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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:34:45 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:34:45 -0700 |
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diff --git a/10585-h/10585-h.htm b/10585-h/10585-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0089ec6 --- /dev/null +++ b/10585-h/10585-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7436 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of MY STRANGEST CASE, by GUY BOOTHBY. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + Body { font-size: 14pt; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10% } + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + Table { font-size: 14pt; } + Blockquote { font-size: 14pt; + width: 85%; + margin-left: 15%; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + H1 { text-align: center; + font-size: 36; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; } + .tbl { margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; } + .thought { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1.35em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + .chapter { width: 70%; + margin-top: 2.75em; + margin-bottom: 1.5em; } + .figure { margin: 1em; + width: 448px; + border: thin silver solid; + text-align: center; + padding: 1em; + float: left; + margin-left: 0; } + .caption { text-indent: 0; + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: 0em; } + // --> + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10585 ***</div> + +<br> +<table border="2" cellpadding="15" cellspacing="5" align="center" width="380"> +<tr> + + <td> + <h1>My Strangest Case</h1> + </td> + +</tr> +<tr> + <td> + <center><i>By</i></center> + <h2 class="tbl">By Guy Boothby</h2> + <h4 class="tbl">Author of "Dr. Nikola," "The Beautiful White Devil," "Pharos, the +Egyptian," etc.</h4> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> + <center><i>Illustrated by</i></center> + <h2 class="tbl">L.J. Bridgman and P. Hard</h2> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> + <h5 class="tbl">Originally Published 1901.</h5> + </td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2 style="margin-bottom: 0;">TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> +<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">(Added for this HTML edition)</h4><br> + +<blockquote>INTRODUCTION<br> + <a href="#PART_I">Part I</a><br> + <a href="#PART_II">Part II</a><br> + <a href="#PART_III">Part III</a><br> + <a href="#PART_IV">Part IV</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a><br> +<br> +</blockquote> +<hr class="chapter"> +<a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a><h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2><br> + +<blockquote><a href="#Fig01">"A DARK, NARROW HOLE, THE BOTTOM OF WHICH IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE."</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#Fig02">" 'LOOK HERE,' HE CRIED, 'IT'S THE BANK OF ENGLAND IN EACH HAND.' "</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#Fig03">" 'POOR DEVIL,' SAID GREGORY. 'HE SEEMS TO BE ON HIS LAST LEGS.' "</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#Fig04">"HE FELL WITH A CRASH AT MY FEET."</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#Fig05">" 'LET'S OUT HIM, BILL,' SAID THE TALLER OF THE TWO MEN."</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#Fig06">" 'HOW DO YOU DO, MR. FAIRFAX?' SAID MISS KITWATER."</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#Fig07">"IN HIS HAND HE HELD A REVOLVER."</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#Fig08">"THE WOODWORK SNAPPED, AND THE TWO MEN FELL OVER THE EDGE."</a><br> +<br></blockquote> + +<a name="PART_I"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h1><i>MY STRANGEST CASE</i></h1><br><br> + +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<h3>PART I</h3><br> + +<p>I am of course prepared to admit that there are prettier places on the +face of this earth of ours than Singapore; there are, however, I venture +to assert, few that are more interesting, and certainly none that can +afford a better study of human life and character. There, if you are so +disposed, you may consider the subject of British Rule on the one hand, +and the various aspects of the Chinese question on the other. If you are +a student of languages you will be able to hear half the tongues of the +world spoken in less than an hour's walk, ranging say from Parisian +French to Pigeon English; you shall make the acquaintance of every sort +of smell the human nose can manipulate, from the sweet perfume of the +lotus blossom to the diabolical odour of the Durien; and every sort of +cooking from a dainty <i>vol-au-vent</i> to a stuffed rat. In the harbour the +shipping is such as, I feel justified in saying, you would encounter in +no other port of its size in the world. It comprises the stately +man-of-war and the Chinese Junk; the P. and O., the Messagerie +Maritime, the British India and the Dutch mail-boat; the homely sampan, +the yacht of the globe-trotting millionaire, the collier, the +timber-ship, and in point of fact every description of craft that plies +between the Barbarian East and the Civilized West. The first glimpse of +the harbour is one that will never be forgotten; the last is usually +associated with a desire that one may never set eyes on it again. He who +would, of his own free will, settle down for life in Singapore, must +have acquired the tastes of a salamander, and the sensibility of a frog.</p> + +<p>Among its other advantages, Singapore numbers the possession of a +multiplicity of hotels. There is stately Raffles, where the +globe-trotters do mostly take up their abode, also the Hôtel de +l'Europe, whose virtues I can vouch for; but packed away in another and +very different portion of the town, unknown to the wealthy G.T., and +indeed known to only a few of the white inhabitants of Singapore itself, +there exists a small hostelry owned by a lynx-eyed Portuguese, which +rejoices in the name of the Hotel of the Three Desires. Now, every man, +who by mischance or deliberate intent, has entered its doors, has his +own notions of the meaning of its name; the fact, however, remains that +it is there, and that it is regularly patronized by individuals of a +certain or uncertain class, as they pass to and fro through the Gateway +of the Further East. This in itself is strange, inasmuch as it is said +that the proprietor rakes in the dollars by selling liquor that is as +bad as it can possibly be, in order that he may get back to Lisbon +before he receives that threatened knife-thrust between the ribs which +has been promised him so long. There are times, as I am unfortunately +able to testify, when the latter possibility is not so remote as might +be expected. Taken altogether, however, the Hotel of the Three Desires +is an excellent place to take up one's abode, provided one is not +desirous of attracting too much attention in the city. As a matter of +fact its patrons, for some reason of their own, are more <i>en evidence</i> +after nightfall than during the hours of daylight. They are also frugal +of speech as a rule, and are chary of forming new acquaintances. When +they know each other well, however, it is surprising how affable they +can become. It is not the smallest of their many peculiarities that they +seldom refer to absent friends by their names. A will ask B when he +expects to hear from <i>Him</i>, and C will inform D that "the <i>old man</i> is +now running the show, and that, if <i>he</i> doesn't jump from Calcutta +inside a week, there will be trouble on the floor." Meanwhile the +landlord mixes the drinks with his own dirty hands, and reflects +continually upon the villainy of a certain American third mate, who +having borrowed five dollars from him, was sufficiently ungrateful as to +catch typhoid fever and die without either repaying the loan, or, what +was worse, settling his account for the board and lodging received. +Manuel, for this was the proprietor's name, had one or two recollections +of a similar sort, but not many, for, as a rule, he is a careful fellow, +and experience having taught him the manners and idiosyncrasies of his +customers, he generally managed to emerge from his transactions with +credit to himself, and what was of much more importance, a balance on +the right side of his ledger.</p> + +<p>The time of which I am now writing was the middle of March, the hottest +and, in every respect, the worst month of the year in Singapore. Day and +night the land was oppressed by the same stifling heat, a sweltering +calidity possessing the characteristics of a steam-laundry, coupled with +those of the stokehole of an ocean liner in the Red Sea. Morning, noon, +and night, the quarter in which the Hotel of the Three Desires was +situated was fragrant with the smell of garbage and Chinese tobacco; a +peculiar blend of perfume, which once smelt is not to be soon forgotten. +Everything, even the bottles on the shelves in the bar, had a greasy +feel about them, and the mildew on one's boots when one came to put them +on in the morning, was a triumph in the way of <i>erysiphaceous fungi</i>. +Singapore at this season of the year is neither good for man nor beast; +in this sweeping assertion, of course I except the yellow man, upon whom +it seems to exercise no effect whatsoever.</p> + +<p>It was towards evening, and, strange to relate, the Hotel of the Three +Desires was for once practically empty. This was the more extraordinary +for the reason that the customers who usually frequented it, <i>en route</i> +from one end of the earth to the other, are not affected by seasons. +Midwinter was to them the same as midsummer, provided they did their +business, or got their ships, and by those ships, or that business, +received their wages. That those hard-earned wages should eventually +find themselves in the pocket of the landlord of the Three Desires, was +only in the natural order of things, and, in consequence, such of his +guests as were sailors, as a general rule, eventually boarded their +ships without as much as would purchase them a pipe of tobacco. It did +not, however, prevent them from returning to the Hotel of the Three +Desires when next they happened to be that way. If he had no other gift, +Manuel at least possessed the faculty of making it comparatively +homelike to his customers, and that is a desideratum not to be despised +even by sailor men in the Far East.</p> + +<p>As I have said, night was falling on one of the hottest days of the +year, when a man entered the hotel and inquired for the proprietor. +Pleased to find that there was at last to be a turn in the tide of his +affairs, the landlord introduced himself to the stranger, and at the +same time inquired in what way he could have the pleasure of +serving him.</p> + +<p>"I want to put up with you," said the stranger, who, by the way, was a +tall man, with a hawk's eye and a nose that was not unlike the beak of +the same bird. "You are not full, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>Manuel rubbed his greasy hands together and observed that he was not as +full as he had been; thereby insinuating that while he was not +overflowing, he was still not empty. It will be gathered from this that +he was a good business man, who never threw a chance away.</p> + +<p>"In that case, I'll stay," said the stranger, and set down the small +valise he carried upon the floor.</p> + +<p>From what I have already written, you will doubtless have derived the +impression that the Hotel of the Three Desires, while being a useful +place of abode, was far from being the caravanserai of the luxurious +order. The stranger, whoever he might be, however, was either not +fastidious, or as is more probable, was used to similar accommodation, +for he paid as little attention to the perfume of the bar as he did to +the dirt upon the floor and walls, and also upon the landlord's hands. +Having stipulated for a room to himself, he desired to be shown to it +forthwith, whereupon Manuel led him through the house to a small yard at +the back, round which were several small cabins, dignified by the name +of apartments.</p> + +<p>"Splendeed," said Manuel enthusiastically, throwing open the door of +one of the rooms as he spoke. "More splendeed than ever you saw."</p> + +<p>The stranger gave a ravenish sort of croak, which might have been a +laugh or anything else, and then went in and closed the door abruptly +behind him. Having locked it, he took off his coat and hung it upon the +handle, apparently conscious of the fact that the landlord had glued his +eyes to the keyhole in order that he might, from a precautionary point +of view, take further stock of his patron. Foiled in his intention he +returned to the bar, murmuring "Anglish Peeg" to himself as he did so. +In the meantime the stranger had seated himself upon the rough bed in +the corner, and had taken a letter from his pocket.</p> + +<p>"The Hotel of the Three Desires," he reads, "and on March the fifteenth, +without fail." There was a pause while he folded the letter up and +placed it in his pocket. Then he continued, "this is the hotel, and +to-day is the fifteenth of March. But why don't they put in an +appearance. It isn't like them to be late. They'd better not play me any +tricks or they'll find I have lost none of my old power of retaliation."</p> + +<p>Having satisfied himself that it was impossible for any one to see into +the room, either through the keyhole or by means of the window, he +partially disrobed, and, when he had done so, unbuckled from round his +waist a broad leather money-belt. Seating himself on the bed once more +he unfastened the strap of the pocket, and dribbled the contents on to +the bed. They consisted of three Napoleons, fifteen English sovereigns, +four half-sovereigns, and eighteen one-franc pieces. In his +trouser-pocket he had four Mexican dollars, and some cosmopolitan change +of small value.</p> + +<p>"It's not very much," he muttered to himself after he had counted it, +"but it ought to be sufficient for the business in hand. If I hadn't +been fool enough to listen to that Frenchwoman on board, I shouldn't +have played cards, and then it would have been double. Why the deuce +wasn't I able to get Monsieur ashore? In that case I'd have got it all +back, or I'd have known the reason why."</p> + +<p>The idea seemed to afford him some satisfaction, for he smiled, and then +said to himself as if in terms of approbation, "By Jove, I believe +you, my boy!"</p> + +<p>When he had counted his money and had returned it once more to its +hiding-place, he buckled the belt round his person and unstrapped his +valise, taking from it a black <i>Tussa</i> coat which he exchanged for that +hanging upon the handle of the door. Then he lighted a Java cigar and +sat down upon the bed to think. Taken altogether, his was not a +prepossessing countenance. The peculiar attributes I have already +described were sufficient to prevent that. At the same time it was a +strong face, that of a man who was little likely to allow himself to be +beaten, of his own free will, in anything he might undertake. The mouth +was firm, the chin square, the eyes dark and well set, moreover he wore +a heavy black moustache, which he kept sharp-pointed. His hair was of +the same colour, though streaked here and there with grey. His height +was an inch and a half above six feet, but by reason of his slim figure, +he looked somewhat taller. His hands and feet were small, but of his +strength there could be no doubt. Taken altogether, he was not a man +with whom one would feel disposed to trifle. Unfortunately, however, the +word <i>adventurer</i> was written all over him, and, as a considerable +section of the world's population have good reason to know, he was as +little likely to fail to take advantage of his opportunities as he was +to forget the man who had robbed him, or who had done him an ill turn. +It was said in Hong Kong that he was well connected, and that he had +claims upon a Viceroy now gone to his account; that, had he persevered +with them, might have placed him in a very different position. How much +truth there was in this report, however, I cannot say; one thing, +however, is quite certain; if it were true, he had fallen grievously +from his high estate.</p> + +<p>When his meditations had continued for something like ten minutes, he +rose from the bed, blew a cloud of smoke, stretched himself, strapped +his valise once more, gave himself what the sailors call a hoist, that +he might be sure his money-belt was in its proper position, and then +unlocked the door, passed out, re-locked it after him, and returned to +the bar. There he called for certain curious liquors, smelt them +suspiciously before using them, and then proceeded deliberately to mix +himself a peculiar drink. The landlord watched him with appreciative +surprise. He imagined himself to be familiar with every drink known to +the taste of man, having had wide experience, but such an one as this he +had never encountered before.</p> + +<p>"What do you call it?" he asked, when the other had finished his +preparations.</p> + +<p>"I call it a 'Help to Reformation,' " the stranger replied. Then, with a +sneer upon his face, he added, "It should be popular with your +customers."</p> + +<p>Taking the drink with him into the verandah outside, he seated himself +in a long chair and proceeded to sip it slowly, as if it were some +elixir whose virtue would be lost by haste. Some people might have been +amused by the motley crowd that passed along the street beyond the +verandah-rails, but Gideon Hayle, for such was his name, took no sort of +interest in it. He had seen it too often to find any variety in it. As a +matter of fact the mere sight of a pigtail was sufficient to remind him +of a certain episode in his career which he had been for years +endeavouring to forget.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't look as if they are going to put in an appearance to-night," +he said to himself, as the liquor in the glass began to wane. "Can this +letter have been a hoax, an attempt to draw me off the scent? If so, by +all the gods in Asia, they may rest assured I'll be even with them."</p> + +<p>He looked as though he meant it!</p> + +<p>At last he rose, and having returned his glass to the bar, donned his +<i>topee</i>, left the hotel, and went for a stroll. It was but a short +distance to the harbour, and he presently found himself strolling along +the several miles of what I have already described as the most wonderful +shipping in the world. To Mr. Hayle the scene was too familiar to call +for comment. He had seen it on many occasions, and under a variety of +auspices. He had witnessed it as a deck-hand and as a saloon passenger; +as a steerage passenger, and in the humble capacity of a stowaway. Now +he was regarding it as a gentleman of leisure, who smoked a cigar that +had been paid for, and round whose waist was a belt with gold in it. +Knowing the spot where the British India boats from Calcutta usually +lie, he made his way to it, and inquired for a certain vessel. She had +not yet arrived, he was informed, and no one seemed to know when she +might be expected. At last, tired of his occupation, he returned to his +hotel, and in due course sat down to supper. He smoked another cigar in +the verandah afterwards, and was on the point of retiring for the night, +when two men suddenly made their appearance before him, and accosted him +by name. He immediately sprang to his feet with a cry of welcome.</p> + +<p>"I had made up my mind that you were not coming," he said as they shook +hands.</p> + +<p>"The old tub didn't get in until a quarter to nine," the taller of the +two new-comers replied. "When did you arrive?"</p> + +<p>"This afternoon," said Hayle, and for a moment volunteered no further +information. A good poker-player is always careful not to show his hand.</p> + +<p>"I suppose this place is not full?" inquired the man who had last +spoken.</p> + +<p>"Full?" asked Hayle scornfully. "It's full of cockroaches and mildew, if +that's what you mean?"</p> + +<p>"The best company we could possibly have," said the taller man. +"Cockroaches and blackbeetles don't talk and they don't listen at +keyholes. What's more, if they trouble you, you can put your heel on +them. Now let's see the landlord and see what he's got to offer us in +the way of rooms. We don't want any dinner, because we had it on board +the steamer."</p> + +<p>Hayle accompanied them into the bar, and was a witness of the +satisfaction the landlord endeavoured, from business motives, to +conceal. In due course he followed them to the small, stifling rooms in +the yard at the back, and observed that they were placed on either side +of himself. He had already taken the precaution of rapping upon the +walls in order to discover their thickness, and to find out whether the +sound of chinking money was to be heard through them.</p> + +<p>"I must remember that thirty-seven and sixpence and two Mexican dollars +are all I have in the world," he said to himself. "It would be bad +business to allow them to suppose that I had more, until I find out what +they want."</p> + +<p>"The last time I was here was with Stellman," said the taller of the +men, when they met again in the courtyard. "He had got a concession from +the Dutch, so he said, to work a portion of the West Coast for shell. He +wanted me to go in with him."</p> + +<p>"And you couldn't see your way to it?"</p> + +<p>"I've seen two Dutch gaols," said the other; "and I have no use for +them."</p> + +<p>"And what happened to Stellman?" asked Hayle, but without any apparent +interest. He was thinking of something else at the time.</p> + +<p>"They got his money, his boat, and his shell, with three pearls that +would have made your mouth water," replied the other.</p> + +<p>"And Stellman?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, they buried him at Sourabaya. He took the cholera, so they said, +but I have heard since that he died of starvation. They don't feed you +too well in Dutch gaols, especially when you've got a concession and +a consul."</p> + +<p>The speaker looked up at his companion as he said this, and the other, +who, as I have already said, was not interested in the unfortunate +Stellman, or had probably heard the tale before, nodded his head in the +direction of the room where the smaller man was engaged on his toilet, +to the accompaniment of splashing water. The movement of the head was as +significant as the nod of the famous Lord of Burleigh.</p> + +<p>"Just the same, as ever," the other replied. "Always pushing his nose +into old papers and documents, until you'd think he'd make himself ill. +Lord, what a man he would have been for the British Museum! There's not +his equal on Ancient Asia in the world."</p> + +<p>"And this particular business?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, you shall hear all about it in the proper time. That'll be +to-morrow morning, I reckon. In the meantime you can go to bed, and +content yourself with the knowledge that, all being well, you're going +to play a hand in the biggest scoop that ever I or anybody else +have tackled?"</p> + +<p>"You can't give me an inkling of what it is to-night, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"I could, but I'm not going to," replied his companion calmly. "The +story would take too long to tell, and I'm tired. Besides, you would +want to ask questions of Coddy, and that would upset the little man's +equilibrium. No! Go to bed and have a good night's rest, and we'll talk +it over in the morning. I wonder what my curtains are like? If ever +there's a place in this world for mosquitoes, it's Singapore, and I +thought Calcutta was bad enough."</p> + +<p>Having no desire to waste time in discussing the various capabilities of +this noxious insect, Hayle bade the other good-night, and, when he had +visited the bar and had smoked another cigar, disappeared in the +direction of his own apartment.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Mr. Kitwater, for such was the name of the gentleman he had +just left, had begun his preparations for the night, vigorously cursing +the mosquitoes as he did so. He was a fine-looking man, with a powerful, +though somewhat humorous cast of countenance. His eyes were large, and +not unkindly. His head was a good one from a phrenological point of +view, but was marred by the possession of enormous ears which stood out +on either side of his head like those of a bat. He wore a close-cropped +beard, and he was famous for his strength, which indeed was that of +a giant.</p> + +<p>"Hayle, if I can sum it up aright, is just the same as ever," he said as +he arranged the mosquito-netting of his bed. "He doesn't trust me, and I +don't trust him. But he'll be none the less useful for that. Let him try +to play me false, and by the Lord Harry, he'll not live to do it again."</p> + +<p>With this amiable sentiment Mr. Kitwater prepared himself for slumber.</p> + +<p>Then, upon the three worthies the hot, tropical night settled down.</p> + +<p>Next morning they met at breakfast. All three were somewhat silent. It +was as if the weight of the matter which was that day to be discussed +pressed upon their spirits. The smallest of the trio, Septimus Codd by +name, who was habitually taciturn, spoke scarcely a word. He was a +strange little man, a nineteenth century villain in a sense. He was a +rogue and a vagabond, yet his one hobby, apart from his business, was a +study of the Past, and many an authority on Eastern History would have +been astonished at the extent of his learning. He was never so happy as +when burrowing amongst ancient records, and it was mainly due to his +learning in the first place, and to a somewhat singular accident in the +second, that the trio were now foregathered in Singapore. His personal +appearance was a peculiar one. His height was scarcely more than four +feet six inches. His face was round, and at a distance appeared almost +boyish. It was only when one came to look into it more closely, that it +was seen to be scored by numberless small lines. Moreover it was +unadorned by either beard or moustache. His hair was grey, and was worn +somewhat longer than is usual. He could speak fluently almost every +language of the East, and had been imprisoned by the Russians for +sealing in prohibited waters, had been tortured by the Chinese on the +Yang-tse, and, to his own unextinguishable disgrace, flogged by the +French in Tonquin. Not the least curious trait in his character was the +affection he entertained for Kitwater. The pair had been together for +years, had quarrelled repeatedly, but had never separated. The record of +their doings would form an interesting book, but for want of space +cannot be more than referred to here. Hayle had been their partner in +not a few of their curious undertakings, for his courage and resource +made him a valuable ally, though how far they trusted each other it is +impossible to say.</p> + +<p>Breakfast over they adjourned to the verandah, where the inevitable +cigars made their appearance.</p> + +<p>"Now, let's hear what you've got to say to me?" Hayle began.</p> + +<p>"Not here," Kitwater replied. "There are too many listeners. Come down +to the harbour."</p> + +<p>So saying he led his companions to the waterside, where he chartered a +native boat for an hour's sail. Then, when they were out of earshot of +the land, he bade Hayle pay attention to what he had to say.</p> + +<p>"First and foremost you must understand," he said, "that it's all due to +Coddy here. We heard something of it from an old Siamese in Hanoi, but +we never put much trust in it. Then Coddy began to look around, to hunt +up some of his fusty records, and after awhile he began to think that +there might be something in the story after all. You see it's this way: +you know Sengkor-Wat?"</p> + +<p>"Sengkor how much?"</p> + +<p>"Sengkor-Wat—the old ruin at the back of Burmah; near the Chinese +Border. Such a place as you never dreamt of. Tumble-down palaces, +temples, and all that sort of thing—lying out there all alone in +the jungle."</p> + +<p>"I've seen Amber," said Hayle, with the air of a man who makes a remark +that cannot be lightly turned aside. "After that I don't want any more +ruined cities. I've got no use for them."</p> + +<p>"No, but you've got a use for other things, haven't you? You can use +rubies as big as pigeon's eggs, I suppose. You've got a use for +sapphires, the like of which mortal man never set eyes on before."</p> + +<p>"That's certainly so," Hayle replied. "But what has this Sengkor-Wat to +do with it?"</p> + +<p>"Everything in the world," Kitwater replied. "That's where those rubies +are, and what's more, that's where we are going to find them."</p> + +<p>"Are you joking, or is this sober earnest?"</p> + +<p>He looked from Kitwater to Codd. The little man thus appealed to nodded +his head. He agreed with all his companion said.</p> + +<p>"It's quite true," said he, after a pause. "Rubies, sapphires and gold, +enough to make us all millionaires times over."</p> + +<p>"Bravo for Sengkor-Wat, then!" said Hayle. "But how do you know all +this?"</p> + +<p>"I've told you already that Coddy found it out," Kitwater replied. +"Looking over his old records he discovered something that put him on +the track. Then I happened to remember that, years ago, when I was in +Hanoi, an old man had told me a wonderful story about a treasure-chamber +in a ruined city in the Burmese jungle. A Frenchman who visited the +place, and had written a book about it, mentions the fact that there is +a legend amongst the natives that vast treasure is buried in the ruins, +but only one man, so far as we can discover, seems to have taken the +trouble to have looked for it."</p> + +<p>"But how big are the ruins?"</p> + +<p>"Bigger than London, so Coddy says!"</p> + +<p>Coddy nodded his head in confirmation of this fact. But still Hayle +seemed incredulous.</p> + +<p>"And are you going to search all that area? It strikes me that you will +be an old man by the time you find the treasure, Kitwater."</p> + +<p>"Don't you believe it. We've got something better to go upon than that. +There was an old Chinese traveller who visited this place in the year +... what was the year, Coddy?"</p> + +<p>"Twelve hundred and fifty-seven," Codd replied without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Well, he describes the glory of the place, the wealth of the +inhabitants, and then goes on to tell how the king took him to the great +treasure-chamber, where he saw such riches as mortal man had never +looked upon before."</p> + +<p>"But that doesn't tell you where the treasure-chamber is?" argued Hayle.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, but there are other ways of finding out; that is, if a man +has his wits about him. You've got to put two and two together if you +want to get on in this world. Coddy has translated it all, and this is +what it amounts to. When the king had shown the traveller his treasure, +the latter declared that his eyes were so blinded by its magnificence +that he could scarcely mount the steps to the spot where his majesty +gave audience to his people. In another place it mentions that when the +king administered justice he was seated on the throne in the courtyard +of the Three-headed Elephants. Now what we've got to do is to find that +courtyard, and find it we will."</p> + +<p>"But how do you know that the treasure hasn't been taken away years ago? +Do you think they were such fools as to leave it behind when they went +elsewhere? Not they!"</p> + +<p>Though they were well out of earshot of the land, and alone upon the +boat, Kitwater looked round him suspiciously before he answered. Then a +pleasant smile played over his face. It was as if he were recalling some +happy memory.</p> + +<p>"How do I know it?" he asked by way of preface. "If you'll listen for a +moment, I'll tell you. If you want more proof, when I've done, you must +be difficult to please. When I was up at Moulmein six months ago, I +came across a man I hadn't met for several years. He was a Frenchman, +who I knew had spent the most of his life away back in Burmah. He was +very flush of money at the time, and kept throwing out hints, when we +were alone, of a place he knew of where there was the biggest fortune on +earth, to be had for the mere picking up and carrying away. He had +brought away as much of it as he could, but he hadn't time to get it +all, before he was chased out by the Chinese, who, he said, were strong +in the neighbourhood."</p> + +<p>Kitwater stopped and rubbed his hands with a chuckle. Decidedly the +recollection was a pleasant one.</p> + +<p>"Well," he continued, "to make a long story short, I took advantage of +my opportunity, and got his secret out of him by ... well never mind how +I managed it. It is sufficient that I got it. And the consequence is I +know all that is to be known."</p> + +<p>"That's all very well, but what became of the Frenchman? How do you know +that he isn't back there again filling his pockets?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think he is," Kitwater replied slowly. "It put me to a lot of +inconvenience, and came just at the time when I was most anxious to +leave. Besides it might have meant trouble." He paused for a moment. "As +a matter of fact they brought it in 'suicide during temporary insanity, +brought on by excessive drinking,' and that got me over the difficulty. +It must have been insanity, I think, for he had no reason for doing away +with himself. It was proved that he had plenty of money left. What was +more, Coddy gave evidence that, only the day before, he had told him he +was tired of life."</p> + +<p>Hayle looked at both with evident admiration.</p> + +<p>"Well, you two, taken together, beat cockfighting," he said +enthusiastically. Then he added, "But what about the secret? What did +you get out of him?"</p> + +<p>"Here it is," said Kitwater, taking an old leather case from his pocket, +and producing from it a small piece of parchment. "There's no writing +upon it, but we have compared it with another plan that we happen to +have, and find that it squares exactly."</p> + +<p>He leant over Hayle's shoulder and pointed to a certain portion of the +sketch.</p> + +<p>"That's the great temple," he said; "and what the red dot means we are +going to find out."</p> + +<p>"Well, suppose it is, what makes you send for me?" Hayle inquired +suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"Because we must have another good man with us," Kitwater replied. "I'm +very well, but you're better. Codd's head-piece is all right, but if it +comes to fighting, he might just as well be in Kensal Green. Isn't that +so, little man?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Codd nodded his head.</p> + +<p>"I said, send for Hayle," he remarked in his quiet little voice. "Kit +sent and now you're here, and it's all right."</p> + +<p>"Codd speaks the truth," said Kitwater. "Now what we have to do is to +arrange the business part of the matter, and then to get away as quickly +as possible."</p> + +<p>The business portion of the matter was soon settled and Hayle was +thereupon admitted a member of the syndicate for the exploration of the +ancient town of Sengkor-Wat in the hinterland of Burmah.</p> + +<p>For the remainder of the day Hayle was somewhat more silent than usual.</p> + +<p>"If there's anything in their yarn it might be managed," he said to +himself that night, when he was alone in his bedroom. "Kitwater is +clever, I'll admit that, and Coddy is by no manner of means the fool he +pretends to be. But I'm Gideon Hayle, and that counts for something. +Yes, I think it might be managed."</p> + +<p>What it was he supposed might be effected he did not say, but from the +smile upon his face, it was evident that the thought caused him +considerable satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Next day they set sail for Rangoon.</p> + +<a name="PART_II"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h3>PART II</h3><br> + +<p>The shadows of evening were slowly falling as the little party of which +Kitwater, Codd, and Hayle, with two Burmen servants, were members, +obtained their first view of the gigantic ruins of which they had come +so far in search. For many days they had been journeying through the +jungle, now the prey of hope, now of despair. They had experienced +adventures by the score, though none of them were of sufficient +importance to be narrated here, and more than once they had come within +a hair's-breadth of being compelled to retrace their steps. They rode +upon the small wiry ponies of the country, their servants clearing a way +before them with their <i>parangs</i> as they advanced. Their route, for the +most part, lay through jungle, in places so dense that it was well-nigh +impossible for them to force a way through it. It was as if nature were +doing her best to save the ancient city from the hand of the spoiler. At +last, and so suddenly that it came upon them like a shock, they found +themselves emerging from the jungle. Below them, in the valley, peering +up out of the forest, was all that remained of a great city, upon the +ruined temples of which the setting sun shone with weird effect.</p> + +<p>"At last," said Hayle, bringing his pony to a standstill, and looking +down upon the ruins. "Let us hope we shall have penetrated their secret +before we are compelled to say good-bye to them again."</p> + +<p>"Hear, hear, to that," said Kitwater; Septimus Codd, however, never said +a word; the magic hand of the past was upon his heart, and was holding +him spellbound.</p> + +<p>They descended the hill, and, when they had selected a suitable spot, +decided to camp upon it for the night.</p> + +<p>Next morning they were up betimes; the excitement of the treasure-hunt +was upon each man, and would not let him tarry. It would not be long +now, they hoped, before they would be able to satisfy themselves as to +the truth of the story they had been told, and of the value of the hopes +in which they had put their trust. Having eaten their morning meal, they +took counsel together, examined the plan for the thousandth time, +collected their weapons and tools, bade their servants keep a sharp +lookout, and then set off for the city. The morning sun sparkled upon +the dew, the birds and monkeys chattered at them from the jungle, while +above them towered the myriad domes and sculptured spires of the ancient +city. It was a picture that once seen would never be forgotten. So far, +however, not a sign of human life had they been able to discover; +indeed, for all they knew to the contrary, they might be the only men +within fifty miles of the place.</p> + +<p>Leaving the jungle behind them, they found themselves face to face with +a curious stone bridge, spanning the lake or moat which surrounded the +city, and in which the lotus flower bloomed luxuriantly. When they had +crossed the bridge, they stood in the precincts of the city itself. On +either hand rose the ruins in all their solitary grandeur—palaces, +temples, market-places, and houses in endless confusion; while, at the +end of the bridge, and running to right and left as far as the eye could +reach, was a high wall, constructed of large stones, each one of which +would have required the efforts of at least four men to lift it. These, +with a few exceptions, were in an excellent state of preservation. +Passing through the massive gateway the travellers found themselves in +an open square, out of which streets branched off the right and left, +while the jungle thrust in its inquisitive nose on every possible +occasion. The silence was so impressive that the men found themselves +speaking in whispers. Not a sound was to be heard save the fluttering of +birds' wings among the trees, and the obscene chattering of the monkeys +among the leaves. From the first great square the street began gradually +to ascend; then another moat was crossed, and the second portion of the +city was reached. Here the buildings were larger, and the sculpture upon +the walls more impressive even than before. The same intense silence, +however, hung over everything. In the narrower streets creepers trailed +from side to side, almost shutting out the light, and adding a twilight +effect to the already sufficiently mysterious rooms and courtyards to be +seen within.</p> + +<p>"This is by no means the most cheerful sort of place," said Hayle to +Kitwater, as they passed down a paved street side by side. "Where do you +expect to find the great temple and the courtyard of the Three +Elephants' Heads?"</p> + +<p>"Straight on," said little Codd, who was behind, and had been comparing +the route they were following with the plan he held in his hand.</p> + +<p>As he spoke they entered another square, and saw before them a mighty +flight of steps, worn into grooves in places by the thousands of feet +that had ascended and descended them in days gone by. At the top was a +sculptured gateway, finer than anything either of them had ever seen, +and this they presently entered. Above them, clear of the trees, and +towering up into the blue, were the multitudinous domes and spires of +the king's palace, to which the gateway above the steps was the +principal entrance. Some of the spires were broken, some were covered +with creepers, others were mutilated by time and by stress of weather, +but the general effect was grand in the extreme. From courtyard to +courtyard they wandered, but without finding the particular place of +which they were in search. It was more difficult to discover than they +had expected; indeed, they had walked many miles through deserted +streets, and the afternoon was well advanced, before a hail from Codd, +who had gone on ahead of them, informed them that at last some sort of +success had crowned their efforts. When they came up with him they found +themselves in a courtyard somewhat larger than those they had previously +explored, the four corners of which were decorated with three united +elephants' heads.</p> + +<p>"By the great poker we've got it at last," cried Kitwater, in a voice +that echoed and reechoed through the silent halls.</p> + +<p>"And about time, too," cried Hayle, upon whom the place was exercising a +most curious effect. "If you've found it, show us your precious +treasure-chamber."</p> + +<p>"All in good time, my friend, all in good time," said Kitwater. "Things +have gone so smoothly with us hitherto, that we must look for a little +set-back before we've done."</p> + +<p>"We don't want any set-backs," said Hayle. "What we want are the rubies +as big as pigeon's eggs, and sapphires, and gold, and then to get back +to civilization as quick as may be. That's what's the matter with me."</p> + +<p>As I have already observed, the courtyard in which they were standing +was considerably larger than any they had yet entered. Like the others, +however, it had fallen sadly to decay. The jungle had crept in at all +points, and gorgeous creepers had wreathed themselves round the necks of +the statues above the gateway.</p> + +<p>"I don't see any sign of steps," said Hayle, when they had examined the +place in silence for some minutes. "I thought you said a flight of stone +steps led up to where the king's throne was placed?"</p> + +<p>"Codd certainly read it so," Kitwater answered, looking about him as if +he did not quite realize the situation. "And how are we to know that +there are not some steps here? They may be hidden. What do you think, +little man?"</p> + +<p>He turned to Codd, who was looking about him with eyes in which a +curious light was shining.</p> + +<p>"Steps must be somewhere," the latter replied. "We've got to find +them—but not to-night. Sun going down. Too late."</p> + +<p>This was undoubtedly true, and so, without more ado, but none the less +reluctantly, the three travellers retraced their steps to their camp +upon the hillside. Hayle was certainly not in a good temper. The +monotony of the long journey from civilization had proved too much for +him, and he was ready to take offence at anything. Fortunately, however, +Kitwater was not of the same way of thinking, otherwise there would +probably have been trouble between them.</p> + +<p>Next morning they were up and had breakfasted before the sun was in the +sky. Their meal at an end, they picked up their arms and tools, bade +their servants have a care of the camp, and then set off on their quest +once more. There was a perceptible change, however, in their demeanours. +A nervous excitement had taken possession of them, and it affected each +man in a different manner. Kitwater was suspicious, Hayle was morose, +while little Codd repeatedly puckered up his mouth as if he were about +to whistle, but no sound ever came from it. The sky overhead was +emerald-blue, the air was full of the sweetest perfumes, while birds of +the most gorgeous plumage flew continually across their path. They had +no regard, however, for nature's beauties. The craving for wealth was in +their hearts, rendering them blind to everything else. They crossed the +stone bridge, passed through the outer portion of the city, proceeded +over the second moat, and at last, with the familiarity of old friends, +made their way up the steps towards the courtyard of the king's palace.</p> + +<p>"Now, my friends, listen to me," said Kitwater, as he spoke throwing +down the tools he had been carrying, "what we have to do is to +thoroughly sound the whole of this courtyard, inch by inch and stone by +stone. We can't be wrong, for that this is the courtyard of the Three +Elephants' Heads, there can be no doubt. You take the right-hand side," +he went on addressing Hayle; "you, Coddy, must take the left. I'll try +the middle. If we don't hit it to-day we'll do so to-morrow, or the next +day, or the day after that. This is the place we were told about, and if +the treasure is to be found anywhere, it will be here. For that reason +we've got to set about the search as soon as possible! Now to work!"</p> + +<p>Using the iron bars they had brought with them for the purpose, they +began their task, bumping the iron down upon each individual stone in +the hope of eliciting the hollow sound that was to reveal the presence +of the treasure-chamber. With the regularity of automatons they paraded +up and down the walled enclosure without speaking, until they had +thoroughly tested every single stone; no sort of success, however, +rewarded their endeavours.</p> + +<p>"I expected as much," said Hayle angrily, as he threw down the bar. +"You've been humbugged, and our long journey is all undertaken for +nothing. I was a fool ever to have listened to your nonsensical yarn. I +might have known it would have come to nothing. It's not the first time +I've been treasure-hunting, but I'll swear it shall be the last. I've +had enough of these fooleries."</p> + +<p>A dangerous light was gathering in Kitwater's eyes. He moreover threw +down the iron bar as if in anticipation of trouble, and placed his fists +defiantly on his hips.</p> + +<p>"If you are going to talk like that, my boy," he began, with never a +quaver in his voice, "it's best for us to understand each other straight +off. Once and for all let me tell you that I'll have none of your +bounce. Whether or not this business is destined to come to anything, +you may rely upon one thing, and that is the fact that I did my best to +do you a good turn by allowing you to come into it. There's another +thing that calls for comment, and you can deny it if you will. It's a +fact that you've been grumbling and growling ever since we left Rangoon, +and have made difficulties innumerable where you needn't have done so, +and now, because you think the affair is going to turn out badly, you +round upon me as if it were all a put-up job on my part, to rook you of +your money. It's not the thing, Hayle, and I don't mind saying that I +resent it."</p> + +<p>"You may resent it or not, as you darned well please," said Hayle +doggedly, biting at the butt of his cigar as he spoke. "It don't matter +a curse to me; you don't mean to tell me you think I'm fool enough to +stand by and see myself----"</p> + +<p>At that moment Codd, who had been away investigating on his own account, +and had no idea of the others' quarrel, gave a shout of delight. He was +at the further end of the courtyard, at a spot where a dense mass of +creeper had fallen, and now lay trailing upon the stones. The effect +upon his companions was instantaneous. They abandoned their quarrel +without another word, and picking up their crowbars hastened towards +the spot where he was waiting for them.</p> + +<p>"What have you found, little man?" inquired Kitwater, as he approached.</p> + +<p>Mr. Codd, however, said nothing in reply, but beat with his bar upon the +stone beneath him. There could be little or no doubt about the hollow +sound that rewarded his endeavours.</p> + +<p>"We've got it," cried Kitwater. "Bring the pickaxe, Hayle, and we'll +soon see what is underneath this precious stone. We may be at the heart +of the mystery for all we know."</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell Hayle had complied with the other's +request, and was hard at work picking out the earth which held the +enormous flagstone in its place. A state of mad excitement had taken +hold of the men, and the veins stood out like whipcord upon Hayle's +forehead. It was difficult to say how many feet separated them from the +treasure that was to make them lords of all the earth. At last the stone +showed signs of moving, and it was possible for Kitwater to insert his +bar beneath one corner. He did so, prized it up, and leant upon it with +all his weight. It showed no sign of moving, however. The seal of Time +was set upon it, and it was not to be lightly disturbed.</p> + +<p>"Push your bar in here alongside of mine, Coddy," said Kitwater at last. +"I fancy we shall get it then."</p> + +<a name="Fig01"></a> +<div class="figure"> + <img src="images/Fig01.png" height="605" width="400" alt=""><br> + <p class="caption">"A DARK, NARROW HOLE, THE BOTTOM OF WHICH IT WAS +IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE."