An Eye for a Tooth by Dornford Yates

Author:Dornford Yates
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: An Eye for a Tooth
ISBN: 9780755127139
Publisher: House of Stratus
Published: 2013-06-09T00:00:00+00:00

“How d’you feel, George?” said Mansel.

“Well, I have felt better,” said George, “but I’m not dead yet. And when Bill pushed Forecast’s face, that did me a lot of good. Oh, and thank you all very much for saving my soul. If they’d gone on as they began, I should not have survived. And now please interrogate Carson, who knows rather more than I. It’s not that I’m being churlish, but the pain in the back of my head embarrasses thought. I think I must have been struck with what the police would call ‘a blunt instrument.’ It’s nothing to do with my fall, though I took the deuce of a toss.”

“What happened, Carson?” said Mansel.

“They’ve a spy or spies in Talc, sir. They knew that the Rolls was out.”

“Ah,” said Mansel. “Go on.”

“It was all very quick, sir. Two shots, one after the other, were fired in front of the house – to attract us, of course; but we didn’t realize that. Then, from the other side, we heard the horn of the Rolls.”

“What, this horn?” said Mansel.

“One just like it, sir. And of course we thought it was you.”

“Very clever,” said Mansel. “And that explains the use of the limousine. Same, very unusual horn as that of the Rolls. And how did they find that out?”

“They know quite a lot, sir,” said Carson, “if you ask me.”

“I’ll say they do,” said Mansel. “Get on with your tale.”

“Well, we all of us turned and ran. We thought you were in a jam, sir, sounding the horn. And we knew it was some way off – say the other end of the wood. In fact, that’s just where it was…

“Well, you know how Mr Hanbury can run, sir. He was leading by thirty yards when we got to the wood. And I was next; and then came Rowley and Bell.

“I saw him take the last of the bends, and I heard him fall. A wire, sir, six feet from the bend, clean across the road, made fast to a couple of trees. And, as I came round the bend, a searchlight comes on – they must have had one fixed on the back of the car. I was blinded, of course, and, as I dived for the trees, a bullet goes by my ear. And then the searchlight goes out and the car slips away. And when I try to find Mr Hanbury, he’s not to be seen.”

“Simple and neat,” said Mansel. “You can’t get away from that. But the smartest thing of all was their striking tonight.”

“How so?” said I.

“Well, don’t you think it was?”

“Well, we didn’t expect them to.”

“Why didn’t we expect them to?” said Mansel.

After a moment’s reflection—

“Cain came with an offer this morning. We naturally thought that, when we had turned it down, it would take him a little while to think up something else.”

“Exactly,” said Mansel. “And why did I think that, William? Because I was meant to think it. Cain’s visit this morning was camouflage – dust in my eyes.

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