Valentine Williams

“ The talk and laughter had died down outside, but from time to time my ear caught a measured foot-tread as though a guard were walking up and down before the shed....
The plank came up easily enough. My heart sank within me. It revealed merely a shallow trough about three feet deep going down to the foundations of the shed which, as I had guessed, were set in concrete.
I got down into the hole and crawled in under the floor. It was pitch-dark and abominably hot down there under the boards, with a strong smell of rats. ”

“ They pushed me into the cool dimness of the cave. An odour of unwashed humanity, which blended gratefully with a searching smell of garlic, hung about my unseen captors.
“Herr Gott!” cried Grundt, “it's as dark as pitch in this hole. Cut away this cursed plant, some of you, and let's have some light!”
The creeper fell away. The golden sunlight that flooded the cave showed me Clubfoot, his black-tufted hands folded across the crutch handle of his heavy stick, grim and lowering. ”

“ Grundt made a quick gesture of the hand.
“Take away his gun!” he ordered.
The fair young man I had seen at the graveside stepped forward. Roughly, vindictively, he ran his hands over me. He found Carstairs's automatic in my side pocket and transferred it to his own.
“You see these men,” said Clubfoot, bending his bushy eyebrows at me. “Their orders are to shoot to kill in the event of any attempt on your part to escape. And whatever your private views on suicide may be you will probably bear in mind that Miss Garth—the charming Miss Garth—will, in any case, be left to mourn you...” ”