The Gay Triangle: The Romance of the First Air Adventurers Read online

morning. My brother and I have a proposition to putbefore you. We want your help. Will you come?"

  Wonderingly, Dick consented.

  "Yes," he said, "I shall be glad. My assistant can quite well lookafter things here while I am away."

  "Very well," said Yvette, with a look of relief which did not escapeDick, "that's settled. Now let us enjoy ourselves."

  Dick spent a sleepless night, crowded with old memories which kept himwide awake. Next morning he found himself with his two companions inthe train for London. Arriving at Liverpool Street, they took a taxiand were soon comfortably ensconced in a private room at a small butexclusive West End hotel.

  It was not until after lunch that Yvette opened a conversation that wasdestined to exercise a powerful influence on Dick Manton's career.

  "Now, Dick,"--she called him "Deek"--"before I say anything I must makeit a condition that under no circumstances will you ever mention whatpasses between us. I know I can trust you implicitly. I am going tomake you an offer which you are absolutely free either to accept orrefuse. It will surprise you, and you are entitled to a fullexplanation. But in case you refuse, not a word of our conversationmust ever pass your lips under any circumstances whatever. Do youagree?"

  "Of course I do," replied Dick, wondering what was coming.

  "Very well," laughed Yvette, "now I can tell you everything."

  "You will remember," she went on, "what I was doing in France--smugglingmoney and valuables out of the reach of the Germans. Well, I am doingthe same thing still, but on a different scale and by different methods.I dare say you know that there is an enormous amount of smuggling intoEngland; the heavy import duties have made it a very profitable game.What you probably don't know is that it is mostly carried on by Germans.There is a regular organisation at work, clever, secret, and highlyefficient. But the chain, like every chain, has a weak link, and Ihappen to have found it. The head of the whole undertaking is OttoKranzler, of Frankfort. You will remember him. He was the commandantresponsible for the murder of my father and mother."

  "I remember!" Dick exclaimed.

  "At the very moment Kranzler is in Paris, looking for an opportunity toget into England with a wonderful collection of jewels, which formed apart of those given to the mock-monk Rasputin by the late Czarina ofRussia and some of his wealthy female admirers. Now, Dick, I want thosejewels, and I am going to have them?"

  "But how?" queried Dick.

  "Kranzler is in a serious difficulty. So far as I can make out thejewels were brought into Germany by a Bolshevik agent for disposal, ofcourse, against the German law. Rasputin's jewels were liable toconfiscation, and by some means the German Secret Police got wind of theaffair. Kranzler, however, was too quick for them, and slipped over thefrontier into France in the nick of time. Now he is in a quandary.

  "Under French law he has so far committed no offence, and cannot bearrested. But if he attempts either to deal in the jewels or to exportthem he will find himself in trouble. The French police arewide-awake--of course, they got a tip from the Germans--and are watchinghim as a cat watches a mouse.

  "So there he is," she went on, "planted in an hotel with jewels worth atleast fifty thousand pounds, and unable to move! His one chance is toget the jewels away by a messenger. He is clever and may succeed, but Idon't think he will. He has already tried but without success.

  "I have a plan. I think I can get the jewels out of the hotel. Butthey must be brought to England, and there is the difficulty. WhenKranzler loses them he can't make any formal complaint, but he willcertainly get out of France as speedily as possible; that will give thegame away, and the watch on the boats will be keener than ever. I darenot risk sending them by a messenger. An aeroplane is the only chance.And I want you to fly that aeroplane!"

  Dick coloured painfully.

  "But, my dear Yvette," he stammered, "you don't mean to say youintend--?"

  "To steal the jewels?" Yvette completed the sentence.

  "Yes," Dick admitted, horribly embarrassed. He found it impossible toassociate Yvette with what appeared to him a piece of cold-bloodedlarceny.

