HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNEKy OREGON, THURSDAY, JAN. 14, 1926. PAGE THREE ' C77c A Sequel to Bulldog Drummond. BY CYRIL MmiLE H. DORAN CO. SYNOPSIS CHAPTER I. To a (fathering of anar chiitU in Barking, London suburb, Zaboleff, foreign agitator, tells of the operations of a body of men who have become a menace to their (ntivities. He is interrupted by the men he Is describing (the Black Gang), who break up the meeting, sentencing gome of the participants to condign punishment and carrying away others. A memorandum found on Zaboleff gives an address in Hox ton, London, which the leader of the at tacking party considers of importance, CHAPTER If. Sir Bryan Johnstone, di rector of criminal Investigation, hears from Inspector M elver, sent to arretit Zaboleff the night before, of his discomfiture. He had been seised and chloroformed and his raid frustrated. Hugh Drummnd, man of leisure and old friend of Johnstone's ar rives and tells of seeing the kidnapers and their victims. He becomes an unpaid agent of the police, to be under the direction of Mclver, and takes up his duties at once. CHAPTER III. In Which a Bomb Bursts at Unpleas antly Close Quarters. NUMBER 6, Green street, Hoxton, was not a prepossessing abode. A notice on one of the dingy downstairs windows announced that Mr. William Atkinson was prepared to advance money on suitable secur ity: a visit during business hours re vealed that this was no more than the truth. The second and third floora were apparently occupied by the staff, which seemed unduly large consider ing the locality of his business. Hox ton is hardly in that part of London where large sums of money might be expected to change hands, and yet there was no doubt that Mr. William Atkinson's staff was both large and busy. . So busy, indeed were his clerks that frequently ten and eleven o'clock at night found them still working hard, though actual business of the day downstairs concluded at six o'clock eight, Saturdays. It was just before closing time on the day after the strange affair down at Barking that a large, unkempt-looking individual presented himself at Mr. Atkinson's office. His most press ing need would have seemed to the casual observer to be soap and water, but his appearance apparently excit ed no surprise in the assistant down stairs. Possibly Hoxton is tolerant of such trifles. The clerk a pale, anemic-looking man with an unhealthy skin and hook nose rose wearily from his rest. "What Jo you want?" ho demanded morosely. "Wot d'vor think!" retorted the other. "Cat's meat?" The clerk recoiled, and the blood mounted angrily to his sallow face "Don't you use that tone with me, my man," he said angrily. ' I d have you to know that this is my office." "Yus." answered the othor. "Same as it's your nose fitting there like a lump o' putty onto a suet pudding. And if I 'ave any o' your lip, 1 11 pull it off see. Throw it outside, I will and you after it you parboiled lump of bad tripe, Nah then business With a blow that shook the office he thumped the desk with a huge fist. "1 ain't got no time to waste even if you 'ave. 'Ow much?" .He threw a pair of thick, hobnailed boots onto the counter, and stood glaring at the other. "Two bob," said the clerk indiffer ently, throwing down a coin and pick ing up tne boots. "Two bob!" cried the other wrath fully. "Two bob, you miserable sheeny." For a moment or two he spluttered Inarticulately aB if speech was beyond him: then his huge hand shot out and gripped the clerk by the collar. "Think again, Archibald," he continued quietly, "think agnin and think better." ... But the assistant, as might be ex pected in one of his calling, was pre pared for emergencies of this sort. Very gently his right hand sua along the counter toward a concealed clec- trjo bell which communicated with the staff upstairs. It fulfilled several purpose, that bell:- it acted STs a call for help or as a warning, and accord ing to the number of times it was pressed, the urgency of the matter could be interpreted by those who hoard it. Just now the clerk decid ed that two Tings would meet the case: he disliked the appearance of the large and angry man in whose grip he felt absolutely powerless, and he felt he would like help very ur genty. And so It was perhaps a little unfortunate for him that he should have allowed 'an ugly little smirk to adorn his lips a second or two be fore his hand found the bell. The man facing him across tho counter saw that smirk and lost his temper in earnest. With a grunt of rage he hit the other square between the eyes, and the clerk collapsed in a huddled heap behind the counter with the bell still unrung. . For a few moments tho big man stood motionless, listening intently. Then, with an agility remarkable in ' nr.. .n hiir. he vaulted the counter .nJ Insnectcd the recumbent assist ant with a professional eye. A faint arln unread over his face as ho noted that gentleman's condition, but after that he wasted no time. So quickly nH methodically in fact did ho set -i that It seemed nB if the whole performance must have been cut and dried beforehand, even to the temporary Indisposition of the clerk. In half a minute the latter was bound and gagged and under the counter. Beside him the big man placed the pair of boots, attached to which was a piece of paper which he took from his pocket. On it was scrawled in an illiterate hand: Have took a fare price for th boots, yer swine." Then