</p> +</div> +<br> + +<p>The little man did as he was directed, Kitwater and Hayle seconded his +efforts on the other side, and then, under the strain of their united +exertions, the stone began to move slowly from its place. Little by +little they raised it, putting all the strength they possessed into the +operation, until, at last, with one great effort they hurled it +backwards, and it fell with a crash upon the pavement behind them, +revealing a dark, narrow hole, the bottom of which it was impossible +to see.</p> + +<p>"Now then, Gideon, my worthy friend, what have you got to say about the +business?" asked Kitwater, as he wiped the perspiration from his brow. +"You pretended to doubt my story. Was there anything in the old +Frenchman's yarn after all. Were we wasting our time upon a fool's +errand when we set off to explore Sengkor-Wat?"</p> + +<p>Hayle looked at him somewhat sheepishly.</p> + +<p>"No? no," he said, "I am willing to admit that so far you have won the +trick. Let me down easily if you can. I can neither pass nor follow +suite. I am right out of my reckoning. Now what do you propose to do?"</p> + +<p>"Get one of those torches we brought with us, and find out what there is +in that hole," Kitwater answered.</p> + +<p>They waited while the latter went back to the camp, and when he +reappeared, and had lighted the torch, they prepared to follow him down +the steps into the mysterious depths below. The former, they soon +discovered, were as solidly built as the rest of the palace, and were +about thirty in number. They were, moreover, wet and slimy, and so +narrow that it was only possible for one man to descend them at once. +When they reached the bottom they found themselves standing in a narrow +passage, the walls of which were composed of solid stone, in many places +finely carved. The air was close, and from the fact that now and again +bats dashed past them into the deeper darkness, they argued that there +must be some way of communicating with the open air at the further end.</p> + +<p>"This is just what the Frenchman told me," said Kitwater, and his voice +echoed away along the passage like distant thunder. "He said we should +find a narrow corridor at the foot of the steps, and then the Treasure +Chamber at the further end. So far it looks all right. Let us move on, +my friends."</p> + +<p>There was no need for him to issue such an invitation. They were more +than eager to follow him.</p> + +<p>Leaving the first room, or ante-chamber, as it might more properly be +called, they continued their way along the narrow passage which led from +it. The air was growing perceptibly closer every moment, while the light +of the torch reflected the walls on either side. Hayle wondered for a +moment as he followed his leader, what would happen to them if the +Chinese, of whom the old Frenchman had spoken to Kitwater, should +discover their presence in the ruins, and should replace the stone upon +the hole. In that case the treasure would prove of small value to them, +for they would be buried alive. He did not allow his mind, however, to +dwell very long upon this subject, for Kitwater, who was pushing on +ahead with the torch, had left the passage, and was standing in a large +and apparently well vaulted chamber. Handsomely carved pillars supported +the roof, the floor was well paved, while on either side there were +receptacles, not unlike the niches in the Roman catacombs, though for +what purpose they were intended was not at first glance so easy to +determine. With hearts that beat tumultuously in their breasts, they +hastened to one of them to see what it contained. The niche in question +was filled with strange-looking vessels, some like bowls, and others not +unlike crucibles. The men almost clambered over each other in their +excitement to see what they contained. It was as if their whole +existence depended upon it; they could scarcely breathe for excitement. +Every moment's delay was unspeakable agony. At last, however, the +coverings were withdrawn and the contents of the receptacles stood +revealed. Two were filled with uncut gems, rubies and sapphires, others +contained bar gold, and yet more contained gems, to which it was +scarcely possible in such a light to assign a name. One thing at least +was certain. So vast was the treasure that the three men stood +tongue-tied with amazement at their good fortune. In their wildest +dreams they had never imagined such luck, and now that this vast +treasure lay at their finger-ends, to be handled, to be made sure of, +they were unable to realize the extent of their future happiness. Hayle +dived his hands into a bowl of uncut rubies, and having collected as +many as he could hold in each fist, turned to his companions.</p> + +<a name="Fig02"></a> +<div class="figure"> + <img src="images/Fig02.png" height="570" width="400" alt=""><br> + <p class="caption">" 'LOOK HERE,' HE CRIED, 'IT'S THE BANK OF ENGLAND IN EACH +HAND.' "</p> +</div> +<br> + +<p>"Look here," he cried, "it's the Bank of England in each hand."</p> + +<p>His voice ended in a choke. Then Kitwater took up the tale.</p> + +<p>"I must get out of this or I shall go mad," he muttered hoarsely. "Come +let us get back to the light. If I don't I shall die."</p> + +<p>Without more ado, like men who were drunk with the finest wines, they +followed him along the passage and up the steps into the open air. They +were just in time to see the sun setting blood-red behind the jungle. +His beauty, however, had no effect upon them, in all probability they +were regardless of him altogether, for with almost simultaneous sighs of +relief they threw themselves down upon the flagstones of the courtyard, +and set to work, with feverish earnestness, to overhaul the booty they +had procured. All three were good judges of stones, and a very brief +examination was sufficient, even in the feeble evening light, to enable +them to see that they were not only gems of the first water, but also +stones of such a size as is seldom seen in these unregenerate days.</p> + +<p>"It's the biggest scoop on earth," said Hayle, unconsciously echoing the +expression Kitwater had used to him in Singapore. "What's better, there +are hundreds more like them down below. I'll tell you what it is, my +friends, we're just the richest men on this earth at the present moment, +and don't you forget it!"</p> + +<p>In his excitement he shook hands wildly with his companions. His +ill-humour had vanished like breath off a razor, and now he was on the +best of terms not only with himself, but also with the world in general.</p> + +<p>"If I know anything about stones there are at least one hundred thousand +pounds worth in this little parcel," he said enthusiastically, "and what +is more, there is a million or perhaps two millions to be had for the +trouble of looking for them. What do you say if we go below again?"</p> + +<p>"No! no!" said Kitwater, "it's too late. We'd better be getting back to +the camp as soon as may be."</p> + +<p>"Very well," Hayle replied reluctantly.</p> + +<p>They accordingly picked up their iron bars and replaced the stone that +covered the entrance to the subterranean passage.</p> + +<p>"I don't like leaving it," said Hayle, "it don't seem to me to be safe, +somehow. Think what there is down there. Doesn't it strike you that it +would be better to fill our pockets while we've the chance? Who knows +what might happen before we can come again?"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said Kitwater. "Who do you think is going to rob us of it? +What's the use of worrying about it? In the morning we'll come back and +fill up our bags, and then clear out of the place and trek for +civilization as if the devil and all were after us. Just think, my lads, +what there will be to divide."</p> + +<p>"A million apiece, at least," said Hayle rapturously, and then in an +awed voice he added, as if he were discomfited by his own significance, +"I never thought to be worth a quarter of that. Somehow it doesn't seem +as if it can be real."</p> + +<p>"It's quite real," said Mr. Codd, as he sprinkled some dry dust round +the crack of the stone to give it an appearance of not having been +disturbed. "There's no doubt of it."</p> + +<p>When he had finished they picked up their tools and set off on their +return journey to the camp. The sun had disappeared behind the jungle +when they left the courtyard of the Three Elephants' Heads and ascended +the stone steps towards the inner moat. They crossed the bridge, and +entered the outer city in silence. The place was very dreary at that +hour of the day, and to Codd, who was of an imaginative turn of mind, it +seemed as if faces out of the long deserted past were watching him from +every house. His companions, however, were scarcely so impressionable. +They were gloating over the treasure they had won for themselves, and +one, at least, was speculating as to how he should spend his share. +Suddenly Hayle, who was looking down a side street, uttered an +exclamation of surprise.</p> + +<p>"Did you see that?" he inquired of Kitwater. Then, without waiting for a +reply, he dived into the nearest ruin and disappeared from view.</p> + +<p>"What on earth is the matter with him?" inquired Kitwater of Codd. "Has +he gone mad?"</p> + +<p>Codd only shook his head. Hayle's doings were more often than not an +enigma to him. Presently, however, the runaway made his appearance +before them. His face was flushed and he breathed heavily. Apparently he +had been running, and for some distance.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you see him?" he inquired of his companions in some surprise.</p> + +<p>"See who?" asked Kitwater, with elevated eyebrows. "Who do you think you +saw?"</p> + +<p>"A man," Hayle replied. "I am ready to take my oath I saw him cross that +narrow street back yonder."</p> + +<p>"Was it one of our own men do you think?" said Codd, referring to the +two Burmen they had brought with them.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it," Hayle replied. "I tell you, Kitwater, I am as sure +as I am of anything that the man I saw was a Chinaman."</p> + +<p>"Gammon," said Kitwater. "There isn't a Chinaman within fifty miles of +the ruins. You are unduly excited. You'll be seeing a regiment of Scots +Guards presently if you are not careful."</p> + +<p>"I don't care what you say, it was a man I saw," the other answered. +"Good Heavens! won't you believe me, when I say that I saw his pigtail?"</p> + +<p>"Believe you, of course I will," replied Kitwater good-humouredly. "It's +a pity you didn't catch hold of him by it, however. No, no, Gid, you +take my word for it, there are no Chinamen about here. What do you +think, Codd?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Codd appeared to have no opinion, for he did not reply.</p> + +<p>By this time they had crossed the last bridge and had left the city +behind them. The jungle was lulling itself to sleep, and drowsy +croonings sounded on every hand. So certain was Hayle that he had not +been mistaken about the man he declared he had seen, that he kept his +eyes well open to guard against a surprise. He did not know what clump +of bamboo might contain an enemy, and, in consequence, his right hand +was kept continually in his pocket in order not to lose the grip of the +revolver therein contained. At last they reached the top of the hill and +approached the open spot where their camp was situated.</p> + +<p>"What did I tell you?" said Kitwater, as he looked about the camp and +could discover no traces of their two native servants. "It was one of +our prowling rascals you saw, and when he comes back I'll teach him to +come spying on us. If I know anything of the rattan, he won't do +it again."</p> + +<p>Hayle shrugged his shoulders. While the fact that their servants were +not at the camp to anticipate their return was certainly suspicious, he +was still as convinced as ever that the man he had seen slipping through +the ruins was no Burman, but a true son of the Celestial Empire.</p> + +<p>Worn out by the excitement of the day, Kitwater anathematized the +servants for not having been there to prepare the evening meal, but +while he and Hayle wrangled, Mr. Codd had as usual taken the matter into +his own hands, and, picking up a cooking-pot, had set off in the +direction of the stream, whence they drew their supply of water. He had +not proceeded very far, however, before he uttered a cry and came +running back to the camp. There was a scared expression upon his face as +he rejoined his companions.</p> + +<p>"They've not run away," he cried, pointing in the direction whence he +had come. "They're dead!"</p> + +<p>"Dead?" cried Kitwater and Hayle together. Then the latter added, "What +do you mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"What I say," Codd replied. "They're both lying in the jungle back +there with their throats cut."</p> + +<p>"Then I was right after all," Hayle found time to put in. "Come, Kit, +let us go and see. There's more than we bargained for at the back of +all this."</p> + +<p>They hurried with Codd to the spot where he had discovered the bodies, +to find that his tale was too true. Their two unfortunate servants were +to be seen lying one on either side of the track, both dead and +shockingly mutilated. Kitwater knelt beside them and examined them +more closely.</p> + +<p>"Chinese," he said laconically. Then after a pause he continued, "It's a +good thing for us we had the foresight to take our rifles with us +to-day, otherwise we should have lost them for a certainty. Now we shall +have to keep our eyes open for trouble. It won't be long in coming, mark +my words."</p> + +<p>"You don't think they watched us at work in that courtyard, do you?" +asked Hayle anxiously, as they returned to the camp. "If that's so, +they'll have every atom of the remaining treasure, and we shall be +done for."</p> + +<p>He spoke as if until that moment they had received nothing.</p> + +<p>"It's just possible they may have done so, of course," said Kitwater, +"but how are we to know? We couldn't prevent them, for we don't know how +many of them there may be. That fellow you saw this evening may only +have been placed there to spy upon our movements. Confound it all, I +wish we were a bigger party."</p> + +<p>"It's no use wishing that," Hayle returned, and then after a pause he +added—"Fortunately we hold a good many lives in our hands, and what's +more, we know the value of our own. The only thing we can do is to +watch, watch, and watch, and, if we are taken by surprise, we shall have +nobody to thank for it but ourselves. Now if you'll stand sentry, Coddy +and I will get tea."</p> + +<p>They set to work, and the meal was in due course served and eaten. +Afterwards Codd went on guard, being relieved by Hayle at midnight. Ever +since they had made the ghastly discovery in the jungle, the latter had +been more silent even than the gravity of the situation demanded. Now he +sat, nursing his rifle, listening to the mysterious voices of the +jungle, and thinking as if for dear life. Meanwhile his companions slept +soundly on, secure in the fact that he was watching over them.</p> + +<p>At last Hayle rose to his feet.</p> + +<p>"It's my only chance," he said to himself, as he went softly across to +where Kitwater was lying. "It must be now or never!"</p> + +<p>Kneeling beside the sleeping man, he felt for the packet of precious +stones they had that day obtained. Having found it he transferred it to +his own pocket, and then returned to his former position as quietly as +he had come. Then, having secured as much of their store of ammunition +as he could conveniently carry, together with a supply of food +sufficient to last him for several days, he deserted his post, abandoned +his friends, and disappeared into the jungle!</p> + +<a name="PART_III"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h3>PART III</h3><br> + +<p>The sun was slowly sinking behind the dense wall of jungle which hems +in, on the southern side, the frontier station of Nampoung. In the river +below there is a Ford, which has a distinguished claim on fame, inasmuch +as it is one of the gateways from Burmah into Western China. This Ford +is guarded continually by a company of Sikhs, under the command of an +English officer. To be candid, it is not a post that is much sought +after. Its dullness is extraordinary. True, one can fish there from +morning until night, if one is so disposed; and if one has the good +fortune to be a botanist, there is an inexhaustible field open for +study. It is also true that Nampoung is only thirty miles or so, as the +crow flies, from Bhamo, and when one has been in the wilds, and out of +touch of civilization for months at a time, Bhamo is by no means a place +to be despised. So thought Gregory, of the 123rd Burmah Regiment, as he +threw his line into the pool below him.</p> + +<p>"It's worse than a dog's life," he said to himself, as he looked at the +Ford a hundred yards or so to his right, where, at the moment, his +subaltern was engaged levying toll upon some Yunnan merchants who were +carrying cotton on pack-mules into China. After that he glanced behind +him at the little cluster of buildings on the hill, and groaned once +more. "I wonder what they are doing in England," he continued. +"Trout-fishing has just begun, and I can imagine the dear old Governor +at the Long Pool, rod in hand. The girls will stroll down in the +afternoon to find out what sport he has had, and they'll walk home +across the Park with him, while the Mater will probably meet them half +way. And here am I in this God-forsaken hole with nothing to do but to +keep an eye on that Ford there. Bhamo is better than this; Mandalay is +better than Bhamo, and Rangoon is better than either. Chivvying <i>dakus</i> +is paradise compared with this sort of thing. Anyhow, I'm tired +of fishing."</p> + +<p>He began to take his rod to pieces preparatory to returning to his +quarters on the hill. He had just unshipped the last joint, when he +became aware that one of his men was approaching him. He inquired his +business, and was informed in return that Dempsey, his sub, would be +glad to see him at the Ford. Handing his rod to the man he set off in +the direction of the crossing in question, to become aware, as he +approached it, of a disreputable figure propped up against a tree on the +nearer bank.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Dempsey?" he inquired. "What on earth have you got +there, man?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that's more than I can say," the other replied. "He's evidently +a white man, and I fancy an Englishman. At home we should call him a +scarecrow. He turned up from across the Ford just now, and tumbled down +in the middle of the stream like a shot rabbit. Never saw such a thing +before. He's not a pretty sight, is he?"</p> + +<a name="Fig03"></a> +<div class="figure"> + <img src="images/Fig03.png" height="588" width="400" alt=""><br> + <p class="caption">" 'POOR DEVIL,' SAID GREGORY. 'HE SEEMS TO BE ON HIS LAST +LEGS.' "</p> +</div> +<br> + +<p>"Poor devil," said Gregory. "He seems to be on his last legs. I wonder +who the deuce he is, and what brought him into this condition."</p> + +<p>"I've searched, and there's nothing about to tell us," said Dempsey. +"What do you think we had better do with him?"</p> + +<p>"Get him up the hill," said his superior, without hesitation. "When he's +a bit stronger we'll have his story out of him. I'll bet a few years' +pay it will be interesting."</p> + +<p>A file of men were called, and the mysterious stranger was carried up to +the residence of the English officers. It was plain to the least +observant that he was in a very serious condition. Such clothes as he +possessed were in rags; his face was pinched with starvation, and +moreover he was quite unconscious. When his bearers, accompanied by the +two Englishmen, reached the cluster of huts, he was carried to a small +room at the end of the officers' bungalow and placed upon the bed. After +a little brandy had been administered, he recovered consciousness and +looked about him. Heaving a sigh of relief, he inquired where he +might be.</p> + +<p>"You are at Nampoung," said Gregory, "and you ought to thank your stars +that you are not in Kingdom Come. If ever a man was near it, you have +been. We won't ask you for your story now; however, later on, you shall +<i>bukh</i> to your heart's content. Now I am going to give you something to +eat. You look as if you want it badly enough."</p> + +<p>Gregory looked at Dempsey and made a sign, whereupon the other withdrew, +to presently return carrying a bowl of soup. The stranger drank it +ravenously, and then lay back and closed his eyes once more. He would +have been a clever man who could have recognized in the emaciated being +upon the bed, the spruce, well-cared-for individual who was known to the +Hotel of the Three Desires in Singapore as Gideon Hayle.</p> + +<p>"You'd better rest a while now," said Gregory, "and then perhaps you'll +feel equal to joining us at mess, or whatever you like to call it."</p> + +<p>"Thanks very much," the man replied, with the conventional utterance of +an English gentleman, which was not lost upon his audience. "I hope I +shall feel up to it."</p> + +<p>"Whoever the fellow is," said Gregory, as they passed along the verandah +a few minutes later, "he has evidently seen better days. Poor beggar, I +wonder where he's been, and what he has been up to?"</p> + +<p>"We shall soon find out," Dempsey answered. "All he said when we fished +him out of the water was '<i>at last</i>,' and then he fainted clean away. I +am not more curious than my neighbours, but I don't mind admitting that +I am anxious to hear what he has to say for himself. Talk about Rip Van +Winkle, why, he is not in it with this fellow. He could give him points +and beat him hollow."</p> + +<p>An hour later the stranger was so far recovered as to be able to join +his hosts at their evening meal. Between them they had managed to fit +him out with a somewhat composite set of garments. He had shaved off his +beard, had reduced his hair to something like order, and in consequence +had now the outward resemblance at least of a gentleman.</p> + +<p>"Come, that's better," said Gregory as he welcomed him. "I don't know +what your usual self may be like, but you certainly have more the +appearance of a man, and less that of a skeleton than when we first +brought you in. You must have been pretty hard put to it out yonder."</p> + +<p>The recollection of all he had been through was so vivid, that the man +shuddered at the mere thought of it.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't go through it again for worlds," he said. "You don't know +what I've endured."</p> + +<p>"Trading over the border alone?" Gregory inquired.</p> + +<p>The man shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Tried to walk across from Pekin," he said, "<i>viâ</i> Szechuen and Yunnan. +Nearly died of dysentery in Yunnan city. While I was there my servants +deserted me, taking with them every halfpenny I possessed. Being +suspected by the Mandarins, I was thrown into prison, managed eventually +to escape, and so made my way on here. I thought to-day was going to +prove my last."</p> + +<p>"You have had a hard time of it, by Jove," said Dempsey; "but you've +managed to come out of it alive. And now where are you going?"</p> + +<p>"I want, if possible, to get to Rangoon," the other replied. "Then I +shall ship for England as best as I can. I've had enough of China to +last me a lifetime."</p> + +<p>From that moment the stranger did not refer again to his journey. He was +singularly reticent upon this point, and feeling that perhaps the +recollection of all he had suffered might be painful to him, the two men +did not press him to unburden himself.</p> + +<p>"He's a strange sort of fellow," said Gregory to Dempsey, later in the +evening, when the other had retired to rest. "If he has walked from +Pekin here, as he says, he's more than a little modest about it. I'll be +bound his is a funny story if only he would condescend to tell it."</p> + +<p>They would have been more certain than ever of this fact had they been +able to see their guest at that particular moment. In the solitude of +his own room he had removed a broad leather belt from round his waist. +From the pocket of this belt he shook out upwards of a hundred rubies +and sapphires of extraordinary size. He counted them carefully, replaced +them in the belt, and then once more secured the latter about his waist.</p> + +<p>"At last I am safe," he muttered to himself, "but it was a close +shave—a very close shave. I wouldn't do that journey again for all the +money the stones are worth. No! not for twice the amount."</p> + +<p>Once more the recollection of his sufferings rose so vividly before him +that he could not suppress a shudder. Then he arranged the +mosquito-curtains of his bed, and laid himself down upon it. It was not +long before he was fast asleep.</p> + +<p>Before he went to his own quarters, Gregory looked in upon the stranger +to find him sleeping heavily, one arm thrown above his head.</p> + +<p>"Poor beggar!" said the kind-hearted Englishman, as he looked down at +him. "One meets some extraordinary characters out here. But I think he's +the strangest that has come into my experience."</p> + +<p>The words had scarcely left his lips before the stranger was sitting up +in bed with a look of abject terror in his eyes. The sweat of a living +fear was streaming down his face. Gregory ran to him and placed his arm +about him.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" he asked. "Pull yourself together, man, there's +nothing for you to fear here. You're quite safe."</p> + +<p>The other looked at him for a moment as if he did not recognize him. +Then, taking in the situation, he gave an uneasy laugh.</p> + +<p>"I have had such an awful nightmare," he said. "I thought the Chinese +were after me again. Lord! how thankful I am it's not true."</p> + +<p>Next morning George Bertram, as he called himself, left Nampoung for +Bhamo, with Gregory's cheque for five hundred rupees in his pocket.</p> + +<p>"You must take it," said that individual in reply to the other's +half-hearted refusal of the assistance. "Treat it as a loan if you like. +You can return it to me when you are in better circumstances. I assure +you I don't want it. We can't spend money out here."</p> + +<p>Little did he imagine when he made that offer, the immense wealth which +the other carried in the belt that encircled his waist. Needless to say +Hayle said nothing to him upon the subject. He merely pocketed the +cheque with an expression of his gratitude, promising to repay it as +soon as he reached London. As a matter of fact he did so, and to this +day, I have no doubt, Gregory regards him as a man of the most +scrupulous and unusual integrity.</p> + +<p>Two days later the wanderer reached Bhamo, that important military post +on the sluggish Irrawaddy. His appearance, thanks to Gregory and +Dempsey's kind offices, was now sufficiently conventional to attract +little or no attention, so he negotiated the Captain's cheque, fitted +himself out with a few other things that he required, and then set off +for Mandalay. From Mandalay he proceeded as fast as steam could take him +to Rangoon, where, after the exercise of some diplomacy, he secured a +passage aboard a tramp steamer bound for England.</p> + +<p>When the Shweydagon was lost in the evening mist, and the steamer had +made her way slowly down the sluggish stream with the rice-fields on +either side, Hayle went aft and took his last look at the land to which +he was saying good-bye.</p> + +<p>"A quarter of a million if a halfpenny," he said, "and as soon as they +are sold and the money is in my hands, the leaf shall be turned, and my +life for the future shall be all respectability."</p> + +<a name="PART_IV"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h3>PART IV</h3><br> + +<p>Two months had elapsed since the mysterious traveller from China had +left the lonely frontier station at Nampoung. In outward appearance it +was very much the same as it had been then. The only difference +consisted in the fact that Captain Gregory and his subaltern Dempsey, +having finished their period of enforced exile, had returned to Bhamo to +join the main body of their regiment. A Captain Handiman and a subaltern +named Grantham had taken their places, and were imitating them inasmuch +as they spent the greater portion of their time fishing and complaining +of the hardness of their lot. It was the more unfortunate in their case +that they did not get on very well together. The fact of the matter was +Handiman was built on very different lines to Gregory, his predecessor; +he gave himself airs, and was fond of asserting his authority. In +consequence the solitary life at the Ford sat heavily upon both men.</p> + +<p>One hot afternoon, Grantham, who was a keen sportsman, took his gun, +and, accompanied by a wiry little Shan servant, departed into the jungle +on <i>shikar</i> thoughts intent. He was less successful than usual; indeed, +he had proceeded fully three miles before he saw anything worth emptying +his gun at. In the jungle the air was as close as a hothouse, and the +perspiration ran down his face in streams.</p> + +<p>"What an ass I was to come out!" he said angrily to himself. "This heat +is unbearable."</p> + +<p>At that moment a crashing noise reached him from behind. Turning to +discover what occasioned it, he was just in time to see a large boar +cross the clearing and disappear into the bamboos on the further side. +Taking his rifle from the little Shan he set off in pursuit. It was no +easy task, for the jungle in that neighbourhood was so dense that it was +well nigh impossible to make one's way through it. At last, however, +they hit upon a dried up <i>nullah</i>, and followed it along, listening as +they went to the progress the boar was making among the bamboos on their +right. Presently they sighted him, crossing an open space a couple of +hundred yards or so ahead of them. On the further side he stopped and +began to feed. This was Grantham's opportunity, and, sighting his rifle, +he fired. The beast dropped like a stone, well hit, just behind the +shoulder. The report, however, had scarcely died away before the little +Shan held up his hand to attract Grantham's attention.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" the other inquired.</p> + +<p>Before the man had time to reply his quick ear caught the sound of a +faint call from the jungle on the other side of the <i>nullah</i>. Without +doubt it was the English word <i>help</i>, and, whoever the man might be who +called, it was plain that he was in sore straits.</p> + +<p>"What the deuce does it mean?" said Grantham, half to himself and half +to the man beside him. "Some poor devil got lost in the jungle, I +suppose? I'll go and have a look."</p> + +<p>Having climbed the bank of the <i>nullah</i>, he was about to proceed in the +direction whence the cry had come, when he became aware of the most +extraordinary figure he had ever seen in his life approaching him. The +appearance Hayle had presented when he had turned up at the Ford two +months before was nothing compared with that of this individual. He was +a small man, not more than five feet in height. His clothes were in +rags, a grizzly beard grew in patches upon his cheeks and chin, while +his hair reached nearly to his shoulders. His face was pinched until it +looked more like that of a skeleton than a man. Grantham stood and +stared at him, scarcely able to believe his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens," he said to himself, "what a figure! I wonder where the +beggar hails from?" Then addressing the man, he continued, "Are you an +Englishman, or what are you?"</p> + +<p>The man before him, however, did not reply. He placed his finger on his +lips, and turning, pointed in the direction he had come.</p> + +<p>"Either he doesn't understand, or he's dumb," said Grantham. "But it's +quite certain that he wants me to follow him somewhere."</p> + +<p>Turning to the man again, he signed to him to proceed, whereupon the +little fellow hobbled painfully away from the <i>nullah</i> in the direction +whence he had appeared. On and on he went until he at length came to a +standstill at the foot of a hill, where a little stream came splashing +down in a miniature cascade from the rocks above. Then Grantham realized +the meaning of the little man's action. Stretched out beside a rock was +the tall figure of a man. Like his companion, he presented a miserable +appearance. His clothes, if clothes they could be called, were in rags, +his hair was long and snowy white, matching his beard, which descended +to within a few inches of his waist. His eyes were closed, and for a +moment Grantham thought he was dead. This was not the case, however, for +upon his companion approaching him he held out his hand and inquired +whether he had discovered the man who had fired the shot?</p> + +<p>To Grantham's surprise the other made no reply in words, but, taking his +friend's hand he made some mysterious movements upon it with his +fingers, whereupon the latter raised himself to a sitting position.</p> + +<p>"My friend tells me that you are an Englishman," he said in a voice that +shook with emotion. "I'm glad we have found you. I heard your rifle shot +and hailed you. We are in sore distress, and have been through such +adventures and such misery as no man would believe. I have poisoned my +foot, and am unable to walk any further. As you can see for yourself I +am blind, while my companion is dumb."</p> + +<p>This statement accounted for the smaller man's curious behaviour and the +other's closed eyes.</p> + +<p>"You have suffered indeed," said Grantham pityingly. "But how did it all +come about?"</p> + +<p>"We were traders, and we fell into the hands of the Chinese," the taller +man answered. "With their usual amiability they set to work to torture +us. My companion's tongue they cut out at the roots, while, as I have +said, they deprived me of my sight. After that they turned us loose to +go where we would. We have wandered here, there, and everywhere, living +on what we could pick up, and dying a thousand deaths every day. It +would have been better if we had died outright—but somehow we've come +through. Can you take us to a place where we can procure food? We've +been living on jungle fruit for an eternity. My foot wants looking to +pretty badly, too."</p> + +<p>"We'll do all we can for you," said Grantham. "That's if we can get you +down to the Ford, which is about five miles away."</p> + +<p>"You'll have to carry me then, for I'm too far gone to walk."</p> + +<p>"I think it can be managed," said Grantham. "At any rate we'll try."</p> + +<p>Turning to the little Shan he despatched him with a message to Handiman, +and when the other had disappeared, knelt down beside the tall man and +set to work to examine his injured foot. There could be no doubt that it +was in a very serious condition. Tramping through the jungle he had +managed to poison it, and had been unable to apply the necessary +remedies. Obtaining some water from the stream Grantham bathed it +tenderly, and then bound it up as well as he could with his +handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"That's the best I can do for you for the present," he said. "We must +leave it as it is, and, when we get you to the station, we will see what +else can be managed."</p> + +<p>He looked up and saw the little man's eyes watched him intently. There +was a look of almost dog-like affection in them for his companion, that +went to the young soldier's heart.</p> + +<p>"By Jove," he said, "I'm sorry for you fellows. You must have suffered +agonies. The Chinese are devils. But yours is not the first case we have +heard of. We only come up here for a month at a time, but the man we +relieved told us a strange tale about another poor beggar who came into +the station some two months ago. He had been wandering in the jungle, +and was nearly at death's-door."</p> + +<p>The blind man gave a start, while the little man seized his hand and +made a number of rapid movements upon it with his fingers.</p> + +<p>"My friend wants to know if you are aware of that man's name?" he said. +"We lost a companion, and he thinks that he may be the man. For +Heaven's sake tell us what you know. You have no idea what it means +to us."</p> + +<p>"Since you are so interested in him I am sorry to have to say that I do +not know very much. You see he had very little to do with us. As I have +said, he turned up while our predecessors were here. From what I heard +about him from Gregory, he gathered that he was a tall, thin man, who +had come through from Pekin by way of Yunnan."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure it was from Yunnan?"</p> + +<p>"That's what they told me," said Grantham. "Since then I have heard that +he was on his way from Pekin to Burmah, and that his coolies had robbed +him of all he possessed."</p> + +<p>"You don't happen to remember his name, I suppose!"</p> + +<p>The blind man tried to ask the question calmly, but his voice failed +him.</p> + +<p>"As far as I remember his name was George Bertram," Grantham answered.</p> + +<p>There was a pause for a few seconds, after which the blind man began +again—</p> + +<p>"He didn't tell you, I suppose, whether he had any money about him?"</p> + +<p>"He hadn't a red cent," said Grantham. "The Chinese cleared him out. +They lent him the money to get to Rangoon. I happen to know that because +he cashed my friend's cheque in Bhamo."</p> + +<p>There was another and somewhat longer pause.</p> + +<p>"You did not hear whether he had any precious stones in his possession?"</p> + +<p>"Good gracious, no! From what they told me I gathered that the man +hadn't a halfpenny in the world. Why should he have been likely to have +had jewels? In point of fact I'm sure he hadn't, for I was given to +understand he was about as woe-begone a customer as could be found +anywhere."</p> + +<p>The blind man uttered a heavy sigh, and sank back to his former position +upon the ground.</p> + +<p>An hour and a half later, just as the shadows of evening were drawing +in, a party of Sikhs put in an appearance, bringing with them a dhooly, +in which they placed the injured man. It was almost dark when they +reached the station, where Grantham's superior officer was awaiting +their coming.</p> + +<p>"What on earth's the meaning of this?" he asked, as the <i>cortège</i> drew +up before the bungalow. "Who are these men? And where did you +find them?"</p> + +<p>Grantham made his report, and then the wounded man was lifted out and +carried to a hut at the rear of the main block of buildings. The little +man watched everything with an eagle eye, as if he were afraid some evil +might be practised upon his companion. When the blind man had been +placed on a bed, and his foot attended to as well as the rough surgery +of the place would admit, Grantham did something he had not already +done, and that was to ask them their names.</p> + +<p>"My name is Kitwater," said the blind man, "and the name of my friend +here is Codd—Septimus Codd. He's one of the best and staunchest little +fellows in the world. I don't know whether our names will convey much to +you, but such as they are you are welcome to them. As a matter of fact, +they are all we have with which to requite your hospitality."</p> + +<p>Why it should have been so I cannot say, but it was evident from the +first that Captain Handiman did not believe the account the refugees +gave of themselves. He was one of that peculiar description of persons +who have an idea that it adds to their dignity not to believe anything +that is told them, and he certainly acted up to it on every +possible occasion.</p> + +<p>"There's more in the case than meets the eye," he said suspiciously, +"and I fancy, if only we could see the bottom of it, we should discover +that your two <i>protégés</i> are as fine a pair of rascals as could be found +on the Continent of Asia."</p> + +<p>"I don't know anything about that," Grantham replied. "I only know that +they were a miserable couple, and that I did the best I could for them. +You wouldn't have had me leave them in the jungle, surely?"</p> + +<p>"I am not aware I have said so," the other answered stiffly. "The only +thing I object to is your treating them as if they were martyrs, when in +all probability they deserve all the punishment they have received."</p> + +<p>Grantham was too wise to carry the argument any further. He knew that +when Handiman was in his present humour the best thing to do was to +leave him alone in it. He accordingly returned to the hut where the two +men were domiciled, and attended to their comfort as far as lay in his +power. His heart had been touched by their misery. He did not give as a +reason for the trouble he took, the fact that the face of the elder man +reminded him of his own venerable father, the worthy old Somersetshire +vicar; it was a fact, nevertheless. For a week the unfortunate couple +were domiciled at the Ford, and during that time Grantham attended to +their wants with the assiduity of a blood relation. Meanwhile Handiman +scoffed and bade him take heed for his valuables, lest his new-found +friends should appropriate them. He did not believe in honest gratitude, +he declared, particularly where homeless wanderers in the Burmese jungle +were concerned. At last, however, they were so far recovered as to be +able to proceed on their way once more.</p> + +<p>"We have to thank you for your lives, sir," said Kitwater to Grantham +when the time came for them to say good-bye to the Ford. "Had it not +been for you we would probably be dead men now. I don't know whether we +shall ever be able to repay your kindness, that is with Allah, but if +the opportunity should ever arise you may be sure we will not neglect +it. Whatever we may be now, you may take it that we were gentlemen once. +There's just one favour I should like to ask of you, sir, before +we part!"</p> + +<p>"What is it?" Grantham inquired.</p> + +<p>"I want you, sir, to give me a letter of introduction to the gentleman +in your regiment, who looked after the stranger you told me of, when he +came here from out of China. I've got a sort of notion in my head that +even if he is not our friend, that is to say the man we are searching +for, he may happen to know something of him."</p> + +<p>"I will give you the letter with pleasure," Grantham replied. "I am sure +Gregory will be only too pleased to help you as far as lies in +his power."</p> + +<p>The letter was accordingly written and handed to Kitwater, who stowed it +away in his pocket as if it were a priceless possession. Then, when they +had bade their protector farewell, they in their turn set off along the +track that Hayle had followed two months before, and in due course +arrived at Bhamo. Here they presented the letter they had obtained to +Captain Charles Pauncefort Gregory, who, as may be supposed, received it +with manifest astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "of all the stories I have heard since I have been in +the East, this is the most extraordinary. I thought that other chap was +about as unfortunate a beggar as could well be, but you beat him hollow +at every turn. Now, look here, before I go any further, I must have my +friend with me. He is the man who discovered the other chap, and I'm +sure he would like to hear your story."</p> + +<p>Dempsey was accordingly summoned, and his wonderment was as great as his +friend's had been.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Gregory, when Dempsey had been made familiar with the +other's story, "what is it you want to know about the man we picked up? +Ask your questions, and we'll do the best we can to answer them."</p> + +<p>In reply to Kitwater's questions, Gregory and Dempsey described, as far +as they were able, the appearance of the man whom they had helped. The +schedule was in a great measure satisfactory, but not altogether. There +were so many English in Burmah who were tall, and who had dark eyes and +broad shoulders. Little Codd leant towards his companion and taking his +hand made some signs upon it.</p> + +<p>"That's so, my little man," said Kitwater, nodding his head approvingly. +"You've hit the nail on the head." Then turning to Gregory, he +continued, "Perhaps, sir, you don't happen to remember whether he had +any particular mark upon either of his wrists?"</p> + +<p>Gregory replied that he had not noticed anything extraordinary, but +Dempsey was by no means so forgetful?</p> + +<p>"Of course he had," he answered. "I remember noticing it for the first +time when I pulled him out of the Ford, and afterwards when he was in +bed. An inch or so above his left wrist he had a tattooed snake +swallowing his own tail. It was done in blue and red ink, and was as +nice a piece of work as ever I have seen."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, sir," Kitwater replied, "you've hit it exactly. By the +living thunder he's our man after all. Heaven bless you for the news you +have given us. It puts new life into me. We'll find him yet, Coddy, my +boy. I thank you, sir, again and again."</p> + +<p>He held out his hand, which Dempsey felt constrained to shake. The man +was trembling with excitement.</p> + +<p>"I tell you, sir," he continued, "that you don't know how we loved that +man. If it takes the whole of our lives, and if we have to tramp the +whole world over to do it, we'll find him yet!"</p> + +<p>"And if I'm not mistaken it will be a bad day for him when you do find +him," put in Gregory, who had been an observant spectator of the scene. +"Why should you hate him so?"</p> + +<p>"How do you know that we <i>do</i> hate him?" Kitwater asked, turning his +sightless face in the direction whence the other's voice proceeded. +"Hate him, why should we hate him? We have no grudge against him, Coddy, +my boy, have we?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Codd shook his head gravely. No! they certainly had no grudge. +Nothing more was to be gleaned from them. Whatever their connection with +George Bertram or Gideon Hayle may have been, they were not going to +commit themselves. When they had inquired as to his movements after +leaving Bhamo, they dropped the subject altogether, and thanking the +officers for the courtesy shown them, withdrew.</p> + +<p>Their manifest destitution, and the misery they had suffered, had +touched the kindly white residents of that far off place, and a +subscription was raised for them, resulting in the collection of an +amount sufficient to enable them to reach Rangoon in comparative +comfort. When they arrived at that well-known seaport, they visited the +residence of a person with whom it was plain they were well acquainted. +The interview was presumably satisfactory on both sides, for when they +left the house Kitwater squeezed Codd's hand, saying as he did so—</p> + +<p>"We'll have him yet, Coddy, my boy, mark my words, we'll have him yet. +He left in the <i>Jemadar</i>, and he thinks we are lying dead in the jungle +at this moment. It's scarcely his fault that we are not, is it? But when +we get hold of him, we'll—well, we'll let him see what we can do, won't +we, old boy? He stole the treasure and sneaked away, abandoning us to +our fate. In consequence I shall never see the light again; and you'll +never speak to mortal man. We've Mr. Gideon Hayle to thank for that, and +if we have to tramp round the world to do it, if we have to hunt for +him in every country on the face of the earth, we'll repay the debt +we owe him."</p> + +<p>Mr. Codd's bright little eyes twinkled in reply. Then they shook hands +solemnly together. It would certainly prove a bad day for Gideon Hayle +should he ever have the ill luck to fall into their hands.</p> + +<p>Two days later they shipped aboard the mail-boat as steerage passengers +for England. They had been missionaries in China, so it was rumoured on +board, and their zeal had been repaid by the cruellest torture. On a +Sunday in the Indian Ocean, Kitwater held a service on deck, which was +attended by every class. He preached an eloquent sermon on the labours +of the missionaries in the Far East, and from that moment became so +popular on board that, when the steamer reached English waters, a +subscription was taken up on behalf of the sufferers, which resulted in +the collection of an amount sufficient to help them well on their way to +London as soon as they reached Liverpool.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Kitwater, as they stood together at the wharf with the +pitiless English rain pouring down upon them, wetting them to the skin, +"what we have to do is to find Gideon Hayle as soon as possible."</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_I"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p>It has often struck me as being a remarkable circumstance that, in nine +cases out of ten, a man's success in life is not found in the career he +originally chose for himself, but in another and totally different one. +That mysterious power, "force of circumstances," is doubtless +responsible for this, and no better illustration for my argument could +be found than my own case. I believe my father intended that I should +follow the medical profession, while my mother hoped I would enter the +Church. My worthy uncle, Clutterfield, the eminent solicitor of +Lincoln's Inn Fields, offered me my Articles, and would possibly have +eventually taken me into partnership. But I would have none of these +things. My one craving was for the sea. If I could not spend my life +upon salt water, existence would have no pleasure for me. My father +threatened, my mother wept, Uncle Clutterfield prophesied all sorts of +disasters, but I remained firm.</p> + +<p>"Very well," said my father, when he realized that further argument was +hopeless, "since you must go to sea, go to sea you certainly shall. But +you mustn't blame me if you find that the life is not exactly what you +anticipate, and that you would prefer to find yourself on dry land +once more."