Conspiracies -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction
For answer, Teal pointed to the cellarette, and Storm went over and
opened the small parcel which lay there. He took a glance at the
hypodermic syringe it contained, and the two phials packed into the
metal syringe-case, and slipped the box into his pocket.
He carried writing materials over to the breakfast table and wrote
while he made his meal. When he had finished there were five closely
written pages which he checked over carefully and then sealed into an
envelope, scribbling his initials on the flap.
He gave the package to Bill Kennedy.
"I put you on your honour not to open this unless I fail to report at
the Yard by midnight," he said. "It gives you the identity of the
Triangle and a string of substantial evidence against him--enough to
hang an army! If I don't turn up you'll know what to do. Secondly,
I'll bet you've had men put on to guard me after last night?"
"Yes." Bill nodded.
"Take 'em off right now! Bill, I guarantee that if I see anyone that
looks like a nursemaid in trousers tailing me around when I leave
here I'll wring his neck! I _want_ the Triangle to catch me--that's
the only chance I've got left of cleaning up this mess outside of the
Old Bailey. You put that right up inside the big bone you wear under
your hat, and let it dig itself in!"
Even as he spoke Storm was stripping off his coat and shirt, and they
had a chance to view his magnificent torso. The muscle just lay on
him in slabs, writhing and cording under the satiny skin with every
movement he made. He was ribbed out and sinewed up like a
thoroughbred racehorse--he might have served as a model for a statue
of Apollo, with his perfectly proportioned, splendidly supple and yet
immensely powerful development. Storm was always trained to a hair;
and, at that moment, as he stretched and limbered up, he looked fit
to fight for a kingdom ... whereas he was going to fight for
something which, to him, meant more than all the cities of the world
and their glory----
He disappeared into his bedroom and returned a minute later with a
heavy bundle in his arms.
Against each bicep, by means of straps fastened above and below the
muscle, he fixed neat leather holsters which carried compact
small-calibre automatics. Against his right calf he laid a small
thin razor-sharp poignard which was held in place by his sock and
sock suspender. Thus secretly armed, he pulled over his head a
jerkin of pliant deerskin which laced up to the collar-bone; and over
this he put on a singlet of the finest steel mesh.
Kennedy and Teal observed all these accoutrements with unconcealed
interest, and Storm smiled.
"Courage gets medals," he remarked as he resumed his shirt, "but
people who sail into typhoons without taking in canvas, battening all
hatches, and rigging life-lines, just get what they deserve--and
that's Hell!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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