THE
TEETH OF THE TIGER
V by J
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSLATED BY
ALEXANDER TEIXE1RA DE MATT03
CHAPTER ELEVEN (Continued,)
“And confessed our love? Apart
from the fact that her womanly
modesty would have prevented
her, what good would it have
done? On the contrary, it meant
lending greater weight to the ac
cusation. That was just what
happened when Hippolyte Fau
ville’s letters, appearing one by
one, revealed to the police the as
yet unknown motives of the
crimes imputed to us. We loved
each other.”
“How do you explain the let
ters ? ’ ’
“I can’t explain them. We did
not know of Fauville’s jealousy,
lie kept it to himself. And then,
again, why did he suspect us?
What can have put it into his head
that we meant to kill him ? Where
did his fears, his nightmares,
come from? It is a mystery. lie
wrote that he had letters of our*
in his possession: what letters
“And the marks of the teeth,
those marks which were undoubt
edly made by Mme. Fauvillo?”
“I don’t know. It is all incom
ptenevisible.”
“You don’t know either what
she can have done after leaving
the opera between 12 and 2 in
the morning?”
“No. She was evidently lured
into a trap. But how and by
whom? And why does she not
say what she was doing? More
mystery.”
“You were seen that evening,
the evening of the murder, at
Auteuil station. What were you
doing there?”
“I was going to the Boulevard
Suchet and I passed under Marie’s
windows. Remember that it was
a Wednesday. I came back on
the following Wednesday, and,
still knowing nothing of the trag
edy or of Marie’s arrest, I came
back again on the second Wednes
day, which was the evening on
which you found out where I
lived and informed Sergeant
Mazeroux against me.”
“.Another thing. Did you know
of the Mornington inheritance?”
“No, nor Florence either; and
we have every reason to think that
Marie and her husband knew no
more about it than we did.”
“That barn at Damigni: was it
the first time that you had en
tered it?”
“Yes; and our astonishment at
the sight of the two skeletons
hanging from the rafters equalled
yours.”
Don Luis was silent. He east
about for a few seconds longer to
see if he had any more questions
to ask. Then he said:
“That is all I wanted to know
Are you, on your side, certain that
everything that is necessary has
been said?”
“Yes.”
“This is a serious moment. It
is possible that we may not meet
again. Now you have not given
me a single proof of your state
ments.”
“I have told you the truth. To
a man like yourself, the truth is
enough. As for me, I am beaten.
I give up the struggle, or, rather,
I place myself under your orders.
Save Marie.”
“I will save the three of you,” j
said Percnna. “The fourth of the
mysterious letters is to make its
appearance tomorrow: that leaves
ample time for ns to lay our heads
together and study the matter
fully. And tomorrow evening 1;
shall go there and, with the help
of all that you have told me, l
shall prove the innocence of you
all. The essential thing is to be j
present at the meeting on the
25th of May.”
“Please think only of Marie.
Sacrifice me, if necessary. Saeri-1
fice Florence even. I am speak
ing in her name as weli as my own
when I tell you that it is better to
desert us than to jeopardize the
slightest chance of success. ”
“1 will save the three of you,”
Perenna repeated.
He pushed the door ajar and,
after listening outside, said:
“Don’t move. And don’t open
the door to anybody, on any pre
text whatever, before I come to
fetch you. I shall not be long.”
He locked the door behind him
and went down to the first floor.
He did not feel those high spirits
which usually cheered him on the
eve of his great battles. This tkae.
_-_
28
Florence Levasseur’s life and lib
erty were at stake; and the conse
quences of a defeat seemed to him
worse than death.
Through the window on the
landing he saw the detectives
guarding the courtyard. He
counted sijt of them. And lie also
saw the deputy chief at one of the
windows of his study, watching
the courtyard and keeping in
touch with his detectives,
j “By Jovo” he thought, “he’s
sticking to his post. It will be a
tough job. He suspects something.
However, let’s make a start”
He went, through the drawing
room and entered his study.
Weber saw him., The two enemies
were face to face.
There was a few seconds’ si
lence before the duel opened, the
duel which was bound to be swift
and vigorous, without the least
sign of weakness or distraction on
either side. It could not last
longer than three minutes.
