54 
LAND & WATER 
December 7, 1916 
(Continued from qage 53) 
produced seemed ratlier to increase witli the silence. On the 
f^round was the corpse, with the blood flowing on the carjK't. 
Not far away lay Simeon's motionless form. Then there was 
the prisoner, still bound in front of the flames waiting to devour 
his fl^h. And standing near him were the four butchers, 
hesitating perhaps what to do next, but showing in every 
feature an implacable resolution to defeat the enemy by all 
and every means. 
His companions glanced at Bournef, who seemed the kind 
of man to go any length. He was a short, stout, powerfully- 
built man ; his upper lip bristled with the moustache which 
had attracted Patrice Belval's attention. He was less cruel 
in appearance than his chief, less elegant in his manner and 
less masterful, but displayed far greater coolness and self- 
command. As for the colonel, his accomplices seemed not 
to trouble about him. The part which they were playing 
dispensed them from showing any empty compassion. 
At last Bournef apjieared to have made up his mind liow 
to act. He went to his hat, the grey-felt hat lying near the 
door, turned back the lining and took from it a tiny coil, the 
sight of which made Patrice start. It was a slender red cord, 
exactly like that which he had found round the neck of 
Mustapha Kovalaiof. the first accomplice captured by Ya-Bon. 
Bournef unrolled the cord, took it by the two buckles, tested 
its strength across his knee and then, going back to Essarte, 
slipix>d it over his neck after first removing his gag. 
" Essares," he said, with a calmness which was more 
impressive than the colonel's violence and sneers, " Essards, 
I shall not put you to any pain. Torture is a revolting pro- 
cess ; and 1 shall not have recourse to it. You know what 
to do ; I know what to do. A word on your side, an action 
on my side ; and the thing is done. The word is the yes or 
no which you will now speak. The action which I shall 
accomplish in reply to your yes or no will mean either your 
release or else. . . ." He stopped for a second or two. 
Then he declared : " Or else your death." 
The brief phrase was uttered very simply but with a firmness 
that gave it the full significance of an irrevocable sentence. 
It was clear that Essares was faced with a catastrophe which 
he could no longer avoid save by submitting absolutely. In 
less than a minute, he would have spoken or he would be dead. 
Once again Patrice fi.xed his eyes on Coralie, ready to 
interfere should he perceive in her any other feeling than one 
of passive terror. But her attitude did not change. She 
was therefore accepting the worst, it appeared, even though 
this meant her husband's death ; and Patrice held his hand 
accordingly. 
" Are you all agreed ? " Bournef asked, turning to liis 
accomplices. 
" Quite," said one of them. 
" Do you take your share of the responsibility ? " 
" We do." 
Bournef brought his hands together and crossed them, 
which had the result of knotting the cord round Essares' 
neck. Then he pulled slightly, so as to make the pressure 
felt, and asked unemotionally : 
" Yes or no ? " 
" Yes." 
There was a murmur of satisfaction. The accomplices 
heaved a breath ; and Bournef nodded his head with an air 
of approval : 
" Ah, so you accept ! It was high time : I doubt if any one 
was ever nearer death than you were, Essarfes." Retaining 
his hold of the cord, he continued : " Very well. You will 
s^ak. But I know you ; and your answer surprises me, 
for I told the colonel that not even the certainty of death 
would make you confess your secret. Am I wrong ? " 
" No," replied Essarte. " Neither death nor torture.'' 
" Then you have something different to propose ? " 
" Yes." 
" Something worth our while ? " 
" Yes. I suggested it to the colonel just now, when you 
were out of the room. But, though he was willing to betray 
you and go halves with me in the secret, he refused the other 
thing." 
" Why should I accept it ? " 
" Because you must take it or leave it and because you 
will understand what he did not." 
" It's a compromise, I suppose ? " 
" ^^^■" 
" Money ? 
" Yes." 
