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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c1a782 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67529 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67529) diff --git a/old/67529-0.txt b/old/67529-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 68812fe..0000000 --- a/old/67529-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8565 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Double Crossed, by W. Douglas Newton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Double Crossed - -Author: W. Douglas Newton - -Release Date: February 28, 2022 [eBook #67529] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Juliet Sutherland, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOUBLE CROSSED *** - - -[Illustration: HE WAS THROTTLING THE LIFE OUT OF THE LITTLE DETECTIVE] - - -DOUBLE CROSSED - -BY -W. DOUGLAS NEWTON - -AUTHOR OF “LOW CEILINGS,” “GREEN LADIES,” -“WESTWARD WITH THE PRINCE OF WALES,” ETC. - -[Illustration: Logo] - -D. APPLETON AND COMPANY -NEW YORK :: 1922 :: LONDON - - -COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY -D. APPLETON AND COMPANY - -PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - -TO -GLADYS AND JOE - - - - -DOUBLE CROSSED - - - - -CHAPTER I - - -I - -A little, knuckly man bounded into Clement Seadon’s cabin with an -india-rubber violence. He snapped the door closed, and faced the -startled young man. - -“You’re Clement Seadon,” he cried; “I’m Hartley Hard.” - -The young man stopped unpacking. - -“I don’t think I know you,” he said. - -“You needn’t think. You don’t know. I’m a complete stranger to you--in -the flesh. But don’t talk. I haven’t much time.” - -Clement glanced at the umbrella and obvious shore rig of the bounding -little man. - -“In fact,” he said, in the other’s manner, “you have no time at all. -‘All ashore’ was called two minutes ago.” - -“Oh, don’t talk,” panted the little man. “This thing is terribly -important. I mustn’t lose a moment telling you. You know Heloise Reys?” - -“Not at all,” said Clement dryly. He began again to unpack. - -“For heaven’s sake, don’t quibble, man. You know her. You came from -London to Liverpool in the same carriage as Heloise Reys.” - -“Oh, that was Heloise Reys,” said the young man, dropping his -dress-shirts and looking up with interest. “The Gorgon woman with her -called her Loise.” - -“Nickname,” said the little man breathlessly. “Her name is really -Heloise--What I mean to say is, you do know her.” - -“Not really,” said Clement with exasperating (and, one is afraid, -deliberate) casualness. “A mere chance acquaintance.” - -He refused to tell the little man that, having encountered her in the -C.P.R. office, he had determinedly looked out for her on the boat train. - -The little man danced about in a fury of anxiety. - -“Please _do_ remember that I have the barest possible time to tell you -what I must tell you. Don’t interrupt. Don’t quibble. You know her. She -is good looking.” - -“Very good looking,” said Clement, staring at the little man in -amazement. - -“She is a charming girl,” urged the little man. - -“Perfectly charming,” said Clement. - -“Of very good family, too,” snapped the little man. - -“Probably,” said Clement. “But I didn’t find that out.” - -“Don’t have to, take it from me. Very good family. No father, no -mother.” - -“That,” said Clement, “I shall _have_ to take from you.” - -His astonishment had given way to a sort of guarded amusement. He was -of the genial type of young man, one who could see the humorous side of -things quickly. - -The little bouncy man waved his umbrella in excitement. - -“Do take it from me,” he cried. “No mother, no father. No encumbrances, -and no one to control her. Remember that, no one to watch over her. And -she is very well off. Very rich.” - -Clement could only stare. The little man swept on: “Very beautiful. -Very charming. A girl with a gentle, tender heart--much too tender. Too -quixotic. A fine character. Good family--and rich. Extremely rich. You -understand all that?” - -“Look here--what on earth are you driving at?” cried the astounded -Clement. - -“But _do_ you understand?” wailed the little man. “Have you grasped it -all? A worthy girl. A girl worthy of any man. A girl that any man can -be proud of. A girl----” - -This was too much for Clement. “I say,” he burst out, “I say, are -you--are you asking me to _marry_ her?” - -The excited dance of the little man now took on a touch of relief as -well as anxiety. “You grasp it. You see it,” he trilled. “Assuredly. -Marry her--that’s it.” - -“My dear idiot,” shouted Clement. “My dear madman. Don’t you understand -that----” - -“No time to understand,” skated on the little man. “No time at all. -Know it’s all rapid and wrong and amazing, but that’s what I want. You -marry her. You can do it. You’re young. Young and handsome and healthy. -And a sea-voyage. Sea-voyages are the chance of sentiment. Idle days, -luxurious days. Moonlight--looking at the wake. Oh, the very chance for -falling in love.” - -“Do you realize you’re talking like an idiot? I’ve only just met -Miss----” - -“I know. I know. Awfully like an idiot. That’s because I am in such a -hurry. I know exactly how it all sounds to you--but, really, I can’t -help myself. Such a time. But that’s what I want you to do--really. -Fall in love with her. Make her fall in love with you. Make her promise -to marry you. Before she gets to Canada make her promise to marry you. -Don’t let her put you off. Force her to do it.” - -Clement sat down heavily on his bunk. He stared amazed at the little -man. - -“I’m afraid you’re mad,” he said. - -“Mad,” snapped the little man. “I’m not mad. I’m a lawyer.” - - -II - -Clement wanted to say that even lawyers went mad sometimes, but the -little man hurled himself along. - -“I’m a lawyer. I’m her lawyer. I’m your lawyer, too--one of them. -That’s luck. When I saw you come out of the train with her, saw that -you knew her, I noted that down as a piece of luck. You see I knew -_you_ were all right. Knew that through business--oh, I’m a partner of -Rigby & Root.” - -“My lawyers!” cried Clement. - -“Yes! Yes! Haven’t I been telling you that? We’re her lawyers, too. -When I saw you together, I said to myself, ‘Good, that’s a second line -of defense. If I fail to bring her to reason I fall back on Clement -Seadon--Mr. Clement Seadon. He’ll be my second line. Good fellow. Good -family. Young, attractive, handsome to the eye. Has wits. Has capacity. -Has a brain in his head. Has pluck and physical strength, too. Can -carry a thing through in spite of danger.’ ...” - -As he said that, his rapid eye glinted on Clement. He was staccato, but -he was not stupid. Clement stiffened. He was the type of clean, young -Anglo-Saxon who did stiffen at the hint of danger. The type that goes -about quietly, calmly avoiding trouble--but is not really heartbroken -when trouble comes along. The little lawyer saw Clement stiffen, he -chuckled internally and continued his express monologue. - -“That’s what I said to myself when I saw you. I said, ‘Mr. Clement -Seadon has all the qualities necessary. An admirable second line -of defense. And well-off, too. Rich. He’s not an adventurer hunting -heiresses.’ That’s what I said when I saw you. And I went off to -Heloise Reys’ cabin and tried to bring her to reason. Oh, I strove. I -strove. I talked my best.” - -He stopped and waved his umbrella in a gesture of hopelessness. - -“You strove, and strove--and then had to fall back on your second -line,” said Clement, helping him out. - -Clement’s mind was in a curious condition. He realized that all this -was madder than anything had any right to be--and yet he was rather -intrigued, rather interested. He could not have told why. The fact -that the little man was a lawyer, and his own lawyer at that, may -have been the reason. Or it may have been that suggestion of danger, -of adventure, called to that instinct lying dormant in the young of -Clement’s race. Whatever it was, mad though he felt the whole business -to be, he sat and listened. - -The lawyer said, “You are right. I could do nothing with her. I failed. -I could not bring her to reason. She is so quixotic. So headstrong. She -has the wrongest sense of what is right.... And then I have no proofs. -Only fears, only suspicions. I couldn’t clinch the matter with her. I -couldn’t bring home anything to her.” - -“And what were you trying to bring home to her?” demanded Clement, who -really thought he was entitled to some explanation. - -“Bring home to her? The truth about _that_ scamp. I was trying to make -her see that she should _not_ go out to Canada to marry him.” - -Clement gasped. Also he felt a little stab of pain. Heloise was -certainly most extraordinarily attractive. - -“Marry him? Marry whom? Haven’t you just been insisting that she should -marry _me_?” - -“Of course,” shouted the little man. “That’s it. That’s what I’m -driving at.” - -“But what are you driving at?” gasped Clement. “First you tell me to -get her to marry me, then you tell me she is going to marry some one -else.” - -“Perfectly true,” said the little man. “She is making this journey to -Canada to marry some one else, a man named Henry Gunning.” - -Clement fell back, too, staggered for thought. “Are you a lawyer,” he -demanded, “or are you an apostle of the Mormons?” - -The little lawyer rushed over to Clement and caught him by the lapel -of his coat. “No! no! no!” he cried. “Please do understand. It is -this hurry that has made everything so complicated. She is going to -Canada to marry Henry Gunning. But she must not marry him. She must be -prevented. That’s what I want you to do. I want you to make her marry -you in order that she won’t marry Gunning.” - -“And why shouldn’t she marry the man she wants to?” Clement demanded. - -“Because,” said the lawyer, speaking earnestly and impressively, -“because it’s a swindle. She’s got into the hands of rogues, of -swindlers, of criminals. Of that I am sure. The whole thing is terribly -evil. And she must be saved. You must save her.” - -Clement was about to answer. There was a knock on the cabin door. -Clement called, “Come in.” - -The door opened about a foot. An evil and repulsive face looked in. The -little eyes in the ugly face swiveled all round the cabin in a swift, -furtive glance. They took in Clement; they took in the little lawyer. -A palish tongue licked purple, dry lips. A husky voice croaked, “Beg -pardin, sir!” - -The little lawyer snapped, “What do you want, man?” - -“Beg pardin,” said the hoarse voice again. “Just looking round ter see -if all visitors is ashore. Bedroom steward, sir.” - -The fully opened door revealed the white coat and bobbly trousers of a -veritable bedroom steward. - -“All right, my man,” said the little lawyer, “I’m going ashore in a -minute.” - -“Ha,” said the steward, coming in with the satisfaction on his face -such as policemen wear when they catch an authentic burglar. “_Should_ -be ashore. Orders is that all visitors sh’d be ashore. Come this way, -sir. Quick, please, sir.” - -“I’m going ashore in a minute,” said the little lawyer. - -“Orders, sir. Gotter be now, sir.” - -“Get out of this,” snapped the lawyer. “I’ll go ashore before the ship -sails, never you fear.” - -The steward came forward with an air of menace in his bearing. - -“You go ashore, now, see. Them’s me orders, an’ I’ve got to see that -it’s done--can’t stop arguing.” - -“I don’t want you to,” said the little man decisively. “Particularly as -Captain Heavy is the person you should argue with. If Captain Heavy was -wrong in saying I could stop aboard, I think you should be the one to -tell him, not me.” - -“Ca’pen Heavy.... Why didn’t you say that ’efore?” snarled the man. He -went sullenly out of the cabin. The little lawyer waited for a minute, -then he slipped out, too. He darted up the little alleyway that led to -the main passage along the deck. Clement heard him say in a tart voice: - -“My good man, I know my way off this ship--you needn’t hang about here -waiting to conduct me off.” - -In a moment he was back with Clement, talking rapidly again, but this -time in a noticeably lowered voice. - -“He’s one of them. I thought he was. You’ll have to be on your guard -against that steward.” - -“One of whom?” asked Clement, trying to keep pace with the happenings. -“One of the rogues, do you mean? Good heavens! are you telling me there -is a sort of Villains’ Gang of them aboard this ship?” - -“I don’t say it,” said the little man grimly, “but I shouldn’t be at -all surprised if it were so. It’s a big thing, a terribly big thing, my -friend, this marriage of Heloise. It is a matter of a million pounds -sterling and more.” - - -III - -“You are rather stunning as well as other things,” said Clement limply. - -He really was feeling a trifle dazed. The little man had so hustling -a manner. Also, his own knowledge of the girl, Heloise Keys, was of -the faintest kind. She was just a tall, slim girl whom he had found -attractive enough to want to know again after his first meeting. -She was quite pleasant, quite English, quite natural. Apart from -her special attraction, she was just one of the millions of crisp, -self-assured and self-contained young women of Britain. - -He had met her, as he had said, twice. The first time had been a -delightful accident. He had arrived to book his passage at the Canadian -Pacific Ocean Service Office in London, to find her there on the same -errand. - -What is more, there was a certain sense of comradeship in that action, -for both intended to sail to Canada in the same ship, the _Empress of -Prague_. One shipping clerk attended to both, he left the one cabin -plan before them from which to choose their rooms, while he went away -on the business of registering their tickets. - -Clement had only to glance once at the cabin-plan to make his -decision. He had sailed on the _Empress_ before. All he had to do was -to see whether his old cabin, which had been a comfortable one, was -unoccupied. It was unoccupied. He jotted down its number to give to the -clerk when he came back. - -Heloise and her companion were not so decisive. Heloise, at least, -showed all the hesitance proper to people unaccustomed to sea travel. -The other woman was making suggestions, but Clement did not pay any -attention to her. She was so obviously a companion, a servant, though -of the cultured sort. - -The clerk had tactfully pointed out a large cabin. After having spoken -in glowing terms of it, he had gone off leaving the decision to the -ladies. Clement had nothing against that clerk. As a clerk, he knew his -business, which was to fill up cabins. He was merely doing his duty in -suggesting that cabin to people who did not know the art of selecting -cabins--there were so many people who knew it too well, and would leave -that cabin on his hands. - -Clement noted the battle of indecision with some amusement. Also with -some interest, because Heloise (only he didn’t know she was Heloise, -then) was extremely pretty. Also he thought she was of that trusting -and sweet disposition that will take the word of anybody--even of -shipping clerks. Obviously, she was going to follow his suggestion. - -When the shipping clerk went to the back of the office Clement saw to -it that she didn’t. He looked up at her as she puzzled over the deck -plan, smiled in a disarming way, and said, “I say, if you don’t mind -my butting in, I wouldn’t take that inner room. You’ll find it hot and -rather airless, and there’s no light at all except artificial light.” - -She answered him before she thought about who he was. “Are you sure of -that?” - -“Quite,” he told her. “I know the _Empress of Prague_ well; you’ll be -quite comfortable on her, particularly if you take, say, that cabin -over there, instead of that inner one.” - -As he spoke he heard an indignant sniff from the companion. He looked -beyond the girl and saw a comely, chilly, thick-set, middle-aged woman. -A woman who had a broad and attractive smile which, somehow, did not -seem to penetrate deeper than the surface of her skin. It was the sniff -and the smile that led Clement to christen her the Gorgon, then and -there. - -But the girl herself was not sniffing in moral indignation. She was -pleased and friendly. “But it is jolly of you to help,” she cried. “You -are sure that one over there is the better cabin?” - -“As sure as I like light and fresh air,” Clement smiled at her. “You’ll -get both in that, you see, it’s an outside cabin. Has--windows--ports, -you know. And it’s roomier.” - -“Then, that’s the one we’ll have, Méduse,” said the girl, and the -Gorgon (really, Clement had been very apt in his nickname) said in -a light voice slightly tipped with frost, “That is also the one I -suggested. Remember I, too, have traveled on the sea before, Loise.” - -The girl paid no attention to that. She did not allow herself to be -distracted from Clement, as she was obviously meant to be distracted. -She was, in fact, rather pleased to meet a young, good-looking, -polished man, who was also to be a companion during the voyage across -the Atlantic. She said, smiling, “I’m thoroughly mystified by all this -sort of thing. I’ve never done anything but the cross-Channel trip -before, and then only by daylight. The tricks of cabins and comfort are -dark secrets, as yet. It is really very good of you to give me that -tip.” - -“Oh, travelers are a brotherhood who should band together in the face -of the common enemy,” said Clement cheerfully. - -“Are we going to have common enemies?” she asked pleasantly. - -“Not on the _Empress_,” said Clement. “It’s a happy ship. But still -there are always little things where the hardened traveler can help.” - -“Hardened?” she echoed. “You must have begun before your teens then.... -But it is rather nice, oh, and lucky, to meet some one who is going by -the same boat. I have a feeling that going by boat must be rather like -going to a new school--everybody is new and reserved. So that if one -knows some one already....” They went galloping off into that chatter -which overtakes vivid people who have found a common ground, and not -even the sniffs of the Gorgon could check them. Definitely, Clement -thought then, the Gorgon wanted to claw the girl away. She disliked the -acquaintance. - -Still, she did not have her way, though she hurried the girl off with -some speed when the bargain over the counter had been completed. Even -then the girl, as she went, held out the pleasant promise of their -future meeting. - -“We’ll meet again, then, on board,” she had nodded to him as she left -the shipping office. - -“Or on the boat train,” said Clement. “You’ll go up to Liverpool by -that?” - -“Of course,” she said, smiling. “Until then.” - -Clement completed his own reservations, and went out of the office with -a feeling of elation. He was already looking forward to his trip to -Canada, where he hoped to get some sport: trout and salmon fishing, and -later some duck shooting, and, perhaps, a chance at moose. But now his -trip seemed a much jollier affair, and he wasn’t thinking of sport when -he felt that. - -She had been so pretty. She had such an extraordinary charm. She was -fine and upspringing if she was slim. She carried herself so well. And -her face was so vivid and alluring. Her skin was cool and white and -glowing, and her features delicate and exquisite. She was more than -pretty, she was beautiful. - -And that candor and kindness that seemed to be her nature. A sort -of honesty, a nobility that placed her right above petty feminine -things--yet there was no denying the warm and tender femininity of her -nature. A real woman, a beautiful woman. A woman in a million. - -And yet he had not found out her name. Beyond the fact that her -companion called her Loise, he knew nothing about her. He might have -inquired from the shipping clerk. He did not inquire. He was as young -and as straight-minded as that. - -He had thought about her a great deal between that time and the sailing -of the boat. And he was early at Paddington on the day that the boat -train left. He had got all his own luggage stowed with the celerity -of an old traveler and was looking out for her some time before she -arrived. - -He helped her and her companion, the Gorgon. He had already found them -a compartment, had secured it with a healthy tip. It was to be his own -compartment, too, if she gave permission, and, delightfully, she did. -He traveled with her all the way to Liverpool, but, looking back at it -now, it had been rather a curious journey. - -He had put certain things down to accidents, those accidents that will -beset travelers at times. But now--he wondered. - -In the first place, he had nearly missed the train. They had been -sitting there, chatting, quite serenely, gazing with slightly amused -contempt at those passengers of the breed always doomed to be late for -trains. Then the Gordon discovered that a rather special parcel left in -the baggage room yesterday (heaven knows why!--the Gorgon seemed the -sort of feminine mystery who would do just that sort of thing) had not -been retrieved. When the Gorgon mentioned the parcel, the girl Loise -had made an exclamation of acute vexation. - -Clement was young enough (and she was pretty enough) to seize such -an opportunity of doing her service. He said decisively it might be -rescued, and he asked crisply, “How much time have we?” - -It was the Gorgon who had pulled her watch with (now he could see) -astonishing celerity. The watch showed that there was a full thirteen -minutes to spare before the train went. That was ample. The Gorgon gave -him the cloakroom ticket for the parcel. The girl described its nature -rather well in one or two words, and she indicated the shelf on which -it had been placed. - -Clement darted out to the cloakroom, not looking at the station clock, -as he should have done. He reached the counter, put the ticket and a -large tip on the zinc surface and exhorted the attendant to hurry. -The attendant smiled happily at the tip, examined the ticket and said -blandly, “Na-poo.” It wasn’t his ticket at all, it was one issued by -another station, Victoria. - -“Hang!” shouted Clement. “I must get that parcel ... there it is over -there.” The girl Loise’s description and directions had helped him out. -He told the attendant in vivid language who had left it. He was not -kind to the Gorgon, but his picture of her was unmistakable. - -“I remember,” said the attendant. “Remember the lady wot was wit’ ’er. -A very pretty lady.... All the same, you ain’t got the right ticket.” - -“Hang it all, man, don’t argue!” shouted Clement. “I’ve got to catch -the boat train....” - -And when he said that the attendant had suddenly become very much -alive. He snatched at the parcel and swung it over. “’Ave you got to -catch it, well you’ve got to run blame ’ard ter do it. It’s just about -going out.” - -As Clement, sprinting like the deuce, ran for the train, he glanced -at the station clock. Heavens! that wretched woman’s watch must be -frightfully and femininely wrong. The train was just due to leave. - -He simply flung himself by the ticket collector at the platform gate. -The man shouted at him, but Clement fought his way by--if they wanted -to question him they must do it at the other end. The train was just -moving. - -He flung himself at the door of the guard’s van. And the evil chance of -such things seemed to be against him. A very large, a very bulky man -was trying to do the same thing. He was an idiot of a man. He stumbled -and fumbled. He blocked the way with his hideous ineptitude. So stupid -was he that Clement had the feeling that exasperated people get, that -is, the fool was doing it all purposely. - -Clement Seadon was young and very active. While the excessive man still -stumbled and blundered along beside a train steadily gathering pace, he -nipped ahead of him, and with an agile twist was on to the footboard -and into the van. - -He turned at once to help the large fool. With a surprising access of -nimbleness the big fellow was already in the train, standing beside him -in the van. Already saying with a sort of purring urbanity, “Well, -that was the nearest shave--nearer for you, sir. I must apologize. I -did not actually realize you were trying to get on the train. I thought -you were a porter or some one trying to help me. I must apologize, sir.” - -He said this with the utmost geniality, which, at the same time, seemed -to be reserved. It was as though he spoke automatically the right -things; but what he said had no relationship to what he felt. And while -he spoke he stared fixedly across Clement’s shoulder, and Clement was -aware of the smallness of his eyes and their astonishing closeness -together. - -Still everything had ended well, and he said as much. He parted with -this far too much of a man, and made his way along the corridor to his -compartment. Here he was not at all sorry for the accident. Both ladies -were in a lively state of alarm, and that alarm gave way to a cheery -thankfulness at seeing him safely on board once more. - -Or rather with the girl Loise that was how things worked out, and, as -far as he was concerned, the journey was made even more attractive -by the emotion this little episode had called up. It was not quite -so with the Gorgon. She seemed overwhelmed by the knowledge that it -was her stupidity in the matter of her watch and the wrong cloakroom -ticket that had nearly caused Clement to miss the train and the boat. -Her apologies were profuse, and she endeavored to make an _amende_ by -correcting, rather late in the day, the time on her watch. - -The rest of the journey was uneventful (and Clement was now seeing -things in a more acute light)--unless one could see something grave in -the tiny incident on the landing stage. - -The whole of Clement’s baggage had gone astray. - -Now that he looked at it, Clement began to see the strangeness of the -happening. He had not been careless. He had instructed a porter fully -before returning to help the ladies. He had even chuckled at his own -efficiency when, on looking back, he saw the big man who had all but -prevented his gaining the boat train, standing helpless near his own -busy porter. - -Nevertheless twenty minutes later Nicholson, his cabin steward, told -him he could not find his luggage anywhere. Nicholson was not a man -to make mistakes and if he said luggage could not be found, it could -not be found. Angry as he was at the mishap Clement wasted no time. -He _had_ to have that luggage. Naturally, he could not possibly sail -without a rag to his name. - -The stuff that was in Clement Seadon came out in the way he handled -this _contretemps_. He went straight to the Canadian Pacific shipping -agent, and put the problem up to him. The man belonged to a service -that suffers attractively from an ideal of complete efficiency. The -agent began to hustle. - -He was, of course, helped by Clement. Clement had the type of mind -that pays attention to a porter’s registration number when the porter -holds up the metal plate upon which it is stamped to the hirer’s gaze. -Clement remembered and repeated the number, and left the matter in -the hands of the agent. In half an hour his luggage was on board the -_Empress_. - -A foreman had named the porter from the number; a dock policeman had -stated that he had seen this man trundling the barrow-load of luggage -away from the shed in the direction of the Cunard dock; the luggage was -run to earth. The porter, on being taxed with his strange behavior, -offered a wild and absurd story of having been told that Mr. Seadon had -suddenly received orders to go by Cunard. A steward had come off the -_Empress_ just as he was going on to it, and given this very definite -command. - -He was, so the porter said, “a littlish, mean-looking ’ound of a -steward.” Nicholson was a big man. And, though the porter may have -based his description of the offending steward on anger, Clement, -with a sudden blaze of comprehension, now recognized how well that -description fitted the steward who had just tried to turn the little -lawyer off the boat. Had that steward tried to keep _him_ off the boat -also? It looked extraordinarily like it. - -Thus, though he might have been inclined to scout the whole idea of -the gang of rogues who were working to accomplish the undoing of the -girl Heloise and her million pounds, as something absurd and unreal, -actually the train of circumstances forced him to say limply: - -“You are rather stunning as well as other things.” - - -IV - -The little man went on promptly with his hasty and hurtling attack. - -“I know, stunning and absurd and incredible. It sounds all that, I -know. To me it is all that--only, I’ve got to face things as they -appear to me and I’ve so little to go on, yet so much. A huge fortune, -that foolish girl’s happiness, and all that sort of thing--is at -stake....” - -He seemed anxious to impress Clement with the soundness of his case, -and it was now Clement who cried, “But get on with it, man. You haven’t -too much time. You’ll have to go ashore very soon. Tell me the facts.” - -“Facts,” snapped the little man. “The first is she’s going out -expressly to find and marry this weak-will, this ne’er-do-well Henry -Gunning.” - -“Why? Is she engaged to him?” demanded Clement, with peculiar interest. - -“Engaged to him. Good gad--rubbish. Sheer quixotery. This is the story: -They were brought up together--boy and girl. He was an unpleasant, -feckless cub. His people had estates next old Reys. Both of ’em went -about as kids. There was a sort of calf love. Both of ’em had it mildly -... nothing else to do in the country for the young but to be calves. -Then he did something idiotic, and he was shipped off to Canada. His -guardians did it--parents dead then.” - -“What was it?” - -“Oh, general irritation with his spinelessness and low tastes, plus a -crisis. They made use of that crisis. Matter of fact, he stole.” - -“Stole! But could Miss Heloise have anything to do with a thief?” - -“Oh, but a plausible thief,” snapped the little lawyer. “What he -stole, he said, was his. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t, and he knew -it. It was a picture, an Old Master, belonging to his family. Family -had died up to its ears in debt--for which his own bad habits were -mainly responsible. Everything had been sold to settle those debts. He -knew that all right. But he stole that picture, sold it, and went on -the spree with the proceeds. There you get the type of man he is in a -nutshell.” - -“That doesn’t explain Miss Reys’ attitude.” - -“Oh, he made a case. Said he thought he’d taken only what was his own. -He bought her a silly little trinket, too, and made her believe he -had sold the picture to get that. Absurd. But she was woefully young. -She has a generous heart, and she was on the side of the scamp in -affection. Well, that’s the beginning. He left her with the usual vows. -He’d been unlucky. He had an unlucky nature, so he told her; but he was -going to the great and grand New World to carve out a fortune for her. -He would return, like the hero in a story, rich and powerful, and all -because of her--all for her.” - -“Well, what’s next. Has he made that fortune?” - -“Not a bit of it. He’s the sort that doesn’t. Hasn’t the guts or the -honesty. I don’t know what he’s done in the ten years he’s been away; -nobody knows. I suspect a mountain of beastliness. But one thing I -know. He hasn’t made that fortune.” - -“You’re sure?” - -“My dear lad, isn’t that why she’s going out? Oh, of course, I’m -running on too fast. Well, that _is_ the reason, anyhow. First year or -two there were plenty of letters. Then the letters dropped away. His -were sloppy and disconsolate, I gather. He was the unlucky sort even -in Canada, he let her know. Of course he was. Then the letters stopped -altogether. For years nothing was heard of him. Things went on with -Heloise ever so much better. I thought she’d forgotten the ass. Then, -quite suddenly, the whole of this business started again. Came at us, -as it were, out of the blue.” - -“And what precisely do you mean by that?” Clement asked. - -“I can’t quite explain. Know nothing definite, you see. First Heloise’s -father died. He left her in control of this fortune. Really an immense -fortune. When I mentioned the figure of a million pounds I meant it. It -is more than true. Heloise continued for some time in a state of happy -ordinariness. Then she had another letter from the scallywag Gunning. -I don’t know what was in it, but it seemed to fling her right back to -those old flapperish, calfish days. From what I could gather, Gunning -was still fighting his luck. He was fighting (so he hinted) with dogged -courage. He remembered his vow to her, and had kept himself staunch, -unfettered, and upright because of it. He meant to redeem it; in fact, -he hinted that there was a chance of redeeming it--if only his spell of -bad luck would break. He had a big thing in view--a huge thing--that -would bring him a great fortune. Then he would be able to come to her. -But he didn’t do more than hint at this big _coup_ he had in mind. -I told Heloise that that was the man all over; that he was merely -exhibiting his vague and spineless nature. Stupid of me to say that. -I was set aside as hard and unsympathetic at once, and nothing more -was told to me. Heloise, naturally, thought it was his noble nature -cropping out. He would tell her nothing until he had brought it off. He -would be beholden to nobody until he had fulfilled himself. I said it -was all rubbish; but Heloise, who thinks the best of everybody, clung -to her view.... And then this confounded new companion supported that -view, gave it a new strength?” - -“How could a companion do any such thing?” - -“I can’t answer riddles; I can only guess. Perhaps I am too easily -suspicious. I suspected the _old_ companion when she so inexplicably -left Heloise’s service. Why? Well, it seemed illogical. She had an -extraordinarily well-paid, extraordinarily comfortable job. It is the -sort of job no woman of that kind would leave in a hurry. But she did. -She said she had come into some money, a lot of it, and wanted to set -up a little business of her own. Well, I couldn’t find out how she had -come into that money--a few thousands it must have been. I tried to -trace a source. I couldn’t find one. But she had the money from some -one all right.” - -“You suspect it was an underhand affair--she was paid?” - -“I suspect, only. No facts. This new companion made me more suspicious. -She’s a Canadian, or says she is.” - -“Perhaps that’s the reason Miss Reys chose her--a reason of sentiment,” -said Clement. - -“You’ve touched the crucial plausibility of the matter. That _is_ -why Heloise chose her. The departing companion recommended this -creature--suspicious again. Heloise was not altogether smitten with -her at first, but the fact that she knew Canada turned the scale. The -sentimental note won. And then--too surprising for life, I think: -an attractive coincidence, thinks Heloise--this new companion knows -Gunning.” - -Clement nodded. He, too, was beginning to think that the long arm of -coincidence was beginning to suffer from strain. - -“‘It only came out casually,’ says Heloise,” went on the little man; -“but there’s the fact this companion who came to her by fishy means -knew Gunning. Knew him well enough to sing rather an attractive song -about him. Oh, she made it all sound very ordinary. She had not -_actually_ spoken to or known Gunning, but she had stayed at a place -called Sicamous, where he was often to be seen, and where his name was -very well known. He was known there as the Englishman whom providence -had a grouch against. He was also known as the Englishman who would be -a millionaire some day. No, don’t ask me why he was called that. That -hasn’t been told me. I suspect my attitude of non-sympathy has been -adroitly enlarged by that confounded companion. I’ve been kept out of -it. All I know is that Heloise is filled with a sort of sentimental -certainty that Gunning is out there in the wilds needing help. He is -fighting a lone hand against circumstances beyond his strength. He is -there working doggedly with a great chance within his grasp; but for -lack of means, for lack of support, for lack of money he cannot make -good. That’s how I see it, and I can see how the sentimental side has -been worked up to secure Heloise’s sympathy. She feels he won’t, he -doesn’t write to her because of his pride. His self-respect, his sense -of decency, his grit and all that sort of bunkum forbids his writing to -the girl he loves and wants to marry. That’s how they are playing on -Heloise’s candid and sympathetic nature.” - -“Well,” said Clement. “It might be correct. Men are rather like that, -don’t you think?” - -“_Men_, yes,” snapped the little lawyer. “Fellows like you, real men, -would be like that. But Gunning--I don’t believe it.” - -“That’s rather drastic.” - -“My boy, I know Gunning. We acted for _his_ people too. Gunning is not -like that. He’s a moral tadpole. If he has changed, then the age of -miracles has very certainly not passed.” - -Clement thought this sort of talk led to nothing. He changed the line. - -“And what’s the big chance that lies before him?” - -“I told you I didn’t know,” said the little lawyer. “I’ve been kept in -the dark over that.” - -“Is Miss Reys in the dark?” - -“What do you mean by that? As I tell you, I think she is certainly in -the dark concerning this foul plot that is being worked on her. But -concerning this big _coup_ that Gunning is supposed to be able to bring -off--no. She knows all about that. She’s been writing letters to people -in Canada. The companion has supplied her with addresses, I take it. -She’s received replies that have convinced her of the genuineness of -Gunning and his prospects. Of that I am certain.” - -“You don’t think those letters genuine?” - -“I don’t think anything connected with this trip to Canada is genuine.” - -Clement frowned. Thinking, he said, “Exactly what do you think these -rogues, if they be rogues, are out to do?” - -“I think they are out to get control of rather more than a million -pounds sterling, which, at present, belongs to Heloise.” - -“How will they do that--if she marries Gunning?” - -“How will they?” began the little lawyer in exasperation. Then he -said more precisely and quietly, “I will tell you exactly what I -think. I think that, somehow, a band of rogues in Canada has found -out from Henry Gunning that there is a sort of engagement between him -and Heloise. They have learned from the same source that Heloise is -worth a million of money. They have that rascal in their power. They -have seen that through him there is a very good chance of getting that -million of money into their power.” - -“You’re making rather a long shot, aren’t you? After all, they must -have known that they would have to reckon with Heloise, who will have -something to say in the matter.” - -The little man waggled his umbrella fiercely. - -“Not a long shot,” he insisted. “They probably saw her letters to him. -If they read those letters they would see exactly the sort of girl -Heloise is. She is fine, honest. She is too generous for this world.... -She is undoubtedly quixotic, as I have told you several times. They -would see that a girl like that would respond to adroit handling. Her -sense of honor would lead her to remain true to the letter of the -bargain she made with Gunning years ago. Her sense of chivalry would -send her out post-haste to his aid, if that aid was required. She would -feel that he was making a tremendous sacrifice for her, and she would -at once be willing to make a tremendous sacrifice in return.” - -The little man paused, gazing at Clement. - -“That’s her nature; generous to folly. She gives greatly, tremendously, -if her heart is touched.... Well, that’s what these brutes have done. -As I see it, they have assessed her, sized her up. They have put -this plot into motion. Cunningly they have reawakened her interest in -Gunning; first, by that letter from him; then they got rid of the old -companion, and substituted this--this temptress from Canada. She has -spent all her days playing upon Heloise’s heart-strings. She has cast a -spell, a glamour, a damned romantic glamour, over that poor girl. She -has painted a picture of the stoic Gunning fighting against luck for -_her_. Painted him proud and silent and full of pluck, refusing to call -on her aid, though she has but to stretch out a finger, back up some -scheme of his, and he will win--he will win a fortune and win her. Oh, -they have painted for her a beauteous and beastly picture. The sort of -picture that can have but one effect on such a girl as Heloise. She has -become inspired by it. She sees the great and the generous way. If this -true man, Gunning, is too proud to cry for help, then she should be -proud to go to him and help him. She will make her sacrifice also.... -So--so off she packs to Canada. She starts out like a sort of rapturous -female knight-errant.” - -The little man had to stop, because his face and throat were working. - -“And then when she finds him,” he ended, his voice harsh with emotion, -“there’ll be a love scene ... and a marriage ... and then ... God knows -what _they_ will do then ... but as sure as I’m here, Clement Seadon, -they’ll get that million ... and I daren’t ask myself _how they will -get it_.” - -Clement stood stiff with the tragedy that had suddenly burst in horror -into that little cabin. - -“I daren’t ask myself how they will get that million,” the little -lawyer had said in emotion, and Clement shuddered. He saw the gaunt -and lonely mountains of Sicamous (wasn’t that the place?). The dark, -spruce-clad valleys, awfully lonely and awfully quiet. And in those -silent valleys away from man--away from help and discovery--anything -might happen. - -He had a quick vision of the beautiful and splendid girl, and his skin -crept with horror of--of the things that might happen. - -He found that he had very little to say. He muttered lamely, “You are -sure she is going out for this?” - -“To see Gunning? Yes. She told me so frankly.” - -“But--but to marry him?” - -“I think so. Of course she wouldn’t tell me that, but”--and a gleam in -his eye relieved the horror of the moment--“but I, as her lawyer, have -been called upon lately to settle heavy bills with all the milliners, -dressmakers, and purveyors of dainty feminine _trivia_ in the kingdom -of woman’s shopping. I don’t want to let you into delicate secrets; -but, even to the unsophisticated male, such wholesale buying seems to -point to one definite end.” - -“I am a--a bachelor in such matters,” said Clement, glad to get the -topic off the ugly strain. “But even with such preparations woman is -not doomed to marriage. After ten years--Henry Gunning may not be -likable. A man of the type you have described is an unpleasant object -when he goes to seed; as, no doubt, he has gone to seed.” - -“That gives me no ground for hope,” said the little lawyer. “He is -plausible. He will probably get himself up to the scratch for the time -being. Even this gang would see to that, don’t you think? His very -seediness may make him seem more romantic--women are so illogically -and amazingly made. And then in a lonely place.... No, the only safe -and settled thing is to prevent the marriage. For you to prevent the -marriage.” - -Clement laughed with a touch of annoyed self-consciousness. “After all -you’ve told me,” he said lamely, “I’ll keep my eye on her.” - -“No--make love to her,” snapped the little lawyer. - -“Perhaps I can advise her.” - -“Rubbish--make her love you. Advise her? Good Lord, can any man advise -a headstrong, well-educated young woman of the twentieth century. -Advise her? Haven’t I been advising her not to do this mad thing -for months! She’s certain of herself. She’s so practical about the -whole matter.--Advise her? You might just as well try to advise Mount -Popocatepetl to melt into the plain. Don’t attempt to advise. Do! Love -her. Marry her.” - -A sharp voice came swiftly along the gallery outside. A boy, running -with some urgency, was yelling a name. - -“Marry her, man,” snapped the little lawyer. “I’m cut off from her. I -can do nothing. I depend on you.” He listened to the boy’s yells. “My -name. I’m wanted.” He sprang to the door, ran up the alley-way to the -gallery. “Boy! Boy! I’m Mr. Hard. Want me?” - -A shrill voice yelled, “Lookin’ fer you everywhere, sir. Hurry. Ca’pen -Heavy’s compliments, you gotter get off the ship damn quick. Casting -off now. Look sharp, sir.” - -The little man swung round, called down the alley-way into which -Clement had come, “Got to go ashore. Don’t forget what you’ve got to -do.” - -“I’ll do my best,” cried the confused Clement. - -“Best! No good. Marry her.” - -“But, you see, she mightn’t----” - -“Marry her,” snapped the little lawyer, already on the run. “Don’t give -in to her. Make her marry you.” - -Running, he went along the gallery out of sight. - -Clement stared after him in bewilderment. - -“Holy romance!” he murmured to himself. “Here’s a thing with which to -begin a sea voyage.” - -He turned to go back to his cabin. Away along the gallery, by the -staircase that led up to the smoking room, he saw two men standing. -They were standing watching him. They stood there for but a second, and -then, with furtive quickness, they stepped back out of his sight. - -It had been a matter of an instant. But Clement had recognized both of -them. - -One was the steward with the evil face who had tried to get the little -lawyer off the ship, and had, so Clement felt, tried to get him off the -ship, too, by sending his luggage astray. - -The other was a tall, huge, almost excessive man. A man with little, -sinister eyes ... the man who had all but prevented his getting into -the train. The man whom he had seen close to his baggage before it went -astray. He was there watching Clement, talking to the evil steward in -an intimate way. - -“Ah,” reflected Clement. “So you _are_ in this. You are one of them.... -And now that I come to think things out, there was never any doubt of -it.” - -He sat down on his bunk to face the problem of saving the girl Heloise -from a gang of rogues, of whom the companion, Méduse, this huge man, -and the steward at least were members. - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -I - -Clement Seadon got up from his bunk almost as soon as he had sat -down on it. He was young, that is, he preferred swift action to deep -thinking. - -“It’s no good arguing about this,” he told himself. “It’s no good -telling one’s cautious soul that outside the cinematograph and the -painted pages of fiction, pretty young women _aren’t_ the victims -of gangs of rogues in this the twentieth century. She is. I’ve seen -her. I’ve seen the gang and already felt them at work.... I’ve had -circumstantial evidence pumped into me by that hurtling little lawyer. -It all sounds mad. It all sounds untrue. But it happens to be true. -I’ve got to do something.” - -He made a stride towards the door. He stopped. - -“Ah, yes,” he reflected. “I’ve got to do something--_what_?” - -He suddenly realized how easy it was to say “I’ve got to do something.” -How hard it was to do anything at all. - -What could he do? Rush out and confront the gang with their -villainies--idiotic idea. He’d probably be put into irons as an -irresponsible madman. There wasn’t any evidence. If there had been -any, the little lawyer would have acted upon it, the criminal gang -would have been slapped into jail before the ship sailed. Heloise--what -a really suitable name for her, Heloise; how it fitted her curious, -slim, rather _exaltè_ kind of beauty--Heloise would have been rescued -even before she started for Canada.... The voyage would not have been -undertaken.... - -On second thoughts he was rather glad there had been no evidence. Gang -or no gang, it was rather pleasant to think that Heloise Reys really -would be with him on the _Empress_ until they all reached Quebec.... -And perhaps he’d be with her longer. - -“All the same,” he reflected, “this isn’t going to be so simple as it -looks. I only know indirectly that there is a gang at work to ensnare -Heloise Reys. Nothing to go on except suspicion. Also, I must remember -that Heloise herself is, to all intents and purposes, on the side of -the gang. She wants to get to Henry Gunning and marry him. She does -regard the one member of the gang she knows, this Gorgon companion, -Méduse, not as an enemy, but as a tried, and trusted friend. If I do -unpleasant and senseless things to the gang I make Heloise my enemy, -through the Gorgon.... Oh, it’s infernally complicated. This isn’t a -matter for clumsy rough-and-tumble methods. This is a matter for wits, -for brain work, for guileful intelligence.... However, I fancy I have a -good share of guileful intelligence.” - -As a matter of fact Clement was doing himself rather less than -justice. He had rather more than his fair share of keen wits, only, -as one of his friends said, “one never noticed it because he was so -well-tailored.” - -Clement Seadon was one of those young Anglo-Saxons--and their number is -not so inconsiderable as our enemies imagined--who were responsible for -so many German failures during the war. They were so entirely unlike -the things they were capable of doing. - -Clement, for example, looked indolent. He looked easy-going. He looked -as if he cared for nothing very much, and hadn’t any particular -intelligence. He was obviously very careful about the set of his -clothes, and could be guaranteed to shine adequately in most sports -and at any social gathering. He had blunt, but neat features, that -conspired to give him a suggestion of geniality not easily moved -from an habitual calm. People felt they could not take him quite -seriously--until they suddenly bumped up against an extremely -disconcerting and swift coolness of wit. Only then, when they had been -“stung” did they note the squareness of the jaw and the lips, and the -broad and quite definite power of his brow. - -Clement Seadon, in fact, was rather a drastic sort of young man to -those who thought he didn’t matter very much. In the Diplomacy, -where he had served before the war, several quite brilliant brains -had chuckled at him for an amiable and well-dressed ninny, whom it -was ridiculously easy to twist round the finger. They had thought -this until a sharp reprimand from their Governments, and, on some -occasions, instant dismissal, taught them that some people are not so -simple as they look, and that the cheerful young man who had seemed -to them so easy a victim had actually been twisting them round _his_ -well-manicured fingers all the time--not they him. - -Clement was not in Diplomacy now; he had thrown up his job to go to -the front. His father, his only relative, had died during the war, so -that after the armistice he had found himself in complete control of a -very useful income, and with it a freedom to indulge his love of travel -and sport, which, up to the war, he had only been able to assuage -intermittently. - -He was, then, a young man entirely free to do as he liked. A young man -who preferred action, who did not ask for adventure, but wasn’t so very -sorry when adventure came along; and also a young man who knew quite -well how to enjoy the considerable mental faculties he happened to -possess.... He was, as the little lawyer had felt, quite the luckiest -ally Heloise could find in a battle against the powers of crime. - -Clement, thinking near his door, turned the matter over. - -“Obviously,” he thought, “I can do nothing just at present. I can’t -strike at them until I find out their plot and have proof that they are -criminals. What then? Consolidate my position with Heloise?--blessed -word consolidate. That’s the first and only move. I must get to know -her better; I must get her to trust in me. I must become intimate....” - -At that thought he suddenly switched round and shook his fist at the -place where he thought Liverpool must stand--the sound of machinery had -told him some time ago that the ship had begun to move. - -“Why _did_ you talk of marriage,” he said with irritation, obviously -referring to the little-head-long lawyer. “Marry the girl!... Marry -her, that actually complicates things. I shall ... I mean I should feel -just as much an adventurer, a conspirator, as this Henry Gunning person -if I did ... if I ever thought of doing such a thing.” And then, with -the inconsequence of the young, he said, “But she _is_ astonishingly -pretty and good company.... Oh, hang, that only makes it worse.” - -“Marry her,” he went on. “That’s quite absurd, of course. I mean--well, -it is quite absurd. She’s got her mind set on Henry Gunning ... and -she wouldn’t care twopence for a fellow like me. Indecent to think she -would.... No, marriage is a bee in that old lawyer’s bonnet. But I’ll -help. I’ll do all I can to help her. And that’s the first move; I’ll -now lay the solid foundations upon which real friendship can be based.” - -He went very quickly to the door of his cabin. - -“The first move, and I know how to make it.” - -He went quickly along the gallery. As he passed along the balcony that -overhung the dining saloon, he looked down at a little group of people -collected about one of the tables near the door. Yes, old Maxwell was -already filling up tables, and a few of the travel-wise were selecting -them. Clement smiled. He was glad he was travel-wise himself. - -But before he got to the end of the gallery he was pulled up in his -stride. His way was blocked by a very large, a very solid, an immovable -man. There was no getting past this human mountain. And the back of the -human mountain was towards him, and he was obviously deep in some most -absorbing contemplation. Clement said gently, “If you don’t mind.” And -then he said, “Sorry, do you mind my passing?” And then he said, “Would -you mind getting out of the way?” Then he touched the human mass on the -shoulder, and shouted in his ear, “I’m through. I’ve said everything I -can remember.... The next move’s with you.... Just move!” - -The dinosaur heaved a little. There was a perceptible undulation over -its surface. A voice came back. “What’s that?” - -“I want to pass,” said Clement. - -“Eh?” - -“I want to----” - -But Clement did not finish. The mass, as though the thing that had -held its attention had suddenly released it, came round with an almost -dismaying swiftness--how could such a bulk actuate with such rapidity. -A large man stood in front of Clement, bowing and apologizing.... -A large man who seemed genial only on the surface, whose eyes were -astonishingly close together, and looked steadily, not into Clement’s -eyes, but at something mystical across his shoulder. It was the large -fat man again. The large fat man who seemed instinctively to mix -himself up in Clement’s accidents. - -“I owe you a thousand apologies,” said the big man pleasantly and -without the slightest sense of right. “I did not know you were behind -me.” He smiled sleekly. “It seems that I am foredoomed to stand in your -way, sir.” - -“That,” Clement’s mind told him at once, “that is a threat--or a -warning.” And he answered in his pleasantest, young-fellow-about-town -voice, “Does seem a habit of mine to come stealing up behind, so to -speak.” - -“And that,” he told himself, “is also a threat, or warning. Only he -won’t see it. I’m much too well dressed.” - -“Ah, ‘behind,’ that has an ominous ring. Let us hope it is not -ominous,” smiled the large man with his artificial geniality, and he -stepped aside and let Clement by. - -And Clement went on musing, “But, by Jove! he _did_ see. That was -another warning. I shall have to keep my eyes on that large fellow. He, -too, has wits and doesn’t look it.” - -He ran down the accommodation stairs towards the dining saloon deck. On -that deck he received another shock. Coming through the swing doors of -the saloon was the Gorgon. She came out briskly with the gait of an old -traveler. She saw Clement, and she smiled. Clement thought it a smile -with malice behind it. As she passed him she nodded, and said brightly, -“Well, we’ve started them.” - -A commonplace remark. One of the ordinary, stupid, current phrases of -travelers by liner. It referred, possibly, to the fact that the ship -had sailed, that the voyage had started. It might mean only that. On -the other hand it mightn’t. In the light of that smile Clement reserved -his judgment until he had gone into the saloon. - -He greeted Maxwell, the chief steward, as an old friend, and asked if -there were any good tables left. - -“Nearly all the good tables,” said Maxwell. “Not many old travelers on -this trip. You can take almost anything you like.” - -Clement did not take what he liked. He examined the chart of tables and -saw that what he liked had already gone. He had planned to sit at the -same table as Heloise Reys. That is, he had schemed to be her companion -at meals all through the voyage. That was the recognized move of the -wise and old traveler. But he had not been wise quickly enough. As -he looked down the chart he saw the names “Miss Heloise Reys,” “Miss -Méduse Smythe” already inscribed. - -And Miss Heloise Reys and Miss Méduse Smythe were to occupy a small -table that would only accommodate two. - -He had received his first check. He understood why the large fat man -had blocked his way. He understood why the Gorgon had smiled with -meaning. - -They had started the game of wits, and the first trick was against him. - - -II - -They had scored the first trick, but it was not altogether a signal -advantage. It put Clement on his mettle. It enabled him to appreciate -exactly the type of rogues he was dealing with. There was going to -be nothing timid about their methods. They were bold and they were -clever, they were going to take hold of every advantage and push it -home ruthlessly. Clement did not mind that at all. He could be bold and -ruthless, too, and because of his apparently casual manner his boldness -and his ruthlessness could be carried off in a way which would baffle -them. - -In fact, no later than that afternoon, Clement, with an apparently -thoughtless inconsequence, began to baffle them. He played for the -second trick--and won it. - -It was obvious that from the first the gang meant to block him from -Heloise’s side. Clement smiled as he saw the little comedy being -played. The Gorgon clung to the girl tenaciously. To double the guard, -so to speak, the large fat rogue was called in. - -They were clever. They played with infinite skill. The mountain of a -man was drawn in with brilliant casualness. Heloise and the Gorgon -looked at Ireland over the taffrail. They talked about Ireland. The -Gorgon made a conspicuous mistake about an Irish headland ... and -there was the large fat man putting her right, standing already one of -that little group pouring out attractive facts about Ireland with a -pleasant, well-informed politeness. - -It was one of those swift shipboard acquaintances. The apparent -stranger had skillfully inserted himself into the duologue between the -Gorgon and Heloise, and the Gorgon had, as skillfully, drawn him into -the circle. - -Clement, who had been hovering in the background saw what it meant. One -of them, now, would always be at the girl’s side; effectually putting a -stop to any particular and personal approach of his own. - -The three watched Ireland until they had had enough of it. Then they -walked the deck a little. Then the two ladies sat down, and the fat -man, with invincible politeness, walked away. Clement exchanged a few -words with the two women in their deck chairs; pleasant words, but of -no effect. The Gorgon showed no signs of moving, Heloise was too polite -to move away from the Gorgon. - -The lunch bugle went, and they were separated. After lunch the Gorgon -and Heloise were inseparable. They sat on deck chairs again. Tea came. -Clement found that the Gorgon had whisked the girl into an alcove in -the lounge. He was about to join them boldly, when the big fat man -materializing with his unexpected swiftness, crossed the lounge and -planted himself in the only other seat available. Clement smiled and -sat and had his own tea and waited. He watched the trio. Presently his -chance came. The fat man and the Gorgon suddenly involved themselves in -one of those duologues in which the third person plays the part of a -listener only. As the two talked Clement crossed to them swiftly and -quietly--and snapped the girl from under their very noses. - -It was one of those simple acts that baffle the clever. Clement slipped -round behind the discussion, as it were, and said to the girl, “Coming -for a stroll, Miss Reys?” - -And Heloise came--alone. There was nothing for the others to do. To -break off their discussion to fence with this pleasant young man -would have looked strange. To come out with the girl was certainly -impossible, for they had not been invited. They had to remain, -apparently unconcerned, if they were not to draw attention to -themselves and their actions. - -And in his casual way Clement clinched his victory by drawing attention -to any future “blockading” action the precious pair might attempt. - -He took Heloise up to the boat deck, and found chairs and placed them -in a spot that could only accommodate two, which was also quite neatly -screened from casual view. He sighed, “Oh, well, this is very much -better.” - -“It isn’t strolling, anyhow,” laughed Heloise. - -“Oh, I didn’t want to stroll, I just wanted to be selfish,” smiled -Clement. “I wanted you to myself. There seem to have been millions of -people about you ever since we came aboard.” - -“Scarcely millions,” she smiled back. “Only my companion and that -rather stout, quite pleasant Mr. Neuburg.” - -“Only those,” said Clement, underlining the personality and the actions -of the pair deliberately, “but they do seem