THE JUMPER

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20914, 20 September 1939, Page 10

THE JUMPER

By JOHN CREASEY

CHAPTER XXIII —(Continued) ‘‘l should stay where you are, Mayhew!” ’’And why?” Mayhew was not above talking, despite the grimness of the situation. It was a matter purely and simply of shooting until one or the other was killed. At the back of Dawlish’s mind all the time was the fear that he would allow Mayhew t.o reach the landing and then the upstairs room which contained the (girl. "Because,” said Dawlish bluffing, "help, my man, will be here any moment—and it will be better for you if they find no one dead in the house. A dead body here will mean a hempen rope around your neck.” Mayhew’s laugh went upwards in a shuddering horror. "You think so? I told you over the telephone, you fool, that 1 would shoot myself rather than be hanged. Did you think I was joking? 1 meant it, 1 meant every word ol' it! You may beat me, Dawlish, but the girl ” And then the Jumper made bis big effort. lie had been preparing for it all the time, and with a gun in each hand, he rushed out ol' his shelfcr towards the stairs. Obviously Mayhew had not been .expecting it for a moment; the man was taken completely off his Bulkrts streamed from Dawlish’s gun, two of them biting into the crook’s llesh. Mayhew staggered on the top stair, anu for a moment the Jumper thought the man was going to topple head over heels. But by a tremendous effort of selfcontrol, the crook managed to keep his balance, and Ignoring the blazing guns rushed along the landing. As he went, Dawlish scored a third hit, a bullet smashed into Mayhew's fingers. The crook's automatic dropped from his nerveless grasp and clattered to the fioor. The Jumper's eyes were gleaming. lie had taken enormous risks, and he knew that had it not turned out as it had, he, and not the man on the stairs, would have been tbe victim. But that last dare-devil rush bad gained tbe day. He forgot tbe fact that he was wounded, forgot everything but the need for getting to tbe top stair before Mayhew could reach the room in which Joan Muigan was imprisoned. We rushed upwards two at a time, not firing now, for Mayhew was not in direct line. He reached the top of the stairs and swung round. The landing on which he found himself was a small one, and one narrow passage led from it, and Dawlish saw three doors opening from the passage itself. Three other doors led from the landing. ‘For a moment Mayhew had disappeared from sight, but now the f Jumper saw him with his hand on the handle of the door at the end of the passage. The -Jumper had been fighting ruthlessly, and he did not propose to stop now. lie still had two bullets left in one of tbe automatics, and without a moment's hesitation he touched the trigger, and Mayhew, the man who had given the police more trouble in the past few years than anyone else, took both of them in bis cbestl The End of Mayhew The crook reared up, and then swayed, turning so that he was facing the Jumper. llis physical powers were enormous, for he was still on his feet although mortally wounded, and his left —unwounded—hand was clawing at his pocket as though lie was trying to get at a gun and make still another effort. But the Jumper gave liim no opportunity. At most the passage was twenty lcet long, and the Jumper seemed to cover the distance in two or three strides. Mayhew, swaying like a drunken man, still clawing at his pocket, had no expression in his eyes but one of sheer hatred. An hour or two before the Jumper had wanted, more than anything, to crash his fist into Mayhew's face, but now he could not bring himself to hit the man. It was quite obvious that Mayhew had only a few more moments to live. The Jumper satisfied himself by grabbing that left hand, for he knew

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that if it was humanly possible the other man would shoot again. He caught the wrist, but a moment later he knew that tbe effort was not needed. For there was a sudden croaking in Mayhew's throat, and then the Jumper saw blood at .the corners of the man's lips. Mayhew's eyes half closed, and the Jumper could see the glaze across them. He released the man s wrist, and as he did so Mayhew seemed to crumple up like a concertina, and as he reached the floor he did not move. Mayhew was dead The thing was of such tremendous importance that for a few minutes the Jumper could hardly realise it had actually happeted. From the moment that the Daimler had pulled up outside Number Seven Scgway Close unlit now, with Mayhew lying in a crumpled, inanimate heap at his feet, less than five minutes had passed. It seemed an age! And in it the crook had travelled his last journey. The fact that success had rewarded him did not in itself daze the Jumper, but the totally unexpected way in which it had happened. The comparative lack of opposition was the most surprising feature of the whole affair. It seemed incredible to think that Mayhew had died like this. True, the gun-man had put up a tremendous light, and the duel would remain in the .Jumper's memory for ever, yet he could not prevent himself from feeling that something had gone wrong, something which he cuuli not properly understand. The driver of the Daimler had fired through the broken glass, but he had made no desperate effort to get into the house and rescue his leader, and that was the thing that worried the Jumper. There seemed, despite the duel of the blazing guns, to be something missing, a lack of ferociousness about tbe fight which was not typical of Mayhew or his men. The Mayhew that the Jumper had known for so long would have come down the stairs rather than run up, and would have closed in physical combat rather than shoot the issue out at a distance. What had gone wrong during the last ten minutes? Had there been something unseen, unknown, affecting Mayhew’s mind? The Juniper didn’t know. For the moment ail he wanted was to make sure that the girl 'was in this room, and safe, lie turned the handle and entered quickly. For a moment his heart seemed like lead. There was no one in sight. The room was furnished as a single bedroom, but fhe bed was empty, and there was no sign at all that anyone had been occupying it. It was 'the last thing that the Jumper had expected, and a few seconds before he would have been prepared to bet any I money that Mayhew’s last effort I would be to get at the girl and carry out his threat to murder her. But the girl was not there. On the Alert ‘He pushed a hand through hit hair, and stepped two paces forward. He was on the alert now, prepared for any check on the part of Mayhew's confederates, and ready for any emergency. 'Before going into the room he pushed the dpor back against the waif, and stood a chair against it. There was going to he no sudden closing of doors without a warning being given. There were two comparatively low windows in the room, and the Jumper stepped towards them. Each of them looked out on the green fields, smiling beneath the June sun. In the distance a small wood could be seen, while out of one of the windows two or three thatched cottages—unexpected relics of old days in Surrey —could be seen. It was a peaceful picture, hut that fact did little to ease the Jumpers mind. He was now in a ferment of anxiety to find what had happened to Joan Morgan. He was positive in his own mind that he would find her here, and obvjpusly the only thing to do was to search the house, room by room. But he told himself it would bo madness to do that on his own. (To Be Continued.)