The Saint and Mr Teal (Once More the Saint)

"But in the eyes of the law he was murdered. In the eyes of the law he was a citizen who had every right to live, who could have called for policemen paid for by other citizens to protect him if he'd ever been threat­ened, who would have been guiltless for ever in the eyes of the law until his crimes could have been proved according to the niggling rules of evidence to twelve bamboozled half-wits by a parade of blathering lawyers. And the man who killed him will be sentenced to death according to the law.

"That man was Galbraith Stride."

They were staring at him, intent and motionless.

"I know what you thought, Toby," said the Saint. "You burst into the saloon with murder in your heart, and saw Osman dead, and Laura with the gun close to her hand. You could only think for the moment that she had done it, and you made a rather foolish and rather splendid confession to me with some wild idea of shielding her. If I had any medals hung around me I'd give you one. But you certainly weren't in your right mind, because it never occurred to you to ask what Stride was doing there, or where Laura found the gun.

"Laura, I don't want to make it any harder for you, but there is one thing you must know. Every word that Osman told you was true. Galbraith Stride himself was just such a man as Osman. He has never been such a power for evil, perhaps; but that's only because he wasn't big enough. He was certainly no better. Their trades were the same, and they met here to divide their kingdoms. Osman won the division because he was just a shade more unscrupulous, and Stride sent you to him in accordance with their bargain.

"You might like to think that Stride repented at the last moment and came over to try and save you; but I'm afraid even that isn't true. He killed Osman for a much more sordid reason, which the police will hear about in due time."

Even in the darkness he could see their eyes fixed on him. It was Laura Berwick who spoke for them both.

"Who are you?" she asked; and Simon was silent only for a second.

"I am Simon Templar, known as the Saint-you may have heard of me. I am my own law, and I have sen­tenced many men who were lesser pestilences than Abdul Osman or Garbraith Stride. . . . Oh, I know what you're thinking. The police will also think it for a little while. I did come here tonight to kill Abdul Osman, but I wasn't quick enough."

He stood up and swung himself lightly back onto the gangway. His deft fingers cast off the painter and tossed it into the boat; and without another word he went up to the deck and down again to the saloon.

They sentenced Galbraith Stride for the murder of Abdul Osman on the first day of November, just over a month after these events that have been recorded, after a trial that lasted four days.

One of the documents that played a considerable part in bringing the jury to their verdict was a sealed letter that was produced by a London solicitor at the inquest. It was addressed in Abdul Osman's own heavy sprawling calligraphy:

To the Coroner: to be handed to him in the event of my death in suspicious circumstances within the next three months.

Inside was a comprehensive survey of Galbraith Stride's illicit activities that made the police open their eyes. It was typewritten; but the concluding paragraph was in Osman's own handwriting.

This is written in the expectation of a meeting between Stride and myself at which our respective spheres of influence are to be agreed on and mutually limited. If any ''accident" should happen to me during this conference, therefore, the man responsible will certainly be Galbraith Stride, whom I should only expect to violate our truce as he has violated every other bargain he has ever made.

[Signed] ABDUL OSMAN.

The defense made a valiant effort to save their case by making great play with the fact that the notorious Simon Templar was not only in the district, but was actually on board the Luxor when the murder was committed; but the judge promptly repressed all questions that were not directly concerned with the circumstances of the murder.

''The police," he said, "have charged Galbraith Stride with the murder, and I cannot have alternative murderers dragged in at this stage of the proceedings. We are here to decide whether the prisoner, Galbraith Stride, is guilty or not guilty; and if he should eventu­ally be found not guilty it will be open to the police to bring charges against such other persons as they think fit."

There was also, somewhat inconsistently, an attempt on the part of the defense to represent their client as a repentant hero hastening to rescue his stepdaughter from her fate. The case for the prosecution lasted two days, and this happened when the Crown's position was rapidly becoming unassailable. And then Clements was called, and that finished it.