'What?' asked Wells cautiously.
'I want you to call your chaps out here and remain with them while I have a word alone with the Limper.'
'Why?'
'Never mind why. Rudd can remain there with me. The Limper won't get away from both of us and you'll be outside with your men to pinch him again if he did manage to knock the two of us out.'
Wells shook his head. 'Sorry, I can't do that. He's under arrest.'
'You can and you're darned well going to,' Gregory said with a friendly grin. 'You'll be a made man when this case is over, and, in a few years' time, the youngest Superintendent in the force. You've done a lot to deserve that yourself but you owe it even more to the help I've given you. You remember too the night I jumped out of your aeroplane; risking my neck with that blasted parachute. You promised then you'd give me a break later if I needed it and a few minutes' conversation with the Limper isn't much to ask.'
'You win,' smiled Wells. 'I'll call the boys out and post them by the windows. In you go.'
A moment later Gregory was facing the Limper across the kitchen table. Rudd stood, a silent spectator, in the comer.
'Now,' said Gregory grimly, 'you're going to tell me the place indicated by that phrase "seanymphs hourly ring his knell". I've got no time to waste so be quick about it.'
"The hell I am!' the Limper sneered.
Gregory pulled the table to one side. 'Rudd, you'll stay where you are,' he said quietly, 'and see fair play.' Next second his left fist shot out and caught the Limper in the stomach.
The Limper had already raised his arms to guard his face. He doubled up under the unexpected blow. Gregory's right fist jerked like a piston and catching him on the ear sent him sprawling to the floor.
'Now, are you going to talk?' rasped Gregory, standing over him.
For a moment the Limper lay gasping for breath upon the ground. Suddenly he dived for Gregory's legs, clutched him below the knees, and sent him hurtling backwards. But Gregory kicked out as he fell. The Limper lost his hold and the two men rolled in different directions.
Both staggered to their feet and stood panting angrily as they faced each other. The Limper was much the bigger of the two, but Gregory was far more agile. He feinted, then hit out again, and his fist crunched on the Limper's nose.
The Limper staggered as water gushed up into his eyes, blinding him momentarily; but he shook his head and charged in like a bull, raining a hail of blows upon his smaller opponent.
Gregory grabbed at the edge of the table and fell. The Limper came down on top of him and kneed him in the stomach.
For a second Gregory squirmed under him, white with agony, then he buried both his thumbs in the flesh of the Limper's neck, gave his head a sudden violent twist and rolled from under him.
Clear of each other, they stumbled up again, bleeding and breathless. The Limper charged but, quick as a cat, Gregory leapt to one side and dealt him a terrific blow on the side of the chin as his head shot forward.
The floor shook under the weight of the Limper's body as he fell sideways on it. He muttered something then lay there, face downwards, on the boards.
'Now will you talk,' gasped Gregory. 'If you don't, I'll beat you till you're dead. I've got to know and the life of such scum as you isn't going to stop me.'
The Limper pulled himself up on to his hands and knees. 'You devil,' he croaked, 'I won't. You can do your damnedest.'
'You will. I'm going to make you.' As the Limper came rocking to his feet Gregory caught him another frightful blow full in the mouth, sending him crashing backwards into a corner.
He lay there moaning; blood trickling from his broken nose and the corner of his mouth.
'Talk, damn you,' shouted Gregory, his eyes blazing. 'If you don't I'll murder you.'
Groaning, the Limper feebly shook his head.
Gregory seized him by the collar of his jacket and threw him over on his face. 'All right,' he muttered. 'Rudd, get me that clothes line.'
Rudd jumped to obey. In spite of the Limper's renewed struggles they soon had his wrists tied tightly together behind, his back with one end of the stout cord. Then, between them, they hauled his heavy body across the floor.
'Take the other end of the line and put it over that big hook on the door,' Gregory ordered Rudd. 'This bird is going to squeal if I have to break both his arms to make him do it.'
Rudd ran the cord over the hook, which was about five feet from the floor, keeping the loose end of the line in his hands.
'Right, heave away,' Gregory said tonelessly.
