BULLOTT’S STORY
They dragged Clive Lowbridge to his feet, dazed and drunken with the
drug. An ice-wet sponge applied to his face brought him at once to
consciousness.
“Your name is Clive George Lowbridge; you are the ninth Baron
Lowbridge. I am taking you into custody on the charge of wilfully
murdering your cousin, Cyril Francis Lowbridge, by administering
poison.”
“I think you’ll have some difficulty in proving that,” said
Lowbridge, pale as death.
“Not so much as you would imagine. Sergeant Fanaby!”
A man came forward and, seeing him, the face of Clive Lowbridge became
distorted with rage. It was Benson!
“You have been under suspicion since the death of your cousin, and
under observation ever since you took this officer into your
service,” said Inspector Bullott. “He has all the information
necessary to convict you, and I need hardly tell you that I am not
relying only on that charge.”
Heavily ironed, Lowbridge was carried from the deck and transferred
immediately to the British cruiser.
“We have twelve hours to wait before the _Thomas Inland_ comes up to
us, and we can take in enough oil to reach New York,” said Bullott,
“and in the meantime, when it does arrive, the gentleman who spilt our
own supply into the sea, and incidentally brought this ship to a halt,
will not be found amongst the greasers.”
“You told me Toby Marsh was on board and in control of the ship?”
Bullott nodded.
“The man who knows where to find that safety valve, that could empty
the oil tanks in ten minutes, may be said to be in control of any
ship! He was so much in control that he stopped her!”
* * * * *
“The whole credit for this discovery will naturally come to me. It
should go to Toby Marsh,” said Bullott, when they met that night in
Stone’s chilly cabin, for although they had sufficient oil to run the
dynamos, there was not yet enough to give them heat. “It is perfectly
true that Toby Marsh quarrelled with the doctor, over a fake burglary
which the old man fixed, and which resulted in Toby being sent down to
hard labour. And Toby, being naturally of a secretive and somewhat
romantic disposition, has given up his spare time all these years to
the discovery of the doctor’s character. He knew he was a crook; he
was anxious to know how much of a crook he was.
“Clive Lowbridge was brought up by the doctor, and taught by him to
worship money. Do you remember some copy-book maxims that we
discovered wrapped round the clasp of Isis? Those had been torn
haphazard from an exercise book in which Clive had written, from the
dictation of his tutor, these sentiments, which, at any rate, actuated
Dr. Laffin in his dealings with the world. There was no chance of
Lowbridge succeeding to the title, until the doctor suggested the
removal of the two men who stood in his way. They believed then that
the late Lord Lowbridge was a very rich man; he had been left a
million, but unfortunately he was something of a gambler. The doctor
should have known this, for he had seen him at play, had watched him
squander money at Monte Carlo, and thoroughly knew his weakness.
Probably Laffin thought that he had so much money that there would
still be enough left after his death. As you know, the death of Lord
Lowbridge revealed the truth, which was that he was on the verge of
bankruptcy when death removed him.
“Then there was opened by accident a new prospect for the doctor. He
was crossing Dartmoor one night, when he was held up by two of the
Priors of the Sons of Ragousa, of whose existence he had never heard,
though he was something of a mystic himself and dabbled in the occult.
The news the Priors gave him was that their Head was ill, and he
accompanied them to the Priory, where he found Mr. Leiff Stone,
suffering from an attack of angina pectoris. In his delirium, or in a
moment of confidence, poor Mr. Stone told him of a repeated vision he
had had, that he had seen in a shop window a woman in a green dress
with red hair, sitting before a desk on which was a green jade vase
and one red rose. He must have then told Laffin that it had been
revealed to him that this strange individual had a message for him.
Laffin seized upon the idea and in this way worked round to make the
greatest profit possible that came from his knowledge. The clasp of
Isis, by-the-way, was given to him by Mr. Stone in payment of his
services.
“His first step was, through the Prior, to gain a high office in the
Twenty-Third Degree; and here it seems that he had already formed in
the rough the plan which he had carried out on the _Escorial_, namely,
to seize a ship on its voyage. At any rate, he began to fill the
Twenty-Third Degree with the scum of the seaport towns.
