The Saint Meets the Tiger s-1 Read online

  Detective Inspector Carn of Scotland Yard, temporary medico, was not far from being typical of the modern C.I.D. man — the difference, in fact, being little more than an extra gramme or two of brain which lifted him a finger's breadth above the common competent herd and which had led to his being detailed for the special work of tracking the Tiger.

  In other words, Carn was not obtrusively brilliant. He knew his job from A to Z, plus one or two other letters. He was a plodder, but an efficient plodder, having been taught in a school which prefers perseverance to genius and which trains men to rely on methodical painstaking investigation rather than on flashes of inspiration. Carn would never send an adoring gallery into rhapsodies with some dazzling feat of Holmesian deduction; he never whirled through a case in a kind of triumphant procession, with bouquets and confetti flying through the air, streamers blazing, and a brass band urging the awestricken populace to see the conquering hero come — but his superiors (a hard-headed and unromantic crowd) knew that he had a record of generally getting there, even if his progress and arrival were monotonous and unspectacular.

  This brief biographical note is made for the disillusionment of anyone who has imagined that Carn was a genial cipher in the affair of the Tiger. He was not. But his tactics were different from those of the Saint, who had a weakness for the limelight and no reason to deny himself the gratification of his vanity. The Saint was one man, nearly as far outside the law as the Tiger, and therefore the Tiger would not hesitate to accept the challenge. But Carn represented Authority, a vast and inexorable machinery backed up by arms and men, and if Carn showed up in his true colours they were the colours of Authority — and before that the Tiger would hesitate for a long time. Carn had no chance of accomplishing his mission unless he worked underground and in the dark, and that, in a way, was a handicap, though it suited his temperament. But Carn, the stolid man hunter, took one look at the handicap, shrugged, and went on with the job — in his own laborious fashion.

  The arrival of Mr. Templar, heralded by the Saint himself with the moral equivalent of a fanfare of terrific trumpets, illuminated with Kleig arcs, and fully equipped with one-man orchestra, noises off, self-starter, alarms, excursions, and all modern conveniences, lacking nothing but the camera men and press agent, had eclipsed Carn's modest efficiency, and perhaps had even put him off his plodding stroke for a while. But it would have taken more than a legion of Saints to derange our Mr, Carn permanently.

  Carn was slow and Simon was sensational; but in the end they cancelled out, for Carn had had a start of several months. He knew from certain happenings one evening that Templar was hot on the Tiger's heels; he was not unduly perturbed, for he could have said the same for himself. In his quiet way, he had already given some attention to Sir John Bittle, and he knew quite a lot about that unpopular man and his strongly fortified house with its garrison of toughs. He had also put some work into Bloem, among others; but Bloem was the more slippery customer, and Carn had made very little headway, so that the Boer's sudden prominence in the field came as a surprise. Carn, recuperating from the shock with his well-tried resilience, had nevertheless not yet had time to follow up the clue which the Saint had provided. Carn had also an eye to the possibilities of Agatha Girton; he knew of her strange and secretive association with Bittle, but so far he had been unable to account for it better than by assuming her to be in with the gang — though in what capacity, and with what rank, he hadn't an inkling. There was Algy, for another; and Inspector Carn was prepared to believe startling things of Algy. The other three — Shaw, Smith, and Lapping — Carn had decided to rule out. Lapping in particular, with the policeman's ingrained reverence for the Law and its higher officers, he barred completely. In fact, except the Saint, Sir Michael Lapping was the only man in Baycombe who knew Carn's true designation and sole interest in life — Lapping was a Justice of the Peace, and Carn, hopeful of success, realized that the ex-judge was an indispensable ally, for Carn carried a warrant ready for Lapping's signature as soon as the name of the Tiger could be filled in with reasonable certainty. Taking things all round, therefore. Carn reckoned that he was as well posted as the Saint — and in this he was very nearly right. It was Carn's misfortune that he had never been privileged to make the acquaintance of Fernando, and that because of this loss he had been unaware of the significance of the Old House.

