THE SOLUTIONS OF RADFORD SHONE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 9014, 27 December 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, MR RADFORD SHONE.

COMMCNICATKD TO AND EDITED BY

[Published By Special Arrangement.]

[All Eights Reserved.]

CHAPTER XL—Continued, Having had the start of them, and as they both did ample justice to the carte du jour, 1 finished my dinner considerably in advance of them, and moved by the curiosity which is, I suppose, no fault in a 'ietective, I strolled out into the hall and glanced at the register lying on the counter of the bureau. Besides my own, the only names recently added were those of Mr Radford Shone and Mr Samuel Martin, both of London; and it was, therefore, fairly certain that the entries referred to the two gentlemen now in the coffee-room. The name of Radford Shone seemed, somehow, familiar to me, and cudgelling my memory, I presently "placed" him as a private inquiry agent, enjoying a lucrative practice among fashionable circles an the metropolis. His particular line was, I vaguely remembered, the elucidation and subsequent hushing-up of the misdeeds of highy-placed amateur law-breakers, whom it was not desired, for family and .Other reasons, to prosecute, notaltogether a savoury calling from the nolice point of view. ■ What could Radford Shone be doing at Queenstown? Probably he had a commission to 'shadow some passenger expected by one of the in-coming liners; for, on the, journey from Holyhead I had not noticced that he possessed any heavy baggage pointing to his being an outward-bound passenger himself. Interested in my ■discovery 1 went into the smoking - room in the hope that he and his friend would turn up there, when th?y had finished their dinner, and possibly satisfy my curiosity. In .this I was not disappointed. I had hardly got my cigar under weigh when they both entered, laughing and talking loudly/ They merely glanced at my unobtrusive personality, and continued their conversation as though I did not exist. "Another feather in your cap, my dear Shone, to be called in in preference to the regular police," the stout •young man was saying as they took their seats by the fire. "The very name, too, of the prospective client seems to r reek of money. A Jacob van Schuyler, could be nothing less than a millionaire, at least." Shone looked across at me, as though to impress me with his reply. He probably took me for a commercial traveller, who would be likely to spread his fame, "on the road." " Well,'l am hardly a novice at crumpling up the police," he said, in a tone of lofty disdain. "That stimulus will be wanting in our present excursion, however, as I shall have solved the mystery long before the Escholtaia reaches the jurisdictior of the Liverpool force." Naturally, I pricked up my ears at this, and as they continued the conversation in the same strain ] soon gathered that Shone was practically bound on the identical erranc as myself with"this difference, that he had been sent for by wireless telegram at the instance of Mr var Schuyler's friends on the liner, whereas I had come officially, or behalf of the Company, in ■ quence of a similar message from the captain. The situation bade fair to become interesting, especially wher Radford Shone made a remark which showed that he was ignorant, as oi course he would be, of the instructor telegraphed to the captain not to allow any passengers to leave the ship at Queenstown. "I do not anticipate any difficulty through the culprit corning ashore here," he said, in answer to a question from his companion. "The odds are against his exciting attention by attempting to do so; but if he does I can safely trust my instinct to spot

him." "You are not likely to make a mistake in that respect," was Mr Samuel Martin's admiring comment.

Now, I could not resist the opportunity for gently "pulling the leg" of the cocksure gentleman and his faithful worshipper "You won't have a chance to spot the man who lifted Van Schuyler's bonds as ha leaves the EsCholtsia, here," I said quietly, looking at' them over my newspaper. "By order all the passengers are to go on to Liverpool before being permitted to disembark." If a shell from a four-point-seven gun had' burst in the room they could not have been more astonished. Shone, spitting like an angry cat was the first to recover himself. "What—what—what is this, sir?" he gasped. "What do you know about Mr Van Schuyler and the Escholtsia'i" "Only that I happen .to be the police-officer detailed to investigate the alleged robbery—Detectve-In-spector Kennaway, of Liverpool, at your service," I replied. Shone scowled thoughtfully; but his stout understudy began to cackle like an old hen. "Egad, Shone," he sniggered, "but the police are in it, and we shall have some sport after all. Alleged robbery is. good, isn't it? The sara" old red-tape talk begun already." . "Your peopie were advised by wireless telegram, I presume?" Shone asked me, ignoring Martin's foolishness. "Well, yes," I replied. "lihaven't heard of any later invention than Marconi's for communicating with a, vessel fifteen, hundred miles out at sea." "I am Radford Shone, of Gower Street, London; and 1 have been sent for by Mr van Schuyler's daughter, who is on board with him, to join the ship here and go round to Liverpool in her, pursuing my inquiry en route," the eminent expert announced pompously., fe"l daresay 1 shall not have been many minutes on the steamer before I shall be able materially to assist the official investiga-

