1940-12-18 — Page 3

Wednesday,

Chur

Library,

HONGKONG TELEGRAPH

December 18, 1940.

By Walt Disney

YOU THINK IT'S

FUNNY

HUM?

KOH YOU.

WOULDN'T,

HUH?

DONALD DUCK

OH, GOODIE! YOU'RE JUST IN TIME TO GIVE ME YOUR OPINION OF MY NEW HATƒ

WHAT A HATI HOO-HA-HAR'. WHOOPS! HAWI HAW!

OH, BOY.... DO IN

I WOULDN'T GO TO A DOG FIGHT IN IT!

[WALT

PROPERTS POLO

SHOE CREAM

IN

TAN, MAHOGANY, BLACK & WHITE

75c.

per jar

LANE, CRAWFORD, LTD.

Tiger

Standish,

THERE WAS THE SOUND OF A SNORT.

T

ace of British

"But the devil of it," complained Sir Harker Bellamy, bitterly, "that I am being held directly responsible! As though my Department had to act as nursemaid for every chit of a child who wants its bottom smacked!"

Tiger Standish, who had dropped in to make his dally report, looked at his superior officer. Y.1, that branch of British Intelligence which was concentrating on counter-espionage work, was being kept pretty busy these days, but he felt a certain amount of sympathy for Bellamy as the latter poured out his plaint.. Later, he was due to transfer that sympathy from his superlor to himself-but at the moment this knowledge was mercifully hidden from Film.

.

So it was that he lightly put the question: "What are you bell-aching about now, you old buzzord?"

Bellamy sighed as though in all the world he could not find an understanding soul

"You've heard of Blanca Tedworth, I suppose?" his tone now sardonic.

"Well, I'm not quite blind in both eyes yet you mean the wench who was palling up to the Nazi bosses until quite recently."

"That's the one. She's the daughter of Lord Bevington. Headstrong as a wild coli. Got sinitten with this Hiller- Youth bug and was willing to throw up everything, including her nationally, In order to lend a hand in the movement which, was to regenerate the world. Excuse me for a moment while I spil"

Having done this offee, Bellamy continued: "There's nothing very much wrong with the girl fundamentally, I suppose, but, as I say, she ought to have had her bottom smacked at intervals from the age of seven upwards. That would have taught her sense. She's nineteen now, by the way As you know, she's only just been able to get out of Germany; the Nazi bosses, including Himmler, Chief of the Gestapo, thought she might have a dangerous influence en her former pal, whose name need not be mentioned.

ved safe the outbreak of war, they played and so, at the outb

and popped concentration camp.

Not one the worst ones,

of the but sufficiently bad to cure the fair Bianca of her former besoiled

true,

ited Infatuation. Last week, owing to the Influence of the American Embassy in Berlin (who, of after British affairs now) she was

her into

il's

course, are 10uthorities, after the ballyhoo tripe of the

released. The

Mitford girl, were not going to take any chances; con- sequently there were no reporters, no news-real operators, and no publicity whatsoever when Bianca Tedworth landed" in Folkestone four days ago."

Standish, putting up a huge hand to his mouth, did his best to hide a yawTE

"How many more instalments, ?" he enquired,. "Only two-and they're both very short. The Arst is that the girl has disappeared, and the second is that you've damned well got to find her."

Tiger bounded up from his chair.

"Well, that's-a-nice thing to say he cried indignantly, "Haven't you got anything better to do than to send me scouting round after a chit of a child?"

Bellamy took his time to light the short, black pipe which he had just filed with evil-looking plug tobacco.

"I thought you'd say that," he replied amiably, "but if it's any consolation to you to know it, this is a very important job of work."

"It's a job for the police!"

"No," he was uncompromisingly Informed, "it's a job for Y.1. And you're the man to do there's no one better,"

Tiger began to fume afresh.

"Where do we come into it?" he retorted. "Principally because our agent, Y.27, was able to see the Textworth girl just after she crossed the German frontier, and being hard-pressed, gave her the plans of an entirely new raiding bomber about which the Nazis do not want

that anything known. You remember

business Belgium the other day"

over

You mean when a German 'plane shot down two Bolgian fighters?"