  Carn had a hobby which he had only adopted since his arrival in Baycombe. He was as enthusiastic about it as he was about butterflies and beetles, but he reserved his pleasure for the hours when he was alone. The nearest telephone was at Ilfracombe, and by Carn's orders all letters addressed to Baycombe were opened at the post office there, copied, tested for invisible ink, and forwarded to their destinations after he had been informed of the results of this prying. It was because of divers hints which he had picked up by this means that Carn became so passionately devoted to wireless.

  It was on the day following the apotheosis of Bloem, when the remains of his lunch had been cleared away, that Carn'shobby justified its adoption.

  As soon as he found himself alone, the detective went over and unlocked his small roll-top writing desk. When this was opened, it revealed an ebonite panel arrayed with the complicated system of knobs, coils, and valves which have now ceased to be regarded as mysteries sealed from all but the scientist. The aerial Carn had fixed for himself among the rafters in the roof; and all the essential wiring was cunningly concealed. There was need of this secrecy, for Carn, who had never served an apprenticeship to a cook while walking his beat, was forced to employ a woman from the village to look after his digestion. Village women talk — and the nearest whisper that there was another radio fan in Baycombe, coming to the ears of the Tiger, would have deprived Carn of one of his most promising lines of investigation.

  The detective put on the headphones, plugged in, and began his systematic combing of the ether. It was not easy for Carn to use his weapon even when he was convinced of its utility. He never knew at what time the Tiger might have arranged to communicate with his agent; though he did know the discouraging fact that the Tiger always called on a different wavelength. Twice Carn had struck the tail-end of a conversation, and had noted the dialling of his instrument, but the most patient listening had failed to pick up a second message; then, feeling round again. Carn had caught the same signal in a totally different range. Probably the wavelength changed according to a prearranged timetable.

  This, however, was Carn’s lucky day. The Tiger was using a very long wave, and Carn had reversed his usual routine and started at the top to work down the scale. He had not been probing the atmosphere for five minutes before he tuned in on a peculiar high-pitched tremulous whine which he recognized immediately for the note sent out by the Tigers apparatus in the gaps when no speech was coming over. And he had hardly brought the last condenser round to the exact reaction, so that the familiar note was singing in his ears at full strength, when a voice cut clean across the humming.

  "Don't start to come in before it's quite dark."

  Carn stiffened. He had some idea of what was referred to.

  The voice continued: "Be very careful. See that there isn't a light showing anywhere, and slow up to half speed when you're two miles out. Change over to the electric motors at that point — Templar stays awake at4iight,and his hearing's exceptionally good."

  Then another voice asked, "Can you arrange to guide us in?"

  "I'll post a man on the Old House, seaward side, with a green lantern."

  "Is there likely to be trouble?"

  “I can't say yet. I'm hoping to get rid of Templar this evening, but he was born lucky, and he might manage to escape again. Be on the safe side. I've just heard that that might make him back out, squeak to the dicks, and leave the rest to them. I think it's too late for that to matter, but you'd better be prepared for anything."

  "I shall."

  "Good. Did you get the full crew?"

  "Two oilers didn't turn up. I heard just before midnigh
t they were stewed to the gills downtown. I took a chance and left 'em. You said I was to sail punctually."

  "Quite right — but that leaves you with only eleven, counting yourself, doesn't it?"

  "That's so. Chief. But we can manage easy."

  "You'll have to.... Now listen. I want you to send the first boat round to the quay. You'll miss the fishermen — they'll have gone out on the tide, at ten. Bittle and Bloem will be with me, and Templar might be, too. That depends on what happens, and what I decide to do with him. His servant will go over the cliff just about the time you're picking us up. And I might have to bring the girl along as well. I'm still wondering whether Templar's put her next this joke. In any case, she's very easy on the eyes. I'll get a report shortly, and then I'll be able to think better what to do."

  "This is a new one on you, Chief — dragging a skirt in. You always swore you wouldn't have it."

