Cyril McNeile

“ It was only too true, and with a faint smile Johnstone watched the "scutted" one depart with undignified rapidity. Then he looked at his fag.
"Thank you, Drummond," he remarked awkwardly.
"Rot. That's all right," returned the other, blushing uncomfortably.
And that was all. But it started then, and it never died, though their ways lay many poles apart. To Johnstone a well-deserved knighthood and a high position in the land: to Drummond as much money as he wanted and a life of sport.
"Has someone stolen the goldfish?" queried Sir Bryan with mild sarcasm. ”

“ In short, McIver, though shrewd and relentless when on duty, was the kindest-hearted of men. But he was most certainly not fanciful.
"What the dickens is all this about, McIver," said Sir Bryan with a smile, when the door had shut behind the secretary.
"I wish I knew myself, sir," returned the other seriously. "I've never been so completely defeated in my life."
Sir Bryan waved him to a chair and sat down at the desk. ”

“ Sir Bryan paused a moment to emphasise the point—"at Piccadilly Circus."
"Good Lord!" said Hugh dazedly. "Then that bird I saw last night sleeping it off on the pavement was Flash Jim."
"Precisely," answered Sir Bryan. "But what is far more to the point, old man, is that the two birds you think you would be able to recognise and who were in the car, are two of the masked men who first of all laid out McIver and subsequently surrounded Flash Jim and his pals inside." ”

“ And so..."
"One moment, Hugh," Sir Bryan held up his hand. "Do you mind if I speak to Inspector McIver for a moment?"
"Anything you like, old lad," murmured Drummond. "But be merciful. Remember my innocent wife in the country."
And silence settled on the room, broken only by the low-voiced conversation between McIver and his chief in the window. By their gestures it seemed as if Sir Bryan was suggesting something to his subordinate to which that worthy officer was a little loath to agree. ”

“ If we give you warning would you care to go with McIver the next time he has any job on, where he thinks it is likely this gang may turn up? We have a pretty shrewd idea as to the type of thing they specialise in."
Hugh passed his hand dazedly over his forehead.
"Sort of mother's help you mean," and McIver frowned horribly. "While the bird biffs McIver, I biff the bird. Is that the notion?"
"That is the notion," agreed Sir Bryan. "Of course you'll have to do exactly what McIver tells you, and the whole thing is most unusual. ”

“ McIver nodded portentously. "If I can't lay my hands on a man who can lift me up like a baby and dope me, may I never have another case. Like a baby, sir. Me——"
He opened his hands out helplessly, and this time Sir Bryan laughed outright, only to turn with a quick frown as the door leading to the secretary's office was flung open to admit a man. He caught a vague glimpse of the scandalised Miss Forbes hovering like a canary eating bird-seed in the background: then he turned to the new-comer.
"Confound it, Hugh," he cried. "I'm busy." ”

“ Now I'm sure—especially after what Flash Jim said. That gang is no rumour, it's solid fact."
"Have you any information as to what their activities have been, assuming for a moment it is the truth?" asked Sir Bryan.
"None for certain, sir; until this moment I wasn't certain of its existence. But now—looking back—there have been quite a number of sudden disappearances. We haven't troubled officially, we haven't been asked to. Hardly likely when one realises who the people are who have disappeared."
"All conjecture, McIver," said Sir Bryan. "They may be lying doggo, or they'll turn up elsewhere." ”

“ He was a vast individual with one of those phenomenally ugly faces which is rendered utterly pleasant by the extraordinary charm of its owner's expression. No human being had ever been known to be angry with Hugh for long. ”

“ Well, as I say, while I was lying in the road, steaming at the brow, a motor car went past, and it stopped in Piccadilly Circus."
McIver's air of irritation vanished suddenly, and a quick glance passed between him and Sir Bryan.
"Nothing much you observe in that, Tumkins," he burbled on, quite unconscious of the sudden attention of his hearers. "But wait, old lad—I haven't got to the motto yet. From this car there stepped large numbers of men: at least, so it seemed to me, and you must remember I'd recently had a shampoo. ”

“ Hugh sat up abruptly. "Why me?"
"One of the men inside the room was an interesting fellow known as Flash Jim. He is a burglar of no mean repute, though he is quite ready to tackle any sort of job which carries money with it. And when McIver, having recovered himself this morning, ran Flash Jim to ground in one of his haunts, he was quite under the impression that the men who had doped him and the other officers were pals of Flash Jim. ”

“ He's the least fanciful man we've got. And yet..."
His eyes came round to the desk once more, the desk on which the report was lying. It was Inspector McIver's report—hence his instructions to the secretary. It was the report on a very strange matter which had taken place the previous night, and after a while Sir Bryan picked up the typed sheets and glanced through them again. And he was still standing by the desk, idly turning over the pages when the secretary came into the room.
"Chief Inspector McIver is here, Sir Bryan," she announced. ”

“ And then take last night."
"Well, what about last night?"
"For the first time this gang has come into direct contact with us."
"Always assuming the fact of its existence."
"Exactly, sir," answered McIver. "Well, they've got Zaboleff and they've got Waldock, and they laid eight of us out to cool. I guess they're not to be sneezed at." ”

“ As far as we can see at the moment they are not criminals in the accepted sense of the word. They flogged two of the men who were there last night, and there are no two men in England who more richly deserved it. ”

“ He and some of his men in the normal course of duty surrounded a certain house in which were some people we wanted to lay our hands on. To be more accurate there was one man there whom we wanted. He'd been shadowed ever since he'd landed in England that morning, shadowed the whole way from the docks to the house. ”

“ I had had a couple of good men on duty there lying concealed the whole day, and when I arrived at about nine-thirty with Sergeant Andrews and half-a-dozen others, they reported to me that at least eight men were inside, and that Zaboleff was one of them. ”