June 9, 2025 • 24 mins
Imagine pulling over 26 miles outside Bordeaux and having your life transform forever. This is exactly what happens to Seymour Merriman. His ordinary halt spirals him into a whirlwind of mystery, illicit smuggling, chilling murder, and unexpected romance. With the clock ticking, two amateur sleuths scramble to solve the baffling enigma of alternating number plates and the dangerous dealings of the pit prop syndicate. If they fail, the notorious Inspector Willis from Scotland Yard will take over. Dive into this riveting narrative and see where the journey takes you.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eighteen of the pit prop Syndicate by Freeman wills
Croft's This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter
eighteen the Bordeaux Louries. Two days later, Inspector Willis sat
once again in the office of M. Max, the head
of the French excised department in Paris. The Frenchman greeted
him politely, but without enthusiasm. Ah, monsieur, he said, you
(00:24):
have not received my letter. No, I wrote to your
department yesterday. It hadn't come, sir when I left. Willis returned,
But perhaps if it is something I should know, you
could tell me the contents. But certainly, monsieur, it is
easily done a thousand regrets. But if your my department
will not be of much service to you, no, Sir,
(00:46):
Willis looked his question. I fear not, but I shall explain. M.
Max gesticulated as he talked. After your last visit here,
I send two of my men to Bordeaux. They make examination,
but at first they see nothing suspicious. When the Girondine
comes in, they determine to test your idea of the
brandy loading. They go in a boat to the wharf.
(01:08):
At night. They pull in between the rows of piles.
They find the spaces between the tree trunks which you
have described. They know there must be a cellar behind.
They hide close by. They see the porthole lighted up.
They watch the pipe go in, all exactly as you
have said. There can be no doubt brandy is secretly
loaded at the lesk. It seemed the likely thing, Sir
(01:30):
Willis commented, Ah, but it was good to think of.
I wish to congratulate you on finding it out. M
Max made a little bow. But to continue, my men
wonder how the brandy reaches the sawmill. Soon they think
that the lorries must bring it. They think so for
two reasons. First, they can find no other way. The
lorries are the only vehicles which approach. Nothing goes by water.
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There cannot be a tunnel because there is no place
for the other end. There remains only the lorries. Second,
they think it is the lorries because the drivers changed
the numbers. It is suspicious, is it not. Yes, you
understand me perfectly, sir good. My men then watch the lorries.
They get help from the police at Bordeaux. They find
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the firewood trade is a nothing. M Max shrugged his shoulders.
There are five firms to which the Lorries go, and
of the five four his gesture indicated a despair too
deep for words to serve them. It is but a
blind so my men think. But the fifth firm, it
is that of Raymond Phills, one of the biggest distilleries
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of Bordeaux. That Raymond Phils are sending out the brandy,
suggests itself to my men. At last, the affair marches.
M Max paused, and Willis bowed to signify his appreciation
of the point. My men visit Raymond Phills. They search
into everything they find. The law is not broken. All
is in order. They are satisfied. But sir, if these
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people are smuggling brandy into England. Willis was beginning when
the other interrupted him. But yes, monsieur, I grasp your point.
I speak of French law. It is different from yours.
Here duty is not charged on just so much spirit
as is distilled. We grant the distiller a license, and
it allows him to distill any quantity up to the
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figure the license bears. But Monsieur, Raymond Phills are how
do you say it, well within their limit. Yes, they
do not break the French law. Therefore, sir, you mean
you cannot help me further? My dear monsieur, what would you?
I have done my best for you, I make inquiries,
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the matter is not for me. With the most excellent
wish to assist, what more can I? Willis, realizing he
could get no more rose nothing, sir, except to accept
on my own part and that of my department, our
hearty thanks for what you have done. I can assure you, Sir,
I understand your position, and I greatly appreciate your kindness.
(04:04):
M Max also had risen. He politely repeated his regrets,
and with mutual compliments, the two men parted. Willis had
once spent a holiday in Paris, and he was slightly
acquainted with the city. He strolled on through the busy streets,
brilliant in the pale autumn sunlight, until he reached the
Grand Boulevard. There, entering a cafe, he sat down, called
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for a bach, and settled himself to consider his next step.
The position created by m Max's action was disconcerting. Willis
felt himself stranded, literally, a stranger in a strange land,
sent to carry out an investigation among a people whose
language he could not even speak. He saw at once
that his task was impossible. He must have local help,
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or he could proceed no further. He thought of his
own department. The excise had failed him, what about the Sirette.
But a very little thought convinced him that he was
even less likely to obtain help from this quarter. He
could only base an appeal on the possibility of a
future charge of conspiracy to murder, and he realized that
the evidence for that was too slight to put forward seriously.
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What was to be done, so far as he could see,
but one thing. He must employ a private detective. This
plan would meet the language difficulty by which he was
so completely hung up. He went to a call office
and got his chief at the yard on the long
distance wire. The latter approved his suggestion and recommended m
jou La Roche of the Rue des Sommerard, near the Serbonne.
