Under the Chinese Dragon Part 9

It was all done in a few moments. Constable Hemming was a sharp officer, and was not above taking advice or instructions from any one. He flooded the store with light with one movement of his finger. Then there came the metallic ring of steel. Something bright flashed under the electric lamps, while the officer strode across the floor, banging the door behind him. Click. One of the bracelets went over the wrist of the disconsolate Admiral.

'Come you along here,' commanded Hemming, dragging the man across to a radiator, bolted to the floor. 'Put that other hand there. Now, move if you can. You'll have to take the house with you.'

He pa.s.sed the end of his chain through an interval in the radiator, and clicked the bracelet over the man's other wrist, leaving the Admiral firmly chained to the place.

'What now?' he demanded. 'Guess you've made a haul here. The Admiral!

Gos.h.!.+ The most wanted of 'em all! This is a doing!'

'Get to the door and open it. First, though, pick up that shooter,' said David. 'Don't forget that we have those Russian fellows upstairs.'

'Russians! Who? Where?' demanded Hemming, his face expressing unbounded surprise.

'Spolikoff and Ovanovitch, two men of about thirty years of age, dark complexioned, wearing black moustaches,' answered David, staggering out of the lift. 'They've done nothing but fire down on me. The top of the lift is like a sieve.'

He tripped as he stepped, and went staggering up against one of the show cases, to which his fingers clung. Meanwhile Hemming stood back exclaiming.

'Spolikoff! Ovanovitch! Russians. Men of about thirty. Dark. Dark moustaches--Mister Harbor, you've hit up against a fine crowd. The wonder is that they haven't made mincemeat of you. Spolikoff and Ovanovitch! Notorious anarchists; burglars who have been cracking cribs up and down this country.'

He wiped his forehead with a brilliantly red handkerchief which he withdrew from the inside of his helmet, and puffed cheeks and lips out.

It was a staggerer to Constable Hemming, this capture which he and David were making. Then he walked across to the door as if he were in a dream, and opened it just as three constables arrived on the scene.

'We heard the whistle and came along,' explained one. 'Crispen lay on the mat. He's. .h.i.t in the head; a bad scalp wound I should say. We've applied a first dressing. He's sitting with his back against the wall, feeling chippy. What's all this?'

'What's all this!' Constable Hemming could hardly contain himself.

'What's all this!' he gasped again. 'Why, just a fine capture! You know there's been a young fellow watching. Bless me, he's cornered the Admiral. I've got the bracelets on that gentleman and have chained him fast to the radiator. There's one of the fellows down, while upstairs, barred in, are two Russians, the two Russians we have been after this many a day--Spolikoff and Ovanovitch.'

There was no doubt that the news impressed his comrades, who came crowding into the store after Hemming.

'They'll shoot at sight,' said one of the constables, as they discussed the matter. 'How are we to nab them?'

'Let's ask Harbor. Harbor,' shouted Hemming, coming across the store, while a further reinforcement of half a dozen police officers poured in at the door. 'Where is he?'

They discovered David grovelling on his knees, looking particularly white about the gills.

'Felt a little upset,' he explained lamely. 'What's happened? Have you taken the Russians?'

There was little doubt but that he had actually lost consciousness while the officers were discussing matters, and now was puzzled to know what they had been doing. Hemming helped him to his feet and looked sharply at his lodger. He wondered what had caused David to fall to the floor, and never guessed the reason.

'Too much excitement, perhaps,' he thought 'Anyway, we'll give him a draft. Here, Sergeant, some sal volatile for this youngster.'

They mixed the stuff before his face, and David drained the gla.s.s at a gulp.

'Now,' he gasped. 'Those Russians?'

'They're upstairs right enough,' said the sergeant. 'I heard 'em a moment ago. How are they placed? Give us an idea as to how we can get at them? Suppose they're armed?'

The young fellow, looking so exceedingly pale still, took the officer by the sleeve and led him into the lift. Then he switched on the light and invited him to inspect the roof.

'Goodness! There are a dozen holes, bullet holes. And--blood on the floor. Whose? Yours?'

He swung round on David instantly, and like Hemming treated him to a very critical stare.

'A mere nothing,' said our hero, somewhat feebly, smiling all the same.

'Set men to watch all round the place.'

'Done already,' came the prompt answer. 'I placed the men as soon as we heard there was an alarm.'

'Put two at the entrance to the bas.e.m.e.nt staircase, and send two more down to the large cupboard with its back to the wall--here's the key.