The deputy chief’s face bore an
expression of mingled joy and
anxiety. For the first time he had
permission, he had orders, to fight
that accursed Don Luis, against
whom he had never yet been able
to satisfy his hatred. And his de
light was all the greater because
he held every trump, whereas Don
Luis had put himself in the wrong
by defending Florence Levasseur
and tampering with the girl’s por
trait. On the other hand, Weber
did not forget that Don Luis was
identical with Arsene Lupin; and
this consideration caused him a
certain uneasiness. He was obvi
ously thinking:
“The least blunder, and I’m
done for.”
He crossed swords with a jest.
“I see that you were not in
Mile. Levasseur's lodge, as your
man pretended.”
“My man spoke in accordance
with my instructions. 1 was in
my bedroom, upstairs. But I
wanted to finish the job before I
came down.”
“And is it done?”
“ 11’s done. Florence Levasseur
and Gaston Sauverand are in my
room, gagged and bound. You
have only to accept delivery of
the goods.”
“Gaston Sauverand!” cried
Weber. “Then it was he who was
seen coming in?”
“Yes. He was simply living
with Florence Levasseur, whose
lover he is.”
“Oho!” said the deputy chief,
in a bantering tone. “Her lover!”
“Yes; and when Sergeant
Mazeroux brought Florence Le
vasseur to my room, to question
Her out of hearing of the servants,
Sauverand, foreseeing the arrest
of his mistress, had the audacity
to join us. He tried to rescue her
from our hands.”
“And you checkmated him?”
“Yes.”
It was clear that the deputy
chief did not believe one word of
the story. He knew through M.
Desmalions and Mazeroux that
Don Luis was in love with Flor
ence ; and Don Luis was not the
man even through jealousy to
hand over a woman whom he
loved. He increased his attention.
“Good business!” he said.
“Take me up to your room. Was
it a hard struggle?”
“Not very. I managed to dis
arm the scoundrel. All the same,
Mazeroux got stabbed in the
thumb.”
"Nothing serious?”
“Oh, dear, no; but he has gone
to have his wouud dressed at the
chemist’s. ”
The deputy chief stopped,
greatly surprised.
“What! Isn’t Mazeroux in
vour room with the two prison
ers?”
“I never told you that he was.”
“No, but your butler-”
“The bntler made a mistake.
Mazeroux went out a few minutes
before you earn?."
“It’s funny,” said Weber,
watching Don Luis closely, “but
my men all think he’s here. They
haven’t seen him go out.”
“They haven’t seen him go
out?” echoed Don Luis, pretend
ling to feel anxious. “But, then,
! where can he be ? He told me he
wanted to have his thumb seen
to.”
The deputy ehief was growing
more and more suspicious. Evi
dently Percnna was trying to get
rid of him by sending him in
search of the sergeant.
‘‘I will send one of my men,”
he said. ‘‘Is the chemist’s near?”
‘‘Just around the corner, in the
Rue de Rourgogne. Besides, we
can telephone.”
‘‘Oh, we can telephone!” mut
tered Weber.
He was quite at a loss and
looked like a man who does not
know what is going to happen
next. He moved slowly toward
the instrument, while barring the
way to Don Luis to prevent his
escaping. Don Luis therefore re
treated to the telephone box, as
if forced to do so, took down the
receiver with one hand, and, call
ing,‘‘Hullo! Hullo! Saxe, 2409,”
with the other hand, which was
resting against the wall, he cut
one of the wires with a pair of
pliers which he had taken off the
table as he passed.
“Hullo! Are you there? Is
that 2409? Are you the chemist?
. . . Hullo! . . . Sergeant Maze
roux of the detective service is
with you, isn’t he? Eh? "What?
What do you say? But it’s too
awful! Are you sure ? Do you
mean to say the wound is poi
soned?”
Without thinking what he was
doing, the deputy chief pushed,
Don Luis aside and took hold of
the receiver. The thought of the
poisoned wound was too much for
him.
“Are you there?” he cried,
keeping an eye on Don Luis and
motioning to him not to go away.
“Are you there? . . . Eh? . . .
It’s Deputy Chief Weber, of the
detective office, speaking. . . .
Hullo! Are you there? ... I
I want to know about Sergeant
Mazeroux. . . . Are you there?
. . . Oh, hang it, why don’t you
answer!”
Suddenly he let go the instru
ment, looked at the wires, per
ceived that they had been cut, and
turned round, showing a face that
■clearly expressed the thought in
his mind.
“That’s done it. I’ve been
tricked!”