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Half an hour later Willis reached the house. M Laroche
proved to be a tall, unobtrusive looking man of some
five and forty, who had lived in London for some years,
and spoke as good English as Willis himself. He listened
quietly and without much apparent interest, to what his visitor
had to tell him, then said he would be glad
to take on the job. We had better go to
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Bordeaux this evening so as to start fresh tomorrow. Willis
suggested two o'clock at the doors say station. The other returned,
we have just time. We can settle our plans on
the train. They reached the Saint Johns station at Bordeaux
at ten thirty five that night and drove to the
Hotel d' spagna. They had decided that they could do
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nothing until the following evening, when they would go out
to the clearing and see what a search of the
mill premises might reveal. Next morning, Laroche vanished, saying he
had friends in the town whom he wished to look up,
and it was close on dinner time before he put
in an appearance. I have got some information that may help,
he said, as Willis greeted him. Though I am not
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connected with the official force, we are very good friends
and have worked into each other's hands. I happen to
know one of the officers of the local police, and
he got me the information. It seems that A. M.
Pierre Raymond is practically the owner of Raymond Phills, the
distillers you mentioned. He is a man of about thirty
and the son of one of the original brothers. He
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was at one time comfortably off and lived in a
pleasant villa in the suburbs, but latterly he has been
going the place, and within the last two years he
let his villa and bought a tiny house next door
to the distillery, where he is now living. It is
believed his money went at Monte Carlo. Indeed, it seems
he is a wrong run all around. At all events.
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He is known to be hard up now and do
you think he moved in so that he could help
load up that brandy at night? That's what I think,
Laroche admitted. You see there is the motive for it
as well. He wouldn't join the syndicate unless he was
in difficulties. I fancy m Pierre Raymond will be an
interesting study. Willis nodded the suggestion was worth investigation, and
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he congratulated himself on getting hold of so excellent a
colleague as this. Laroche seemed to be. The Frenchman during
the day had hired a motor bicycle and sidecar, and
as dusk began to fall, the two men left their
hotel and ran out along the Bayonne Road until they
reached the Lesque. There they hid their vehicles behind some shrubs, and,
reaching the end of the lane, turned down it. It
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was pitch dark among the trees, and they had some
difficulty in keeping the track until they reached the clearing.
There a quarter moon rendered objects dimly visible, and Willis
at once recognized his surroundings from the description he had
received from Hilliard and Merriman. You see somebody is in
the manager's house, he whispered, pointing to a light which
gleamed in the window. If Henri has taken over Coburn's job,
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he may go down to the mill as Coburn did.
Hadn't we better wait and see the frenchmen agreeing, they
moved round the fringe of trees at the edge of
the clearing, just as Merrimon had done on a similar
occasion some seven weeks earlier, And as they crouched in
the shelter of a clump of bushes in front of
the house, they might have been interested to know that
it was from these same shrubs that that disconsolate sentimentalist
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had lain dreaming of his lady love, and from which
he had witnessed her father's stealthy journey to the mill.
It was a good deal colder tonight than on that
earlier occasion when watch was kept on the lonely house.
The two men shivered as they drew their collars higher
round their necks and crouched down to get shelter from
the bitter wind. They had resigned themselves to a weary vigil,
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during which they dared not even smoke. But they had
not to wait so long. After all, about ten, the
light went out in the window, and not five minutes
later they saw a man appear at the side door
and walk towards the mill. They could not see his features,
though Willis assumed he was Henri. Twenty minutes later they
watched him return, and then all once more was still.
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We had better give him an hour to get to bed,
Willis whispered. If he were to look out, it wouldn't
do for him to see two detectives roaming about his
beloved clearing. We might go at eleven, Laroche proposed, and
so they did, keeping as much as possible in the
shelter of the bushes. They approached the mill. Willis had
got a sketch plan of the building from merriman, and
he moved round to the office door. His bent wire
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proved as efficacious with French locks as with English, and
in a few moments they stood within, with the door
shut behind them. Now said Willis, carefully shading the beam
of his electric torch. Let's see those lorries first of all,
as has already been stated, the garage was next to
the office, and passing through the communicating door, the two
men found five of the ponderous vehicles Therein a moment's
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examination of the number plates showed that on all the machines,
the figures were separate from the remainder of the letter,
being carried on small brass plates which dropped vertically into
place through slots in the main castings. But the joint
at each side of the number was not conspicuous, because
similar vertical lines were cut into the brass between each
letter of the whole legend. That's good, Laroche observed, make
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it a thing unnoticeable by multiplying it. Of the five lorries,
two were loaded with firewood and three empty. The men
moved round, examining them with their torches. Hallo Laroche called suddenly,
in a low voice, what have we here? Willis, the inspector,
crossed over to the other, who was pointing to the
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granolithic floor in front of him. One of the empty
lorries was close to the office wall, and the frenchman
stood between the two. On the floor were three drops
of some liquid. Can you smell them? He inquired. Willis
knelt down and sniffed, then slowly got up again. Good man,
he said, with a trace of excitement in his manner.
It's brandy, right enough, yus returned the other security has
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made our nocturnal friend careless. The stuff must have come
from this lorry, I fancy. They turned to the vehicle
and examined it eagerly. For some time they could see
nothing remarkable, but presently it gave up its secret. The
deck was double. Beneath it was a hollow space some
six feet by nine long and not less than three
inches deep. And not only so. This hollow space continued
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up under the unusually large and wide driver's seat, save
for a tiny receptacle for petrol. In a word, the
whole top of the machine was a vast secret tank.
