The Swoop of the Vulture

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10716, 8 October 1912, Page 2

The Swoop of the Vulture

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CHAPTER XXVII. PURSUIT. J (\i:i vcu hod k(k', Professor Ha!- ! kine. that, itll'things considered, the : course I propose is the only ono for i nil of us? By .some means your eon- . tinual existence-here has l>r-f-ri sus-| nrcted. and yen know perfectly well iJiai if Harold Enr.tone can send yen hack to prison, he mil, and the n"xL lime there will he. no -escape. You know also that I have the best of reasons for wishing him permanently out of the way. T won't *,ay that his existence is quite so dang-wous to me as it- is to you. hut it is sufficiently so to he exceedingly unpleasant. Now here we have an opporir.r'ty. > which. could hardly come to us ' You wil assumo one r,f these adniir- j uhle disKui.sos of yours and cenvo- with US to Xatioffburg. Your piece—or, J vbtu.-". rr d-u^i^u™ 1 '- ' iiC! :, t:;i h.;ve >« : :;:'.\\;<1 ihat, have you:'' '•'Yes," replied Siemens, v,iih ill-) concealed disgust. "Ho,ve\or, indecency's sake, wo wil! ca!l .he;- your j niece. If you come, she must; and wlip.ii we get the safe seclusion of Xatieffhurg, you will cause her to write a note to her 'husband, saying that at, the las: moment the princess has persuaded her to accompany us on our trip as far as Paris. We can .send the carriage back for her maid and tho necessary luggage. There will be plenty of time for that before we catch the train. Then the letter, from Xatieffhurg wil] bring her husband there, hot-foot, and meanwhile we can arrange for the necessary accident to happen to him." "I know that I am talking to on« of the. greatest criminals that exists," said Halkine sjowly. "I would rid the eart:;i of you if I could, .hut, unfortunately for the world, you've got to live. Ton live for pt.t and unadulterated villainy, while 1 live in Mk' interests of science only: there- I fore. I agree thai Harold Enstone shall come to Xatieffhurg, and never .shall leav? it; and when the. danger to ik both has ceased to exist, I will go hack to my work, and'live my life in my own way. There will be no need for us to meet again." "f agree with you." said .Siemens, "ft is jus': ;\s well that people who kjiioAV each other .as intimately as you and T do should keep as far apart as possible. You perform your part of the bargain, and I'll perform mine. As soon as .Enstone has been put out of tlhe way, I will give you a million's i worth of negotiable securities, and i wo will say good-bye. This is a curions sort of conversation for a man to have on his wedding day, hut ono can't trifle with disagreeable facts. Then you will be ready to start with us for .Paris this evening? We shall I 'have a special train, and my yacht ! will be waiting at, Dover, ,«o wo shall ' I have quit?, a comfortable grip." J "Yes," replied Halkine, "I shall he ready. And now, perhaps, the I Irmncess bed better .- fir Grace'", .maid to bring what she will want." J -Re. got tin and opened t.h'» door j cf 'his sai'ftnwi, in which this con-j vernation had taker.'place, and Sir-i mens wen- in tctr-h of his bride. +o ] discuss the final details of the vi!'aii'"us nlr". i Of all the facts,which are repeatj el of crime, the most remarkable is tbrv-,. no matte- how daringly or skillfully a ••nine ; s "fanned, some apparently trilling detail, which initrhr '*:• might net have V w 'n foreseen, is left our of the calculations. ;:nd. nior n likelv than not, either upsets the whole scheme or bec-.mes the means of bringing the criminal to justice. Xow it will be admitted that the crime which Hedley Siemens and Corn Natioff had planned, and in which .Tenner Halkine was- an accessory, was as foul and revolting in its nature as it wits clever in the simplicity of its conception. Apparently nothing had been overlooked. Grace, once more completely under tho influence of the overmastering intellect of her father, would travel | with them just as though she were a guest, instead of a mental prisoner. | Thero would be no suspicion. Not-1 even her maid would be able to detect, ] the fact that she was not iinistress oilier own actions. She would reach Xatieffhurg practically without knowing how or why she had come. Then, at 'HAilkine's dictation, she would write a- letter to her husband, which Mould bring him, wondering, perhaps, but unsuspicious of evil, to the princess' stronghold in the Polish wilderness. Thero the deadly work would he done in such a fashion as would leave no trace of guilt. Put Grace's maid happened to be a Xorth Country girl—the daughter, in fact, of one, of Sir Godfrey's tenants, who had shown signs of peculiar brightness which had attracted Sir Godfrey's attention. He knew that Harold would some day marry, and, by a most happy chance, he : selected this girl as a possible maid for his future wife. He had her well educated, and her quick intellect had amply justified her choice. The rei suit was that Grace came into tho

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the average in iiue!lig':-:",.-c wwc. moreover, greatly devoted to the fortunes of -ilie house of Eustono, in t'.ic person of Miss Lucy Merrett. When the carriage came hack with the mesago from her mistress, she at once set to work on her packing, hut while she was engaged on this task her shrewd wits were also workup? rapidly, and by one way ami another she speedily arrived at the conclusion that the first person who ought to know about this curious journey was her master. The result was -that late that evening Harold Enstone, in a remote villiage in Northumberland, received by a mounted messenger a telegram which, to his utter amazo;vmt. told him that- his wife Inu' '-•rfced for Paris, as the gucs-: of Hod if.. ami his wife, on t!:?2r wofu!:--£ huh', His lii'.-H ide a was to wire to Colonel Rowel-G rover, who was the ono man in London on whom he felt .he could depend, and ask him to follow Grace to Paris and bring !:::• ! :.'.ek by any means that he might find possible. Put a moment's reflection told him that the Colonel could not cross .the.,-. Channel until next morning, .'•and by that time, if Siemens and his wife really had any sinistor designs, they would have made pursuit for the present a mere wast of time. The telegram told "him that the party was travelling by special train, and that Siemens' yacht was to take them from Dover to France, but did not .say. She was one of tho finest yachts afloat, and could go anywhere. Once away from Dover every trace of her might he Inst. She could run down to tho Mediterranean and idle about ther among the lonian Islands; she could' tafco ,the' passage round <bho Cape to Australia, and stay as long as her owner chose among he South Sr-a islands. ' In short, her opportunities to evade detection \vero numberless. He was fully convinced now that Hedley Siemens was the rascnl whom he had, hoped to run to earth ; but- what a hostage to fortune he had so skilfully captured. How many horrible possibilities were there just in the .simple fact that Grace was tho gue.,t. and very possibly the prisoner, of Collier .'Hanfield and his Polish wife. . His early training under his father and. Sir Godfrey in the wild life thev had led in the outlands of the earth had taught him to think quickly, end act, instantaneously on the thought. That is what he did now. Ho had [crushed the telegram in his hand. i and was now thiukinsr: "Tf I can only ontoh the five o'clock'train from Newcastle to Lo»-don to-night, I'd be in London bv eleven in the morning, but I'm five and twenty miles from tho nearest station on the main line,,and I cant do it." (To be Continued.)