The Heads of Cerberus | Page 8

some sort of poison, which a Florentine duke may well
have carried in self-protection or for the destruction of his enemies. The
vial itself is of rock crystal and the cap--closed with cement--a
peculiarly beautiful specimen of sixteenth century work. It is probably
a genuine Cellini. It passed into the hands-' But I'll not be reading the
rest. It tells the names of those who have owned it, and the astonishing
number of them that died violently or disappeared from the face of
God's earth, and no more trace left of them than a puff of smoke from
your cigar!"
Drayton's lips twisted to an involuntary smile.

"A very extraordinary history," he commented. "Dante, Benvenuto
Cellini, and Dust from the Rocks of Purgatory! May I ask what you
paid?"
"Only five hundred. There'd word got about that Crane was no good
judge and that there were more copies than originals in his collections.
The regular collectors bought shy, and I misdoubt Crane's widow
realized the half of what he'd spent on the lot. There was little bidding
for this. The tale's too extravagant, and most would not believe it a true
Cellini. However, no sooner had I got it and walked out of the
salesrooms than a gray-haired old party came running after me and
caught me by the sleeve.
"'And is it you that bought the Cerberus?' he demands. 'It's myself that
did,' I conceded him. 'And will you sell it again to me?' 'I will not,' says
I. 'Not for twice what you paid for it?' inquires he with a cunning look
in his eye that I did not like. 'No, I'll not,' says I. 'Nor for two or four
times what I paid for it. I'm a gentleman collector. I am not a dealer. I
bought this for myself and I will keep it. Good day to you, sir,' says I,
and with that I walked on.
"But do you believe he would accept my polite rebuff? Not he. He runs
along by the side of me, taking three steps to my one. 'If you'll not sell
it me you'll be sorry,' he keeps on saying. 'It should be mine. I went to
buy it, but my chauffeur ran over a man on Broadway. Confound the
fool! The police took my chauffeur and delayed me till I came too late
for the bidding. I'd have had it if it cost me five thousand, and that's
what I'll give now, if you'll sell.'
"By then I'd taken a real dislike to the man with his persistence and his
sharp eyes. In plain words I told him if he'd not desist from following
me about I'd be calling an ambulance, for he'd be needing one shortly.
'You can join in the hospital the poor devil your car murdered,' says I.
And at that he takes a squint up at me sideways, like I was an elephant
he'd just discovered himself to be walking with and him thinking all
along I was just a small pigling, and he turns white and stops dead in
his tracks. The poor midget! I'd not have laid my little finger on him for
fear of crushing him entirely. But for all that he gets courage to shake

his fist and call after me, 'You'll be sorry for this. You don't know what
you've bought and I do! I'll have it yet!'
"Well, I thought no more of the silly madman that day. But on the next
I received a letter that came to me at the hotel where Viola and me were
then stopping. It said that if I'd not sell for ten thousand I'd sell for
worse than nothing, and to put an ad in the paper if I'd changed my
mind.
"Of course, I did nothing. But from that day I've had no peace at all.
Twice my baggage has been gone over, and last week two thugs tried to
hold me up in Jersey City. The poor devils are in the hospital this
minute; but they could not or would not tell the name of the man who
employed them.
"There have been two more letters which I'll show you presently, and
the last was addressed here, showing how the fellow has watched and
spied on my movements. In it he declares that my very life shall not
stand in the way, but he must have the Cerberus. I'm a man of peace,
and it's fair getting on my nerves.
"Last night they must have tried again, and it's a wonder I was not
murdered in my bed! You've come in the nick of time to save me from
nervous prostration, Bobby, lad, for it's little they can do against the
two of us, your brains and my brawn!"
Now it was Drayton's