The Great Melbourne Cup Mystery Read online

  ‘Better give in, Hellburg,’ Dawson advised again from the passage.

  ‘I never give in,’ Hellburg shouted, to add with faint Irish brogue, ‘Good-bye, Tommy! After all I should have had your throat cut.’

  A pistol shot rang out—to be followed by silence for a few seconds. Then the man known as One of Four spoke. ‘I give in,’ he declared. ‘See—I’m chuckin’ me gun out through the window.’

  ‘March out through that door, hands above your head,’ ordered Dawson.

  And so they took Three of Four. He was still smiling. Police poured into the room through door and window, with them Tom Pink and Senor Alverey, whose guards had a minute before been held at gun point by one of many policemen who had been in the house long before the gang and the prisoner had arrived. The two stunned men in the passage were hastily handcuffed. The greatest shock was yet to come.

  ‘Cripes!’ exclaimed Tom Pink incredulously when he came to stare down into the painted face of Mother Hubbard, from whose head the white hood had been taken.

  ‘So you see, when Alverey set Hellburg on to dope Olary Boy and Pieface to make sure neither of his rivals would win the Cup, he stirred up a hornet’s nest,’ Old Masters was saying a few days later when faced by Diana, then his guest, his son and Dick Cusack.

  ‘The trouble with Tindale started when he learned from the babbling Mr. Harrison that Alverey knew of Diana’s father’s secret wishes. By his will, you remember, he left his estate in sole control of Tindale and Harrison, after having verbally told them that from the trust they each were to receive two thousand a year for life. The bulk of the fortune was to be handed to you, Diana, the day following your wedding or when you reached the age of thirty five. To save you from fortune hunters, you and the public were not to know that.

  ‘Even with such princely remuneration, Tindale could not go straight. He appropriated thousands and thousands which he wasted on stock exchange and racecourse, safe from prosecution because the money was under his full control, and yet with the secret gun unable not to kill once he killed those racehorses of yours.

  ‘As a check, and a poor one, too, old Mr. Ross wrote down his verbal directions to Tindale and Harrison in a document he left with a firm of lawyers, to be opened by them when Diana married or reached the age of thirty five.

  ‘Although Tindale did not fear criminal prosecution, he feared social ostracism which would have met him when Diana married. He knew Harrison to be, despite his faults, an upright man who, when he learned the financial situation, would make it public.

  ‘Some little thing must have aroused Harrison’s suspicions, and, doubtless, he allowed Tindale to know of them. Some time ago Tindale got to know of a poison bulb growing on the shores of Lake Frome which contains a new and deadly poison. A similar bulb has recently been found in South Africa, and so deadly is the poison that its discovery and manufacture have been kept secret by the Union Government. His poisonous needles he fired at the two horses when they were passing along to the racecourse. On account of their size, the poison did not act so quickly as it did with Harrison and later with the member of the gang who murdered Tindale.

  ‘There are many points, of course, which never will be cleared up. Alverey guessed it was Tindale who killed the horses. He was positively sure it was Tindale who killed Harrison, which was why he had the guards mounted. When Hellburg’s gang kidnapped him he at first thought it was Tindale who had gained access to his bedroom, and felt even relief when knowing it was not. We can but assume it was Tindale whom the valet saw enter the suite a little after his master had been taken from it, and finally escaped by dropping from the window.

  ‘I first suspected Tindale when Leader discovered how he was secretly plunging on the stock exchange. As we now know, Leader was killed because he discovered Hellburg’s identity. I could not associate the killing of your horses with Hellburg’s somewhat crude attempts and eventually I got my best woman shop detective into Tindale’s house as a maid recently arrived from New Zealand. She brought me one of his bulbs and copies of his formulas, and even then I did not visualise an air pistol which he used so accurately from his raincoat pocket, the lips of which were stiffened with whalebone to keep them open.

  ‘And when Diana confessed to him which of you she loved and determined to marry, again that illogical murder lust, controlled him, and directed the attack on you whilst you stood talking in front of the shop window.

