Colonel Thorndyke's SecretHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
General
Colonel Thorndyke's Secret
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Detective and mystery stories; Hindus -- England -- Fiction; India -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
“We were standing well back, your honor. The moon was on the other side
of the house. There was light enough for us to see them as they got in
at the window, but where we were standing it was quite dark, especially
to chaps who had just come in from the moonlight. As they moved, the
Squire hit the last of them a clout on the head with his hunting crop,
and down he went, as if shot. The man next to him turned, but I did not
see what took place, for, as the Squire had ordered me, I made a rush at
Mr. Bastow and got my arms round him pretty tight, so as to prevent him
using his pistols, if he had any. He struggled hard, but without saying
a word, till I got my heel behind his and threw him on his back. I came
down on the top of him; then I got the pistols out of his belt and threw
them on the bed, slipped the handcuffs onto one wrist, lifted him up a
bit, and then shoved him up against the bedpost, and got the handcuff
onto his other wrist, so that he could not shift away, having the post
in between his arms.
“Then I went to see if the Squire wanted any help, but he didn't. I
first handcuffed the man whose head he had broken, and tied the legs
of the other, and then kept guard over them till morning. When the
constables came up from town we searched the prisoners, and on two
of them found the watches, money, and rings. We found nothing on Mr.
Bastow. I went with the head constable to Mr. Bastow's room and searched
it thoroughly, but found nothing whatever there.”
The evidence created a great sensation in court. John Thorndyke had
first intended to ask Knapp not to make any mention of the fact that
Arthur Bastow was carrying pistols unless the question was directly put
to him. But the more he had thought over the matter, the more convinced
was he that the heavier the sentence the better it would be for the
Rector; and when he had heard from the latter that there was nothing
left in his son's room that could be brought against him, and that he
could not be charged with the capital crime of being a receiver, he
thought it best to let matters take their course.
The head constable was the next witness. He deposed to the finding of
the articles produced upon the two elder prisoners and the unsuccessful
search of the younger prisoner's room.
“You did not search the house further?” the chairman inquired.
“No, sir; I wanted to get the prisoners down here as fast as I could,
seeing that two of them were seriously hurt.”
The chairman nodded.
“You will, of course, make a careful search of the whole house,
constable.”
“Yes, sir; I left one of my men up there with instructions to allow no
one to go upstairs until I returned.”
“Quite right.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account