"Well, Sault, why have you come? Anything wrong?" Beryl would have
thought Dr. Merville's manner strangely mild and conciliatory after
his show of antagonism toward the visitor.
Sault had seated himself on the edge of a low chesterfield under the
curtained window. "Moropulos is worried about some people who called
at his bureau today. They came to ask him about a letter that had
been sent to him from South Africa by the assistant manager of the
Brakfontein Diamond Mine."
Merville was standing by the library table, in the center of the
room. The hand that played with the leaves of a magazine was
trembling ever so slightly. "What has happened--how did they
know--who were they?" he demanded shakily.
"I think it was the managing director, the American gentleman. He
was very angry. They discovered that the manager had been receiving
money from London soon after he made his report. Moropulos told me
that the shares had dropped thirty points since yesterday morning.
Mr. Divverly said that Moropulos and his gang, those were the words I
think, had bribed the manager to keep back the report that the mine
was played out. I suppose he did. I know very little about stocks
and shares."
Dr. Merville was biting his knuckles, a weak and vacillating man;
Sault had no doubts as to this, and it hurt him every time he
realized that this invertebrate creature was Beryl Merville's father.
How and why had he come into the strange confederation?
"I can do nothing," the doctor was fretful, his voice jerky; he fixed
and removed his pince-nez and fixed them again. "Nothing! I do not
know why these people make inquiries. There was nothing dishonest in
selling stock which you know will fall--it is a part of the process
of speculation, isn't it, Sault? All the big houses work on secret
information received or bought. If--if Moropulos or Steppe care to
buy information, that is nobody's affair--"
"There may be an inquiry on the Stock Exchange," said Sault calmly.
"Moropulos asked me to tell you that. The Johannesburg committee
have taken up the matter and have called for information. You see,
the manager has confessed."
"Confessed!" gasped the doctor and went white.
"So Mr. Divverly says. He has told the directors that Moropulos had
the information a month before the directors."
The doctor sat down heavily on the nearest chair. "I don't see--that
it affects us," he protested feebly, "there is no offense in getting
a tip about a failing property, is there, Sault?"
"I don't know. Moropulos says it is conspiracy. They can prove it
if--"
"If--?"
"If they find the letters which the manager wrote. Moropulos has
them in his desk."
Merville sprang up. "Then they must be destroyed!" he cried
violently. "It is madness to keep them--I had no idea--of course he
must burn them. Go back and tell him to do this, Sault."
Ambrose Sault put his hand into the fold of his shabby jacket and
brought out a bundle of documents. "They are here," he said in a
matter of fact tone. "Moropulos says that you must keep them. They
may get a warrant to search his house."
"Keep them--I?" Merville almost screamed, "Moropulos is a fool--burn
them!"
Sault shook his head. "Steppe say 'no'. They may be useful later.
You must keep them, doctor. It is Steppe's wish. Tomorrow I will
start working on the safe."
Dr. Merville took the papers from the outstretched hand and looked
around helplessly. There was a steel box on his desk. He took out
his key, looked again and more dubiously at the packet of letters and
dropped them into the box. "What is this safe, Sault? I know that
you are a devilish clever fellow with your hands and Moropulos
mentioned something about a safe. You are not making it?"
Sault nodded and there was a gleam in his fine eyes.
"But why? Moropulos has a safe and Steppe must possess dozens. Why
not buy another, if he must have a special place for these wretched
things?"
"You cannot buy the safe that I shall make," said the dark man
quietly. "It has taken me a year to invent the dial--eh? Yes,
combination. They are easy, but not this one. A word will open it,
any other word, any other combination of letters, and there will be
nothing to find."
The doctor frowned.
"You mean if any other person--the police for example, try to open
the safe the contents are destroyed?"
Sault nodded.
"How?"
The visitor, his business at an end, rose.
"That is simple, a twist of the hand, unless the combination is true,
releases a quart of acid, any of the corrosive acids will serve."
Merville bent his head in thought. Presently he saw a flaw in the
invention. "Suppose they don't touch the lock?" he asked. "Suppose
they burn out the side of the safe--it can be done, I believe--what
then?"
Ambrose Sault gave that soft laugh of his. "The sides will be
hollow, and filled from the inside of the safe, with water pumped in
at a pressure. Cut through the safe, and the water escapes and
releases a plunger that brings about the same result--the contents of
the safe are destroyed."
"You are a strange creature--the strangest I have met. I don't
understand you," Merville shook his head. "I hope you will hurry
with that safe." As Sault was at the door he asked: "Where did
Moropulos find you, Sault?"
The man turned. "He found me in the sea," he said. "Moropulos was
trading in those days. He had a sloop--pearl smuggling, I think. I
thought he had told you. I never make any secret about it."
"In the sea--for heavens sake what do you mean? Where?"
"Ten miles off the Isle of Pines. I got away from Noumea in a boat.
Noumea is the capital of New Caledonia. I and three _Canaques_--they
were under sentence for cannibalism. We ran into a cyclone and
swamped, just as we were trying to make the sloop which was standing
in to the lee of the island. Moropulos took me on board and the
natives; when he found that I was a convict--"
"A convict--a French convict!"
Sault was leaning easily, his cheek against the hand that gripped the
edge of the open door. He nodded. "I thought he had told you. Of
course, he would have taken me back to Noumea for the reward, only he
had a cargo on board which he did not want the French to see. I
found afterwards that when we called at the Loyalty Island, he tried
to sell me back, but couldn't get a price."
He smiled broadly as at a very pleasant recollection, "Moropulos
would sell me now," he said, "only I am useful."
"But why--why were you imprisoned?" asked Merville, awe-stricken at
the tremendous revelation.
"I killed a man," said Sault. "Good night, doctor."