登陆注册
15517200000012

第12章 II. THE VANISHING PRINCE(4)

"Hush, please," said Morton, sharply. "Wilson, you have no kind of right to imply doubt of your superior's conduct. I hope you will prove yourself as courageous and trustworthy as he has always been."The pale face of the red-haired man seemed a shade paler, but he was silent and composed, and Sir Walter went up to Nolan with marked courtesy, saying, "Shall we go outside now, and get this business done?"Dawn had lifted, leaving a wide chasm of white between a great gray cloud and the great gray moorland, beyond which the tower was outlined against the daybreak and the sea.

Something in its plain and primitive shape vaguely suggested the dawn in the first days of the earth, in some prehistoric time when even the colors were hardly created, when there was only blank daylight between cloud and clay. These dead hues were relieved only by one spot of gold--the spark of the candle alight in the window of the lonely tower, and burning on into the broadening daylight. As the group of detectives, followed by a cordon of policemen, spread out into a crescent to cut off all escape, the light in the tower flashed as if it were moved for a moment, and then went out. They knew the man inside had realized the daylight and blown out his candle.

"There are other windows, aren't there?" asked Morton, "and a door, of course, somewhere round the corner? Only a round tower has no corners.""Another example of my small suggestion," observed Wilson, quietly. "That queer tower was the first thing I saw when I came to these parts; and I can tell you a little more about it--or, at any rate, the outside of it. There are four windows altogether, one a little way from this one, but just out of sight. Those are both on the ground floor, and so is the third on the other side, making a sort of triangle. But the fourth is just above the third, and I suppose it looks on an upper floor.""It's only a sort of loft, reached by a ladder, said Nolan. "I've played in the place when I was a child.

It's no more than an empty shell." And his sad face grew sadder, thinking perhaps of the tragedy of his country and the part that he played in it.

"The man must have got a table and chair, at any rate," said Wilson, "but no doubt he could have got those from some cottage. If I might make a suggestion, sir, I think we ought to approach all the five entrances at once, so to speak. One of us should go to the door and one to each window; Macbride here has a ladder for the upper window."Mr. Horne Fisher languidly turned to his distinguished relative and spoke for the first time.

"I am rather a convert to the cockney school of psychology," he said in an almost inaudible voice.

The others seemed to feel the same influence in different ways, for the group began to break up in the manner indicated. Morton moved toward the window immediately in front of them, where the hidden outlaw had just snuffed the candle; Nolan, a little farther westward to the next window; while Wilson, followed by Macbride with the ladder, went round to the two windows at the back. Sir Walter Carey himself, followed by his secretary, began to walk round toward the only door, to demand admittance in a more regular fashion.

"He will be armed, of course," remarked Sir Walter, casually.

"By all accounts," replied Horne Fisher, "he can do more with a candlestick than most men with a pistol.

But he is pretty sure to have the pistol, too."Even as he spoke the question was answered with a tongue of thunder. Morton had just placed himself in front of the nearest window, his broad shoulders. blocking the aperture. For an instant it was lit from within as with red fire, followed by a thundering throng of echoes. The square shoulders seemed to alter in shape, and the sturdy figure collapsed among the tall, rank grasses at the foot of the tower. A puff of smoke floated from the window like a little cloud.

The two men behind rushed to the spot and raised him, but he was dead.

Sir Walter straightened himself and called out something that was lost in another noise of firing; it was possible that the police were already avenging their comrade from the other side. Fisher had already raced round to the next window, and a new cry of astonishment from him brought his patron to the same spot. Nolan, the Irish policeman, had also fallen, sprawling all his great length in the grass, and it was red with his blood. He was still alive when they reached him, but there was death on his face, and he was only able to make a final gesture telling them that all was over;and, with a broken word and a heroic effort, motioning them on to where his other comrades were besieging the back of the tower. Stunned by these rapid and repeated shocks, the two men could only vaguely obey the gesture, and, finding their way to the other windows at the back, they discovered a scene equally startling, if less final and tragic. The other two officers were not dead or mortally wounded, but Macbride lay with a broken leg and his ladder on top of him, evidently thrown down from the top window of the tower; while Wilson lay on his face, quite still as if stunned, with his red head among the gray and silver of the sea holly. In him, however, the impotence was but momentary, for he began to move and rise as the others came round the tower.

"My God! it's like an explosion!" cried Sir Walter;and indeed it was the only word for this unearthly energy, by which one man had been able to deal death or destruction on three sides of the same small triangle at the same instant.

Wilson had already scrambled to his feet and with splendid energy flew again at the window, revolver in hand. He fired twice into the opening and then disappeared in his own smoke; but the thud of his feet and the shock of a falling chair told them that the intrepid Londoner had managed at last to leap into the room. Then followed a curious silence; and Sir Walter, walking to the window through the thinning smoke, looked into the hollow shell of the ancient tower. Except for Wilson, staring around him, there was nobody there.

