Page:The Teeth of the Tiger - Leblanc - 1914.djvu/433

 to send some one with you to the lockup. I presume your pocketbook was among the things taken from you."

Don Luis smiled:

"Monsieur le Préfet, the things that people can take from me are never of the least importance. My pocketbook is at the lockup, as you say. But the money"

He raised his left leg, took his boot in his hands and gave a slight twist to the heel. There was a little click, and a sort of double drawer shot out of the front of the sole. It contained two sheafs of bank notes and a number of diminutive articles, such as a gimlet, a watch spring, and some pills.

"The wherewithal to escape," he said, "to live and—to die. Good-bye, Monsieur le Président."

In the hall M. Desmalions told the inspectors to let their prisoner go free. Don Luis asked:

"Monsieur le Préfet, did Deputy Chief Weber give you any particulars about the brute's car?"

"Yes, he telephoned from Versailles. It's a deep-yellow car, belonging to the Compagnie des Comètes. The driver's seat is on the left. He's wearing a gray cloth cap with a black leather peak."

"Thank you, Monsieur le Préfet."

And he left the house.

An inconceivable thing had happened. Don Luis was free. Half an hour's conversation had given him the power of acting and of fighting the decisive battle.

He went off at a run. At the Trocadéro he jumped into a taxi.

"Go to Issy-les-Moulineaux!" he cried. "Full speed! Forty francs!"