Rudd obeyed with a will. As he drew the line taut the Limper's pinioned wrists were drawn up behind his back until his arms were stretched to their limit and began to bear the weight of his prostrate body.
'Go on, heave I said,' shot out Gregory mercilessly.
As Rudd threw his whole weight on the cord the Limper's shoulders came off the ground with a jerk and his head hung down towards the floor between them. He let out a sudden gasp of agony.
'Are you talking?' asked Gregory, with a sudden quietness.
'Let me down let me down,' moaned the tortured man.
'Not till you talk,' said Gregory pitilessly, 'and I haven't finished yet by half.'
As the Limper remained silent he strode over to the gas stove; picked up a wax taper and lit it.
In two strides he was back beside the hanging man. He pushed the lighted taper a few inches below the Limper's face for a second then withdrew it quickly.
'See that?' he asked. 'You'll tell me the truth about that message or I'll burn your eyes out.'
'Good God, sir, you can't!' exclaimed Rudd, suddenly paling. 'It-it's fiendish.'
Gregory swung on him. 'You fool! My woman's life depends upon my loosening this brute's tongue and I mean to do it.'
Rudd shuddered. 'Sorry, sir. Looked at like that o' course you're right.'
Gregory thrust the taper under the Limper's face again,, nearer this time, but only for an instant.
Suddenly he let out a wail and cried: 'All right, I'll tell you.'
'Go on,' ordered Gregory, holding the taper ready, so that he could push it under the man's face again if he regained his courage; but the Limper was broken now and he sobbed out in gasping breaths: 'You-you got the message wrong it wasn't sea nymphs or mermaids. "Knell's" the key word in the sentence. That means the Bell tower Quex Park. The planes are landing in the Park itself tonight, but-but they'll be gone before you get there blast you!'
'Let him go,' snapped Gregory.
Rudd loosed the straining cord letting the Limper's body fall to the floor with a bang. They pulled it from the doorway and rushed outside. Wells was standing about fifteen yard away from the cottage.
'What've you been up to?' he asked dubiously.
'Never mind. Your man's inside, or what's left of him,' Gregory panted. 'Bell was the word, not Mermaid. I give you that in return for what you've done for me. Think it out.' With Rudd hard at his heels he dashed away into the darkness.
23
Where Sea-Nymphs Hourly Ring His Knell'
Side by side Gregory and Rudd dashed along the half obscured footway to the shacks at Hook Quay. The police were still moving there and taking notes of the contents of the barges. A group of some thirty prisoners, heavily guarded, stood by the wharf ready to be marched away to the main, road where a fleet of police vans would now be waiting. A car was parked at the end of the track which led inland and Gregory recognised it as the long low sports model in which he had previously seen the Limper; evidently it had brought him and his companion, half an hour earlier, to meet the barges.
They hastened past it at a quick jog trot and away from the creek towards Old Hook. Another four minutes and they were in the car Rudd had parked there ready for their getaway; hurtling over the uneven track towards the level crossing and the road.
'We'll never make it, sir,' gasped Rudd when he had partially regained his breath. 'By road, Quex Park's near on forty miles from here. Can
't do that much under the hour; even if we take a chance on being pinched by speed cops.'
'God knows if we'll be in time,' Gregory groaned, 'but we'll be in Quex Park under a quarter of an hour bar accidents.'
'Go on, sir, that just ain't possible.'
'It is, you big sap. You don't think I was ass enough to rely upon the car alone do you? Before we left London I telephoned Heston and had a hired pilot fly my plane down here in readiness for us.'
'S'truth! Mr. Gregory, you're a wonder, but where is it?'
'Parked on the racecourse halfway between Queenborough and Sheerness. That's the only decent landing ground I could think of for the hired man to fly it to. We'll be there in less than a couple of minutes.'
They had already crossed, and recrossed, the railway and were roaring down the straight of the second-class road to the south of it. A moment later they swung north on to a better road.'
As Gregory pulled up he glanced at the clock on the dashboard. To his satisfaction, but momentary amazement, he found that it was only ten minutes past twelve. The smugglers had attempted their landing at a quarter to and all the excitement which had ensued, together with their brief journey, had occupied no more than twenty-five minutes.