tion, if you care to avail yourself of my studies in philosophic criminology." "Always glad of the straight tip, even if it's wrapped up in long words," I replied. "In the mean time, in case you should have any difficulty, under the circumstances, of boarding the Escholtsia, let me offer you the hospitalty of the mail tug. If you come under my wing there won't be much trouble about getting you passed on board." Evidently galled at having to be beholden to officialism, Shone muttered a few words of grudging thanks and shortly afterwards I retired to my own room. I confess to being a little puzzled by the introduction of the private inquiry element into what on the surface was pre-eminently a police case, and had been treated as such by the owners of the ship. Of course, there is no accounting for the ways of American millionaires and it might turn out to be sheer wasteful 1 extravagance that had prompted him to have an independent investigation by a fashionable "expert" at his own expense. At seven o'clock next morning I was informed that the Escholtsia had been signalled; and dressing hastily I went down to the landing-pier, where the mail-tug was waiting. Radford Shone arrived with Martin hard on my heels, and we were soon .ploughr ing the choppy waters of the harbour towards the leviathan liner, dimly seen a mile off shore through the chilly mists of the winter dawn. Shone preserved a haughty and distant demeanour, retiring, after the interchange of nods, to the shelter ot the funnel, where he remained in whispered colloquy with his companion till we reached the Escholtsia's towering side. There he enjoyed a minor triumph over me. The officer in charge of the gangway admitted him on board without demur, causing Shone's prominent' eyes to glisten j and Martin to break into an audible guffaw. Their merriment was cut short by having to attend to business. A sprucely dressed yuung man came hurrying along the broad deck, and, intuitively discarding Martin, looked sharply from me to Shone and back again to me. "Which of you gentlemen is Mr Radford Shone?" he asked in a strong American accent. "My name ' is Coyle, Newman Coyle, and lam ' Mr Jacob van Schuyler's secretary." Shone, with the air of introduc- " ing an emperor, stepped forward 1 and introduced himself.

"Ah, yes, I thought so," said the secretary quietly; and turning to me he added:'"Then you, sir, will be the police-detective. If you will both step along to my cabin, it will save time if I post you up in the particulars together." ■ "Pardon me," I said, "but I have been called in by the Company, and I must see their representative first. When I have interviewed the captain I have no doubt that you will be of the greatest service to me." "As you like," replied Mr Coyle, though a petulant twist at the corner of his clean-shaved upper lip gave me the impression that he was not best pleased at having to second fiddle as a source of information. "These fellows are bound by rule —hardly dare call their souls their own," I heard Shone explaining to the young American as they stepped to a range of deck cabins amidships, followed by the elephantine Martin, who supplemented his chief's rudeness with a malicious chuckle presumably at my expense. "If you will corne with mb you will have time to have your palaver with the skipper before breakfa°t," said the gangway officer. "You'll not find him exactly in Jove with this notion of Coyle'a for having a private inquiry as well as your own." He led me to a s'-.ate-room under tbe mighty, bridge, and tapping at the door introduced me to a portly, red-faced gentleman who was finishing his toilet by struggling into a brass-buttoned blue coat—no less than Captain Julius Attlee, autocrat of the ship and commodore of the line. Bidding hia officer be careful that no one sneaked into the tender while the mails were being unloaded, the captain dismissed him and turned to me. (To be continued.)