Bellamy nodded,

"Yes. Those fighters were shot down because the pilot had had the strictest instructions that in no clrcumstances whatever was he to allow his machine to be examined by anybody

Germany-not even by a noutral.". outsido Tiger sat down again and filled his own pipe. This business was becoming more interesting; it was just like Bellamy to hide the truth as long as possible. One result, he supposed, of having spent over thirty years in Intelligence.

"Did she hand over the plans?" he asked. This time Bellamy shook his head.

"When I said Just now that she landed at Folkestone' it was more or lesa a Dgure of speech. I should have said she was supposed to land at Folkestone. The truth---or what at the present time must pass for the truth is that when her father, Lord Bevington, went to meet her at the landing stage, he found no one amongst the passengers who corresponded in the slightest degree to his daughter."

whistled.

Tiger

Then "Who can any. what happened?" Bellamy shrugged his shoulders like a weary Titan who finds the weight of his labours intolerable: "all we do know is that a girl resembling Blanca Tedworth on the boat at Calals...

got

to you to discover the rest, my boy." "I'm not Sherlock Holmes."

It's up

"And I'm certainly not Watson," rejoined his superior, and turned to the papers on his desk.

The certainly wasn't good enough, and Standish voiced his disgust.

the

j. “She's probably at the bottom of the Channel-what's good of sending me off on a wild-goose chase itke this? And where the hell do I start, anyway?” |-

}

*

THE LADY

with the

secret

GAUDY PAST

get good servants during wartime in London, it was still more dimeult to procure them in the country. The ordinary woman might have managed, but the Countess had her own Axed, and somewhat peculiar, ideas about the servant question: she would employ no one on the male side who was not both young and good-looking. This determination of hers added considerably, of course, to the difficulties of the present situation.

What was more, Neverne Castle was situate in a very lonely part of what has frequently been described as the most delectable county in England. The castle, which dated back to the early 14th century, was not, strictly speaking. built on Sussex land at all; it had been erected, according to history, by a direct descendant of William the Conqueror, who had perched his new home on the very edge of the Sussex cl But, the intervening centuries, with the assistance of the sea, had caused serious erosions to take place.

With this result: between the mainland and the

castle keep, there was now a stretch of over 200 yards of sea, which, for several months in the year, tossed and foamed, shricked and shrilled, banged and battered against both the cliffe on the mainland and those which surrounded the present abode of the Countess of Mittenden.

The man who was bound for Neverne Castle, there to take up the position of new butler, sat upright in the small boat which acted as ferry. The rustic who propelled the cars looked at him with a kind of shrewd, quizzical interest.

'opes as 'ow you'll like it there, maister," he vouch- safed; "'ll be all right if you keeps on the right side of 'er ladyship. Leastways," with a snigger that might have been the cloak for some secretly amusing thought, "that's what they do say round about 'era."

Sidney

By

Horler

"Mind your own business,* WDB the stifly-ultered comment.

"I was only givin' yo a bit of advice, maister,” went on the rustic; "but seeing that his passenger was in no mood for further converse, he concentrated on his oarsman- ship and, within a few moments, brought his boat to the castle landing-place.

A few minutes later, John Giles was interviewing his new mistress. The Countess of Mittenden was a woman, he was now able to observe, of perhaps 55 years of age- and a bad $5 at that. As though to fight, the ravages of time, her ladyship resorted to a make-up that was not so much elaborate as excessive; her face looked as though one would have to scrape off the paint with a knife before coming to the skin beneath. Her hands, too, were unpleasant-veiny, dead-coloured, with the long. pointed nails looking as though they had been dipped in blood.

"Yes," she said in a hoarse low-pitched voice that grated on her listener's ears, "your references appear to be quite satisfactory, Giles, and when I spoke to the agency this morning, they said that they were sure you would give. me good service. I hope you will be very comfortable here, Giles."