Bournef shrugged his shoulders : 
" A few thousand-franc notes, I expect. And you imagine 
that Bournef and his friends will be such fools ? . . . 
Come, Essares, why do you want us to compromise ? We 
know your secret almost entirely. . . ." 
" You know what it is, but not how to use it. You don't 
know how to get at it : and that's just the point." 
" We shall discover it." 
■ " Never." 
" Yes, your death will make it easier for us." 
" My death ? Thanks to the information lodged by the 
colonel, in a few hours you will be tracked down and most 
likely caught : in any case, you will be unable to pursue your 
search. Therefore you have hardly any choice. It's the 
money which I'm offering you, or else . . . prison." 
" And, if we accept," asked Bournef, to whom the argument 
seemed to appeal, " when shall we be j»id ? " 
" At once." 
" Then the money is here ? " 
"Yes." 
" A contemptible sum, as I said before ? " 
" No, a much larger sum than you \\ot[>q for ; infinitely 
larger." 
" How much ? " 
" Four millions." 
CHAPTER V 
Husband and Wife 
THE accomplices started, as though they had re- 
ceived an electric shock. Bournef darted forward : 
■' What did you say ? " 
" I said four millions, which means a million 
for each of you." 
" Look here 1 ... Do you mean it ? . . . Four 
milhons ? . . ." 
" Four millions is what I said." 
The figure was so gigantic and the proposal so utterly 
unexpected that the accompHces had the same feeling which 
Patrice Belval on his side underwent. They suspected a 
trap ; and Bournef could not help saying : 
" The offer is more than we expected. . . . And I am 
wondering what induced you to make it." 
" Would you have been satisfied with less ? " 
" Yes," said Bournef, candidly. 
" Unfortunately, I can't make it less. I have only one 
means of escaping death ; and that is to open my safe for 
you. And my safe contains four bundles of a thousand 
bank-notes each." 
Bournef could not get over his astonishment and became 
more and more suspicious. 
" How do you know that, after taking the four millions, we 
shall not insist on more ? " 
" Insist on what ? The secret of the site ? " 
" ^^^■" 
" Because you know that I would as soon die as tell it you. 
The four millions are the maximum. Do you want them 
or don't you ? I ask for no promise in return, no oath of 
any kind, for I am convinced that, when you have filled your 
pockets, you will have but one thought, to clear off, without 
handicapping yourselves with a murder which might prove 
yovu: undoing." 
The argument was so unanswerable that Bournef ceased 
discuss'n^ and asked : 
" Is the safe in tl is room ? " 
" Yes, between the first and second windows, behind my 
portrait." 
Bournef took down the picture and said : 
" I see nothing." 
" It's all right. The lines of the safe are marked by the 
mouldings of the central panel. In the middle you will see 
what looks like a rose, not of wood but of iron ; and there 
are four at the four corners of the panel. These four turn to 
the right, by successive notches, forming a word which is the 
key to the lock, the word Cora." 
" The first four letters of Coralie ? " asked Bournef, follow 
ing Essares' instructions as he spoke. 
" No," said Essares Bey, " the first four letters of the 
Coran. Have you done that ? " 
After a moment, Bournef answered : 
." Yes, I've finished. And the key ? " 
" There's no key. The fifth letter of the word, the letter 
N. is the letter of the central rose." 
Bournef turned this fifth rose ; and presently a click v\; s 
heard. 
'' Now pull," said Essares. " That's it. The safe is not 
deep ; it's dug in one of the stones of the front wall. Put 
in your hand. You'll find four pocket-books." 
It must be admitted that Patrice Belval expected to see 
something startling interrupt Bournef's quest, and hurl him 
into some pit suddenly opened by Essares trickery. And the 
three confederates seemed to share this unpleasant appre- 
hension, for they were grey in the face, while Bournef himself 
appeared to be working very cautiously and suspiciously. 
At last he turned round and came and sat beside Essares. 
(Continued on page 36) 