The men began measuring and calculating, and they soon found
that no less than one hundred and fifty gallons of
liquid could be carried therein one hundred and fifty gallons
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of brandy per trip. Willis ejaculated. Lord, it's no wonder
they make it pay. They next tackled the problem of
how the tank was filled and emptied, and at their
last perseverance was rewarded. Behind the left trailing wheel, under
the framing was a small hinged door, about six inches
square and fastened by a spring operated by a mock
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rivet head. This being opened, revealed a cavity containing a
pipe connected to the tank and fitted with a stopcock,
and the half of a union coupling. The pipe which
connects with that can't be far away, Laroche suggested, we
might have to look round for it. The obvious place
was the wall of the office, which ran not more
than three feet from the vehicle. It was finished with
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vertical tongued and v jointed sheeting, and a comparatively short
search revealed the loose board. The detectives were by this
time expecting. Behind it was concealed a pipe jointed concertina
wise and ending in the other half of the union coupling.
It was evident the joints would allow the half coupling
to be pulled out and connect with that on the lorry.
The pipe ran down through the floor, showing that the
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lorry could be emptied by gravity. Hey, good save scheme.
Laroche commented, if I had seen that Laurie a hundred times,
I should never have suspected a tank. It's well designed.
They turned to examine the other vehicles. All four were
identical in appearance with the first, but all were strictly
what they seemed, containing no secret receptacles. Merriman said they
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had six lorries. Willis remarked, I wonder where the sixth
is at the distillery. Don't you think the frenchman returned?
Those drops prove that manager Fellow has just been unloading
this one. I expect he does it every night. But
if so, Raymond must load a vehicle every night too.
That's true. We may assume the job is done every night.
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Because Merriman watched Coburn come down here three nights nights running.
It was certainly to unload the lorry, doubtless, and he
probably came at two in the morning on account of
his daughter. That means there are two tank lorries. Willis
went on, continuing his own line of thought, I say,
la roche, let's mark this one so that we may
know it again. They made tiny scratches on the paint
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at each corner of the big vehicle. Then Willis turned
back to the office. I'd like to find that cellar
while we're here, he remarked. We know there is a
cellar for those customs men saw the girondine loaded from it.
We might have to look round for the entrance. Then
in suit a search similar to that which Willis had
carried out in the depot at Ferby, except that in
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this case they found what they were looking for in
a much shorter time. In the office was a flat
roll topped desk with the usual set of drawers at
each side of the central knee well, and when Willis
found it was clamped to the floor. He felt he
need go no further. On the ground in the knee well,
and projecting out towards the revolving chair in front, was
a mat. Willis raised it and at once a observed
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a joint across the boards, where in ordinary circumstances no
joint should be. He fumbled and pressed and pulled, and
in a couple of minutes he had the satisfaction of
seeing the floor under the well rise and reveal the
head of a ladder leading down into the darkness below.
Here we are, he called softly to Laroche, who was
searching at the other side of the room. The cellar
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into which the two detectives descended was lined with timber,
like that at Ferraby. Indeed, the two were identical, except
that only one passage that under the wharf, led out
of this one. It contained a similar large tun with
a pipe leading down the passage under the wharf, on
which was a pump. The only difference was in the
connection of the pipes. At Faraby, the pump conveyed from
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the wharf to the tun. Here it was from the
tun to the wharf. The pipe from the garage came
down through the ceiling and ran direct into the tun.
The two men walked down the passage towards the river. Here, also,
the arrangement was the same as at Faribe, and they
remained only long enough for Willis to point out to
the Frenchman how the loading appara was worked. Well, said
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the former, as they returned to the office. That's not
so bad for one day, I suppose it's all we
can do here. If we can learn as much at
that distillery, we shall soon have all we want. Laroche
pointed to a chair. Sit down a moment. He invited,
I've been thinking over that plan we discussed in the
train of searching the distillery at night, and I don't
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like it. There are too many people about, and we
are nearly certain to be seen. It's quite different from
working a place like this, quite Willis answered rather testily.
I don't like it either, but what can we do?
I'll tell you what I should do. Laroche leaned forward
and checked his points on his fingers. That Laurie had
just been unloaded. It's empty now, and if our theory
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is correct, it will be taken to the distillery tomorrow
and left there over night to be filled up again.
Isn't that so? Willis nodded impatiently, and the other went on,
Now it is clear that no one can fill up
that tank without leaving finger prints on the pipe connections
and that secret box. Suppose we clean no services now,
and suppose we come back here the night after tomorrow,
before the man here unloads, we could get the prince
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of the person who filled up in the distillery. Well,
Willis asked sharply, and how would that help us? This way?
Tomorrow you will be an English distiller with a forest
you could get cheap near your works. You have an
idea of running your stills on wood fires. You naturally
call to see how m Raymond does it, and you
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get shown over his works. You have prepared a plan
of your proposals. You hand it to him. When he
can't put it down on a desk, He holds it
between his fingers and thumb and eventually returns it to you.
You go home and use powder. You have his fingerprints.
You compare the two sets. Willis was impressed. The plan
was simple, and it promised to gain for them all
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the information they required without recourse to a hazardous nocturnal
visits to the distillery. But he wished he had thought
of it himself. We might try it, he admitted, without enthusiasm.
It couldn't do much harm anyway. They returned to the garage,
opened the secret lid beneath the lorry, and with a
cloth moistened with petrol, cleaned the fittings. Then, after a
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look round to make sure that nothing had been disturbed,
they let themselves out of the shed. Regained the lane
and their machine, and some forty minutes later were in Bordeaux.
