At the end of a rapid drive of about an hour's duration, Messrs.
Murray and Macready were requested by one of the three accompanying
Arabs to alight, and were informed that Severac Bablon desired to
tender his sincere apologies for the inconvenience to which,
unavoidably, he had put them, and for the evils with which--though
only in the "most sacred interests"--he had been compelled to
threaten them. They were absolved from all obligations and at
liberty now to take what steps they thought fit. With which they
were set down in a lonely spot, and the car was driven away. As our
readers are already well aware, this lonely spot was upon
Wandsworth Common.
It is almost impossible to credit the fact that six influential men
of world-wide reputation could thus, publicly, be kidnapped from a
London hotel. But in this connection two things must be remembered.
Firstly, for reasons readily to be understood and appreciated, they
offered no resistance; secondly, the presence of so many Orientals
in the hotel occasioned no surprise. A Prince Said Abu-el-Ahzab had
been residing for some time in the apartments below those occupied
by Mr. J. J. Oppner, and the members of his numerous suite are
familiar to all residents. He and his following have disappeared,
but a cash payment of all outstanding accounts has been left
behind. It has been discovered that the light was cut off from one
of the rooms occupied by the ci-devant prince, and the police are
at work upon several other important clues which point beyond doubt
to the fact that "Prince Said Abu-el-Ahzab" was none other than
Severac Bablon.
During the next twenty-four hours the entire habitable world touched by
cable service literally gasped at this latest stroke of the notorious
Severac Bablon. Despite the frantic and unflagging labours of every man
that Scotland Yard could spare to the case nothing was accomplished. The
wife or nearest kin of each of the missing men had received a typed
card:
"Fear nothing. No harm shall befall a guest of Severac Bablon."
These cards, which could be traced to no maker or stationer, all had
been posted at Charing Cross.
Then, in the stop press of the _Gleaner's_ final edition, appeared the
following:
"Baron Hague, Sir L. Jesson, Messrs. Rohscheimer and Oppner have
returned to their homes."
It is improbable that in the history of the newspaper business, even
during war-time, there has ever been such a rush made for the papers as
that which worked the trade to the point of general exhaustion on the
following morning.
Without pausing here to consider the morning's news, let us return to
the Chancery Legal Incorporated Credit Society Bank.
"Move along here, please. Move on. Move on."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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