Array Sapper - The Complete Works of H. C. McNeile Sapper

"That's comfortable now," I said as Jim strolled into the other half of the room.

"Well, all I do," said the Prince, "is to turn this little lever behind our head, and there you are."

"Well, I'm damned!" I exclaimed. "That's neat."

Two curved pieces of metal, which were normally parallel to the arms and quite unnoticeable, turned inwards through a right angle and pressed lightly on my wrists. But though the pressure was negligible, it was none the less effective. The curve of the metal prevented me from disengaging my hands by moving them inwards: my elbows, hard up against the back of the chair, prevented me moving my arms in that direction. And by no possible contortion could I reach the lever at the back of the chair. I was a prisoner.

"That's extraordinarily neat, Prince," I repeated. "So absurdly simple, too."

And at that moment there came a faint clang: the opening in the grille through which Jim had passed a moment or two before had shut.

"Absurdly so," agreed the Prince pleasantly. "But then, my friend—so are you."

For a moment or two the silence was absolute. On the other side of the grille Jim swung round; then he took three quick steps to the place where be opening had been, and shook the grille. It refused to budge.

"Is this a game, Prince?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know whether you will find it so, Mr. Maitland. I have every intention of enjoying myself thoroughly, but you may not see the humour of it."

"So it was a trap, was it?" Jim said thoughtfully. "At the moment I confess I'm a little in the dark as to your intentions, but doubtless I shall not remain so for long."

"You will not," agreed the other. "In fact, I propose to enlighten you now. When you first went into that half of the room, it was just a normal room. You could have sat on any of the chairs, Mr. Maitland, with perfect impunity. You could have stretched yourself on either of the two sofas and been none the worse. You could have stood anywhere on the floor, touched anything on the walls. That was when you first went in. Now I regret to state things are rather different."

He stretched himself out in an easy-chair and lit a cigarette.

"You may happen to have heard, Mr. Maitland, that I am somewhat of an expert on electricity. And during the last week I have been very busy on a little electrifying scheme. Having been cheated by you of my excitement at the Pool of the Sacred Crocodile, I am sure you will agree with me that you owe me some reparation."

"So you were there, were you?" said Jim slowly. "You damned swine!"

"Certainly I was there," answered the Prince. "And though I confess I was quite amused by the evening, it had not quite the same zest as if the charming Molly had gone into the pool."

"You foul blackguard," I roared, struggling impotently to free my arms.

"This room is sound-proof," murmured the Prince. "So when I ask you to moderate your voice you will realise that I am merely considering my own hearing, and nothing else. And don't please let any thought of Molly mar your enjoyment, Mr. Leyton. I will look after her with great pleasure when—er—you are unable to."

He turned once again to Jim, who had slipped his hand into his pocket.

"Take it out, and have a chat," said the Prince with a faint smile.

"Confound it!" cried Jim furiously. "What's the matter with the gun? Who is tugging at my pocket?"

He swung round with his fists clenched, and an amazed look on his face. He was alone: there was no one there. And yet I could see the pocket that contained his revolver being dragged away from him, as if pulled by an invisible hand.

"I told you that I had carried out a small electrification scheme," went on the Prince affably, and just then Jim managed to extricate his revolver. Simultaneously the Egyptian leant forward and pressed a button.

It looked as if the revolver was wrenched from Jim's hand. It crashed to the floor at his feet, while he stared at it bewildered: then he stooped to pick it up. It was resting on two small pillars which stuck up a few inches from the floor; it continued to rest there. He tugged at it with all his great strength, and he might have been a child trying to push a locomotive up a hill.

Once again the Prince smiled faintly.

"Magnetism, my dear Maitland," he murmured. "Perfectly simple and saves such a lot of trouble."

I saw the beads of sweat beginning to gleam on Jim's forehead.

"What's all this leading to?" he said a little hoarsely, staring at the Egyptian through the grille.

"What I told you before—an evening's amusement for me."

And suddenly Jim lost his temper. He sprang at the gate in the centre and shook it wildly, only to give a shout of pain and jump backwards again.

"What the devil was that?" he muttered.

"A severe electric shock," said the Prince genially. "Not enough to do you any real harm—but enough to prove to you that I am not romancing or bluffing—when I tell you of my little scheme. You know the principles of electricity, don't you?"

The Prince lit another cigarette, and lay back luxuriously in his chair.

"You remember them doubtless from your school days—anyway those that count. For instance, you must certainly remember the method of getting a shock, by holding two terminals in your hands. That is what happened a moment ago, except that you were standing on one terminal, and holding the other."

"Suppose you quit fooling and get down to it," said Jim grimly.

"Certainly," said the Prince pleasantly. "In the week since I last saw you I have occupied myself in fixing scores of similar terminals all over your half of the room. For instance—the chair just behind you. There are two there. And though you might sit in that chair for quite a time in perfect safety, some chance movement might make the connection. And then you'd get another shock."

"Am I to understand," snarled Jim, "that you propose to keep me here hopping round the room having electric shocks?"

He again took a step forward towards the grille, to stop abruptly at the Prince's shout of warning.

"Good heavens! My dear fellow, not yet. I couldn't bear to lose you so soon."

"What do you mean?" said Jim.

"You see, when you shook the gate before only one-fiftieth of the current was switched on. And now it's all on. Why, you'd have been electrocuted far too soon. I should have had no fun at all."

The Prince lay back as if appalled at such a narrow escape from disaster, and Jim stood very still.

"You see, they're all over the room," he explained. "For all you know, at this very moment you may be within an inch of death. And I mean that literally. Perhaps if you moved your right foot an inch, you would complete the circuit and be electrocuted. On the other hand, you may not be within a yard of it. That's the game. Just like hunt the thimble. Sometimes as you move about the room you'll be warm, and sometimes you'll be cold—and I wait and watch. How long will you last? It may be next minute; it may not be for an hour or more. Some of the death spots I know; some I do not. They were put in by another. And that makes it more exciting for me."

He pressed a button, and an Arab came swiftly in with champagne and caviare sandwiches, to depart again as noiselessly as he had entered. And still Jim stood there motionless, staring at the Prince. Was it bluff or was it not? That was the thought in both our minds.

"You can, of course, continue standing exactly where you are with perfect impunity," continued the Prince suavely. "And as a matter of fact— this being my first experiment of this nature—I am quite interested in the psychology of the thing. How long will you go on standing there? Four hours—five? The night is yet young. But sooner or later, my dear Maitland, you will have to move. Sleep will overcome you, and it will be dangerous to sleep, Maitland, very dangerous for you. But interesting for me."