|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 14
He found himself doubting the success of those tactics upon
which, earlier in the day, he had congratulated himself. Perhaps
beneath the guise of Hampden, who bought antique furniture on
commission, those cunning old eyes beneath the horn-rimmed
spectacles had perceived the detective hidden, or at least had
marked subterfuge.
While he could not count Lala a conquest--for he had not even
attempted to make love to her--the ease with which he had
developed the acquaintance now, afforded matter for suspicion.
At the entrance to the court communicating with the establishment
of Huang Chow he paused, looking cautiously about him. The men
on the Limehouse beats had been warned of the investigation afoot
tonight, and there was a plain-clothes man on point duty at no
great distance away, although carefully hidden, so that Durham
had quite failed to detect his presence.
Durham wore rough clothes and rubber-soled shoes; and now, as he
entered the court, he was thinking of the official report of the
police sergeant who, not so many hours before, had paid a visit
to the house of Huang Chow in order to question him respecting
his knowledge of the dead man Cohen, and to learn when last he
had seen him.
Old Huang, who had received his caller in the large room
upstairs, the room which boasted the presence of the writing-
dais, had exhibited no trace of confusion, assuring the sergeant
that he had not seen the man Cohen for several days. Cohen had
come to him with an American introduction, which he, Huang,
believed to be forged, and had wanted him to undertake a shady
agency, respecting the details of which he remained peculiarly
reticent. In short, nothing had been gained by this official
interrogation, and Huang blandly denied any knowledge of an
attempted burglary of his establishment.
"What have I to lose?" he had asked the inquirer. "A lot of old
lumber which I have accumulated during many years, and a
reputation for being wealthy, due to my lonely habits and to the
ignorance of those who live around me."
Durham, mentally reviewing the words of the report, reconstructed
the scene in his mind; and now, having come to the end of the
lane where the iron post rested, he stood staring up at a place
in the ancient wall where several bricks had decayed, and where
it was possible, according to the statement of the man Poland, to
climb up on to a piece of sloping roof, and thence gain the
skylight through which Cohen had obtained admittance on the night
of his death.
He made sure that his automatic pistol was in his pocket,
questioned the dull sounds of the riverside for a moment, looking
about him anxiously, and then, using the leaning post as a
stepping-stone, he succeeded in wedging his foot into a crevice
in the wall. By the exercise of some agility he scrambled up to
the top, and presently found himself lying upon a sloping roof.
The skylight remained well out of reach, but his rubber-soled
shoes enabled him to creep up the slates until he could grasp the
framework with his hands. Presently he found himself perched
upon the trap which, if his information could be relied upon,
possessed no fastener, or one so faulty that the trap could be
raised by means of a brad-awl. He carried one in his pocket,
and, screwing it into the framework, he lifted it cautiously,
making very little noise.
The trap opened, and up to his nostrils there stole a queer,
indefinable odour, partly that which belongs to old Oriental
furniture and stuffs, but having mingled with it a hint of
incense and of something else not so easily named. He recognized
the smell of that strange store-room, which, as Mr. Hampden, he
had recently visited.
For one moment he thought he could detect the distant note of a
bell. But, listening, he heard nothing, and was reassured.
He rested the trap back against the frame, and shone the ray of
an electric torch down into the darkness beneath him. The light
fell upon the top of a low carven table, dragon-legged and
gilded. Upon it rested the model pagoda constructed of human
teeth, and there was something in this discovery which made
Durham feel inclined to shudder. However, the impulse was only a
passing one.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|