Mystery and Crime Crofts, Freeman Wills: The Pit Prop Syndicate V1. 05 Sep 2010

[weatherwax]

Freeman Wills Crofts (1 June 1879 Dublin - 11 April 1957 Worthing) was an Irish mystery author, one of the 'Big Four' of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

Extract:
Seymour Merriman was tired; tired of the jolting saddle of his motor bicycle, of the cramped position of his arms, of the chug of the engine, and most of all, of the dreary, barren country through which he was riding. Early that morning he had left Pau, and with the exception of an hour and a half at Bayonne, where he had lunched and paid a short business call, he had been at it ever since. It was now after five o'clock, and the last post he had noticed showed him he was still twenty-six kilometers from Bordeaux, where he intended to spend the night.
"This confounded road has no end," he thought. "I really must stretch my legs a bit."
A short distance in front of him a hump in the white ribbon of the road with parapet walls narrowing in at each side indicated a bridge. He cut off his engine and, allowing the machine to coast, brought it to a stand at the summit. Then dismounting, he slid it back on its bracket; stretched himself luxuriously, and looked around.