Perenna was standing a couple
of yards behind him, leaning care
lessly against the woodwork of
the arch, with his left hand passed
between his back and the wood
work. He was smiling, smiling
pleasantly, kindly, and genially:
“Don’t move!” he said, with a
gesture of his right hand.
Weber, more frightened by that
smile than he would have been
by threats, took good care not to
move.
“Don’t more,” repeated Don
Luis, in a very queer voice.
“And, whatever you do, don’t be
alarmed. You shan’t be hurt, I
promise you. Just five minutes
in a dark cell for a naughty little
boy. Are you ready? One, two,
three! Bang!”
He stood aside and pressed the
button that worked the iron cur
tain. The heavy panel came
crashing to the floor. The deputy
chief was a prisoner.
“That’s a hundred millions
gone to Jericho,” grinned Don
Luis. “A pretty trick, but a bit
expensive. Good-bye, Morning
ton inheritance! Good-bye, Don
Luis Perenna! And now, my
dear Lupin, if you don’t want
Weber to take his revenge, beat
a retreat and in good order. One,
two; left, right; left, right!”
As he spoke, he locked on the
inside, the folding doors between
the drawing room and the first
floor anteroom; then, returning
to his study, he locked the door
between this room and the draw
ing room.
The deputy chief was banging
at the iron curtain with all his
might and shouting so loud that
they were bound to hear him out
side through the open window.
“You’re not making half
enough ,noise, deputy!” cried Don
Luis. “Let’s soe what we can
do.”
He took his revolver and fired
off three bullets, one of which
broke a pane. Then he quickly
left his study by a small, massive
door, which he carefully dosed
behind him. He was now in a
secret passage which ran round
both rooms and ended at another
door leading to the anteroom. He
opened this door wide and was!
thus able to hide behind it.
Attracted by the shots and the
nome, the detectives were already
rushing through the hall and up
the staircase. When they reached
the first floor and had gone
through the anteroom, as the
dsawing room dSors were loeked,
the only outlet opuen to them was
the passage, at the end of which
they could hear the deputy shout
ing. They all aix darted down it.
When the last of them had van
ished round the bend in the pass
age, Don Luis softly pu*h»d back
the door that concealed him and
loeked it like the rest. The six
! detectives were as safely impris
oued as the deputy chief.
“Bottled!” muttered Don Luis.
“It will take them quite five min
utes to realize the situation, to
bang at the locked doors, and to
break down one of them. In five
minutes we shall be far away.”
He met two of his servants run
ning up with scared faces, the
chauffeur and the butler. He
flung each of them a thousand
franc note and said to the chauf
feur : _
“Bet the engine going, there’s
a sportsman, and let no one near
the machine to block my way.
Two thousand francs more for
each of you if I get off in the
motor. Don’t stand staring at me
like that: I mean what I say. Two
thousand franee apiece: it’s for
you to earn it. Look sharp!”
He himself went up the second
flight without undue haste, re
maining master of himself. But,
on the last stair, he was seized
with such a feeling of elation that
he shouted:
victory! The road is clear!
The boudoir door was opposite.
He opened it and repeated:
“Victory! But there’s not a
second to lose. Follow me.”
He entered. A stifled oath es
caped his lips.
The room was empty.
“What!” he stammered.
“What does this mean? They’re
gone. . . . Florence-”
Certainly, unlikely though it
seemed, he had hitherto supposed
that Sauverand possessed a false
kev to the loek. But how could
they both have escaped, in tho
nnust oi tue detectives? lie
looked around him. And then he
understood.
In the recess containing the
window, the lower part of the
wall, which formed a very wide
box underneath the easement, had
the top of its woodwork raised
and resting against the panes, ex
actly like the lid of a chest. And
inside the open chest he saw the
upper rungs of a narrow descend
ing ladder.
In a second, Don Luis conjured
up the whole story of the past:
Count Malonyi’s ancestress hiding
in the old family mansion, escap
ing the search of the perquisitors,
and in this way living through
out the revolutionary troubles.
Everything was explained. A
passage contrived in the thickness
of the wall led to some distant
outlet. And this was how Flor
ence used to come and go through
the house; this was how Gaston
went in and out in all security;
and this also was how both of
them were able to enter his room
and surprise his secrets.
“Why not have told me?” he
wondered. “A lingering suspi
cion, I suppose”
But his eyes were attracted by
a sheet of paper on the table.
With a feverish hand, Gaston
Sauverand had scribbled the fol
lowing lines in pencil:
“We are trying to escape so as
not to ccvmpromise you. If we are
caught, it can't be helped. The
great thing is that you should be
free. All our hopes are centered
in you.”
