Yet at the time the significance of
this did not strike me. How the range was found so exactly we shall
probably never know; but the truth suddenly burst upon me as you made
off through the bushes and as Dr. Damar Greefe came out and began to
peer through his glasses--that it was mechanically set in such a
manner that it could drop a projectile into the window above the porch
of the Abbey Inn!"
"Good God! It's hardly credible!"
"It isn't, I admit. But weather conditions favored him; there wasn't a
breath of wind. And that he succeeded is proved by the fact that at
the present moment your room below is probably still full of poison
gas! Of course, it _may_ not have been a gas-shell; he may have
relied, as well he might do, on the burst! But I'm taking no chances.
You can well imagine that failing a knowledge of the arrangement on
the tower, no explanation of the mystery would ever have been found! A
thunder-bolt would be the popular theory, and if any fragments of
shell were found who would ever know from where it had been fired?"
"Gatton," I said, "I owe you my life. But why did this fiend try to
murder me?"
Gatton smiled.
"I have a theory, Mr. Addison," he replied, "and it is this: I believe
he thought that the indiscretion of a certain mysterious lady would
bring about his ruin. If I am not mistaken, she has already gone far
to put his neck in a halter; and he was determined to nip this latest
adventure in the bud by removing the object of her--"
I felt myself changing color, and:
"For heaven's sake say no more!" I interrupted.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202