22 
LAND & WATER 
December 28, 1916 
{Continued from page 20) 
I'm behaving according to my conscience ; and Mme. 
Essares, 1 feel sure, will forgive me. She knows that I am 
acting for her good. She knows tliat all will be over with 
her if this case is hushed up and if the authorities do not 
assist her. She knows that the enemies who tkrcaten her are 
implacable. They will stop at nothing to attain their object 
and to do away with her, (or she stands in their way. And 
the terrible thing about it is that the most clear-seeing eyes 
are unable to make out what that object is. We are playm j 
th^-TTiost formidable game agiunst these enemies ; ana we do 
not even know what the stakes are. Only the police can 
discover those stakes." 
Af. Masseron waited for a second or two and then, laying 
his hand mn Patrice's shoulder, said, calmly : 
"And, suppose the authorities knew what the stakes 
were ? " 
Patrice looked at him in^surprise : 
" What ? Do you mean to say you know ? " 
" Perhaps." 
" And can you tell me ? " 
"Oh, well, if vou force me to 1 " 
" What are they ? " 
■' Not much ! A trifle ! " 
" But what sort of trifle .' " 
" A thousand million francs." 
" A thousand millions .' " 
" Just that. A thousand millions, of which two-thirds, I 
regret to say, if not three-quar ers, had already left France 
before the war. But the remaining two hundred and fifty 
or three hundred millions are worth more than a thousand 
milhons all the same, for a very good reason. ' 
" Wliat reason .' " 
' They happen to be in gold." 
CHAPTER VIII 
Essares Bey's Work 
THIS time Captain Belval seemed to relax to some 
extent. He vaguely perceived the considerations 
that compelled the authorities to wage the battle 
prudently. 
■ Are you sure ? " he asked. 
" Yes, I was instructed to investigate this matter two years 
ago , and my enquiries proved that really remarkable exports 
of gold were being effected from France. But, I confess, it 
IS only since my conversation with Mme. Essares that I have 
seen where the leakage came from and who it was that set on 
foot, all over France, down to the last important market- 
towns, the formidable organisation through which the in- 
dispensable metal was made to leave the country." 
" Then Mme. Essares knew ? " 
" No, but she suspected a great deal ; and last night, be- 
lore you arrived, she overheard some words spoken between 
Essares and his assailants wliich she repeated to me, thus givint' 
me the ley to the riddle. I should have been glad to work 
out the complete solution without your assistance — for one 
thing, those were the orders of the Minister of the Interior ; 
and Mme Essares displayed the same wish — but your im- 
petuosity overcomes my hesitation ; and, since I can't manage 
to get rid of you. Captain Belval, 1 will tell y^u the whole story 
frankly . . . especially as your co-operation is not to 
be despised," 
" I am all ears," said Patrice, who was burning to know 
more. 
" Well, the motive force of the plot was here, in this house, 
l-.ssares Bey, president of the Franco-Oriental Bank, 6, Rue 
Lafayette, apparently an Egyptian, in reality a Turk, en- 
joyed the greatest influence in the Paris financial world.' He 
had been naturalised an Englishman, but had kept up secret 
relations with the former possessors of Egypt ; and he had 
received instructions from a foreign power, which I am not yet 
able to nacne with certainty, to bleed— there is no other word 
for it— to bleed France of all the gold that he could cause to 
flow into his coffers. According to documents which I have 
seen, he succeeded in exporting in this way some seven hun- 
dred million francs in two years. A last consignment was 
preparing when war was declared. You can under- 
>tand that thenceforth such important sums could not be 
smuggled out of the country so easily as in times of peace. 
Hie railway-wagons are insix>cted on the frontiers ; the out- 
going vessels are searched in the harbours. In short, the gold 
was not sent away. These two hundred and fifty or three 
hundred millions remained in France. Ten months passed ; 
and the inevitable liappened, which was that Essares Beyi 
iiaving this fabnlous treasure at his disposal, clung to it, came 
(gradually to look upon it as his own, and in the end. resolved 
to a^>propriate it. Only there were accomplices 
" The men I saw last night ? " 
■ Yes, half-a-dozen shady Levantines, sham naturalised 
French citizens, more or less well-disguised Bulgarians, 