Conventional words, but the new butler did not like the smile which accompanied them. He remembered the words of the gnarled old boatman. They were likely, he considered, to become prophetic.

"I hope, too, your ladyship, that I shall give you good service," he replied--but he spoke in German Instead of English.

The Countess put one of the claw-like hands up to her mouth. Even so, a sharp cry of mingled surprise and alarm broke from her lips.

"Who are you?" she demanded sharply, one hand now to her breast: and why do you speak to me in German?" The now buller did a surprising thing. Instead of replying, he took from his waistcoat pocket a disc that seemed to be made of silver, or some other gleaming metal. This is why he replied, showing it to her. now his voice held only authority.

IN

*

And

IN A DUNGEON FAR BELOW THE ROOM IN WHICH THIS CONVERSATION HAD TAKEN PLACE, a girl who, but for her modern dress, might well have been a captive of the original owner of Neverne Castle, crouched against the damp wall. She crouched for a very good reason around her right ankle was a band of steel Attach- ed to this was a thin, flexible, but very strong chain mado of the same metal, terminating in a staple driven well into the 15-foot thick wall.

The girl was Blanca Tedworth.

So bemused was she in her misery that, for many, hours now, she had remained practically motionless in that animal-like position. Every vestige of faith that she had had was pow

ow gone; she realised that her plight, although although, Indeed, Bimost incredible, was pitiable,

Chained there like an animal doep down beneath the earth, with no light beyond the storm Iahtern, times without food and even without water, the longed for death

Whereupon Bellamy became as mysterious as though

sensational nim. Going Arst hopeless. he were playing himself in of all to the

dropper, he door, as though suspecting a possible eaves--- whose wick was trimmed from time to time, kept some-

"

the heavy mahogany again, and returned to his seal. After that, he spoke in a whisper for a few more minutes. At the end of that time, Tiger Standish got Bus death seemed still far away. It was her robust up and knocked the ashes out of his pipe.

strength that kept her alive and, for the first time since she was born, she cursed her youtht

"It looks Ilka one chance in a million," he gummed up. It's the one chance in a million that sometimes comes off, my boy was the answer he received.

One of her many troubles was that, she, could not remember the immediate past; she could recall getting on the cross-Channel boat along with a lot of soldiers coming on leave, at Calais; she could recall going on deck and THE COUNTESS OF MITTENDEN HAD LEFT LONDON talking to two oficers, one of whom she remembered cer who wants to be blown to bits by those draadfit wearing the uniform of the Tank Corps. It was this officer, bombs? How I do hate that man Hiller!"), and was residing who asked her if she would like to have some coffee and In her country seat, Neverne Castle, in the county of Sussex, because after ail she had gone through, the very sight of The move had had a disadvantages. The stana British face made her almost li with happiness, she had problem, for instance: whilst i was extremely dimcult to agreed

agents, meets

They had gone down to the saloon, her companion had ordered a whisky and soda for himself and a coffee for her; she had taken a first sip-and then that awful darkness "had",come, enveloping her about like'a black blanket, ...

There was nothing between that memory and the infinitely more horrible one of waking up.'In this dreadful place, which she now knew to be a prison-cell from which there could never be any escape. What had happened to her; where she had been taken; who was responsible for taking her there, all these things were insoluble mysteries. The brutal fact that this was reality and not a nightmare, out of which she might mereltully" awake, was suffelent, She wished she were dead.

WITH THE FIRST SOUND OF THE BOLT OUTSIDE THE DOOR BEING DRAWN, she awoke out of her lethargy, springing to her. feet, her captive's chairt rattling as she did so.

It was a man who now come Into the place; before, it had been women. Two women-one thick-set with a cold, hard, unpleasant face, who looked like a servant of some kind, and then another-a more horrible creature this --because, possibly due to fear of showing her face, she wore *a mask. Both these women had frightened her out of her few remaining wits but neither had induced her to tell the truth. She would not tell the truth-not even If they killed her for it. Because, she felt, this resolve was the only possible reparation she could make to her country for her fonner foolhardy conduct. Besides, so much was at stake....

