Part 16 (1/2)

After which he gave in

The affair was bound to be risky Soods were deterh stakes and risking their necks on the board In all es was an invaluable asset I spoke Italian well and knew sonac and sealed our bond then and there

After which Leroux drew his chair closer to my desk

”Listen, then,” he said ”You know the firm of Fournier Freres, in the Rue Colbert?”

”By naical instrument makers by appointment to His Majesty What about them?”

”M le Duc has had his eyes on them for some time”

”Fournier Freres!” I ejaculated ”Impossible! A more reputable firm does not exist in France”

”I know, I know,” he rejoined impatiently ”And yet it is a curious fact that M Aristide Fournier, the junior partner, has lately bought for himself a house at St Claude”

”At St Claude?” I ejaculated

”Yes,” he responded dryly ”Very near to Gex, what?”

I shrugged my shoulders, for indeed the circue

Do you know Gex, my dear Sir? Ah, it is a curious and romantic spot

It has possibilities, both natural and political, which appear to have been expressly devised for the benefit of the s in the midst of the Jura mountains, it is outside the customs zone of the Empire So you see the possibilities, do you not? Gex soon became the picturesque warehouse of every conceivable kind of contraband goods On one side of it there was the Swiss frontier, and the Swiss Govern to close one eye in the reased by the light-fingered gentry No difficulty, therefore, as you see, in getting contraband goods--even English ones--as far as Gex

Here they could be kept hidden until a fitting opportunity occurred for s them into France, opportunities for which the Jura, with their narrow defiles and difficult nificent scope St Claude, of which Leroux had just spoken as the place where M Aristide Fournier had recently bought himself a house, is in France, only a few kiloe spot to choose for a wealthy and fashi+onable eois society, I was bound to ado to Gex without a permit from the police”

”Not by road,” Leroux assented ”But you will own that there are orous like M Fournier, who moreover, I understand, is an accomplished mountaineer You know Gex, of course?”

I had crossed the Jura once, in my youth, but was not very intimately familiar with the district Leroux had a carefully drawn-out map of it in his pocket; this he laid out before s of a couple of thin red lines on the er, ”are the only two made ones that lead in and out of the district Here is the Valserine,” he went on, pointing to a blue line, ”which flows froes that span the river close to our frontier The French custoes But, besides those two roads, the frontier can, of course, be crossed by one or other of the innumerable mountain tracks which are only accessible to pedestrians or mules That is where our customs officials are powerless, for the tracks are precipitous and offer unliround Several of them lead directly into St Claude, at some considerable distance fro used by M Aristide Fournier for the felonious purpose of trading with the enemy--on this I would stake et the help which I require from you, I am convinced that I can lay him by the heels”

”I am your man,” I concluded simply

”Very well,” he resumed ”Are you prepared to journey with me to Gex?”

”When do you start?”

”To-day”

”I shall be ready”

He gave a deep sigh of satisfaction