Kate plus 10
Barr. “I dared not move until it was dark. I tell you, sir, I had a
bit of a fright. I thought they would get away.”
“Have you a revolver?” asked his chief.
The man slipped a weapon into his hand. They made their way softly
back through the room where the engine was still smoking, through the
little steel door of the office. It was empty save for a shrouded
figure which lay beneath the table. There was a second door in the
room. Michael tried this. It was locked. He heard voices and tapped at
the door.
“Who is there?” said Gregori.
“Open the door,” said Michael.
“Who is there?” demanded Gregori again.
“Open, in the name of the law,” said Michael.
He heard a shuffle of feet and an oath and stood waiting, his pistol
extended but the door did not open. A sudden silence came.
“Is there any way out of here?”
“There is a door leading into the shed where the engine is,” said the
girl. She was white and trembling… that shrouded figure under the
table had been the last straw.
Michael dashed out into the shed but it was too late.
As his feet crossed the foothold a bullet struck the steel door and
ricochetted to the roof. In the dim light offered by an oil flare he
saw Mulberry and Stockmar hoisting the inanimate figure of Dr. Garon
to the cab of the engine. He fired twice and Cunningham stumbled but
was dragged into the cab. Then with a mighty “schuff!” which
reverberated through the building the engine began to move toward the
closed door. It gathered speed in the dozen yards or so it had to
traverse and then with a crash it struck the gate, splintering and
sending it flying.
Michael flew the length of the shed and arrived at the outer gates in
time to see the engine disappearing round the edge of the bluff. Barr
was at his side and the two men stood helpless, as their enemies
gradually receded into the grey dusk.
“There is a telephone here,” said Michael quickly, “but it is probably
laid for their own purpose.”
“I left my motor-bike on the top of the hill somewhere, sir,” said
Barr.
“Get on to it,” said Michael.
He stood listening to the sound of the locomotive going faster and
faster. A hand touched his timidly.
“Did they get away?”
He slipped his arm round the girl.
“I am afraid they have,” he said.
He was turning back to the shed when the roar of an explosion set the
building trembling.
“What was that?” whispered the girl.
They walked back to the end of the bluff. There was no need for him to
speculate as to the direction from whence the explosion had come, for
a bright red glow two miles away illuminated the whole countryside.
“Something has happened to the engine,” he said.
He did not know till an hour later that running at full speed the
Atlantic had dashed into a down goods train and that the blaze he
witnessed was the blaze of a burning petroleum tank which the wrecked
Atlantic had crushed in its death flurry.
“We have not been able to recognize any of them,” said T.B. “Do you
think Kate Westhanger was with them?”
“Kate Westhanger is no more,” said Michael gravely, and he spoke the
truth for Kate Pretherston was at that moment on her way to France,
where her husband intended joining her just as soon as his resignation
was accepted.
“But why give up the work, Michael?” said T.B.
“I found, sir,” said Michael, “that it was sapping my moral
qualities.”
“Your moral qualities?” said his puzzled chief. “I didn’t know that
you had any. What particular form did the sapping take?”
“I found, sir,” said Michael, “that I was developing a fondness for
the criminal classes.”
THE END
ENDNOTES
[1]
_Tolmini made a mess of it_] See Rex _v._ Tolmini (Notts. Assizes).
This was evidently the big mail robbery which failed, owing to the
precipitancy of one of the criminals.--Editor.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Minor spelling inconsistencies (e.g. drawing-room/drawing room,
fireplace/fire-place, motor-car/motor car, etc.) have been preserved.
Alterations to the text:
Convert footnote to endnote.
Standardize the time formatting to use the colon. (The source text
used both periods and colons.)
[Chapter II]
Change “Her mother was a wholesome parson’s _wife_, her father was a
rascal who was kicked out of the army” to _daughter_.
[Chapter IV]
“But what I mean to say is this; there was a time when you” change
the semicolon to a colon.
[Chapter V]
“across the _streaming_ brass pots and the blistering hot plates” to
_steaming_.
[Chapter VI]
(“I am sending you two tickets for the theatre _tonight_.) to
_to-night_.
[Chapter VIII]
(“That, Princess.” he said, “is Lady Moya Felton.”) change the first
period to a comma.
[Chapter XII]
“pulled it back until he felt the snap of the rotten _hand_ as it
broke” to _handle_.
“And Daddy, if you are rude to Fonso, I shall be very rude to Ralph.”
add comma after _And_.
[Chapter XIII]
(“Well, you couldn’t open them from the box,” said the man) add a
period to this sentence.
[Chapter XIX]
(“Did you see it open. That is what knocked the candle over.”) Change
the first period to a question mark.
[End of text]