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diff --git a/26657.txt b/26657.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a7e23e --- /dev/null +++ b/26657.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7635 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Motor Pirate, by George Sidney Paternoster + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Motor Pirate + +Author: George Sidney Paternoster + +Release Date: September 19, 2008 [EBook #26657] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR PIRATE *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: HE HAD INSISTED UPON THE TWO WOMEN DANCING FOR HIS +AMUSEMENT] + + + + +THE + +MOTOR PIRATE + +By + +G. Sidney Paternoster + + +With a Frontispiece by Charles R. Sykes + + + New York * * * * * + A. Wessels Company + * * * * * * MCMVI + + + + + _Copyright, 1904_ + BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + (INCORPORATED) + + * * * * * + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. MAINLY ABOUT MYSELF 1 + II. THE COMPTON CHAMBERLAIN OUTRAGE 9 + III. WHEREIN I MEET THE PIRATE 21 + IV. CONCERNING MY RIVAL 36 + V. THE COLONEL DREAMS AND I AWAKEN 48 + VI. I AM ARRESTED 59 + VII. I MAKE FRIENDS WITH INSPECTOR FORREST, C.I.D 71 + VIII. MURDER 81 + IX. EXPLAINS A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 92 + X. DESCRIBING A RIDE WITH THE PIRATE 104 + XI. IN WHICH THE PIRATE HOLDS UP THE BRIGHTON MAIL 113 + XII. HOW WE EXCHANGE SHOTS WITH THE PIRATE 123 + XIII. OF THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING WOUNDED 135 + XIV. A CLOUD APPEARS ON LOVE'S HORIZON 145 + XV. A CLUE AT LAST 155 + XVI. I COMMIT A BURGLARY 165 + XVII. STORM 176 + XVIII. IN WHICH THE PIRATE APPEARS IN A FROLICSOME HUMOUR 187 + XIX. A HOT SCENT 196 + XX. RELATES HOW THE PIRATE HOLDS UP AN AUGUST PERSONAGE 207 + XXI. WE PLAN AN AMBUSH 218 + XXII. GONE AWAY 228 + XXIII. SAVED 240 + XXIV. REVELATIONS 249 + + + + +THE MOTOR PIRATE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +MAINLY ABOUT MYSELF + + +OF course every one has heard of the Motor Pirate. No one indeed could +help doing so unless he or she, as the case may be, happened to be in +some part of the world where newspapers never penetrate; since for +months his doings were the theme of every gossip in the country, and his +exploits have filled columns of every newspaper from the moment of his +first appearance until the day when the reign of terror he had +inaugurated upon the roads ended as suddenly and as sensationally as it +had begun. Who the owner of the pirate car was? Whence he came? Whither +he went? These are questions which have exercised minds innumerable; but +though there have been nearly as many theories propounded as there were +brains at work propounding them, so far no informed account of the man +or his methods has been made public. + +Nearly twelve months have now elapsed since he was last heard of, and +already a number of myths have grown up about his mysterious +personality. For instance, it is not true, as I saw asserted in a +sensational evening paper the other day, that the Motor Pirate was in +the habit of abducting every young and attractive woman who happened to +be travelling in any of the cars he held up. On only one occasion did he +abduct a lady, and in that case there were special circumstances with +which the public have never been made acquainted. His deeds were quite +black enough without further blackening with printer's ink, and it would +be a pity if the real Motor Pirate were lost sight of in mythical haze +such as has gathered about the name of his great prototype, Dick Turpin. + +It has occurred to me, therefore, to tell the story of his doings--it +would be impossible for any mortal man to give an absolutely detailed +account of his life and actions--but I know more than the majority of +people about the personality of the man. Of one thing my readers may be +assured: I personally can vouch for the accuracy of every fact which I +chronicle. You see I am not a professional historian. + +How it happened that I am in a position to give hitherto unknown +particulars about the Motor Pirate will appear in the course of my +narrative. Sufficient for the moment let it be for me to say that it was +purely by chance that the opportunity was thrown in my way; though, as +it happened, it was not entirely without my own volition that I became +involved in the network of events which finally resulted in the tragedy +which closed his career. By that tragedy the world lost a brilliant +thinker and inventor, though unfortunately these great talents were +accompanied by an abnormal condition of mind, which led the owner to +utilise his invention in criminal pursuits. + +It may probably seem strange that, being in possession of facts as to +the identity of this mysterious person, I did not lay them before the +police, who, at any time during the three months of his criminal career, +would have given their ears to lay him by the heels. You may even think +it is their duty to take proceedings against me as an accomplice. Well, +I am quite prepared to answer any question which the police, or any one +else for that matter, desires to put to me. James Sutgrove, of Sutgrove +Hall, Norfolk, is not likely to change his address. When my poor old +governor died he left me sufficient excuse, in the shape of real estate, +for remaining in the country of my birth; though, if the necessity had +arisen, I should not have hesitated about going abroad. At twenty-five, +my age within a few weeks, a man has usually sufficient energy to enable +him to carve out a career for himself in a new country, and I do not +think I am very different to my fellows in that respect. But the fact +is, I have nothing to fear from the police. My criminality was less than +theirs. An ordinary citizen may be forgiven if he is blind to the +meaning of things which occur under his nose, but the police are +expected to be possessed of somewhat sharper vision. The utmost that can +be urged against me is, that if my eyes had been keener than those of +Scotland Yard, reinforced by the trained vision of some hundreds of +intelligent chief constables throughout the country, I might have been +able to lay my hands upon the Motor Pirate before--but I must not +anticipate my story. + +One word of apology, however, before I begin. In order to make my +narrative fully intelligible I shall have to refer to matters which may +seem of a purely personal nature. I will make these as brief as +possible, but it was entirely through such that I was brought into +closer touch with the Motor Pirate than, perhaps with one exception, any +other person in the world. If therefore I seem to be devoting too much +attention to what appears to be merely personal interest, I trust I may +be excused. To begin, then, at the beginning. + + * * * * * + +On the evening of March 31, 19--, I had arranged to dine in town with a +couple of friends, both of them neighbours of mine. I am not going to +mention the name of the restaurant. It was not one of the fashionable +ones, or probably neither the cuisine nor the wines would have been so +good as they were, though both would unquestionably have been more +expensive. I prefer, therefore, to keep the name to myself. It was in +the neighbourhood of Soho, however, and the reason I had invited my +friends was in order to disabuse their minds of the idea that everything +in that neighbourhood was of necessity cheap and nasty. I had +determined that their palates should be charmed by the dinner they were +to eat, so, in addition to sending a note to the proprietor, I thought +it as well to arrive at the restaurant a quarter of an hour before the +appointed time, in order to make assurance doubly sure that everything +was as I desired it. Had my guests been casual acquaintances, I must +confess that I should never have taken this trouble. But they were not. +One of them was the renowned Colonel Maitland. I never heard anything +about his war service, but I do know that as a gastronomist his +reputation is European. The cool way he will condemn an _entree_, +presented to him by an obsequious waiter, merely after casting a single +glance upon it, speaks volumes for his critical insight; and as for +wines--well, he can tell the vineyard and the vintage of a claret by the +scent alone. I verily believe that were he to be served with a corked +wine, the result would be instant dissolution between his gastronomic +soul and body. Naturally I had to make some preparations, in order that +such delicate susceptibilities should not be offended. In addition, I +had a special reason for seeking to please him. Colonel Maitland had a +daughter. + +I have only to mention the name of my other guest to reveal his identity +to every one with any knowledge of the motoring world. It was Fred +Winter, _the_ Fred Winter, leading light of the Automobile Club, holder +of more road records than I can count, in fact the most enthusiastic +motorist in the country. It was in consequence of this, indeed, that he +came to be my guest. There were few questions in regard to motoring +upon which Winter was not competent to give an opinion, and being myself +a victim to the prevailing motor-mania, I was deeply indebted to him for +many valuable tips. By this time I had passed my novitiate, and was +still driving a neat little 91/2-h.p. Clement in order to fit myself +for a more powerful and speedy car. + +I arrived then at the restaurant about a quarter to eight, and having +had a brief but satisfactory interview with the proprietor, I made my +way to the table I had reserved in my favourite corner of the +dining-room. Finding I had ten minutes to spare, to kill time I ordered +a vermouth and the evening papers. The _Globe_ was the first upon the +pile the waiter brought to me, and following the example of most sane +men, I skipped the parliamentary intelligence and turned to the "By the +Way" column. I remember distinctly there was only one amusing paragraph +therein, and I was about to throw the paper aside, with the customary +lament as to the decadence of British humour, when my attention was +arrested by a paragraph at the bottom of the next column. The heading +was "Strange Highway Robbery." This was the paragraph:-- + +"Our Plymouth correspondent reports a novel highway robbery on the road +between Tavistock and Plymouth. Two gentlemen who had been for a run on +their motor to Tavistock, left the latter town about eight o'clock last +night. Their journey was uneventful until they reached Roborough, where +they were suddenly overtaken by a motor-car occupied by a man, who +presented a pistol at their heads, and ordered them to stop. Thinking +that the stranger merely intended to scare them, and that the summons +was only an ill-advised piece of pleasantry, they paid no attention to +the demand; whereupon the driver of the strange car, with a +well-directed shot, so damaged the machinery of their vehicle that they +were compelled to obey. Their attacker then demanded all the money and +articles of value they had in their possession under threat of +completely wrecking their car, and after securing his booty the +highwayman decamped. In consequence of the damage to their motor, it was +not until late at night that they reached Plymouth, and were enabled to +give particulars of the occurrence to the police. From their description +of the stranger's vehicle, identification should not be difficult. It is +a long, low, boat-shaped car of remarkable speed, and from the little +noise it creates is probably driven by an electric motor. As to the +personal appearance of the driver, the gentlemen who were robbed could +form no opinion, for he wore the usual leather coat affected by +tourists, and his head was completely enveloped in a hood." + +On reading this paragraph, my first impulse was to lay aside the paper +and indulge in a hearty laugh. My impression was that some wag had been +hoaxing either the Plymouth correspondent or the London editor of the +_Globe_. However, my curiosity was sufficiently aroused to lead me to +take up another paper, to see if the _Globe_ was the only paper which +reported the occurrence. + +The next paper on my pile was the _Star_, and the moment I unfolded the +pink sheet, I perceived that this liveliest of evening journals was not +going to be left behind by the _Globe_ in providing the public with +particulars of the latest sensation. Under the heading of "A Motor +Pirate," with descriptive headlines extending across a couple of +columns, and as attractively alliterative as the cunning pen of a smart +sub-editor could make them, was the account of a similar incident. At +first I thought it must be the same occurrence, but a brief perusal +showed me that this impression was a wrong one. But I will give the +_Star_ account in full, and I do so the more readily, not only because +it contains the first detailed account of the man whose extraordinary +audacity was shortly to raise the interest of the public to fever pitch, +but also because it tells the story with a force and colour of which my +unpractised pen is incapable. Apologising therefore to the editor for +the liberty I have taken, I reprint the _Star_ account verbatim. I +think, however, the story deserves a new chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE COMPTON CHAMBERLAIN OUTRAGE + + + "A MOTOR PIRATE + "TAKES TOLL OF TRAVELLERS IN THE WEST. + + "A VEILED STRANGER ON A MYSTERIOUS MOTOR FLIES + "THE BLACK FLAG NEAR SALISBURY. + +"ON receipt of the following extraordinary story from the Central News +Agency this morning, the _Star_ at once sent a representative to make +inquiries on the spot. His inquiries reveal the existence of a new +terror to all who travel by road. Following are the facts communicated +to us by the agency:-- + +"'A daring highway robbery was committed near Salisbury late last night. +The victims were two gentlemen who had been touring in the west country +by motor. They had intended to reach Salisbury early yesterday evening, +but were delayed by a puncture. When about eight miles from Salisbury +they were attacked by the occupant of another car, who wrecked their +vehicle, and, after robbing them of all their valuables, decamped, +leaving them badly injured by the wayside. There they were discovered +some time afterwards and removed to the nearest inn at Compton +Chamberlain, where they remain under medical attendance.--_Central +News._' + +"The _Star_ special correspondent wires:-- + + "Compton Chamberlain, 12.30. + +"There is no doubt but that the Motor Pirate has a real existence. On +arriving at Salisbury I at once proceeded to make inquiries as to what +was known of the outrage, but Salisbury generally was sceptical on the +subject. I found, however, that the affair had been reported at the +county police office; and I at once drove on here, and am now in a +position to assert that this quiet Wiltshire village has been the scene +of the most astounding robbery of modern times. It is safe to prophecy +that in a few more months Dick Turpin will be forgotten. He has a rival +in the field whose exploits will soon relegate him into comparative +obscurity. + +"The first visible evidence of the outrage was afforded me about a +quarter of a mile from Compton. The road dips here slightly, and at the +end of the incline a motor-car was drawn to the side of the road, or +rather the remains of what had once been a smart Daimler of some 7 or 8 +h.p. A stonebreaker was at work on an adjacent pile of flints, and when +I alighted to examine the wreck, he nailed me with, 'Hoy, mister! Ye'd +better leave thick thur car alone. The p'lice be comin' to tek un up +zhortly.' + +"I gathered from him that he had been told to keep an eye upon the car, +but beyond having heard that the owners had met with an accident, he +knew nothing. There was no doubt about the accident. The car was so +broken up that it looked as if it had been in collision with an armoured +train. + + "Compton Chamberlain, 2.45 p.m. + +"I have just succeeded in interviewing the owner of the motor-car, a Mr. +James Bradshaw, of 379, Maida Vale. His companion was Mr. Gainsborough +Roberts, of 200, Clapham Common. Mr. Roberts is suffering from severe +concussion, and has not regained consciousness; but fortunately Mr. +Bradshaw's injuries, though painful, are not dangerous, and he has been +good enough to give me a full account of his unique adventure. It seems +the two gentlemen had been touring in the west country for ten days, and +were on their way home. They stopped the previous night at Exeter, +leaving about ten in the morning with the intention of reaching +Salisbury about five or six yesterday evening. They lunched at +Ilminster, and afterwards had traversed another twenty-five miles of +their journey when one of their tyres unfortunately punctured. This was +shortly after they had passed through Wincanton. When the tyre was +mended, something went wrong with the electric ignition, and altogether +the repairs proved such a tedious job that they could not make a fresh +start until close upon lighting-up time. + +"The delay had not troubled them, for the weather was beautifully fine. +As, however, they were very hungry, they determined to stop at +Shaftesbury for dinner before finishing the day's run they had mapped +out. There is a particularly long hill into Shaftesbury, and they did +not reach that town until 8.30. At the hotel they met another party of +motorists, and, agreeing to dine together, it was not until after ten +that they found themselves once more on their way, with twenty miles of +a hilly road to cover. The lateness of the hour did not trouble them +much. They had wired to Salisbury for rooms; the night was fine and +clear; a bright moon was shining; the roads were clear of traffic, and +their motor was guaranteed to do its thirty-five miles an hour. They +thought that it would be a good opportunity to find out what Mr. +Bradshaw's car was really capable of doing on a hilly track. + +"Mr. Bradshaw declares that he had never enjoyed a run more than he did +on this occasion. A brisk wind was blowing behind them, they found there +was more downhill than up, the road was absolutely clear, and they were +able to take the declines at a pace which took the sting out of the +ascents." + +"So for twenty minutes they ran at full speed, and after slowing to pass +through a village, they had just put on full speed again when Mr. +Bradshaw's attention was arrested by a curious humming sound which +appeared to arise from something behind. He was, of course, unable to +glance back, as all his faculties were engaged in driving the car; but +Mr. Roberts, whose attention was attracted at the same moment, informed +him that another motor-car was coming up behind. Then, to quote Mr. +Bradshaw's own words, 'Thinking the other chap was on for a race, I did +everything I knew to get every ounce out of my motor. But,' he +continued, 'though I'll swear we were running nearer forty than +thirty-five, the other fellow swooped up and passed us as if we were +standing still.' + +"For the moment he thought that the stranger was one of those American +speed motors specially built for racing on the track, but only for a +moment. The strange car slackening speed, allowed them to come +alongside. What followed may be best described in Mr. Bradshaw's own +words. + +"'There was only one occupant of the strange car, and, seeing him +slacken speed, I naturally thought he wished to speak to us. So, as he +came level, I shouted to him, my exact words being, if I remember +aright, "Hallo, sir! You've got a flyer there." I fancied I heard a +chuckle from beneath his mask (he wore a hood covering the head fitted +with a mica plate in front) and he replied, "Yes; I fancy my car is fast +enough to overtake anything that is to be found on the road." There was +something in his tone that struck me as peculiar, but I merely +attributed it to the motorist's pride in his car. As however he said +nothing further, but continued to keep alongside, in a manner that +looked as if he were inclined to gloat over the owner of a less speedy +machine, I asked with some little irritation, "Is there anything I can +do for you, because if not----" He did not allow me to finish my query. +"Yes, sir," he replied promptly, "there is something I am going to ask +you to do for me," and he gave another of his infernal chuckles. + +"'"Well, what is it?" I demanded, with a little warmth. + +"'"I must request you to hand over all your money and valuables to me," +he replied. + +"'I could not believe my ears. I was so astonished that I gave the wheel +a turn that nearly landed us in the ditch. Will you believe it? Even in +that swerve the strange car followed mine, and when I had got her +straight in the road, I heard him chuckle again. His manner angered me +beyond bearing. + +"'"What the deuce do you mean?" I shouted. + +"'"There's no need for you to lose your temper," he answered coolly. "I +must, however, trouble you to stop that car at once." + +"'As he spoke he raised his hand, and I saw the barrel of a revolver +glisten in the moonlight. There seemed to be only one way out of the +predicament, for I thought I had to deal with a madman, and I took it. I +pretended to be so alarmed that I fell over the steering wheel, and made +my car swerve again. But this time we swerved towards, instead of away +from, the stranger. I doubt whether there was light enough for him to +have read my intention in my face, but it was obvious that he +anticipated my move, for his car shot forward with such wonderful speed +that the fate I intended to force upon him befell myself. I saw his car +disappearing ahead, and the next moment I was just conscious of a shock +that sent me flying into oblivion. + +"'Exactly how long I remained unconscious I do not know, but when I came +to my senses I found myself lying on the grass at the roadside, having +fortunately been thrown on the soft turf. Roberts was lying unconscious +on the road; the car was smashed to bits; our pockets had been turned +inside out, and our money, watches, and every article of value we had +about us, taken. Needless to say, the stranger had disappeared.' + +"Mr. Bradshaw was not in a state to be of much assistance to his more +badly injured friend, and he was at a complete loss as to what course to +pursue, when a trap coming from Salisbury fortunately made its +appearance on the scene. Assistance was procured, and the two injured +gentlemen were conveyed to Compton, and medical attention quickly +provided. Though much shaken, and badly bruised, Mr. Bradshaw has +sustained comparatively little injury. Mr. Roberts, however, is +dangerously ill, and his relatives have been telegraphed for. + +"As regards the appearance of his assailant, Mr. Bradshaw can give few +particulars, save that he was clad in a large leather motoring coat, and +his face completely hidden by a mask. The car can, on the contrary, be +easily identified. It is boat-shaped, running to a sharp, cutting edge +both in front and behind. The body is not raised more than eighteen +inches from the ground. The wheels are either within the body, or so +sheathed that they are completely hidden. It has apparently seating +accommodation for two persons, the seat being placed immediately in the +centre of the car. Mr. Bradshaw is quite convinced that petrol is not +the motive force used for its propulsion, and as he cannot imagine that +an electric motor of any kind was employed; the rapidity of motion, the +perfection of the steering, the absence of noise and vibration, are so +remarkable that he is utterly at a loss as to what build of car was +driven by the stranger." + +I had just finished reading this extraordinary story when I felt a tap +on the shoulder, and, looking up, saw Colonel Maitland standing before +me. + +"'Pon my word, Sutgrove," he remarked, "I have never before seen any one +so completely enthralled in a newspaper in my life. I've been standing +watching you for nearly a minute." + +I sprang to my feet, and held out my hand. + +"What's the latest from Mr. Justice Jeune's division? When you come to +my years of discretion you will be more interested in the _menu_." + +I laughed. "It was not the inanities of the divorce court, Colonel," I +remarked; "but the most astonishing----" + +He checked me with uplifted hand. "Being a rational being," he said, "I +prefer my stories with my cigar. One should come to dinner with a calm +mind." + +At this moment Winter entered the room, and, giving a signal to the +waiter, the _hors d'oeuvre_ were placed before us as he seated himself +at the table. + +When he had greeted me I had observed that Colonel Maitland's face had +worn a slightly resigned expression that reminded me of a picture I had +seen somewhere of Christian martyrs being led to the stake. He took a +mouthful of caviar and the cloud lifted. After the soup the dominant +note of self-sacrifice had vanished entirely. With the fish his features +attained repose. When we reached the _entree_ his face had the radiance +of a translated saint's. Then, with my mind at rest as to the effect of +my little dinner upon my chief guest, I found time to devote a little +attention to Winter. Yet, bearing in mind the Colonel's objection to +anything but light generalities during the serious business of dinner, I +forbore to introduce the topic I was burning to discuss with him. Not +until the coffee was upon the table, and Colonel Maitland had expressed +his contentment with the dinner, did I venture to refer to it. Then, +while our senior was dallying with an early strawberry, Winter gave me a +lead. + +"By the way, Sutgrove," he said, "what's this I saw on the evening paper +bills about a motor pirate?" + +I told him. His interest was awakened to such an extent that he forgot +to taste the glass of port which stood before him, and which I had +ordered out of compliment to the Colonel's ideas of what was desirable. + +When my story was concluded Winter was silent. Colonel Maitland, +however, hazarded the remark that the whole narrative was "a concoction +of some of those newspaper fellows. I have been at the War Office," he +said, "so I ought to know of what they are capable." + +"I can scarcely imagine that any newspaper would dare hoax its readers +to such an extent," remarked Winter. + +"They are capable of anything--anything," replied the Colonel, +vigorously. "I have known them on more than one occasion to attack even +my department." + +"That of course is scandalous," I replied warmly; "but here the +conditions are different. They are referring to people who are able to +reply if the facts are not as stated. In your case your mouth, of +course, was closed." + +"Umph!" growled the Colonel. + +"At the same time," said Winter, "it may very well have happened that +consciously or unconsciously the papers have been made the victims of a +practical joke. To-morrow is the first of April, remember. Or even apart +from the joke theory, the event happened after dinner, and Mr. Bradshaw +may have found it necessary to be prepared with an explanation of his +accident." + +"But the robbery?" I objected. + +"A passing tramp may have thought the opportunity too good to be +neglected." + +"At all events," I persisted, "it is curious that two similar accidents +should have occurred the same night in the same part of the country." + +"Certainly the coincidence is remarkable," answered Winter. "But do not +forget that the two occurrences took place at least a hundred and +thirty miles apart within less than three hours of one another. I will +swear that no motor yet built would cover those roads inside three +hours. I know them. No, Sutgrove. The moral seems to me to be that it is +unwise for a motorman to look upon the wine when it is red, if he wants +to get anywhere afterwards." + +The Colonel stretched his hand across the table and removed the glass +which stood on the table before Winter. + +"My young friend," he observed, "you have, I believe, undertaken to +bring me safely home to-night?" + +"You need not fear," replied Winter, laughing, "it's only the liquors +supplied at country inns which drive motor-cars into ditches." + +The Colonel replaced the glass with a smile and refilled his own from +the cradled bottle at his elbow. + +"I am merely a passenger, but you drive," he remarked. "I think, +Sutgrove, under the circumstances, I will be responsible for the +remainder of this bottle. It is endowed with certain qualities which +particularly recommend themselves to me. It would be a sad thing if an +accident were to befall us on our journey. In times of stress such as +these one never knows when the War Office may not require the services +of a capable man." + +Though the Colonel spoke in jest, in the event his words indicated with +a fair amount of accuracy the destination of the port, for while we +continued to discuss every point in the story, he sipped and sipped and +nodded his head beatifically. I did not replenish my glass, but when we +rose the bottle was empty. + +"Well, Colonel, what do you say to a music hall?" I asked. + +"My boy," he replied, as he patted me on the back, "I sleep far more +comfortably in my bed." + +I realized where the contents of the bottle had gone by the +sententiousness of my friend's phrasing, the slight turgidity, so to +speak, of his articulation. + +"My dear boy," he continued, "I have never known you until this moment. +You are greater than Columbus. Any one might discover a new continent, +but in these days it needs exceptional qualities of enterprise and +endurance to discover a fresh restaurant. I am content. Let us go home." + +We donned our overcoats and came into the open air. Winter's motor was +waiting at the door in charge of a man from the _garage_ where he had +left it. We stepped in. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WHEREIN I MEET THE PIRATE + + +WE were soon out of the narrow Soho street, and I observed that the time +was just half-past ten as Winter steered us carefully through Piccadilly +Circus. Colonel Maitland occupied a seat behind while I sat beside +Winter. + +The car my friend drove was a magnificent 22-horse Daimler, built to his +own specification and capable of doing considerably more than any car I +had hitherto been privileged to ride upon. Of course while passing +through the streets there was little chance of exhibiting its +capabilities. Yet even there, the way the car glided in and out of the +traffic, delicately responsive to the slightest touch of the steering +wheel, was sufficient evidence of its quality to set the most nervous +passenger at ease. As it was as yet too early for the after theatre +traffic to fill the streets and compel us to stop every few minutes, we +followed the main road up Oxford Street as far as the Marble Arch. There +we turned to the right. Once clear of the narrow part of the Edgeware +Road, Winter put on his second speed and a very few minutes seemed to +have passed before we were bumping over a rough bit of roadway by +Cricklewood. + +"There's not much of this," said Winter, cheerily over his shoulder to +the Colonel. + +Our gastronomic friend merely grunted for reply, and I should have +thought him to be asleep had not the red glow of his cigar assured me +that he was still awake. + +Winter jammed on his third speed and the hedges began to fly past us. We +were in the country now and were able to appreciate the fineness of the +night. Indeed it was a perfect night. The air was sharp but without +sting. The moon shone with a clear brilliance which betokened rain in +the near future. The road was clean and dry, and there was no dust in +the air except the thin cloud which floated behind us. We passed the +Welsh Harp without a check, and not until we reached Edgeware did Winter +revert to his second speed. We ran through the little town with only +momentary slackening of pace, and so we sped onwards until we opened the +stretch of road leading to Brockley Hill. Here Winter, seeing the road +clear ahead, jammed on his highest speed and the wheels droned like a +hive of bees as we darted towards the incline. We were half way up the +hill before Winter found it necessary to transform his speed into power, +and we finished the ascent with ease. Then once more the order was third +speed, and we whirled away through Elstree and passed through Radlett a +bare half hour from the time we started. + +Just at this time I looked back to see how Colonel Maitland fared. His +cigar no longer glowed, though it was still tightly held between his +teeth. His head was bent forward, and the regular and gentle murmur +which came from his nose proclaimed that he slept. I had just mentioned +the fact to Winter, and had turned again to assure myself that he was +comfortably wrapped in his rug, when I thought I saw on the road behind +me another car. + +"Hullo!" I said to Winter. "There's another chap coming on behind us. +Without lights, too!" + +A slight bend in the road shut out the view, however, and made me doubt +whether or no my eyes had been deceiving me. + +"Pooh!" replied Winter. "We've passed nothing on the road, and at the +pace we've been travelling there's not another car owned in this +district we should not have left miles behind us, even if it had started +at the same time as ourselves. You must have mistaken some of the +shadows from the trees. How much of that port did you drink?" + +I laughed, but as we had now reached a straight stretch of road I looked +back again. + +"I'm right," I said. "There is another car, and by jove! It's coming up +hand over fist." + +"What?" shouted Winter. "What?" + +He clearly did not appreciate the idea of being overtaken by any one, +for he whipped on his highest speed and jammed down the accelerator. The +change was enormous. Our powerful car, relieved from all restraint, +simply leaped through the air. Winter gave a pleased laugh as he +steadied her with the wheel. + +"If the stranger can catch us now I shall believe it's the Motor Pirate +himself," he remarked in a pleased tone, that showed how proud he was of +his own car. + +Our progress was so exhilarating that I wanted to shout defiance to the +stranger; yet I was so fascinated with the pace we were travelling, that +I could not take my eyes from the road which uncoiled before us. + +Suddenly a humming sound forced itself upon my ear. For a moment I +thought it was due to the whirr of our own wheels. Then it struck me +that the note was a higher one. I half turned. The other car was within +a yard or two of us. In another second it was level and, running without +any visible vibration, indeed, without any noise save the snore of the +wheels as they raced round, the stranger slackened speed and ran by our +side. + +Winter cast a hasty glance at the strange car, and I saw him bite his +lip with annoyance at finding his Daimler so outpaced. + +One glance at the stranger was enough to tell me with whom we had to +deal. In the brilliant moonlight, the boat-shaped car with its sharp +prow, the almost invisible wheels, the masked occupant, assured me that +the evening papers had not been the victims of a hoax. + +"It's the Motor Pirate himself," I said to Winter, and my voice was +hoarse with excitement. + +"Motor Pirate be d----d!" replied Winter. What more he would have said I +do not know, for at this moment the stranger turning his mask towards us +called out in the most urbane manner-- + +"I must trouble you gentlemen to stop that car." + +Winter at the best of times is of rather a peppery disposition, and +whenever any one requires him to pull up, his temper invariably gets the +better of his manners. His reply was an unnecessarily verbose, and +needlessly forcible negative. + +I heard the stranger chuckle. "I really must trouble you to obey my +wishes," he replied, with ironic courtesy. "Otherwise I shall be +compelled to do some damage to that car of yours, a proceeding I always +try to avoid if possible." + +"Do what you please," was in effect Winter's luridly adjectived answer. + +"If you do not pull up within thirty seconds your fate will be upon your +own heads," said the stranger, shortly, as he laid his hand upon a +lever. + +His car leapt away from ours, and though we were running nearly sixty +miles an hour, we might have been standing still, he dropped us so +rapidly. In fifteen seconds he had vanished in a cloud of dust ahead. + +"I'm going to stop," said Winter, abruptly. He suited the action to the +word, and none too soon. + +Again we heard the curious drone of the strange car as it swooped down +upon us, coming to a sudden halt a yard distant, with really beautiful +precision. + +"What do you want?" shouted Winter, in his gruffest tones. + +"I'm glad to find you have had the wisdom to do as I desired you," said +the Motor Pirate; for it was indeed he with whom we were now face to +face. "It would have deeply grieved me to wreck so good a car as that +you have there. A Daimler, I believe?" + +"Oh, d----n your compliments! What is it you want?" growled Winter. + +"Merely any articles of jewellery and any money you may happen to have +about you," remarked the stranger, pleasantly. + +I saw the moonlight glitter on the barrel of a revolver as he spoke, and +he now lifted the weapon and pointed it towards us. + +"I do not wish to proceed to extremities, and, as I gather from your +speech that I am dealing with gentlemen"--really Winter's language had +fully warranted the sarcasm--"if you will give me your word of honour +that you will hand over to me all articles of value in your possession, +I will leave your car untouched. If, on the contrary, you decline to +oblige me, I shall be under the disagreeable necessity of ruining that +very handsome car you are driving. I do not like to hurry you, but I am +afraid I must ask you to come to a speedy decision on the matter, for +these roads in the vicinity of London are not quite so secluded as one +of my profession could wish." + +He delivered this speech with an air of mock politeness, which made +Winter writhe. He did not, however, reply. I think he was too angry. + +"Come, gentlemen! Make up your minds. Your money or your--car!" + +He made a slight pause before he said the word "car," and his fingers +played with the revolver in a manner that sent a cold shiver down my +spine. + +"It's his turn now," I whispered to Winter. "It may be ours presently." + +"Come, come, gentlemen!" said the stranger again; "do you give me your +words?" + +"D----n you! I suppose we must," jerked out Winter, almost inarticulate +with rage. + +"Each of you will dismount in turn and lay the contents of your pockets +before me here." He indicated a level shelf, which formed apparently +part of the casing of one of the wheels. "I must insist upon seeing the +linings of your pockets; and I need hardly warn you that it will be +extremely undesirable for you to make any movement liable to +misconstruction. This toy"--he lifted his pistol--"has a very delicate +touch. Now, gentlemen. One at a time, please, and do not wait to discuss +the question of precedence. I am quite willing to overlook any little +informality." + +I listened closely to his speech, but the voice was so muffled by the +mask he wore, that I felt I should be unable to recognize it again. Only +one point I was assured upon--that the Pirate was an educated man. + +Meanwhile what were we to do? All sorts of wild plans were darting +through my brain, and I knew that Winter's mind must be equally active. +But out of the medley no coherent scheme took shape. Winter dismounted, +and, throwing off his overcoat, advanced into the brilliant circle of +light cast by our lamps, and proceeded to empty his pockets. He laid his +note-case, his watch and chain, and sovereign-purse upon the car in +front of the highwayman, and, in obedience to a further command, added +the diamond which shone upon his little finger, and another which +adorned his shirt-front, to the pile. Then he resumed his place in the +car, and I passed through a similar humiliating ordeal. All the while +the stranger kept up a flow of apologies for the inconvenience which his +necessities compelled him to occasion us. I kept silence, though I must +confess the effort was a considerable strain upon my temper. Still, a +pistol with a business man at the butt end of it, is of considerable +assistance in preventing the exhibition of annoyance. + +"If the other gentleman will make haste, I shall be the sooner able to +relieve you of my unwelcome society," the Pirate remarked, as I returned +to our car after handing over all the valuables in my possession. + +In the excitement, I had, until this moment, entirely forgotten the +presence of Colonel Maitland; and now, looking closely at him, I +discovered that he was still in happy ignorance of the _contretemps_ +which had befallen us. Swathed in rugs, he was propped up on the seat +behind us slumbering peacefully. A smile was upon his rosy face, and +ever and again he smacked his lips. He must have been dreaming of a +finer vintage than ever terrestrial vineyard produced. + +"What the deuce can we do?" I asked Winter. + +"Hullo, Colonel!" shouted my friend. + +"What's the matter?" inquired the Pirate. "Does your friend refuse to +acknowledge the compact?" + +"I'm afraid he can hardly be said to be a party to it," I replied. "He +has dined, and now he sleeps." + +"Well, you will awaken him less roughly than I shall," was the retort. + +"Any one who knows Colonel Maitland is aware that he is exceedingly +annoyed if awakened from his after-dinner nap," I urged. + +"Colonel Maitland? Colonel Maitland the gourmet?" + +"You know him?" said Winter. + +The Pirate laughed pleasantly. "I have met him on one occasion, and, as +some slight return for a very excellent dinner which he ordered, and for +which--doubtless by an oversight--he left me to pay, I will not trouble +you to awaken him on this occasion. I wish you good evening, gentlemen." + +As he finished speaking he backed his car for a few yards. His hand +moved to a lever. The car turned. He waved the hand which was +disengaged, and in a moment he was gone, attaining at once a speed, +which, until then I had thought it impossible for a motor-car ever to +achieve. + +Both Winter and I sat stock still, gazing after the fast disappearing +car. We could not watch it for long; as in fifteen seconds it was out of +sight, and even the dust-cloud it had raised in its progress had +cleared. + +Then Winter turned to me and muttered a few expletives gently in my ear. +I followed his example and we both felt better, at least I think so; +for, without rhyme or reason, Winter burst into a fit of laughter, and I +followed his example, though I cannot explain now, any more than I could +have done then, why I laughed. + +When we had done laughing, Winter turned to me and said-- + +"Sutgrove, old fellow, would you mind punching me? I'm not quite sure +whether it is the Colonel who is asleep or myself. I feel as if I have +just awakened from dreaming of the story those newspapers printed." + +"It's not much of a dream," I remarked. "I little thought that we were +to have the good fortune of so early an introduction to the Motor +Pirate, however. The Colonel will be quite cross to think that his +bottle of port prevented the renewal of an old acquaintance." + +Then Winter laughed again. I think he saw the amusing side of our +adventure more clearly than I did, for I said sharply-- + +"Hadn't we better be getting on to St. Albans, and giving information to +the police?" + +"H--m--m!" he answered meditatively. "I think perhaps we had better +not." + +"Not?" I replied in surprise. + +"In the first place it is after dinner," he said. + +"What of that? We dined wisely." + +"One of us knows nothing about it." Winter jerked his thumb in the +direction of the slumbering warrior. "We could hardly explain the reason +why the Colonel slept so soundly through the adventure. The explanation +could hardly please him, would it?" + +I muttered an assent. + +"Besides," continued Winter, "for three of us to admit that we tamely +allowed ourselves to be held up by one man, and forced to hand over to +him all our valuables, well it--er--it hardly seems heroic, does it? +That wouldn't create a very favourable impression upon Miss Maitland +either." + +I was compelled to agree with him. + +"I think perhaps we had best keep the matter to ourselves. I have no +desire to provide another sensation for the evening papers to-morrow." + +"At any rate I'm not going to sit down quietly under my loss if you +are," I responded irritably. + +"That's another matter altogether," replied Winter, as he set our car in +motion once more. "I did not say that I was going to grin and bear it +either." + +"What do you propose?" I cried eagerly. + +"That is a question we will discuss over a whisky and soda, when we have +deposited the Colonel safely at home;" and he refused to say anything +further. + +Our car was once more put at full speed, and in five minutes we reached +the cross-roads on the outskirts of St. Albans, where the road to +Watford makes a junction with that on which we had come from town. Here +Winter pulled up, and, much to my surprise, dismounted and made a +careful examination of the road by the light of our lamps. + +"I just want to see in which direction the fellow went," he answered, in +reply to my inquiry as to the meaning of his action. + +He was still engaged on the task when we heard in the distance the +regular beat of a petrol motor approaching us on the Watford road. + +"If it's another pirate, he won't get much plunder," I remarked. + +"That's no pirate," replied Winter, as a couple of lights came into +view. "Cannot you recognize the rattle of Mannering's old car? I should +know it anywhere. He will be able to tell us if any one has passed him +on the road." + +As soon as the new-comer came within range of his voice, Winter hailed +him. + +"That you, Mannering?" + +"Hullo, Winter! Got a puncture? Can I be of any assistance?" + +Was it indeed Mannering's voice, or were my ears deceiving me? The +intonation was remarkably like that of the stranger, who so short a time +previously had bade us stand and deliver, that I sprang to my feet with +an exclamation of astonishment. My eyes at once convinced me that my +ears had played me false. There was no mistaking Mannering's lumbering +old car for the graceful shape of the Motor Pirate's vehicle. I resumed +my seat, taking my nerves seriously to task for generating the +suspicion, if suspicion it could be called, which had flashed across my +mind. If anything further had been needed to dispel it, the reply +vouchsafed to Winter's query as to whether he had met any one on the +road would have done so. + +"Met any one?" said Mannering; "I should think I have. Met the most +wonderful motor I've ever seen, about a couple of miles back. 