"GAY VENTURE"

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 November 1940, Page 10

"GAY VENTURE"

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT. COPYRIGHT.

By

T. C. BRIDGES.

CHAPTER XXVII. (Continued*. CHAPTER XXVIII. Keith went forward cautiously. There were three doors on either side of tne passage. Plain doors, but solid and new. First he tried the doors on the outer side. When he came to the second and turned the handle he distinctly heard someone move inside. He listened for some moments then ventured a whisper. “Eve!” No reply, and he spoke again a little louder. “Eve. are you there?” He heard a low moan. “Oh God, don’t torture me. I can’t bear it,” came Eve’s agonised voice. Keith flung discretion to the winds. “It’s Keith, Eve,” he called in a firm voice. “I’m no ghost. I’m alive and well. It was all a plot of Sagar’s. I escaped. I’m here to get you out.” Eve came running to the door. “Keith, oh, Keith. It is you! I think I’ve known all the time you couldn’t be' dead.” “Eve, it’s so good to hear your voice But how can I open this door? Is there a key?”

“There’s no key, Keith. Holt locks the door and takes it away.” “I’ll try and burst the lock.” “You can’t Keith. You’ll only hurt yourself,” but Keith had drawn back and now flung himself with all his weight against the door. It did not budge. “You’re right, Eve. I can’t break it down. I must get a tool of some sort. There’s a cellar below. I’m sure I can find something there.” “But suppose someone comes?” “They can’t I’ve locked the outer door of the cellar. Sagar can’t surprise me.” “Then go, Keith, only, be quick. I’m longing to see you.” “I, too, dear girl. Now I’m going but I’ll be back in a very short time.” He went down the long flight at reckless speed and set to searching desperately for some tool that would force the door. He delved and dug, getting covered with filth, and grew almost desperate when his torch began to fail.

The light was turning blue when, under the very last pile his groping fingers felt something heavy and he dragged out an iron bar about three feet long. Next minute he was racing back up the stairs. “I’ve found an iron bar, Eve. I think it will do.” “Splendid! Oh, Keith, I’m quivering with excitement.” “Keep steady, darling. I’m beginning.” Keith tried to force the end of the bar between the jamb and the door, but the end was too thick. He explained to Eve that he would have first to cut a nick with his knife. Luckily Lillicrap’s knife was heavy and sharp, and quickly bit into the wood. Even so it was some minutes before the hole was deep enough to allow him to insert the blunt end of the bar. He forced it home, threw his. weight on it and, with a crunch, the door burst open. There was Eve, thin, pale, but with her eyes shining gloriously. To Keith she seemed more lovely than ever. She flung herself into his arms. “Keith —oh, Keith!” was all she said, but the tone told Keith much more than the words. For a few minutes he held her close, Then Eve drew gently back. “We must go, Keith. How do we get out?”

“There are stairs in the wall. They lead to the‘cellar. The way out is through an old mine adit with an entrance in the middle of the wood.” Eve's eyes widened. “How did you find it?” “I followed Holt’s trail. This way. Eve. My torch is finished. We shall have to depend on matches.” They went down the steps and through the cellar, but stops to light fresn matches delayed them. Keith carried his bar. He had to keep it as a weapon in case they met Sagar. Eve walked steadily and presently daylight showed. “We’re on the last lap now,” Keith said. “Only a few yards and we shall be in the open.” A moment later they stepped out into the little hollow amid the rocks. Keith held up his hand for silence and listened. There was nothing suspicious.

“I must help you up, Eve,” he said. He dropped his bar, caught her round the waist, and was in the act of lifting her when the blued barrel of a pistol caught the light as it was pushed over the rim of rock exactly above them. “Lift her down again, Hedley,” came Sagar’s voice. “And don’t try to play, the fool or I shall shoot you in the shoulder.” He laughed and Keith had never heard an uglier sound. “Keith, do as he says,” Eve said in a low, strained voice. “He would murder you without a pang." Sagar laughed again. "You're right, Eve. Bumping off a gent I dislike as much as I do Hedley wouldn’t give me no pangs whatever." Keith was thinking hard and swiftly. If there had been the faintest chance of escape he would have taken it without hesitation. But there was none. Even without Holt and Maltby, what hope had he against Sagar’s gun. Very good, Eve," he said in a flat voice, and followed her into the adit. Next moment Sagar leaped lightly down after them, and almost at once Holt followed. “You’ll stay and watch. Maltby ” Sagar ordered. “And if you sec that Prout chap you know what to do ” With Sagar and Holt at their heels Keith and Eve . were marched back down the long passage. Presently they weie back in that filthy cellar which Keith had hoped never to see again. Then he and Eve were herded up the stairs into the dreary passage. Sagar