On reconsideration, they decided that as Raymond might have obtained
Willis's description from Captain Beamish, it would be wiser for
Laroche to visit the distillery next morning. Therefore, the latter
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bought a small writing block, and, taking an inside leaf,
which he carefully avoided touching with his hands, he drew
a cross section of a wood burning firebox, copied from
an illustration in a book of reference in the city library.
At the same time reading up the subject so as
to be able to talk on it without giving himself away.
Then he set out on his mission. In a couple
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hours he returned. Got that all right, he exclaimed, as
he rejoined the inspector. I went and saw the fellow.
Said I was going to started distillery in the Ardennes,
where there was plenty of wood, and wanted to see
his plant. He was very civil and took me round
and showed me everything. There is a shed there above
the still furnaces with hoppers for the firewood to go down,
and in it was standing the lorry the lory. I
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saw our marks on the corner. It was loaded with firewood,
and he explained that it would be emptied the last
thing before the day shift left, so as to do
the stills during the night. While I got a general
look round the concern, and I found that the large
tuns which contained the finish brandy, were just at the
back of the wall of the shed where the lorry
was standing. So it is easy to see what happens.
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Evidently there is a pipe through the wall, and Raymond
comes down at night and fills up the lorry. And
did you get his finger prints? Have him here locking
the door of their private room. Laroche took from his
pocket the sketch he had made. He held this up
quite satisfactorily, he went on, and there should be good prints.
Willis had meanwhile spread a newspaper on the table, and
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taken from his suit case a small bottle of powdered
lamp black and a camel's hair brush. Lying the sketch
on the newspaper, he gently brushed some of the black
powder over it, blowing off the surplus. To the satisfaction
of both men, there showed up near the left bottom corner,
the distinct mark of a left thumb. Now the other
side Willis turned the paper and repeated the operation on
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the back. There he got prints of a left four
and second finger. Excellent clear prints those, Willis commented, continuing,
and now I have something to tell you while you
are away. I have been thinking over this thing, and
I believe I've got an idea. The roche looked interested,
and the other went on slowly. There are two Brandy
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carrying lorries. Every night, one of these lies at the
distillery and the others at the clearing. One is being
loaded and the other unloaded, and every day the two
change places. Now we may take it that neither of
those lorries is sent to any other place in town,
lest the Brandy tanks might be discovered. For the same reason,
they probably only make the one run mentioned per day.
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Is that right so far? I should think so, Laroche
replied cautiously. Very well, let us suppose these two lorries
are numbers one and two. Number one goes to the distillery, say,
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and returns on the other
three days, while number two does vice versa, one trip
each day. Remember, and this goes on day after day,
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week after week, month after month. Now is it too
much to assume that sooner or later someone is bound
to notice this, some worker at the clearing or the distillery,
some policeman on his beat, some clerk at a window
overlooking the route. And if anyone notices it, will he
not wonder why it always happens that these two lorries
go to this one place and to no other, while
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the syndicate has six lorries altogether trading into the town.
And if this observer should mention his discovery to someone
who could put two and two together, suspicion might be aroused.
Investigation undertaken, And presently the syndicate is up a tree.
Now do you see what I'm getting at? Laroche had
been listening eagerly, and now he made a sudden gesture.
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But of course he cried delightedly. The changing of the numbers.
The changing of the numbers willis repeated. At least it
looks like that to me. Number one does the Monday
run to the distillery they changed the number plate, and
number four does it on Wednesday, while number one runs
to some other establishment where it can be freely examined
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by anyone who is interested. How does that strike you?
You have got it, You have certainly got it. The
roche was more enthusiastic than the inspector had before seen him.
It's what you call a cute scheme, quite on par
with the rest of the business. They didn't leave much
to chance these and yet it was this very precaution
that gave them away, no doubt, but that was an accident.
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You can't, said the Frenchman, sententiously make anything completely watertight.
The next night they went out to the clearing, and
as soon as it was dark once more entered the
shed there with more powder white. This time they tested
the tank lory for finger marks. As had hoped, there
were several on the secret fittings, Among others, a clear
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print of a left thumb on the rivet head of
the spring. A moment's examination only was necessary. The prints
were those of M. Pierre Raymond. Once again, Inspector Willis
felt that he ought to have completed his case, and
once again second thoughts showed him that he was as
far away from that desired end as ever. He had
been trying to find accomplices in the murder of Coburn,
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and by a curious perversity, instead of finding them, he
had bit by bit solved the mystery of the pit
prop syndicate. He had shown firstly that they were smuggling brandy,
and secondly how they were doing it. For that he
would no doubt get a reward, but such was not
his aim. What he wanted was to complete his own
case and get the approval of his own superiors and
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bring promotion nearer, and in this he had failed. For hours,
he pondered over the problem. Then suddenly an idea which
seemed promising flashed into his mind. He thought it over
with the utmost care, and finally decided that, in the
absence of something better, he must try it. In the morning,
the two men traveled to Paris, and Willis, there, taking
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leave of his colleague, crossed to London, and an hour
later was with his chief. At the yard end of
chapter eighteen,
Chapter eighteen of the pit prop Syndicate by Freeman wills
Croft's This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter
eighteen the Bordeaux Louries. Two days later, Inspector Willis sat
once again in the office of M. Max, the head
of the French excised department in Paris. The Frenchman greeted
him politely, but without enthusiasm. Ah, monsieur, he said, you
(00:24):
have not received my letter. No, I wrote to your
department yesterday. It hadn't come, sir when I left. Willis returned,
But perhaps if it is something I should know, you
could tell me the contents. But certainly, monsieur, it is
easily done a thousand regrets. But if your my department
will not be of much service to you, no, Sir,
(00:46):
Willis looked his question. I fear not, but I shall explain. M.