“Remember this, that he had for Lowbridge a genuine affection. He told
him everything, and Lowbridge knew, not only about his adventures at
the Priory and the dream of Leiff Stone, but knew also that Laffin
intended utilising the Twenty-Third Degree for his purpose. Miss
Carew--or as we know her, Miss Stone--was, with the approval of
Lowbridge, chosen to act the part of the Messenger, Laffin’s object
being to obtain possession of the book which held all the secrets of
the Order, the particulars of initiation services, passwords, but,
more especially, the method by which the half-annual argosies were
distributed. That he succeeded, we know. That night, after the book
was in Laffin’s possession, Mr. Stone was killed.”
Bill’s hand tightened on the girl’s, but she did not flinch.
“The method I do not know. We shall probably discover that aconitine
was the agent employed. Now there was one man in whom the Grand Prior
reposed implicit confidence--that was Brother John Flanagan, and he
was evidently worried over his friend’s delusion about the woman in
the green dress, for when he learnt from the Grand Prior that the
messenger had been seen and the message received, he came to London to
pursue his investigations. Lowbridge shadowed him, and shot him down
in the street, because he thought that Miss Stone had told him much
more than she really had. After the Grand Prior’s death, Lowbridge
took his place.”
“Not Laffin?” interrupted the astounded Holbrook.
Bullott shook his head.
“No, sir, the new Grand Prior was Lowbridge. The rest of that story
you know. The unsuccessful attempt of these scoundrels to induce Mr.
Pawter to make a fake draw was nearly followed by Clive Lowbridge’s
arrest. He escaped, however, with Laffin, his assistant, and was
dropped by Laffin at Taunton.
“Toby Marsh had followed Laffin to Bath, whence he took a car to
Devonshire and missed him. He was out in the morning early, watching
the Bath-Bristol road, when he saw the doctor’s car approaching, and
with his customary impertinence, held it up. The doctor was furious;
he would have made Harvey Hale, who was driving the machine, give our
burglar friend a very unpleasant time, but Toby was well armed, and at
last prevailed upon the doctor to let him travel with him to Bath, as
he had something important to say.
“Toby suspected Lowbridge. The discovery that Lowbridge was not in the
car was something of a shock to him. His object in travelling at all
was to trap the doctor into an admission that Lowbridge had just left
him, and in this he succeeded, for, like most super-clever men, Laffin
was childlike in some respects.
“Toby already knew a great deal, having installed a microphone in
Laffin’s private room, and gradually there came into his possession an
almost complete story of what was going to happen on the steamship
_Escorial_. But he wasn’t satisfied that he was right, and in his
furtive way he decided upon securing a job in the engine-room of the
ship. He told me about this later--in fact, a few days before I sailed
he revealed as much of the story as he thought it was wise for me to
know.
“The point I would make is this, that the leader of the gang, the
prime mover, the brain behind every new development, was Clive
Lowbridge. He had doomed Laffin from the moment he learnt that the
doctor had married his ward, and the fact that it was a mere act of
precaution on the part of Laffin made no difference. It was humanly
impossible that that vain, half-mad old man should ever come through
this voyage alive.
“Scotland Yard suspected Lowbridge, and at a very early stage had put
one of their most capable officers in his service. The man called
Benson, is, as you know, a detective, who will probably be promoted
for the part he has played, before he reaches England.
“After the book was secured, it became again necessary to remove Miss
Stone. She had remembered her journey to Devonshire and the
transference of the book to her, and that was fatal to their schemes.
The mere possibility that she would tell the story to the detective
filled them with apprehension, and they determined to remove her
without delay. She called at Lowbridge’s flat for tea. Lowbridge
distracted her attention and put a very quickly acting dope into the
cup and was observed by Benson, who changed the cups when his back was
turned, with the result that it was Lowbridge who found himself under
the influence of the drug.
“I forget the circumstances now,” said Bullott, “but I am under the
impression that he sent Benson out to get some newspapers, believing
that the action of the drug was so quick that the girl would be
unconscious and smuggled away into his room before the servant
returned, when he would find a further excuse for keeping him out of
the way for the rest of the evening.
“The greatest shock that Lowbridge had was to learn that a warrant had
been issued for Laffin’s arrest on a charge of murdering his uncle.
Then, indeed, he knew that the game was nearly up, and that unless he
silenced the doctor he could not escape arrest and the scaffold. Mr.
Stone offered him the opportunity of going to America on the
_Escorial_. I need hardly say that he would have been on the
_Escorial_ in any circumstances, for the gang had decided, after the
narrow squeak which they had at the hands of Tinker Lane, that no time
should be lost. They were, however, in some doubt as to when the
British Treasury would ship the interest on the American debt, and
this they learnt through La Florette, the dancer. Had it not been
shipped by the _Escorial_ you may be certain they would have found
some reason for postponing, not only their own departure, but the
departure of Mr. and Miss Stone.