They flung themselves out of the car at the entrance of the racecourse and dashed in through a gate beside a tall deserted stand. Some bright flares were burning in the open space before it which picked out the silver wings of the waiting plane.
The racecourse keeper and a couple of his men met them near the plane and began quick expostulations but Gregory brushed them aside with the terse explanation: 'Police business. No time to talk.'
A rapid handshake with the hired pilot; then Gregory and Rudd scrambled on board. The engine stuttered and burst into a" roar. Another moment and the plane taxied forward sailing into the air. It banked steeply and swung away east by south, over Sheppey Island, then across the entrance of the
Swale. They picked up the land again near the Reculvers and headed dead for Quex Park.
The twenty miles of air were eaten up in less than seven minutes and, as they zoomed towards the tree surrounded enclosures that were now so familiar, Gregory was sorely tempted to land upon one of the grassy stretches which he knew lay between the coppices. Next second he caught sight of lights right in the centre of the Park; Gavin Fortescue and his people were still there. To bring the plane down anywhere near them would give the alarm prematurely.
He banked again, cursing the heavy clouds that obscured the stars, as he sailed low over the black belt of trees fringing the eastern end of the Park. Then he switched on his landing light and planed down towards his old landing ground outside the gates.
They came down with a horrible bump which made their teeth rattle in their heads, bounced up, sailed on and hit the ground again. There was the sound of rending fabric as the plane crashed to a standstill. One of its wingtips had caught a pylon bearing the electric cables of the grid system.
'Gawd!' exclaimed Rudd, grabbing the zip fastener of the emergency exit at the top of the cabin.
'To hell with the plane,' Gregory shot back flinging open the door, which fortunately had not jammed, and tumbling out.
Rudd was after him in a second, and they were running again, towards the lane. They had landed within a hundred yards of the east gate of the Park. Gregory seized the ironwork and pushed it violently. The gate swung open. They slipped through, jumped a fence that divided the drive from the fields, and ran on over the ground which Gregory had covered in his first visit.
Panting for breath they reached the coppice where Gregory had lain hidden, thrust their way through it, and came out upon he other side into the open space before the house.
Gregory gasped with relief as he saw no sign of imminent departure about the fleet of planes. A few men stood near them but many more were gathered in little groups, talking quietly, in front of the house. They were waiting for something; Gavin perhaps, but orders might be given for the pilots to fly their machines back to France at any moment. There was not a second to be lost.
Gregory shouldered his way back into the undergrowth and, with Rudd following him, crossed the drive; then slipped round to the back of the house. The front windows had been lit but here all was dark and silent.
At the far end of the building they turned again, stole swiftly between the outhouses, and came to the servants' quarters. Gregory drew his gun and approached the door. It was unlocked; so he entered it and tiptoed down the passage to the housekeeper's room. That was in darkness too but, as he thrust open the door, a faint whimpering came from one corner.
Pulling out his torch he switched it on and flashed it in the direction of the sound. Milly was crouching there wide eyed and shivering. She did not recognise him behind the glare of the torch which blinded her and thrust out her hands as he approached seeking to fend him off.
'Don't be frightened,' he whispered. 'It's Gregory Sallust and Rudd.'
With a little sobbing cry she sprang up and flung herself towards him grabbing at his coat with her hands.
'Oh thank God it's you/ she wailed. 'Terrible things have been happening here terrible. They're killing people and if, they find me they'll kill me too.'
The muscles in Gregory's cheeks twitched in a spasm of fear. Killing people: that meant Sabine. He was too late after all. But he must keep his head and quiet this hysterical girl. Perhaps she was mistaken.
'Steady Milly he said gripping her firmly as she clung to him; shivering with terror. 'Pull yourself together my dear and tell us about it. Please! It's frightfully important we should know everything without the least delay. Where's Mrs. Bird?'
'They they locked her in her room,' Milly sobbed, 'about twenty minutes ago and II daren't go up and let her out in case I meet some of them on the stairs.'
'Who have they been killing then?' His voice trembled a little.
