22 
LAND & WATER 
November 30, 191b 
(Continued from pa^e 20) 
the noise it made, suggesting the rush of a wild boar through 
tlie copsewood. It must have broken its chain, for it was 
accompa lied by the clatter of iron. Patrice braced himself 
to meet It. But through the darkness he saw Va-Bon pasi 
before him to protect liim ; and the impact took place almost 
at once. 
" Here, Isay, Ya-Bon ! Why did you get in front of me ? 
It's all right, my lad, I'm coming I" 
The two adversaries had rolled over on the grass. Patrice 
stooped down, seeking to rescue the negro. He touched the 
hair of an animal and then Ya-Bons clothes. But the two 
were wriggling on the ground in so compact a mass and light- 
ing so frantically that his interference was useless. 
Moreover the contest did not last long. In a few minutes, 
the adversaries had ceased to move. A strangled death- 
rattle issued from the group. 
" Is it all right, Ya-Bon } " whispered the captain, anxi- 
ously. « 
The negro stood up with a grunt. By the light of a match 
Patrice .sa v that he was holding at the end of his outstretched 
arm. of the one arm with which he had h;jd to defend himself, 
a huge dog. which was gurgling, clutched round the throat 
by Ya-Bon's implacable lingers. A broken chain hung from 
its neck. 
■' Thank you, Ya-Bon. I've had a narrow escape. You 
can let him go now. He can't do us any harm, I think." • 
Ya-Bon obeyed. But he had no doubt squeezed too tight. 
iJie dog writhed on the srass, for a moment, gave a few 
moans and then lay without movmg. 
"Poor brute! ' said Patrice. "After all, he only did 
his thity in going for the burglars that we are. Let us do. 
ours. Ya-Bon, wnich is nothing like as plain." 
.Something that shone like a window pane guided his 
steps and led h'm, by a series of sta rs cut in the rock in 
successive terraces, to the level of the ground on whicli the 
hou.se was built. On this side also, all the windows were 
round and high up. like those in the streets, and barricaded 
with shutters. But one of them allowed the light which he 
had seen from below to filter through. 
Telling Va-Bon to hide in "the shrubberies, he went up to 
the house, listened, caught an indistinct sound of voices, 
discovered that the shutters were too firmly closed to enable 
him either to see or to hear and, in this wav, after the fourth 
window, reached a flight of steps. At the top of the steps 
was a door. 
" -Since they sent me the key of the garden," he said to 
himself, " there's no reason why this door, which leads from 
the house into the garden, should not be open. " 
It was open. 
The voices indoors were now more clearly perceptible ; 
and Belval observed that the sounJs reached him by the 
well of the staircase and that this staircase, which seemed 
to lead to an unoccupied part of the house, showed with 
an uncertain light above him. 
He went up. A door stood ajar on the first floor. He 
slipped his head through the openmg and went m. He 
found that he was on a narrow balcony which ran at mid- 
height around three sides of a large room, w.tli long book 
shelves rising to the ceiling. Against the wall at either end 
of the room was an iron spiral staircase. Stacks of books 
were also piled against the bars of the railing which protected 
the gallery, thus hiding Patrice Irom the view of the people 
on the ground floor, ten or twelve feet below. 
He gently separated two of these stacks. At that moment, 
the sound of voices suddenly increased to a great uproar and 
he saw five men. shouting like lunatics, hud themselves ujjon 
a sixth and fling him to the ground before he had time to 
lift a finger in self-defence. 
Belval's first impulse was to rush to the victim's rescue. 
With the aid of Ya-Bon, who would have hastened at his 
c;ill, he would certainly have intimidated the five men. The 
reason why he did not act was that, at any rate, they were 
using no weapons and api)eared to have no nmrderous in- 
tentions. After depriving their victim of all power of move- 
ment, they were content to hold him by the throat, shoulders 
and ankles. Belval wondered what would liajmen ne.\t. 
One of the fwc men drew him.self up briskly, and, in a 
tone of command, said : 
" Bind him . . . Put a gag in his mouth ... Or 
let him call out, if he wants to ; there's no one to hear him. " 
Patrice at once recognised one of the voices which he had 
lieaid that morning in the restaurant. Its owner was a short, 
slim-built, well-dressed man, with an oUve complexion and a 
cruel face. 
" At last we'\e got him," he said. " the rascal ! .^nd I 
think we shall get him to speak this time. Arc you pre- 
jjared to go all h'ligths, friends .■' " 
One of the other four growled, spitefully ! " 
" Yes. And at once, whate\er happens ! " 
The last speaker had a big black moustache ; and 
Patrice recognised the other man whose conversation at the 
restauraunt he had overheard, that is to say, one of Coralie s 
assa' ants, the one who had taken to fhght. His grey-felt 
hat lay on a cnair. , 
" Ail lengths, Boumef, whatever happens, eh ? " grinned 
the leader. ."Well, let's get on with the work. So you refuse 
to give up your secret, Essares, old man 1 We shall have 
some lun. 
All their movements must have been prepared before 
hand, and all the parts carefi^lly arranged, for the actions 
which they carried out were performed in an incredibly promp 
and methodical fashion. 
After the man was tied up, they lifted him into an easy 
chair with a very low back, to which they fastened him around 
the chest and waist with a rope. His legs, which were bound 
together, were placed on the seat of a heavy chair of the same 
height as the arm-chair, with the two feet projecting. Then 
the victim s shoes and socks were removed. 
■' Roll him alon? ! " said the leader. 
Between two of the four windows that overlooked the chim- 
ney was a large fire-place, in which burnt a red coal-fire, white 
in places with the intense heat of the hearth. The men 
pushed the two chairs bearing the victim until his bare feel 
were witlu i twenty inches of the blazing coals. 
In spite of his gag, the man uttered a hideous yell of pain 
while his legs, in spite of their bonds, succeeded in contract 
ing and < uriing upon themsflves. 
" Go on ! " shouted the leader, passionately. " Go on ! 
Nearer ! " 
Patnce Belval grasped his revolver. 
" Oh, I'm going on too ! " he said to. himself. " I won't 
let that wretch be . . ." 
But, at this very moment, when he was on the point of 
drawing himself up and acting, a chance movement made him 
behold the most e.Ntraordinarv and unexpected sight. 
Opposite him, on the other side of the room, in a part of the 
oalcony corresponding with that where he was, he saw a 
woman s head, a head glued to the ra s, livid and terror- 
stricken with eyes wide open lin horror gazing frenziedlv 
at the awful scene that was being enacted below, bv the 
glowing fire. 
Patrice had recognised Little Mother Coralie; 
{To ie continued) 
The plot of Jimmy's Wife, by Jessie Champion, (John 
Lane, 6s.), is not a neU' one, for the husband and wife wiio 
have quarrelled and agree to meet hencefor h as strangers 
IS no new thing iii fiction, but in this particular example of 
the situation a complication is introduced by making a third 
person tell the story, and making that person ignorant of 
the Identity of Jimmy's wife. Jimmy himself, his wife, the 
other woman, the Scots professor, and, in fact, all the main 
c'naracters of the story, are people worth knowing, and 
the book is written in. a witty, pleasant way that makes it 
tlioroughli" entertaining, and, at times, amusing. 
THE MOTOR CAR IN INDIA 
A 16-li.p. Sunbeam car owned by Mr. J. E. Grafton of Bombay, 
who IS seated at the wheel. The car has now done over 30 000 
miles on Indian roads and the owner states that it in r»nning just 
as well as when new. 