'Pon my +soul, I'm not sure even now whether it was not a big night bird, for it +just swooped by me with about as much noise as a humming-top might make. +It must have been travelling eighty miles an hour at least. Reckless +sort of devil the driver must be too. He hadn't a single light. I +suppose his lamps must have been put out by the rapidity with which he +was travelling. Never had such a scare in my life. I'd like to meet the +Johnny. I'd welcome an opportunity of telling him what I thought of his +conduct." + +"So should I," replied Winter, grimly; "and I fancy Sutgrove would not +be averse to a meeting with him." + +"Why, what has he been doing?" asked Mannering. + +"It's too long a story to tell you now," said Winter, as he climbed back +into his seat; "but if you will come up to my place as soon as you have +put your car to bed, I'll tell you all about it." + +"Right!" sang out Mannering, as we once more set out upon our homeward +way. We had not much further to go. In two minutes we had pulled up at +Colonel Maitland's door. + +I leaned back and shouted, "Here we are, Colonel," in the slumbering +warrior's ear. + +"Eh! What--what?" he replied, as he awakened with a start. "When are we +going to start?" + +"Start? Why we've brought you safely home to your own threshold," said +Winter. + +"'Pon my soul! I remember now," he answered. "I just shut my eyes to +keep the dust out of 'em, and---- You will come in for a peg, of +course," he continued, as he emerged from the rugs in which he had been +enveloped. + +I glanced at the windows. There was only a light in the Colonel's study. +If there had been another in the drawing-room, I should have accepted +forthwith. As it was, I merely said that I could not think of disturbing +Miss Maitland. + +"Pooh!" said the Colonel, with the usual callous disregard of the mere +father for his children's beauty sleep. + +But he did not press the invitation. Indeed it was with difficulty he +succeeded in repressing a yawn. + +"I'll call to-morrow, and get a considered opinion upon my Soho house of +entertainment," I remarked, as the Colonel opened his door, and paused +at the entrance to bid us a final good night. + +"Glad to see you," he replied, as he grasped my hand and shook it +warmly. "But of one thing you may rest assured. So long as that bin of +port holds out, your house of entertainment may count upon me as a +regular customer whenever I dine in town." + +"Opium isn't in it," commented Winter in a low voice, as he set the car +in motion and wheeled out of the drive. "How he could have slept so +soundly through it all absolutely beats me." + +I did not reply. My attention was concentrated upon one of the upper +windows, at which I thought I had seen a form I knew very well make a +brief appearance. But we left the window and house behind us. Winter's +place was only about a hundred yards further up the road. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CONCERNING MY RIVAL + + +"NOW, Jim, dip your beak into that, and let me see if it will not +restore to your classic features their customary repose." + +So saying, Winter handed me a stately tumbler, and the mixture was so +much to my liking that I felt an involuntary relaxation of my facial +muscles immediately I obeyed the command. I stretched myself at length +in the easy chair which I had drawn up before the fire, and felt able to +forgive even the Motor Pirate. We were alone in the apartment which +Winter called his study, but since the only books he read therein were +motor-catalogues, and the lounges with which the snuggery was furnished +were much more conducive to repose than to mental exertion, I refused to +acknowledge its claim to the title. That, by the way. The fire was +burning brightly. Winter's red, rugged, honest face was beaming with +almost equal radiance. Who could help feeling happy? + +Then Mannering was announced, and Mannering was a man I had learned to +passively dislike. Why, I scarcely knew. I was aware of nothing against +him. Indeed, when six months previously, on my first coming to St. +Albans, I had been introduced to him, I had been rather favourably +impressed. He was a tall dark man of thirty-five, with more than the +average endowment of good looks. He could tell a good story, had shot +big game in most parts of the world, was well-read, intelligent, +possessed unexceptionable manners, and yet---- Well, Winter had none of +his various qualifications, but I would at any time far rather have had +one friend like Winter than a hundred like the other man. + +I had first made his acquaintance at Colonel Maitland's house, where I +had found him on an apparently intimate footing. Perhaps it was this +very intimacy which formed the basis for my dislike, for--there is no +need to mince matters--at this time I was jealous, horribly and +unreasonably jealous, of every male person who entered the Colonel's +house. And here, perhaps, it will be better for me to explain how it +happened that I came to be living in a cottage on the outskirts of St. +Albans in preference to my own house in Norfolk. + +The change in my residence had been entirely due to a tennis party at +Cromer. There I met Evie Maitland. She was---- No, every one can fill in +the blank from their own experience for themselves; and if they cannot, +I pity them. + +Fortunately I had an aunt present. She was the most amiable of aunts, +and quite devoted towards her most dutiful nephew. With her assistance, +I managed not only to improve my acquaintance with Miss Maitland, but +also to effect an introduction to her father. I had only known them a +week, however, before the Colonel took his daughter back to St. Albans. +I allowed an interval of a fortnight to elapse, and then I followed. Of +course I had to be prepared with some excuse, and here luck favoured me. +Looking through the directory I discovered that Winter, whom I knew +slightly as having been up at Camford about the same time as myself, was +also a resident in the delightful St. Alban's suburb of St. Stephens +where the Maitlands resided. I sought out Winter. I confided my story to +him. The upshot of it all was that I took a cottage close to his house, +and not far from the Colonel's, ostensibly that under Winter's tuition I +might develop into a first-class motorist. + +Somehow I found that I made a great deal more progress with my motoring +than with my love-making. Surely a more bewitching, tantalizing, +provoking little beauty than Evie Maitland never tore a man's heart to +fragments. If she was kind to me one day, she would be still kinder to +Mannering the next. But that is neither here nor there. Anyhow, I +heartily wished him out of the way, for there was no doubt whatever that +Randolph Mannering was a much more attractive person than my +insignificant self. His mere advantage in age counted for something; but +I could have forgiven him that, had he not made use of the years to see +so much and do so much, that he could not help appearing in the light of +a hero to a girl who was just at the worshipping age. And he knew so +well how to get the fullest value out of his experiences. He never +paraded them, I must admit that much in his favour. He was far too +clever. An anecdote here and there to illustrate some point in the +conversation, a modest account of some thrilling adventure, in which he +hardly ever mentioned the part he had personally played, produced a much +greater effect than if he had gone about trumpeting the deeds he had +done and the dangers he had survived. + +He had, too, the advantage of a much longer acquaintance with the +Maitlands than myself. I learned from the Colonel that Mannering had +been living in a house whose garden adjoined his own for a year before +my arrival on the scene. His life, until the Colonel had recognized him +as an acquaintance he had made at the house of a friend some years +before, had been that of a recluse, the object of his retirement being +to perfect some mechanical invention upon which he was engaged. He had +soon developed into a friend of the family, and I had found him firmly +installed as such when I made my appearance at St. Albans. + +Naturally then I was none too pleased that Winter had proposed to take +him into our confidence, but I made no absolute objection. + +I sat smoking quietly while Winter told the story of our adventure. He +listened most attentively. + +"It's a most extraordinary story," he remarked, when the narrative was +concluded. "You are quite sure neither of you touched any of that +port?" + +Winter turned one of his pockets inside out with an expressive gesture. + +"Wine may rob a man of his wits," he replied, "but it does not relieve +him of fifty pounds in notes, six in gold, a watch and chain worth +fifty, and a diamond which has been valued at a hundred." + +"The numbers of the notes should enable you to trace the thief," said +Mannering, thoughtfully. + +Winter laughed. "The fact is, I am such a careless beggar. I always +carry notes about with me, replenishing my case when necessary; and +really I have nothing to tell me whether those notes I had in my +possession were the last batch I had from the bank, or odd ones left +over from previous consignments. They may have been in my case for +months." + +"Both Winter and I could identify our watches," I hazarded. + +"Of course," replied Mannering, "if your Motor Pirate is fool enough to +attempt to pawn them you may get the chance; but if he sells them to a +receiver, they'll go straight into the melting pot." + +Winter lit a cigarette and Mannering turned to me. "What was the extent +of your loss?" + +"Ten in gold, thirty in notes, and say thirty for my watch. My loss is +comparatively light." + +"You know the numbers of your notes, I suppose?" he inquired, as he lit +a cigarette in turn. + +"Yes," I replied, "I'm not quite so casual as Winter." + +"There's some clue for the police to work upon, then." + +"It might prove to be so, only Winter thinks we show up so badly in the +whole affair that he won't hear of my giving information." + +"The fact is," said Winter, "Maitland slept soundly through the whole +affair, and it wouldn't be sporting to give him away." + +"I see----" began Mannering. + +Winter deftly changed the subject. "What puzzles me," he said, "is the +kind of motor the fellow employed to propel his car. I know of nothing +at present on the market anything like so effective. I've seen 'em all." + +"Your loss doesn't seem to trouble you much, anyhow," commented +Mannering. + +"I would willingly give a hundred times as much for a duplicate of that +motor. I should be pretty sure to get my money back once I put it on the +market." + +"If there's all that value in it, why should the owner go in for highway +robbery?" I asked. + +"That's just what I fail to understand," said Winter. "From what I could +see of it, our friend the Motor Pirate is possessed of an ideal car, +graceful in shape, making no noise, running with a minimum of vibration +and a maximum of speed. Why, there's a fortune in it." + +"Of course it is quite impossible that the motive power can be +electricity?" remarked Mannering, gazing into the fire as if he could +see a solution of the mystery therein. + +"Quite out of the question. Any one who has the slightest knowledge of +motoring would know it to be impossible, even if the Pirate had devised +a storage battery which would knock Edison's latest invention into a +cocked hat. But supposing he had achieved the feat, remember that, +according to the newspaper reports, he was at Plymouth yesterday at +dusk, near Salisbury at eleven the same evening, and holding us up on +the confines of St. Albans to night. He would be bound to get his +batteries recharged somewhere and, with a car of such remarkable shape, +how is he to do so without exciting remark? No; electricity is quite out +or the question. I should be glad to think that the car was an electric +one. His capture would only be a matter of a few hours." + +An indefinable expression, which might have been a smile, flitted across +Mannering's face. + +"I hope, for all our sakes, his motor is an electric one," he said. "At +all events it should not be difficult to track a car of so singular a +shape. If it were built on the same lines as yours or mine, for +instance, the owner might go anywhere without attracting attention." + +"Anyhow," I broke in, "until he is captured I'm going for a run every +night with something that will shoot within easy reach. The next time I +have the fortune to meet with him I hope I shall be in a position to get +a bit of my own back." + +Again a smile appeared on Mannering's face as he exclaimed, "I almost +feel inclined to follow your example. I have nearly forgotten how to +use a pistol since I have resided in this law-ridden land." + +"Surely you won't expose your experimental car to the chance of being +rammed by the Motor Pirate," remarked Winter, chaffingly. + +Mannering's car was a stock joke with us. It was a particularly +cumbersome vehicle, with heaven only knows what type of body. It might +have been capable of twenty miles an hour on the flat, but that would be +the extreme limit of its powers. "You fellows," he had explained to us +one day, "have taken to motoring for the fun of flying along the +high-roads at an illegal speed. I have taken to it for a more +utilitarian purpose. I have my own ideas about the motor of the future, +and I am working them out down here. My old caravan is heavy, perhaps, +but I want a heavy car. It's most useful for testing tyres, and that is +one of the special points engaging my attention. Besides, in this car I +am not tempted to get into trouble with the police. Twelve miles an hour +is quite fast enough for all my purposes." + +Both Winter and myself had frequently asked him how he was progressing +with his work, but as he had never returned us any but the vaguest of +answers, nor ever invited us into the workshop which had once formed the +stables of the house where he resided, we had thought that his story of +being engaged in mechanical invention merely an excuse for getting rid +of unpleasant visitors. I think we were both surprised when he answered +Winter's chaff quite warmly. + +"I should not at all mind exposing my car to any risk if I could get the +opportunity to examine the Motor Pirate's car. If the truth must be +told, from what I have seen of his car, and what you have told me, I am +rather inclined to think that whoever designed it has forestalled me in +an idea which I had thought quite my own. I have long been working to +produce a car which would run at least a hundred miles an hour without +noise or perceptible vibration." + +"Couldn't you get it completed in a week?" interrupted Winter. "We might +have a most exciting chase after our friend." + +Mannering shook his head. "I've been absolutely floored on one detail, +and if that fellow has solved the problem----" Shrugging his shoulders, +he rose and held out his hand to Winter. I followed his example. + +"I had no idea that you had anything so important on the stocks," +remarked Winter, as he accompanied us to the door. + +"Nor would you have done so until you saw the perfect machine on the +road, if it had not been for my chagrin at seeing that car to-night. Of +course I can count upon you both to say nothing of the matter." + +"On condition that you do not refer to our adventure again," said I, +laughing. + +"Agreed," responded Mannering, as he smiled again. + +We both said good night to Winter, and in spite of our host's efforts to +persuade us to stay for another peg, I followed Mannering out, +declaring that I should never be able to face Mrs. Winter again if I +kept him up any longer. + +I found Mannering standing at the gate, and I paused beside him to +glance at the sky, across which one or two fleecy clouds were hurrying +from the west. The moon, brilliant as earlier in the evening, now hung +low down over the horizon. The breeze had freshened, and we could hear +it whispering amongst the trees. + +"We shall not be long without rain. If the Pirate is still abroad he +will leave tracks," said Mannering. + +The beauty of the night held so much of appeal to me that I felt annoyed +at the current of my thoughts being turned back to the topic. + +I answered shortly. My companion took no notice of my petulance. + +"You have always thought I cared nothing for speed," he remarked, "but +you were mistaken. I thought I would keep my desires in the background +until I had succeeded in perfecting a car which I knew it would be +impossible to outpace. I could not enter into competition with longer +purses than my own, and if I had bought the fastest car in the market +somebody else would have bought one faster. But to-night---- By Jove! +How I envy that Motor Pirate. Imagine what the possession of that car +means on a night like this, with the roads clear from John-o'-Groat's to +Land's End. Fancy flying onwards at a speed none have ever attempted. +Can you not see the road unwinding before you like a reel of white +ribbon, hear the sweet musical drone of the wheels in your ears----" He +stopped abruptly. + +He must have observed my natural amazement at the intensity of feeling +which his speech displayed, for he observed in a lighter tone-- + +"Not being Motor Pirates, however, the next best thing is, I suppose, to +go to bed and dream that we are." He turned on his heel and strode away +in one direction, while I went in the direction of my own home. But I +was in no hurry to get there. The night was too delightful. + +In the few hours which had elapsed since we had sat down to dine, a +change had come over the face of the land. I could feel the presence of +Spring in the air, and all the youth in me awoke. The creatures of the +earth felt it too. In the silence of the night I could hear the crackle +of the buds as they cast off their winter coverings, hear the whisper of +the grass, which the countryman declares is the sound of growing blades, +hear the murmur of all animate things as they rose to welcome the +Springtide. My own heart leapt up with a renewal of hope. I stood awhile +outside Colonel Maitland's door, and breathed a prayer that it might be +my fortune to protect the fair inmate of the house from all harm through +life. I strolled slowly to my own door, but I did not enter. Moonbeams +beget love-dreams when one is still in the twenties. + +Back again to the Colonel's house, back once more to my own. In all +probability I should have continued my solitary sentry-go and my +reverie until daybreak, had not my thoughts been sharply recalled to +earth. On reaching my own doorway for the fifth or sixth time I had just +turned, when I saw a black shadow on the road opposite the Maitlands' +house. One glance was enough; it was the Motor Pirate again, and I began +to count. "One--two--," the car passed me, "three--four;" it had +vanished round a turning of the road in the direction of St. Albans. + +Even what I had already experienced of the Pirate had not prepared me +for such an exhibition as this. What Mannering had said about the +delight of flying along an open road at a hundred miles an hour recurred +to me. I had not deemed it possible. But I paced the distance between +the Colonel's house and the bend where the strange car had passed out of +sight. The distance was just about two hundred yards, and it had been +covered as near as possible in four seconds. The car must have been +travelling just about a hundred miles an hour. + +I went straight indoors to bed. I am not ashamed to confess that I was +not able to continue my dreams in comfort, while pacing the road, by the +consideration of what would have happened to me had the Motor Pirate +come along just two seconds before I happened to turn and see him. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE COLONEL DREAMS, AND I AWAKEN + + +I SLEPT until late the next morning. I have always been accustomed to a +clear eight hours' sleep, and, as I did not get between the sheets until +about four in the morning, I naturally did not awaken until mid-day. So +what with my tub and the necessity for shaving, my early morning call +upon the Colonel did not come off. I suppose, as a matter of fact, I sat +down to breakfast just about the time when the gastronomic warrior was +thinking of luncheon. However, when I saw how amply my expectation of a +change in the weather had been fulfilled, I did not regret my lengthy +sleep. From a sodden grey sky sheets of water were steadily pouring. +There was not the slightest chance of any break in the clouds. +Consequently I felt assured of finding Miss Maitland at home if I made +my call in the afternoon, and since her father oftentimes thought it +expedient to take a little repose after luncheon in order to prepare +himself for the fatigue of dining, it was possible that I might even be +fortunate enough to secure a _tete-a-tete_ with her. + +I came to my breakfast, therefore, with as good a spirit as appetite, +neither being in the slightest degree affected by the memory of the easy +way in which I had been plundered by the Motor Pirate. Of course I felt +a certain chagrin. Still, I could contemplate the adventure with a +considerable deal more equanimity than I had managed to display the +night before, though I found that my curiosity concerning him had, if +anything, increased. I turned with eagerness to the morning papers to +see whether they could add to my knowledge concerning him. + +As every one is aware, all the papers on the morning of the first of +April that year devoted columns to his exploits. If I remember aright, +the country was at that time engaged upon two of our usual minor wars, +Parliament was in the midst of an important debate upon the second +reading of a measure to secure an extension of the franchise, and a +divorce case of more than common interest was engaging the attention of +the leading legal lights of the law courts. But all these things +received but the scantiest notice. The war news was relegated to the +inside pages, the Parliamentary intelligence cut down to the barest +summary, the _cause celebre_ dismissed with such a paragraph as +ordinarily serves to chronicle an unimportant police court case. The +Motor Pirate had nearly a monopoly of the space at the editorial +disposal. There was column after column about him. The Plymouth robbery +was reported in as great detail as the Compton Chamberlain affair, while +there were particulars of two similar outrages committed at points +between these two places. + +On running my eye over the reports I saw that they added nothing to what +I already knew, and I wasted no time in reading the leaders on the +subject. I was, however, extremely interested to find from one paper +that Winter and I had not been the only victims of the scoundrel's +rapacity on the previous evening, for a brief telegram reported a +similar occurrence a few miles from Oxford on the London road. I at once +sent my man to purchase any of the early editions of the evening papers +which might have reached St. Albans, in the hope that they might contain +further particulars of these operations. + +I had finished my breakfast, and was enjoying a cigarette in my library, +when he returned. I took the papers from him, and the first glance at +one of them made me gasp with amazement. The news which startled me was +all in one line--"Five more cars held up by the Motor Pirate." + +I am not going into details concerning these. If you have a desire to +refresh your memory all you have to do is to turn to any newspaper of +the date I have named and you will be able to get them _ad nauseam_. But +I will venture to give a list of the places where and the times at which +the outrages took place, for I made a list of them in the hope that, by +carefully studying it with the map, I might get some idea as to where he +might next be expected to make his appearance. + +I found that at five minutes past nine he stopped a car some four miles +from Oxford. Twenty minutes later he was robbing a lonely motorist +midway between Thame and Aylesbury. Then for forty minutes he appeared +to have been idle, his next two exploits taking place within five +minutes of each other, just after ten, in the neighbourhood of Amersham. +King's Langley was the scene of his next adventure, the time given being +about a quarter of an hour before he had overtaken us. In addition to +the particulars of these robberies there were a host of reports from +people who had seen the Pirate car pass them on the road. But there was +one notable omission from the latter list. Not from a single town was +there any record of the Pirate having been seen passing through it. + +I got a map of the district, and, after studying the country carefully, +I was fain to confess that one of two things was certain: either the +Motor Pirate had the power to make his car invisible at will, or else he +had a truly phenomenal knowledge of the bye-roads. How he had even +managed to get to Oxford, after his exploits in the West of England, +without arrest, puzzled me. The car was so unique in shape that it +seemed bound to excite observation. It could not have been put up at any +hotel, any more than it could have been run through the country by +daylight, without exciting remark and its presence being chronicled. +What, then, had he done with it? The more I pondered the question the +more puzzled I became, and at the same time the more determined to seek +a solution of the mystery. But how? I made a dozen plans, all of which, +upon consideration, appeared so futile, that I gave up the game in +despair, and decided to see if my brain would not become clearer after I +had paid my promised visit to Colonel Maitland. + +I did not find Miss Maitland alone, as I expected, or I might probably +have been tempted to confide my experience to her, and to have asked the +assistance of her woman's wit in putting me on the track of a solution +to the mystery. Mannering was with her. When I made my appearance in the +drawing-room, and found him enjoying a _tete-a-tete_, I cursed myself +for delaying my call and thus giving him such an opportunity. My temper +was not improved either by the discovery that they were sufficiently +engrossed in conversation to have been able very well to dispense with +my presence. I did not feel called upon to leave Mannering a clear +field, however, so I joined in the discussion, and tried my hardest to +be pleasant. + +Of course, there was only one possible topic of conversation, the theme +which was uttermost in every one's mind throughout the length and +breadth of the land. It was a difficult subject for me to discuss, and +in a measure it was a difficult subject for Mannering, inasmuch as it +was hard to refrain from reference to the personal experience we had had +with the Motor Pirate. It became increasingly difficult, when a few +minutes after my arrival Colonel Maitland joined us. + +"It was lucky for him he did not meet us, hey, Sutgrove?" said the +Colonel. "You, Winter, and myself, would soon settle a Motor Pirate, +wouldn't we?" + +I muttered something which would pass for an assent, while Mannering +shot an amused smile in my direction. + +"I wonder though we saw nothing of him," continued Maitland; "he must +have been very near us last night." + +"He seems to have been everywhere," I answered. + +"He has the ubiquity of a De Wet," said Mannering. + +"I hope I shall have a chance of meeting him sometime," I continued +grimly. + +Colonel Maitland chuckled. "Heavens! What a fire-eater you are, +Sutgrove. One might almost take you for a sub in a cavalry regiment." + +I made no answer, and Miss Maitland remarked--"I think that is very +unkind of you. You spoke of the Motor Pirate as if you owed him a +grudge. I think we all ought to be supremely thankful to him for having +made the wettest day we have had this year pass quite pleasantly." + +Bear him a grudge? I should think I did, but at the same time, I had no +intention of confessing the reason, so I said-- + +"Then we'll drink long life and prosperity to him the next time we have +a bottle of that same port your father approved so highly last night." +Then I turned to the Colonel, and made a clumsy attempt to turn the +subject of conversation. "Is your verdict upon my restaurant equally +favourable to-day, sir?" + +Colonel Maitland's eyes twinkled. "I have nothing to regret. As for the +port with which we finished, it seems to me the sort of stuff dreams are +made of. Do you know that the glass I drank--was it one glass or +two?--gave me the most vivid dream I have enjoyed since my childhood?" + +"Indeed! Let's hear it, Colonel," I replied. + +"Do tell us," said his daughter, as she rose from her seat, and put her +arms coaxingly round her father's neck. "Do tell us like a real, good, +kind, old-fashioned parent." + +The Colonel passed his hand lovingly over his daughter's sunny hair. + +"Sutgrove and Mannering don't want to hear about an old fellow's silly +dreams," he said. "Besides, it was all about the Motor Pirate, and I can +see that Sutgrove for one is quite sick of the subject." + +I was, and I wasn't, but I speedily declared that I was not when I saw +that his daughter was bent upon hearing the story. So he started upon a +prosy description as to how the fresh air had sent him to sleep, not +saying a word about the port, and I ceased to listen to him, preferring +to devote the whole of my attention to his daughter, who had seated +herself upon a footstool at his feet, and was looking up into his face +with a pretty affectionate glance in her deep blue eyes, enough to set +any one longing to be the recipient of similar regard. Her form, +attitude, expression, all made so deep an impression upon me, that I +have only to close my eyes at any time to see her just as she was +then--the little witch! She knew full well how to make the most of her +attractions, and though she has often declared since to me that the pose +was quite unpremeditated, I could never quite believe her. + +However that may be, I was so fascinated in watching her--there was one +stray curl which lay like a strand of woven gold upon her brow. Confound +it! It's all very well for the fellow who writes fiction for a living to +write about people's emotions. He is cold himself. If he were like me, +and wished to describe his own feelings, he might find himself in the +same difficulty as myself, and give up the attempt. + +The Colonel's voice droned on. Suddenly I awoke to the consciousness +that he was speaking of me. I think it was the fact of his daughter +looking at me which recalled me to attention. + +"Sutgrove had just looked back to see if I was comfortable, when he saw +another car on the road behind us. We had not long passed through +Radlett. You know the straight stretch of road just past the new Dutch +barn on the left----" + +My attention did not wander any more, and you may imagine my +astonishment at hearing the Colonel describe in minute detail everything +which had befallen us upon the previous evening. He could tell a story +when he liked, and on this occasion his description of the shamefaced +manner in which Winter had scrambled out of his car, and had handed over +his valuables to the Motor Pirate, was so ludicrous that I was +compelled to laugh at the description. When my turn came to be +described, Miss Maitland and Mannering were just as much amused, but I +am afraid that my attempt to participate in their mirth was rather +forced. + +When the story was done, Miss Maitland rose from her seat at her +father's feet, and, putting a hand on each of his shoulders-- + +"You dear, delightful old fibber!" she remarked. "I don't believe you +dreamed that at all. You couldn't." Then she wheeled round on me. "Now +tell me, Mr. Sutgrove, didn't that dream of father's really happen to +you last night?" + +What course was open to me but confession? I admitted the truth of the +story, and the Colonel was so choked with merriment, that I feared lest +he should be stricken with apoplexy. + +"The cream of the joke," he explained, when he recovered his powers of +speech, "was that neither Winter nor Sutgrove had the slightest idea +that I was foxing. I intended to inform them directly we were clear of +the Pirate; but when I heard them discussing the matter, and determining +to keep silence out of tenderness for my reputation, I could not resist +keeping up the joke." + +"I should think it was their own reputations they were thinking about," +said his daughter. "To submit so tamely to one man is not a very heroic +proceeding." + +I heard Mannering chuckle, and I felt mad. But I fancy it was not +Mannering's amusement, but my own consciousness of the truth of the +criticism that galled. + +Colonel Maitland came to my rescue. "I thought they were very sensible," +he said. "Even a cripple with a gun is better than six sound Tommies +unarmed." + +"Sensible--yes," she replied scornfully. "But there are times when one +prefers a little less sense, and a little more--shall we say action. I +am sure you would not have obeyed so tamely?" she continued, turning to +Mannering. + +He smiled, and I felt as if it would give me exquisite pleasure to catch +him by the throat, and twist the smile out of his dark, handsome face. + +"Really, Miss Maitland," he replied, "you flatter me. You should not be +too hard on Sutgrove. I am sure that it was only the full comprehension +of his own helplessness which prevented him making a fight of it. What +could he have done?" + +"Oh, a man should always know what to do!" she answered petulantly. "Has +any one ever tried to hold you up?" + +"Well, yes," he answered. "Once when I was out in the west of the +States, some of the regulation bands tried the game on a train in which +I was travelling. But then, you see, the conductor in the railway-car in +which I happened to be seated had a six-shooter. So had I. The other +passengers got as near the floor as they possibly could when the +shooting began. I was in pretty good practice in those days, don't you +know, so the other chaps didn't get much of a look in. We took the four +they left behind them when they bolted on to the next station with us. +Three of them were buried there, if I remember aright." + +"There," said Miss Maitland, with an unmistakable look of admiration in +her eyes; "I knew you were different." + +"But then I was armed. If I had not been, I should have been on the +floor with the other passengers." + +In reply she merely gave him one glance. Mannering returned it with one +equally eloquent. I rose, and stalked to the window. To me Mannering's +championship was an aggravation which I could not bear. Harder still was +it for me to observe the understanding which obviously existed between +him and Miss Maitland. Hitherto I had imagined that I had as good a +chance of winning her love as he had. But at this moment I felt that my +hopes had been shattered. + +I think if I had remained a moment longer in the room, I should have +been unable to restrain an impulse to knock some of the self-sufficiency +out of my rival. I left. + +Colonel Maitland followed me out, and I heard him ask me to dine with +him on the following day to wipe off the score he owed me. + +Without thinking, I accepted. Then I went out into the rain. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +I AM ARRESTED + + +AS I went away from the Maitlands' house I looked neither to the right +hand nor to the left. Where I went, whether I trudged along the high +road or tramped across country, I have not to-day the slightest idea. I +was so enveloped in my own misery, that I was absolutely blind to all +external objects. I could think of nothing but my dead hopes. So onward +I went, stumbling and splashing through the mud, cursing Mannering, +cursing the Motor Pirate, above all cursing myself for my own +pusillanimity. Why had I listened to Winter? Why should I have allowed +myself to be persuaded to play the part of coward, merely that Winter's +car should have been saved from injury? + +For a long while my thoughts were as aimless as my progress, but +gradually out of the incoherence one idea crystallized. It was not an +idea to be proud of. My bitterness of heart produced the natural result, +that was all--a burning desire to be revenged upon somebody. I +contemplated revenging myself upon everybody who had anything to do with +my discomfiture, upon Mannering, upon Colonel Maitland, upon the Motor +Pirate. Finally my choice settled upon the person of the Pirate as the +most suitable object; for, next to myself, he was primarily responsible +for my having made so contemptible a figure. + +Of course the decision was absurd. Decisions that are the outcome of any +strong emotion usually are. But it fulfilled a useful purpose. It gave +my mind something else to feed upon than contemplation of my own +unhappiness. It brought me to myself. + +To-day I can laugh when I recall the childishness of my actions, the +outcome of the unreasoned promptings of my puerile jealousy. For when I +came to the conclusion to avenge my sufferings upon the Motor Pirate, I +suddenly became aware that it was pitch dark; that I was in the middle +of a field; that I was soaked to the skin; that the rain was still +falling heavily; and that I had not the slightest idea where I was. +However, I added one more to the acts of folly I committed that day: I +solemnly held up my hands to the dripping heavens and registered my vow +of revenge. Then I pushed on again, but with my physical faculties on +the alert to discover where I was. + +I began, too, to feel the discomfort of my position, and became sensible +of a sneaking wish to be before a comfortable fire. I crossed two or +three fields, and eventually coming to a road I followed it, and, after +paddling through the mud half a mile further, I struck a village, and in +the village an inn. + +When I opened the door and walked into the cheerful lamplight of the +bar-parlour, the half-dozen occupants of the cosy little room stared at +me with astonishment. Well they might. I caught a glimpse of my +reflection in the glass behind the bottles--if you have ever seen a +corpse fished up by the drags from a river bed, you will be able to form +some idea of the appearance I presented--so that I did not resent their +stare. In fact, I was not in a condition to be able to pay much +attention to the curious glances of the villagers. The warmth of the +room together with the sudden cessation of exertion were for the moment +too much for me, and it was as much as I could do to stagger to the +nearest chair. + +Fortunately the landlord was a man with some modicum of common sense. I +am quite sure that I should have been unceremoniously ejected from nine +public houses out of ten. But mine host of the White Horse--I learned +afterwards that he had been whip to a well-known hunt in the West +country--was able to distinguish between fatigue and drunkenness, and he +came at once to my assistance. I heard him speak to me, but I was +totally unable to respond. For a while indeed I must have verged upon +unconsciousness, for the next thing of which I became aware was of a +glass at my lips containing something sweet and strong. + +I sipped. Then I drank. My consciousness returned. In a couple of +minutes I could sit upright. The landlord was beaming at me with +benevolent interest. + +"Take another sup, sir," he said. "There's nothing like maraschino and +gin when one is a bit overwrought. I've known many a gentleman in my +part of the country who would take nothing else, after a hard day to +hounds, to brace him up for those long ten miles home." + +I took another sup, and a good one. Then my powers of speech returning, +I asked where I was. I found I had not wandered nearly so far as I +expected. I was barely six miles from my home--at King's Langley; but +this fact was no criterion of the distance I must have traversed in my +mad frenzy, for I saw by the clock that the hour was ten. It was about +five when I left Colonel Maitland's house, so that I had been pressing +onward for five hours in as wild a night as any on which I have ever +been abroad. + +I leaned back in my chair with the object of resting a few minutes +before starting homewards. But, whether owing to the spirit I had +swallowed, or to the heavy exertion I had undergone, or merely because +of my intense mental fatigue, I felt drowsiness overcoming me so rapidly +that I perceived it would never do for me to give way to it. Pulling +myself together I rose to my feet, at the same time thrusting my hand +into my pocket for the money to pay for my drink. The mere act of +rising, however, was almost too much for me. My body felt as stiff as if +I had been beaten all over. Only to move was absolute physical pain. I +looked at the landlord. + +"I'm afraid I am more knocked up than I thought. Can you manage a hot +bath and a bed for me to-night?" I asked. + +He glanced at me curiously, and, after a moment's consideration, he +replied-- + +"I'll see what the missus'll say." + +Luckily "the missus" said "Yes," so ten minutes later I was sluicing hot +water over my aching limbs with a stable sponge in the bath which, I +suspect, did duty on ordinary occasions for the family washing. Whatever +it was, it did excellently well for my purpose. Gradually a delicious +feeling of relaxation stole over me. I tumbled between the sheets and +was asleep even before my host entered my room to take away my soaked +clothing to be dried. + +My sleep might have lasted one second. In point of fact I slept until +nine o'clock the next morning, and should have continued to sleep if I +had not felt a hand on my arm shaking me, and heard a voice bidding me +arise. Fancying I was at home, and that my man was calling me, I said, +"All right, Wilson," and turned over for another snooze. + +"Now then, get up out of that!" said the voice. "None of your shamming! +We are not to be put off that way." + +It was not Wilson's voice. Wondering what was happening, I sat up in bed +and rubbed my eyes sleepily. + +"What the deuce----!" I began. Then I stopped suddenly. A couple of +constables in uniform stood at the bedside, and I gathered that it was +the voice of the sergeant which had so rudely disturbed my slumbers. + +"What do you want?" I demanded. + +"You know well enough," replied the sergeant. "You make haste and dress +yourself and come along with us." + +I thought my senses had deserted me. + +"What in the name of good fortune for?" I asked. + +"You're not going to kid us, my good feller," he answered. Adding +facetiously, "If we puts a name to it and calls it piracy on the 'igh +road, I wonder what you'll 'ave to say to it, remembering, of course, +that anything you do say will be taken down and used in evidence against +you." + +Then all that had happened flashed across my mind; my strange appearance +and arrival at the inn; my peculiar manner; my possession of plenty of +money; the curious glances of the village folk; the fact that somewhere +in the vicinity the Motor Pirate had last been seen. Under the +circumstances, nothing could be more likely than that the bucolic +intelligence should jump to the conclusion that I was the famous +criminal. To me, however, the idea seemed so absurd that I fell into +hearty laughter. My merriment seemed to annoy the sergeant, for he +declared crossly that if I did not dress quickly, he would find himself +under the necessity of taking me away as I was. + +I thought it expedient to temporize, and as a result of a little +diplomacy, in