Detective and mystery stories; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
Dan went to bed with an aching head, doubtless induced by the power of
the drug which had been used to stupefy him. The Sumatra perfume was
evidently both powerful and useful, as it was used by the Society of
Flies not only as a means of recognition in the form of a harmless
scent, but as a soporific to bring about insensibility. Probably many
a person had been rendered unconscious by the drowsy smoke, and taken
to the headquarters of the infernal association, there to become
members. But where the headquarters were to be found, Dan had not the
slightest notion. And, as his head pained him greatly, he decided to
wait until the next morning before thinking out the matter. Off and on
he managed to sleep a trifle, but it was not until the small hours
that true slumber came to him. It was nine o'clock when he woke, and
then he found his head clear, and the pain absent. Only an evil taste
remained in his mouth, and after a cold bath he felt more himself,
although a touch of languor remained to recall to his recollection
what he had been through.
After breakfast he lighted a pipe, and began to think over late events
as carefully as was necessary. On alighting at his own door he had
paid the driver of the four-wheeled cab, and had asked questions,
which the man was willing enough to answer. Halliday hoped by learning
where the cabman had picked him up, to discover at least the
neighborhood wherein the headquarters were situated. It was difficult
to think that an unconscious person, as he had been, could have been
taken any great distance along streets, or roads, or lanes, without
attention being attracted. But the cabman explained that the friend
who had placed his fare in the four-wheeler, had removed him from a
taxi, which the friend declared had broken down. "And he wanted to get
you home, you being drunk," explained the driver, "so he shoved you
into my trap, and I drove off, having the address I was to take you
to, leaving your friend to look after the broken-down taxi, along with
the chauffer."
From this explanation it was apparent that on being removed from the
dark room Dan had been transported for some distance, long or short,
in the taxi. He did not believe that the same had broken down, but
that his friend--probably Marcus Penn--had hailed the first cab he
saw, and on pretence of an accident had got rid of him in this clever
way. It was West Kensington where this exchange had taken place,
according to the cabman's story, but since he had been driven an
indefinite distance by Penn in the taxi, the headquarters might be in
Hampstead, or Blackheath, or Ilford, or, indeed, anywhere round about
London, if not in the heart of the metropolis itself. All bearings
were lost by the clever way in which the return had been carried out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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