to be rather clinging.... -Always there seems to be a great crowd barring the way....” - -“Always,” she laughed. “But we’ve only been on board half a day.” - -“Perhaps I was looking forward,” said Clement, ingeniously emphasizing -his point. “I saw it happening every day, every hour of the day, for -the rest of the voyage.” - -“You’re unnecessarily gloomy,” laughed the girl, not altogether -displeased at the interest this good-looking young man took in her. “It -won’t happen every hour every day.” - -And Clement, with an inward chuckle, thought it wouldn’t. He left it -at that. He had won that trick. Not merely would he have _tête-à-tête_ -talks with Heloise in the future, but he had so emphasized the attitude -of the pair of rogues that their attempts to shut him out from Heloise -must only engender suspicion in her mind. - -After a moment’s silence Heloise said, “You’re rather hard on Mr. -Neuburg. He’s a very pleasant person, and quite well-informed about -Canada.” - -“I’m quite well-informed about Canada myself,” said Clement. - -“About shooting--sport”--she teased him. - -“That--and other things,” Clement laughed back. “I know appearances are -against me, but, really, there’s a solid core inside. I know quite a -lot about Canadian industries, for instance.” - -It was a casual remark delivered with an inconsequence that covered up -the deliberate meaning Clement had put into it. And it struck home, as -Clement had meant it to. - -“Really!” she cried. “Industrial things--you know something about -Canadian industries?” She was eager at once. - -“Quite a lot,” said Clement. “You see, even if I didn’t happen to -be keen--which I am--I’d have to take a personal interest. I’ve -money invested in quite a number of Canadian concerns--agricultural -machinery, fruit farms, grain areas, mines----” - -“Mines!” breathed the girl. “Do you know something about mines?” - -Under his casual easiness Clement Seadon thrilled. He had suspected -from the beginning that the venture in which Henry Gunning was supposed -to need backing must be mines; the district in which he lived pointed -to that. But here was confirmation of that suspicion. He had touched -the matter which was the foundation of the plot at his first attempt -to find out. And he had also obviously done more. He had made the girl -feel that he was a sympathetic and knowledgeable person to whom it -would be easy to talk about mines and the prospects of mining. And, in -fact, he _was_ just that person. He said, “I know, I think, a very -fair amount about mines. Oh, but not merely on the investing, but on -the practical side, too. Before the war I went out for three months -with a prospecting party--not as a fortune hunter, but as one who -wanted to learn. It’s rather a fad of mine to get to know how things -are done from the bottom up. As some of our money was invested in -mines, it seemed to me that I should have a working knowledge of the -whole proposition.” - -“And you did your prospecting--where?” she asked, a little breathlessly. - -“Oh--in Canada,” he said. And then he paused. Should he risk being -specific? Would it frighten her to hear the name of the very place -where Henry Gunning, her old lover, was living; and would that put her -on her guard against him--as she had been on her guard against the -questions of the little lawyer? Or would it, on the other hand, draw -out confidences? He rather felt it might. He was, as far as she knew, -quite outside her concerns, and she might want to learn things, just as -he wanted to learn everything as early as possible if he was to act. -And then as he hesitated, she said with extraordinary eagerness, “In -Canada; but what part of Canada?” - -Her eagerness decided Clement. “In British Columbia,” he answered, as a -man mentioning something of no purpose. “To be exact, in the mountain -valleys in the south of British Columbia. There’s a whole string -of valleys there with rather beautiful lakes in ’em. We started at -Penticton, on Okanagan Lake, and worked up northward.... They mostly -grow apples and peaches there, but there was a good deal of mineral -about, we’d heard. Anyhow--I say, I hope I’m not boring you--anyhow, -we pushed slowly up those valleys to a little one-horse place called -Sicamous----” - -“Sicamous!” she cried, her eyes very bright, her cheeks exquisitely -flushed, and for a moment Clement wondered if he had done right to -mention that name. “Sicamous! But that’s real luck--for me, I mean. I -actually want to learn something first-hand about Sicamous--and about -the mining in those districts....” - -With a throb of excitement and satisfaction, Clement, looking exactly -like an Englishman who was no more interested than he should be when a -pretty woman gave him her confidences, leaned forward to hear the next -important words. And.... - -“Oh ... Loise.... Forgive me, Miss Heloise.... Where did you put the -aspirin tablets?... I have a terrible headache.... I went to the cabin, -and could not find them.... And I’ve looked for you everywhere....” - -Before them stood the Gorgon smiling apologetically, wearily, but at -the same time determinedly. She had arrived just at the right moment to -interrupt revelations. - - -III - -The Gorgon did interrupt revelations, but, as Clement had planned, -the trick he had scored was a most useful one. More useful from -the fact that the pair of rogues did not know how effectively the -inconsequent-looking young Briton had taken measures against them. That -is, they still continued the tactics of trying to shut Clement off from -intimacy with Heloise.... The very method Clement had delicately drawn -the girl’s attention to. - -And of course the girl began to notice that the Gorgon was always at -her side with a sort of leechlike doggedness. She began to notice that -the massive Mr. Neuburg inevitably took up the siege, as it were, -whenever her companion was away. Mr. Neuburg talked cleverly and also -incessantly, but he wasn’t young and he wasn’t that rather attractive -Mr. Seadon. Without realizing anything of its meaning, she felt that -Mr. Seadon was, as he had laughingly suggested, being barred out by a -crowd. - -She began to show irritation--and independence. Mr. Neuburg found she -was leaving him in the middle of conversations. Méduse Smythe could -produce nothing important enough to hold her mistress at her side. The -twain were not fools. They recognized they were beaten. They ceased -their attentions with a brilliant naturalness, but Clement knew that -the eyes of Mr. Neuburg watched him always as he walked with Heloise. - -Clement knew that the intelligence that was busy considering him was -not one to be despised. He did not know the extent of the gang working -to ensnare Heloise, but he felt that Neuburg was probably the brains -of it, the master mind, and that he would act in a masterly manner, -leaving very little to chance. To checkmate such a fellow would call -for all his ability--and perhaps all his strength and courage. - -All the same, though he was constantly on the alert, Clement made -the most of his opportunities with Heloise. It was for the good of -Heloise--and it was extraordinarily attractive for himself. He wasn’t -going to marry her. That was absurd.... How could he? Only--only -she was decisively and radiantly pretty. The singular glowing -curd-whiteness of her skin, the vividness of her beautiful and delicate -lips against the coolness of that skin, the clearness and steadiness of -her eyes--all these things gave him an eversharpening sense of delight -whenever he set eyes on her. - -And her step suited his so perfectly. On board ship, one is immensely -appreciative of any one whose step suits one perfectly. Her tall figure -swung so gracefully, so untiringly, beside him as they walked, no -matter if the sea was as smooth as polished glass--which the Atlantic -rarely is--or whether there was a “lop” on. She was as physically -fit and as hard as he was, and she took the same zest in out-of-door -things. He felt a sort of comradeship, a rightness in the fact that -they should stride up and down the promenade deck together in such a -perfect unison as almost to suggest they were one.... - -As though they were one!... but, of course, that was idiotic. They -weren’t one. There was no suggestion of their being one. One--that -meant marriage. And that question didn’t come up. Although, of course, -the little lawyer had said ... “Oh, hang the little lawyer!” he -muttered. - -“Who are you hanging?” asked Heloise, who was near and who had heard -the most lethal part of his muttering. - -“I was hanging this top-heavy sea,” said Clement genially. “I wanted -to show you the captain’s bridge--I’ve got permission--but with this -lop....” - -“Show me the captain’s bridge--now,” she laughed back. “The lop doesn’t -matter--not a _hang_.” - -That was part of her attraction. She really didn’t care a hang about -things that made other people uncomfortable. She enjoyed risks. She was -daring enough to go anywhere, see everything. They adventured into all -the strange and usually unseen parts of that splendid ship, even as far -as the boiler room. She was eager, she was interested in everything, -she had a zest for life. She was an ideal chum. More and more he began -to perceive that she was the ideal chum--anyhow for one particular man. -And presently he was saying not “Hang the little lawyer,” but “Hang -Henry Gunning.” - -Because both had a healthy disregard for exposure, and a healthy regard -for fresh air, they became almost the sole occupants of the breezy boat -deck. There they sat daily and talked; there in the evenings they sat, -and sometimes did not talk. - -In their talks they found splendid affinities. They found that they -liked so many similar things: not merely sports, books, theaters, the -open country and the other solaces of life, but other more significant -things. They found that both cared most in life for character: for -honesty, straightness, generosity, high-mindedness. They liked -intelligent people rather than merely jolly ones. They liked people who -did things rather than people who played at doing things. They found -that they had a mutual austerity of ideal in their way of looking at -problems ... would rather be the losers in anything than win underhand; -they would take the difficult path if it was the right one, rather than -the easy if it were wrong. - -This brought them dangerously near to the core of the matter they -were both engaged on, dangerously near Henry Gunning ... yet both -instinctively veered away from that. - -But he had come in when she spoke of her journey to Canada--though -even in this he came in only as “a friend, an old friend in whom I am -interested.” - -This happened when they talked about Sicamous one night. - -“I am going as far as Sicamous, at any rate,” she had said. “And that -reminds me, there are things I wanted to ask you about Sicamous.... -Perhaps you remember--we were interrupted?” - -“Something about mines, wasn’t it?” said Clement with a careful -casualness. - -“Yes.... I want you to tell me all about mines in that area.... -Now--please tell me.” - -Clement laughed with a touch of dismay. - -“But _all_ about them. That’s a terrifically large order. In the first -place, there’s nothing to say about them--and then there’s everything.” - -“That sounds enigmatic. You’ll have to explain.” - -“I mean by that there are not so very many mines--those at Nelson, on -Kootenay Lake--silver-mines, they are--are perhaps the most important. -But, on the other hand, it’s always supposed that there are great -possibilities among those rocky valleys.” - -“Ah,” breathed the girl, “there are possibilities then.” - -“Not thinking of going in for mining, are you?” Clement teased--and -with a reason. - -“N-o,” said the girl. “It’s rather--it’s rather because a friend of -mine is interested. Deeply interested. I wanted to learn if there is -any foundation for--for expecting big things, immense returns from -mining in the Sicamous district.” - -Clement was excited. Then it was mining. That was the venture Henry -Gunning was supposed to need backing for. He answered without any show -of his emotion. “What exactly are your friend’s interests--silver, -copper, gold?” - -“All of them,” she answered quickly, and Clement though he saw the -character of Gunning at once in that report. Your unsuccessful -prospector is rather like that. He hasn’t merely a Golconda of one -metal up his sleeve--he has all the rare metals in the world, only -asking to be picked out of the surface ... if only some one will -oblige with the money to buy picks. “All of them,” repeated the girl. -“I understand that--that the claims (that’s right, isn’t it?) pegged -out show rich veins of gold, copper and silver, and there’s also -nickel--even platinum. It--is that possible?” - -“I will say,” said Clement candidly, “It’s held to be possible. -Prospectors are always saying that the whole of the district is a -likely place for--yes, all those minerals.” - -“These particular claims have been assayed and show excellent results.” - -“They have, however, to be worked, I take it,” said Clement. “With -mines you can’t really tell until they have been worked.” - -“Oh----” said the girl rather pitifully. “Then don’t you think there -is a possibility of an--an immense fortune in claims showing such good -sample results?” - -“There might be. There is always that possibility.... On the other -hand, I should advise your friend to go with extreme caution.” - -“You’re not--you’re not very stimulating,” she said ruefully. - -“I’m just being as honest as I can,” said Clement, with a meaning she -could not appreciate, for actually he was. His whole instinct told him -to pour the coldest of cold water upon that mining scheme--and yet he -couldn’t altogether in fairness do that. - -“I believe you are,” she said softly, and with a surprising intuition -she added, “I believe you’d be honest even against your own interests.” - -In the tiny and quite significant pause that followed that touch of -curiously personal intimacy, Clement felt bound to say, “You see, Miss -Heloise, mining is a risky venture. You can throw away more money -and more easily in mining than you can in anything else--not even -excepting theaters and newspapers. There are so many things that make -it a gamble. The lode or stope may peter out. There may be immense -difficulties in cutting shafts. There may be fatal drawbacks in the -matter of transport, of working, of labor, and scores of things.... -Mineral finds that look good at the first assay may not pay for their -keep when they come to be worked. I know these valleys. We came -across some seams that looked good. They looked enormously good to a -tenderfoot like myself, for example. But the experts with the party -wouldn’t look at them. Nothing in them. Not worth the blasting.... Your -friend certainly should be advised to move with the greatest care in -this matter.” - -The girl was silent for a while. - -“It hurts so to shatter people’s dreams,” she said in a low voice. -And then she said on a lighter note, “But I remember--you talked of -difficulties that turned on transport; most of the difficulties do, -don’t they?” - -“Yes; it’s lack of transport facilities that kills most mining -ventures.” - -“Well,” cried the girl, with glee, “that’s a difficulty that doesn’t -hold good here.... The railway runs within a very short distance of the -claims. Doesn’t that make it sound more hopeful?” - -Clement said decisively, “It makes it sound hopeless.” - -“Mr. Seadon!” she protested, aghast. - -“It does,” said Clement, sure of himself. “Miss Heloise, if those -claims are only a very short distance from the railway, then they -are claims that could not have been overlooked. Don’t you see ... -railwaymen, engineers, prospectors, scores of people must have had a -chance of poking round. If there had been anything good there, it would -have been found long ago. And as it hasn’t happened--well----” - -“You think there is no chance at all,” said the girl in dismay. - -“I think,” said Clement impressively--this, he felt, was his great -opportunity. He must drive home truth into the soul of this girl, -though it was painful--“I think that you--that your friend should go -into this matter with the most scrupulous attention, that you--that -your friend should commit himself” (in his stress he overlooked the -gender he had employed) “in no way. All the dealings should be made -through unbiased experts--unbiased, Miss Heloise; some big mining -consultants with a reputation for straight-dealing.... Nobody locally. -I urge you to impress upon your friend the need of the greatest care.” - -The girl gave a gasp. It was a gasp of misery. Clement felt sore and -sorry for her--but he must say what he had to say. Then she said with -pain, “Then you think--you think there might be something--underhand -about such a venture.” - -“Yes,” said Clement slowly, “I think there is a great possibility of -there being something underhand in it--from what you tell me.” - -“O-oh,” sighed the girl, and she fell back in her chair. Clement knew -why she was overcome. His confirmation of the suspicions that the -little lawyer Hartley Hard had fired at her, had forced her soul to -face an ugly conviction. - -Clement, inexpressibly sorry for her, followed her action with his -eyes. He would like to help her, he felt in his heart an almost -agonized desire to do something to soothe her wounded soul. She was -so gentle, so young to have suffered a shock. He half turned in his -eagerness to help her. - -Something--a shadow where there should have been the gray-blue light of -the open sea--caused him to lift his eyes. - -Behind her chair, close behind, crouching against the bow of the boat -that shielded them from the wind, filling up the space through which -Clement should have been able to gaze straight out to sea, he saw a -figure. - -A great, a bulky figure. The black, the stealthy figure of a mountain -of a man--listening. - -He poised there for a minute--then he vanished. - - -IV - -Heloise had had her warning--_and_ so had Mr. Neuburg. - -What effect his warning would have on the girl, Clement did not know. -Time alone would show that. But he knew what would be the effect on -the big and sinister man. - -It would be a direct declaration of war. Neuburg had heard something -which must tell him definitely that he--Clement Seadon--meant to -prevent Heloise Reys from having anything to do with Henry Gunning and -his wild-cat schemes. - -In other words the mountainous Mr. Neuburg knew that Clement meant -to prevent him getting the million pounds which he considered his -legitimate plunder. And if Clement knew anything that was not the sort -of threat that the big man would suffer quietly. - -It was going to be a fight, and, an ugly one. He made no mistake -about this Neuburg. He was a brilliant fellow and a criminal to boot. -He would not only employ all his cunning, but he would also stop at -nothing to gain his ends. Clement was perfectly certain that if it came -to the pinch, Mr. Neuburg would kill him, or have him killed, if he -felt it necessary. - -But that thought only stiffened him. When he thought of Heloise and -her beauty and her trustfulness at the mercy of such blackguards, his -heart might grow sick, but his chin grew stiff also. He was not going -to allow Heloise to be their victim. - -He’d beat the scoundrels. But how? - -In his cabin after he had said good-night to Heloise, he thought it -out. Against a gang the odds were decidedly not in his favor. He could -be smothered by sheer weight if he fought them direct. Should he play -carefully to try and win Heloise to reason? Not a trustworthy policy. -They would be working against him all the time, and the slightest -slip might prove disastrous. Should he wait and expose this mining -scheme with his own knowledge? Dangerous again, there was no saying -how Heloise’s emotions might react when she saw her old lover, or what -cunning trick Mr. Neuburg might spring to win her emotions. - -What then? - -The words of the little lawyer rose up. “Make her love you! Marry her!” - -By Jove, after all, that little lawyer was right. It was the only sure -thing. Marry her and her quixotic trip was finished. Marry her and -Gunning was ended and all that Gunning stood for. Marry her.... - -“And I _want_ to marry her,” he said to his looking glass. “Clement, -my dear ass, do look things in the face. You think she’s adorable. The -way she smiles; the way she lifts that soft little chin of hers; the -sound of her voice; that boyish brave air of hers ... all of her is -adorable. You know you want her, you know you want to marry her. Why -put on this ‘She loves another’ pose? She doesn’t really love him--it’s -just sentiment; while she does--well, she’s awfully fond of you. She -is, don’t pretend. Propose to her at once, propose to her before you -reach Quebec and you’ll carry her away. Marry her, that’s it, you want -to and you’ll also put a spoke in their wheels.” - - -V - -And even while he was contemplating putting a spoke in the wheel of the -gang, it was actually putting a spoke in his. - -He went to bed full of this happy resolve. - -“To-morrow,” he said, “I’ll propose.” - -The big Mr. Neuburg had slipped from his hiding place, with that -curious silent swiftness which went so strangely with his bulk, crossed -the boat deck noiselessly, and went down to the promenade. - -He found the Gorgon sitting there, and he dropped into the seat beside -her. What he had to say was not very much, but it was apparently to the -point. She listened attentively, nodded, and when he finished she rose. - -But before she went to her cabin, she took from him a paper. - -“Make this your opening,” Mr. Neuburg said. “I know you are clever; -this is a time for being very clever. Be very natural ... be very -sympathetic ... do not pretend this letter has any significance for -you.” - -When Heloise, tired and dispirited, came down to the cabin, she -found her companion already half undressed. Not very talkative, she -never was, but showing no emotion against or for anybody--Clement, -of course, was the anybody. It was no different from any of the -going-to-bed scenes that had taken place since they came on board--that -is, it wasn’t until Heloise, stretching out her hand for her hairbrush, -that inevitable feminine implement, encountered a folded sheet of -notepaper. She picked it up absently. It was a business letter, that -had been folded lengthways in three, and the printed heading was on the -outside. She read the name of the firm which had sent it--Rigby & Root. - -“Méduse,” she said in a surprised voice. “Did I leave this lying about?” - -“Did you leave what lying about, Loise?” said the companion in a quiet -voice, though, for all her apparent indifference, her singularly -immobile eyes seemed to gleam below the surface. - -“This letter--from my lawyers?” - -At that, “Yes, you did,” said the companion--there was the nicest tinge -of reproach in her voice; it was beautifully done. “You did--on the -promenade deck. Yes, my dear Loise, it was on the very deck. I actually -kicked it out of my way before it occurred to me that it really was a -letter and not a dirty piece of paper. Then I picked it up, and saw -that name on the outside--Rigby & Root. And I was surprised--your -lawyers, of course; I knew that--so naturally I brought it straight -down here....” - -“How could I have taken it up on deck?” said Heloise, puzzled. - -“That I don’t know,” said Méduse pleasantly. “Unless you are like -me, and use the first thing that comes to hand as a bookmarker. It’s -not always wise. I remember once opening a book at a young woman’s -religious instruction class, and the piece of paper I had used as a -marker slipped out for all to see ... and it was a handbill of the most -lurid sort of play--a very fast play even. You see I....” Her manner -was gossipy, perfect, but she did not have to carry her garrulous -anecdote to a finish. - -First, Heloise said, “But a lawyer’s letter.” And then with a sort of -gasp she cried, “But it’s not my letter.” - -The Gorgon switched round, smiling indulgently. “My dear ... but I saw -the name at the top--Rigby & Root.” - -“Yes, it’s from Rigby & Root,” said Heloise in a curious voice, for she -was at that moment, and abruptly, a prey to strange emotions of doubt -and suspicion. - -“Well, if it’s from Rigby & Root----” said the Gorgon indolently. - -“It’s addressed to Mr. Clement Seadon,” said Heloise in a dry voice. - -The Gorgon’s look of smiling amazement was an admirable piece of -acting. “But, my dear--whatever are your lawyers writing to Mr. Seadon -about?” - -And that well-barbed dart was fired with beautiful precision. Without -the slightest appearance of malice, the Gorgon had underscored the -significant fact that Mr. Clement Seadon was connected with the little -lawyer Hartley Hard (a partner in Rigby & Root), who had shown himself -so prejudiced against Henry Gunning and Heloise’s journey to Canada. -She looked at the girl, her eyebrows raised in faint amusement and -surprise. “What could Mr. Hard be writing to Mr. Seadon about?” - -Heloise did not read other people’s letters, but the circumstances made -it impossible for her not to read that short and very businesslike -communication. It was unthrilling. It dealt with the sale of certain -stocks, and the buying of certain bonds. It was not signed by the -irritating Mr. Hard. She said, “It’s not from Mr. Hard. It’s from -Mr. Root himself” (Rigby was dead). “And it’s about nothing in -particular--just business. Apparently Rigby & Root are Mr. Seadon’s -lawyers also.” - -Heloise had an air of dismissing any implication of underhand conduct. -But she had not dismissed it. The surprising fact, brought before her -mind so suddenly and neatly, made her feel that she had been trusting -somebody who could not be trusted. He was in league with the man who -had tried to hamper her movements.... She tried to tell herself, of -course, that there was no ground for such a thought; people can have -the same lawyers without conspiring with those lawyers. But the shock -of it, the coincidence of it cut the ground from under her.... This -young man who had only just now taken pains to set her against Henry -Gunning and his mining schemes was intimate with her lawyers, who had -also taken pains to set her against Henry Gunning.... The facts seemed -too pronounced to admit of coincidence.... And while she was feeling -sore, rankled, the clever companion pushed the barb of suspicion a -little deeper. - -“How strange that you should both have the same lawyers,” she said with -an air of innocent wonder. “How strange that he should know that Mr. -Hard who has been so annoying to you.” - -It was, of course, the attitude of Méduse Smythe to pretend that -she had little or nothing to do with Heloise’s trip to Canada. She -pretended all along to play a passive part. All the initiative was -supposed to come from Heloise. - -Méduse Smythe was clever. She had the master brain of Mr. Neuburg to -prompt her, and she had played her cards subtly, so that although -it was she alone who had inspired the high-minded girl to undertake -this adventure, she was yet able to pose as no more than a lucky and -accidental link in the chain of circumstances. Heloise thought of her -only as a companion who was but faintly and sentimentally interested in -an act of her employer’s life over which she had no control. It was to -keep up this air of being altogether outside the business that Méduse -had said not that Mr. Hard was annoying to “us,” but that “Mr. Hard had -been so annoying to _you_.” - -Her attitude gave her so many advantages. Thus when Heloise said in -answer to that little flick on the raw, “I wonder whether he knows -Mr. Hard?” she was able to say with an admirable and impersonal air. -“Well, it didn’t seem important before, but it may explain why he has -monopolized you since you came on board.” - -Heloise was suddenly aware how easily, how frequently she had slipped -off with Clement Seadon. Had he monopolized her? Why----? She -remembered how she had talked to him about Sicamous, about mining. How -he had warned her.... Was that the reason? His lawyers were her lawyers -... her lawyers had warned her, too. Was that the reason? - -And then as the girl sat quietly, feeling suspicious, miserable, -hurt, the clever Miss Méduse Smythe improved the shining hour. She -fired another little barb: “Of course, you are both young, and he is -very handsome and has charming ways with him--I could understand your -getting on so well together ... indulging in even a little ship-board -flirtation.” - -Heloise gasped. She was acutely conscious of Clement’s good looks, his -charming ways--had they been used to an end? And flirting--had she -flirted? - -“You think I have been flirting?” she said in a low, breathless voice. - -“You?” smiled Miss Méduse tolerantly. “Oh, no, I don’t think you -flirted, my dear. I know how you feel about your Mr. Gunning.” Heloise -winced. She had not been feeling very much about Mr. Gunning lately. -She was unpleasantly reminded of her inconstancy--as Miss Méduse Smythe -meant her to be reminded. “I knew you were safe enough,” the smiling -companion went on, “but I don’t know about that young man.... He -seemed, well, yes, I must say, I think he flirted.” - -That practically ended the conversation. A conversation with apparently -very little in it, but a very telling conversation all the same. -When Heloise went to bed she carried it with her. And as she tossed -unsleeping, its different phases kept turning over in her mind, turning -over and over with something of the steady throbbing of the engines in -their ceaselessness. - -So that while Clement Seadon, also awake, was tossing in his bunk, -the throb of the engines beating out entrancingly the thoughts, “I’ll -marry her ... I love her and I’ll marry her ... I’ll make her marry -me ... I’ll save her through loving her....” Heloise lay awake asking -herself: “Is he in league against me? Is he tricking me? After all I -thought of him, isn’t he tricking me? His lawyers are my lawyers. He -has wormed out my secret from me ... things my lawyers did not know. -Things they wanted to know? Was that accidental, or was it cunning? Is -he fighting against--Harry?” She shivered in disgust at herself. “Harry -... have I acted honorably towards Harry? I have flirted with this man -... flirted! I’ve enjoyed his company, I’ve come to like him ...” she -could not go on. She dare not go on. She dare not put her feelings for -Clement Seadon under close examination.... “I’ve behaved dishonorably. -I’ve forgotten Harry for this man who has--has been working against -Harry.” Her heart chilled. “Perhaps his--his flirting with me was part -of his plan against Harry....” - -The whole of these thoughts jumbled and tumbled together in her -anguished mind. The duplicity of Clement Seadon became entangled -with her own inconstancy towards Henry Gunning, until, in the end, -they became one and the same thing, and Seadon was the archvillain -responsible for all ... as the adroit Mr. Neuburg and the clever Miss -Méduse Smythe had meant him to be. - -And so when the morning came Clement rose saying with immense purpose, -“I’ll do it to-day. It’s the last day; to-morrow we land. I will tell -her I love her to-day. I’ll _make_ her love me.” - -As he said that with great cheerfulness, Heloise, rising, jaded, worn -out, with a mind incapable of clear and unprejudiced thought, said, “I -must find out. I’ll put it to the test. I’ll confront him with this -letter. And if I am right....” - -She knew a little pain, but that only strengthened her resolve. If she -found out she was right, then it would be finished. Clement Seadon -would not be allowed to intrude into her life again. - - -VI - -It was the last day of the voyage, and Clement Seadon, supremely -conscious of the fact, was feeling baffled. - -Again Heloise Reys was proving unapproachable. Again he was finding it -difficult to get near her because of the crowd about her. The blockade -of the first days of the trip was resumed. - -But now Clement could not view this blockade with equanimity. He could -not smile and bide his time--there was no time. Already they were -passing up the mighty river St. Lawrence, already the end of the voyage -was in sight. A few hours only were all that were left to him. He must -get her alone. - -He could not get her alone--not for a moment. And as the day -relentlessly advanced, a further, a more disturbing thought was born -in upon him--she did not want to be left alone with him. He began -to realize this with a sense of dismay. It was she who was putting -barriers between them. It was she who kept her companion close at her -side, who actually invited the big man to fill the vacancy when the -companion went away. It was not the pair shutting him out; it was -Heloise herself deliberately shutting him out with the pair. - -He could not understand it. She had left him in perfect friendliness -last night. There was no hint of misunderstanding--estrangement. Why -had she changed? What was causing her to stand so aloof from him? Was -it the doing of that precious rascally pair? Was it anything he himself -had done or said? Was it, perhaps, the way he had talked about the -mining venture? He did not think so. He knew that had pained her--that -could not be helped; but it had not offended her. She had left him, -well, in such a manner that he had felt confident of winning her as a -lover.... - -No, it wasn’t that--but what was it? Some deep and cunning game of -those rogues. Something subtle and devilish emanating from the brain of -that master villain Neuburg--that was the only explanation. But what -it was he could not find out. And the fact that there was so little -time to find out, win back her confidence--that and the real ardor he -felt for her, robbed his wits of their habitual steadiness, made them -unstable, in a crisis. - -And the crisis came. It came with an unfair abruptness. It could not -be aught else, for Heloise’s wits were also in something of a whirl. -She was dreading the moment of confronting Clement, just as she was -determined that she would do so. Her mind had been an affair of veering -unstability all day. Now she believed him to be underhand, now she -disbelieved. Now she hated him, now she thought he could do nothing -dishonorable. Now she made up her mind to go to him, now she held back. -She was a mass of hesitations and decisions; she was hot, and she was -cold. - -She made up her mind only a few minutes before the dressing-bugle -sounded. Clement had tramped past her in dark loneliness, had turned -and passed round the end of the deck. She felt, “I must do it now -or never.” With an indefinite gesture, more than half an appeal for -support, to her companion, she rose and went after him. - -She expected to see him on the other side of the deck, and she would -call him and hand him his letter.... But when she reached the end of -the deck she actually ran into him. He had swung round on his heel, -returned in his tracks.... As a matter of fact, he had made up _his_ -mind to talk to her, to demand an explanation from her. - -They met. It was a shock. They stared at each other a little -breathless. Then, “This is your letter,” said Heloise. - -Clement took it, looked at it, frowned. - -“Yes, it is,” he said. “But how on earth....” Heloise wasn’t going to -trouble about trivial explanations. - -“I looked at it because Rigby & Root are my lawyers as well as your -own--did you know that?” - -Clement was too honest, as well as too startled, to tell anything but -the truth. - -“Yes, I did know it,” he said. - -Heloise’s breath caught in something like a sob. There was a sudden -blaze of contempt and anger in her heart; she had trusted this man ... -and liked him. - -“And you knew about me ... about the reason of my voyage?” - -“Miss Reys----” he began. - -“Did you?” she cried. “Did you?” - -“Yes, I knew, but----” - -“You knew,” she cried at him, and her face was white. “And you were -acting in the interests of--of Mr. Hard?...” - -Clement stared at her. This sudden attack had left his wits woolly and -bewildered. And, of course, he was, in a sense, acting in the interests -of Mr. Hard. If he said he wasn’t he would be lying. And yet Mr. Hard -wasn’t the whole of the thing ... but the whole of the thing.... How -could he explain it to her in this unsympathetic mood, in the presence -of her archenemy and his, Miss Méduse?... He couldn’t explain. He could -only temporize. He cried, “Miss Reys ... there is an explanation behind -it all....” - -He got no further. Heloise read his hesitation correctly. He _was_ -acting for Mr. Hard. He had, under the guise of friendship, been -conspiring against her.... - -She turned about. Clutching the arm of the clever Miss Méduse Smythe -she walked away, left him. - - -VII - -The first thing Clement Seadon did was to give way to one of those -outbursts of anger that, in time, bring calmness. They had scored over -him--they had tricked him, these blackguards. They had dealt him a very -damaging blow. - -Then from this anger against their very definite triumph, his cooling -brain turned to the matter which had helped them to score that point. -The explanation he found was perfectly simple. That letter had been -stolen from his despatch case. He was not of the type that leaves -letters lying about, particularly lawyers’ letters. Theft, that was the -solution. Some one had been through his effects. They had found this -letter, appreciated its worth as a means of alienating Heloise. They -had been clever, as clever as he thought they were, and had struck at -him at the psychological moment. - -Who had been the thief? That, again, was easy. Who else but the -rascally steward, a fellow in their pay, a member of the gang, who had -the right to come and go in all the cabins. And, now that the thing -was brought acutely to his mind, he recalled seeing the rogue hanging -about in the gallery, conspicuously near his door. He remembered him, -not merely because of his redoubtably evil face, but also because he -was so resolutely dirty.... His should-be white steward’s jacket had a -beastly and disfiguring stain of yellow--rust, perhaps--up the left arm -and shoulder. - -Yes, that criminal-looking steward was the thief--but what matter? That -part was passed and over. Could the thing be remedied? It looked black. -It looked as though Heloise Reys would for the future hold him at arm’s -length--only she must not. For her own sake, if not for his, he must -prevent her holding him at arm’s length. He must speak with her. - -It would be difficult. He might see and be able to speak to her -to-night, after dinner, but he was not hopeful. She would evade -him--Neuburg and the Gorgon would see to that. To-morrow--less hope -to-morrow. The hustle and bustle of leaving the ship at Quebec would -give no opportunity. At Quebec ... he gained a ray of comfort. At -Quebec, yes, it might be done. He knew that she was to stay at the -Château Frontenac for at least two days. She had told him she had rooms -reserved there.... And so had he. Well, if he could not see her, even -if he had to force himself upon her, during those two days, then he -wasn’t the man he thought he was. - -Quebec would be his salvation. Quebec would see him right himself with -her, put him on a footing which would enable him better to counteract -the plans of her enemies. He felt more sanguine. - -More than that, he felt his old capacity and alertness come back to him. - -It was as well it did. He had full need of those qualities. - -For the gang was not leaving things to chance. Mr. Neuburg, that master -mind, was aware that Quebec would give him opportunities for regaining -ground with Heloise. Mr. Neuburg meant to prevent that. - -As the great liner pushed up the vast river towards that city of beauty -and history, that on its great cliff hangs like a fairy citadel over -the shining waters, Mr. Neuburg acted. He devised an acute, a cunning -and a beastly plan for getting Clement Seadon out of the way. - -As the big vessel was wharping into the dockside, Clement Seadon, -who had remained on deck to the last possible moment in the hope of -seeing Heloise Reys, went below. He went below disconsolately to gather -together his traps, and to prepare for his effort in Quebec. - -He went below, past the busy stewards working in their shirt-sleeves -among the baggage, past their glory hole, full of their clothes and -their intimate litter, past the many scattered trunks and suitcases -ready to be taken off, past the wholesale reminders of voyages ended, -and into his own cabin. - -His own kit was, of course, already packed. A good traveler, he got -through that swiftly and early. Now he gathered together his stick and -his mackintosh and his hat ready for departure. He sat down on his bunk -and felt for his cigarette case. - -His cigarette case indicated the state of mind he was in; it was empty. -For a moment, and in sheer desperation, he felt that he could not be -bothered to unstrap his suitcase and dive to its bottom for smoking -materials. Then he drove his melancholy from him, pulled the heavy -leather case towards him. - -In thirty seconds his hand encountered something hard and edgy. -Something strange to his groping fingers.... He tugged it out.... - -In the palm of his hand lay a thing that glittered and flashed. A thing -of immense worth--_a woman’s tiara_. - -A woman’s diamond tiara in his suitcase. It was incredible. - -Then Clement Seadon jumped alertly to his feet. He saw the meaning of -that tiara at once. It had been put there so that he should be branded -as a thief, that he--by gad!--that he should be arrested, be kept under -lock and key while Heloise Reys was in Quebec. - -He saw it all. The devils, the clever devils, this was their -plan--Neuburg’s plan--to get him out of the way. - -What should he do? The thing was immensely valuable. Return it?... No, -couldn’t risk wandering about with that in his possession, for anybody -to fling accusations. Oh, but there was something quite simple ... -there always is. The purser ... he’d run right along to the purser, -hand it to him, say that he had found it. He’d do it now. He guessed -he’d have to be quick. Neuburg and his gang would see to it that the -loss of that tiara did not go long undiscovered. - -He almost ran along the gallery towards the purser’s office. He did not -get far. Before he came to the accommodation stairs that led up to the -smoking saloon, stairs that stood between him and the purser, he heard -an excited babble of voices coming down those stairs. - -Yes, there was a definite excitement in them. Men’s voices raised in -protest and advice. A woman’s voice, hysterical and accusative.... A -woman who had a grievance. - -The hunt was up.... They were after that tiara. - -It was absolutely impossible to go on. They were bound to see him ... -and he had that damnable tiara on him.... He glanced about wildly.... -There seemed no way of escape, and the voices were very near.... They -were about to come round the corner.... Like a fox bolting to earth, -Clement Seadon dived into the empty glory hole. He crouched behind -the door amid the hanging coats.... The voices passed him talking -at a babble.... He heard them drifting along the gallery towards his -cabin.... He stood up, scrutinizing his lair carefully. No other way -out except by the door he had come in. He waited a few moments. Then -he stepped out quietly, and walked a little way towards the purser’s -office, he must not on any account show haste. He heard voices behind -him, he faced about for a moment and looked.... It was a crucial -moment. As he looked, the captain of the ship walked out from the -alleyway in which his cabin stood, looked along the gallery towards him -... saw him. - -He saw him and immediately called out, “Hello, Seadon” (genial Captain -Heavy was an old friend), “I say, you’re the man we want. Would you -mind coming along here for a moment, my good chap?” - -Clement Seadon, with a throbbing heart, went along. He went to his -own cabin. There seemed to be a crowd of people in that cabin. In the -blur which his painful sensations brought to him, Clement could only -distinguish one excited and angry lady and a steward--the evil little -steward. He turned his face quickly away from these. He looked at -Captain Heavy. He meant to say something to Heavy, but his mouth was -parched. - -Captain Heavy, his good-tempered face frowning, understood that -inquiring look. “Yes, it does seem an idiot mob to thrust into a -man’s cabin, old chap. None of my doing. I--well, look here, it’s a -rotten and unwarrantable thing, but--but you see this lady has lost a -valuable piece of jewelry ... a diamond tiara.... She says it has been -stolen....” - -“It has been stolen,” snapped the lady. - -“Well--she says it has been stolen. And one of the stewards declares he -knows who did it. In fact--in fact, old man, he has the--the effrontery -to say that it was--_you_.” - -“Well,” said Clement, in a voice whose evenness surprised him. - -“Well--well,” said the distressed captain. “Well--they came along to -see for themselves--to--to search.” - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -I - -There was a moment of deep silence in the cabin after the definite and -cruel accusation was made. Clement swept the little crowd with a glance -he strove to make amazed. - -“I have been accused of theft! I am to be searched!...” he said. “My -dear Heavy, this is absurd!” - -“I know! I know! I’ve said that already. This la--they’ve taken the -matter into their own hands.” - -“But to be searched--the idea is infamous.” - -“You can refuse,” said Heavy. “And await--er--the authorities.” - -“And I stay here,” said the lady, like a figure of vengeance, “until -the authorities come. I am _not_ going to lose my tiara.” - -“You’d scarcely do that, madam,” said the captain soothingly. -“Even--even if Mr. Seadon had it, he could scarcely get rid of it. -If he tried to get rid of it through his porthole people would see -him--we’re alongside. And in any case his porthole is shut....” - -Seadon, with a start, darted a glance to the porthole. Heavy’s remarks -had closed that loophole pretty thoroughly, he thought. - -“All the same, I stay,” said the lady implacably. “Unless, of course, -Mr. Seadon allows us to search.” - -“Shall I signal the police, sir?” asked the evil-looking little steward. - -“Is this the man who accused me?” Clement asked sharply, and as the -captain nodded, “What’s the reason behind this charge?” he demanded -cuttingly of the fellow. - -“Reason b’ind it?” snarled the man. “Ain’t no reason be’ind it. It’s -just that when Mrs. Smot said she lorst ’er dimend terara, well I -recalled or recollected I’d seen _you_ ’angin’ about suspicious like, -comin’ out of ’er cabin where an’ when you ’ad no right to be there.” - -“And how is it you saw me come out of this lady’s cabin?” - -“’Ow! ’Ow! Strewth, ain’t I ’er cabin steward?” - -“Oh, you’re her cabin steward. You’re the one who has the _entré_ to -her cabin. What’s the record of this man, Heavy?” Seadon rapped out the -sentences with a fighting air, obviously trying to parry suspicion. - -“Don’t know,” answered Heavy, who was feeling that it was rather stupid -of Seadon to act like this, when a search, distasteful though it might -be, would clear him at once. “Don’t know. He only signed on this -voyage; we don’t know anything about him.” - -“If you think you c’n switch it off ter me,” said the steward with an -evil grin, “lemme tell you _I_ don’t mind being searched, anyhow.” - -“Oh!” said Clement, catching his breath. - -“Yes,” said the lady acidly. “I don’t see why any man, if he is -innocent, should object to being searched.” - -Clement acknowledged that he could no longer fence off the evil moment. -He turned to the captain with a resigned air. “There are my bags,” -he said. “I haven’t been in the baggage room since I came aboard, as -your baggage master can testify. If that tiara is anywhere it is in -my suitcases.” He pointedly drew attention to his suitcases. He noted -that the steward attended to this fact. For though he searched the -suitcases with great cunning, starting first on the one he _had not_ -put the tiara into, so as to hide his own knowledge, he seemed to have -something on his mind. - -It was very definitely on his mind after he had drawn blank in the -suitcases, had drawn blank in his careful examination of the cabin, and -had reassured himself that the porthole had been locked, anyhow, since -this morning. - -He stood up studying Clement with lowering and evil eyes. He said, “No, -it ain’t anywhere ’ere. Not in the suitcases or anywheres. There’s -only ’imself.” - -“You seem curiously anxious to fix suspicion on me,” said Clement -sharply. “To divert it, I might say.” - -“Well, there’s nowhere else, is there?” snapped the man. - -“Captain Heavy,” said Clement, with an anger that must affect the -captain, “Am I to submit to this outrage any longer? Is this man to fix -suspicion on me for some reason of his own?...” - -“I don’t want ter search ’im, if ’e don’t want it. There’s always th’ -police,” said the steward. - -Clement turned swiftly to the captain. He held his arms out straight. -“Please search me, captain,” he said savagely. - -Captain Heavy with a little shrug, and a “I wish this was merely a -joke, old man,” searched Clement. He did the job in the Scotland Yard -manner. It was complete, it was brilliantly thorough. When he had -finished he stepped back and stared at the steward. He also stared at -the lady. And he said, bitterly, “Well?” - -The lady’s face showed that apoplectical tint that might come to even -the best-nourished woman when she is torn by the two powerful but -contrary emotions, those of groveling apology, and anger with a steward -who had made her look a fool. - -The steward--well, the steward simply goggled at Clement. There was -incredulity and also fear showing in his devastated countenance. He had -been ready to pounce at the first glitter of a diamond. He had been -ready to suggest some hiding place overlooked by the captain. He was -sure that the tiara must be on Clement’s person since it was not in his -suitcase--where he himself had put it. - -Captain Heavy glared at him, and snapped, “Well, my man, what have you -got to say? You’ve subjected a passenger on _my_ ship to a disgusting -indignity--for what?” - -“It--it must be on ’im,” said the steward, sullenly backing away, his -mind absolutely bewildered by the unexpected absence of the tiara. - -“Must!” thundered the captain. “Good God! man, do you want me to take -his skin off?” - -“Well, ’e ’as it. Didn’t I see ’im ’angin’ about----” - -“We’ll get to the bottom of this. As I knew, Mr. Seadon did _not_ take -that tiara. Why the devil did you accuse him? I want to know that? And -now.” - -“I think”--said Clement in a cold voice--“I think I have already -suggested why.” - -“Eh, Seadon? You suggested? What did you suggest, my good chap?” cried -the captain, only too anxious for the good of his service to make -amends. - -“I suggested that he was anxious to fix suspicion on some one--some -one other than himself.” - -“Yes--to divert suspicion. That’s it. That’s what you said,” snapped -the lady, who not only had a natural instinct for finding scapegoats, -but who owed the steward something for making her appear so -conspicuously foolish. - -“Ah, divert suspicion,” said the captain, swinging round on the steward -and appreciating his substantial air of villainy for the first time. “I -see. You are this lady’s cabin steward, and----” - -Clement might have helped the good work along. There was no need. The -lady was only too anxious to help the good work along herself. - -“And he had the run of my cabin,” she piped. “_He_ could go in there -whenever he liked, do what he liked, _take_ what he liked.” - -“I never,” snarled the steward, cringing back, glaring hate at Clement. -He felt that this softy-looking young man had turned the tables on him -in some way. He was afraid. But more, he resented the fact that this -dandy fellow, who looked the last person to possess brains in good -working order should be tying him in such a knot. As his wits darted -back over the happenings and the talk in that cabin during the last few -minutes, he saw, blazingly, that its apparent casualness had really -been a net to entangle him. In a desperate effort to beat the brain -working against him, he cried, “I never took nuthin’. If I ’ad, would -I ’ave pushed meself forward in this ... brought meself inter the -limelight? I risked sumthin’ accusin’ _’im_, though it was me duty.” - -Clement might have said something. There was no need. He never believed -in doing work others could do better. The incensed lady did it much -better. She cried, “That was only your vile cunning. Of course it was. -My tiara is missing--who would be the first person I would accuse? The -cabin steward--naturally. And naturally my cabin steward would know it. -If he wasn’t a thief--it wouldn’t matter. If he was--well, he’d do his -best to divert suspicion, as Mr. Sneezedon----” - -“Seadon,” from Heavy. - -“--Seadon said. Oh, I see it. You suggested some one I did not know, -on the other side of the ship, to lead me away. You joined furiously -in the search so that I should be convinced that you, at least, were -honest. Oh, I see it. I see it. You pretended to be honest to cover up -your guilt.” - -“Guilt ... cut out the guilt. I _ain’t_ guilty,” snarled the steward, -backing farther away, and watching Clement all the time. What had -this man who looked so inconsequent, and wasn’t, up his sleeve. “I -didn’t take that terara.” He made another desperate effort in defense. -“An’--an’ why should I pick on this gentleman ’ere, of all passengers. -Why?” - -Clement cut in like a flash. This was his time to speak. “Because at -the very beginning of the voyage I kicked you out of this cabin--since -you were in it, and had no right to be in it. Because you tampered with -my private papers during the voyage, and you know I know it, and want -either to prejudice beforehand any report I might make, or to get me -out of the way.... Isn’t that true?” - -“My God!” jerked the man at the mention of the papers, “’ow did you -know that?... I mean I never did.” He stared at Clement, his face -working. If the gang had utilized that stolen letter with great effect -against Clement, he had turned their own weapon against them with -dismaying force. The mere mention of it had staggered the steward. -Already convicted of theft out of his own mouth the steward was at -a loss. It was Captain Heavy who acted next. He rang the cabin bell -imperiously. When Clement’s own steward, Nicholson, answered, he -snapped, “Nicholson, have this man’s effects searched--at _once_. -Make it a thorough search. A diamond tiara is missing. This fellow -has accused Mr. Clement Seadon of taking it.” Nicholson regarded the -evil-faced steward with a sudden glance in which benevolence was -conspicuously absent. He knew Mr. Clement Seadon. Also Captain Heavy -knew he knew Mr. Clement Seadon. “It’s more than likely that he has -merely accused Mr. Seadon to distract attention from himself. Get to -it.” - -Nicholson got to it. With another unbrotherly glance at the steward he -nipped out of the cabin and sped towards the glory hole. The evil-faced -lad attempted an air of insouciance. He even called after Nicholson, -“Search ’ard, me bucky. I’ve already expressed me willingness.” - -The lady who had been so ready to accuse proved herself more than -ready to apologize. Her method of apology was lavish, but particularly -unsatisfactory to the evil-faced steward. It was one long hymn of hate -concerning the steward. His feelings grew more and more disturbed as -the minutes passed. - -He was confident it was all right, it was bound to be all right, he -told himself. He’d been most careful. Nothing could go wrong with ’im. -Nothing ... or anyhow, he thought nothing could go wrong with him. He -saw no reason for feeling scared ... but.... - -Nicholson came into the cabin. - -Nicholson looked wisely at Clement; with resignation at his superior -officer; with a certain touch of cheeriness at the evil-faced steward. - -He lifted his right hand. He opened it. Something flamed and flashed. - -“My tiara,” screamed the lady. - -“In the pocket of this,” said Nicholson, lifting up a steward’s white -jacket. - -“My coat--my oath,” blurted the evil-faced steward. - -There was no doubt about it. That dirty coat with its yellow -stain--probably rust--on its arm and shoulder was unmistakable. -Everybody recognized it. Clement Seadon had never forgotten it, in fact. - -“A cunnin’ hiding-place,” said Nicholson. “Hunted all through his--his -effects, as ordered, finding nothing. Never thought of looking in his -coat. Never would have thought. Only we see it hanging in the glory -hole.” - -That was where Clement Seadon had seen it hanging last--in the glory -hole when he had dodged in there for cover. He smiled. - -“My oath!” burst out the evil-faced steward, seeing that smile. “My -oath--in my coat pocket. _You_ put it there.” - -He stared at Clement in hate. Clement’s smile was even sweeter. - -“Of course I put it there.” And only he and the steward knew that he -was telling the truth. The others merely appreciated his sarcasm. - -“That settles that,” said Captain Heavy. “Nicholson, take this brute -out, and keep him safe until the police come aboard. Seadon, I can’t -tell you how mad I am that all this has happened. It’s infamous.... If -it’s any consolation, I’ll promise you that this scoundrel will be made -to suffer in full....” - -But the rest doesn’t matter, nor do the voluble apologies of the lady -of the tiara matter. All that matters is that Clement Seadon left the -_Empress_ for the Château Frontenac, just about the time that the -police went on board her to arrest and convey the steward to prison. - -And in the lobby of the Château Frontenac, the first person he saw was -the mountain of a man--Mr. Neuburg. - -Mr. Neuburg was standing facing the door, and he started perceptibly -as Clement came into the hotel. He betrayed himself by a quick stride -forward and a muttered oath. - -Clement smiled. He said cheerfully, “Oh, were you expecting the _other_ -fellow? Sorry. He took my place--at the last minute. You’ll know where -to find him, I think--or, anyhow, the first _policeman_ will direct -you----” - -The mountain of a man stared across Clement’s shoulder for a moment. In -his usually placid eye there was a red light of rage. His hand, with -fist clenching, lifted to the level of his ribs. He gulped. Without -another sign he swung round and went with his surprising swiftness out -of the lobby. - - -II - -Clement Seadon went to his room with a certain geniality in his heart. - -When making his reservation at the reception counter he had carefully -studied the room bookings before his name. The clerk had said to him, -“I’ll give you a nice room on the fifth floor, Mr. Seadon. A good room. -Overlooks Dufferin Terrace and the river. One of the best rooms we’ve -got.” - -“I know it,” said Clement pleasantly. “Ripping view.... Have you -anything on the same gallery as 359? I don’t mind if there isn’t a -view.” - -“Why, yes,” said the clerk, “I can give you 362. It’s round the corner, -but it’s on the same floor and only three doors away. Same view, too. -It’s an intercommunicating bathroom, but locked on your side, of -course. You’ll like that room.” - -Clement Seadon hastily scanned the names above his. Who had room -361--on the other side of his intercommunicating bathroom? His heart -beat. He said, - -“You’re right. I fancy I shall more than like room 362.” - -The name against room 361 was “Adolf Neuburg.” - -The Frontenac has two lifts. As Clement knew this brilliant hotel quite -well, he could choose his lift with cunning and so could get into his -room without being seen on the gallery in which Mr. Neuburg had his -door. - -There was a matter for further satisfaction, and also, it must be said, -for a certain anxiety in this business of rooms. He had had luck in -getting a room next Mr. Neuburg’s. His choice of the gallery itself -had been deliberate. Heloise Reys had her room on that gallery. - -He had looked for her name at once, before he had sought out the name -attached to room 361. He had seen that the room booked to Heloise -Reys was 359. The room booked to Méduse Smythe, the companion, was -360--it was to be expected. They had rooms together--probably also -with a communicating bathroom. It was only when he had discovered Mr. -Neuburg’s room that a feeling of anxiety crept into his thoughts. For, -obviously, Mr. Neuburg had the room next Méduse Smythe. The gang had -deliberately arranged to group themselves--and their victim--together. -It probably went without saying that Méduse, the Gorgon, and Mr. -Neuburg also had a communicating bathroom. They were all in rooms in -line, the victim, Heloise, the gang, and himself. - -Clement went quickly to his room, left the door ajar, so that he would -not have to call out when the baggage man brought his baggage up--to -call out loud would be to warn Mr. Neuburg--and went very quietly -into his own bathroom. He felt the handle of his own internal door, -found it bolted, slipped the bolt, and carefully opened it. The door -of Mr. Neuburg’s room (there were double doors separating the rooms) -was shut, and it was probably bolted; anyhow, Clement was not going -to attract attention by trying the handle. What mattered was that -there was only a single thickness of door between him and the master -villain. He could hear the mountain of a man moving about quietly -inside his room. He heard him mutter an angry oath--probably directed -at his own (Clement’s) head; then, luck of luck, he heard him use his -telephone. It was of no importance. He was merely demanding his baggage -from the porter, but it gave Clement the knowledge that, unless Mr. -Neuburg whispered, it would be quite delightfully easy to overhear his -conversations. Nothing more happened then, and Clement closed his own -door again--and bolted it--as he heard the baggage man’s trolley coming -along the passage. - -Only when that fellow had gone did he bolt his outer door, slip into -the bathroom, and wait for a conversation he thought was bound to come. -Mr. Neuburg, he felt, must open his bruised heart to the companion -Méduse. - -He had some time to wait, but he did not mind. He was feeling satisfied -with events. He had these devils on the hip. There was no doubt of -that. They had given him definite facts to put before Heloise. He could -go straight to her now and tell her how the lawyer’s letter had been -stolen from him in order that Méduse Smythe could work on her feelings, -and how the rogues had endeavored to get him out of the way with the -business of the tiara. - -They were bold, were they? He was going to be bold, too. Heloise -should have the cold facts without apology. He was more than certain -how a clearly honest nature like hers would view the revelations. -Neuburg was done, Méduse was done, Gunning was done--the plot was ended. - -As he decided this in his mind, he heard a sound from the room beyond -the door. - -“Aah ... it is all right, Méduse? You are free.... You are alone for -a few minutes?” ... A deep, slightly muffled voice said these words -curiously close to Clement Seadon’s ear. - -It was Mr. Neuburg speaking. The companion Méduse had come into the -room on the other side of the bathroom door. - - -III - -“Don’t talk, woman,” said Mr. Neuburg’s voice. “He is here, in this -hotel.” - -“He ... who?” gasped a female voice. It was a little fainter than Mr. -Neuburg’s, who, Clement was delighted to hear, was in that masculine -condition of rage when he must “take it out” on some one. - -“Don’t be a dense fool,” the big man snapped. “He ...! Who ...! The -Englishman, ninny. Is there another?” - -“It is impossible. He has been arrested.” - -“Pah! Do I have to keep on saying it? He is here. He has not been -arrested. He is somewhere in this hotel _now_. The Englishman, Clement -Seadon, is here. He is free. Do you begin to gather ... just a glimmer, -woman?” - -“But”--the woman’s voice was almost scandalized--“but he was to have -been arrested. Molke was to see to it that he was arrested.” - -“And he is not arrested. It is Molke who has been arrested.” - -Clement heard the creak of a chair. The news had been too much for -the amiable Méduse. She had had to sit down--and sit down hard. He -would have liked to chuckle. He dare not. The snarling voice of the -mountainous Mr. Neuburg said with bitter passion, “Ah, you begin to -see. Something active begins to stir in your head. And you are shocked. -Well, I did not thrill with joy myself.... No, I do not know how it -happened. I only know I set Molke to effect this Englishman’s arrest, -and it doesn’t happen; it is Molke who is arrested instead.” - -“Yes; but that--_that_ Englishman,” protested an incredulous female -voice. - -“Yes--_that_ Englishman. Only, my dear Méduse, say ‘that Englishman’ -with more respect. I assure you, he is like that. He does not look -like intelligence at all. He looks a mere decoration. He looks a mere -easy-going, meaningless, drawing-room young man without any wits of his -own.... And--and it is Molke who is arrested after all. Just appreciate -the fact, my dear. That is the Anglo-Saxon. He does not look like -anything in particular, and you find him sitting firmly on top of you -just at that moment when you are beginning to rub your hands over the -clever way you have knocked him down?” - -“But--but Molke had him so tight.” - -“So tight,” snarled Mr. Neuburg, “that Mr. Clement Seadon walked -smiling and calm into the lobby of the hotel, and still smiling, still -calm, told me to my face that he had beaten me at my own game.” - -“He--_he_ told _you_ to your face?” - -“In his own way, of course. He told me that he was not in prison, -but that the steward Molke was.... I am not so dull that I did not -understand him completely. But--but, you see what it means?” - -“That--that”--the woman was a little flustered before the bullying -anger of her companion--“that means he is still a danger we have to -contend with.” - -“Women”--said the mountainous Mr. Neuburg--“women are the apostles of -the obvious. Yes, he is a danger we have to contend with, my dear. Only -he is something more. It means that _he_ thinks _we_ are a danger that -no longer counts.... I see I will have to explain. This is truly your -day for being heroically dull. This man who looks foolish is not. He -knows that we have delivered ourselves into his hands. He is going to -strike--strike once and swiftly--and smash us. He will expose us to -Heloise Reys. That is why he is so confident. His sort do not taunt for -the mere sport of the thing.” - -Clement smiled grimly, appreciating the acuteness with which Mr. -Neuburg had sized up the situation. Mr. Neuburg, also, was no fool. - -“Heloise will not speak with him,” said the woman. - -“He will speak with her. It will come to the same in the end. Oh, yes, -I tell you that is what he will do. He is not a man to miss chances.” - -“We will prevent that,” said the woman. - -“We will do our best to prevent that,” said the man. - -Clement knew they would. He knew that to get that ten minutes’ talk -with Heloise would not be an easy matter. - -He listened intently. Since they meant to prevent him speaking to the -girl, they might say how they meant to do it. He might, thanks to his -splendid good luck, overhear their plan for check-mating him. That would -be a crowning triumph. A silence settled down on the other side of the -door. Then, surprisingly, astoundingly, Neuburg growled, “But there is -something else. Gunning has broken loose again.” - -Clement gasped--and so did the woman. But where his gasp was one of -astonishment, that of the woman was one of anger. “Ah, that was what -made Joe look so sour on the quayside. I saw he was there,” she gasped. -“Well--what is it now?” - -“It is not revealed,” said Mr. Neuburg, being, apparently, sardonic. -“Nor is it revealed to where he has--vanished.” - -“Vanished--you mean he’s left Sicamous?” - -“My dear Méduse, he always leaves Sicamous. He is behaving, as he -always behaves--the slack-willed, backboneless swine.” - -Clement registered that character reading of Henry Gunning in his mind. -Assuredly fortune was smiling on him to-day with her most genial smile. - -The woman on the other side of the door suddenly showed a flash of -spirit. - -“Just stop being clever, Adolf, and tell me exactly what Joe Wandersun -told you on the quayside.” - -“He told me that Henry Gunning had been Henry Gunning. He got drunk, as -usual. He talked big about his idiot mine claims, as usual. He boasted -about the millionaire he’d be when his soft-hearted English sweetheart -married him--I suppose that’s as usual now. He then got a little -drunker. Told the world that he was going to strike the trail and ‘show -’em all.’ And he struck the trail--and--so--vanished.” - -“And Joe sat down on his hunkers and watched him go?” said Méduse -bitterly. - -“Leave Joe to me, my dear.” There was a nasty edge to the big man’s -tone, the position of Joe was not enviable. “Joe says that the brute -sneaked off in the night. Joe left him apparently sleeping the solid -sleep of ‘bootleg’ whisky in his shack. He thought he was safe for -eight hours. When he went there again in the morning Gunning had gone. -He had taken his kit, slipped off somewhere in the dark.” - -“Well,” snapped the woman after a pause. “It doesn’t stop there, does -it? Joe didn’t just sit down and weep, did he? What’s he found out?” - -Mr. Neuburg chuckled. “You are unerring, my dear,” he said. “As -you imply, our good Joe did not sit down and weep.... People who -work for Adolf Neuburg know better than to do that. Our Joe has -found out things. Not everything, but something. This sodden and -spineless Gunning struck east. No, my dear, do not spoil your burst -of intelligence by asking the obvious. If I knew exactly where he had -gone I should have mentioned it. You appreciate that? When one fails to -mention things it is because one doesn’t know. But we will know. Siwash -Mike is finding out. He will find out. That is his forte. In a day or -two we shall know where this fool Gunning is.” - -The woman vented an exclamation. - -“Ah, you see that that is the point, my mild Méduse. In a day or two. -That means, perhaps, a day or two longer here in Quebec, with that -foolish-looking Englishman, who is far from foolish, on the spot. The -situation is not excellent.” - -The pair were silent for a moment. Clement, with ears straining, wanted -to learn answers to several questions that passed through his head. - -As though his thoughts had been communicated telepathically through the -door, his speculations were immediately answered. - -The voice of the big man boomed abruptly, “This Heloise has gone out to -the postoffice, eh?” - -“Yes,” said Méduse. “She has gone to see if the letter is there.” - -“It is there,” said Mr. Neuburg. “Her agent at Sicamous--our good -Joe--sent it before he left. He showed me a copy. He did quite well. -He informs her that Henry Gunning has left Sicamous on one of his -periodical trips--probably on business. He does not know where Mr. -Gunning has gone, but he will cable when he finds out, or when Mr. -Gunning returns ... as he should in a few days.” - -“That, I suppose, will not make her suspicious,” said the woman. - -“What is the matter with you, Méduse?” snarled the big man with an -oath. “Where is the reason for suspicion? Gunning--the fool--is not -supposed to know she is coming. If he likes to go off, well, it is -merely a natural thing for him to do.... If anything, his going off -destroys the suggestion of a plot, of his being kept there by us as a -bait for her. You are a fool, Méduse. This Englishman--he is destroying -your nerve.” - -“Yes, it is the Englishman. He is too unexpected. I do not like the -idea of our remaining here several days with him about.” - -“Well, you know his capacities; it will help to keep you alert. And we -will deal with him--as best we can.” - -The woman said, “Still--would it not be better to get her away? Would -it be possible?” - -“It would be better, but not possible,” said Mr. Neuburg. “We must -remain here, in touch with the Sault Algonquin; Siwash is to report -there. He is ‘in the air,’ as it were, and that is the only way we can -keep in touch. No, my dear Méduse, it will not suffice that he cables. -He will cable Sicamous, and Joe’s wife will send on the message to -our soft-hearted little girl. But the cable is not good enough for -us. We must know all the details: what Gunning is doing, what is his -condition, and so forth, in order to know how to act. No, we must stay -in Quebec until we see Siwash.” - -“And Joe is staying, too?” - -“Yes, he is at the gluemaker’s in Algonquin. I see what you mean. -He will be an addition to our forces if we have to deal with that -Englishman. Joe is a useful man.... He may be slow at times, but he is -not squeamish.” - -Clement Seadon was glad of the hint. He would adopt a special alertness -for the benefit of this unknown and unsqueamish Joe. But more than -this, he was exceedingly grateful for the address they had given -him--the gluemaker’s in the Sault Algonquin. He rather fancied he knew -the street. It was one of those in the old town, in that network of -dark and narrow alleys crowded between the water front and the rocky -cliff on which Quebec was piled up. It was good to know the local -headquarters of the gang. Also, Siwash Mike--whoever he was--was to -report there. It would be interesting to hear that report. One might -gather a great deal of useful and destructive information about -Henry Gunning and the plans of the gang from it. The woman Méduse -was saying, “Yes, something must be done about this Englishman. I -assure you, Adolf, I do not feel secure with him about. It is not -merely that apparently his easy-going appearance covers an unnatural -cleverness--but--but--we must not mince matters, he has an effect on -this girl Heloise.” - -There was a pause. Clement felt that the big Mr. Neuburg was impressed -by the significance of the companion Méduse’s words. He knew that he -himself was certainly impressed by the significance of Méduse’s words. -His heart had suddenly leaped. His brain was singing. He could scarcely -restrain himself from calling out, “Say it. Say what you mean plainly.” -And, as before, it was as though the intensity of his own feelings -compelled those in the farther room to be explicit. - -“Ah,” breathed the mountainous man. “You mean that she is, perhaps, in -love with him?” - -“I mean,” answered the woman, “that it would be very easy for her to -be in love with him. I do not think she knows it yet. But he--he would -quickly make her know the state of her heart.” - -“Thank you,” Clement almost cried aloud. - -“That is the devil,” said the big Mr. Neuburg, and his was the only -expression that was vocal. “We must certainly deal with him....” And -then came an unexpected happening, the woman hissed. - -“Shiss, one moment.” - -There was a sound of stealthy and swift movement in the room. A -silence. Presently another movement of skirts, as though the woman was -returning from a farther chamber. Then, “It is she. She has returned -from the postoffice. I hear her moving in her room. I must go to her -before she finds the bathroom door locked.” It was the companion -Méduse, speaking softly. - -Again movement. Again silence. A long silence. Clement heard the -scratch of a match. Smelt cigar smoke. Heard a chair complain as a -heavy body dropped into it. Then once more silence. - -Mr. Neuburg had sat down to think things out. - -Clement shut his own bathroom door noiselessly, noiselessly bolted it. - -The seance of eavesdropping was over. - - -IV - -Clement decided that the next item of importance was to arrange for his -talk with Heloise. - -Although he was quite willing--so strong was his case--to say all that -he meant to say in front of Méduse, and even Mr. Neuburg if necessary, -he thought that a ten-minutes’ undistracted conversation with Heloise -would give him a better chance of stating all the facts firmly and -finally. - -How to fix that up was the problem. As he was deciding whether he would -risk telephoning to her room, his eye fell on his wrist watch. It was -close to lunch time, and at once it came to him that not only did he -want lunch himself, but that Heloise, being human as well as a goddess, -would want hers. - -He smiled suddenly as he saw how things might be managed, went down to -the first floor where the great dining room was, and sat in a modestly -remote seat in the lounge. Without being seen himself, he could watch -everybody who came to or went from the dining room. - -He had about twenty minutes to wait. Probably Heloise was telling the -innocent Méduse that there had been a letter from her Sicamous agent at -the Poste Restante, and that they had perhaps to stay a few days more -in Quebec, and the reason why. But after that wait they both came. - -From a safe distance Clement saw the captain of the waiters lead them -to a table, noticed that the room was not full, and that there were -plenty of places at the end. Satisfied about this, he went downstairs. - -In the lobby he selected a form, wrote on it, tore it up. Wrote on -another, and then, apparently, thought better of it. But whereas he -threw the first into the waste basket, the second he folded rather -cleverly under cover of that action, and kept it in his hand. Then -having convinced all about him that he wasn’t sending a message, he -waited until he saw a page go upstairs with a caller’s form, went up -himself, and waited at the turn of the stairs for the boy’s return. - -The boy returned alone, fortunately. Clement snapped him up. - -“Want to earn a dollar?” he asked. - -“Bettcher life,” said young Canada. - -“Take this call form to Miss Méduse Smythe. She and another lady are -sitting at the fifth table for two on the window side. Call her name, -please, but that’s where she is. Give the form to her, and come away -quick.” - -“Yep,” said the page, grinning. - -“And you don’t know where it came from to anybody--even the lady -herself.” - -“I gottcher,” said the page, grinning more expansively. He took the -dollar and the call form. He went upstairs. Clement went after him. -The page went into the dining room. Clement stepped back quietly and -swiftly into a deep passage where the male diners deposited their -coats. He heard the boy calling out, “Miss Smidt--Miss Medoose Smidt.” - -In seventy-five seconds Miss Méduse Smythe came by the end of the coat -passage at a great pace. Clement had thought she would be swift. What -he had written on the call form, in anybody’s handwriting, was: - - - “Must see you for ten minutes. At once. JOE.” - - -The companion might have argued about that handwriting, but how was she -to know that “Joe” did not have to disguise it. Clement had banked on -that idea. And he had scored. - -Miss Méduse Smythe was no sooner out of vision than he was in the -dining room, alongside Heloise’s table, speaking to Heloise. “Miss -Reys,” he said, “will you give me an opportunity to talk to you -privately?...” - -“Mr. Seadon!” - -Heloise’s tone was affronted. Obviously she resented his speaking to -her, but obviously, too, the extreme publicity of the place robbed her -attitude of some of its effectiveness. It is to be feared that Clement -had taken that into his calculations when he had decided on this plan. - -“Miss Reys,” he said, “I want to speak to you--privately--for no -more than ten minutes. And I want you to understand that it is only -the urgency of the matter that makes me force myself upon you.” She -hesitated, looking up at him, her vivid face showing the keenness of -her emotions. “Do you remember saying that you believed I’d be honest -even against my own interests?” he asked. - -“Yes,” she said. “I did say that, but----” - -“I am honest now. Will you believe that?” - -The girl looked at him quietly for a moment. - -“I believe that,” she said. - -“And will you give me that chance of speaking to you--alone?” - -The girl bent her eyes to the table. She was thinking quickly. -“To-morrow morning I will be in the writing room at half past nine. -Will that do? It will not be easy to manage it before then.” - -“It will do admirably. Thank you,” said Clement. - -He left her, and went to the back of the room, where there were a -number of empty tables. - -As he sat and ate his lunch the companion, Méduse came in. She was -flustered, she was even scared. Clement was amused, but he did not -think it mattered very much. She would not, he thought, mention the -reason for her leaving Heloise--though actually there was no reason. -Neither did he think that Heloise would tell her of the appointment she -had made. His insistence upon privacy, the way he had snatched at the -chance to speak to her alone at her table, the way he had left her, -would all tell Heloise that the companion Méduse was excluded from the -secret. - -And even if she did tell, it would matter very little. Clement would -have his interview with Heloise no later than the next morning, for -Heloise would see to it that it happened, and nothing very much could -occur until that time. The rogues could not whisk her away against her -will. They had to move delicately always. - -And after he had spoken to Heloise, nothing at all could occur. He -would have settled with Mr. Neuburg and his gang once and for all. - -He finished his lunch after the two ladies, watched them out of the -dining room, then he got his hat and stick and walked out through -Quebec. He would take a look at this glue merchant’s in the Sault -Algonquin. It was best to be “well-up” in every particular. Very -cheerfully he walked through the Place d’Armes, and down the steep -street of The Mountain to the huddled network of passageways--they can -hardly be called roads--that crowded under the rocky scarp of the Grand -Battery. He was feeling “good,” as the Canadians would say. Why not? -Hadn’t he all the factors for victory surely in his grasp? - -Possibly he would have felt less “good” if he had been aware of a -little scene between the companion Méduse and the massive Mr. Neuburg -that was even then taking place. - - -V - -Both Heloise and the companion had gone up to their rooms, a prey to -emotions. Heloise’s emotion was not altogether unpleasant. She was -agitated at the prospect of an intimate talk with Clement Seadon on the -morrow; but, like all people who trample on their feelings in order -to bolster up their pride, she felt relief that this condition of -chilly aloofness between them was coming to an end. As Méduse Smythe -had told Mr. Neuburg, Heloise did not know exactly what her feelings -were towards Clement Seadon, but she did know enough to realize that a -renewal of their old companionship would be an extraordinarily pleasant -thing. - -Méduse Smythe’s agitation was of a different order. There was fear -in it. She had received an imperative message from one of the -conspirators; he wanted to see her in the hotel lobby. That fact in -itself was disturbing. She hurried swiftly to the lobby--and there was -no Joe. Nobody was there wanting her. What did it mean? Had Joe been -frightened away? Or--or was it some ruse? She was puzzled, scared. She -felt that her own wits were not capable of dealing with this matter. - -She left Heloise, grappling with the feminine complications of -preparing for a walk, in her room, passed swiftly across her own. She -slipped ajar her door of the bathroom that led to Mr. Neuburg’s room, -and scratched stealthily on the inner door. That was the signal. She -repeated it several times. It was not answered. Mr. Neuburg was not in -his room. She half expected that; that might be the reason why Joe had -sent in to her. She closed her own of these double bathroom doors, and -her anxiety was increased. She must see and speak with Mr. Neuburg. It -might be a matter that did not brook of delay. Her agitation developed -steadily until both ladies got down to the lobby again, then, with a -gasp of relief, she said, “Oh, there’s Mr. Neuburg.... Do you mind, -Loise; I do want to speak to him about something before it slips out of -my memory?” - -She went across to Mr. Neuburg, who rose from his chair and bowed -with all the affability of a mere acquaintance. She said, in quite -an ordinary voice, as though discussing the weather, “I am going to -give you a slip of paper. It seems important. Can you take it from me -without being seen?” - -Mr. Neuburg, with all the charm of a genial man of the world, and all -the acuteness of a master rogue, bowed at once, led her to the magazine -counter to the right of the lobby. “My dear Méduse, as I select a guide -book for you, lean across me to reach those post cards, then you can -drop your paper.” - -The call form that was supposed to have come from the man Joe was -dropped. Mr. Neuburg picked it up with a guide book. He read it. He -opened the guide book, as though in search for some locality, pointed -to a page with his fat finger, and said, “When did you get this, -Méduse?” - -“It was brought to me by a page, just after I had sat down to lunch.” - -“Ha--and you went out at once, and Joe--he was not there, of course. He -would not be there. This is a thing he would not do.” - -“He was not there,” said Méduse. - -“And when you came back from this false call--how was the girl?” - -“She was alone--as I left her. She seemed the same.” - -“She said nothing to you--about anybody speaking to her, I mean?” - -“Nothing at all.” - -“And the Englishman--did you see him in the dining room?” - -“No--I did not see him. But then I did not look very keenly. Surely the -Englishman does not know about Joe?” - -“Somebody knows about Joe,” said Mr. Neuburg. “Somebody knows so much -about Joe that he recognized that the name was enough to get you away -from Miss Heloise into the lobby at a run. Who do you think would pull -off a trick like that, my mild Méduse?” - -“But the Englishman cannot know about Joe,” said the woman sullenly. - -“Certainly this is your day for being triumphantly dull, my dear. This -Englishman has bewitched you.” - -“But how could he know about Joe?” - -“Ah, my mild one, that is a thing that even I cannot tell you without -finding out. It is to be found out. Now go back to the girl with this -guide book, tell her the pleasant Mr. Neuburg has recommended it as the -best of its kind--and remember that if your brain has turned into wool, -you have the support of mine, which is particularly acute. That may -restore and stimulate your wits.” - -When the two ladies had gone out Mr. Neuburg sat and smoked and -considered this unexpected happening deeply. His was a quite -exceptional brain, and he had mastery over his thoughts and his -memories. It was while he was going over his memories that the smoke of -his cigar suddenly ceased to puff. That was the only sign exhibited by -his impressive, placid and genial bulk. - -At once he rose indolently, walked across the lobby to the reception -desk. He asked in his affable way if he could see the room bookings. -He looked through them. He stopped when he came to the name “Clement -Seadon.” He stopped with reason, for he saw that Clement’s room was -next his own. He stared at that number for a moment, said “Thank you” -very politely to the reception clerk, and mounted to the gallery on -which his room stood. - -He went not merely to his own room but walked round the corner of -the gallery to the door of Clement Seadon’s room. As he stood there -regarding it contemplatively, the chambermaid passed by. He looked at -her, or rather across her shoulder, with that smile which was quite -charming, but had not the slightest tinge of human emotion in it, and -he said, “There is, I think, a blind in that room which is making -noises in the wind. It destroys my nap. I have knocked on the door, but -the occupant of the room is not there apparently. Would it be asking -you too much to go in and pull up that blind, so that I can have my -beauty sleep undisturbed?” - -He backed his appeal with the weight of a half-dollar piece. - -The girl smiled and opened the door. With a polite, “Thanks -enormously,” Mr. Neuburg slipped away from her with his extraordinary -swiftness. He went into his own room. He opened his one of the double -doors between his room and Clement Seadon’s bathroom. He listened at -the other door. He did not hear as well as Clement had heard, for the -bathroom was between him and the Englishman’s room. But he heard. He -heard the movements of the chambermaid, heard her rattling at the -windows. - -When the chambermaid came round the corner of the gallery to ask if it -was all right now, he was at his door beaming--but this time, perhaps, -with a more natural good humor. - -“Yes, that is satisfactory, _very_ satisfactory.” - -And indeed he thought it was. - - -VI - -As the massive Mr. Neuburg sat in his room certain that things were -satisfactory, Clement Seadon, with much the same emotions, was -searching for and finding the gluemaker in the Sault Algonquin. - -The street was as unprepossessing as he imagined it would be. It was a -narrow cañon, indescribably gloomy and muddy, between the tall, old, -straight-faced houses that lined it. It was right round beyond the -splendid old seventeenth century hospital, the austere Hôtel-Dieu, and -in the area of the docks, too. From these latter it got some of its -mud, and, perhaps, some of its lowering air. It looked a darkling, -brooding, sinister street. Clement found it quite easy to imagine it -a place where, in the grim old days, bravos quietly and expeditiously -slit throats, or where fur hunters had been lured to be despoiled of -the earnings of long, lonely months of trapping in the virgin wilds. - -In this old and moody street, and in the grim and reticent houses that -bordered it, almost anything might have happened in the early days of -Canada--but most of those things, Clement thought, would have been -evil. The street had an aroma of crime. One felt it, as it were, in the -air, just as though centuries of wickedness about its narrow, greasy -sidewalks had saturated it with an essential aura. It was a street -fitted to be the headquarters of Mr. Neuburg and his gang of ruffians. - -It was a short street, and it was easy to find the gluemaker’s. There -were only two other business premises. The gluemaker’s, No. 7, was -a tall, depressing house that was even dirtier than its neighbors. -It had the distinction of keeping all its windows covered with the -latticelike jalousies of France, as though its inmates were determined -to keep themselves to themselves. It had one window on the ground -floor, the shutters were back from this, but as it was filled with -trade samples backed by trade advertisements, a view of the room behind -was impossible. There was no doorway on to the street. Entrance was -effected through a cartway. A heavy wooden gate covered this, with a -smaller door for humans in it. Clement surmised that, having passed -through this gate into the cartway that ran under the house (which -joined to and made one of a block with all the houses on that side), -one entered the house itself by a doorway on the left. - -However, this cartway told him one thing. In spite of the fact that the -cliff seemed to come up right behind the house, there must be a yard -at the back of the gluemaker’s. Glancing along the face of the houses -he obtained confirmation of this. There was no iron fire escape stair -in front of this house and its immediate neighbors, although farther -along the street this inevitable disfigurement of western cities -zig-zagged down the faces of the buildings. That meant that the fire -escapes--by law enforced--were at the back, and that there were yards -there into which people could escape. - -Getting round to the back was not easy. He found he had to climb -through distant streets to watch the cliff-top, and when he arrived on -top he had to trespass into a builder’s yard in order to look down on -to the backs of the houses in the Sault Algonquin. As he did not wish -to be disturbed, he hid behind a pile of scrapped rubbish. - -No. 7 was easy to find. It was under the cliff where it sloped down -rather less steeply. Clement noted that. At a pinch an active man -might find a way down there. The yard was a fairly large one, littered -with the rubbish of manufactory, and partly filled by a single-storied -building, of very much later construction than the house itself. -This had a flat roof and square walls, a jet of steam came out of a -thin exhaust pipe--in it, undoubtedly, were carried on the mystical -processes of gluemaking. - -While Clement was studying the house, he became conscious that some -one else had entered the builder’s yard where he had hidden himself. -A young, slim man came casually into view, strolling with hands in -pockets towards the edge of the cliff. Clement crouched closer in his -shelter, and prayed that this workman--for that was what the young -man seemed--had no business which would bring him round the pile of -scrapped rubbish sheltering him. - -Then, as he thought this, he noticed two peculiarities about the man. -The first was, that in spite of his casualness, the young man had -no more right to be there than himself. He was throwing keen, swift -glances about him, as though he were doing something that he did not -want other people to see. - -The second thing about him was the color and the outline of his -features, as well as the lithe slimness of his build. His face -had a curious copper brownness that might have been sunburn, only -it was deeper than sunburn. His features had a definite aquiline -clear-cutness, rather individual features they were--like an Indian’s. - -Clement tingled as he thought that. And even as he thought it, the slim -man moved abruptly and swiftly to the cliff, glanced along it, and in a -moment was descending the sloping face of it. - -Clement stared and chuckled. And he muttered, “Siwash Mike. By all -that’s lucky, it’s Siwash Mike come to Quebec to report on the doings -and whereabouts of Henry Gunning.” - -There could be little doubt about it. The newcomer was making his -way, in such a fashion as to escape detection, to the gluemaker’s of -Algonquin, the place where he was to report. From his hiding place, -Clement followed his movements. They were sinuous and swift, veritably -an Indian’s. He wriggled down the cliff by known footholds, reached the -back yard of the gluemaker’s, poised for a moment just above it, and -then sprang lightly on to the flat roof of the building--then that was -possible. Clement saw that there was a ledge along the cliff that made -the take-off for the jump easy. - -Once on the roof, the slim man again adopted his casual air. He was to -all appearances an occupant of the glue factory taking an airing on -the roof. He dawdled about, hands in pockets, looking about him, up -to the cliff, along the backs of the other houses. Then he strolled -towards the house, poised himself on the edge of the roof just by the -fire escape over the cartway. He jumped, caught it, scrambled on to the -landing. Then very calmly, he walked up the iron stairway until he came -to the fourth floor. The window of the fourth floor was shuttered but, -apparently, not bolted, for the slim man opened the shutters without -effort, slid through them into the house, pulled them to after him and -disappeared. - -Waiting for a minute or two Clement presently backed away from the -shelter of his scrap heap, and made his way out of the builder’s yard. -He had discovered two very important things. The first, that Siwash -Mike had returned to the gluemaker’s to report the whereabouts of -Henry Gunning. The second discovery was that there was a way into the -gluemaker’s from the back. - -He hurried back to the Château Frontenac. He was anxious to know -what the massive Mr. Neuburg made of the first fact. And how far his -own knowledge of the second fact was going to help him discover Mr. -Neuburg’s future plans. - - -VII - -While Clement Seadon had been active, Mr. Neuburg had not been idle. -He had sat and smoked for a while. Then having decided upon a plan, he -rose and searched for something in his baggage. When he had found it, -he opened his one of the pair of doors between his room and Clement’s -bathroom, and for several moments did something to the foot of -Clement’s door. - -Having done this to his complete satisfaction, he sat and smoked and -thought again. Three minutes after the time Clement had seen Siwash -Mike enter the gluemaker’s, the telephone bell rang in Mr. Neuburg’s -room. With one glance at the floor near the door he had just shut and -bolted, he rose and answered the ring. - -What he heard over the wire gave him apparently a pleasant surprise, -for though his curiously impassive face showed no sign, he said, “Eh, -but you have been quick, I did not expect you for a day or two.... No, -say nothing now.... I will see you this night, about ten o’clock. And -now listen----” And in his slightly purring voice he gave a string of -directions. They were very guarded, for telephones have eavesdroppers, -but quite explicit to understanding ears. - -He hung up the telephone, dropped back into his chair again and thought -and smoked. But after a perceptible minute this curious, immobile-faced -man, allowed himself the luxury of a great laugh. It was a terrible -laugh, but a short one. It was perhaps well it was so, for very quickly -after there came the scratch at the communicating door, which betokened -that Méduse Smythe had returned to her room, and was ready to serve him. - -He sprang up at once, and again glancing at the floor by the other -communicating door, let Méduse in. The woman said, “I have come back by -myself. The girl wished to go for half an hour’s motor drive alone in -the Battlefield Park.... No, the Englishman was not with her. She may -be going to meet him, but I don’t think so.... The whole thing seemed a -sudden thought on her part. Can I do anything?” - -“You will,” he smiled at her with his mirthless grin. “This Seadon may -be meeting her, but even if he is or isn’t, I want you to go down -to the lobby, watch for him coming in, and when he comes in, come up -here as swiftly as you can and tell me. No, do not telephone up. Come -yourself. I need you....” She made a step to go. “When you join me in -this room don’t be surprised at anything. When I say things to you, -play up--play up, remember that.” - -It seemed only a few minutes before she was back in the room. Mr. -Neuburg came through the intercommunicating bathroom at the sound of -the key in her door. He looked at her, indicating the necessity for -quiet. - -“He came in just as I reached the lobby,” she said. “He did not see me. -He came up straight to his room, I think.” - -Mr. Neuburg caught her by the wrist, and both very stealthily went -back to his room. He led her close to the doors that communicated with -Clement Seadon’s bathroom. He paused, listened. He could hear no sound -from the Englishman’s side of the doors. He looked at her, grinned, and -pointed to the floor near their feet. - -On the floor was a yellow-painted lead pencil. It was lying alongside -a white line Mr. Neuburg had chalked on the floor. The woman Méduse -stared down at it, wondering what on earth it all meant.... And as she -stared down the pencil began to move. - -There was no sound. The silence was profound. There was nothing to -indicate a reason for the pencil’s movement. And the pencil moved ... -slowly, stealthily, cautiously it moved away from the chalk mark. It -moved six inches and then it stopped. Mr. Neuburg looked into her face -and grinned. His hand indicated the door leading to Clement Seadon’s -bathroom. - -Then the woman, looking closer at the pencil, understood. Round the -waist of the pencil was a thin line, a line of thread. The thread ran -from the pencil under the closed door. Undoubtedly it was attached -to the inner door of the pair by a piece of wax. She understood at -once that the Englishman was in the other room. Thread and wax would -be invisible in the dim light and in the almost imperceptible space -between the double doors; but as Clement’s door opened, its movement -would be shown by the movements of the pencil. - -The pencil had moved. The Englishman had opened his door. He was at the -opening of the door now--listening for what he might learn through the -closed door of Mr. Neuburg’s room. - -The woman Méduse in a flash understood how the Englishman had learned -the name of Joe, which he had used to get her away from Heloise at -lunch time. Mr. Neuburg, in his brilliant manner, had solved that -riddle. - -Mr. Neuburg, in his brilliant manner, was going to make the most of -his knowledge. Very quietly he led the woman back to the door through -which she had entered. He left her standing there with a soundless -command to silence. He went to his chair and lowered himself softly -into it. He picked up a newspaper and rustled it. He cleared his -throat. He moved so that his chair would creak. He did this for a long -ten minutes. Then abruptly he sprang up, making a definite noise, and -moved towards her. “Ah, you are back, my dear Méduse,” he said aloud. -“Where is the girl?” - -Méduse played up--played up well. - -“She wished to go for a drive alone in the Battlefield Park. No, the -Englishman was not with her. She may be going to meet him, but I do not -think so. The whole thing seemed a sudden thought on her part.” - -“We cannot help it, anyhow,” said Mr. Neuburg, smiling in his sinister -manner. “I do not think, on the whole, her seeing him will have much -effect. I have good news--Siwash Mike has arrived.” - -The companion Méduse was a little startled at that, but she played up. -“But--is that possible? You did not expect him for a day or two.” - -“It is a fact. He has arrived, my mild Méduse. I had a telephone -message from No. 7 Sault Algonquin this afternoon.” - -He said “No. 7 Sault Algonquin” precisely and clearly. He wanted the -Englishman behind the door to hear it. Clement Seadon behind the door -heard it, and chuckled silently. He was certainly having great good -fortune. - -“Did--did Siwash say where he had found Henry Gunning? I suppose he has -found him?” The woman was not playing up so well, Mr. Neuburg frowned -bleakly; and yet, swiftly, he made her question serve his ends. - -“Siwash knows better than to talk of matters like that over the -telephone,” he said. “I take it that he has discovered the lurking -place of our besotted friend Gunning. But I shall not know until -to-night. I meet him at Algonquin at 10:30. He will report then.” - -He said the last words very clearly. The Englishman was to hear them. -Clement heard them and congratulated himself. - -There was a pause in Mr. Neuburg’s room, then Clement heard the massive -man speak again, “What are you doing to-night--you and the girl?” - -“O-oh,” said the woman. “We are going to a concert of old _habitant_ -French songs. One of the ladies from the _Empress_ told the girl she -must not miss it for the world, so she booked seats.... But if you -wanted me at Algonquin, I could have a headache.” - -“You will not have a headache,” said Mr. Neuburg, very distinctly. “I -do not want you at Algonquin. I want you by that girl’s side. But, and -attend to this carefully, my dear Méduse, if anything untoward occurs -you must come to the gluemaker’s immediately. Understand that--you must -come yourself. I will not have telephoning. I do not trust a woman -on the telephone in so delicate a business as this. Follow carefully -what I have to say. You may take a taxi, if you like, as far as the -docks, but you _must not_ take it into the Sault Algonquin, or to the -door of No. 7. You understand? No curiosity, particularly that of -the gluemaker’s neighbors, must be aroused. For that reason you will -not knock at the door, which, you know, is in a cart gate, or wait -about outside. _All you need do is to push against the little door in -the gate. It will be open. It will purposely be left open._ Now you -understand that perfectly?” - -The woman understood that perfectly. She repeated the directions to -show that she had it perfectly. Mr. Neuburg said, “That is good. I do -not think anything untoward will occur, but we must always plan for any -event. And now that you know everything, you had better go back to your -room and await the girl. We cannot risk suspicion of any sort. Let us -hope that Siwash will bring us definite and good news of Henry Gunning, -and that what I hear at 10:30 to-night may mean a speedy finish to our -big scheme.” - -Clement echoed the sentiments. He hoped, in fact he felt certain, that -what Siwash Mike would have to say about the vanished Henry would give -him (Seadon) facts which, in addition to the other damning material he -had, would enable him to settle the accounts of these rogues swiftly -and for all time when he spoke of them in his talk with Heloise Reys -to-morrow morning. - -He felt, indeed, that it was all part of fate working on his side. - -Siwash Mike’s coming fitted into the situation as neatly as if it had -all been thought out. Clement thought it might have been thought out, -ordained, by Providence. - -And not only had good fortune sent along Siwash Mike to-day, but good -fortune had also stepped in to enable him to make the most of Siwash -Mike. To be present when that rogue reported to his master was not -going to be child’s play, but it was going to be simpler than he -had first thought. The way down the cliffside to the gluemaker’s of -Algonquin was a certain way in, but it would be difficult and dangerous -in the dark. Now, thanks to his abounding good luck, he had overheard -that all he had to do was _to push against the little door in the big -cart gate of the gluemaker’s, and it would be open_. Good fortune had -favored him with an easy entrance. How could he reject this offer of -good fortune? He could not. - -And Mr. Neuburg, as he sat in his own room and smoked, thought much the -same thoughts. How could this Englishman reject this offer which good -fortune apparently had offered him? No, the fellow could not.... He -would go to the gluemaker’s of the Sault Algonquin at 10:30 to-night. - -And Clement Seadon went. - -He put on old clothes. He carried an automatic pistol in his pocket. -He also wore rubber-soled brown shoes. His adventure was not going to -be easy and without danger, and he was prepared for all eventualities. -But, on the whole, his great good luck had given him an exhilarating -sense of confidence, and as he passed through the dark streets of -the lower town of Quebec, and into the cañon of lowering and silent -blackness that night made of the Sault Algonquin, he felt sure of his -success. - -There was no one about. He reached the gluemaker’s unobserved. The -face of the house was black, enigmatic. There was no sign of life or -light. He pressed upon the little door in the big cart gate. Yes, it -was yielding ... it was open. With a sharp movement he opened it wide -enough to let his body through, slipped inside. - -Under the arch of the house, the cartway was a cave of almost -impenetrable blackness. Moving very slowly and very easily, Clement -stole to the left. The door of the house must be there. He felt along -the house wall. There was no window ... for yards there was nothing. -Then his hand dropped into the recess of the door, slid across the -woodwork, found the handle.... Softly, gently he turned. The door -answered under pressure--it opened. Clement was inside a pitch black -room. - -There was just a faint sound ... something small fell ... something as -small as a pencil.... Only in that terrific silence would he have heard -so small a sound. Then complete silence ... silence bearing down like -a shroud.... Slowly, cautiously Clement closed the door behind him ... -took one, then another, then another step into the room.... Something -tautened and snapped across his instep, a thread.... Things happened.... - -A hoarse whisper ... a sudden rush of movement ... a torch clicked, -wavered, struck into his eyes with its brilliant and dazzling light ... -there was a sweep of movement.... Men bore down on him in a terrific -rush.... - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -I - -Clement realized at once that he was trapped, and neatly. The thought -did not rob him of activity. The instinctive sense of action which is -in every athlete functioned immediately. He dashed, not at the torch -as every cornered animal or man would, as they expected him to do, but -away from it. - -He swung cleanly on his heel, and jumped as he swung. He sensed that -there were several men in the room, and that they guarded the door. He -neglected the door. He leaped for the window. If he could smash that, -create an uproar in the Sault Algonquin, then he would attract help. - -An oath came from a man as his game was realized. Something whistled -through the air, hit a wall with a soft and terrible thud. “Sandbag,” -registered Clement’s brain. He dodged, and there was another oath and -another miss. - -A shadow, lean and leaping like a cat, shot from the darkness into the -dazzle of the torch. Clement saw a fierce, feline face, and one hand -stretched forward to clutch, while the other swung up to club. - -“Siwash,” Clement’s brain signaled. He spurred his body forward with -a quicker drive of his foot, got in under the blow, and punched in -both hands hard and sure. Siwash staggered and his stick went flying -loose over Clement’s shoulder. Clement uppercut with a savage left, -Siwash jerked upward grotesquely, went over wildly into the blackness. -Clement hurdled his body, and his hand was on the advertisement boards -screening the window. - -Adolf Neuburg was on him. - -The mountain of a man with his unexpected and terrible agility swept -down from nowhere. His great hands went out plucking at the young -Englishman. His vast fists were free of weapons, for he was confident -in his enormous strength. And he grabbed at Clement, he did not -hit--that was foolish. His hand closed on Clement’s upper arm and -swung the lighter man round. Then Mr. Neuburg uttered a curious, -staccato yell. As his hand closed on the arm, the arm, instead of being -wrenched away, had closed on the hand, the upper and lower arms coming -together. As the Englishman swung round, his body doubled forward, and -Mr. Neuburg’s arm, caught and twisted, was vilely wrenched. The fact -that Mr. Neuburg endeavored to save his wrist and forearm by exerting -his huge strength only made matters worse--that is the great truth -underlying Japanese wrestling. But Mr. Neuburg did not know that. - -He snatched his hand away as Clement unhinged, only to receive a -snapping right-hand swing to the side of the head. He bellowed, made a -furious swipe at the Englishman with his left. Clement ducked, slipped -in under it, banged right and left to Mr. Neuburg’s great face. And Mr. -Neuburg went down. He went down not because he had been knocked, but -because Clement had employed a trick he had once seen a shifty boxer -use. As he jumped in to hit, he had slipped his left toe behind Mr. -Neuburg’s heel. The force of the blow sent Mr. Neuburg reeling over -that toe. - -But Mr. Neuburg had served his purpose. He had delayed Clement. Clement -knew it. Directly he had struck the mountain of a man, he darted, not -towards the window now, for the other men--how many were there?--must -be converging on that, but towards the door again, which should have -been left unguarded. The tussle had lasted moments only--but---- - -The man who had held the torch had not moved during all the fighting. -It was Joe, who was slow, but enduringly calm. He had seen Siwash go -down and out. He had seen the massive Mr. Neuburg go down. He saw -Clement dart away from the window towards the door. He stood still. His -hand held the blazing torch steady. But his other hand moved. It moved -in a long swinging arc. It completed its swing at the moment Clement’s -hand touched the door handle. Clement slumped forward against the door, -and then he crumpled nervelessly to the floor. The sandbag in that -swinging hand had reached its mark on Clement’s head with a beautiful -accuracy. - -Joe played the light round Clement’s inert body. Mr. Neuburg scrambled -to his feet, snarling because he tried to help himself up with his -damaged wrist. He came to Joe’s side. Joe put out his hand, clicked on -the electric light. Both rogues stood over the Englishman. He did not -move. - -“Some wildcat,” said Joe. He gazed down with grim admiration. He looked -at Siwash, still prone. He looked at Mr. Neuburg’s palpably damaged -face and wrist. A fourth man, so tall and thin that his bones seemed -loose and rattling, joined the two. He was the only other in the room. -He held a sandbag in his hand, but he had the general air of being a -tradesman. That gave his furtive pose a tone of nervousness. He looked -at Neuburg, moistening his lips in agitation--and did not speak. He -looked at Joe and did. “Dead?” he asked hesitantly. “Dead?” - -“Aw,” said Joe without passion, “you make me tired. A little knock like -that killing any feller.” - -Mr. Neuburg looked across the tall, thin man’s shoulder with an -emotionless chuckle. “Since our good Louis took to glue, his morale has -become--shall we say--very sticky?” he said softly. - -“Well, mustn’t one preserve appearances, Adolf?” the thin man protested -nervously. “Now mustn’t one? If anything happened to cause trouble -would it help me--any of us? It is by keeping up the appearance of--of -honesty that we--we----” - -“Timidity has given our dear friend Louis a certain wisdom,” said -Neuburg, smiling his creaseless smile. “There is something in what he -says.” - -“That means,” commented Joe without emotion--“that means you ain’t -goin’ to dump this coyote inter the river.” - -“No--no--no!” cried the gluemaker feverishly. “If it got out, that -would----” The man Louis seemed to have a terror of finishing sentences. - -“Aw, you’re crazy,” said Joe. “You make me real tired. Get quit o’ him -once and for all, I says.” - -“The shock of the water would bring him to,” murmured Mr. Neuburg, not -in friendliness towards Clement, but in speculation. - -“We could fix that--rope him,” said Joe. - -“And that would indicate foul play. So would hitting him over the head, -or shooting him before we slipped him into the St. Lawrence....” - -“I could keep him safe,” put in the timid Louis. “Safe, up at top of -house. In that room he’d never get out. You see.” - -“He’d have to get out sometime,” said Mr. Neuburg. - -“I’d see that he didn’t.” - -“Forever?” put in Joe dryly. - -“Well--for long enough. For days, for a week--until you’ve got things -fixed....” - -“That’s all right,” said Mr. Neuburg with quick decision. “You take -him up to that room of yours and keep him tight. Don’t forget he’s -a cunning one, whatever you do.