Hickory Dickory Dock

Mrs. Hubbard nodded unhappily.

Her mild round face was troubled.

"Yes. She kept saying she wasn't safe.

I asked her to tell me what she was afraid of-and she snubbed me. And one never knew with her, of course, how much was exaggeration-But now-I wonder-was Valerie said, "You don't think that she-that she, too-that she was-was She broke off with a look of horror in her eyes.

Poirot asked, "What did they say was the cause of death?" Mrs. Hubbard said unhappily, "They-they didn't say- There's to be an inquest comon Tuesday-was IN A QUIET ROOM at New Scotland Yard, four men were sitting round a table.

Presiding over the conference was Superintendent Wilding of the Narcotics squad. Next to him was Sergeant Bell, a young man of great energy and optimiswho looked rather like an eager greyhound.

Leaning back in his chair, quiet and alert, was Inspector Sharpe. The fourth man was Hercule Poirot. On the table was a rucksack.

Superintendent Wilding stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"It's an interesting idea, Mr. Poirot," he said cautiously. "Yes, it's an interesting idea." "It is, as I say, simply an idea," said Poirot.

Wilding nodded.

"We've outlined the general position," he said.

"Smuggling goes on all the time, of course, in one form or another. We clear up one lot of operators and after a due interval things start again somewhere else. Speaking for my own branch, there's been a good lot of the stuff coming into this country in the last year and a half. Heroin mostly-a fair amount of coke. There are various depots dotted here and there on the continent. The French police have got a lead or two as to how it comes into France-they're less certain how it goes out again." "Would I be right in saying," Poirot asked, "that your problem could be divided roughly under three heads.

There is the problem of distribution, there is the problem of how the consi i

But I needn't tell you all this. It's not that side of it that's important. We can keep pace with all that fairly well. And we've got certain very shrewd suspicions as to what I've called the big fish.

One or two very respectable wealthy gentlemen against whom there's never a breath of suspicion. Very careful they are; they never handle the stuff themselves, and the little fry don't even know who they are. But every now and again, one of them makes a slip-and then-we get him." "That is all very much as I supposed. The line in which I am interested is the second line-how do the consignments come into the country?" "Ah. We're an island. The most usual way is the good old fashioned way of the sea. Ru

They have quite a good run for a bit, but we usually get wise to them in the end." "You would agree that it is one of the chief difficulties when you are ru

"There's a good deal of it going on, sir.

Illicit diamonds and other stones are coming out of South Africa and Australia, some from the Far East.

They're coming into this country in a steady stream, and we don't know how. The other day a young woman, an ordinary tourist, in France, was asked by a casual acquaintance If she'd take a pair of shoes across the Cha

"And that's your suggestion?" "Yes. Who is the person who is least vulnerable to suspicion these days? The student. The earnest, hardworking student. Badly off, travelling about with no more luggage than he can carry on his back. Hitchhiking his way across Europe. If one particular student were to bring the stuff in all the time, no doubt you'd get wise to him or her, but the whole essence of the arrangement is that the carriers are i

"Just how exactly do you think it's managed, M.

Poirot?" he asked.

Hercule Poirot shrugged his shoulders.

"As to that it is my guess only. No doubt I am wrong in many details, but I should say that it worked roughly like this: First, a line of rucksacks are placed on the market. They are of the ordinary, conventional type, just like any other rucksack, well and strongly made and suitable for their purpose. When I say "just like any other rucksack" that is not so. The lining at the base is slightly different.

As you see, it is quite easily removable and is of a thickness and composition to allow of rouleaux of gems or powder concealed in the corrugations. You would never suspect it unless you were looking for it. Pure heroin or pure cocaine would take up very little room." "Too true," said Wilding. "Why," he measured with rapid fingers, "you could bring in stuff worth five or six thousand pounds each time without anyone being the wiser." "Exactly," said Hercule Poirot.

"Alors! The rucksacks are made, put on the market, are on saleprobably in more comthan one shop. The proprietor of the shop may be in the racket or he may not. It may be that he has just been sold a cheap line which he finds profitable, since his prices will compare favourably with those charged by other camping-outfit sellers. There is, of course, a definite organisation in the background; a carefully kept list of students at the medical schools, at London University and at other places. Someone who is himself a student, or posing as a student is probably at the head of the racket. Students go abroad. At some point in the return journey a duplicate rucksack is exchanged. The student returns to England; customs investigations will be perfunctory. The student arrives back at his or her hostel, unpacks, and the empty rucksack is tossed into a cupboard or into a corner of the room. At this point there will be again an exchange of rucksacks or possibly the false bottom will be neatly extracted and an i