Follow the Saint

been consecrated to the heartbreaking task of trying to lay the Saint by the heels. He must not make any mistakes. He must not let himself be baited into any more of those unbelievable indiscretions that had wrecked such opportunities in the past, and that made him sweat all over as soon as he had escaped from the Saint's maddening presence. He told, himself so, over and over again, clinging to all the tatters of his self restraint with the doggedness of a drowning man. He glared at the Saint with an effort of impassivity that made the muscles of his face ache.

'You can help me by taking a trip to the police station with me,' he said. 'Before you go any further, it's my duty to warn you that you're under arrest. And I've got all the evidence I need to keep you there!'

'Of course you have, Claud,' said the Saint soothingly. 'Haven't you had it every time you've arrested me ? But now that you've got that off your chest, would it be frightfully tactless if I asked you what I'm supposed to have done ?'

'Last night,' Teal said, grinding his words out under fear­ful compression, 'a Mr Robert Verdean, the manager of the City and Continental Bank's branch at Staines, was visited at his home in Chertsey by two men. They tied up his servant in the kitchen, and went on to find him in the living-room. The maid's description of them makes them sound like the two men who held up the same bank that morning. They went into the living-room and turned on the radio.'

'How very odd,' said the Saint. 'I suppose they were trying to console Comrade Verdean for having his bank robbed. But what has that got to do with me? Or do you think I was one of them ?'

'Shortly afterwards,' Teal went on, ignoring the inter­ruption, 'two other men entered the kitchen with handker­chiefs tied over their faces. One of them was about your height and build. The maid heard this one address the other one as 'Hoppy'.'

Simon nodded perfunctorily.

'Yes,' he said; and then his eyebrows rose. 'My God, Claud, that's funny! Of course, you're thinking—'

'That American gangster who follows you around is called Hoppy, isn't he ?'

'If you're referring to Mr Uniatz,' said the Saint stiffly, 'he is sometimes called that. But he hasn't got any copyright in the name.'

The detective took a fresh nutcracker purchase on his gum.

'Perhaps he hasn't. But the tall one went into the living-room. The radio was switched off and on and off again, and then it stayed off. So the maid heard quite a bit of the con­versation. She heard people talking about the Saint.'

'That's one of the penalties of fame,' said the Saint sadly. 'People are always talking about me, in the weirdest places. It's quite embarrassing sometimes. But do go on telling me about it.'

Mr Teal's larynx suffered a spasm which interfered mo­mentarily with his power of speech.

'That's all I have to tell you!' he yelped, when he had partially cleared the obstruction. 'I mean that you and that Uniatz creature of yours were the second two men who arrived. After that, according to the maid, there was a lot of shooting, and presently some neighbours arrived and untied her. All the four men who had been there disappeared, and so did Mr Verdean. I want you on suspicion of kid­napping him; and if we don't find him soon there'll probably be a charge of murder as well!'

Simon Templar frowned. His manner was sympathetic rather than disturbed.

'I know how you feel, Claud,' he said commiseratingly. 'Naturally you want to do something about it; and I know you're quite a miracle worker when you get going. But I wish I could figure out how you're going to tie me up with it, when I wasn't anywhere near the place.'

The detective's glare reddened.

'You weren't anywhere near Chertsey, eh? So we've got to break down another