</p> + +<p>I willingly gave this promise, and a month later left Liverpool as an +apprentice on the clipper ship <i>Maid of Normandy</i>. Appropriately enough +the captain's name was Fairweather, and he certainly was a character in +his way. In fact the whole ship's company were originals. Had my father +searched all England through he could not have discovered a set of men, +from the captain to the cook's mate, who would have been better +calculated to instil in a young man's heart a distaste for Father +Neptune and his oceans. In the number of the various books of the sea I +have encountered, was one entitled, <i>A Floating Hell</i>. When reading it I +had not expected to have the misfortune to be bound aboard a vessel of +this type. It was my lot, however, to undergo the experience. We carried +three apprentices, including myself, each of whom had paid a large sum +for the privilege. I was the youngest. The eldest was the son of a +country parson, a mild, decent lad, who eventually deserted and became a +house-painter in the South Island of New Zealand. The next was washed +overboard when we were rounding the Horn on our homeward voyage. Poor +lad, when all was said and done he could not have been much worse off, +for his life on board was a disgrace to what is sometimes erroneously +called, "Human Nature." In due course, as we cleared for San Francisco, +and long before we crossed the Line, I was heartily tired of the sea. In +those days, few years ago as it is, sailors were not so well protected +even as they are now, and on a long voyage aboard a sailing ship it was +possible for a good deal to happen that was not logged, and much of +which was forgotten before the vessel reached its home-port again. When +I returned from my first voyage, my family inquired how I liked my +profession, and, with all truth, I informed them that I did not like it +at all, and that I would be willing to have my indentures cancelled and +to return to shore life once more, if I might be so permitted. My father +smiled grimly, and seemed to derive considerable satisfaction from the +fact that he had prophesied disaster from the outset.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "you have made your bed, my lad, and now you must lie +upon it. There is still a considerable portion of your apprenticeship to +be served, and it will be quite soon enough for us at the end of that +time to decide what you are to do."</p> + +<p>A month later I was at sea again, bound this time for Sydney. We reached +that port on my nineteenth birthday, and by that time I had made up my +mind. Articles or no Articles, I was determined to spend no more of my +life on board that hateful ship. Accordingly, one day having obtained +shore leave, I purchased a new rig-out, and leaving my sea-going togs +with the Jewish shopman, I made tracks, as the saying goes, into the +Bush with all speed. Happen what might, I was resolved that Captain +Fairweather should not set eyes on George Fairfax again.</p> + +<p>From that time onward my career was a strange one. I became a veritable +Jack-of-all-Trades. A station-hand, a roust-about, shearer, assistant to +a travelling hawker, a gold-miner, and at last a trooper in one of the +finest bodies of men in the world, the Queensland Mounted Police. It was +in this curious fashion that I arrived at my real vocation. After a +considerable period spent at headquarters, I was drafted to a station in +the Far West. There was a good deal of horse and sheep-stealing going on +in that particular locality, and a large amount of tact and ingenuity +were necessary to discover the criminals. I soon found that this was a +business at which I was likely to be successful. More than once I had +the good fortune to be able to bring to book men who had carried on +their trade for years, and who had been entirely unsuspected. Eventually +my reputation in this particular line of business became noised abroad, +until it came to the ears of the Commissioner himself. Then news reached +us that a dastardly murder had been committed in the suburbs of +Brisbane, and that the police were unable to obtain any clue as to the +identity of the person accountable for it. Two or three men were +arrested on suspicion, but were immediately discharged on being in a +position to give a satisfactory account of their actions on the night of +the murder. It struck me that I should like to take up the case, and +with the confidence of youth, I applied to the Commissioner for +permission to be allowed to try my hand at unravelling the mystery. +What they thought of my impudence I cannot say, but the fact remains +that my request, after being backed up by my Inspector, was granted. The +case was a particularly complicated one, and at one time I was beginning +to think that I should prove no more successful than the others had +been. Instead of deterring me, however, this only spurred me on to +greater efforts. The mere fact that I had asked to be allowed to take +part in the affair, had aroused the jealousy of the detectives of the +department, and I was aware that they would receive the news of my +failure with unqualified satisfaction. I therefore prosecuted my +inquiries in every possible direction, sparing myself neither labour nor +pains. It would appear that the victim, an old man, was without kith or +kin. He was very poor, and lived by himself in a small villa on the +outskirts of the city. No one had been seen near the house on the night +in question, nor had any noise been heard by the neighbours. Yet in the +morning he was discovered lying on the floor of the front-room, stabbed +to the heart from behind. Now every detective knows—indeed it is part +of his creed—that, in an affair such as I am describing, nothing is too +minute or too trivial to have a bearing upon the case. The old gentleman +had been at supper when the crime was committed, and from the fact that +the table was only laid for one, I argued that he had not expected a +visitor. The murderer could not have been hungry, for the food had not +been touched. That the motive was not robbery was also plain from the +fact that not a drawer had been opened or a lock forced, while the money +in his pocket was still intact. The doctors had certified that the wound +could not have been self-inflicted, while there was plenty of evidence +to show that there had not been a struggle. From the fact that the +front-door was locked, and that the key was in the murdered man's +pocket, it was certain that the assassin must have left the house by the +back. There was one question, however, so trivial in itself that one +might have been excused for not taking note of it, that attracted my +attention. As I have said, the old man had been stabbed from behind, and +when he was discovered by the police next day, his overturned chair was +lying beside him. This, to my mind, showed that he had been seated with +his back to the door when the crime had been perpetrated. When I had +examined everything else, I turned my attention to the chair. I did not +expect it to tell me anything, yet it was from it that I obtained the +clue that was ultimately to lead to the solution of the whole mystery. +The chair was a cheap one, made of white wood, and had the usual smooth +strip of wood at the top. On the back of this piece of wood, a quarter +of an inch or so from the bottom, on the left-hand side, was a faint +smear of blood. The presence of the blood set me thinking. When found, +the chair had been exactly eighteen inches from the body. The mere fact +that the man had been stabbed from behind and to the heart, precluded +any possibility of his having jumped up and caught at the back of the +chair afterwards. Placing my left hand upon the back, I clasped my +fingers under the piece of wood above-mentioned, to discover that a +portion of the second finger fell exactly upon the stain.</p> + +<p>"Now I think I understand the situation," I said to myself. "The old man +was seated at the table, about to commence his meal, when the murderer +entered very quietly by the door behind him. He rested his left hand +upon the chair to steady himself while he aimed the fatal blow with +his right."</p> + +<p>But in that case how did the knife touch the middle finger of his left +hand? From the fact that the body was discovered lying upon its back +just as it had fallen, and that the chair was also still upon the floor, +it was evident that the blood must have got there before, not after, the +crime was committed. Leaving the room I went out to the yard at the back +and studied the paling fence. The partition which separated the yard +from that of the house next door, was old, and in a very dilapidated +condition, while that at the bottom was almost new, and was armed at the +top with a row of bristling nails. Bringing the powerful +magnifying-glass I had brought with me for such a purpose, to bear upon +it, I examined it carefully from end to end. The result more than +justified the labour. A little more than half way along I discovered +another small smear of blood. There could be no doubt that the man had +cut his finger on a nail as he had climbed over on his murderous errand. +The next and more important thing was to decide how this information was +to be made useful to me. Since nothing had been taken from the house, +and the old man had been quite unprepared for the attack that was to be +made upon him, I set the whole crime down as being one of revenge. In +that case what would the assassin be likely to do after his object was +obtained? Would he vanish into the Bush forthwith, or get away by sea?</p> + +<p>After I had finished my inspection of the fence I visited every +public-house in the neighbourhood in the hope of finding out whether a +man with a wounded hand had been seen in any of them on the night of the +murder. I was totally unsuccessful, however. No one recollected having +seen such a man. From the hotels I went to various chemists' shops, but +with the same result. Next I tried the shipping-offices connected with +the lines of steamers leaving the port, but with no more, luck than +before. The case seemed rapidly going from bad to worse, and already it +had been suggested that I should give it up and return to my duty +without further waste of time. This, as you may naturally suppose, I had +no desire to do.</p> + +<p>I worried myself about it day and night, giving it a great deal more +attention in fact than I should bestow upon such a matter now, or even +upon cases of twice the importance. If there had been nothing else in my +favour, my attention to duty should have been sufficient to have +commended me to my superiors. It was the other way round, however. The +Press were twitting the authorities concerning their inability to +discover the murderer, and more than hinted at the inefficiency of the +Detective Force. When I had been engaged upon the matter for about a +fortnight, and with what success I have already informed you, the +Commissioner sent for me, and told me that he did not think my +qualifications were sufficiently marked to warrant my being employed +longer on the task in hand. This facer, coming upon the top of all the +hard work I had been doing, and possibly my nerves were somewhat +strained by my anxiety, led me to say more than I intended. Though a man +may have the bad luck to fail in a thing, he seldom likes to be reminded +of it. It was certainly so in my case. Consequently I was informed that +at the end of the month my connection with the Queensland Police would +terminate.</p> + +<p>"Very well, sir," I said, "in the meantime, if you will give me the +opportunity, I will guarantee to catch the murderer and prove to you +that I am not as incapable as you imagine."</p> + +<p>I have often wondered since that I was not ordered back to the Bush +there and then. The fact remains, however, that I was not, and thus I +was permitted to continue my quest unhindered.</p> + +<p>Ever since I had first taken the affair in hand I had had one point +continually before my eyes. The mere fact that the man had been stabbed +in the back seemed to me sufficient proof that the assassin was of +foreign origin, and that the affair was the outcome of a vendetta, and +not the act of an ordinary bloodthirsty crime. The wound, so the doctors +informed me, was an extremely deep and narrow one, such as might very +well have been made by a stiletto. Assuming my supposition to be +correct, I returned to the house, and once more overhauled the dead +man's effects. There was little or nothing there, however, to help me. +If he had laid himself out to conceal the identity of his enemy he could +scarcely have done it more effectually. Baffled in one direction, I +turned for assistance to another. In other words, I interviewed his +left-hand neighbour, a lady with whom I had already had some slight +acquaintance. Our conversation took place across the fence that +separated the two properties.</p> + +<p>"Do you happen to be aware," I asked, when we touched upon the one +absorbing topic, "whether the unfortunate gentleman had ever been +in Europe?"</p> + +<p>"He had been almost everywhere," the woman replied. "I believe he was a +sailor at one time, and I have often heard him boast that he knew almost +every seaport in the world."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you never heard him say whether he had lived in Italy?" I +inquired.</p> + +<p>"He used to mention the country now and again," she said. "If it was a +fine morning he would sometimes remark that it was a perfect Italian +sky. But nothing more than that."</p> + +<p>I was about to thank her and move away when she stopped me with an +exclamation.</p> + +<p>"Wait one moment," she said, "now I come to think of it, I remember that +about three months ago he received a letter from Italy. I'll tell you +how I came to know it. I was standing in the front verandah when the +postman brought up the letters. He gave me mine, and then I noticed that +the top letter he held in his hand had a foreign stamp. Now, my little +boy, Willie, collects stamps; he's tired of them now, but that doesn't +matter. At that time, however, he was so taken up with them that he +could talk of nothing else. Well, as I was saying, I noticed this stamp, +and asked the postman what country it came from. He told me it was from +Italy, and that the letter was for the gentleman next door. 'The next +time I see him,' I said to myself, 'I'll ask him for that stamp for +Willie.' I had my opportunity that self-same minute, for, just as I was +going down the garden there to where my husband was doing a little +cabbage-planting, he came into his front verandah. He took the letter +from the postman, and as he looked at the envelope, I saw him give a +start of surprise. His face was as white as death when he opened it, and +he had no sooner glanced at it than he gave a sort of stagger, and if it +hadn't been for the verandah-rail I believe he'd have fallen. He was so +taken aback that I thought he was going to faint. I was standing where +you may be now, and I called out to him to know whether I could do +anything for him. I liked the man, you see, and pitied him for his +loneliness. What's more, he and my husband had always been on friendly +terms together. Well, as I was going on to say, he didn't answer, but +pulling himself together, went into the house and shut the door. When +next I saw him he was quite himself again."</p> + +<p>At last the case was beginning to look more hopeful. I thought I could +see a faint spark of light ahead.</p> + +<p>"Did you happen to say anything about this to the other detectives when +they were making inquiries after the crime had been committed?" I asked, +with a little anxiety.</p> + +<p>"No, I did not," she replied. "I never gave it a thought. It was such a +long time before the murder, you see, and to tell the truth I had +forgotten all about it. It was only when you began to talk of Italy and +of his having been there, that I remembered it. You don't mean to say +you think that letter had something to do with the man's death?"</p> + +<p>"That is a very difficult question to answer," I observed. "I think, +however, it is exceedingly likely it may have had some connection with +it. At any rate we shall see. Now will you think for one moment, and see +whether you can tell me the exact day on which that letter arrived?"</p> + +<p>She considered for a few moments before she answered.</p> + +<p>"I believe I can, if you will give me time to turn it over in my mind," +she said. "My husband was at home that morning, and Willie, that's my +little boy, was very much upset because I would not let him stay away +from school to help his father in the garden. Yes, sir, I can tell you +the exact date. It was on a Monday, and the third of June."</p> + +<p>I thanked her for the information she had given me, and then went off to +see what use it was likely to prove to me. The letter from Italy had +been delivered in Brisbane on the third of June. The murder was +committed on the night of the nineteenth of July, or, in other words, +forty-six days later. With all speed I set off to the office of the +Royal Mail Steamship Company, where I asked to be shown their +passenger-list for the vessel that arrived on the nineteenth of July. +When it was handed to me I scanned it eagerly in the hope of discovering +an Italian name. There were at least a dozen in the steerage, and one in +the first-class. I was relieved, however, to find that all but the +first-class passengers had disembarked at Cairns, further up the coast. +The name of the exception was Steffano Gairdi, and he was a passenger +from Naples.</p> + +<p>"You can't tell me anything more definite about this gentleman, I +suppose?" I said to the clerk who was attending to me. "Did you happen +to see him?"</p> + +<p>"He was in here only this morning," the man replied.</p> + +<p>"Here, when?" I inquired, with such surprise that the other clerks +looked up from their books at me in astonishment. "Do you mean to tell +me that the gentleman I am asking about was here this morning?"</p> + +<p>"I do," he replied. "He came in to book his return passage to Italy. He +only undertook the voyage for the sake of his health."</p> + +<p>"Then it's just possible you may know where he is staying now?" I asked, +not however with much hope of success. "If you can tell me, I shall be +under an obligation to you."</p> + +<p>"I can tell you that also," the young man answered. "He is staying at +the Continental Hotel in Adelaide Street."</p> + +<p>"I am more obliged to you than I can say," I returned. "You have +rendered me a great service."</p> + +<p>"Don't mention it," said the clerk. "I am very glad to have been able to +give you the information you required."</p> + +<p>I thanked him once more and left the office. Now if Mr. Steffano Gairdi +happened to have a cut or the mark of one upon the inside of his left +hand, I felt that I should be within measurable distance of the end of +the affair. But how was I to get a view of his hands? If he were the man +I wanted, he would probably be on his guard, and he had already proved +himself to be sufficiently acute to make me careful how I went to work +with him. I had no time to lose, however. The next boat sailed for +Europe in two days' time, and he had booked his passage in her. For that +reason alone, I knew that I must be quick if I wished to accumulate +sufficient evidence against him to justify the issue of a warrant for +his arrest. I accordingly walked on to the Continental Hotel, and asked +to see the manager, with whom I had the good fortune to be acquainted. I +was shown into his private office, and presently he joined me there. He +was familiar with my connection with the police force, and laughingly +remarked that he hoped I had not called upon him in my official capacity.</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact that is just what I am doing," I replied. "I want +you to give me some information concerning one of your guests. I believe +I am right in saying that you have an Italian gentleman, named Gairdi, +staying at your hotel?"</p> + +<p>"That is certainly so," he admitted. "I hope there is nothing against +him?"</p> + +<p>"It is rather soon to say that," I said. "I am suspicious of the +man—and I want to ask you a few questions concerning him."</p> + +<p>"As many as you like," he returned. "I cannot say, however, that I know +very much about him. He has been up the country, and only returned to +Brisbane yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Is this the first occasion on which he has stayed here?"</p> + +<p>"No," the manager replied. "He was here nearly a month ago for a couple +of nights, and he had had his room reserved for him while he was away."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you can tell me if he slept here on the night of July the +nineteenth?"</p> + +<p>"If you will excuse me for a moment I can soon let you know," said the +manager, and then crossed the room to go into an outer office. A few +moments later he returned and nodded his head. "Yes, he slept here that +night, and went to Toowoomba next day."</p> + +<p>"One more question, and then I have done. Did you happen to notice that +night, or before he left next day, whether he had hurt his left hand?"</p> + +<p>"It's strange that you should speak of that," said the manager. "He had +cut his left hand rather badly with a broken glass, so he told us. We +gave him some sticking-plaster to do it up with."</p> + +<p>"That will do beautifully," I said. "And now perhaps you will add to the +kindness you have already done me by letting me see the gentleman in +question. I don't want to speak to him, but I want to impress his +countenance upon my mind."</p> + +<p>"Why not go into lunch?" the manager inquired. "You will then be able to +study him to your heart's content, without his being any the wiser. +You're not in uniform, and no one would take you for a detective."</p> + +<p>"An excellent idea," I replied. "By the way, while I am upon the +subject, I suppose I can rely upon your saying nothing about the matter +to him, or to any one else?"</p> + +<p>"You may depend upon me implicitly," he answered. "I should be scarcely +likely to do so, for my own sake. I trust the matter is not a very +serious one. I should not like to have any scandal in the hotel."</p> + +<p>"Well, between ourselves," I observed, "I am afraid it is rather a +serious affair. But you may be sure I will do all I can to prevent your +name or the hotel's being mixed up in it."</p> + +<p>Then, as he had proposed, I followed him into the dining-room and took +my place at a small table near the window. At that adjoining me, a tall, +swarthy individual, with close-cropped hair, an Italian without doubt, +was seated. He glanced at me as I took my place, and then continued his +meal as if he were unaware of my presence in the room.</p> + +<p>By the time I had finished my lunch I had thoroughly impressed his face +and personality upon my memory, and felt sure that, if necessary, I +should know him anywhere again. My labours, however, were by no means +over; in fact they were only just beginning. What I had against him so +far would scarcely be sufficient to justify our applying for a warrant +for his arrest. If I wanted to bring the crime home to him, it would be +necessary for me to connect him with it more closely than I had yet +done. But how to do this in the short space of time that was at my +disposal I could not see. The murderer, as I have already said, was no +ordinary one, and had laid his plans with the greatest care. He had +taken away the knife, and in all probability had got rid of it long +since. No one had seen him enter the house on the night in question, nor +had any one seen him leave it again. I was nearly beside myself with +vexation. To be so near my goal, and yet not be able to reach it, was +provoking beyond endurance. But my lucky star was still in the +ascendant, and good fortune was to favour me after all.</p> + +<p>As I have already observed, when the crime had become known, the +permanent detective force had been most assiduous in the attentions they +had given it. The only piece of valuable evidence, however, that they +had been able to accumulate, was a footprint on a flower-bed near the +centre of the yard, and another in the hall of the house itself. Now it +was definitely settled, by a careful comparison of these imprints, that +the murderer, whoever he might have been, wore his boots down +considerably on the left heel, and on the inside. Now, as every +bootmaker will tell you, while the outer is often affected in this way, +the inner side seldom is. I noticed, however, that this was the case +with the man I suspected. The heel of his left boot was very much worn +down and on the inside. The right, however, was intact.</p> + +<p>On leaving the Continental Hotel, I made my way to the Police +Commissioner's office, obtained an interview with him, and placed the +evidence I had gleaned before him. He was good enough to express his +approval of my endeavours, but was doubtful whether the case against the +Italian was strong enough yet to enable us to definitely bring the crime +home to the man.</p> + +<p>"At any rate it will justify our issuing a warrant for his arrest," he +said, "and that had better be done with as little delay as possible. +Otherwise he will be out of the country."</p> + +<p>A warrant was immediately procured and an officer was detailed to +accompany me in case I should need his assistance. When we reached the +Continental Hotel I inquired for Señor Gairdi, only to be informed that +he had left the hotel soon after lunch.</p> + +<p>"It is only what I expected," I said to my companion. "His suspicions +are aroused, and he is going to try and give us the slip."</p> + +<p>"I think not," said the manager. "I fancy you will find that he is on +board the steamer. You must remember that she sails at daybreak."</p> + +<p>We accordingly hastened to the river, and made our way to where the +steamer was lying. On arrival on board I inquired for the head-steward, +and when he put in an appearance inquired whether Señor Gairdi had come +aboard yet.</p> + +<p>"He brought his luggage on board, and inspected his cabin about three +o'clock," that official replied, "and then went ashore again."</p> + +<p>There was nothing for it therefore but for us to await his return. +Though we did not know it, we were in for a long spell, for it was not +until nearly nine o'clock that our man reappeared on board. He had just +crossed the gangway and was making his way along the promenade deck, +when I accosted him.</p> + +<p>"May I have a word with you, Señor Gairdi?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly," he replied, speaking with only a slight foreign +accent. "What is it you want?"</p> + +<p>I drew him a few paces further along the deck, so that, if possible, the +other passengers, who were standing near, should not hear what I had to +say to him.</p> + +<p>"I have to tell you," I said, "that I hold a warrant for your arrest on +the charge of murdering one, Joseph Spainton, on the night of July the +nineteenth of this year. I must caution you that anything you may say +will be used as evidence against you."</p> + +<p>The nearest electric light shone full and clear upon his face, and I +noticed that a queer expression had suddenly made its appearance upon +it. Apart from that, he did not seem at all surprised at his arrest.</p> + +<p>"So you have found it out after all," he said. "I thought I was going to +evade suspicion and get away safely. You would not have caught me then. +It is Fate, I suppose."</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders and said something under his breath in +Italian.</p> + +<p>"Must I go ashore with you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"If you please," I answered, marvelling that he should take it so +coolly.</p> + +<p>Then turning his dark eyes upon me, he continued—</p> + +<p>"Señor, in Italy I am a gentleman, and my name, which is not Gairdi, is +an honoured one. What I am accused of, and what I admit doing, was no +crime. The dead man was a traitor, and I was deputed to kill him. I did +it, and this is the end."</p> + +<a name="Fig04"></a> +<div class="figure"> + <img src="images/Fig04.png" height="588" width="400" alt=""><br> + <p class="caption">"HE FELL WITH A CRASH AT MY FEET."</p> +</div> +<br> + +<p>The words had scarcely left his lips before he took a revolver from his +coat-pocket, placed it to his right temple and, before I could prevent +him, had pulled the trigger. He fell with a crash at my feet, and before +the ship's doctor could be brought to his side, he was dead. Who he +really was, or to what Secret Society he belonged—for his last words to +me warranted the belief that he was a member of some such +organization—we were never able to discover. He was dead, and there was +an end to it. Such is the story of the first big case in which I was +engaged, and one that led me step by step to the position I now hold. I +have told it perhaps at somewhat greater length than I need have done, +but I trust the reader will forgive me. As a matter of fact I am rather +proud of it; more so perhaps than I have any reason to be.</p> + +<p>Having resigned my position in the police of the Northern Colony, I was +not to be tempted to reconsider my decision. My liking for the life, +however, and my interest in the unravelling of mysterious crimes, proved +too strong, and I joined the Detective Staff in Melbourne, seeing in +their service a good deal of queer life and ferreting out not a small +number of extraordinary cases. The experience gained there was +invaluable, and led me, after one particularly interesting piece of +business in which I had the good fortune to be most successful, to +entertain the notion of quitting Government employ altogether, and +setting up for myself. I did so, and soon had more work upon my hand +than I could very well accomplish. But I was too ambitious to be content +with small things, and eventually came to the conclusion that there was +not enough scope in the Colonies for me. After fifteen years' absence, +therefore, I returned to England, spending a year in the Further East +<i>en route</i> in order to enlarge my experience, and to qualify myself for +any work that might come to me from that quarter.</p> + +<p>On a certain bitterly cold day in January I reached Liverpool from the +United States, and took the train for my old home. My father and mother +had long since died, and now all that remained to me of them was the +stone slab that covered their resting place in the quiet little +churchyard at the foot of the hill.</p> + +<p>"Well, here I am," I said to myself, "thirty-three years old, and alone +in the world. Nobody knows me in England, but it won't be my fault if +they don't hear of George Fairfax before very long. I'll be off to +London and try my fortune there."</p> + +<p>Next day I made my way to the Great Metropolis, and installed myself at +a small private hotel, while I looked about me preparatory to commencing +business. To talk of gaining a footing in London is all very well in its +way, but it is by no means so easy a task to accomplish as it might +appear. Doubtless it can be done fairly quickly if one is prepared to +spend large sums of money in advertising, and is not afraid to blow +one's own trumpet on every possible occasion, but that is not my line, +and besides, even had I so wished, I had not the money to do it. For a +multitude of reasons I did not feel inclined to embark my hard-earned +savings on such a risky enterprise. I preferred to make my way by my own +diligence, and with that end in view I rented an office in a convenient +quarter, furnished it, put a small advertisement in a few of the papers, +and then awaited the coming of my clients.</p> + +<p>As I have a long and curious story to tell, and this book is only +intended to be the narration of a certain episode in my life, a detailed +description of my first three years in London would not only be +superfluous, but in every way a waste of time. Let it suffice that my +first case was that of the now notorious Pilchard Street Diamond +Robbery, my success in which brought me business from a well known firm +in Hatton Gardens. As the public will doubtless remember, they had been +robbed of some valuable gems between London and Amsterdam in a +singularly audacious manner. My second was the case of the celebrated +Russian swindler, who called herself the Countess Demikoff. This case +alone took me nearly six months to unravel, but I did not grudge the +time, seeing that I was well paid for my labours, and that I managed to +succeed where the police had failed. From that time forward I think I +may say without boasting that I have been as successful as any man of my +age has a right to expect to be. What is better still, I am now in the +happy position of being able to accept or decline business as I choose. +It is in many respects a hard life, and at all times is attended with a +fair amount of risk, but you cannot make omelets without breaking eggs, +and if any one chooses to spend his life running to earth men who are +waging war against Society, well, he must not grumble if he receives +some hard knocks in return.</p> + +<p>After these preliminaries I will proceed to show how I came to be mixed +up in the most curious case it has ever been my good, or evil, fortune +to encounter. It showed me a side of human nature I had not met before, +and it brought me the greatest happiness a man can ever hope to find.</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p>All business London, and a good many other people besides, must remember +the famous United Empire Bank Fraud. Bonds had been stolen and +negotiated, vast sums of money were discovered to be missing, and the +manager and one of the directors were absent also. So cleverly had the +affair been worked, and so flaring were the defalcations, that had it +not been for the public-spirited behaviour and generosity of two of the +directors, the position of the bank would have been most seriously +compromised, if not shattered altogether. How the culprits had managed +to slip through the fingers of the law in the first place no one could +say, but the fact remains that they were able to get out of England, +without, apparently, leaving a trace of their intentions or their +whereabouts behind them. Scotland Yard took the matter up with its usual +promptness, and at first were confident of success. They set their +cleverest detectives to work upon it, and it was not until more than a +month had elapsed that the men engaged were compelled most reluctantly +to admit their defeat. They had done their best: it was the system under +which they worked that was to blame. In the detection of crime, or in +the tracing of a criminal, it is best, as in every other walk of life, +to be original.</p> + +<p>One morning on arriving at my office I found a letter awaiting me from +the remaining directors of the bank, in which they inquired if I could +make it convenient to call upon them at the head-office that day. To +tell the truth I had been expecting this summons for nearly a week, and +was far from being displeased when it came. The work I had expected them +to offer me was after my own heart, and if they would only trust the +business to me and give me a free hand, I was prepared on my part to +bring the missing gentlemen to justice.</p> + +<p>Needless to say I called upon them at the hour specified, and after a +brief wait was conducted to the board room where the directors sat in +solemn conclave.</p> + +<p>The chairman, Sir Walter Bracebridge, received me on behalf of his +colleagues.</p> + +<p>"We wrote to you, Mr. Fairfax," he said, "in order to find out whether +you could help us concerning the difficulty in which we find ourselves +placed. You of course are aware of the serious trouble the bank has +experienced, and of the terrible consequences which have resulted +therefrom?"</p> + +<p>I admitted that I was quite conversant with it, and waited to hear what +he would have to say next.</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact," he continued, "we have sent for you to know +whether you can offer us any assistance in our hour of difficulty? Pray +take a chair, and let us talk the matter over and see what conclusion we +can arrive at."</p> + +<p>I seated myself, and we discussed the affair to such good purpose that, +when I left the Boardroom, it was on the understanding that I was to +take up the case at once, and that my expenses and a very large sum of +money should be paid me, provided I could manage to bring the affair to +a successful termination. I spent the remainder of that day at the Bank, +carefully studying the various memoranda. A great deal of what I had +read and heard had been mere hearsay, and this it was necessary to +discard in order that the real facts of the case might be taken up, and +the proper conclusions drawn therefrom. For three days I weighed the +case carefully in my mind, and at the end of that time was in a position +to give the Board a definite answer to their inquiries. Thereupon I left +England, with the result that exactly twelve weeks later the two men, so +much wanted, were at Bow Street, and I had the proud knowledge of +knowing that I had succeeded where the men who had tried before me had +so distinctly failed.</p> + +<p>As will be remembered, it was a case that interested every class of +society, and Press and Public were alike united in the interest they +showed in it. It is not, however, to the trial itself as much as another +curious circumstance connected with it, that has induced me to refer to +it here. The case had passed from the Magistrate's Court to the Old +Bailey, and was hourly increasing in interest. Day after day the Court +was crowded to overflowing, and, when the time came for me to take my +place in the witness-box and describe the manner in which I had led up +to and effected the capture of the offenders, the excitement rose to +fever-heat. I can see the whole scene now as plainly as if it had +occurred but yesterday; the learned Judge upon the Bench, the jury in +their box, the rows of Counsels, and the benches full of interested +spectators. I gave my evidence and was examined by the Counsels for the +prosecution and for the defence. I described how I had traced the men +from England to their hiding-place abroad, and the various attempts that +had been made to prevent their extradition, and had just referred to a +certain statement one of the prisoners had made to me soon after his +arrest, when an interruption caused me to look behind at the rows of +spectators. At the further end of the bench, nearest me, were two men; +one was evidently tall, the other very short. The taller was the +possessor of silvery white hair and a long and venerable beard. He was a +handsome looking man of about forty, and my first glance at him told me +that he was blind. As I have said, his companion was a much smaller man, +with a smooth, almost boyish face, a pair of twinkling eyes, but a mouth +rather hard set. Both were evidently following the case closely, and +when on the next day I saw that they were in the same place, I took an +even greater interest in them than before. It was not however until the +trial had finished and the pair of miserable men had been sent to penal +servitude for a lengthy term of years, that I made the acquaintance of +the men I have just described. I remember the circumstance quite +distinctly. I had left the Court and was proceeding down the Old Bailey +in the direction of Ludgate Hill, when I heard my name pronounced.</p> + +<p>Turning round I discovered to my astonishment the two men I had seen in +the Court, and who had seemed to take such an interest in the case. The +smaller was guiding his friend along the crowded pavement with a +dexterity that was plainly the outcome of a long practice. When I +stopped, they stopped also, and the blind man addressed me. His voice +was deep and had a note of pathos in it impossible to describe. It may +have been that I was a little sad that afternoon, for both the men who +had been condemned to penal servitude had wives and children, to whose +pitiful condition the learned Judge had referred when passing sentence.</p> + +<p>"You are Mr. Fairfax, are you not?" inquired the taller of the men.</p> + +<p>"That is my name," I admitted. "What can I do for you?"</p> + +<p>"If we could persuade you to vouchsafe us an hour of your valuable time +we should be more grateful than we could say," the man replied. "We have +an important piece of business which it might possibly be to your +advantage to take up. At any rate it would be worthy of your +consideration."</p> + +<p>"But why have you not come to me before?" I inquired. "You have seen me +in Court every day. Why do you wait until the case is at an end?"</p> + +<p>"Because we wanted to be quite sure of you," he answered. "Our case is +so large and of such vital importance to us, that we did not desire to +run any risk of losing you. We thought we would wait and familiarize +ourselves with all that you have done in this affair before coming to +you. Now we are satisfied that we could not place our case in better +hands, and what we are anxious to do is to induce you to interest +yourself in it and take it up."</p> + +<p>"You pay me a very high compliment," I said, "but I cannot give you a +decision at once. I must hear what it is that you want me to do and have +time to think it over, before I can answer you. That is my invariable +rule, and I never depart from it. Do you know my office?"</p> + +<p>"We know it perfectly," returned the blind man. "It would be strange if +we did not, seeing that we have stood outside it repeatedly, trying to +summon up courage to enter. Would it be possible for you to grant us an +interview to-night?"</p> + +<p>"I fear not," I said. "I am tired, and stand in need of rest. If you +care to come to-morrow morning, I shall be very pleased to see you. But +you must bear in mind the fact that my time is valuable, and that it is +only a certain class of case that I care to take up personally."</p> + +<p>"We are not afraid of our case," the man replied. "I doubt if there has +ever been another like it. I fancy you yourself will say so when you +hear the evidence I have to offer. It is not as if we are destitute. We +are prepared to pay you well for your services, but we must have the +very best that England can supply."</p> + +<p>My readers must remember that this conversation was being carried on at +the corner of Ludgate Hill and the Old Bailey. Curious glances were +being thrown at my companions by passers-by, and so vehement were the +taller man's utterances becoming, that a small crowd was gradually +collecting in our neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>"Very well," I said, "if you are really desirous of consulting me, I +shall be very glad to see you at my office at ten o'clock to-morrow +morning. I must ask you, however, not to be late, as I have several +other appointments."</p> + +<p>"We shall not be late," the man answered, "you may rely upon that. We +have too much at stake to run any risks of losing your assistance. We +will be with you to-morrow morning at ten o'clock punctually."</p> + +<p>He thereupon bade me good-bye and raising his hat politely was led along +the street by his companion in an opposite direction to that I was +taking. They seemed delighted that I had given them an appointment, but +for my part I am afraid I was too absorbed by the memories of the day, +and the punishment that had been allotted to the two principal members +in the swindle, to think very much of them and their business. Indeed, +although I made a note of the appointment, it was not until I had +arrived at the office on the following morning that I recollected their +promised visit. I had just finished my correspondence, and had dictated +a few letters to my managing clerk, when a junior entered with two +cards, which he placed before me. The first I took up bore the name of +Mr. Septimus Codd, that of the second, Mr. George Kitwater. When I had +finished the letter I was in the act of dictating, I bade the clerk +admit them, and a moment later the blind man and his companion whom I +had seen on Ludgate Hill the previous evening, were ushered into my +presence. I cannot remember a more venerable appearance than that +presented by the taller man. His was a personality that would have +appealed forcibly to any student of humanity. It was decidedly an open +countenance, to which the long white beard that descended almost to his +waist gave an added reverence. His head was well shaped and well set +upon his shoulders, his height was six feet two if an inch, and he +carried himself with the erectness of a man accustomed to an outdoor +life. He was well dressed, and for this reason I surmised that he was +the possessor of good manners. His companion was as much below the +middle height as he was above it. His was a peculiar countenance +resembling that of a boy when seen at a distance, and that of an old man +when one was close to him. His eyes, as I have already said, were small, +and they were set deep in his head. This, in itself, was calculated to +add to his peculiar appearance. He steered his blind companion into the +room and placed him in a seat. Then he perched himself on a chair beside +him and waited for me to open the debate.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning, gentlemen," I said. "Allow me to congratulate you on your +punctuality."</p> + +<p>"We were afraid of missing you," observed Kitwater. "Our business is so +particular that we did not want to run any risk of losing our +appointment."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will now be good enough to tell me what that business is?" +I replied, taking my note-book out of a drawer preparatory to writing +down what they had to say.</p> + +<p>"In the first place, sir," the man began, "we of course understand that +everything we have to tell you will be regarded by you as strictly +private and confidential?"</p> + +<p>"That goes without saying," I replied. "If I were to divulge what my +clients tell me, my business would not be worth a day's purchase. You +can rest assured that everything you may impart to me will be treated in +strictest confidence."</p> + +<p>"We thank you," said Kitwater. "The story I have to tell you is perhaps +the strangest that has ever been told to mortal man. To begin with, you +must understand that my companion and myself have but lately arrived in +England. We have been for many years missionaries in China, sowing the +good seed in the Western Provinces. I do not know whether you have ever +visited that country, but even if you have not you must be aware to some +extent of the dangers to which our calling is subjected. We carry our +lives in our hands from the moment we leave civilization until we enter +it again. There are times, however, that compensate one for all the +trials that have to be undergone."</p> + +<p>"You must excuse me," I said, "if I remind you that my time is valuable, +and that, however interested I may be in the missionary work of China, I +cannot allow it to interfere with my business. The sooner you tell me in +what way you want me to help you, the sooner I shall be able to give you +the answer you are seeking."</p> + +<p>"I must implore your pardon," the man continued, humbly enough, "I am +afraid our calling, however, is apt to make us a trifle verbose. If you +will allow me, I will put what I have to say in as few words as +possible."</p> + +<p>I bowed and signed to him to proceed.</p> + +<p>"Our case is as follows," he began. "As I have told you, we have been in +China for several years, and during that time we have had the good +fortune to enroll not a few well-known names among our converts. To make +a long story short, we were so successful as to be able to persuade even +the Mandarin of the Province to listen to our message. He was an +enormously rich man, one of the richest perhaps in China, and was so +impressed by the good news we brought to him that, on his death-bed, he +left to us for the benefit of the mission all his wealth, in gold, +silver, and precious stones. It was a princely legacy, and one that +would have enabled us to carry on our mission with such success as we +had never before dreamed of."</p> + +<p>"But if you were so lucky and so much in love with your profession, how +does it come about that you are in England now?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you why," he answered, leaning towards me and tapping with +his fingers upon the edge of my writing-table. "It is a sad story, and +the mere telling of it causes me more pain than you would believe. You +must understand that at the time of the Mandarin's death an English +traveller, who had been passing through the Western Provinces, reached +our city and took up his abode with us. Needless to say we were +overwhelmed with grief at the loss of our patron. The treasure he had +presented us with we took to the mission and deposited it in a safe +place. We had no suspicion of any sort of treachery. I fear my companion +and I are not men of the world, that is to say we do not go about +suspecting evil of our neighbours."</p> + +<p>"I think I understand," I said. "You brought the treasure home, put it +in what you considered a safe place, and one day awoke to find your +estimable guest missing and the treasure gone with him. Have I guessed +correctly?"</p> + +<p>"You have hit the mark exactly," Kitwater replied. "We woke one day not +only to find the treasure gone, but also ourselves and our mission +seriously compromised. The relations of the dead man not only accused us +of having alienated him from the faith of his forefathers, but also of +having robbed him of his ancestral treasure. We could not but admit that +we had been presented with the wealth in question, and when it was +demanded of us, we could only explain that we had lost it in our turn. +You can imagine the position for yourself. At the best of times the +foreigner is not popular in China, and our situation was particularly +unpleasant. Situated as we were in one of the wildest portions of the +empire, and accused of the basest sacrilege, that is to say of violating +the home of a dead man, we could hope for but small mercy. The man who +had robbed us had entirely disappeared and no trace of him could be +discovered. To attempt to offer any explanation, or to incriminate him, +was out of the question. We could only suffer in silence."