--I’m not a pleasant person to have -trouble with.” Louis cringed away. “Right; you understand that. In a -few days we’ll telegraph you. Then you can let him free.” - -“To raise hell,” sneered Joe sullenly, puzzled by Mr. Neuburg’s -decision. - -Mr. Neuburg turned with his silent swiftness on Joe. He gazed bitterly -across Joe’s shoulder. “Do I give orders, Joe, or do you? Do I make -mistakes, Joe, or do you?” - -Joe shuffled his feet anxiously. Mr. Neuburg was not looking at him, -but Joe dropped his gaze to the dirty floor. “Oh, I know you’re the -brains, boss ... but I don’t see ...” he muttered. - -“I’m seeing for you,” sneered Mr. Neuburg coldly. “You’re a bright -feller in a rough-house, but thinking isn’t one of your assets. Just -for that I’ll explain to you. Item one, we don’t want trouble in this -business. Item two, if we can squash trouble it’s wiser to squash it. -Item three, if we can make this fool Englishman feel that he’s played -a losing game, that he’s only butting in where he’s not wanted--by -the girl; that the girl is happy and content with what she’s doing, -an’ so on, and so on, well, he’ll stop making trouble right then an’ -there. Item four, given that the girl is what we know she is, and -Gunning being licked up to the scratch, an’ the pair or twain thrown -together--well, she’ll be content. Do you follow now, my friend? This -Heloise girl meets Gunning; Gunning is love’s young dream to her. They -fix it up together. That’s settled. We wire Louis here to release this -feller; he can even let drop where he is to find the girl. He comes -chasing after her. He finds her. She hasn’t a glance for him. She is -all for Gunning; maybe, even, she has married him--I think we can fix -that up, get a reason for the hurry. Anything this Englishman says to -her, he says against Gunning, so it will be an insult. He’ll be simply -out of it. So he goes away quietly, for her sake. Do you get it now?” - -“If he _did_ go away quietly,” said Joe haltingly. “It has a good -sound, what you say, but----” - -“And if he doesn’t go away quietly,” said Mr. Neuburg in a soft, cold -voice, “well, we will be, perhaps, in the wilds; at Sicamous, or -somewhere. Away from cities, from people who ask questions and pry -deeply. In the wilds, _accidents_ have a more plausible air, my good -Joe; dead men are less noticeable--than--say in Quebec!” - -Joe looked at the big mountain of a Mr. Neuburg with a wide-eyed gaze. -“I see, you _want_ him to come out and be killed. You’re a wonder of a -devil, Adolf,” he said. - -“Take his head, Joe, Louis will probably drop him before we get to that -room at the top. Louis, his legs.” - - -II - -When Clement came to himself he was conscious of extreme darkness, an -agonizing pain in his head where that sandbag had landed, and also -considerable pain where his bonds bit into wrist and leg. - -He also felt from the sounds drifting up to him that he was in a room -at the top of the gluemaker’s house, and probably a lumber room from -the musty smell of it. - -It must be confessed that his first responsible emotion was not -thankfulness for an escape from what should have been death, but a -very hearty disgust at the way he had allowed himself to be captured. -In fact, when he realized how he had thrown away his chance and maybe -delivered Heloise into the hands of Mr. Neuburg and his gang, he lost -his nerve, and with a terrific output of strength tried to free himself -from his bonds. - -He had seen heroes in the “movies” and Mr. Houdini free themselves from -their shackles often enough, and it had seemed a simple matter. The men -who had fixed his bonds, however, would have spoiled any movie hero’s -business. Not only could he not throw them off, but the struggle to do -so, so increased the pain of them and that of his head, that in the end -he fainted. - -He was forced back to consciousness by the frightful sensation of blood -recirculating in his limbs. He writhed and moaned. An oath sounded at -his side, something was flung over his head, and handcuffs were snapped -on to his wrists. Clement struggled with the thing about his head, -while shuffling footsteps hurried across the boards but he only got the -rug--that is what it proved to be--away from his eyes in time to see -the legs and back of a tall, thin man flash out of the door. A strong -lock snapped home. Louis, the gluemaker, was not risking identification. - -When he had recovered sufficiently, Clement sat up and took stock -of the situation. He was, as he had thought in the roof room of the -gluemaker’s. It was a big room, crowded with old junk. The room -was lit by a narrow window of the kind known to architects as a -“lie-on-your-stomach,” that is, it rose from the floor boards to end -at the slant of the roof about two feet above. By the light coming in -through the dirty panes the morning was well on, but whether it was -past his hour to see Heloise--9:30--he could not say. - -He was sitting in the center of this room, with some fresh food and -water beside him. The gang then did not want him to starve. He also -saw that the gang had thought of him in other ways. The thin man who -had just bolted through the door, had been with him for no other reason -than to remove the tight ropes, and substitute manacles of an easier -kind. - -He had snapped a pair of police handcuffs on his wrists, as Clement -knew, but before that he had put another pair on his ankles; these -were linked by a heavy chain to a staple in the wall. The chain was -padlocked. - -Clement lifted the jug of water with both hands, took a long drink, and -then examined the handcuffs on his wrists. In less than a minute one -wrist was free. It was quite simple. These handcuffs were ratcheted to -take several sizes in wrists. In his hurry the thin man had not pushed -the ratchet of the right cuff beyond the first notch. Clement was -what might be called a third notch man--hence he had no difficulty in -slipping his wrist out. - -The leg irons presented a graver problem. Unable to get them off with -his hands, he searched about for some means of removing them. He was -lucky. With difficulty he unearthed from a box full of odd tools, a -hacksaw. With this slowly and patiently, and with his attention always -alert for movements in the house, he sawed through the connecting links -of the ankle irons. - -It was a tedious and painful business. He heard the mid-day “break” -sound from scores of factory sirens, but he worked on trying not to -think of what might be happening to Heloise. - -She would remain on in Quebec, he told himself. She could not hurry -away, she would not leave without seeing him. He tried to convince -himself of this. He would see her in spite of this trap. And after he -had talked with her the whole bad business would be ended. - -If he thought of Mr. Neuburg and his cunning, he said to himself, “He -thinks he has me here safely. He won’t attempt to attract attention by -hustling things.” - -It was after two o’clock when he got free. Nobody had come up to him. -He had thought this would be the case since a day’s supply of food had -been left with him. Concealing the ankle cuffs under his socks, and -that on his left wrist up his sleeve, he lay down and looked out of the -window. - -It was overlooking the yard he had studied yesterday from the cliff -behind. In that yard nothing was stirring save the “puff-puff-puff” of -the steam pipe. From this window to the yard was a sheer drop of some -seventy feet. On the other hand, the thin, topmost upright of the fire -escape was two feet away from the window, and level with it--if he -dared risk that. - -He meant to. He forced the dirt-gummed window open, and, laying flat on -his stomach, wriggled his body inch by inch out of the narrow window. -It was soul chilling. To find himself poised there half in and half -out of that tube of a window, with nothing to aid him, and with that -horrible drop beneath him, unnerved him. He felt himself slipping, -going. For one moment he seemed to be clawing the empty air, with the -feeling that nothing could save him. He was dropping-- - -Then in a flash his nerve came back. He lunged forward and grasped the -slender iron girder of the escape, and there for an agonized moment he -hung swaying, helpless. He made a giant effort. The thin iron of the -fire escape support creaked and appeared to bend toward him. He heard -the structure groan. His feet came away suddenly, and his knees and -thighs struck the iron pole with excruciating pain. But the instinct -of preservation caused his limbs to act almost, it appeared, on their -own initiative. Just as his hands seemed about to be torn loose by -his weight, his legs circled the iron support and gripped. He slid -downward. In a moment he was crouching on the top platform of the fire -escape behind a rain-water barrel. - -He remained there for a few minutes, regaining his breath and his -nerve, surveying the side of the cliff up which he must presently go. -Then he looked downward--and saw a man on the flat roof beneath the -fire escape. - -The man had come out from the window of the house that was flush with -the roof. He stood, a slim, lithe figure, gazing idly about him. He -was occupied with nothing more significant than the after-lunch -exercise of picking his teeth. Clement knew who the man was. It was -Siwash Mike. He hoped Siwash Mike was one of those who liked to take an -afternoon siesta on his bed. - -Siwash Mike stood there, easy, feeling, no doubt, that the world was -a good place to live in. Then he apparently decided what he was going -to do. He turned and reentered the house. Clement, thanks to his -rubber-soled shoes, was down another floor on the escape by the time he -emerged again. That was the fourth floor, through the window of which -Clement had seen Siwash himself enter the house yesterday. - -The action of Siwash was now not satisfactory. Siwash was dragging -behind him a deck chair. Siwash--it was horrible to see it--had under -his arm a bundle of magazines with highly colored covers.... Siwash was -going to make an afternoon of it on that roof. An afternoon of it--and -Clement must leap from the escape to that roof, and cross it in order -to reach the cliff. - -It was a bitter moment. - -But Clement meant to get across that roof and up that cliff. And, what -is more, he meant to do it quickly. He could not afford to waste any -more time away from Heloise’s side. Indeed, he dare not waste time -here. At any moment some one might go up to the attic, find him gone, -and raise the alarm.... - -Raise the alarm! The thought flashed through Clement’s mind not with a -thrill of anxiety but with the thrill of a happy idea. With his eyes -on the now reposeful head of Siwash Mike, he felt the jalousies of -the window behind him. As yesterday, they were unfastened. He opened -one, slipped his hand in--yes, the window was wide open also.... In -another moment he was inside that window, and had closed the jalousies -behind him. Before him were the stairs, descending steeply into yawning -darkness. He went to the head of these. With his hands he made a -trumpet about his mouth. He opened his mouth. With the full power of -his lungs he yelled, “Siwash! Siwash!” - -He nipped back to the jalousies. He looked down at Siwash Mike. The -half-breed was standing, glaring towards the house, his body tense and -alert. Clement nipped to the head of the stairs. He yelled again in a -tone of terrific alarm, “Siwash! Help!” - -He heard a tumult below. When he got to the jalousies Siwash was no -longer on the roof. In a flash of seconds Clement was; had swung from -the escape to the flat roof; had dashed along that roof and had leaped -to the ledge of the low cliff. He was three parts up the cliff before -the fierce face of the half-breed appeared at the little window of the -attic. - -The face appeared, scowled ferociously, then the right arm shot out. -The automatic in the hand came down, sighting on Clement’s climbing -figure. Clement shut his eyes and felt sick. He was a mark that could -scarcely be missed. - -Nothing happened. - -He opened his eyes. - -Siwash’s face was turned away from him; he appeared to be arguing -vehemently with some one behind him in the attic. As Clement looked, -a long, thin arm with an incredibly bony hand stretched itself past -Siwash’s shoulder, and clutched avidly at the automatic pistol. Clement -did not waste time then. He was up the remainder of the cliff as fast -as his best climbing could take him. He was through the builder’s yard -at a run, though a man yelled at him to know his business.... And in -a near street he caught a taxi and went to the Château Frontenac as -rapidly as petrol could carry him. - -As he went into the lobby he was stopped by the porter. “We’ve -been looking for you, Mr. Seadon,” the man said. “Looking for you -everywhere. A lady was asking for you.” - -“A lady!” cried Clement, stopping in his stride. “What lady?” - -“Oh, the one that left this morning,” said the porter. - -“The one that went this morning?” echoed Clement stupidly. - -“Yes, the one that left for Montreal.” - -Clement glared at him. “You can’t mean Miss Reys, Miss Heloise Reys, -who was here with a companion?” he cried. - -“That’s the lady I mean,” said the cataclysmic porter. “She was asking -for you right up to the moment she left.” - - -III - -Clement Seadon was for the moment dazed by the dismaying unexpectedness -of the news. - -He had lost. Mr. Neuburg and his gang had not wasted a moment. They had -whipped the girl out of his reach. They had effectually put a barrier -of distance between him and Heloise. - -He had a bitter vision of Heloise traveling away from him--away through -this vast country where communications were scarce. She was more -completely in the clutches of those terrible and sinister people with -every mile she traveled, and he was less able to help. He stared at the -porter. “She’s gone,” he said. “She--didn’t the lady leave a message?” - -“None, sir. She seemed to expect that you was going to see her.” - -“Yes,” said Seadon. He could understand how bewildered Heloise must -have been when he did not keep his appointment of this morning. “And -you’re sure she went to Montreal?” - -“Yessir,” said the porter. Some one touched Clement’s arm, somebody -said, “Seadon, old fellow....” Clement waved this hand aside without -looking round. “Just one minute,” he said. Then to the porter, “You’re -sure it was Montreal? I mean she wasn’t going further? Through to -Sicamous, for example?” - -“Sure, they’re stopping off at Montreal, her and her lady fren’. Didn’t -I check their baggage to Montreal?” - -Clement thought for a moment. What did that mean? Did it mean that -Heloise would stop in Montreal, or did it mean that she was merely -changing trains there in order to go to the place--wherever it -was--where Henry Gunning was lurking at the moment? That seemed the -more likely, and it was the more dismaying. She was going to some -unknown town in the tremendous continent. It filled him with dread even -to think of it. - -His arm was touched again. He thanked the porter, turned, and saw the -captain of the _Empress of Prague_ by his side. “Hello, Heavy,” he said. - -“I’ve been looking for you, old chap,” said the captain. “I want you to -meet The Chief.” - -“The Chief,” echoed Clement vaguely. He saw a man of middle height with -astonishingly thick, square shoulders standing by the captain’s side. -He was a man with a firm, sunburned face in which big bones showed -strongly. His nose was powerful and high-bridged, and the skin round -the eyes was dark. The eyes were extraordinarily steady and keen, and, -since he was smiling, his face had a singularly pleasant, indeed, -tender kindness which tempered its undoubted resolution. Clement looked -at this man, and knew him for a staunch and extremely capable friend at -once. He said again, “The Chief?” - -“He’s our policeman,” said the genial captain. “He’s down here to -find out why you weren’t arrested in that diamond tiara affair on the -_Empress_.” - -“Is he, by Jove?” cried Clement abruptly, glancing at the strong, -intelligent face of The Chief with a sudden feeling of hope. - -“He’s the head of the railway police organization,” explained Captain -Heavy. “Not the Dominion police, mind you. His name, by the way, is -Joseph Fiscal. And, seriously, he’d like a few words with you regarding -that robbery.” - -“He’s the very man I’m wanting myself,” said Clement heartily, to the -surprise of the captain--nothing yet created seemed able to surprise -The Chief. “Can we go somewhere and talk?” - - -IV - -The three men went into the private sitting room in the manager’s -office. The first thing Clement did was to take his left hand from the -pocket in which it had reposed since he escaped from the house in the -Sault Algonquin, pull up his sleeve, shake his arm, and so expose to -The Chief the handcuff still clasping his left wrist. - -That redoubtable man looked at it calmly, fingered it, sat upright -slowly, and turned on Captain Heavy a dry, genial smile. His eyes -scrutinized the puzzled face of the captain for but a moment, then he -turned back to Clement. With the same movement his hand came out of his -pocket, and in the hand was a handcuff key. - -In a moment, and with free hands, Clement was rolling down his socks, -exposing the handcuffs on his ankles. - -The smile of The Chief became broader. “Is your friend quite as honest -as you think, Heavy?” he asked genially. - -“Ab-solutely,” said Heavy in a perplexed tone. “Though he does seem to -have been trying to do Houdini stunts, and failing.” - -“Not altogether failing,” smiled Clement, as The Chief’s key got to -work. “I managed to get out of _this_ trap, just as I managed to get -out of the one on the _Empress_--the diamond tiara trap.” - -“Ah,” said The Chief, looking up, smiling with his lips, but his eyes -keen. “There _is_ something behind it all?” - -“There is; but first, how soon can I get to Montreal?” - -“Talking to us won’t hold you up,” said The Chief with unexpected -penetration. “You can’t go before the night train.” - -“Isn’t there something before that--any means?” - -“No,” said The Chief. He looked at Clement steadily. That look was a -request for information. - -“Well, as I said, I want your help; but it’s going to be a tale, even a -sort of ‘shocker,’ a strange, unbelievable crime and mystery story.” - -“_I’ll_ be able to appreciate it,” smiled The Chief. “Go on, Mr. -Seadon.” - -So Seadon told the whole story from the beginning. He told everything, -indeed, except one thing. That thing was the little lawyer’s suggestion -that he should make love to and marry Heloise, and the fact that he had -himself arrived at the conclusion that the little lawyer had talked -wisdom. He did not talk of it, but perhaps the men who listened were -not unaware of his condition. The Chief smiled even more humanly. -Heavy, with a seaman’s bluntness, cried, “I remember Miss Reys, a -beautiful woman. To think that a pack of scoundrels.... Still, old man, -you’ve got The Chief with you now.” - -Clement thought of Canada and its vastness. Even the most astute -chief of police would find it difficult to track a girl through that -immensity--and do it in time. - -“Mr. Seadon is not quite sure about The Chief,” smiled the head of the -railway police. - -“Well ... Canada’s such a huge place. It’s easy to vanish without trace -in such a country.” - -“Oh, our system compares with the country,” said The Chief genially. -“That porter told you he’d checked Miss Reys’ baggage through to -Montreal? We’ll begin by confirming that.” He pressed a bell. A girl -came in. “How do, Miss Jeannette. I wonder whether you’d mind asking -Mr. Labage--he’s still at the rail reservation desk, isn’t he?--to step -along. Say, that’s real nice of you.” - -Mr. Labage came in. The Chief said to him immediately, “How are you -keeping, Mr. Labage? That’s good. Now, I’m wondering if you can tell me -if a lady from this hotel and her companion, a Miss Heloise Reys and a -Miss Méduse Smythe, took reservations on any train pulling out to-day?” - -“Sure she did. Both ladies reserved on the _Imperial_, leaving at 1:15 -for Montreal.” - -“That confirms it, then,” said Clement. The Chief only smiled, he was -after full proof. - -“And say, did another feller, a big feller by name of Neuburg, go out -to-day?” - -“He certainly did,” said the efficient Mr. Labage. “He, an’ a feller -with him, some one outside, had reservations on the morning train.” - -“To Montreal?” - -“To Montreal.” - -That finished the clerk. - -“And the next move, Chief?” asked Clement, for he knew that there -would be another move. He saw that The Chief had made it certain that -Heloise--and the gang--were going straight through to Montreal, and -were not leaving the train before. He was beginning to appreciate the -calm ability and keenness, yes, and the immense resources, lying behind -the genial smile of this man. - -The Chief put out his hand to the telephone. “I want Montreal, Miss,” -he said into the receiver. “Get me Windsor Station, the Department of -Investigation.” He hung up and turned to Clement. “This feller Neuburg -is new to me. I’ve been thinking about him, but I can’t place him. -He must have come up from the States, or, he may have worked behind -others. The one class of life I am thoroughly acquainted with is bad -men. I know all the leading lights, but I don’t get him.... This -Gunning feller--we’ll get news of easy. And we’ll find out about this -Joe Wandersun. He’s Neuburg’s traveling companion on this trip, since -Siwash stayed, hey? P’raps we’ll trail up Siwash Mike, too. But this -Neuburg.... Give me an idea of him, Mr. Seadon.” - -Clement described Neuburg as pointedly as he could, while The Chief -listened with his smile, as though it were but a good story, but his -level and capable eyes proved his keenness. - -Clement had just finished his picture of the master rogue when the -telephone bell rang. The Chief picked up the receiver, “That Mac -speaking? This is The Chief. Who’s about?... Ah, Gatineau’s there. -Call him.... Oh, Xavier, it’s The Chief speaking. I’m in Quebec on the -_Empress_ robbery case.... See here, there is a lady stopping off at -Montreal on _Imperial No. 1_. She is a Miss Heloise Reys, she has a -companion with her, a Miss Méduse Smythe. I want her trailed. Find out -where she’s stopping, if she stays in Montreal. If she isn’t staying, -find out where she’s going and by what train she goes.--No, don’t -interfere with her, just find out what she’s doing. Got that? Next, I -want you to find out all you can about a feller called Henry Gunning, -and another called Joe Wandersun, both of Sicamous.” He gave the few -details Clement had been able to give of these men. “If you can’t find -out anything about ’em in Records, or from the Dominion police, just -flash through to Sicamous or Revelstoke. Got that? Next isn’t so easy. -I want to hear somethin’ about a man who calls himself Adolf Neuburg.” -He spelled it out. Then he described him with an accuracy which -was amazing, considering he had only had Clement’s not very expert -description. “This feller Neuburg seems to be an out-size bad hat, but -I can’t place him. We haven’t come across him, I know. But just find -out if there’s anything known. You might trace him through mining, -or you might pick up something about him in connection with British -Columbia. He pulled out of here for Montreal on the morning train, -see if that helps.... You’ve got all that? Well, if it’s possible, -long-distance me here at the Frontenac about Miss Heloise Reys. The -other stuff can keep. I’m pulling out myself by the night train.” - -As The Chief put down the instrument Clement said enthusiastically, -“That’s splendid, it draws a noose round them. We’re bound to trace -them now.” - -“Yes, there are possibilities in my job,” smiled The Chief. “We’ve got -many means of heading off rogues and finding out things about them.” - -“And I’m going to give you another,” said Clement. “This Sherlock -Holmes business is contagious. Miss Heloise went because she had reason -to go. Yes, I know they must have persuaded her, but, and this is my -point, they wouldn’t have persuaded her unless they had something to -persuade with. At the bottom of this journey there must have been a -message.” - -The Chief stood up, reached for his soft hat. “That’s it. She got the -message she was expecting about this Gunning man. You said she had -letters addressed to her at the post office. Come along, we’ll look at -that message.” - -They went down the hill to the post office--where most of the notices -were in French. The Chief’s authority took them at once to a -superintendent, who had no difficulty in finding the duplicate of a -wire which Heloise Reys must have received late the night before. The -wire had come from Sicamous. It was signed by Wandersun--that meant -Joe’s wife had sent it. It said tersely: - - - “Henry Gunning is present working at Cobalt.” - - -“Cobalt,” said Clement, staring down at the flimsy slip. “That’s the -famous silver mining town, isn’t it?” - -“Yes, and this Gunning is a miner,” said The Chief. “Well, that’s all -natural enough. You see what’s happened. When Gunning broke loose from -those toughs he came east, meaning probably to hit the high spots. -Somewhere this side of Winnipeg his money ran dry. Being on his uppers, -and being a miner, he’d just naturally think of Cobalt, for Cobalt’d be -the place where he would find his own job and at good money.” - -“And I see how they persuaded Heloise--Miss Reys. They made her feel -that if she did not start for Cobalt at once there’d be every chance of -her missing him again. Gunning would wander off again directly he got -money into his pocket.” - -“Yes, and they got her to go by that train because she’d be able to -catch a connection out of Montreal,” capped The Chief. “She’ll go out -by No. 17. It’s one of the few direct trains. She’ll get a through -sleeper on that. Cobalt it is, Mr. Seadon.” - -“But Cobalt is an unhandy place to get at.” - -“It’s just as unhandy a place to get out of, too. But it’s Cobalt she’s -gone to, take that as fixed, Mr. Seadon.” - -Before they boarded the night train for Montreal they learned over -the long-distance ’phone that the girl and her companion had taken -reservations for Cobalt on the night train. - -They also learned that a large man, answering unmistakably to the -description of Mr. Neuburg, with a companion, had left Montreal earlier -in the day. - -He, too, had booked through to Cobalt. - - -V - -All through the night journey Clement was sleepless. He was thinking -of Heloise and the danger she was in. His own adventures with Mr. -Neuburg and his gang had taught him that there was very little these -scoundrels would stop at, and the thought of that slim, beautiful and -fine-tempered girl at the mercy of creatures so base and so cruel was a -thing of terror. - -What would happen to her? What, even now, was happening to her, or was -about to happen? He was tortured by a thousand fears. - -That Neuburg was going on before he knew was ominous. He was going to -deal with the inveterate Henry Gunning so that he would appear at his -best when Heloise “found” him. From his own experience Clement felt -that what Mr. Neuburg took in hand would be done thoroughly. - -At Montreal they were met by a slim, pleasant young man, with a quiet -manner and a nearly bald head. A satisfying young man, whose modesty -covered a definite ability to think and do things quickly. He told The -Chief at once that he had reserved accommodation for two on the next -train out to Cobalt. - -“Two?” asked Clement. - -“Xavier Gatineau here is going with you, Mr. Seadon,” said The Chief, -indicating the quiet young man with a nod. “It’s our case, too, you -know. We want to get to the bottom of that tiara business. Now, come -along and have breakfast with me. We have time before your train goes. -Xavier will tell us anything fresh.” - -Over the cantaloupe and ice water and gaspé salmon and superb coffee, -that made the breakfast, the young man told them there was nothing -particularly fresh. - -“The two ladies went through to Cobalt,” he said. “A point is they -traveled light. They took only suitcases. The heavy baggage was left -here--on demand. The baggage master told me that Miss Reys expected to -wire for it to be sent on somewhere.” - -“That means they don’t expect to make a stay in Cobalt. It also means -that if they left in a hurry it wouldn’t be so easy to trail them,” -commented The Chief. “Well, we’re warned anyhow. I’ll take steps, -Xavier. If you lose the trail, or anything goes wrong, get a message to -me. I’ll try and have something at all divisions,[1] too, and I’ll send -a general warning west. Now, about Mr. Neuburg?” - -“He pulled out early on the westbound. He’ll have changed at North Bay, -and so got to Cobalt last night. I haven’t been able to connect up with -Cobalt.--It’s not on our system, you know,” he explained to Clement. -“Neuburg had another man with him. Both only carried suitcases.” - -“Anything through from Sicamous?” - -“Joe Wandersun is a bad hat. We have his record, because he fell foul -of us once over false declarations in way-sheets. He’s got a shack -at Sicamous.... I’ve had a message through from the station master -there. Seems to be living more or less in retirement for the present. -Sicamous, anyhow, is no more than a scattered handful of shacks, no -scope for a man who lives by his wits. That’s what Wandersun has been -doing for years. He’s done a term in prison for fraud; it reads as -though it were the confidence trick. He’s a friend of Gunning’s.” - -“Ah,” said Clement. “You’ve heard something about Gunning.” - -“Our chap at Sicamous says he’s a remittance man. That’s a term in -British Columbia for a man who won’t work--a fellow who lives by -sponging. Gunning says he has mine claims, and is a booze artist.” The -young man’s eyes twinkled. “That’s our expression for a man given to -drink, Mr. Seadon.” - -“Nothing against him?” - -“Nothing proven--to our knowledge, but his habits are bad, and his -company shady.” - -“Have you found out anything about Siwash Mike?” asked The Chief. - -“Nothing.” - -“Neuburg?” - -“I’m going to hear from the Dominion police--perhaps; or, rather, -they’ll get on to you, sir. They don’t place him. But one of them said -he had an idea that the description you gave was like a man the U. S. -A. police were after. As far as he remembered, this man was wanted in -Oregon, well, considerably more than two years ago. They are going to -look into it, and get in touch with the U. S. A., too.” - -From the way he spoke, Clement thought that the quiet young man was -holding something back. Abruptly he leaned across the breakfast table. -“Did they say what he was wanted for?” - -The young man looked at The Chief before answering. The Chief nodded. - -“Murder,” he said quietly. - -Murder! Clement fell back in his chair, staring at the quiet, partly -bald young man who had made the calm statement. - -“As far as the Dominion police could remember--it was a good while -back, you understand--it was a matter of murder, or complicity in a -murder. Something with a lot of money in it, and a man killed. But -they’ll find out the full facts.” - -“Good God! and that girl is in this--this murderer’s power,” gasped -Clement, unable to think of anything else. - -“It may not be the same feller, Mr. Seadon,” said The Chief kindly. -“It’s an old case, and they are only working from memory, not facts.” - -“Are there many men answering to the description of Mr. Neuburg?” - -“No,” said The Chief slowly. “But then I don’t know. An’ when we get -the Oregon description we may find it doesn’t fit him.” - -“A case of money and murder ... that fits Neuburg,” said Clement. “Yes, -he’s a murderer and a thief, and--and that poor girl’s at his mercy. We -must do something.” - -“We can’t do anything until you get to Cobalt, Mr. Seadon. Come now, -you mustn’t lose your nerve.” - -But that was a thing easier to talk about than to do. Clement’s nerves, -very decidedly, had become jumpy. The thought that he had to sit -passive while that murderer had his way with Heloise filled him for a -moment with panic. - -He suggested getting through to Cobalt by ’phone or wire and doing -something. It was only the soothing calm of The Chief, who, rightly or -wrongly, trusted only his own system that quieted him in the end. He -felt that there was no good doing anything until he and Xavier Gatineau -got to Cobalt. A false step, a clumsy movement, a hint thrown out by -some one not too sure of his job, and the rogues would take fright and -all their work would be undone. - -And after all, as The Chief pointed out, Heloise could not be in danger -for a day or two, and, moreover, it was extremely unlikely that she -could get away from Cobalt before they arrived. - - -VI - -While they were waiting to catch the connection at North Bay, Clement -Seadon saw a man dodge out of the station telegraph office. He came -out furtively, saw Clement near him, hung hesitating, and then with -the movement of a weasel snapped back into cover behind the telegraph -office door. - -Clement walked away, but, always, he watched that door. - -When the train for Cobalt drew up, he handed his bag to the black -porter of his car--and still kept his eyes on the door. The young -detective who accompanied him paused as he entered the train, and -stood watching Clement’s antics. Clement heard him speaking over -his shoulder. He mounted the steps of the train backwards. He said, -“Gatineau, just keep your eyes on the door of the telegraph office, -will you?” - -The train began to pull out. A head appeared round the door of the -telegraph office. The dark, swift eyes in the head scanned the train -and platform.... Clement felt that, shrewd though that glance was, he -and Gatineau were well screened by the side of the train. One look and -the head was followed by a lithe, sinewy figure. This figure crossed -the platform at a swift, loping run, jumped to the steps of a car -farther back, and pulled himself into the train. - -“You saw him?” said Clement. “That was Siwash Mike. He’s traveling with -us to Cobalt.” - -They went to their seats in the train. Clement sat facing back so -that he could see any one who came forward through the train. He -thought Siwash Mike would lie low, but these rogues were so bold and -unscrupulous that he meant to be ready for all emergencies. - -“I was rather startled to see him,” he said to Xavier Gatineau, “but, -of course, I should have expected him. He has been following me from -Quebec without a doubt.” - -“Yes, in worrying about other things we forgot him,” admitted Gatineau. -“He complicates matters. He’ll have sent Neuburg word that we are -coming to Cobalt.... He was probably doing that in the telegraph -office.” - -The young detective’s surmise was a natural one. But it happened to be -wrong--as they found out later. Siwash Mike had sent his message of -their coming to Neuburg when they left Montreal. He had gone into the -telegraph office at North Bay for quite another reason. But Clement -and his companion were not to know that. They simply formed their -deductions on the material they had, and as the material they had was -limited, their deductions were wrong. - -“Yes, they’ll know we are coming; they’ll be prepared for us. And we -can do exactly nothing,” said Clement bitterly. - -“Let’s try and think what they’ll do to checkmate us,” said the -detective. - -“That’s easy,” said Clement. “They’ll do what they’ve been doing or -attempting to do ever since this affair began. They’ll get Heloise Reys -out of our reach.” - -“Not easy in a smallish town like Cobalt.” - -“Then they’ll take her outside Cobalt.” - -“But--but can they move her about at their will like that? She’s an -intelligent woman. Wouldn’t she object, wouldn’t she see something -wrong in this constant repetition of these tactics?” - -“They’ll be plausible,” said Clement. “Their excuse will be logical. -You must remember that this Gunning fellow is not supposed to know she -is coming to him. However erratic his movements may seem, they’re his -own, or appear to be his own. If they tell her at Cobalt that Gunning -has left the town, gone off to a shack, or a mine in the wilds, she -can’t say anything. That’s the sort of thing he would do, and she has -to adapt herself to him. That’s how they’ll get her away. Gunning will -go off somewhere--and she’ll follow.” - -“It’s a tough problem,” said the little detective. And both men fell -silent, thinking this tough problem out. - -This was a new difficulty to cap the old one. Already Clement had felt -that Heloise would be taken to some place hard to find in Cobalt, and -now he felt that, thanks to Siwash’s message, she would be doubly hard -to discover. And then suddenly, as he began to dwell upon Siwash’s -unpleasant presence on the train he smiled. - -“By Gad,” he cried, “it is just luck after all.” - -The little detective looked at him sharply. Clement answered that look -by saying: - -“From our brother Siwash’s antics do you feel that he thinks _we_ know -he is on this train?” - -“Why, no,” said the detective. “From the way he acted I think he -thought we hadn’t seen him, and he hoped we wouldn’t.” - -“That’s my conclusion,” smiled Clement. “He has us under his eye and -expects no guile from us, simply because he thinks us innocent of his -presence. And that’s going to help us.” - -The detective’s eyes showed that he hadn’t grasped what Clement was -driving at. - -“This is what I mean. He, personally, fears nothing from us. He is -confident that he can do his job without any suspicion or threat to -himself. Now, what is his job--it’s to shadow us to Cobalt, see us -safely there, and report. Do you agree with that; I mean do you think -there might be something further for him to do?” - -“No,” said the detective with thought. “I don’t see what more he can -do. They’ll naturally want to hear from him exactly what we’ve been -doing. He’ll probably turn us over to another man, or if, it being the -dead of night, we went to the hotel, he’d judge we were safe for an -hour or so....” - -“And we’ll arrange that he thinks that. But the point is that you agree -he’ll report. And who to?” - -“Why, to Neuburg--the gang.” - -“Yes--he’ll lead us to them,” smiled Clement quietly. The detective -looked at him, and then smiled in return. - -“Say, that’s pretty snappy thinking. Tell me the idea.” - -“It’s based on the fact that he thinks we don’t suspect he’s following -us. Now, this is my plan. When the train stops at Cobalt we’ll delay -getting off until the last.... That’ll thin out the other passengers -who alight ... that’ll make it easier for you to spot him, to fix him -in your mind....” - -“I’ve got him already,” smiled the detective. “That’s our job, you -know, to remember men. I know him. I won’t miss him.” - -“All right. But, anyhow, you’ll get a chance of picking him up easily -if there are fewer people about. When we get on to the platform, and -he has a chance of hearing all we say, I’ll arrange in a loud voice -to have both the bags carried to the hotel. Then you will say to me -(for, remember, we don’t suspect he’s there, we don’t suspect the -gang knows we’ve come to Cobalt), also in a loudish voice, that while -I’m reserving rooms in the hotel, you’ll have a word with the station -master. I’ll agree to wait in the hotel lobby until you come to me.” - -“And Siwash Mike overhears it all?” - -“Siwash Mike overhears it all. And having overheard all that, he’ll do -one of two things, I think. He’ll either shadow me, as the person he’s -most concerned in, to the hotel or put another man on to me to follow -me to the hotel--if there is another person; or he’ll decide that we’re -safe for a short while, and so go off to report to Neuburg.” - -“And I?” - -“You keep your eye on Siwash all the time. You follow him. If he -follows me to the hotel, follow him.... I shall go straight there -unless I get some signal to join you. If I am in the hotel I’ll manage -to keep my eye on the door all the time, so that if he moves off I’ll -take a signal from you and join you at once--I know you’ve an electric -torch. If you shine, then I’ll come out. But I’m rather hoping that if -he feels certain we don’t know he’s here, he’ll go off at once after -hearing our conversation about the hotel, and will trust his luck -about getting his report in before we stir abroad. If that’s the case -then we will both follow him.... We must plan a way for you to call my -attention, should I have already gone towards the hotel....” - -“That should be easy. You have to go up a pretty steep hill to get out -of the station yard. The hotel is just across the road. From the hotel -door you should command the approach; if you’ve not reached the hotel -by the time he goes off, well, I should pass so close that I should -be able to get you a warning.... But--but--he might go by car or by -rig....” - -“That would be the devil ...” began Clement; but the detective cried, -“No, I don’t think it would. If he got right into a car or rig I would -know at once what he was about. I’d take one of the other cars that are -sure to be there, and that steep hill in the station yard will check -his car, and enable me to pick you up.” - -They talked out the general line of this plan, and the more they -talked the most satisfactory it seemed. They would get to Neuburg’s -headquarters by following the man who was trailing them, and who felt -secure because he thought they didn’t know he was trailing them. There -were, of course, dangers and difficulties bristling along the line of -their proposed action. - -“What if they do put another man on to shadow you?” the detective asked. - -“We’ll have to deal with him--as the contingency arises,” said Clement -grimly. “It is a risk we can’t avoid.” - -“And we must beware of traps.” - -“We must,” said Clement with a smile that was yet more grim. “Trap or -no trap, I’m going into it. But I’m going in with my eyes open.” He -patted his pocket where reposed a new pistol The Chief had given him. -“I’m going in with my hand on the trigger, ready to shoot. I’m going -in with an electric torch. I’m ready for all tricks--and I’ll have you -with me. Armed, I suppose?” - -The little detective’s hand went down to his pocket. “Automatic. -Brother to the one The Chief gave you. And a good supply of magazine -refills.” - -“The two of us ought to be able to deal with them. But I don’t think -there’ll be a trap. I can understand how I tumbled into it before. I -gave the game away, I’m certain, by sending Joe Wandersun’s name in to -Méduse Smythe at lunch. But here--how could there be a trap? As far as -they’re concerned we’re entirely unaware that Siwash is on the train. -There’s no reason or time for them to prepare traps. We’ll simply -carry the day with surprise tactics--and, in any case, _is_ there any -possible other course of action open to us if we are to rescue that -girl effectively and without loss of time?” - -There was no other way. Now that Siwash had warned the rogues--as they -thought he had done by telegraph from North Bay there was precious -little time to lose--the only way to get to Neuburg, and the girl -Heloise, was to follow Siwash, to him. There was no other plan so -swift. And its boldness, Clement thought, must make it effective. - -He would have been less sanguine had he known that in the telegraph -office at North Bay, Siwash had not been sending a message _but -receiving one_. That he had been fulfilling the instructions in that -message at the moment when he had shown himself deliberately to Clement -outside the telegraph office. If Clement had known all these things he -might have hesitated. But he did not know. - -He did not know. And when a closed car passed him groaning at the steep -grade of the station yard hill at Cobalt, and following that car came -another, with Xavier Gatineau, leaning out of it and calling to him, -“Get in, get in, he’s in that car at the front. He’s swallowed our -bait,” he got in joyfully. - -Directly these things happened, Clement gleefully congratulated -himself that their little comedy of deception had proved brilliantly -successful. He fell back into the padded seat smiling. He watched the -red rear light of the closed car in front picking up speed as it wound -through the corkscrew streets of Cobalt. And his heart was saying, “To -Neuburg.... To Heloise.... That car’s leading us to them.” - -And in the front car Siwash Mike was chuckling. He leaned across to -Joe Wandersun, who was driving, and cried, still chuckling, “They’ve -bitten. They’ve bitten. They’re following.” - -FOOTNOTE: - -[1] A division on the C.P.R. varies in length from approximately -115 miles to 140 miles. All trains change engines and crews at such -divisions. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -I - -The two cars rushed through the night, switch-backing up and down the -strange streets of that strange town. Clement had the queer feeling -that he was passing through a dream city created by some fantastic -fairy tale illustrator. The streets of Cobalt wound haphazard amid -houses built haphazard. The bumpy driveway wriggled between buildings -now on the road-level, now hanging above it on rocky outcrops. Now an -ordinary side road was passed in the dusk. Now a flight of stairs shot -upward in place of a road. - -“We’ve got him,” said Clement cheerfully, looking out at the speeding -car ahead, “and we’ll get Neuburg through him. That is, if your -driver----” - -“That’s all right,” said the detective Gatineau. “He’s game. I put him -wise before I hired him. For twenty dollars and a little excitement -he’ll do all you want him to do.” - -“There may be gunning,” said Clement. - -“He knows that. All he said was that the burg had been kind of -sluggish anyhow for the past six months.... This is a mining town, you -know. Don’t you worry, he thrives on excitement.” - -The cars swept out of the town. Between the stiff, rocky hills and the -giant humpings of silver mine workings they were pressing towards the -wild tracts of the open country. The road grew deliriously worse. - -“What about headlights?” asked the detective. “We don’t want Siwash or -his driver to see us.” - -“They haven’t yet,” said Clement. “That rear lamp would go out if they -did. It’s a closed car, anyhow, and unless we were right up to them I -don’t think they would notice our lights. But to be on the safe side -they might be half-switched down, though.” - -He rose and spoke to the genial and husky driver about this. - -“Sure,” said that individual, and he checked down his lights until -there was but a faint radiance on the road before them. “If this wasn’t -such a hell of a trail I’d cut ’em out altogether. Must have some -light. I’ll bump my springs to scrap else.” - -“Put down all repairs to us,” said Clement. “You’re a good scout to -take this on. There may be trouble.” - -“Ain’t exactly done tatting all me life meself,” grinned the driver. - -“I guess you haven’t,” smiled Clement, looking at his burly figure. -“Where are those chaps heading for?” - -“Hudson Bay and the Arctic Belt gen’rally, sh’d say, from the way -they’re hitting it,” grinned the man. “Somewhere fresh t’me anyways. -Not that I mind novelties, only I hope this trail holds to wherever -they’re going.” - -There was, indeed, every indication that the trail would not. It had -become astonishingly rough, so that they bumped and soared on the -padded seats in an astounding way, their only satisfaction being that -Siwash and his companion in front were also feeling the strain, and had -checked their pace down to something more humanly bearable. - -As the road grew rougher the country became more inhospitable and -empty. Its emptiness, in fact, was impressive. They had, some time -ago, left the last vestige of the township behind them. They had -passed the last of the outlying mines--the blank and almost inhumanly -empty grouping of a discarded and probably forgotten working. They -were now heaving and shouldering along this strange trail, where grass -proclaimed a lack of traffic, going always into a bleak, strange land -where not even the bark of a dog gave indication of the dwellings of -man. The enormous emptiness of it weighed on the mind. - -The country over which they had been passing for hours, it seemed, had -been flat. At length it became broken up. The hard rock was thrusting -its way up through the thin soil, first in little outcrops, then in -mounds and bluffs that resembled the ground at Cobalt. The trail, which -had gone forward as directly as an arrow, began to twist, worming round -the rocky pockets, forever finding the most negotiable way. Then, in -the midst of his automatic and quite unsplenetic growls at the tricky -steering this new circumstance demanded, the driver said, “Hey, _look_ -at that big Swede. Hey, but just you look at him, hitting it up again.” - -It was a fact. The car in front of them had abruptly increased its -speed. From its steady, but cautious pace, it had suddenly started to -run away. - -“Have they seen us?” asked Clement. - -“Not they,” said the driver. “That’s the explanation.” He pointed ahead -of him towards the trail. Even as he pointed the reason for the change -of speed became obvious. The car ceased its wild and stormy bumping. -They were still pitched about, but the rough trail across country -had ceased; they were on a road. As they wound in and out among the -rocks they could see the fairly even and rutted surface under their -headlights. - -“Where are we? What road?” demanded Clement. - -“I miss my guess,” said the driver, his eyes fixed warily ahead for the -abrupt and surprising twists. “I don’t know more’n you. It’s Nowhere -in the middle of Neverwas.” - -They ran on, twisting and turning along the crooked, rock-dodging path. -Clement’s pulse began to beat with excitement. A made road--that meant -a house. A house meant.... - -The driver said abruptly, his expert eye flashing to the side of the -track and back again with a darting glance, “Thought so ... workings.” -He pointed with a stabbing finger. “Stuff taken out of there--see. Ugh! -ye brute, _do_ ye want to go, prospecting wid yer nose?” - -Clement looked to the side of the trail, but saw nothing of the signs -of mining which the driver noted at a glance. But he saw and felt the -road, saw signs of the presence of man in that, and he recognized that -they were coming to the critical point of their ride. He braced himself -alertly, looking ahead. His hand went into his pocket, caught at the -automatic pistol and held it ready. - -“Water, see,” said the driver, jerking left with his ear, to where -something shimmered flatly and; eerily in the dark. - -Ahead of them the red light of the rear lamp swerved and vanished. - -“Hell,” groaned the driver, and working his hands one over the other -like a strenuous pianist, he whipped the car round an “S” curve into a -straight, round another curve, and caught the distant twinkling of the -red light again. - -“They’re moving away,” cried the detective, now by Clement’s side. - -“They know the ground, hang ’em,” said Clement. - -“There’s the outfit,” stabbed the driver. “You look. Don’t wanter pile -her up....” - -Clement imitated the action he had just seen the driver indulge in. He -bent low down so that he could catch faintly the black silhouette of -the earth against the fainter darkness of the sky. He saw merely masses -of dark shades on shadow--fantastic, indeterminable shades--rocks, no -doubt.... Then ... yes, there was the tall, square shoulder of a mine -building, the frail fret of derrick against the dark, and the humped -mound of slack. - -“I see it,” he cried. “That’s the place, for a certainty.” - -“Seems so,” growled the driver. He swore deeply. He had lost the tail -light. He was laboring round another cruel bend. He straightened out. -“Where in creation....” he began, searching for the red light. - -“There!” cried the detective. - -“There!” cried Clement. “Straight ahead. Why, we’ve got ’em. We’re on -top of ’em. We’ve got ’em sure.” - -There was a sudden and appalling bump. - -“Fer th’ love of Mike....” yelled the driver. He wrenched frantically -at the wheel. “We’re off the trail ... off....” - -There was a sudden succession of terrific and violent bumps. The car -seemed to jump. It thrust forward, sank. Kicked again, buried its nose -deep, and threatened to capsize. Then the hind part sank softly and -squarely.... All movement ceased. - -The all-but-buried headlights, the driver instinctively switched full -on, shone on a flat, moist surface that threw back the rays with a -curious, livid shine. The driver swore deeply. - -“Steve,” he cried to Clement. “Steve, we’re done. We’re knocked. We’re -beat.... We’re _bogged_.” - -In the distance the red light dwindled and dwindled, and abruptly was -lost. - -In the first car Siwash, leaning towards Joe Wandersun, smiled his cold -Indian smile. “They’re in it, pard,” he said. “In it up to the lamps. -That settles _them_.” - - -II - -Clement, in rage, tore at the door of the car, opened it and made to -leap out. - -The detective gripped his arm. The driver, leaning back over the seat, -joined the detective in that grip. - -“Here, Steve,” snapped the driver. “You quit that.” - -“We can get to these buildings in time--but we must hurry,” snapped -Clement angrily, trying to struggle free. - -“You can not,” said the driver. “You can get up to your occi_putt_ in -enduring mud, Steve, an’ that’ll be about the limit o’ your carnal -activities. What we’ve hit is a slime lake. That mine dumped into here, -see? It’s probably a little more solid than water, but more uneasy to -swim in, see?” - -“But--but--man, we must do something....” cried Clement. - -“Sure, Steve, but with circumspuction. As we ain’t sinking no more, we -have a sure base or deepo’ to work from. By workin’ cautious....” - -“And while we are being cautious--with our lights full on--what will be -happening at that mine, my good chap?” - -“Not much,” said the driver. “A coyote prowling round, a bat flutterin’ -hither an’ thither.... Not much more, Steve. This mine is an abandoned -mine, Steve. C’n tell that by the surface o’ th’ slime....” - -“An abandoned mine,” snapped Clement in an edgy voice. “But that’s just -the place....” - -“Moreover, Steve,” said the driver. “Moreover, our pals in the forward -car did not go to or enter said abandoned mine. Take that as law, -Steve. For why--I saw their headlights flash on the building and pass. -I saw them lights turn beyond a big outcrop of rock further on, going -away left, Steve, turning their back on that old mine.” - -“They’ve gone on?” gasped Clement, in a tone of despair. - -“They sure have,” said the driver. “An’ it’s no good feelin’ sore about -it. Circumstances is just gone bad on us, an’ that’s that. No call fer -chasing a Hudson Six to Baffin Bay on the unaided feet.” - -Clement, his eyes still fixed on the point in the darkness where the -red light had vanished, dropped back into his seat. “What exactly -happened?” he asked, more in a groan than anything else. - -“We got bogged,” said the driver, with a touch of irony. “I was the -tin horn, an’ well, we got bogged. See how it is? That trail takes a -sharp loop round this lake. I came round in a crazy hurry, missed that -tail light--then I picked it up dead ahead--that was when _they_ picked -up th’ straight again after getting round th’ lake. Me being that tin -horn, I took me eyes off the trail for a fleck and drove right ahead -instead o’ goin’ round. And--and, well, Steve, we was well and duly -bogged.” - -Clement groaned. Again, through the veriest slip, he had lost his -chance of saving the girl Heloise. - -“If they’d planned it, they couldn’t have beat us to it better,” said -the driver, with a curse. - -“Perhaps they did plan it,” said the detective Gatineau softly and -suddenly. - -“Eh,” gasped Clement; “but, of course, they didn’t do that. How could -they know we....” - -“Then why are they turning back?” said the detective. “There, abreast -of us between those two rocks....” - -Clement and the driver swung their eyes to the left. Between the two -rocks, distantly, they saw the glow of automobile lamps. They shone -steadily. Then the rocks hid them as they moved. Without a word the men -in the bogged car sat staring into the darkness, searching it for those -glowing lights. They came again from behind a rock. Now they were well -to the rear. The significance of those lights was unmistakable. - -“They’ve circled,” said Clement. - -“You’re damn right,” said the driver angrily. “They’re heading to cut -the trail behind. They’re going to make Cobalt again by the same road.” - -Before he could say another word Clement was out of the car. He plunged -desperately, slime or no slime. He went down over his knees in the -viscid stuff. He jumped forward. He found a shelf of rock, strode off -it, again up to his knees. He went on. He slipped and half fell in a -deeper pocket, and with the effort of recovery found himself on ground -that was but shin deep. He plunged forward, and a bush whipped his -faces. He was on solid ground at once. - -He ran back along the trail until he met the face of the rock where -the turn had been so disastrous to them. At this he sprang, clambering -upwards. It was a hard, steep climb, but he was glad of it. The higher -it was, the more commanding a position it would give him. He knew he -was at the summit by the sudden sight of the departing car lights he -obtained. But even as he scrambled erect those lights disappeared, -leaving a faint, moving glow only. - -Clement followed that steadily with his eyes. Then as the lights -abruptly flamed into view, his hand went up, and the automatic pistol -in it spoke and spoke again. As he fired, the lights disappeared, and -he wondered if he had hit. They came again, and again he fired. He -emptied his clip and jerked out an exclamation of anger as he reached -into his pocket for a fresh magazine. As he did that, the lights -vanished once more. - -He heard a man panting by his side, and the detective Gatineau’s voice -said, “Too far and too dark for fine shooting, Mr. Seadon, I’m afraid. -Also it’s quite illegal.” - -And even as he said that, his own automatic was pumping off, to be -joined at least ten seconds later by the snap of Clement’s pistol. - -But the darkness and the distance were against them. Both men fired -once more when the lights showed, but the car appeared to go steadily -and calmly on its course. Soon it swung into the trail, and all -that could be seen of it was the up flung haze of its great lamps. -Presently even that was lost, though they could hear on the almost -preternaturally silent air the drone of the car’s engines as they -dwindled and sank into the distance. - -“Yes, you were right. It was planned and we were deliberately tricked,” -said Clement harshly, as he turned to clamber down to the car, and he -did not, indeed could not, speak again, so hot was his anger against -himself. When he reached the edge of the slime lake, within hailing -distance of the stranded car, he called to the driver. “It was a trap, -after all. A trap to maroon me out here miles away from anywhere----” - -“About forty miles from Cobalt station, anyhow, Steve,” said the -driver. “Forty miles, if it’s an inch.” - - -III - -“Forty miles away from Cobalt,” gasped the detective Gatineau. - -“I reckon that,” said the driver. “I reckon it; but don’t you ask me -where we are. In the middle of the Sarah Desert of Africa, for all I -know.” - -“And we’re right out of touch of anybody. Miles away from the nearest -house?” - -“Hundreds of miles,” said the driver fervently and with convincing -inaccuracy. “I don’t know of even a shack out this way.” - -“I don’t suppose there is one ... trust Neuburg and his gang for that,” -said Clement bitterly, reviewing the situation and finding its meaning. - -“There may be a telephone in that old mine,” suggested the detective, -with no great conviction. - -“Oh, there may be,” said the driver. “There may be a Packard de luxe -only waiting to take us back. Anyhow, to look won’t mean any harm. An’ -it’ll be an occupation. There’s all the night yet.” - -Clement and the detective went round by the trail to the abandoned -mine. They felt their way carefully with their torches, and they -carried their pistols ready. There was no need for the latter. The mine -was dark and empty, its buildings degenerating into rot, its workings -choked with weeds. There was not a telephone. - -They had left another torch with the driver, and he had spent his -time carefully surveying the position of the car in the rather vague -hope that she might be got out of the slime lake on her own power. As -Clement and his companion returned, he called out to them, “Nothin’ -doing with th’ old girl. It’ll take a team to pull her clear, and an -overhaul in a garage when she is clear an’ back at Cobalt. But she -won’t sink any more, so she’s safe to sleep in.” - -“We’ll send back that team,” said Clement. He turned to the detective. -“Or, rather, I will; there’s no need for you to walk in, I’ll send -back another car.” - -“I’ll come along,” said Gatineau. - -“A hell of a walk on a dark night with a trail bad enough to be easily -missed. You’re risking a lot,” said the driver. - -“We’ve got to,” answered Clement. “You see, the reason we were lured -out here, and marooned, is, as I look at it, that those people in the -car want to get us out of the way and keep us out of the way for a long -time.... Isn’t that the way you see this, Mr. Gatineau?” - -“That’s the only reason in it,” agreed the detective. “I should say -that we got to Cobalt before Neuburg and his lot were ready for us. -They had to decide on this desperate trick to get us out into the wilds -and maroon us. I take it that the man in the car signaled to Siwash -directly he saw him.” - -“I agree in the main,” said Clement, who had been thinking hard. “But -this thing has been well planned. They knew if they could get us out -here we might be landed helpless.... And to get us out here, well, -Siwash must have been the bait. I don’t see how they knew we knew of -his presence on the train----” - -“Perhaps his showing himself at North Bay was deliberate,” said the -detective. “Half-breed Indians with all the tricks of the woods don’t -give themselves away so easily. Although it’s rather late in the day -to remember that.” - -“And the fact is neither here nor there, anyhow,” said Clement. “Our -chief concern is that we are ten or more hours tramp away from Cobalt -on this bad trail, and that during those ten hours Neuburg and his -rogues will be able to do things--things connected,” he meant to -mention Heloise Reys’ name, but he boggled at that, he said instead, -“do things that our presence in Cobalt would have prevented. They have -gained very valuable time.” - -“But they, whoever you’re talking about, _have_ gained it,” pointed the -driver. “You can’t get away from that. That being so, where’s the value -of risking that tramp along a dangerous trail in a dark night? It’s -mortal easy to stray and get lost in these parts.” - -“That’s a risk I think we’ve got to take,” said Clement. “They may be -counting on the fact that we won’t try to follow the trail during the -night; I mean by that they may need more time than those ten hours. -Again, we may have luck, may hit upon a shack or a homestead where we -could get a rig or some conveyance. And always, too, the closer we keep -to their heels the more likely we are to throw their plans out.” - -“I don’t know who they are, but these fellers seem a healthy lot of -toughs from the indications thrown off,” said the driver. And as he -voiced his ignorance, Clement swung round on him with an inspiration. - -“Do you know a man named Henry Gunning?” he demanded. - -“Henry Gunning,” cried the driver. “What, again! Do I know him? Why, -the feller’s an epidemic.” - -Clement, startled by the tone of the man’s voice, simply echoed the -expression, “an epidemic?” - -“He’s certainly that. The whole world’s asking after him.” - -“What do you mean by the whole world?” demanded Clement in some -excitement. - -“In a manner o’ speaking, I mean he seemed an ordinary sort of feller -up to a day or so ago. Then a big fat man hits the burg and he and a -feller with him begins to agitate for this Henry Gunning----” - -“That is Neuburg and Joe Wandersun--the big man is Neuburg,” said -Clement. - -“That’s Neuburg,” said the driver. “Well, I can understand your lack of -heartiness about him--a shifty-looking mammoth he is. Well then, they -asked and asked for Henry Gunning, reg’ler raised the burg. And then, -when they’d finished--when the subject might be considered dropped, so -to speak--there came the ladies----” - -“The two ladies,” said Clement quickly. - -“Yep, the queen one, a real swell Jane, and the plain prune one. They -made the burg to-day, and they asked. The big shark had nothin’ on -them ladies in eagerness for Henry. An’ now here’s you.” - -This seemed all very strange to Clement. If Neuburg had asked -for Gunning, why should Heloise, in her turn, have had to ask so -persistently? He said, “I don’t quite follow this. The big man asked -for Gunning, you say, and then the lady.... Does that mean that Neuburg -did not find Gunning?” - -“Oh, he found him. You bet _he_ found him all right, all right.” From -the amusement in the driver’s tone it was evident that there was some -ripe story connected with Neuburg’s discovery of Gunning. - -Clement ignored that. “Well, then--why the lady? Why did she have to -ask for Gunning?” - -“Why,” said the driver. “Why, don’t you see, because that Neuburg -feller found him first, see.” - -“I don’t see at all.” - -“Well, he found him first, didn’t he. Took him away. Beat it with -him----” - -“What!” cried Clement. “Are you saying Gunning has left Cobalt with -Neuburg?” - -“First train out, sure,” said the man. “This morning, or rather, -yesterday mornin’.” - -“An’ the lady----?” - -“But ain’t I bin tellin’ you all the time Henry was gone when she came -in?” - -Clement stared amazedly at the faint blur of white that in the -darkness represented the driver’s face. In the pause the detective -Gatineau said, “Then, Miss Reys, this lady and her companion, are still -in Cobalt?” - -“They certainly are.” - -Clement spoke. “Until the first train out,” he said bitterly. “That’s -why we’re here. We were lured out here so that Miss Reys can be got -away from Cobalt without our meeting or seeing her. They can’t very -well get her out of Cobalt until the morning, so they got me, us, out -of Cobalt instead.” - -Indeed, it was unmistakable. Gunning had been whisked out of Cobalt to -some unconjecturable place, either because he was not in a fit state to -see Heloise, or because, hearing of Clement’s pursuit, Neuburg feared -that his plan might be interrupted. The rest naturally followed. - - -IV - -It was a good thing that the motor driver came back with them along the -trail to Cobalt. There were times when the track branched deceptively, -and they might have gone astray. It was he who shone his torch on the -dusty earth and said, “This way. There’s the heart-shaped tread of the -new tire I got on me back wheel.” - -Also he enlivened a monotonous journey by his story of the coming of -Neuburg to Cobalt. - -There was that grim humor in it that Clement naturally connected with -the mountain of a man and the circumstances. - -Henry Gunning had been in a billiard saloon, “half-canned,” as the -driver said, with “bootleg” whiskey. He had been bragging violently -about the millionaire he’d be in ten minutes after his marriage. -Neuburg had just walked into the billiard dive and looked at him--or -rather looked over his shoulder. - -Gunning had crumpled at once, and, a thing of limp fear had followed -Neuburg “like a dorg.