THE JUMPER

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20915, 21 September 1939, Page 12

THE JUMPER

By JOHN CREASEY

Thrilling Detective-Mystery Serial

CHAPTER XXlll—'Continued Tt was possible that other members of Mayhew's gan- were here, and as far as the Jumper knew there might he someone else who had been working with Mavhew. and who was fully prepared to carry on with the dead crook's schemes. The more Dawlisli thought about this--although the whole thing did not take him more than sixty 'seconds to dceide —the more he was determined to have the il\ ms squad men here quickly. lie would have -riven worlds if there had lin'n someone at hand to take a message. But he knew that was impossible. The only way of "Confound il 'He uttered the words aloud although he was talking to himself. For he had suddenly remembered the woman's talk of the telephones, and he knew that once he located the instrument, a call to the I Esher Station wou Irl bring the flying squad men up to Edgway Close very quickly. Walking carefully, half expecting a further outbreak of shooting any moment, half afraid that a shot would be sent into his back as he passed room after room, he went to the head of the stairs. The front door was still shut, and the silence of the house seemed weird, because of the occasional sighing moans coming from Hie lips of the woman on the floor. Whether she was conscious or not the ■lumper did not know, nor for that matter did he care. He saw the telephone in the corner of the hall, and he hurried down the stairs towards it. He almost tripped over Hie gun which had fallen from Mayhew's hand. But as he avoided it lie reminded himself that he had used i up ail Hie bullets in his own revolver. I He was, of course, carrying fresh i supplies, and as he lifted the lelej phone, he took a clip out and managed i lo put it into the automatic with one I hand. i He was to be glad that he had not ■ wasted time. ! The operator's voice came quickly, I relieving of a fear that the line had I been cut, and he snapped the word I "police.” A moment later the gruff | voice of the Station Sergeant came to | his ears, and he snapped the words 1 out. ' "There are three flying squad cars j standing near Edgway Close. I want ! them outside Number Seven. There's | been shootii ft here." ; The sergeant proved to be a man ! who was quick on (he uptake. ■■Very good, sir," he said. "I'll send tlic cars out right away." “Thanks," grunted Dawlish. He replaced the receiver and then turned very slowly towards the room whoso door had iriven' him shelter in that duel some moments before.

He,saw the shadow of the man on the floor, just in time to give him warning. it flashed through his mind that whoever Hie newcomer was he had entered through the window of that downstairs room and was now creeping towards the hall, planning a surprise attack. The Jumper’s lips tightened, and he pointed the re-loaded automatic, thanking the fates that he had not waited to put a fresh clip of cartridges until finishing the telephone conversation. Then he waited, and perhaps the thing that loomed largest in his mind was the question: Who was the newcomer? CHAPTER XXIV. Another Victim As though sub-conseiously aware of the increasing tension, the woman on the floor stopped moaning, and there was positively no sound in the house. The Jumper admitted that the intruder was remarkably acute, for not in any preventable manner had lie disclosed his arrival. But for the sun shining through the front window's of the house and casting the man s shadow on the floor, the Jumper must have been taken completely by surprise. And then the Jumper saw the fellow. He could hardly understand why he had been working himself up into what amounted to a fury of expectation. For some reason lie iiad inclined to feel that this man would lie Mayhew's right-hand man, the second-in-command, or partner, whose identity the Jumper was prepared to find an overwhelming surprise. He could have kicked himself a few moments later, for he realised that this man was after all the one Intruder to be expected—it was the chauffeur. He was wearing his uniform, and it was tlie back of the man's coat that the Jumper saw first. Then he saw the muzzle of the revolver and then a moment later the man came into full view. The Jumper fired on the instant. The bullet got the man in the knee, and the fourth victim of that day's battle dropped with a cry to the floor. His gun went flying out of his hand, and the Jumper told himself that there was nothing to worry about in that direction. But it- was still not safe for .him io search the house, for he was acutely aware of the possibility that other members of Mayhew’s gang had arrived without being seen, or would arrive before the police. Consequently he stepped into the front room and picked up the man's gun, discovering very quickly that only two of its seven bullets had been fired. The Jumper grinned Lo himself as he slipped the reserve gun into his pocket, so that the other fellow was still unarmed, and then decided that it would probably be safer to bind him up. Mayhew’s chauffeur was not a particularly heavy man, and despite his earlier "exertions, the Jumper had no difficulty in picking him up bodily and taking him to a stiff-backed chair. Using his own tie the Jumper fastened the man securely, and then pushed a pouffe under his injured leg. "That will make it easier,” he said. ‘Til make yer easy, yer blankety swab!’’ The man's gratitude did not express itself very pleasantly, and the jumper s lips twisted. He had not expected anything different, however, and he was satisfied to feci that, apart from the newcomer, the place was empty. But there was still the girl. For the first, time since, he had broken into Number Seven Edgway Close the Jumper's eyes (gleamed, and something of that devil-may-care spirit, which was part, of him, showed in his eyes. Luck had been with him so far. Within five minutes the police would arrive in force and go through the place with him. He. gave a fleeting thought to Brigham, went, to the. broken window of the front door, and saw that the fel-

