The Devil Rides Out Read Online Free PDF Page A

paused and peered cautiously over the banisters. No sound came from below. ‘Rex,’ he whispered.
    â€˜Yep.’
    â€˜If that black servant I told you of appears, for God’s sake don’t look athis eyes. Watch his hands and hit him in the belly.’
    â€˜O.K.’
    A moment later they were down the second flight. The hall was empty and only a vague murmur of conversation came to them from behind the double doors that led to the salon.
    â€˜Quick!’ urged the Duke. ‘Mocata may come out to look for him any moment.’
    â€˜Right,’ Rex, bent double beneath his burden, plunged down the last stairs, and De Richleau was already halfway across the hall when the dumb servant suddenly appeared from the vestibule.
    For a second he stood there, his sallow face a mask of blank surprise then, side-stepping the Duke with the agility of a rugby forward, he lowered his bullet head and charged Rex with animal ferocity.
    â€˜Got you,’ snapped De Richleau, for although the man had dodged with lightning speed he had caught his wrist in passing. Then, flinging his whole weight upon it as he turned, he jerked the fellow clean off his feet and sent him spinning, head-first against the wall.
    As his head hit the panelling the mute gave an uncouth grunt and rolled over on the floor, but he staggered up again and dashed towards the salon. Rex and the Duke were already pounding down the tiled path and in another second they had flung themselves into the lane through the entrance in the garden wall.
    â€˜Thank God,’ gasped the Duke as he wrenched open the door of the Hispano. ‘I believe that hellish crew would have killed us rather than let us get Simon out of there alive.’
    â€˜Well, I suppose you do know what you’re doing,’ Rex muttered as he propped Simon up on the back seat of the car. ‘But I’m not certain you’re safe to be with.’
    â€˜Home.’ ordered De Richleau curtly to the footman, who was hiding his astonishment at their sudden exit by hastily tucking the rug over their knees. Then he smiled at Rex a trifle grimly. ‘I suppose I do seem a little mad to you, but you can’t possibly be expected to appreciate what a horribly serious business this is. I’ll explain later.’
    In a few moments they had left the gloom of the quiet streets behind and were once more running through well-lit ways towards Mayfair, but Simon was still unconscious when they pulled up in Curzon Street before Errol House.
    â€˜I’ll take him,’ volunteered Rex. ‘The less the servants have to do with this the better,’ and picking up Simon in his strong arms as though he was a baby, he carried him straight upstairs to the first floor where De Richleau’s flat was situated.
    â€˜Put him in the library,’ said the Duke, who had paused to murmur something about a sudden illness to the porter, when he arrived on the landing a moment later. ‘I’ll get something to bring him round from the bathroom.’
    Rex nodded obediently, and carried Simon into a room in the Curzon Street flat, memorable for the unique collection of rare and beautiful objects which it contained. A Tibetan Buddha seated upon the Lotus; bronze figurines from ancient Greece; beautifully chased rapiers of Toledo steel, and Moorish pistols inlaid withturquoise and gold; ikons from Holy Russia set with semi-precious stones and curiously carved ivories from the East.
    As Rex laid Simon upon the wide sofa he glanced round him with an interest unappeased by a hundred visits, at the walls lined shoulder high with beautifully bound books, and at the lovely old colour prints, interspersed with priceless historical documents and maps, which hung above them.
    De Richleau, when he joined him, produced a small crystal bottle which he held beneath Simon’s nose. ‘No good trying to talk to him tonight,’ he remarked, ‘but I want to bring him round