同类推荐
  • 存余堂诗话

    存余堂诗话

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 送苗七求职

    送苗七求职

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 华严悬谈会玄记

    华严悬谈会玄记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 仲秋纪

    仲秋纪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 索法号义辩讽诵文

    索法号义辩讽诵文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 农药知识(上)

    农药知识(上)

    《农药知识》系列丛书是作者在多年从事农药学教学与科研工作的基础上,结合田间生产实践的经验编写而成的。书中内容详细介绍了农药的基本知识、常用农药品种的基本特性、防治对象、使用方法等。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 亚特兰蒂斯:献祭

    亚特兰蒂斯:献祭

    父母死于一场看似早被预知的车祸,她爱恋的华裔男生穆凯总是行迹诡秘,二十岁生日那年身上突然布满银色灵纹,她是亚特兰蒂斯人,是守护者,是外星殖民阿努拉的能量容器,同为守护者的麦克斯想解开艾丽诺的身世及银色灵纹的秘密,却发现了惊天内幕。————————————————————【科幻言情、末世灾难、外星殖民、终极对抗】————————————————————本书类似:暮光之城、分歧者、饥饿游戏等……喜欢此类型的朋友请支持一下!
  • 呆萌少年追冷傲女神记

    呆萌少年追冷傲女神记

    她全才女神,他呆萌二货,他们之间擦出不一样的火花
  • 异世界娱乐帝国

    异世界娱乐帝国

    他的歌声,众生迷醉;他的电视,万人空巷;他的电影,全球瞩目;他的小说,十亿阅读;他的游戏,焚香膜拜;他的粉丝,遍布世界。成功的男人都想与他合作,美丽的女子都想成为他的红颜。一个脑海中有着记录地球歌曲、影视、文学、游戏的存储器的三流演员,意外穿越到了一个与地球相似的异世界,他如何利用这个存储器的资源,在异世界呼风唤雨,建立自己的娱乐帝国。不是韩娱,不喜勿进。(小夜也只看过一部《我的野蛮女友》)小夜只想给各位读者们介绍一些久违的歌曲和影视剧,有爱的请轻轻点击一下。人品保证,每天二更,打底六千字。
  • 捉捉鬼泡泡妞

    捉捉鬼泡泡妞

    我叫许子强,捉鬼派第二位正宗传人。江湖人称:小强大师当然,捉鬼只是我的副业,泡妞才是我的正业!不过,现在的妞可不是那么好泡的,想要泡妞就得拿出真本事。于是为了妹子,我不得不踏上一条条惊心动魄的旅途。荒山上的鬼村,鬼气阴森的废弃疯人院,死亡密室逃脱,活死人地下迷宫,千年鬼棺,恐怖人偶馆,午夜割头鬼影,床下的那个“人”………【本书可以让你笑尿,更会让你吓尿,请半夜躲在被窝里看,效果最佳。】
  • 决天行

    决天行

    天行大陆,以武为尊,诸圣争霸,谁主沉浮,百万年前的一场旷世决战,究竟错的是人还是天,少年秦漠自荒芜中走出,揭开天行大陆百万年前隐藏的秘密,大幕渐渐开启,帝与皇的悲歌再次奏响,人与天的战斗就此开启,”我不会输的,以吾之命起誓。“(双主角小说,揭开那尘封百万年的血史。)
  • 晴天初梦

    晴天初梦

    十年后,物是人非。看着这些陌生的脸庞和细心的问候,我感到的是无比的温暖。
  • 我的终点是你

    我的终点是你

    离开五年,她终究还是回来了,男主和女主又会怎样呢,让我们拭目以待吧
  • 火澜

    火澜

    当一个现代杀手之王穿越到这个世界。是隐匿,还是崛起。一场血雨腥风的传奇被她改写。一条无上的强者之路被她踏破。修斗气,炼元丹,收兽宠,化神器,大闹皇宫,炸毁学院,打死院长,秒杀狗男女,震惊大陆。无止尽的契约能力,上古神兽,千年魔兽,纷纷前来抱大腿,惊傻世人。她说:在我眼里没有好坏之分,只有强弱之分,只要你能打败我,这世间所有都是你的,打不败我,就从这世间永远消失。她狂,她傲,她的目标只有一个,就是凌驾这世间一切之上。三国皇帝,魔界妖王,冥界之主,仙界至尊。到底谁才是陪着她走到最后的那个?他说:上天入地,我会陪着你,你活着,有我,你死,也一定有我。本文一对一,男强女强,强强联手,不喜勿入。