manner. "Fortunately brought to a satisfactory conclusion because "dealt with in a commonplace way," I retorted, and I could not refrain from adding—"You'll have better luck next time, perhaps—yet, luck 1 say—ifyou remember the old adage 1 : thatA'nqhe are' so blind as those who will not sde." "Like the inole^"'.Murmured;Mr, Samuel Martin. Ahd„amfd "the storm' of abuse which this imbecile Remark brought upon his devoted.. head jrom his chagrined chief, 1 contrived to slip away. ~/.. ?..».■: ■'/. J

CHAPTER VII. THE JAPANESE AGENT. Though the public.'knew 1 nothing about it, we at Scotland : Yard:suffered a good deai of anxiety during the earlier phases of the great struggle ' in the East from the presence-in England of agents of the JapVniese'and Russian. Governments in buying contraband of war. if. pfhese gentlemen had. a rough-and-ready way with each other, when their interests •clashed, which sometimea;ended'in a paragraph in the , papers with the stereotyped heading,-"Body- found in the Thames." ~ ■.■ L Therefore the extraordinary story which reached us on : . a, beautiful morning in early summer-had on the face of it nothing that was improbable, and .the course taken ' by. 'the .authorities was undoubtedly the correct one under circumstances of peculiar difficulty. ■':■.■:■; ~, ■ -When, in answer to an urgent summons, -1 presented -myseli-in-tha-room ' l of the Chief Commissioner, jljfound with him a gentleman 'who'se name '.was very familiar to me'as that of ,an investigator of social mysteries which, when solved,,, are not destined to tickle the ears.of.the public. - His reputation was, perhaps, ur.ique in that respect, inasmuch as ; it almost invariably escaped the fierce; all-sifting crucible of the law 'courts. "'

■ ...■■ On .entering;, the room, after saluti.i.:' ing.rny chief, I glanced- at Mr Rad..ford Shone in some, curiosity. He ' ' possessed, at any rate, that first qualification for a detective you could r.ot tell at sight whether he was a wise, roan or a fool. His large

eyes, ruminative as those of a cow in

a clover fielcl, might have betokened r; contemplative observation, or, so baffling were they, they might have veiled chronic stupidity. One thing about him there was no mistaking—-his'i'rock-coat and gloves and glossy h it came from Bond Street. "Inspector' Michaels," the chief began, "this gentleman, Mr Radford Shone, has Been acting' on behalf of the Russian Government in watching Japanese contraband operations in this country. Of course, Mr Shone's position is that of a private indivi- ■ dual to collect information. He has no official locus standi, and so-;; —" ' "Pardon me," 'Mr Shone "interrupted with great dignjty, "I have no , power to arrest, or I should not be here.; byt my relations with the Russian Government are not only official, but extremely ■confidential.'" , The chief bowed- iiv his most delightful manner. ''Then," said he with a smile, "in Russia you would undoubtedly enjoy the position which is denied to you here, and possibly on that score would be entitled to our sympathy. But, as I was saying, Michaels, Mr Shone has reached an impaste in his work, which caih-, iii the first place, for inquiry on bur part, and it may be, later on, for action. Be good enough, Mr Shone, to repeat for the inspector's benefit the information which you have just given to me."

Now I know our worthy chief's litt..' ways, and to listen to a worthy repe.. Jon was not one of. them, when he cou..! have given Mr Radford Shone'syavn and his own instructions as well in half the time. 1 made a shrewd that Sir Walter wanted to compare our visitor's second statement with the notes he had'made of the first. At any rate, he kept glancing at the hieroglyphic-covered hwrt'wwie Shone disburdened himself. It appeared that one Schouvalinski, a Russian agent, had unearthed the fact that the Japanese were having a' submarine boat constructed at the yard of a yacht-builder on the Itciien, a mile or two above Southampton Water. In the exercise of his duties Schouvalinski had kept close watch ; on. the yard,, and, bei'r.fc apprehensive of his personal safety, had enlisted