--” - -“Jist like er dorg. Neuburg never said a word, but that Gunning -feller put his moral tail between his hypothetical legs and went out -arter him. When they made the train he was still follering th’ big -man--without a word.” - -The driver also told them about the coming of Heloise. He had been in -that, too. He had heard that she was inquiring for Gunning, and, as he -had seen all that had happened, he had “greased” along to the hotel. -But, of course, he had not been allowed to get near Heloise. - -“A woman with a glacial face handed me the frozen mitt,” he explained. -“She come down an’ saw me in the lobby, and said she was glad to hear -what I tole her, an’ it was very interesting, an’ she’d make a note o’ -it, an’ here’s a dollar fer yer trouble an’ good-by.” - -That was how Heloise had been fenced off from the truth. - -By the time the driver had finished they had tramped into the dawn. -About them the land loomed gray and bleak, and full of up-shouldering -masses of rock. - -At the same time they gained a hope of being near homesteads, for the -main trail was now broken by many branching tracks. - -It was while they bent over one of these junctions that the next -manifestation of Mr. Neuburg’s criminal efficiency developed. - -A spurt of earth kicked up almost in their faces. And then another. -They heard the snap of a pistol, and the “whit-whit” of bullets about -them. - -The driver sprang erect with an oath, but Clement caught him and flung -him to the ground. - -“Down on your tummy!” he snapped. “Crawl to cover under those rocks. -There’s a man on that outcrop ahead, and he’s shooting to kill.” - - -V - -As the three of them huddled to the earth under cover, there came a -sparkle of light from the mound of rock ahead, and a bullet droned -above them. At the flash, the driver darted his hand upward, fired -every chamber of the five-shot revolver he carried. At once above his -head the protecting rock splintered, and on a rock behind a bullet -starred. - -“Better not do that again,” said Clement, hugging cover. - -“Shootin’ _me_ up,” breathed the driver as he reloaded. “I’ll teach -him.” - -“You won’t that way,” said Clement. “Not without damage to yourself. -That must be the half-breed Siwash planted there to hold us away from -Cobalt as long as possible. He’s up to all the tricks. We won’t be able -to rush him, we’ve got to get him by guile.” - -“I don’t care about guile as long as I can shoot him up.” - -Clement who, in the broadening pallor of light, had been studying the -ground, said crisply, “You shall. Stick your revolver round the farther -end of your rock ... no more than your gun, if you value your arm, -and when you’ve fired, whip it in sharp. No, don’t trouble to aim at -anything. Ready. Now fire.” - -The driver’s revolver spoke. Almost at once there was an answering -sparkle from the rock-cliff, and the rock against which the revolver -rested chipped into flecks of flying particles. - -“Close up,” said the driver. “He’s getting his range pretty.” - -“He is,” said Clement, who had asked the driver to fire so that he -might study their opponent’s position. “Lucky for us his first shots -were mere sighters. But now he’ll get anything of us that shows. Also -he moves after every shot. We won’t get him by pot shooting. We’ve got -to tackle this fellow with some of his own cunning. And we’ve got to -do it quickly before the light gets too good?” - -His mind, accustomed in the old days to trench warfare, sized up the -situation quickly and accurately. - -“Will you two crawl over to the left there? And, don’t forget, cover -is life. I want you to get behind those rocks. When I give you the -word, I want one of you to blaze at him and draw his fire. When he -fires back, I want you both to loose off.... Can you fire with the left -hand, Gatineau? Well, do, alternating your shots. I want that lad to be -convinced that he has three men pinned here.” - -“And you’re going to flank him?” said Gatineau. - -“I’m going to try to do that.” - -“Not a very safe job with a slim feller like that,” said the driver. - -“I had some practice at it in France.... Great training ground, France. -Also, I’ve done quite a lot of stalking. Anyhow, it’s our only chance -if we’re not to remain here all day.” - -The two men crawled across to their stations and Gatineau fired at -Siwash. The shot was immediately answered, and as immediately a very -hearty fusilade burst from the two behind their rocks. Clement chuckled -at the ardor Gatineau and his companion put into the business. It was -a real early morning “hate.” Not three men but a file seemed to be in -action. - -But though Clement Seadon was grinning, he was also fulfilling his own -part of the plan. Directly the attention of the man on the rock was -occupied, he began to worm his way in a wide circle to the right. He -had good cover, and he made excellent progress. He was also helped by -the clever coöperation of his companions. They went one better than -instructions. Instead of remaining in one place and firing from that, -they worked steadily along the arc to the left, and Siwash--Clement was -certain it was Siwash--in swiveling round to follow them, naturally -turned his back more and more on Clement. They drew fire with all -manner of tricks. - -Meanwhile Clement made definite progress. The ground was rocky and made -for stalking. In about half-an-hour he reached a position from which -he could see the fellow as he moved stealthily from point to point. It -was, as he had thought, Siwash. - -Actually, at one time, he had Siwash’s legs and thighs at the mercy of -his pistol, but though the chances were six to one on his hitting, he -decided not to risk it. If he wounded the fellow he might not put him -out, while it would betray the double game they were playing. When he -fired he must do so with absolute certainty of putting an end to this -pistol play. - -All the same, he had to fire before he was ready. He had worked round -to a fairly good position, when he saw no more than the hands of Siwash -(the rest was covered) doing a peculiar thing. The hands seemed to be -rolling a cigarette. The hands finished rolling the cigarette, and, -with the utmost cunning, it was lighted. A broad puff of smoke rose -up, and another, immediately drawing a spattering of shots from the -men below. Siwash, hidden, puffed for a minute on the cigarette, then -the hands appeared again, and Clement watched them fixing the wet butt -of the smoke cleverly to the face of a rock. Siwash had calculated the -draught well, for the lighted end gave off a thin thread of smoke, -which occasionally became puffs, in the now advanced light of the -growing day. Directly he had fixed up the cigarette, he appeared and -began to slink away between the rocks.... Then Clement fired. - -He had to fire. He recognized Siwash’s game at once. Siwash meant to -hypnotize the men below with that cigarette smoke. With their eyes -fixed on that, they would not notice the fellow was worming round them. -The first intimation of his tactics they would get would be a shot from -their exposed flank, and that shot would be aimed to kill. Clement -recognized this in a flash, and fired. - -He saw Siwash jerk and dive forward out of sight. He thought he had -hit, but did not waste time speculating on the matter. He nipped -forward rapidly to close with the brute. He had covered half the -distance when he heard a shout, and saw the detective Gatineau on the -ground where Siwash had fallen and disappeared. Gatineau stood upright, -but drew no shot. Clement discarded cover and ran, scrambling over the -rocks to join him. - -He reached the spot, found Gatineau, but no Siwash. There was blood on -the ground leading away through the rocks. Clement was about to ask -questions when, with a loud “Got it, Steve,” the driver scrambled into -sight. He had a large automatic in his hand as well as his own revolver. - -“Say, you got him pretty,” shouted the driver. “But where is that bad -man?” - -“We saw him go down ‘smash!’ when you fired,” explained the detective. -“He shot right into sight before dropping out of it; his gun dropped -out of his hand, hit that rock there and went bouncing down to the foot -of the outcrop.... I guess you hit him powerful. I came up here quick -to get him if he wasn’t done, while the driver went for the gun.” - -“An’ I got the gun, but you didn’t get that bad man.” - -“He must be a pretty sick man, anyhow,” said Gatineau, pointing to the -blood. “He can’t be far off.” - -They followed the trail. It wormed in and out of the rocks, and against -some of them was a smear of blood. Then suddenly, across an open space -ringed with rocks, they lost it. Siwash had evidently staunched the -flow before he had crossed this place. They stared at the rocks, the -hard surface of which showed no footprints. They could see no sign of -movement. - -“He might be at any point of the compass there,” said Clement. -“We might hunt all day for him, and not find him.... And we don’t -particularly want to find him.” - -“No, the sooner we get to Cobalt the better,” agreed Gatineau. “And his -teeth are drawn anyhow. We can lodge information at the town and the -police there can deal with him--if he remains hereabouts to be dealt -with. We’d better get along.” - -It was another hour and a half before they reached Cobalt. Here they -learned that the tactics of Mr. Neuburg had accomplished all that that -villain desired. Heloise and the companion Méduse Smythe had left. They -had taken tickets to North Bay. By this time they were already beyond -North Bay and any telephone message that could be got there. - -They had vanished into the maze of cross lines that radiated from that -railway junction. - - -VI - -The journey from Cobalt to North Bay was made on one of those skeleton -motor trolleys railway men use to get from place to place. It was the -only means of making the journey. - -It was swift and thoroughly uncomfortable. They had to cling tight -to the center handrail as they rocked and swung through a primitive -country of bare rocks and skeleton like, burnt-out forests. Clement, -bone-tired from his heavy and sleepless night, was saved from pitching -onto the ballast several times by the grip of the motorman or Gatineau. - -At North Bay, they had to walk across goods yards through groups of men -to get to the station offices. This walk, slight though it was, seemed -to have so curious an effect on Clement that he behaved entirely out of -the normal. He refused to go on with Xavier Gatineau. - -The little detective hesitated for a moment, puzzled, and Clement said -quietly, “Go in--I must stay outside, for a reason.” In a louder voice -he cried, “I’ll put these suitcases in the baggage room, and make -inquiries there.” - -Mystified at this strange behavior, Xavier Gatineau went into the -station superintendent alone. When he came out half an hour later he -expected Clement to be missing from the platform, but he was still -there. His eye that caught Gatineau’s said, “Well?” - -“The ladies have gone south,” said the little detective. “They’ve gone -to a place called Orillia. It’s a junction town. They can break off -from there anywhere--back to Montreal, or to the West, or even down to -the States.” - -He gave his information in a matter-of-fact tone. He was astonished, in -fact, horrified, when Clement Seadon said in a loud voice, “Orillia! I -see it; it’s like them. They are banking on us rushing straight west -to Sicamous, the dogs! While we scamper west, the meeting between Miss -Reys and Gunning will happen at Orillia, or near it. Good God, it’s a -neat blind. But, thank heaven, we have your organization behind us; -that’s saved us; well steal a march on them to Orillia.” - -Xavier Gatineau was completely mystified as well as aghast at this -attitude. He was aghast that this stupid fellow should talk so that all -the world could hear. He was mystified, because, unless Clement Seadon -had suddenly lost his senses, this dash to Orillia was obviously not at -all the thing to do. - -“I also found out----” he began. - -“You found out the next train to Orillia?” said Clement loudly. - -Gatineau named the time of the train, trying not to feel that this -young man was a fool. The young man exploded. - -“Absurd! We can’t wait all that time. We must find a quicker way of -getting there.” - -“There isn’t a quicker way,” said the detective tartly. - -“We’ve got to find one. We must take another of those motor trolleys.” - -“No good. There isn’t one.” - -“But, my dear man, we _can’t_ wait hours,” shouted Clement, showing his -anxiety with his waving hands. “Do you realize what may happen in those -hours?” He began to stamp up the platform in his agitation. - -“It can’t be helped,” snapped Gatineau, forced to follow him. “We’ve -just got to wait.” - -Waving his hands, arguing, Clement reached the end of the platform. He -turned and shot a glance along it. He still waved his arms angrily, but -in an even tone he said,: - -“Think I’m acting like a looney, Gatineau? There’s a reason. Tell me -anything more you’ve found out, quick.” - -“I’ve found out that Neuburg and Gunning pulled out from here to the -west. That means the meeting place won’t be in Orillia, but somewhere -west, in Sicamous, likely.” - -“Of course,” said the astonishing Clement. - -“But you said....” - -“More than that, I howled it,” said Clement still making wild gestures. -“I wanted somebody to hear it. That thick-set man over there. He’s been -shadowing me ever since we left the motor-trolley. Now play up, my -lad....” He made a gesture of resignation, and said aloud, “All right, -then, I suppose there is nothing more for it but to wait. But it’s -awful--ghastly.... What shall we do?” - -“There is a hotel here, we might get a sleep.” - -“Ah! And a bath. I want one. We’d better get reservations to Orillia -first, though,--save the rush at the end. Come along.” - -As they went to their hotel, Gatineau made a point of crossing the road -in front of a great shop window. He chuckled. - -“Yes, he’s following us, that attentive friend of yours. It’s probably -that Joe Wandersun. He’s the only one unaccounted for.” - -“What’s his game?” - -“Easy. He’ll sleuth us to our rooms, then he’ll wire brother Neuburg -somewhere west that we’re here and following hotly the blind trail to -Orillia. You played him princely, Mr. Seadon. We’ll settle him.” - -“How?” - -“Leave it to me. All I ask you to do is to dawdle about in the lobby of -the hotel for five minutes before going to your room. I want to get out -of the back to be ready when he comes out of the front door again.” - -Clement was shrouded in bath towels when the little detective came -back to the hotel. He was all smiles, and sat beaming at Clement as he -fanned his young bald head with his hat. - -“It was easy as fallin’ off a wall,” he grinned. “That feller went -straight to the station telegraph and filled in a blank. He didn’t even -look round. Here’s the blank.” - -“Good Lord!” cried Clement. “How did you get that?” - -“Our work, we have the pull there.” - -“What an ass,” said Clement. “He ought to have known better than to use -the C.P.R. lines.” - -“Couldn’t help himself. Look at the address, Banff in the Rockies; -we’re the only cable company to serve it. Also, he thinks he’s well -covered. Read it.” - -The wire read: - - - “_Banff Springs Hotel._ - - “ARTHUR NEWMAN, - - “Our party reached North Bay from Cobalt. Learned of business in - Orillia. We go there next train. - - “NIMMO BATES.” - - -“Nimmo Bates,” said Clement. “I’ll swear that’s Joe Wandersun.” - -“Why not,” smiled Gatineau, “since Arthur Newman is Adolf Neuburg?” - -“That’s true,” agreed Clement. “Well, this bears things out. The -meeting place is in the west, at Banff probably instead of Sicamous. -In fact it’s lovely. Banff and its beauty will be idyllic for a--a -lovers’ reunion. Also it is near Sicamous, and they can get away from -it, as they can get into it, easily. The ladies will be able to work -round behind us and reach there?” - -“Easy,” said Gatineau. - -“Then we go to Banff. Meanwhile there is this fellow Nimmo, or Joe.” - -“I’ll fix Joe,” said Gatineau grimly. - -“But there’s this telegram. Neuburg will expect reports from -Orillia....” - -“Nope!” said Gatineau. - -“But of course he will, this telegram....” - -“That telegram _isn’t_ the one that was sent.” - -“Eh?” gasped Clement. - -“This is the one I sent.” - -He handed Clement a carbon duplicate which went: - - - “_Banff Springs Hotel._ - - “ARTHUR NEWMAN, - - “Our party reached North Bay from Cobalt. Think business better - done Montreal. We go there next train. - - “NIMMO BATES.” - - -“That quiets brother Neuburg, see?” grinned Gatineau in the face of -Clement’s perplexity. “It tells brother Neuburg we’ve muddled the trail -and cut back to headquarters at Montreal. Quite natural. You see, -like you, I figured Neuburg’d want reports, and he can get them from -Montreal.” - -“Can he? How?” - -“The Chief will see to that. I’ve sent all facts to him, he’ll send -reports to Arthur Newman that will keep Neuburg purring. Trust The -Chief, he’s a bear. Of course Nimmo Bates will sign ’em. Meanwhile we -go comfortably to Banff.” - -Clement roared with laughter. - -“Well, of all the calm, foreseeing, clever little devils.... It’s a -dazzling idea, Gatineau. Neuburg will be certain we’re at a loss in -Montreal, will think he has plenty of time, while all the time we are -overhauling him.” - -“That’s it,” agreed the little detective. “The only thing that worries -me is will the girl--Miss Reys--figure according to plan. I mean if she -has any sense she’ll be suspicious at all this roundabout traveling, -this chopping and changing of plans.” - -“I hope she will be,” said Clement. “But I’m afraid she won’t. She -doesn’t know the country; her companion does. She’s bound to follow -blindly. And then anything can be put down to the erratic movements of -Gunning.” - -“She’ll find him too erratic, I’m thinking,” said Gatineau wisely. - -“I’m hoping that, too,” said Clement. - -Both had the sleep they needed, and a meal, and went to the railway -station in good fettle. Under Gatineau’s instructions, Clement suddenly -turned from the platform and entered the booking hall as though making -for the street. - -The man who had shadowed him from the hotel did not hesitate for a -moment, but trailed after him. In the middle of the booking hall the -hand of Xavier Gatineau came down on his shoulder, and he swung round -to find the muzzle of an automatic within six inches of his solar -plexus. He started to put up his hands. - -“What’s the game?” he snarled. - -“I want you, Nimmo Bates,” said Gatineau. “I want you in connection -with the jewel robbery on the _Empress of Prague_. Cut out the rough -stuff, Joe, and go quietly.” - -As Joe Wandersun stared amazed, three large railway policemen slipped -out of the office. - -“Take him along, boys,” said Gatineau. “The Chief will give you -instructions in Montreal.” - -As the police hustled the half-dazed rogue away, Gatineau went to the -booking window. - -“Say, Jim, got those reservations for Banff on the next westbound? -Good.... She’s on time, I hope.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - -I - -From North Bay to Winnipeg on the run to Banff, Clement was occupied -mainly by monotony and his own anxious thoughts regarding Heloise. But -at Winnipeg they picked up the trail again. Gatineau heard news from -Montreal, and both saw the man with his arm in a sling--Siwash Mike. - -There was actually nothing fresh concerning the ladies, it was obvious -that they had doubled on their tracks in the tangle of railways south -of North Bay; that was the first item Gatineau offered as they sat at -lunch in the Alexandra Hotel. - -“Is that bad news?” asked Clement. - -“Well, no,” said the little detective. “They’re coming along here all -right.” - -“I like the positive sound of that,” smiled Clement. “You _are_ -positive?” - -“Sure. They’ll follow this big rough neck Neuburg, an’ Gunning.” - -“And Neuburg and Gunning?” - -“Gone through to Banff.” - -“Well, that’s as we expected. Miss Reys will join them there--or -rather all of us. We’ll be of the pleasant company, too.” - -“Sure,” said Gatineau reflectively. - -“Well, then,” said Clement, “all this being as we thought, would you -mind telling me what the bad news is?” - -“Hey?” cried the little detective, looking up from the soup that is -called gumbo. - -“You have the ‘how-can-I-break-it-gently’ air. Out with it.” - -“It’s Neuburg,” said Gatineau quietly. - -“Neuburg?” - -“He _is_ the murderer.” - -“Well, we’ve always felt fairly certain of that,” said Clement, after -the first twinge of horror had run through him. “You mean, the matter -is now decided?” - -“As certain as we can be from the facts on hand. I’ve just read a -message from The Chief. He’s sure. He’s been looking at those old -descriptions provided by the Oregon police. Adolf Neuburg is Albrecht -Nachbar, wanted for murder by U. S. A.” - -“Queer that he should be alliterative in alias,” said Clement. “Arthur -Newman.... Why has he used those initials again, I wonder?” - -“Criminals do strange things,” said the detective. “It’s a kink in him, -I suppose. P’raps Neuburg has a fancy those initials bring luck--that’s -the sort of thing one finds in rogues. Or, it may be an easy way to -keep his gang together; his A and N may be so characteristic as to -guard against forgery.” - -“And it may, after all, be mere cleverness. Many people would not -credit him with the daring of using names so similar, and be put off -the trail.... But the fact is that Neuburg is Nachbar.” - -“The Chief is sure; he sends along warning to be mighty spry in dealing -with the feller. He’s a tough nut, is Neuburg.” - -“I’ve already learned it,” said Clement dryly. “Was the crime a bad -one?” - -“Real bad. I kept my mouth shut about it until we could be sure--but -it was real bad. The feller he killed was a rich dude in Oregon. There -was some sort of crazy bucket-shop deal that this feller--his name was -Roberts--was interested in.” - -“Did Nachbar or Neuburg appear in the deal?” - -“He did not.... I see what you mean. His tactics appear to have been -the same as now. He didn’t show up in the open, he merely played the -part of a disinterested adviser to this rich man’s orphan. Fact is, -nobody noticed Neuburg, or Nachbar as he was then, until Roberts died.” - -“And he died--how?” Gatineau looked at him quickly. - -“He went out on a shooting trip----” - -“Yep,” said Gatineau. “That appears to be his method in these -things.... Gets people into the wilds. Well, Roberts goes shooting into -the wilds and there is a hell of an accident. His gun bursts and he is -killed outright.” - -“And _was_ it an accident?” - -“At the inquest it was. That was the verdict. But when people began -poking round they found it wasn’t. I needn’t go into it all, and, in -fact, I have only the outline of the business, but the things that came -out were these. First, a big, solid block of cash was missing. Second, -Nachbar was linked up with that missing cash. Then people began to hunt -for things. - -“First, they got no change out of Nachbar. He produced letters and -papers by the boxful to show that his dealings with Roberts were -straight--forgeries, no doubt, but good ones, especially since the -victim was a dead ’un--you can bettcher life Nachbar was sound on this. -He’s the real brainy bad man, all right, all right. Things were kind of -tied up until a fellow from the American Department of Justice began to -find the trail of the murder. He found out that Nachbar had been in the -district where Roberts was shooting, at the very time of the murder.” - -Clement was rather startled. “That sounds rather crude for a criminal -of Neuburg’s propensities,” he said. - -“Nope, it wasn’t crude. He traveled by a different railway system to -a different valley. He didn’t even go near Roberts’s camp. But this -detective, who was nosing round, found that he had stayed at a hotel -in a neighboring valley for a week end shoot, that he had gone off, -early in the morning of Saturday, the day of Roberts’ death, that he -went out shooting without a guide, and though nobody could tell the -direction he went, he had time to go somewhere close to where Roberts’s -body was found.” - -“There were other clues of course?” - -“They began to come down in a blizzard, once they started. Roberts’s -actions had been unusual on that day. First, he had made his plans -to go out shooting to the west with a couple of guides. Then, early, -he had got a special delivery letter. After reading that letter, he -changed his plans, went out shooting alone, and went east--that is, -towards the hotel where Nachbar was staying. His body was found about -half-way between.” - -“But didn’t all this come out at the inquest?” - -“The inquest was on a man accidentally killed. These points were passed -over as interesting, but not relevant.” - -“But the letter--if it made an appointment----?” - -“That letter was never found. It wasn’t on him when his body was -brought in. Everything on him down to his bootlaces was impounded by -the Court, but no special delivery letter was found. Some one had taken -that letter from his body after his--apparently--lonely death.” - -“It must have been signed for? Didn’t the postoffice know anything -about it?” - -“Nachbar wasn’t the one to slip-up over a detail like that. It had -been sent from Roberts’s home district in a faked name--couldn’t be -connected with Nachbar or the hotel where he was staying for his shoot. -Still, it was a link. And on top of that it was found the gun that -killed Roberts--_wasn’t his_.” - -“What!” cried Clement in a startled tone. - -“No, it wasn’t his. It looked like his. It was just the sort of -Winchester magazine rifle he used, but the dealer found the number and -proved it wasn’t his. Some one must have swopped guns with him--while -he was out, apparently, alone. And the gun he got in exchange for his -own was a gun meant to burst and kill, an’ _did_ burst an’ kill.” - -“Devilish!” cried Clement. “And his own gun--was that traced?” - -“Did you think it would be? No, it wasn’t. It was proved that Neuburg -had also left his hotel carrying a Winchester magazine--easy to effect -a change, you see, an’ when he came back with the same sort of gun on -his shoulder nobody had reason to suspect it was Roberts’s gun--then. -Moreover, when Neuburg’s rooms were searched, it was found that he -had kindly left an identical Winchester rifle behind--an’ it wasn’t -Roberts’s.” - -“An alibi. He could swear that this gun was the gun he used on that -murderous weekend.--Has the burst gun been traced?” - -“No. But, of course, it is only a detail. It is obvious that Neuburg or -Nachbar did that murder, though full facts have to be proved.” - -For a moment they sat silent, and Clement, anyhow, was appreciating -the full meaning of this revelation. Roberts’s murder, Heloise Reys’ -case--how they ran parallel. Roberts was a victim because of his -wealth--Heloise Reys was possessed of a million pounds. Nachbar kept -in the background as far as Roberts was concerned. He was an advising -friend; Neuburg played the same rôle to Heloise Reys. Roberts had been -lured into the wilds; Heloise Reys was, even now, being lured into the -wilds. Roberts was killed by a secret, brilliant “accident;” Heloise -Reys ... Clement shivered. He stared at Gatineau. - -“I told you,” said the little detective, “because I think it best to -know exactly the ways and methods of this brute.” - -“I understand,” said Clement. “And then there is the brighter side, -too. It is certain that Neuburg is Nachbar. He’ll be arrested. When?” - -“The Chief tells me he is getting a move on already,” said the little -detective, and Clement caught a hint of hesitation. - -“Does that mean that Nachbar won’t be arrested at once?” - -“Not at once.” - -“But--but that’s incredible. He’s a murderer, and you can arrest -murderers without warrant, surely?” - -“We can--if we’re dead positive they’re murderers.” - -Clement gave vent to a gesture and an exclamation of despair. - -“See here, Mr. Seadon,” broke in Gatineau. “Don’t you condemn the -police in a hurry. Recollect that, keen as we may be, we can’t go about -arresting folk off-hand. We’ve got to be sure we ain’t running innocent -men into jail--an’ disgrace. This is complicated. It’s an old crime. -We don’t know whether the American police have dropped it, or caught -their man, or have definite news that proves Neuburg isn’t the feller -we think he is. Until we can be sure we daren’t move. We’ve got to get -in touch with the U. S. A. before we can hold him.” - -“That’s logical, I suppose, but it is also rather terrible. And it will -take--how long?” - -“A few days at least.” - -A few days! Clement stared at the little detective: what might not -happen in a few days? - -“She’s got us anyhow,” said Gatineau, reading his thoughts. - -“Yes, she’s got us, and it lies with us to keep Neuburg or Nachbar so -that he won’t have time to do anything--critical. But I confess I’m -rather fearful, Gatineau.” - -And a little later in the day, things appeared even more disturbing. - - -II - -Clement Seadon and the detective had made their way through the -underground passage that leads from the great hotel to the railway -station. They were to catch the train west to Banff. They were emerging -into the booking hall when Gatineau caught hold of the Englishman’s arm. - -Instinctively Clement looked ahead. - -Seen through the glass swing-doors of the passage a young man passed -towards the platform walking swiftly. He was a slim, lithe young man -with a dark, aquiline face. And he had his right arm in a sling. There -was no mistaking the curious lilting walk, as there was no mistaking -the features of the man. - -“Good God!” said Clement “Siwash Mike! Siwash here--why?” - -“_Not_ trailing us anyhow, I guess,” said Gatineau. - -“How can you say that?” - -“He hasn’t the air--an’ then, he’s got a grip in his hand. He is going -to catch the westbound to join brother Neuburg at Banff.” - -“Perhaps,” said Clement, remembering how they had been tricked before. -“But why is he in Winnipeg?” - -“That’s easy,” said the detective. “He probably got in here over the -other railway north of Cobalt, and has changed onto our line for Banff. -But we’d better watch him.” - -They followed the half-breed cautiously, and saw him follow the crowd -up the steps of Platform 6. There was no doubt that he was watching the -westbound. Like a flash Gatineau did _not_ go up the steps of Platform -6. He nipped up the steps of Platform 4. They arrived on the railway -level just in time to see Siwash gain the platform. They took cover, -and across the station watched him. They seemed astonishingly close, -but it was obvious that he was not suspicious; he did not throw a -glance their way. - -Almost at once Clement said, “There is something more in this than -merely catching the westbound, Gatineau. He’s waiting near the -exit--for some reason.” - -“He’s waiting for somebody, I guess,” said Gatineau. “Somebody who is -stopping off the Montreal train.” - -Clement’s heart jumped. Somebody who was stopping off from the -transcontinental train--who could that somebody be? Heloise? Certainly -his heart fluttered. Perhaps after all this was the end of the chase. -It was more than likely Siwash had received some message from Neuburg -at Winnipeg--he’d know how and where to pick one up, and that message -had warned him to meet this train and Méduse and Heloise who came by -it. He thought that quite likely, and then Gatineau said, “But why that -grip?” - -Yes, that was a puzzle. If he was meeting some one, why carry baggage -for a journey? - -With its loudly clanging bell the great train steamed slowly into the -station. Both men watched the half-breed with the keenest attention. He -stood there quite passively as the passengers thronged out of the cars. -He watched them indolently as they passed him in a stream. Then with an -air of casualness he picked up his grip and strolled towards the train. - -“Damn,” grunted Clement. “Nothing at all. He’s just going to board the -train. Look here, we must look slippy, too, if we are to travel by her -also.” - -He picked up his own grip, began to move out to cross the intervening -rails and platforms to the train. Gatineau said suddenly, “Hold -on--ain’t that long scarecrow of a feller interested in our pal?” - -Clement shot a look towards the train. He saw a tall man moving -aimlessly after Siwash. Clement did not recognize this fellow until -suddenly he caught a flash of a skinny leg and arm as the fellow dodged -between the passengers, and he had an abrupt twinge of memory. Where -the devil had he seen that scarecrow before? - -Gatineau caught his arm and lugged him behind a stack of baggage. - -Siwash had walked up to the car in which his seat was reserved. He -handed his grip to the black porter, and then, after pretending to -mount into the car, had turned back as though to take one last look -at Winnipeg. In that moment he swept the whole of the platform with a -searching glance--fortunately he kept his eyes on his own platform. -Satisfied that there were no watchers, he turned and stared straight at -the skinny man. The skinny man was by his side in a moment. - -There was a swift talk between the twain. The skinny one listening -attentively, and nodding his head as if he understood. Then Siwash -took a paper from his pocket, and the other stretched out his long and -skinny arm. And at that gesture, memory came to Clement. He remembered -acutely such an arm stretching out from a small window clutching at the -pistol hand of Siwash. “Heavens!” he breathed. “The fellow from the -glue factory--from the Sault Algonquin at Quebec. Another of the beasts -on the spot.” - - -III - -The guards were shouting “All aboard.” Siwash turned and sprang into -his car, while the skinny man strode towards the exit. Clement picked -up his bag and went in the same direction. Gatineau cried softly, -“Say, we can’t monkey about; we’ll miss that train.” - -“I’m going to,” said Clement grimly. “I want to find out why that -fellow is here.” - -“But----” - -“And I don’t like him being here,” said Clement. “I’m not going to -leave anybody here to wait for Miss Reys unless I know the exact why -and the wherefore of his waiting.” - -Gatineau was by his side now; he was smiling. “Yep, I rather want to -look at that paper myself. Say, if you catch hold of this grip I’ll -trail that lad. Best be me--he may have recollections of your outline.” - -An hour later Gatineau rejoined Clement in the lounge of the hotel. -“That’s the sort of job that makes a feller ashamed to draw his pay,” -he grinned, as he sat down. “Easy--made me cry, it was so easy!” - -“You’ve got that paper?” - -“No, sir; I’m not little Xavier miracle worker yet. But I’ve got -him located. He’s in a rooming house in the dark areas off Portage -Avenue--room 163 is his number. And he hasn’t the slightest fear that -evil men like us are here and interested in him. Walked all the way to -his dive without so much as a look round.” - -“That’s good; that means that Siwash don’t know we’re here either. He’s -gone off to Banff and Neuburg without a suspicion. Well, what next?” - -“We just go an’ call on our lean friend--he calls himself Jean -Renadier, he’s a French-Canadian all right, though he says he comes -from Montreal, not Quebec. I’ve got a man there spotting for me -already, one of our local men, an’ I’ve arranged with the police to -pull him on the _Empress of Prague_ robbery charge--in silence. Shall -we go?” - -They went. On the way Gatineau told his plan: “I’ve arranged that we -tackle him first, so that he don’t have any chance of destroying any -paper. Then when we’ve got him, we call in the police. We’ll just walk -up to his room, see? I’ll go in an’ you stay outside, because the sight -of you might make him do things to his papers. When I’ve got him you -can come in. Is that good?” - -The spotter outside the rather dingy rooming house told them that -Renadier had not left the building. As they went into it, he drew in, -ready to help effect the arrest. Walking in boldly, and with a casual, -“Renadier--room 163, ain’t he?” from Gatineau, they were able to mount -to the man’s room as though they were friends of his. It was high up in -the building, and at the dark end of a corridor. Gatineau softly tried -the handle, found the door yielded, strode boldly in, shutting the door -behind him--for the man must not catch a glimpse of Clement. - -He went in, and there was silence. - -Clement heard Gatineau say something, and then the silence came down. -It was a curious silence, intense, deep--disturbing. It seemed to draw -itself out. It became full of significance. Clement pressed close to -the door, listened--nothing! What was happening? Why did not Gatineau -give some signal? Why should there be this appalling quiet in that -room? It was uncanny, it was unreal--it was ugly. - -He bent down in a sudden anxiety and put his ear to the keyhole. -Nothing! There was no sound from the room. The room was apparently -dead, vacant--a tomb. - -He put his hand on the door. As he did so, two sounds came from the -room, two soft sounds. - -One was a soft knock--it might have been the heel of a boot kicking -against the carpeted floor. The other was a slow, animal sound, low, -guttural, choking. - -With a spasm of fear Clement dashed open the door. - - -IV - -An amazing sight met his eyes. - -Gatineau was stretched full length on his back. He was moving -nervelessly, struggling feebly. Squatting over him was a tall, -inexpressibly gaunt man. This fellow crouched over the detective’s -chest with an almost stolid calm. His long, lean arms were stretched -downward. His thin, knotty hands were about Gatineau’s neck. He was -carefully and calmly throttling the life out of the little detective. - -Clement caught one glimpse of the preoccupied face before it -turned upon him. The face of this calmly murderous man was utterly -transfigured with fear--fear that, somehow, did not interfere with the -efficient labors of killing a man. Then the eyes turned to him as he -charged forward. The fear in the fellow’s face leaped to an absolute -panic at the recognition of Clement--and yet the fellow acted with an -astounding calm. - -He simply fell flat. He made no attempt at active resistance; he simply -fell flat upon Gatineau. Then, as Clement jumped forward, he rolled, -quick as lightning, towards him. It was unexpected. Clement in his -stride could not check. His foot caught the lank, rolling body, and he -pitched forward. As he fell, the other leaped to his feet, and jumped -to the door. Clement had shut the door, and he caught at the handle. -That gave Clement time to grab at him. As he fell, Clement twisted as -he had often done on the football field. He did not try to recover, he -let himself go, while trying to fall as near the door as possible. He -succeeded enough to enable him to get his hand to the tall man’s ankle. -He grabbed and held. He braced himself to resist. - -The fellow was astonishing. He did not struggle. For a perceptible -instant he stood there at the half-open door, staring down at the -man who held his ankle. The look of devastating fear on his face -was appalling. Clement had never seen any man so afraid. In that -flash--it was no more than a single breath--he felt that the fellow was -theirs--he was nerveless with fear. Then the lank man kicked him. - -He kicked with his free foot coolly and deliberately--an astonishing -kick when Clement recalled the sheer fright on the fellow’s face. So -unexpected was it that Clement had only time to half-check the drive of -the heavy boot with a quick-flung hand--and then his head rang and he -saw a million stars. - -After that, confusion. The lank man wrenched himself free and was -running. Clement, dazed, tried to get up to go after him. He was -knocked sideways by some one rushing by. It was only when he managed to -get into the dark passage--that somehow seemed to be misty (but that -was that fellow’s boot)--that he realized that the man who had bowled -him over was Gatineau. He saw Gatineau running along the passage before -him. Gatineau was groggy but determined. Rather groggy himself, he ran -after Gatineau. - -He had to trust to Gatineau. He couldn’t see the lean man, but Gatineau -seemed to know. Gatineau went upstairs instead of down. Gatineau rushed -across a roof landing instead of going through one of three doors, -and flung himself headlong on to a fourth door. That burst wildly open -under his charge, letting in a bewildering flash of daylight. They were -on the roof. Then Gatineau was running across the leads, and Clement -after him--and, yes, there was the lank man running ahead. - -The lank man rushed to the edge of the roof, started back, looked -round with his incredibly fearful look, then dodged at a right angle. -Gatineau could not check in time to head him off. But Clement could. -He cut across the fellow’s path, and, like a fox, the fellow tried to -double again. He dodged round a stack, and found Gatineau ready for -him, pivoted, and ran for the parapet. He scrambled on to the parapet, -and stood swaying, staring about him for a loophole of escape. Between -him and the next roof was a ten-foot alley, but the other roof was -lower, and he seemed to think it was a chance. Clement did not; he -yelled, “Stop that, you fool. You’ll kill yourself.” - -It was too late. The fellow had braced himself, had leaped. He went -through the air in a way that showed he was no jumper. He seemed to -hang in the air for an eternity. Then his feet came down on the parapet -on the opposite side. For a breathless moment he hung there, clawing -wildly, as though seeking to grasp support from the very air; then his -balance went, he sagged backwards, fell, went out of sight with an -uncanny abruptness. - -“My God!” cried Clement. “My God!” He felt physically sick. Gatineau -had no time for sentiment. He was already running downstairs. He wanted -to get to the man before the crowd. - - -V - -Clement Seadon and Xavier Gatineau left Winnipeg by the next -west-bound. Gatineau’s throat was a little sore, and Clement’s soul was -more than sick at the death of the man who had played a part in his -captivity in the gluemaker’s at Quebec; but apart from this they were -little the worse for their experience--and little to the good either. - -The lank man had fallen into a narrow yard between the houses, and his -fall had not been noticed. Gatineau had got to him before anybody else. -He had secured all the papers on the poor dead body, and had then seen -to it that not only were the police informed, but that the matter was -to be kept quiet for the present. - -All they had found on the man was a number of letters making it plain -that he was Louis Penible, a glue manufacturer of the Sault Algonquin, -Quebec. There was also a single telegram signed A. N. bidding him -travel at once to Winnipeg, where he would be met by “some one.” This -telegram was sent off from North Bay. “Before we caught Joe,” said -Gatineau. “It looks as though Neuburg was summoning all his forces to -hand rather than anything else.” - -The only other piece of paper--the piece that had cost the wretched man -his life, the piece Siwash had handed him at the station--was merely a -plain sheet containing the address of the rooming house where he had -died, and an address, “A. N., c/o Mrs. Wandersun, Sicamous.” - -“Beyond telling us that Neuburg has gone on to Sicamous--is not -stopping on at Banff--it seems a small thing to have brought about a -man’s death,” said Clement. - -“It might have been a big thing,” said Gatineau. “It might prove to be -a big thing now. Neuburg has one man less, that may be useful to us. It -is useful, too, because, so far as we can see, we have the whole gang -under our eyes now--two arrested, the steward and Joe, one dead and the -rest at Sicamous or traveling to it. We know where we are.” - -But they did not know very much. They knew nothing about the -whereabouts of Heloise Reys and her evil companion; they had no inkling -concerning the plot Neuburg, the master-mind, had devised--save that it -was concerned with a great deal of money, and with the luring of the -victim into the wilds--just as it had been in Roberts’s case. - -They passed across the rolling monotony of the prairies thinking the -matter out. They passed through Calgary, a vivid, gold-washed town -amid foothills that seemed to cup the sunlight. They heard news of -Neuburg and Gunning going on before them, but no other news. - -From Calgary they climbed to the fairy ramparts of the Rocky Mountains, -austere, snow-cowled, promising immensities and mysteries beyond. They -mounted, step by step, the “benches” of the foothills, besides the -breathless azure of the shining Bow River. Then abruptly the gate of -the mountains was above them, silent, stark, sheer brooding as their -train roared through The Gap, and then they were at Banff. - -They went by car to the wonderful hotel perched like Aladdin’s palace -on a spur amid mighty spurs. It was a peerless place. For the staging -of a love scene one might have gone to the ends of the earth and not -have found a better setting. The exquisite beauty of the surroundings -called to the emotions--and yet Neuburg had rejected this spot and had -gone on to Sicamous after but the shortest stay! Why? Clement thought -the answer to that unspoken question must be an ominous one. - -The Chief had been good at his word. He had sent word along the line, -and the C. P. R. people at the hotel were ready for Gatineau. They had -a thick bundle of telegrams and reports waiting for him--a bewildering -bundle, for it included all Neuburg’s wires to his underlings, Nimmo -Bates (that is, Joe Wandersun) at the Place Viger Hotel, Montreal, -where (thanks to the cunning of The Chief) he was supposed to be -staying with Siwash Mike, and others. It contained the wires Neuburg -had received, and it contained reports from The Chief himself, from the -agent at Sicamous, and others. A truly awesome mass of paper. - -“I think I’ll let you disentangle the story,” grinned Clement. “The -very bulk of it frightens me, and I guess you are more used to it than -I am.” - -“Sure,” smiled Gatineau. “I’ll go through this and knock some sort of -connected report out of it. You go an’ try a dip in the swimming pool, -Mr. Seadon, an’ leave it to me.” He was running lightly through the -duplicates of the telegrams. “Hullo! One moment, Mr. Seadon; here’s one -to Méduse Smythe at Winnipeg--that must be to await her coming.” - -“What does it say?” - -“It tells her to come on here and await orders; it is initialed A. N.” - -“Here?” said Clement. - -“Yes, sir,” said the hotel manager, who was with them. “Miss Smythe and -Miss Heloise Reys are coming to stay here. There is a suite booked for -them.” - -“And yet Neuburg and Gunning have gone on to Sicamous,” said Clement. -“What does that mean? What is behind that move?” - - -VI - -Clement had his plunge in the hot sulphur pool under the slope of a -snow-tipped mountain, and, refreshed, went back to Gatineau in the -manager’s office. Gatineau grinned at him. - -“I guess I’ve made a connected yarn out of this jig-saw all right. -In the first place, let me tell you that our dangerous pal Neuburg, -Newman, or Nachbar, seems to be fairly certain that he has been given a -new lease of life--has days on his hands in fact.” - -“What makes you think that?” - -“First place, he had booked here for himself and Gunning for an -indefinite number of days. Then, quite suddenly, he decided to go -off to Sicamous. He sent telegrams to various people--one to meet -Siwash at Winnipeg, one to Nimmo or Joe Wandersun at Montreal, and -another to sister Méduse--telling of the change. And the reason he -feels safe is that you and I are definitely marooned in Montreal. -The Chief has played the game as I expected he would. His fake wires -coming, apparently, from Nimmo (who we know is in jail) are gems. We -are apparently standing baffled in Montreal, hunting about for the -trail. One can read between the lines that Neuburg is sure of that--f’r -instance the mere fact that he wires to Nimmo at the Place Viger Hotel -shows he thinks it all right. Again, his wire to Siwash confirms this. -He tells Siwash to come on to Sicamous, _not_ Banff. He also tells -Siwash to meet Louis the gluemaker of Quebec on such and such a train -at Winnipeg and tell him there is no need to stand by and watch trains -for _us_ yet--that was evidently why he was sent for--but to meet -Méduse when she arrives and do as she tells him. Oh, Neuburg is certain -that we are out of the running for the time being, and it’s because of -that, he’s gone off to Sicamous.” - -Clement thought for a moment. “Yes, that sounds logical,” he admitted. -“With us close up on his heels he would have to rush things. Probably -his first plan to checkmate us was a lover’s meeting in this place of -lovers. There would have been a--an affectionate reunion, and then, if -we were threatened, the pair would have been spirited away. And what -would have happened to Heloise Reys when they were lost?” - -His face contracted with pain. It was only after a moment that he went -on. - -“However, what would have happened doesn’t matter. The plan’s changed. -He had gone to Sicamous to prepare a more elaborate and a more certain -plot--we can take that as certain. And--and the women follow after us?” - -“Sure they do that,” put in Gatineau. “They are a day or more behind. -As I thought, they did dodge about in that tangle of railways by North -Bay for the express purpose of throwing us off the trail. Then they -hit the main line behind us, and started west in earnest. They’ll stop -off at Winnipeg to pick up news from Neuburg, an’ then they’ll come -straight on here.” - -“That’s a point that baffles me!” admitted Clement. “Why come here? Why -not go straight on to Sicamous?” - -“The rest of the story explains something of that. I should say he -wants time to be sure he’s got his plans perfect. According to the -reports from our Sicamous man, he’s been acting rather strangely at -that end. Our feller at Sicamous has sent on train letters, so his -statements are full. Neuburg and Gunning arrived in due course at -Sicamous station, but instead of going to Gunning’s shack on the lake, -they stayed the night at Joe Wandersun’s house--where, of course, Mrs. -Wandersun is living.” - -“Next morning Neuburg went down to the lakeside and overhauled the big -motor boat that Joe uses on the lake, but instead of going in it, the -three--the woman as well--came to the station and caught a train for -Revelstoke. Revelstoke is the nearest considerable town; they have -to travel back towards Banff to reach it. Our agent at Sicamous is a -real live man; he ’phoned through to one of our fellows at Revelstoke -and caught the same train as Neuburg. Reaching Revelstoke, the trio -did some shopping--shadowed by our men. The proceedings were ordinary -enough, save that they seemed to show a strange passion for buying -medical things. Also, Neuburg, giving Gunning the slip, went into a -store where mining outfits are sold _and bought several high-explosive -cartridges and a quantity of fuse_.” - -Clement made an exclamation at those words. He stared at the little -detective, who said, “No, I don’t see what it signifies, but it is -a matter worth noting. But there is something queerer to come. The -woman and Gunning went off to dinner in a hotel. Neuburg did not go -with them. Instead he went off by himself and found, because he was -looking for it, an obscure sort of hash joint. He sat down and ordered -a meal. Our fellow who was shadowing him walked in casually and got -into a table nearby. Apparently there was nothing odd about Neuburg’s -choice, but presently a young, smart-looking feller pops into this -joint and sits down at Neuburg’s table. Neuburg was reading a paper by -this time, an’ paid not the slightest attention. Soon, though, they got -into conversation, just like two strangers. What they said, of course, -our feller couldn’t hear, but it didn’t appear to amount to much; -soon, too, Neuburg paid his bill and went out with a ‘Well, good-day, -stranger. Glad to have become acquainted. I shall certainly try those -creeks of yours for red fish.’ - -“Our feller guessed that Neuburg would go back to the other two--anyhow -he risked it. He followed the smart young stranger instead, when he -left the hash joint later. This feller sneaked round several blocks, -as though he didn’t want people to know where he’d been, and in the -end he entered the Grand Dominion Consolidated Bank. In there he went -behind the counter, hung up his hat and settled down to work. _He was -one of the employees._” - -There was a very significant pause. Both men looked at each other, and -both men were thinking the same thoughts. They were recalling that -Neuburg as Nachbar had worked through a bucket shop in his plan for -robbing Roberts of Oregon. He was working through a bank now--not, -of course, that the famous bank was acting as his confederate, but -that the smart young man was. This fellow had no doubt figured in the -bucket shop at Oregon, and had managed to worm his way into the bank -at Revelstoke to further Neuburg’s ends--since, obviously, the master -rogue had planned well ahead. - -As Clement reflected on this point he reached for a telegraph form, and -at once wrote the following to The Chief at Montreal: - - - “Find out what interests Heloise Reys has in Revelstoke Branch - Grand Dominion Consolidated Bank. Neuburg has confederate there.” - - -“That may bring something,” he said, as he handed the message to -Gatineau. “If Miss Reys has any money in that bank it must have been -transferred from the head office at Montreal. The Chief will be able to -find out, eh?” - -Gatineau said, “Sure,” added a code number to the message, and had it -sent off at once. Then he went on with his story. - -“After this business Neuburg met the other two in the hotel, and they -all went back to Sicamous, where they loaded their purchases into the -big motor boat. They didn’t, as our man thought they would, go on up -the lake then, but went back to Mrs. Wandersun’s house. It was about -one o’clock at night when Gunning and Neuburg actually left for his -shack. A railwayman, who had been on watch, woke our feller, and he -just had time to see them sneak off in the dark. They took an awful lot -of additional packages with them, loading them secretly--a regular sort -of moving day, our man writes, as though they were going to stay in the -wilds for a hell of a time. The two men only got into the boat, and -then, strangely, the boat left, not under power, but rowed.” - -“That was Neuburg covering himself up,” said Clement. “Nobody saw or -heard him leave, nobody can connect him with--with anything that might -happen up at Gunning’s shack in the wilds. I suppose that’s all there -is so far.” - -“That’s all,” agreed Gatineau. “We know their movements to a dotted -‘i,’ an’ we know Miss Reys is coming on here. I suppose we had best -just wait around until she comes?” - -“Yes,” said Clement, “there seems nothing else to do at the moment. -We must wait for a wire from The Chief about that money, anyhow. But -I confess I don’t like waiting. Certainly Miss Reys appears to be -coming here, but with these brutes, with that demoniac intelligence of -Neuburg’s working against us, I am fearful. Who can say what sudden -turn events might take, and--and what terrible crime might be committed -without our being able to interpose?” - - -VII - -Clement Seadon was manifestly uneasy. Not barring the path which led -from Heloise to the archscoundrel at Sicamous made him feel safe. Not -even the exquisite beauty of this delightful place could tranquilize -him. He felt that some slip, some chance warning to Neuburg, might -bring a calamity. Neuburg, that monster, with his cold, quiet, and -uncannily placid intelligence, would act like a flash. He was, Clement -felt, being so desperately driven that he would not hesitate to act -desperately to attain his ends. - -There was no doubting the fiend’s terrible capacity. Clement was -sure that, in some way, Neuburg had already arranged to get control -of Heloise’s money--or some of her money--through this bank, and his -confederate in the bank, at Revelstoke. He had already his evil -fingers on that loot. All that he needed was to secure Heloise to make -his control of her money complete. And, at a crisis, he would stop at -nothing to secure Heloise--that meant her silence--in order to get that -money. - -Her silence. Clement shuddered. He saw, again, the mental picture of -how Neuburg, as Nachbar, had secured the silence of Roberts of Oregon. -The dead cannot give evidence. - -Clement tried to quiet his nerves by going for a long tramp through the -deep spruce woods that clung to the sides of the austere mountains, but -half-way through it he became panicky and hurried back to the hotel in -case he might miss some crucial message. - -There was no message. He had to wait hours before anything came. Then -it came from Sicamous. That message, however, was significant enough -for those who could get an inkling of the ominous riddle behind it. - -The agent at Sicamous reported that a young, dark-faced, slim man with -his right arm in a sling had arrived at Sicamous. He had gone to Mrs. -Wandersun’s shack. He called himself Lucas, and looked like a halfbreed. - -“Siwash on the spot,” commented Clement. - -The next fact was that a wire had come through from Méduse Smythe at -Winnipeg, saying she was coming straight through to Banff. Immediately -on receipt of this, things happened. The man Lucas--despite his bad -arm--went off up the lake in a canoe, apparently to Gunning’s shack. On -his return there was a bustle. Mrs. Wandersun, in the language of the -agent, flacked about like a worried hen. - -She had run down to the station and had sent off a train letter to -Heloise Reys--to await arrival at Banff--and also another to Méduse -Smythe. - -Having got rid of these letters, Mrs. Wandersun immediately prepared -herself for a journey. That done, she bounced into her neighbor’s shack -with a lamentable story of a friend taken dangerously ill up the lake. -She said she had wired to his relatives, and she thought they were -coming on. She said she was going to her sick friend with the young man -Lucas to run the power boat for her, and she asked her neighbors if -they would mind telling anybody who might arrive before Lucas returned, -that he was coming back from the sick man in order to take them up to -him. - -Having impressed this upon her kindly friends, she got into the motor -boat with Lucas, and went up the lake. Lucas had not returned yet. The -agent had not pressed his inquiries for fear of stirring up suspicion. - -Clement had listened to the reading of this report with a face grim and -white. When it was finished he said, “This seems to be the first move -in the definite plot. Once she arrives in Sicamous, Heloise Reys will -be spirited away into the wilds. You can see how they have planned it. -Nobody but Lucas is to take her there; they don’t want outsiders to -figure in this.” - -“An’ it seems to me that they don’t want anybody--even Miss Reys--to -get there before they are ready for her,” said Gatineau. - -“Yes, that seems likely.--Now the letters.” - -The one addressed to Heloise Reys was a simple letter stating that -Henry Gunning had returned to Sicamous and had gone along the lake to -his home. The letter said that Gunning was quietlike, and not quite his -usual self. He said he was going to rest up for a while as he felt sort -of seedy. The writer concluded by giving directions how to find his -shack, and declared himself ready to do all in his power to help Miss -Reys. He signed himself--Joe Wandersun. - -“Joe Wandersun!” cried Gatineau. “Well, I’m gormed! How did he write -that when he’s snug in jail at Montreal?” - -“He didn’t write it. It’s a forgery.” - -“You mean his wife forged that----?” - -“His wife--no. Remember Roberts, man, and how forgery apparently played -its part in that case. The same capable scoundrel forged this.” - -“Neuburg?” - -“Neuburg or Newman or Nachbar, or whatever you like to call him. -Forgery is part of his game. And there’s another point. You see it -contains a hint of Gunning’s illness--illness is also part of this -devil’s game.” - -“It says nothing about a dangerous illness.” - -“No. Perhaps they’re going to use that as a weapon of shock, to make -her lose her head at a moment when it will pay them for her to lose her -head. But the other letter--the one addressed to Méduse Smythe?” - -The other letter contained a few lines only. They ran: - - - “All clear. Have seen Landor at Revelstoke. Break your journey - there for signatures, etc. Be as clever as you are, my dear, for - you are to have a shock at Sicamous. Play up. The Englishman who - does not look brainy is safely interned at Montreal.” - - -There were no initials even, and the message was written in block -capitals. - -“Bold,” said Gatineau, putting the message down. - -“Not so very bold,” said Clement. “The Englishman who doesn’t look -brainy is interned at Montreal, you understand. He feels quite safe. He -doesn’t think anybody will see that message but Méduse.” - -“And you were right about their springing the dangerous illness upon -Miss Reys at the last moment. That’s what he means by the shock, eh? -And Landor of Revelstoke----” - -“The smart young man in the bank is undoubtedly Landor. It all fits in. -Miss Reys is to call on the bank on her way to Sicamous to register her -signature, and so on. Landor is the man who will interview her. All -that is part of their plan for getting hold of her money. You can see -how the hellish thing is developing.” - -“But how can they get money out of her--how keep her unsuspicious?” - -“How did Nachbar plan to keep Roberts of Oregon from giving evidence?” - -“My God!” muttered Gatineau. Then he said, “But the money. No woman -would transfer a huge sum to a local bank, a bank that may, perhaps, -only be going to serve her for a few days?” - -“I am waiting for The Chief’s telegram,” said Clement. “That will tell -us how much she has in the bank at Revelstoke. It seems illogical that -she should have a large sum--yet I fear----” - -The fear was realized. In the afternoon The Chief’s wire came. It said: - - - “Heloise Reys deposited sum £20,000 cash and securities extent - £120,000 in Montreal Branch Dominion Consolidated from England - before leaving that country. Same time opened account £5,000 - cash Revelstoke branch. Week ago authority in own handwriting to - transfer all funds securities Revelstoke branch. Most securities - easily negotiable. New message. Neuburg is Nachbar. Warrant being - issued.” - - -Of the whole of that pregnant message one passage, and one alone, stood -out with a terrible significance. - -Neuburg is Nachbar! - -Neuburg was Nachbar, the murderer. Neuburg was the cold-blooded genius -who slew Roberts of Oregon in the wilds, and for the sake of a huge sum -of money. The telegram told that the girl, Heloise, had to hand a great -sum of money, and she was being lured into the wilds--lured towards -Nachbar, the brute who would let nothing stand between him and his -greedy desire. - -Neuburg was Nachbar the murderer--and Heloise was to be his next -victim. Only dimly he heard Gatineau saying, “He wants to get all that -money--£145,000. It’s all under the hand of his tool at Revelstoke. -I see how it is. But what beats me is how any one would think of -transferring----” - -“Did she?” snapped Clement. “Wasn’t it forgery? Nachbar is a forger as -well. Couldn’t he have forged that letter ordering the transfer?” - -Gatineau cried, “Forgery! Yes, that’s it. That’s damn likely. But even -though that letter was forged, I don’t see how they are going to work -it. What’s the game?” - -Clement suddenly became completely aware of the detective and what he -was saying. He echoed the words, “What’s the game? I don’t know. But -I’m going to find out. I’m going down to Sicamous _now_ to find out.” - -“Now?” gasped Gatineau. - -“Now. I can’t wait here passive. Anything might happen. That girl might -be prevented coming here, might go right through, might be turned -aside. I’m not going to run any more risks. I’m going to Neuburg. Can -we catch a train?” - -“With a car, easy. There’s one due.” - -“Get that car.” - -“But to rush right in like this. Is it wise--safe?” - -“I don’t care. We’ve been passive too long, anyhow. Come along. Find -that car. It’s our turn to attack.