spoke. “Holt, you see Miss Nisbet into her room, then come right back. I’m taking no chances with this gent.” “You better not, boss,” Holt responded. “He’s plumb dangerous.” Keith looked Sagar in the face. “Do you really think you can get away with this sort of thing—kidnapping and murder?” he asked. Sagar laughed. “I’ve got away with things a durn sight harder on the other side,” he answered. He chuckled again. Like all criminals, he was intensely vain. He went on: “I guess you’re going to be quite an ace in my game Hedley. I’m having a right difficult job to persuade Eve to marry me, but now she knows I have you under my thumb it’s going to be a heap easier.” Holt 'came back. “She’s safe, boss. What about this bloke?; Want me to take him for a ride?” The man spoke as coolly as if he were discussing the fate of a trapped rat. Sagar shook his head. “I guess he’ll be more use to me alive than dead. The girl’s fond of him. Say, how much do they give those fellers up at the prison when they’re on punishment diet?” “Eight ounces of bread and a jug of water,” Holt answered. “Half a pound of bread. Say, he can have that the first day and six ounces the second, and so on till he gets down to nothing. I reckon the girl’s going to squeal before he plumb starves.”

Then Keith was on him. Disregarding Sagar’s pistol, he hurdled himself at the man with such sudden fury that Sagar had not time to pull the triggei before Keith's fist caught him on the jaw and sent him crashing against the wall.

Sager’s eyes glazed. He was out on his feet. The pistol dropped from his limp hand. Keith stooped to snatch it up. It was a mistake. As he stooped the huge bulk of Jabez Holt fell upon him. His head hit the floor with a force that stunned him. When he came to himself his head felt as if it was splitting and he was conscious of nothing but pain. By degrees he managed to open his eyes. He found himself lying on a hard bed in a bare and dismal room. The only furniture was the bed, one wooden chair, and a table. There was an opening in the wall to the left and one window, but this had a grille of iron bars set on the inner side. Looking out he saw the green of foliage opposite. These were the trees at the back of the Close and he knew that he was prisoned in the room next to Eve’s He tried to sit up but the effort made him so dizzy and sick he had to drop back again. Thoughts of how he had come to this pass made his brain throb with fresh agony. His only hope was to lie still and keep his mind blank. This was no easy matter, yet Keith succeeded and at last fell asleep.

CHAPTER XXIX.

When he woke it was growing dusk. He managed to get up and stagger to the opening where he found a small lavatory with tap and basin. He drank, doused his head, and felt better. Then he made his way to the window. The window frame was set in the outside of the enormously thick wall, the bars on the inside. Pushing his arm through, Keith could not come anywhere near reaching the glass. Though he knew the yard was below he could not see it. The key clicked in the lock, and Keith turned to see Holt. Behind him was Maltby with a pistol. Holt carried a plate on which was a chunk of dry bread. He looked at Keith. “Trying out your prison, mister?" he sneered. “You’re welcome if it amuses you. The inner walls is a foot thick, the floor’s cement. I reckon you’ll stay here till hell freezes or the boss gives orders to take you out. And wnen you comes out, pal, that’s the time to say your prayers.” He chuckled coarsely. “Here’s your grub. Make the most of it for tomorrow you won’t get as much, and next day you’ll begin to get right down hungry.” Keith kept silence. Holt turned. “All right, Maltby. Let’s go,” he said. The door slammed and Keith-was left alone. He was not hungry but he he broke off a small piece of his bread and ate it slowly. His head was not quite so painful, and he began to consider whether Eve and he had any chances at all of getting out of this horrible plight. By this time Tom Lillicrap and Jan would be wondering why he had not returned. The question was what they would do. What Keith feared was that Tom would come to look for them. If he did that would probably be his finish.

Jan—Jan was different. He would be for letting Dicky know what had, happened. But what could Dicky do? With his simple, straightforward nature. he would be no match for Sagar. Suddenly Keith remembered that Eve was in the next room. He rapped on the wall in the hope she might hear. There was no reply and. as the last gleam of light faded, Keith dropped on his bed and lay very still. That night was the worst Keith had ever spent. Eve Hilled his mind. Sagar, as Keith had already realised, was in .love with Eve, but it began to be clear that a man of his type would not take the risks Sagar was taking just to marry a girl. Keith’s thoughts harked back to that night at sea when Tarver had promised Eve a fortune if she would engage not to give evidence against him. He remembered that the real Sagar- was a distant’ cousin of Eve. Putting two and two together he began to realise that Eve must be the real heiress to the Sagar property. In that case everything was clear. The sham Sagar wished to marry Eve in order to make himself safe.