quite de liberately the big man forced the till and removed some money, after which he once more examined the uncon scious man under tne counter. "Without a hitch;" he muttered Absolutely according to Cocker. Now old lad of the village, welcome to the second item on the program. That must be the door I want.". He opened it cautiously, and th subdued hum of voices from above came a little louder to his ears. Then like a shadow he vanished into the semi-darkness of the house upstairs. It was undoubtedly a house'of sur prises, was Number 6, oreen Btreet. A stranger passing through the dingy office of the ground floor where Mr. Atkinson's assistant was wont to sit at the receipt of custom, and then as cending the stairs to tha first story would have found it hard to believe that he was in the same house, But then, strangers were not encouraged to do anything of the sort. There was a door at the top of the flight of stairs, and it was at this door that the metamorphosis took place. On one side of it the stairs ran carpetless and none too clean to the ground floor, on the other ide the picture changed. A wide passage with rooms leading out of it from cither side confronted the ex plorer a passage which was efficient ly illuminated with electric lights hung from the ceiling, and the floor of which was covered with a good plain carpet. Along the walls ran rows of bookshelves stretching, save for the gups at the doors, as far as a partition which closed the further end of the passage. In this parti tion was another door, and beyond this second door the passage contin ued to a window tightly shuttered and bolted. From this continuation only one room led off a room which would have made the explorer rub his eyes in surprise. It was richly almost luxuriously furnished. In the center stood a big roll top desk, while scattered about were several choirs upholstered in green leather. A long table filled one side of the room; a table covered with every imaginable newspaper. A huge safe flush with the wall occupied the other side, while the window, like the one outside, was almost hermetically sealed. There was a fireplace in the corner but there was no bign of any tire having been lit, or of any pre parations for lighting one. Two elec tric heaters attached by long lengths of flex to plugs in the wall, com? prised the heating arrangements, while a big central light and a half- a-dozen movable ones illuminated ev ery corner of the room. In blissful ignorance of the sad plight of the clerk below, two men were sitting in this room, deep in conversation. In a chair drawn up close to the desk was no less a per son than Charles Latter, M. P., and it was he who was doing most of the talking. But it was the other man who riveted attention: the man who presumably was Mr. Atkinson him self. At first he seemed to be afflicted with nn almost phenomenal stoop. and it wus only when one got nearer that the reason was clear. The man was a hunchback, and tho effect it gave wns that of a huge bird of prey. Unlike most hunchbacks, his legs were of normal length, and as he sat motionless in his chair, a hand on each knee, staring with unwinking eyes at his talkative companion, there was something menacing and impla cable in his appearance. His hair was gray; his features stern and l.nrd; while his mouth reminded one of a steel trap. But it was his eyes thnt dominated everything gray-blue and piercing, they scorned abla to probe one's innermost soul, A man to whom it would be unwise to lie man utterly unscrupulous In him self, who would yet punish double dealing in those who worked for him with merciless severity. A danger-- ous man. "So you went to the police, Mr. Latter," ho remurked suavely. "And what had our friend Sir Bryan John stone to say on the matter?" "At first, count, lie didn't say much. In fact ho really said veiy little all through. But once ho looked at the note his whole manner changed. Thore was something about the note whicW interested him." "Let me see it," said the count, holding out his hand. ' ' "I left it with Sir Bryan," an swered the other. "Ho asked me to let him keep it. And he promised that I should he all right." , The count's lip curled. "It would take more than Sir Bry an Johnstone's promiso, Mr. Latter, to insure your safety. Do you know whom that note was from?" "I thought, count," said tho other a little tremulously "I thought it might be from this mysterious Plnck bang that ono has heard rumors about." "It was," replied tho count tcrsoly. "Heavens"' Btammcrcd Latter, "Then it's true; they exist." "In the last month," answered the hunchback, staring fixedly at his frightened companion, "nearly twen ty of our most useful men havo dis appeared. They have simply vanish ed into thin air. I know, no mat ter how, that it is not tho police; the police are as mystified as we are. But the. police, Mr. Latter, whatever views they may take officially are in all probability unofficially very glad of our friends' disappearance. At any rate until tonight." "What do you mean?" asked the other. "Last night the poliee were balked of their prey, and Mclver doesn't like being balked. You know Za boleff was sent over?' "Yes, of course, inat is one of the reasons I came around tonight. Have you seen him?" "I have not," answered tho count grimly. "The police found out he was coming." Mr. Latter's face blanched; the thaught of Zaboleff in custody didn't appeal to him. It may be mentioned that his