  The voice of the Tiger snapped back incisively:

  "That's my business, Maggs! When I want your opinions I'll ask for them. All you've got to do is have the cabins ready and send that boat to the quay. Get off all the other boats you can man to the Old House. You can get three away, and still keep a guard. And keep the engineer below — if we do get raided, the boat crews must shift for themselves, Your men haven't got to do anything but row — and if any man catches a crab or talks in the boat I'll flay him alive. Tell 'em that from me. I'll have men on the island to help 'em load, and there's a small derrick there, the one we used for hauling the stuff up first, just waiting to be rigged. You ought to be able to get away by four, if you work."

  "Stand on me, Chief."

  "See that I don't have to tread on you. Have you got that all in your head?"

  "Down to the Amen, Chief."

  "Call me at seven, in case there are any alterations to be made in those orders. Good-bye."

  The Tiger's transmission shut down with an audible click, and Carn removed the headphones and leaned back in his chair, gazing thoughtfully at the instrument which had enabled him to listen in on that enlightening chat.

  Enlightening it certainly was, and no error. Almost the only thing it neglected to reveal to the detective was the identity of the Tiger himself — the voice of the man called "Chief had been studiously throttled down to a toneless flat key that was useless as a clue. The Tiger was taking no chances of being caught in person, and he had spoken throughout in a dead level monotone that anyone could have imitated — and, in addition, Carn knew the tricks which electricity plays even with a man's natural voice, and he would have looked long and carefully before leaping to accuse anybody of being the Tiger on no other grounds than a fancied vocal resemblance after the valves and magnets and transformers had finished distorting a disguised intonation.

  The one thing that puzzled Carn was the reference to the Old House, which apparently was an island. He got up and went over to where, on the wall, was pinned a large-scale ordnance map of the district. It was covered with patterns in various coloured inks, for ostensibly it was a record of Dr. Carn's geological investigations; but in reality it was a diagram of the battlefield for the assistance of Inspector Carn's criminal investigation. A search of the coast line located the Old House, which Carn had noticed on his bug-hunting expeditions without imagining that such a small hunk of land was dignified with a name all to itself, for he had been born and bred a long way from the sea.

  That, then, was the Old House, from which something was to be taken on board at dead of night. Carn did not have to wonder what that something might be.

  Everything had come into his hands in a few short minutes. The detective pulled up a chair and began to pack his pipe, and for all his practical cold-bloodedness he found that his fingers moved clumsily for the trembling of his hand. His agitation was pardonable, since the trailing of the Tiger was the biggest and stiffest undertaking he had yet brought to a triumphant conclusion. And regard it as a triumphant conclusion he did already, for with dexterous handling he could not conceive the triumph slipping through his fingers. All he had to fio was make his plans for the coup. He knew now where the gold was, and it was as safe there as if it had been lying in the vaults of the Confederate Bank. Even if the Saint also knew its whereabouts, Carn could not imagine even that supremely resourceful man being able to remove it singlehanded by morning — especially with several Tiger Cubs on the spot. And the Tiger had kindly informed Inspector Carn exactly where he could be found that night. There would be a number of men down at the quay, and the Tiger would be one of them. Ruling out Bloem, Bittle, and the Saint, it did not seem as if anyone could go far wrong in making a selection.

  And possibly the Saint was to be discreetly removed. Carn had to think of that, and it annoyed him. His first duty was to warn Templar and make some arrangements for having him looked after — that was indisputable. The Saint was no ally of his, but neither was he an enemy, nor (so far) a criminal, and as a human life he had to be considered. But the time was so short.

  As has been explained, Baycombe was as effectively shut off from the rest of England as if it had been lifted out of Devonshire and planted on the other side of the Channel — worse even than that, for there was neither telephone nor telegraph office in the village. To get hold of the men he required for that night's work, Carn would have to go into Ilfracombe; and the dilapidated Ford of prehistoric vintage, which the local publican hired out to villagers whose business took them into the town, would take an unconscionable time over the journey — and would probably get up on its back axle and shriek boastfully if it went all the way without breaking down. Bittle had a Rolls, which the Saint might have had the immortal rind to borrow (with or without permission) in similar circumstances, but which Carn had to consider enviously and leave it at that. The only other car in the neighborhood was Mr. Lomas-Coper's Morris. Carn reviewed that possibility and reluctantly ruled it out, for what Algy knew Bloem might be expected to find out.