Max gesticulated as he talked. After your last visit here,
I send two of my men to Bordeaux. They make examination,
but at first they see nothing suspicious. When the Girondine
comes in, they determine to test your idea of the
brandy loading. They go in a boat to the wharf.
(01:08):
At night. They pull in between the rows of piles.
They find the spaces between the tree trunks which you
have described. They know there must be a cellar behind.
They hide close by. They see the porthole lighted up.
They watch the pipe go in, all exactly as you
have said. There can be no doubt brandy is secretly
loaded at the lesk. It seemed the likely thing, Sir
(01:30):
Willis commented, Ah, but it was good to think of.
I wish to congratulate you on finding it out. M
Max made a little bow. But to continue, my men
wonder how the brandy reaches the sawmill. Soon they think
that the lorries must bring it. They think so for
two reasons. First, they can find no other way. The
lorries are the only vehicles which approach. Nothing goes by water.
(01:53):
There cannot be a tunnel because there is no place
for the other end. There remains only the lorries. Second,
they think it is the lorries because the drivers changed
the numbers. It is suspicious, is it not. Yes, you
understand me perfectly, sir good. My men then watch the lorries.
They get help from the police at Bordeaux. They find
(02:15):
the firewood trade is a nothing. M Max shrugged his shoulders.
There are five firms to which the Lorries go, and
of the five four his gesture indicated a despair too
deep for words to serve them. It is but a
blind so my men think. But the fifth firm, it
is that of Raymond Phills, one of the biggest distilleries
(02:37):
of Bordeaux. That Raymond Phils are sending out the brandy,
suggests itself to my men. At last, the affair marches.
M Max paused, and Willis bowed to signify his appreciation
of the point. My men visit Raymond Phills. They search
into everything they find. The law is not broken. All
is in order. They are satisfied. But sir, if these
(03:00):
people are smuggling brandy into England. Willis was beginning when
the other interrupted him. But yes, monsieur, I grasp your point.
I speak of French law. It is different from yours.
Here duty is not charged on just so much spirit
as is distilled. We grant the distiller a license, and
it allows him to distill any quantity up to the
(03:21):
figure the license bears. But Monsieur, Raymond Phills are how
do you say it, well within their limit. Yes, they
do not break the French law. Therefore, sir, you mean
you cannot help me further? My dear monsieur, what would you?
I have done my best for you, I make inquiries,
(03:41):
the matter is not for me. With the most excellent
wish to assist, what more can I? Willis, realizing he
could get no more rose nothing, sir, except to accept
on my own part and that of my department, our
hearty thanks for what you have done. I can assure you, Sir,
I understand your position, and I greatly appreciate your kindness.
(04:04):
M Max also had risen. He politely repeated his regrets,
and with mutual compliments, the two men parted. Willis had
once spent a holiday in Paris, and he was slightly
acquainted with the city. He strolled on through the busy streets,
brilliant in the pale autumn sunlight, until he reached the
Grand Boulevard. There, entering a cafe, he sat down, called
(04:25):
for a bach, and settled himself to consider his next step.
The position created by m Max's action was disconcerting. Willis
felt himself stranded, literally, a stranger in a strange land,
sent to carry out an investigation among a people whose
language he could not even speak. He saw at once
that his task was impossible. He must have local help,
(04:48):
or he could proceed no further. He thought of his
own department. The excise had failed him, what about the Sirette.
But a very little thought convinced him that he was
even less likely to obtain help from this quarter. He
could only base an appeal on the possibility of a
future charge of conspiracy to murder, and he realized that
the evidence for that was too slight to put forward seriously.
(05:11):
What was to be done, so far as he could see,
but one thing. He must employ a private detective. This
plan would meet the language difficulty by which he was
so completely hung up. He went to a call office
and got his chief at the yard on the long
distance wire. The latter approved his suggestion and recommended m
jou La Roche of the Rue des Sommerard, near the Serbonne.
(05:36):
Half an hour later Willis reached the house. M Laroche
proved to be a tall, unobtrusive looking man of some
five and forty, who had lived in London for some years,
and spoke as good English as Willis himself. He listened
quietly and without much apparent interest, to what his visitor
had to tell him, then said he would be glad
to take on the job. We had better go to
(05:58):
Bordeaux this evening so as to start fresh tomorrow. Willis
suggested two o'clock at the doors say station. The other returned,
we have just time. We can settle our plans on
the train. They reached the Saint Johns station at Bordeaux
at ten thirty five that night and drove to the
Hotel d' spagna. They had decided that they could do
(06:18):
nothing until the following evening, when they would go out
to the clearing and see what a search of the
mill premises might reveal. Next morning, Laroche vanished, saying he
had friends in the town whom he wished to look up,
and it was close on dinner time before he put
in an appearance. I have got some information that may help,
he said, as Willis greeted him. Though I am not
(06:39):
connected with the official force, we are very good friends
and have worked into each other's hands. I happen to
know one of the officers of the local police, and
he got me the information. It seems that A. M.
