The Outlaws of the Air | Page 3

round a table on which were the
remains of what had evidently been a substantial and even luxurious
supper.
Renault's action on entering the room was one which more than bore
out what has been said of his character and the desperate work that he
was engaged in. He acknowledged with a brief, curt nod the salutations
of the company, then, putting his back against the door, he pulled his
right hand out of his trouser pocket, and said, in a quiet, almost
well-bred voice, which had just the faintest trace of foreign accent-
"Victor Berthauld, sit still!
There was a small slender-barrelled, six-chambered Colt in his hand,
and the muzzle was pointed at a little lean, wiry, black-muzzled,
close-cropped Frenchman, who had begun to wriggle uneasily in his
seat the moment Max had made his appearance. His black eyes rolling
in their deep sockets took one frightened glance from face to face, and
then he said, in a voice to which he in vain tried to impart a tone of
bravado-
"Well, Comrade Renault, what do you want with me, and what is that
revolver drawn for?"
"Don't `comrade' me, you little rat," said Max, with a short, savage
laugh. "Tell me who tried to warn the Paris police that Carnot's life was
in danger. Tell me who would have had Santo arrested at Marseilles if

his telegram had only got into the hands it was intended for.
"Tell me who means to repeat the message to-morrow morning to Paris
and Lyons, and who means to have this place raided by the English
police at an inconvenient hour within the next week, on the ground of
unlawful gambling being permitted here. Tell me that, you dirty hound,
and then I'll tell you, if you don't know, what we usually do with
traitors."
Berthauld sat for a moment speechless with fear. Then, with an
imprecation on his lips, he leapt to his feet. Not a hand was moved to
restrain him, but as he rose to his full height, Renault's arm straightened
out, there was a crack and a flash, and a little puff of plaster reduced to
dust leapt out of the angle of the wall behind him; but before the bullet
struck the wall, it had passed through his forehead and out at the back
of his head, his body shrank together and collapsed in a huddled heap
in his chair, and Max, putting his pistol back into his pocket, said, just
as quietly as before-
"It's a curious thing that even among eight of us we must have a traitor.
I hope there aren't any more about. Take that thing down to the cellar,
and then let us get to business; I've something important to tell you."
So saying, he walked round the table to a vacant armchair that stood at
the end opposite the door, threw himself back in it, took out a cigar and
lit it, and, with the same unshaken hand that a moment before had taken
a fellow-creature's life, poured out a tumblerful of champagne from a
bottle that stood half empty beside him.
Meanwhile, two of the men had risen from their seats. One of them tied
a red handkerchief tightly round the dead man's skull, to stop what little
bleeding there was from the two clean-cut wounds, and then the two
picked him up, and, without a word, carried him out of the room.
"I hope I haven't shocked you by such a rough-and-ready
administration of justice," said Max, half turning in his chair and
addressing a girl who sat next to him on his right hand.

"No," said the girl. "It was obviously necessary. If half you charged
him with is true, he ought to have been crucified, let alone shot. I can't
think what such vermin are made for."
And as she spoke, she flicked the ash off a cigarette that she held
between her fingers, put it between as dainty a pair of lips as ever were
made for kissing, and sent a delicate little blue wreathing cloud up to
mingle with the haze that filled the upper part of the room.
"And now, What is this interesting something that you have got to tell
us, Monsieur Max?"
"All in good time, Ma'm'selle. I must ask you to wait until Casano and
Rolland have come back; but meanwhile I will whet your curiosity by
telling you I am thinking seriously of exiling myself for a couple of
years or so."
As he said this he looked keenly from under his half lowered eyelashes
into the girl's eyes, as if expecting, or, perhaps, only half hoping for,
some sign of emotion.
Two dark-fringed lids lifted suddenly for an instant, and then dropped
again, and in that instant two liquid deep grey