Fergus Hume

“ The worshipper of the Beast is slain, is slain, is slain. Yea. Yea, and in his high place. Sealed to the Beast, he hath gone to the Beast. Down, down, fathoms down to the eternal burning!” and the crazed creature flung himself wildly about the room, crying and gesticulating.
“Off his rocker!” commented Rackham with grim satisfaction, “not for the first time either. No prison for the master, I guess. He’s past punishment.”
“Any motor-car hereabouts?” Trant asked Jimmy, hurriedly. ”

“ Roderick! Would I had died for thee, my son!” and the frenzy ended in a burst of human tears. The tender father, the brilliant scientist, the cruel plotter was now a mere wreck of what had once been a man.
“Thank God!” breathed Rackham, reverently, “he has escaped you devils.”
“You haven’t!” Camp assured him tapping his shoulder. “I’ll lay there’s nothing dotty about you.”
“Who said there was? What about it?”
“This! You’re the man we want—the man who climbed that wall to complete your damnable work by strangling Slanton.”
Rackham looked at the officer long and hard. ”

“ Slanton and Sister Danby would have denied everything. I’d have been laughed at, coming forward after months and months, with such a steep yarn. No, sir! Mr. More and I took the law into our own hands, and sent Slanton to hell, where I hope he is now. That’s my story, sir,” ended the man, savagely. “Mr. More can carry on,” and he stepped back to his former position, the detective at his elbow.
Dick admired Rackham’s vehement fidelity to his dead master, but thought, as did the rest, that he had carried it to extravagant lengths. ”

“ I brought Slanton to Fryfeld in the side-car, chucked him down on the lawn, and then climbed in through the window into the cottage to hide my tattooing tools in the place where I meant them to be found, so that Sister Danby might be tied up.”
“You’re a devil!” said Camp, stirred out of his ordinary official composure. “What had the poor woman done to you?”
“Murdered my master, along with the Slanton blighter,” snapped Rackham, tartly. “Haven’t you heard? D’y want me to pitch the yarn again?” ”

“ More nodded also, and savagely. “You have been my evil genius. But for you, all this would never have come to light. Not that I mind the revelation. I want all the world to know how a father has avenged his beloved son.”
“You sent Rackham to London, after Mr. Hustings and your daughter discovered your identity,” remarked Camp, ignoring the burst of passion.
“I thought it best that he should be out of the way,” said More, irritably, and striving desperately to control his feelings, “but I never thought that he would be such a fool as to go to Wung’s house in his Wu Ti dress.” ”

“ A thrill passed through Dick. “God! Slanton?”
“And that woman, Danby.”
“No!” the young man threw out a horrified hand to reject the imputation. “I can’t believe that. It’s impossible—incredible.”
More drooped his head, sadly, “I have thought so of late. But—Rackham!”
The man stepped forward, followed by the watchful detective. “It’s neither impossible, nor incredible, sir,” he addressed himself to Hustings, heavily emotional. “I was Lieutenant More’s batman. ”

“ It is no easy matter to exclude induction noises, especially from indoor aerials. But I worked on a sixty metre wave, sacrificing length, to rid myself of blurring. That limitation has not been used—or only rarely used—since it came in handy for short distances in trench-warfare. ”

“ Rackham glared at Jimmy, “if only that little devil hadn’t put the cops on the trail——”
“Jimmy had nothing to do with that,” interrupted Dick, sharply, “it was Jenny Walton who told me that Wu Ti was a customer of Wung’s.”
“Then I’m glad she’s gone west.”
“Not yet,” declared the Inspector, “dying slowly, but still alive.”
Camp rose putting away his notes. “Well, that’s that. I think we have enough evidence to settle this business. My prisoner”—he laid his hand on Rackham—“is here. Yours, Inspector,”—he nodded towards More.
Trant went through the ceremony of arrest as best he could. ”