33 
LAND & WATER 
Febiuary 22, 1917 
The Golden Triangle 
By Maurice Leblnnc 
(Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattosl 1 
Synopsis : Captain Patrice Belval, a wounded French 
officer, is in love with a nurse ivho is hwun to her patients 
as " Little Mother Coralie." Belval, following Coralie 
to her house, finds that )issares, her husband, a leading 
financier, who had contemplated flight from Paris, has been 
brutally murdered. An examining magistrate explains 
to Belval that Essarcs was prime mover in a plot for ex- 
porting gold from France. In order to recover some 300 
million francs which Essarcs had concealed, the authorities 
consider it necessary to hush up the circumstances of 
the fin.mcier's death. Ya-Bon, Belval's Senegalese 
servant, promises to call in Arsene Lupin to unravel 
the mystery, which includes a mysterious threatened 
vengeance on Coralie. Belval ascertains that Simeon, 
Essares' attendant, has mysteriously befriended bothjiim- 
self and Coralie, and also obtains evidence that twenty 
years before, Essares had becfi responsible for the murder 
of Coralie's mother and his (Belval's) father and that an 
unknoii'H friend had tried to protect Coralie and himself. 
On the 14th of April Belval and Coralie, following old 
Simeon to the scene of their parents' murder, a disused 
lodge in the garden next to Essares' house, find them- 
selves imprisoned without possibility of escape. Behind 
the wainscoting of the lodge a pencilled message tells how 
Belval's father and Coralie's mother had been similarly 
trapped, and then asphyxiated, twenty years before. Shut 
in the lodge, Patrice and Coralie are similarlv subjected — ■ 
apparently by Simeon — to asphyxiation bv gas, until 
Patrice loses consciousness. Arsene Lupin, posing as 
Count Luis Perenna, rescues both Patrice and Coralie just 
in time, and proceeds to explain to Patrice how Essares 
removed gold by a stib.erranean channel to bxrges on the 
Seine. He traces Simeon, in charge of the last consign- 
ment of 300 million francs, as far down the Seine as 
Mantis and Bonnigres,, and then finds that Simeon has 
deceived him by transhipping ihe gold en rcule. In 
Company with. Belval, Arsene sets out for Paris again. 
CHAPTER XV {conlinucd) 
PATRICE encountered no difficulties in his under- 
taking, At the first order, which he shouted in a 
tone of command, the Belle Helene stopped; and 
he was able to board her peaceful!}'. Tiie two 
bargees were men of a certain age, natives of the Basque 
coast. He introduced himself as a representative of the 
military authorities ; and they showed him over their craft. 
He found neither old Simi'on nor the very smallest bag of 
j^old. TiiC hold was almost empty. 
Tjie questions and answers did not take long : 
" Wh 
r ? 
ere are you gonig 
" To Rouen. We've been requisitioned by the governmr^nt 
(or transport of supplies." 
" But you picked up somebody on the way." 
" Yes, at Mantes." 
" His name, please ? " 
" Simeon Diodokis." 
" Where's he got to ? 
" He made us put him down a little after, to tui.v h.l- 
train." 
And what's become of the load ? 
We transhi])ped it last night to a small steamer that 
< :up.e alongside of us below Passy." 
' What's the steamer's name ? " 
' The Chamois. Crew of six." 
■ \Vhere is she now ? " 
Ahead of us. She was going fast. She must be at 
Rouen by this time. Simeon Diodokis is on his way to join 
her.' 
" How long have you known Sim on Diodokis ? 
' It's the first time we saw liim Hut we knew that he was 
in M. Essares' service.." 
' Oh. so you've worked for M. Kssares •" 
■ Yes, often. . Same job and same trip. 
I'atrice asked no more questions. He hurriedly got into 
I i^i boat, pulled back to shore and tound Don Luis seated 
\Mt)i a comfortable supper in front of him. 
' pu:ck ' " lie said. " The cargo is on board a steamer, the 
< hamm^ We can catch her up between Rouen and Havre." 
Don Luis rose and handed the officer a white-paper packet : 
" Here's a few sandwiches for you, captain," he said. 