/ —"—■ —■ BEING N\RKATI\ES, BY OFFERS OF TH,E CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT, AND OF POLICE, IN RESPECT OF ) J ALINGS WITH. THE EMINENT EXPERT, MR RADFORD SHONE. .. ■ ... ■ •Cojimun-jcateßjTo- and editj:rbv < ■ [P üblished By . Special Arbangement.] >. [All Bights Reserved.]

the services of Radford Shone to protect him from the Japanese, who were known to be lurking in the neighbourhood. The riarrator had reached this point when the chief raised his hand. "I can see, Michaels." he said, "that you are wondering at the necessity o? all this fuss. Why don't we step in and embargo the submarine as contraband of war? The answer is, that the boat does not become contraband till it is handed over to the purchaser to be shipped to its destination." .) I nodded, and Shone proceeded to relate how he had discovered that Takishura, the Japanese who was employing the English builder, had become so irritated by Schouvalinski's attentions that he had planned to murder his Russian rival that very night. Shone had got his information from the foreman of the yard, a young man named Tremayne, who : was also the designer of the vessel. Tremayne, having gained the confidence of Takishura, had learned full particulars of the Japanese project, which was the simple one of stabbing Schouvalinski. after dark, and throwing his body into the river. Shone ended his turgid recital, and from the approving nod which Sir Walter gave at his notes I concluded that there had been no glaring flaw in the second version.

"What We have to do is to prevent the attempt, Michaels," the chief said, turning to me. "Any trouble, of the kind would lend to all sorts of international complications, and I want you to run down to Southampton with Mr Shone, and give him the benefit of official backing. You will have to be guided by what you find on the spot, and by the enlightenment on minor details which Mr Shone will gjve you on the''journey down. From what he hinted there is a woman in the case.",

"That ought to simplify matters.",! said, noting the twinkle in the cheif's eye. "Is the lady a Japanese or a Russian"

"She is neither," Shone.'put in pompously. "She is an English girl, the daughter of Abraham Goulding, the owner of the yacht-building yaid. Takishura has been making up to her, though young Tremayne has had hopes in that quarter. You will find that it is a very pretty little case of jealousv and revenge, Inspector Michaels, if you will be guided by my data."

The chief signed that the interview was over, but as I reached the door in the wake of our informant he beckoned me back. I was at his side in an "instant. Shone was already outside.

"There's some funny game on, Michaels," Sir Walter whispered. "Whether that fellow is a player or a pawn in it will be for you to discover. Do jour best, as you always do, but—there! a nod's as good as a wink to you."

In the train Shone "furnished me with the "data" of which"": he had spoken. Young Tremayne had informed him that Takishura would be working late that night in the construction yard, the submarine being nearly completed. As in duty bound, Schouvalinski would be prowlng about spying on him, and the Japanese had hinted that he should once for all put an end to the Russian's espionage by murdering him. "Rather confiding of Mr Takishura to compromise himseif to bis rival, .was itnot?" I asked, as Shone teemed to wait for my applause. From the opposite comer of the compartment he looked me over with undisguised pity. "My dear sir," he rejoined,, "you have not worked with me before, or you would never have put that question., Takishura revealed nothing to Tremayne. >I, Radford Shone, got the bare facts from him, and inferred the rest from my knowledge that Takishura has been stalking Schouvalinski with a knife. It was then easy for a man of my calibre to scrape acquaintance with the Japanese himself, and to gain his confidence in the character of a sympathiser. I had the particulars of his intensions at first hand."

To myself, accustomed to regard the Japs as masterpieces of cleverness and reticence, Mr Ttakishura's conduct seemed, to say the leasfcof it. peculiar. To divulge a murderous project such as he entertained was in direct contradiction to the natural characteristics. I remembered, however, that Radford. Shone had won a great reputation for subtlety and 1 could only conclude that he .carried too many guns for the wily Oriental. As the train neared Southampton I could see that Shone was growing fidgety about the course 1 should pursue, and to pay him out for.-r'the superior tone he had adopted, towards me I deferred his enlightenment to the last moment. It was only when we were leaving the station that I sketched my programme.