A Bid for Fortune - Guy Boothby (ready player one ebook TXT) 📗

horror of them even now. As I gazed his white right hand was moving to and fro before me with regular sweeps, and with each one I felt my own will growing weaker and weaker. That I was being mesmerised, I had no doubt, but if I had been going to be murdered I could not have moved a finger to save myself.

“Then there came a sudden but imperative knock at the door, and both Nikola and Draper rose. Next moment the man whom we had noticed in the train as we came up from Melbourne, and against whom you, Mr. Hatteras, had warned me in Sydney, entered the room. He crossed and stood respectfully before Nikola.

“ ‘Well, Mr. Eastover, what news?’ asked the latter. ‘Have you done what I told you?’

“ ‘Everything,’ the man answered, taking an envelope from his pocket. ‘Here is the letter you wanted.’

“Nikola took it from his subordinate’s hand, broke the seal, and having withdrawn the contents, read it carefully. All this time, seeing resistance was quite useless, I did not move. I felt too sick and giddy for anything. When he had finished his correspondence Nikola said something in an undertone to Draper, who immediately left the room. During the time he was absent none of us spoke. Presently he returned, bringing with him a wine glass filled with water, which he presented to Nikola.

“ ‘Thank you,’ said that gentleman, feeling in his waistcoat pocket. Presently he found what he wanted and produced what looked like a small silver scent-bottle. Unscrewing the top, he poured from it into the wine glass a few drops of some dark-coloured liquid. Having done this he smelt it carefully and then handed it to me.

“ ‘I must ask you to drink this, my lord,’ he said. ‘You need have no fear of the result: it is perfectly harmless.’

“Did ever man hear such a cool proposition? Very naturally I declined to do as he wished.

“ ‘You must drink it!’ he reiterated. ‘Pray do so at once. I have no time to waste bandying words with you.’

“ ‘I will not drink it!’ I cried, rising to my feet, and prepared to make a fight for it if need should be.

“Once more those eyes grew terrible, and once more that hand began to make the passes before my face. Again I felt the dizziness stealing over me. His will was growing every moment too strong for me. I could not resist him. So when he once more said, ‘Drink!’ I took the glass and did as I was ordered. After that I remember seeing Nikola, Draper, and the man they called Eastover engaged in earnest conversation on the other side of the room. I remember Nikola crossing to where I sat and gazing steadfastly into my face, and after that I recollect no more until I came to my senses in this room, to find myself bound and gagged. For what seemed like hours I lay in agony, then I heard footsteps in the verandah, and next moment the sound of voices. I tried to call for help, but could utter no words. I thought you would go away without discovering me, but fortunately for me you did not do so. Now, Mr. Hatteras, I have told you everything; you know my story from the time you left me up to the present moment.”

For some time after the Marquis had concluded his strange story both the Inspector and I sat in deep thought. That Beckenham had been kidnapped in order that he should be out of the way while the villainous plot for abducting Phyllis was being enacted there could be no doubt. But why had he been chosen? and what clues were we to gather from what he had told us? I turned to the Inspector and said⁠—

“What do you think will be the best course for us to pursue now?”

“I have been wondering myself. I think, as there is nothing to be learned from this house, the better plan would be for you two gentleman to go back to Mr. Wetherell, while I return to the detective office and see if anything has been discovered by the men there. As soon as I have found out I will join you at Potts Point. What do you think?”

I agreed that it would be the best course; so, taking the Marquis by the arms (for he was still too weak to walk alone), we left the house and were about to step into the street when I stopped, and asking them to wait for me ran back into the room again. In the corner, just as it had been thrown down, lay the rope with which Beckenham had been bound and the pad which had been fitted over his mouth. I picked both up and carried them into the verandah.

“Come here, Mr. Inspector,” I cried. “I thought I should learn something from this. Take a look at this rope and this pad, and tell me what you make of them.”

He took each up in turn and looked them over and over. But he only shook his head.

“I don’t see anything to guide us,” he said as he laid them down again.

“Don’t you?” I cried. “Why, they tell me more than I have learnt from anything else I’ve seen. Look at the two ends of this.’ (Here I took up the rope and showed it to him.) ‘They’re seized!”

I looked triumphantly at him, but he only stared at me in surprise, and said, “What do you mean by ‘seized?’ ”

“Why, I mean that the ends are bound up in this way⁠—look for yourself. Now not one landsman in a hundred seizes a rope’s end. This line was taken from some ship in the harbour, and⁠—By Jove! here’s another discovery!”

“What now?” he cried, being by this time almost as excited as I was myself.

“Why, look here,” I said, holding the middle of the rope up to the light, so that we could get a better view of it. “Not very many hours ago this rope