feelings were purely selfish Zaboleff knew too much. But the count was speakii.g again. A faint sneer was in his face; he had read the other's mind like an open book. "And' so," he continued, "did the Black Gang. They removed Zaboleff and our friend Waldock from under the very noses of the police, and, like the twenty others, they have disap peered. " "My G d!" There was nj doubt now about Mr. Latter's state of mind. "And now they've threatened me." "And now they've threatened you," agreed the count. "And you, I am glad to say, have done exactly what I should have told you to do, had I seen you sooner. You have gone to the police." . . "But but," stammered Latter, "the police were no good to Zaboleff last night." "And it is quite possible," return ed the other calmly, "that they will be equally futile in your case. Can didly, Mr. Latter, I am cbmpletely indifferent on the subject of your fu ture. Yqu have served our purpose, and all that matteis is that you hap pen to be the bone over which the dogs are going to fight. Until last night the dogs hadn't met officially; and in the recontre last night, the police dog, unless I am greatly mis taken, was caught by surprise. Mc lver doesn't let that happen twice. In your case he'll be ready. With luck this cursed Black Gang, who are infinitely more a nuisance to me than the police have been or ever will be, will get bitten badly." ' Mr. Latter was breathing heavily. "But what do you want me to do, count?" "Nothing at all, except what you were going to do normally," answer ed the other. "Hullo! What's up?" From a little electric bell at his elbow came four shrill rings, repeat ed again and again. The count rose, and with system atic thoroughness swept every piece of paper off the! desk into his pocket. Then he shut down the top and locked it, while the bell, a little muf fled, still rang inside. "What's the fool doing?" he cried angrily, stepping over to the big safe let into the wall, while Latter, his face white and terrified, follow ed at his side. And then abruptly the bell stopped. Very deliberately the count press ed two concealed knobs, so sunk into the wall as to be invisible to a strang er, and the door of the safe swung open. And only then was it obvious that the safe was was not a safe but a second exit leading to a flight of stairs. For a moment or two he stood motionless, listening intently, while Latter fidgeted at his side. One hand was on a master switch which controlled all the lights,, the other on a knob inside the second passage which, when turned, would close the great steel door noiselessly behind them. , He was frowning angrily, but grad ually the frown was replaced by i look of puzzled surprise. Four rings from tha shop below was the recog nized signal for urgent danger, and everybody's plan of action was cut and dried for such an emergency. In the other rooms every book and pa per in the slightest degree incrimin ating were hurried pell-mell into se cret recesses in the floor which had been specially constructed under ev ery table, in their piaco appeared books carefully and very skillfully faked, purporting to record the bus iness transactions of Mr. William Atkinson. In the big room at tho end the procedure wns even simpler. The VuIGLEYS NEW HANDY PACK Fits hand -pocket and purse More for your money and tlje best Peppermint Chewing Sweet for any money Look for Wrifiley's P. K. Handy Pack H on your Dealer's Counter 07 H CX , RK. count merely passed through the safe door and vanished through his pri vate bolt-hole, leaving everything in darkness. And should inconvenient visitors ask lnconvoni nt questions well, it was Mr. Atkinson's private office, and a very nice office, too, though at the moment he was away. Thus the procedure was simple and sound; but on this occasion some thing seemed to have gone wrong. Instead of the indust.i us silence of clerks working overtime on affairs of financial import, perfect babel of voices became audible in the pas sage. And then there came an agi tated knocking on the door. "Who is it?" cried the coui.t sharp ly. It may be mentioned that even the most influential members of his staff knew better than to come into the room without previously obtain ing permission. "It's me, sir Cohen," came an agi tated voice from outside. For a moment the count paused; then with a turn of the knob he closed the safe door silently. With an imperious hand he waved Lat ter to a. chair, and resumed his former position at the desk. "Come in," he snapped. It was a strange and unwholesome object- that obeyed the order, and the count sat back in Mb chair. "What the devil have you been doing?" A pair of rich blue-black eyes, and a nose from which traces of blood still trickled, had not improved the general appearance of the assistant downstairs. In one hand he carried a pair of hobnail boots, in the other a piece ox paper, and ne brandished them alternately while a flood of in coherent frenzy buist from his lips. For a minuto or two the count listened; until his first look of sur prise gave way to one of black anger. "Am I to understand, you wretched little worm," he snarled, "that you gave the urgency danger signal, not once, but half a dozen times merely because a man hit you over the nose?" But he knocked me silly, sir," quavered the other, t "And when I came to, and saw the boots lying beside me and the till opened, I kind of lost my head, I didn't know what ad happened, sir and I thought I