pounds pence:

199

THE BIG FOUR

about the armies and general machinery of civilisation?"

"What about it in Russia, Hastings? This will be

Russia on an infinitely larger scale--and with this additional menace--that Madame Olivier's experiments

have proceeded further than she has ever given out. I

believe that she has, to a certain extent, succeeded in

liberating atomic energy and harnessing it to her purpose. Her experiments with the nitrogen of the air have

been very remarkable, and she has also experimented in

the concentration of wireless energy, so that a beam of

great intensity can be focused upon some given spot.

Exactly how far she has progressed, nobody knows, but

it is certain that it is much farther than has ever been given out. She is a genius, that woman--the Curies were

as nothing to her. Add to her genius the powers of

Ryland's almost unlimited wealth, and, with the brain

of Li Chang Yen, the finest criminal brain ever known,

to direct and plan--eh bien, it will not be, as you say, all jam for civilisation."

His words made me very thoughtful. Although Poirot

was given at times to exaggeration of language, he was

not really an alarmist. For the first time I realised what a desperate struggle it was upon which we were engaged.

Harvey soon rejoined us and the journey went on.

We arrived at Bolzano about midday. From there the

journey on was by motor. Several big blue motorcars

were waiting in the central square of the town, and we

three got into one of them. Poirot, notwithstanding the

heat of the day, was muffled to the eyes in greatcoat

and scarf. His eyes and the tips of his ears were all that could be seen of him.

I did not know whether this was due to precaution

or merely his exaggerated fear of catching a chill. The

motor journey took a couple of hours. It was a really

200 Agatha Christie

wonderful drive. For the first part of the way we wound

in and out of huge cliffs, with a trickling waterfall on one hand. Then we emerged into a fertile valley, which

continued for some miles, and then, still winding steadily upwards, the bare rocky peaks began to show with

dense clustering pinewoods at their base. The whole

place was wild and lovely. Finally a series of abrupt

curves, with the road running through the pine woods

on either side, and we came suddenly upon a big hotel

and found that we had arrived.

Our rooms had been reserved for us, and under

Harvey's guidance we went straight up to them. They

looked straight out over the rocky peaks and the long

slopes of pine woods leading up to them. Poirot made a

gesture towards them.

"It is there?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yes," replied Harvey. "There is a place called the Felsenlabyrynth--all big boulders piled about in a most

fantastic way--a path winds through them. The quarrying

is to the right of that, but we think that the entrance