part0031

It was pitch black outside the Greystone residence, for the time was 2:30 a.m. and it was a cloudy, moonless night. The darkness was accentuated by the squat silhouette of the building on one side and the tall, silver-oak trees on the other.

The hazy figure that seemed to materialize from the rear of the bungalow was hardly visible in that gloom. It was impossible to say whether the form was that of a white man or a native. There was nothing distinguishable about it. The individual appeared to be dressed in a shirt and long trousers. He made no noise as he walked towards the garage. It was difficult to know whether he was barefooted or wore light, rubber-soled shoes.

Arriving at the door, the man halted for a brief moment while he groped in his trouser pocket. Then he withdrew something in his hand. Silently he fitted it into the lock and turned the levers. It opened almost immediately.

The man looked around to make sure he was not being observed. No living thing moved. He drew the door sufficiently wide to slip through and closed it behind him.

Whoever the prowler was, he certainly had a fixed purpose in mind and knew what he was going to do. From his pocket, he drew a small electric torch and pressed the button, following the beam of light towards the front of the vehicle till he stood before the radiator. There he stopped and dropped on one knee, while pushing the switch-button of the torch to its second position so that it would remain burning. The unknown directed the ray of light that cut through the darkness squarely on to the bolt and nut that coupled the twin tie-rods that led to the front, wheels.

From each of his trouser pockets, where he had kept them separately to prevent them knocking against one another and making a noise, the man now drew a pair of cutting-pliers and an adjustable wrench. From the belt of his trousers he pulled out a short screw-driver. With these three tools the prowler set to work methodically.

First, he removed the split-pin that prevented the big nut from working loose. Next, he slackened the nut itself with the wrench and kept on loosening till it came off altogether. He replaced this nut with his fingers, revolving it slowly and carefully to the right, one half-turn at a time.

The unknown counted four such half-turns and stopped. Now the nut was only holding by two threads. He dropped the split-pin into his shirt pocket and put back the tools as he had brought them.

Then the man bent once more to retrieve the torch which had been burning all this while, from the ground where he had left it, slipping the button to the "off" position. The interior of the garage was again plunged into blackness.

Allowing a full minute to pass to accustom his eyes to the darkness after the glare of the torch-beam, the man moved silently to the door, opened it a few inches and peered outside. Finding the coast clear, he stepped quickly out and hastily closed the door behind him, pressing the spring lock on to the staple.

Finally, he groped inside his shirt pocket, found the split-pin, and hurled it as far as he could into the long grass to the left. He put the torch back into that pocket.

There was a grim look on his face as the figure furtively retraced his steps towards the rear of the bungalow and disappeared from sight.