“Whew, that was a job!” puffed Bronston, releasing his grasp of their still feebly struggling charge. “Inspector, can you keep him where he is for just a minute or two? I’ll see to it that the baggage is brought here.”
“I can keep the gentleman quiet,” said Drew, mending his grip and shoving down hard upon the wriggling human cushion beneath him.
“For God’s sake, don’t let him get away! Don’t——” The rest was but muffled gurglings and snortings, made meaningless and wordless by a sinewy, tweed-clad forearm, which was jammed across poor Keller’s face with crushing and extinguishing violence.
“Go get your baggage,” panted Inspector Drew. “He’ll stay right ’ere with me, no fear.” So Bronston stepped down out of the compartment and slammed the door fast behind him.
[460]
As the passengers of the Mesopotamia come swarming aboard the boat train, and as the boat train prepares to pull out for London, we may as well leave the inspector and the handcuffed detective wrestling there together in the narrow confines of that English railway compartment.
Because that was where Bronston left them.
THE END
Transcriber’s Notes
Inconsistent hyphenation retained as originally printed: cooperation/co-operation, everyday/every-day, lamppost/lamp-post, pipestem/pipe-stem, upended/up-ended.