  And, once in Ilfracombe, men would have to be raised and brought to Baycombe. Even after nightfall, the number of officers Carn could assemble for the raid was strictly limited, for the Tiger must not be alarmed at all costs, and that was a difficult thing to insure with the doubtful Agatha Girton all but on the detective's doorstep. In London, Miss Girton could have been temporarily removed, since London is a large place and its policemen hold their tongues, but Carn had no faith in the reticence of Mr. Hopkins. Then, since Carn would have to stake his success on the skill of a mere handful of men, he wanted if possible to 'phone London and get those men specially sent down from the Yard by racing car — he had the Yard man's congenital contempt for the provincial constabulary. That would be running it very fine, but he figured that it could just be wangled if he got a clear line and found the Assistant Commissioner quickly, and if the said Commissioner impressed it on the special squad that they would have to touch the ground in spots if they were going to be in at the kill, and if nothing went wrong with the police car. There were plenty of odds against him, but he reckoned that the importance of the occasion justified going to extremes — and, if the worst came to the very worst, he could still call in the country bumpkins and swear in the Saint and Orace, as he had the right to do, though it would gall his soul to have to make his arrest with their assistance.

  Anyhow, whichever way the calculation was made, it was going to be a breathless neck-and-neck affair, with every minute rated at inestimable value. And, having got every item in the programme weighed up and docketed in his brain, Carn wasted no time wailing and gnashing his teeth against the cussedness of a Fate that had tossed him such a fine, big, juicy plum that day, for all the accompanying hail of thistles and cactus. Once he knew where all the thorns were, and had tested their precise degree of spikiness, he grabbed up his hat and stick and set out to blunt as many of them as possible.

  He went down to the village as quickly as he could without seeming unduly flurried to any of the Tiger's Cubs who might catch a glimpse of him, and on the way through he stopped at t
he inn.

  "I've just had a letter from an old patient of mine," he explained. "An Ilfracombe man — he's had a heart attack. I've been his doctor for years,-and he wants me to attend to him now. It's a beastly nuisance, but I feel bound to go. Can you let me have the car?"

  It was a plausible lie, for a boy cycled over from Ilfracombe with the post every morning, and did not arrive until lunch time.

  "I'm sorry, sir," replied the publican, and Carn’s heart did a back-somersault and flopped sickeningly against his diaphragm — "two of the men from Sir John's came down and hired the car early this morning to go into Ilfracombe for their day off.''

  "Damn the gentlemen," said Carn, but he said it to himself, and he did not call them gentlemen.

  Aloud he said, with only a moderate display of annoyance:

  "I ought to try and get over somehow — my patient's in a bad way, and they're expecting me. I suppose these fellows won't be back till late?"

  "They didn't say, sir, but I'm not expecting them till the evening."

  "Hasn't Horrick got a trap?"

  Horrick was the nearest farmer, about half a mile out of the village, and the innkeeper opined that Horrick had something of the sort.

  "I wonder if you could send a boy over te find out if he'd lend it to me?" suggested Carn.

  The innkeeper cogitated at length, in the leisured manner of country people, while Carn masked his impatience as best he could. At last the man decided that it would be possible.

  "Perhaps you'll join me in a glass of beer, sir?" he invited, after making this momentous resolution.

  "If I could see the boy now, he could be getting on his way while we down a quick one," Carn mooted gently.

  The publican sighed. The fidgetedness of city-bred people offended his placid spirit. Nevertheless, he shouted "Boy!" and after a decent interval, during which he embarked on a voluminous discussion of the weather and its influence on fish, a diminutive urchin answered his summons.