" We've an arduous night before us. I'm very sorry that 
you didn't get a sleep, as I did. Let's be off ; and this tim: 
I shall drive. We'll knock some pace out of her ! Come and 
sit beside me, captain." 
They both stepj)ed into the car ; the chauffeur took his 
seat behind them. But they had hardly started when Patrice 
exclaimed : 
" Hi ! What are you up to ? Not this way ! We're going 
back to Mantes or Paris ! ' 
" That's what I mean to do," said Luis, with a chuckle. 
•; Eh, what ? Paris ? " 
" Well, of course ! " 
" Oh, look here, this is a bit too thick ! Didn't I tell you 
that the two bargees. . . . ? " 
" Those bargees of yours are humbugs." 
" They declared that the cargo. . . ." 
" Cargo ? No go ! " 
" But the Cluimois. . . ." 
" Chamois ? Sham what ! I tell you once more, we're done, 
captain, done brown ! Old Simeon is a wonderful old hand I 
He's a match worth meeting. He gives you a run for your 
money. He laid a trap in which I've been fairly caught. 
It's a magnificent joke, but there's moderation in all things. 
We've been fooled enough to last us the rest of our Uvof. 
Let's be serious now." 
" But ..." 
" Aren't you satisfied yet, captain ? After the Belle 
Helene do you want to attack the Chamois ? As you please. 
You can get out at Mantes : Only I warn j'ou, Simeon is in 
Paris, with three or four hours' start of us." 
Patrice gave a shudder. Simeon in Paris ! In Paris, 
where Coralie w£is alone and unprotected ! He made no 
further protest ; and Don Luis ran on : 
" Oh, the rascal ! How well he played his hand ! Th • 
Mem irs of Benjamin Franklin were a master stroke. Knowin 
of my arrival, he said to himself, 'Arsene Lupin is a dangerou-. 
fellow, capable of disentangling the affair and putting botii 
me and the bags of gold in his pocket. To get rid of him 
there's only one thing to be done ; I must act in such a way 
as to make him rush along the real track at so fast a rate 
of speed that he does not perceive the moment when the real 
track becomes a false track.' That was clever of him, wasn't 
it ? And so we have the Franklin book, held out as a bait ; 
the page opening of itself, at the right place ; my inevitable 
easy discovery of the conduit system ; the clue of Ariadne 
most obligingly offered. I followed up the clue like a trust. ng 
child, led by Simeon's own hand, from the cellar down to 
Berthou's Wharf. So far, all's well. But, from that moment, 
take care ! There's nobody at Berthou's Wharf. On the 
other hand, there's a barge alongside, which means a chance 
of making enquiries, which meaiij tiie certainty that I shiili 
make enquiries. And I make enquiries. And, having made 
enquiries, I am done for. " 
" But then that man . . . ? " 
" Yes, yes, yes, an accomplice of Sim'on's, whom Sim'o:' 
knowing that he would be followed to the Gare Saint- Lazir , 
instructs in this way to direct me to Mantes for the secon . 
time. At Mantes, the comedy continues. The Belle Heene 
passes, with her double freigiit, Sim'on and the bags of gold. 
We go running after the Belle He e e. Of course, on the 
Belle helene there's nothing: no Simeon, no bags of gold. 
' Run after the Chamois. We've transhipped it all on the 
Chamois.' We run after the Chamois, to Kouen, to Havu, 
to the end of the world ; and of course our pursuit is fruitless, 
for the Chamois does not exist. But we are convinced that 
she does exist and that she has escaped our search. And by 
this time the trick is ])layed. The millions are gone. Simc'oa 
• has disappeared and there is only one thing left for us to do 
which is to resign ourselves and abandon our quest. You 
understand, we're to abandon our cpiest : that's the fellow's 
object. And he would have succeeded if 
The car was tra\elling at full speed. From time to time, 
Don Luis would stop her dead, with extraordinary skill 
Post of territorials. Pass to be produced. Then a leap onward 
and once more the breakneck pace. 
" If what .'' " asked Patrice, half-convinced. " Which was 
the clue that put vou on the track ? " 
" The presence ol that w<iinan at Mantes. It was a vague 
clue at hist. But suddenly 1 leinembered that, in the first 
