Clue of the Twisted Candle

houseat Dartmoor gaol. He wore the ugly livery of shame which mar

ding with his handsbehind him, he waited for

let his mind dwell upon the longaching years ahead. He dare not think of the woman he left, orlet his mind dwell upon the agony which she was enduring. He haddisappeared from the world, the world he loved, and the world

e future meant Sunday chapel; the presentwhatever task they found him. For the day he was to paint somedoors and windows of an outlying cottage. A c

ly he turned, hishands still behind him, and stood

hains which bound them together. They weredesperate men, peculiarly interesting to

unlucky. It was usual to have twelve months at theScrubbs before testing the life of a convict establishment. Hebelieved there was som

s warder's vo

he right, and walked upthe village street toward the moors, beyond the village ofPrincetown, and on the Tavistock Road where were two or

as as yet wit

forthe arrival of the painter. The two warders exchanged greetin

rked in silence under

e, and John Lexman had anopportuni

o means bad looking, he lacked that indefinable suggestion ofanima

til his iron-shod boots were tramping over the cobbled pathwhich led from

in for?" he aske

id John Lexman

noticed with a littleamusement the look of re

ot!""Fifteen years

the first man. "You'venever been here befor

week."John Lexman looked at him enviously. Had the man told him that hehad inhe

ing

lothing, free as the air, at liberty togo to bed and rise when he liked, to choose his o

in for?" he aske

was putaway by a woman after three of us had got clear w

ith theseexponents of crimes. One naturally adopts their

nton. "I've got one of the biggest ideas I've ever had, and I'v

s head in the direc

h America, and you won't see us for dust."Though he employed all the colloquialisms which were common, histone was that of a man of education, and yet th

the stones outside re

s voice came

u down here."John took his paint pot and brush

man?" asked the war

m."The warder stepped out of the

Princetown was

your paint p

as shaking wi

and jump into it. Get down into the bottom andpull a sack over you, and do not ge

d!" he w

ll you," hiss

eat goggles John could see little to help him identify theman. As the machine came up to the gate, he leapt into thetonneau and sank instantly to the bottom. As he did so he feltthe car leap forward u

they had switched off to the left andwere making for one of the wildest parts of the moor. Nev

ut," sai

leapt out and as he did so thecar tu

he saw the grey bulk of Princetown Gaol. It wasan accident that he should see it,

on the moors! W

at the sound

was a smooth stretch of green sward. It was on this stretch that

chinewith out-stretched pinions of taut white canvas, and b

lope. As he neared the mac

aid, and the b

e you going to do!" askedLexman, whe

you to a place of sa

uld not lie, my dear Lexman. And honestly, I had forgottenthe existence of the letter; if that is what you are referr

d his head

came the dull su

your escape," hesaid. "Get in."John clambered up i

est models ofmonoplanes."He clicked over a lever and

an with increasing gaitfor a hundred yards,

to side, and looking over, thepassen

scent, passing throughdrifting clouds till th

cognized the fringe of white houses that stood for Torquay, butin an

le. The roar of the en

and changed hiscourse ever so slightly. Presently he released one hand from thedriving wheel, and scrib

Lexma

ere is a life belt under

ooked no morethan a white speck in a great blue saucer, but presently themachine began to dip, falling at a terrific

was allso incredible, so impossible. He expected to wake

point for which

in her rear, and as theaeroplane fell he had time to observe that a boat had been putoff. Then with a jerk

d by that time they will pick us up."His voice was high and harsh in

mpse of the crew, by Greeks. Hescrambled aboard and five minutes later he was standing on the

ile,"add that to the two thousand I paid the warder and you have