  ‘That, I think, is about—’

  The door was flung open and Tom Pink burst into the room.

  ‘I got a ’orse! I cum inter a fortune!’ he almost screamed. ‘Wot jew think? Ole Alverey ’as given me a bank account of five thousand quid, and—and—oh, wot jew think? He’s given me King’s Lee! Says I can try for the Melbourne Cup next year. An he’ll win it, too. I’ll knock the greenness outer ’im. I’ll stop ’im lookin’ at the scenery.’

  ‘Well—that’s great, Tom,’ Old Masters said beamingly. On his feet he took the jockey’s arm, saying, ‘Come along to the library and tell me all about it. What have you done with your friend—enemy?’

  ‘The Scorpion? Oh—me and Alverey ’as planted ’im on the yacht. He’ll be able to join up with another crook gang in South America.’

  ‘Well—well. We cannot be too rough on him for the belated service he has rendered to society. We’ll see you people later.’

  ‘Now, Diana, tell us which,’ Roy implored when they three were standing, tensely, drawn taut by emotion. Roy’s face was a little white. His eyes were wide and burning. Dick’s face, too, was paled, but he stood a little behind his friend.

  They watched Diana’s lips when they began suddenly to tremble. They saw her eyes cloud, brighten with tears, which presently began to fall.

  ‘Roy—oh, Roy—I am so sorry. I—I—I! ’

  ‘It’s all right, Diana,’ he said with effort ‘It’s quite all right. You know I think I guessed it.’ Swiftly he turned to Dick, his hand flashing towards his friend. ‘I am glad, Dick. Don’t forget—I am to be your best man. We played fair, didn’t we?’ Dick was unable to speak. He watched Roy leave the room, a stone man. He heard Diana softly crying. And then, when he took her in his arms, he whispered:

  ‘Are—are you sure it’s me you love, Diana?’

  And Diana nodded her head.

  Phar Lap by Charles Daniel Pratt,

  Glass negative, Airspy Collection, ca. 1930

  Latrobe Picture Collection

  State Library of Victoria

  Glossary

  bird: a crook, criminal

  bob: a shilling

  boxing on: to carry on

  chit: a letter, or note of authorisation

  Chow: a Chinese person

  Clay: to have sticking power, or determination to finish

  Coolgardie stretcher: a canvas camp bed, slung between two poles

  Corpse: to murder

  Crook: something that is bad, not right about the situation

  crook’s lay: a lair or hiding place

  dial: someone’s face

  divi: the division of cash, or reward

  felt: a felt hat, often an Akubra

  gargle: an alcoholic drink

  gasper: a cigarette

  gee gaw: a prize

  getting windy: to be nervous

  guardie: a personal affectation of ‘guardian’

  guggle-guggle: a bottle of beer; imitating sounds

  hug-hum: clearing the throat; imitating sounds

  in smoke: to go into hiding

  Irish: to be stupid

  John Barleycorn: any malt liquor

  know me onions: to know one’s head, or limitations

  moke: a horse

  Molly Macquires: an Irish secret society c. 1848, which dealt in intimidation

  mum’s the word: to stay quiet, not to say a word

  oiler: an oil skin coat

  pinching: to arrest a person

  q.t.: to be quiet, usually about a secret

  runner: a
drug dealer

  screw off: to take advantage of, to destroy

  shillelagh: a wooden club

  snow: cocaine

  snuffed: to be killed

  snuffling a man: to murder a man

  sool: to call for someone

  spliced: to be married

  taken for a ride: to take a person in a car to a convenient place, and then shoot them

  tart: an endearing description of a sweetheart, or loved woman

  the push: a gang of criminals or contacts

  tiff: a fight between lovers

  to give the oil: to relate the news, or information

  top-notcher: a first class horse

  to put the acid on: to make a demand that will either yield results or eliminate the possibility

  zac: six pence