which one of the coins from my pocket found another +resting-place, I obtained permission to breakfast before I left. + +I made a hearty meal, the landlord attending upon my wants. I was glad +to see that he, at least, had no hand in thrusting upon me the indignity +of being arrested. He explained as much, telling my captors they were +making idiots of themselves. As he seemed trustworthy, I gave him +Winter's address, with instructions to wire to him, telling him of my +predicament, and asking him to come to my assistance. + +Necessarily I gave the instructions in the presence of the policemen, +and directly I had done so I could see that their cocksureness was +shaken. They became more polite in their attitude, and the sergeant took +the trouble to explain that he was acting under instructions, and had no +option but to insist upon my accompanying him to Watford. + +Into Watford I went accordingly. I am not going to dwell in any detail +upon the incidents of the journey; I am naturally of a retiring +disposition, and every circumstance attending my progress was in the +nature of an outrage upon my diffidence. For instance, upon my departure +from the inn, the whole of the population from King's Langley, so far as +I could judge, had gathered about the door of the White Horse to give me +a send-off. The crowd was in no sense a hostile one. The majority of its +component parts, especially the more youthful units, seemed indeed to +view me with admiration not unmixed with envy. Only one yokel expressed +disbelief in my identity. + +"Ee ain't no pirut," he declared with unconcealed disdain, as he spat +into the gutter. "Anybody can see he's only a toff." + +I scarcely knew whether to be pleased with his conclusion or angry that +he should find my personal appearance so unimpressive; and before I +could make up my mind on the subject, I was seated in the trap provided +for us and driven away seated between the two constables. + +Our entry into Watford was still more in the nature of a triumph. Long +before we reached the county police office I was wild enough, at being +made such an exhibition of, to have given ten years of my life for the +chance of punching the head of any one of the throng of gaping +onlookers. Then, as a culminating blow to my pride, who should we meet +at a point in the High Street where it was impossible to avoid +recognition, but my rival Mannering in his trumpery old motor-car, +accompanied by--above all persons in the world, the one I least desired +to see--Miss Maitland. + +I ground my teeth with rage, and as I alighted and followed the sergeant +into the police station, I wished that I were the Motor Pirate in +reality. + +When I reached the presence of the officer in charge of the station I +just managed to control my temper, though I fancy there must have been +traces of my rage still visible in my voice as I demanded to know why a +peaceable citizen should be subjected to such ignominy. + +The inspector in reply merely asked me for my name and address. + +Before meeting Miss Maitland I had cherished the hope that my identity +would not be disclosed, but now I had no further reason for desiring to +conceal it, I gave both at once. + +The inspector quietly made a note of them, while another man in plain +clothes, who was standing gazing out of the window, suddenly turned on +me with the inquiry-- + +"How comes it, Mr. Sutgrove, that living at St. Albans you should choose +to spend the night at a little inn at King's Langley?" + +"I suppose I am at liberty to sleep where I like?" I retorted. + +"Perfectly so," replied the stranger. "You will have no difficulty, I +presume, in proving your identity?" + +"Not the slightest," I said. "In fact I have already wired to a friend +of mine--Mr. Winter, of Hailscombe, St. Albans--to come here for the +purpose." + +"I know Mr. Winter very well," said the inspector. + +The stranger looked at me keenly, and when his scrutiny was completed he +fell to whistling a bar of Chopin's _Marche Funebre_. Then he turned to +his colleague in uniform. + +"It's no go," he said. "This is not our man." Again he turned to me. "I +am Inspector Forrest of Scotland Yard, detailed for special duty in +connection with this Motor Pirate affair. Unfortunately I did not reach +Watford until after arrangements had been made to bring you here, or---- +I hope you will not take it amiss if we detain you until Mr. Winter's +arrival." + +This gave me the opening I had been wishing for, and I took it. I said a +lot more than I can recall now, though I can remember a good deal. Most +of it was to the effect that I would make somebody pay dearly for the +annoyance to which I had been subjected. + +Inspector Forrest listened patiently to me until I had finished. + +"Come, come, Mr. Sutgrove!" he said then. "You must not bear any malice. +Surely you must admit that appearances were not altogether in your +favour," and he detailed to me the information which had led to my +arrest. "You see," he said in conclusion, "that practically we had no +option in the matter." + +I dissented from his view. He said a word to the inspector in uniform, +who left us alone in the room. Then he came close to me and remarked in +a confidential tone. + +"The fact is, our friend, who has just left us, has been too +precipitate. You can make things exceedingly unpleasant for him if you +like; but frankly, is it worth while? Think it over a little, bearing in +mind that if we are to get hold of the Motor Pirate, we must take the +chance of capturing the wrong man, since there is no description of him +obtainable. You will not be the only one, I'll swear." + +Since I had relieved my mind I felt better. Besides I was rather +attracted by the personality of the man who was speaking to me. He did +not at all fulfil my idea of a detective. He was a tall, slight, stiffly +built man, with a pleasant open face and an agreeable manner. I saw, +too, that I had only my own folly to blame for the predicament in which +I now found myself. + +In another ten minutes he was smoking one of my cigars and we were +chatting confidentially. Before twenty had elapsed, I had confided to +him not only Winter's and my own experience with the Motor Pirate, but +also the chain of events which had led to my spending the night at the +inn. He was exceedingly sympathetic and quite grave throughout, though +he appeared more interested in the encounter with the Pirate than in the +account of my mental tortures. However, when I told him of my vow, he +brightened up and asked me if I was still determined to keep it. + +I had just assured him that I would willingly spend the rest of my life +in the quest, when the other inspector entered the room and with him +Winter. The latter came straight across to me and held out his hand, and +never in my life was I so glad to see his honest face and beaming smile. + +"What have you been up to now, Sutgrove?" he remarked. "Not emulating +the deeds of the Motor Pirate?" + +"The police have somehow arrived at the conclusion that I am that +distinguished person himself," I replied ruefully. + +He roared with laughter. It was infectious. There was no help for it. +The two inspectors joined in the merriment, and the last of my anger was +borne away on the flood. + +There was of course no question of my further detention. In a few +minutes I was seated beside Winter in his car, and we were making the +mud fly as we dashed towards St. Albans. + +Inspector Forrest accompanied us. I had promised to find him some lunch +if he would do so, and to drive him back afterwards, and he was glad of +the opportunity of obtaining from us such particulars as we could +furnish him with concerning the person of whom he was in search. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +I MAKE FRIENDS WITH INSPECTOR FORREST, C.I.D. + + +"THE telegraph," said Inspector Forrest, sententiously "is even more +speedy than the Motor Pirate." + +"Unless you want to send a message from Regent Street to the City," I +remarked; "in which case one would save time by employing a sloth as +messenger." + +The inspector waved aside the objection as frivolous. He occupied an +easy chair opposite me; he was smoking one of my best cigars with every +sign of active enjoyment; he sipped his glass of claret--he rarely +touched anything stronger, he informed me--with the air of a +connoisseur. + +"We shall beat him with the telegraph," said he. "Clearly he has one +retreat where he can put up his car in safety. Probably he has more than +one. It is not impossible for him to have several. There might even be a +number of Motor Pirates, members of the same gang, but selecting +different parts of the country upon which to prey. The telegraph will +soon settle these points for us. When next he makes his appearance we +shall be able to keep watch upon him, to note, if not the exact spot, +at least in what part of the country he makes his appearance. Even if it +should be found impossible to arrest him in his progress, he is bound to +leave some traces behind him which will enable us to get upon his +track." + +"He does not seem to have left many behind him at present," I replied. + +"No," said the inspector thoughtfully, as he rose and examined the map +spread out upon the table. "Yet there are certainly grounds for +believing that he has gone to earth somewhere in this neighbourhood. The +Hertfordshire police may have been nearer the mark than you thought when +they arrested you." + +"You don't mean to say that you still suspect me?" I cried. + +"Not for one instant," he answered promptly. "The meaning I meant to +convey was that, quite unknown to you, the Motor Pirate may very well be +your near neighbour. I suppose there is no one residing near whom you +would consider a likely object of suspicion?" + +There flashed across my mind the strange similarity between Mannering's +voice and the Motor Pirate's. But the notion was so absurd I was ashamed +to mention it. I assured the inspector I knew of no one. + +"At all events, my belief is strong enough to keep me in this district +until I hear something further," he declared, as he finished the +contents of his glass and glanced at his watch. + +Just then I caught sight of Mannering coming up the path through the +garden towards my front door. + +"You had better stay a little longer," I said to the inspector. "Here is +another man coming who may be able to give you some more details of the +Pirate. He has seen him, and as he has been a longer resident here than +myself, he may be able to tell you more about the people round than I +can." + +"A motorist?" he asked. + +"Yes, named Mannering," I replied. "He is the man I told you about, whom +I consider to be my rival, you know." + +The inspector's eyes twinkled. "I shouldn't let him drive me into any +more adventures like last night's, Mr. Sutgrove," he advised. "If you +were ten years older--my age, you know--you wouldn't need the warning, A +bout of rheumatic fever would be small consolation for the loss of the +lady." + +I could not reply, for at that moment Mannering entered. + +"Glad to see you home again, Sutgrove," he said heartily. "I'm not the +only one either. Miss Maitland asked me to call, for after seeing you in +such bad company this morning---- Hullo! I beg your pardon, I thought +you were alone." He stopped suddenly on catching sight of Inspector +Forrest. + +I introduced my guest and Mannering acknowledged the introduction +easily. + +"Inspector Forrest will assure you that I have only been unfortunate +enough to have been the object of our local constabulary's misplaced +zeal. They took me for our mutual friend the Motor Pirate." + +"Did they though? What an almighty spoof!" said Mannering. "First time I +ever heard of a man being run in for robbing himself on the high-road. +Beats Gilbert!" + +"Mr. Sutgrove did not see the point of the joke at first," said the +inspector. I saw that as he spoke he was taking note of Mannering in +much the same way as he had taken stock of me at the police office. + +Mannering appeared to be quite unconscious of his regard, for he +replied-- + +"Don't suppose I should have relished such a mistake myself. Anyway," he +continued, turning to me, "you have the consolation of knowing that you +are not the only victim of police enterprise. I see from the papers +quite half a dozen motor pirates have been run in. They may have the +real one amongst them; but as his car has so far escaped capture, I +doubt it." + +"So do I," I remarked. "And for the additional reason that I have a sort +of presentiment that when his capture is brought about, I am going to +have a hand in it." + +"What do you say to that, Inspector?" he answered. "Are you going to +leave the job to amateurs?" + +"I never said 'no' to the offer of assistance in running down a +criminal," was the reply. + +"I have sworn," I remarked obstinately, "that I will not rest until he +is safe under lock and key." + +"You had better be prepared," answered Mannering. "I should judge him to +be a bit of a fighter." + +"Next time I meet him, I'll take all risks to come to close quarters," I +continued. + +"You haven't a car to do a hundred miles an hour, have you?" he said in +a bantering voice. + +"My plan is a simple one. I merely propose to go out for night rides +until he finds me," I said. + +"I had some thoughts of amusing myself in the same way," he answered. +"But, judging from your experience this morning, the only thing likely +to happen is being arrested on suspicion." + +"I'll take my chance of that," I said. "But before discussing the +matter, perhaps you could tell Inspector Forrest whether there's any +spot in this neighbourhood likely to serve as a hiding-place for the +Pirate's car?" + +A smile lit up Mannering's face. "There's the old coach-house at the +bottom of the paddock next to my cottage. It has a door opening on to +the main road. There would be room, too, in my stables, if I had not +fitted them up as workshops for my tyre experiments." + +"Stop rotting," I said, "the inspector really means it." + +He became grave instantly. "Sorry I can't suggest a likely spot," he +said, and then for a few minutes he answered the questions the detective +put to him as to what he had seen of the Pirate. + +He could give little information of any value, and when Inspector +Forrest had elicited all that he could, he thanked Mannering and rose to +depart. I accompanied him to the garden gate. He appeared a little loth +to leave me. Twice he turned away and returned to make some objectless +remark to me. The third time he blurted out-- + +"About that suggestion of yours--taking night rides on the chance of +being held up----" + +"Yes?" I said and waited. + +"I wish I had a good fast car at my disposal," he continued earnestly; +"but the Yard would never run to it." + +I felt a pleasant thrill run through me. It would be good to have his +companionship and assistance in working out my self-imposed vow. + +"If you can make use of it, I will see that the best car money can buy +is placed at your disposal," I replied eagerly. + +He took my hand and shook it warmly. "I'll see what my chief says," he +replied. "When can I see you again?" + +"I shall be leaving here at eight and returning well--between ten and +eleven." + +"Expect me about midnight," he said, and without another word or +backward glance he stepped out in the direction of St. Albans. + +I returned to Mannering, who did not, however, favour me with a very +lengthy visit. Possibly he found my manner rather cool, but the fact +was, that try as I would to curb my feelings, I could not but resent +something of an air of proprietorship which I thought appeared in his +tone when referring to Miss Maitland. + +When he had departed, I got out all the catalogues of motor-cars I could +lay my hands upon, and studied them until it was time to dress for +dinner. Several times I thought of breaking the appointment, for I knew +I should have to give some explanation of my arrest, and how to do so +without appearing an egregious ass I did not know. Finally I determined, +if the opportunity were afforded me, to tell the exact truth, at least +to the only person whose opinion I cared about. + +I was glad afterwards that I had not sent my excuses, for I was lucky +enough to find Miss Maitland alone in the drawing-room when I arrived. +It seemed, too, as if she had determined to make amends for the mental +torture she had unwittingly caused me the previous evening. So it +happened that when she questioned me as to how I managed to get into +such a predicament, I told her as clearly as I could of the state of my +feelings. It was a blundering, halting statement I made, of that I am +certain, and before I had completed it Colonel Maitland's entry closed +my mouth. But I think she understood, for there was a little flush on +her cheek when we went into dinner which had not been there when I +greeted her, and a pretty air of seriousness in the glances she bestowed +upon me, which I had never noticed before. + +As far as the Colonel was concerned, he did not worry me for any +explanations. He was bent on enlarging my knowledge of gastronomy, and +having a new cook, he was much too deeply interested in the _menu_ to +spare any thoughts for my erratic movements. I am afraid, though, his +teaching was wasted on me; for while I managed to reply to his +conversation, I had not the slightest idea what I was eating. My +principal longing was to get the meal over in order that I might finish +the conversation which had opened so auspiciously. The opportunity was +not afforded me on that occasion, however, but the evening did not pass +without my obtaining a glimmering of hope. + +When Miss Maitland rose I asked her, in a voice which was low enough not +to reach her father's ear, whether she would answer me one question. + +"What is it?" she said, and her face flushed a little as she came to the +door. + +"Is there any one else?" I asked, my hand on the knob. + +"What right have you to ask?" she answered. + +"No right, I only ask it of your mercy," I replied. + +She hesitated, then with flushed cheeks and a soft whispered "No one," +she escaped through the door. + +Over the port I took my new-found courage in both hands, and asked the +Colonel's consent to my suit. I gained it. He even expressed the hope +that I should succeed, but he warned me at the same time that I must not +depend upon him for any assistance. He declared himself to be clay in +the hands of his daughter. + +"Evie always had her own way from the cradle," he declared, "and always +will have her own way. If I were to say that I thought you would make +her a good husband, I'm not sure whether she would not consider it a +sufficient excuse to accept Mannering straight away. Personally I should +much prefer you, but there's no counting on a woman's tastes, either in +men or wines. And Evie is a perfect woman, God bless her!" + +I drained my glass to the toast and made an excuse to get away to the +drawing-room. But I did not see her alone again that evening. Winter and +his wife had walked over. Mannering did not put in an appearance, and +his absence was something to be thankful for; and when I held her hand +in mine as I bade her good night, I said-- + +"You have told me there is no one else. Is there any hope for me?" + +She made no pretence of misunderstanding my meaning. She looked at me +saucily, her lips parted lightly, her eyes brimming with laughter. + +"Come and ask me when--when you have caught the Motor Pirate," she said, +and with that answer I was fain to be content. + +Thus it happened that I found myself fully committed to the work which +was at that time engaging the attention of the whole of the police +throughout the land. I welcomed the task. Luck might be on my side, +especially if my new friend the detective inspector's assistance proved +to be available. + +And as regards assurance on this point, I had not long to wait before my +mind was at ease. I found him awaiting me at my garden gate when I +returned home. I invited him in so eagerly that he smiled. + +"There's no need to ask if you are still as keen on this job as you were +this afternoon," he said, as he entered my snuggery. + +"Keener than ever," I asseverated. + +"Then I hope between us we may be successful in running our man to +ground." + +"Have you heard anything further?" I inquired, anxiously. + +"Nothing of the slightest value. A number of people have been through +our hands, but of the Pirate--not a sign." + +"Perhaps we shall get a clue in the morning," I hazarded. + +"At present," he declared, "there's not a shred of a clue to work upon. +Of course at any moment information may come to hand. He may endeavour +to dispose of some of his plunder, or he may reappear, but until +then----" + +"What do you suggest?" I asked. + +"I shall stay and thoroughly explore this district until I hear +something further," he answered. + +"I am thinking of going into town in the morning, to see if a more +powerful car than the one I possess at present is to be obtained," I +told him later. "I am hoping to get one capable of doing fifty or even +sixty miles an hour at a pinch, so as to be prepared for emergencies. +Meanwhile, if you like to make this house your headquarters, I shall be +delighted to put you up." + +"Do you really mean that, Mr. Sutgrove?" he asked. + +"Of course I do," I replied. + +He hesitated a moment, then he accepted my invitation. Luck was on my +side after all. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MURDER + + +I LEARNED to know Inspector Forrest very well during the next fortnight, +better perhaps, since during that time the Motor Pirate gave absolutely +no sign of existence. It seemed as if, contented with the sensation he +had created and the plunder he had secured, he had retired into the +obscurity from which he originally emerged. + +For two reasons I was not sorry for this interval. In the first place, I +found I could not get immediately the type of car I wanted. +Manufacturers and agents were willing enough to book orders, but none of +them had in stock the high-speed automobile such as I required. Only +after a long day's hunt did I discover an agent who thought that he +could obtain for me a 60-h.p. Mercedes, and then it would have to be +sent from Paris. At my suggestion, he telephoned through an order that +the car should be despatched to him at once; but two or three days +elapsed before its arrival in London, and then there were certain +alterations which I required to be made which took a week to complete. I +was glad, therefore, that my enemy did not make a reappearance until I +was provided for him. When the new Mercedes was delivered to me I was +delighted with it, especially when I found on my return from the trial +run the engines worked as smoothly as when I started. + +The other reason why I did not regret the Pirate's quiescence was +because of the opportunity afforded me of cementing the friendship which +had grown up between myself and the detective. It became a very real and +warm friendship during those long idle days. He upset all my +preconceived notions of the police, at least as regards the detective +portion of the force, he was such an all-round man. He had not allowed +his undoubted powers of observation to be entirely concentrated upon the +seamy side of his profession. Judging from his conversation, I gathered +that he knew quite as much about modern French literature as he did +about French criminals, and of the latter his knowledge was both +extensive and interesting. I remember on one occasion that he gave me a +really acute criticism of the Verlain school, with special relation to +the effects of decadent literature on national life. But that is only +one example of his scope. Wherever he had been and whatever he had done, +had apparently awakened in him the desire to see all round the case he +was investigating, and being possessed of a well-trained memory, his +mind was a storehouse of curious knowledge. + +Let me give one instance. One evening when we were driving slowly along +a bye-road in the vicinity of Uxbridge, in accordance with our +preconceived plan--the Mercedes had not then arrived, and our progress +was additionally slow as the roads were exceedingly heavy, as rain had +been falling daily ever since the night I had been arrested--suddenly my +companion said-- + +"Do you know anything of Persian poetry, Mr. Sutgrove?" + +As it happened, owing to the fact that a Sutgrove had once represented +his country at the Persian court, I had a slight knowledge of the +subject, and I said so. + +"I am never out of doors on a spring evening," he continued, "without +wishing I had the time to acquire a knowledge of it." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"It's this way," he replied. "On one of my jobs--a show job, attendance +on a distinguished visitor, don't you know--I was thrown a great deal +into the company of a Persian gentleman, and we did our best to learn +something of each other's languages. He taught me out of Hafiz, and I +picked up just enough to make me wish for more. Listen to this." + +He recited to me one of the shorter poems from the Divan. + +"Isn't that musical?" he continued. "It seems to me to have the real +poetry of the spring evening in it." + +I agreed with him, and we were silent for a while. Later he asked me +diffidently not to mention to any one his penchant for Persian poetry. + +"Even at the Yard," he explained, "I doubt whether they would put it +down to my credit." + +I gave him the assurance he asked for, and from that time forth I came +to look upon him as a personal friend. I confided wholly to him the +hopes I entertained in regard to my love affair; and he assured me that +if he had anything to do with it, I should also have a hand in the +arrest of the Pirate. + +All our time was not spent, however, in pleasant excursions about the +country. Forrest was by no means idle; he had been busy perfecting his +scheme for utilizing the telegraph in notifying the Pirate's +reappearance when it should be made. Then he had in addition thoroughly +and minutely explored the whole of the country round, to see if any +trace of the strange visitor were obtainable. His endeavours were quite +fruitless, but he still held to his belief that he could not be far +away; and the next time the Pirate did make his appearance he was +confirmed in his opinion. + +The weather had been fine for three days in succession, there had been a +drying breeze, and the roads from sloppy quagmires became in such +perfect condition that I was looking forward to a really good spin. But +Forrest had other views for the evening of the third day. + +"I don't think," he remarked, as he sipped his coffee after our early +dinner, "we can afford to spend the night ranging the highways. +Business first and pleasure afterwards." + +"I thought you were of opinion that our friend will be tempted to make +his reappearance to-night?" I remarked. + +"I am," he answered; "and therefore the best thing, we can do is to wait +until we hear in which direction he makes his reappearance. If we wait +in St. Albans at the end of the telegraph wire, we shall be much more +likely to meet him than running about at random." + +There was so much good sense in the suggestion that I resigned myself to +the inevitable waste of time, and I had my reward. About eleven a +message came over the wire: "Motor Pirate seen near Towcester going in +the direction of Daventry." + +"How far is Towcester?" asked Forrest, the moment he heard the message. + +"Roughly, I should say forty miles," I answered. + +"We ought to manage it within the hour, then," he remarked. "Come +along." + +Without another word we seated ourselves in the car, and with a +continuous toot-toot of the horn we rolled out of the town. Directly we +were clear of the houses, I jammed on the highest speed. I cannot say +that I felt quite comfortable, for though I knew the road, the night was +very dark, the light we threw ahead was so bright as to dazzle my eyes, +and hitherto I had no experience of driving a 60-h.p. motor at top speed +through the darkness. My companion's _sang-froid_ soon reassured me, +however, and as soon as we were fairly going, the sting of the night air +as it whipped my cheeks brought a sense of exhilaration which would have +sufficed to banish my fears had there been time to have entertained any. +But there was not. If you have ever driven a speedy automobile at top +speed through a dark night, you will readily understand that there is +little opportunity for the brain to cultivate imaginary perils. If you +do not believe me, try it for yourself and see. + +In about sixteen minutes we were at Dunstable. Passing through the town +slowly, Forrest got news that the police were watching all the roads, +but that nothing had been seen there of the Pirate. Another quarter of +an hour brought us to Fenny Stratford. Here we wasted another minute or +so in obtaining similar negative information. By this time I was feeling +confidence in my car and in my powers to manage it. Once clear of the +houses again, I let her rip for all she was worth; we simply flew along. +With my right hand on the wheel, my feet on the two pedals, I sat as +tense as a fiddle string, my one object to peer into the road ahead. + +We had covered ten of the fifteen miles between Stratford and Towcester, +when I became aware of a deeper blotch on the blackness ahead. With one +movement I pressed down the clutch and jammed on the breaks. I was just +in time. The car pulled up in its own length, though it swerved to such +an extent that I thought we should be overturned. + +There, standing still within the circle of our lights, was another +motor-car. It had no lamps burning, but it was shivering with the +vibration of its engine running free. + +"The Pirate!" I shouted. + +"Not a bit of it," said Forrest, jumping down and approaching the +stranger. + +I followed his example, and the first thing I observed about the car was +that all the lights were out, and I wondered that any motorist in his +senses should have courted the accident which so nearly occurred. + +There was one occupant of the car, and he was sitting bolt upright with +one hand on a lever beside him. I shouted something at him angrily as I +approached, but he made no response. + +"Hullo! Are you asleep, sir?" said Forrest, as he put one foot on the +step and grasped the silent motorist by the arm. + +There was no reply. I saw Forrest leave his hold on the stranger, and, +stepping back into the road, draw his hand across his brow. + +"My God!" he muttered + +"What is it?" I asked. + +Forrest caught his breath sharply. "A piece more of the Motor Pirate's +work, I fancy," he said slowly; "and this time, I think it +spells--murder." + +For a minute I stood absolutely still. It was one of the most eerie +moments of my life. Above and about us the black night, beside us the +two cars coughing and grunting as if anxious to be moving, and that +silent figure sitting up erect upon his seat, utterly unconscious of +the two persons standing watching him with horror-stricken faces. + +Forrest's voice, clear, cool, incisive, brought me to myself. + +"One of your lamps here, Sutgrove, if you can manage it." + +I took a lamp from its socket, and held it while the detective made a +brief inspection. It took him a very short time to assure him that his +surmise was near the truth. + +It was murder. + +Right in the centre of the forehead of the silent figure was a small +blue hole, so cleanly drilled that it scarcely marred the features of +the dead man. One hand still grasped the lever, the other had dropped +slightly. When the light fell upon it, I perceived the fingers to be +tightly clasped about the butt of a revolver. + +Forrest lifted the hand and glanced at the weapon. "One cartridge +discharged," he said. "Surely it cannot be a case of suicide?" + +Just at that moment I caught sight of a piece of paper pinned to the +dead man's coat. I pointed it out to Forrest. He unfolded it, glanced at +it, and handed it to me without a word. + +It was just a half sheet of ordinary paper used for typing, and upon it +was typed the following sentence-- + +"This is the fate awaiting those who venture to resist the Motor +Pirate." + +"That would seem to settle the question as to whether this is a case of +suicide or not," I said, handing back the paper to the inspector. + +"H'm! At all events the inquest will," he replied. "I'm afraid in any +case this ends our pursuit for the night," he continued. "I think I must +ask you to run on to the nearest town for assistance. Have you any idea +of our whereabouts?" + +By calculating the time which had elapsed since leaving Stratford with +the pace at which we had been travelling, I came to the conclusion we +were not very far from Towcester, and I suggested I had better go there. + +"All right; cut along then. Revolver handy?" + +I replied in the affirmative as I mounted my car. + +"Wait one moment," he called as I was starting; "and bring your light on +a bit." + +I did as I was directed. Forrest took one of the lamps and walked for +five yards up the road, examining carefully every inch of the roadway. +At last he paused. + +"Here is where the Pirate's motor stopped," he said; and, plumping down +upon his knees, he examined the surface carefully. Then, taking a tape +from his pocket, he made a series of measurements. + +I inquired what he was doing. He grunted in reply. When he had finished +he remarked-- + +"Nothing much to be got out of that. Judging from my measurements, our +friend might be driving a Daimler." + +Another thought struck him, and, before starting, he asked me to lend +him a hand in getting the other car to the side of the road, in case any +one else came along and fell upon the fate we had so narrowly escaped. +Then I was at liberty to proceed, and, getting once more into my own +vehicle, I let the Mercedes drive ahead. + +But my nerve had gone. Every moment I fancied weird shapes in the +blackness before me. Every moment I heard in my ears the strange humming +of the Pirate. Yet I dared not look round, lest I should in that instant +come upon him unawares in the shadows in front. + +Fortunately I had no long distance to traverse. Soon friendly lights +broke the darkness. Slackening pace, I found myself in the well-ordered +streets of a little town. The second person I met was a policeman, and, +hailing him, I bade him jump on the car and direct me to the +police-station. Nothing loth, he obeyed. + +I have an idea that the story I told the sergeant in charge was more +than a little incoherent, but he understood me sufficiently to become +aware that his presence was required immediately at the scene of a +crime, and he gave me to understand that he was ready to accompany me +forthwith. Then I remembered Forrest asking me to see that the services +of a medical man were obtained, in order that he might make an +examination of the body before its removal, and I mentioned the matter +to the sergeant. He at once gave instructions to the constable who had +guided me to the station to knock up a doctor and follow us at once with +him, so there was very little delay before I was once more driving my +car at full speed towards the scene of the tragedy. + +By this time my nerve had returned. One reason may have been that I had +taken advantage of the slight delay, occasioned by the sergeant giving +instructions to his subordinate, to brace myself with a stiff +whisky-and-soda from the small supply I carried on the car for +emergencies. Now, too, I had the companionship of another able-bodied +man on the car with me. I felt that, even if the mysterious murderer +were to make his appearance, I should have a better chance of tackling +him. + +We were not long in reaching our destination. In fact a very few minutes +elapsed before we came to the spot where the motor-car stood, with the +rigid figure of its owner still in the position I had left him. I pulled +up beside the derelict. + +"Hallo, Forrest!" I shouted. + +There was no answer. The detective had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +EXPLAINS A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE + + +I SPRANG to the ground by the side of the death-car. It was standing by +the side of the road, just as I had left it, its silent owner sitting +rigidly erect, still grasping the lever, and looking fixedly into the +darkness. + +"Forrest! Forrest!" I shouted again. + +All was silent as the grave. + +It was very strange. He had promised to await my return. I looked at my +watch. Altogether half an hour had not elapsed since my departure. Yet +many things might happen in half an hour with such a spirit of death +abroad as I knew to be hovering around. I shivered. + +The police sergeant was as much bewildered at Forrest's disappearance as +myself. On our way, I had explained more fully the circumstances under +which we had discovered the crime which had been committed. He knew my +companion by name and reputation, and he was quite at a loss to explain +his absence. + +I scanned the road so far as it was revealed by our lights, half +expecting yet dreading to see his prostrate form. But there was nothing +visible. Each taking a lamp from my car, the sergeant and I set out to +search the hedges and ditches on each side of the road. We did so +conscientiously for a hundred yards up and down the road, and on each +side, but found nothing. + +When we got back to the car, the sergeant said to me-- + +"Perhaps Mr. Forrest has found a clue, and thought he would waste no +time in following it up." + +The suggestion seemed feasible enough, but just at that moment my glance +fell on something at my feet which put the idea to flight. Lying on the +road was a large button. I picked it up. I saw at once that it had been +torn violently away from the garment to which it had been attached, for +a piece of the cloth had come away with it, I looked at it narrowly--the +cloth was of the same material as the overcoat Forrest had been wearing. + +The button had been almost under the wheels of my car, so I backed the +Mercedes a few yards, and looked about for further traces. In the space +thus laid bare there lay a lamp smashed to pieces. I picked up the +frame, and saw that it was one of the lamps taken from the other motor. +Further search only revealed another button similarly attached to a +shred of cloth like the first one I had found. That was all. + +The sergeant looked at me and I at him. One thought was in both our +minds, and we gave utterance to it simultaneously. + +"The Motor Pirate has been back again." + +"You must have scared him away the first time, and on his return to +complete the job he found the inspector here, and----" + +The sergeant did not complete his sentence, but glanced apprehensively +up and down the road. + +"If he has returned, I don't see what he can have done with Forrest," I +replied. + +"Heaven knows!" the man replied, involuntarily lowering his voice. "I--I +begin to believe that this Motor Pirate is--is the Devil." + +"Nonsense, man!" I said sharply. + +To tell the truth, my own nerves, in spite of the whisky, were in none +too firm a condition; and I knew it would be fatal to allow myself to +become infected by the very obvious funk which had seized upon my +companion. I felt, however, I must be doing something unless I wanted to +succumb. + +"Look here," I said, "you wait by the car a few minutes, while I go two +or three hundred yards further up the road, to see if I can find any +other traces." + +"I--I would much rather you--you didn't leave me," stammered the +sergeant. "It's bad enough for there to be only the two of us." + +"Come, pull yourself together," I replied roughly. "There's nothing to +be afraid of." + +"I don't think I can stand being left here alone," repeated the +sergeant. + +"Very well; you had better come along with me then," I replied. + +He jumped into the car beside me with alacrity, and I started the motor, +though not until I had arranged my revolver handily at my side. We went +for a mile at our slowest pace in the direction of Stratford, and +finding nothing, we returned, and covered the same distance in the +direction of Towcester, with a similar result. Our progress was brought +to a termination by our meeting with a trap containing the doctor, who +was accompanied by a couple of constables. When we recognized who was +approaching, the change that came over the demeanour of the sergeant was +astonishing. All his courage came back to him. He talked to me quite +easily as we returned to the scene of the outrage with the trap keeping +close behind us; and when we pulled up, he took control of the +proceedings as if he had never felt a moment's tremor in his life. He +must have observed my astonishment, for he took me aside and said-- + +"I was a bit overcome just now, sir. You won't mention it before my +men." + +"Certainly not," I answered. "I was only one degree better myself." + +"That's enough to make any one feel creepy," he said, jerking his thumb +towards the silent figure. + +We did nothing but stand about and talk in subdued tones, until the +doctor had completed his examination of the silent figure by the light +of my lamps. It did not last long. + +"Death was instantaneous," he said, as he stepped down from the car. +"The bullet appears to have passed straight along the longitudinal +sinus, and, as near as I can tell, he must have been dead about an +hour." + +"You would like to make a more extensive examination, I suppose, +doctor?" said the sergeant. + +"If a suitable place were available," he replied. + +The sergeant mentioned an inn at a village not far distant, and, the +doctor acquiescing, arrangements were at once made for conveying the +body there, the sergeant and I setting out in advance to provide for its +reception. + +I am not going into any further detail regarding the proceedings of that +night. Indeed I can to-day scarcely recall them. I know that I waited at +the inn for a long while after the melancholy _cortege_ arrived, and +that I felt curiously dazed amidst all the bustle caused by the arrival. +I remember eventually driving the sergeant back to Towcester, and making +to him a long statement, which he took down in writing. + +By the time I had completed this statement day had dawned. I shall never +forget my impressions of that early morning as I rode home alone. The +birds were twittering in the hedgerows, a soft white mist hung low down +over the meadows, all nature was so serene and peaceful that it was +difficult to imagine that the night which had passed had been so full of +horror and mystery. I felt as one awakened from a dream. But on my way I +passed the deserted motor-car. A constable was beside it, and I pulled +up to speak to him. + +"Seen nothing of Inspector Forrest, I suppose?" I asked. + +"Nothing," he replied. + +I gave him good morning and got on. I made similar inquiries at Fenny +Stratford, and again at Dunstable, still without result. I comforted +myself with the thought that at St. Albans I should certainly hear news +of him. But no. I found the police wild with excitement, but entirely +without any information as to what had become of the missing detective. +I found, however, that they did not share my forebodings as to anything +serious having happened to him. Their view was that he had discovered +some clue, and was hard upon the track of the murderer. I had to give +them a complete history of the events of the night. But I got away at +last, and reached home as tired as I had ever been in my life. + +I took a bath as hot as I could bear it, and went straight to bed. I was +dead beat, and I fell asleep instantly. + +I awoke some time in the afternoon, and when I had got the sleep out of +my eyes, and the events of the previous night came back to me, I felt +inclined to curse myself for having thought of resting. I felt certain +that if it had been myself who was missing, Forrest would not have slept +until he had discovered something concerning my fate. I made a hasty +meal while dressing, and ordered my car to be brought round. Directly it +appeared I hurried off to St. Albans. + +Nothing had been seen or heard there of Forrest, and once more I set out +upon the road I had traversed the previous night. Again I rode as far as +Towcester. I had a chat with the sergeant of police, and found that, +though search parties had scoured the country round for miles, no +intelligence had been obtained. I made arrangements to appear at the +inquest on the following day, and returned to St. Albans. Still no news. + +I got home again about seven, sick at heart. I had counted so much upon +Forrest's assistance in the fulfilment of my vow; but that was only a +secondary consideration now. I had grown to like him so much, that the +idea that he had met with any mischance knocked me over completely. I +went into my study and threw myself moodily into a chair. My man brought +me in some whisky, and hovered about until I told him to go. + +"You were going to dine at Mr. Winter's to-night, sir, with Mr. +Forrest," he reminded me. + +The engagement had completely passed from my memory. + +"I shall be