The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley Read Free Book Online Page B

that, apart from the servants, thirteen people had congregated there to perform some strange midnight ceremony little over an hour before.
    â€˜Think they’ve cleared out?’ Rex whispered.
    â€˜I doubt it.’ The Duke stepped forward and tried the narrow door. It was fast locked.
    â€˜Can’t we call the police in to raid the place?’
    De Richleau shrugged impatiently. ‘What could we charge them with that a modern station-sergeant would understand?’
    â€˜Kidnapping!’ Rex urged below his breath. ‘If I were back home I’d have the strong-arm squad here in under half an hour. Get the whole bunch pinched and gaoled pending trial. They’d be out of the way then for a bit, even if I had to pay up heavy damages afterwards, and meantime we’d pop Simon in a mental home till he got his wits back.’
    â€˜Rex! Rex!’ The Duke gave a low, delighted chuckle. ‘It’s an enchanting idea, and if we
were
in the States I really believe we might pull it off, but here it’s impossible.’
    â€˜What do you figure to do then?’
    â€˜Go in and see if Simon has returned.’
    â€˜I’m game, but the odds are pretty heavy.’
    â€˜If we’re caught we must run for it.’
    â€˜O.K., but if we fail to make our get-away they’ll call the police and have
us
gaoled for housebreaking.’
    â€˜No–no,’ De Richleau muttered. ‘They won’t want to draw the attention of the police to their activities, and the one thing that matters is to get Simon out of here.’
    â€˜All right.’ Rex placed his hands on his knees, and stooping his great shoulders, leaned his head against the wall. ‘Up you go.’
    The Duke bent towards him. ‘Listen!’ he whispered. ‘Once we’re inside we’ve got to stick together whatever happens. God knows what they’ve used this house of Simon’s for, but the whole place reeks of evil.’
    â€˜Oh damn!’ Rex muttered contemptuously.
    â€˜I mean it,’ De Richleau insisted. ‘If you take that attitude I’d rather go in alone. This is the most dangerous business I’ve ever been up against, and if itwasn’t for the thought of Simon nothing on earth would tempt me to go over this wall in the middle of the night.’
    â€˜Oh, all right. Have it your own way.’
    â€˜You’ll obey me implicitly, every word I say?’
    â€˜Yes, don’t fret yourself…’
    â€˜Good, and remember you are to bolt for it the instant I give the word, because the little knowledge that I possess may only protect us for a very fleeting space of time.’ The Duke clambered on to Rex’s shoulders and heaved himself up on to the coping. Rex stepped back a few yards and took a flying leap; next second he had scrambled up beside De Richleau. For a moment they both sat astride the wall peering down into the shadows of the garden, then they dropped silently into a flower-border on the other side.
    â€˜The first thing is to find a good line of retreat in case we have to get out in a hurry,’ breathed the Duke.
    â€˜What about this?’ Rex whispered back, slapping the trunk of a well-grown laburnum tree.
    De Richleau nodded silently. One glance assured him that with the aid of the lower branches two springs would bring them to the top of the wall. Then he moved at a quick, stealthy run across a small open space of lawn to the shelter of some bushes that ran round the side of the house.
    From their new cover Rex surveyed the side windows. No glimmer of light broke the expanse of the rambling old mansion. As the Duke moved on, he followed, until the bushes ended at the entrance of a back yard, evidently giving on to the kitchen quarters.
    â€˜Have a care,’ he whispered, jerking De Richleau’s sleeve. ‘They may have a dog.’
    â€˜They couldn’t,’ replied the Duke positively. ‘Dogs are simple,