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -I - -The rush to the train was a frantic episode, undertaken with the eye on -the second hand of the watch. As they flashed down through the spruce -woods and over the delightful bridge of the shining Bow, the detective, -Xavier Gatineau, was scribbling a wire on a pad resting on his swaying -knee. - -“To our man at Sicamous,” he explained. “He must meet that train. When -we get to the depot, will you jam that into the telegraph office? I’ll -dive for the station master an’ arrange for accommodation, an’ hold the -train if necessary. Phew! we’re cutting it fine.” - -They were. They heard the train pull in and stop before they could -see it. They saw the guards preparing to send the train away as they -drew up, braking perilously beside the low platform. Clement sprang to -the telegraph office without a word. Gatineau seemed to be half-way -along the platform in the direction of the station master before their -automobile had really stopped. - -The handing in of the wire took no more than a few seconds, but short -though that time was, Gatineau was already beckoning him to the rear -car when Clement appeared. - -“Luck all the way,” said Gatineau. “Section superintendent’s private -car hitched on to this train. This is it.... He’ll be here in a -minute----” - -He got no further. Clement suddenly caught his arm. “My God!” he -gasped. “Look there--those women.” - -Two women stood by the edge of the platform watching their suitcases -being put into an automobile. - -It was dark, but the two well-dressed figures could plainly be seen -in the light of an arc lamp. One was a comely, chilly, thick-set, -middle-aged woman--the Gorgon, Méduse Smythe. The other--Heloise. - -No mistaking that slim, upstanding, gallantly poised figure. Even there -in the darkness and newly arrived on a strange railway platform, she -carried herself with a crispness, an air of daintiness, a grace of -candid beauty. No mistaking her at all--and no mistaking the curious -and quite sharp thrill that went through his own being as he looked at -her. - -“Miss Reys?” asked Gatineau in a sharp whisper. - -“Yes--and that she-scoundrel, her companion. They’ve arrived. Of -course, I should have remembered this would be their train.” - -“Did they see you?” demanded Gatineau, more practically. He had a -sudden, unpleasant vision of the crafty Méduse Smythe sending telegrams -ahead of them, warning Neuburg, upsetting their own hair-brained plan. - -“I’m certain they didn’t,” said Clement. “And--and do you think, from -their attitudes, that they did?” - -Both men had drawn into the cover of their car, and as they looked, it -was quite obvious to them that they had not been seen. - -Uneasiness was not expected from Heloise; still, if she had seen -Clement, with whom she had quarreled, who, on the word of Méduse, she -was also well on the way to love, she must have shown some sort of -nervousness. She showed none. - -The Gorgon companion, who had every reason to show anxiety if she -had, unexpectedly, set eyes upon that enemy who disconcerted her -most--Clement Seadon--showed no anxiety. She was calm and smiling. With -just the right smiling calm--no amount of acting could have given her -precisely that air. - -“No, they haven’t seen us,” said Clement. - -“No, they certainly haven’t,” said Gatineau. “All the same----” -he began, and he realized Clement’s intent gaze and stopped, and -smothered a grin. Clement would not be fit for comment or reasoning -until the train pulled out. - -Clement gazed hungrily at Heloise. During the days of excitement and -anxiety he had thought incessantly of her, and had, he thought, created -an unreal dream woman. But as he looked at her he saw that she was -better even than his dream. The beauty of her features, the charm of -her movements, the whole crisp, boyish attraction of her came to him, -even now, as a fresh revelation. Her car moved and he moved with it -towards the observation platform. - -“Mr. Seadon,” Gatineau protested. “The light shines upon the platform, -if they turned and saw you....” - -With a sigh Clement relinquished the most desirable sight in the world. -Their own train started. - -Presently he said, “They have arrived at Banff, Gatineau. That horror of -a woman has arrived--and she will ask for a message from Newman. Do you -appreciate that? She’ll go there expecting a message.” - -“She won’t get one,” said Gatineau, grinning. He put his hand in his -pocket. He drew out Newman’s--or Neuburg’s--train letter saying all was -clear, and ordering Méduse to go to Revelstoke. “I brought it along -with me. I thought of that.” - -“Yes,” said Clement. “You thought of that. But did you think of what -would happen when she asks for the message she is expecting--and does -not get it?” - -“Hell,” said the little detective explosively. - -“Just that,” agreed Clement. “She’ll raise it. She’ll get panicky. And -she’ll do something.” - -“She just will; she’ll fly to the wire or to the distance ’phone to -Sicamous. She’ll get through to Neuburg. Why, in the name of Mike, -didn’t I think of that?” - -“Why, in the name of Michael, didn’t _I_?” said Clement hardly. “It was -my idiotic haste. But that doesn’t help. What does help? She’ll get -through to Sicamous and Neuburg; she will warn Neuburg. And--and what -can we do?” - -They stood staring blankly at each other in the swaying car. - -What could they do? - - -II - -They stood and stared at each other. A night journey away was Neuburg -and Gunning and Siwash Mike and Joe Wandersun’s wife. They were -unsuspecting. They were preparing for some terrible crime perhaps, but -they were unsuspecting. - -Behind them were the two women going in a fast car to the Banff Springs -Hotel. The woman who had most to fear was also unsuspecting. But she -would cease to be so after she had been in the foyer of the hotel -many minutes. She would ask for a message, a letter, or a wire--and -she would not get one. At once because of her fear she would become -anxious. She would communicate with Neuburg. He would be warned. He -would know at once that his letter had gone astray, that something was -wrong, and he would take steps to meet the crisis. - -And the men moving towards him were standing in the saloon of a -moving train, hanging, as it were, between the two danger points in a -traveling isolation. What could they do? - -Gatineau said “Hell” again, and then he said, “She’ll wire, sure.” - -“Or ’phone,” said Clement. - -“Yes, she might.... But who to? Joe’s wife, Mrs. Wandersun, went up to -Gunning’s shack in a motor boat. She left word she wouldn’t be back. -Remember, left word an’ a letter.” - -“Siwash Mike, or Herbert Lucas, as he calls himself, may be there -waiting for the ladies.” - -“Yep, that’s so,” he thought a while. “But their shack might not have a -’phone. It’s unlikely, I think. An’ then ’phoning--would she risk it? -Miss Reys might come in on her as she spoke.” - -“You think she’d wire?” - -“Sure I think she’d wire,” said Gatineau, his face brightening a little. - -“But how does it help? I know if we could get in touch with Sicamous -we could stop it ... but from a moving train.... One of these pocket -wireless sets would be very handy just now.” - -“Got it,” shouted Gatineau. - -“Got what, you little train jumper?” said a large, genial man coming -into the saloon. - -The little detective all but leaped at the superintendent. - -“Walt, have you a train telegraph set in this car?” he cried. - -“Good Lord!” said Walt. “What’s the joke?” - -“I’m asking--have you?” - -“Of course I have,” said Walt. “What’s the answer?” - -He didn’t get an answer. Instead, Gatineau swung round on Clement with -a great laugh. “We’ve got ’em. Walt, here, will stop the train.” - -“Walt, here, will be asked to do it first. Then he’ll think about it,” -said Walt, with just that tinge of asperity that showed he had not been -too neatly handled. Gatineau noticed that tone in a flash. - -“Say, Walt, I guess I’m a bit fresh. We’re rather rattled, Mr. -Seadon and me.... Oh, Walt, meet Mr. Clement Seadon, a friend of The -Chief’s.... We’re on a big thing, a big criminal thing, and we did -something quite stupid back in Banff that we can only put straight by -telegraphing, an’ at once.” - -“It may save a murder,” said Clement, watching the big man. - -“Holy Mike!” cried the big Walt. - -“Well, we’re afraid of that,” agreed Gatineau. “You see, we daren’t -wait!” - -“You won’t wait,” said the superintendent. “I’m getting that set.” He -began to run out of the saloon. - -“All right, Walt,” called Gatineau. “We’ve got to figure out that wire -first.” - -He went over to the little writing desk near the rear window. He -switched on the desk lamp and selected cable forms. At once he wrote: -“Hold all wires from Méduse Smythe to Newman or Neuburg.” He looked -up. “Will that do?” he asks. “Our man knows Neuburg; he’ll know what -that telegram means. An’ we mustn’t block other wires. Neuburg may -be expecting one from Nimmo at Montreal, f’rinstance, and might get -anxious if he didn’t get it.” - -“That’s true,” said Clement over Gatineau’s shoulder. “And while we’re -stopping Méduse’s getting to Neuburg by wire, we might stop her getting -to him in person. Write this: - - - ‘Wire Méduse Smythe Banff Springs Hotel as follows: All clear. - Have seen Landor Revelstoke. All will be well. Don’t communicate - him. Will let you know to-morrow or next day when you can come on - here. Wait. No reason anxiety. Englishman who does not look brainy - safely interned Montreal. ARTHUR NEWMAN.’” - - -“Do you think that will answer?” - -“It’ll answer fine--if she’s not suspicions.” - -“She won’t be suspicious--if Arthur Newman isn’t. This is from Arthur -Newman.” - -The little detective considered it carefully. “You’re right. It -bears the authentic stamp of Arthur. Wondered why you were putting -in that bit about the foxy bank man, Landor of Revelstoke. But I see -why. Feeling that Newman is the only one to know about him, she’ll -be certain this wire’s from him. An’ she’ll stay quiet at Banff -accordingly.” - -“That’s the idea. You feel confident that your man will send it -correctly--as though it really, did come from Newman, I mean?” - -“Rely on him. Walt, we’re ready if you are.” - -The superintendent had been busy in the saloon with the young man who -acted as his clerk. On the saloon table a telegraph instrument had -been set up, and the young man was active with what looked like a long -bamboo fishing pole that had electric flex instead of fishing line -attached to it, as well as a curious hook at its top end. Walt gave -orders to the youth to stop the train. - -In a minute the long train groaned to a standstill, and at once the -young man dropped from the observation platform at the rear of the -car, and, first hooking the bamboo rod over one of the telegraph wires -beside the track, did various things with electric plugs. Then he -came back to the saloon and began working the telegraph instrument. -“Through to Sicamous,” he said. - -Gatineau pushed the slip forward, “There’s your message.” - -In a surprisingly short time the young man said, “They’re O.K.ing.” - -“Ask them to repeat,” said Gatineau. - -The young man wrote down the message as it clicked back, Gatineau -watching his writing hand. He had written the last word only when the -detective said, “O.K. That’s all.” Then the bamboo pole and the plugs -were disconnected, the instrument dismantled, a guard waved a light and -the train moved on. - -“Five minutes,” smiled Walt. “That’s how it’s done, Mr. Seadon.” - -“Yes, you people make the check-mating of rogues seem child’s play,” -smiled Clement, and he went to his bunk almost with serenity. - - -III - -At Sicamous station a railwayman slipped on board the car and spoke to -Gatineau. Gatineau and Clement left the train at once, walked straight -into the pretty hotel that hangs right above the lake and is the only -considerable structure in the place, and, passing straight through the -lounge, found themselves in the manager’s sitting room. - -A youngish man with the nondescript clothes and the air of a -homesteader got up from a rocker-chair and said: “You’re Mr. Gatineau. -Pleased to meet you. And Mr. Seadon. My name is Cager. Plenty of news, -Mr. Gatineau.” - -“You sent the wire I asked?” asked Gatineau. The young man handed over -a cable form. It was the wire to Méduse. “Good. Did the woman send -anything?” Again, without a word, the young man handed over another -cable form. Both men read it. It was to Arthur Newman c/o Wandersun. It -ran: - - - “Arrived Banff. No message from you. M. S.” - - -“Blocked that, of course,” explained Cager. - -“Any telephone message through, do you think, to Lucas or Siwash at -Wandersun’s shack?” - -“No telephone,” said Cager. “An’ then Siwash isn’t there. That is part -of the news. He went along the lake yesterday--to Gunning’s shack.” - -“What time?” asked Gatineau anxiously. - -“About five.” - -“Before those ladies made Banff,” said Gatineau with relief. “Unless, -of course, they got a message through on the way.” - -“They didn’t,” said Cager. “No wires, no train letters came through. -I’ve been watching Siwash--Lucas, as he calls himself--pretty close. I -guess he didn’t get any sort of message.” - -“Not from along the lake?” - -“Not even that. But I don’t know why he went. He just went up in a -canoe. I think he’s coming back. You see he was to meet them ladies, -and the woman, Mrs. Wandersun, hasn’t come back, or Neuburg shown -himself? No--then about those people who had a letter for Siwash when -he came along--I mean those neighbors who were told that he was coming, -and the ladies, too. Are they in this, do you think?” - -“My opinion is, they’re just neighbors. They were here years before the -Wandersuns showed up. My opinion is that they are not in with Neuburg.” - -Gatineau thought a while. “We’ll risk it, anyhow,” he said. “Look here, -Mr. Seadon, you’d better not show, but I will. I’ll go ’long an’ talk -to them.... Got a boat to take us along the lake, Cager?” - -“Not a power boat, just now. You can have a skiff or a canoe.... Skiff? -Well, that’s less dangerous in a scuffle. I’ll get one ready while -you’re going to the Bloss’s.” He went to the window. “That path leading -up hill. It’s one of them two shacks you c’n see. There’s a chintz -settee on the porch.” - -Gatineau was back in half-an-hour, his face was puzzled. - -“Some news, Mr. Seadon,” he said. “Lucas--that’s Siwash, they don’t -know his real name, they’re on the square all right--Lucas will be -back to-morrow to meet the ladies.” He glanced deliberately at Clement. -“He’s gone up the lake to sit at the bedside of his dear cousin Henry -Gunning.” - -“What!” cried Clement. - -“Sure thing. Cousin Henry Gunning--he’s lying at death’s door.” - -Clement stared at him in amazement. That Gunning was dangerously -ill seemed incredible.... Suddenly he remembered a passage in the -Joe Wandersun letter to Heloise at Banff. He remembered a passage -in Neuburg’s note to Méduse. He remembered the buying at the drug -stores in Revelstoke, and Mrs. Wandersun’s going to a sick friend. He -smiled grimly. “That’s the shock,” he said. “Remember Méduse was to be -prepared for one, and to play up to it. She won’t expect to learn that -a quite healthy man is abruptly at death’s door.” - -“But I wonder what it means, just how it fits in with the scheme of -that blackguard Neuburg? Don’t you see, it’s saddling that outfit with -a sick man--even though he’s faking.” - -“He’s got more time than he thought,” said Clement. “We’re at Montreal, -don’t forget.” - -“With the long distance wire ever handy. He may have time, but not for -a long, sentimental sickness. I don’t see it fitting in.” - -“No,” said Clement reflectively. “A long illness seems barred--but, -look at the effect of this sudden news of Gunning’s dangerous illness -on a nature like Miss Reys. It’ll bowl her over. Coming at the end of -all these lost trails and excitements, and the end of all the emotions -she’s been bottling up for months, this sudden, dramatic threat at the -last moment will emotionally sweep her right off her feet.” - -“She’ll be crazy with anxiety--I see,” said Gatineau. “She’ll be right -off her guard, not noticing anything but how he is to be looked after, -that’s it. It’s a sweet move on that rotten rogue’s part.” - -“Also,” said Clement, grimly, “Henry will look better in bed--more -presentable. He’s been on the loose, and it probably shows. But what -would look disgusting in a man standing on his feet, will only look -like the ravages of illness in a man lying and moaning on a sick bed.” - -“The pathetic stop,” said Gatineau. - -“The pathetic stop,” agreed Clement. “And they’ll play it for all -they’re worth to the undoing of that girl.” - -In a very short time Clement Seadon and Gatineau were rowing up the -lake towards Gunning’s shack. To their friends they would have been -quite unrecognizable. Cager, the alert, had provided them with floppy -hats and clothes and fishing tackle. To the world at large they were -two westerners avid for the lake’s celebrated trout. - -They had discussed with Cager the problem of getting at Neuburg and -his gang by stealth, and decided that they had best drift up to it -alone under their fishermen disguise. To guard against any eventuality, -a boatload of short, sturdy, and well-armed men followed them. - -These men would wait behind a headland that cut off Gunning’s shack -from the rest of the lake, and at a signal, or if, through glasses, -they saw any signs of foul play, they would dash to the rescue. - -Rowing up the lake, Clement could not repress a shudder at its -ominousness. The great spruce-clad mountains came right down to the -fillet of water, hemming it darkly. As they turned a shoulder, and the -hotel and railway buildings, standing up sharply in this clear air a -mile behind, were cut off from view, they seemed to be plunged at once -into the heart of No Man’s Land. The dark lake was stark and empty and -utterly beyond human touch and help, it seemed. What might not happen -to Heloise in a place like this? - -They went ashore at the headland to spy out the land. From amid the -trees at its crest, Clement looked down on a mountain bay that might -have been the crater of an extinct volcano in the mountains of the -moon. At first it appeared almost terribly empty, then his glasses -picked out a shack well hidden in the trees alongside the lake. He saw -four people about that shack. - -One was a man who sat smoking at his healthy ease and reading a paper -on the porch of the shack. One was a woman, who sometimes came out -of the door of the shack with a flutter of garments. She stood for a -moment, always, and looked along the lake. Once she picked up what -obviously were glasses, to stare across the water. She was watching. -She was Mrs. Wandersun; the man reading was undoubtedly Gunning. - -Undoubtedly Gunning--neither of the other two men by the waterside were. - -These two men were in a motor boat. They were obviously working with -some concentration on that motor boat. Only once, as Clement looked, -did they become erect and examine something. - -One of the men was a slight, slim fellow with his arm in a sling. That -was Siwash. - -The other was a big, massive mountain of a man, who sat up and moved -with curiously swift movements. That was Neuburg. - -Neuburg, the murderer, and Siwash, busy over something in a motor boat. -Gatineau looked at Clement. - -“What are they doing?” he asked. “What are they up to in that boat?” - - -IV - -“The three of them there, an’ the woman,” said Gatineau, as they pushed -out their boat again. “Three to face.” - -“We’ll see,” said Clement. “When we get there--well, we’ll see.” - -Gatineau, as the least known of the two, stood up, plying his rod; -Clement hunched over the rowing. They drifted round the headland. They -moved slowly along the lake. Gatineau pretended to be dissatisfied -with his sport. He pointed with a long arm, indicating more likely -spots for a bite. Clement rowed languidly--there was a great deal of -power in his rowing and it took the boat nearer and nearer the shack. -Gatineau held up his hand, made a graceful cast, then he said, “Holy -Mike!--vanished.” He did not refer to the fish. He said it softly, not -because the fish might hear, but because in these silent places sounds -carry amazingly. - -“You mean Neuburg and Siwash have vanished?” said Clement in the same -quiet tone. - -“The earth might have swallowed them up. Not a sign of them.” - -“And the woman--and Gunning?” - -“Not a sign of them. Gone from the porch.” - -“They’ve seen us. They’re taking all precautions.” - -Clement glanced back to the headland. It shut them off from the entire -world. They could see no sign of humanity, not even of the three men -in the canoe who were following them so cautiously. Gatineau fished -sedately, partly to throw dust in the eyes of the people in or near the -shack, partly to give the men in the canoe time to make the headland. -Always they drifted nearer and nearer the shack. - -Presently--it was part of their plan--Gatineau placed his rod in the -boat and sat down. He sat down facing Clement, facing in the direction -of the shack. - -“Might as well eat,” he said in a loudish, clear voice. Clement said -nothing. It did not matter so much that Gatineau’s voice would carry -across the water to the shack, but his own voice was known. - -Gatineau began munching and surveying the lake. Suddenly he cried, -“Say,” and his arm went out, indicating the shack. Clement, his hat -well down over his eyes, his chin crouched in his shoulder, looked -towards the shack. He said something. Gatineau answered clearly. “No, -it ain’t deserted. Why, there’s smoke coming out of the stack. We sure -can get some coffee there, or some hot water for our’n.” - -He said this loudly, giving warning. If Neuburg and Siwash were in the -shack, they had time to get out of it, to run to the bush and hide. -Undoubtedly they would not want to be seen. - -As they came close in under the shack, the woman appeared on the porch. -She was a tall, wiry woman, as lithe-strung as a cat. She had the -fierce, sharp, haggard air of a woman who had been wrenched from the -more hectic pleasures of cities to stagnate in the wilds. She stood in -the break of the door looking down on them, her eyes bright, her face -pale, her hand gripping the doorjamb violently to help her master her -emotions. Gatineau called, “Hello, mother; who’d a thought of seeing a -white woman here?” - -“Hello,” she said in a dry voice. “Fishin’? Had luck?” Her tone -repelled advances. - -“Poor,” said Gatineau. “Say--we was thinkin’--I mean seein’ you had a -fire, we thought as you’d allow us to boil a drop o’ water fer cawfee.” - -The woman’s tongue went over her dry lips. “Better not come here,” she -said in a gasp. “There’s a sick man in this shack.” - -“Say--out here--pore feller.” - -“Infectious,” cried the woman, catching too much kindliness in -Gatineau’s tone. “Turrible infectious.” - -“Still a drop of hot water fer cawfee,” said Gatineau. “We don’t want -to butt in on your trouble, mother. But we’d be mortal obliged if you -could give us a drop of hot water fer our cawfee.” - -“But--but it’s turrible infectious,” said the woman, at a loss. - -“Oh, but I don’t think a drop of hot water fer our cawfee’d matter -much.” - -The woman made a decision. “Here, throw up yer can with the cawfee -in it, I’ll give you that water.” She caught the can deftly. “But -you stay there. Don’t you take no risk. I has to notify any risk of -infec’ion.” She turned and went swiftly into the shack. - -Clement and Gatineau were out of the skiff and up the bank in a flash. - - -V - -The woman turned from the stove with a half-cry of fear as their boots -clumped on the boards of the shack. She dropped the coffee can with a -crash, and her lips clenched tight together as she saw the weapons in -their hands. There was something significant in that sudden gesture of -silence; she had seen pistols in men’s hands before--in the hands of -men who shot regardless of sex. - -Clement felt pity for her and the life she must have led. “We mean no -harm, Mrs. Wandersun. Only you must keep quiet----” - -“And not move,” added Gatineau. “Stand over in that corner there, Mrs. -Wandersun--yes, in the angle of the walls. Now understand, no movement, -no sound.” - -They looked about the room quickly. It was a bare room, with a table -and stove, and one window, next the door, looking on to the porch. -There was a door into an inner room. Gatineau sprang across to it and -looked in. It had a bed and a glassless window and very little else. -The window was shut, the bed had evidently been used by the woman. -Gatineau came out of the room, shutting the door. There was no need to -go into that room. What they wanted was in this outer, living room. - -In a corner was a truckle bed. On that bed was a man, his deeply-marked -face pale and unshaven. He looked sick, and he stirred gently and -moaned like a sick man, not opening his eyes to them. Gatineau gave -him one look, then went and stood by the window, which was just by the -foot of the bed. Crouching against the woodwork, the little detective -watched the world outside, his pistol ready. - -Clement acted quickly. From his pocket he took a piece of paper, -unfolded it and put it on the table. He found that ink and pens were -already there and he put the paper near them. It was a confession. He -had drawn it up in the train coming from Banff. It set out the general -lines of the plot as Clement saw it. And he meant Henry Gunning to sign -it. It would frighten Gunning into fleeing the country, as well as an -argument to use when he put the case before Heloise Reys. - -He took a step to the bedside. The man under the blankets moved. It -might have been merely the tossing of a sick body, it might have been -anxiety. Clement looked down at the face, saw its looseness, its -weakness, its degeneration; saw, too, in the outline of good looks how -such a face might carry a fond memory right back to the time when this -man was a fine, upstanding, clean-looking boy. Oh, yes, that face -would call up memories that might well obliterate the present. - -He said harshly, “Up with you, Henry Gunning. You’re found out. The -game’s up.” - -The man on the bed moaned and stirred. And he made a false move. He -muttered, “Heloise.” - -Clement saw red. “Up, you skunk!” he snapped. His hand went down, -plucking at the blankets. With a twist they were on the floor. Henry -Gunning, with one ineffectual grab at the disappearing clothes, lay -looking up at Clement, his eyes full of fear, his mouth loose. He had -reason for fear. He lay on the bed with his nightshirt on him, but -beneath that were all his clothes (save the boots) he had worn but a -few minutes ago as he sat a healthy man reading his newspaper on the -porch of the shack. - -Clement shifted his pistol to his left hand. “Do you get up yourself?” -he snapped. - -Gunning shakily got up. “Who th’ hell are you?” he demanded thickly. - -“An Englishman like yourself, but a cleaner one,” said Clement with a -strong sense of racial anger. - -And at the name Gunning winced. But he pulled his wits, which were -obviously fuddled, together and he stuttered, “What th’ hell do you -mean by all this? Hey, what the hell----? Look here, I’ll have the law -on you.” - -“The law,” Clement sprang on him. “The law is over there”--he -indicated Gatineau. “That is a detective come to settle with you, my -friend.” - -As expected, Henry Gunning stumbled back at the mere threat of the law. -Terror shone in his face. - -Clement followed up his advantage. “We’re here for you, Henry Gunning. -We know all about you and this plot against Heloise Reys. We know how -you lured her out here, how you want to get hold of her and her million -of money.” - -“Lies! Lies!” cried Henry Gunning. “You don’t bluff me.” - -“Then you lied when you bragged at Cobalt, my friend,” snapped Clement. -“Do you want me to tell you all that you bragged of in the billiard -parlor of Cobalt?” Henry Gunning shrank back against the bed. “I see -you are recognizing we know. Well, understand fully that we’ve got -all the evidence against you. The story of those silver mines, the -details of how Joe Wandersun pretended to act as a bona fide agent, -the way Méduse Smythe became the companion of Heloise Reys, the -meaning of Adolf Neuburg behind it all. We know the whole foul plot, -the love making, the robbing of that girl, with the aid of Landor at -Revelstoke--her murder.” - -“Murder!” said Gunning in a sharp voice. - -“The murder at the hands of Neuburg, or Newman, or Nachbar.” - -“That’s a lie!” snarled Henry Gunning. “There isn’t a murder in it. -That’s a lie; that isn’t in it.” - -“It is in it.” - -“Murder. The same sort of murder as Nachbar did in Oregon.” - -There was a sudden movement from the corner. The woman moaned and fell -against the wall. She had swooned--apparently. Only apparently.--As -her body reached the floor her hands moved swiftly. Something flashed -and spat. Clement had taken a step towards her. It saved his life. The -bullet from a tiny pistol struck him in the fleshy part of the right -forearm. He gasped in pain, staggered. Immediately things happened. - -Gatineau had spun round at the sound of the shot. His attention for a -fateful second was torn between the window, Gunning, and the woman. And -Gunning hit him. - -Gunning, unsteady, but still powerful, fell forward across the narrow -gap between him and the unready detective. A great arm flailed, and -his fist took the little man behind the ear. As Gatineau fell, Gunning -fell on top of him, smothering him. Clement acted swiftly. He could -not shoot because of Gatineau underneath. With a lightning gesture, he -transferred his pistol to his right hand again, and grabbed at a chair. -He made a stride forward. - -“Drop it!” snapped a voice. “Drop that chair!” - -A slim man was at the window. A slim man with one arm in a sling, -but whose dark eye shone with steady purpose behind the sights of an -automatic pistol. - -Clement dropped the chair. - -There was a movement by the door. The light from it was darkened by -some huge and bulky figure. Clement turned his head. Smiling, without -the slightest vestige of emotion, and looking steadily not into his -eyes, but over Clement’s shoulder, the mountainous Mr. Neuburg came -into the shack. - - -VI - -Whatever Mr. Neuburg felt he hid it with the cold, enigmatic -mirthlessness of his smile. But Clement knew that the great brute must -be at a loss. Obviously, he appreciated the fact that if his opponent -was here and not in Montreal, he must know far too much about Arthur -Newman and his doings. - -Clement realized this and meant to make the most of it. He must play -for time. The three men in the canoe must have a chance to get to them, -for, of course, they would have heard the pistol shot. - -Mr. Neuburg said, “Sophie, take his pistol.” - -The woman came behind the young Englishman and took the pistol from -his injured hand. She pressed the muzzle of her own small weapon into -his spine, just to show what any attempt to fight might mean. Then she -stood aside. Henry Gunning stood up and away from the detective, who -lay prostrate. He looked swiftly at the silent Neuburg, and then as -swiftly turned his eyes away. He stared at Clement. He seemed to be -puzzling over Clement. Siwash Mike left the window when Clement was -disarmed. He came round into the room. He bent over the detective, his -pistol held ready; but, satisfied that the little man was stunned, he -picked up the automatic that had fallen to the floor and dropped it -into his pocket. To make sure that Gatineau was not shamming, he kicked -him sharply and savagely in the body. The prone man did not stir or -groan. - -Neuburg, after a speculative stare at Clement said, “You have blundered -in on me again. You are clever, my exteriorly ingenuous young man. But -not quite clever enough. However, clever enough to know that this is a -very awkward situation for you.” - -He waited for Clement to answer. Clement did not answer. - -“Have you anything to say for yourself?” He wanted Clement to show his -hand either by defiance or an attempt to temporize. - -Clement unsatisfyingly said, “Nothing at all.” - -Mr. Neuburg blinked at the invisible thing across Clement’s shoulder. - -“I am afraid I want you to say something,” said Mr. Neuburg with -his smooth suavity. “Yes, I think I must ask you to give me a few -explanations.” He waited. Again Clement did not answer. “Mr. Seadon, -you are a worldly-wise young man; you are no fool. You will, I think, -understand my position. There are certain facts I must have. I mean to -have them.” - -Clement did not answer. - -“I think you had better say something,” said Mr. Neuburg. His voice -took on a curious purr. - -“I am not a man who finds stubbornness agreeable. I will have those -facts. Now, how and why are you here? Answer, you dog!” - -“Oh, no,” said Clement. “I’m not going to answer.” - -As he spoke, the woman--perhaps something still feminine in her -revolted against the horrors she thought bound to come--stepped to the -table and picked up the paper Clement had put upon it. Neuburg read it -through. - -“A confession. Our bright Henry was to sign it, the girl Heloise -was to read it, and all would be well. An ingenious plan, Seadon. A -well-considered plan. You would have terrorized our backboneless Henry -with threats. Perhaps you would have carried it through, for Henry is a -cur. But you did not. I intervened. So far, then, that was your idea. -But before----” - -Clement, who had been watching Gunning’s face, observing the perplexity -on it, said evenly, “That certainly was my plan. But I changed it at -the last moment. I was about to change it, that is, when you arrived. I -found an unexpected ignorance in Henry Gunning. I found he knew nothing -about--Nachbar.” - -The big man’s hand moved upwards towards his breast in a startled and -curious gesture. It was an instinctive defense against an unexpected -blow. His breath came in a sudden sharp hiss. His eyes flickered -to Clement’s face with a movement and with a light, startled, yet -unfathomable. And no other sign did he give. Presently, “What is this -talk about Nachbar?” he said, in a quiet, even voice. - -Gunning said explosively, “This fellow said something about this -Nachbar--and about murder. I don’t know what is meant.” - -“They mean the same thing,” said Clement evenly, his attention keenly -on the alert for any movement from the mountainous man, or Siwash, or -the woman. “Nachbar--Albrecht Nachbar--is a murderer, Gunning.” - -“I was speaking to Adolf,” said Gunning, snarling at Clement. - -“Albrecht,” said Clement evenly. - -Gunning gasped, his eyes became wild. “What--who is this Nachbar?” he -cried. - -“You are speaking to him now,” said Clement. “Adolf Neuburg is Albrecht -Nachbar--murderer.” - -“A murderer!” cried Gunning. He shrank away from Neuburg, his face pale -and working. “A murderer.” There was real disgust and horror in his -tone. He was a real bad hat, but somehow that had touched to horror and -disgust a clean streak in him. Then with a genuine anger he swung round -on the big man. “Give him the lie, Adolf,” he shouted. “Fling the lie -in his dirty face.” - -Neuburg, or rather Nachbar, stood passive, his great face in an awful -inscrutability. Only his right hand moved. It lifted, and its fingers -caressed the flap of his coat pocket, caressed as if eager to get at -something that lay in that pocket. Only when Gunning shouted once more, -“Go on, Adolf, fling the lie in his face,” did he say, “Stop that, -Gunning. Go on, Seadon. Go on.--Don’t stop at that. Let’s have all of -it.” - -He wanted to find out all Clement knew. He ignored Gunning’s horror and -disgust. He was, no doubt, entirely confident of his supremacy over -Gunning. - -Clement, conscious of the play of that eager hand over the pistol -pocket, said evenly: “Gunning, for reasons of his own, for reasons -connected with Heloise Reys, this man has thought best to keep you -ignorant of his real nature. He is Albrecht Nachbar who is wanted by -the Oregon police for murder. He is careful not to deny it.” - -“God!” breathed Gunning, his eyes fixed in horror on Nachbar. -“God--but you lie, he _will_ deny it.” - -“Go on,” said Nachbar with a deadly evenness. “Go on, Seadon.” - -“He won’t deny it,” said Clement, shooting at venture. “He won’t deny -it--because he feels that, since I have unmasked him, it will be best -for you to know what he intends to do to that girl, Heloise Reys.” - -“Murder her! No--no; we aren’t going to do that. It’s a lie!” cried -Gunning, shrinking in loathing. - -“You are a clever young man,” said Nachbar to Clement. “Too clever. Go -on.” - -“You think he doesn’t mean murder? Ask him. Ask him if he hasn’t made -up his mind to rob a rich young girl, as he made up his mind to rob the -rich young man, Roberts of Oregon. Ask him if he didn’t plan to lure -her to the wilds, just as he lured Roberts into the wilds. Ask him if, -having planned to secure all her money through Landor at Revelstoke, -as he secured all Roberts’s money in Oregon, he does not mean to kill -her--kill her so that his robbery can be covered up, just as the -killing of Roberts covered up that robbery.” - -“Kill her--murder Heloise,” said Gunning in a whisper. - -“It won’t look like murder. It’ll look like an accident. Just as -Roberts’s death looked like an accident. A burst gun barrel while -hunting, Gunning--only Nachbar had seen to it that it would burst.” - -“It’s a lie! It’s a lie!” shouted Gunning. - -“Ask him.” - -“It’s a lie! How could they kill her! How would they murder her?” - -Clement had a sudden flashing intuition. “Ask him about the motor boat, -Gunning?” - -And the shot in the dark struck home. - -Siwash Mike loosed an oath. The mountain of a man started as if stung. -His mouth twisted in an ugly snarl. He made a step towards Clement. His -right hand jerked to his pocket. The effect on Gunning was startling. -That chance shot had exploded a definite fact in his mind. - -“Motor boat,” he shouted. “That’s why you wouldn’t let me -help.--Mending a perfectly sound motor boat. You liar! You--you -Nachbar!” - -He jumped forward and faced the big man. - -“Out of the way, you dog. Out of the way!” snarled Nachbar, with a -twisted mouth. His hand had flashed out of his pocket, and in it was a -pistol. “Out of the way, you sot!” - -Gunning flung himself upon him. - -There was chaos in that flimsy shack. - -At the first hint of violence Clement had dropped flat to the ground. -The woman’s pistol snapped as he did so, and her bullet struck the -planking where his chest had been. Nachbar and Gunning staggered in a -wild tangle. The shoulders of the huge man struck Siwash as, pistol -ready, he jumped round to get at Clement. He was flung back. Even as -he swayed under the impact, the little detective Gatineau, prone and -overlooked on the floor, suddenly came to life. He became abruptly -conscious. His arms went out and plucked at the half-breed’s ankles. -Siwash went down with a bang. As he went down, Gatineau heaved himself -up and forward with an astonishing strength and flung himself on the -fallen man. Siwash screamed as Gatineau twisted his wounded arm, and -his pistol clattered to the ground. Gatineau snatched at that pistol, -and got it. - -Gunning and the mountain of a man went in a long, wild stagger, across -the shack. The table crashed as their writhing bodies smashed into -it. They tripped and thudded into the wall. They stamped and wrestled -clear, went in a writhe across the floor again. The woman failed to -get out of the way. The fighting bodies struck her and she was knocked -across the room. Then Gunning screamed. A huge, fat thumb was pressing, -pressing with monstrous power, up under his jaw-bone beneath his ear. -He screamed and wriggled to break away. Nachbar with his incredible -mobility slipped clear. In the same movement his pistol flickered -towards Gunning’s chest. A report and a scream sounded together, and -Gunning tumbled forward into the arms of the man who had shot him. - -With his immense strength Nachbar flung the limp man from him and swept -round to deal with Clement. Clement was ready. As the huge body bunched -and the pistol hand jerked forward, Clement struck at it. As Clement -had risen to his feet, he had grabbed the chair again, and that was -what he struck with. The solid wood of the seat caught Nachbar’s wrist -and arm, and with such force that the pistol was sent flying across the -room. Nachbar bellowed and leaped to finish the young Englishman with -his great hands. Clement dropped the chair in front of him. - -His shins caught the flimsy structure as his huge body stumbled -forward, and at the same time Clement landed with all his force on the -big face. He struck again on the mouth, and then in the excitement -strove to swing to the swaying chin with his injured right. He reached -his mark, but the pain that shot through his arm was so exquisite that -it both robbed the blow of its power and caused Clement to writhe. In -that moment of suspension Nachbar, shaking himself like some giant -beast that had been stung to rage by an insect, leaped on Clement. - -They went down with a crash. Nachbar’s body caught the surface of -the capsized table, and it split and broke under the fierce impact. -Nachbar was on top. Clement strove to twist him off with a Japanese -wrestling throw, but the sheer weight of the man bore him down. His -great legs were upon the Englishman’s body, his great knee was grinding -down the injured right arm. A pair of huge hands were tearing away the -Englishman’s left, were clutching at the throat. - -Clement’s head was forced back and back until he felt his spine would -snap. There was a cruel pressure on his gullet, and his blood was -roaring in his ears. He felt that his body was slipping away into -a deep and terrible abyss, and that as it slipped his strength was -dropping swiftly away from him. The great body on him was grinding him -down, crushing him down. - -There was a thumping of heavy boots on the planking of the porch. -Men were running and shouting. A great voice from the window yelled, -“You--the elephant--shove your hands up--lively.” - -“I’ll get hit if he fires,” Clement’s mind registered. - -More stampings. A voice shouted in the door, “Don’t shoot, Paul--t’ -feller underneath.--That’s it, the butt.” - -Nachbar jerked round and looked up. A man was upon him, his hand up, a -pistol swinging by its barrel poised to strike. With his astonishing -mobility, the mountain of a man was on his feet. His arm shot out and -the threatening man thudded into a corner. The murderer was round at -once, springing in shack-shaking leaps of bewildering agility for the -door that lead to the inner room. He reached the door, grabbed at the -handle. - -A Winchester banged from the window. Nachbar’s shoulders struck the -door, burst it open. A rifle barked again, and the door crashed to in -an echo of the shot. - -There was a rush of feet across the room; the strong shoulders of two -of the men from the canoe jammed together in its narrow length before -they burst it open. Both men stopped dead, wheeled about. - -“Gone!” yelled one of them. “Jumped clean through that window.” The -three made for the door of the shack. - -“One of you stay,” yelled Gatineau. “There’s the man an’ the woman to -look to. The other two go after him, and shoot on sight.” - -In a minute they heard the two crashing through the spruce on the trail -of Mr. Neuburg. - - -VII - -Clement, his head feeling bigger and more painful than any human head -had a right to be, heaved himself from the floor, grabbed the pistol -Neuburg had dropped, and made swaying for the door. - -“You stop here, Seadon,” snapped Gatineau, as he handcuffed the woman -(the other man was roping Siwash). “You can’t do anything outside. You -_can_ here. Gunning’s dying.” - -So while the chase went on up the slope above the lake, Clement watched -Henry Gunning die. - -The fellow opened his eyes in a minute or two, stared dully at Clement, -as though not realizing what had happened, and then suddenly he -understood. - -“Murder!” he choked. “I won’t have murder. I’m a swine, but I won’t -have murder. _No!_” - -“Take it easy,” said Clement. “Don’t tear yourself to pieces. There -won’t be any murder now.” - -He hoped that was the truth, although Neuburg _had_ got away. - -It was difficult to quiet the dying man, for, in his last hour, the -clean streak in him had come out uppermost, and he was beside himself -in his desire to prevent any hurt coming to the girl, Heloise Reys. - -But he was quieted in the end. Suddenly he seemed to realize that he -was about to die, and he ceased to rave and struggle. Abruptly he lay -quiet. - -“A fool all the time,” he said with a wry grin upon Seadon. “I muddled -my life; I’m going to muddle my death if I’m not careful. Sit down -beside me and listen. I’m going to straighten things out while I can.” - -It was then that Clement heard the full story of the plot against -Heloise Reys. It had been planned very much as he had thought. - -Henry Gunning, a wastrel, had fallen into the power of Adolf Neuburg -and his gang. One day Gunning had read in the paper a notice of the -death of Heloise’s father. He had forgotten all about Heloise, but that -paragraph had recalled their boy and girl affair, and, being the man he -was, he had bragged, declaring that he might marry a millionairess if -he chose. - -Adolf Neuburg had in this way learned the whole story and seen its -possibilities. He had at once begun to plot. He had arranged for the -purchase of worthless mining claims, and had dictated the letter with -which Gunning reawakened the girlhood emotions in Heloise’s heart. Then -he had gone to England, bought out the old companion and seen that -Méduse took her place, and so on through the story. - -But the object all through was money, insisted Gunning. They had meant -Heloise to sign away first the cash and securities she had brought to -Canada, and then they hoped to get hold of the rest of the million. He -was to make love to Heloise, even marry her to attain this end--but -murder her, _No_! - -He died on that profession of guiltlessness in the major crime. It had -been impossible to argue with him, as well as useless. A muddler of -his sort could not see the logical end to the plot. Could not see that -the simplified end was to _kill_ Heloise rather than turn her loose -penniless, as seemed to be Gunning’s vague idea. - -And his ignorance of what was being done to the motor boat supported -his contention. - -What was being done to the motor boat? - -Clement was about to turn to the imprisoned Siwash and demand the truth -about the motor boat when there came a startling interruption. - -From up the hill they heard shouts and shots. Gatineau and Clement -instinctively dived towards the door. Something hit the shack with a -resounding thwack. - -“Christopher!” yelled Gatineau. “They’re shooting up the shack.” - -“Neuburg’s come back,” shouted Clement. “Take the back. I’ll take the -front.” - -The shouts and shots redoubled. Then suddenly across the tumult they -heard another sound. From the lake there came the quick, stuttering -throb of a gasoline engine springing into life. - -With a yell Clement flung himself onto the porch. - -Away across the lake the big motor boat that had been at the -stringpiece was shooting towards Sicamous. Behind it trailed the skiffs -and canoes that had been tied up at the lakeside. - -Clement shot out his arm and began firing. He was too late. The motor -boat had gathered speed and was already covered by the trees. - -He could not hit Adolf Neuburg, who was steering it. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - -I - -They rushed to the water’s edge, as the two men who had been chasing -Neuburg came tumbling down the slope through the trees. - -“The feller’s an Indian!” they shouted. “Led us on a faked trail right -up to the top, while he doubled back an’ made for the water. We only -saw him when he’d got way out on it. Sakes, I wantter get that big -feller just to cry quits.” - -“You won’t,” said Clement. “We’re marooned.” - -“No, we ain’t!” shouted another man. “There’s another motor boat--look!” - -“_He_ knew that wasn’t any good,” said Clement, “or he’d taken it.” - -Indeed, the motor boat that had been left behind was the one they had -watched Siwash and Neuburg tinkering with. - -“Let’s have a look at it, anyhow!” cried one man, and he made a run at -it. - -“Not so fast!” snapped Clement, and, as the men stopped, -bewildered--“Fetch out the woman and the half-breed. Tell ’em to get -into that boat first.” - -Mrs. Wandersun was led out, Siwash following. She glanced round, -hesitated when she saw there were no boats at the stringpiece. A hand -urged her towards the motor boat. - -She screamed. - -“Get in,” said Clement curtly. “We’re in a hurry.” - -“No!” cried the woman. “No!” - -“Shut up, you fool!” cried Siwash. - -“No nonsense! In with you!” snapped Gatineau, as he drew the woman -towards the boat. She struggled. - -“It’s murder!” she shouted. “You know it’s murder!” - -“She’s crazy,” said Siwash, and with a forced calmness walked towards -the boat. - -“She isn’t,” Clement grinned at him. “How was she to know you hadn’t -finished fixing it yet?” As Siwash turned, snarling at the trap into -which he had fallen, Clement said to the men: “All right, get aboard -and see what you can do with her--she’s apparently not quite ready for -killing people _yet_.” - -In five minutes he was looking at a dynamite cartridge, fixed cunningly -near the gasoline tank. There was a time fuse by it, but not yet -connected up. - -“The hand of Nachbar,” said Gatineau, holding up the cartridge. - -“Yes,” agreed Clement, feeling sick. “That was to be the ‘accident’ in -the wilds.” - -“Sure,” agreed Gatineau. “Miss Reys was to be sent off in a hurry in -that boat for something. Somewhere, when the time fuse expired--within -sight of Sicamous, prob’bly--the dynamite would send up the gas tank. -Boat and girl would just vanish before the eyes of men in a sheet of -flame--a natural, brilliant, devilish accident.” - -Clement, almost physically ill, shook his fist at the lake. - -“By God!” he cried. “That man must not be allowed to get free! We’ve -got to find him, Gatineau, and settle with him. We’ve _got_ to get him.” - - -II - -It was more than an hour before they were out on the lake, pushing -towards Sicamous. - -They did not go straight to that place. They had reasoned it out that -Neuburg dare not go there. He would know that Sicamous was warned, and -that only arrest awaited him. - -They cut through the lake at their best speed, searching the shore on -either side, swinging into little inlets and out again, in their search -for the motor boat that had carried Neuburg. - -A man in the bow shouted and pointed. They turned their eyes to the -lakeside below a clearing. Piled high, with the boats she towed -knocking at her rudder post, was the motor boat. Above the motor boat -in the clearing was a shack. As they drove towards it, Gatineau rapped. - -“Heck! See the reason? He landed here. There’s a telephone.” - -They made the shore; three of them piled out of their boat; two sat -with guns ready for anything. - -They ran to the shack, calling out, but nobody came to meet them. They -hammered at the door post; there was no answer. They went in through -the door into a living-room. It was empty. - -Here they saw the trail of Neuburg. A cupboard had been forced and -food taken from it, hurriedly, so that other food was scattered. On -the table were two empty cartridge boxes, and several of the shells -had fallen on the floor as the big man had emptied the cartons in a -hurry. The telephone receiver dangled helplessly, and the wire had been -snipped off short. - -They pushed into the two bedrooms, one was stark empty, one seemed so, -but Gatineau heard a whimper. Bending swiftly, he jerked a boy of ten -from under the bed. Even as the little detective yanked the boy to his -feet the kid pulled a gun, and only Gatineau’s agility saved him from a -bullet in the stomach. - -Clement grabbed the gun and shouted: “Here, stow that, sonny! You -aren’t Buffalo Bill, you know.” - -“I ain’t a bit afraid of you,” said the kid, pretending that what they -thought crying was merely dust in his eye. - -“No need, kiddo,” grinned Gatineau. “We ain’t the bad men; we’re just -plain policemen.” - -“Ho,” said the kid, visibly disappointed. Then he brightened. “That -other feller wuz bad as bad.” - -“Worse!” chuckled Clement. “He was a robber and a murderer, and -everything.” - -Young Canada swelled visibly with pride. - -“Golly--an’ he might have gunned me any time, ’cos I was here, see? _I_ -didn’t run away.” - -There was an uproar from the front of the shack, men shouting at each -other, threatening. Clement and Gatineau went out. In the clearing was -a wild-eyed homesteader, brandishing a club and threatening to brain -the man they had put on guard. Again Clement played a soothing part. - -“Easy on him, old son!” he shouted. “We don’t mean harm. We’re the -police.” - -“That’s right, pop,” said young Canada, leaning over the porch rail. -“You stop being mad; there ain’t no call for it. I’m just putting -things straight with these fellers here. Put up your gun, pard.” - -The manly tone was smothered in a flutter of skirts. A woman ran in -from the scrub, yelling: “Jimmy! My Jimmy!” And Jimmy, the gunman, -was in his mother’s embrace. A little girl and a smaller boy followed -timidly. - -Neuburg, they found, had run his boat ashore in the creek under the -homestead while the man was back in the woods working. He had walked -into the living room and held up the woman and her two youngest -children. - -“I was in the bedroom,” said Jimmy, the daring. “I saw what was what, -so I nipped under the bed.” - -Neuburg had stolen the food, packing it in his pockets, found the -revolver, and stolen it and cartridges. Then he had ordered them out of -the house while he spoke on the telephone. They had run straight to the -husband. - -“Then you didn’t hear who he called up on the ’phone?” said Gatineau. - -“I was under the bed----” began Jimmy. - -The father interrupted angrily. “How could she hear? That’s why he -drove my wife out.” - -“Damn!” muttered Clement. “I’d give a hundred dollars to know who he -called up on that ’phone, and what he said.” - -“Give ’em to me, then,” said Jimmy. - -“What’s that?” gasped everybody. - -“I keep on telling yer I was under that bed, an’ heard,” said Jimmy in -contempt. - -“Magnificent!” shouted Clement. “Who did he ring up?” - -“A Revelstoke number. Ast fer a feller named Locust.” - -“Lucas!” shouted Clement. “What did he say?” - -“Said something about things was all gone bust, and that he, this Lucas -feller, must meet him at the Three Pins with all he could get hold of. -Then he got out.” - -“To the mountains,” said Gatineau. - -“Why?” - -“Three Pins is a difficult and little known pass. I know it. A hard -journey, but it can be reached from here-and Revelstoke.” - -“Can we get there quicker than by following Neuburg’s trail?” - -“Sure! But why worry? We can put a cordon round him. We’ve got him.” - -“I’ve got to see him taken with my own eyes before I believe that. Also -I want to do some of the taking myself. I owe Neuburg something. And -then there’s Lucas ‘with all he can get hold of.’” - -“Well, what about it? What do you think that means?” - -“I think it means £145,000 of easily negotiable securities and cash,” -said Clement. “Remember The Chief’s wire. I’m going to see with my own -eyes that Miss Heloise Reys does not lose it.” - - -III - -A motor trolley jerked them up along the mountain track, and dropped -Clement, the detective and two men at a little wayside station that -seemed to be clinging by sheer strength to the rocks under the -snow-clad crags. - -A guide and horses met them, and they rode off along the mountain -trails, skirting ravines and river gorges by paths that seemed to poise -them on the lip of sickening drops. They climbed up and up until the -air took on the nip of the everlasting snows. They pushed forward until -they seemed lost in a Dantesque hell of bleak gray rock and somber -spruce furred valleys. - -When night came down, they camped fireless for fear of giving the alarm -to the huge, ugly and indomitable rogue who must even then be pushing -his way through the mountain passes in their neighborhood. They had -time on their side. They knew they must be ahead of him. - -In the chill mists of dawn they were up and away again, striking -through the stark, craggy Valleys for the lonely pass under the Three -Pins. Toiling up from the Arrowhead district, on the other shoulder of -the range must be the shady bank clerk, Lucas. Would they be present at -the rendezvous of the two criminals? Would they be there at the right -time and at the right place? - -It was noon before the guide pointed to a curious mountain with three -sharp points, the Three Pins. They dismounted and pressed through the -wild and rocky forests with infinite caution. Quite suddenly the guide -put up his hand. They crept to his side. - -There beneath him sat a man. - -He was a young man, lolling on a rock and smoking. He was dressed with -a nattiness that was incongruous amid that bleak scenery. But beside -him was a haversack, and his city-cut clothes showed evidences of rough -wear. It was Lucas. - -One of the men sighted his rifle on him, but Gatineau’s hand went out. -He whispered: - -“Not yet. Wait for Neuburg.” - -They waited, watching the young man in that aching silence, in that -almost startling clearness of air. - -An hour, and suddenly the young man sprang up. - -A bird call had abruptly sounded. - -The young man stood looking about. The call sounded again. He grabbed -his haversack and began to move. - -Clement was impatient to get out at him; again Gatineau checked him. - -“Neuburg’s here. That was his call,” he said. “He’s in hiding. He’s -waiting to see whether Lucas’s movement draws anything.” - -Lucas walked eagerly up the trail, with all eyes watching him. There -was no movement or sound on the mountainside above him. A minute -passed. Suddenly they saw Neuburg standing above the trail. - -He had slipped silently out of the shadow, and was standing quietly -looking round. Lucas changed direction at once, and ran up to him. - -Gatineau, too, began to move. The men with them spread out to form a -half-circle about the little detective, who headed straight through the -spruce, going with the skill of a trapper towards the big murderer. - -They dipped to a hollow, rose to a point where they could see the two -men. Neuburg was talking rapidly. As he talked he put his hand behind -him, raised it with a revolver, and fired straight at Gatineau in cover. - -Gatineau shouted and fell. Two shots rang out. Lucas fell dead and -Neuburg began to run. - -He dived straight for the bush, crashing the branches aside with his -huge figure. In a moment he had plunged into the gloom. Clement was -after him, and one of the men cut across to head the big fellow. - -In front, Clement heard the crashing of the murderer’s passage, and -even at times caught the back swing of the branches. Once he saw the -brute, sighted and fired. Once a revolver spat and a bullet screamed -close to his head. They scrambled into a rocky pocket and out again. -Ahead there came a sudden shout, the explosion of two guns close -together, and a great scream of rage and fear. - -Clement broke cover to see a man struggling in the great arms of -Neuburg. Neuburg was trying to break the fellow’s back with knee and -hands. Clement shouted and leaped forward. Neuburg turned, snarling -like an animal, and flung his victim at the Englishman’s knees. - -Clement went down, but was up and running again at once. They were -among rocks now, heading for a small torrent that roared down the -mountain side. Neuburg dodged in and out of the rocks making for the -stream, and there was blood along his trail. That was slowing him; he -was hit. - -By the stream Clement got him in the open and shouted and fired. -Neuburg turned and with blazing revolver came back. - -He charged like a bull. His revolver spat once, twice, but already -Clement had jumped to cover behind a tree. The revolver spoke again, -and then the murderer snarled in rage, dropped it and came on with his -empty hands. Clement fired at his legs twice, apparently missed, and -then flung his own empty pistol at the oncoming brute. - -It struck him in the chest, and he brushed it aside as though it had -been a gnat. Then he closed with Clement. - -They went down, Clement battering with his one useful fist at the gross -face. Neuburg ignored all blows and ground him back and into the -earth, held him there, and felt blindly with his right hand for a piece -of rock. - -He found it and struck. Clement just had time to wriggle his head, -and only his hat was crushed in. The great arm went up again with the -huge, jagged splinter of stone. It poised, waiting its certain chance. -Clement tried to struggle, but with knee and arm the giant man held him -rigid. The arm with the rock heaved to strike. - -Some one--the guide--came leaping straight from the blue at the poised -Neuburg. The man simply took a header straight at the murderer. Head -and shoulders and fists struck, and Neuburg went over. Clement wriggled -up like a flash and flung himself on the huge brute. - -Another man limped up at a run and hurled himself into the wriggling -mass. - -They fought and squirmed to hold the bull-like creature down. He shook -them off. They went at him like terriers, clutching at leg or arm. -A great fist flailed out and sent one man backwards into the bush. -Clement shifted and caught him round the neck. He found himself being -lifted into the air. He clung tighter, the other man gripped with -clawing fingers at a thick arm. The arm swung and shook and the man -went into the bushes spreadeagled. The great body whirled and Clement -found himself spun off against a rock. - -The first man was at it again, but once more Neuburg was running. - -He ran with a lurching step towards the torrent. They yelled at him to -stop, to throw up his hands. He lumbered onward. When he reached the -torrent, a man fired. Neuburg staggered, steadied himself, then jumped -clear out into the boiling fall. - -They saw him hang swaying amid the welter of white and angry water, his -feet slipping on a slab of rock on the very lip of the fall. Then the -giant arms were flung wide, and he toppled into the stream. - -They saw his body just for one minute, turning over and over in the -torn and angry water at the bottom of the fall, three hundred feet -below. Then it was gone. - -Mr. Neuburg was finished. - -They found Gatineau, by the body of the dead Lucas, making the best of -a flesh wound along the ribs. - -“As you thought, Mr. Seadon,” he said, “Lucas skipped with the -securities. They’re all here, £145,000 pounds worth of them.” - -“Well, that point is cleared up,” said Clement. “We’d better head for -Banff now, and Miss Reys.” - -“_And_ Mrs. Neuburg, alias Méduse Smith,” grinned Gatineau, who had -learned much from the wanderers. “I’m going to arrest _one_ of the -family, anyhow.