'Gerry's men. Poor Mr. Simmons and-and his two friends. I crept out to-to let them know what was happening and I found them in a heap beside the drive. Oh it was horrible!' Milly burst into a sudden hysterical wailing and, fearful that her cries would draw some of Gavin's men to that wing of the house, Gregory muffled her face against his chest.
'Steady now! steady, for God's sake/ he pleaded. 'Finding them like that must have been a frightful shock. But try and tell me what started the trouble.'
For a moment the girl's slender shoulders shook with uncontrollable sobbing, then she choked back her fear and stuttered: 'We-we've been worried all day: ever since that awful row Lord Gavin had with Mademoiselle Szenty this-this morning. I telephoned to Gerry…'
'Yes, I know that. Gavin locked her up in her room and you were able to tip us off about hearing him speak to the Limper of Eastchurch Marshes. That was fine work, but go on. What happened this afternoon?'
'Nothing; nothing much. We sat about wondering what was going to happen. Half a dozen strange men turned up about tea time and one of them asked Aunty the quickest way down to the post office because he had to send a telegram. After dark they all set out in different directions from the house to-to patrol the grounds, I suppose. It must have been then they caught Simmons and his friends at their different posts. Aunty wanted me to go up to bed at half past ten but I wouldn't because I thought I might be useful to take a message. You see, I didn't know I didn't know then that poor Simmons was dead.'
'It was brave of you to want to do that,' Gregory said quickly as the girl showed signs of collapsing into another fit of hysterics. 'You're going to be brave again now, aren't you and hang on to yourself until you've told me all you can?'
She gave herself a little shake and stared up at him with tear dimmed eyes. 'Two of the men came back to the house. The others stayed in the grounds I suppose. It was half past eleven when Aunty left me here to go and have a look round outside. When she came back she said that three bright lights were shining from the top of the steel mast above the Bell tower. There have never been any lights there before as far as we know. Sh
e-she said she thought we ought to let Simmons, or one of the others knowin case they hadn't seen them so that they could telephone Gerry at Scotland Yard.
'I slipped upstairs to get a coat, because it's turned so chilly, and it was from my bedroom window that I saw the men in the grounds were walking about with torches. They seemed to be laying out lines or something.'
'What time was this?' Gregory asked.
'Just on twelve.'
'They were setting up them flares for their planes to land by,' murmured Rudd.
'Go on,' Gregory urged the girl, ignoring the interruption.
'I was just coming down the stairs again when I heard the telephone ring. It stopped and, almost immediately afterwards, one of Lord Gavin's men came running out of the room below. He leapt up the stairs three at a time. I've always been terrified of these people; before he saw me I'd slipped back on to the landing and behind a heavy curtain. He rushed past me and I was just coming out from behind the curtain when I caught a glimpse of the other fellow. He was standing in the hall staring up the stairs so I stayed where I was.'
'I reckon it's well you did,' Rudd muttered. 'That telephone call must have been the one the Limper made; warning them the game was up.'
'After a moment,' Milly went on breathlessly, 'the first man came back to the landing with Lord Gavin. They all seemed terribly angry and excited. The man at the bottom of the stairs called up to them "that-that slut of yours has squealed on us". The two men started swearing then in the most frightful way. But Lord Gavin banged his stick on the parquet floor and silenced them. Then he said he said something like this:
' "You stupid fools. Why do you waste time blaspheming. Nothing is lost yet. We only have to keep our heads. The police spies who were set to watch us here have been dealt with. Sallust, Wells, and the Flying Squad, if they have called it out, are miles away on Sheppey Island. We're safe here for a good half-hour. The planes are due at 12.15, so they will be in any moment now. Once they've landed their human freight will separate. Arrangements have already been made for that. We shall leave again by them immediately for France. Go and get Mrs. Bird now. She knows nothing of what's been going on but she might prove troublesome. She's still up because I saw a light in her room only ten minutes ago. Take her up to her bedroom, truss her up, and lock her in there. Then, on your way downstairs, you can deal with the Szenty woman. Tie her up too and take her out to my plane. Get a large stone and lash it to her feet. We'll drop her overboard when we're halfway across the Channel,"' Milly moaned. 'His voice was icy terrible but that's what he said as well as I can remember.'
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