  "I quite expected you to say that, Dick," Yvette replied. "And perhapsI should have thought less of you if you had said anything else. Butsurely you don't take me for a common thief?" Without waiting forDick's reply, she went on: "Now, try to look at this affair through ourFrench eyes for a moment. I'm going to have those jewels--at least, I'mgoing to try. Who am I hurting? A German who robbed me of my fatherand mother! Would any Frenchman or Frenchwoman hesitate a moment? Heis a thief and a murderer! Whom am I benefiting? Myself? Not for amoment; I wouldn't touch a penny of the money. If I bring this off--andI think I shall--there will be at least a million francs to help on therestoration of the devastated regions of France. Now, Dick, you helpedFrance once. Won't you do it again? I must have some one I can trust,and I know no one but yourself. It will be great sport to beat thepolice of two countries," she added with a laugh.

  Dick's imagination caught fire. It was impossible to resist Yvette'sappeal. He was more weary than he knew of his humdrum life in Norfolk,and here was an adventure after his own heart. His mind was swiftlymade up.

  "I'm on, Yvette!" he said shortly.

  To his amazement, the girl burst into a sudden passion of tears.

  "On? Dick--if you could only realise what it means to me!" she sobbed."I have been all through the smashed-up parts of France--everything,even our churches, is smashed and broken and defiled. The poor peopleare working desperately to restore their old homes, and they only wanthelp to be happy again. But France has no money, and Germany won'tpay--as every one foresaw except your British statesmen. Do you think Iam likely to hesitate to rob a German thief when it means happiness forhundreds of French men and women and children?"

  He tried clumsily to comfort her, and at length she grew more calm.

  "There is no time to be lost," she declared. "We must get over to Paristo-night. I have lately learnt to fly, and my aeroplane is hidden a fewmiles from Paris. The real problem is to get hold of the jewels andbring them safely out of the hotel. Then the aeroplane can start atonce."

  "But what about Lympne?" Dick asked. "You know all aeroplanes enteringEngland from the Continent must land at Lympne for identification andcustoms examination. And the jewels would certainly be found."

  "You must not land at Lympne," Yvette declared positively. "You willhave to get in unobserved and land somewhere away from any aerodrome.You can abandon the aeroplane; that won't matter if you get throughsafely."

  "And leave it to be identified in a few hours' time by the enginemarks?" asked Dick. "No, Yvette, that won't do. And besides," he wenton, "there wouldn't be the slightest chance of getting through. The newwireless direction-finders would give me away long before I could evenreach the coast, and the Air Police would do the rest. I should simplybe shadowed till I landed--or even shot down if I refused to land! Foursmuggling planes were picked up last week by the new wireless-detectors,and every one was captured."

  "Then I don't know what I shall do," Yvette replied blankly. "I thoughtyou would surely be able to slip over at night."

  Then Dick, even against his better judgment, which warned him he wastaking on a foolhardy enterprise, sprang his great surprise.

  "Well," he said, "perhaps I can help you, after all. You know, inFenways I'm supposed to be only a motor-dealer. Really, I have beenworking for over two years quite secretly on a combination of aeroplaneand motor-car, and now I think I have got it about perfect. You canchange the motor-car to a little monoplane in less than half an hour.The wing struts telescope back into the body, so does thepropeller-shaft, and the blades fold back along the shaft."

  "Have you really?" she gasped eagerly.

  "Yes. Best of all, I've got an absolute silencer on the exhaust; I'verun the engine at top speed on the ground and found I could not hear ita hundred yards away. So far I have only made one or two flights, butthey
were quite successful. It seats two in little cockpits placed oneon each side of the centre line where the propeller shaft runs. Whyshouldn't we try to fly her over tonight? I feel pretty sure we coulddo it at ten thousand feet without the direction-finders knowinganything about us."

  "Excellent!" cried the girl.

  "The great disadvantage is that I can't get any speed to speak of on theground. I have had to make everything very light, of course, and Ifancy about twenty miles an hour, unless the roads were exceptionallygood, would be our limit. We should have no chance of getting away