</p> + +<p>He paused and heaved a heavy sigh.</p> + +<p>"And what form did your punishment take?" I inquired, for I was +beginning to be interested in their story.</p> + +<p>"Can you not see for yourself?" the man answered. "Can you not see that +I am blind, while my companion is dumb? That was what they condemned us +to. By that man's villainy I am destined never to look upon God's earth +again, while my companion will never be able to converse with his +fellow-men, except by signs. We are in the world, yet out of it."</p> + +<p>I looked at them both in amazement. Their tale seemed too terrible to be +true. And yet I had the best of evidence to show that it was correct.</p> + +<p>"And why have you come to me? What do you want me to do? I cannot give +you back your sight, nor your friend his power of speech."</p> + +<p>"But you can help us to find the man who brought this misery upon us," +Kitwater replied. "That is what we have come to ask of you. He must not +be permitted to enjoy the wealth he stole from us. It is sacred to a +special duty, and that duty it must perform. We are not overburdened +with riches, in fact we are dependent upon the bounty of another, but +if you can help us to recover the sum that was stolen from us, we will +gladly pay whatever you may ask! We cannot say more than that."</p> + +<p>"But this is a most unheard-of request," I said. "How do you know where +the man may be at this moment?"</p> + +<p>"We do not know, or we should scarcely have asked your assistance," +Kitwater replied with some show of reason. "It is because we have heard +of your wonderful powers in tracing people that we have come to you. Our +only cause for attending the trial at which you saw us was to hear the +evidence you gave and to draw our own conclusions from it. That those +conclusions were complimentary to you, our presence here is evidence of. +We know that we could not put our case in better hands, and we will +leave it with you to say whether or not you will help us. As I said just +now, my companion is dumb, while I am blind; we cannot do much +ourselves. Will you not take pity upon us and help us to find the man +who betrayed and ruined us?"</p> + +<p>"But he may be at the other end of the world at this moment?" I said.</p> + +<p>"That does not matter," he returned. "We know that wherever he may be, +you will find him. All we ask you to do is to bring us face to face with +him. We will manage the rest. It will be strange then if we are not able +to get him to a proper way of thinking."</p> + +<p>This was the most unusual case I had had to do with, and for the moment +I scarcely knew what to say. I turned to the blind man once more.</p> + +<p>"Have you any idea where the man went after he robbed you?"</p> + +<p>"He crossed the province of Yunnan into Burmah," he replied. "After that +he made his way through Mandalay to Rangoon, and shipped on board the +steamer <i>Jemadar</i> for London."</p> + +<p>"When did the <i>Jemadar</i> reach London?"</p> + +<p>"On the twenty-third of June," he answered. "We have made inquiries upon +that point."</p> + +<p>I made a note of this and then continued my inquiries.</p> + +<p>"One other question," I said. "While we are on the subject, what do you +suppose would be the total value of the treasure of which he +robbed you?"</p> + +<p>"That is very difficult to say," Kitwater replied, and then turned to +his companion and held out his hand. The other took it and tapped upon +the palm with the tips of his fingers in a sort of dot-and-telegraph +fashion that I had never seen used before.</p> + +<p>"My friend says that there were ninety-three stones, all rubies and +sapphires; they were of exquisite lustre and extraordinary size. +Possibly they might have been worth anything from a hundred and seventy +thousand pounds to a quarter of a million."</p> + +<p>I opened my eyes on hearing this. Were the men telling me the truth? I +asked myself, or were they trying to interest me in the case by +exaggerating the value of the treasure?</p> + +<p>"What you say is almost incomprehensible," I continued. "I trust you +will forgive me, but can you substantiate what you say?"</p> + +<p>"When we say that we are willing to pay your expenses in advance if you +will try to find the man, I think we are giving you very good proof of +our <i>bona fides,</i>" he remarked. "I am afraid we cannot give you any +other, seeing as I have said, that we are both poor men. If you are +prepared to take up our case, we shall be under a life-long gratitude to +you, but if you cannot, we must endeavour to find some one else who will +undertake the task."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible for me to decide now whether I can take it up or not," +I said, leaning back in my chair and looking at them both as I spoke. "I +must have time to think it over; there are a hundred and one things to +be considered before I can give you a direct reply."</p> + +<p>There was silence for a few moments, and then Kitwater, who had been +holding his usual mysterious communications with his friend, said—</p> + +<p>"When do you think you will be able to let us have an answer?"</p> + +<p>"That depends upon a variety of circumstances," I replied. "It is a +matter difficult to average. In the first place there is no knowing +where the man is at present: he may be in London; he may be in America; +he may be in any other portion of the globe. It might cost five hundred +pounds to find him, it might cost five thousand. You must see for +yourselves how uncertain it all is."</p> + +<p>"In that case we should be prepared to give security for the first-named +amount, or pay you half in advance," Kitwater replied. "I hope you do +not think, Mr. Fairfax, that we are endeavouring to play you false? You +can see for yourself that our injuries are permanent, and, as far as +they go, are at least evidence concerning the truth of our story. You +can also see for yourself how this man has behaved towards us. He has +robbed us of all we hold valuable, and to his act of treachery we owe +the mutilations we have suffered. Can you wonder that we are anxious to +find him?"</p> + +<p>"I do not wonder at that at all," I said. "My only feeling is that I +must regard it as an entirely business matter."</p> + +<p>"We cannot blame you," Kitwater replied. "Yet you must surely understand +our anxiety for a definite and immediate answer. The man has had a +considerable start of us already, and he has doubtless disposed of the +jewels ere this. At whatever price he sold them, he must now be in +possession of a considerable fortune, which rightly belongs to us. We +are not vindictive men; all we ask is for our own."</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with you there," I replied. "The only question in my mind +is, who shall get it for you? Let me explain matters a little more +clearly. In the first place I have no desire to offend you, but how am I +to know that the story you tell me is a true one?"</p> + +<p>"I have already told you that you will have to take our word for that," +he said. "It will be a great disappointment to us if you cannot take the +matter up, but we must bear it as we have borne our other misfortunes. +When we realized the way you managed those bank people we said to each +other—'That's the man for us! If any one can catch Hayle he's that +person.' It naturally comes to us as a disappointment to find that you +are not willing to take up the case."</p> + +<p>"I have not said that I am not willing," I answered; "I only said that I +am not going to commit myself until I have given the matter due +consideration. If you will call here at four o'clock to-morrow +afternoon, I shall be able to give you a definite answer."</p> + +<p>"I suppose we must be content with that," said Kitwater lugubriously.</p> + +<p>They thereupon thanked me and rose to go.</p> + +<p>"By the way," I said, "does this man Hayle know that you are in +England?"</p> + +<p>The blind man shook his head.</p> + +<p>"He thinks we are lying dead in the jungle," he said, "and it is not his +fault that we are not. Did he suspect for a moment that we were alive +and in the same country as himself, he'd be out of it like a rat driven +by a ferret from his hole. But if you will give us your assistance, sir, +we will make him aware of our presence before very long."</p> + +<p>Though he tried to speak unconcernedly, there was an expression upon the +man's face that startled me. I felt that, blind though he was, I should +not care to be in Mr. Hayle's place when they should meet.</p> + +<p>After they had left me I lit a cigar and began to think the matter over. +I had had a number of strange cases presented to me in my time, but +never one that had opened in such a fashion as this. A man robs his +friends in the centre of China; the latter are tortured and maimed for +life, and come to me in London to seek out their betrayer for them, in +whatever part of the globe he might be. The whole thing seemed so +preposterous as to be scarcely worth consideration, and yet, try how I +would to put it out of my mind, I found myself thinking of it +continually. The recollection of the blind man's face and that of his +dumb companion haunted me awake and asleep. More than once I determined +to have nothing to do with them, only later to change my mind, and vow +that I would see the matter through at any cost to myself.</p> + +<p>Next morning, however, saner counsels prevailed. An exceedingly +remunerative offer was made me by a prominent Trust Company, which, at +any other time I should have had no hesitation in immediately +accepting. Fate, however, which is generally more responsible for these +matters than most folk imagine, had still a card to play upon Messrs. +Kitwater and Codd's behalf, and it was destined to overthrow all my +scruples, and what was more to ultimately revolutionize the conduct of +my whole life.</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p>Towards the middle of the morning I was sitting in my office, awaiting +the coming of a prominent New York detective, with whom I had an +appointment, when my clerk entered to inform me that a lady was in the +outer office, and desired to see me if I could spare her a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"Who is she?" I inquired. "Find out that, and also her business."</p> + +<p>"Her name is Kitwater," the man replied, when he returned after a +moment's absence, "but she declines to state her business to any one but +yourself, sir."</p> + +<p>"Kitwater?" I said. "Then she is a relation, I suppose, of the blind man +who was here yesterday. What on earth can she have to say to me? Well, +Lawson won't be here for another ten minutes, so you may as well show +her in." Then to myself I added—"This is a development of the case +which I did not expect. I wonder who she is,—wife, sister, daughter, or +what, of the blind man?"</p> + +<p>I was not to be left long in doubt, for presently the door opened and +the young lady herself entered the room. I say '<i>young lady</i>,' because +her age could not at most have been more than one-or-two-and-twenty. +She was tall and the possessor of a graceful figure, while one glance +was sufficient to show me that her face was an exceedingly pretty one. +(Afterwards I discovered that her eyes were dark brown.) I rose and +offered her a chair.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Miss Kitwater," I said. "This is an unexpected visit. +Won't you sit down?"</p> + +<p>When she had done so I resumed my seat at the table.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fairfax," she began, "you are the great detective, I believe?"</p> + +<p>I admitted the soft impeachment with as much modesty as I could assume +at so short a notice. She certainly was a very pretty girl.</p> + +<p>"I have come to talk to you about my uncle."</p> + +<p>She stopped as if she did not quite know how to proceed.</p> + +<p>"Then the gentleman who called upon me yesterday, and who has the +misfortune to be blind, is your uncle?" I said.</p> + +<p>"Yes! He was my father's younger and only brother," she answered. "I +have often heard my father speak of him, but I had never seen him myself +until he arrived in England, a month ago with his companion, Mr. Codd. +Mr. Fairfax, they have suffered terribly. I have never heard anything so +awful as their experiences."</p> + +<p>"I can quite believe that," I answered. "Your uncle told me something +of their great trouble yesterday. It seems wonderful to me that they +should have survived to tell the tale."</p> + +<p>"Then he must have told you of Hayle, their supposed friend" (she spoke +with superb scorn), "the man who betrayed them and robbed them of what +was given them?"</p> + +<p>"It was for that purpose that they called upon me," I answered. "They +were anxious that I should undertake the search for this man."</p> + +<p>She rested her clasped hands upon the table and looked pleadingly at me.</p> + +<p>"And will you do so?"</p> + +<p>"I am considering the matter," I said, with the first feeling of +reluctance I had experienced in the case. "I have promised to give them +my decision this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"So they informed me, and that is why I am here," she replied. "Oh, Mr. +Fairfax, you don't know how I pity them! Surely if they could find this +man his heart would be touched, and he would refund them a portion, at +least, of what he took from them, and what is legally theirs."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid it is very doubtful whether he will," I said, "even in the +event of his being found. Gentlemen of his description are not +conspicuous for their pity, nor, as a rule, will they disgorge unless +considerable pressure of an unpleasant description is brought to bear +upon them."</p> + +<p>"Then that pressure must be brought to bear," she said, "and if I may +say so, you are the only one who can do it. That is why I have called +upon you this morning. I have come to plead with you, to implore you, if +necessary, to take the matter up. I am not very rich, but I would +willingly give all I have in the world to help them."</p> + +<p>"In that case you are one niece in a thousand, Miss Kitwater," I said, +with a smile. "Your uncle is indeed fortunate in having such a +champion."</p> + +<p>She looked at me as if she were not quite certain whether I was joking +or not.</p> + +<p>"You will do this for them?"</p> + +<p>What was I to say? What could I say? I had well nigh decided to have +nothing to do with the matter, yet here I was, beginning to think it was +hard upon me to have to disappoint her. My profession is not one +calculated to render a man's heart over tender, but I must confess that +in this case I was by no means as adamant as was usual with me. As I +have said, she was an unusually pretty girl, and had she not been kind +enough to express her belief in my powers! After all, detectives, like +other people, are only human.</p> + +<p>"Your uncle and his companion have promised to call upon me this +afternoon," I said, "and when they do so, I think I may promise you that +I will endeavour to come to some arrangement with them."</p> + +<p>"I thank you," she said; "for I think that means that you will try to +help them. If you do, I feel confident that you will succeed. I hope +you will forgive me for having called upon you as I have done, but, when +I saw how disappointed they were after their interview with you +yesterday, I made up my mind that I would endeavour to see you and to +interest you on their behalf before they came again."</p> + +<p>"You have certainly done so," I answered, as she rose to go. "If I take +the case up, and believe me I am not at all sure that I shall not do so, +they will owe it to your intercession."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I did not mean that exactly," she replied, blushing prettily. +"I should like to feel that you did it for the reason that you believe +in the justice of their cause, not merely because I tried to persuade +you into it. That would not be fair, either to them or to you."</p> + +<p>"Would it not be possible for it to be on account of both reasons?" I +asked. "Let us hope so. And now good-morning, Miss Kitwater. I trust +your uncle will have good news for you when you see him again this +afternoon."</p> + +<p>"I hope so too," she answered, and then with a renewal of her thanks and +a little bow she left the office.</p> + +<p>I closed the door and went back to my seat, almost wondering at my own +behaviour. Here was I, a hard-headed man of the world, being drawn into +an extraordinary piece of business, which I had most certainly decided +to have nothing to do with, simply because a pretty girl had smiled +upon me, and had asked me to do it. For I don't mind confessing that I +had made up my mind to help Kitwater and Codd in their search for the +villain Hayle. The Trust Company would have to look elsewhere for +assistance. And yet, as I had the best of reasons for knowing, that +piece of business was likely to prove twice as remunerative as this +search for the traitorous friend. Happily, however money is not +everything in this world.</p> + +<p>During the remainder of the day I found myself looking forward with a +feeling that was almost akin to eagerness, to the interview I was to +have with Kitwater and Codd that afternoon. If the two gentlemen had +faults, unpunctuality was certainly not one of them, for the clock upon +the mantelpiece had scarcely finished striking the hour of four, when I +heard footsteps in the office outside, and next moment they were shown +into my own sanctum. Codd came first, leading his friend by the hand, +and as he did so he eyed me with a look of intense anxiety upon his +face. Kitwater, on the other hand, was dignified, and as impressive as +ever. If he were nervous, he certainly concealed it very well.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon, Mr. Fairfax," he said, as Codd led him to a seat. +"According to the arrangement we came to yesterday afternoon, we have +come here to learn your decision which you promised to give us at four +o'clock to-day. I trust you have good news for us."</p> + +<p>"That depends upon how you take it," I answered. "I have made up my mind +to help you on certain conditions."</p> + +<p>"And those conditions?"</p> + +<p>"Are that you pay my expenses and the sum of five hundred pounds, to +which another five hundred is to be added if I am successful in helping +you to recover the treasure of which you told me yesterday. Is that a +fair offer?"</p> + +<p>"An exceedingly fair one," Kitwater replied, while little Codd nodded +his head energetically to show that he appreciated it. "We had expected +that you would charge more. Of course you understand that it may involve +a chase round half the world before you can find him? He's as slippery +as an eel, and, if he once gets to know that we are after him, he'll +double and twist like a hare."</p> + +<p>"He'll not be the first man I have had to deal with who possessed these +characteristics," I answered. "And I have generally succeeded in running +them to earth at the end."</p> + +<p>"Let's hope for all our sakes that you will be as successful in this +case," he said. "And now, if I may ask the question, when will you be +ready to begin your search? We shall both feel happier when we know that +you are on his track."</p> + +<p>"I am ready as soon as you like," I rejoined. "Indeed, the sooner the +better for all parties concerned. Nothing is to be gained by delay, and +if, as you say, the man has now been in England two months, he may soon +be thinking of getting out of it again, if he has not done so already. +But before I embark on anything, you must answer me some questions."</p> + +<p>"A hundred, if you like," he returned. "You have only to ask them and I +will do my best to answer."</p> + +<p>"In the first place, I must have a description of this Mr. Gideon Hayle. +What is he like?"</p> + +<p>"Tall, thin, with brown hair, and a short, close-cropped beard; he +carries himself erect, and looks about thirty-eight."</p> + +<p>"You don't happen to have a photograph of him in your possession, I +suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Kitwater, shaking his head. "Gideon Hayle is not the sort +of man to allow himself to be photographed, and what's more you must +remember that when we reached Nampoung, the station on the frontier of +Burmah, we had scarcely a rag upon our backs. Any goods and chattels we +might once have possessed were in the hands of the Chinese. They had +robbed us of everything, except what that arch thief, Hayle, had already +stolen from us."</p> + +<p>As he said this, another look such as I had seen on the occasion of his +previous visit spread over his face.</p> + +<p>"The robber, the thief," he hissed, almost trembling in his sudden +excess of rage; "when I get hold of him he shall rue his treachery to +the day of his death. Upwards of a quarter of a million of money he +stole from us, and where is it now? Where is my sight, and where is +Coddy's power of speech? All gone, and he is free. 'Vengeance is Mine,' +saith the Lord, but I want to repay it myself. I want to----"</p> + +<p>Here he leant across the table and turned his sightless eyes upon me.</p> + +<p>"This is certainly a curious sort of missionary," I said to myself as I +watched him, "He may be smitten on one cheek, but I scarcely fancy he +would be content to turn the other to the striker."</p> + +<p>At this moment Coddy leant forward in his chair, and placed his hand +upon his friend's arm. The effect was magical. His fit of impotent rage +died down as suddenly as it had sprung up, and immediately he became +again the quiet, suave, smoothspoken individual who had first entered +my office.</p> + +<p>"I must beg your pardon, Mr. Fairfax," he said, in a totally different +voice to that in which he had just spoken. "When I remember how we have +been wronged I am apt to forget myself. I trust you will forgive me?"</p> + +<p>"I will do so willingly," I answered. "You have certainly won the right +to be excused if you entertain a feeling of resentment for the man who +has treated you so shamefully. And now to resume our conversation?"</p> + +<p>"What were you about to say?"</p> + +<p>"I was about to ask you the number and description of the stones of +which he robbed you. You told me they numbered ninety-three in all, if I +remember aright. Can you tell me how many there were of each?"</p> + +<p>"Forty-eight rubies and forty-five sapphires," he replied without a +moment's hesitation. "The rubies were uncut and of various sizes, +ranging perhaps from ten to eighty carats. They were true rubies, not +spinels, remember that. The sapphires ran from fifteen carats to sixty, +and there was not a flaw amongst them."</p> + +<p>"Has Hayle any knowledge of the value of precious stones?"</p> + +<p>"There's not a keener judge in the East. He would be a cunning man who +would succeed in taking him in about the value of anything from a +moonstone to a ruby."</p> + +<p>"In that case he would, in all probability, know where to place them to +the best advantage?"</p> + +<p>"You may be sure that was his intention in coming to England. But we +have tried Hatton Garden and can hear nothing of him there."</p> + +<p>"He may have disposed of some of them on the continent," I said. +"However, we will soon clear that point up. The size of the larger +stones is so unusual that they would be certain to attract attention. +And now one other question. Are you aware whether he has any friends or +relatives in England?"</p> + +<p>"So far as we know he has not a single relative in the world," Kitwater +replied. "Have you ever heard of one, Coddy?"</p> + +<p>The little man shook his head, and then, taking the other's hand, tapped +upon it with his fingers in the manner I have already described.</p> + +<p>"He says Hayle had a sister once, of whom he was very fond." The tapping +upon the hand continued, and once more Kitwater translated, "She was a +cripple, and lived in a small house off the Brompton Road. She died +while Hayle was in North Borneo; is not that so, little man?"</p> + +<p>Codd nodded his head to show that Kitwater had interpreted him +correctly. I then made some inquiries as to the missing man's habits. So +far the description I had had of him was commonplace in the extreme.</p> + +<p>"Do you know whether he shipped on board the <i>Jemadar</i> for England under +his own name, or under an assumed one?"</p> + +<p>"He booked his passage as George Bertram," Kitwater replied. "We know +that is so, for we made inquiries at Rangoon."</p> + +<p>I next noted the name and address of the vessel's owner, and resolved +to pay him a visit next morning. It would be hard if I could not learn +from him something concerning Mr. Hayle, and where he had gone +on landing.</p> + +<p>"I think those are all the questions I want to ask you at present," I +said, closing my note-book. "It would be as well perhaps for you to +furnish me with your address, in order that I may communicate with you, +should it be necessary."</p> + +<p>"At present," said Kitwater, "we are staying with my niece at the +village of Bishopstowe in Surrey. My late brother was vicar of the +parish for many years, and he left his daughter a small property in the +neighbourhood. They tell me it is a pretty place, but, as you are aware, +I unfortunately cannot see it, and my friend Codd here cannot talk to me +about it?"</p> + +<p>He heaved a heavy sigh and then rose to depart.</p> + +<p>"I must again express my gratitude to you, Mr. Fairfax," he said, "for +having consented to take up the case. I feel certain you will ultimately +be successful. I will leave you to imagine with what anxiety we shall +await any news you may have to give us."</p> + +<p>"I will communicate with you as soon as I have anything to report," I +answered. "You may rely upon my doing my best to serve you. By the way, +are you aware that your niece called upon me this morning?"</p> + +<p>He gave a start of surprise.</p> + +<p>"No, I certainly did not know it," he replied. "She said nothing to us +of such an intention. I know that she is heart and soul with us in our +desire to find Hayle. But since you have seen her you probably +know that?"</p> + +<p>"I think I do," I returned, for some reason almost abruptly.</p> + +<p>"She is a good girl," said Kitwater, and then took from his pocket an +envelope which he handed to me.</p> + +<p>"By the way I brought this with me," he said, "in the hope that we +should be able to induce you to accede to our wishes. Inside you will +find a hundred-pound note, which should be sufficient to cover any +preliminary expenses. If you need more, perhaps you will be kind enough +to communicate with me at once, and it shall be sent you. A receipt can +be forwarded to me at your leisure."</p> + +<p>I thanked him and placed the envelope upon the table. In my own mind I +felt that it would be an easy matter to guess whence the sum had come, +and for a reason that I could not then analyze, and therefore am unable +to describe, the thought irritated me.</p> + +<p>Having assured them that the amount would be quiet sufficient, in the +event of nothing unforeseen happening, to last for some considerable +time to come, I conducted them to the door, again repeating the promise +that I would communicate with them so soon as I had anything to report. +If I had only known then, that, at the very moment when they stepped in +to the street, the man they wanted me to find for them, and whom they +hated so desperately, was standing in a shop on the other side of the +road, keeping an eye on my door, and evidently watching for their +departure, how much trouble and vexation of spirit we should all have +been saved. But I did not know this until long afterwards, and then of +course the information came too late to be of any service to us.</p> + +<p>Next morning I was early at the office, being desirous of winding up +another little matter before I turned my attention to the new affair. +One of my subordinates had just returned from the Continent whither I +had sent him to keep an eye on a certain pseudo-French Marquis with whom +I expected to have dealings at no distant date. He reported that the +gentleman in question had broken the bank at Monte Carlo, had staked and +lost all his winnings next day, and had shot himself on the promenade on +the evening following. With his death the affair, on which I had +confidently expected to be employed, came to an end, I could not say +that I was altogether sorry.</p> + +<p>"I shall want you to leave on Friday, Turner, for St. Petersburg," I +said, when he had finished his report and I had commented upon it. "Do +you remember Paulus Scevanovitch, who was concerned in that attempt to +defraud the Parisian jewellers, Maurel and Company, two years ago?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I remember him perfectly," Turner replied. "A tall, burly +man, with a bushy beard, the top of his little finger on the left hand +missing, and a long white scar over his right eyebrow."</p> + +<p>"The same," I answered. "I see you have not forgotten him. Well, I want +you to find him out, and let me have an exact account of his movements +during the next three weeks. The office will arrange your expenses in +the usual way, and you had better leave by the mail-train. In all +probability I shall see you off."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir," the man responded, and withdrew.</p> + +<p>He had scarcely gone before one of my clerks entered the room and handed +me a card. On it was printed the name of Mr. Edward Bayley, and in the +left-hand bottom corner was the announcement that he was the Managing +Director of the Santa Cruz Mining Company of Forzoda, in the +Argentine Republic.</p> + +<p>"Show the gentleman in, Walters," I said.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes a tall, handsome man, irreproachably turned out, +entered the office. He seated himself in a chair the clerk placed for +him, put his hat and umbrella on another, and then turned to me.</p> + +<p>"My card has made you familiar with my name, Mr. Fairfax," he began, +"and doubtless, if you are at all familiar with mines and mining, you +are acquainted with the name of the company I have the honour to +represent?"</p> + +<p>"I am very much afraid the Mining Market does not possess very much +interest for me," I replied. "I have to work so hard for my money, that +when I have got it I prefer to invest it in something a little more +reliable. May I inquire the nature of your business with me?"</p> + +<p>"I have come to see you, Mr. Fairfax," he said, speaking very +impressively, and regarding me deliberately as he did so, "on rather a +delicate subject. Before I explain what it is, may I ask that you will +treat what I am about to tell you as purely confidential?"</p> + +<p>"My business is invariably a confidential one," I answered for the +second time in two days. "I venture to think that this room has heard +more secrets than almost any other in England. But though they say walls +have ears, I have never heard it said that they have tongues."</p> + +<p>"It is sometimes a good thing that they have not," he replied. "And now +let me tell you what business has brought me here. In the first place, +if you do not already know it, I may say that the Company I represent is +an exceedingly wealthy one, and, as our business lies a long way from +Threadneedle Street, if I may so put it, it is necessary for us to trust +very largely to the honesty of our <i>employés</i> on the other side of the +world. Of course we make all sorts of inquiries about them prior to +engaging their services, and it is also needless to say that we keep a +sharp eye on them when they have entered our employ. Nevertheless, it is +quite possible, all precautions notwithstanding, for an unscrupulous man +to take advantage of us. As a matter of fact, that is what has happened, +and what has also brought me to you. For some considerable time past we +have had our suspicions that our manager at the mines has been in league +with a notorious rascal in New York. In proof of this, I might say that +our returns have shown a decided falling off, while our manager has, so +we have lately discovered, within the past year become rich enough to +purchase property to a considerable extent in the United States. +Unfortunately for us, owing to a lack of direct evidence, we are unable +to bring his defalcations home to him, though of course we are as +certain of our facts as we can well be of anything."</p> + +<p>"I think I understand," I said. "Your business with me is to endeavour +to induce me to go out to the Argentine and make inquiries on your +behalf with the idea of bringing this man to book. Is that not so?"</p> + +<p>"That is my errand," he replied gravely. "If you care to undertake the +task, we, on our side—and I speak as the mouthpiece of the +Company—will be prepared to pay you very high terms for your services; +in point of fact, almost what you may ask in reason. The matter, as you +may suppose, is a most serious one for us, and every day's delay is +adding to it. May I ask what your terms would be, and when would you be +prepared to start?"</p> + +<p>"Your offer is a most liberal one," I said. "Unfortunately, however, I +fear there is a considerable difficulty in the way of my accepting it."</p> + +<p>"A difficulty!" he exclaimed, raising his eyebrows as if in +astonishment. "But surely that obstacle can be removed. Especially for +an offer of such magnitude as we are prepared to make you."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," I said, somewhat tartly, "but however great the inducement +may be, I never break faith with my clients. The fact of the matter is, +only yesterday I promised to undertake another piece of business which, +while not being so remunerative, perhaps, as that you are now putting +before me, means a very great deal to those who are, for the time being, +my employers."</p> + +<p>"Would it be impertinent on my part to ask at what time yesterday +afternoon you arrived at this momentous decision?"</p> + +<p>"Shortly after four o'clock," I answered, but not without a little +wonderment as to his reason for putting the question. For my own part I +did not see what it had to do with the matter in hand.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, how very vexing, to be sure!" he observed. "This is certainly +another instance of the contrariness of Fate."</p> + +<p>"How so?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Because it was my intention to have called upon you shortly after lunch +yesterday on this matter," he answered. "Unfortunately I was prevented +at the last moment. Had I been able to get here, I might have +forestalled your more successful client. Are you quite sure, Mr. +Fairfax, that it is out of the question for you to undertake what +we want?"</p> + +<p>"If it is necessary for me to go at once, I fear it is," I answered. +"But if it would be of any use to you, I could send you a trustworthy +subordinate; one who would be quite capable of undertaking the work, and +who would give you every satisfaction."</p> + +<p>"I fear that would not be the same thing," he said. "My firm have such +implicit faith in you that they would not entertain the idea of any one +else going. Now think, Mr. Fairfax, for a moment. If you are prepared to +go, I, in my turn, on behalf of my Company, am prepared to offer you +your expenses and a sum of five thousand pounds. You need not be away +more than three months at longest, so that you see our offer is at the +rate of twenty thousand pounds a year. It is princely remuneration."</p> + +<p>I looked at him closely. It was plain that he was in earnest—in deadly +earnest, so it seemed. Even a defaulting manager would scarcely seem to +warrant so much zeal.</p> + +<p>"I am very much flattered by your offer," I said; "and believe me, I +most truly appreciate the generosity of your Company; but, as I said +before, if it is necessary for me to go at once, that is to say, before +I have completed my present case, then I have no option but to most +reluctantly decline."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will think it over," he continued, "and let me know, say +to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"No amount of thinking it over will induce me to alter my decision," I +replied. "You must see for yourself that I have no right to accept a +retainer from one party and then throw them over in order to favour +another. That would not only be a dishonourable action on my part, but +would be bad from a business point of view. No, Mr. Bayley, I am +exceedingly sorry, but I have no option but to act as I am doing."</p> + +<p>"In that case I must wish you a very good-morning," he remarked, and +took up his hat and umbrella. I could see, however, that he was still +reluctant to go.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning," I answered. "I hope your affairs in the Argentine may +brighten before very long."</p> + +<p>He shook his head gloomily, and then left the office without another +word.</p> + +<p>When he had gone I answered some letters, gave some instructions to my +managing clerk, and then donned my hat and set off for the office of the +Shipping Company that had brought Gideon Hayle to England.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately it transpired that they were not in a position to do very +much in the way of helping me. Mr. Bertram had certainly travelled home +in one of their steamers, so the manager informed me, a boat that as a +rule did not carry passengers. He had landed at the docks, and from that +moment they had neither seen nor heard anything of him. I inquired for +the steamer, only to learn that she was now somewhere on her way between +Singapore and Hong Kong. This was decidedly disappointing, but as most +of the cases in which I have been ultimately successful have had +unpromising beginnings, I did not take it too seriously to heart. +Leaving the Shipping Office, I next turned my attention to Hatton +Garden, where I called upon Messrs. Jacob and Bulenthall, one of the +largest firms in the gem trade. We had had many dealings together in the +past, and as I had had the good fortune on one occasion to do them a +signal service, I knew that they would now do all that they could for me +in return.</p> + +<p>"Good-day, Mr. Fairfax," said the chief partner, as I entered his snug +little sanctum, which leads out of the main office. "What can I have the +pleasure of doing for you?"</p> + +<p>"I am in search of some information," I replied, "and I think you may be +able to help me."</p> + +<p>"I will do all that is in my power to render you assistance," he +returned, as he wiped his glasses and placed them on his somewhat fleshy +nose. "What is the information you require? Has there been another big +robbery of stones, and you think it possible that some of them may have +come into our hands?"</p> + +<p>"There certainly has been a robbery," I replied, "and the stones may +have been offered to you, but not in the way you mean. The fact of the +matter is, I want to discover whether or not a large consignment of +uncut rubies and sapphires of great value have been placed upon the +market within the last two months."</p> + +<p>"Uncut rubies and sapphires are being continually placed upon the +market," he observed, leaning back in his chair and rattling his keys.</p> + +<p>"But not such stones as those I am looking for," I said, and furnished +him with the rough weights that had been supplied to me.</p> + +<p>"This is interesting—decidedly interesting," he remarked. "Especially +since it serves to offer an explanation on a certain matter in which we +have been interested for some little time past. On the sixteenth of last +month, a gentleman called upon us here, who stated that he had lately +returned from the Far East. He had had, so he declared, the good fortune +to discover a valuable mine, the locality of which he was most careful +not to disclose. He thereupon showed my partner and myself ten stones, +consisting of five rubies and five sapphires, each of which weighed +between fifty-five and sixty carats."</p> + +<p>"And you purchased them?"</p> + +<p>"We did, and for a very heavy sum. I can assure you the vendor was very +well aware of their value, as we soon discovered, and he was also a good +hand at a bargain. Would you care to see the stones? I shall be pleased +to show them to you if you would."</p> + +<p>"I should like to see them immensely." I replied.</p> + +<p>Thereupon he crossed the room to a safe in the corner, and, when he had +unlocked it, took from it a wash-leather bag. Presently ten superb gems +were lying before me on the table.</p> + +<p>"There they are," he said, waving his hands towards them, "and as you +can see for yourself, they are worthy of being set in the crown of an +emperor. It is not often that we are enthusiastic in such matters, but +in this case we have very good reason to be. When they are properly cut, +they will be well nigh priceless."</p> + +<p>"Do you happen to know whether he sold any more of a similar kind in +London?" I asked, as he returned them to their place in the safe.</p> + +<p>"I know that he sold fifteen smaller ones to Henderson and Soil, and +three almost as large as those I have just shown you to a firm in +Amsterdam."</p> + +<p>"If he is the man I want to get hold of, that accounts for +twenty-eight," I said, making a note of the fact as I spoke. "Originally +he had ninety-three in his possession."</p> + +<p>"Ninety-three?" the merchant replied, as if he could scarcely believe +his ears. "Why, his mine must be a source of unlimited wealth. I wish I +had known this before."</p> + +<p>"So do I," I said. "And now perhaps you can go further and furnish me +with a description of the man himself. I shall then be able to tell you +whether my gentleman and your customer are one and the same person."</p> + +<p>"I can describe him to you perfectly well. He was tall, but somewhat +sparely built, very sunburnt—which would be accounted for by his long +residence in the East—his hair was streaked with grey, he had dark +eyes, and a singularly sharp nose."</p> + +<p>"Did he wear a beard?"</p> + +<p>"No, only a moustache. The latter was carefully trimmed, and, I think, +waxed. Of this, however, I am not quite certain."</p> + +<p>"And his name?"</p> + +<p>"He would not tell us that. We pressed him to disclose it, but he +obstinately refused to do so. He said that if his name became known it +might lead to the discovery of his mine, and that he was naturally +anxious that such an event should not occur."</p> + +<p>"But what guarantee had you that the stones were not stolen?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever—but it is most unlikely. In the first place, they are +uncut; in the second, we have had them in our possession for some time, +and you may be sure have made the closest inquiries. Besides, there are +few such stones in Europe, and what there are, are safely in the +possession of their owners. Surely you are not going to tell me that +they were stolen?"</p> + +<p>In the man's voice there was a perceptible note of alarm.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you need be afraid," I said. "They were stolen by the man +from his two partners, and all they want is to get hold of him in order +to make him disgorge their share of what he got for them."</p> + +<p>"I am glad indeed to hear that," was the reply. "I was beginning to grow +uneasy. And now is there any other way in which I can serve you? If so, +I shall be only too pleased to do it."</p> + +<p>I informed him that, if I had anything else to ask him I would call upon +him again, and then took my departure. While I was in a great measure +satisfied with the information I had gained, I was not altogether easy +in my mind. The question to be answered was, was the man I was after the +same individual who had sold Jacob and Bulenthall the stones? The +description given me varied in several particulars to that furnished me +by Kitwater. My client declared him to possess black hair; the merchant +had said grey; the one had declared that Hayle possessed a beard, the +other that he had only a waxed moustache. The figure, however, was in +both cases identically the same.</p> + +<p>Having satisfied myself that he had no more to tell me, I thanked him +for his courtesy and left the office. A fresh idea had occurred to me +which I thought might lead to something, and I resolved to put it into +practice without any further waste of time.</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p>It would be a truism to declare that human nature is about as +complicated a piece of machinery as could be found in the human world. +And yet I do not know why it should be considered so. All things and all +men do not run in grooves. A man to be a criminal need not be hopelessly +bad in every other sense. I have met murderers who did not possess +sufficient nerve to kill a rabbit, burglars who would rob a poor man of +all his possessions in the world, and yet would not despoil a little +child of a halfpenny. The fact of the matter is we all have our better +points, our own innate knowledge of good and evil. Hayle had betrayed +Kitwater and Codd in the cruellest fashion possible, and by so doing had +condemned them to the most fiendish torture the mind of man could +conceive. Yet it was through his one good point, his weakness, if I +might so describe it, that I was enabled to come to my first grip +with him.</p> + +<p>It was between the hours of two and three that I entered the gates of +Brompton Cemetery and commenced my examination of the various graves +therein contained. Up one path I wandered and down another in search of +the resting-place of the poor crippled sister of whom Gideon Hayle had +been so fond. It was a long time before I found it, but at last I was +successful. To my astonishment the stone was plainly a new one, and the +grave was tastefully decorated with flowers. As a matter of fact it was +one of the prettiest in its neighbourhood, and to me this told its own +tale. I went in search of the necessary official and put the case to +him. He informed me that I was correct in my supposition, and that the +stone had only lately been erected, and, what was more to the point, he +informed me that the gentleman who had given the order for it, had only +the week before paid the necessary sum for insuring the decoration of +the grave for many years to come.</p> + +<p>"I gather from your words, that the gentleman, who must be a relative of +the deceased, has been here lately," I said.</p> + +<p>"He was here last Sunday afternoon," the man replied. "He is a most +kindly and generous gentleman, and must have been very fond of his +sister. The way he stood and looked at that stone the last time he was +here was touching to see. He'd been in foreign parts, sir, and is likely +to go out there again, so I gathered from what he said. It is a pity +there are not more like him."</p> + +<p>This was news, indeed, and I pricked up my ears on hearing it.</p> + +<p>Having learnt all I was likely to discover, I thanked the man for his +kindness and left the cemetery. If I had done nothing else, I had at +least satisfied myself upon one point, and this was the fact that +Gideon Hayle had been in London within the week. Under such +circumstances it should not be very difficult to obtain his address. But +I knew from experience that when things seemed to be running most +smoothly, they are as much liable to a breakdown as at any other +time—sometimes even more so. I accordingly hailed a cab and drove back +to my office. Once there I entered up my diary according to custom, +wrote a note to Kitwater, informing him that I had discovered that +Gideon Hayle had not left London on the previous Sunday, and also that I +believed him to have negotiated certain of the stones in London, after +which I returned to my hotel to dine.</p> + +<p>Most people who know me would tell you that it might be considered +consistent with my character that I still occupied the same apartments +in the private hotel, off the Strand, in which I had domiciled myself +when I first arrived in England. If I am made comfortable I prefer to +stick to my quarters, and the hotel in question was a quiet one; the +cooking and the service were excellent, and, as every one did his, or +her, best for me, I saw no sort of reason for moving elsewhere. It is +something in such matters to know the people with whom one has to deal, +and in my case I could not have been better cared for had I been a +crowned head. I suppose I am a bit of a faddist in these things. Except +when business compels me to break through my rule, I rise at the same +hour every morning, breakfast, lunch, and dine at the same time, and as +far as possible retire to rest punctually at the usual moment. After +dinner in those days, things have changed since then somewhat. I +invariably smoked a cigar, and when the evening was fine, went for a +stroll, returning between nine and ten and retiring to rest, unless I +had anything to attend to, punctually at eleven. On this particular +occasion, the night being fine, though rather close, I lit my cigar in +the hall and stepped out into the street exactly as the clock was +striking eight. I had a lot to think of, and felt just in the humour for +a walk. London at all hours is a fascinating study to me, and however +much I see of her, I never tire of watching her moods. After I left my +hotel I strolled along the Embankment so far as the Houses of +Parliament, passed the Abbey, made my way down Victoria Street, and then +by way of Grosvenor Place to Hyde Park Corner. Opposite Apsley House I +paused to look about me. I had my reasons for so doing, for ever since I +had left the river-side, I had entertained the notion that I was being +followed. When I had crossed the road at the Houses of Parliament, two +men, apparently of the loafer class, had crossed too. They had followed +me up Victoria Street, and now, as I stood outside the Duke of +Wellington's residence, I could see them moving about on the other side +of the way. What their intentions were I could not say, but that their +object was to spy upon my movements, I was quite convinced. In order to +assure myself of this fact I resolved to lay a little trap for them. +Passing down Piccadilly at a sharp pace, I turned into Berkeley Street, +some twenty yards or so ahead of them. Crossing the road I sheltered +myself in a doorway and waited. I had not been there very long, before I +observed that they had turned the corner and were coming along in hot +pursuit. That they did not notice me in my hiding-place is evident from +the fact that they passed on the other side of the street, and doubtless +thinking that they had missed me, commenced to run. I thereupon quitted +my friendly doorway, returned to Piccadilly, hailed a cab, and drove +back to my hotel. As I went I turned the matter over in my mind. With +the exception of the present case I had nothing important on hand, so +that I could think of no one who would be likely to set a watch upon me. +That I did not suspect Hayle would only be natural under the +circumstances, as I did not know then that he had been the witness of +Kitwater and Codd's visit to my office that afternoon, and I felt +convinced in my own mind that he was unaware that they were in England. +It was most natural, therefore, that I should not in any way associate +him with the plot.