“I saw my chief at Scotland Yard, put as many facts before him as I
knew, and received permission to sail on this ship, although he
thought that in all probability a very credulous and inexperienced
police officer had heard and believed a fairy story.
“I don’t think there is very much more to be told. Toby Marsh was on
the ship. I saw him the first day, I spent forty-eight hot hours in
his company, and when the Twenty-Third Degree showed their hand, he
was a tower of strength not only to me but to the law. Toby rigged up
a signal lamp aft, which kept us in touch with the warship after the
wireless was in the hands of Lowbridge and his men.”
“Who killed Hale?”
“Lowbridge. When Hale saw that the man he had double-crossed was free,
he ran for his life. The taking prisoner of Lowbridge was camouflage
to protect him if things went wrong. It was an excuse for his being on
the bridge to direct operations at a critical moment, without
appearing to be a member of the gang. But Hale, who was in fear of
him, took advantage of his helplessness to secure him still further.
The prisoner waited only long enough to give Hale a chance of settling
with our young friend, then he chased both down to the cabin. It was
he who struck down Holbrook. Afterwards, he decided that Holbrook
alive was a danger and came down to finish him. His plan throughout
had been in the event of failure, to end life pleasantly. The poison
pastilles which were burning in the captain’s cabin when we broke in,
would ordinarily have killed everybody in the room in a few
minutes--Lowbridge’s luck was out to the last!”
* * * * * * *
Eight days later, escorted by a fleet of small craft, the
much-travelled U.S.S. _Escorial_ came slowly into New York Harbour,
and Betty Stone stood, a little overwhelmed by the most wonderful
skyline in the world.
Bullott had gone back to England on the _Kent_, and with him his chief
witness, Toby Marsh. Bill had sworn many solemn oaths that he would
follow by the first available mail steamer.
“So this is America, Billy?” she said with a half-smile.
“It is New York,” said Bill, “which isn’t exactly the same thing,
though there are many who share your illusion. It is of it, but not
it!”
His arm was in hers as they leaned on the rail. Mr. Stone looked over
his glasses at them for a moment and returned to a study of the early
editions which had come out on the pilot boat.
“You must show me the sights, Billy, before we go up to Mr. Stone’s
camp, and you must coach me in other things. What is the chief
advantage of being an American citizen?”
“There are so many I can’t think of them,” said Bill, “but the first
that occurs to me is the facility for rapid marriage. And if you’ll
let me explain that system to you thoroughly, I’ll surely be the
proudest son that the ships of Ragousa ever sent forth in search of
treasure!”
THE END
ENDNOTES
[1] _Flattie_] London thieves’ _argot_ for uniformed policeman.
[2] _Putting the black_] Blackmail.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
The John Long, Ltd. edition (London, 1927) was consulted for some of
the changes listed below.
Minor spelling inconsistencies (e.g. fog-belt/fog belt,
stateroom/state-room, water-bottles/water bottles) have been
preserved.
Alterations to the text:
Convert footnotes to endnotes.
Add chapter numbering.
Punctuation: fix some quotation mark pairings/nestings, etc.
Change four instances of _Bullot_ to _Bullott_.
[Chapter V]
Change “he is an American, born in _Drayton_, Ohio” to _Dayton_.
[Chapter XXVI]
“that her father was _Lieff_ Stone” to _Leiff_.
[Chapter XLI]
“She _noded_ vigorously” to _nodded_.
[Chapter XLIII]
“the purser himself sleeps in a _berch_ which covers the door” to
_berth_.
[Chapter XLV]
“to comply with the wishes of the District _Atney_” to _Attorney_.
[Chapter XLVII]
“On the the opposite side was the door which opened into” delete
the redundant _the_.
[Chapter XLVIII]
“if we keep these _pistol_ until we reach port” to _pistols_.
[Chapter LVIII]
“The Sussex was running on a parallel course, edging closer” italicize
_Sussex_.
“They had long since left the Thomas _Island_ astern” to _Inland_.
[Chapter LIX]
“You can _practcially_ shake yourself free when you feel like it” to
_practically_.
“he had stripped the moustache from his _lips_” to _lip_.
[End of text]