Below were two words written
by Florence:
"Save Marie.”
“Ah,” he murmured, discon
certed by the turn of events and
not knowing what to decide,
“why, oh, why did they not obey
my instructions? We are sep
arated now-”
Downstairs the detectives were
battering at the door of the pass
age in which they were impris
oned. Perhaps he would still have
time to reach his motor before
they succeeded iu breaking down
the door. Nevertheless, he pre
ferred to taka the same road as
Florence and Sauverand, which
gave him the hope of saving them
and of rescuing them in case of
danger.
Hs therefore stepped over the
side of the chest, placed his foot
on the top rung and went down.
Some 20 bars brought him to the
middle of the- first floor. Here,
by the light of Iris electric lantern,
he entered a sort of low, vaulted
tunnel, dug, as he tnought, in the
wall, and so narrow that he could
only walk along it sideways.
Thirty yards farther there was
a bend, at right angles; and next,
at the end of another tunnel of
the same length, a trapdoor,
which stood open, revealing the
rnugs of a second ladder. He did
nat doubt that the fugitives had
gone this way.
It was quite ligjjt at the bottom.
Hero he found himself in a eup
beard which was also open and
which, on ordinary occasions,
must have been covered by cur
tains that were now drawn. This
cupboard fase<i a bed that filled
almost the whole space of an al
ceve. On passing through the
alcove and reaching a room from
which it was separated only by a
slender partition, to his great sur
prise, he recognized Florence’s
sitting room.______
(Continued Next VV
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9
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* y*
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■iiiiSiiiiiliiiSaSiiiSaiiSaSiSSiiii
Bean Cake as Food in Japan.
Beau cake, which is produced in
Inge quantities in South Manchuria,
has been regarded locally ns good for
little else than fertilizer. The Man
churia Daily News now suggests its
use ns food, stating that Viscount Ta
jirl, the new mayor of Toljyo, holds
the cake as excellently suited to the
Japanese palate. The News states
that bean cake eosts only one-third as
much ns rice, and contains more nu
triment than wheat or barley. To pre
pare it for the table the cake is mixed
with an equal quantity of rice.—Com
merce Reports.
A man likes to believe in eternal
punishment for (he other fellow.
Cause for Manslaughter.^
It was a Scottish gathering in one of
tiie colonies, and what the playing of
the one and only piper present lacked
In skill Was made up In energy. At the'
end of a particularly strenuous out
burst, as the piper was taking a short
rest, one of the guests went up to him.
“That’s capital,” he said. “Thank
you very much. Now would you mind
playing ‘The Cock o’ the North' for
us?”
“‘The Cock o’ the North’!” almost
shrieked the piper. “Man, do ye no
ken A’ve bin playin’ it for the last
quarter o’ an ’oor?”
Any man who lives within himself
is npt to be troubled with indigestion.
^ One Carload I
Every Two Minutes j |
,*,« 15,000 POUNDS 7 ill
MEAT A MINUTE * 11
rlj In «*<>’ jS In
I* £ GOING TO ALLIES £
In, to _________ *nw If ill
of the teT 'Jl
t P l0k. One Hog Out of Every tei |||
»y th* Four Being Sent m1)' ||||
S£ A&iW. 11
sar rol w on'
•e .ond Shipments of meat have been going R. |i|j|j||
| In the to the allies for some time at the rate
la 78 of 15.000 pounds a minute. As the j jjjfjj
H i 917. shipments are kept up during a ten all £ HI
: - bb* • of hour day they amount to 9,000,000 ffl]|||H
S| * ban pounds dally. The meat goes to sol- c!# fjlj |||
H tr, the dlers of the United States and the al- ^ || ||ij|
jS fid as lies and t* the civilian population of j2i | j||||
|| 'uget all the countries at war with Ger- the
,m._ hTajA".—" r» ■■ - — - 1 Clai i
I —Chicago Tribune, June S, MIS |lj||]|||
These statements
were made by a prom
| inent representative of 1
;* the United States Food
!t Administration. 1
I No industry in the ijj
country has played a |
Ij more important part in
helping to win the war if
than the American live
stock and meat-packing
II ' industry.
Ilf Swift & Company jj I
i| alone has been forward
ing over 500 car loads of
meat and meat products
per week for overseas
| I shipment.
11 Swift & Company, U. S. A. I j
