13 The Saint Intervenes (Boodle)

"I think you'll be happy here, Uncle Dave," he said; and he did not need an answer in words to complete his reward.

It was a jubilant return journey for him; and they were in Guildford before he recollected that he had backed a very fast outsider at Newmarket. When he bought a paper he saw that that also had come home, and they had to stop at the Lion for celebrations.

"There are good moments in this life of sin, Pat," he re­marked, as he started up the car again; and then he saw the expression on her face, and stared at her in concern. "What's the matter, old darling—has that last Martini gone to your head?"

Patricia swallowed. She had been glancing through the other pages of the Evening News while he tinkered with the ignition; and now she folded the sheet down and handed it to him.

"Didn't you promise Uncle Dave whatever money there was in his house as well as that cottage?" she asked.

Simon took the paper and read the item she was pointing to.

TREASURE TROVE

                         IN LONDON

                                                      EXCAVATION

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Windfall for Winlass

——————————

The London clay, which has given up many strange secrets in its time, yesterday surrendered a treasure which has been in its keeping for 300 years.

Ten thousand pounds is the estimated value of a hoard of gold coins and antique jewellery discovered by workmen engaged in de­molishing an old house in Turk's Lane, Brompton, which is being razed to make way for a modern apartment building.

The owner of the property, Mr. Vernon Winlass——

The Saint had no need to read any more; and as a matter of fact he did not want to. For several seconds he was as far beyond the power of speech as if he had been born dumb.

And then, very slowly, the old Saintly smile came back to his lips.

"Oh, well, I expect our bank account will stand it," he said cheerfully, and turned the car back again towards Hampshire.

 

VI

The Sleepless Knight

If a great many newspaper cuttings and references to news­papers find their way into these chronicles, it is simply be­cause most of the interesting things that happen find their way into newspapers, and it is in these ephemeral sheets that the earnest seeker after unrighteousness will find many clues to his quest.

Simon Templar read newspapers only because he found collected in them the triumphs and anxieties and sins and misfortunes and ugly tyrannies which were going on around him, as well as the results of races in which chosen horses carried samples of his large supply of shirts; not because he cared anything about the posturing of Transatlantic fliers or the flatulence of international conferences. And it was solely through reading a newspaper that he became aware of the existence of Sir Melvin Flager.

It was an unpleasant case; and the news item may as well be quoted in full.

JUDGE CENSURES TRANSPORT

COMPANY

Driver's four hours' sleep a week

—————————

"MODERN SLAVERY"

—Mr. Justice Goldie.

—————————

SCATHING criticisms of the treatment of drivers by a road transport company were made by Mr. Justice Goldie during the trial of Albert Johnson, a lorry driver, at Guildford Assizes yesterday.

Johnson was charged with manslaughter following the death of a cyclist whom he knocked down and fatally injured near Albury on March 28th.

Johnson did not deny that he was driving to the danger of the public, but pleaded that his condition was due to circumstances be­yond his control.

Police witnesses gave evidence that the lorry driven by Johnson was proceeding in an erratic manner down a fairly wide road at about 30 miles an hour. There was a cyclist in front of it, travelling in the same direction, and a private car coming towards it.

Swerving to make way for the private car, in what the witness de­scribed as "an unnecessarily exaggerated manner," the lorry struck the cyclist and caused fatal injuries.

The police surgeon who subsequently examined Johnson described him as being "apparently intoxicated, although there were no signs of alcohol on his breath."

"I was not drunk," said Johnson, giving evidence on his own behalf. "I was simply tired out. We are sent out on long journeys and forced to complete them at an average of over 30 miles an hour, including stops for food and rest.

"Most of our work is done at night, but we are frequently compelled to make long day journeys as well.

"During the week when the accident occurred, I had only had four hours' sleep.

"It is no good protesting, because the company can always find plenty of unemployed drivers to take our places."

Other employees of the Flager Road Transport Company, which employs Johnson, corroborated his statement.