Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/291

Rh, which was said to have been stolen by an Englishman known in Shanghai as China Pete. This was very clearly another attempt on Nikola's part to obtain possession of it, so I replied to the effect that I could not entertain the request.

"A month or so later, I cannot, however, be particular as to the exact date, I found myself again in communication with Nikola, this time from South America. But there was this difference: on this occasion he used undisguised threats, not only against myself, in the event of my still refusing to give him what he wanted, but also against my wife and daughter. I took no notice, with the result that my residence was again broken into, but still without success. I no longer locked the talisman up in the safe, but hid it in a place where I knew no one could possibly find it. My mind, you will see, was perfectly made up, I was not going to be driven into surrendering it.

"One night, returning to my house, I was garroted and searched within a hundred yards of my own front door. But they could not find it on me. Then peculiar pressure from other quarters was brought to bear, my servants were bribed, and my life became almost a burden to me. What was more, I began to develop that extraordinary fear of Nikola which seems to seize upon every one who has any dealing at all with him. When I went home to England some months back I did it because my spirits had got into such a depressed state that I could not remain in Australia. But I took care to deposit the stick with my plate in the bank before I left. There it remained till I returned, when I put it in its old hiding-place again.

"The day after I reached London I happened to be crossing Trafalgar Square, when I saw Dr. Nikola