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - -After the arrest of Méduse Smythe, tactfully carried out by Gatineau, -Clement sought out Heloise. - -On the terrace of the Arabian Nights Hotel at Banff, where the lawns -go down in emerald under spruce to meet the shining turquoise waters -of the Bow, and the mountains stand about to cup the beauty of the -exquisite place, Clement found her. - -He walked out amid that divine quiet that the slurring rush of the Bow -falls only makes more delicate, and for a moment he was held by the -glowing beauty of the place. Then he heard a quiet voice cry with a -catch of gladness: - -“Clement!” - -He turned and went to her as she stood against the miracle of a view, -and it was minutes before they realized that, by the rights of things, -they should not hold each other like this. - -Then she stood away from him, blushing. Her eyes for a moment left his -face and for the first time saw his arm. - -“Clement!” she cried. “Your arm ... I did that?” - -“You--never!” he laughed. “How could you?” - -“I did--it was Neuburg?” - -“Yes,” he told her. “But how did you guess that?” - -“Oh, I’ve been guessing it since Quebec, and now that little detective -has let me know. What a little fool I’ve been, Clement. I’m not fit to -look after myself.” - -“The little lawyer, Hartley Hard, suggested you needed special -protection.” - -“Hartley Hard.... But what sort of protection would be adequate for a -little idiot like me?” - -“He seemed to think marriage might meet the case.” - -“Oh,” she murmured, blushing again. - -“I think it a splendid idea myself. What do you think, Heloise?” - -“I--I--I think my opinion of lawyers has improved enormously,” she -whispered. - -It really was not until the next day that they had a sensible -discussion of all that had happened, and even that was inextricably -mixed up with the plans of a honeymoon. - - -THE END - - - - -_Popular Appleton Fiction_ - - -THE GREEN BOUGH - -_By E. Temple Thurston -Author of “The City of Beautiful Nonsense,” etc._ - -A powerful story of a great passion and of a woman who was not afraid -of life. Much interest has been aroused by this portrayal of a woman’s -struggle for romance. - - -THE AGE OF INNOCENCE - -_By Edith Wharton -Author of “The House of Mirth,” “The Reef,” etc._ - -The novel about New York society that won the $1,000 Pulitzer Prize -as the novel of the year best representing “the highest standard of -American manners and manhood.” - - -MISS LULU BETT - -_By Zona Gale_ - -Shows American life as it is. In a household typical of every town in -the country, Miss Lulu Bett, “the unmarried sister” was the drudge. -Read “Miss Lulu Bett” as a novel or in its play form (winner of the -$1,000 Pulitzer Prize as the best American play of the year). - - -CARTER And Other People - -_By Don Marquis -Author of “Noah an’ Jonah an’ Cap’n John Smith,” “Hermione,” -“Prefaces,” etc._ - -Short stories about subjects ranging from the tragedy of race to the -comedy of a hero who did not know he was one, each presenting a vivid -slice of life. - - -LOW CEILINGS - -_By W. Douglas Newton -Author of “Green Ladies,” etc._ - -A young fellow tries to make the most of himself, but is tied down by -the suburban narrowness of his environment. An interesting plot shows -two women as representing the best and worst that is in him. - - -_These Are Appleton Books_ - - - - -_Absorbing Adventure and Romance_ - - -YOUTH TRIUMPHANT - -_By George Gibbs -Author of “The Vagrant Duke,” “The Splendid Outcast,” etc._ - -A mystery follows Patsy, the heroine, from the days of her Bowery -tenement childhood to the later years when the comforts and happiness -of a luxurious home are hers. Interesting characters participate in her -colorful adventures. - - -THE HOUSE OF THE FALCON - -_By Harold Lamb -Author of “Marching Sands”_ - -Kidnapped while visiting India, an American girl is the prize for which -natives fight, amid the wondrous scenes of the Vale of Kashmir. - - -THE UNSEEN EAR - -_By Natalie Sumner Lincoln -Author of “The Red Seal,” “The Three Strings,” etc._ - -An absolutely baffling mystery, hinging on a murder committed in -Washington’s smart set. - - -THE SAMOVAR GIRL - -_By Frederick Moore -Author of “Sailor Girl,” etc._ - -Seeking revenge, but finding romance, a young man returns to his native -Siberia after years in America. - - -THE INNOCENT ADVENTURESS - -_By Mary Hastings Bradley -Author of “The Fortieth Door,” etc._ - -“Most piquant little love story of any recent writing.”--_New York -Evening World._ A lovely Italian goes adventuring in America, seeking a -wealthy husband. - - -NEW YORK D. 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Douglas Newton</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: <span lang='' xml:lang=''>Double Crossed</span></p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: W. Douglas Newton</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 28, 2022 [eBook #67529]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Juliet Sutherland, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK <span lang='' xml:lang=''>DOUBLE CROSSED</span> ***</div> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/front.jpg" alt="front" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="HE WAS THROTTLING THE LIFE OUT OF THE LITTLE DETECTIVE" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="title page" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<h1>DOUBLE CROSSED</h1> - -<p class="bold">BY</p> - -<p class="bold2">W. DOUGLAS NEWTON</p> - -<p class="bold">AUTHOR OF “LOW CEILINGS,” “GREEN LADIES,”<br /> -“WESTWARD WITH THE PRINCE OF WALES,” ETC.</p> - -<div class="center space-above"><img src="images/logo.jpg" alt="logo" /></div> - -<p class="bold space-above">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY<br />NEW YORK :: 1922 :: LONDON</p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY<br />D. APPLETON AND COMPANY</p> - -<p class="center space-above">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="center">TO<br />GLADYS AND JOE</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">DOUBLE CROSSED</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>A little, knuckly man bounded into Clement Seadon’s cabin with an -india-rubber violence. He snapped the door closed, and faced the -startled young man.</p> - -<p>“You’re Clement Seadon,” he cried; “I’m Hartley Hard.”</p> - -<p>The young man stopped unpacking.</p> - -<p>“I don’t think I know you,” he said.</p> - -<p>“You needn’t think. You don’t know. I’m a complete stranger to you—in -the flesh. But don’t talk. I haven’t much time.”</p> - -<p>Clement glanced at the umbrella and obvious shore rig of the bounding -little man.</p> - -<p>“In fact,” he said, in the other’s manner, “you have no time at all. -‘All ashore’ was called two minutes ago.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t talk,” panted the little man. “This thing is terribly -important. I mustn’t lose a moment telling you. You know Heloise Reys?”</p> - -<p>“Not at all,” said Clement dryly. He began again to unpack.</p> - -<p>“For heaven’s sake, don’t quibble, man. You<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> know her. You came from -London to Liverpool in the same carriage as Heloise Reys.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that was Heloise Reys,” said the young man, dropping his -dress-shirts and looking up with interest. “The Gorgon woman with her -called her Loise.”</p> - -<p>“Nickname,” said the little man breathlessly. “Her name is really -Heloise—What I mean to say is, you do know her.”</p> - -<p>“Not really,” said Clement with exasperating (and, one is afraid, -deliberate) casualness. “A mere chance acquaintance.”</p> - -<p>He refused to tell the little man that, having encountered her in the -C.P.R. office, he had determinedly looked out for her on the boat train.</p> - -<p>The little man danced about in a fury of anxiety.</p> - -<p>“Please <i>do</i> remember that I have the barest possible time to tell you -what I must tell you. Don’t interrupt. Don’t quibble. You know her. She -is good looking.”</p> - -<p>“Very good looking,” said Clement, staring at the little man in -amazement.</p> - -<p>“She is a charming girl,” urged the little man.</p> - -<p>“Perfectly charming,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“Of very good family, too,” snapped the little man.</p> - -<p>“Probably,” said Clement. “But I didn’t find that out.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t have to, take it from me. Very good family. No father, no -mother.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That,” said Clement, “I shall <i>have</i> to take from you.”</p> - -<p>His astonishment had given way to a sort of guarded amusement. He was -of the genial type of young man, one who could see the humorous side of -things quickly.</p> - -<p>The little bouncy man waved his umbrella in excitement.</p> - -<p>“Do take it from me,” he cried. “No mother, no father. No encumbrances, -and no one to control her. Remember that, no one to watch over her. And -she is very well off. Very rich.”</p> - -<p>Clement could only stare. The little man swept on: “Very beautiful. -Very charming. A girl with a gentle, tender heart—much too tender. Too -quixotic. A fine character. Good family—and rich. Extremely rich. You -understand all that?”</p> - -<p>“Look here—what on earth are you driving at?” cried the astounded -Clement.</p> - -<p>“But <i>do</i> you understand?” wailed the little man. “Have you grasped it -all? A worthy girl. A girl worthy of any man. A girl that any man can -be proud of. A girl——”</p> - -<p>This was too much for Clement. “I say,” he burst out, “I say, are -you—are you asking me to <i>marry</i> her?”</p> - -<p>The excited dance of the little man now took on a touch of relief as -well as anxiety. “You grasp it. You see it,” he trilled. “Assuredly. -Marry her—that’s it.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> - -<p>“My dear idiot,” shouted Clement. “My dear madman. Don’t you understand -that——”</p> - -<p>“No time to understand,” skated on the little man. “No time at all. -Know it’s all rapid and wrong and amazing, but that’s what I want. You -marry her. You can do it. You’re young. Young and handsome and healthy. -And a sea-voyage. Sea-voyages are the chance of sentiment. Idle days, -luxurious days. Moonlight—looking at the wake. Oh, the very chance for -falling in love.”</p> - -<p>“Do you realize you’re talking like an idiot? I’ve only just met -Miss——”</p> - -<p>“I know. I know. Awfully like an idiot. That’s because I am in such a -hurry. I know exactly how it all sounds to you—but, really, I can’t -help myself. Such a time. But that’s what I want you to do—really. -Fall in love with her. Make her fall in love with you. Make her promise -to marry you. Before she gets to Canada make her promise to marry you. -Don’t let her put you off. Force her to do it.”</p> - -<p>Clement sat down heavily on his bunk. He stared amazed at the little -man.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid you’re mad,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Mad,” snapped the little man. “I’m not mad. I’m a lawyer.”</p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>Clement wanted to say that even lawyers went mad sometimes, but the -little man hurled himself along. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’m a lawyer. I’m her lawyer. I’m your lawyer, too—one of them. -That’s luck. When I saw you come out of the train with her, saw that -you knew her, I noted that down as a piece of luck. You see I knew -<i>you</i> were all right. Knew that through business—oh, I’m a partner of -Rigby & Root.”</p> - -<p>“My lawyers!” cried Clement.</p> - -<p>“Yes! Yes! Haven’t I been telling you that? We’re her lawyers, too. -When I saw you together, I said to myself, ‘Good, that’s a second line -of defense. If I fail to bring her to reason I fall back on Clement -Seadon—Mr. Clement Seadon. He’ll be my second line. Good fellow. Good -family. Young, attractive, handsome to the eye. Has wits. Has capacity. -Has a brain in his head. Has pluck and physical strength, too. Can -carry a thing through in spite of danger.’ ...”</p> - -<p>As he said that, his rapid eye glinted on Clement. He was staccato, but -he was not stupid. Clement stiffened. He was the type of clean, young -Anglo-Saxon who did stiffen at the hint of danger. The type that goes -about quietly, calmly avoiding trouble—but is not really heartbroken -when trouble comes along. The little lawyer saw Clement stiffen, he -chuckled internally and continued his express monologue.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I said to myself when I saw you. I said, ‘Mr. Clement -Seadon has all the qualities<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> necessary. An admirable second line -of defense. And well-off, too. Rich. He’s not an adventurer hunting -heiresses.’ That’s what I said when I saw you. And I went off to -Heloise Reys’ cabin and tried to bring her to reason. Oh, I strove. I -strove. I talked my best.”</p> - -<p>He stopped and waved his umbrella in a gesture of hopelessness.</p> - -<p>“You strove, and strove—and then had to fall back on your second -line,” said Clement, helping him out.</p> - -<p>Clement’s mind was in a curious condition. He realized that all this -was madder than anything had any right to be—and yet he was rather -intrigued, rather interested. He could not have told why. The fact -that the little man was a lawyer, and his own lawyer at that, may -have been the reason. Or it may have been that suggestion of danger, -of adventure, called to that instinct lying dormant in the young of -Clement’s race. Whatever it was, mad though he felt the whole business -to be, he sat and listened.</p> - -<p>The lawyer said, “You are right. I could do nothing with her. I failed. -I could not bring her to reason. She is so quixotic. So headstrong. She -has the wrongest sense of what is right.... And then I have no proofs. -Only fears, only suspicions. I couldn’t clinch the matter with her. I -couldn’t bring home anything to her.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> - -<p>“And what were you trying to bring home to her?” demanded Clement, who -really thought he was entitled to some explanation.</p> - -<p>“Bring home to her? The truth about <i>that</i> scamp. I was trying to make -her see that she should <i>not</i> go out to Canada to marry him.”</p> - -<p>Clement gasped. Also he felt a little stab of pain. Heloise was -certainly most extraordinarily attractive.</p> - -<p>“Marry him? Marry whom? Haven’t you just been insisting that she should -marry <i>me</i>?”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” shouted the little man. “That’s it. That’s what I’m -driving at.”</p> - -<p>“But what are you driving at?” gasped Clement. “First you tell me to -get her to marry me, then you tell me she is going to marry some one -else.”</p> - -<p>“Perfectly true,” said the little man. “She is making this journey to -Canada to marry some one else, a man named Henry Gunning.”</p> - -<p>Clement fell back, too, staggered for thought. “Are you a lawyer,” he -demanded, “or are you an apostle of the Mormons?”</p> - -<p>The little lawyer rushed over to Clement and caught him by the lapel -of his coat. “No! no! no!” he cried. “Please do understand. It is -this hurry that has made everything so complicated. She is going to -Canada to marry Henry Gunning. But she must not marry him. She must be -prevented. That’s what I want you to do. I want<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> you to make her marry -you in order that she won’t marry Gunning.”</p> - -<p>“And why shouldn’t she marry the man she wants to?” Clement demanded.</p> - -<p>“Because,” said the lawyer, speaking earnestly and impressively, -“because it’s a swindle. She’s got into the hands of rogues, of -swindlers, of criminals. Of that I am sure. The whole thing is terribly -evil. And she must be saved. You must save her.”</p> - -<p>Clement was about to answer. There was a knock on the cabin door. -Clement called, “Come in.”</p> - -<p>The door opened about a foot. An evil and repulsive face looked in. The -little eyes in the ugly face swiveled all round the cabin in a swift, -furtive glance. They took in Clement; they took in the little lawyer. -A palish tongue licked purple, dry lips. A husky voice croaked, “Beg -pardin, sir!”</p> - -<p>The little lawyer snapped, “What do you want, man?”</p> - -<p>“Beg pardin,” said the hoarse voice again. “Just looking round ter see -if all visitors is ashore. Bedroom steward, sir.”</p> - -<p>The fully opened door revealed the white coat and bobbly trousers of a -veritable bedroom steward.</p> - -<p>“All right, my man,” said the little lawyer, “I’m going ashore in a -minute.”</p> - -<p>“Ha,” said the steward, coming in with the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>satisfaction on his face -such as policemen wear when they catch an authentic burglar. “<i>Should</i> -be ashore. Orders is that all visitors sh’d be ashore. Come this way, -sir. Quick, please, sir.”</p> - -<p>“I’m going ashore in a minute,” said the little lawyer.</p> - -<p>“Orders, sir. Gotter be now, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Get out of this,” snapped the lawyer. “I’ll go ashore before the ship -sails, never you fear.”</p> - -<p>The steward came forward with an air of menace in his bearing.</p> - -<p>“You go ashore, now, see. Them’s me orders, an’ I’ve got to see that -it’s done—can’t stop arguing.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want you to,” said the little man decisively. “Particularly as -Captain Heavy is the person you should argue with. If Captain Heavy was -wrong in saying I could stop aboard, I think you should be the one to -tell him, not me.”</p> - -<p>“Ca’pen Heavy.... Why didn’t you say that ’efore?” snarled the man. He -went sullenly out of the cabin. The little lawyer waited for a minute, -then he slipped out, too. He darted up the little alleyway that led to -the main passage along the deck. Clement heard him say in a tart voice:</p> - -<p>“My good man, I know my way off this ship—you needn’t hang about here -waiting to conduct me off.”</p> - -<p>In a moment he was back with Clement, talking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> rapidly again, but this -time in a noticeably lowered voice.</p> - -<p>“He’s one of them. I thought he was. You’ll have to be on your guard -against that steward.”</p> - -<p>“One of whom?” asked Clement, trying to keep pace with the happenings. -“One of the rogues, do you mean? Good heavens! are you telling me there -is a sort of Villains’ Gang of them aboard this ship?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t say it,” said the little man grimly, “but I shouldn’t be at -all surprised if it were so. It’s a big thing, a terribly big thing, my -friend, this marriage of Heloise. It is a matter of a million pounds -sterling and more.”</p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>“You are rather stunning as well as other things,” said Clement limply.</p> - -<p>He really was feeling a trifle dazed. The little man had so hustling -a manner. Also, his own knowledge of the girl, Heloise Keys, was of -the faintest kind. She was just a tall, slim girl whom he had found -attractive enough to want to know again after his first meeting. -She was quite pleasant, quite English, quite natural. Apart from -her special attraction, she was just one of the millions of crisp, -self-assured and self-contained young women of Britain.</p> - -<p>He had met her, as he had said, twice. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> first time had been a -delightful accident. He had arrived to book his passage at the Canadian -Pacific Ocean Service Office in London, to find her there on the same -errand.</p> - -<p>What is more, there was a certain sense of comradeship in that action, -for both intended to sail to Canada in the same ship, the <i>Empress of -Prague</i>. One shipping clerk attended to both, he left the one cabin -plan before them from which to choose their rooms, while he went away -on the business of registering their tickets.</p> - -<p>Clement had only to glance once at the cabin-plan to make his -decision. He had sailed on the <i>Empress</i> before. All he had to do was -to see whether his old cabin, which had been a comfortable one, was -unoccupied. It was unoccupied. He jotted down its number to give to the -clerk when he came back.</p> - -<p>Heloise and her companion were not so decisive. Heloise, at least, -showed all the hesitance proper to people unaccustomed to sea travel. -The other woman was making suggestions, but Clement did not pay any -attention to her. She was so obviously a companion, a servant, though -of the cultured sort.</p> - -<p>The clerk had tactfully pointed out a large cabin. After having spoken -in glowing terms of it, he had gone off leaving the decision to the -ladies. Clement had nothing against that clerk. As a clerk, he knew his -business, which was to fill up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> cabins. He was merely doing his duty in -suggesting that cabin to people who did not know the art of selecting -cabins—there were so many people who knew it too well, and would leave -that cabin on his hands.</p> - -<p>Clement noted the battle of indecision with some amusement. Also with -some interest, because Heloise (only he didn’t know she was Heloise, -then) was extremely pretty. Also he thought she was of that trusting -and sweet disposition that will take the word of anybody—even of -shipping clerks. Obviously, she was going to follow his suggestion.</p> - -<p>When the shipping clerk went to the back of the office Clement saw to -it that she didn’t. He looked up at her as she puzzled over the deck -plan, smiled in a disarming way, and said, “I say, if you don’t mind -my butting in, I wouldn’t take that inner room. You’ll find it hot and -rather airless, and there’s no light at all except artificial light.”</p> - -<p>She answered him before she thought about who he was. “Are you sure of -that?”</p> - -<p>“Quite,” he told her. “I know the <i>Empress of Prague</i> well; you’ll be -quite comfortable on her, particularly if you take, say, that cabin -over there, instead of that inner one.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke he heard an indignant sniff from the companion. He looked -beyond the girl and saw a comely, chilly, thick-set, middle-aged woman. -A woman who had a broad and attractive smile<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> which, somehow, did not -seem to penetrate deeper than the surface of her skin. It was the sniff -and the smile that led Clement to christen her the Gorgon, then and -there.</p> - -<p>But the girl herself was not sniffing in moral indignation. She was -pleased and friendly. “But it is jolly of you to help,” she cried. “You -are sure that one over there is the better cabin?”</p> - -<p>“As sure as I like light and fresh air,” Clement smiled at her. “You’ll -get both in that, you see, it’s an outside cabin. Has—windows—ports, -you know. And it’s roomier.”</p> - -<p>“Then, that’s the one we’ll have, Méduse,” said the girl, and the -Gorgon (really, Clement had been very apt in his nickname) said in -a light voice slightly tipped with frost, “That is also the one I -suggested. Remember I, too, have traveled on the sea before, Loise.”</p> - -<p>The girl paid no attention to that. She did not allow herself to be -distracted from Clement, as she was obviously meant to be distracted. -She was, in fact, rather pleased to meet a young, good-looking, -polished man, who was also to be a companion during the voyage across -the Atlantic. She said, smiling, “I’m thoroughly mystified by all this -sort of thing. I’ve never done anything but the cross-Channel trip -before, and then only by daylight. The tricks of cabins and comfort are -dark secrets, as yet. It is really very good of you to give me that -tip.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, travelers are a brotherhood who should band together in the face -of the common enemy,” said Clement cheerfully.</p> - -<p>“Are we going to have common enemies?” she asked pleasantly.</p> - -<p>“Not on the <i>Empress</i>,” said Clement. “It’s a happy ship. But still -there are always little things where the hardened traveler can help.”</p> - -<p>“Hardened?” she echoed. “You must have begun before your teens then.... -But it is rather nice, oh, and lucky, to meet some one who is going by -the same boat. I have a feeling that going by boat must be rather like -going to a new school—everybody is new and reserved. So that if one -knows some one already....” They went galloping off into that chatter -which overtakes vivid people who have found a common ground, and not -even the sniffs of the Gorgon could check them. Definitely, Clement -thought then, the Gorgon wanted to claw the girl away. She disliked the -acquaintance.</p> - -<p>Still, she did not have her way, though she hurried the girl off with -some speed when the bargain over the counter had been completed. Even -then the girl, as she went, held out the pleasant promise of their -future meeting.</p> - -<p>“We’ll meet again, then, on board,” she had nodded to him as she left -the shipping office.</p> - -<p>“Or on the boat train,” said Clement. “You’ll go up to Liverpool by -that?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Of course,” she said, smiling. “Until then.”</p> - -<p>Clement completed his own reservations, and went out of the office with -a feeling of elation. He was already looking forward to his trip to -Canada, where he hoped to get some sport: trout and salmon fishing, and -later some duck shooting, and, perhaps, a chance at moose. But now his -trip seemed a much jollier affair, and he wasn’t thinking of sport when -he felt that.</p> - -<p>She had been so pretty. She had such an extraordinary charm. She was -fine and upspringing if she was slim. She carried herself so well. And -her face was so vivid and alluring. Her skin was cool and white and -glowing, and her features delicate and exquisite. She was more than -pretty, she was beautiful.</p> - -<p>And that candor and kindness that seemed to be her nature. A sort -of honesty, a nobility that placed her right above petty feminine -things—yet there was no denying the warm and tender femininity of her -nature. A real woman, a beautiful woman. A woman in a million.</p> - -<p>And yet he had not found out her name. Beyond the fact that her -companion called her Loise, he knew nothing about her. He might have -inquired from the shipping clerk. He did not inquire. He was as young -and as straight-minded as that.</p> - -<p>He had thought about her a great deal between that time and the sailing -of the boat. And he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> early at Paddington on the day that the boat -train left. He had got all his own luggage stowed with the celerity -of an old traveler and was looking out for her some time before she -arrived.</p> - -<p>He helped her and her companion, the Gorgon. He had already found them -a compartment, had secured it with a healthy tip. It was to be his own -compartment, too, if she gave permission, and, delightfully, she did. -He traveled with her all the way to Liverpool, but, looking back at it -now, it had been rather a curious journey.</p> - -<p>He had put certain things down to accidents, those accidents that will -beset travelers at times. But now—he wondered.</p> - -<p>In the first place, he had nearly missed the train. They had been -sitting there, chatting, quite serenely, gazing with slightly amused -contempt at those passengers of the breed always doomed to be late for -trains. Then the Gordon discovered that a rather special parcel left in -the baggage room yesterday (heaven knows why!—the Gorgon seemed the -sort of feminine mystery who would do just that sort of thing) had not -been retrieved. When the Gorgon mentioned the parcel, the girl Loise -had made an exclamation of acute vexation.</p> - -<p>Clement was young enough (and she was pretty enough) to seize such -an opportunity of doing her service. He said decisively it might be -rescued, and he asked crisply, “How much time have we?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was the Gorgon who had pulled her watch with (now he could see) -astonishing celerity. The watch showed that there was a full thirteen -minutes to spare before the train went. That was ample. The Gorgon gave -him the cloakroom ticket for the parcel. The girl described its nature -rather well in one or two words, and she indicated the shelf on which -it had been placed.</p> - -<p>Clement darted out to the cloakroom, not looking at the station clock, -as he should have done. He reached the counter, put the ticket and a -large tip on the zinc surface and exhorted the attendant to hurry. -The attendant smiled happily at the tip, examined the ticket and said -blandly, “Na-poo.” It wasn’t his ticket at all, it was one issued by -another station, Victoria.</p> - -<p>“Hang!” shouted Clement. “I must get that parcel ... there it is over -there.” The girl Loise’s description and directions had helped him out. -He told the attendant in vivid language who had left it. He was not -kind to the Gorgon, but his picture of her was unmistakable.</p> - -<p>“I remember,” said the attendant. “Remember the lady wot was wit’ ’er. -A very pretty lady.... All the same, you ain’t got the right ticket.”</p> - -<p>“Hang it all, man, don’t argue!” shouted Clement. “I’ve got to catch -the boat train....”</p> - -<p>And when he said that the attendant had suddenly become very much -alive. He snatched at the parcel and swung it over. “’Ave you got to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> -catch it, well you’ve got to run blame ’ard ter do it. It’s just about -going out.”</p> - -<p>As Clement, sprinting like the deuce, ran for the train, he glanced -at the station clock. Heavens! that wretched woman’s watch must be -frightfully and femininely wrong. The train was just due to leave.</p> - -<p>He simply flung himself by the ticket collector at the platform gate. -The man shouted at him, but Clement fought his way by—if they wanted -to question him they must do it at the other end. The train was just -moving.</p> - -<p>He flung himself at the door of the guard’s van. And the evil chance of -such things seemed to be against him. A very large, a very bulky man -was trying to do the same thing. He was an idiot of a man. He stumbled -and fumbled. He blocked the way with his hideous ineptitude. So stupid -was he that Clement had the feeling that exasperated people get, that -is, the fool was doing it all purposely.</p> - -<p>Clement Seadon was young and very active. While the excessive man still -stumbled and blundered along beside a train steadily gathering pace, he -nipped ahead of him, and with an agile twist was on to the footboard -and into the van.</p> - -<p>He turned at once to help the large fool. With a surprising access of -nimbleness the big fellow was already in the train, standing beside him -in the van. Already saying with a sort of purring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> urbanity, “Well, -that was the nearest shave—nearer for you, sir. I must apologize. I -did not actually realize you were trying to get on the train. I thought -you were a porter or some one trying to help me. I must apologize, sir.”</p> - -<p>He said this with the utmost geniality, which, at the same time, seemed -to be reserved. It was as though he spoke automatically the right -things; but what he said had no relationship to what he felt. And while -he spoke he stared fixedly across Clement’s shoulder, and Clement was -aware of the smallness of his eyes and their astonishing closeness -together.</p> - -<p>Still everything had ended well, and he said as much. He parted with -this far too much of a man, and made his way along the corridor to his -compartment. Here he was not at all sorry for the accident. Both ladies -were in a lively state of alarm, and that alarm gave way to a cheery -thankfulness at seeing him safely on board once more.</p> - -<p>Or rather with the girl Loise that was how things worked out, and, as -far as he was concerned, the journey was made even more attractive -by the emotion this little episode had called up. It was not quite -so with the Gorgon. She seemed overwhelmed by the knowledge that it -was her stupidity in the matter of her watch and the wrong cloakroom -ticket that had nearly caused Clement to miss the train and the boat. -Her apologies were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> profuse, and she endeavored to make an <i>amende</i> by -correcting, rather late in the day, the time on her watch.</p> - -<p>The rest of the journey was uneventful (and Clement was now seeing -things in a more acute light)—unless one could see something grave in -the tiny incident on the landing stage.</p> - -<p>The whole of Clement’s baggage had gone astray.</p> - -<p>Now that he looked at it, Clement began to see the strangeness of the -happening. He had not been careless. He had instructed a porter fully -before returning to help the ladies. He had even chuckled at his own -efficiency when, on looking back, he saw the big man who had all but -prevented his gaining the boat train, standing helpless near his own -busy porter.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless twenty minutes later Nicholson, his cabin steward, told -him he could not find his luggage anywhere. Nicholson was not a man -to make mistakes and if he said luggage could not be found, it could -not be found. Angry as he was at the mishap Clement wasted no time. -He <i>had</i> to have that luggage. Naturally, he could not possibly sail -without a rag to his name.</p> - -<p>The stuff that was in Clement Seadon came out in the way he handled -this <i>contretemps</i>. He went straight to the Canadian Pacific shipping -agent, and put the problem up to him. The man belonged to a service -that suffers attractively from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> an ideal of complete efficiency. The -agent began to hustle.</p> - -<p>He was, of course, helped by Clement. Clement had the type of mind -that pays attention to a porter’s registration number when the porter -holds up the metal plate upon which it is stamped to the hirer’s gaze. -Clement remembered and repeated the number, and left the matter in -the hands of the agent. In half an hour his luggage was on board the -<i>Empress</i>.</p> - -<p>A foreman had named the porter from the number; a dock policeman had -stated that he had seen this man trundling the barrow-load of luggage -away from the shed in the direction of the Cunard dock; the luggage was -run to earth. The porter, on being taxed with his strange behavior, -offered a wild and absurd story of having been told that Mr. Seadon had -suddenly received orders to go by Cunard. A steward had come off the -<i>Empress</i> just as he was going on to it, and given this very definite -command.</p> - -<p>He was, so the porter said, “a littlish, mean-looking ’ound of a -steward.” Nicholson was a big man. And, though the porter may have -based his description of the offending steward on anger, Clement, -with a sudden blaze of comprehension, now recognized how well that -description fitted the steward who had just tried to turn the little -lawyer off the boat. Had that steward tried to keep <i>him</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> off the boat -also? It looked extraordinarily like it.</p> - -<p>Thus, though he might have been inclined to scout the whole idea of -the gang of rogues who were working to accomplish the undoing of the -girl Heloise and her million pounds, as something absurd and unreal, -actually the train of circumstances forced him to say limply:</p> - -<p>“You are rather stunning as well as other things.”</p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p>The little man went on promptly with his hasty and hurtling attack.</p> - -<p>“I know, stunning and absurd and incredible. It sounds all that, I -know. To me it is all that—only, I’ve got to face things as they -appear to me and I’ve so little to go on, yet so much. A huge fortune, -that foolish girl’s happiness, and all that sort of thing—is at -stake....”</p> - -<p>He seemed anxious to impress Clement with the soundness of his case, -and it was now Clement who cried, “But get on with it, man. You haven’t -too much time. You’ll have to go ashore very soon. Tell me the facts.”</p> - -<p>“Facts,” snapped the little man. “The first is she’s going out -expressly to find and marry this weak-will, this ne’er-do-well Henry -Gunning.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why? Is she engaged to him?” demanded Clement, with peculiar interest.</p> - -<p>“Engaged to him. Good gad—rubbish. Sheer quixotery. This is the story: -They were brought up together—boy and girl. He was an unpleasant, -feckless cub. His people had estates next old Reys. Both of ’em went -about as kids. There was a sort of calf love. Both of ’em had it mildly -... nothing else to do in the country for the young but to be calves. -Then he did something idiotic, and he was shipped off to Canada. His -guardians did it—parents dead then.”</p> - -<p>“What was it?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, general irritation with his spinelessness and low tastes, plus a -crisis. They made use of that crisis. Matter of fact, he stole.”</p> - -<p>“Stole! But could Miss Heloise have anything to do with a thief?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but a plausible thief,” snapped the little lawyer. “What he -stole, he said, was his. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t, and he knew -it. It was a picture, an Old Master, belonging to his family. Family -had died up to its ears in debt—for which his own bad habits were -mainly responsible. Everything had been sold to settle those debts. He -knew that all right. But he stole that picture, sold it, and went on -the spree with the proceeds. There you get the type of man he is in a -nutshell.”</p> - -<p>“That doesn’t explain Miss Reys’ attitude.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, he made a case. Said he thought he’d taken only what was his own. -He bought her a silly little trinket, too, and made her believe he -had sold the picture to get that. Absurd. But she was woefully young. -She has a generous heart, and she was on the side of the scamp in -affection. Well, that’s the beginning. He left her with the usual vows. -He’d been unlucky. He had an unlucky nature, so he told her; but he was -going to the great and grand New World to carve out a fortune for her. -He would return, like the hero in a story, rich and powerful, and all -because of her—all for her.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what’s next. Has he made that fortune?”</p> - -<p>“Not a bit of it. He’s the sort that doesn’t. Hasn’t the guts or the -honesty. I don’t know what he’s done in the ten years he’s been away; -nobody knows. I suspect a mountain of beastliness. But one thing I -know. He hasn’t made that fortune.”</p> - -<p>“You’re sure?”</p> - -<p>“My dear lad, isn’t that why she’s going out? Oh, of course, I’m -running on too fast. Well, that <i>is</i> the reason, anyhow. First year or -two there were plenty of letters. Then the letters dropped away. His -were sloppy and disconsolate, I gather. He was the unlucky sort even -in Canada, he let her know. Of course he was. Then the letters stopped -altogether. For years nothing was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> heard of him. Things went on with -Heloise ever so much better. I thought she’d forgotten the ass. Then, -quite suddenly, the whole of this business started again. Came at us, -as it were, out of the blue.”</p> - -<p>“And what precisely do you mean by that?” Clement asked.</p> - -<p>“I can’t quite explain. Know nothing definite, you see. First Heloise’s -father died. He left her in control of this fortune. Really an immense -fortune. When I mentioned the figure of a million pounds I meant it. It -is more than true. Heloise continued for some time in a state of happy -ordinariness. Then she had another letter from the scallywag Gunning. -I don’t know what was in it, but it seemed to fling her right back to -those old flapperish, calfish days. From what I could gather, Gunning -was still fighting his luck. He was fighting (so he hinted) with dogged -courage. He remembered his vow to her, and had kept himself staunch, -unfettered, and upright because of it. He meant to redeem it; in fact, -he hinted that there was a chance of redeeming it—if only his spell of -bad luck would break. He had a big thing in view—a huge thing—that -would bring him a great fortune. Then he would be able to come to her. -But he didn’t do more than hint at this big <i>coup</i> he had in mind. -I told Heloise that that was the man all over; that he was merely -exhibiting his vague and spineless nature. Stupid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> of me to say that. -I was set aside as hard and unsympathetic at once, and nothing more -was told to me. Heloise, naturally, thought it was his noble nature -cropping out. He would tell her nothing until he had brought it off. He -would be beholden to nobody until he had fulfilled himself. I said it -was all rubbish; but Heloise, who thinks the best of everybody, clung -to her view.... And then this confounded new companion supported that -view, gave it a new strength?”</p> - -<p>“How could a companion do any such thing?”</p> - -<p>“I can’t answer riddles; I can only guess. Perhaps I am too easily -suspicious. I suspected the <i>old</i> companion when she so inexplicably -left Heloise’s service. Why? Well, it seemed illogical. She had an -extraordinarily well-paid, extraordinarily comfortable job. It is the -sort of job no woman of that kind would leave in a hurry. But she did. -She said she had come into some money, a lot of it, and wanted to set -up a little business of her own. Well, I couldn’t find out how she had -come into that money—a few thousands it must have been. I tried to -trace a source. I couldn’t find one. But she had the money from some -one all right.”</p> - -<p>“You suspect it was an underhand affair—she was paid?”</p> - -<p>“I suspect, only. No facts. This new companion made me more suspicious. -She’s a Canadian, or says she is.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Perhaps that’s the reason Miss Reys chose her—a reason of sentiment,” -said Clement.</p> - -<p>“You’ve touched the crucial plausibility of the matter. That <i>is</i> -why Heloise chose her. The departing companion recommended this -creature—suspicious again. Heloise was not altogether smitten with -her at first, but the fact that she knew Canada turned the scale. The -sentimental note won. And then—too surprising for life, I think: -an attractive coincidence, thinks Heloise—this new companion knows -Gunning.”</p> - -<p>Clement nodded. He, too, was beginning to think that the long arm of -coincidence was beginning to suffer from strain.</p> - -<p>“‘It only came out casually,’ says Heloise,” went on the little man; -“but there’s the fact this companion who came to her by fishy means -knew Gunning. Knew him well enough to sing rather an attractive song -about him. Oh, she made it all sound very ordinary. She had not -<i>actually</i> spoken to or known Gunning, but she had stayed at a place -called Sicamous, where he was often to be seen, and where his name was -very well known. He was known there as the Englishman whom providence -had a grouch against. He was also known as the Englishman who would be -a millionaire some day. No, don’t ask me why he was called that. That -hasn’t been told me. I suspect my attitude of non-sympathy has been -adroitly enlarged by that confounded companion. I’ve been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> kept out of -it. All I know is that Heloise is filled with a sort of sentimental -certainty that Gunning is out there in the wilds needing help. He is -fighting a lone hand against circumstances beyond his strength. He is -there working doggedly with a great chance within his grasp; but for -lack of means, for lack of support, for lack of money he cannot make -good. That’s how I see it, and I can see how the sentimental side has -been worked up to secure Heloise’s sympathy. She feels he won’t, he -doesn’t write to her because of his pride. His self-respect, his sense -of decency, his grit and all that sort of bunkum forbids his writing to -the girl he loves and wants to marry. That’s how they are playing on -Heloise’s candid and sympathetic nature.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Clement. “It might be correct. Men are rather like that, -don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>“<i>Men</i>, yes,” snapped the little lawyer. “Fellows like you, real men, -would be like that. But Gunning—I don’t believe it.”</p> - -<p>“That’s rather drastic.”</p> - -<p>“My boy, I know Gunning. We acted for <i>his</i> people too. Gunning is not -like that. He’s a moral tadpole. If he has changed, then the age of -miracles has very certainly not passed.”</p> - -<p>Clement thought this sort of talk led to nothing. He changed the line.</p> - -<p>“And what’s the big chance that lies before him?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I told you I didn’t know,” said the little lawyer. “I’ve been kept in -the dark over that.”</p> - -<p>“Is Miss Reys in the dark?”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean by that? As I tell you, I think she is certainly in -the dark concerning this foul plot that is being worked on her. But -concerning this big <i>coup</i> that Gunning is supposed to be able to bring -off—no. She knows all about that. She’s been writing letters to people -in Canada. The companion has supplied her with addresses, I take it. -She’s received replies that have convinced her of the genuineness of -Gunning and his prospects. Of that I am certain.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t think those letters genuine?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think anything connected with this trip to Canada is genuine.”</p> - -<p>Clement frowned. Thinking, he said, “Exactly what do you think these -rogues, if they be rogues, are out to do?”</p> - -<p>“I think they are out to get control of rather more than a million -pounds sterling, which, at present, belongs to Heloise.”</p> - -<p>“How will they do that—if she marries Gunning?”</p> - -<p>“How will they?” began the little lawyer in exasperation. Then he -said more precisely and quietly, “I will tell you exactly what I -think. I think that, somehow, a band of rogues in Canada has found -out from Henry Gunning that there is a sort of engagement between him -and Heloise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> They have learned from the same source that Heloise is -worth a million of money. They have that rascal in their power. They -have seen that through him there is a very good chance of getting that -million of money into their power.”</p> - -<p>“You’re making rather a long shot, aren’t you? After all, they must -have known that they would have to reckon with Heloise, who will have -something to say in the matter.”</p> - -<p>The little man waggled his umbrella fiercely.</p> - -<p>“Not a long shot,” he insisted. “They probably saw her letters to him. -If they read those letters they would see exactly the sort of girl -Heloise is. She is fine, honest. She is too generous for this world.... -She is undoubtedly quixotic, as I have told you several times. They -would see that a girl like that would respond to adroit handling. Her -sense of honor would lead her to remain true to the letter of the -bargain she made with Gunning years ago. Her sense of chivalry would -send her out post-haste to his aid, if that aid was required. She would -feel that he was making a tremendous sacrifice for her, and she would -at once be willing to make a tremendous sacrifice in return.”</p> - -<p>The little man paused, gazing at Clement.</p> - -<p>“That’s her nature; generous to folly. She gives greatly, tremendously, -if her heart is touched.... Well, that’s what these brutes have done. -As I see it, they have assessed her, sized<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> her up. They have put -this plot into motion. Cunningly they have reawakened her interest in -Gunning; first, by that letter from him; then they got rid of the old -companion, and substituted this—this temptress from Canada. She has -spent all her days playing upon Heloise’s heart-strings. She has cast a -spell, a glamour, a damned romantic glamour, over that poor girl. She -has painted a picture of the stoic Gunning fighting against luck for -<i>her</i>. Painted him proud and silent and full of pluck, refusing to call -on her aid, though she has but to stretch out a finger, back up some -scheme of his, and he will win—he will win a fortune and win her. Oh, -they have painted for her a beauteous and beastly picture. The sort of -picture that can have but one effect on such a girl as Heloise. She has -become inspired by it. She sees the great and the generous way. If this -true man, Gunning, is too proud to cry for help, then she should be -proud to go to him and help him. She will make her sacrifice also.... -So—so off she packs to Canada. She starts out like a sort of rapturous -female knight-errant.”</p> - -<p>The little man had to stop, because his face and throat were working.</p> - -<p>“And then when she finds him,” he ended, his voice harsh with emotion, -“there’ll be a love scene ... and a marriage ... and then ... God knows -what <i>they</i> will do then ... but as sure as I’m here, Clement Seadon, -they’ll get that million<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> ... and I daren’t ask myself <i>how they will -get it</i>.”</p> - -<p>Clement stood stiff with the tragedy that had suddenly burst in horror -into that little cabin.</p> - -<p>“I daren’t ask myself how they will get that million,” the little -lawyer had said in emotion, and Clement shuddered. He saw the gaunt -and lonely mountains of Sicamous (wasn’t that the place?). The dark, -spruce-clad valleys, awfully lonely and awfully quiet. And in those -silent valleys away from man—away from help and discovery—anything -might happen.</p> - -<p>He had a quick vision of the beautiful and splendid girl, and his skin -crept with horror of—of the things that might happen.</p> - -<p>He found that he had very little to say. He muttered lamely, “You are -sure she is going out for this?”</p> - -<p>“To see Gunning? Yes. She told me so frankly.”</p> - -<p>“But—but to marry him?”</p> - -<p>“I think so. Of course she wouldn’t tell me that, but”—and a gleam in -his eye relieved the horror of the moment—“but I, as her lawyer, have -been called upon lately to settle heavy bills with all the milliners, -dressmakers, and purveyors of dainty feminine <i>trivia</i> in the kingdom -of woman’s shopping. I don’t want to let you into delicate secrets; -but, even to the unsophisticated male,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> such wholesale buying seems to -point to one definite end.”</p> - -<p>“I am a—a bachelor in such matters,” said Clement, glad to get the -topic off the ugly strain. “But even with such preparations woman is -not doomed to marriage. After ten years—Henry Gunning may not be -likable. A man of the type you have described is an unpleasant object -when he goes to seed; as, no doubt, he has gone to seed.”</p> - -<p>“That gives me no ground for hope,” said the little lawyer. “He is -plausible. He will probably get himself up to the scratch for the time -being. Even this gang would see to that, don’t you think? His very -seediness may make him seem more romantic—women are so illogically -and amazingly made. And then in a lonely place.... No, the only safe -and settled thing is to prevent the marriage. For you to prevent the -marriage.”</p> - -<p>Clement laughed with a touch of annoyed self-consciousness. “After all -you’ve told me,” he said lamely, “I’ll keep my eye on her.”</p> - -<p>“No—make love to her,” snapped the little lawyer.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I can advise her.”</p> - -<p>“Rubbish—make her love you. Advise her? Good Lord, can any man advise -a headstrong, well-educated young woman of the twentieth century. -Advise her? Haven’t I been advising her not to do this mad thing -for months! She’s <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>certain of herself. She’s so practical about the -whole matter.—Advise her? You might just as well try to advise Mount -Popocatepetl to melt into the plain. Don’t attempt to advise. Do! Love -her. Marry her.”</p> - -<p>A sharp voice came swiftly along the gallery outside. A boy, running -with some urgency, was yelling a name.</p> - -<p>“Marry her, man,” snapped the little lawyer. “I’m cut off from her. I -can do nothing. I depend on you.” He listened to the boy’s yells. “My -name. I’m wanted.” He sprang to the door, ran up the alley-way to the -gallery. “Boy! Boy! I’m Mr. Hard. Want me?”</p> - -<p>A shrill voice yelled, “Lookin’ fer you everywhere, sir. Hurry. Ca’pen -Heavy’s compliments, you gotter get off the ship damn quick. Casting -off now. Look sharp, sir.”</p> - -<p>The little man swung round, called down the alley-way into which -Clement had come, “Got to go ashore. Don’t forget what you’ve got to -do.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do my best,” cried the confused Clement.</p> - -<p>“Best! No good. Marry her.”</p> - -<p>“But, you see, she mightn’t——”</p> - -<p>“Marry her,” snapped the little lawyer, already on the run. “Don’t give -in to her. Make her marry you.”</p> - -<p>Running, he went along the gallery out of sight.</p> - -<p>Clement stared after him in bewilderment. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Holy romance!” he murmured to himself. “Here’s a thing with which to -begin a sea voyage.”</p> - -<p>He turned to go back to his cabin. Away along the gallery, by the -staircase that led up to the smoking room, he saw two men standing. -They were standing watching him. They stood there for but a second, and -then, with furtive quickness, they stepped back out of his sight.</p> - -<p>It had been a matter of an instant. But Clement had recognized both of -them.</p> - -<p>One was the steward with the evil face who had tried to get the little -lawyer off the ship, and had, so Clement felt, tried to get him off the -ship, too, by sending his luggage astray.</p> - -<p>The other was a tall, huge, almost excessive man. A man with little, -sinister eyes ... the man who had all but prevented his getting into -the train. The man whom he had seen close to his baggage before it went -astray. He was there watching Clement, talking to the evil steward in -an intimate way.</p> - -<p>“Ah,” reflected Clement. “So you <i>are</i> in this. You are one of them.... -And now that I come to think things out, there was never any doubt of -it.”</p> - -<p>He sat down on his bunk to face the problem of saving the girl Heloise -from a gang of rogues, of whom the companion, Méduse, this huge man, -and the steward at least were members.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>Clement Seadon got up from his bunk almost as soon as he had sat -down on it. He was young, that is, he preferred swift action to deep -thinking.</p> - -<p>“It’s no good arguing about this,” he told himself. “It’s no good -telling one’s cautious soul that outside the cinematograph and the -painted pages of fiction, pretty young women <i>aren’t</i> the victims -of gangs of rogues in this the twentieth century. She is. I’ve seen -her. I’ve seen the gang and already felt them at work.... I’ve had -circumstantial evidence pumped into me by that hurtling little lawyer. -It all sounds mad. It all sounds untrue. But it happens to be true. -I’ve got to do something.”</p> - -<p>He made a stride towards the door. He stopped.</p> - -<p>“Ah, yes,” he reflected. “I’ve got to do something—<i>what</i>?”</p> - -<p>He suddenly realized how easy it was to say “I’ve got to do something.” -How hard it was to do anything at all.</p> - -<p>What could he do? Rush out and confront the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> gang with their -villainies—idiotic idea. He’d probably be put into irons as an -irresponsible madman. There wasn’t any evidence. If there had been -any, the little lawyer would have acted upon it, the criminal gang -would have been slapped into jail before the ship sailed. Heloise—what -a really suitable name for her, Heloise; how it fitted her curious, -slim, rather <i>exaltè</i> kind of beauty—Heloise would have been rescued -even before she started for Canada.... The voyage would not have been -undertaken....</p> - -<p>On second thoughts he was rather glad there had been no evidence. Gang -or no gang, it was rather pleasant to think that Heloise Reys really -would be with him on the <i>Empress</i> until they all reached Quebec.... -And perhaps he’d be with her longer.</p> - -<p>“All the same,” he reflected, “this isn’t going to be so simple as it -looks. I only know indirectly that there is a gang at work to ensnare -Heloise Reys. Nothing to go on except suspicion. Also, I must remember -that Heloise herself is, to all intents and purposes, on the side of -the gang. She wants to get to Henry Gunning and marry him. She does -regard the one member of the gang she knows, this Gorgon companion, -Méduse, not as an enemy, but as a tried, and trusted friend. If I do -unpleasant and senseless things to the gang I make Heloise my enemy, -through the Gorgon.... Oh, it’s infernally complicated. This isn’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> a -matter for clumsy rough-and-tumble methods. This is a matter for wits, -for brain work, for guileful intelligence.... However, I fancy I have a -good share of guileful intelligence.”</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact Clement was doing himself rather less than -justice. He had rather more than his fair share of keen wits, only, -as one of his friends said, “one never noticed it because he was so -well-tailored.”</p> - -<p>Clement Seadon was one of those young Anglo-Saxons—and their number is -not so inconsiderable as our enemies imagined—who were responsible for -so many German failures during the war. They were so entirely unlike -the things they were capable of doing.</p> - -<p>Clement, for example, looked indolent. He looked easy-going. He looked -as if he cared for nothing very much, and hadn’t any particular -intelligence. He was obviously very careful about the set of his -clothes, and could be guaranteed to shine adequately in most sports -and at any social gathering. He had blunt, but neat features, that -conspired to give him a suggestion of geniality not easily moved -from an habitual calm. People felt they could not take him quite -seriously—until they suddenly bumped up against an extremely -disconcerting and swift coolness of wit. Only then, when they had been -“stung” did they note the squareness of the jaw and the lips, and the -broad and quite definite power of his brow. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> - -<p>Clement Seadon, in fact, was rather a drastic sort of young man to -those who thought he didn’t matter very much. In the Diplomacy, -where he had served before the war, several quite brilliant brains -had chuckled at him for an amiable and well-dressed ninny, whom it -was ridiculously easy to twist round the finger. They had thought -this until a sharp reprimand from their Governments, and, on some -occasions, instant dismissal, taught them that some people are not so -simple as they look, and that the cheerful young man who had seemed -to them so easy a victim had actually been twisting them round <i>his</i> -well-manicured fingers all the time—not they him.</p> - -<p>Clement was not in Diplomacy now; he had thrown up his job to go to -the front. His father, his only relative, had died during the war, so -that after the armistice he had found himself in complete control of a -very useful income, and with it a freedom to indulge his love of travel -and sport, which, up to the war, he had only been able to assuage -intermittently.</p> - -<p>He was, then, a young man entirely free to do as he liked. A young man -who preferred action, who did not ask for adventure, but wasn’t so very -sorry when adventure came along; and also a young man who knew quite -well how to enjoy the considerable mental faculties he happened to -possess.... He was, as the little lawyer had felt,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> quite the luckiest -ally Heloise could find in a battle against the powers of crime.</p> - -<p>Clement, thinking near his door, turned the matter over.