unable to go, Wilson," I said. + +"They haven't found Mr. Forrest, then, sir?" said the man respectfully. +He was simply brimming over with curiosity. + +"No. I'm afraid we shall never see him alive again," I groaned. + +"Dear me! Not so bad as that, I hope, sir," he responded +sympathetically, as he still lingered. + +"Not half so bad as that, Wilson," remarked a cheery voice just outside +the door. + +My man started, and I jumped to my feet with a shout of welcome. + +"Forrest! Forrest!" I cried. "Come along in, man." + +"Well, if I may?" replied Forrest's voice. + +"If you may!" I answered. "Why--what the----!" + +My astonishment at the appearance he presented as he entered the room +choked my further utterance. + +The man who entered was a veritable scarecrow. A man with a torn coat +and rent trowsers, and a battered hat which barely held together upon +his head. He was covered from head to foot with mud. His face was dirty, +unshaven, disreputable. + +"Forrest? Is it indeed you?" I could not but ask, when my speech +returned to me. + +"I don't ask you to recognize me until I have had a bath and a shave," +he replied. "But when I have sacrificed to Hygeia, I expect to be +presentable enough to dine with Mr. Winter to-night. I've been wondering +all day whether I should manage to get here in time. Meanwhile, the +least spot of whisky----" + +I could not express my delight at his return, and unthinkingly I poured +out nearly a tumbler of the neat spirit, and felt almost hurt when he +returned all but one finger to the decanter. + +"If you give me a dose like that, I shall certainly be unable to +accompany you," he said. + +I could curb my curiosity no longer. I burst out with a string of +questions. + +"Where have you been? What has happened to you? Why did you disappear? +How----" + +He stopped me. "So that's why you gave me all that whisky. You wanted to +make me talk, eh?" + +I laughingly disassociated myself from any such intention, and, putting +the curb on my curiosity, I turned him over to Wilson to be valeted out +of the semblance to a tramp. + +The process took some time, and when he came downstairs in +irreproachable evening clothes, there was no time for him to give me the +history of his adventures unless we were to miss our dinner. + +"And that," declared Forrest, "I absolutely refuse to do; for, with the +exception of sixpenny worth of rum and a crust of bread and cheese, +nothing has passed my lips since dinner last night." + +"Then you will be glad to hear that the Winters are punctual people," I +remarked as we at once set out for my neighbour's house. + +"I suppose," he said, as we reached our destination, "I may count upon +you not referring to the plight in which I returned to your place? I +should not care for it to get abroad that the Pirate had got the better +of me on the first occasion of our meeting." + +"Then you have seen him?" I cried eagerly. + +"Seen him!" Forrest ejaculated in reply. "Seen him! After dinner you +shall have a full, true and particular account of all that's happened. +Until then--well, assume you know everything but are not at liberty to +divulge anything." + +I was as much at home in Winter's house as in my own, so I did not +trouble to ring and Forrest followed me in. I had forgotten that his +appearance was likely to create as great a sensation there as it had +caused me. I entered the drawing-room first, Forrest being a little +behind. Mrs. Winter, a fluffy-haired little woman with blue baby eyes, +baby lips, and a most engaging little baby dimple, was the centre of the +party gathered there. The other women were Miss Maitland and Mrs. +Winter's twin sister, who reproduced the hair, lips, eyes and dimple +with such exactness that it was always a puzzle to me how Winter had +managed to make up his mind between them. About them were gathered +Colonel Maitland, Mannering, Winter himself, and another man whom he had +brought down with him from town that day. The subject of conversation, I +learned afterwards, had been entirely devoted to Forrest's +disappearance, and when they caught sight of him the effect was +electrical. The ladies all jumped to their feet, the twin sisters +screamed in unison, the men stood stock still. Mannering appeared to be +the most astonished, for he turned pale and his lips became livid. +Before any one could say a word, however, the door opened again and the +butler announced dinner in an impassive voice, which sent everybody into +convulsions of laughter. + +We filed into dinner a particularly merry party. Mrs. Winter had +arranged for me to take in Miss Maitland, and the fact that Mannering +obviously resented the arrangement added a great deal to my good humour. +The fact of Forrest being the lion of the evening did not disturb me at +all. Indeed I was glad some one else had to parry the numberless +questions put to him respecting his disappearance. + +He fenced them remarkably well, though of course, when cornered, he +could always fall back upon the excuse of his mouth being closed by the +official pledge of secrecy. + +Needless to say, only one topic was mooted, and I should not have +referred to it had not the man whom Winter had brought from town said +something which, I found afterwards, had some bearing on future events. +This person was a diamond merchant in his business hours, and after the +ladies had left us, he expressed the opinion that it was a good thing +the Motor Pirate confined his attentions to fellow motorists. + +"If, for instance," he remarked, "he were to take it into his head to +hold up the Brighton Parcels Mail to-morrow night, he would make one of +the best-known firms in Hatton Garden feel very sick." + +"How's that?" asked Mannering, carelessly. He had quite recovered from +the temporary shock which Forrest's unexpected appearance had occasioned +him. + +"Well, I heard they are sending off a particularly valuable collection +of stones by registered parcel post to-morrow," he answered. + +"Seems a silly thing to do," commented Winter. + +"I don't know about that," was the reply. "Their theory is that the +chances of robbery are infinitely less than by any other method of +forwarding. They have followed the practice for years, and hitherto have +never made a loss. You see, no one knows anything about it except the +principal, who takes the packet to the post office. He registers it at +St. Martin's, and the packet is immediately placed amongst a number of +parcels of all sorts, shapes and sizes; and the chance of a casual thief +selecting that particular parcel, even if he had the chance, are at +least a hundred to one, while it is well known that the postal employee +who steals always lets the registered letter severely alone." + +The subject was not pursued further, and soon after we joined the +ladies. The party broke up early, and I was not sorry, for I could see +Forrest was tired and I wanted to get his story from him before he +turned in. But when we were back in my snuggery, I found that he +considered it necessary to report himself at St. Albans. I was on the +telephone, so I suggested its use, and he jumped at the idea. After some +little difficulty we managed to get a message through to the +police-station. Then settling down into an easy chair with a great sigh +of content, he reeled out an account of his adventures. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DESCRIBING A RIDE WITH THE PIRATE + + +"WHEN you left me," Forrest began, "I thought I would pass the time +until your return in making a still more detailed inspection of the +ground than we had already made. I found I had no lights. In order to +get over the difficulty, I went to the car in which the dead man was +seated and examined the lamps. They were in good working order, and I +could see that their extinction had not been due to any mischance. Why +they should have been put out and the machinery of the car left running +puzzled me. I could only conclude that the Pirate, after shooting his +victim, had approached the car to plunder him, but had been scared away +by the sound of our approach. He must have turned out the lights and +have just had time to draw the car across the road to make a trap for +us, before making his own escape. This impression of mine was confirmed +later. I took one of the lamps from its socket, lit it, and looked again +at the dead body. I am almost certain he had not been disturbed since +the fated bullet struck him. His coat was closely buttoned. His rug was +wrapped tightly round him. There were papers in his coat pocket, and I +could feel through the coat that his watch and chain were still upon +him. When thinking that the Pirate could not be far off, I regretted I +had not accompanied you; but remembering you were well armed, I reckoned +that if you did meet the gentleman, you were quite capable of giving a +good account of yourself--and of him." + +You who happen to have read my account of the state of my mind, as +faithfully described in these pages, will be able to judge how far my +friend's confidence in me was justified. For myself, I doubt not that +had he met me, the Pirate would have been able to add a second victim to +that night's list with little difficulty. This by the way. + +"I did not make a very close examination," continued Forrest, "since +there would be plenty of time for that when the doctor arrived. Besides, +I wished him to see the body in the position we found it. So I turned my +attention to the road again, going over the surface inch by inch in the +most methodical manner. You never know, you see, whether some trifling +object may not be dropped by the criminal which will provide a clue. I +was so engaged when I became aware of a curious humming sound in the +air. I stood upright and peered into the darkness. But my eyes had +become dazzled by looking at the white road in the brilliant light of +the acetylene lamp, and I might as well have expected to be able to see +through a brick wall. The most sensible course to have pursued would +have been to extinguish the lamp; but, instead of doing so, I stood like +a fool in the middle of the road and waited until the Pirate--it was he +without the slightest doubt--swooped down upon me, and if I had not at +the last moment leaped aside I should have been bowled over. As it was, +I just escaped being knocked down. The car pulled up with a jerk, and +there, within reach, was the person whose capture would have--well, you +can guess what it would have meant to me, if I could have managed to get +him single-handed. But for the moment I was so astounded at the audacity +of the rascal I could do nothing. I was not long in making up my mind to +have a shot at capturing him, however. I dropped the lamp to the ground, +and clipping my hand into my pocket I grasped my revolver. I knew I had +to deal with a desperate character, but I was scarcely prepared to find +him as physically powerful as he proved to be. I stepped up close to the +car and with my left hand made a grab at him. It was a fruitless +attempt. I found my wrist held in a grip of steel. I raised my right +with the revolver. I was just a moment late in pulling the trigger, for +he knocked up my hand and the bullet went wide. Before I had another +chance, he twisted the weapon out of my grasp with a wrench that numbed +my arm to the shoulder. How he managed to see in the dark was a mystery +to me. He must have eyes like a cat--that man." + +Forrest paused to light another cigarette, and after a couple of puffs +he resumed-- + +"But the most startling thing was to come. Holding me tightly he leaned +over towards me and said, 'Not this time, Inspector Forrest. You may +think you have the Motor Pirate, but I can assure you that you were +never more mistaken in your life.' Astonishment is not the name for my +feelings at hearing him address me by my name. I had caught a glimpse of +him before I dropped the lamp, but he was so swathed in his leather coat +and disguised by his mask, that I should never be able to identify him. +But I seemed to recognize something familiar in the intonation of his +voice, yet even that was so muffled that I cannot be certain I have ever +heard it before. However, I did not allow my astonishment to prevent me +taking action. I threw myself suddenly backwards, hoping the weight of +my body would upset his balance and drag him from his car to the ground, +where we should have been on more equal terms. The jerk moved him about +as much as if he had been built into his car. 'No, you don't, +Inspector,' he said, with an infernal chuckle; and, so saying, he leaned +over and, catching me by the coat, lifted me off my feet and swung me up +on to the car before him. I'm not a light weight, as you can guess--I +turn the scale at something nearer twelve stone than eleven--but he +handled me as if I were a baby. I struggled of course, but my right arm +was powerless, and he could master me with ease." + +"I suppose it was during the struggle that you lost the two buttons from +your overcoat which you left behind you?" I asked. + +"Most likely," he replied, "though I knew nothing of them. Really his +strength seemed diabolic. There was something else about him which to my +mind scarcely seemed natural. At all my struggles he continued to laugh, +but there was no merriment in his laughter, it was merely an even +guttural cachinnation, the laugh of a fiend at the aimless struggles of +a lost soul. It seemed to give him immense pleasure to see me wriggling +on the smooth curved metal plate which formed the front of his car. I +grew tired at last and lay still, hoping for a chance to better my +position, for I came to the conclusion that in a mere trial of strength +he was immeasurably my superior. + +"When he saw my resistance had ceased, he spoke again. 'I feel inclined +to take you for a ride with me, Inspector,' he said. 'I can assure you +that you will find the experience a thrilling one. It is given to few +men to travel with the Motor Pirate. The pace alone should prove +exhilarating, to say nothing of the companionship and--what awaits you +at the termination of the entertainment.' He chuckled again as he +concluded, and I felt a cold thrill in the region of my spine. + +"I made no reply. What would have been the use? But I do wish my right +arm had been of some use, for I think in my anger I might have stood +some chance of turning the tables on him. I quietly tried to rub the +feeling back into it, but he did not afford me a chance of doing so for +long. He produced a length of rope from somewhere or other, and, before +I gathered what he was doing, he had twisted it round me and bound my +arms tightly to my sides. I was absolutely powerless, and I gnashed my +teeth with rage at the helpless state in which I found myself. There was +I, a detective inspector with a reputation at the Yard second to none, +trussed like a fowl, and lying on the slippery surface of the Pirate car +I had come out to capture." + +"Not exactly a pleasant position," I remarked, as Forrest paused to +moisten his throat with the whisky-and-soda at his elbow. + +"No; but the worst was yet to come. He had no sooner secured my arms +than he drew another piece of cord through the band, and fastened it +somewhere or other. 'Now, if ever you pray, Inspector,' he remarked, +with some more of his beastly merriment, 'pray that this rope doesn't +break; for if it should happen to do so at the pace we shall be +travelling, you will go to hell even sooner than I intend you to do.' + +"With that he set his car in motion, and, judging by the way the wind +stung me, the pace was something terrific. At first I attempted to pay +some attention to the direction we took. But I soon gave up the idea. My +position on the car was not one from which I could observe anything with +any degree of comfort. With my arms bound, I sprawled out upon the +smooth, curved bonnet of the confounded car, only held on by a cord +which I expected to break and send me flying into the next world every +time we touched a stone, or crossed a rut. My heart was in my mouth for +the next hour or so, but afterwards I think I grew careless or callous. +He had pulled the cord round my arms pretty tightly; that numbed me all +over, and the exposure to the air did the rest. I fell into a dreamy +condition. I only know that never for a moment were we still. There was +always the drone of the wheels in my ears, and whenever I made a +struggle and opened my eyes, all I could see was the blacker streak in +the blackness caused by the hedges flying past. Heaven only knows how +far and where we went. It seemed an eternity until it ended. But by then +I was very near unconsciousness. I have a sort of impression the car did +stop. I fancy that I saw the Pirate's mask bent closely over me while he +examined me, that I heard him say, 'I don't think, Mr. Inspector, your +attentions will trouble me much more.' I do remember distinctly being +lifted in his powerful hands. I felt him swing me once, twice, thrice; +then I felt myself flying in the air, and the next moment my senses came +back to me with a rush, for I plumped into several feet of water." + +"Well?" I ejaculated, as Forrest paused to light another cigarette. I +was so interested that I grudged him a moment's delay before completing +the story. + +"The curious thing to my mind is that he did not knock me on the head at +first," said Forrest. "I can only explain it by the conclusion that our +friend the Motor Pirate is a madman. But, if so, I undoubtedly owe my +life to the means he took to finish it. The sudden immersion brought me +to myself much more rapidly than any other process could have done. In +detaching me from the car he must have loosened the knot of the rope +binding my arms; possibly the water made it slip further before it +became saturated. I felt the rope give, and got one arm free by the time +I came to the surface. I floundered into shallow water, and paused. By +this time there was just a glimmer of light on the eastern horizon from +the dawn, and I could see the bank was only a yard or two distant. +Somehow or another I managed to scramble out, bringing half the bed of +the river, or pond, whichever it was I had been pitched into, with me. +When I was on firm ground I collapsed. I did not remain long on the +ground, though. I knew very well that if I wanted to escape a severe +illness, the only thing to do was to keep moving until my circulation +was restored. So I got going. It was hard work at first. My limbs were +so cramped and stiff that I was compelled to stop and groan after +crawling every six paces. But the stiffness wore off gradually. I went +ahead until I struck a village, and found out in what part of the +country I was." + +"Why didn't you go to the police-station?" I asked. + +"Wasn't going to make myself a laughing-stock for a lot of country +constables," he answered. "No; if I had got my man, I should not have +minded what sort of figure I cut, but to turn up such a scarecrow after +failing to get my man--not much. I had learned from the post-office +window where I was. I had been dropped near Shefford, a village a few +miles the other side of Hitchin on the North Road, and I thought if I +walked back here I should avoid all likelihood of getting a chill. So I +started. I found I had a shilling in my pocket. I had more money about +me than that when I started out, but whether our friend helped himself +to the balance, or whether it fell from my pockets during the ride, I +haven't the slightest idea. But the shilling was sufficient to provide +for my requirements. The first public-house I found open I went in, and +had six-penny-worth of hot rum. My word! There's nothing like hot rum +for putting new life into one. After I had drunk it I reckoned I should +get here about noon; but I had not taken the somniferous effects of that +sixpenny-worth of rum into the calculation. Before I had covered half a +dozen miles, I found myself so sleepy that I could not keep my eyes +open. I dropped off once or twice as I walked, so at last I made for a +convenient haystack, rolled myself up in the loose litter at the base, +and let myself go. + +"That's how it happened I was so late in my arrival," he remarked; "and +now, Motor Pirate or no Motor Pirate, I am going to finish that snooze." + +He gave a prodigious yawn, and held out his hand. "Good night!" I said. +"The story of my adventures will very well keep until to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN WHICH THE PIRATE HOLDS UP THE BRIGHTON MAIL + + +ON joining Forrest at breakfast the following morning, I found he had +mapped out a programme for the day which promised to keep us pretty +busily occupied. + +"First," he said, "I must get into St. Albans, and see whether there is +any fresh information to hand. If possible, I should like to run over to +Shefford, for I want to look at the place where I had my ducking, and +recover the piece of cord with which that almighty scoundrel secured me. +Then there's the inquest at Towcester at twelve, and sometime to-day I +must put in an appearance at head-quarters to hand in my report. Perhaps +I had better train from Towcester for that. It will be making too great +demands on your time." + +"Nonsense!" I replied; "I can run you up to town very nearly as quickly +as you could manage the journey by rail." + +"I hope you won't have to return alone," he remarked. "I am hoping to be +able to inflict myself upon you for a few more days; but it is on the +cards I may be taken off the job since I have met with so little +success." + +"I hope not," I answered. + +"I should be sorry, too," he said. "I am more convinced than ever that +our friend is living within a twenty-mile radius of this house." + +"What grounds have you for thinking so?" I asked. + +"The very slightest at present," he declared frankly; "and until I have +seen the police reports from other parts of the country, I will not +commit myself definitely to the opinion." + +I could not get anything more out of him then, but after he had made a +note of all the information to be obtained at St. Albans--we were on the +road by nine-thirty--he became more communicative. The information he +obtained did not amount to much. On the previous evening, the Motor +Pirate had not made his appearance anywhere; while on the evening +before, the only outrage of which he had been guilty was the murder +which we had discovered. On that night, however, his car had been +reported as having been seen on various roads in the midlands, one +appearance having been recorded as far north as Peterborough. + +"That confirms my opinion," Forrest declared. "The Peterborough report +gives the time of his appearance as about 2.50. The sun rises at five, +and it is beginning to be light an hour earlier. It must have been about +four when he dropped me into the water at Shefford. Hitherto he has not +been seen by daylight at all. Clearly he must have delayed getting rid +of me until he thought it was dangerous to carry me about any longer. +He may even have been close to his own home, though he would probably +select a spot twenty or thirty miles away at least." + +"It seems likely," I agreed. + +"Certain of it," said Forrest. "Now we will get along to Shefford." + +We had a very pleasant run, and a mile from the village, Forrest stopped +me where a deep pool fringed with rushes skirted the road. + +"This is the spot," he cried. + +He left me in the car and scrambled through the hedge into an adjoining +field. He came running back with a dilapidated overcoat sodden with +water in one hand, and a piece of rope in the other. + +"Thought I could not be mistaken," he cried. + +When he was again in the car he examined the rope carefully. + +"Just an ordinary piece of half-inch cord," he remarked. "It's not of +much value as a clue, but as a piece of evidence--I have known a man's +life hang upon a slighter thread before now." He chuckled grimly at his +own pleasantry. + +"Where next?" I inquired. + +"Towcester," he replied; and I wheeled the car round, and we were soon +making the dust fly again. + +We were not detained very long at the inquest. Forrest had a few words +with the coroner, so that after formal evidence of identification had +been given, and I had made my statement as to the finding of the body, +the inquiry was adjourned. Thus plenty of time was left at our disposal, +and we did not hurry on our way to town, even breaking our journey on +the way for lunch. + +The weather remained delightfully fine. Clean roads, blue sky, soft +winds, combined to make ideal weather for motoring. We reached town +about four, and went straight to Scotland Yard. Forrest went in while I +waited for him. Then he returned for me, and, taking me up in the lift, +he piloted me into the presence of the commissioner, whom I found to be +an exceedingly courteous gentleman. He expressed himself indebted to me +for the assistance I had rendered the department. I did not see that my +assistance had been of much practical value, and I said so; but I added +that I was very keen on the Motor Pirate's capture, and I should be glad +to render any service in my power which would tend to such an end. + +"Anything you can do to assist Inspector Forrest will be greatly +appreciated," he declared. "Of course, it is not our usual plan to make +use of outside assistance, but we are not so bound up in red tape as to +refuse such aid as that you offer." + +We had ten minutes' further conversation, and then Forrest and I left +together. The detective was in high glee. He had obtained _carte +blanche_ to do as he liked. His chief had expressed every confidence in +him, while urging him to spare no effort to obtain the Pirate's arrest. + +"The fact is," he said, "the papers have been rubbing it into us for +allowing such audacious crimes to be committed right under our noses, +and the chief is wild to get the chap. Half of the detective force are +already engaged on the job. I fancy I should get him myself singlehanded +sooner or later if he were a sane man; but, as it is, the cunning of a +madman upsets every calculation." + +"You still hold to the theory that he is mad?" I asked. + +"Cannot explain his treatment of me in any other way," he replied +promptly. + +"Well, what's the next move?" I asked, when we had returned to our car. +"I suppose we may as well go for a prowl to-night, on the off-chance of +finding him." + +"We might try a new district," answered Forrest, "You may have noticed +that he breaks fresh ground every time he reappears." + +"Where shall it be then?" + +Forrest answered my question with another. "Supposing yourself to be in +his place, and the desire to attract notoriety a stronger motive than +mere plunder. What should you do?" + +There flashed into my memory what Winter's guest had said about the +Brighton Parcels Mail, and I said laughingly-- + +"I fancy I should hold up the Brighton Mail." + +"As likely a feat as any for him to attempt," replied Forrest, +thoughtfully. + +I glanced up at the clock in the tower of St. Stephens; the hands +pointed to a quarter before five. + +"Well," I said, "we may as well run down to Brighton by daylight and get +acquainted with the road, since I have only driven over it once before. +We can dine at the Metropole comfortably, spend a couple of hours on the +front after dinner, and have plenty of time to meet the mail on the road +afterwards." + +"A most excellent suggestion," agreed the inspector, and his eyes +twinkled at the thought of the programme I had mapped out. + +We started forthwith. Reaching Brighton before sunset, I refilled my +tanks with petrol before putting the car up at the Metropole and +reserving a table for dinner. We had a wash, walked to the Hove end of +the esplanade, and came back to our dinner with appetites equal to +anything. We sat over our coffee a long while, Forrest making the time +fly by spinning yarns about his experiences. Then we smoked a cigar on +the pier, and so whiled away the time until eleven. If we had started +then we should possibly have reached town before the mail had started, +but as we were both tired of dawdling about, I proposed that we should +extend our tour. + +Forrest was quite agreeable. "Really we are out on a fool's errand," he +remarked. "We are just as likely to meet him on one road as another. Yet +I have a presentiment that we shall hear something further about him +to-night. If we do meet him, remember one thing. One of us must get in +the first shot, and it must not miss." + +"Don't wait for me to shoot, then," I replied. + +We got our car, and after a glance at the map, I told my companion where +I proposed to go: a run along the coast to Worthing, there to strike +inland for Horsham, from Horsham to make for the Brighton road about +Crawley, roughly about a forty-mile run in all, and I reckoned that if +we kept to the legal speed limit we should just about meet the mail. + +Forrest made no objection to my suggestion, so we started at our slowest +pace. I had very little to do, and the ride was one of the most +enjoyable I have ever experienced. The salt breath of the sea was in our +faces, and the roar of it in our ears. I was quite sorry when on +reaching Worthing it became necessary to leave the coast. Inland the +roads were absolutely deserted. We did not meet a single person between +Worthing and Horsham, and for the first time I realized how easily the +Motor Pirate's movements could evade notice. At Horsham we looked in at +the police-station, and Forrest made a formal inquiry as to whether +anything had been heard of our quarry in the neighbourhood; but, as we +expected, without result. We remained there a little time to stretch our +legs and to drink a cup of tea, which the officer in charge prepared for +us, and on leaving we proceeded at the same steady pace, arriving in +Crawley something after four. There we found that the mail had passed +through a quarter of an hour before our arrival, and I questioned +whether it would be worth our while to remain any longer on the road. + +"We may as well make a night of it," said Forrest, in reply to my +remark on the subject, so I turned the car in the direction of Brighton +again. We bowled along at about fifteen miles an hour, at which rate I +reckoned on catching the mail within half an hour. But we were destined +to overtake it in a considerably shorter time, for just after passing +the third milestone after leaving the village, our path was blocked by +the huge van standing in the middle of the road and all across it. + +I pulled up at once. Apparently the vehicle was not much damaged, but +the door was broken open, while the parcels with which it had been laden +were scattered all over the roadway. One horse lay on the roadway +perfectly still, the others had disappeared. + +The moment we stopped Forrest leaped from the car; I followed his +example. The first object which met our eyes was the form of a man. He +lay perfectly still, and I thought he was dead, but my companion had +sharper eyes. Taking a knife from his pocket, he hacked at cords which +bound the man hand and foot. + +"More work of the Motor Pirate," remarked Forrest grimly, as I came to +his assistance. + +The man was not dead, but he had been so roughly gagged that had we +arrived ten minutes later he probably would have been beyond human help. +In the condition he was, it took us ten minutes working vigorously to +restore his respiration; and after that it took the whole of the +contents of my pocket flask to restore him sufficiently to enable him to +give us an account of the mishap which had befallen him. + +Then we learned that the man was the driver of the mail, and that +Forrest's surmise that we had happened once more upon the handiwork of +the Motor Pirate was correct. He had, it appeared, been driving quietly +along, when his attention had been arrested by the curious high-toned +hum which presaged the Pirate's approach. He was wondering what the +curious noise could be, when he suddenly realized that a long low car +was beside him. He did not anticipate any harm either to himself or to +his charge, for, though he fancied that the stranger was the noted +criminal, he shared the impression, pretty common until then, that the +Pirate confined his attentions to motorists. The stranger did not even +call upon him to pull up. He ran beside the coach, then slightly +increasing his speed, he drew level with the wheelers of the team. There +was the sound of a pistol shot, the off wheeler fell dead in his tracks, +bringing down the other horses in his fall, and swinging the vehicle +right across the road. The driver only escaped being pitched from his +seat by the strap which held him to it. + +"Then," continued the man, "he ups with 'is pistol an' tells me to come +dahn, an' dahn I toddles pretty quick. 'Sorry ter inconwenience yer, my +good feller,' ee says. 'Don't menshing it,' I says, as perlite as you'd +be with a pistol a pointing at yer 'ed. 'I want the keys er this 'ere +waggin,' ee says. 'Sorry they don't trust 'em ter us drivers,' I +answers. 'Don't matter worth a cent,' ee says. 'I've another w'y er +openin' thet strong box. Put yer 'ands be'ind yer an' turn rahnd,' ee +says. I done it, an' ee trusses me up like a bloomin' chicken, an' +sticks my own angkincher dahn me froat. With thet ee walks along ter the +door and blows the bloomin' locks orf with 'is pistol. That did it. Ee +looks inside, an' the w'y ee cleared them parcels aht was a sight--well, +yer can see fer yerself wort it's like. The other 'orses were thet mad +they kicks theirselves free. Ee goes froo the parcels cool as a +cowcumber until ee routs aht the registered parcels. Ee puts them in 'is +car. 'Tar, tar!' ee says, wiving 'is 'and, an' orf ee goes jest abaht +five minutes afore you gents comed along." + +When Forrest realized how near we had been to coming to close quarters +with our quarry, he went aside, and for the first time since I had made +his acquaintance, I heard him swear. It was a successful effort. He +returned to my side the next moment. + +"The telegraph is our only chance," he said. "Drive like hell back to +Crawley." + +I did. There we set the wires throbbing, and begun to scour the +countryside for any traces of the Pirate. We did not give up our quest +until eleven o'clock in the morning. I think we inquired at every house +and cottage within a ten-mile radius of the scene of the outrage, but +without finding a single person who had seen or heard of the Motor +Pirate. + +Once more he had appeared and disappeared without leaving the faintest +clue to his identity. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +HOW WE EXCHANGE SHOTS WITH THE PIRATE + + +AFTER the sudden flurry which the reappearance of the Motor Pirate +caused, and quite as much in the country at large as in my own +particular circle, we settled down once again to a condition of +comparative quietude. Of course there were plenty of facts to keep the +public interest alive and to fill the papers. The adjourned inquest on +the victim found near Towcester supplied columns of copy, while the +robbery of the Brighton Mail afforded unlimited scope for the +descriptive reporter as well as for the special crime investigator, who +at this time made his permanent appearance on the staff of nearly every +paper of any importance in the British Isles. My life at home was made a +burden to me by these gentlemen. I bear them no malice for their +persevering attempts to interview me, but they were an unmitigated +nuisance, since I had no wish to air my experiences in the newspapers at +this stage of affairs. It was with the utmost difficulty I escaped the +attention of the gentlemen of the Fourth Estate, for they even waited on +my doorstep for the chance of button-holing me when I went out in the +morning; and pursued me so assiduously, that I dared not look a stranger +in the face, lest my glance should be translated into a column of +glowing prose. + +I have said that the Pirate left no clue to his identity upon his latest +appearance, and, indeed, at the time, such was the opinion both of +Forrest and myself. But in the light of after events we learned that +there was a clue, had we been keen-witted enough to have discovered it. +In the course of our inquiries around Crawley, we certainly did not +succeed in finding any one who had observed the mysterious car which +every one had learned to associate with the Pirate, but we had been told +casually at Caterham--we had not returned by the direct road between +London and Brighton--that we were not the only motorists abroad on that +night, since another man had passed through the town early the same +morning. When we learned, however, that he had been driving a car of the +conventional shape with a tonneau body, we paid no further attention to +the information, concluding that he was a sportsman, anxious like +ourselves for a brush with the Pirate. Our blindness was to cost us dear +before we had done. + +There was another supposition which I could not get out of my mind in +connection with the latest feat, and a couple of days afterwards I +mentioned it to Forrest as we waited, according to our invariable +custom, at St. Albans for news of the Pirate's reappearance. + +"Don't you think it particularly strange," I remarked, "that in holding +up the Brighton Mail, our friend at once searched for the registered +parcels, and directly he laid his hands upon them at once made off?" + +"A perfectly natural thing for him to do," replied the detective. "He +would guess that, if there were any valuables, they would almost +certainly have been registered, and he could scarcely hope to go over +the whole contents of the van." + +"Admitted," I replied. "Still, does it not strike you as curious that he +should have selected the night when a valuable parcel of diamonds was +there?" + +"Well?" asked Forrest, his attention thoroughly arrested. + +"It almost seems as if he was possessed of the same information as we +were," I ventured. + +"According to your argument," he answered, "the pirate should be either +yourself or myself, Colonel Maitland, Mr. Mannering, Mr. Winter, or his +friend." + +"There remains Mannering and the diamond merchant," I said thoughtfully, +"and I know the latter has never driven a motor-car in his life. +Besides, he is scarcely likely to have robbed himself in such an +extraordinary fashion." We had seen from the papers that he had, in +fact, been referring to his own firm when he had described to us the +advantages of the parcel post as a means of transmitting valuables. "He +may have other friends beside Winter to whom he has mentioned the +matter." + +"There's Mr. Mannering still to be accounted for," remarked Forrest. +"No harm can be done by inquiring if he was away from home that evening. +What sort of establishment does he keep?" + +"Merely a couple of maids," I answered. + +"In that case there should be no trouble in ascertaining whether he was +out or not," he replied. "I'll see about it in the morning." + +He made the inquiry accordingly, but as he confessed to me afterwards, +without expecting anything to come of it. His expectations seemed to be +justified in the result. The maids declared that Mannering had gone to +his sitting-room after dinner, and had been there with his slippers on +when they retired for the night. They had locked up the house as usual, +and the doors had been fast when they came down the next morning. + +This investigation, perfunctory as it was, decided us against any idea +of Mannering's complicity, and I fell back upon the theory that the +diamond merchant must have communicated his methods to some one else. We +sought him out in the city, and he assured us that he had never before +referred to the subject. He did not object to supplying us with the +names of his acquaintances who owned cars, and either Forrest or myself +made inquiries concerning every one of them. All were to no purpose. +When we had finished, we were no nearer discovering anything concerning +the Pirate than we were when we had begun. + +Then occurred an incident which should have opened our eyes, if anything +possibly could have done so, to the personality of the Pirate. But +again we were absolutely blind. + +It was the second week of May, and since, in spite of continued fine +weather, our unknown terror remained in the seclusion of his +hiding-place, wherever it might be, I had persuaded Forrest to come with +me for a run one afternoon as far as Cambridge, proposing to return +after sunset. + +The roads were beginning to be a little dusty, but altogether we had a +very pleasant journey without any incident of note. We left the +university town about nine, reckoning upon getting home comfortably +before midnight. There was a bright slice of moon shining, and we did +the dozen miles before reaching Royston at a decent pace. We went slowly +over the hilly road out of Royston and had passed over the worst of it, +and I had just put on a higher speed, when I fancied I heard the distant +hum which once heard could never be mistaken for anything else. Forrest +heard it at the same time as myself. + +"Pull up at the side of the road," he cried. "The car must not be +damaged." + +I obeyed, running the bonnet into the hedge and leaving the back of the +car extended over the footpath. Meanwhile, Forrest had drawn his +revolver from his pocket, and the moment I brought the car to a +standstill I followed his example. + +"Don't stand on ceremony," advised my companion; "shoot on sight!" + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when our enemy made his +appearance, coming from the direction of Buntingford. Whether he had any +intention of stopping and robbing us, I have no means of telling, but I +think not, for he was travelling at his most rapid pace, and gave no +signs of slackening as he approached. Once more I was astonished at the +wonderful steadiness of his machine. He passed us in a flash, the car +running as evenly as if it were upon rails. In fact I paid so much +attention to this, that I was too late to fire with any prospect of +hitting him. Forrest was more alert. As the Pirate swooped by, the +detective's Colt spoke twice. So far as we could see, the shots took no +effect, for he did not move an inch. + +"No luck," muttered my companion, as the hum of the Pirate's car died +away in the distance. + +I held up a warning finger. "Hush!" I said. + +My ears had told me truly--our enemy was once more approaching us. I +leaned over the back of the car, this time determined that I would at +least make an endeavour to stop his progress. The road was without a +bend for a stretch of at least two hundred yards, and the moment he came +into the straight he was clearly visible to us in the light of the moon. +I did not wait. The moment I saw him distinctly, I lifted my revolver +and pulled the trigger as rapidly as I was able. Before I had emptied +three chambers he was level. I was just in the act of firing a third +time, when a flash of fire spurted from the running car and my pistol +dropped from my hand. Something had struck me violently on the arm. I +felt no pain for the moment, only curiously numbed and cold. I wondered +why my companion should continue to fire at the rapidly disappearing +form of the Pirate, who appeared to me to be swerving from side to side +of the road in the most ridiculous fashion. In another moment he was out +of sight. I felt extremely sick, and, with something between a groan and +a sigh, I sank back into my seat. + +"I fancy one of us must have got him," said Forrest, in an excited tone. +"Let us get on." + +"I hope you are right," I answered. "For he has certainly managed to +wing me." + +The shock had passed off, and, with the return of sensation, my arm felt +as if a red-hot iron had been run through it, while there was a similar +sort of feeling about my chest. + +"Really," said Forrest, as he looked closely into my face. He must have +seen that I was not joking, for he jumped out of the car and came back +with one of the lamps in his hand. "Where is it?" he asked, with some +anxiety. + +"Merely the arm, I fancy," I replied. + +He took a knife from his pocket, and, without a moment's hesitation, +ripped up the sleeve of the overcoat and under-coat which I was wearing. +The shirtsleeve was already soaked with blood, and his face was +curiously anxious as he cut away the linen and felt the bone from wrist +to shoulder. Then his face cleared. + +"Only through the muscle," he remarked. "A fortnight will see the wound +completely healed." + +Meanwhile he was tearing his handkerchief into strips, and, with this +improvised bandage, he bound up the wound. + +"Sure that is all?" he asked, when he had tightened it to his +satisfaction. + +"I've got much the same sort of feeling here," I replied, tapping my +chest gingerly. + +His face grew grave again, and before doing anything more he fished my +flask out of my pocket, and insisted upon my taking a liberal draught of +the contents. Not until then would he examine me. + +"Your bleeding powers would do credit to a bullock," he commented, as he +cut away my shirt: "but beyond loss of blood, I don't think there's much +harm done." + +His first impression was correct. A cursory examination was quite +sufficient to convince him that I was not much hurt. + +"Just a nasty furrow," he remarked. "Pretty painful, I suppose. The +bullet glanced off, turned by that leather coat of yours, I presume. +Lucky for you; as it is, you will be all right in the fortnight." + +I felt relieved by his tone, and assured him, when he had patched me up +temporarily with strips torn from my shirt-sleeves and my own +handkerchief, that I felt very little of the injury. + +"Now take my seat," he said, as he buttoned my coat round me. "I think +I have had enough experience of motoring to ensure my taking you in +safety to the nearest surgeon. It's infernally bad luck, though," he +continued. "I would swear one of us must have hit our friend, and if we +were only in a position to follow him up, we should be pretty certain to +effect a capture." + +My mind had been considerably relieved to find that I was not seriously +injured, and the dose of whisky I had taken had pulled me together. + +"You've bound me up pretty tightly?" I asked. + +"You are right enough until we find a doctor," he answered. + +"In that case," I said, "if there's any chance of our catching our man +to-night, I'm not going to chuck it away. Put the light back and let us +get on." + +My mind was made up on the subject. One reason was that physical pain +always makes me feel mad, and I would have given a great deal to get +even with the Pirate for that reason alone. Besides, call it vanity or +what you will, I wasn't going to let any one say I had allowed a scratch +to bowl me over. So the moment Forrest had replaced the light, I resumed +my seat in the car, asserting that I was fully capable of driving. + +The detective attempted to dissuade me from the attempt, but I was bent +upon having my own way. He did not argue the question at any length, for +as soon as he was in the car I backed into the middle of the road and +jammed on our highest speed. + +In three minutes we were at Buntingford, and there we nearly ran into a +group of people who were gathered in the middle of the road. They were +discussing, as it happened, the appearance of the Pirate, who had passed +through the town twenty minutes previously. Here Forrest made another +futile attempt to persuade me to see a surgeon immediately, but I would +not listen to him. We swept onward. I could scarcely see, but I sent the +Mercedes along recklessly, stopping for nothing until we reached Ware. I +would never have driven in the manner I did in calmer moments. Forrest +told me afterwards that his journey on the Pirate's car was nothing to +it, for the car rocked so from side to side of the road that he was +never certain whether I was not steering for the hedges; while at every +bend his heart was in his mouth when he realized that the wheels were +never on the ground together. + +On the outskirts of Ware we learned that the Pirate had been seen +approaching the town, but that, instead of passing through the narrow +streets, he had doubled back in the direction of Stevenage. He had kept +his twenty minutes' start and I was for following him. Forrest was of +another opinion. + +"According to his usual custom, he is obviously avoiding the towns," he +argued; "and if, as I still suspect, his hiding-place is in the vicinity +of St. Albans, we shall stand some chance of cutting him off if we take +the most direct route. He cannot be badly hurt, or we should have picked +him up before this, and under any other circumstance we are not likely +to overtake him." + +I saw the force of his reasoning and we flew on. We heard nothing of him +neither in Hertford nor in Hatfield. + +"Our only chance is at St. Albans," remarked my companion, and once more +I put my car to top speed. + +We were just about half way between the two towns when we saw the lights +of a motor ahead. I sounded the horn, or rather Forrest did, but the +vehicle made no attempt to get out of the way. We caught up to the +stranger hand over fist, and not until we were nearly touching did I +slacken speed. + +As I did so the occupant of the car shouted out, "That you, Sutgrove? +Never more pleased to meet with a friend in my life." + +It was Mannering. + +"Seen anything of the Pirate?" shouted Forrest, by way of reply. + +"Merely had the pleasure of exchanging shots with him ten minutes ago," +was the astounding answer. "Unfortunately he appears to have got the +better of the exchange, for he has managed to put a bullet in my +shoulder." + +"We have had a similar experience, and Mr. Sutgrove is the victim," +answered Forrest. "So I am afraid I cannot offer much assistance." + +"I think I can get to St. Albans all right," he replied. "It's only the +left, and I managed to get a handkerchief round it." + +"If you will let us pass," I said, "I will run on to St Albans and see +that assistance is sent to you." + +"Oh, I didn't notice I was taking all the road," he remarked, as he drew +aside. + +Once more we drove ahead at our speed limit, and five minutes later we +stopped before the police office. There we found every one in blissful +ignorance of the fact that the Pirate was abroad. Nor did any one else +see him that night. Again he had mysteriously vanished under +circumstances which convinced the detective more firmly than ever that +his retreat was somewhere in the vicinity of my home. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +OF THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING WOUNDED + + +I SUPPOSE I must have lost more blood than I had reckoned upon, or else +the excitement of the pursuit had been sufficient to keep me going; but +whichever it was, no sooner had we pulled up than I collapsed. I was +never nearer fainting in my life. In fact I had to take another stiff +dose of whisky, and even then I was only too glad to relinquish the +steering-wheel to Forrest, and let him drive me the rest of the way +home. He never left me until I was safely in bed, and the surgeon he had +summoned had stitched me up. + +Fortunately my wounds proved, as Forrest had foretold, more painful than +dangerous. The bullet had carried with it some shreds of cloth; and the +removal of these from my arm was the only really painful bit of work the +surgeon had to perform. However, the medical man insisted upon my +remaining in bed, and I obeyed his orders for a couple of days; but on +the third I felt so well that I rebelled against any further +confinement, and though still considerably sore, I managed to get out +and about. + +I found I was a little bit shaky, yet I managed to get as far as +Colonel Mainland's house, and there I found my adventure had been a +blessing in disguise, for I could see from the manner in which she +greeted me, that my last encounter with the Pirate had wiped from Miss +Maitland's memory all remembrance of the previous occasion. There was +only one thing to mar my enjoyment of the situation thus created. +Mannering had unfortunately been successful in making himself a +candidate for similar solicitude. His injury, however, was even more +trivial than mine, the bullet having merely scored his shoulder. I +wished devoutly it had missed him altogether, or been a few inches +higher and more to the right; for in such case I should have had Miss +Maitland's undivided sympathies and attention, whereas I had perforce to +share them with my rival. I knew I had done nothing heroic; but if +Mannering had not been hit I might at least have posed as half a hero, +instead of which I had to be content with being a quarter of one. + +However, I made the most of what glory I had earned, and I am bound to +confess that I traded upon my sore arm in the most shameless fashion. + +Fortunately the Motor Pirate at this time entered upon a long period of +quiescence, so that I was free to make the most of my opportunity, and +to devote the whole of my time to Miss Maitland's society. The detective +was firmly of the opinion that this prolonged rest was due to one of our +shots having found its billet, and declared that we should hear nothing +more of him until he had repaired damages. The inaction, however, soon +became very wearisome to him; and when a fortnight had elapsed without a +single appearance having been chronicled, he became quite morose. By +that time he had searched over the whole district, but not a trace of +any other injured person could he discover; and he was as much at a loss +for a clue to the identity of the Pirate as he had been when he first +entered upon the job of running him to earth. + +The Press by this time had nothing but jeers for the police and for the +detective force generally. Meantime the most extraordinary steps were +taken to secure the Pirate's arrest when he should renew his career. The +Automobile Club had officially lent their assistance to the police, and +night by night the principal roads of the county were patrolled by the +members of the club, thirsting for the opportunity of distinguishing +themselves by the capture of the marauder. The Pirate must have been +vastly amused in his retirement as he read of the sensation he had +created. I rather think that the man in the street looked upon the whole +matter as the great sporting event of the century, and his sympathies +were undoubtedly with the man who could so easily snap his fingers at +the army of police, amateur and professional, who were engaged in the +task of seeking him. In fact, if he had not committed the murder at +Towcester, I am convinced that the public would have elevated him to the +position of a great popular hero. Even as it was, he had no lack of +apologists; and an eminent ballad-monger celebrated his exploits in some +verses, which were immensely applauded when recited by long-haired +enthusiasts at smoking concerts and similar gatherings. All this was +gall to Forrest; and at last one day, three weeks after our encounter +with the Pirate, he told me he could stand it no longer. + +"I must try another line of country," he remarked. + +"What line do you propose?" I asked. + +"The only thing I can think of," he replied, "is to make inquiries in +Amsterdam, to see if the diamonds which were taken from the mail, have +been offered for sale. I am quite certain they have not been put upon +the market this side of the water." + +I was very loth to let him go alone; but he would not hear of my +accompanying him. + +"What! run away now, and let your friend Mannering have a clear field? I +wouldn't if I were you," he remarked. "Besides, I can manage this sort +of work better by myself." + +His final argument was conclusive, and he went away promising to look me +up immediately he returned, and expressing the hope that nothing more +would be heard of the Pirate until his return. + +On the very same day it happened that Mannering also took his departure +from St. Stephens. I had mentioned in his hearing that Forrest had been +called away, and he had then informed us--Miss Maitland and myself--that +he had some business in Paris in connection with the patent tyre with +which he was still experimenting, which would entail his absence for two +or three days. + +I sincerely trusted that his business would require a much longer +period to transact; and as he was leaving by an early train the next +morning, I took particular care he should obtain no opportunity for a +private leave-taking with Miss Maitland. + +It was not a sporting thing to do, perhaps, but I was so much in earnest +about my love-making, that I had no scruples about spoiling as many of +my rival's chances as I could. However, as it happened, I found somewhat +to my surprise that my tactics were not unwelcome to Miss Maitland. She +confessed as much to me the next day. She---- But perhaps it will be +better for me to give in some detail the conversation we had upon this +occasion, since it had a considerable bearing upon after events. + +The morning after Mannering had departed was as brilliant a one as June +ever bestowed upon mortal. Now that my rival was out of the way, I +thought I might dispense with the sling which I had worn hitherto, and +directly after breakfast I strolled across to the Maitlands', with the +intention of persuading Miss Maitland to come for a ride on the +Mercedes. I found her on the point of starting for a stroll, with the +object of giving her favourite Irish setter a run, and I was easily +persuaded to abandon my projected ride and accompany her instead. We +chose the footpath between St. Stephen's church and the village of Park +Street, and, stepping out briskly, we soon reached our destination; and +as my companion would not hear of turning back, we continued our walk to +Bricket Wood. There I insisted upon resting. + +I had never seen her in higher spirits than she was that morning. She +bubbled over with gaiety. So much so that I could not help commenting +upon the fact. + +"Yes," she replied frankly, in answer to my remarks on the subject, "I +do feel gay this morning. I feel as if a load had been removed from my +shoulders." + +"Surely you can have no troubles," I remarked, half-banteringly. + +A shadow alighted for a moment upon her face and was gone again. + +"Nothing which ought to be a trouble. Nothing tangible and yet---- Oh, +Mr. Sutgrove, do you--have you ever experienced a presentiment of +something dreadful happening? No; that is not exactly what I mean. I +don't know how to explain myself without----" + +Then she paused, and I discreetly kept silence. Presently she resumed. + +"Men are so stupid, or I would tell you all about it. You would never +understand." + +I saw my opening and made use of it. "We men may be stupid both +individually and collectively," I said. "But I can answer for one man +being sympathetic to anything you like to say to him." + +She laughed. "I am so afraid you will think me silly." + +"Miss Maitland--Evie----" I began. + +"Hush!" She stopped me with an adorable smile. "You know you haven't +caught the Motor Pirate, yet." + +I summoned up the most injured expression permitted by my contentment +with my surroundings and fell silent again. + +"Poor boy!" she said mockingly. "It is unkind of me to remind you of +your vow, when you have already done your best to fulfil it." + +"Not quite my best, yet," I muttered sullenly. + +"Anyhow I think you have done quite enough to warrant my taking you into +my confidence." + +She said this quite seriously, and glancing up at her, I saw she was +looking into a glade of the wood with a preoccupied expression on her +pretty face, which showed me that it was in reality no petty trouble +which worried her. + +"This scene is so delightfully restful. I love the cool green lights and +the cool grey shadows of the woodlands in early summer," she remarked +absently. + +I had no eyes for aught but the face of the speaker, though I was +indirectly conscious that there was a good deal of beauty in the wood. +To me it seemed an appropriate background, that was all. + +"Yes," I said. "But about this presentiment of yours----" + +"It is hardly a presentiment; in fact, I don't know what to call it," +she replied. Then she turned and faced me. "Now listen. There's an +acquaintance of mine, whom I know very well and used to like a great +deal. Yes, I think I am right in saying used to like. Well, for some +undefined reason, my liking has change to something very like fear." + +"For what reason?" I asked. + +"None," she replied. "Absolutely there is no reason whatever." + +"A case of Dr. Fell," I said. "Well, avoid your Dr. Fell." + +"That is exactly what I am unable to do," she answered, and I could see +she was speaking truly. "This fear has grown up in some degree, I think, +from a subtle sort of consciousness that the person in question has it +in his power to exert a curious influence over me. I seem to be drawn +against my will into an attitude towards him which is not only against +my judgment, but also against my inclination." + +"Him?" I asked. "Him? Is it Mannering?" + +"Why, what made you think of him? Does he affect you in the same way?" +she said eagerly. + +"Far from it," I replied. My first feeling was one of delight at +discovering that my rival was more feared than loved. But as I thought +over the matter, my astonishment grew. I had looked upon Mannering as a +rival, and as a favoured rival, but I was not prepared to hear that Evie +Maitland was afraid of him, or of any other man for the matter of that, +and I said so. + +"A month ago, I should have laughed at the idea myself," she replied, +"but to-day----" She shuddered slightly. "Now you know why I feel so gay +this morning. The fact is, when on awakening this morning I realized +that I should be absolutely free from his presence for two whole days, I +hardly knew how to contain myself for joy." + +"Surely you must have some grounds for fearing him, something in his +manner----" + +"No. Yet I have thought--but it is nothing. When we have been alone +together he has sat once or twice staring at me. I try to speak to him, +but he sits and stares and stares, with his eyes so bright and all the +time so sombre--so penetrating that I feel that he sees quite through +me. Just like one does in those unpleasant dreams where one's clothes +have somehow disappeared. To-day, and now, it seems very silly, yet I am +certain I shall feel exactly the same the next time I meet him. Then +when he sees how confused I am he gives a sort of a laugh, an unpleasant +kind of a chuckle without any merriment in it." + +"He's a d----d cad!" I cried hotly. + +"I--I don't know," she answered. "I don't seem to mind at the time. It +is just as if I were in a dream, for I am so fascinated in watching him +that I have no thoughts left for myself. It is when he has gone that the +thought seems unpleasant. Then I always think I will never see him +again, but the next time he calls I feel bound to do so. There, now I +have confided in you, don't tell me I am a weak hysterical girl or I +really don't know what will happen to me." + +She laid one of her little hands on my arm and looked imploringly into +my eyes. + +"I know you are neither weak nor hysterical," I replied. + +"You will help me, won't you?" she asked. + +I took both hands in mine and looked straight into her eyes. + +"The only way I see of helping you," I said deliberately, "is for you to +give me the right to do so." + +She did not take her hands from my grasp. + + * * * * * + +"Do you know, Jim," she said an hour later, when we came out of the wood +into the meadow, "that I told you not to speak to me until you had +captured the Motor Pirate." + +"You could not answer for me, darling," I replied. "But I should not +have done so if I----" + +"Had not found the temptation to do so irresistible," she said, taking +the words out of my mouth with so bewitching an air, that again I found +an irresistible temptation confronting me. + +We did not revert again to the curious influence which Evie had declared +Mannering exercised. She would not allow of it. She wanted to think that +he had gone completely out of her life, and that no more shadows were +ever to fall across her path. And I was too happy myself to wish to +refer to anything which should bring an unpleasant memory to her mind. + +I shall never forget our walk home. The silver thread of the Ver, the +old monastery gate-house and the ruins of Sopwell Priory in the +foreground, the churches of St. Stephens and St Michaels on either hand, +and in the centre of the picture the Abbey of St. Albans brooding over +all. We decided to be married in the abbey. I trod on air. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A CLOUD APPEARS ON LOVE'S HORIZON + + +MANNERING remained absent for a week, and during that time I learned +from Evie a good deal about the curious dread which he had inspired in +her mind. Had inspired, I say, for she assured me it had passed away, +and that she felt quite safe now she was promised to be my wife. Our +betrothal had been announced the day after the never-to-be-forgotten +walk to Bricket wood, and I had hastened to make it known as widely as I +could, for I could think of no likelier method of ensuring her against +any further annoyance on the part of Mannering. When he saw that he had +lost, I could not think that he would do otherwise than retire +gracefully from the scene. If, however, he failed to take his failure +kindly, I should not have the slightest hesitation about sending him +about his business. I should have been tempted to do so without further +delay, if there had in reality been anything in Mannering's conduct to +which open exception could have been taken. Evie recognized there was +nothing of the sort as strongly as myself, and she was even averse to do +as I suggested, and ask her father to hint to him that he should, for a +while at least, cease his visits to the house. + +"You see," she remarked, "if he had made himself offensive in any other +way, I should have welcomed the opportunity of speaking to papa about +it. But he has not. His attitude has been outwardly perfectly courteous, +and papa would only laugh at me if I were to tell him what I have told +you. He would not believe me if I told him I was afraid of Mr. +Mannering." + +"Besides, you are now no longer afraid?" I said. + +"No; I am no longer afraid of him. I am quite sure of that," she +repeated. + +The manner in which she made the assertion ought to have warned me that +she was not quite so certain on the point as she was willing to believe, +but no such thought crossed my mind at the time. + +"Anyhow," I continued, "if when you see Mannering again, you feel any +recurrence of your dread, it will be easy for me to pick a quarrel with +him, and so compel him to absent himself from the house. You see, he +will be unable to come here without meeting me." + +Evie pouted a dissent. "You must not do that," she remarked. "A quarrel +with him would make both of us look ridiculous. Everybody would conclude +that you were jealous; and I--I should not like to imagine any one +thinking that I gave you cause." + +"My own darling!" I cried. + + * * * * * + +When once more we resumed our conversation, I bethought me of another +plan, and I suggested to Evie that she could always find a retreat at my +home in Norfolk, if she wanted to get away from Mannering's presence. My +aunt, I knew, would be delighted to entertain her. She agreed at once to +adopt this course if the occasion should arise. Thus I thought I had +provided against every contingency for the short period which was to +elapse before our wedding-day. + +When Mannering did return, however, it seemed as if we had been making +preparations to meet a contingency which was never likely to arise. He +learned of Evie's engagement from the Colonel, the morning after his +return to St. Albans. He took the news very well. Much more coolly than +I should have done had I been the disappointed one. In fact, a few +minutes after he had been made acquainted with Evie's engagement, he +came to us where we were in the garden, and congratulated us forthwith. + +"You are a lucky fellow, Sutgrove," he said. "I had cherished a faint +hope that your luck might be mine, and now the only consolation I have +is that the best man always wins." + +Spoken in a different tone than that which he employed, his words would +have made a very pretty compliment, but from his lips the words seemed +to be very like a sarcasm. However, I could pardon the expression of a +little bitterness under the circumstances, so I made no reply; and, +turning to Evie, he continued-- + +"I trust your new tie will not put an end to the old friendships, Miss +Maitland?" + +"Why should it?" she asked. + +"They often do," he replied. + +"Not if the old friendships are the real thing," I interjected. + +"No; not if they are the real thing," he repeated slowly. "I hope you +will find mine to be the real thing." + +A faint smile fluttered across his face as he spoke, and was gone in an +instant. Neither Evie nor myself knew what to reply, and an awkward +pause ensued. He seemed to feel the awkwardness of it just as much as +either of us, and he changed the subject with an inquiry as to whether +anything further had been heard or seen of the Motor Pirate during his +own absence in Paris. + +"I have been far too busy to even look at the papers," he explained, +"and he might have been captured for all I know." + +"No such luck," I replied. "This time he seems to have disappeared for +good." + +"I see I shall have to take up your job, and devote my energies to the +task of his capture," he said laughingly. And, turning to Evie, he said, +"I presume you will not allow Sutgrove to take any risks of that sort +now, Miss Maitland?" + +Again there was something sarcastic in his tone, and I could see by the +flush in Evie's cheek that the question had angered her. She answered +almost hotly-- + +"I am quite sure if any one can capture the Pirate, Jim can." + +"I have no intention of giving up the pursuit just at present," I added +quietly, with a glance of thanks to my dear one for her ready +championship. + +"I don't think I should trouble myself about any Motor Pirate if I were +in your position," he replied. "I fancy if I were engaged to be married +to the best girl in the world, the first thing I should do would be to +eliminate every risk from my life, instead of looking about for fresh +ones. Besides, it seems scarcely fair on the girl, does it?" + +"Surely that depends on what the girl thinks, doesn't it?" asked Evie. +"A good many girls haven't much admiration for the man who would act as +you suggest." + +"Ah, well!" returned Mannering. "I see now where Sutgrove has succeeded. +The prize always goes to the adventurous." + +Again there was a subtle provocation in his tone--something very like a +sneer. An angry retort was on the tip of my tongue, but a glance from +Evie checked it, and soon after he left us together. + +"You must not be angry with him," she said, as soon as we were alone. +"He does not know you as I do; and besides I think he--he must be +disappointed." + +"There's not the slightest doubt about that," I answered emphatically. +"He is badly hit, and he takes it pretty well considering. I know I +shouldn't have taken my gruel so coolly. In fact, that is just what I +don't like about him. One never knows what is going on behind that +handsome mask of his." + +"Handsome," she said. "Do you call him handsome?" + +"Yes. I should say he was one of the handsomest men of my acquaintance. +How could you ever bestow a single glance or thought upon me when----" + +Evie placed her hand upon my lips. "You dear, foolish old boy," she +said. "There is only one face in the whole wide world which I think is +really handsome, and I have thought so from the first time I caught +sight of it." + +There was another interlude in our conversation--they were pretty +frequent in those days--and the subject dropped for a time. It recurred +frequently, however, and gradually I perceived that whatever subject we +discussed, sooner or later, Mannering's name was bound to crop up. At +first I rather encouraged Evie to talk about him; but, after a while, I +discovered that I was ministering to the feeling which I thought had +been destroyed. I could not help but notice that, soon after Mannering's +return, Evie's high spirits became subdued--her gaiety less spontaneous. +Yet when I asked her whether Mannering's presence produced any effect +upon her, she assured me to the contrary. + +Nor did I see how Mannering could possibly exert any influence over her. +I took particular care that he should never have a _tete-a-tete_ with +her. Sometimes she would not even see him for a couple of days at a +time, and when she did, it would be merely for a few minutes, and +nearly always in the presence of Colonel Maitland as well as myself. + +It appeared to me, indeed, as if Mannering even took pains to avoid +seeing much of her; and, though I watched him closely, his bearing was +always studiously correct. He was the same _insouciant_ person who had +impressed me so favourably upon my first introduction to him. But +whether it was owing to the distrust which Evie's fear of him had +impressed upon me, or because I could really see things which had before +been hidden from my sight, I certainly did observe about him certain +singularities which I had never before remarked. I saw, for instance, +that, in speaking of his face as a handsome mask, I had been nearer the +truth than I had known. On more than one occasion, while his lips were +parted in a genial smile, I observed in his eyes an expression strangely +at variance therewith. It was the expression of a cat when it crouches +to spring upon a mouse. I have seen that look bent upon my betrothed. I +have caught it directed at myself. There was a restlessness, too, which +gave the lie to his nonchalant manner. I could see that he forced +himself to remain still. His fingers were always busy with something or +other. + +These were trifles, and equally trivial seemed the sarcasms which he +directed at me now and again. These I attributed to the ebullitions of +temper, natural enough in a defeated suitor. In my heart I pitied him, +for I fancied I knew what a struggle it must have cost him to stand +aside and watch a successful rival's happiness. + +As the days passed, a certain constraint appeared to have arisen between +Evie and myself. I told myself that the idea was foolish, and yet I knew +that it was not so. Mind, I had not the slightest doubt as to the +strength of Evie's love for me. She expressed it clearly, yet there was +something drawing us apart, and I began to be afraid. + +Towards the middle of June the tension became so great, that I could see +the time had arrived when it would be necessary to do something; and, +one night, I determined to mention the matter. Accordingly, after +dinner, I persuaded Evie to come into the garden, with the intention to +speak firmly in my mind. There, however, in the faint light of the +summer night, with the sweet scent of the early roses filling the air, I +forgot everything in the blissfulness of my lot. We had paced our +favourite walk once in silence--my heart was too full of delight for +speech--when, as we retraced our steps, to my surprise, Evie burst +suddenly into passionate tears. Some minutes elapsed before I could calm +her, and when I managed at last to do so, it needed all my powers of +persuasion to get her to confide in me the cause of her outburst. At +first she said it was nothing but the hysteria of happiness. Then she +asked me, with a fierce clutch on my arm, if I should think her +unmaidenly if she asked that our wedding-day should be hastened. We had +fixed it for September, so I at once suggested July. + +Her mood changed at once. She said she was not feeling well, and that I +must not listen to her. But being now thoroughly alarmed at her +obviously nervous condition, I questioned her until I elicited from her +that all her old dread of Mannering had returned, and with double +intensity, in that it was accompanied by a presentiment of disaster to +myself. + +"Jim," she said, looking up into my face with eyes which glowed in the +faint light like stars, "I shall not feel sure of you until I am with +you always. I want to be near you to look after you. Every moment you +are absent from my side, I am imagining all sorts of horrible things +happening to you. And it is worse to bear, because, it seems to me, that +I am the cause of it all." + +I strove to laugh away her fears, but, say what I would, I could not +dispel the thought in her mind that some disaster threatened our love. +Probing her mind for the foundation of her belief, I was not surprised +to find that Mannering had something to do with it. + +I did my best to make her mind easy, while determining that I would at +once take steps to secure change of air and scene for her at some spot +where my late rival should not come. She became tolerably composed at +last, and I took her back to the drawing-room, where I was glad to find +Mrs. Winter, in whom I recognized a most useful sedative for +over-excited nerves. + +We had a little music, and with that and the commonplaces of +conversation, the evening passed until eleven had struck, and the +Colonel's yawns warned me that the time had arrived for taking my +departure. + +The Winters and myself had just risen to leave when we heard a hasty +step on the gravel outside, and, turning, we saw a man's figure at one +of the French windows opening on to the garden. + +"Hullo!" said the Colonel. "Who's that?" + +The new-comer stepped into the room, and, as the light fell upon his +face, I recognized Forrest. He nodded to me and turned to the Colonel. + +"I trust you will excuse this unceremonious call of mine, Colonel +Maitland," he said. "But I was desirous of seeing Mr. Sutgrove +immediately, and I guessed I should find him here." + +"I'll excuse you, if you will come to the smoking-room and drink Mr. +Sutgrove's health in a whisky-and-seltzer," replied the Colonel, +heartily. + +"I don't think I can spare the time," said the detective, quietly. + +"Nonsense, man! You must drink the health of my future son-in-law!" he +declared. + +"Most certainly," remarked Forrest. "I can find time for that, even +though----" He paused, and then said, with quiet incisiveness, "Even +though the Motor Pirate is upon the road again!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A CLUE AT LAST + + +IMMEDIATELY Forrest had made his dramatic announcement, I glanced at +Evie, for in view of the apprehension she had exhibited earlier in the +evening, I was just a little doubtful as to whether she would take +kindly to the renewal of my attempts to catch the Pirate. To my +satisfaction, she exhibited no signs of trepidation, if she did not +appear altogether delighted that I was to have another opportunity of +distinguishing myself. In fact as soon as the detective had followed +Colonel Maitland from the room, she told me that she was glad. + +"I don't fear for you a scrap, Jim. At least not much," she said. "I +know you won't do anything foolish, for my sake." + +I interrupted with, "Nor for my own." + +"And do you know," she continued, "I have a queer sort of impression +that when the Pirate is captured, this horrible depression which has +been hanging over me will disappear altogether." + +"Then captured he must be without delay," I said. + +"Though I don't see how Mannering will be affected thereby." + +"I am not so sure about that," said Evie. + +"You surely cannot think that Mannering is in any way connected with the +Motor Pirate?" I inquired in surprise, for any such idea had long passed +from my mind. + +"I don't know," she remarked dreamily; "I don't know. But I should not +be surprised. I really could believe anything about him." + +I reminded her of the steps Forrest had taken to assure himself that +there were no grounds for such a suspicion, but she was not convinced; +so I forbore to continue the discussion, changing the conversation to +the arrangements to be made for her proposed visit to Norfolk. It was +decided that I should write at once to my aunt, and that she should be +ready to start the moment I received a reply. We had settled all the +preliminaries by the time the Colonel and Forrest returned, and I bade +her good night, feeling quite easy in my mind. + +"I am delighted to be able to congratulate you," said Forrest, the +moment we were outside. + +"I am the luckiest man in the world," I replied. + +"You are," returned the detective, emphatically. "All the same, I should +not have been sorry if Miss Maitland had stuck to her intention of +refusing to listen to you until after the capture of the Pirate." + +"Why?" I demanded. + +"For purely selfish reasons," he replied. "I take it you will not be so +keen on the chase. Men in your position don't take risks." + +I held out my hand to him. "Put your fist in that," I said. "What I have +promised, I stick to; and, to tell the truth, I was never keener on +anything in my life." + +"That's good news for me," he answered, and I could tell from his tone +that he meant it. Besides, he was not a man given to the paying of idle +compliments. + +We were walking quietly towards my cottage as we talked, and the impulse +came upon me to confide to him the presentiment which Evie had in regard +to the capture of the Pirate relieving her from her burden of fear. That +necessitated my explaining as well as I could the curious influence +which Mannering exercised over her. Forrest listened attentively. + +"Curious," he muttered, when I had finished. "It is very curious that +the fellow should have produced such an impression on Miss Maitland. By +the way, he was not at the Colonel's to-night." + +"No," I replied. + +"I wonder----" he began. He never finished the sentence, nor did he +speak again until he reached my door. There he paused, and said lightly, +"I think I should like to discover whether the disappointed lover is at +home to-night. Are you prepared for a little amateur burglary, +Sutgrove?" + +"Ready for anything," I assured him. + +"It seems a little absurd to suspect Mannering," he remarked +meditatively. "Yet there are times when a woman's intuition is a better +guide than a man's ratiocination." + +"You didn't get any clue in Amsterdam, then?" I asked tentatively, for I +was curious to hear the results of his journey. + +"No, no. Nothing at all in Holland." + +"If Mannering were the Pirate, and had tried to dispose of his plunder +there, you would in all probability have caught him; but he would +scarcely have chosen to go abroad at the same time as yourself," I +remarked. + +Forrest emitted a long, low whistle. "By Jove!" he said. "Then it was +indeed he whom I saw in Vienna." + +"In Vienna?" I queried. + +"When did he leave England?" asked the detective, ignoring my question. + +"The very day you left," I replied promptly. + +"Come, this is getting interesting," he said. "Tonight we will most +certainly let the Pirate do his worst on the roads. We will look for a +clue to the mystery of his identity nearer home." He looked at his +watch. "It's a little too early to pay our call, so if you don't mind, I +will come in and we can discuss the matter at leisure." + +To say that Forrest's enigmatic utterances filled me with excitement, +very inadequately expresses the state of my mind. He followed me +indoors, and, while I mixed a drink for each of us, he saw that the +windows and doors were closed. Then seating himself in an easy chair, he +selected a cigar and remarked-- + +"Now we can talk." + +"I thought you only intended to go to Amsterdam," I began. + +"That was my intention," he replied. "But before giving you the results +of my inquiries--it won't take long, by the way--I should like to ask +you one or two questions, if I may?" + +"Fire away," I said. + +"Did you mention to any one where I had gone?" + +"Not to a soul. At least certainly not at the time, though I have +probably mentioned the matter to Miss Maitland since." + +"Oh, you young lovers!" he interjected. + +"She would not speak of the matter, I know. I gave out to every one else +that you had been recalled to London." + +"Anyway, it would not have mattered if she had, as Mannering left on the +same day as myself. Where did he say he was going?" + +"He said he was bound for Paris on business connected with some patents +he was applying for. He told us he would be absent for two or three +days; and as a matter of fact, he was away for ten." + +"That would about fit in," remarked the detective, after a moment's +thought. "But of that you shall judge for yourself." He moistened his +lips and pulled at his cigar until it was well alight, and then he +commenced his story. + +"I carried out my original intention, and the night after I left you I +caught the 8.30 at Liverpool Street. The next morning I was in +Amsterdam. I stayed there three days, until I was quite convinced that +no such parcel of diamonds as had been stolen had been offered for sale +to any of the Dutch dealers. I could not have failed to hear of it if +any such attempt had been made. While there I had the good fortune to +make the acquaintance of a Russian agent, whose work I fancy must have +been largely political. Ivan Stroviloff his name was, and he had +acquaintances in most European capitals. I discussed the matter with +him. He thought that an attempt to dispose of the stones was much more +likely to be made in Vienna or St. Petersburg than anywhere else except +Paris. I was aware of our agents in Paris having been fully informed, +and I knew it was not worth my while to go there; but beyond notifying +the Austrian police, I doubted whether any steps had been taken in +regard to Vienna, so I determined to proceed to the Austrian capital. +Stroviloff proved a very decent fellow, rather an exception to the +general run, for I don't take to those Russian agents as a rule; and as +I was able to give him a few hints and some introductions over here--he +was going on to London--he gave me in return letters to some of his +colleagues in Vienna and Petersburg, thinking they would probably be of +more use to me than application through the usual official channels. +Well, I went on to Vienna. I won't weary you with a history of my +fruitless inquiries, it would take far too much time. Anyhow, I did find +eventually that a parcel of diamonds had been disposed of there, and, as +Stroviloff had predicted, I obtained the information through one of the +Russian agents and not through the Viennese police. I will say that I do +not see how the latter could have helped me, for the purchaser was the +representative of a Petersburg house who happened to be in Vienna for +the purpose of attending the sale of the Princess Novikoff's jewels--you +probably saw all about it in the papers." + +It was a remarkable sale, and the extraordinary prices realized are +probably fresh in most people's memories. I told Forrest I had seen +accounts of it, and he continued. + +"Unfortunately I did not get the information until after the +representative in question had returned to Petersburg. There was nothing +left for me to do but to follow him there if I wanted to satisfy myself +as to whether the stones of which I had heard were really the ones +stolen from the mail. It was rather like a wild goose chase, but I went. +It was the day before I started that I saw the man who reminded me so +forcibly of your friend Mannering. It was a very fleeting glimpse of a +face which looked in at the door of a restaurant where I happened to be +dining, and I should not like to swear that it was he whom I saw. At the +time, I put my fancy down to one of those casual likenesses which +sometimes lead even keen observers to accost total strangers in the +streets as acquaintances. The likeness was, however, undeniable, in +spite of something strange about his appearance. However, I paid no +attention to the incident, and the next morning I was on my way to +Petersburg. There I found no difficulty in obtaining full particulars +from the dealer. I have no doubt but that he has purchased the stones +which were stolen from the Brighton mail. In size, weight, and quality +they answered to the description perfectly. I learned from him that the +man from whom he had bought the stones had been introduced to him by a +well-known Viennese jeweller. The price asked, though not very greatly +below market value, was low enough to tempt him to purchase. The man who +offered them suggested that payment should be made, not to himself, but +to his firm in Amsterdam. The transaction seemed in every way _bona +fide_, the explanation as to the low price being that the Amsterdam firm +was rather pressed for cash, and so compelled to realize some of its +stock, but was unable to do so in Amsterdam for fear of jeopardizing its +credit. The man who sold the stones gave the name of Josef Hoffman, and +the merchant produced his card which bore the name of Jacob Meyer and +Meyer, and an address in the De Jordaan, Amsterdam. He was described to +me as a tall, powerful, fresh-coloured, fair-haired German, of pleasant +manners and address. The Petersburg merchant's representative had given +him a draft on an Amsterdam bank and, on reaching the Russian capital, +after examining the stones, his employer had authorized the payment of +the draft by telegraph. + +"As soon as I obtained these particulars, I started once more for the +Dutch city without wasting much time. Needless to say, I was too late to +catch my man. The office in the De Jordaan I found to be a room which +had been taken for a week or two, and then vacated, by a person whom I +easily identified as the fair-haired German. The draft had been +exchanged for a draft on the banker's London agents by the same man. I +came on to London immediately, but Hoffman, or whatever his name may be, +was a week ahead of me. I traced him to the London bank where he had +cashed his draft. He did it in the coolest manner imaginable. He left it +one day saying that he required gold, and that if they would get the +amount ready--it was over L4000--he would call for it the next day. He +actually allowed two days to elapse before doing so. Then he came in a +cab with a handbag and took away the gold. That at present is as far as +I have got. I only learned the last of these particulars this afternoon, +and of course I went at once to the Yard to make my report and to +arrange for the circulation of the description of the fair-haired German +throughout the country. Then I came on to you." + +Forrest finished his drink and stood up. "Now you know as much about the +case as I do," he remarked, "and I fancy it is about time for us to pay +our proposed visit to our friend Mannering." + +"I don't see how you can connect him in any way with Hoffman," I said, +as I rose from my seat. + +Forrest smiled. "I omitted to tell you one thing," he observed. "I could +not see the hair of the man in Vienna whose face seemed familiar to me. +But one thing I did remark. The man with Mannering's face wore a fair +moustache." + +"But Mannering's is dark," I argued. "It was dark when he went away and +dark when he returned." + +Forrest held up his hand mockingly. "In these days of scientific +progress nothing is easier than for the intelligent leopard to change +his spots. Ask the brunette when fashion decrees that fair hair is to be +worn, and ask again of the blonde how she manages when the exigencies +demand raven tresses." + +That settled me. "There's only one thing more," I said. "When did you +hear that the Motor Pirate was at work again?" + +"At St. Albans. I called at the police office on my way here. He was +seen about ten o'clock this side of Peterborough and going north." + +"It will be rather a sell if Mannering is at home," I remarked. + +"He will not be at home," replied Forrest with conviction. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +I COMMIT A BURGLARY + + +THE night was moonless, but there was that soft diffused light in the +air invariable in June, except on the cloudiest of evenings. There was +just enough of it to enable us to see our way as we strolled towards +Mannering's house. When we reached it everything appeared still. All the +windows were dark. I felt my heart beginning to beat faster than +ordinarily as Forrest lifted the latch of the gate opening on to the +strip of garden, which lay between the road and the house. We walked +along the turf edging of the path in order that our feet might not +crunch upon the gravel. Forrest was first. He went straight to the front +door and tried it. It was fast. + +"We will try one of those French windows," he whispered after returning +to my side. + +The house was a two-story cottage with a verandah opening on the south +side facing a lawn. On to this verandah windows opened from both the +dining and sitting-rooms, the servants' quarters being on the other side +of the house. + +We went round the angle of the building and tried the first window. It +was fastened. With cat-like tread Forrest glided on to the second. It +was one of the two giving entrance to the sitting-room. A sibilant sound +from the detective's lips took me to his side. Without hesitating a +second, he threw back the casement and stepped into the darkness. + +"Come," he muttered, and I followed. + +Heavy curtains veiled the windows and past these the darkness was thick +enough to be felt. Of a sudden there was a crack which made me start. It +was only Forrest striking a match. With imperturbable confidence, he +stepped towards a table and lit the lamp which stood thereon. I felt +exceedingly uncomfortable, but Forrest obviously knew no such qualms, +for he at once proceeded to examine every object in the room. So far as +I could see, there was nothing at all unusual about the place. The room +was in exactly the same condition as I had observed it hundreds of times +before when I had dropped in for a smoke and a chat. On the table, +beside the lamp, was a tantalus and a glass, and a half empty syphon. +The glass had been used and the ash on the floor, beside an armchair, +showed that a cigar had accompanied the drink. A pair of slippers lay on +the hearth rug as if they had been carelessly kicked off. Forrest +pointed to them. + +"Mannering is not at home," he said. "If he had gone to bed, these would +not be here." + +"I hope he will not return while we are about," I muttered. + +"It would be a little awkward for him," said Forrest, calmly. "I should +be compelled to arrest him in self-defence, and I am not prepared to do +so at present." + +He did not, however, hurry his movements in any way as he proceeded to +deliberately search the room. Only once did he pause, and that was when +he discovered a continental time-table of recent date. He brought the +book to the light and turned over the pages carefully. A gleam of +exultation crossed his face, as he pointed out to me a trace of tobacco +ash between the pages which gave details of the train service between +Vienna and Amsterdam. + +"We are on the right track," he observed. + +But that one slight piece of evidence was all that the most careful +examination of the room revealed, although there was not a drawer nor a +shelf which he did not overhaul. + +"We must try his bedroom," he remarked, when he had finished with the +sitting-room. + +"What about the servants?" I asked. + +"If they are not asleep, they will merely imagine that it is their +master going to bed," he replied, as taking a candlestick, which stood +on an occasional table near the door, he passed out of the room. I +followed him upstairs, with my heart in my mouth, and pointed out to him +the door of the room which Mannering occupied. As Forrest turned the +handle and entered, I was quite prepared to make a bolt for it. I should +not have been a bit surprised to have discovered our suspect sleeping +quietly within. But Forrest turned and beckoned me to enter. The room +was empty, and this time I assisted the detective in his search. +Between us we subjected the bedroom and the adjoining dressing-room to +the closest scrutiny, but without result. We could not, unfortunately, +make an exhaustive examination, for there were one or two ancient +presses which were locked, and the Chubb safe let into the wall by the +bed head was likewise fastened. + +The detective shrugged his shoulders when we had done. + +"As we haven't a burglar's outfit, we shall have to wait until we have a +search warrant," he muttered. + +With a disappointed air he led the way out of the room. On the landing +he paused. His keen gaze had rested for a moment on a travelling bag +which stood under a table. There were the remains of a number of labels +upon it and he scanned them carefully. There was no sufficient of any +one of them left for identification. + +"He's a clever devil," he whispered. + +Then he opened the bag and again his countenance lightened. Inside was +an empty bottle bearing the label of a London chemist, with the +additional superscription--"Peroxide of Hydrogen." + +"The fair hair is accounted for," commented Forrest. "And as for the dye +which would restore his locks to their natural colour, I presume he has +it under lock and key." + +He slipped the bottle into his pocket and returned downstairs, I +following at his heels. + +"There's not enough at present against him to warrant his arrest," he +said, when we were again in the sitting-room. + +"Then why not have a look round his workshops," I suggested. + +"His what?" queried Forrest, eagerly. + +"Haven't I ever mentioned them to you? Haven't you ever heard that +Mannering spends all his spare time in experimental motor construction?" +I asked in surprise. + +"I think I have heard it mentioned, but until this moment I have always +thought it was chaff," he replied. + +"Good heavens!" I ejaculated. + +"I should have been inside that shop a couple of months ago," he +continued, "if I had thought---- Whereabouts is the shop?" + +"Just at the back of the house and abutting on the side of the road," I +explained. "The old coach-house and stables." Then as the thought +occurred to me, I continued, "Why I heard him tell you of his work +himself." + +"That's precisely the reason why I paid no attention to it," said my +companion. "Can you take me to the place?" + +I led the way through the French window, Forrest putting out the light +before he followed me, and carefully closing the casement behind him as +he stepped on to the verandah. A clock, somewhere in St. Albans, struck +the half after two as we crossed the lawn in the direction of the +workshop. + +"We have only a short time at our disposal," whispered Forrest. "The +darkness is lifting, and our friend will soon be returning." + +We passed through a side door, which we found unlocked, into what had +once been the stable-yard. But we could get no further. The two doors +which gave admission to the building were firmly fastened, and there was +no available window by which we might gain entrance. We retraced our +steps, and, passing out of the door, approached the stables from the +road. By this time the dawn had made such progress that we knew our +chances of getting inside before Mannering's return were dwindling +rapidly. We found no more likelihood of obtaining admission from this +side than the other. + +"I cannot arrest a man on the evidence of a few grains of tobacco dust, +and an empty phial," declared Forrest, savagely, as he shook the tightly +locked door. "Listen!" I said. + +Borne on the wind came the throb of a motor. So still was the air that +when the sound first reached our ears it must have been a mile away. The +sound drew nearer and nearer, and while it was still a quarter of a mile +distant, I recognized the familiar noise of Mannering's car, a sound as +dissimilar to the hum of the Pirate car as it was possible to conceive. + +"Forrest," I cried, turning to my companion, "we must be mad to think +that Mannering could play the part of the Motor Pirate on that old car +of his." + +There was something so irresistibly ludicrous in the idea, that we both +indulged in a hearty fit of laughter, and with one accord we turned and +walked down the road. + +"He may keep his fast car elsewhere," remarked the detective, when his +mirth had subsided. + +"It would be difficult to bring the guilt home to him if we failed to +discover the car," I replied. + +A few seconds later we met the man whom we had so lately suspected. I +felt a tinge of shame at the thought that, a few minutes previously, I +had been sneaking into his house in the hope that I should find evidence +to convict him of a crime. By this time dawn was sufficiently advanced +to allow of recognition, and as he came level with us Mannering pulled +up. + +"Hullo, Sutgrove!" he shouted. "You're about betimes. Been on the same +job as myself?" + +"What's that, Mr. Mannering?" asked Forrest + +"Looking for an opportunity to pay back this little debt," was the light +answer, as the speaker tapped his shoulder gently. + +"Any luck?" said Forrest, dryly. + +"Not a scrap," was the ready reply. "You see I'm a bit handicapped with +this old car, for unless the fellow happens to take the same road as +myself, there's precious little chance of my picking him up. Still, if +you do not soon succeed in catching him, I think I shall have a good try +myself." + +"I suppose by that you know who he is," I remarked, more in order to see +what he would say than in the hope of eliciting anything. + +"Not the slightest idea on the subject," he responded promptly. "I am +merely hoping that in a few days I shall be in possession of a new motor +from which even the Pirate will be unable to escape." + +I made a gesture of surprise. + +"Fact," he continued. "My experiments have proved successful at last. In +a week I shall have delivered to me the new motor I have designed, and +then the Pirate had better look out. Good night." + +Waving an adieu, he set his car in motion, and jogged along until he +reached the door of his coach-house. We watched him dismount, unlock the +door, and disappear inside. + +"It beats me," remarked Forrest. + +"Surely you do not still harbour any suspicion concerning him?" I +inquired in amazement. + +Forrest made no reply. His head was bent, his brow knitted deeply, his +hands clasped behind him as we turned and walked back to my place. He +did not speak until we stopped on my doorstep. + +"I wish he had not seen us," my companion then remarked. "He will be +bound to tumble to the conclusion that we suspect him, and will be on +his guard." + +"Then you do still suspect him," I cried again. + +"If I had one scrap of direct evidence," replied the detective, +emphatically, "I would have him under arrest within half an hour. Only +one little scrap," he almost groaned. "But, as it is, my reputation +would not survive if I made a mistake." + +"Why, you don't imagine that he would go so far as to shoot himself just +to avert suspicion," I asked, still incredulous. + +Forrest drew himself up smartly. "Good Lord! What a fool I am! +What--a--blind--dunderheaded--jackass!" he cried. + +"What's the matter now?" I inquired smiling, for the detective was +groping in his pockets. "Have you lost anything?" + +From his waistcoat pocket he produced a small leaden bullet, and he held +it outstretched in the palm of his hand. + +"Here have I been wasting weeks on the continent, while with this I +might have settled the matter once and for all." + +"How?" I asked. + +"I needed but to compare this with the bullet the surgeon extracted from +Mannering's shoulder. This is the one which killed the poor fellow near +Towcester. If Mannering's bullet is identical with this, I should have +nothing more to say; but," he continued meaningly, "both your revolver +and mine are of a different calibre to the weapon which fired this. If +the bullet which hit Mannering should prove to fit either of our +weapons, there would be no need to seek for further evidence. I must see +that surgeon at once." + +He started off rapidly down the garden path. I hurried after him and +laid my hand on his arm. + +"Steady, old man," I remarked. "You can hardly knock up a hardworked +medical man at 3.30 a.m. just to ask him a question." + +Forrest stopped and gave a short laugh. "Upon my word, I had entirely +forgotten what the time was. No, you are quite right. There is no need +for such excessive hurry. Mannering is safe enough for the present." + +"At least, for the next eighteen hours," I observed, after glancing at +my watch. "Meanwhile, your room has been kept ready for you." + +"A little sleep will not come amiss," he answered, yawning; "though it +seems almost a pity to go to bed on such a morning." + +He was right. By this time dawn was breaking with a splendour I have +never seen equalled before nor since. From east to west the sky was +stained and flecked with crimson and gold, and our faces glowed ruddily +in the reflected light. We both fell to silence, as with our faces to +the east we watched the uprising of the sun; and, until the sky paled as +the sun made its appearance above the line of the horizon, we did not +stir. + +Then Forrest drew a deep breath. "There's been the beauty of destruction +in the sunrise," he remarked. "We shall have a storm before nightfall." + +He followed me indoors, and, leaving him at the door of his room, I went +to my own. I got into my pyjamas, but I did not feel inclined to sleep +for the sunbeams were glancing in at my window, and all about were the +sound and movement of the awakening earth-creatures. I wheeled an easy +chair to the window, and wrapping a blanket about me, took a novel I had +been reading and strove to fix my attention on the pages. I could not do +so. Whether it was the reflex action of the brain from the excitement of +the evening or not, but the fact was I felt unaccountably depressed. I +fought against the feeling as best I could. But I could not get out of +my head the idea that some great danger was threatening, not myself, but +the one dearest to me in the world. From my window I could see her home, +and I drew the chair into a position where my eyes might rest upon the +roof which sheltered her. There was some consolation in this, and I +watched until I eventually fell into an uneasy slumber, from which I +awakened unrefreshed and ill at ease. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +STORM + + +MY tub pulled me together to some extent, but I still felt restless when +I went downstairs. Forrest had already gone out, leaving word that he +expected to be back to breakfast at the usual hour. I went into the +garden, but the sun was shining in a cloudless sky and there was not a +breath of air stirring. It was insufferably hot and I was glad to return +into the shade of the house. + +The detective came in panting, a little later, with disappointment +plainly written in his face. + +"The surgeon out?" I inquired. + +"No," he answered. "But he was not much use though. Mannering kept the +bullet. He wanted to retain it, so he said, as a memento of his +adventure." + +"Perfectly natural," I commented. + +"Perfectly," returned Forrest. "The unfortunate result is, that his +doing so prevents me from dismissing the possibility of his being the +Pirate from my mind. And I ought to be doing something. Last night the +rascal seems to have been everywhere. Apparently he was actuated with a +desire to destroy everything which stood in his path. One would judge +him to have become absolutely reckless. Instead of avoiding the towns, +he courted observation by passing through them. This morning at the +police office, I heard particulars of at least half a dozen cases of +unoffending people being ruthlessly ridden down, and Heaven only knows +how many more there may be of which the details are not yet to hand. The +sheer devilry of his progress is simply amazing. What it comes to is +this, Sutgrove. If I can't get hold of him within the next week I may as +well resign the force at once. If I don't resign I shall be dismissed, +and quite deservedly." + +I tried to say something consolatory, but he would not hear me; and it +was not until after he had made a savage attack upon the eggs and +rashers and had swallowed three cups of tea, that his usual equanimity +returned. + +"What's the next move?" I asked, when breakfast was done. + +"I am going to town to see if I can identify the purchaser of this +bottle," he replied, holding up the phial he had taken from the bag in +Mannering's house the night before; "and to inquire whether anything +more has been heard of the fair-haired German." + +"Then I can be of no assistance to you, to-day?" I said. + +"None whatever beyond remaining here and keeping an eye upon our friend. +I shall ask for another man to-day to assist in shadowing him, but +until his arrival I should be glad for some one to keep me acquainted +with his movements. If, as I presume you will, you go over to Colonel +Maitland's, you cannot help seeing whether he leaves his house." + +I promised to do as he wished, and shortly after he had gone, I took my +hat and strolled over to the Colonel's place. + +Evie appeared to have quite recovered from her fears of the previous +evening, and being busily engaged upon domestic duties, she sent me to +join her father under the shade of a big tree on the lawn. There solaced +by an iced lemon squash and the newspaper, I managed to pass the morning +very comfortably. Mannering gave no sign of existence. + +I took myself home for lunch, remembering letters I had to write. I felt +much easier in mind, and made a hearty meal in consequence. The result +was that I fell asleep over my cigar afterwards. + +I awoke suddenly, wondering where I was. Then I thought I must have +slept for hours, for a blackness only one degree less than that of night +brooded over the earth. I took out my watch lazily, and was surprised to +see that the hands only pointed to five. I sat still for a minute or two +striving to collect my thoughts, for my head was heavy. I held my watch +to my ear. It had not stopped. I jumped up and walked to the window, and +I saw at once the reason why I had imagined that night had fallen. From +east to west and from north to south a dense pall of cloud hung over +the earth. Not a leaf moved, and except for the shrill chirp of a +grasshopper, not a sound broke the uncanny stillness. + +"By Jove!" I muttered, "we are going to have it hot." + +There came upon me an intense desire to be near Evie during the progress +of the storm which threatened every moment to break. I did not wait to +analyse the feeling, but catching up my hat I bolted straight out of the +window. I had only a couple of hundred yards to traverse, but when I +reached the Colonel's house, so hot and heavy was the air, that I was +soaked from head to foot in perspiration. I paused at the gate to wipe +my brow with my handkerchief, and at the moment the storm broke. I heard +the crackle of the lightning as it slid from the sky, and the thunder +clap followed so swiftly that for a moment I felt deafened. I waited no +longer, but raced across the lawn and into the open French window of the +drawing-room. The apartment was unoccupied, so I passed through into the +hall. That was vacant too, and I continued my search through the +morning-room to the Colonel's sanctum. There I saw the genial warrior +standing at the window, and watching the play of the lightning with +every appearance of interest. + +"Hullo, Colonel!" I said. "Where's Evie?" + +"Isn't she in the drawing-room? She was there twenty minutes ago," he +replied. + +"She is not there now, I have just come through," I explained. + +"Then I fancy she will be in all probability in her bedroom with her +head under the sheets," he said, chuckling. + +"At all events I will send one of the maids to see," I said. + +I rang the bell, and after giving a message to the maid who answered the +summons, I joined the Colonel at the window. He appeared to be very +pleased with the progress the storm was making. + +"Thank goodness this will clear the air," he explained, as a reason for +his satisfaction. "It was so hot that I could take no lunch but a +mayonnaise, iced strawberries, and a glass of hock. Don't you think the +air is cooler already? I begin to feel quite an appetite for dinner. My +only fear is that, if the thunder has not turned everything sour, it +will have frightened my cook out of her senses, and there will be +nothing to appease my appetite." + +The window at which we were standing faced towards Mannering's house. +There was a stretch of lawn outside and, beyond, a thicket of shrubs and +small trees between the grounds of the two residences. I was glancing in +the direction of these, when I thought I saw something white moving in +the shrubbery. I was about to say something to the Colonel when a crash +of thunder drowned the utterance. At the next flash of lightning, I +perceived that my eyes had not deceived me, and in an instant I jumped +to the conclusion that it was Evie who was out there in the storm. +Without a moment's hesitation I vaulted through the window and raced +across the lawn. The Colonel must have thought me mad. + +It was something of a shock for me to find that I was right in my +conjecture. There, huddled up under the spreading branches of a cedar, +stood my darling, her eyes wide open, her cheeks blanched with terror. + +"Why, Evie, dear heart! What is the matter?" I cried. + +At the sound of my voice she started, and, with a little cry of delight, +she threw herself into my arms. + +"I knew you would come--I knew you would come!" she sobbed hysterically. + +The cedar under which she was standing was close to the hedge, and I +fancied, as she spoke, that I saw a figure move away from the other side +of the hedge. I could not verify my suspicion, for Evie needed all my +attention. She had fainted. Catching her up, I bore her across the lawn +to the house. + +It was some time before she came to herself, and then, at her own +request, I left her with her maid and returned to the Colonel. Needless +to say I was very much worried in my mind. Why Evie should have been +sheltering in the shrubbery from the storm, with the house so near, +seemed unexplainable, and I awaited with anxiety the time when I could +learn the reason from her own lips. The presence of the figure--the +figure of a man--on the opposite side of the hedge, was also +inexplicable. I should have guessed it to be Mannering, but I would have +staked my life upon Evie's truthfulness when she had told me how much +she had learned to detest him. Besides, her delight was obvious when I +arrived on the scene. + +Not until the evening, however, did I get a chance of speaking to Evie +again. The Colonel and I dined alone, Evie sending word to say that the +storm had left her with a headache, and that she would join us later. I +was so silent during the meal that my host grew quite merry at my +expense. + +"Wait till you are married, my boy," he remarked. "There will come times +when you will be grateful for these feminine headaches." + +I hate cheap witticisms of this sort, but I could hardly resent them +from the Colonel as I could have done had they fallen from any one +else's lips; but I fancy he saw at last that they were distasteful to +me, for after a while he forebore to comment upon my dour looks. + +About ten Evie came downstairs. By this time the storm had passed away +entirely, and the air was deliciously fresh and cool after the rain. It +was a strangely subdued girl who came nervously to me, and shrank away +from me as I kissed her. + +"No, Jim, no! You mustn't do that," she said. + +Colonel Maitland had slipped away upon his daughter's entrance, and we +were alone. + +"Why, darling, what ails you?" I asked. + +"Nothing--nothing. Oh! don't ask me," she almost wailed in reply. + +I put my arm about her waist, and drew her down beside me to a seat on +a big Chesterfield drawn before one of the windows. She resisted faintly +at first, but presently I heard her give a sigh of content, and felt her +nestle towards me. Then I spoke. + +"Tell me, dear, what possessed you to go out into the storm?" + +"I don't know," she murmured--"I don't know. I--I felt that I must. I +didn't think it was going to break so soon, and then the first flash of +lightning and the voice of the thunder! It was like judgment day." + +"It is all passed and over," I remarked, with a man's clumsy attempt at +consolation. + +"I wish it were--I wish it were," she repeated, with an indrawn sigh. + +"It is all over hours ago," I said. + +She broke away from me passionately. "Oh! Jim, you don't know," she +cried. + +"I don't know what?" I inquired, as I attempted to draw her to me again. + +She pushed my hands away with a gesture of despair. Then with an effort +she rose to her feet, and looking at me straight in the face, she said-- + +"Jim, this must not go on. It is more than I can bear." + +I rose to my feet too, my heart beating wildly. "I don't understand +you," I answered, though I comprehended her meaning only too well. "What +must not go on?" + +"Our--our engagement," she faltered. She was white to the lips as she +said the words. + +I staggered back under the blow, then leaning forward I sought to take +her hand. + +"No, Jim, no!" she said. "It's no use; I can never be yours. It is +impossible--quite impossible. My love would be fatal to you! I know it +will! He said so." + +"He?" I asked. + +She faltered. "Oh! I cannot help believing him. He tells me that I am to +be his." She shuddered. "Jim, you must leave me, and never see me again. +I cannot have your--your blood on my hands." + +She held out her slender white fingers, and I saw that the ring which I +had placed there had been removed. Though my brain was awhirl, I tried +my utmost to be calm. I think the effort was successful, and that my +voice was fairly even when I said-- + +"Come, darling, a promise is a promise, and my own little girl is not +going to break her promise because of the threats of a jealous rival." + +She shuddered from head to foot. "You don't know him as I know him," she +murmured. "He would stick at nothing, Jim. I don't think he is a man; he +must be a devil. He can do things no man ever thought of doing." + +"You exaggerate his capacities for evil," I said, as equably as I was +able, for her agitation was so great that I feared for her reason. "What +has Mannering been saying to you, for it was he whom I saw behind the +hedge when I brought you out of the storm, I suppose?" + +"You saw him?" she queried. "Then it is true. I have been hoping you +would tell me I had been dreaming again." + +"I saw nothing very terrible about him," I remarked. + +"You don't know him," she said again. + +"He will have cause to know me before many hours have passed," I +declared savagely. + +She clung to me in terror. "No, Jim. You must not go near him. You do +not know the power he exercises. This afternoon I was sitting thinking +of you when I became conscious that he was telling me to come to him. +There was no reason why I should have thought so. He was not in sight, +but I was bound to go." + +"And you found him waiting for you?" I asked quietly, though my brain +was aflame, for I was determined to ascertain all that had passed +between them. + +"He was waiting for me," she repeated--"waiting for me and the storm. +That must have come at his bidding too. It was horrible waiting for him +to speak--horrible! I tried to ask him what he wanted, but my tongue was +tied. Not until after the first peal of thunder did he utter a word. +Then he told me the time was nearly at hand when he should come for me." +I clenched my fists involuntarily, but I did not interrupt my darling's +story. "I begged of him to leave me free. He paid no heed. 'I am going +away,' he said. 'For three days you will see nothing of me, though all +England will be talking of my deeds. On the third I shall return. Mind +you are ready.'" + +"Did you not mention me?" I remarked weakly. I hardly knew what to say, +for it seemed to me that either Evie must be the victim of some +extraordinary hallucination, or else that Mannering was mad. + +"He mentioned you," she replied. "'Tell Sutgrove,' he said, 'that he has +three days in which to capture the Motor Pirate and make sure of his +bride. After that he will be too late. Tell him, too, that death waits +on the fool who fails.'" + +"It's a sporting challenge," I muttered, for I had no doubt now in my +mind that Mannering and the Pirate were identical. + +My words did not reach Evie's ear, for she continued, + +"Now you know why I have put away your ring. He is too strong for us. I +must do as he bids me. I----" + +I interrupted her sharply. "Have you everything packed to go away on +your visit to Norfolk to-morrow?" I asked. + +The tone of my voice roused her. She looked at me wildly. + +"Why--why----" she said. Then the expression faded out of her face. For +the second time that day she had fainted. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN WHICH THE PIRATE APPEARS IN A FROLICSOME HUMOUR + + +THE fainting fit which terminated my conversation with Evie alarmed me +tremendously, and as soon as I could summon assistance I sent for a +doctor. She came round before the medical man arrived, but I did not +revert to the topic which had agitated her. Indeed, she appeared +listless and disinclined to say a word on any subject. Colonel Maitland +was less worried than myself, but even he was anxious until after the +doctor had seen her and assured him that his daughter was merely +suffering from over excitement, and that a sedative and a good night's +rest would probably restore her completely. + +I was not so sure that such would be the case, and when she had retired +I thought it well to take the Colonel into his study and give him as +full an account as I could of all that had led up to the fainting fit. +He listened to my story with attention, and when I had done, though I +could plainly see that he thought his daughter's fears were due to her +own morbid fancy, yet he agreed with me that it would be well that she +should have a change of scene at the earliest possible moment. + +After arriving at this decision I determined to at once seek out +Mannering, and demand from him some explanation of his conduct, for I +could not conceive that Evie's story was entirely the outcome of her +imagination. It was a delicate subject to discuss, yet I did not +hesitate. I was in no humour to mince matters. My anger, though I had +kept it well under control hitherto, only needed the slightest fanning +to bring it to a white heat, and I longed whole-heartedly that Mannering +would afford me some excuse for giving physical expression to my +feelings. + +I walked up to his front door, and knocked in a manner to denote with +sufficient distinctiveness that the mood of the knocker was the +imperative. I could see by the lights within that the inmates of the +house had not retired to rest, but I had to repeat my summons before +there was any response. Then I heard footsteps within, and the door +opening an inch or two, a voice inquired who was there. + +"Is Mr. Mannering in?" I demanded. + +"Mr. Sutgrove, is it?" replied the voice, and upon my answering in the +affirmative, the door was thrown open, and I saw the two maidservants +standing in the hall. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," said the parlourmaid. "We didn't expect any +one at this time of night." + +"That's all right," I answered. "Can I see Mr. Mannering?" + +"He's gone away for a day or two, sir," said the girl. + +"That's very sudden, isn't it?" I asked. "I saw him this afternoon." + +"Yes, sir. He said nothing about it to us until after dinner. Then he +packed his handbag and went away on his motor." + +"It's a confounded nuisance," I remarked. "I wanted to see him on +important business. Did he say where he was going?" + +"He said Cromer, sir, but he did not leave any address." Then, after a +momentary hesitation, she added, "Is--is anything wrong?" + +I looked at her keenly. She dropped her eyes, and I could see there was +something on her mind. + +"What makes you ask?" I enquired. + +"I--I don't know," she replied, with obvious embarrassment. + +"There must be something or you would not have asked," I said +encouragingly. "Come--out with it." + +She still hesitated, but the housemaid was bolder. "I'll tell the +gentleman if you don't, Sarah," she declared. "It's like this, sir," she +rattled out volubly: "the master, Mr. Mannering that is, has been so +queer in his ways lately that Sarah and me 'as been quite scared. Not +that he 'asn't been quite the gentleman. He always was that, wasn't he, +Sarah? But he's been that restless and bound up in himself +lately--walking up and down in his room and talking to himself. He +always was one to shut himself up in that nasty old coach-house with his +experiments and things, but he was quiet, and we never took no account +of it. But lately he's been different." + +"How?" I asked. + +"Well, instead of going to bed like a Christian he's up all hours of the +night. It ain't only that. He slips out as if he didn't want us to see +him, and when we've known he hasn't been at home we've found he's taken +the trouble to tumble the bed to make it appear as how he slept in it." + +"Pooh!" I remarked. "If that's all, my servants would probably say the +same about me. You need not be alarmed about such trifles." + +"But it's not all," said Sarah, taking up the story. "The nights he goes +out are just the nights the Pirate makes his appearance." + +"Those are just the nights I am away from home," I said. + +"But you have the detective gentleman with you," argued the girl, "and +when you come back I warrant you do not bring diamond studs back with +you that don't belong to you." + +"What!" I cried. "What!" + +"It's truth, sir," said the housemaid. "A week ago, just after he came +back from Paris, I was sweeping the floor of his bedroom, when I sweeps +up a diamond stud. Now, I knew he never had such a thing----" + +"I suppose you know exactly what jewellery he has?" I interrupted, +laughing. + +"He always was a very careless gentleman until the last month, before +which he left his things lying about all over the place, but then he had +a safe put in his bedroom, and he never so much as left the key lying +about. However, I mentions the stud to Sarah, and we talks it over and +puts two and two together, and Sarah thinks that if he doesn't ask what +has become of it, it might be as well as if we told the detective +gentleman about it." + +"Quite right," I remarked. "You might let me look at the stud, though." + +After a little pressing the girls fetched the trinket, and I perceived +that it very closely resembled the stud Winter had worn on the night of +our first encounter with the Pirate. I said nothing about this +supposition to the maids, but bidding them to be careful not to mention +the matter to any one until they had seen Forrest, whom I promised +should call upon them, I left the house. + +Though disappointed in my original intention of forcing an explanation +from Mannering, I was by no means ill pleased with the result of my +visit to his house. My suspicions as to his identity with the Pirate had +become considerably stronger, and once that identity was established I +fancied I should have little difficulty in preventing any further +annoyance at his hands. + +Yet when I came to think calmly upon the subject I could not fail to see +how frail was the foundation upon which my suspicions were built up. The +fancies of a girl, the suspicions of a couple of gossiping servants, and +the discovery of a stud, which might or might not prove to be the one +which had been stolen from Winter. I longed for Forrest to return, for I +felt utterly incapable of resting, and as he had not put in an +appearance by midnight, I got out my car and went into St. Albans to +meet him. At the police station there was no news of him to be obtained, +but I did learn that the Pirate had been seen, his presence having been +reported from the vicinity of Bedford. + +Knowing that it would be impossible for me to sleep until I had seen +Forrest; knowing, too, how unlikely it was that he would now return to +St. Albans before morning, I thought I might at least have one shot on +my own account of bringing off the capture I so ardently desired. So, in +case of an untoward accident happening, I scribbled a note to the +detective, telling him briefly what I had heard from the servants, and +my intentions; and making sure that my revolver was in working order, I +bade my friends at the police-station good night, and departed. + +I knew it would be useless to take the direct road to Bedford if I +wished to meet the Pirate, and, as he had been reported going east, I +took the route through Hertford, trusting that I might be able to cut +him off upon his return. I gleaned nothing concerning him at either +Hertford or Ware, and was so doubtful of proceeding further in that +direction that I left it to the arbitrament of a coin to determine +whether I should go on by a road with which I was unacquainted to +Cambridge through Bishop's Stortford, or take a route I knew through +Royston. The choice fell upon the Stortford road, and later I was glad +I had taken it, for about a mile to the south of Stortford I discovered +that I was upon the right track. + +I was bowling along at about fifteen miles an hour when I came upon two +horses grazing at the road-side. They galloped off at my approach, and, +a few seconds later, I came upon a specimen of the Pirate's handiwork, +which at first sight was irresistibly ludicrous. A brougham was drawn up +at the side of the road, and, bound to the wheels, were a coachman and a +footman, clad in gorgeous liveries. The coachman was fat and florid, the +footman a particularly fine specimen of flunkeydom, and their faces, as +the light of my lamps fell upon them--they could not speak, for they +were both gagged as well as bound--were so convulsed with terror, that I +could see they did not look upon me as a friend. As I dismounted from my +car to go to their assistance, I heard a dismal wail from the roof of +the vehicle and, looking up, I perceived a portly old lady perched upon +the uncomfortable eminence. + +I made an attempt to explain that my intentions were purely pacific, but +as I could elicit nothing from the old lady but appeals to spare her +life, I turned my attention to the two men, and speedily released them +from their bonds. By the time they were loose they had realized that I +was a friend; but it was some time before I managed to obtain from them +an account of how they got into such a mess. Even when their powers of +speech had returned they were unable to give a lucid account of the +affair. + +Of course it was the work of the Pirate. They had been returning with +their mistress--the old lady on the roof of the brougham--from some +local coming-of-age festivities, when they had met the rascal. He had +bound the servants, set the horses free, and, after robbing the old lady +of all the jewellery she wore, he had compelled her to climb to the +position where I discovered her, threatening to return and kill her if +she moved from her position for an hour. It needed much persuasion +before she ventured to descend from her perch; but with the assistance +of the coachman, I managed to get her inside the brougham, and further +assisting in securing the two horses, I left them. + +This incident delayed me for nearly half an hour, and it was a good deal +past one before I again set out on my quest. The brougham had been +stopped just near a bye-road, and as the footman had assured me that the +Pirate had taken this path when he departed, I thought I would follow. I +could see for myself that a motor-car had passed that way, for the +thunderstorm of the previous day had left the roads heavy in places, and +the marks of his tyres were plainly visible. + +I had followed the road for about a couple of miles further when I came +once more upon some of the Pirate's victims. These, too, were returning +from the same function at which the old lady had been a guest, when they +fell into the clutches of the Pirate. In this case my assistance was not +required, for the two young ladies of the party had recovered +sufficiently from their fright to have already set at liberty their male +companion and the coachman. They told me of their experiences, and +after I had heard them, I thought that Forrest's idea that the Pirate +was a madman more likely than I had done previously. + +When stopped by the Pirate, the husband of one of the ladies had shown +fight until he had been felled by a blow from the butt end of a +revolver. The coachman had discreetly made no resistance. Then, after +securing the jewels the women wore, the Pirate had displayed a freakish +humour quite new to his character. He had insisted upon the two women +dancing for his amusement in the road, threatening to shoot the husband +if they did not comply with his request. They assured me that he had sat +chuckling with laughter, and urging them on with all sorts of wild +threats, until they fell from exhaustion. They were splashed with mud +from head to foot, and their dainty frocks presented a sorry sight. In +addition they told me that they could barely stand, for their feet were +cut to pieces, since, at the first steps of the weird dance, their +slippers had stuck in the mud, and they were given no opportunity to +stop and recover them. + +I did not wait to hear more than the barest outline of the story, for I +learned that he had left them not more than ten minutes before my +arrival on the scene, and with the heavy roads, I thought there was at +least a chance of some lucky accident bringing me face to face with my +quarry. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A HOT SCENT + + +I RAN on through the night, but I could not make any great progress. I +was now involved in a maze of Essex bye-roads, totally unknown to me, +and every few minutes I was compelled to dismount, and search for the +tracks. I never lost them, however, until I came once more to a +high-road. The curve of the tyre marks at the junction of the road gave +me the direction I needed, and, letting my car go, in four or five +minutes I found myself running into the electric-lighted streets of a +town. The place was deserted, but eventually I found a policeman, and of +him I inquired whether anything had been seen or heard of the Pirate. +There was no need for me to describe the appearance of the pirate car. +It was as well-known throughout the land, as the Lord Mayor's coach, but +he had seen nothing of it, and was quite positive that it had not passed +through the town. An ordinary car had passed about half an hour before +my arrival, and though the constable's description of the car was not +very lucid, it was sufficiently near the mark to make me think of +Mannering. + +"I fancy the man you describe is a friend of mine," I said. "Which +direction did he take?" + +"He went straight along the Colchester road," was the astonishing reply. + +"The Colchester road?" I inquired. "What town is this, then?" + +"This is Chelmsford, sir," he answered, with a surprise equalling my +own. + +I could see my unguarded question had awakened his suspicions of me, so +I made haste to remark that I had not realized how quickly I had +travelled, adding that I might have known there was no other town of the +size thereabouts. + +"I am afraid," I added, "that if you had met me outside the borough you +would have had a case for the Bench in the morning." + +"I don't take no heed of speed myself, sir, when the roads is clear," he +remarked; "but when the traffic's thick, it's another matter." + +I thought his sound common sense deserved a reward. Anyway it got one, +and with a cheerful good night, I set my car going at a pace which made +me hope that any other constable I chanced to meet would prove as +intelligent as he from whom I had just parted. It is about twenty-two +miles from Chelmsford to Colchester, and, in spite of the greasy state +of parts of the road, I managed the distance in thirty minutes. + +Every one of those minutes I expected to be able to overtake Mannering; +but I saw nothing of him, and by the time I came to Colchester, I began +to fancy that he must have given me the slip at some bye-road. From my +inquiries at Colchester, I learned, however, that I was still on the +right scent; but I was mightily puzzled to discover that though he was +driving the old car which he had always declared was unable to compass +more than twelve or fourteen miles an hour, he was still half an hour +ahead of me. + +He was still going away from town, and I followed. There is no need for +me to give in any detail particulars of my journey that night. Day was +breaking when I came into Ipswich, and it was broad daylight when I +passed through the long, untidy street of Wickham Market. Mannering +still kept ahead, and I followed doggedly. I heard of him at Saxmundham, +but when I inquired at Blythburgh, I found I had missed him, and I had +to hark back to Yoxford before I got on his track again. He had taken +the side route to Halesworth, through which he had passed in the +direction of Beccles. By this time he was an hour ahead of me, and, as +he had left Beccles by the Yarmouth road, I went ahead as fast as I +dared. It was not quite my highest speed, for by this time I was both +tired and hungry, and the strain of travelling over unknown roads at a +high speed at night made my head swim. I knew that unless I could soon +get food and rest I should soon be fit for nothing. So immediately I +reached Yarmouth, I went to a hotel, ordered breakfast, indulged in a +hot bath while it was preparing, and went to sleep in my chair directly +I had eaten the meal. + +The waiter awakened me about ten. I went down to the beach and indulged +in a swim, and, returning to the hotel, amazed the waiter by ordering +and doing justice to a second breakfast before taking my departure. + +On leaving the hotel, my first consideration was to get my tank +refilled, and, that done, I sent off a couple of wires, one to Evie and +the other addressed to Forrest, at my own place, telling each of them to +communicate with me at Sutgrove Hall if anything happened, for it was my +intention to call at my home if I could possibly manage to do so. + +My next business was to search for traces of Mannering in Yarmouth, but +it was some time before I ascertained that the man I imagined to be he, +had left by the coast road through Caister. It was a tedious job to +track him through the Norfolk lanes, for he had turned and doubled as if +anxious to throw a pursuer off the scent, and it was one o'clock before +I eventually struck the high-road between Norwich and Cromer. There I +finally lost him, owing chiefly to the fact that the day was fine, and a +large number of motor-cars were on the road in consequence. + +By this time I was beginning to think my impulsive action to be more +than a little foolish, but in order that my journey should not be +altogether wasted, I determined to run on to Cromer, lunch there, and +afterwards proceed to Sheringham, near which delightful village my home +was situated, and seize the opportunity to make arrangements with my +aunt for Evie's visit. + +In pursuance of this plan, in half an hour's time, I walked into the +dining-room of the Royal Hotel at Cromer. You may judge of my surprise +when I saw Mannering seated at a table at one of the windows. He +observed my entrance, and, rising, greeted me heartily. + +"Hullo, Sutgrove!" he said. "This is indeed a welcome surprise. I had +not the slightest idea you were in this part of the country." + +"If you had, I presume you would not have chosen it for the scene of +your exploits," I replied. + +The expression of astonishment which spread over his features at my +rejoinder was so perfect that I felt all my suspicions begin to crumble +away. + +"I don't follow you," he remarked. + +His manner was either the result of one of the best pieces of acting I +had ever seen in my life, or due to absolute unconsciousness of my +meaning. It made me remember that though there were undoubtedly +suspicious circumstances connecting him with the Motor Pirate, yet so +far there was not one iota of direct evidence. I thought it best to +temporize. + +"Oh," I remarked; "I was only referring to your attempts to cut the +records with your old car." + +He smiled calmly before replying. "You may be nearer the truth than you +think. I've had a new motor fixed in the car--an idea of my own, and I +find she travels at quite a decent pace. That's why I left home last +night. After the rain I thought the roads would certainly be clear +enough to give me the opportunity of making a fair test. The engine is a +model of the one I have designed for the new car which I mentioned--last +night was it? No; the night before." + +I was fairly staggered at his assurance. His demeanour was entirely +without the suggestion of his being in any way aware that he was an +object of suspicion. + +"Were you not afraid of meeting the Pirate? I heard he was abroad last +night," I said. + +"Afraid!" he remarked witheringly. "Afraid! All I am afraid of is, that +some of your Scotland Yard friends will be beforehand with me in his +capture, and that is an adventure which has a particular appeal to me, +since he left his mark upon me here." He tapped his shoulder +significantly. "I have promised myself to repay this injury with +interest." + +"Well, I suppose we are as likely to meet him here as anywhere," I +ventured to remark. + +"I hope so," he answered. "But I am not stopping here for long. I've +taken a bed for the night, because I feel confoundedly tired after last +night's run. But what brings you down here? Are you motoring?" + +"In the first place I wanted a word with you," I replied. + +"With me?" The amazement in his voice was obvious. + +"Yes," I said; "that is my principal object." + +"But how did you discover my address? I left no word with any one." + +"I'll tell you later," I said. + +"Well, we have plenty of time to talk," he replied. "If there's any +little difficulty in which I can be of any assistance, I need hardly +assure you I am at your service. But hadn't you better have lunch +first?" He lowered the tone of his voice. "Unless you wish the waiters +to become acquainted with your affairs, I should think what you have to +say could be much better said outside. Neither pier nor esplanade are +much frequented at this time of the year." + +The suggestion was so natural and reasonable that, after a moment's +consideration, I decided to accept it. + +All through the meal he chatted as easily as if there was not the +slightest possibility of anything happening to interrupt the friendship +which had always ostensibly existed between us. The longer we talked, +the more puzzled I became. His manners were so natural, so fearless, +that it was quite impossible for me to believe that I was sitting at +lunch with the Motor Pirate. He was very curious to know how I had +learned of his intention to come to Cromer, and I was induced to tell +him of my experiences on the previous night. I watched his face keenly +while I narrated the stories of the Pirate's victims. He listened quite +gravely, not even the ghost of a smile crossing his face when I told him +of the ludicrous pictures presented by the old lady and her two +servants. + +"It is no laughing matter," he observed. "The rascal was bad enough when +he confined his attentions to men; but now he has taken to bestowing +them upon women, he deserves no mercy, and when I am able to get upon +his track, he will get none." + +"Then you are really hoping to join in the hunt?" I asked. + +"Yes," he said. "I'll let you into my secret. At my place at St. +Stephens, I had a car which only wanted one minor detail to make it +complete. I have known for months, that if I could supply that detail, I +should be in possession of a car which would outpace even the Pirate's. +For months I've racked my brains over it. A week ago an idea occurred to +me. I worked it out. I tried it for the first time last night. It has +proved to be a success. The day after to-morrow I shall join in the +pursuit of the Motor Pirate, so if your Scotland Yard friend does not +make haste, he will be too late." + +"What power do you propose to use?" I asked. "Petrol?" + +He laughed before replying. "A month ago I would have told nobody; but +to-day there is no need of secrecy; my drawings are all ready for +deposit at the Patent Office, so there is no chance of any one +forestalling me." + +"Well, what is it?" I said. + +"I don't want you to tell anybody else just yet," he said; and as I +nodded my acquiescence, he continued, "My new motor is on an entirely +novel principle. It is a turbine engine, worked by the expansion of +liquid hydrogen." + +"What?" I gasped. The idea was so novel that I could not grasp it. He +lifted his hand, checking the questions which started to my lips. + +"No. No questions, if you please: because, if you ask any, I shall not +answer them. Meanwhile, you have not yet told me how you learned of my +presence here?" + +I related how, in the course of my inquiries at Chelmsford, I had +ascertained that a person so like himself had passed through the town, +that I had determined to attempt to overtake him, little thinking the +chase would prove so stern. + +He chaffingly congratulated me on my tracking powers, and expressed +regret that I had not made my appearance earlier, so that we might have +arranged a race; and by the time we had finished lunch, I was as +completely convinced as I had ever been of anything in my life, that he +had no connection whatsoever with the Pirate. Still, I was none the less +determined to tackle him upon the subject of the influence which Evie +declared he exerted over her, so when the meal was over, we left the +hotel together and, seeing from the front that the pier was practically +deserted, I led the way to the far end, determined to have a complete +explanation. + +He was silent during our walk. So was I, for I was deliberating how best +to introduce the subject. As it happened, he made the task easy for me, +as after finding a comfortable seat and lighting a cigarette, he turned +to me with-- + +"Now, old fellow, what is it you have on your mind? Out with it!" + +I told him--told him fully and frankly everything that Evie had +mentioned to me concerning him, and I finished by warning him that I was +determined to exercise the right she had given me to protect her. He +listened to me attentively and, one might have thought, even +sympathetically. When I had concluded, he sat silent awhile; then, +looking me full in the eyes, he remarked-- + +"I suppose, Sutgrove, if I tell you that this story of the influence I +am supposed to exercise over Miss Maitland is absolute news to me, you +will not believe me?" + +I was staggered, and my astonishment must have been visible in my face, +for he continued-- + +"You may be surprised, but not half so much as I have been, by what you +have told me. Really, the whole story sounds the maddest farrago of +nonsense I have ever heard." + +I was about to make an angry retort, but he checked me with a gesture-- + +"I do not mean any offence," he said; "for I can quite understand what +your feelings on the subject must be. I, no more than yourself, would +tolerate any unwarrantable interference such as you describe. It is just +as well that you should have mentioned the matter to me, however, for +you will know so much better how to proceed." + +"What do you mean?" I gasped. + +"Why, what else than that you will not waste any time before obtaining +medical advice for Miss Maitland," he replied. + +I felt a grey horror creeping over me--a horror that tied my tongue, to +think that Evie--my Evie--might prove to be--mad. Again, he must have +divined my thoughts, for he said reassuringly-- + +"You must not take too serious a view of the case. Miss Maitland is of a +highly nervous temperament, and, I should imagine, rather prone to +hysteria." Then, rising, he clapped me on the shoulder, "Take a cheerful +view, Sutgrove. I'll bet you ten to one that her doctor will inform you +that marriage will provide a complete cure." + +His tone was so hearty, so friendly, that I instinctively grasped his +hand, and he returned my grip. + +The subject was not resumed; and, as we walked back to the hotel, I was +completely convinced that I had been an unutterable cad ever to allow a +single doubt concerning him to enter my mind, much less to harbour +there. + +I left him at the hotel door and went in search of my car to continue my +journey to Sutgrove Hall. He was still standing where I parted from him +when I swept past, and he waved his hand to me, a smile upon his face. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +RELATES HOW THE PIRATE HOLDS UP AN AUGUST PERSONAGE + + +I REACHED my destination about five, and found, as I hoped, a telegram +awaiting my arrival. It read-- + + "Ever so much better. Do not worry about me. + Cannot spare you for long though. Lots of + love.--E." + +With my mind very much relieved, I was able to devote my attention to my +aunt, who was full of questions as to the reason for my unexpected +arrival and equally eager for a full account of my doings during the +past six months, during which time, she assured me, I had grossly +neglected my duties, especially by my failure to keep her adequately +posted regarding my engagement. + +I was anxious, after reading Evie's wire, to start forthwith for St. +Albans; my aunt was equally anxious that I should remain the night at +Sutgrove, and while we were arguing the point, a second telegram +arrived, which settled the matter. I tore open the envelope and read-- + + "Meet the 8.49 at Cromer with motor. Do not fail. + Most important.--FORREST." + +The message had been handed in at Liverpool Street at 4.50, and I +wondered what could have happened to necessitate Forrest's presence in +Norfolk. There was little use speculating, however, and I settled down +to satiate, if it were possible, my aunt's curiosity. + +She was duly impressed by such of my adventures as I thought fit to +relate, but she was not neglectful of what she considered her duties as +hostess and, in spite of the fact that I had eaten a hearty lunch about +two, I was able shortly after seven to do adequate justice to the early +dinner which she provided for me. I left home soon after eight, and, in +consequence of my impatience, had to wait ten minutes on the Cromer +platform for the arrival of the train. + +As the engine drew into the station, I saw Forrest's head thrust out of +the window of one of the carriages, and, before the train had come to a +standstill, he had leaped from the door and was at my side. He was for +him unusually excited, and, without reply to my greeting, save with a +silent hand grip, he said-- + +"Seen anything of Mannering?" + +"Why, yes," I replied directly. "I lunched with him, to-day. He's +stopping at the Royal." + +"That's a bit of luck," replied the detective. "Come along;" and he +pushed on in advance of me through the barrier. + +"What has happened?" I asked, as I caught him up in the station yard. + +"I hold a warrant for his arrest, and I am desirous of executing it at +the earliest possible moment, that's all," he replied. + +I could hardly believe my ears. "What in the world for?" I asked. + +"What should it be for?" said Forrest, with a touch of sarcasm in the +tone of his voice. + +"He cannot be the Motor Pirate. It is impossible. He could not have +deceived me so completely," I exclaimed. + +"I would stake everything I hope for in the future, as well as +everything I possess at the present moment, that he is though," returned +the detective with conviction. "But we must not waste time. Take me to +the hotel." + +Without stopping to argue the point, I jumped on my car, Forrest took +the seat beside me, and we proceeded to the Royal. + +"Leave the car and come with me, I may want your assistance," he said, +as we pulled up at the entrance to the hotel. + +He sprang out the moment I stopped and ran briskly up the steps. A +porter was in the hall, and to him Forrest turned. + +"I want to see a Mr. Mannering, who is stopping here, at once, and I do +not wish to be announced," he said. + +The man walked across to the office and made an inquiry of the clerk, +then returning, announced that Mannering had left an hour previously. + +"Left?" said Forrest, and his jaw fell. He stepped across to the office +himself, only to learn that though Mannering had booked a room for the +night, he had after dinner called for his bill, paid it, and left on his +motor, without giving any reason for his alteration of plans. + +Forrest stalked out of the hotel, his brow heavy with thought. I +followed him. He stepped on to the car, and, taking my seat, I asked him +tersely-- + +"Where to?" + +"St. Albans," he replied with brevity equal to my own, and without +further question we were off. + +"Don't mind taking a few risks," he said presently. "The sooner we can +get there the better I shall be pleased." + +Then, leaning back in his seat, he asked me to tell him how I happened +to learn of Mannering's presence in Cromer, and what he had said to +convince me that he was in no way connected with the Pirate. So while we +were still running at a moderate pace, I gave him a brief history of my +adventures of the previous night. Before I had concluded, however, the +road ahead seemed clear, and, pulling my mask over my face, I jammed on +my highest speed and conversation became impossible. + +Forrest pulled his cap down over his eyes and, turning his coat-collar +about his ears, settled himself apparently to slumber. Within half an +hour the lights of Norwich sparkled in front of us, and it became +necessary to slacken speed. Forrest immediately resumed the conversation +at the point where we had broken off, and questioned me closely with +regard to what Mannering had said to me. Once and again I endeavoured +to ascertain what had induced him to take out the warrant; but he would +not satisfy my curiosity, declaring that it was of more importance that +he should know all that I could tell him first. There seemed little +likelihood of my learning anything, for we soon left Norwich behind us, +and were running at full speed on the road to Thetford and Newmarket, +slackening speed only slightly as we swept through the villages and +trusting to the continuous toot-toot of the horn to clear our path. Our +progress was uninterrupted until we had reached and left the little town +of Attleborough five or six miles behind us, when Forrest was afforded +an opportunity, much to his chagrin, of giving me the reasons for his +haste. + +Incidentally, I may remark, that the occurrence which afforded this +opportunity came very near depriving me of the chance of hearing +anything from anybody, or him from ever opening his lips again, for +while we swept along at our top speed there was a sudden hissing sound, +a sudden succession of jars, and the car swerved violently, nearly +overturning. I jammed on both my breaks, and by good fortune the car did +not overturn. I guessed what had happened, and there was no need for me +to get a light to make sure--my sense of touch informed me that the off +back tyre was as flat as a pancake. + +I hoped that the injury was only slight, but my hopes faded the moment I +examined the injury. The tyre had picked up a curved and pointed piece +of iron, and had been irreparably damaged. No patching was of any use. +There was nothing for it but to replace the tyre with a new one. +Fortunately, I was prepared with a spare outer cover as well as inner +tubes, and, with a muttered curse, I threw off my coat and set about the +job. Then when that was done, and it took me a good hour to complete the +task, I discovered, on restarting the car, that a further misfortune had +befallen us. Either owing to the jumping of the car when the tyre went, +or more likely because of the sudden application, the footbreak had +seized, and the transmission was so far injured that I could not get the +car along above seven or eight miles an hour. I did my best to put the +damage right. I lay on my back in the middle of the road, and used all +the language approved by the most fluent members of the Automobile Club +for use on such occasions, but entirely without result. Exactly where we +were I did not know, and, after I had relieved my feelings, I thought it +best to jog along until we came to some town where it would be possible +to get skilled assistance. + +And it was while we were progressing in this humdrum fashion that +Forrest confided to me the reasons for his anxiety. + +"In the first place," he said, "your theory as to the stud found by +Mannering's servants proved to be correct. It was Winter's. I arrived at +St. Albans the first thing this morning, and, after getting your note, +went straight away and interviewed the girls. They handed me the +trinket. I took it to Winter, and he identified it. He will swear to it +anywhere. By the time I had done this, your wire for me had arrived, +and your man, having seen me go into Winter's house, brought it on. I +took the next train to town and went straight to the Yard, thankful that +at last I was able to report something definite. Besides, I wanted to +take a warrant without any one being aware of it, and I knew I could +manage that better in London than in the country. Well, I called at the +Yard, ran across to Bow Street and got my warrant, and returned to the +Yard in order to instruct a couple of our men who had been placed at my +disposal. While I was there particulars came to hand of a feat which +throws all the other doings of the Pirate into the shade. You mentioned, +I think, that Mannering, when he told Miss Maitland that he was going +away, said that all England would be talking of him." + +"She said so," I replied doubtfully; "but she was so excited----" + +"She was probably correct in her recollection of what passed," he said. +"If further proof were wanted to connect your friend with the Motor +Pirate, those words would be sufficient. If what I know leaks out, the +Pirate will fill the popular mind more to-morrow than he has done in the +past even. Yesterday morning, within six miles of Sandringham, he held +up"--he hesitated--"I must mention no names--he held up, let me say, an +August Personage----" + +"The King?" I cried. + +"An August Personage," remarked Forrest, severely, "in broad daylight." + +"Let me hear all about it?" I asked eagerly. + +"I don't know that I can tell you everything, for so far I only know the +particulars wired to the Yard. But the story is complete enough to +enable me to do what I have hitherto failed in, and that is, complete +the necessary identification of our friend Mannering. And curiously +enough, it is owing to the keen powers of observation possessed by +the----" + +"The August Personage," I reminded him, a trifle maliciously as he +hesitated. + +Forrest laughed. "Quite right, you score that time," he remarked, before +resuming his tale. "Owing to the August Personage's keen powers of +observation, I am able to lay my finger on the one point which has +puzzled me, namely, the manner by which Mannering has managed to escape +suspicion. It is a simple trick. So simple, in fact, that I cannot +conceive how I managed to overlook such a possibility for so long. +However, you shall hear the facts as they were told to me, and judge for +yourself with what transparent means we have been hoodwinked by the +rascal. The August Personage, who, as you are probably aware, has been +staying at Sandringham for some days past, has been in the habit of +taking a ride on one of his cars whenever the roads were in good +condition, accompanied only by his chauffeur. This morning he started +for the customary run shortly after eleven, with the intention of taking +a circular trip through Hunstanton, Burnham, Docking and Bircham, and +returning for luncheon. The intention was not fulfilled since, before +reaching Hunstanton, the Pirate made his appearance, and approaching as +usual from behind, overtook the August motor. The August driver did not +at first take any notice of the approaching car, but, merely imagining +that the driver had recognized him, and felt some delicacy at passing, +he signalled with his hand for the stranger to go ahead. What was his +surprise to hear the stranger in a loud voice bid him stop his car. He +turned to look at the audacious person who had dared take such +unwarrantable liberty, and at once observed with whom he had to deal. +The Pirate had in his hand a revolver, which was levelled at the August +head. The August face flushed with anger, and turning away, he +contemptuously took no notice of the summons. The Pirate thereupon fired +two shots, aimed, fortunately, neither at the August Personage nor at +the chauffeur, but at the tyres of the back wheels. The aim was good, +the tyres ran down at once, and the August Personage found progress on +the rims to be so uncomfortable that he thought it desirable to stop. +The stranger ranged alongside, and the chauffeur, rising from his seat, +was about to throw himself at the throat of the assailant, when his +August master laid a hand upon his arm. + +"'No, no,' he said, 'I can easily get another car, but I do not know +that I could replace my chauffeur.' + +"Thereupon the Pirate observed, 'I think, sir, there is so much wisdom +in your remark that, in spite of my necessities, I almost feel inclined +to forego my usual toll in your case. + +"The August Personage, whose coolness had never for a moment deserted +him, replied imperturbably-- + +"'Having robbed me of a morning's enjoyment, it seems to me there is +nothing of any particular value left for you to take.' + +"'Then, sir,' replied the rascal, 'you will be doubtless glad to +purchase my immediate disappearance with the contents of the August +pockets?' + +"August was not the word he used, but it was one which showed that he +was acquainted with the personality of his victim. + +"The August Personage shrugged his shoulders, and, searching his +pockets, could produce nothing but a cigarette case and a button. To +show his _sang-froid_, I need only remark that when he produced the +latter article he laughed heartily and said to the chauffeur-- + +"'I hope, P----, you have something to add to the contents of my +pockets, or I fear this too eager gentleman will destroy our front tyres +as well as the back.' + +"The chauffeur had some loose gold, a silver matchbox, and a watch, and +when these were produced, speaking with the same nonchalance he had +retained throughout, the August Personage remarked-- + +"'I fear you have drawn a blank this time, Mr. Pirate; for, upon my +word, that is the best I can do for you.' + +"The Pirate took the articles. Then he raised his hat. 'I take,' he +said, 'the August word as readily as I take these souvenirs of this +memorable meeting,' and with these words, he pulled a lever and was +speedily out of sight." + +"By Jove!" I muttered. "The fellow's audacity is almost past belief. But +you said something of observations made by the August victim?" + +"Yes," said Forrest. "The chauffeur was much too agitated to notice +anything, but his master was not. He observed four things. First, that +the Pirate was a man of about six feet in height." + +"Mannering is five feet eleven and a quarter in his socks," I remarked. + +"Secondly, that his hair was black. Thirdly, that the nails of the right +hand, with which he took his plunder, were bitten to the quick." + +"The identification becomes nearly perfect," I interrupted. + +"Fourthly, that the car was originally a two-seated car, with a tonneau +body, but that the seat had been set back, and the bonnet was enclosed +by metal plates shaped into the form of the bow of a canoe, and bolted +together in a manner which gave the impression that they might easily be +removed. Why," continued the detective, "I did not think of so obvious a +solution of the Pirate's mysterious disappearances before I cannot +imagine. It is the trick the black flag merchants have practised since +the days of Captain Kidd." + +I was silent. I could only wonder at my own blindness. Then an excuse +occurred to me. + +"After all," I remarked, "we only met him in the dark." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +WE PLAN AN AMBUSH + + +FORREST had just concluded his story when the lights of Thetford gleamed +in our eyes. The time was 12.30. The last train was gone. The +inhabitants were all in bed, and there we were, stranded with a broken +car, and no means of putting it right. Forrest would not despair, +however, and after some difficulty we managed, with the assistance of +the local police, to knock up a man who was locally reputed to know all +about motors. He was a little surly at first, but the inducement I +offered him to make an attempt to put the transmission right, was +sufficient to dissipate his very natural disgust at being disturbed in +his beauty sleep. Fortunately his local reputation had reasonable +foundation. He was a very capable mechanician, and the way he set about +the job gave me great hopes that the car would run as well as ever when +he had done with it. And my expectations were gratified. In less than an +hour he had completed the repairs. I paid him and asked him to remain up +for ten minutes in case we had another breakdown, telling him that after +that period had elapsed, he would be at liberty to return to his bed. +Whether he waited the ten minutes or not I do not know, for by that time +we were halfway to Newmarket, flying through the darkness at a pace +which two months previously I would not have dared venture upon in broad +daylight. And right onward to St. Albans, we kept it up, reaching the +ancient town just as the birds began to twitter in the hedges at the +first grey light of early dawn. At St. Albans we stopped at the +police-station. A man was waiting at the door. + +"Any news?" asked Forrest. + +The man shook his head. + +"You know where to bring it?" asked my companion. + +The man nodded. + +"Let us get on home," said Forrest to me. + +As I wheeled my vehicle into my yard I thought I should drop. The strain +of that rush through the night, expecting every moment that something +would give way, had been tremendous, and the moment the tension was +relaxed I shook like an aspen leaf. When I tried to get in at my own +door I found I could not fit the latch-key, and was obliged to hand it +to the detective. He saw what was the matter with me, and the moment we +were inside, he led the way to my study, thrust me down into a chair and +mixed me a whisky-and-soda. I was never more grateful for a drink in my +life. It pulled me together, and in less time than I had conceived +possible, I felt as if I could have managed another seventy-five miles +without a halt. + +The moment he saw my nerves were steady again, Forrest proposed that we +should get something to eat. I declared that I did not want anything. + +"When you haven't time for sleep, the next best thing is to feed well if +you want to keep fit," he remarked. "Besides, I am as hungry as a hunter +has a right to be." + +"That settles it," I laughed. "We shall have to forage for ourselves. +The servants are all asleep." + +We found our way to the larder and made a hearty meal on a cold pie we +found there; and directly we had finished, we set out forthwith in the +direction of Mannering's home. As soon as we arrived opposite the house, +Forrest paused and gave a low whistle. It was answered immediately by a +man dressed as a labourer, who made his appearance from behind the hedge +opposite the house. + +"Any one been here to-night, Laver?" asked Forrest. + +"No one," the man answered. "The servants turned in about ten after +locking up. No signs of any one about the place since." + +"That's all right," grunted Forrest. "We shall be ready for him when he +does come. Have you got the tools?" + +The man was proceeding to scramble through the hedge when Forrest +checked him. + +"Better stay where you are," he advised. "Keep out of sight, and if I +whistle, come at once." + +"All right, sir," replied the man, as he handed through a gap in the +hedge a small chamois leather bag. + +I had no idea as to what steps Forrest proposed to adopt in order to +effect the arrest, so I asked him, and he explained briefly his plan of +campaign. + +"One can see," he remarked, "that Mannering feels so confident of the +completeness of his disguise that he will have no hesitation about +returning. I am reckoning, too, upon there being an element of truth in +the story he has told you about the construction of his motor, in which +case his own workshop would be the only place where he would be able to +refill his tank. We shall be able to decide that point in a very few +minutes. If we do find any plant for the production of liquid gases, we +can count upon catching our man within a very few hours." + +"Unless he smells a rat, and makes for some convenient port and gets out +of the country," I remarked. + +"That eventuality is provided against," remarked the detective. "His +description is in the hands of the police at every port in the kingdom, +and even if he changes the colour of his hair, I don't think he will +manage to get away. What I propose is, that we shall remain concealed in +his coach-house and await his return." + +"How are we going to get in?" I inquired. + +Forrest took a bunch of skeleton keys from the bag Laver had handed to +him and dangled them before his eyes. + +"There's not a burglar in the kingdom is better provided," he remarked, +and set to work upon the lock forthwith. + +The lock was an ordinary one, and his efforts were speedily successful. +The door swung open, and we entered eagerly a bare, stone-paved +coach-house. Opposite the door by which we had entered from the road was +a similar door, which gave upon the inner yard. On the left, a large +sliding door had been fixed in place of the wall which had divided the +coach-house from the stables. Relocking the door by which we had +entered, Forrest led the way to the door on the left. It was unfastened, +and as it swung back a cry of amazement sprang to my lips. + +"Hush--sh--sh!" said the detective warningly. + +But I could not have repressed the cry, for there before me stood a +replica of the car I had seen on two occasions. There was only one point +of difference at first apparent. The pirate car had been black. This one +was built of aluminium and gleamed silvery white. But although the lines +were very similar, I soon came to the conclusion that the car we saw +before us was not the one which the Pirate had used when engaged upon +his nefarious work. One glance at the tyres convinced me that they had +never been upon the road, and I fancied that the wheels were smaller and +the lines of the body finer altogether. I pointed these things out to +Forrest, who, while agreeing that this particular car could not have +been the one which had been responsible for holding up the "August +Personage" on the previous day, would not commit himself further. + +We did not spend much time upon a close examination of the car, for the +other contents of the building claimed our attention. We found ourselves +in a long workshop. There were no windows in the walls, but the place +was amply illuminated by a skylight which ran along nearly the whole +length of the northern slope of the roof. On the right of the large door +by which we had entered the inner shop was a small room, which had +probably once served as a harness-room, for through this another door +gave on to the yard, though this exit was evidently never used, for the +door was fixed by screws. The contents were a couple of broken chairs, +and some coats and rugs hung upon hooks upon the walls, together with a +miscellaneous assortment of odds and ends upon a shelf. I gave merely a +cursory glance at the contents of this apartment, for my attention had +been attracted by a plant of machinery, which occupied the far end of +the large room. As it happened, I had once had an opportunity of +inspecting the laboratory of the Royal Institution, and I recognized at +once that Mannering had set up an installation for the preparation of +some one or other of the liquid gases. Without this experience, I doubt +whether it would have been possible for me to guess even the purpose for +which the plant had been devised. As it was, I had no hesitation in +discovering the receiver into which the liquid gas was distilled; and +when I let a little of the liquid with which it was filled run into a +glass which I found handy, and saw the air fall in a shower of tiny +snow-flakes as the stuff evaporated, I knew that Mannering had told me +the exact truth when he had informed me that liquid hydrogen supplied +the power for his new car. + +Once satisfied on this point, I examined the other contents of the +place. I do not think there is any need to particularize all that we +discovered, even if my memory served me. Practically the workshop +contained a sufficient engineering equipment to build such a car as +stood in the centre, though I judged that there was no convenience for +the forging of the parts of the motor. + +Still, as I pointed out to Forrest, there was nothing in all these +discoveries to negative the truth of the story Mannering had told me +about his being engaged in building a car which should serve to outpace +the Pirate car, but he would not listen to any theorising on the +subject. + +"He can tell that story to the jury," he said, as he significantly drew +a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and clinked them together. Then he +proceeded to investigate the contents of the harness-room, while I went +back to the new car and began a careful examination of the engines. The +whole mechanism was, however, so novel to me, that I could only surmise +as to the method of its working. I did notice, however, that the driving +and steering gear varied very little from that of my own car, so far as +it was controlled by the levers and wheel, while the breaks seemed to be +particularly powerful. There was only seating accommodation for two, and +judging from the size of the tank which was fitted behind the seat, I +judged that Mannering contemplated runs over distances which would make +large demands upon his supply of liquid gas. + +At the moment I made this discovery, I heard Forrest call to me in an +excited whisper, and going across to him, I found him contemplating with +keen interest a dirty piece of rope. + +"Look here, Sutgrove," he said; "this is the piece of cord with which he +trussed me up on the occasion when he dropped me into the pond. Compare +it with this"--he kicked a coil which lay at his feet--"and tell me if +they are not identical." + +I examined them both, and came to the conclusion that Forrest was +correct in his supposition. Next, mounting one of the chairs, he +proceeded to rummage amongst the rubbish piled on the shelf. A moment +later he observed triumphantly, albeit in subdued tones, "Another piece +of evidence," and descending from his perch, he handed me a box of +cartridges. A glance at the label had apparently been enough, +nevertheless, to make sure, he searched again in his pocket, and +produced the bullet which had proved fatal to the poor victim at +Towcester. He compared it with one of the cartridges, and gave a grunt +of content. "I fancy we shall soon obtain sufficient evidence to hang +him," he murmured. Then a shadow crossed his face. "What an infernal +dunderhead I have been not to suspect him before," he said, and turning +impatiently away, he replaced the box of cartridges on the shelf, before +renewing his systematic examination of the rest of the contents of the +room. The search revealed nothing further, and at length he desisted. + +All the while we were keenly on the alert to detect any sound which +should tell us of the approach of Mannering's car. But the minutes +passed and grew into hours without a sign. It must have been about five +in the morning when we had entered the coach-house, and when I saw by my +watch that it was nearly ten, I began to think that in some way or +another Mannering had got warning of the danger that threatened him. I +suggested to Forrest that we might as well leave our hiding-place, but +he would not hear of it. + +"I don't leave this building except in his company, unless I hear that +he has been captured elsewhere," he declared obstinately. "At the same +time, don't let me detain you." + +I wanted badly to see Evie, whom I thought might be getting anxious +concerning me; but I hardly liked the idea of leaving Forrest to tackle +Mannering alone if he should return. However, my first desire triumphed, +so I persuaded Forrest to let me out of the door, promising to return +within as short a time as I could manage. + +I hurried first to the Colonel's house, and had a brief interview with +the dear girl, telling her what had happened and what was likely to +happen in the near future. Next, I went to my own place, and had a +basket packed with a plentiful luncheon, not forgetting to provide a +couple of bottles of champagne, and thus provided I returned to the +coach-house after an absence of less than an hour. + +When in response to my signal Forrest admitted me, his eyes twinkled +with satisfaction as he saw my burden. + +"It is truly thoughtful of you," he remarked, as I lifted the lid of +the basket and revealed the contents. "I only hope our friend will not +spoil our picnic by arriving in the middle of it." + +The better to avoid any such _contretemps_, we set about our meal +immediately with very good appetites. When we had finished, I do not +know how Forrest felt, but I was confoundedly drowsy. I tried all sorts +of tricks to keep my eyes open, but the quiet of the place, the +coolness, and the subdued light of the saddle-room, where Forrest +thought it best for us to remain, were too much for my powers of +resistance and I dropped off to sleep. + +I must have slumbered for a couple of hours, if not three, when I was +suddenly awakened by a hand placed on my mouth, while a voice whispered +in my ear-- + +"Wake up, man--wake up! There's no time to lose." + +I came to myself with a start. Forrest had hold of me, and was shaking +me violently. At the same moment I became aware of the throb of an +approaching motor. + +Recognizing the sound, I turned to the detective. + +"That's Mannering," I whispered. + +"Yes," replied my companion. "I could swear to the sound anywhere." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +GONE AWAY + + +"DON'T stir an inch until I give the signal," whispered Forrest in my +ear, as soon as he saw I was fully awake. He was perfectly calm, and he +closed the door in order to conceal us from the sight of any one +entering the workshop. + +The car pulled up outside. We heard the grate of the key in the lock, +and the door creak on its hinges, as it swung open. There was a second +grating noise, and I judged that the door of the inner yard had been +opened by whoever had entered. There followed a few more pants from the +motor, as it passed through the coach-house into the yard, and then +everything was silent. The outer door shutting with a snap apprized us +that the crucial moment was at hand, and my heart began to thump as I +heard footsteps approaching. Forrest pointed to a vacant hook over my +head, and I recognized why he had selected the harness-room for our +hiding-place. The footsteps came slowly nearer, then stopped, and a long +low laugh came from the lips of the unseen man. I thought we must have +been discovered in our hiding-place and glanced at Forrest for +instructions. He never moved a muscle. He stood poised like a greyhound +about to be slipped from the leash. + +The footsteps approached again. The door knob rattled as a hand was laid +upon it. The door flew open. Forrest darted forward. + +I caught one glimpse of Mannering's face, for it was indeed he, and I +saw it become suddenly livid. It was not the pallor of fear. His eyes +flashed. He had doffed his coat and was holding it in one hand, and +quick as was Forrest's spring, he was equally swift to meet it. His +other hand passed swift as lightning from the door handle, and catching +the edge of the coat, spread the garment in front of him. Forrest, +missing his grip, plunged heavily into the wide folds of the garment. +Mannering's arms closed as a vice. The door swinging back had +momentarily blocked my passage. I thrust it open, and had taken one step +forward to Forrest's assistance, when Mannering with a herculean effort, +swung the detective from his feet, and hurled him full at me. It was a +magnificent effort, and I went down with a crash amongst the remains of +the lunch with Forrest on the top of me. The whole incident had not +lasted twenty seconds, and before either of us could regain our feet, +the door was slammed and locked. + +Forrest was the first to regain his feet, and he rushed at the door +furiously. We were trapped. The door was a strong one of oak, and I +remembered that it fastened by a couple of bolts on the other side. The +detective worried the door like a bear at the bars of his cage, but he +could not move it. He gnashed his teeth, and he was white with rage. +From the other side we could hear the sound of heavy objects being +moved, and we guessed that our enemy was piling the most massive +articles his workshop contained against the door to make it more secure. + +"D----n you, Sutgrove!" shouted the detective. "Don't stop to think, or +we shall lose our man after all. Come, both together." + +I saw his intention, and I could understand and forgive his curse in the +excitement of the moment. Together we hurled ourselves against the door. +It did not move an inch, and a long low chuckle greeted the attempt from +the other side. We tried madly again and again, but the barrier was +immovable. + +Then I looked round for some tool which would enable me to break down +the door itself. There were only the chairs available, and so I tore off +the leg of one of them, and, bidding Forrest stand back, I swung the +piece of wood round my head, and struck as hard as I could against one +of the lower panels of the door. The improvised club flew into half a +dozen fragments, but the panel had cracked. Forrest had provided himself +meanwhile with a similar club, and directed his blows so effectively +that the panel was driven out. I threw myself at the gap, trusting to be +able to force my way through. + +What I saw filled me with rage. The wheels of the new car were moving, +and right before my eyes the car disappeared into the outer +coach-house. I made an unavailing attempt to struggle through the +aperture, but the attempt was hopeless. It was too narrow to admit even +my shoulders. Withdrawing, I told Forrest what I had seen. + +"I had entirely forgotten Laver," he remarked, and putting his whistle +to his mouth, he blew it shrill and clear. + +Then together we renewed our attack upon the door. The sound of a shout +from the outside followed by a pistol shot made us work like madmen, and +within a minute, another panel gave, and we managed to get at the bolts +and draw them. The articles piled against the door toppled in all +directions, as we finally forced our way out. + +We were too late. The outer door was wide open, and just on the +threshold, was Forrest's unfortunate subordinate lying on the ground, +with blood trickling down his arm. He struggled into a sitting position +as we came out, and pointed up the road in the direction of St. Albans. + +"Gone away, sir," he said. + +"Hurt?" asked Forrest, pausing as he did so. + +"Not much; smashed shoulder, I fancy," remarked the sufferer +philosophically. + +"I'll send assistance," said my companion as he rushed after me into the +road, where I stood horror stricken at what met my gaze. + +Fifty yards distant, opposite the entrance gate of Colonel Maitland's +house, the new car was standing still. It was empty. The gate was open, +and even as I watched, I saw Mannering come out of the gate, bearing in +his arms the helpless figure of a girl. There was no need to guess who +the victim might be. Even before I saw him appear, I knew intuitively +why he had stopped. Had he not told Evie that on the third day he would +return, bidding her be ready for him? + +I rushed forward towards the car, but before I had covered half the +distance which separated me from it, he was aboard with his burden and I +knew pursuit on foot to be hopeless. + +Yet, even as I saw him move away, there flashed across my brain one +means by which I might possibly get on terms with my enemy. There was +just one chance, and one chance only, of rescuing my darling from the +Pirate, and that chance depended entirely upon the question as to +whether the car upon which Mannering had returned was fitted with the +same sort of motor as that on which he had departed. + +With the haste of a madman I returned to the coach-house I had just +quitted. My hopes fell to zero. There was an unmistakable scent of +petrol about the car. They rose again, however, upon a closer +examination, for I saw at once that the motor was a turbine, though +petrol was utilized in some way as a means of securing the necessary +heat to secure the expansion of the gas for the starting of the engine, +though I could see that once started, the expanded hydrogen was, as in +the new car, ingeniously utilized to produce the necessary heat. I was +glad then that I had spent as much time as I had upon examining the car +upon which the Pirate had escaped, for I was enabled to see that, if +only a supply of the liquid hydrogen were obtainable, I should be able +to put my wild plan into execution. As it was, the tank was nearly +empty, so putting my shoulder to the car, I shoved it into the workshop +where, unless Mannering had let it run to waste, I knew I should find a +supply of the hydrogen. Thank Heaven, Mannering had forgot to empty the +receiver, and filling the tank and tightly screwing down the nuts of the +covering, I wheeled the car into the open road. There I saw Forrest +leaning against the wall of the coach-house, a figure of inexpressible +dejection. + +"Come and lend a hand!" I shouted. + +The light that flashed into his face, as he realized what I would be at, +was extraordinary. He sprang forward at once to my assistance. Now, in +my attempts to get at the machinery of the car, I had discovered the +plates with which Mannering had been wont to disguise its shape, and it +occurred to me that they performed the further purpose of diminishing +the wind resistance, so that if I wanted to get the full speed out of +the car it would be necessary to fix them in their places. I immediately +set to work to join up the various sections, leaving Forrest to bolt +them together. We worked like niggers at the job, and it was nearly +completed when a curious sound came down the breeze. I looked up, and to +my surprise I saw the Pirate once more approaching. + +"Look!" I shouted to Forrest in my excitement, though there was no need +to warn him. + +Nearer the Pirate came; still nearer. Every moment I expected to see him +pull up and surrender. But it was a mad hope. He had not the slightest +intention of so obliging us. As he approached, he suddenly increased his +pace and flashed past us at full sixty miles an hour. + +Forrest fingered a revolver, but he dared not shoot for fear the bullet +should find the slender form of Evie, who we saw was huddled close to +his side. Mannering laughed as he passed us and waved his hand in +derision. + +"There are a couple of masks in the coach-house," I said quietly to the +detective. + +He darted into the doorway and returned a moment later with them, +thrusting at the same time a bottle into his pocket. It took us no time +to climb into the car and as, during his momentary absence, I had +succeeded in starting the engine, we were in a position to move at once. + +For a hundred yards we travelled at the speed at which we were +accustomed to see Mannering while using the car in the sight of men and +in the light of day. Then with a word of warning to my companion, I +pulled at the change-speed lever. The effect was marvellous. The car +seemed to leap forward and the hedges suddenly transformed themselves +into long green streaks. + +A cloud of dust on the road ahead gave the direction Mannering had +taken, so I jammed down the lever to its limit and commenced the +pursuit. At any other time the idea of chasing the Pirate on one of his +own cars would have delighted me beyond measure, but my thoughts were +too much occupied as to the fate which might await Evie if we failed to +overtake her abductor to allow room for anything else. + +Exactly what speed we made I cannot tell, it must have been nearer +eighty than sixty miles an hour, but the smoothness of the motion was +wonderful, and I felt not the slightest tremor. + +Mannering had disappeared on the Watford road, and in a few minutes we +swept through the north end of the town and, directed by a boy at the +cross roads, made for Rickmansworth. Forrest took charge of the horn, +and kept it braying continuously. We slackened speed through +Rickmansworth, for the streets were full of vehicles, and there we +learned that the white car was five minutes ahead. Once clear of the +streets I let the car go again, and we tore away towards Uxbridge. On +reaching the main Oxford road once more a dust cloud in the distance +served as a guide, and informed us that Mannering had crossed the +highway, and gone away in the direction of Slough. The going was rough +for a while, but I did not slacken pace, though the road was narrow, and +to have met a cart would have meant certain destruction. The road +broadened after a time, and I fancied we were gaining, for the dust +cloud seemed nearer. We skirted Slough to the east, the guiding cloud +bearing towards Dachet. Darting through that little riverside town at a +pace which set the police whistles blowing behind us, we came to the +bridge across the Thames, and here we were informed that our quarry was +barely a minute ahead, and running in the direction of Egham. A mile +further on, at a straight piece of road, we first sighted the fugitives, +and a cry of triumph escaped my lips. It was a little premature, +however. Once again the silver car turned into a bye-road so winding +that I was compelled, much against my will, to slacken speed. Then once +more we came out upon a main road, to find our quarry not more than a +hundred yards away as we swept out into the broad highway. + +And here, looking back, Mannering for the first time learned that we +were on his track. At that moment, too, commenced a race which, I +venture to think, will not soon be equalled in the history of the motor +world. At all events, I trust it will never be my lot to take part in +any similar trial of speed, at least, with such issues depending upon +the result. Upon emerging from the bye-road we were a mile from Egham, +and knowing the road, I asked Forrest to glance at his watch. The way +was clear before us, and three minutes and a quarter later, we flashed +through the railway arch at Sunningdale railway-station, four miles from +the point where the timing commenced. But fast as we had travelled, +Mannering travelled faster. When we reached Bagshot we learned he was +half a minute ahead. + +We flew through the lovely pine country on the wings of the wind, +through Hook, and so into Basingstoke. By this time we were covered from +head to foot with white dust, looking more like working masons than +anything else; but wherever we went, I knew Forrest had the power to +make the way easy. If he had been anybody else but a detective from +Scotland Yard, we should never have got through Basingstoke, for there +the police, warned in some manner of our approach, had drawn a huge +waggon across the road, thus completely barring our progress. It was +soon drawn aside when Forrest produced his badge, and once more we flew +westwards. So through Whitchurch and Andover. + +How we succeeded in escaping accidents I cannot explain. Providence +seemed to watch over both pursuers and pursued. We were always on the +verge of a collision with somebody or something. Cottages, carts, +pedestrians, cyclists, seemed to be flying by in a never-ending +procession. Yet we touched nothing. + +Once past Andover the road became clearer, for instead of turning +towards Salisbury, as I expected, the Pirate chose the road through +Amesbury and Stonehenge. We swept over Salisbury Plain at a magnificent +pace, but we did not catch sight of the fugitives, though now and again +a glimpse of a distant dust cloud raised my hopes momentarily. At +Wincanton we learned we were three minutes behind, and setting my teeth, +I determined I would not slacken speed again until we overtook the +fugitives or reached Exeter. The road was admirable hereabouts, and we +ran so steadily that, but for the hedges flying past, we might have been +sitting in armchairs. After Ilminster the road became steeper, though +it was yet too early in the year to be very rough. + +But how is it possible to describe a journey at the pace we were making? +Our progress became dream-like to me. It was almost monotonous. One +could observe so little, just an incident here and there to mark the +stages in the journey. Thus I remember Honiton by the frightened scream +of a cur which was swept off its feet by the rush of the air as we +passed close at his tail. Then nothing of note until we reached Exeter. + +At the cathedral city we were told the white car was only a minute in +advance. I began to wonder where the chase was going to end, for +Mannering was still going westward without pause. Still we followed. Out +on to the Launceston road; onward, ever onward until the bare hills of +Dartmoor frowned upon us, and we had to slacken slightly for the long +upward grind. Fortunately the hills were free from mist, and on reaching +the summit of Whiddon Down we caught once more a glimpse of the white +car before it disappeared in the distance. I was getting reckless, and I +took the descent at a pace which blanched even Forrest's cheek. Then +through a streak of white houses, which I fancied must be Okehampton. +There was no need to inquire the way. At the pace both cars were +travelling there was only one road which would serve either Mannering or +myself. In fifteen minutes Launceston came into view. Then up again +until from the top of Bodmin moor we caught fleeting glimpses of the sea +on either side of us. On still without pause, through Redruth and +Camborne and Hayle. Finally a sight of them at last, as we opened up St. +Michael's Bay as we came to Marazion. And here I thought the chase had +come to an end. I was mistaken. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SAVED + + +MY brain reeled as we rushed along the road into Penzance. My forehead +seemed to be encircled with a band of steel. My mouth was so parched +that my tongue rattled against my palate as I tried to speak to Forrest. +My fingers were so cramped with the grip on the steering wheel, a grip +which had never once been relaxed during our five hours' run, that I +could not relinquish my hold. The road became dark, and involuntarily I +cut off the supply of the gas to the motor and brought the car to a +standstill. + +"Go on, man! Go on!" shouted Forrest in my ear. + +I could only gasp for answer. I felt suddenly sick. + +Then Forrest gave proof of his ready common sense. He thrust his hand +into his pocket and produced the bottle of champagne which had been left +over from our lunch, and which he had thoughtfully brought with him in +view of some such eventuality as this. Tearing off the wire he cut the +string. The cork flew out and the liquor creamed from the neck of the +bottle. Pushing up my mask with one hand he held the bottle to my lips +with the other. + +I spluttered. I choked. But I drank and I drank again. Never surely was +champagne more grateful or more useful. My strength returned to me +instantaneously. My brain cleared. My eyes saw. My hope returned. I drew +a deep sigh of relief. Forrest handed me the bottle again. + +"After you," I said. + +He took a drink and then remarked authoritatively, "Finish the bottle." + +I obeyed and, draining it, tossed it into the hedge and once more set +the car in motion. If our progress had been speedy before, when we were +once through Penzance, it became absolutely reckless. + +My brain was dancing from the effect of the champagne, and a wild +exhilaration throbbed in every artery. The pace was tremendous, and we +had not left Penzance a couple of miles behind us before the fugitives +came once more into view. Now for the first time I could see that we +were holding our own in the race. It may have been that some bearing had +become heated in the car Mannering was driving, for undoubtedly his new +car was more speedy than the old, but it was clear that he could no +longer leave us as he had been able to do in the earlier part of the +chase. If only I could increase ever so slightly the speed of my car, I +felt confident of overtaking him. I motioned to Forrest to bend towards +me, and when his ear was level with my mouth, I asked him to throw +everything which could be got rid of overboard, in order to lighten the +car. He took my meaning at once, and away went the cushions and rugs. +The difference was slight, but still there was a perceptible difference. +At the pace we were now travelling the car rocked from side to side of +the road, and Forrest had to brace himself stiffly against the +foot-board to prevent himself being thrown out. But we were gaining foot +by foot on the fugitives. I felt a thrill of delight when, on reaching +the brow of a hill, I saw the white car only two hundred yards ahead, +and reckoned that in a couple of minutes we should have overtaken them. + +But one thing I had overlooked. I became conscious that we should soon +be at the end of our journey, for suddenly I saw the sea on the horizon. +I knew now where we were, knew that the end was in sight. For Mannering +there could be no return, and I shouted aloud with exultation when I +realized it. We drew closer to him, so close that I fancied I could see +his eyes glittering through the mica plate of his mask as he turned to +look at us. + +A sudden horror gripped me by the throat. He surely must know as well as +myself that he was near the spot where all roads ended; that we were +barely a mile or two from Land's End. What if he intended to end his +life and his journey together? And what if, not content with destroying +himself, he were to carry with him to destruction the girl who rode +beside him on his car? + +We reached within twenty yards of him, and then as if in answer to my +thought, I heard him emit a screech of laughter as his car suddenly shot +away from us, and in half a minute placed him at least a quarter of a +mile ahead. The bitterness of that moment, as my hope died within me, I +can never forget. I only continued the pursuit mechanically. + +We thundered through Sennen without pause and so onward until we opened +up the hotel and the stretch of green on the brow of the cliff. Then I +could have shrieked with delight. The white car was standing still and +Mannering had left his seat and was standing by the side. Ten seconds +would have brought us to him. Five passed. He leaped again to his seat, +and as he did so, the white robed figure sprang from the car to the +turf. The Pirate gave a cry of baffled rage. But he had no time to waste +in recovering his escaping victim, for we were within fifty yards of +him. His car leaped forward and, leaving the road, tossed like a boat at +sea over the uneven boulder-strewn turf. We were within five yards of +him, and it was as much as we could manage to do to keep our seats. + +Just in time I realized the danger into which we were being unwittingly +drawn, and reversing the gear, I put on both breaks. I was in time, but +only just in time, for we were on a treacherous grassy slope and in +spite of the breaks our car continued to glide forward under the impulse +of the velocity it had attained. + +"Jump for your life!" shouted Forrest. + +I had wit enough to obey without hesitation. + +As I leaped, my eyes were fixed upon Mannering who at that moment had +reached the very edge of the cliff. I saw him disappear, and then I +rolled over on the turf. I was unhurt, and gathering myself together, I +regained my feet just as the car which had carried us so well followed +the maker over the cliff. A dozen paces took me to the spot. I shuddered +as I glanced downwards and saw the fate I had escaped. Two or three +hundred feet below the tide was boiling over the jagged rocks. I fancied +I could discern a few fragments of the white car and that was all. + +Not ten seconds before I had seen Mannering wave his hand at us +mockingly as he rode to his death, and I guessed that his intention had +been to lure us on to a common destruction. Once again he had +disappeared, but now I knew it was for all time. + +A strange calm came upon me. Straight in front of us the Longships +lighthouse made a pillar of black marble against the huge red disc of +the setting sun. In the far distance the Cassiterides floated cloud-like +on the horizon. I gulped down a sob of thankfulness, for the memory came +upon me that the one whom I loved had been saved by the merest chance +from sharing the fate of the madman who had so unhesitatingly rushed +upon his doom. + +I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Forrest. + +"Our work is done," he said, and with an impatient sigh, he took from +his pocket the useless handcuffs and hurled them after the cars. "One +thing we have to be thankful for," he continued, "thank God, Miss +Maitland is safe." + +For reply, I could only grasp his hands and wring them silently. As I +did so, I became conscious that a number of excited people had gathered +about us. + +"Where--where is she?" I gasped. + +Some one pointed to the hotel a hundred yards or so distant, and Forrest +and I hurried towards it. I was a prey to the most horrible anxiety. I +dreaded to contemplate what the result upon the mind of my darling might +be. I had nearly reached the hotel door, when I saw a slight figure step +across the threshold and shade her eyes with her hand. With a cry of +delight I sprang forward. + +The next moment Evie was in my arms. + + * * * * * + +That is the story of the Motor Pirate. There remain but a few things to +say. And first of them, let me explain how it happened that Evie managed +to fall into the Pirate's clutches. + +I told her later that it was owing to feminine curiosity. She, on the +other hand, declares it was entirely owing to her anxiety on my account. +Whichever was the reason, the moment she had heard Mannering's car +approach, she had gone to the garden-gate, whence she was able to +command a view of the coach-house door. She had seen the man Laver rush +forward at the sound of the whistle. Then the pistol shot rang out, and +the next moment Mannering had appeared on the new car. He had seen her, +and she had attempted to fly to the house, but he had overtaken her and +carried her off. Once on the car he had proceeded a short distance on +the St. Alban's road, and then stopped to speak to her, for the first +and only time on that day. + +"I am going to take you for a ride with me, Miss Maitland," he had +observed. "I merely wish to warn you before we start, that at the pace +we shall travel, you will find any attempt to escape exceedingly +dangerous." + +It was then from his manner and appearance she had realized that she was +in the power of a madman. + +As regards the ride, she could tell me very little. The pace was so +great that, being unprovided with a mask, she was obliged to crouch down +on the seat and cover her face with a rug as a protection against the +dust. It seemed an interminable time, she said, and the moment the car +stopped she made an attempt to regain her liberty, without knowing how +near she was to destruction at the time she made it. + +Fortunately the strain had been much less than I expected, so far as +Evie was concerned, and much more than I anticipated, was its effect +upon myself. It was a long time before I completely recovered from the +effects of those three adventurous days. And the worst of it was, that +everything combined to prevent me obtaining the absolute quiet which I +needed. After spending a night at the hotel I, of course, hastened to +take train to London in order to restore Evie to her father. But when I +arrived at my place at St. Albans, I found a veritable army of pressmen +encamped on my doorstep. They would not give me a moment's peace. I was +compelled to remain in bed, and upon sending a message over to Evie to +inform her of my predicament, she informed me that she was similarly +besieged. + +We exchanged a dozen notes. I rose when it was dark, and slipped out of +my back door. I could only see one method of securing quiet. Even a +hardened pressman has a dislike to intrude upon the privacy of a newly +married couple, so the next morning Evie and Colonel Maitland joined me +in town, and we were married by special license and, without returning +to St. Albans, we started for my home in Norfolk. + +So much for myself. + +Forrest was for a long time inconsolable at the final escape of the +Pirate from the hands of justice. So was his subordinate, Laver, whose +sentiments on the subject are quite too lurid for publication. + +As for Mannering, no trace of his body was ever found, though I have +since heard that certain portions of the cars have been fished up from +the pools amongst the rocks at the base of the cliffs at low tide. At +present, however, there has not been sufficient of the machinery +recovered to enable any one to construct a similar motor. He had +apparently made no drawings, or else had destroyed them when they had +served his turn, so it would seem as if the secret of the singularly +speedy motor he invented is destined to be lost to the world. Still, it +may be that sufficient will be recovered to give some skilled +mechanician sufficient guidance to enable him to reproduce the lost +pirate car. If not, well, I don't suppose it matters. Some one else will +be sure to invent something similar. In fact, from the hints Mannering +gave me, and owing to the opportunity I had of examining the car in his +workshop, I think it is not unlikely that I shall shortly be applying +for letters patent myself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +REVELATIONS + + +THERE remains only one thing more. I feel that the story would be +incomplete if I kept to myself certain particulars concerning Mannering, +which have come to my knowledge since the day when he made his +sensational flight into eternity from the brow of the cliff at Land's +End. At the time, both my wife and myself wished never to hear again the +name of the man whose actions had provided us with such terrible and +nerve-shattering experiences, but afterwards, when we came to think over +the matter, it occurred to both of us that in fact we knew very little +about the man who had nearly wrecked our lives. To dwell upon that +thought naturally awakened our curiosity concerning his past life, and, +needless to say, when the opportunity occurred for gratifying our +curiosity, we did not for a moment hesitate about accepting it. It is +true that we had gathered from his conversation that he had travelled +widely, but in what capacity, or with what object, we knew as little as +we knew of his birthplace or parentage. We found, too, a difficulty in +understanding the motives which had prompted Mannering's actions, and, +though we often discussed the question, we could never of ourselves +have arrived at a satisfactory solution of the problem. + +On this latter point I must mention the conclusion arrived at by _The +Speaker_. This sober-minded and extremely British review declared that +his animating motive was "the strong rock of equity, or abstract +justice," inasmuch as, by principally directing his attention to +motorists, he was avenging _The Speaker's_ quarrel with a class which +this journal held in particular abhorrence. Naturally, both Evie and +myself smiled at the thought that the Motor Pirate was a conservative +gentleman, anxious only to restore to the highways of England something +of their pristine calm. For myself, I inclined to the belief that he was +a remarkable specimen of the megalomaniac, whose exploits were prompted +much more by the desire for notoriety than by any altruistic motive, or +even by any sordid consideration regarding the plunder which he secured. +Certainly had he been a mere criminal, impelled by the desire for the +easy acquisition of wealth, he could have pursued his career for a much +longer period than he actually did. As for my wife, with a woman's +natural tendency to read a romance into any and every development of +human activity, she held fast to the opinion that the Pirate's +extraordinary career was the outcome of an overmastering passion for +herself. The probability is, that in his brain all these motives +operated at different times. The natural love of plunder, inherent in +the criminal mind, is as often as not accompanied by a morbid delight in +awakening the wonder of the public by the performance of startling +deeds and, in the same temperament, it is not unusual to discover the +romantic nature developed to a considerable degree. But, from the data +at our command, I fancy it would have been impossible even for the +experienced psychologist to decide which, so to speak, was the master +impulse. + +Perhaps, however, the few facts concerning him, which came into our +possession afterwards, tend to clear up these points to some degree. +Certainly they left me with a clearer light upon his individuality. + +To these facts I am indebted to Inspector Forrest, who, some six months +after our famous ride together in pursuit of the pirate, managed to find +time to pay a flying visit to our Norfolk home, where we had continued +to dwell in peaceful seclusion. + +It was at dinner, on the night of his arrival, that Forrest first hinted +that he had picked up some details of Mannering's life-history, and of +course nothing would content Evie but a promise that we should hear what +he had discovered. So, directly the meal was finished, we adjourned for +our coffee and cigars to my sanctum, where, in front of a comfortable +fire, Forrest made no difficulty about satisfying our curiosity. + +"You see," he began, when his cigar was once well alight, "I was every +bit as curious as Mrs. Sutgrove." + +"Or myself," I interrupted. + +"Or Mr. Sutgrove," said the detective, smiling, "for there is precious +little difference between the sexes so far as curiosity is concerned, in +spite of the generally accepted opinion on the matter. But being +curious, I naturally made the most minute search when I searched his +place at St. Alban's. I didn't find much there, it is true, but I did +secure a clue which ultimately led me to some lodgings which he had +occupied some three or four years previously, and there, by the merest +good luck, I discovered that when he had departed he had left behind him +a worn-out travelling-bag, and in that bag was a bundle of papers which +supplied me with sufficient information to reconstruct his history to +some extent, though I should not like to swear to the absolute accuracy +of every detail of his biography as I see it." + +"Was there nothing at all found at St. Alban's then?" asked Evie. + +"I fancy you must have seen in the papers a pretty full account of all +that the police discovered there?" said the detective. + +"Yes," replied Evie. "We read a lot of stories, but they varied to such +an extent that we really did not know what to believe." + +Forrest smiled. "Now I come to think of it, the reporters did give their +imaginations free reins, but you can take it from me that, with the +exception of the plunder he amassed after his return from that +Continental trip, and the apparatus for the production of the liquid +hydrogen, there was very little in his house of interest to me or you. +There was his bank-book, and some correspondence with a learned +professor at the Royal Institution. I followed up both clues. At the R. +I. I discovered nothing. Mannering had merely posed as a wealthy +amateur in chemistry, and of course he met with every assistance when he +had asked for help in following up his researches into the behaviour of +liquid gases. At his bank also, very little was known about him. When he +had come to St. Alban's he had opened an account by a payment into it of +six or seven thousand pounds in Bank of England notes. He had drawn +steadily upon the account until it was nearly exhausted, and, in point +of fact, there was only a few pounds to his credit from the time when he +commenced his career on the road, until a week or two after his return +from Amsterdam, when he paid in two thousand pounds in gold, and a +fortnight later swelled his balance with a similar amount." + +"That was the proceeds of the Brighton mail robbery," I remarked. + +Forrest nodded. "That was his only really big coup. As for his other +plunder, he probably disposed of the proceeds of all his early cruises +on the Continent, at the same time that he sold the diamonds. That which +he obtained afterwards was found intact in the safe in his bedroom. +Heavens! What an opportunity I missed by not taking out a search-warrant +for his house. When we paid our midnight visit, there must have been +ample evidence behind the steel door to have convicted him." + +The detective was silent for awhile, and bit savagely at his cigar. + +"He was not a wealthy man, then," I remarked. + +"No," replied Forrest. "There was no trace of his owning any property +anywhere, and his expenditure on the gas plant and on his motors--we +found that the various parts had been made to specification at a variety +of works in England and abroad--had eaten heavily into his capital, so +that at the time of the commencement of his career he must have been +very nearly penniless. Whether he built the motor with the idea of +utilizing it for the purpose he ultimately put it to, of course I cannot +say, but I have a shrewd suspicion that he really did design it for the +purpose, since from what I have learned of him the predatory instinct +must have been pretty strongly developed in him." + +The detective paused for a minute, and, flicking the ash off his cigar, +gazed meditatively into the fire. + +"You shall judge for yourselves," he continued. "Unfortunately, I cannot +begin right at the beginning, for I do not know where he was born, nor +who his parents were. I can only guess at these facts from the knowledge +that, as a boy, he was at school in the south of England, and that then +his name was Ram Krishna Roy." + +"What?" I asked, in amazement. "A Hindu?" + +"An Eurasian, I should fancy," replied Forrest. "He had been sent to +school in England by one of those petty Indian princes, who still +exercise sovereignty under British suzerainty." + +"How did you discover that?" asked Evie. + +"It was like this, Mrs. Sutgrove," replied Forrest. "Amongst the papers +I spoke about as being in the old portmanteau, were a number of letters +written in characters I could not understand. I could see they were +oriental, and that was as much as I could make of them, so I took them +to a noted oriental scholar who translated them for me. The language was +Urdu, and the writer was a munshi, who was obviously communicating with +an old pupil. There were so many references to scenes with which the +person to whom the letters were addressed, as well as the writer, was +familiar, that it was quite clear that the former must have been brought +up amidst purely native surroundings. There were one or two more obscure +allusions which led me to conclude that the boy's mother must have been +a white woman, and from what we saw of him there can be no doubt but +that he was white on one side." + +"Nobody would have taken him to be aught but an Englishman," murmured +Evie. + +"No," said Forrest. "I was intensely surprised when I discovered these +proofs of his identity and at first I thought they could not apply to +him, but before I come to the connecting link, let me mention one +curious thing in the letters, which may do something to explain the +curious influence which Mannering exerted over Mrs. Sutgrove." + +"He hypnotized me, I am sure," declared Evie, decidedly. + +"Very possibly," replied the detective. "In nearly every letter was to +be found an admonition to the effect--I cannot give you a verbatim +translation--that the writer hoped his old pupil would not forget that +to him was entrusted the secret power of Siva, which would, by +practice, enable him to mould all men to his will." + +"If he had possessed that," I interrupted, "there would have been no +necessity for him to have practised piracy on the high-road." + +"True," said Forrest. "But it is quite possible that Mrs. Sutgrove's +conjecture is correct, and that even at that early age Mannering had +learnt something about hypnotism from his native instructor, for I am +very certain that of these semi-occult sciences, the East has much more +precise knowledge than is realized by the Western world." + +"Very likely," said my wife, shuddering slightly at the remembrance. "He +certainly had a most singular power over me." + +"He probably increased his knowledge when he returned to his native +land, which, I gathered, must have taken place when he was about +seventeen. Then there is a break for nearly ten years in his history." + +"I don't quite see how you connect Ram Krishna Roy with Mannering," I +interpolated. + +"I'm coming to that," replied Forrest. "With these letters was another +in its original envelope addressed in the same hand to Julian Mannering +at San Francisco. It was the most interesting letter of the lot. It was +full of reproaches addressed to the dear pupil, who had cut himself off +from the asceticism of the East, and devoted himself to the gross +materialism of Western civilization. It concluded by the expression of +an intention to once more attempt to persuade him to return by a +personal appeal. On the back of the letter was a note in Mannering's +handwriting. 'Old Chatterji kept his promise. I had quite a long +conversation with him in the ballroom last night. Everybody thought I +was drunk or mad to be talking Hindustani, apparently to empty air. +However, that's the last of him. I've done with the East.'". + +"You make him more a man of mystery than ever," I exclaimed. + +"I can't help it," said Forrest. "Perhaps his old tutor really did +appear to him. Perhaps Mannering was mad. Who knows? Both are dead. +However, he seems to have carried out his intention of not returning to +India. Ram Krishna Roy disappeared from that time forth, and Julian +Mannering took his place. He seems to have been doing nothing at San +Francisco at the time, but a little later he appears to have accepted an +appointment as engineer to a mine in Arizona. He left the berth suddenly +a few months later, owing to some trouble about the wife of one of the +miners. The miner was shot, and his comrades were so incensed that +Mannering had to depart hot-foot. Then for awhile I can only guess at +his occupation from some newspaper cuttings which he had preserved. +These point to his identification with the leader of a gang of +desperadoes whose most notable exploit was the successful holding up of +a train which had a considerable quantity of specie on board." + +"I remember him describing the affair," said Evie, "though he +represented himself as on the side of the attacked." + +"The only assistance he gave to the plundered was to assist them to a +better land by the aid of his gun. He escaped, though, and made his way +to Australia, and once again he resumed the practice of his +profession,--mining engineering. For three or four years he was engaged +at a newly-opened mine in the northern territory of West Australia. But +instinct was too strong for him. He must really have had a strong dash +of the blood of some of those Indian hill-tribe freebooters in his +veins, for he never seems to have been able to resist the prospect of +plunder, and the likelihood of having to fight for it seems to have been +an additional inducement. Thus, at the mine, under his charge, it was +the custom to send, periodically, the gold extracted, under a strong +escort, to the nearest town, some forty miles distant. For a long time +these consignments were delivered with perfect safety. Then, after a +particularly rich vein had been struck, it became necessary to forward a +very large consignment of bullion. Contrary to the usual practice, only +two men were sent in charge of it. Their dead bodies were afterwards +discovered, and the gold was never recovered. No one seems to have had +the least suspicion that the gentlemanly engineer at the mine was likely +to have had something to do with the business, and when, shortly +afterward, he resigned his post and took a passage to Europe, he +received the highest possible testimonials from his manager and +directors. I have no doubt, myself, that he was the prime mover in the +robbery, for his salary was a small one, and directly afterwards he +spent six months in Paris, where his expenditure would have been lavish +for a millionaire." + +"That was where my father met him," remarked Evie. "I remember him +expressing surprise at the simplicity of Mannering's life at St. Alban's +in view of the luxury with which he had been surrounded when they had +met previously." + +"Just so," said the detective. "But his Paris career ended as it had +commenced. He disappeared suddenly, without a word of farewell to any of +his acquaintance, and had it not been for one bit of evidence, I should +have had not the slightest idea as to what he had been doing with +himself in the interval between that time and his arrival at St. +Alban's. You may remember that a scientific expedition was despatched by +the Dutch government about six years ago to make some investigations in +the interior of New Guinea?" + +I shook my head. + +"It started six months after Mannering disappeared from Paris, and from +the time it left Batavia _en route_ for New Guinea not a word has ever +been heard of it." + +"You cannot mean to infer that Mannering had anything to do with that?" +I asked, incredulously. + +"I infer nothing," replied Forrest. "But I do know that a pocketbook, +which had belonged to a chemist attached to the exploring party, was one +of the documents I found in his bag. The book contained a number of +notes upon the liquefaction of gases, and these may very likely have +first interested Mannering in the subject. As I have since discovered +from a search of the registers at Lloyds that there were quite a number +of ships lost about the same time in those seas, I cannot help thinking +that our friend had served an apprenticeship under the black flag at sea +before taking to land piracy." + +"At that rate he must have been the greatest criminal on earth," I +declared. + +"He was certainly the biggest I ever came across," replied Forrest, "and +my only regret is that I was unable to secure him in order that he might +have judicially paid the penalty for his crimes." + +"It was a pity," I said, "though I fancy if we had trapped him he would +have found some means of cheating the gallows and making a melodramatic +exit from the world." + +"It is more than likely," said Forrest. "He was not the ordinary type of +criminal. I was speaking to a big mental specialist the other day, +and--but I had better complete the story of his career first. Where did +we leave him?" + +"New Guinea," I prompted. + +"The only other reason I have for suspecting him of being engaged in +deeds of violence in that quarter of the globe is that he returned to +England _via_ Singapore, with a considerable quantity of bullion in his +possession. The rest of his history you know." + +"He seems to have had a stirring existence, anyhow," I commented. "And +one hardly sees any reason for it save natural sin." + +"The alienist I was talking to the other day described him as a moral +pervert. He said he was a type of insanity usually associated with +physical incapacity or a low order of intelligence, but when, as in +Mannering's case, both physique and intelligence were above the average, +the moral pervert is a greater danger to the community than an army of +ordinary criminals. If ever I said a prayer it would be when a madman of +that type was removed from the world." + +"Amen," said both Evie and I, heartily. + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Note: + +Text uses both St. Alban's and St. Albans. + +Page 24, "has" changed to "had" (papers had not) + +Page 76, "continue" changed to "continued" (he continued earnestly) + +Page 86, "sang-freid" changed to "sang-froid" (companion's _sang-froid_ +soon) + +Page 88, "typeing" changed to "typing" (typing, and upon) + +Page 139, "choose" changed to "chose" (We chose the footpath) + +Page 189, closing quote added (address." Then, after) + +Page 242, "couples" changed to "couple" (a couple of minutes) + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Motor Pirate, by George Sidney Paternoster + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR PIRATE *** + +***** This file should be named 26657.txt or 26657.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/5/26657/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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