d better ring the bell in case of trou ble." He retreated a step or two toward the door, terrified out of his wits by the look of diabolicU fury in the unehback's eyes. Three or four lerks, who had been surreptitiously THE SUREST Steadfast, unfailing quality has earned for Chesterfield the confidence of peeking through the open door, melt ed rapidly away, while from his chair Mr. Latter watched the scene fascin ated. He was reminded of a bird and a snake, and suddenly he gave a little shudder as he realized that his own position was in reulity much the same as that of the unfortunate Co hen. And then just aB the tension was becoming unbearable there came the interruption. Outside in the passage clear and distinct, there sounded twice the hoot of an owl. To Mr. Latter it meant nothing; but to the" count the effect was electrical. With a quickness incredible in ono so de formed he was at the door, and into the pabbage, hurling Cohen out of his way into a corner. His powerful fists were clenched by his side; the veins in his neck were standing out like whipcord. But to Mr. Latter's surprise he made no movement, and rising from his chair he, too, peered round the corner along the passage, only to stagger back after a second or two with a feeling of sick fear in his soul, and a sudden dryness in the throat. For twenty yards away, framed in the doorway at the he?.d of the stairs leading down to the 'ffice below, he had seen a 'huge, motionless figure. For a perceptible time he had stared at it, and it hr.d seemed to stare at him. Then the doer had shut, and on the other side a key had turned. And the figure had been draped from head to foot in black. Charles Latter was unmoral rather than immoral; he was a constitu tional coward with a strong liking for underhand intrigue, and he was utterly and entirely selfish. In his way he was ambitious; he wanted power, but, though in many respects he was distinctly able, he lacked that escsntial factor the ability to work for it. He hated work; he wanted easy results. And to obtain lasting results is not easy, as Mr. Latter gradually discovered. A ca pability for making flashy speeches covered with a veneer of cleverness is an undoubted asset the value of which has been gauged to a nicety by the men who count. And so as time went on, and the epoch-making day when he had been returned to parliament faded into the past, Mr. Latter realized himself for what he was a thing of no account. And the realization was as gall and wormwood to his soul. It is a realization which comes to many men and it takes them different ways. Some become resign ed some make new and even more WAY TO WIN y-ljly ' ill ' futile efforts; some see the humor of it, and some don't. Mr. Latter didn't; he became spiteful. And a spiteful coward is a nasty thing. It was just about that time that he met Count Zadowa. It was at dinner at a friend's house, and after he ladies had left he found himself sitting next to the hunchback with the strange, piercing eyes. He wasn't conscious 01 having said very much; he would have been amazed had he been told that within ten minutes this charming foreigner had read his unpleasant little mind like a book, and had reached a certain and defin ite decision. In fact, looking back on the past few months, Mr. Latter was at a loss to account as to how things had reached their present pass. Had he been told when he stood for par liament, flaunting all the old hack neyed formulae, that within two years he would be secretly engaged in red-hot Communist work, he would have laughed the idea to scorn. An archy, too; a nasty word, but the only one that fitted the bomb out rage in Manchester, which he had himself organized. Sometimes in the night, he used to Wake and lie sweat ing as he thought of that episode. And gradually it had become worse and worse. Little by little the charm ing Count Zadowa, realizing that Mr. Latter possessed just those gifts which he could utilize to advantage, had ceased to be charming. There were many advantages in having a member of parliament as chief lia son officer. There had been that first small slip when he signed a receipt for money paid him to address a revo lutionary meeting in South Wales during the coal strike. And the re ceipt specified the service rendered. An unpleasant document in 'view of the fact that his principal supporters in his constituency were coal-owners. And after that the descent had been rapid. ( (To Be Continued.) Lexington Student Is Initiated in Fraternity Oregon Agricultural College, Cor vallis, Jan. 9. Dallas C. Ward of Lexington was initiated into Kappa Phi Delta, local professional frater nity in education for men, Wednes day. Six other men were initiated. Mr. Ward is a junior in vocational education and a member of Phi Delta Theta social fraternity. Research in education is one of SUCCESS IS TO everywhere the activities sponsored by the fra ternity. Interest in education, high scholarship, leadership, character, professional ability, and 12 credits in education are requirements for membership. One, heated Minor. two or three furnished and rooms for rent. See C. A. WANTED To rent ranch in Morrow county; prefer near Heppner. Laur ence E. Reaney, Lexington, Oregon. COME IN WHEN YOU'RE HUNGRY no matter what time of day it is. Short Orders and Chi nese Noodles at all hours. Special 35c Merchants Lunch 11 a. m.-4 p. m. ELKHORN RESTAURANT DESERVE IT T.inniTT ft Myfss Tnsrco Co. ED CHINN, Prop.