</p> + +<p>The following day was spent for the greater part in making further +inquiries in Hatton Garden, and among the various Dutch merchants then +in London. The story the senior partner of Messrs. Jacob and Bulenthall +had told me had proved to be correct, and there could be no sort of +doubt that Hayle had realized a very large sum of money by the +transaction. What was more, I discovered that he had been seen in London +within the previous twenty-four hours. This was a most important point, +and it encouraged me to persevere in my search. One thing, however, was +remarkable. One or two of the merchants to whom Hayle had disposed of +his stones, had seen more of him than Messrs. Jacob and Bulenthall. Two +had dined with him at a certain popular restaurant in Regent Street, and +had visited a theatre with him afterwards. In neither case, however, had +they discovered his name or where he lived. This secret he guarded most +religiously, and the fact that he did so, afforded additional food for +reflection. If he imagined his old companions to be dead, why should he +be so anxious that his own identity, and his place of residence, should +remain a secret? If they were safely out of the way, no one could +possibly know of his connection with them, and in that case he might, if +he pleased, purchase a mansion in Park Lane and flourish his wealth +before the eyes of the world, for any harm it might do him. Yet here he +was, exciting mistrust by his secrecy, and leading a hole-and-corner +sort of life when, as I have said, there was not the slightest necessity +for it. Little by little I was beginning to derive the impression that +the first notion of Mr. Hayle was an erroneous one, and that there was +more in him than I supposed. This sentiment was destined to be +strengthened and in the very near future, by two remarkable discoveries.</p> + +<p>That evening I again went for a walk. Feeling fairly confident, however, +that the men who had followed me before would do so again, I took +certain precautions before I set out. One of my subordinates, a man +remarkable for his strength, was ordered to be at the corner of my +street at half-past eight. He was to wait there until I emerged from my +hotel, himself remaining as far as possible out of sight. On this +occasion I had planned my route deliberately. I made my way in the first +place along the Strand as far as Trafalgar Square, down Cockspur Street +by way of the Haymarket to Regent Street, then on by Langham Place to +that vast network of streets that lies between Oxford Street and the +Euston Road.</p> + +<p>I had some time before this found out that I was being followed again. +The two men who had dodged my steps on the previous night were doing so +again, though the reason for their action was no more apparent. However, +I had laid my plans most carefully, and hoped, if all went well, to be +able to satisfy myself upon this point. I had plenty of enemies, I knew, +as a man of my profession must of necessity have, but I could not think +of one who would pry upon my movements like this. At last the time came +for action. Turning into a side street, I slackened my pace in order to +give my pursuers time to come up. Apart from ourselves the street was +quite deserted, and, if they intended doing me harm, was quite dark +enough to favour their plans. I could see as well as hear them +approaching. Then, when they were close upon me, I slipped my hand into +my coat-pocket, and turned and confronted them. My own man was softly +coming up from behind.</p> + +<p>"Now, my men," I began, "what's the meaning of this? No, you can keep +your distance. It's no use thinking of violence, for I've got you before +and behind. Take care that they don't get away, Wilson!"</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye, sir," the man replied. "I'll take good care of that."</p> + +<a name="Fig05"></a> +<div class="figure"> + <img src="images/Fig05.png" height="588" width="400" alt=""><br> + <p class="caption">" 'LET'S OUT HIM, BILL,' SAID THE TALLER OF THE TWO MEN."</p> +</div> +<br> + +<p>"Let's 'out him,' Bill," said the taller of the two men, and as he did +so took a step towards me.</p> + +<p>"Do you see this?" I inquired, producing my revolver as I spoke. "I am +aware that it is not lawful to carry firearms in the streets of London, +but when one has to deal with gentlemen like you, it becomes a +necessity. Throw up your hands."</p> + +<p>They did as they were ordered without demur. Then turning to the taller +man I addressed him more particularly.</p> + +<p>"You seem to be the leader," I said, "and for that reason I want to have +a little talk with you. Your companion can take himself off as soon as +he pleases. If he does not, let me assure him that he will get into +trouble. Your intention to 'out me,' as you call it, has failed, as you +can see, and when I have done with you I don't think the attempt will be +repeated. Now get off, my man, and thank your stars that I have let you +go so easily."</p> + +<p>Never were the tables turned so quickly or so completely on a pair of +rogues, and the man I addressed seemed to think too. After a whispered +conversation with his companion, he walked away at his best pace, and we +saw no more of him.</p> + +<p>"Now," I said, turning to the fellow who was left behind, "you will come +along with me to my office, and we'll have a little talk together."</p> + +<p>Our prisoner would have resisted, but certain warnings I was able to +give him, induced him to change his mind. When we reached my office I +opened the door and conducted him to my sanctum, while Wilson followed +close behind and lit the gas. He then passed into the outer office, +leaving me alone with my prisoner. On closer inspection he proved to be +a burly ruffian, and would doubtless have proved an ugly customer to +tackle alone. He, in his turn, looked at me in some interest and then at +the door, as if he were half inclined to try the effect of a struggle.</p> + +<p>"First and foremost, do you know where you are and who I am?" I asked +him.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "I can't say as ever I set my eyes on yer afore last +night, and I don't know yer bloomin' name or what yer are and I +don't want to."</p> + +<p>"Politeness is evidently not your strong point," I commented. "Just look +at that!"</p> + +<p>Taking a sheet of note-paper from the rack upon my table I handed it to +him.</p> + +<p>He did so, and I saw a look of surprise steal over his face. He looked +from it to me and then back again at the paper.</p> + +<p>"Fairfax," he said. "The d---- Tec, the same as got poor old Billy +Whitelaw scragged last year."</p> + +<p>"I certainly believe I had that honour," I returned, "and it's just +possible, if you continue in your present career, that I may have the +pleasure of doing the same for you. Now, look here, my man, there's some +one else at the back of this business, and what I want to know is, who +put you up to try your hand upon me? Tell me that, and I will let you go +and say no more about it. Refuse, and I must try and find some evidence +against you that will rid society of you for some time to come. +Doubtless it will not be very difficult."</p> + +<p>He considered a moment before he replied.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I don't know as how I won't tell you, a seein' you're +who yer are, and I am not likely to get anything out of the job. It was +a rare toff who put us on to it. Silk hat, frock-coat, and all as natty +as a new pin. He comes across us down in the Dials, stood us a couple of +drinks, turfed out a suvring apiece, and then told us he wanted the +gentleman at Rickford's Hotel laid by for a time. He told us 'ow yer +were in the habit of going about the streets at night for walks, and +said as 'ow he would be down near the hotel that evenin' and when yer +came out, he would strike a match and light a smoke just ter give us the +tip like. We wos to foller yer, and to do the job wherever we could. +Then we was to bring your timepiece to him at the back of St. Martin's +Church in the Strand at midnight, and he would pay us our money and let +us keep the clock for our trouble. Oh, yes, 'e's a deep un, jost take my +tip for it. He knowed that unless we 'outed' yer properly, we'd not be +able to get at your fob, and then 'e'd not have paid out."</p> + +<p>"I see, and not being successful on your first attempt, you followed me +again to-night, of course by his instructions as before?"</p> + +<p>"That's so, guvner," the man replied, "but I reckon we ain't agoin' to +see any money this trip. If I'd ha' knowed who you was, I wouldn't a +taken this job in hand, not for no money."</p> + +<p>"That is where so many of you go wrong," I said. "You fail to make +sufficient inquiries before you commence business. And I understand you +to say that the gentleman who put you up to it, is to be at the back of +St. Martin's church to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, that's so," said the fellow. "He'll be there all right."</p> + +<p>"In that case I think I'll be there to meet him," I continued. "It's a +pity he should not see some one, and I suppose you will not keep your +appointment?"</p> + +<p>"Not if I knows it," the man answered. Then he added regretfully, "A +regular toff—he was—free with his rhino as could be, and dressed up to +the nines. He chucked his 'arf soverings about as if they were dirt, +he did."</p> + +<p>"It is sad to think that through your folly, no more of them will find +themselves into your pocket," I said. "You should have done the trick +last night, and you would now be in the full enjoyment of your wealth. +As it is you have had all your trouble for nothing. Now, that's all I +want to say to you, so you can go and join your amiable companions as +soon as you like. Just one word of advice, however, before you depart. +Don't go near St. Martin's church to-night, and, when you want to kick +another unoffending citizen to death, be sure of your man before you +commence operations."</p> + +<p>As I said this I rang the bell and told Wilson to show him out, which he +did.</p> + +<p>"Now," I said to myself after he had gone, "this looks like developing +into an affair after my own heart. I am most anxious to discover who my +mysterious enemy can be. It might be Grobellar, but I fancy he is still +in Berlin. There's Tremasty, but I don't think he would dare venture to +England. No, when I come to think of it, this business does not seem to +belong to either of them."</p> + +<p>I took from my pocket the watch which was to have played such an +important part in the drama and consulted it. It was just half-past +eleven, therefore I had exactly half-an-hour to get to the <i>rendezvous</i>. +I called Wilson and congratulated him on the success which had attended +our efforts of that evening.</p> + +<p>"It's a good thing you came out of it so well, sir," he said. "They were +a nasty pair of chaps, and would have thought as much of 'outing' you as +they would of drinking a pot of ale."</p> + +<p>"But thank goodness, they didn't succeed," I replied. "As the saying +goes, 'a miss has never killed a man yet.' And now, Wilson, you'd better +be off home to bed. Turn out the gas before you go. Good-night!"</p> + +<p>"Good-night, sir," he answered, and then I put on my hat and left the +office.</p> + +<p>I found when I stepped into the street that the character of the night +had changed. Thick clouds obscured the sky, and a few drops of rain were +falling. At first I felt inclined to take a cab, but on second thoughts +I changed my mind, and putting up my umbrella strode along in the +direction of St. Martin's church.</p> + +<p>The theatres were over by this time, and the streets were beginning to +grow empty. I passed the Gaiety where a middle-aged gentleman, decidedly +intoxicated, was engaged in a noisy altercation with a policeman, who +was threatening to take him to Bow Street if he did not go quietly home, +and at last approached the spot for which I was making. I took up my +position on the darker side of Holywell Street, and waited. So far I +seemed to have the thoroughfare to myself, but I had still some three or +four minutes to wait.</p> + +<p>At last midnight sounded, and as I heard it I concealed myself more +carefully in my doorway and watched. I was not to be kept long in +suspense, for the new day was scarcely three minutes old, when a hansom +drove up to the other side of the church, and a man alighted. He paid +off the man and wished him good-night, and then came along the roadway +at the back of the church. From where I stood I could see his figure +distinctly, but was not able to distinguish his face. He was dressed in +a black cloak, and wore a deer-stalker hat upon his head. That he was +the man I wanted I felt sure, for what would any one else be doing there +at such an hour? That he was surprised at not finding his bravoes +awaiting him was very certain, for he looked up the street, down the +street, peered into Holywell Street, where, thank goodness, he did not +see me, then along the Strand in a westerly direction, and afterwards +came and took up his position within half-a-dozen paces of where I was +hidden. Presently he took a cigar-case from his pocket, opened it, +selected a weed, and struck a match to light it. The flame illumined his +face so that I could see it distinctly. If I had not had myself well +under control, I believe I should have uttered an exclamation of +surprise that could not have failed to attract attention. <i>The man who +had set those rascals on to try and get rid of me, was none other than +Mr. Edward Bayley, the Managing Director of the Santa Cruz Mining +Company of the Argentine Republic!</i></p> + +<p>Here was a surprise indeed! What on earth did it all mean?</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p>I must confess that the discovery I had made behind St. Martin's church, +and which I described at the end of the previous chapter, had proved too +much for me. What possible reason could Mr. Bayley have for wanting to +rid himself of me? Only the morning before he had been anxious to secure +my services in the interests of his Company, and now here he was hiring +a couple of ruffians to prevent me from doing my work, if not to take my +life. When I reached my hotel again, and went to bed, I lay awake half +the night endeavouring to arrive at an understanding of it; but, try how +I would, I could not hit upon a satisfactory solution. Upon one thing, +however, I had quite made up my mind. As soon as the City offices were +open, I would call at that of the Santa Cruz Mining Company, and put a +few questions to Mr. Bayley which I fancied that individual would find +difficult and rather unpleasant to answer. This plan I carried out, and +at ten o'clock I stood in the handsome outer office of the Company.</p> + +<p>"I should be glad to see the managing director, if he could spare me a +few moments," I said to the youth who waited upon me in answer to his +question.</p> + +<p>"He's engaged, sir, at present," the lad replied. "If you will take a +seat, however, I don't fancy he will be very long."</p> + +<p>I did as he directed, and in the interval amused myself by studying a +large map of the Argentine Republic, which hung upon the wall. I had +practically exhausted its capabilities when the door opened, and a tall, +military-looking man emerged and passed out into the street.</p> + +<p>"What name shall I say, sir?" inquired the clerk, as he descended from +his high stool and approached me.</p> + +<p>"Fairfax," I replied, giving him my card. "I think the manager will know +my name."</p> + +<p>The clerk disappeared to return a few moments later with the request +that I would follow him. Preparing myself for what I fully expected +would be a scene, I entered the director's sanctum. It was a handsome +room, and was evidently used as a Boardroom as well as an office, for +there was a long table in the middle, surrounded by at least a dozen +chairs. At the furthest end a gentleman of venerable appearance was +seated. He rose as I entered, and bowed to me.</p> + +<p>"In what way can I be of service to you, Mr. Fairfax?" he inquired, +after I had seated myself.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid there has been a mistake," I answered, looking about me for +Mr. Bayley. "I told the clerk that I desired to see the managing +director."</p> + +<p>"You <i>are</i> seeing him," he returned with a smile, "for I am he."</p> + +<p>"In that case I must have misunderstood the gentleman who called upon me +two days ago," I replied, with some surprise.</p> + +<p>"Do I understand you to say that a gentleman from this office called +upon you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a Mr. Bayley, a tall, good-looking man, of between thirty-eight +and forty years of age."</p> + +<p>The old gentleman stared, as well he might.</p> + +<p>"But there is no Mr. Bayley here," he said. "We have no one of that name +in our employ. I fear the man, whoever he was, must have been playing a +trick upon you. I sincerely trust he has done no damage. Might I ask +what he called upon you about?"</p> + +<p>"He called on me on behalf of your Company," I answered. "He informed me +that for some time past you have ascertained the gravest suspicions +concerning the manager of your mines in the Argentine. He said that +information had reached your ears to the effect that the man in question +was in league with a notorious swindler in New York, and, though you +could not bring any proved charge against him, you were equally certain +that he was robbing you in order to fill his own pockets. He appeared to +be most anxious to persuade me to go to the Republic at once in order +that I might inquire into matters and report to you. I was to be away +three months, and was to be paid five thousand pounds and my expenses +for my trouble."</p> + +<p>"My good sir, this is really preposterous," the old gentleman returned. +"I can positively assure you that there is not a word of truth in his +assertion. Our manager in the Argentine is an old and valued friend, and +I would stake my life on his fidelity. Nothing would induce us to think +even of sending a detective out to spy upon him."</p> + +<p>"I am beginning to believe that I should like to meet Mr. Bayley again," +I remarked. "He has a fine imagination, and, from what you tell me, it +seems that I should have looked a fool had I gone out to South America +on such an errand."</p> + +<p>"It would have been exceedingly inconvenient not only for you, but also +for us," said the manager. "I shall report this matter at the Board +meeting to-day. We must endeavour to discover who this man is, and also +his reasons for acting as he has done. Should we hear anything further +upon the subject, we will at once communicate with you."</p> + +<p>"I should be glad if you will do so," I replied. "I should like to get +this matter cleared up as soon as possible. There may be something +behind it that we do not understand."</p> + +<p>I thanked him for the interview, and then took my departure, more +puzzled by it than I had been by anything for a long time. When I +reached my office I took the card from a drawer, which Mr. Edward +Bayley had sent to me, and despatched it by special messenger to the +office of the famous mining company. That afternoon another surprise was +in store for me. Shortly after lunch, and when I was in the middle of a +letter to Kitwater, a message was received through the telephone to the +effect that the managing director of the Santa Cruz Mining Company, whom +I had seen that morning, was on his way to call upon me.</p> + +<p>"Something has evidently come to light," I reflected. "Perhaps the +mystery surrounding Mr. Edward Bayley is about to be cleared up, for I +must confess I do not like the look of it."</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later the manager was ushered into my presence.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon, Mr. Fairfax," he said. "I have come to ask you, if you +will permit me, a few questions, and also to tell you that I think we +have discovered who it is that is masquerading as the occupant of my +position. You gave me this morning a rough description of the individual +who called upon you, can you recall anything particular about his +appearance. Any strange mark, for instance. Anything by which we should +be able to swear to his identity?"</p> + +<p>"I would swear to his identity anywhere, without a mark" I replied. "But +since you <i>do</i> mention it, I remember that he had a small triangular +scar upon his left cheek."</p> + +<p>"Then it is the same man after all," said the manager. "That is +certainly extraordinary. When our secretary spoke to me about him after +you had left I had my doubts; now, however, they are quite removed. Why +he should have called upon you in such a guise is a question I cannot +for the life of me answer with any sort of satisfaction."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will be a little more explicit," I said. "You have not told +me yet how it is that you have been able to locate the gentleman in +question. This morning you must remember you had no sort of +remembrance of him."</p> + +<p>"In that case you must forgive me," he replied. "As a matter of fact I +was so much carried away by my excitement that I could think of nothing +else. However, I have promised you the story, and you shall have it. +Some years ago, eight or ten perhaps, we had a young man working for us +in the Argentine as an overseer. He was in many respects a brilliant +young fellow, and would doubtless have done well for himself in time, +had he been able to go straight. Unfortunately, however, he did not do +so. He went from bad to worse. At last he was caught in a flagrant piece +of dishonesty, and was immediately discharged. When I tell you that that +young man had a mark such as you described upon his cheek, you may be +able to derive some idea of what follows."</p> + +<p>"Might it not be a pure coincidence?" I replied.</p> + +<p>"Not in this case, I fancy," he answered. "What makes me the more +inclined to believe that it is the same individual, is the fact that our +secretary met him in Leadenhall Street only a few days ago. He looked +older, but had evidently prospered in the world. As a matter of fact, +Warner described him as being irreproachably dressed, and turned out. I +trust his good fortune was honestly come by; but I must own, from what I +know of him, that I have my doubts."</p> + +<p>"But what possible reason could this individual have for calling upon +me, and why should he have made me such an offer as I have described +to you?"</p> + +<p>The director shook his head. The question was evidently beyond him.</p> + +<p>"I can assign no sort of reason for it," he said, "unless he has some +hope of being able to get you out of England for a time."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how that could benefit him," I replied. "I am connected +with no case in which he has any sort of interest."</p> + +<p>"You never can tell," the old gentleman replied. "From what I know of +him, Gideon Hayle was always----"</p> + +<p>"Gideon what?" I cried, springing to my feet. "Did I understand you to +say Gideon Hayle?"</p> + +<p>"That's the name of the young man of whom I have been speaking to you," +he replied. "But what makes you so excited."</p> + +<p>"Because I can understand everything now." I declared. "Good heavens! +what an idiot I have been not to have seen the connection before! Now I +know why Gideon Hayle tried to lure me out of England with his +magnificent offer. Now I see why he set these roughs upon me. It's all +as plain as daylight!"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I do not quite understand," said my companion in his turn. +"But it is quite evident to me that you know more of Hayle's past life +than I do!"</p> + +<p>"I should think I did," I replied. "By Jove, what a blackguard the man +must be! He robbed his two partners of enormous wealth in China, left +them in the hands of the Chinese to be tortured and maimed for life, and +now that he knows that I am acting for them in order to recover their +treasure, he endeavours to put me out of the way. But you've not done it +yet, Mr. Hayle," I continued, bringing my fist down with a bang upon the +table, "and what's more, clever as you may be, you are not likely to +accomplish such an end. You'll discover that I can take very good care +of myself, but before very long you'll find that <i>you</i> are being taken +care of by somebody else."</p> + +<p>"This is a strange affair indeed, Mr. Fairfax," said the manager, "and +it is evident that I have been of some assistance to you. I need not say +that I am very glad, the more so because it is evident that our Company +is not involved in any system of fraud. I will not disguise from you +that I had my fears that it was the beginning of trouble for us all."</p> + +<p>"You may disabuse your mind of that once and for all," I answered. "If +there is any trouble brewing it is for our friend, Mr. Hayle. That +gentleman's reckoning is indeed likely to be a heavy one. I would not +stand in his shoes for something."</p> + +<p>There was a brief and somewhat uncomfortable pause.</p> + +<p>"And now allow me to wish you a very good-afternoon," the old gentleman +observed.</p> + +<p>"Good-afternoon," I replied, "and many thanks for the service you have +rendered me. It has helped me more than I can say."</p> + +<p>"Pray don't mention it, my dear sir, don't mention it," replied the +kindly old gentleman, as he moved towards the door. "I am very glad to +have been useful to you."</p> + +<p>When he had gone I sat down at my desk to think. I had had a good many +surprises in my life, but I don't know that I had ever been more +astonished than I was that afternoon. If only I had been aware of +Hayle's identity when he had called upon me two mornings before, how +simply everything might have been arranged! As a matter of fact I had +been talking with the very man I had been paid to find, and, what was +worse, had even terminated the interview myself. When I realized +everything, I could have kicked myself for my stupidity. Why should I +have suspected him, however? The very boldness of his scheme carried +conviction with it! Certainly, Mr. Gideon Hayle was a foeman worthy of +my steel, and I began to realize that, with such a man to deal with, the +enterprise I had taken in hand was likely to prove a bigger affair than +I had bargained for.</p> + +<p>"Having failed in both his attempts to get me out of the way, his next +move will be to leave England with as little delay as possible," I said +to myself. "If only I knew in what part of London he was staying, I'd +ransack it for him, if I had to visit every house in order to do so. As +it is, he has a thousand different ways of escape, and unless luck +favours me, I shall be unable to prevent him from taking his departure."</p> + +<p>At that moment there was a tap at the door and my clerk entered the +room.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Kitwater and Mr. Codd to see you, sir."</p> + +<p>"Show them in," I said, and a moment later the blind man and his +companion were ushered into my presence.</p> + +<p>Codd must have divined from the expression upon my face that I was not +pleased to see them.</p> + +<p>"You must forgive me for troubling you again so soon," said Kitwater, as +he dropped into the chair I had placed for him, "but you can understand +that we are really anxious about the affair. Your letter tells us that +you discovered that Hayle was in London a short time since, and that he +had realized upon some of the stones. Is it not possible for you to +discover some trace of his whereabouts?"</p> + +<p>"I have not been able to do that yet," I answered. "It will be of +interest to you, however, to know that he called upon me here in this +room, and occupied the chair you are now sitting in, three days ago."</p> + +<p>Kitwater clutched the arm of the chair in question and his face went as +white as his beard.</p> + +<p>"In this room three days ago, and sitting in your presence," he cried. +"Then you know where he is, and can take us to him?"</p> + +<p>"I regret that such a thing is out of my power," I answered. "The man +came into and left this room without being hindered by me."</p> + +<p>Kitwater sprang to his feet with an oath that struck me as coming rather +oddly from the lips of a missionary.</p> + +<p>"I see it all. You are in league with him," he cried, his face suffused +with passion. "You are siding with him against us. By God you are, and +I'll have you punished for it. You hoodwinked us, you sold us. You've +taken our money, and now you've gone over and are acting for the enemy."</p> + +<p>I opened the drawer of my table and took out the envelope he had given +me when he had called. For a reason of my own, I had not banked the note +it contained.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Mr. Kitwater," I said, speaking as calmly as I could, "but +there seems to be a little misunderstanding. I have not sold you, and I +have not gone over to the enemy. There is the money you gave me, and I +will not charge you anything for the little trouble I have been put to. +That should convince you of my integrity. Now perhaps you will leave my +office, and let me wash my hands of the whole affair."</p> + +<p>I noticed that little Codd placed his hand upon the other's arm. It +travelled down until their hands met. I saw that the blind man was +making an effort to recover his composure, and I felt sure that he +regretted ever having lost it. A moment later Codd came across the room +to my table, and, taking up a piece of paper, wrote upon it the +following words—</p> + +<p>"Kitwater is sorry, I am sure. Try to forgive him. Remember what he has +suffered through Hayle."</p> + +<p>The simplicity of the message touched me.</p> + +<p>"Pray sit down a minute, Mr. Kitwater," I said, "and let me put myself +right with you. It is only natural that you should get angry, if you +think I have treated you as you said just now. However, that does not +happen to be the case. I can assure you that had I known who Hayle was, +I should have taken very good care that he did not leave this office +until you had had an interview with him. Unfortunately, however, I was +not aware of his identity. I have encountered some bold criminals in my +time. But I do not know that I have ever had a more daring one than the +man who treated you so badly."</p> + +<p>I thereupon proceeded to give him a rough outline of Hayle's interview +with myself, and his subsequent treatment of me. Both men listened with +rapt attention.</p> + +<p>"That is Hayle all over," said Kitwater when I had finished. "It is not +his fault that you are not a dead man now. He will evade us if he +possibly can. The story of the roughs you have just told us shows that +he is aware that you are on the trail, and, if I know him at all, he +will try the old dodge, and put running water between you and himself as +soon as possible. As I said to you the other day, he knows the world as +well as you know London, and, in spite of what people say, there are +still plenty of places left in it where he can hide and we shall never +find him. With the money he stole from us he can make himself as +comfortable as he pleases wherever he may happen to be. To sum it all +up, if he gets a week's start of us, we shall never set eyes on +him again."</p> + +<p>"If that is so we must endeavour to make sure that he does not get that +start," I replied. "I will have the principal ports watched, and in the +meantime will endeavour to find out where he has stowed himself away in +London. You may rest assured of one thing, gentlemen, I took this matter +up in the first place as an ordinary business speculation. I am now +going on for that reason and another. Mr. Hayle tried a trick on me that +I have never had attempted before, and for the future he is my enemy as +well as yours. I hope I have set myself right with you now. You do not +still believe that I am acting in collusion with him?"</p> + +<p>"I do not," Kitwater answered vehemently. "And I most humbly apologize +for having said what I did. It would have served me right if you had +thrown the case up there and then, and I regard it as a proof of your +good feeling towards us that you consent to continue your work upon it. +To-day is Friday, is it not? Then perhaps by Sunday you may have +something more definite to tell us."</p> + +<p>"It is just possible, I may," I returned.</p> + +<p>"In that case I am instructed by my niece to ask if you will give us the +pleasure of your company at Bishopstowe on that day. After the toils of +London, a day in the country will do you no harm, and needless to say we +shall be most pleased to see you."</p> + +<p>I remembered the girl's pretty face and the trim neat figure. I am not a +lady's man, far from it, nevertheless I thought that I should like to +renew my acquaintance with her.</p> + +<p>"I shall be very pleased to accept Miss Kitwater's invitation, provided +I have something of importance to communicate," I said. "Should I not be +able to come, you will of course understand that my presence is +required in London or elsewhere. My movements must of necessity be +regulated by those of Mr. Hayle, and while I am attending to him I am +not my own master."</p> + +<p>Kitwater asked me one or two more questions about the disposal of the +gems to the merchants in Hatton Garden, groaned as I describe the +enthusiasm of the dealers, swore under his breath when he heard of +Hayle's cunning in refusing to allow either his name or address to be +known, and then rose and bade me good-bye.</p> + +<p>During dinner that evening I had plenty to think about. The various +events of the day had been so absorbing, and had followed so thick and +fast upon each other, that I had little time to seriously digest them. +As I ate my meal, and drank my modest pint of claret, I gave them my +fullest consideration. As Kitwater had observed, there was no time to +waste if we desired to lay our hands upon that slippery Mr. Hayle. Given +the full machinery of the law, and its boundless resources to stop him, +it is by no means an easy thing for a criminal to fly the country +unobserved; but with me the case was different. I had only my own and +the exertions of a few and trusted servants to rely upon, and it was +therefore impossible for us to watch all the various backdoors leading +out of England at once. When I had finished my dinner I strolled down +the Strand as far as Charing Cross Station. Turner was to leave for St. +Petersburg that night by the mail-train, and I had some instructions to +give him before his departure. I found him in the act of attending to +the labelling of his luggage, and, when he had seen it safely on the +van, we strolled down the platform together. I warned him of the +delicate nature of the operation he was about to undertake, and bade him +use the greatest possible care that the man he was to watch did not +become aware of his intentions. Directly he knew for certain that this +man was about to leave Russia, he was to communicate with me by cypher, +and with my representative in Berlin, and then follow him with all speed +to that city himself. As I had good reason to know, he was a shrewd and +intelligent fellow, and one who never forgot any instructions that might +be given him. Knowing that he was a great votary of the Goddess +Nicotine, I gave him a few cigars to smoke on the way to Dover.</p> + +<p>"Write to me immediately you have seen your man," I said. "Remember me +to Herr Schneider, and if you should see----"</p> + +<p>I came to a sudden stop, for there, among the crowd, not three +carriage-lengths away from me, a travelling-rug thrown over his +shoulder, and carrying a small brown leather bag in his hand, stood +Gideon Hayle. Unfortunately, he had already seen me, and almost before I +realized what he was doing, he was making his way through the crowd in +the direction of the main entrance. Without another word to Turner, I +set off in pursuit, knowing that he was going to make his bolt, and that +if I missed him now it would probably be my last chance of coming to +grip with him. Never before had the platform seemed so crowded. An +exasperating lady, with a lanky youth at her side, hindered my passage, +porters with trucks piled with luggage barred the way just when I was +getting along nicely; while, as I was about to make my way out into the +courtyard, an idiotic Frenchman seized me by the arm and implored me to +show him "ze office of ze money-changaire." I replied angrily that I did +not know, and ran out into the portico, only to be in time to see Gideon +Hayle take a seat in a hansom. He had evidently given his driver his +instructions, for the man whipped up his horse, and went out of the yard +at a speed which, at any other hour, would certainly have got him into +trouble with the police. I called up another cab and jumped into it, +promising the man a sovereign as I did so, if he would keep the other +cab in sight, and find out for me its destination.</p> + +<p>"Right ye are, sir," the cabman replied. "You jest leave that to me. I +won't let him go out of my sight."</p> + +<p>Then we, in our turn, left the yard of the station, and set off +eastwards along the Strand in pursuit. Both cabmen were sharp fellows +and evidently familiar with every twist and turn of their famous +London. In my time I have had a good many curious drives in one part of +the world and another, but I think that chase will always rank first. We +travelled along the Strand, about a hundred yards behind the other +vehicle, then turned up Southampton Street, through Covent Garden by way +of Henrietta Street into Long Acre. After that I cannot pretend to have +any idea of the direction we took. I know that we passed through Drury +Lane, crossed High Holborn, to presently find ourselves somewhere at the +back of Gray's Inn. The buildings of the Parcels' Post Depot marked +another stage in our journey. But still the other cab did not show any +sign of coming to a standstill. Leaving Mount Pleasant behind us, we +entered that dingy labyrinth of streets lying on the other side of the +Clerkenwell House of Detention. How much longer was the chase going to +last? Then, to my delight, the other cab slackened its pace, and +eventually pulled up before a small public-house. We were so close +behind it that we narrowly escaped a collision. I sprang out, and ran to +the other vehicle in order to stop Hayle before he could alight.</p> + +<p>"Wot's up, guvner?" asked the cabman. "Don't go a worritting of +yourself. There's nobody inside."</p> + +<p>He was quite right, <i>the cab was empty</i>!</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p>I flatter myself that I am a man who is not easily disconcerted, but for +the second time that day I was completely taken aback. I had watched +that cab so closely, had followed its progress so carefully, that it +seemed impossible Hayle could have escaped from it. Yet there was the +fact, apparent to all the world, that he had got away. I looked from the +cab to the cabman and then at my own driver, who had descended from his +perch and was standing beside me.</p> + +<p>"Well, I wouldn't have believed it," I said aloud, when I had recovered +somewhat my astonishment.</p> + +<p>My own driver, who had doubtless begun to think that the sovereign I had +promised him was in danger, was inclined to be somewhat bellicose. It +appeared as if he were anxious to make a personal matter of it, and in +proof of this he sternly demanded of his rival what he had done with +his fare.</p> + +<p>"You don't think I've ate him, do yer?" asked that worthy. "What's it +got to do with me what a fare does? I set 'im down, same as I should do +you, and now I am on my way 'ome. Look arter your own fare, and take him +'ome and put him ter bed, but don't yer a'come abotherin' me. I've done +the best day's work I've ever 'ad in my life, and if so be the pair of +yer like to come into the pub here, well, I don't know as I won't a +stand yer both a two of Scotch cold. It looks as if 'twould kind a' +cheer the guvner up a bit, seem' as how he's dis'pointed like. Come +on now!"</p> + +<p>It is one of my best principles, and to it I feel that I owe a +considerable portion of my success, that I never allow my pride to stand +in the way of my business. The most valuable information is not +unfrequently picked up in the most unlikely places, and for this reason +I followed my own Jehu and his rival into the public-house in question. +The man was visibly elated by the good stroke of business he had done +that night, and was inclined to be convivial.</p> + +<p>" 'e was a proper sort of bloke," he said as we partook of our +refreshment. " 'e give me a fiver, 'e did, an' I wishes as 'ow I could +meet another like 'im every day."</p> + +<p>"They do say as how one man's mutton is another man's poison," retorted +my driver, who, in spite of the entertainment he was receiving, visibly +regarded the other with disfavour. "If you'd a give us the tip, I'd 'ave +'ad my suvering. As it is I don't take it friendly like that you should +a' bilked us."</p> + +<p>"Yer can take it as yer darned well please," said the other, as he spoke +placing his glass upside down on the counter, in order to prove beyond +contradiction that it was empty. I immediately ordered a repetition, +which was supplied. Thereupon the cabman continued—</p> + +<p>"When I 'as a bit of business ter do yer must understand that I does it, +and that no man can say as I doesn't. A gent gets into my keb and sez +he, 'Drive me until I tell yer to stop, and go as fast as yer can,' sez +he. 'Take every back street yer know of, and come out somewhere Hoxton +way. I'm not partic'lar so long as I go fast, an' I don't git collared +by the keb that's after us. If yer help me to give 'im the slip there's +a five-poun' note for yer trouble.' Well, sez I to myself, this is a +proper bit of busness and there and then I sets off as fast as the old +'orse cud take us. We turns up Southampton Street, and you turns up +after us. As we was agoin' down 'enrietta Street I asked him to let me +'ave a look at his five-poun' note, for I didn't want no Bank of Fashion +or any of that sort of truck shoved into me, you'll understand. 'You +needn't be suspicious, Cabby,' sez he, 'I'll make it suverings, if you +like, and half a one over for luck, if that will satisfy yer? 'When I +told him it would, he give me two poun' ten in advance and away we went +again. We weren't more than 'arf a mile away from here—thank ye, sir, I +don't mind if I do, it's cold drivin'—well, as I was a sayin' we wasn't +more than 'arf a mile away from here, when the gent he stands up and sez +to me, 'Look here, Kebby, turn the next corner pretty sharp, and slow +down at the first bye-street you come to. Then I'll jump out,' 'Right +yer are, guvner,' sez I, and with that he 'ands me up the other two +poun' ten and the extry half-suvering. I fobbed it and whipped up the +old 'oss. Next moment we was around the corner, and a-drivin' as if we +was a trying to ketch a train. Then we comes to a little side street, +an' I slows down. Out 'e jumps and down he goes along a side street as +if the devil was arter him. Then I drives on my way and pulls up 'ere. +Bilked you were, guvner, and I don't mind sayin' so, but busness is +busness, and five poun' ten ain't to be picked up every day. I guess the +old woman will be all there when I get 'ome to-night."</p> + +<p>"That's all very well, cabby," I said, "but it's just likely you want to +add another sovereign to that five-pound ten. If you do I don't mind +putting another in your way. I tell you that I want to catch the man I +was after to-night. He's as big a thief as ever walked the earth, and if +you will help me to put my hand upon him, you'll be doing a service, not +only to me, but to the whole country at large."</p> + +<p>"What is it you want me to do?" he asked suspiciously. "He treated me +fair, and he'll take it mean of me if I help you to nab him."</p> + +<p>"I don't want you to do anything but to drive me to the side street +where you put him down. Then you can take your sovereign and be off +home as quick as you like. Do you agree?"</p> + +<p>He hesitated for a space in which a man could have counted twenty, and +then set his glass upon the counter.</p> + +<p>"I'll do it," he said. "I'll drive yer there, not for the suvering, but +for the good of the country yer speaks about. Come on."</p> + +<p>I gave my own man his money, and then followed the other out to his cab. +He mounted to his box, not without some help, and we presently set off. +Whether it was the effect of the refreshment he had imbibed, or whether +it was mere elation of spirits I cannot say, the fact, however, remains +that for the whole of the journey, which occupied ten or twelve minutes +he howled vociferously. A more joyous cabman could scarcely have been +discovered in all that part of London. At last he pulled his horse to a +standstill, and descended from his seat.</p> + +<p>"This 'ere's the place," he said, "and that's the street he bolted down. +Yer can't mistake it. Now let's have a look at yer suvering, guvner, and +then I'll be off home to bed, and it's about time too."</p> + +<p>I paid him the sum I had promised him, and then made my way down the +narrow street, in the direction Hayle had taken. It was not more than a +couple of hundred yards long, and was hemmed in on either hand by +squalid cottages. As if to emphasize the misery of the locality, and +perhaps in a measure to account for it, at the further end I discovered +a gin-palace, whose flaring lights illuminated the streets on either +hand with brazen splendour. A small knot of loafers were clustered on +the pavement outside the public, and these were exactly the men I +wanted. Addressing myself to them I inquired how long they had been in +their present position.</p> + +<p>"Best part of an hour, guv'ner," said one of them, pushing his hands +deep down into his pockets, and executing a sort of double shuffle as he +spoke. "Ain't doin' any harm 'ere, I 'ope. We was 'opin' as 'ow a gent +like yourself would come along in the course of the evening just to ask +us if we was thirsty, and wot we'd take for to squench it."</p> + +<p>"You shall have something to squench it, if you can answer the questions +I am going to ask you," I replied. "Did either of you see a gentleman +come down this street, running, about half-an-hour or so ago."</p> + +<p>"Was he carrying a rug and a bag?" asked one of the men without +hesitation.</p> + +<p>"He was," I replied. "He is the man I want. Which way did he go when he +left here?"</p> + +<p>"He took Jim Boulter's cab," said another man, who had until a few +moments before been leaning against the wall. "The Short 'Un was +alookin' after it for 'im, and I heard him call Jimmy myself. He tossed +the Short 'Un a bob, he did, when he got in. Such luck don't seem ever +to come my way."</p> + +<p>"Where is the Short 'Un, as you call him?" I inquired, thinking that it +might be to my advantage to interview that gentleman.</p> + +<p>"A-drinkin' of his bob in there," the man answered. "Where d'ye think +ye'd be a-seein' 'im? Bearin' 'isself proud like a real torf, and at +closen' time they'll be chuckin' 'im out into the gutter, and then 'is +wife 'll come down, and they 'll fight, an' most like both of 'em 'll +get jugged before they knows where they is, and come before the beak in +the mornin'."</p> + +<p>"Look here," I said, "if one of you will go in and induce the gentleman +of whom you speak to come out here and talk to me, I would not mind +treating the four of you to half-a-crown."</p> + +<p>The words had scarcely left my lips before a deputation had entered the +house in search of the gentleman in question. When they returned with +him one glance was sufficient to show me that the Short 'Un was in a +decidedly inebriated condition. His friends, however, deeming it +possible that their chance of appreciating my liberality depended upon +his condition being such as he could answer questions with some sort of +intelligence, proceeded to shake and pummel him into something +approaching sobriety. In one of his lucid intervals I inquired whether +he felt equal to telling me in what direction the gentleman who had +given him the shilling had ordered the cabman to drive him. He turned +the question over and over in his mind, and then arrived at the +conclusion that it was "some hotel close to Waterloo."</p> + +<p>This was certainly vague, but it encouraged me to persevere.</p> + +<p>"Think again," I said; "he must have given you some definite address."</p> + +<p>"Now I do remember," said the man, "it seems to me it was Foxwell's +Hotel, Waterloo Road. That's where it was, Foxwell's Hotel. Don't +you know it?</p> + +<blockquote>"Foxwell's Hotel is a merry, merry place,<br> +When the jolly booze is flowin', flowin' free."<br></blockquote> + +<p>Now chorus, gen'men."