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Jeffroll. Voss-Weems-you tie him up. I ll see if I can make him talk.
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Weems got up limply out of his chair and produced a coil of wire. The Saint s
arms were twisted behind his back, and the wrists quickly and efficiently
bound; then his ankles were similarly treated. Jeffroll s mouth worked as if
he was tempted to refuse interference and stick to his original threat, but he
said nothing.
Portmore got up and came round the desk. He handed the shot-gun over to Voss
and stood in front of the Saint.
Will you answer that question, or have I got to thrash it out of you? he
demanded.
Simon looked at him steadily. Placed as he was, it required a superhuman
effort to hold back the obvious defiance. Only the fact that he could
understand and sympathise with the feelings of his inquisitors helped him to
check his temper -that, and the knowledge that the same liberties could not be
taken with a crazed amateur that could be taken with dispassionate
professionals.
Don t you think it might have been worth while asking me the question in a
normal manner, before you were reduced to all this Lyceum stuff? he replied
evenly.
For a second they were taken aback; then Portmore blustered back into the
breach.
All right-if you re going to answer the question, you can answer it now.
I haven t the vaguest notion where Julia is, said the Saint immediately.
But I expect Garthwait could tell us.
Because he helped you take her away, chattered Jeffroll.
You re wrong there, said the Saint, as equably as he could. I ve told you
that I had nothing to do with it. Will you tell me when you think she was
taken?
The landlord s white tragic face was in grotesque contrast to the
murderousness of his eyes.
You know that. You let Garthwait out of this office-you only pretended to
fight him because you thought we d be taken in by you. You took her away
between you, last night. You took your car out of the garage----
You saw that when you came out to drive a lorryload of earth from your
tunnel down to the quay and tip it into the harbour, said the Saint.
If he had expected to cause a sensation with that blunt challenge, he was
disappointed. Not one of the men showed any more reaction than if he had shown
that he knew the hotel had a thatched roof; and Jeffroll babbled on: You took
her away in your car, and then Garthwait telephoned this morning-------
This is wasting time, snarled Voss. Let him do the talking, old man; and
if he doesn t talk we ll see what we can do to make him.
I m waiting for a chance to talk, retorted the Saint curtly. I guess there
are plenty of explanations to be made, and I don t want to waste time either.
I ll put my cards on the table and trade them for yours, if you can stop
making damn fools of yourselves for five minutes.
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Get on with it, then, said Portmore. And don t call me a damn fool again,
or I ll hurt you.
Simon looked him in the eyes.
Hitting a man who can t hit you back would naturally prove you weren t a
damn fool, wouldn t it? he said icily.
Oh, leave him alone, Portmore, drawled Weems. Let s hear what he s got to
say first.
Thanks. Simon held the Major s gaze as long as the other would meet it;
then he relaxed against the wall. What I ve got to say won t take long. To
start with, my name isn t Tombs. It s Templar-Simon Templar. You may have read
about me in the newspaper sometime. I m called the Saint.
This time he did get a reaction; but for about the first time in his life he
did not pause to bask in the scapegrace glow which his own notoriety usually
gave him.
I came down here because I heard there was something mysterious going on,
and poking my nose into mysterious goings-on is my business. I d never met
Garthwait in my life, never heard of him, till we had that argument in the bar
last night and I pushed his face in. I know most of the crooks in this
country, but I can t know all of them. I came prowling about last night
because I heard noises, and I found Garthwait tied up in here-----
And let him out.
No. I admit it was my fault that he got out, but it was unintentional. I
opened the door with a pair of wirecutting pliers, and I left them behind,
accidentally, when I went out again. Before that, he d told me that he was
supposed to meet a guy on the Axminster road, and that this guy would give me [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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Jeffroll. Voss-Weems-you tie him up. I ll see if I can make him talk.
Page 128
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Weems got up limply out of his chair and produced a coil of wire. The Saint s
arms were twisted behind his back, and the wrists quickly and efficiently
bound; then his ankles were similarly treated. Jeffroll s mouth worked as if
he was tempted to refuse interference and stick to his original threat, but he
said nothing.
Portmore got up and came round the desk. He handed the shot-gun over to Voss
and stood in front of the Saint.
Will you answer that question, or have I got to thrash it out of you? he
demanded.
Simon looked at him steadily. Placed as he was, it required a superhuman
effort to hold back the obvious defiance. Only the fact that he could
understand and sympathise with the feelings of his inquisitors helped him to
check his temper -that, and the knowledge that the same liberties could not be
taken with a crazed amateur that could be taken with dispassionate
professionals.
Don t you think it might have been worth while asking me the question in a
normal manner, before you were reduced to all this Lyceum stuff? he replied
evenly.
For a second they were taken aback; then Portmore blustered back into the
breach.
All right-if you re going to answer the question, you can answer it now.
I haven t the vaguest notion where Julia is, said the Saint immediately.
But I expect Garthwait could tell us.
Because he helped you take her away, chattered Jeffroll.
You re wrong there, said the Saint, as equably as he could. I ve told you
that I had nothing to do with it. Will you tell me when you think she was
taken?
The landlord s white tragic face was in grotesque contrast to the
murderousness of his eyes.
You know that. You let Garthwait out of this office-you only pretended to
fight him because you thought we d be taken in by you. You took her away
between you, last night. You took your car out of the garage----
You saw that when you came out to drive a lorryload of earth from your
tunnel down to the quay and tip it into the harbour, said the Saint.
If he had expected to cause a sensation with that blunt challenge, he was
disappointed. Not one of the men showed any more reaction than if he had shown
that he knew the hotel had a thatched roof; and Jeffroll babbled on: You took
her away in your car, and then Garthwait telephoned this morning-------
This is wasting time, snarled Voss. Let him do the talking, old man; and
if he doesn t talk we ll see what we can do to make him.
I m waiting for a chance to talk, retorted the Saint curtly. I guess there
are plenty of explanations to be made, and I don t want to waste time either.
I ll put my cards on the table and trade them for yours, if you can stop
making damn fools of yourselves for five minutes.
Page 129
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Get on with it, then, said Portmore. And don t call me a damn fool again,
or I ll hurt you.
Simon looked him in the eyes.
Hitting a man who can t hit you back would naturally prove you weren t a
damn fool, wouldn t it? he said icily.
Oh, leave him alone, Portmore, drawled Weems. Let s hear what he s got to
say first.
Thanks. Simon held the Major s gaze as long as the other would meet it;
then he relaxed against the wall. What I ve got to say won t take long. To
start with, my name isn t Tombs. It s Templar-Simon Templar. You may have read
about me in the newspaper sometime. I m called the Saint.
This time he did get a reaction; but for about the first time in his life he
did not pause to bask in the scapegrace glow which his own notoriety usually
gave him.
I came down here because I heard there was something mysterious going on,
and poking my nose into mysterious goings-on is my business. I d never met
Garthwait in my life, never heard of him, till we had that argument in the bar
last night and I pushed his face in. I know most of the crooks in this
country, but I can t know all of them. I came prowling about last night
because I heard noises, and I found Garthwait tied up in here-----
And let him out.
No. I admit it was my fault that he got out, but it was unintentional. I
opened the door with a pair of wirecutting pliers, and I left them behind,
accidentally, when I went out again. Before that, he d told me that he was
supposed to meet a guy on the Axminster road, and that this guy would give me [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]