[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
I could make it worth your while, said the other feverishly. His voice was
not harsh and domineering now, but its quavering terror was perhaps more
unpleasant. I ll give you anything you like-a thousand, two thousand-------
Go on.
Five thousand
The Saint clicked his tongue reproachfully.
Ten thousand pounds, said the man shakily. I ll give you ten thousand
pounds to let me go!
This is getting interesting, drawled the Saint. Have you got all this
money in your pocket?
I can get it for you. The man dropped his voice lower, although neither of
them had spoken far above a whisper.
The Saint sighed.
Sorry, brother, but this is a cash business.
You could have it first thing in the morning-before that, if you wanted it.
Where is it coming from? asked the Saint, with calculated scepticism. Will
you do down into the village and hold out your hat, or are you going to burgle
the bank?
I know where I can get it. I ve got to meet a man- to-night!
Where are you going to meet him?
The man glared at him silently, with narrowing eyes; but Simon stuck to his
point.
Let me go and meet this man, he said slowly. If hell pay ten thousand quid
to save your life, I ll come back and see about it.
Page 117
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
How do I know you will?
You don t, Simon admitted sadly. But you can take it from me that unless I
do see this bird and his money I m not going to do anything for you. And then
the uncertainty would be so much more trying. Instead of wondering whether I
was going to help you or not, you d only be able to wonder whether you were
going to be buried alive under the public bar or fed to the congers off
Larkstone Point.
He kept his light focused on the ginger-haired man s blotched puffy face, and
read everything that was going on in the mind behind it.
He ll be waiting on the road to Axminster, exactly three miles from Seaton,
came the reply at length. He ll do anything to get me out. For God s sake,
hurry!
Simon doubted whether God would really be deeply concerned, but he allowed
the invocation to pass unchallenged. He bent forward and replaced the gag as
it had been when he came in, and switched out his light on the ginger-haired
man s mutely terrified eyes.
If they have fed you to the congers when I get back, I ll go fishing, he
murmured kindly.
He left the office on this encouraging note, and let himself out into the
back yard by the door at the end of the kitchen passage. The garage doors had
been left open, and after a second s hesitation he began to manoeuvre his car
out of its place by hand. It was a task that taxed all his strength, but he
preferred the hard work to the risk of starting the engine where it might be
heard by someone in the hotel. Fortunately the garage was built on a slight
slope, and after a good deal of straining and perspiration he manhandled the
big Hirondel into a position where he could get in behind the wheel and coast
out of the yard and down the hill until it was safe to touch the self-starter.
At the first corner he turned round, and sent the great purring monster
droning back up the grade towards the Seaton Road. He was well on his way
before he remembered that he had not even waited to tell Hoppy Uniatz where he
was going.
There was something else which he had forgotten, but he did not recall that
until much later.
He was conscious of a deep and solemn exhilaration. The sublime good fortune
that was always spreading itself so prodigally over all his adventures showed
no signs of shirking its responsibilities. Destiny was still doing its stuff.
One got a letter, one went somewhere, one exchanged a few lines of affable
badinage with a selection of mysterious blokes, one dotted an ugly sinner on
the button, and forthwith the wheels began to go round. It might have been a
coincidence that he had had cause to smite Ginger Whiskers so early in the
proceedings; but from then on everything had unwound like clockwork. The
presence of Ginger Whiskers, bound and gagged, in that locked office, was only
part of the machinery -obviously, when Jeffroll had come out and seen him
slumbering peacefully and harmlessly on the floor, the opportunity to put him
away must have seemed far too good to miss. Simon would have grabbed at it
himself, and he guessed that that decision was the cause of the message which
had summoned the Four Horsemen from the dining-room and broken up their [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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I could make it worth your while, said the other feverishly. His voice was
not harsh and domineering now, but its quavering terror was perhaps more
unpleasant. I ll give you anything you like-a thousand, two thousand-------
Go on.
Five thousand
The Saint clicked his tongue reproachfully.
Ten thousand pounds, said the man shakily. I ll give you ten thousand
pounds to let me go!
This is getting interesting, drawled the Saint. Have you got all this
money in your pocket?
I can get it for you. The man dropped his voice lower, although neither of
them had spoken far above a whisper.
The Saint sighed.
Sorry, brother, but this is a cash business.
You could have it first thing in the morning-before that, if you wanted it.
Where is it coming from? asked the Saint, with calculated scepticism. Will
you do down into the village and hold out your hat, or are you going to burgle
the bank?
I know where I can get it. I ve got to meet a man- to-night!
Where are you going to meet him?
The man glared at him silently, with narrowing eyes; but Simon stuck to his
point.
Let me go and meet this man, he said slowly. If hell pay ten thousand quid
to save your life, I ll come back and see about it.
Page 117
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
How do I know you will?
You don t, Simon admitted sadly. But you can take it from me that unless I
do see this bird and his money I m not going to do anything for you. And then
the uncertainty would be so much more trying. Instead of wondering whether I
was going to help you or not, you d only be able to wonder whether you were
going to be buried alive under the public bar or fed to the congers off
Larkstone Point.
He kept his light focused on the ginger-haired man s blotched puffy face, and
read everything that was going on in the mind behind it.
He ll be waiting on the road to Axminster, exactly three miles from Seaton,
came the reply at length. He ll do anything to get me out. For God s sake,
hurry!
Simon doubted whether God would really be deeply concerned, but he allowed
the invocation to pass unchallenged. He bent forward and replaced the gag as
it had been when he came in, and switched out his light on the ginger-haired
man s mutely terrified eyes.
If they have fed you to the congers when I get back, I ll go fishing, he
murmured kindly.
He left the office on this encouraging note, and let himself out into the
back yard by the door at the end of the kitchen passage. The garage doors had
been left open, and after a second s hesitation he began to manoeuvre his car
out of its place by hand. It was a task that taxed all his strength, but he
preferred the hard work to the risk of starting the engine where it might be
heard by someone in the hotel. Fortunately the garage was built on a slight
slope, and after a good deal of straining and perspiration he manhandled the
big Hirondel into a position where he could get in behind the wheel and coast
out of the yard and down the hill until it was safe to touch the self-starter.
At the first corner he turned round, and sent the great purring monster
droning back up the grade towards the Seaton Road. He was well on his way
before he remembered that he had not even waited to tell Hoppy Uniatz where he
was going.
There was something else which he had forgotten, but he did not recall that
until much later.
He was conscious of a deep and solemn exhilaration. The sublime good fortune
that was always spreading itself so prodigally over all his adventures showed
no signs of shirking its responsibilities. Destiny was still doing its stuff.
One got a letter, one went somewhere, one exchanged a few lines of affable
badinage with a selection of mysterious blokes, one dotted an ugly sinner on
the button, and forthwith the wheels began to go round. It might have been a
coincidence that he had had cause to smite Ginger Whiskers so early in the
proceedings; but from then on everything had unwound like clockwork. The
presence of Ginger Whiskers, bound and gagged, in that locked office, was only
part of the machinery -obviously, when Jeffroll had come out and seen him
slumbering peacefully and harmlessly on the floor, the opportunity to put him
away must have seemed far too good to miss. Simon would have grabbed at it
himself, and he guessed that that decision was the cause of the message which
had summoned the Four Horsemen from the dining-room and broken up their [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]