</p> + +<p>Having heard all I wanted to, I gave the poor wretches what I had +promised them, and went in search of a cab. As good luck would have it I +was able to discover one in the City Road, and in it I drove off in the +direction of Waterloo. If Hayle were really going to stay the night at +Foxwell's Hotel, then my labours had not been in vain, after all. But I +had seen too much of that gentleman's character of late to put any trust +in his statements, until I had verified them to my own satisfaction. I +was not acquainted with Foxwell's Hotel, but after some little search I +discovered it. It was by no means the sort of place a man of Hayle's +wealth would be likely to patronize, but remembering that he had +particular reasons for not being <i>en evidence</i> just at present, I could +understand his reasons for choosing such a hostelry. I accordingly paid +off my cabman and entered the bar. Taking the young lady I found there a +little on one side, I inquired whether a gentleman had arrived within +the last half-hour, carrying a bag and a heavy travelling-rug.</p> + +<p>Much to my gratification she replied that such a gentleman had certainly +arrived within the past half-hour, and was now at supper in the +coffee-room. She inquired whether I would care to see him? I replied in +the negative, stating that I would call next day and make myself +known to him.</p> + +<p>"We are old friends," I said, "and for that reason I should be glad if +you would promise me that you will say nothing to him about my coming +to-night."</p> + +<p>Woman-like the idea pleased her, and she willingly gave the promise I +asked.</p> + +<p>"If you want to see him you'd better be here early," she said. "He told +me when he booked his room, that he should be wanting to get away at +about ten o'clock to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"I'll be here well before that," I replied. "If all goes right, I shall +call upon him between eight and nine o'clock."</p> + +<p>Feeling sure that, after what I had said to her, she would say nothing +to Hayle about my visit, I returned to my own hotel and retired +to rest.</p> + +<p>Next morning I was up betimes, had breakfasted, and was at Foxwell's +Hotel before eight o'clock had struck. I proceeded straight to the bar, +where I discovered my acquaintance of the previous evening, in curl +papers, assiduously dusting shelves and counter. There was a fragrance +of the last night's potations still hovering about the place, which had +the dreary, tawdry appearance that was so different to the glamour of +the previous night. I bade the girl good-morning, and then inquired +whether she had seen anything of my friend. At first she did not appear +to recognize me, but on doing so she volunteered to go off and make +inquiries. She did so, to return a few moments later with the +information that the gentleman "had rung for his boots, and would be +down to breakfast in a few minutes."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what you will have to say for yourself when you see me, Mr. +Hayle," I muttered. "You will find that I am not to be so easily shaken +off as you imagine."</p> + +<p>I accordingly made my way to the dining-room, and seating myself at a +table, ordered a cup of coffee and an egg. The London egg is not a +favourite of mine, but I was prepared to eat a dozen of them if +necessary, if by so doing I could remain in the room long enough to find +myself face to face with Gideon Hayle. Several people put in an +appearance and commenced their morning repast, but when a quarter of an +hour had elapsed and the man I wanted had not presented himself, my +patience became exhausted and I went in search of my <i>hourie</i> of +the bar.</p> + +<p>"My friend's a long time coming down," I said, "I hope he has not gone +out to breakfast?"</p> + +<p>"You must be mistaken," she answered. "I saw him come down-stairs nearly +a quarter of an hour ago. He went into the dining-room, and I felt sure +you must have seen him. If you will follow me I'll show him to you."</p> + +<p>So saying she led the way along the dingy passage until she arrived at a +green baize door with two glass panels. Here she stopped and scanned the +dining-room. The boots, who had just come upstairs from the lower +regions, assisted in the operation, and seemed to derive considerable +satisfaction from it.</p> + +<p>"There he is," said the girl, pointing to a table in the furthest corner +of the room; "the tall man with the black moustache."</p> + +<p>I looked and was consumed with disappointment. The individual I saw +there was no more like Hayle than he was like the man in the moon.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to tell me that he is the man who arrived late last night +in a cab, and whose luggage consisted of a small brown bag and a +travelling rug?" I asked. "You've been having a game with me, young +woman, and I should advise you to be careful. You don't realize who +I am."</p> + +<p>"Hoighty toity," she said, with a toss of her head that sent her +curl-papers dancing. "If you're going to be nasty, I am going. You asked +for the gentleman who came late last night with a bag, and there he is. +If he's not the person you want, you mustn't blame me. I'm sure I'm not +responsible for everybody's friends. Dear me, I hope not!"</p> + +<p>The shock-headed boots had all this time been listening with the +greatest interest. He and the barmaid, it appeared, had had a quarrel +earlier in the morning, and in consequence were still far from being +upon the best of terms.</p> + +<p>"The cove as the gent wants, miss, must be 'im as came close upon eleven +o'clock last night," he put in. "The toff with the bag and blanket. Why +I carried his bag up to number forty-seven with my own 'ands, and +you know it."</p> + +<p>The girl was quite equal to the occasion.</p> + +<p>"You'd better hold your tongue," she said. "If you don't you'll get into +trouble."</p> + +<p>"What for?" he inquired. "It's a free country, I 'ope. Nice sort of toff +'e was, forgot all about the boots, and me a-doin' 'is browns as slap-up +as if 'e was a-goin' out to dinner with the Queen. But p'reaps he's left +a 'arf-sovereign for me with you. It ain't likely. Oh no, of course it +isn't likely he would. You wouldn't keep it carefully for me, would you? +Oh no, in course not? What about that two bob the American gent +give you?"</p> + +<p>The girl did not wait to hear any more, but with a final toss of her +head, disappeared into the bar.</p> + +<p>"Now, look here, my friend," I said to the boots, "it is quite evident +that you know more about this gentleman than that young lady does. Tell +me all about him, and I'll make it worth your while."</p> + +<p>"There ain't much to tell," he answered. "Leastways, nothin' particular. +He was no end of a toff, great-coat with silk collar, neat browns, +gloves, and a bowler 'at."</p> + +<p>"Moustache?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and waxed. Got a sort of broad-arrow on his cheek, and looked at +ye as if 'is eyes was gimlets, and he wanted to bore a hole through yer; +called at seven, breakfast at half-past, 'am and eggs and two cups of +corfee and a roll, all took up to 'im in 'is room. Ordered a cab to +catch the nine o'clock express to Southampton. I puts 'im in with his +bag and blanket, and says, 'Kindly remember the boots, sir,' and he +says, 'I've done it,' I said I 'adn't 'ad it, and he told me to go to +------, well the place as isn't mentioned in perlite company. That's all I +know about 'im."</p> + +<p>He paused and shook his head in the direction of the bar, after which he +observed that he knew all about it, and one or two other things beside.</p> + +<p>I gave him a shilling for his information and then left the house. Once +more I had missed Gideon Hayle by a few minutes, but I had received some +information that might help me to find him again. Unfortunately, +however, he was now well on his way to Southampton, and in a few hours +might be out of England. My respect for that astute gentleman was +increasing hourly, but it did not deter me, only made me the more +resolved to beat him in the end. Making my way to Waterloo, I inquired +when the next train left for Southampton. Finding that I had more than +an hour and a half to wait, I telegraphed to the man I had sent to +Southampton to watch the docks, and then took the electric railway to +the city, and made my way to my office, where a pile of correspondence +awaited me on my table. Calling my managing clerk to my assistance, I +set to work to examine it. He opened the letters while I perused them +and dictated the various replies. When he came to the fifth he uttered +an exclamation of surprise.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" I inquired. "Anything wrong?"</p> + +<p>In reply he handed me a letter written on good note-paper, but without +an address. It ran as follows—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Gideon Hayle returns thanks for kind inquiries, and begs to inform +Mr. Fairfax that he is leaving England to-day for Algiers."</p> + +<p>"If he thinks he is going to bluff me with that sort of tale, he's very +much mistaken," I said. "I happen to be aware of the fact that he left +for Southampton by the nine o'clock train this morning. If I might +hazard a guess as to where he was going, I should say that his +destination is the Cape. But let him go where he will, I'll have him +yet. In the meantime, send Williams to Charing Cross at once, Roberts to +Victoria, and Dickson to St. Paul's. Furnish each with a description of +the man they are to look after, be particular about the scar upon his +left cheek, and if they see him, tell them that they are not to lose +sight of him, happen what may. Let them telegraph should they discover +anything definite, and then go in pursuit. In any case I shall return +from Southampton to-night, and shall call here at once."</p> + +<p>Half-an-hour later I arrived at Waterloo, took my ticket and boarded the +train for Southampton. When I reached the port I was met at the station +by my representative, who informed me that he had seen nothing of the +man I had described, although he had carefully looked for him.</p> + +<p>"We'll try the various shipping-offices first," I said. "I feel +positively certain that he came down here by the nine o'clock train."</p> + +<p>We drove from shipping-office to shipping-office, and made the most +careful inquiries, but in every case without success. Once we thought we +had discovered our man, only to find, after wasting a precious hour, +that the clerk's description was altogether a wrong one, and that he +resembled Hayle in no sort of way. We boarded the South African +mail-boat, but he was not among her passengers; we overhauled the +American liner, with an equally barren result. We paid cursory visits to +the principal hotels, but could hear no tidings of him in any one of +them. As a matter of fact, if the man had journeyed to Southampton, as I +had every reason to suppose he had done, he must have disappeared into +thin air when he got there. The whole affair was most bewildering, and I +scarcely knew what to think of it. That the boots at the hotel had not +been hoodwinking me I felt assured in my own mind. His anger against the +man was too real to allow any doubt upon that point. At last, having +exhausted all our resources, and not seeing what I could do further, I +returned to my subordinate's lodgings, where it had been arranged that +telegrams should be addressed to me. On my arrival there a yellow +envelope was handed to me. I tore it open eagerly and withdrew the +contents. It proved to be from Dickson, and had been sent off from +Dover. I took my codebook from my pocket and translated the message upon +the back of the telegraph-form. It ran as follows—</p> + +<p>"Man with triangular scar upon left cheek, brown bag and travelling rug, +boarded train at Herne Hill, went through to Dover, and has booked to +Paris. Am following him according to instructions."</p> + +<p>"Then he slipped me after all," I cried. "He must have gone on to +Waterloo, crossed to Cannon Street, then on to London Bridge. The +cunning scoundrel! He must have made up his mind that the biggest bluff +he could play upon me was to tell the truth, and by Jove! he was not +very far wrong. However, those laugh best who laugh last, and though he +has had a very fair innings so far, we will see whether he can beat me +in the end. I'll get back to Town now, run down to Bishopstowe to-morrow +morning to report progress, and then be off to Paris after him +on Monday."</p> + +<p>At 8.45 that night I reached London. At the same moment Mr. Gideon Hayle +was sitting down to a charming little dinner at the Café des Princes, +and was smiling to himself as he thought of the success that had +attended the trick he had played upon me.</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p>When I reached the charming little Surrey village of Bishopstowe, I +could see that it bore out Kitwater's description of it. A prettier +little place could scarcely have been discovered, with its tree-shaded +high-road, its cluster of thatched cottages, its blacksmith's shop, +rustic inn with the signboard on a high post before the door, and last +but not least, the quaint little church standing some hundred yards back +from the main road, and approached from the lych-gate by an avenue +of limes.</p> + +<p>"Here," I said to myself, "is a place where a man might live to be a +hundred, undisturbed by the rush and bustle of the Great World."</p> + +<p>That was my feeling then, but since I have come to know it better, and +have been permitted an opportunity of seeing for myself something of the +inner life of the hamlet, I have discovered that it is only the life of +a great city, on a small scale. There is the same keen competition in +trade, with the same jealousies and bickerings. However, on this +peaceful Sunday morning it struck me as being delightful. There was an +old-world quiet about it that was vastly soothing. The rooks cawed +lazily in the elms before the church as if they knew it were Sunday +morning and a day of rest. A dog lay extended in the middle of the +road, basking in the sunshine, a thing which he would not have dared to +do on a weekday. Even the little stream that runs under the old stone +bridge, which marks the centre of the village, and then winds its +tortuous course round the churchyard, through the Squire's park, and +then down the valley on its way to the sea, seemed to flow somewhat more +slowly than was its wont.</p> + +<p>Feeling just in the humour for a little moralizing, I opened the +lych-gate and entered the churchyard. The congregation were singing the +last hymn, the Old Hundredth, if I remember rightly, and the sound of +their united voices fitted perfectly into the whole scheme, giving it +the one touch that was lacking. As I strolled along I glanced at the +inscriptions on the various tomb-stones, and endeavoured to derive from +them some notion of the lives and characters of those whose memories +they perpetuated.</p> + +<p>"Sacred to the memory of Erasmus Gunning, twenty-seven years +Schoolmaster of this Parish. Born 24th of March, 1806, and rested from +his labours on September the 19th, 1876." Seating myself on the low wall +that surrounded the churchyard, I looked down upon the river, and while +so doing, reflected upon Erasmus Gunning. What had he been like, this +knight of the ferrule, who for twenty-seven years acted as pedagogue to +this tiny hamlet? What good had he done in his world? Had he realized +his life's ambition? Into many of the congregation now worshipping +yonder he must have driven the three R's, possibly with the assistance +of the faithful ferrule aforesaid, yet how many of them gave a thought +to his memory! In this case the assertion that he "rested from his +labours" was a trifle ambiguous. Consigning poor Erasmus to oblivion, I +continued my walk. Presently my eyes caught an inscription that made me +halt again. It was dedicated to the "Loving Memory of William Kitwater, +and Susan, his wife." I was still looking at it, when I heard a step on +the gravel-path behind me, and turning round, I found myself standing +face to face with Miss Kitwater. To use the conventional phrase, church +had "come out," and the congregation was even now making its way down +the broad avenue towards the high-road.</p> + +<a name="Fig06"></a> +<div class="figure"> + <img src="images/Fig06.png" height="588" width="400" alt=""><br> + <p class="caption">" 'HOW DO YOU DO, MR. FAIRFAX?' SAID MISS KITWATER."</p> +</div> +<br> + +<p>"How do you do, Mr. Fairfax?" said Miss Kitwater, giving me her hand as +she spoke. "It is kind indeed of you to come down. I hope you have good +news for us?"</p> + +<p>"I am inclined to consider it good news myself," I said. "I hope you +will think so too."</p> + +<p>She did not question me further about it then, but asking me to excuse +her for a moment, stepped over the little plot of ground where her dear +ones lay, and plucked some of the dead leaves from the flowers that grew +upon it. To my thinking she was just what an honest English girl should +be; straight-forward and gentle, looking the whole world in the face +with frank and honourable simplicity. When she had finished her labour +of love, which only occupied her a few moments, she suggested that we +should stroll on to her house.</p> + +<p>"My uncle will be wondering what has become of me," she said, "and he +will also be most anxious to see you."</p> + +<p>"He does not accompany you to church then?"</p> + +<p>"No," she answered. "He is so conscious of his affliction that he cannot +bear it to be remarked. He usually stays at home and walks up and down a +path in the garden, brooding, I am afraid, over his treatment by Mr. +Hayle. It goes to my heart to see him."</p> + +<p>"And Mr. Codd?"</p> + +<p>"He, poor little man, spends most of his time reading such works on +Archæology as he can obtain. It is his one great study, and I am +thankful he has such a hobby to distract his mind from his own trouble."</p> + +<p>"Their coming to England must have made a great change in your life," I +remarked.</p> + +<p>"It <i>has</i> made a difference," she answered. "But one should not lead +one's life exactly to please one's self. They were in sore distress, and +I am thankful that they came to me, and that I had the power to +help them."</p> + +<p>This set me thinking. She spoke gravely, and I knew that she meant what +she said. But underlying it there was a suggestion that, for some reason +or another, she had not been altogether favourably impressed by her +visitors. Whether I was right in my suppositions I could not tell then, +but I knew that I should in all probability be permitted a better +opportunity of judging later on. We crossed the little bridge, and +passed along the high road for upwards of a mile, until we found +ourselves standing at the entrance to one of the prettiest little +country residences it has even been my lot to find. A drive, some thirty +yards or so in length, led up to the house and was shaded by overhanging +trees. The house itself was of two stories and was covered by creepers. +The garden was scrupulously neat, and I fancied that I could detect its +mistress's hand in it. Shady walks led from it in various directions, +and at the end of one of these I could discern a tall, restless figure, +pacing up and down.</p> + +<p>"There is my uncle," said the girl, referring to the figure I have just +described. "That is his sole occupation. He likes it because it is the +only part of the garden in which he can move about without a guide. How +empty and hard his life must seem to him, now, Mr. Fairfax?"</p> + +<p>"It must indeed," I replied. "To my thinking blindness is one of the +worst ills that can happen to a man. It must be particularly hard to one +who has led such a vigorous life as your uncle has done."</p> + +<p>I could almost have declared that she shuddered at my words. Did she +know more about her uncle and his past life than she liked to think +about? I remembered one or two expressions he had let fall in his +excitement when he had been talking to me, and how I had commented upon +them as being strange words to come from the lips of a missionary. I had +often wondered whether the story he had told me about their life in +China, and Hayle's connection with it, had been a true one. The +tenaciousness with which a Chinaman clings to the religion of his +forefathers is proverbial, and I could not remember having ever heard +that a Mandarin, or an official of high rank, had been converted to the +Christian Faith. Even if he had, it struck me as being highly improbable +that he would have been the possessor of such princely treasure, and +even supposing that to be true, that he would, at his death, leave it to +such a man as Kitwater. No, I fancied if we could only get at the truth +of the story, we should find that it was a good deal more picturesque, +not to use a harsher term, than we imagined. For a moment I had almost +been tempted to believe that the stones were Hayle's property, and that +these two men were conducting their crusade with the intention of +robbing him of them. Yet, on maturer reflection, this did not fit in. +There was the fact that they had certainly been mutilated as they +described, and also their hatred of Hayle to be weighed in one balance, +while Hayle's manifest fear of them could be set in the other.</p> + +<p>"If I am not mistaken that is your step, Mr. Fairfax," said the blind +man, stopping suddenly in his walk, and turning his sightless face in my +direction. "It's wonderful how the loss of one's sight sharpens one's +ears. I suppose you met Margaret on the road."</p> + +<p>"I met Miss Kitwater in the churchyard," I replied.</p> + +<p>"A very good meeting-place," he chuckled sardonically. "It's where most +of us meet each other sooner or later. Upon my word, I think the dead +are luckier than the living. In any case they are more fortunate than +poor devils like Codd and myself. But I am keeping you standing, won't +you sit down somewhere and tell me your news? I have been almost +counting the minutes for your arrival. I know you would not be here +to-day unless you had something important to communicate to me. You have +found Hayle?"</p> + +<p>He asked the question with feverish eagerness, as if he hoped within a +few hours to be clutching at the other's throat. I could see that his +niece noticed it too, and that she recoiled a little from him in +consequence. I thereupon set to work and told them of all that had +happened since I had last seen them, described my lucky meeting with +Hayle at Charing Cross, my chase after him across London, the trick he +had played me at Foxwell's Hotel, and my consequent fruitless journey to +Southampton.</p> + +<p>"And he managed to escape you after all," said Kitwater. "That man would +outwit the Master of all Liars Himself. He is out of England by this +time, and we shall lose him."</p> + +<p>"He has not escaped me," I replied quietly. "I know where he is, and I +have got a man on his track."</p> + +<p>"Then where is he?" asked Kitwater. "If you know where he is, you ought +to be with him yourself instead of down here. You are paid to conduct +the case. How do you know that your man may not bungle it, and that we +may not lose him again?"</p> + +<p>His tone was so rude and his manner so aggressive, that his niece was +about to protest. I made a sign to her, however, not to do so.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you need be afraid, Mr. Kitwater," I said more soothingly +than I felt. "My man is a very clever and reliable fellow, and you may +be sure that, having once set eyes on Mr. Hayle, he will not lose sight +of him again. I shall leave for Paris to-morrow morning, and shall +immediately let you know the result of my search. Will that suit you?"</p> + +<p>"It will suit me when I get hold of Hayle," he replied. "Until then I +shall know no peace. Surely you must understand that?"</p> + +<p>Then, imagining perhaps, that he had gone too far, he began to fawn upon +me, and what was worse praised my methods of elucidating a mystery. I +cannot say which I disliked the more. Indeed, had it not been that I had +promised Miss Kitwater to take up the case, and that I did not want to +disappoint her, I believe I should have abandoned it there and then, out +of sheer disgust. A little later our hostess proposed that we should +adjourn to the house, as it was nearly lunch-time. We did so, and I was +shown to a pretty bedroom to wash my hands. It was a charming apartment, +redolent of the country, smelling of lavender, and after London, as +fresh as a glimpse of a new life. I looked about me, took in the +cleanliness of everything, and contrasted it with my own dingy +apartments at Rickford's Hotel, where the view from the window was not +of meadows and breezy uplands, but of red roofs, chimney-pots, and +constantly revolving cowls. I could picture the view from this window in +the early morning, with the dew upon the grass, and the blackbirds +whistling in the shrubbery. I am not a vain man, I think, but at this +juncture I stood before the looking-glass and surveyed myself. For the +first time in my life I could have wished that I had been +better-looking. At last I turned angrily away.</p> + +<p>"What a duffer I am to be sure!" I said to myself. "If I begin to get +notions like this in my head there is no knowing where I may end. As if +any girl would ever think twice about me!"</p> + +<p>Thereupon I descended to the drawing-room, which I found empty. It was +a true woman's room, daintily furnished, with little knick-knacks here +and there, a work-basket put neatly away for the Sabbath, and an open +piano with one of Chopin's works upon the music-rest. Leading out of the +drawing-room was a small conservatory, filled with plants. It was a +pretty little place and I could not refrain from exploring it. I am +passionately fond of flowers, but my life at that time was not one that +permitted me much leisure to indulge in my liking. As I stood now, +however, in the charming place, among the rows of neatly-arranged pots, +I experienced a sort of waking dream. I seemed to see myself standing in +this very conservatory, hard at work upon my flowers, a pipe in my mouth +and my favourite old felt hat upon my head. Crime and criminals were +alike forgotten; I no longer lived in a dingy part of the Town, and what +was better than all I had----</p> + +<p>"Do you know I feel almost inclined to offer you the proverbial penny," +said Miss Kitwater's voice behind me, at the drawing-room door. "Is it +permissible to ask what you were thinking about?"</p> + +<p>I am not of course prepared to swear it, but I honestly believe for the +first time for many years, I blushed.</p> + +<p>"I was thinking how very pleasant a country life must be," I said, +making the first excuse that came to me. "I almost wish that I could +lead one."</p> + +<p>"Then why don't you? Surely it would not be so very difficult?"</p> + +<p>"I am rather afraid it would," I answered. "And yet I don't know why it +should be."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Mrs. Fairfax would not care about it," she continued, as we +returned to the drawing-room together.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!" I remarked. "There is no Mrs. Fairfax. I am the most +confirmed of old bachelors. I wonder you could not see that. Is not the +word <i>crustiness</i> written plainly upon my forehead?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I cannot see it," she answered. "I am not quite certain who +it was, but I fancy it was my uncle who informed me that you +were married."</p> + +<p>"It was very kind of him," I said. "But it certainly is not the case. I +fear my wife would have rather a lonely time of it if it were. I am +obliged to be away from home so much, you see, and for so long at +a time."</p> + +<p>"Yours must be indeed a strange profession, Mr. Fairfax, if I may say +so," she continued. "Some time ago I came across an account, in a +magazine, of your life, and the many famous cases in which you had +taken part."</p> + +<p>"Ah! I remember the wretched thing," I said. "I am sorry that you should +ever have seen it."</p> + +<p>"And why should you be sorry?"</p> + +<p>"Because it is a silly thing, and I have always regretted allowing the +man to publish it. He certainly called upon me and asked me a lot of +questions, after which he went away and wrote that article. Ever since +then I have felt like a conceited ass, who tried to make himself out +more clever than he really was."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you would do that," she said. "But, if you will let me +say so, yours must be a very trying life, and also an extremely +dangerous one. I am afraid you must look upon human nature from a very +strange point of view!"</p> + +<p>"Not more strange probably than you do," I answered.</p> + +<p>"But you are continually seeing the saddest side of it. To you all the +miseries that a life of crime entails, are visible. The greater part of +your time is spent among desperate men who are without hope, and to whom +even their own shadows are a constant menace. I wonder that you still +manage to retain your kind heart."</p> + +<p>"But how do you know that my heart is kind?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"If for no other reason, simply because you have taken up my uncle's +case," she answered. "Do you think when he was so rude to you just now, +that I could not see that you pitied him, and for that reason you +forbore to take advantage of your power? I know you have a kind heart."</p> + +<p>"And you find it difficult to assimilate that kind heart with the +remorseless detective of Public Life?"</p> + +<p>"I find it difficult to recognize in you the man who, on a certain +notable occasion, went into a thieves' den in Chicago unaccompanied, and +after a terrible struggle in which you nearly lost your life, succeeded +in effecting the arrest of a notorious murderer."</p> + +<p>At that moment the gong in the hall sounded for lunch, and I was by no +means sorry for the interruption. We found Kitwater and Codd awaiting +our coming in the dining-room, and we thereupon sat down to the meal. +When we left the room again, we sat in the garden and smoked, and later +in the afternoon, my hostess conducted me over her estate, showed me her +vineries, introduced me to her two sleek Jerseys, who had their home in +the meadow I had seen from the window; to her poultry, pigs, and the +pigeons who came fluttering about her, confident that they would come to +no harm. Meanwhile her uncle had resumed his restless pacing up and down +the path on which I had first seen him, Codd had returned to his +archaeological studies, and I was alone with Miss Kitwater. We were +standing alone together, I remember, at the gate that separated the +garden from the meadowland. I knew as well as possible, indeed I had +known it since we had met in the churchyard that morning, that she had +something to say to me, something concerning which she had not quite +made up her mind. What it was, however, I fancied I could hazard a very +good guess, but I was determined not to forestall her, but to wait and +let her broach it to me in her own way. This, I fancied, she was now +about to do.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fairfax," she began, resting her clasped hands upon the bar of the +gate as she spoke, "I want, if you will allow me, to have a serious talk +with you. I could not have a better opportunity than the present, and, +such as it is, I want to make the best of it."</p> + +<p>"I am quite at your service, Miss Kitwater," I replied, "and if I can be +of any use to you I hope you will tell me. Pray let me know what I can +do for you?"</p> + +<p>"It is about my uncle and Mr. Codd that I want to speak to you," she +said, sinking her voice a little, as if she were afraid they might hear.</p> + +<p>"And what about them?"</p> + +<p>"I want to be loyal to them, and yet I want to know what you think of +the whole affair," she said, looking intently at me as she spoke. +"Believe me, I have good and sufficient reasons for my request."</p> + +<p>"I am to tell exactly what I think about their pursuit of this man +Hayle? And what chances of success I think they possess?" I said.</p> + +<p>"I am not thinking so much of their success," she returned, "as of the +real nature of their case."</p> + +<p>"I believe I understand what is passing in your mind," I said. "Indeed +I should not be surprised if the suspicion you entertain is not the same +as I have myself."</p> + +<p>"You have been suspicious then?"</p> + +<p>"I could scarcely fail to be," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will tell me what you suspect?"</p> + +<p>"Will you forgive me, in my turn, if I am abrupt, or if I speak my mind +a little too plainly?"</p> + +<p>"You could not do that," she answered with a sigh. "I want to know your +exact thoughts, and then I shall be able to form my own conclusions."</p> + +<p>"Well," I said, "before I begin, may I put one or two questions to you? +You will, of course, remember that I had never seen or heard of your +uncle and Mr. Codd until they stopped me on Ludgate Hill. They were and +practically are strangers to me. I have heard their story of their +treasure, but I have not heard what any one else has to say upon +the subject."</p> + +<p>"I think I understand. Now what are your questions?"</p> + +<p>"In the first place, did your late father ever speak to you of his +brother as being a missionary in China?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head, and from the look upon her face I could see that I +had touched upon something painful. This, at least, was one of the +things that had struck her as suspicious.</p> + +<p>"If he were a missionary, I am quite sure my father did not know it," +she said. "In fact I always understood that he was somewhat of a +scapegrace, and in consequence could never settle down to anything. That +is your first, now what is your second question, Mr. Fairfax?"</p> + +<p>I paused for a moment before I replied.</p> + +<p>"My second partakes more of the nature of an assertion than a question," +I answered. "As I read it, you are more afraid of what may happen should +the two men meet than anything else."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is just what I <i>am</i> afraid of," she replied. "My uncle's +temper is so violent, and his desire for revenge so absorbing, that I +dare not think what would happen if he came into actual contact with +Hayle. Now that I have replied to your questions, will you give me the +answer I want? That is to say will you tell me what you think of the +whole affair?"</p> + +<p>"If you wish it, I will," I said slowly. "You have promised to permit me +to be candid, and I am going to take advantage of that permission. In my +own mind I do not believe the story they tell. I do not believe that +they were ever missionaries, though we have convincing proofs that they +have been in the hands of the Chinese. That Hayle betrayed them I have +not the least doubt, it seems consistent with his character, but where +they obtained the jewels, that are practically the keystones to the +whole affair, I have no more notion than you. They may have been +honestly come by, or they may not. So far as the present case is +concerned that fact is immaterial. There is still, however, one vital +point we have to consider. If the gems in question belong equally to the +three men, each is entitled to his proper share, either of the stones or +of the amounts realized by the sale. That share, as you already know, +would amount to a considerable sum of money. Your uncle, I take it, has +not a penny-piece in the world, and his companion is in the same +destitute condition. Now we will suppose that I find Hayle for them, and +they meet. Does it not seem to you quite possible that your uncle's rage +might lead him to do something desperate, in order to revenge himself +upon the other? But if he could command himself he would probably get +his money? If, on the other hand, they do not meet, then what is to be +done? Forgive me, Miss Kitwater, for prying into your private affairs, +but in my opinion it is manifestly unfair that you should have to +support these two men for the rest of their existences."</p> + +<p>"You surely must see that I would rather do that than let my father's +brother commit a crime," she returned, more earnestly than she had +yet spoken.</p> + +<p>The position was decidedly an awkward one. It was some proof of the +girl's sterling qualities that she should be prepared to make such a +sacrifice for the sake of a man whom it was certainly impossible to +love, and for that reason even to respect. I looked at her with an +admiration in my face that I did not attempt to conceal. I said nothing +by way of praise, however. It would have been an insult to her to have +even hinted at such a thing.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," I said at last, "but there is one thing that must be taken +into consideration. Some day, Miss Kitwater, you may marry, and in that +case your husband might not care about the arrangement you have made. +Such things have happened before now."</p> + +<p>She blushed a rosy red and hesitated before she replied.</p> + +<p>"I do not consider it very likely that I shall ever marry," she +answered. "And even if I did I should certainly not marry a man who +would object to my doing what I consider to be my duty. And now that we +have discussed all this, Mr. Fairfax, what do you think we had better +do? I understood you to say to my uncle that you intend leaving for +Paris to-morrow morning, in order to continue your search for the man +Hayle. Supposing you find him, what will you do then?"</p> + +<p>"In such a case," I said slowly, looking at her all the time, "I should +endeavour to get your uncle's and Codd's share of the treasure from him. +If I am successful, then I shall let him go where he pleases."</p> + +<p>"And supposing you are unsuccessful in obtaining the money or the +gems?"</p> + +<p>"Then I must endeavour to think of some other way," I replied, "but +somehow I do not think I shall be unsuccessful."</p> + +<p>"Nor do I," she answered, looking me full and fair in the face. "I fancy +you know that I believe in you most implicitly, Mr. Fairfax."</p> + +<p>"In that case, do you mind shaking hands upon it?" I said.</p> + +<p>"I will do so with much pleasure," she answered. "You cannot imagine +what a weight you have lifted off my mind. I have been so depressed +about it lately that I have scarcely known what to do. I have lain awake +at night, turning it over and over in my mind, and trying to convince +myself as to what was best to be done. Then my uncle told me you were +coming down here, and I resolved to put the case before you as I have +done and to ask your opinion."</p> + +<p>She gave me her little hand, and I took it and held it in my own. Then I +released it and we strode back along the garden-path together without +another word. The afternoon was well advanced by this time, and when we +reached the summer-house, where Codd was still reading, we found that a +little wicker tea-table had been brought out from the house and that +chairs had been placed for us round it. To my thinking there is nothing +that becomes a pretty woman more than the mere commonplace act of +pouring out tea. It was certainly so in this case. When I looked at the +white cloth upon the table, the heavy brass tray, and the silver jugs +and teapot, and thought of my own cracked earthenware vessel, then +reposing in a cupboard in my office, and in which I brewed my cup of tea +every afternoon, I smiled to myself. I felt that I should never use it +again without recalling this meal. After that I wondered whether it +would ever be my good fortune to sit in this garden again, and to sip my +Orange Pekoe from the same dainty service. The thought that I might not +do so was, strangely enough, an unpleasant one, and I put it from me +with all promptness. During the meal, Kitwater scarcely uttered a word. +We had exhausted the probabilities of the case long since, and I soon +found that he could think or talk of nothing else. At six o'clock I +prepared to make my adieux. My train left Bishopstowe for London at the +half-hour, and I should just have time to walk the distance comfortably. +To my delight my hostess decided to go to church, and said she would +walk with me as far as the lych-gate. She accordingly left us and went +into the house to make her toilet. As soon as she had gone Kitwater +fumbled his way across to where I was sitting, and having discovered a +chair beside me, seated himself in it.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fairfax," said he, "I labour under the fear that you cannot +understand my position. Can you realize what it is like to feel shut up +in the dark, waiting and longing always for only one thing? Could you +not let me come to Paris with you to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"Impossible," I said. "It is out of the question. It could not be +thought of for a moment!"</p> + +<p>"But why not? I can see no difficulty in it?"</p> + +<p>"If for no other reason because it would destroy any chance of my even +getting on the scent. I should be hampered at every turn."</p> + +<p>He heaved a heavy sigh.</p> + +<p>"Blind! blind!" he said with despair in his voice. "But I know that I +shall meet him some day, and when I do----"</p> + +<p>His ferocity was the more terrible by reason of his affliction.</p> + +<p>"Only wait, Mr. Kitwater," I replied. "Wait, and if I can help you, you +shall have your treasure back again. Will you then be satisfied?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll be satisfied," he answered, but with what struck me as almost +reluctance. "Yes, when I have my treasure back again I'll be satisfied, +and so will Codd. In the meantime I'll wait here in the dark, the dark +in which the days and nights are the same. Yes, I'll wait and wait +and wait."</p> + +<p>At that moment Miss Kitwater made her reappearance in the garden, and I +rose to bid my clients farewell.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Mr. Kitwater," I said. "I'll write immediately I reach Paris, +and let you know how I am getting on."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind," Kitwater answered, and Codd nodded his head.</p> + +<p>My hostess and I then set off down the drive to the righ road which we +followed towards the village. It was a perfect evening, and the sun was +setting in the west in a mass of crimson and gold. At first we talked of +various commonplace subjects, but it was not very long before we came +back, as I knew we should do, to the one absorbing topic.</p> + +<p>"There is another thing I want to set right with you, Miss Kitwater," I +said, as we paused upon the bridge to which I have elsewhere referred. +"It is only a small matter. Somehow, however, I feel that I must settle +it, before I can proceed further in the affair with any satisfaction +to myself."</p> + +<p>She looked at me in surprise.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked, "I thought we had settled everything."</p> + +<p>"So far as I can see that is the only matter that remains," I answered. +"Yet it is sufficiently important to warrant my speaking to you about +it. What I want to know is, who I am serving?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think I understand," she said, drawing lines with her umbrella +upon the stone coping of the bridge as she spoke.</p> + +<p>"And yet my meaning is clear," I returned. "What I want to be certain of +is, whether I am serving you or your uncle?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think you are <i>serving</i> either of us," she answered. "You are +helping us to right a great wrong."</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, but that is merely trifling with words. I am going to be +candid once more. You are paying the money, I believe?"</p> + +<p>In some confusion she informed me that this certainly was the case.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, I am certainly your servant," I said. "It is your +interests I shall have to study."</p> + +<p>"I can trust them implicitly to you, I am sure, Mr. Fairfax," she +replied. "And now here we are at the church. If you walk quickly you +will be just in time to catch your train. Let me thank you again for +coming down to-day."</p> + +<p>"It has been a great pleasure to me," I replied. "Perhaps when I return +from Paris you will permit me to come down again to report progress?"</p> + +<p>"We shall be very pleased to see you," she answered. "Now, good-bye, and +a pleasant journey to you!"</p> + +<p>We shook hands and parted. As I passed along the road I watched her +making her way along the avenue towards the church. There was need for +me to shake my head.</p> + +<p>"George Fairfax," said I, "it would require very little of that young +lady's society to enable you to make a fool of yourself."</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p>Unlike so many of my countrymen I am prepared to state that I detest the +French capital. I always make my visits to it as brief as possible, +then, my business completed, off I fly again, seeming to breathe more +freely when I am outside its boundaries. I don't know why this should be +so, for I have always been treated with the utmost courtesy and +consideration by its inhabitants, particularly by those members of the +French Detective Force with whom I have been brought in contact.</p> + +<p>On this visit I crossed with one of the cleverest Parisian detectives, a +man with whom I have had many dealings. He was most anxious to ascertain +the reason of my visit to his country. My assurance that I was not in +search of any one of his own criminals seemed to afford him no sort of +satisfaction. He probably regarded it as an attempt to put him off the +scent, and I fancy he resented it. We reached Paris at seven o'clock, +whereupon I invited him to dine with me at eight o'clock, at a +restaurant we had both patronized on many previous occasions. He +accepted my invitation, and promised to meet me at the time and place I +named. On the platform awaiting our arrival was my man Dickson, to whom +I had telegraphed, ordering him to meet me.</p> + +<p>"Well, Dickson," I said, when I had bade the detective <i>au revoir</i>, +"what about our man?"</p> + +<p>"I've had him under my eye, sir," he answered. "I know exactly what he's +been doing, and where he's staying."</p> + +<p>"That's good news indeed," I replied. "Have you discovered anything else +about him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he returned. "I find that he's struck up a sudden +acquaintance with a lady named Mademoiselle Beaumarais, and that they +are to dine together at the Café des Ambassadeurs to-night. They have +been in and out of half the jewellers' shops in the Rue de la Paix +to-day, and he's spending a mint of money on her."</p> + +<p>"They are dining at the Café des Ambassadeurs to-night, did you say? At +what time?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell you that, sir," Dickson replied. "I only know that they +are to dine there together to-night."</p> + +<p>"And pray how did you find that out?"</p> + +<p>"I made inquiries as to who she was, where she lived, and then pumped +her maid," he answered.</p> + +<p>"You did not do anything that would excite his suspicions, I hope," I +put in. "You ought to know by this time what women are."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, sir, you needn't be afraid," he said. "I was too careful for +that. The maid and I are on very friendly terms. She believes me to be a +Russian, and I've not denied it."</p> + +<p>"It would be safest not to do so," I replied. "If she discovers that you +are an Englishman, she might chance to mention the fact to her mistress. +She would doubtless let it fall in conversation with him, and then all +our trouble would be useless. You speak Russian, do you not?"</p> + +<p>"Only pretty well, sir," he answered. "I should be soon bowled out if I +came in contact with a real one."</p> + +<p>"Well, I think I will be somewhere near the Café des Ambassadeurs +to-night just to make sure of my man. After that I'll tell you what +to do next."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir," he returned. "I suppose you will be staying at the +same place?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the same place," I replied. "If you have anything to communicate, +you can either call, or send word to me there."</p> + +<p>I thereupon departed for the quiet house at which I usually take up my +abode when in Paris. The big hotels are places I steer clear of, for the +simple reason that I often have business in connection with them, and it +does not pay me to become too well known. At this little house I can go +out and come in just as I please, have my meals at any time of the day +or night, and am as well cared for as at my own abode in London. On this +occasion the old lady of the house greeted me with flattering +enthusiasm. She had received my telegram, she said, and my usual room +awaited me. I accordingly ascended to it in order to dress myself for +the dinner of the evening, and as I did so, thought of the pretty +bedroom I had seen on the previous day, which naturally led me to think +of the owner of the house, at that moment my employer. In my mind's eye +I could see her just as she had stood on that old stone bridge at +Bishopstowe, with the sunset behind her and the church bells sounding +across the meadows, calling the villagers to evensong. How much better +it was, I argued, to be standing talking to her there in that old world +peace, than to be dressing for a dinner at an up-to-date French +restaurant. My toilet completed, I descended to the street, hired a +<i>fiacre</i>, and drove to the restaurant where I had arranged to meet my +friend. The place in question is neither an expensive nor a fashionable +one. It has no halls of mirrors, no dainty little cabinets, but, to my +thinking, you can obtain the best dinner in all Paris there. On reaching +it I found my guest had been the first to arrive. We accordingly +ascended the stairs to the room above, where we selected our table and +sat down. My companion was a witty little man with half the languages of +Europe on his tongue, and a knowledge of all the tricks and dodges of +all the criminal fraternity at his finger-ends. He has since written a +book on his experiences, and a stranger volume, or one more replete with +a knowledge of the darker side of human nature it would be difficult to +find. He had commenced his professional career as a doctor, and like +myself had gradually drifted into the detective profession. Among other +things he was an inimitable hand at disguising himself, as many a +wretched criminal now knows to his cost. Even I, who know him so well, +have been taken in by him. I have given alms to a blind beggar in the +streets, have encountered him as a <i>chiffonier</i> prowling about the +gutters, have sat next to him on an omnibus when he has been clothed as +an artisan in a blue blouse, and on not one of those occasions have I +ever recognized him until he made himself known to me. Among other +things he was a decided epicure, and loved a good dinner as well as any +of his compatriots. Could you but see him with his napkin tucked under +his chin, his little twinkling eyes sparkling with mirth, and his face +wreathed in smiles, you would declare him to be one of the +jolliest-looking individuals you have ever encountered. See him, +however, when he is on business and has a knotty problem to solve, and +you will find a different man. The mouth has become one of iron, the +eyes are as fierce as fierce can be. Some one, I remember, likened him +to the great Napoleon, and the description is an exceedingly apt one.