low was stilt lying on the ground, motionless now. "He won't do an*' harm." said the Jumper to himself. "Now for it." Threp minutes later he stood again in the hall, and his expression was very grim. He found it difficult to understand the gnawirtj anxiety in his breast. For there was no sign of Joan Morgan, no indication that she had been here. Mayhew had tricked him. The girl was still missing, and for all Dawlish knew she was in just as great a danger as ever. What 17bes It Mean? The feeling that, there was somebody else in this game besides Mayhew came, to him with increasing force. It- was useless for him to spend time trying to think who he could be. Probably it was someone who had been the brains behind the whole affair. And that led to another thought. The whole affair —what did it mean? What was it? Very [grim lipped, convinced that he had nothing more to fear at Number Seven Edgway Chose, the Jumper left the hall and walked towards the fat Australian, who was lying across the path. 'He felt absolutely out of his depth. Nothing had happened as he had expected it. to; not even the battle with Mayhew. And certainly he had never dreamed that, he would get away with it as well as he had' done. Among the other questions that flashed through his mind, as he- bent over the unconscious Australian, was—who was ihe woman lie had wounded? Where was Joan ? Who had been working with Mayhew and had now taken over Ihe leadership of Mayhew’s sadly depleted gang? And Brigham more than any other man could tell just what that business was. On one knee, he lifted the Australian’s head a little, and Brigham opened his eyes. The Jumper was inclined lo doubt whether the man was suffering the pain that he made out, but of his fear there was no possible doubt.. •‘Well, Brigham?" The Jumper’s voice was very grim. “Mayhew’s dead, and the game’s up. The more you tell us without giving trouble, the uetter It will be for you." Brigham was fully conscious now. His eyes darted to and fro, and it was quite obvious that he was not suffering any real phyiscal pain. "I don’t know! I don’t knowl I tell jou, 1 " The Jumper's voice was very hard. “Lying won't help you," he snapped. “There’s more than one murder in this affair’, Brigham, and unless you are careful you will end up on the gallows." A moment before it had seemed that Ihe man could register no [greater l’ear. but now his face was livid, and his terror nauseating. "1 swear 1 can’t toll you anything. Mayhew was forcing me—” He stopped as though conscious that he had said more than he should do if his pose of ignorance was to be mainlined, and the Jumper's smile revealed the fact that his slip had been noticed. “Mayhew was forcing you to do something?" he said. "I’m not interested in what he had against you. it was blackmail, wasn’t it?” “Yes —yes!" Brigham looked as though he would never recover from his terror now. "I’m warning you,” said the Jumper, fully confluent that it would not be long before he was able to get at the truth, “that the quicker you talk, the better." As he spoke he heard the humming of the cars that had started to move from the main road towards Edgway Close. The fact that his 'effects had been rewarded with such was pleasing, but even.-rrdw, as he urged Brig’ham ro talk, he was conscious of a nagging despair at the fact that John Morgan was missing. Brigham’s eyes were steady for a moment. “Will you—promise me—l won’t iget hanged?" The Jumper had a job to repress a smile. "I can’t promise you anything," he said, “but I'll do the best 1 can." It seemed to satisfy Birgham. An expression that mingled relief with cunning crossed his fat features, and then he pulled a wallet from his pocket. It was thick, fat, leather wallet, and the Jumper's eyes gleamed as his hand stretched towards it And then the thing happened. Swiftly out of the blue a bullet hummed on its wicked journey, and the Jumper saw a little round hole leap into the man's forehead. With a single stifled groan, the Australian sank back.

The Jumper had seen sudden death often enough to be sure that life was extinct. It was a dreadful development, made worse by the apparent strangeness of the thing. One moment Brigham had been living, doing his best io make sure that he did not suffer too severely from his association with Mayhew; the next his voice was silenced for ever, and his eyes were glazed as they stared sightless towards the blue sky. Must Be Careful For a second the Jumper could neither think nor speak. Then suddenly his mind began to work at lightning speed. Brigham had entered Mayhew's garden from the left side, and obviously the shot had been flred by someone who was coming along the road or—what seemed more likely—by someone sheltering in the half-built houses within shooting distance. The Jumper clenched his teeth as he contemplated the prospect. 'He stared at those half-erect-ed villas as he thrust his way through the wooden planks, and the piles of bricks and bags of cement, likely to present a task which would be so hopeless that the killer -would get away with ease. And yet somehow the man had to be caught. The first flying squad car pulled up with a screeching of brakes just behind the Daimler as Dawlishd reached his decision. He straightened up quickly, and stared towards the men who streamed from the car. “There’s a gunman about somewhere in these houses," he snapped. "Spread out, all of you, and get him!" The words were sufficient to set the men going. By the time the other two cars—and a fourth machine which had pulled up immediately after the first flying squad car reinforcements, and which the Jumper believed was from the local station—the men had started their search, black figures against the red bricks. And then the Jumper had a shock. For only one man failed to start off, and he came from the small car. The Jumper found liimself_ staring into the

eyes of Chief Inspector Crabber. v Crabber was smiling, but there was an unpleasant expression in his eyes. “Still lost your man, Dawlish?” "Mayhew’s dead, if that's what you mean," snapped Dawlish, in no mood to take the Chief Inspector's grouses without a sharp reply. “What are you doing here, anyhow?" “It’s very simple,” snapped Crabber. “I’m on duty, Dawlish. Did you say Mayhew_was dead?" “Yes," said Dawlish quietly, “and Brigham’s dead, too. He was just about to squeal when he was shot.” “Did he give you any information at all?" snapped Crabber. "He was just going to show' me a wallet," said the Jumper quietly. “And when we have examined it I think we shall know all there is to know." And then his whole body stiffened, and he stared unbelievingly into the Chief Inspector’s eyes. For Crabber's expression was altogether different from anything the Jumper had seen before —and the gun in his right hand was levelled unwaveringly at the Jumper's stomach. “One tiling is certain," said Crabber in a very sof 1 voice. “You’ll never know what’s m that wallet, Dawlish. You're not so clever as you think you are!” (To Be Continued.)