Let them go through the hole these burglars entered by, at the back of the cupboard, and learn what happened there, whose premises they are, and all that.'

'He's like an officer,' cried the sergeant. 'Hole in the wall! You don't mean to say these fellows broke through from outside premises, and cloaked the entrance by means of a cupboard? That looks like an inside accomplice.'

'He's there,' said David promptly, jerking his finger at the form lying amid the debris of broken gla.s.s and the contents of the overturned case.

'Henricksen we knew him as; from the jewellery department. Sergeant, there's a steel flap on the outside of the fire doors I closed on those Russians. Second floor, don't forget. A man might see them through it.

Then we might rush them through the door or get at them by the lift.'

It took but a few minutes to prepare their plans. The sergeant relieved David of his revolver, and himself went to the door upstairs, reporting that the Russians were to be seen at the far end of the store. Then Hemming joined him, while a constable was sent off to the nearest station to procure more arms. By the time he was back again there were fifty constables on the scene, the outside of the house as well as the inside being guarded. As for our hero, that he was wounded by Henricksen's shot he knew, and no doubt the shock and loss of blood had caused him to lose consciousness. But he had got over that now. The draught he had received had revived him wonderfully, and that and the desire to see the matter to its very end kept him bright and smiling. He took a revolver from one of the officers, and at a signal from the sergeant above, set the lift in motion. With him there was an inspector and four officers, all armed with revolvers.

'The sergeant and Hemming have orders to fire if the men do not halt at their order,' said the former. 'You can take us clear up, please. We're going to rush them.'

He had hardly spoken, the elevator had not reached the level of the first floor when there was a loud call from above. Dull reports were heard, and then two sharp explosions. David jerked the handle over and sent the lift shooting up. With another jerk he brought it to a stand still at the second floor, and threw the doors open. Instantly all the occupants burst out. But, fortunately for them, there was no need for fire-arms. The sergeant had managed the situation with wonderful skill.

He had seen the two Russians running towards him, and waiting till they were near enough, had ordered them to stop. Shots at once answered him, the bullets cras.h.i.+ng against the door. And then he had sent two in return. Only two, but with the desired effect. Spolikoff dropped his weapon and nursed his right arm. Ovanovitch plunged forward heavily and fell on his face. In two minutes they were securely in the hands of the police.

When Hemming and the inspector, together with the manager of the store, hastily summoned to the scene by the police, went in search of David, they found him huddled in a corner of the room, as white as a sheet, bleeding slowly from the mouth.

'Chest wound,' said the inspector, gripping the situation with an experienced eye. 'We have a surgeon below; I'll send for him.'

When our hero came to his senses he was lying in a beautifully comfortable bed, with bright rays from a warm fire playing on him. A nurse stood near at hand, and beside her, discussing some matter very seriously, was some man whose features seemed to be familiar. David puzzled wonderfully. He began to fret about the matter; then, fatigued by even such a little thing, he went off into a blissful slumber.

'The best of everything, please, nurse,' said the manager of the store, before he departed. 'Order anything you want. I will be responsible for all expenses. And please do send constant information to the porter at the lodge. I am arranging with him to 'phone to me constantly.'

'Wouldn't lose that lad for a whole heap,' he told Hemming, when the latter was ensconced in his office with the manager of the store. 'He did magnificently; splendid pluck and resource he showed; seemed to have worked his plans out like a general. I feel horrible about the matter; as if by offering such a bright young fellow such a job I was accountable for his wound. Certainly, I'll send you a wire every three hours, saying how he is progressing.'

Yes, David had made a stir in the London world. Mr. Ebenezer's none too handsome face went scarlet when he read the accounts, and saw the photograph of our hero in the papers. He blew his huge nose violently, then he sat down and stared moodily into the fire. David Harbor had already become an excessively big thorn in this gentleman's side.

CHAPTER VI

The Professor makes a Suggestion

'So you've been fighting again, have you?' quizzed Mr. Jones, when he came to visit David in the accident ward of the general hospital, to which he had been conveyed straight from the store. 'And this time there has been real bloodshed. Do you know that you have lain here precisely four weeks, two days short of a complete month?'

'And a precious long time it does begin to feel,' came the joking answer, for the patient so ill but a short while before was now well on the high road to recovery. 'I'm just longing to be out again. To-morrow I get up; in a week I am to be allowed out in the park. In two I shall be back at my lodgings.'