</p> + +<p>"By the way," I said, as we took a peep into our second bottle of +Perrier-Jouet, "there is a question I want to put to you. Do you happen +to be acquainted with a certain Mademoiselle Beaumarais?"</p> + +<p>"I have known her for more years than she or I would care to remember," +he answered. "For a woman who has led the life she has, she wears +uncommonly well. A beautiful creature! The very finest shoulders in all +Paris, and that is saying something."</p> + +<p>He blew a kiss off the tips of his fingers, and raised his glass in her +honour.</p> + +<p>"I drink to her in this noble wine, but I do not let her touch my money. +Oh no, <i>la belle Louise</i> is a clever woman, a very clever woman, but +money trickles through her fingers like water through a sieve. Let me +think for a moment. She ruined the Marquis D'Esmai, the Vicomte +Cotforét, Monsieur D'Armier, and many others whose names I cannot now +recall. The first is with our noble troops in Cochin China, the second +is in Algeria, and the third I know not where, and now I have learnt +since my arrival in Paris that she has got hold of a young Englishman, +who is vastly wealthy. She will have all he has got very soon, and then +he will begin the world anew. You are interested in that Englishman, +of course?"</p> + +<p>"How do you know that?"</p> + +<p>"Because you question me about Mademoiselle Beaumarais," he answered. "A +good many people have asked me about her at different times, but it is +always the man they want to get hold of. You, my astute Fairfax, are +interested in the man, not because you want to save him from her, but +because he has done a little something which he should not have done +elsewhere. The money he is lavishing on Mademoiselle Louise, whence does +it come? Should I be very wrong if I suggested gems?"</p> + +<p>I gave a start of surprise. How on earth did he guess this?</p> + +<p>"Yes! I see I'm right," he answered with a little laugh. "Well, I knew +it a long time ago. Ah, you are astonished! You should surely never +allow yourself to be surprised by anything. Now I will tell you how I +come to know about the gems. Some time ago a certain well-known lady of +this city lost her jewel-case in a mysterious manner. The affair was +placed in my hands, and when I had exhausted Paris, I went to Amsterdam, +<i>en route</i> if necessary for London. You know our old friends, Levenstein +and Schartzer?"</p> + +<p>I nodded. I had had dealings with that firm on many occasions.</p> + +<p>"Well, as I went into their office, I saw the gentleman who has been +paying his attentions to the lady we have been discussing, come out. I +have an excellent memory for faces, and when I saw him to-night entering +the Café des Ambassadeurs, I recognized him immediately. Thus the +mystery is explained."</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands apart, like a conjurer +who has just vanished a rabbit or an orange.</p> + +<p>"Has the man of whom we are speaking done very wrong?" he inquired.</p> + +<p>"The stones he sold in London and Amsterdam belonged to himself and his +two partners," I answered. "He has not given them their share of the +transaction. That is all."</p> + +<p>"They had better be quick about it then, or they are not likely to get +anything. It would be a very big sum that would tempt <i>la belle Louise</i> +to be faithful for a long period. If your employers really desire to +punish him, and they are not in want of money, I should say do not let +them interfere. She will then <i>nibble-nibble</i> at what he has got like a +mouse into a store of good things. Then presently that store will be all +gone, and then she will give him up, and he, the man, will go out and +shoot himself, and she will pick up somebody else, and will begin to +nibble-nibble just as before. As I say, there will be somebody else, and +somebody else, right up to the end of the chapter. And with every one +she will grow just an imperceptible bit older. By and by the wrinkles +will appear; I fancy there are just one or two already. Then she will +not be so fastidious about her hundred of thousand francs, and will +condescend to think of mere thousands. After that it will come to simple +hundreds. Then there will be an interval—after which a garret, a +charcoal brazier, and the Morgue. I have known so many, and it is always +the same. First, the diamonds, the champagne, the exquisite little +dinners at the best restaurants, and at last the brazier, the closed +doors and windows, and the cold stone slab. There is a moral in it, my +dear friend, but we will not look for it to-night. When do you intend to +commence business with your man?"</p> + +<p>"At once," I answered. "He knows that I am after him and my only fear is +that he will make a bolt. I cannot understand why he is dallying in +Paris so long?"</p> + +<p>"For the simple reason that he is confident he has put you off the +scent," was my companion's reply. "He is doing the one foolish thing the +criminal always does sooner or later; that is to say, he is becoming +over-confident of his own powers to elude us. You and I, my friend, +should be able to remember several such instances. Now, strange to say, +I came across a curious one the other day. Would you care to hear it?"</p> + +<p>He lit a cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke while he waited for my +answer.</p> + +<p>"Very much," I said, being well aware that his stories were always worth +hearing.</p> + +<p>"This is a somewhat remarkable case," he said. "I will mention no names, +but doubtless you can read between the lines. There was a man who +murdered his wife in order that he might marry another woman. The +thought which he gave to it, and the clever manner in which he laid his +plans, not only for the murder, but also for the disposal of the body, +marked him as a criminal in the possession of a singularly brilliant +intellect. He gave no hint to anybody, but left the country without +leaving the faintest clue concerning his destination behind him. I was +called in to take over the case, but after some consideration could make +nothing of it. I have no objection to admitting that I was completely +baffled. Now it so happened that I discovered that the man's mother was +of Irish extraction. He, believing that he would be safe on that island, +engaged a passage on board a steamer from Havre to Belfast. She was to +pick up at Southampton, Plymouth, and Bristol, <i>en route</i>. My man, who, +by the way, was a very presentable person, and could be distinctly +sociable when he pleased, endeavoured to make himself agreeable to the +passengers on board. On the first evening out of port, the conversation +turned upon the value of diamonds, and one of the ladies on board +produced some costly stones she happened to have in her possession. The +murderer, who, you must understand, was quite safe, was unhappily eaten +up with vanity. He could not forego the boast that he was the possessor +of a magnificent ring, which had been given him by the ex-Emperor +Napoleon III. Needless to say this information excited considerable +interest, and he was asked to produce it for the general edification.</p> + +<p>"He declared that it was too late to do so that evening, but said that he +would do so on the morrow, or, at any rate, before he left the vessel. +In the excitement of reaching Southampton the matter was for the moment +forgotten, but on the day that they arrived in Plymouth one of the lady +passengers reminded him of his promise. This was followed by another +application. Thus surrounded, the unhappy man found himself in the +unpleasant position of being discovered in the perpetration of an +untruth, or of being compelled to invent some feasible tale in order to +account for his not being able to produce the ring. It was at this +juncture that he made his great mistake. Anxious, doubtless, to attract +attention, he returned from his cabin with the astounding declaration +that the lock had been forced, and the famous ring stolen from his trunk +in which it had lain concealed. He certainly acted his part well, but he +did not realize to what consequences it would lead. The matter was +reported to the police, and a search was made through the vessel. The +passengers were naturally indignant at such treatment, and for the rest +of the voyage the man found himself taking, what you English 'call the +cold shoulder.' He reached Belfast, made his way into the country, and +presently settled down. Later on, when the pursuit had died down, it +was his intention to ship for America, where he was to be joined by the +woman, to obtain whom he had in the first place committed the crime. Now +observe the result. Photographs of the missing man and the murdered +woman were circulated all through France, while not a few were sent to +England. One of these pictures reached Plymouth, where it was shown to +the officer who had investigated the case on the boat on its way to +Ireland. He immediately recognized the man who had made the charge +against his fellow-passengers. After that it was easy to trace him to +Belfast and his hiding-place on land. Extradition was, of course, +granted, and he left the place. Had he not imagined that in his safety +he could indulge his vanities, I confidently believe I should never have +found him. When you come to think of it, it is hard to come to the +guillotine for a diamond that never existed, is it not?"</p> + +<p>I agreed with him, and then suggested that we should amuse ourselves by +endeavouring to find out how the dinner at the Café des Ambassadeurs was +progressing.</p> + +<p>"They will proceed to a theatre afterwards, you may be sure," my +companion said. "In that case, if you like we could catch a glimpse of +them as they come out. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>I answered that I had not the least objection.</p> + +<p>"One night does not make much difference. To-morrow morning I shall make +a point of meeting him face to face."</p> + +<p>"Should you require my assistance then, I shall be most pleased to give +it to you?" my companion replied.</p> + +<p>I thanked him for his offer, and then we left the restaurant together, +hailed a cab, and drove to his flat. It consisted of four rooms situated +at the top of a lofty block of buildings near the river. From his +windows he could look out over Paris, and he was wont to declare that +the view he received in exchange was the most beautiful in the world. +Fine as it was, I was scarcely so enthusiastic in my praise.</p> + +<p>Among other things they were remarkable for the simplicity of their +furniture, and also for the fact that in the sitting-room there was +nothing to reveal the occupation of their owner. His clever old servant, +Susanne, of whom 'twas said she would, did she but choose, make as +clever a detective as her master (she had served him for more than forty +years), brought us coffee so quickly that it would almost seem as if she +had been aware that we should reach the house at that particular moment.</p> + +<p>"We have plenty of time to spare," said my host. "In the meantime it +will be necessary for us to find out what they are doing. If you will +wait I will despatch a messenger, who will procure us the information."</p> + +<p>He wrote something on a half-sheet of note-paper, rang the bell, and +handed it to Susanne.</p> + +<p>"Give that to Leon," he said, "and tell him to be off with it at once."</p> + +<p>The woman disappeared, and when she had gone we resumed our +conversation. Had he not had the good fortune to be such a great success +in his own profession, what an admirable actor the man would have made! +His power of facial contortion was extraordinary, and I believe that on +demand he could have imitated almost any face that struck his fancy.</p> + +<p>"And now with regard to our little excursion," he said. "What would you +like to be? As you are aware, I can offer you a varied selection. Will +you be a workman, a pedlar, an elderly gentleman from the Provinces, or +a street beggar?"</p> + +<p>"I think the elderly gentleman from the Provinces would suit me best," I +answered, "while it will not necessitate a change of dress."</p> + +<p>"Very good then, so it shall be," he replied. "We'll be a couple of +elderly gentlemen in Paris for the first time. Let me conduct you to my +dressing-room, where you will find all that is necessary for +your make-up."</p> + +<p>He thereupon showed me to a room leading out of that in which we had +hitherto been sitting. It was very small, and lighted by means of a +skylight. Indeed, it was that very skylight, so he always declared, that +induced him to take the flat.</p> + +<p>"If this room looked out over the back, or front, it would have been +necessary for me either to have curtains, which I abominate, or to run +the risk of being observed, which would have been far worse," he had +remarked to me once. "Needless to say there are times when I find it +most necessary that my preparations should not be suspected."</p> + +<p>Taken altogether, it was a room that had a strange fascination for me. I +had been in it many times before, but was always able to discover +something new in it. It was a conglomeration of cupboards and shelves. A +large variety of costumes hung upon the pegs in the walls, ranging from +soldier's uniforms to beggar's rags. There were wigs of all sorts and +descriptions on blocks, pads of every possible order and for every part +of the body, humps for hunchbacks, wooden legs, boots ranging from the +patent leather of the dandy to the toeless foot-covering of the beggar. +There were hats in abundance, from the spotless silk to the most +miserable head coverings, some of which looked as if they had been +picked up from the rubbish-heap. There were pedlars' trays fitted with +all and every sort of ware, a faro-table, a placard setting forth the +fact that the renowned Professor Somebody or Other was a most remarkable +phrenologist and worthy of a visit. In fact there was no saying what +there was not there. Everything that was calculated to be useful to him +in his profession was to be found in the room.</p> + +<p>For my own part I am not fond of disguises. Indeed on only two or three +occasions, during the whole course of my professional career, have I +found it necessary to conceal my identity. But to this wily little +Frenchman disguise was, as often as not, a common occurrence.</p> + +<p>Half-an-hour later, two respectable elderly gentlemen, looking more like +professors from some eminent <i>Lycée</i> than detectives, left the house and +proceeded in the direction of the Folly Theatre. The performance was +almost at an end when we reached it, and we mingled with the crowd who +had assembled to watch the audience come out. The inquiries we had made +proved to be correct, and it was not very long before I saw the man I +wanted emerge, accompanied by a female, who could be no other than +Mademoiselle Beaumarais. Hayle was in immaculate evening dress, and as I +could not but admit, presented a handsome figure to the world. A neat +little brougham drew up beside the pavement in its turn, and into this +they stepped. Then the door was closed upon them, and the carriage +drove away.</p> + +<p>"That's my man," I said to my companion, as we watched it pass out of +sight. "To-morrow morning I shall pay him a little visit. I think you +were quite right in what you said about the money. That woman must have +made a fairly big hole in it already."</p> + +<p>"You may be quite sure of that," he answered. "When she has finished +with him there will not be much left for anybody else."</p> + +<p>"And now to get these things off and then home to bed. To-morrow will in +all probability prove an exciting day."</p> + +<p>I accompanied him to his room and removed the disguise which had enabled +me to see Hayle without his being aware of my identity, and then, +bidding my friend good-night, returned to my abode. Before I went to +bed, however, I sat down and wrote a report of my doings for Miss +Kitwater. Little as I had to tell, the writing of this letter gave me +considerable pleasure. I could imagine it coming like a breath from +another world to that quiet house at Bishopstowe. I pictured the girl's +face as she read it, and the strained attention of the two men, who, +needless to say, would hang on every word. When I had finished it I went +to bed, to dream that Gideon Hayle and I were swimming a race in the +Seine for five gigantic rubies which were to be presented to the winner +by Miss Kitwater.</p> + +<p>Next morning I arose early, went for a stroll along the Boulevards, and +returned to breakfast at eight o'clock. In the matter of my breakfasts +in Paris, I am essentially English. I must begin the day with a good +meal, or I am fit for nothing. On this particular occasion I sat down on +the best of terms with myself and the world in general. I made an +excellent meal, did the best I could with the morning paper, for my +French is certainly not above reproach, and then wondered when I should +set out to interview the man whose flight from England had proved the +reason of my visiting Paris. Then the door opened and the <i>concierge</i> +entered with the words, "A gentleman to see Monsieur!" Next moment to my +overwhelming surprise no less a person than Gideon Hayle entered +the room.</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p>At the moment that I saw Hayle enter my room, you might, as the saying +goes, have knocked me down with a feather. Of all that could possibly +have happened, this was surely the most unexpected! The man had +endeavoured to get me out of his way in London, he had played all sorts +of tricks upon me in order to put me off the scent, he had bolted from +England because he knew I was searching for him, yet here he was +deliberately seeking me out, and of his own free will putting his head +into the lion's mouth. It was as astounding as it was inexplicable.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Mr. Fairfax," he said, bowing most politely to me as he +spoke. "I hope you will forgive this early call. I only discovered your +address an hour ago, and as I did not wish to run the risk of losing you +I came on at once."</p> + +<p>"You appeared to be fairly desirous of doing so last week," I said. +"What has occurred to make you change your mind so suddenly?"</p> + +<p>"A variety of circumstances have conspired to bring such a result +about," he answered. "I have been thinking the matter over, and not +being able to determine the benefit of this hole-and-corner sort of +game, I have made up my mind to settle it once and for all."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you have come to that way of thinking," I said. "It will save +us both an infinity of trouble. You understand, of course, that I +represent Messrs. Kitwater and Codd."</p> + +<p>"I am well aware of it," he replied, "and in common fairness to +yourself, I can only say that I am sorry to hear it."</p> + +<p>"May I ask why you are sorry?"</p> + +<p>"Because you have the honour to represent the biggest pair of scoundrels +unhung," he answered. "And in saying this, I pledge you my word that I +am by no means overstepping the mark. I have known them both for a great +many years and can therefore speak from experience."</p> + +<p>Before going further with him I was desirous of convincing myself upon +one point.</p> + +<p>"You knew them, then, when they were missionaries in China, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"That's the first time I have ever heard what they were," he replied. +"Kitwater a missionary! You must forgive my laughing, but the idea is +too ludicrous. I'll admit he's done a considerable amount of converting, +but it has been converting other people's money into his own pockets."</p> + +<p>He laughed at his own bad joke, and almost instantly grew serious once +more. He was quite at his ease, and, though he must have known that I +was familiar with the story, or supposed story of his villainy, seemed +in no way ashamed.</p> + +<p>"Now, Mr. Fairfax," he went on, "I know that you are surprised to see me +this morning, but I don't think you will be when we have had a little +talk together. First and foremost you have been told the story of the +stones I possess?"</p> + +<p>"I have heard Mr. Kitwater's version of it," I answered cautiously. "I +know that you robbed my clients of them and then disappeared!"</p> + +<p>"I did not <i>rob</i> them of the stones," he said, not in the least offended +by the bluntness of my speech. "It is plain that you do not know how we +obtained them. Perhaps it's as well that you should not, for there's +more behind, and you'd go and get them. No! We obtained them honestly +enough at a certain place, and I was appointed to carry them. For this +reason I secured them in a belt about my waist. That night the Chinese +came down upon us and made us prisoners. They murdered our two native +servants, blinded Kitwater, and cut out Codd's tongue. I alone managed +to effect my escape. Leaving my two companions for dead, I managed to +get away into the jungle. Good Heavens! man, you can't imagine what I +suffered after that."</p> + +<p>I looked at him and saw that his face had grown pale at the mere +recollection of his experiences.</p> + +<p>"At last I reached the British outpost of Nampoung, on the +Burmah-Chinese border, where the officers took me in and played the +part of the good Samaritan. When I was well enough to travel, I made my +way down to Rangoon, where, still believing my late companions to be +dead, I shipped for England."</p> + +<p>"As Mr. George Bertram," I said quietly. "Why under an assumed name +when, according to your story, you had nothing to fear?"</p> + +<p>"Because I had good and sufficient reason for so doing," he replied. +"You must remember that I had a quarter of a million's worth of precious +stones in my possession, and, well, to put it bluntly, up to that time I +had been living what you might call a make-shift sort of life. For the +future I told myself I was going to be a rich man. That being so I +wanted to start with a clean sheet. You can scarcely blame me!"</p> + +<p>I did not answer him on this point, but continued my cross-examination.</p> + +<p>"You reached London, and sold some of the stones there, later on you +disposed of some more in Amsterdam. Why did you refuse the dealers your +name and address?"</p> + +<p>Once more he was quite equal to the occasion.</p> + +<p>"Because if I had told them, everybody would have got to know it, and, +to be perfectly frank with you, I could not feel quite certain that +Kitwater and Codd were really dead."</p> + +<p>"By that I am to presume that you intended if possible to swindle them +out of their share?" I asked, not a little surprised by his admission.</p> + +<p>"Once more, to be quite frank with you, I did. I have no desire to be +rude, but I rather fancy you would have done the same had you been +similarly situated. I never was much of a success in the moral +business."</p> + +<p>I could well believe this, but I did not tell him so.</p> + +<p>"When did you first become aware that they were in London?"</p> + +<p>"On the day that they landed," he answered. "I watched every ship that +came in from Rangoon, and at last had the doubtful satisfaction of +seeing my two old friends pass out of the dock-gates. Poor beggars, they +had indeed had a hard time of it."</p> + +<p>"Then you could pity them? Even while you were robbing them?"</p> + +<p>"Why not," he answered. "There was no reason because I had the stones +that I should not feel sorry for the pain they had suffered. I had to +remember how near I'd been to it myself."</p> + +<p>This speech sounded very pretty though somewhat illogical.</p> + +<p>"And pray how did you know that they had called in my assistance?"</p> + +<p>"Because I kept my eyes on them. I know Mr. Kitwater of old, you see. I +watched them go into your office and come out from a shop on the other +side of the street."</p> + +<p>The whole mystery was now explained. What an amount of trouble I should +have been spared had I only known this before?</p> + +<p>"You did not approve then of my being imported into the case?"</p> + +<p>"I distinctly disapproved," he answered. "I know your reputation, of +course, and I began to see that if you took up their case for them I +should in all probability have to climb down."</p> + +<p>"It is doubtless for that reason you called upon me, representing +yourself to be Mr. Bayley, Managing Director of that South American +Mining Company? I can now quite understand your motive. You wanted to +get me out of the way in order that I might not hunt you? Is that +not so?"</p> + +<p>"You hit the nail upon the head exactly. But you were virtuous, and +would not swallow the bait. It would have simplified matters from my +point of view if you had. I should not have been compelled to waste my +money upon those two roughs, nor would you have spent an exceedingly +uncomfortable quarter of an hour in that doorway in Holywell street."</p> + +<p>This was news indeed. So he had been aware of my presence there? I put +the question to him.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Yes! I knew you were there," he said with a laugh. "And I can tell +you I did not like the situation one bit. As a matter of fact I found +that it required all my nerve to pretend that I did not know it. Every +moment I expected you to come out and speak to me. I can assure you the +failure of my plot was no end of a disappointment to me. I had expected +to see the men I had sent after you, and instead I found you myself."</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, Mr. Hayle, if I cannot appreciate your actions I must say +I admire your candour. I can also add that in a fairly long experience +of—of----"</p> + +<p>"Why not say <i>of criminals</i> at once, Mr. Fairfax?" he asked with a +smile. "I assure you I shall not be offended. We have both our own views +on this question, and you of course are entitled to air yours if it +pleases you. You were about to observe that----"</p> + +<p>"That in all my experience I had never met any one who could so calmly +own to an attempt to murder a fellow-being. But supposing we now come to +business."</p> + +<p>"With all my heart," he answered. "I am as anxious as yourself to get +everything settled. You will admit that it is rather hard lines on a man +who can lay his hands upon a quarter of a million of money, to have a +gentleman like yourself upon his trail, and, instead of being able to +enjoy himself, to be compelled to remain continually in hiding. I am an +individual who likes to make the most of his life. I also enjoy the +society of my fellow-men."</p> + +<p>"May we not substitute 'woman'?" I asked. "I am afraid your quarter of a +million would not last very long if you had much to do with Mademoiselle +Beaumarais."</p> + +<p>"So you have heard of her, have you?" he answered. "But you need have no +fear. Dog does not eat dog, and that charming lady will not despoil me +of very much! Now to another matter! What amount do you think your +clients would feel inclined to take in full settlement of their +claim upon me?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot say," I answered. "How many of the gems have you realized +upon?"</p> + +<p>"There were ninety-three originally," he said when he had consulted his +pocket-book, "and I have sold sixty, which leaves a balance of +thirty-three, all of which are better than any I have yet disposed of. +Will your clients be prepared to accept fifty thousand pounds, of +course, given without prejudice."</p> + +<p>"Your generosity amazes me," I answered. "My clients, your partners, are +to take twenty-five thousand pounds apiece, while you get off, +scot-free, after your treatment of them, with two hundred thousand."</p> + +<p>"They may consider themselves lucky to get anything at all," he +retorted. "Run your eye over the case, and see how it stands. You must +know as well as I do that they haven't a leg to stand upon. If I wanted +to be nasty, I should say let them prove that they have a right to the +stones. They can't call in the assistance of the law----"</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because to get even with me it would be necessary for them to make +certain incriminating admissions, and to call certain evidence that +would entail caustic remarks from a learned judge, and would not +improbably lead to a charge of murder being preferred against them. No, +Mr. Fairfax, I know my own business, and, what is better, I know theirs. +If they like to take fifty thousand pounds, and will retire into +obscurity upon it, I will pay it to them, always through you. But I +won't see either of them, and I won't pay a halfpenny more than I +have offered."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to tell me that you are in earnest?"</p> + +<p>"I am quite in earnest," he answered. "I never was more so. Will you +place my offer before them, or will you not?"</p> + +<p>"I will write and also wire them to-day," I said. "But I think I know +exactly what they will say."</p> + +<p>"Point out the applicability of the moral concerning the bird in the +hand. If they don't take what they can get now, the time may come when +there may be nothing at all. I never was a very patient man, and I can +assure you most confidentially, that I am about tired of this game."</p> + +<p>"But how am I to know that this is not another trick on your part, and +that you won't be clearing out of Paris within a few hours? I should +present a sorry picture if my clients were to accept your generous +offer, and I had to inform them that you were not on hand to back +it up."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you needn't be afraid about that," he said with a laugh. "I am not +going to bilk you. Provided you play fair by me, I will guarantee to do +the same by you. With the advantages I at present enjoy, I am naturally +most anxious to know that I can move about Europe unmolested. Besides, +you can have me watched, and so make sure of me. There is that beautiful +myrmidon of yours, who is so assiduously making love to Mademoiselle +Beaumarais's maid. Give him the work."</p> + +<p>I was more than surprised to find that he knew about this business. He +saw it, and uttered one of his peculiar laughs.</p> + +<p>"He didn't think I knew it," he said. "But I did! His cleverness is a +little too marked. He overacts his parts, and even Shakespeare will tell +you how foolish a proceeding that is. If you doubt my word concerning my +stay in Paris, let him continue to watch me. You know where I am living, +and for that reason you can come and see me whenever you like. As a +proof of my sincerity, may I suggest that you give me the pleasure of +your company at dinner to-night. Oh, you needn't be afraid. I'm not a +Cæsar Borgia. I shall not poison your meat, and your wine will not be +drugged. It will be rather a unique experience, detective and criminal +dining together, will it not? What do you say?"</p> + +<p>The opportunity was so novel, that I decided to embrace it. Why should I +not do so since it was a very good excuse for keeping my man in sight? +He could scarcely play me any tricks at a fashionable restaurant, and I +was certainly curious to study another side of this man's complex +character. I accordingly accepted his invitation, and promised to meet +him at the well-known restaurant he named that evening.</p> + +<p>"In the meantime you will telegraph to your clients, I suppose," he +said. "You may be able to give me their reply this evening when +we meet."</p> + +<p>"I shall hope to be in a position to do so," I answered, after which he +bade me good-bye, and picking up his hat and stick left the room.</p> + +<p>"Well," I said to myself when I was alone once more, "this is the most +extraordinary case upon which I have ever been engaged. My respect for +Mr. Hayle's readiness of resource, to say nothing of his impudence, is +increasing by leaps and bounds. The man is not to be met every day who +can rob his partners of upwards of a hundred and seventy thousand +pounds, and then invite the detective who is sent after him to a +friendly dinner."</p> + +<p>I sat down and wrote a letter to Miss Kitwater, telling her all that +had occurred; then went out to despatch it with a telegram to Kitwater +himself, informing him of the offer Hayle had made. I could guess the +paroxysm of rage into which it would throw him, and I would willingly +have spared his niece the pain such an exhibition must cause her. I +could see no other way out of it, however. The message having been +despatched, I settled myself down to wait for a reply, with all the +patience I could command. In my own mind I knew very well what it would +be. It was not so much the money that Kitwater wanted, as revenge. That +Hayle's most miserable offer would only increase his desire for it, I +felt certain. Shortly after three o'clock, the reply arrived. It was +short, and to the point, and ran as follows—</p> + +<p>"Tell him I will have all or nothing."</p> + +<p>Here was a nice position for a man to find himself in. Instead of +solving the difficulty we had only increased it. I wondered what Hayle +would say when he heard the news, and what his next step would be. That +he would endeavour to bolt again, I felt quite certain. It was a point +in my favour, however, that he would not know until the evening what +Kitwater's decision was, so I felt I had still some time to arrange my +plan of action. Of one thing I was quite determined, and that was that +he should be watched day and night from that minute, but not by Mr. +Dickson. That worthy I bade return to England, and his rage on +discovering that Mademoiselle Beaumarais's maid had tricked him, would +have been amusing to witness, had the principal event in which I was +most concerned not been so grave. The expressions he used about her were +certainly far from being complimentary.</p> + +<p>Feeling that I must have other assistance, I set off for my friend +Leglosse's residence. I had the good fortune to meet him by the +<i>concierge's</i> lodge, and we ascended the stairs to his rooms together.</p> + +<p>"I have come to ask you to do me a favour," I said, when we were seated +in his sitting-room.</p> + +<p>"A thousand favours if you wish, <i>cher ami</i>," the old fellow replied. +"Tell me how I can have the pleasure of serving you."</p> + +<p>"I want you to lend me one of your men for a few days," I said. "I have +to send my own man back to England, and I am afraid the gentleman we +were discussing last night may give me the slip in the meantime if I'm +not careful."</p> + +<p>The better to enable him to appreciate the position, I furnished him +with a brief summary of the case upon which I was engaged.</p> + +<p>"And so you are to dine with your prisoner to-night?" he remarked, with +one of his quiet chuckles. "That is droll—very droll. It is very good +for you that it is at such a place, or I should have my doubts as to the +rascal's intentions. But you are well able to take care of yourself, my +friend; that I know."</p> + +<p>"And the man?"</p> + +<p>"You shall have him. You shall have half-a-dozen if you like. I am only +too pleased to be able to help in such a good work. You shall have +Pierre Lepallard, my right-hand. I cannot give you a better. Nothing +escapes Pierre, and he is discreet, oh, yes, my friend, he is discreet. +He will not obtrude himself, but he will know all that your friend does, +to whom he speaks, what he said to him, and sometimes even what he +intends doing before he does it."</p> + +<p>"In that case he is just the man for me," I replied. "I am exceedingly +obliged to you for your considerate courtesy. Some day I may be able to +repay it."</p> + +<p>Within half-an-hour the estimable Lepallard had been made acquainted +with his duties, and within an hour a ragged tatterdemalion of a man was +selling matches on the opposite side of the road to that on which +Hayle's apartments were situated.</p> + +<p>I reached the restaurant at which we were to dine that evening punctual +to the moment, only to find that Hayle had not yet arrived. For a minute +I was tempted to wonder whether he had given me the slip again, but +while the thought was passing through my mind a cab drove up, and the +gentleman himself alighted.</p> + +<p>"I must beg your pardon for keeping you waiting," he said +apologetically. "As your host I should have been here first. That would +have been the case had I not been detained at the last moment by an old +friend. Pray forgive me!"</p> + +<p>I consented to do so, and we entered the restaurant together.</p> + +<p>I discovered that he had already engaged a table, arranged the <i>menu</i>, +and bespoken the wines. We accordingly sat down, and the strangest meal +of which I had ever partaken commenced. Less than a week before, the man +sitting in front of me had endeavoured to bring about my destruction; +now he was my host, and to all outward appearances my friend as well. I +found him a most agreeable companion, a witty conversationalist, and a +born <i>raconteur</i>. He seemed to have visited every part of the known +globe; had been a sailor, a revolutionist in South America, a +blackbirder in the Pacific, had seen something of what he called the +"Pig-tail trade" to Borneo, some very queer life in India, that is to +say, in the comparatively unknown native states and had come within an +ace of having been shot by the French during the war in Madagascar.</p> + +<p>"In point of fact," he said, "I may say that I have travelled from Dan +to Beersheba, and, until I struck this present vein of good fortune, had +found all barren. Some day, if I can summon up sufficient courage, I +shall fit out an expedition and return to the place whence the stones +came, and get some more, but not just at present. Events have been a +little too exciting there of late to let us consider it a healthy +country. By the way, have you heard from our friend, Kitwater, yet?"</p> + +<p>"I have," I answered, "and his reply is by no means satisfactory."</p> + +<p>"I understand you to mean that he will not entertain my offer?"</p> + +<p>I nodded my head.</p> + +<p>"He must have 'all or nothing,' he declares. That is the wording of the +telegram I received."</p> + +<p>"Well, he knows his own affairs best. The difference is a large one, and +will materially affect his income. Will you take Crême de Minthe—Kümmel +or Cognac?"</p> + +<p>"Cognac, thank you," I replied, and that was the end of the matter.</p> + +<p>During the remainder of the evening not another word was said upon the +subject. We chatted upon a variety of topics, but neither the matter of +the precious stones nor even Kitwater's name was once mentioned. I could +not help fancying, however, that the man was considerably disappointed +at the non-acceptance of his preposterous offer. He had made a move on +the board, and had lost it. I knew him well enough, however, by this +time to feel sure that he by no means despaired yet of winning the game. +Men of Gideon Hayle's stamp are hard to beat.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, when we had smoked our cigarettes, and after he had +consulted his watch, "The night is still young. What do you say if we +pay a visit to a theatre—the Hippodrome, for instance. We might wile +away an hour there very pleasantly if you feel so disposed."</p> + +<p>I willingly consented, and we accordingly left the restaurant. Once we +were in the street Hayle called a cab, gave the man his instructions, +and we entered it. Chatting pleasantly, and still smoking, we passed +along the brilliantly illuminated Boulevards. I bestowed little, if any, +attention on the direction in which we were proceeding. Indeed, it would +have been difficult to have done so for never during the evening had +Hayle been so agreeable. A more charming companion no man could have +desired. It was only on chancing to look out of the window that that I +discovered that we were no longer in the gaily-lighted thoroughfares, +but were entering another and dingier part of the town.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with the driver?" I asked. "Doesn't he know what he +is about? This is not the way to the Hippodrome! He must have +misunderstood what you said to him. Shall I hail him and point out +his mistake?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't think it is necessary for you to do that," he replied. +"Doubtless he will be on the right track in a few minutes. He probably +thinks if he gives us a longer ride, he will be able to charge a +proportionately larger fare at the end. The Parisian cabby is very like +his London brother."</p> + +<p>He then proceeded to describe to me an exceedingly funny adventure that +had fallen him once in Chicago. The recital lasted some minutes, and all +the time we were still pursuing our way in a direction exactly opposite +to that which I knew we should be following. At last I could stand it +no longer.</p> + +<p>"The man's obviously an idiot," I said, "and I am going to tell him so."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't do that, Mr. Fairfax," said Hayle in a different voice to +that in which he had previously addressed me. "I had my own reasons for +not telling you before, but the matter has already been arranged. The +man is only carrying out his instructions."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by already arranged?" I asked, not without some alarm.</p> + +<p>"I mean that you are my prisoner, Mr. Fairfax," he said. "You see, you +are rather a difficult person to deal with, if I must pay you such a +compliment, and one has to adopt heroic measures in order to cope +with you."</p> + +<p>"Then you've been humbugging me all this time," I cried; "but you've let +the cat out of the bag a little too soon. I think I'll bid you +good-bye."</p> + +<a name="Fig07"></a> +<div class="figure"> + <img src="images/Fig07.png" height="588" width="400" alt=""><br> + <p class="caption">"IN HIS HAND HE HELD A REVOLVER."</p> +</div> +<br> + +<p>I was about to rise from my seat and open the door, but he stopped me. +In his hand he held a revolver, the muzzle of which was in unpleasant +proximity to my head.</p> + +<p>"I must ask you to be good enough to sit down," he said. "You had better +do so, for you cannot help yourself. If you attempt to make a fuss I +pledge you my word I shall shoot you, let the consequences to myself be +what they may. You know me, and you can see that I am desperate. My +offer to those men was only a bluff. I wanted to quiet any suspicions +you might have in order that I might get you into my hands. As you can +see for yourself, I could not have succeeded better than I have done. I +give you my word that you shall not be hurt, provided that you do not +attempt to escape or to call for help. If you do, then you know exactly +what you may expect, and you will have only yourself to blame. Be a +sensible man, and give in to the inevitable."</p> + +<p>He held too many cards for me. I could see at a glance that I was +out-manoeuvred, and that there was nothing to be gained by a struggle. I +don't think I can be accused of cowardice; my reputation is too well +known for that. But I do decidedly object to being shot by a desperate +man, when there is not the least necessity for it.</p> + +<p>"Very well," I said, lying back in my seat, "you have played your game +with your usual cleverness, and I suppose I deserve what I have got for +having been such a consummate idiot as to give you the opportunity you +wanted. Now, what are you going to do, and where are you going to +take me?"</p> + +<p>"You will know everything in a few minutes," he answered. "In the +meantime I am glad to see that you take things so sensibly. In after +days you will laugh over this little incident."</p> + +<p>"Whatever I may think in the future," I replied, "just at present it is +confoundedly unpleasant."</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later the cab came to a standstill, there was the sound of +opening gates, and a moment later we drove into a stone-paved courtyard.</p> + +<br clear="all"> +<a name="CHAPTER_X"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p>If you could have travelled the world at that moment, from north to +south, and from east to west, I believe you would have found it +difficult to discover a man who felt as foolish as I did when I entered +the gloomy dwelling-place as Hayle's prisoner. To say that I was +mortified by the advantage he had obtained over me would not express my +feelings in the least. To think that I, George Fairfax, who had the +reputation of being so difficult a man to trick, should have allowed +myself to fall into such a palpable trap, seemed sufficiently incredible +as to be almost a matter for laughter rather than rage. There was worse, +however, behind. Miss Kitwater had been so trustful of my capability for +bringing the matter to a successful conclusion, that I dared not imagine +what she would think of me now. Whichever way I looked at it, it was +obvious that Hayle must score. On the one side, he kept me locked up +while he not only made his escape from Paris, but by so doing cut off +every chance of my pursuing him afterwards; on the other, he might +console himself with the almost certain knowledge that I should be +discredited by those who had put their trust in me. How could it very +well be otherwise? I had committed the criminal folly of accepting +hospitality from the enemy, and from that moment I should not be seen. +The natural supposition would be that I had been bought, and that I was +not only taking no further interest in the case, but that I was keeping +out of the way of those who did. To add to my misery, I could easily +imagine the laugh that would go up on the other side of the Channel when +the trick that had been played upon me became known. But having so much +else to think of, that fact, you may be sure, did not trouble me very +much. There were two things, however, about which I was particularly +anxious; one was to set myself right with Miss Kitwater, and the other +was to get even, at any cost, with Hayle. The first seemed the more +difficult.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that when I had alighted from the carriage I had +given up all hope of escape. On the contrary, had it not been for the +presence of three burly fellows, who immediately took up their places +beside me, I fancy I should have made a dash for liberty. Under the +circumstances, however, to have attempted such a thing would have been +the height of folly. Five to one, that is to say, if I include the +coachman in the number, with the gates closed behind me, were too long +odds, and however hard I might have fought, I could not possibly have +been successful.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will be kind enough to step into the house," said Hayle. +"The air is cold out here, and I am afraid lest you might take +a chill."</p> + +<p>Before complying with his order I looked round me once more to see if +there was any chance of escape. But so far as I could see there was not +one. I accordingly followed one of my captors into the building, the +remainder bringing up the rear.</p> + +<p>From what I could see of the house with the help of the light from a +solitary candle hanging in a sconce upon the wall, it had once been a +handsome building. Now, however, it had fallen sadly to decay. The +ceiling of the hall had at one time been richly painted, but now only +blurred traces of the design remained. Crossing the hall, my guide +opened a door at the further end. In obedience to a request from Hayle, +I entered this room, to find myself standing in a fine apartment, so far +as size went, but sadly lacking in comfort where its furniture was +concerned. There was a bed, a table, three rough chairs, and an entirely +inadequate square of carpet upon the floor. I have already said that it +was a large room, and when I add that it was lighted only by two +candles, which stood upon the table in the centre, some idea will be +afforded of its general dreariness.</p> + +<p>"Now look here, Mr. Hayle," I said, "the time has come for us to have a +serious talk together. You know as well as I do that in kidnapping me +you are laying yourself open to very serious consequences. If you think +that by so doing you are going to prevent me from eventually running you +to earth, you are very much mistaken. You have obtained a temporary +advantage over me, I will admit; but that advantage will not last. Do +not flatter yourself that it will."