secret agents of the little German courts in the Balkans. 
This gang ran provincial branches of Essares' bank. It had 
in its pay, on Essares' account, hundreds of minor agents. 
who scoured the villages, visited the fairs, were hail-fellow- 
well-met with the f)easantii, offered them bank-iiotes and govern- 
ment securities in exchange for French gold and trousered 
all their savings. When war broke out, the gang shut up 
shop and gathered round Essares Bey, who also had closed 
his offices in the Kue Lafayette." 
" What happened then .' " 
" Things that we don't know. No doubt the accomplices 
learnt from their governments that the last despatch of gold 
had never taken place ; and no doubt they also guessed that 
Essares Bey was trying to keep for himself the three hun- 
dred millions collected by the gang. One thing is certain, 
that a struggle began between the fonner partners, a fierce, im- 
placable struggle, the accomplices wanting their share of 
the plunder, while Essares Bey was resolved to part with none 
of it and pretended that the millions had left the country 
Yesterday, the struggle attained its culminating p)oint. In 
the afternoon, the accomplies tried to get hold of Mme. 
Essares so that they might have a hostage to use against her 
husband. In the evening ... in the evening you your- 
self witnessed the final episode." 
" But why yesterday evening rather than another ? " 
" Because the accompUces had every reason to think that 
the milhons were intended to disappear yesterday evening, 
though they did not know the methods employed by Essares 
Bey when he made his last remittances, they believed that 
each of the remittances, or rather each removal of the sacks, 
was preceded by a signal." 
" Yes, a shower of sparks, was it not ? " 
" Exactly. In a corner of the garden are some old con- 
servatories, above which stands the furnace that used to 
heat them. This grimy furnace, full of soot and rubbish, 
sends forth, when you light it,* flakes of fire and sparks which 
are seen at a distance and serve as an intimation. Essjirt^ Bey 
lit it last i)ight himself. The accomplices at once took alarm 
and came prepared to go any lengths." 
" And Essares' plan failed." 
" Yes. But so did theirs. The colonel is dead. Tlie 
others were only able to get hold of a few bundl'es of notes 
which have probably been taken from tlicni by this time. 
But the struggle was not finished ; and its dying agony has been 
a most shocking tragedy. According to your statement, 
a man who knew you and who was seeking to get into touch 
with you, was killed at nineteen minutes past seven, most 
likely by Essares Bey, who dreaded his intervention. And, 
five hours later, at twenty-three past twelve, Essares Bey 
himself was murdered, presumably by one of his accomplices. 
There is the whole story, Captain Belval. And, now that you 
know as much of it as I do, don't you think that the investiga- 
tion of this case should remain secret and be pursued not quite 
in accordance with the ordinary rules ? " 
After a moment's reflection, Patrice said : 
" Yes, I agree." 
'^ There can be no doubt about it I " cried M. Masseron. 
" Not only will it serve no purpose to publish this story of 
gold wliich has disappeared and which can't be found, which 
would startle the public and excite their imaginations, but 
you will readily imagipe that an opt'ration wliich consisted 
in draining otf such a quantity of gold in two years cannot 
have been effected without compromising a regrettable num- 
ber of people. 
(To be conlinutd) 
The Y.M.G.A. Fund 
The following are contributions to the Y.M.C.A. Special 
Appeal Fund, which have been sent to the Editor and by him 
forwarded to the Y.M.C.A. : 
S. Ives Hopkinson, Esq. 
, Dr. R. Gibson Miller . . [[ ' 
A. Herbert Aspin, Esq. 
Frank C. Erskine, Esq. 
Mrs Jessie Collier 
Mrs. Wilson .... 
I 
s. 
d. 
20 


10 


10 


5 


I 
I 
6 
I 


Now that the Food ControUer and G.O.C. London District 
have taken restaurants under their care, it is to be hoped 
they will see that in spite of reduced prices and courses, the 
food supplied is both wholesome and what it represents itself 
to be. Tiiere should be Food Inspectors with full powers 
to act in this direction. Margarine should not masquerade 
as butter, and meat should be sound and good. Cold storage 
has enabled a lot of pranks to be played ujwn the publ.c 
stomach by caterers, . whose main object is dividends 