Pierre Raymond is practically the owner of Raymond Phills, the
distillers you mentioned. He is a man of about thirty
and the son of one of the original brothers. He
(06:59):
was at one time comfortably off and lived in a
pleasant villa in the suburbs, but latterly he has been
going the place, and within the last two years he
let his villa and bought a tiny house next door
to the distillery, where he is now living. It is
believed his money went at Monte Carlo. Indeed, it seems
he is a wrong run all around. At all events.
(07:19):
He is known to be hard up now and do
you think he moved in so that he could help
load up that brandy at night? That's what I think,
Laroche admitted. You see there is the motive for it
as well. He wouldn't join the syndicate unless he was
in difficulties. I fancy m Pierre Raymond will be an
interesting study. Willis nodded the suggestion was worth investigation, and
(07:42):
he congratulated himself on getting hold of so excellent a
colleague as this. Laroche seemed to be. The Frenchman during
the day had hired a motor bicycle and sidecar, and
as dusk began to fall, the two men left their
hotel and ran out along the Bayonne Road until they
reached the Lesque. There they hid their vehicles behind some shrubs, and,
reaching the end of the lane, turned down it. It
(08:05):
was pitch dark among the trees, and they had some
difficulty in keeping the track until they reached the clearing.
There a quarter moon rendered objects dimly visible, and Willis
at once recognized his surroundings from the description he had
received from Hilliard and Merriman. You see somebody is in
the manager's house, he whispered, pointing to a light which
gleamed in the window. If Henri has taken over Coburn's job,
(08:28):
he may go down to the mill as Coburn did.
Hadn't we better wait and see the frenchmen agreeing, they
moved round the fringe of trees at the edge of
the clearing, just as Merrimon had done on a similar
occasion some seven weeks earlier, And as they crouched in
the shelter of a clump of bushes in front of
the house, they might have been interested to know that
it was from these same shrubs that that disconsolate sentimentalist
(08:50):
had lain dreaming of his lady love, and from which
he had witnessed her father's stealthy journey to the mill.
It was a good deal colder tonight than on that
earlier occasion when watch was kept on the lonely house.
The two men shivered as they drew their collars higher
round their necks and crouched down to get shelter from
the bitter wind. They had resigned themselves to a weary vigil,
(09:12):
during which they dared not even smoke. But they had
not to wait so long. After all, about ten, the
light went out in the window, and not five minutes
later they saw a man appear at the side door
and walk towards the mill. They could not see his features,
though Willis assumed he was Henri. Twenty minutes later they
watched him return, and then all once more was still.
(09:33):
We had better give him an hour to get to bed,
Willis whispered. If he were to look out, it wouldn't
do for him to see two detectives roaming about his
beloved clearing. We might go at eleven, Laroche proposed, and
so they did, keeping as much as possible in the
shelter of the bushes. They approached the mill. Willis had
got a sketch plan of the building from merriman, and
he moved round to the office door. His bent wire
(09:56):
proved as efficacious with French locks as with English, and
in a few moments they stood within, with the door
shut behind them. Now said Willis, carefully shading the beam
of his electric torch. Let's see those lorries first of all,
as has already been stated, the garage was next to
the office, and passing through the communicating door, the two
men found five of the ponderous vehicles Therein a moment's
(10:20):
examination of the number plates showed that on all the machines,
the figures were separate from the remainder of the letter,
being carried on small brass plates which dropped vertically into
place through slots in the main castings. But the joint
at each side of the number was not conspicuous, because
similar vertical lines were cut into the brass between each
letter of the whole legend. That's good, Laroche observed, make
(10:42):
it a thing unnoticeable by multiplying it. Of the five lorries,
two were loaded with firewood and three empty. The men
moved round, examining them with their torches. Hallo Laroche called suddenly,
in a low voice, what have we here? Willis, the inspector,
crossed over to the other, who was pointing to the
(11:02):
granolithic floor in front of him. One of the empty
lorries was close to the office wall, and the frenchman
stood between the two. On the floor were three drops
of some liquid. Can you smell them? He inquired. Willis
knelt down and sniffed, then slowly got up again. Good man,
he said, with a trace of excitement in his manner.
It's brandy, right enough, yus returned the other security has
(11:27):
made our nocturnal friend careless. The stuff must have come
from this lorry, I fancy. They turned to the vehicle
and examined it eagerly. For some time they could see
nothing remarkable, but presently it gave up its secret. The
deck was double. Beneath it was a hollow space some
six feet by nine long and not less than three
inches deep. And not only so. This hollow space continued
(11:51):
up under the unusually large and wide driver's seat, save
for a tiny receptacle for petrol. In a word, the
whole top of the machine was a vast secret tank.
