第25章

Very gingerly he inserted the instrument in the small keyhole and turned it cautiously first one way and then the other.There was a sharp click followed by another.He turned the handle and the door of the safe swung open.

"Simple, isn't it!" he asked politely.

In that second of time Kara's face had undergone a transformation.

The eyes which met T.X.Meredith's blazed with an almost insane fury.With a quick stride Kara placed himself before the open safe.

"I think this has gone far enough, Mr.Meredith," he said harshly.

"If you wish to search my safe you must get a warrant."T.X.shrugged his shoulders, and carefully unscrewing the instrument he had employed and replacing it in the case, he returned it to his inside pocket.

"It was at your invitation, my dear Monsieur Kara," he said suavely."Of course I knew that you were putting a bluff up on me with the key and that you had no more intention of letting me see the inside of your safe than you had of telling me exactly what happened to John Lexman."The shot went home.

The face which was thrust into the Commissioner's was ridged and veined with passion.The lips were turned back to show the big white even teeth, the eyes were narrowed to slits, the jaw thrust out, and almost every semblance of humanity had vanished from his face.

"You - you - " he hissed, and his clawing hands moved suspiciously backward.

"Put up your hands," said T.X.sharply, "and be damned quick about it!"In a flash the hands went up, for the revolver which T.X.held was pressed uncomfortably against the third button of the Greek's waistcoat.

"That's not the first time you've been asked to put up your hands, I think," said T.X.pleasantly.

His own left hand slipped round to Kara's hip pocket.He found something in the shape of a cylinder and drew it out from the pocket.To his surprise it was not a revolver, not even a knife;it looked like a small electric torch, though instead of a bulb and a bull's-eye glass, there was a pepper-box perforation at one end.

He handled it carefully and was about to press the small nickel knob when a strangled cry of horror broke from Kara.

"For God's sake be careful!" he gasped."You're pointing it at me! Do not press that lever, I beg!""Will it explode!" asked T.X.curiously.

"No, no!"

T.X.pointed the thing downward to the carpet and pressed the knob cautiously.As he did so there was a sharp hiss and the floor was stained with the liquid which the instrument contained.

Just one gush of fluid and no more.T.X.looked down.The bright carpet had already changed colour, and was smoking.The room was filled with a pungent and disagreeable scent.T.X.

looked from the floor to the white-faced man.

"Vitriol, I believe," he said, shaking his head admiringly."What a dear little fellow you are!"The man, big as he was, was on the point of collapse and mumbled something about self-defence, and listened without a word, whilst T.X.,labouring under an emotion which was perfectly pardonable, described Kara, his ancestors and the possibilities of his future estate.

Very slowly the Greek recovered his self-possession.

"I didn't intend using it on you, I swear I didn't," he pleaded.

"I'm surrounded by enemies, Meredith.I had to carry some means of protection.It is because my enemies know I carry this that they fight shy of me.I'll swear I had no intention of using it on you.The idea is too preposterous.I am sorry I fooled you about the safe.""Don't let that worry you," said T.X."I am afraid I did all the fooling.No, I cannot let you have this back again," he said, as the Greek put out his hand to take the infernal little instrument.

"I must take this back to Scotland Yard; it's quite a long time since we had anything new in this shape.Compressed air, Ipresume."

Kara nodded solemnly.

"Very ingenious indeed," said T.X."If I had a brain like yours,"he paused, "I should do something with it - with a gun," he added, as he passed out of the room.