The intruder, who was a stranger to her, drew up a three-legged stool, which was one of the few pieces of "urniture" in the dungeon, and regarded her intently.

"Do you want to leave here, Miss Tedworth?" he asked. "Because if you do, it will be quite a simple matter, you know."

She mistrusted his face just as much as the mistrusted his voice. Like the women before him, he would name his conditions; she knew that.

"You realise, of course, that very quickly I must be My father is a very important man in this

found? country..

The man put up his hand, smiling as he did so. "How do you know you are in England, Miss Ted- worth?" You may still be in Germany."

She shook her head.

"No, I know that's not true."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because It I were in Germany, there would not be

all this secrecy that woman who comes in wearing o mask would be able to show her face."

This time the man's smile was even more odious. "Perhaps the mask she wears is much more pleasant than the face underneath," he commented: "but we waste Ume. What did you do with those plans, Miss Tedworth? Tell me that and you shall at least be given a more suitable lodging. You must find this place very damp,"

,

As though to give emphasis to his words, he pulled up his coat collar and shivered. It must a most realistie bit of acting, but it made no impression to her,

"I tell you what I have repeatedly told those two. women-I know nothing whatever about any plans."

He jumped up.

"Why uu you ite? It's no use-and it, only makes you sulfer morc. Now, Miles Tedworth, you shall have one last chance. And when I say 'last' I mean it."”. Again he sulted action to words, but this time the plece of pantomime was sinister; putting a hand into his coat pocket, he took out a revolver.

"You are becoming a liability, Miss Tedworth, and so. unless you give me the information I require, you will have to die, I am afraid."

A wan smlle spread over her pale face.

"I'm not afraid to die-I want to die," she replied.

The further words died on her lips; the man opposite her saw her face grow rigid, whilst her eyes seemed to

on the point of falling out of her head.

"What is it?" he asked gruffly.

be

behind

The reply did not come from the girl; it carne from

"Drop that gun-and put up your hands!" said a volce that sounded like an accusing judge's; "you have played your just masquerade as a British officer, Herr Otto Welss; your famous impersonations as a captain of the Tanks Corps are now at an end. Drop that have got his revenge by

I tell you." Even so the Nazi spy would have. shooting the girl had

had not Blanco Tedworth suddenly ducked. The bullet which itself again had been intended for her brain squashed

of the dungeon. the dripping wall of The next moment Tiger Standish had leapt on the from behind and had brought him crashing to the uneven stone floor. The chained girl watched, in mingled fascinated borror and relief, the terrible struggle which ensued.

man

If the German was strong, Standish was stronger. Moreover, he was fired by a burning sense of anger. That any girl, let alone a girl of Blanca Tedworth's gentle upbringing, should have been treated like that was a slight to the whole British race,

The third blow that he smashed to the Nazi's face completed the job.

"ANKS for the flowers, B., replied Standish, "but after all it wasn't so difficult. After you had given me that tip about the Countess of Mittenden, I made a few enquiries on my own, and discovered that she had been one of the most prominent pro-Hitlerites before the war- a fervent Nuremberger and an even more fervent Munichols. A lady with a goudy post in more than one' respect. Delving a little deeper into her past, I found that, amongst her many lovers and during her husband's Illetime, too, naughty girl-was the Baron von Stumm. As you know, Bor If you don't, you ought to know-the Baron was one of the high lights in pre-Hitler Germany; as a matter of fact he was a big bug in the Intelligence Service. When the Nazis came into power, they took over all the archives. ofthe old Secret Service and, you, may bat, with charac teristic German thoroughness, they marked the Countess of Mittenden's name with an X They decided, of course, that she was very likely to be useful later on.

ייו

"How useful she was proved by what I saw in that dungeon at Neverne Castle. She had been warned to expect a visitor, and when an elderly, woman, accompanied by, a Belilah officer.

Standish waved his pipe as though it were a musical conductors baton,

"My dear B!" he chided; "where are the brains of yester-

The elderly lady' was Blanca Tedworth, of course."

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