The men began measuring and calculating, and they soon found
that no less than one hundred and fifty gallons of
liquid could be carried therein one hundred and fifty gallons
(12:12):
of brandy per trip. Willis ejaculated. Lord, it's no wonder
they make it pay. They next tackled the problem of
how the tank was filled and emptied, and at their
last perseverance was rewarded. Behind the left trailing wheel, under
the framing was a small hinged door, about six inches
square and fastened by a spring operated by a mock
(12:32):
rivet head. This being opened, revealed a cavity containing a
pipe connected to the tank and fitted with a stopcock,
and the half of a union coupling. The pipe which
connects with that can't be far away, Laroche suggested, we
might have to look round for it. The obvious place
was the wall of the office, which ran not more
than three feet from the vehicle. It was finished with
(12:53):
vertical tongued and v jointed sheeting, and a comparatively short
search revealed the loose board. The detectives were by this
time expecting. Behind it was concealed a pipe jointed concertina
wise and ending in the other half of the union coupling.
It was evident the joints would allow the half coupling
to be pulled out and connect with that on the lorry.
The pipe ran down through the floor, showing that the
(13:16):
lorry could be emptied by gravity. Hey, good save scheme.
Laroche commented, if I had seen that Laurie a hundred times,
I should never have suspected a tank. It's well designed.
They turned to examine the other vehicles. All four were
identical in appearance with the first, but all were strictly
what they seemed, containing no secret receptacles. Merriman said they
(13:37):
had six lorries. Willis remarked, I wonder where the sixth
is at the distillery. Don't you think the frenchman returned?
Those drops prove that manager Fellow has just been unloading
this one. I expect he does it every night. But
if so, Raymond must load a vehicle every night too.
That's true. We may assume the job is done every night.
(13:57):
Because Merriman watched Coburn come down here three nights nights running.
It was certainly to unload the lorry, doubtless, and he
probably came at two in the morning on account of
his daughter. That means there are two tank lorries. Willis
went on, continuing his own line of thought, I say,
la roche, let's mark this one so that we may
know it again. They made tiny scratches on the paint
(14:18):
at each corner of the big vehicle. Then Willis turned
back to the office. I'd like to find that cellar
while we're here, he remarked. We know there is a
cellar for those customs men saw the girondine loaded from it.
We might have to look round for the entrance. Then
in suit a search similar to that which Willis had
carried out in the depot at Ferby, except that in
(14:38):
this case they found what they were looking for in
a much shorter time. In the office was a flat
roll topped desk with the usual set of drawers at
each side of the central knee well, and when Willis
found it was clamped to the floor. He felt he
need go no further. On the ground in the knee well,
and projecting out towards the revolving chair in front, was
a mat. Willis raised it and at once a observed
(15:00):
a joint across the boards, where in ordinary circumstances no
joint should be. He fumbled and pressed and pulled, and
in a couple of minutes he had the satisfaction of
seeing the floor under the well rise and reveal the
head of a ladder leading down into the darkness below.
Here we are, he called softly to Laroche, who was
searching at the other side of the room. The cellar
(15:20):
into which the two detectives descended was lined with timber,
like that at Ferraby. Indeed, the two were identical, except
that only one passage that under the wharf, led out
of this one. It contained a similar large tun with
a pipe leading down the passage under the wharf, on
which was a pump. The only difference was in the
connection of the pipes. At Faraby, the pump conveyed from
(15:42):
the wharf to the tun. Here it was from the
tun to the wharf. The pipe from the garage came
down through the ceiling and ran direct into the tun.
The two men walked down the passage towards the river. Here, also,
the arrangement was the same as at Faribe, and they
remained only long enough for Willis to point out to
the Frenchman how the loading appara was worked. Well, said
(16:02):
the former, as they returned to the office. That's not
so bad for one day, I suppose it's all we
can do here. If we can learn as much at
that distillery, we shall soon have all we want. Laroche
pointed to a chair. Sit down a moment. He invited,
I've been thinking over that plan we discussed in the
train of searching the distillery at night, and I don't
(16:23):
like it. There are too many people about, and we
are nearly certain to be seen. It's quite different from
working a place like this, quite Willis answered rather testily.
I don't like it either, but what can we do?
I'll tell you what I should do. Laroche leaned forward
and checked his points on his fingers. That Laurie had
just been unloaded. It's empty now, and if our theory
(16:45):
is correct, it will be taken to the distillery tomorrow
and left there over night to be filled up again.
Isn't that so? Willis nodded impatiently, and the other went on,
Now it is clear that no one can fill up
that tank without leaving finger prints on the pipe connections
and that secret box. Suppose we clean no services now,
and suppose we come back here the night after tomorrow,
before the man here unloads, we could get the prince
(17:08):
of the person who filled up in the distillery. Well,
Willis asked sharply, and how would that help us? This way?
Tomorrow you will be an English distiller with a forest
you could get cheap near your works. You have an
idea of running your stills on wood fires. You naturally
call to see how m Raymond does it, and you
(17:28):
get shown over his works. You have prepared a plan
of your proposals. You hand it to him. When he
can't put it down on a desk, He holds it
between his fingers and thumb and eventually returns it to you.
You go home and use powder. You have his fingerprints.
You compare the two sets. Willis was impressed. The plan
was simple, and it promised to gain for them all
(17:50):
the information they required without recourse to a hazardous nocturnal
visits to the distillery. But he wished he had thought
of it himself. We might try it, he admitted, without enthusiasm.
It couldn't do much harm anyway. They returned to the garage,
opened the secret lid beneath the lorry, and with a
cloth moistened with petrol, cleaned the fittings. Then, after a
(18:11):
look round to make sure that nothing had been disturbed,
they let themselves out of the shed. Regained the lane
and their machine, and some forty minutes later were in Bordeaux.
