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.After a second's cogitation, he decided on the upward flight, and emerged ontoa broader promenade which ran round the entire perimeter of the walls.Simon kissed his hand to the unknown architect of that in-valuable veranda,and hustled round it as quickly as he dared.A matter of three minutes broughthim to a point which he judged to be vertically over the lighted windows;leaning dizzily over the battlements, he was able to make out a dimlyilluminated sill.And right under his hands he could feel the thick, gnarledtendrils of a growth of ivy that must have been digging itself in since thedays of Charlemagne.With the slow beginnings of a Saintly smile touching his lips, Simon flexedhis arms, took a firm grip on the nearest tentacles, and swung his legs overthe low balustrade.And it was at that moment that he heard the scream.It was the most dreadful shriek that he had ever heard.Shrill, quavering, andheart-sickening, it pealed out from beneath him and went wailing round theempty courtyard in horrible strident agony.It was a scream that gurgled outof a retch-ing throat that had lost all control the shuddering brute cry of aman crucified beyond the endurance of human flesh and blood.It tingled upinto the Saint's scalp like a stream of elec-tric needles and numbed his bellywith a frozen nausea.2For a space of four or five seconds that haunting cadence quivered in the air;and then silence came blanketing down again upon the castle a silencethrobbing with the blood-chilling terror of that awful cry.The Saint loosed one hand and wiped a smear of clammy perspiration from hisforehead.He had never reckoned him-self to be afflicted with an undulysensitive set of nerves, but there was something about that scream whichliquefied the marrow in his bones: He knew that only one thing could havecaused it the pitiless application of a fiendish refinement of torture whichhe would never have believed existed.Recalling his flippant reflections onthe subject of mediaeval dungeon frolics, he found the theme less funny thanit had seemed a quarter of an hour ago.His heart was beating a little faster as he worked his way down the wall.Hewent down as quickly as he dared, swinging recklessly from hand-hold tohand-hold and praying consistently as he descended.Down in that lighted room below him things were blowing up an eighty miles anhour for the showdown which he had laboriously arranged to attend in person.Down there was being disentangled the enigma of the sardine can, and he wanteda front fauteuil for the climax.He figured that he had earned it Only withthat tantalizing bait in view had be been able to deny himself the pleasure ofpicking up Rudolf by the hoosits and punting him halfway to Potsdam.And thethought that he might be missing the smallest detail of the unravelling senthim slithering down the scarp at a pace that would have made a monkey's hairturn grey.A dead strand of creeper snapped under his weight, and for one vertiginousinstant he pendulumed over the yawning jaws of death by the fingers of hisPage 20 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlleft hand.Looking down into the Stygian chasm as he swung there, he sighted anebulous shaft of luminance just underneath his feet and knew that he was onlya few inches from his goal.He snatched at a fresh hand-hold, warped himselffeatly sideways, and went on.A moment later he was steadying his toes on thebroad sill of the open window and peeping into the room.In a high-backed, carved-oak chair, at one end of a long oak table placed inthe geometric centre of a luxuriously fur-nished library, sat the prince.Athin jade cigarette holder was clamped between his teeth, and he was sketchingan intricate pattern on the table with a slim gold pencil.At the opposite endof the table a big flabbily built man sat in an identical chair: he wasclothed only in his trousers and shirt, and his bare wrists were locked to thearms of the chair by shining metal clamps.And the Saint saw with a dumbthrill of horror that his head was completely enclosed in a sphericalframework of gleaming steel.The prince was speaking in German."You must understand, my dear Herr Krauss, that I never allow misguidedstubbornness to interfere with my plans.To me, you are nothing but a toolthat has served its purpose.I have only one more use for you: to open thislittle box.That must be a very small service for you to do me, and yet youcan console yourself with the thought that it will be an exceedingly valuableone.It will relieve me of the trouble and delay of having it opened by force,and it will save you an indefinite amount of physical discomfort.Surely youwill see that it is absurd to refuse."The other twisted impotently in his chair.There was a trickle of bloodrunning down his arm where one of the clamps which held him had cut into theflesh."You devil! Is this what you did to Weissmann?""That was not necessary.The egregious Emilio you remember Emilio? wascareless enough to kill him.Weissmann had actually reached Innsbruck when thepolice waylaid him.He was rescued, curiously enough, by a young friend ofmine an Englishman who used to be extremely clever.Fortunately for us, hispowers are declining very early in life, and it was a comparatively simplematter for me to retrieve your property.You should visit my young friend oneday you will find that you have much in common.When a once brilliant man ispassing into his second childhood, it must be a great relief to be able toexchange sympathy with another who is undergoing the same unenviableexperience."The prisoner leaned forward rigidly."One day," he said huskily, "I will make you sneer with another face.One daywhen you have learned that the old fox can still be the master of the youngjackal "Prince Rudolf snapped his fingers."These 'one days,' my friend! How often have I listened to prophecies of whatthe cheated fox would do 'one day'! And it is a day which never comes.No,Herr Krauss let us confine ourselves to the present, which is so much lessspeculative.You have been very useful to me unwittingly, I know; but Iappreciate your kindness just the same.I appreciate it so much that the mostsuperficial courtesy on your part would induce me to let you leave this castlealive after you have performed me this one service.I could even forget yourthreats and insults, which have done me no great harm.I have no profounddesire to injure you.Your dead body would only be an encumbrance; and eventhe mild form of persuasion which you have compelled me to apply does notamuse me the noise you make is so distressing.So let us have no more delays.Do what I ask you ""Du du Schweinhund!" The tortured man's voice rose to a tremulous whine."Youwill have to wait longer than this ""My dear Herr Krauss, I have already waited long enough.Your plot to obtainthe contents of this box was known to me three months ago.At first I wasannoyed.I regret to say that for a time I even contemplated the advantages ofyour meet-ing with a fatal accident.And then I devised this infinitely betterPage 21 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlscheme.Since we both coveted the same prize, I would retire gracefully.Youshould have the field to yourself.Your own renowned cunning and audacityshould pull the chestnuts out of the fire
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