</p> + +<p>"I am not so sure upon that point," said Hayle, lighting a cigarette as +he spoke. "If I did not think so I should not have gone to all this +trouble and expense. But why make such a fuss about it? You must surely +understand, Mr. Fairfax, that your profession necessarily entails risks. +This is one of them. You have been paid to become my enemy. I had no +personal quarrel with you. You can scarcely blame me, therefore, if I +retaliate when I have an opportunity. I don't know what you may think of +it, but the mere fact of you dining with me to-night is very likely to +go hard with you, so far as your clients are concerned. Would it be a +good advertisement for the famous George Fairfax to have it known that, +while he was taking his clients' money he was dining pleasantly in Paris +with the man they were paying him to find? I laid my trap for you, but I +must confess that I had not very much faith in its success. Your +experience should have made you more wary. A student of human character, +such as you are, should know that the leopard cannot change his spots, +or the tiger his----"</p> + +<p>"If you continue in this strain much longer," I said, "I'll endeavour to +stop your tongue, whatever it may cost me. Now, either let me out, or +get out of the room yourself. I want to see no more of you while I am +in this house."</p> + +<p>He blew a cloud of smoke, and then said nonchalantly—</p> + +<p>"You had better occupy yourself thanking your stars that you are let off +so easily. At one time I was tempted to have you put out of the way +altogether. I am not quite certain it wouldn't be safer, even now. It +could be done so easily, and no one would be any the wiser. I know two +men now in Paris who would gladly run the risk for the sake of the +ill-will they bear you. I must think it over."</p> + +<p>"Then think it over on the other side of that door," I said angrily. +"Play the same traitorous trick on me as you did on Kitwater and Codd if +you like, but you shall not stay in the same room with me now."</p> + +<p>My reference to Kitwater and Codd must have touched him on a raw spot, +for he winced, and then tried to bluff it off.</p> + +<p>"I rather fancy Messrs. Kitwater and Codd will just have such kindly +things to say concerning you in the future as they do about me now," he +said, as he moved towards the door. "And now I will wish you good-bye. +As I leave Paris almost immediately, I don't suppose I shall have the +pleasure of seeing you again. For your own sake I should advise you to +be quiet. I might tell you once and for all that you can't get out. The +door is a stout one, and the windows are exceptionally well barred. The +men to whom I have assigned the duty of looking after you are in their +way honest, though a little rough. Moreover, they are aware that their +own safety depends to a very great extent upon your not getting out. +Believe me, if you do not know already, that there is nothing like fear +for making a good watch-dog. Farewell, friend Fairfax! You have been +instrumental in sending a good many men into durance vile; you can tell +me later how you like being there yourself."</p> + +<p>With that he went out, shutting the door behind him. I heard the key +turn in the lock, and a bolt shot at top and bottom. I thereupon went to +the window and examined it, only to discover that it was made secure on +the outside by large iron bars. So far as I could see, there was no +other way of escape from the room.</p> + +<p>Though I laid down on the bed I did not sleep; my thoughts would not +permit of that. The face of the woman who had trusted me so profoundly +was before me continually, gazing at me with sweet reproachful eyes. Oh! +what a fool I had been to accept that rascal's invitation! The more I +thought of it, the angrier I became with myself. Now, goodness only knew +how long I should be confined in this wretched place, and what would +happen during my absence from the world!</p> + +<p>At last the dawn broke, and with it, a weird sickly light penetrated +the room. I sprang from my bed and approached the window, only to find +that it overlooked a small courtyard, the latter being stoneflagged and +surrounded by high walls. I could see that, even if I were able to +squeeze my way out between the bars, I should be powerless to scale the +walls. At a rough guess these were at least twelve feet high, and +without a foothold of any sort or description. This being so I was +completely at the mercy of the men in the house. Indeed, a rat caught in +a trap, was never more firmly laid by the heels than I. At about +half-past seven o'clock a small trap-door, which I had not noticed near +the ground and the main door, was opened, and a grimy hand made its way +in and placed upon the floor a cup of coffee and a roll. Then it was +closed once more and made secure. I drank the coffee and munched the +roll, and, if the truth must be confessed, poor as they were felt the +better for both.</p> + +<p>At mid-day a bowl of miserable soup was handed in; darkness, however, +had fallen some considerable time before I could detect any sound in the +hall outside that might be taken to mean the coming of my evening meal. +At last there was a clatter of feet, the bolts shot back, the key turned +in the lock, and the door opened. A man carrying a lantern entered, +followed by two others, and as the light fell upon his face, I uttered a +cry of astonishment, for he was none other than my old friend Leglosse, +while behind him was the infallible Lepallard.</p> + +<p>"Well, thank goodness we have found you at last," cried Leglosse. "We +have had such a hunt for you as man never dreamed of. I called at your +apartments late last night, hoping to see you, on important business, +but you had not returned from a dinner to which you had been invited. I +called again this morning and was informed by the <i>concierge</i> that they +had, up to that moment, seen nothing of you. When the good Lepallard +informed me that you had left the restaurant in a cab with Monsieur +Hayle, and that the latter had returned to his apartments this morning +in a great hurry, only to leave them a short time after with his +luggage, for the railway station, I began to grow uneasy. You have no +idea what a day I have had looking for you, but it has been well spent, +since we have the pleasure of seeing you again."</p> + +<p>"I shall be grateful to you all my life for the service you have +rendered me," I replied. "But how did you manage to gain admittance to +this house?"</p> + +<p>"It was quite easy; the birds had flown," he answered. "Has the +suspicion not struck you that they were going to clear out and leave you +here to starve?"</p> + +<p>"The brutes," I answered. "But I'll be even with their leader yet. And +now let us get away from here as quickly as possible. Have you any idea +where our man has gone?"</p> + +<p>"To Naples," Lepallard replied. "I disguised myself as a pompous old +bourgeois, and I was behind him when he asked for his ticket and +distinctly heard what he said."</p> + +<p>"Then I shall go after him at once," I replied. "He will in all +probability be off his guard. He will imagine me to be still locked up +in this room, you see."</p> + +<p>"And I shall accompany you, if you will permit me," said Leglosse.</p> + +<p>"But why?" I asked in surprise. "What have you got to do with him? You +have no case against him, and you cannot spare the time to do it simply +out of kindness to me."</p> + +<p>"It's not kindness, it's business, my friend," he replied. "You may not +believe it, but I have a warrant for your man's arrest."</p> + +<p>"On what charge?"</p> + +<p>"On a charge of being concerned in a big embezzlement in Cochin China," +he answered. "We laid the other two men by the heels at the time, but +the Englishman, who was the prime mover in it, we have never been able +to lay our hands upon. I felt certain that day when I met him in +Amsterdam, that I had seen him somewhere before. Ever since then I have +been puzzling my brains to discover where it was, and why it was so +familiar to me. A photograph was eventually sent us of the Englishman +by the colonial authorities, but in that photograph he, the person I +suspect, wears a beard and a heavy moustache. It is the same man, +however, and the description, even to the mark upon the face, exactly +tallies with Hayle. Now I think I can help you to obtain a rather unique +revenge upon the man, that is to say, if you want it. From what you have +so far told me, I understand that you have no evidence against him +strong enough to justify the issue of a warrant. Well, I have that +evidence, and between us you may be sure we'll bring him back to Paris."</p> + +<p>This was delightful hearing after all we had been through lately; at any +rate I greeted the prospect of Leglosse's co-operation with acclamation. +It would be hard, if between us we could not find Hayle and bring him to +the justice he so richly deserved.</p> + +<p>"Now let us get out of this," I said. "I must obtain something to eat if +I perish in the attempt. I am well nigh starving. A basin of soup, a +roll and a cup of coffee, are all that I have had to-day."</p> + +<p>"You shall dine at once," he answered, "and here. There is an excellent +little restaurant further down the street, and one of my men shall go +there and tell them to bring you up a meal. After that you shall go home +and change your costume, and then we will arrange what shall be done +about the travelling."</p> + +<p>This programme was carried out to the letter. We made a good meal, at +least I know that I did, and when it was eaten, a cab was procured, and +in company with Leglosse I said good-bye to the house in which I had +spent so short a time, yet in which I had been so miserable.</p> + +<p>"I shall never know how to repay you for your kindness," I said to my +companion as we drove down the street. "Had it not been for you and your +men I should now be starving in that wretched place. I'll certainly +forgive Hayle if he is ever successful enough to take me in again by one +of his rascally tricks."</p> + +<p>"You must not let him do that," returned the Frenchman, shaking his +head. "Our reputations are at stake."</p> + +<p>When I reached my own apartments the <i>concierge</i> was much relieved to +see me. She had been told that I was dead, perhaps murdered, and +Leglosse's visit to find me had not helped to reassure her. A packet of +letters and telegrams was handed to me, which I carried up to my room, +to read them while I was changing my attire. Never before had I been so +glad to get out of a dress-suit.</p> + +<p>I had just finished my toilet and was in the act of commencing the +packing of the bag I intended taking with me, when there was a tap at +the door. I opened it, to find the <i>concierge</i> there.</p> + +<p>"There is a lady in the parlor to see Monsieur," she said. "She has a +maid with her."</p> + +<p>"A lady to see me?" I asked incredulously. "Who on earth can she be?"</p> + +<p>The <i>concierge</i> shook her head. In my own mind I had arrived at the +conclusion that it was Mademoiselle Beaumarais, and that Hayle had sent +her to discover, if possible, whether I had escaped from my confinement +or not. On finding out that I had she would telegraph to him, and once +more he would be placed on his guard. At first I felt almost inclined +not to see her, but on second thoughts I saw the folly of this +proceeding. I accordingly entered the room where the lady was awaiting +me. The light was not very good, but it was sufficient for me to see two +figures standing by the window.</p> + +<p>"To what am I indebted for the honour of this visit, mademoiselles?" I +began.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know me, Mr. Fairfax?" the taller of them answered. "You +forget your friends very quickly."</p> + +<p>"Miss Kitwater?" I cried, "what does this mean?"</p> + +<p>"It is a long story," she answered, "but I feel sure that you will have +time to hear it now. I am in terrible trouble."</p> + +<p>"I am indeed sorry to hear that," I answered, and then glanced at her +maid as if to inquire whether it was safe to speak before her. She +interpreted the look correctly and nodded her head.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Fairfax," she said, "you can say what you please before +Nelly."</p> + +<p>"Then am I right in interpreting your trouble as being connected with +your uncle?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is it," she answered. "You have guessed correctly. Do you +know that he and Mr. Codd have disappeared?"</p> + +<p>"Disappeared?" I repeated. "Have you any idea where they have +disappeared to?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I can hazard a very shrewd guess," she replied. "I believe +they have crossed to Paris in search of Mr. Hayle. Since last Sunday my +uncle had been more depressed than ever, while the paroxysms of rage to +which he is so subject, have been even more frequent than ever. If the +truth must be told, I fear his troubles have turned his brain, for he +talks to himself in such a queer way, and asks every few minutes if I +have received news from you, that I cannot help thinking his mind is not +what it should be. You must understand that on Saturday last, thinking +it might possibly be required for the case, I drew a large sum of money +from the bank; more than a hundred pounds, in fact. I securely locked it +up in my writing-table, and thought no one knew anything about it. +Yesterday afternoon my uncle and Mr. Codd went for a walk, and did not +return, though I waited for them for several hours. While I was thus +waiting I opened the drawer in the writing-table to procure something I +wanted, and discovered that the money was missing. Only one construction +could be placed upon it, Mr. Fairfax. They had wearied of their inactive +life, and had set off in search of Hayle."</p> + +<p>"They are aware of his address in Paris, are they not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my uncle repeated it from morning until night," she answered. "In +point of fact, he did little else. Oh! it terrifies me beyond measure to +think what may happen should they meet."</p> + +<p>"You need not fear that," I replied. "Hayle has tired of Paris and has +bolted again. Very probably to a place where they cannot hope to +find him."</p> + +<p>I believe she said "God be thanked" under her breath, but I am not quite +certain upon that point. I did not tell her of the trick Hayle had so +lately played upon myself. If the telling were necessary it would be +able to come later on.</p> + +<p>"May I ask what brought you to Paris, Miss Kitwater?" I inquired, after +a pause.</p> + +<p>"My great fear," she answered. "I wired to you from Charing Cross to say +that I was coming. Did you not receive my message?"</p> + +<p>I remember the fact that, not having time to open them all before I was +called away, I had put some of the telegrams on one side. As ill luck +would have it, Miss Kitwater's must have been amongst these. I explained +that I had been away from the house all day, and only that +moment returned.</p> + +<p>"I felt," she said, ignoring my excuses, "that I must come to you and +tell you all that has transpired. Also that I might implore you to keep +the men apart at any cost."</p> + +<p>"We can easily find out whether they have arrived in Paris, and also +whether they have been to Hayle's apartments," I said. "That would +certainly be one of the places which they would try first."</p> + +<p>While I was speaking there was the sound of a step in the corridor +outside and next moment Leglosse entered the room. He was in the highest +spirits, as he always was when he was about to undertake a new piece of +work. Seeing that I had visitors he came to a sudden standstill.</p> + +<p>"A thousand pardons," he said in French. "I had no idea that you were +engaged. I will wait outside."</p> + +<p>"Don't do anything of the kind," I returned in the same language. "Come +in and let me introduce you to Miss Kitwater, who has just arrived +from England."</p> + +<p>"Miss Kitwater?" he repeated, in some surprise. "Surely I understood you +to say that your client, the gentleman who had lost his sight through +Hayle's treachery, was Monsieur Kitwater?"</p> + +<p>"That is quite right, and this lady is his niece," I returned. "She has +brought me extraordinary intelligence. Her uncle and his companion have +suddenly disappeared from the little village in Surrey, where they have +been staying some time with her. It is her belief that they have come to +Paris in search of Hayle. There would have been trouble had they met, +but fortunately for them, and for Hayle, he has given them the slip once +more. It would be possible for you to find out whether they arrived by +this morning's train, and also whether they have made inquiries at +Hayle's apartments, would it not?"</p> + +<p>"Quite possible," he answered. "It shall be done at once. I will let you +know in less than an hour what I have discovered."</p> + +<p>I thanked him, whereupon he bowed to Miss Kitwater, and then +disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Leglosse is also in pursuit of Hayle," I explained. "He holds +a warrant for his arrest on a charge of embezzlement in Cochin China. +For that reason we are following him to Naples to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"To Naples. Has the wretched man gone there?"</p> + +<p>"So we have been led to believe," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Then do you think my uncle will find it out and follow him?" she asked, +wringing her hands. "Oh! it is all too terrible. What shall I do?"</p> + +<p>"Well, if I might be allowed to be like David Copperfield's Mr. Dick, I +should be practical, and say '<i>dine</i>'! I suppose you have had nothing to +eat since you left England?"</p> + +<p>She gave a little wan smile.</p> + +<p>"We have not had very much, certainly," she answered. "Poor Nelly, you +must be nearly starving."</p> + +<p>The maid, however, protested that she was not; but was not to be denied. +Bidding them remain where they were, I went down-stairs and interviewed +my faithful friend, the <i>concierge</i>. With her I arranged that Miss +Kitwater and her maid should be provided with rooms in the house for +that night, and having done so went on to the nearest restaurant. In +something less than ten minutes all was settled, and in under twenty +they were seated at their meal. At first the girl would not sit down +with her mistress, but with her usual thoughtfulness, Miss Kitwater +ordered her to do so.</p> + +<p>"And now, Mr. Fairfax," she said, when they had finished, "we must +discover a hotel where we can stay the night. At present we know of no +place in which to lay our heads."</p> + +<p>"You need not trouble about that," I said, "I have already arranged +that you shall have rooms in this house if you care to occupy them. The +old lady to whom it belongs is a particular friend of mine, and will +certainly do her best to make you comfortable. I presume that it was +your bag I saw in the <i>concierge's</i> office, when I was there just now?"</p> + +<p>"We left it there," she answered, and then gave me my reward by +adding—"It is very kind of you, Mr. Fairfax to have taken so much +trouble. I cannot thank you sufficiently."</p> + +<p>"You must not thank me at all," I replied. "In helping you I am only +doing my duty to my client."</p> + +<p>I had scarcely said the words before I regretted them. It was a foolish +speech and a churlish one as well. She pretended not to notice it, +however, but bade her maid go down to the <i>concierge's</i> office, and take +the bag to the room that had been allotted to her. The girl disappeared, +and when she had gone Miss Kitwater turned to me.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fairfax," she said, "I have yet another favour to ask of you. I +assure you it concerns me vitally. I want to know if you will let me go +with you to Naples. In order that I might not be in your way, we might +travel in different compartments; but go I must. I am so frightened +about my uncle. If I follow him to Naples, it is just possible I might +be able to dissuade him from pursuing Hayle. If he were to kill me for +preventing them, I would not let them meet. Believe me when I say that +I am terribly anxious about him. Besides----"</p> + +<p>Here she paused for a moment as if she did not quite know how to +continue what she had to say to me.</p> + +<p>"As I have said, you and Monsieur ---- I mean the French gentleman—could +travel in your own way. All that I want to be assured of is, that I may +be in Naples and at hand should anything happen."</p> + +<p>"If you really wish it, I do not see why you should not go?" I replied +meditatively. "But if you desire my candid opinion I must say that I +think you would be far better off at home. Still if you desire to come, +it's not for me to gainsay your wishes. We will arrange therefore that, +unless you decide to the contrary in the meantime, you accompany us by +the 8.50 train to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"I thank you," she said.</p> + +<p>A few moments later Leglosse returned with the information that it was +as we suspected. Kitwater and Codd had arrived in Paris that morning, +and had visited Hayle's lodgings only to find him gone.</p> + +<p>"What is more important still," he continued, "they have managed to +learn that Hayle had gone to Naples, and they will probably leave by the +2.50 train to-morrow morning for that city: It is as well, perhaps, that +we arranged to travel by the next."</p> + +<p>"Courage, courage, Miss Kitwater," I said, seeing that she was +trembling. "Try not to be frightened. There is nothing to fear." Then +turning to Leglosse, I added—"Miss Kitwater has decided to accompany us +to Naples. As a matter of fact my position in the case has undergone a +change since I last saw you."</p> + +<p>He looked from one to the other of us as if in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Hitherto," I replied, "I have been acting against Hayle, with the +intention of securing him, in order that my clients might have a most +important meeting with him. For the future, however, my endeavours will +be used in the contrary direction. They must never meet!"</p> + +<p>"Then the best way to bring about what you desire is to assist me," +returned Leglosse. "Let me once get my hand upon him in the name of +France, and they will never meet."</p> + +<p>"But we have to catch him before we do that," I said.</p> + +<p>"Never-fear, we will do it," he answered confidently, and that seemed to +settle it.</p> + +<p>Next morning at 8.50, we left Paris for Naples.</p> + +<a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a> +<hr class="chapter"> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<p>It was in the early afternoon following our leaving Paris that we +reached Naples. By this time, in spite of our endeavours to prevent it, +Miss Kitwater was quite tired out. She certainly pretended not to be, +but it was difficult, if not impossible, for her to conceal the fact. +Immediately on arrival we conveyed her to the best hotel, of the +proprietor of which, Leglosse had already made inquiries, in order to +find out whether or not Hayle had taken up his abode there.</p> + +<p>It was with relief that we discovered that no person answering at all to +his description was located there. That done we commenced our search for +the man we wanted. We decided to first try the offices of the various +steamers plying across the Mediterranean to Port Said. Considerably to +our amazement, however, we happened to be successful at the first cast. +A man signing himself Henry Gifford had applied for a first-class +passage to Colombo, with the intention of changing at that port into +another steamer for Hong Kong.</p> + +<p>"What was he like?" I inquired of the clerk; "and did anything strike +you as peculiar about him or his appearance?"</p> + +<p>"Well, there was one thing," he said. "And at the time I must say I +thought it funny. When I asked him his name, he began 'Gideon,' and then +suddenly corrected himself and said 'Henry Gifford.' I remember +wondering whether he was using a false name or not. He booked his +passage at the last moment, and seemed in a great hurry to get +aboard—being afraid he would miss the boat."</p> + +<p>I questioned him as to the man's general appearance, and when I had +learned all he had to tell us, I was perfectly satisfied in my own mind +that Hayle was the man who had gone aboard.</p> + +<p>"He didn't lose much time," said Leglosse. "Mark my words, he'll leave +the steamer at Port Said, and will either come back on his own tracks, +or go up the Palestine Coast to Jaffa, and thence back to Europe. What +do you think is the best thing to be done?"</p> + +<p>"See the agent of the company here and get him to telegraph to Port +Said," I answered. "Both to their agent there and the captain of the +steamer. If the captain telegraphs back that Gifford is our man, we must +wire to the police authorizing them to detain him pending our arrival. +There is a bit of risk attached to it, but if we want to catch him we +must not think of that."</p> + +<p>We accordingly interviewed the agent and placed the case before him. We +told him who we were, and Leglosse explained to him that he held a +warrant for the arrest of one Gideon Hayle, an individual whom he had +every reason to believe was endeavouring to escape under the assumed +name of Henry Gifford. The clerk was next called in, and gave his +evidence, and these matters having been settled, the telegrams were +despatched to both the captain and the agent.</p> + +<p>Some four days we knew must certainly elapse before we could receive a +reply, and that time was devoted to searching the city for Kitwater and +Codd. That they had not booked passages in the same boat in which Hayle +had sailed, we soon settled to our satisfaction. In that case we knew +that they must be domiciled in Naples somewhere. In the intervals +between our search Leglosse and I used our best endeavours to make Miss +Kitwater enjoy her stay. We took her to Pompeii, climbed Vesuvius +together, visited Capri, Ischia, the Great Museum, the King's Palace, +and dined together every evening. I had not been acquainted with the +girl much more than a fortnight, and yet I felt as if I had known her +all my life, and the greater my experience of her was, the better I +liked her. As for Leglosse, he outdid himself in his devotion. He made +the most extraordinary toilets in her honour, and on one occasion went +even so far as to inform me that, if all Englishwomen were like this +particular specimen, he would say good-bye to his beloved Paris, and +cross the Channel never to return again.</p> + +<p>At last the eventful day arrived, and from nine till twelve we called +repeatedly at the office for the telegram that was to mean so much to +us. It was not, however, until the afternoon was well advanced that a +message was received. I could have taken my stick to the agent for the +slowness with which he opened the envelope. The clerk was called in, the +code translated, and the message presently transcribed.</p> + +<p>"This, gentlemen," he said at last, pointing to the telegram, "is from +our agent in Port Said, and is as follows—</p> + +<p>"Gifford, small man, grey hair, and wears spectacles. No scar on face, +cannot find first-class passenger with one. Fear you have been +deceived."</p> + +<p>"Confound the fellow," I cried, "he's done us again. What's worse, we've +wasted four precious days waiting for this message. What shall we +do now?"</p> + +<p>"Look for him elsewhere," said Leglosse. "If he didn't go by that boat, +he might have left by another."</p> + +<p>We thanked the agent for his courtesy, and were about to leave the +office when another telegram was handed in. We waited to see whether it +was from the captain, and presently found that we were not destined to +be disappointed. Once more the agent consulted his code, transcribed the +message, and read it to us.</p> + +<p>"Have interviewed Gifford, threatened him with the police for using +passage booked by another person. He confesses having been induced by +stranger such as you describe to accept passage Colombo. How shall +I act?"</p> + +<p>"We've been done again," I cried, bringing my fist down with a thump +upon the table. "It's only another proof of Hayle's cleverness. The +ingenuous rascal books his passage here, knowing very well that it will +be one of the first places at which we shall make inquiries, lets fall a +'Gideon', and then transfers his ticket to somebody else. I suppose he +didn't bargain for my getting out of that house in time to follow him, +and to telegraph to Port Said. Now that we are certain that he did not +go that way, we must try and find out in what direction he did proceed."</p> + +<p>"And also what has become of the blind man and his companion," said +Leglosse. "They may be hot upon his trail, and if we can only discover +them, and keep an eye on them, we may find out all we want to know. But +it is likely to prove a difficult task."</p> + +<p>We tried the various shipping offices, without success. We called at +every hotel, important or otherwise, questioned the City Police, who +assured us they had seen nothing of the men we described and finally +were compelled to own ourselves thoroughly well beaten. Leglosse's face +was the picture of despair, and I fear mine was not much better. We +inserted advertisements in the papers, but with no more luck than +before. From the moment the trio had entered Naples, they seemed to have +vanished entirely. Then one evening, a ragged little urchin called at +the hotel and asked to see us. In reply to our questions, he informed us +that he had seen two Englishmen only the day before, such as the police +said we were inquiring for; one of them was blind, the other dumb. +Indeed he was sure of this, for the reason that he had carried their bag +for them down to the harbour whence the Palermo boat sailed. We pricked +up our ears on hearing this. If his story was correct, and Kitwater and +Codd had visited Sicily, then without a doubt Hayle must have gone there +too. But we had no desire to allow ourselves to be taken in again. It +might be another of Hayle's tricks, and for this reason we questioned +the boy more closely; he adhered, however, to his story without a +variation. His description of the men was perfect in every respect, and +he assured us most emphatically that he knew nothing of any individual +with such a scar upon his face as Hayle possessed. At last we became +convinced that his story was genuine, and we rewarded the boy +accordingly. After he had disappeared we informed Miss Kitwater of the +discovery we had made.</p> + +<p>"You will follow them to Palermo?"</p> + +<p>"Assuredly, mademoiselle," Leglosse replied. "I have my duty to +perform."</p> + +<p>"Then I must go with you," she answered. "If he is on the island the +chase must be drawing to a close, and I must be present to protect him, +if possible, against himself."</p> + +<p>Accordingly next morning, for the steamer for that day had long since +sailed, we set out for the kingdom of Sicily, that gem among Islands, as +Goethe terms it. It was the first time Miss Kitwater had seen the +southern coast, and for this reason I made her promise that she would +rise early next morning in order that she might witness our approach to +the far-famed island. This she did, and side by side we watched the +vessel draw closer to the land. Away to the west lay the island of +Ustica, its outline sharply defined in the clear morning air.</p> + +<p>"How beautiful it all is!" she said, "and to think that we are sailing +such lovely seas upon such an errand."</p> + +<p>"You must try not to think about it," I said. " 'Sufficient unto the day +is the evil thereof.' Let us hope that it will all come right in the +end. If only Leglosse can get hold of Hayle first, your uncle cannot +possibly do him any harm, however much disposed he may be that way. +Between us we ought to be able to manage that."</p> + +<p>Shortly after breakfast we obtained our first glimpse of Sicily. It was +a scene never to be forgotten. The blue seas, the towering mountains +rising apparently out of it, made up a picture that was lovely beyond +compare. Presently we steamed into the harbour, and made our way to the +Dogana, where our luggage was examined. Here we commenced our inquiries +concerning Kitwater and Codd, and had the satisfaction of learning, on +undeniable authority, that the story the boy had told us was correct. +Such terrible infirmities as theirs could scarcely fail to attract +notice, and more than one of the officials remembered seeing and +commiserating them. On leaving the Dogana, they had travelled to the +city by cab, so we were informed.</p> + +<p>"The man who drove them is outside now," said one of them. "Perhaps the +señor would care to question him."</p> + +<p>I replied that I should like very much to do so, and we accordingly went +out into the street together. It appeared that the cabman remembered his +fares perfectly, the more so by reason of the fact that the blind man +had sworn at him for not using greater speed in reaching the city. He +had driven them to some furnished lodgings kept by his cousin, he said, +and was proceeding to recommend them to us, when I cut him short by +informing him that we had already decided upon a hotel. We thereupon +entered the vehicle, he mounted the box, and we set off. From the moment +that we had set foot ashore Miss Kitwater had been growing more and more +nervous. When it was taken into consideration that before nightfall some +very unpleasant things might happen, I do not think this fact is to be +wondered at. I pitied her from the bottom of my heart, and was prepared +to do all that lay in my power to help her. It was a strange change for +her, from the quiet little village of Bishopstowe, to the pursuit of a +criminal across Europe to an island in the Mediterranean.</p> + +<p>"And when it is over?" was the question I asked myself on numerous +occasions. "What is going to happen then? I suppose I shall bid her +good-bye, she will thank me for the trouble I have taken, and then our +acquaintance will be at an end."</p> + +<p>After that it had become my habit to heave a prodigious sigh, and to +wonder whether she could ever be induced to----</p> + +<p>But somehow I never got much further with my speculations. Was it likely +she would ever think twice of me? She was invariably kind and +thoughtful; she deferred to me on everything, and seemed to think my +opinions and actions must of necessity be right. Apart from that I felt +certain I had made no other impression upon her.</p> + +<p>"Now, <i>mon ami</i>," said Leglosse, when we had installed ourselves at our +hotel, "I think it would be better that you should efface yourself for a +time. None of the men we are after know me, but Hayle and Codd would +both recognize you at once. Let me go into the town to make a few +inquiries, and if they are satisfactory we shall know how to act. Do +your best to amuse mademoiselle, and I will hasten back to you as soon +as I have anything to tell."</p> + +<p>Upon my consenting to this arrangement he set off, leaving me free to +devote myself to the amusement of Miss Kitwater. As soon as she joined +me we made our way into the garden of the hotel, and seating ourselves +on a comfortable bench, spent the remainder of the morning basking in +the sunshine, and watching the exquisite panorama that was spread out +before us.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what they are doing at Bishopstowe now?" I said, and a moment +later wished I had held my tongue.</p> + +<p>"Poor little Bishopstowe," my companion answered. "How thankful I shall +be to get safely back to it! I don't think I shall ever want to +travel again."</p> + +<p>"Ah! you cannot tell," I replied. "You are seeing the world just now +under very unfavourable auspices. Some day perhaps you will follow the +same route under conditions as happy as these are the reverse."</p> + +<p>I think she must have guessed to what I referred, for her face flushed a +little, and she hastily diverted the conversation into another channel, +by drawing my attention to a picturesque sailing-boat which at that +moment was entering the harbour. I tried to entice her back to the +subject later, but she would plainly have none of it. Only once did she +refer to it, and that was when we were making our way back to the hotel +to lunch. I stated my fear lest she should find all this running about +from place to place tiring for her.</p> + +<p>"You need not be afraid of that," she answered. "I am very strong, and +am not easily tired. Besides, you have been so good and kind, Mr. +Fairfax, and have done so much to ensure my comfort, that, if only out +of gratitude to you, I could not very well be fatigued. I think you know +how grateful I am to you, do you not?"</p> + +<p>As she said this she looked up at me with her beautiful trusting eyes, +and so overwhelmed me that it was as much as I could do to keep back the +words that rose to the tip of my tongue. I answered her to the effect +that I had only done my best to promote her comfort, and was about to +say something further, when Leglosse made his appearance before us. +There was a look of great satisfaction upon his face.</p> + +<p>"I think I know now all that there is to know," he said. "If +mademoiselle will excuse me, I will tell it. Monsieur Hayle arrived here +some five days ago, and has taken possession of a charming villa some +ten miles from the city. It is situated on the coast and the agent +declares it to be unique. How long he intends to occupy it, he, the +agent, could not say, but he has paid a high rent for it in advance, +which appears to have given unlimited satisfaction. The other two men +are still prowling about the city in search of him, but so far they have +not been successful in their endeavours."</p> + +<p>"Could I not go to my uncle?" Miss Kitwater inquired. "It might be +possible for me to persuade him to leave the island without seeing this +wretched man."</p> + +<p>"I fear it would be useless," I answered. "And you would only cause +yourself unnecessary pain. No! what we must do is to communicate with +the Palermo police: Leglosse can show them his warrant, and then we must +endeavour to get Hayle under lock and key, and then out of the island, +without waste of time. That is the best course, believe me."</p> + +<p>"If all goes well, I shall make the arrest to-night," said Leglosse, and +then added, "I must get back to Paris as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>That afternoon he went out once more, this time to interview the police +authorities. At five o'clock he returned in a state of great excitement.</p> + +<p>"The other two have discovered Hayle's whereabouts," he said, when we +were alone together. "And they have set off in pursuit. They have been +gone more than an hour, and, unless we start at once, we shall be too +late to take him before they run him to earth."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens! Are you quite sure of this?"</p> + +<p>"As sure as I can be of anything," he answered. "I have been to their +house."</p> + +<p>"Do not say anything about this to Miss Kitwater," I said hurriedly. "We +must make the best excuse we can to account for our absence."</p> + +<p>I tried to do this, but she saw through my endeavour.</p> + +<p>"You are going to arrest him, I can see," she said. "Poor unhappy man! +But there, I would rather that should happen than he and my uncle should +meet. Go, Mr. Fairfax, and I pray God you may be successful."</p> + +<p>Leglosse had already engaged a cab, and when I joined him I discovered +that he had also brought a Sicilian police official with him. This +individual gave the driver his instructions, and away we went. As we had +informed the cabman, previous to setting out, that there was no time to +be lost, we covered the distance in fine style, and just as the sun was +sinking behind the mountains entered the little village on the outskirts +of which the villa was situated. It was a delightful spot, a mere +cluster of human habitations, clinging to the mountain-side. The Angelus +was sounding from the campanile of the white monastery, further up the +hill-side as we drove along the main street. Leaving the village behind +us we passed on until we came to the gates of the park in which the +villa was situated. We had already formed our plans, and it was arranged +that the island official should send his name in to Hayle, Leglosse and +I keeping in the background as much as possible. We descended from the +carriage and Leglosse rang the bell which we discovered on the wall; +presently the door was opened, and a wizened-up little man made his +appearance before us. An animated conversation ensued, from which it +transpired that the new occupant of the villa was now in the pavilion at +the foot of the grounds.</p> + +<p>"In that case conduct us to him," said the officer, "but remember this, +we desire to approach without being seen. Lead on!"</p> + +<p>The old man obeyed and led us by a winding path through the orangery for +upwards of a quarter of a mile. At the end of that walk we saw ahead of +us a handsome white edifice, built of stucco, and of the summer-house +order. It stood on a small plateau on the first slope of the cliff and +commanded an exquisite view of the bay, the blue waters of which lay +some two hundred feet or so below it.</p> + +<p>"His Excellency is in there," said the old man, in his Sicilian patois.</p> + +<p>"Very good, in that case you can leave us," said the officer, "we can +find our way to him ourselves."</p> + +<p>The old man turned and left us, without another word, very well pleased, +I fancy, to get out of the way of that functionary. Goodness only knows +what memories of stolen vegetables and fruit had risen in his mind.</p> + +<p>"Before we go in," I said, "would it not be as well to be prepared for +any emergencies? Remember he is not a man who would stick at much."</p> + +<p>We accordingly arranged our plan of attack in case it should be +necessary, and then approached the building. As we drew nearer the sound +of voices reached our ears. At first I was not able to recognize them, +but as we ascended the steps to the pavilion, I was able to grasp the +real facts of the case.</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens!" I muttered to myself, "that's Kitwater's voice." Then +turning to Leglosse, I whispered, "We're too late, they're here +before us."</p> + +<p>It certainly was Kitwater's voice I had heard, but so hoarse with fury +that at any other time I should scarcely have recognized it.</p> + +<p>"Cover him, Codd," he was shouting, "and if he dares to move shoot him +down like the dog he is. You robbed us of our treasure, did you? And you +sneaked away at night into the cover of the jungle, and left us to die +or to be mutilated by those brutes of Chinese. But we've run you down at +last, and now when I get hold of you, by God, I'll tear your eyes and +your tongue out, and you shall be like the two men you robbed and +betrayed. Keep your barrel fixed on him, Codd, I tell you! Remember if +he moves you are to fire. Oh! Gideon Hayle, I've prayed on my bended +knees for this moment, and now it's come and----"</p> + +<p>At this moment we entered the room to find Hayle standing with his back +to the window that opened into the balcony, which in its turn overlooked +the somewhat steep slope that led to the cliff and the sea. Codd was on +the left of the centre table, a revolver in his hand, and a look upon +his face that I had never seen before. On the other side of the table +was Kitwater, with a long knife in his hand. He was leaning forward in a +crouching position, as if he were preparing for a spring. On hearing our +steps, however, he turned his sightless face towards us. It was Hayle, +however, who seemed the most surprised. He stared at me as if I were a +man returned from the dead.</p> + +<p>"Put up that revolver, Codd," I cried. "And you, Kitwater, drop that +knife. Hayle, my man, it's all up. The game is over, so you may as +well give in."</p> + +<p>Leglosse was about to advance upon him, warrant in one hand and manacles +in the other.</p> + +<p>"What does this mean?" cried Hayle.</p> + +<a name="Fig08"></a> +<div class="figure"> + <img src="images/Fig08.png" height="588" width="400" alt=""><br> + <p class="caption">"THE WOODWORK SNAPPED, AND THE TWO MEN FELL OVER THE +EDGE."</p> +</div> +<br> + +<p>His voice located him, and before we could either of us stop him, +Kitwater had sprung forward and clutched him in his arms. Of what +followed next I scarcely like to think, even now. In cannoning with +Hayle he had dropped his knife, and now the two stood while a man could +have counted three, locked together in deadly embrace. Then ensued such +a struggle as I hope I shall never see again, while we others stood +looking on as if we were bound hand and foot. The whole affair could +not have lasted more than a few moments, and yet it seemed like an +eternity. Kitwater, with the strength of a madman, had seized Hayle +round the waist with one arm, while his right hand was clutching at the +other's throat. I saw that the veins were standing out upon Hayle's +forehead like black cords. Do what he could, he could not shake off the +man he had so cruelly wronged. They swayed to and fro, and in one of +their lurches struck the window, which flew open and threw them into the +balcony outside. Codd and the Sicilian police official gave loud cries, +but as for me I could not have uttered a sound had my life depended on +it. Hayle must have realized his terrible position, for there was a look +of abject, hopeless terror upon his face. The blind man, of course, +could see nothing of his danger. His one desire was to be revenged upon +his enemy. Closer and closer they came to the frail railing. Once they +missed it, and staggered a foot away from it. Then they came back to it +again, and lurched against it. The woodwork snapped, and the two men +fell over the edge on to the sloping bank below. Still locked together +they rolled over and over, down the declivity towards the edge of the +cliff. A great cry from Hayle reached our ears. A moment later they had +disappeared into the abyss, while we stood staring straight before us, +too terrified to speak or move.</p> + +<p>Leglosse was the first to find his voice.</p> + +<p>"My God!" he said, "how terrible! how terrible!"</p> + +<p>Then little Codd sank down, and, placing his head upon his hands on the +table, sobbed like a little child.</p> + +<p>"What is to be done?" I asked, in a horrified whisper.</p> + +<p>"Go down to the rocks and search for them," said the Sicilian officer, +"but I doubt if we shall be able to find them; the sea is very deep off +this point."</p> + +<p>We went! Kitwater's body we discovered, terribly mutilated upon the +rocks. Hayle's remains were never found. Whether he fell into the deep +water and was washed out to sea, or whether his body was jammed between +the rocks under the water, no one would ever be able to say. It was +gone, and with it all that were left of the stones that had occasioned +their misery.</p> + +<p>Codd did not accompany us in the search, and when we returned to the +villa above he was not to be found. Never since the moment when we left +him sobbing at the table have I set eyes on him, and now, I suppose, in +all human probability I never shall.</p> + +<p>Later on we returned to Palermo to break the news to Miss Kitwater. +Shocked though she was, she received the tidings with greater calmness +than I had expected she would do. Perhaps, after all, she felt that it +was better that it should have ended so.</p> + +<hr class="thought"> + +<p>Three years have elapsed since we paid that terrible visit to Palermo. +It may surprise you, or it may not, when I say that I am now a married +man, Margaret Kitwater having consented to become my wife two years ago +next month. The only stipulation she made when she gave her decision was +that upon my marriage I should retire from the profession in which I had +so long been engaged. As I had done sufficiently well at it to warrant +such a step, I consented to do so, and now I lead the life of a country +gentleman. It may interest some people to know that a certain day-dream, +once thought so improbable, has come true, inasmuch as a considerable +portion of my time is spent in the little conservatory which, as I have +said elsewhere, leads out of the drawing-room. I usually wear a soft +felt hat upon my head, and as often as not I have a pipe in my mouth. +Every now and then Margaret, my wife, looks in upon me, and occasionally +she can be persuaded to bring a young Fairfax with her, who, some people +say, resembles his father. For my own part I prefer that he should be +like his mother—whom, very naturally, I consider the best and sweetest +woman in the world.</p> + +<center><b>THE END</b></center> + + +<hr class="chapter"> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10585 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/10585-h/images/Fig01.png b/10585-h/images/Fig01.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..16ac5d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/10585-h/images/Fig01.png diff --git a/10585-h/images/Fig02.png b/10585-h/images/Fig02.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..54661ce --- /dev/null +++ b/10585-h/images/Fig02.png diff --git a/10585-h/images/Fig03.png b/10585-h/images/Fig03.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e001f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/10585-h/images/Fig03.png diff --git a/10585-h/images/Fig04.png b/10585-h/images/Fig04.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..418c225 --- /dev/null +++ b/10585-h/images/Fig04.png diff --git a/10585-h/images/Fig05.png b/10585-h/images/Fig05.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef86083 --- /dev/null +++ b/10585-h/images/Fig05.png diff --git a/10585-h/images/Fig06.png b/10585-h/images/Fig06.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f343757 --- /dev/null +++ b/10585-h/images/Fig06.png diff --git a/10585-h/images/Fig07.png b/10585-h/images/Fig07.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..80eb2c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/10585-h/images/Fig07.png diff --git a/10585-h/images/Fig08.png b/10585-h/images/Fig08.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b67a5b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/10585-h/images/Fig08.png |