On reconsideration, they decided that as Raymond might have obtained
Willis's description from Captain Beamish, it would be wiser for
Laroche to visit the distillery next morning. Therefore, the latter
(18:32):
bought a small writing block, and, taking an inside leaf,
which he carefully avoided touching with his hands, he drew
a cross section of a wood burning firebox, copied from
an illustration in a book of reference in the city library.
At the same time reading up the subject so as
to be able to talk on it without giving himself away.
Then he set out on his mission. In a couple
(18:53):
hours he returned. Got that all right, he exclaimed, as
he rejoined the inspector. I went and saw the fellow.
Said I was going to started distillery in the Ardennes,
where there was plenty of wood, and wanted to see
his plant. He was very civil and took me round
and showed me everything. There is a shed there above
the still furnaces with hoppers for the firewood to go down,
and in it was standing the lorry the lory. I
(19:15):
saw our marks on the corner. It was loaded with firewood,
and he explained that it would be emptied the last
thing before the day shift left, so as to do
the stills during the night. While I got a general
look round the concern, and I found that the large
tuns which contained the finish brandy, were just at the
back of the wall of the shed where the lorry
was standing. So it is easy to see what happens.
(19:37):
Evidently there is a pipe through the wall, and Raymond
comes down at night and fills up the lorry. And
did you get his finger prints? Have him here locking
the door of their private room. Laroche took from his
pocket the sketch he had made. He held this up
quite satisfactorily, he went on, and there should be good prints.
Willis had meanwhile spread a newspaper on the table, and
(19:58):
taken from his suit case a small bottle of powdered
lamp black and a camel's hair brush. Lying the sketch
on the newspaper, he gently brushed some of the black
powder over it, blowing off the surplus. To the satisfaction
of both men, there showed up near the left bottom corner,
the distinct mark of a left thumb. Now the other
side Willis turned the paper and repeated the operation on
(20:20):
the back. There he got prints of a left four
and second finger. Excellent clear prints those, Willis commented, continuing,
and now I have something to tell you while you
are away. I have been thinking over this thing, and
I believe I've got an idea. The roche looked interested,
and the other went on slowly. There are two Brandy
(20:41):
carrying lorries. Every night, one of these lies at the
distillery and the others at the clearing. One is being
loaded and the other unloaded, and every day the two
change places. Now we may take it that neither of
those lorries is sent to any other place in town,
lest the Brandy tanks might be discovered. For the same reason,
they probably only make the one run mentioned per day.
(21:03):
Is that right so far? I should think so, Laroche
replied cautiously. Very well, let us suppose these two lorries
are numbers one and two. Number one goes to the distillery, say,
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and returns on the other
three days, while number two does vice versa, one trip
each day. Remember, and this goes on day after day,
(21:25):
week after week, month after month. Now is it too
much to assume that sooner or later someone is bound
to notice this, some worker at the clearing or the distillery,
some policeman on his beat, some clerk at a window
overlooking the route. And if anyone notices it, will he
not wonder why it always happens that these two lorries
go to this one place and to no other, while
(21:47):
the syndicate has six lorries altogether trading into the town.
And if this observer should mention his discovery to someone
who could put two and two together, suspicion might be aroused.
Investigation undertaken, And presently the syndicate is up a tree.
Now do you see what I'm getting at? Laroche had
been listening eagerly, and now he made a sudden gesture.
(22:10):
But of course he cried delightedly. The changing of the numbers.
The changing of the numbers willis repeated. At least it
looks like that to me. Number one does the Monday
run to the distillery they changed the number plate, and
number four does it on Wednesday, while number one runs
to some other establishment where it can be freely examined
(22:30):
by anyone who is interested. How does that strike you?
You have got it, You have certainly got it. The
roche was more enthusiastic than the inspector had before seen him.
It's what you call a cute scheme, quite on par
with the rest of the business. They didn't leave much
to chance these and yet it was this very precaution
that gave them away, no doubt, but that was an accident.
(22:56):
You can't, said the Frenchman, sententiously make anything completely watertight.
The next night they went out to the clearing, and
as soon as it was dark once more entered the
shed there with more powder white. This time they tested
the tank lory for finger marks. As had hoped, there
were several on the secret fittings, Among others, a clear
(23:16):
print of a left thumb on the rivet head of
the spring. A moment's examination only was necessary. The prints
were those of M. Pierre Raymond. Once again, Inspector Willis
felt that he ought to have completed his case, and
once again second thoughts showed him that he was as
far away from that desired end as ever. He had
been trying to find accomplices in the murder of Coburn,
(23:38):
and by a curious perversity, instead of finding them, he
had bit by bit solved the mystery of the pit
prop syndicate. He had shown firstly that they were smuggling brandy,
and secondly how they were doing it. For that he
would no doubt get a reward, but such was not
his aim. What he wanted was to complete his own
case and get the approval of his own superiors and
(23:59):
bring promotion nearer, and in this he had failed. For hours,
he pondered over the problem. Then suddenly an idea which
seemed promising flashed into his mind. He thought it over
with the utmost care, and finally decided that, in the
absence of something better, he must try it. In the morning,
the two men traveled to Paris, and Willis, there, taking
(24:20):
leave of his colleague, crossed to London, and an hour
later was with his chief. At the yard end of
chapter eighteen,
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