05 - The COURAGEOUS EXPLOITS OF DOCTOR SYN by Russell Thorndike

Author:Russell Thorndike [Thorndike, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

8

THE DANDY SLEUTHS

Since that affair at the Admiralty, when the Scarecrow had prevented the informer, Handgrove, from collecting the

Government reward for betraying the secret base in France where his contraband boats were loaded, the Nightriders

of Romney Marsh became more than ever the topic of popular conversation amongst the London gossips. The

mysterious disappearance of Handgrove had not ceased to be the chief source of wonder at the scarecrow’s skill,

when the corpse was found hanging from the common gibbet outside the Court House in Dymchurch.

Amongst people of all classes a great fear had arisen concerning the Scarecrow. The average man, whether

regaling himself in a club of fashion, a coffee -house, or a tavern, declared that if ever he had the opportunity to

betray the Scarecrow, or his men, he would be too scared to do it, since what had happened to Handgrove might and

probably would be the lot of any other who was dangerous towards the Scarecrow’s schemes. However, this was

but the opinion of the average man. A thousand golden guineas, which was now the reward offered for the

Scarecrow alive or dead, was yet a great temptation to any man of courage who happened to be desperate for hard

cash.

And such a one was Sir Harry Sales.

A young bachelor, clever, well dressed and attractive in manner as in face and form, he loved the ladies so well

that he could never bring himself down to a one and only. His friends said of him that he would never marry in case

his lady wife made him give up his gambling habits. Not that he was skilled in cards or dice, but he loved the

excitement that they brought. He preferred to cut the pack for money, rather than to play a game of skill with them.

He liked to know quickly his gain or loss.

Having gone through a considerable fortune at the gaming clubs, he had retired to his country

Seat, meaning to cut his losses by quiet living. But after a few weeks the gloom of his rambling old house got on his

nerves, and the urge to return to the fashionable clubs of London compelled him to sell family pictures, jewelry and

plate. With the funds thus obtained he drove to London in order to try a last conflict with the Goddess of Fate.

At them Bucks’ Club in St. James’s he was received back with open arms. He had been missed for himself by

his real friends, and by others because he played for high stakes and lost gamely. What was more to the point of

pleasing them, he lost pretty persistently. Also he was over-generous and when the wine mounted to his brain,

which never made him quarrelsome, but the more jovial, he did not notice that he was doing all the paying.

His last funds sank as rapidly as he played. When luck was with him one night, it deserted him more disastrously

the next. But he stuck to his purpose, hoping that he would be the gainer at the last. The crisis came when he had

circulated the wine too freely, and his muddled, jolly head made a miscalculation of a thousand guineas.

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