</p> - -<p>“Obviously,” he thought, “I can do nothing just at present. I can’t -strike at them until I find out their plot and have proof that they are -criminals. What then? Consolidate my position with Heloise?—blessed -word consolidate. That’s the first and only move. I must get to know -her better; I must get her to trust in me. I must become intimate....”</p> - -<p>At that thought he suddenly switched round and shook his fist at the -place where he thought Liverpool must stand—the sound of machinery had -told him some time ago that the ship had begun to move.</p> - -<p>“Why <i>did</i> you talk of marriage,” he said with irritation, obviously -referring to the little-head-long lawyer. “Marry the girl!... Marry -her, that actually complicates things. I shall ... I mean I should feel -just as much an adventurer, a conspirator, as this Henry Gunning person -if I did ... if I ever thought of doing such a thing.” And then, with -the inconsequence of the young, he said, “But she <i>is</i> astonishingly -pretty and good company.... Oh, hang, that only makes it worse.”</p> - -<p>“Marry her,” he went on. “That’s quite absurd, of course. I mean—well, -it is quite absurd.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> She’s got her mind set on Henry Gunning ... and -she wouldn’t care twopence for a fellow like me. Indecent to think she -would.... No, marriage is a bee in that old lawyer’s bonnet. But I’ll -help. I’ll do all I can to help her. And that’s the first move; I’ll -now lay the solid foundations upon which real friendship can be based.”</p> - -<p>He went very quickly to the door of his cabin.</p> - -<p>“The first move, and I know how to make it.”</p> - -<p>He went quickly along the gallery. As he passed along the balcony that -overhung the dining saloon, he looked down at a little group of people -collected about one of the tables near the door. Yes, old Maxwell was -already filling up tables, and a few of the travel-wise were selecting -them. Clement smiled. He was glad he was travel-wise himself.</p> - -<p>But before he got to the end of the gallery he was pulled up in his -stride. His way was blocked by a very large, a very solid, an immovable -man. There was no getting past this human mountain. And the back of the -human mountain was towards him, and he was obviously deep in some most -absorbing contemplation. Clement said gently, “If you don’t mind.” And -then he said, “Sorry, do you mind my passing?” And then he said, “Would -you mind getting out of the way?” Then he touched the human mass on the -shoulder, and shouted in his ear, “I’m through. I’ve said <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>everything I -can remember.... The next move’s with you.... Just move!”</p> - -<p>The dinosaur heaved a little. There was a perceptible undulation over -its surface. A voice came back. “What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“I want to pass,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“Eh?”</p> - -<p>“I want to——”</p> - -<p>But Clement did not finish. The mass, as though the thing that had -held its attention had suddenly released it, came round with an almost -dismaying swiftness—how could such a bulk actuate with such rapidity. -A large man stood in front of Clement, bowing and apologizing.... -A large man who seemed genial only on the surface, whose eyes were -astonishingly close together, and looked steadily, not into Clement’s -eyes, but at something mystical across his shoulder. It was the large -fat man again. The large fat man who seemed instinctively to mix -himself up in Clement’s accidents.</p> - -<p>“I owe you a thousand apologies,” said the big man pleasantly and -without the slightest sense of right. “I did not know you were behind -me.” He smiled sleekly. “It seems that I am foredoomed to stand in your -way, sir.”</p> - -<p>“That,” Clement’s mind told him at once, “that is a threat—or a -warning.” And he answered in his pleasantest, young-fellow-about-town -voice,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> “Does seem a habit of mine to come stealing up behind, so to -speak.”</p> - -<p>“And that,” he told himself, “is also a threat, or warning. Only he -won’t see it. I’m much too well dressed.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, ‘behind,’ that has an ominous ring. Let us hope it is not -ominous,” smiled the large man with his artificial geniality, and he -stepped aside and let Clement by.</p> - -<p>And Clement went on musing, “But, by Jove! he <i>did</i> see. That was -another warning. I shall have to keep my eyes on that large fellow. He, -too, has wits and doesn’t look it.”</p> - -<p>He ran down the accommodation stairs towards the dining saloon deck. On -that deck he received another shock. Coming through the swing doors of -the saloon was the Gorgon. She came out briskly with the gait of an old -traveler. She saw Clement, and she smiled. Clement thought it a smile -with malice behind it. As she passed him she nodded, and said brightly, -“Well, we’ve started them.”</p> - -<p>A commonplace remark. One of the ordinary, stupid, current phrases of -travelers by liner. It referred, possibly, to the fact that the ship -had sailed, that the voyage had started. It might mean only that. On -the other hand it mightn’t. In the light of that smile Clement reserved -his judgment until he had gone into the saloon.</p> - -<p>He greeted Maxwell, the chief steward, as an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> old friend, and asked if -there were any good tables left.</p> - -<p>“Nearly all the good tables,” said Maxwell. “Not many old travelers on -this trip. You can take almost anything you like.”</p> - -<p>Clement did not take what he liked. He examined the chart of tables and -saw that what he liked had already gone. He had planned to sit at the -same table as Heloise Reys. That is, he had schemed to be her companion -at meals all through the voyage. That was the recognized move of the -wise and old traveler. But he had not been wise quickly enough. As -he looked down the chart he saw the names “Miss Heloise Reys,” “Miss -Méduse Smythe” already inscribed.</p> - -<p>And Miss Heloise Reys and Miss Méduse Smythe were to occupy a small -table that would only accommodate two.</p> - -<p>He had received his first check. He understood why the large fat man -had blocked his way. He understood why the Gorgon had smiled with -meaning.</p> - -<p>They had started the game of wits, and the first trick was against him.</p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>They had scored the first trick, but it was not altogether a signal -advantage. It put Clement on his mettle. It enabled him to appreciate -exactly the type of rogues he was dealing with. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> was going to -be nothing timid about their methods. They were bold and they were -clever, they were going to take hold of every advantage and push it -home ruthlessly. Clement did not mind that at all. He could be bold and -ruthless, too, and because of his apparently casual manner his boldness -and his ruthlessness could be carried off in a way which would baffle -them.</p> - -<p>In fact, no later than that afternoon, Clement, with an apparently -thoughtless inconsequence, began to baffle them. He played for the -second trick—and won it.</p> - -<p>It was obvious that from the first the gang meant to block him from -Heloise’s side. Clement smiled as he saw the little comedy being -played. The Gorgon clung to the girl tenaciously. To double the guard, -so to speak, the large fat rogue was called in.</p> - -<p>They were clever. They played with infinite skill. The mountain of a -man was drawn in with brilliant casualness. Heloise and the Gorgon -looked at Ireland over the taffrail. They talked about Ireland. The -Gorgon made a conspicuous mistake about an Irish headland ... and -there was the large fat man putting her right, standing already one of -that little group pouring out attractive facts about Ireland with a -pleasant, well-informed politeness.</p> - -<p>It was one of those swift shipboard acquaintances. The apparent -stranger had skillfully <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>inserted himself into the duologue between the -Gorgon and Heloise, and the Gorgon had, as skillfully, drawn him into -the circle.</p> - -<p>Clement, who had been hovering in the background saw what it meant. One -of them, now, would always be at the girl’s side; effectually putting a -stop to any particular and personal approach of his own.</p> - -<p>The three watched Ireland until they had had enough of it. Then they -walked the deck a little. Then the two ladies sat down, and the fat -man, with invincible politeness, walked away. Clement exchanged a few -words with the two women in their deck chairs; pleasant words, but of -no effect. The Gorgon showed no signs of moving, Heloise was too polite -to move away from the Gorgon.</p> - -<p>The lunch bugle went, and they were separated. After lunch the Gorgon -and Heloise were inseparable. They sat on deck chairs again. Tea came. -Clement found that the Gorgon had whisked the girl into an alcove in -the lounge. He was about to join them boldly, when the big fat man -materializing with his unexpected swiftness, crossed the lounge and -planted himself in the only other seat available. Clement smiled and -sat and had his own tea and waited. He watched the trio. Presently his -chance came. The fat man and the Gorgon suddenly involved themselves in -one of those duologues in which the third person plays the part of a -listener only. As the two talked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> Clement crossed to them swiftly and -quietly—and snapped the girl from under their very noses.</p> - -<p>It was one of those simple acts that baffle the clever. Clement slipped -round behind the discussion, as it were, and said to the girl, “Coming -for a stroll, Miss Reys?”</p> - -<p>And Heloise came—alone. There was nothing for the others to do. To -break off their discussion to fence with this pleasant young man -would have looked strange. To come out with the girl was certainly -impossible, for they had not been invited. They had to remain, -apparently unconcerned, if they were not to draw attention to -themselves and their actions.</p> - -<p>And in his casual way Clement clinched his victory by drawing attention -to any future “blockading” action the precious pair might attempt.</p> - -<p>He took Heloise up to the boat deck, and found chairs and placed them -in a spot that could only accommodate two, which was also quite neatly -screened from casual view. He sighed, “Oh, well, this is very much -better.”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t strolling, anyhow,” laughed Heloise.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I didn’t want to stroll, I just wanted to be selfish,” smiled -Clement. “I wanted you to myself. There seem to have been millions of -people about you ever since we came aboard.”</p> - -<p>“Scarcely millions,” she smiled back. “Only my companion and that -rather stout, quite pleasant Mr. Neuburg.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Only those,” said Clement, underlining the personality and the actions -of the pair deliberately, “but they do seem to be rather clinging.... -Always there seems to be a great crowd barring the way....”</p> - -<p>“Always,” she laughed. “But we’ve only been on board half a day.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I was looking forward,” said Clement, ingeniously emphasizing -his point. “I saw it happening every day, every hour of the day, for -the rest of the voyage.”</p> - -<p>“You’re unnecessarily gloomy,” laughed the girl, not altogether -displeased at the interest this good-looking young man took in her. “It -won’t happen every hour every day.”</p> - -<p>And Clement, with an inward chuckle, thought it wouldn’t. He left it -at that. He had won that trick. Not merely would he have <i>tête-à-tête</i> -talks with Heloise in the future, but he had so emphasized the attitude -of the pair of rogues that their attempts to shut him out from Heloise -must only engender suspicion in her mind.</p> - -<p>After a moment’s silence Heloise said, “You’re rather hard on Mr. -Neuburg. He’s a very pleasant person, and quite well-informed about -Canada.”</p> - -<p>“I’m quite well-informed about Canada myself,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“About shooting—sport”—she teased him.</p> - -<p>“That—and other things,” Clement laughed back. “I know appearances are -against me, but,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> really, there’s a solid core inside. I know quite a -lot about Canadian industries, for instance.”</p> - -<p>It was a casual remark delivered with an inconsequence that covered up -the deliberate meaning Clement had put into it. And it struck home, as -Clement had meant it to.</p> - -<p>“Really!” she cried. “Industrial things—you know something about -Canadian industries?” She was eager at once.</p> - -<p>“Quite a lot,” said Clement. “You see, even if I didn’t happen to -be keen—which I am—I’d have to take a personal interest. I’ve -money invested in quite a number of Canadian concerns—agricultural -machinery, fruit farms, grain areas, mines——”</p> - -<p>“Mines!” breathed the girl. “Do you know something about mines?”</p> - -<p>Under his casual easiness Clement Seadon thrilled. He had suspected -from the beginning that the venture in which Henry Gunning was supposed -to need backing must be mines; the district in which he lived pointed -to that. But here was confirmation of that suspicion. He had touched -the matter which was the foundation of the plot at his first attempt -to find out. And he had also obviously done more. He had made the girl -feel that he was a sympathetic and knowledgeable person to whom it -would be easy to talk about mines and the prospects of mining. And, in -fact, he <i>was</i> just that person. He said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> “I know, I think, a very -fair amount about mines. Oh, but not merely on the investing, but on -the practical side, too. Before the war I went out for three months -with a prospecting party—not as a fortune hunter, but as one who -wanted to learn. It’s rather a fad of mine to get to know how things -are done from the bottom up. As some of our money was invested in -mines, it seemed to me that I should have a working knowledge of the -whole proposition.”</p> - -<p>“And you did your prospecting—where?” she asked, a little breathlessly.</p> - -<p>“Oh—in Canada,” he said. And then he paused. Should he risk being -specific? Would it frighten her to hear the name of the very place -where Henry Gunning, her old lover, was living; and would that put her -on her guard against him—as she had been on her guard against the -questions of the little lawyer? Or would it, on the other hand, draw -out confidences? He rather felt it might. He was, as far as she knew, -quite outside her concerns, and she might want to learn things, just as -he wanted to learn everything as early as possible if he was to act. -And then as he hesitated, she said with extraordinary eagerness, “In -Canada; but what part of Canada?”</p> - -<p>Her eagerness decided Clement. “In British Columbia,” he answered, as a -man mentioning something of no purpose. “To be exact, in the mountain -valleys in the south of British Columbia.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> There’s a whole string -of valleys there with rather beautiful lakes in ’em. We started at -Penticton, on Okanagan Lake, and worked up northward.... They mostly -grow apples and peaches there, but there was a good deal of mineral -about, we’d heard. Anyhow—I say, I hope I’m not boring you—anyhow, -we pushed slowly up those valleys to a little one-horse place called -Sicamous——”</p> - -<p>“Sicamous!” she cried, her eyes very bright, her cheeks exquisitely -flushed, and for a moment Clement wondered if he had done right to -mention that name. “Sicamous! But that’s real luck—for me, I mean. I -actually want to learn something first-hand about Sicamous—and about -the mining in those districts....”</p> - -<p>With a throb of excitement and satisfaction, Clement, looking exactly -like an Englishman who was no more interested than he should be when a -pretty woman gave him her confidences, leaned forward to hear the next -important words. And....</p> - -<p>“Oh ... Loise.... Forgive me, Miss Heloise.... Where did you put the -aspirin tablets?... I have a terrible headache.... I went to the cabin, -and could not find them.... And I’ve looked for you everywhere....”</p> - -<p>Before them stood the Gorgon smiling apologetically, wearily, but at -the same time determinedly. She had arrived just at the right moment to -interrupt revelations.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>The Gorgon did interrupt revelations, but, as Clement had planned, -the trick he had scored was a most useful one. More useful from -the fact that the pair of rogues did not know how effectively the -inconsequent-looking young Briton had taken measures against them. That -is, they still continued the tactics of trying to shut Clement off from -intimacy with Heloise.... The very method Clement had delicately drawn -the girl’s attention to.</p> - -<p>And of course the girl began to notice that the Gorgon was always at -her side with a sort of leechlike doggedness. She began to notice that -the massive Mr. Neuburg inevitably took up the siege, as it were, -whenever her companion was away. Mr. Neuburg talked cleverly and also -incessantly, but he wasn’t young and he wasn’t that rather attractive -Mr. Seadon. Without realizing anything of its meaning, she felt that -Mr. Seadon was, as he had laughingly suggested, being barred out by a -crowd.</p> - -<p>She began to show irritation—and independence. Mr. Neuburg found she -was leaving him in the middle of conversations. Méduse Smythe could -produce nothing important enough to hold her mistress at her side. The -twain were not fools. They recognized they were beaten. They ceased -their attentions with a brilliant <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>naturalness, but Clement knew that -the eyes of Mr. Neuburg watched him always as he walked with Heloise.</p> - -<p>Clement knew that the intelligence that was busy considering him was -not one to be despised. He did not know the extent of the gang working -to ensnare Heloise, but he felt that Neuburg was probably the brains -of it, the master mind, and that he would act in a masterly manner, -leaving very little to chance. To checkmate such a fellow would call -for all his ability—and perhaps all his strength and courage.</p> - -<p>All the same, though he was constantly on the alert, Clement made -the most of his opportunities with Heloise. It was for the good of -Heloise—and it was extraordinarily attractive for himself. He wasn’t -going to marry her. That was absurd.... How could he? Only—only -she was decisively and radiantly pretty. The singular glowing -curd-whiteness of her skin, the vividness of her beautiful and delicate -lips against the coolness of that skin, the clearness and steadiness of -her eyes—all these things gave him an eversharpening sense of delight -whenever he set eyes on her.</p> - -<p>And her step suited his so perfectly. On board ship, one is immensely -appreciative of any one whose step suits one perfectly. Her tall figure -swung so gracefully, so untiringly, beside him as they walked, no -matter if the sea was as smooth as polished glass—which the Atlantic -rarely is—or <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>whether there was a “lop” on. She was as physically -fit and as hard as he was, and she took the same zest in out-of-door -things. He felt a sort of comradeship, a rightness in the fact that -they should stride up and down the promenade deck together in such a -perfect unison as almost to suggest they were one....</p> - -<p>As though they were one!... but, of course, that was idiotic. They -weren’t one. There was no suggestion of their being one. One—that -meant marriage. And that question didn’t come up. Although, of course, -the little lawyer had said ... “Oh, hang the little lawyer!” he -muttered.</p> - -<p>“Who are you hanging?” asked Heloise, who was near and who had heard -the most lethal part of his muttering.</p> - -<p>“I was hanging this top-heavy sea,” said Clement genially. “I wanted -to show you the captain’s bridge—I’ve got permission—but with this -lop....”</p> - -<p>“Show me the captain’s bridge—now,” she laughed back. “The lop doesn’t -matter—not a <i>hang</i>.”</p> - -<p>That was part of her attraction. She really didn’t care a hang about -things that made other people uncomfortable. She enjoyed risks. She was -daring enough to go anywhere, see everything. They adventured into all -the strange and usually unseen parts of that splendid ship, even as far -as the boiler room. She was eager, she was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> interested in everything, -she had a zest for life. She was an ideal chum. More and more he began -to perceive that she was the ideal chum—anyhow for one particular man. -And presently he was saying not “Hang the little lawyer,” but “Hang -Henry Gunning.”</p> - -<p>Because both had a healthy disregard for exposure, and a healthy regard -for fresh air, they became almost the sole occupants of the breezy boat -deck. There they sat daily and talked; there in the evenings they sat, -and sometimes did not talk.</p> - -<p>In their talks they found splendid affinities. They found that they -liked so many similar things: not merely sports, books, theaters, the -open country and the other solaces of life, but other more significant -things. They found that both cared most in life for character: for -honesty, straightness, generosity, high-mindedness. They liked -intelligent people rather than merely jolly ones. They liked people who -did things rather than people who played at doing things. They found -that they had a mutual austerity of ideal in their way of looking at -problems ... would rather be the losers in anything than win underhand; -they would take the difficult path if it was the right one, rather than -the easy if it were wrong.</p> - -<p>This brought them dangerously near to the core of the matter they -were both engaged on, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>dangerously near Henry Gunning ... yet both -instinctively veered away from that.</p> - -<p>But he had come in when she spoke of her journey to Canada—though -even in this he came in only as “a friend, an old friend in whom I am -interested.”</p> - -<p>This happened when they talked about Sicamous one night.</p> - -<p>“I am going as far as Sicamous, at any rate,” she had said. “And that -reminds me, there are things I wanted to ask you about Sicamous.... -Perhaps you remember—we were interrupted?”</p> - -<p>“Something about mines, wasn’t it?” said Clement with a careful -casualness.</p> - -<p>“Yes.... I want you to tell me all about mines in that area.... -Now—please tell me.”</p> - -<p>Clement laughed with a touch of dismay.</p> - -<p>“But <i>all</i> about them. That’s a terrifically large order. In the first -place, there’s nothing to say about them—and then there’s everything.”</p> - -<p>“That sounds enigmatic. You’ll have to explain.”</p> - -<p>“I mean by that there are not so very many mines—those at Nelson, on -Kootenay Lake—silver-mines, they are—are perhaps the most important. -But, on the other hand, it’s always supposed that there are great -possibilities among those rocky valleys.”</p> - -<p>“Ah,” breathed the girl, “there are possibilities then.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not thinking of going in for mining, are you?” Clement teased—and -with a reason.</p> - -<p>“N-o,” said the girl. “It’s rather—it’s rather because a friend of -mine is interested. Deeply interested. I wanted to learn if there is -any foundation for—for expecting big things, immense returns from -mining in the Sicamous district.”</p> - -<p>Clement was excited. Then it was mining. That was the venture Henry -Gunning was supposed to need backing for. He answered without any show -of his emotion. “What exactly are your friend’s interests—silver, -copper, gold?”</p> - -<p>“All of them,” she answered quickly, and Clement though he saw the -character of Gunning at once in that report. Your unsuccessful -prospector is rather like that. He hasn’t merely a Golconda of one -metal up his sleeve—he has all the rare metals in the world, only -asking to be picked out of the surface ... if only some one will -oblige with the money to buy picks. “All of them,” repeated the girl. -“I understand that—that the claims (that’s right, isn’t it?) pegged -out show rich veins of gold, copper and silver, and there’s also -nickel—even platinum. It—is that possible?”</p> - -<p>“I will say,” said Clement candidly, “It’s held to be possible. -Prospectors are always saying that the whole of the district is a -likely place for—yes, all those minerals.”</p> - -<p>“These particular claims have been assayed and show excellent results.”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> - -<p>“They have, however, to be worked, I take it,” said Clement. “With -mines you can’t really tell until they have been worked.”</p> - -<p>“Oh——” said the girl rather pitifully. “Then don’t you think there -is a possibility of an—an immense fortune in claims showing such good -sample results?”</p> - -<p>“There might be. There is always that possibility.... On the other -hand, I should advise your friend to go with extreme caution.”</p> - -<p>“You’re not—you’re not very stimulating,” she said ruefully.</p> - -<p>“I’m just being as honest as I can,” said Clement, with a meaning she -could not appreciate, for actually he was. His whole instinct told him -to pour the coldest of cold water upon that mining scheme—and yet he -couldn’t altogether in fairness do that.</p> - -<p>“I believe you are,” she said softly, and with a surprising intuition -she added, “I believe you’d be honest even against your own interests.”</p> - -<p>In the tiny and quite significant pause that followed that touch of -curiously personal intimacy, Clement felt bound to say, “You see, Miss -Heloise, mining is a risky venture. You can throw away more money -and more easily in mining than you can in anything else—not even -excepting theaters and newspapers. There are so many things that make -it a gamble. The lode or stope may peter out. There may be immense -difficulties in cutting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> shafts. There may be fatal drawbacks in the -matter of transport, of working, of labor, and scores of things.... -Mineral finds that look good at the first assay may not pay for their -keep when they come to be worked. I know these valleys. We came -across some seams that looked good. They looked enormously good to a -tenderfoot like myself, for example. But the experts with the party -wouldn’t look at them. Nothing in them. Not worth the blasting.... Your -friend certainly should be advised to move with the greatest care in -this matter.”</p> - -<p>The girl was silent for a while.</p> - -<p>“It hurts so to shatter people’s dreams,” she said in a low voice. -And then she said on a lighter note, “But I remember—you talked of -difficulties that turned on transport; most of the difficulties do, -don’t they?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; it’s lack of transport facilities that kills most mining -ventures.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” cried the girl, with glee, “that’s a difficulty that doesn’t -hold good here.... The railway runs within a very short distance of the -claims. Doesn’t that make it sound more hopeful?”</p> - -<p>Clement said decisively, “It makes it sound hopeless.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Seadon!” she protested, aghast.</p> - -<p>“It does,” said Clement, sure of himself. “Miss Heloise, if those -claims are only a very short <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>distance from the railway, then they -are claims that could not have been overlooked. Don’t you see ... -railwaymen, engineers, prospectors, scores of people must have had a -chance of poking round. If there had been anything good there, it would -have been found long ago. And as it hasn’t happened—well——”</p> - -<p>“You think there is no chance at all,” said the girl in dismay.</p> - -<p>“I think,” said Clement impressively—this, he felt, was his great -opportunity. He must drive home truth into the soul of this girl, -though it was painful—“I think that you—that your friend should go -into this matter with the most scrupulous attention, that you—that -your friend should commit himself” (in his stress he overlooked the -gender he had employed) “in no way. All the dealings should be made -through unbiased experts—unbiased, Miss Heloise; some big mining -consultants with a reputation for straight-dealing.... Nobody locally. -I urge you to impress upon your friend the need of the greatest care.”</p> - -<p>The girl gave a gasp. It was a gasp of misery. Clement felt sore and -sorry for her—but he must say what he had to say. Then she said with -pain, “Then you think—you think there might be something—underhand -about such a venture.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Clement slowly, “I think there is a great possibility of -there being something underhand in it—from what you tell me.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> - -<p>“O-oh,” sighed the girl, and she fell back in her chair. Clement knew -why she was overcome. His confirmation of the suspicions that the -little lawyer Hartley Hard had fired at her, had forced her soul to -face an ugly conviction.</p> - -<p>Clement, inexpressibly sorry for her, followed her action with his -eyes. He would like to help her, he felt in his heart an almost -agonized desire to do something to soothe her wounded soul. She was -so gentle, so young to have suffered a shock. He half turned in his -eagerness to help her.</p> - -<p>Something—a shadow where there should have been the gray-blue light of -the open sea—caused him to lift his eyes.</p> - -<p>Behind her chair, close behind, crouching against the bow of the boat -that shielded them from the wind, filling up the space through which -Clement should have been able to gaze straight out to sea, he saw a -figure.</p> - -<p>A great, a bulky figure. The black, the stealthy figure of a mountain -of a man—listening.</p> - -<p>He poised there for a minute—then he vanished.</p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p>Heloise had had her warning—<i>and</i> so had Mr. Neuburg.</p> - -<p>What effect his warning would have on the girl, Clement did not know. -Time alone would show<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> that. But he knew what would be the effect on -the big and sinister man.</p> - -<p>It would be a direct declaration of war. Neuburg had heard something -which must tell him definitely that he—Clement Seadon—meant to -prevent Heloise Reys from having anything to do with Henry Gunning and -his wild-cat schemes.</p> - -<p>In other words the mountainous Mr. Neuburg knew that Clement meant -to prevent him getting the million pounds which he considered his -legitimate plunder. And if Clement knew anything that was not the sort -of threat that the big man would suffer quietly.</p> - -<p>It was going to be a fight, and, an ugly one. He made no mistake -about this Neuburg. He was a brilliant fellow and a criminal to boot. -He would not only employ all his cunning, but he would also stop at -nothing to gain his ends. Clement was perfectly certain that if it came -to the pinch, Mr. Neuburg would kill him, or have him killed, if he -felt it necessary.</p> - -<p>But that thought only stiffened him. When he thought of Heloise and -her beauty and her trustfulness at the mercy of such blackguards, his -heart might grow sick, but his chin grew stiff also. He was not going -to allow Heloise to be their victim.</p> - -<p>He’d beat the scoundrels. But how?</p> - -<p>In his cabin after he had said good-night to Heloise, he thought it -out. Against a gang the odds were decidedly not in his favor. He could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> -be smothered by sheer weight if he fought them direct. Should he play -carefully to try and win Heloise to reason? Not a trustworthy policy. -They would be working against him all the time, and the slightest -slip might prove disastrous. Should he wait and expose this mining -scheme with his own knowledge? Dangerous again, there was no saying -how Heloise’s emotions might react when she saw her old lover, or what -cunning trick Mr. Neuburg might spring to win her emotions.</p> - -<p>What then?</p> - -<p>The words of the little lawyer rose up. “Make her love you! Marry her!”</p> - -<p>By Jove, after all, that little lawyer was right. It was the only sure -thing. Marry her and her quixotic trip was finished. Marry her and -Gunning was ended and all that Gunning stood for. Marry her....</p> - -<p>“And I <i>want</i> to marry her,” he said to his looking glass. “Clement, -my dear ass, do look things in the face. You think she’s adorable. The -way she smiles; the way she lifts that soft little chin of hers; the -sound of her voice; that boyish brave air of hers ... all of her is -adorable. You know you want her, you know you want to marry her. Why -put on this ‘She loves another’ pose? She doesn’t really love him—it’s -just sentiment; while she does—well, she’s awfully fond of you. She -is, don’t pretend. Propose to her at once, propose to her before you -reach Quebec and you’ll carry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> her away. Marry her, that’s it, you want -to and you’ll also put a spoke in their wheels.”</p> - -<h3>V</h3> - -<p>And even while he was contemplating putting a spoke in the wheel of the -gang, it was actually putting a spoke in his.</p> - -<p>He went to bed full of this happy resolve.</p> - -<p>“To-morrow,” he said, “I’ll propose.”</p> - -<p>The big Mr. Neuburg had slipped from his hiding place, with that -curious silent swiftness which went so strangely with his bulk, crossed -the boat deck noiselessly, and went down to the promenade.</p> - -<p>He found the Gorgon sitting there, and he dropped into the seat beside -her. What he had to say was not very much, but it was apparently to the -point. She listened attentively, nodded, and when he finished she rose.</p> - -<p>But before she went to her cabin, she took from him a paper.</p> - -<p>“Make this your opening,” Mr. Neuburg said. “I know you are clever; -this is a time for being very clever. Be very natural ... be very -sympathetic ... do not pretend this letter has any significance for -you.”</p> - -<p>When Heloise, tired and dispirited, came down to the cabin, she -found her companion already half undressed. Not very talkative, she -never was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> but showing no emotion against or for anybody—Clement, -of course, was the anybody. It was no different from any of the -going-to-bed scenes that had taken place since they came on board—that -is, it wasn’t until Heloise, stretching out her hand for her hairbrush, -that inevitable feminine implement, encountered a folded sheet of -notepaper. She picked it up absently. It was a business letter, that -had been folded lengthways in three, and the printed heading was on the -outside. She read the name of the firm which had sent it—Rigby & Root.</p> - -<p>“Méduse,” she said in a surprised voice. “Did I leave this lying about?”</p> - -<p>“Did you leave what lying about, Loise?” said the companion in a quiet -voice, though, for all her apparent indifference, her singularly -immobile eyes seemed to gleam below the surface.</p> - -<p>“This letter—from my lawyers?”</p> - -<p>At that, “Yes, you did,” said the companion—there was the nicest tinge -of reproach in her voice; it was beautifully done. “You did—on the -promenade deck. Yes, my dear Loise, it was on the very deck. I actually -kicked it out of my way before it occurred to me that it really was a -letter and not a dirty piece of paper. Then I picked it up, and saw -that name on the outside—Rigby & Root. And I was surprised—your -lawyers, of course; I knew that—so naturally I brought it straight -down here....” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> - -<p>“How could I have taken it up on deck?” said Heloise, puzzled.</p> - -<p>“That I don’t know,” said Méduse pleasantly. “Unless you are like -me, and use the first thing that comes to hand as a bookmarker. It’s -not always wise. I remember once opening a book at a young woman’s -religious instruction class, and the piece of paper I had used as a -marker slipped out for all to see ... and it was a handbill of the most -lurid sort of play—a very fast play even. You see I....” Her manner -was gossipy, perfect, but she did not have to carry her garrulous -anecdote to a finish.</p> - -<p>First, Heloise said, “But a lawyer’s letter.” And then with a sort of -gasp she cried, “But it’s not my letter.”</p> - -<p>The Gorgon switched round, smiling indulgently. “My dear ... but I saw -the name at the top—Rigby & Root.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it’s from Rigby & Root,” said Heloise in a curious voice, for she -was at that moment, and abruptly, a prey to strange emotions of doubt -and suspicion.</p> - -<p>“Well, if it’s from Rigby & Root——” said the Gorgon indolently.</p> - -<p>“It’s addressed to Mr. Clement Seadon,” said Heloise in a dry voice.</p> - -<p>The Gorgon’s look of smiling amazement was an admirable piece of -acting. “But, my dear—whatever <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>are your lawyers writing to Mr. Seadon -about?”</p> - -<p>And that well-barbed dart was fired with beautiful precision. Without -the slightest appearance of malice, the Gorgon had underscored the -significant fact that Mr. Clement Seadon was connected with the little -lawyer Hartley Hard (a partner in Rigby & Root), who had shown himself -so prejudiced against Henry Gunning and Heloise’s journey to Canada. -She looked at the girl, her eyebrows raised in faint amusement and -surprise. “What could Mr. Hard be writing to Mr. Seadon about?”</p> - -<p>Heloise did not read other people’s letters, but the circumstances made -it impossible for her not to read that short and very businesslike -communication. It was unthrilling. It dealt with the sale of certain -stocks, and the buying of certain bonds. It was not signed by the -irritating Mr. Hard. She said, “It’s not from Mr. Hard. It’s from -Mr. Root himself” (Rigby was dead). “And it’s about nothing in -particular—just business. Apparently Rigby & Root are Mr. Seadon’s -lawyers also.”</p> - -<p>Heloise had an air of dismissing any implication of underhand conduct. -But she had not dismissed it. The surprising fact, brought before her -mind so suddenly and neatly, made her feel that she had been trusting -somebody who could not be trusted. He was in league with the man who -had tried to hamper her movements.... She tried to tell <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>herself, of -course, that there was no ground for such a thought; people can have -the same lawyers without conspiring with those lawyers. But the shock -of it, the coincidence of it cut the ground from under her.... This -young man who had only just now taken pains to set her against Henry -Gunning and his mining schemes was intimate with her lawyers, who had -also taken pains to set her against Henry Gunning.... The facts seemed -too pronounced to admit of coincidence.... And while she was feeling -sore, rankled, the clever companion pushed the barb of suspicion a -little deeper.</p> - -<p>“How strange that you should both have the same lawyers,” she said with -an air of innocent wonder. “How strange that he should know that Mr. -Hard who has been so annoying to you.”</p> - -<p>It was, of course, the attitude of Méduse Smythe to pretend that -she had little or nothing to do with Heloise’s trip to Canada. She -pretended all along to play a passive part. All the initiative was -supposed to come from Heloise.</p> - -<p>Méduse Smythe was clever. She had the master brain of Mr. Neuburg to -prompt her, and she had played her cards subtly, so that although -it was she alone who had inspired the high-minded girl to undertake -this adventure, she was yet able to pose as no more than a lucky and -accidental link in the chain of circumstances. Heloise thought of her -only as a companion who was but faintly and sentimentally interested in -an act of her employer’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> life over which she had no control. It was to -keep up this air of being altogether outside the business that Méduse -had said not that Mr. Hard was annoying to “us,” but that “Mr. Hard had -been so annoying to <i>you</i>.”</p> - -<p>Her attitude gave her so many advantages. Thus when Heloise said in -answer to that little flick on the raw, “I wonder whether he knows -Mr. Hard?” she was able to say with an admirable and impersonal air. -“Well, it didn’t seem important before, but it may explain why he has -monopolized you since you came on board.”</p> - -<p>Heloise was suddenly aware how easily, how frequently she had slipped -off with Clement Seadon. Had he monopolized her? Why——? She -remembered how she had talked to him about Sicamous, about mining. How -he had warned her.... Was that the reason? His lawyers were her lawyers -... her lawyers had warned her, too. Was that the reason?</p> - -<p>And then as the girl sat quietly, feeling suspicious, miserable, -hurt, the clever Miss Méduse Smythe improved the shining hour. She -fired another little barb: “Of course, you are both young, and he is -very handsome and has charming ways with him—I could understand your -getting on so well together ... indulging in even a little ship-board -flirtation.”</p> - -<p>Heloise gasped. She was acutely conscious of Clement’s good looks, his -charming ways—had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> they been used to an end? And flirting—had she -flirted?</p> - -<p>“You think I have been flirting?” she said in a low, breathless voice.</p> - -<p>“You?” smiled Miss Méduse tolerantly. “Oh, no, I don’t think you -flirted, my dear. I know how you feel about your Mr. Gunning.” Heloise -winced. She had not been feeling very much about Mr. Gunning lately. -She was unpleasantly reminded of her inconstancy—as Miss Méduse Smythe -meant her to be reminded. “I knew you were safe enough,” the smiling -companion went on, “but I don’t know about that young man.... He -seemed, well, yes, I must say, I think he flirted.”</p> - -<p>That practically ended the conversation. A conversation with apparently -very little in it, but a very telling conversation all the same. -When Heloise went to bed she carried it with her. And as she tossed -unsleeping, its different phases kept turning over in her mind, turning -over and over with something of the steady throbbing of the engines in -their ceaselessness.</p> - -<p>So that while Clement Seadon, also awake, was tossing in his bunk, -the throb of the engines beating out entrancingly the thoughts, “I’ll -marry her ... I love her and I’ll marry her ... I’ll make her marry -me ... I’ll save her through loving her....” Heloise lay awake asking -herself: “Is he in league against me? Is he tricking me?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> After all I -thought of him, isn’t he tricking me? His lawyers are my lawyers. He -has wormed out my secret from me ... things my lawyers did not know. -Things they wanted to know? Was that accidental, or was it cunning? Is -he fighting against—Harry?” She shivered in disgust at herself. “Harry -... have I acted honorably towards Harry? I have flirted with this man -... flirted! I’ve enjoyed his company, I’ve come to like him ...” she -could not go on. She dare not go on. She dare not put her feelings for -Clement Seadon under close examination.... “I’ve behaved dishonorably. -I’ve forgotten Harry for this man who has—has been working against -Harry.” Her heart chilled. “Perhaps his—his flirting with me was part -of his plan against Harry....”</p> - -<p>The whole of these thoughts jumbled and tumbled together in her -anguished mind. The duplicity of Clement Seadon became entangled -with her own inconstancy towards Henry Gunning, until, in the end, -they became one and the same thing, and Seadon was the archvillain -responsible for all ... as the adroit Mr. Neuburg and the clever Miss -Méduse Smythe had meant him to be.</p> - -<p>And so when the morning came Clement rose saying with immense purpose, -“I’ll do it to-day. It’s the last day; to-morrow we land. I will tell -her I love her to-day. I’ll <i>make</i> her love me.”</p> - -<p>As he said that with great cheerfulness, Heloise,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> rising, jaded, worn -out, with a mind incapable of clear and unprejudiced thought, said, “I -must find out. I’ll put it to the test. I’ll confront him with this -letter. And if I am right....”</p> - -<p>She knew a little pain, but that only strengthened her resolve. If she -found out she was right, then it would be finished. Clement Seadon -would not be allowed to intrude into her life again.</p> - -<h3>VI</h3> - -<p>It was the last day of the voyage, and Clement Seadon, supremely -conscious of the fact, was feeling baffled.</p> - -<p>Again Heloise Reys was proving unapproachable. Again he was finding it -difficult to get near her because of the crowd about her. The blockade -of the first days of the trip was resumed.</p> - -<p>But now Clement could not view this blockade with equanimity. He could -not smile and bide his time—there was no time. Already they were -passing up the mighty river St. Lawrence, already the end of the voyage -was in sight. A few hours only were all that were left to him. He must -get her alone.</p> - -<p>He could not get her alone—not for a moment. And as the day -relentlessly advanced, a further, a more disturbing thought was born -in upon him—she did not want to be left alone with him. He began -to realize this with a sense of dismay. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> was she who was putting -barriers between them. It was she who kept her companion close at her -side, who actually invited the big man to fill the vacancy when the -companion went away. It was not the pair shutting him out; it was -Heloise herself deliberately shutting him out with the pair.</p> - -<p>He could not understand it. She had left him in perfect friendliness -last night. There was no hint of misunderstanding—estrangement. Why -had she changed? What was causing her to stand so aloof from him? Was -it the doing of that precious rascally pair? Was it anything he himself -had done or said? Was it, perhaps, the way he had talked about the -mining venture? He did not think so. He knew that had pained her—that -could not be helped; but it had not offended her. She had left him, -well, in such a manner that he had felt confident of winning her as a -lover....</p> - -<p>No, it wasn’t that—but what was it? Some deep and cunning game of -those rogues. Something subtle and devilish emanating from the brain of -that master villain Neuburg—that was the only explanation. But what -it was he could not find out. And the fact that there was so little -time to find out, win back her confidence—that and the real ardor he -felt for her, robbed his wits of their habitual steadiness, made them -unstable, in a crisis.</p> - -<p>And the crisis came. It came with an unfair abruptness. It could not -be aught else, for Heloise’s wits were also in something of a whirl.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> -She was dreading the moment of confronting Clement, just as she was -determined that she would do so. Her mind had been an affair of veering -unstability all day. Now she believed him to be underhand, now she -disbelieved. Now she hated him, now she thought he could do nothing -dishonorable. Now she made up her mind to go to him, now she held back. -She was a mass of hesitations and decisions; she was hot, and she was -cold.</p> - -<p>She made up her mind only a few minutes before the dressing-bugle -sounded. Clement had tramped past her in dark loneliness, had turned -and passed round the end of the deck. She felt, “I must do it now -or never.” With an indefinite gesture, more than half an appeal for -support, to her companion, she rose and went after him.</p> - -<p>She expected to see him on the other side of the deck, and she would -call him and hand him his letter.... But when she reached the end of -the deck she actually ran into him. He had swung round on his heel, -returned in his tracks.... As a matter of fact, he had made up <i>his</i> -mind to talk to her, to demand an explanation from her.</p> - -<p>They met. It was a shock. They stared at each other a little -breathless. Then, “This is your letter,” said Heloise.</p> - -<p>Clement took it, looked at it, frowned.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is,” he said. “But how on earth....” Heloise wasn’t going to -trouble about trivial explanations. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I looked at it because Rigby & Root are my lawyers as well as your -own—did you know that?”</p> - -<p>Clement was too honest, as well as too startled, to tell anything but -the truth.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I did know it,” he said.</p> - -<p>Heloise’s breath caught in something like a sob. There was a sudden -blaze of contempt and anger in her heart; she had trusted this man ... -and liked him.</p> - -<p>“And you knew about me ... about the reason of my voyage?”</p> - -<p>“Miss Reys——” he began.</p> - -<p>“Did you?” she cried. “Did you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I knew, but——”</p> - -<p>“You knew,” she cried at him, and her face was white. “And you were -acting in the interests of—of Mr. Hard?...”</p> - -<p>Clement stared at her. This sudden attack had left his wits woolly and -bewildered. And, of course, he was, in a sense, acting in the interests -of Mr. Hard. If he said he wasn’t he would be lying. And yet Mr. Hard -wasn’t the whole of the thing ... but the whole of the thing.... How -could he explain it to her in this unsympathetic mood, in the presence -of her archenemy and his, Miss Méduse?... He couldn’t explain. He could -only temporize. He cried, “Miss Reys ... there is an explanation behind -it all....”</p> - -<p>He got no further. Heloise read his hesitation correctly. He <i>was</i> -acting for Mr. Hard. He had,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> under the guise of friendship, been -conspiring against her....</p> - -<p>She turned about. Clutching the arm of the clever Miss Méduse Smythe -she walked away, left him.</p> - -<h3>VII</h3> - -<p>The first thing Clement Seadon did was to give way to one of those -outbursts of anger that, in time, bring calmness. They had scored over -him—they had tricked him, these blackguards. They had dealt him a very -damaging blow.</p> - -<p>Then from this anger against their very definite triumph, his cooling -brain turned to the matter which had helped them to score that point. -The explanation he found was perfectly simple. That letter had been -stolen from his despatch case. He was not of the type that leaves -letters lying about, particularly lawyers’ letters. Theft, that was the -solution. Some one had been through his effects. They had found this -letter, appreciated its worth as a means of alienating Heloise. They -had been clever, as clever as he thought they were, and had struck at -him at the psychological moment.</p> - -<p>Who had been the thief? That, again, was easy. Who else but the -rascally steward, a fellow in their pay, a member of the gang, who had -the right to come and go in all the cabins. And, now that the thing -was brought acutely to his mind, he recalled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> seeing the rogue hanging -about in the gallery, conspicuously near his door. He remembered him, -not merely because of his redoubtably evil face, but also because he -was so resolutely dirty.... His should-be white steward’s jacket had a -beastly and disfiguring stain of yellow—rust, perhaps—up the left arm -and shoulder.</p> - -<p>Yes, that criminal-looking steward was the thief—but what matter? That -part was passed and over. Could the thing be remedied? It looked black. -It looked as though Heloise Reys would for the future hold him at arm’s -length—only she must not. For her own sake, if not for his, he must -prevent her holding him at arm’s length. He must speak with her.</p> - -<p>It would be difficult. He might see and be able to speak to her -to-night, after dinner, but he was not hopeful. She would evade -him—Neuburg and the Gorgon would see to that. To-morrow—less hope -to-morrow. The hustle and bustle of leaving the ship at Quebec would -give no opportunity. At Quebec ... he gained a ray of comfort. At -Quebec, yes, it might be done. He knew that she was to stay at the -Château Frontenac for at least two days. She had told him she had rooms -reserved there.... And so had he. Well, if he could not see her, even -if he had to force himself upon her, during those two days, then he -wasn’t the man he thought he was.</p> - -<p>Quebec would be his salvation. Quebec would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> see him right himself with -her, put him on a footing which would enable him better to counteract -the plans of her enemies. He felt more sanguine.</p> - -<p>More than that, he felt his old capacity and alertness come back to him.</p> - -<p>It was as well it did. He had full need of those qualities.</p> - -<p>For the gang was not leaving things to chance. Mr. Neuburg, that master -mind, was aware that Quebec would give him opportunities for regaining -ground with Heloise. Mr. Neuburg meant to prevent that.</p> - -<p>As the great liner pushed up the vast river towards that city of beauty -and history, that on its great cliff hangs like a fairy citadel over -the shining waters, Mr. Neuburg acted. He devised an acute, a cunning -and a beastly plan for getting Clement Seadon out of the way.</p> - -<p>As the big vessel was wharping into the dockside, Clement Seadon, -who had remained on deck to the last possible moment in the hope of -seeing Heloise Reys, went below. He went below disconsolately to gather -together his traps, and to prepare for his effort in Quebec.</p> - -<p>He went below, past the busy stewards working in their shirt-sleeves -among the baggage, past their glory hole, full of their clothes and -their intimate litter, past the many scattered trunks and suitcases -ready to be taken off, past the wholesale reminders of voyages ended, -and into his own cabin. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> - -<p>His own kit was, of course, already packed. A good traveler, he got -through that swiftly and early. Now he gathered together his stick and -his mackintosh and his hat ready for departure. He sat down on his bunk -and felt for his cigarette case.</p> - -<p>His cigarette case indicated the state of mind he was in; it was empty. -For a moment, and in sheer desperation, he felt that he could not be -bothered to unstrap his suitcase and dive to its bottom for smoking -materials. Then he drove his melancholy from him, pulled the heavy -leather case towards him.</p> - -<p>In thirty seconds his hand encountered something hard and edgy. -Something strange to his groping fingers.... He tugged it out....</p> - -<p>In the palm of his hand lay a thing that glittered and flashed. A thing -of immense worth—<i>a woman’s tiara</i>.</p> - -<p>A woman’s diamond tiara in his suitcase. It was incredible.</p> - -<p>Then Clement Seadon jumped alertly to his feet. He saw the meaning of -that tiara at once. It had been put there so that he should be branded -as a thief, that he—by gad!—that he should be arrested, be kept under -lock and key while Heloise Reys was in Quebec.</p> - -<p>He saw it all. The devils, the clever devils, this was their -plan—Neuburg’s plan—to get him out of the way. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> - -<p>What should he do? The thing was immensely valuable. Return it?... No, -couldn’t risk wandering about with that in his possession, for anybody -to fling accusations. Oh, but there was something quite simple ... -there always is. The purser ... he’d run right along to the purser, -hand it to him, say that he had found it. He’d do it now. He guessed -he’d have to be quick. Neuburg and his gang would see to it that the -loss of that tiara did not go long undiscovered.</p> - -<p>He almost ran along the gallery towards the purser’s office. He did not -get far. Before he came to the accommodation stairs that led up to the -smoking saloon, stairs that stood between him and the purser, he heard -an excited babble of voices coming down those stairs.</p> - -<p>Yes, there was a definite excitement in them. Men’s voices raised in -protest and advice. A woman’s voice, hysterical and accusative.... A -woman who had a grievance.</p> - -<p>The hunt was up.... They were after that tiara.</p> - -<p>It was absolutely impossible to go on. They were bound to see him ... -and he had that damnable tiara on him.... He glanced about wildly.... -There seemed no way of escape, and the voices were very near.... They -were about to come round the corner.... Like a fox bolting to earth, -Clement Seadon dived into the empty glory hole. He crouched behind -the door amid the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>hanging coats.... The voices passed him talking -at a babble.... He heard them drifting along the gallery towards his -cabin.... He stood up, scrutinizing his lair carefully. No other way -out except by the door he had come in. He waited a few moments. Then -he stepped out quietly, and walked a little way towards the purser’s -office, he must not on any account show haste. He heard voices behind -him, he faced about for a moment and looked.... It was a crucial -moment. As he looked, the captain of the ship walked out from the -alleyway in which his cabin stood, looked along the gallery towards him -... saw him.</p> - -<p>He saw him and immediately called out, “Hello, Seadon” (genial Captain -Heavy was an old friend), “I say, you’re the man we want. Would you -mind coming along here for a moment, my good chap?”</p> - -<p>Clement Seadon, with a throbbing heart, went along. He went to his -own cabin. There seemed to be a crowd of people in that cabin. In the -blur which his painful sensations brought to him, Clement could only -distinguish one excited and angry lady and a steward—the evil little -steward. He turned his face quickly away from these. He looked at -Captain Heavy. He meant to say something to Heavy, but his mouth was -parched.</p> - -<p>Captain Heavy, his good-tempered face frowning, understood that -inquiring look. “Yes, it does seem an idiot mob to thrust into a -man’s cabin,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> old chap. None of my doing. I—well, look here, it’s a -rotten and unwarrantable thing, but—but you see this lady has lost a -valuable piece of jewelry ... a diamond tiara.... She says it has been -stolen....”</p> - -<p>“It has been stolen,” snapped the lady.</p> - -<p>“Well—she says it has been stolen. And one of the stewards declares he -knows who did it. In fact—in fact, old man, he has the—the effrontery -to say that it was—<i>you</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Clement, in a voice whose evenness surprised him.</p> - -<p>“Well—well,” said the distressed captain. “Well—they came along to -see for themselves—to—to search.”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>There was a moment of deep silence in the cabin after the definite and -cruel accusation was made. Clement swept the little crowd with a glance -he strove to make amazed.</p> - -<p>“I have been accused of theft! I am to be searched!...” he said. “My -dear Heavy, this is absurd!”</p> - -<p>“I know! I know! I’ve said that already. This la—they’ve taken the -matter into their own hands.”</p> - -<p>“But to be searched—the idea is infamous.”</p> - -<p>“You can refuse,” said Heavy. “And await—er—the authorities.”</p> - -<p>“And I stay here,” said the lady, like a figure of vengeance, “until -the authorities come. I am <i>not</i> going to lose my tiara.”</p> - -<p>“You’d scarcely do that, madam,” said the captain soothingly. -“Even—even if Mr. Seadon had it, he could scarcely get rid of it. -If he tried to get rid of it through his porthole people would see -him—we’re alongside. And in any case his porthole is shut....” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> - -<p>Seadon, with a start, darted a glance to the porthole. Heavy’s remarks -had closed that loophole pretty thoroughly, he thought.</p> - -<p>“All the same, I stay,” said the lady implacably. “Unless, of course, -Mr. Seadon allows us to search.”</p> - -<p>“Shall I signal the police, sir?” asked the evil-looking little steward.</p> - -<p>“Is this the man who accused me?” Clement asked sharply, and as the -captain nodded, “What’s the reason behind this charge?” he demanded -cuttingly of the fellow.</p> - -<p>“Reason b’ind it?” snarled the man. “Ain’t no reason be’ind it. It’s -just that when Mrs. Smot said she lorst ’er dimend terara, well I -recalled or recollected I’d seen <i>you</i> ’angin’ about suspicious like, -comin’ out of ’er cabin where an’ when you ’ad no right to be there.”</p> - -<p>“And how is it you saw me come out of this lady’s cabin?”</p> - -<p>“’Ow! ’Ow! Strewth, ain’t I ’er cabin steward?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you’re her cabin steward. You’re the one who has the <i>entré</i> to -her cabin. What’s the record of this man, Heavy?” Seadon rapped out the -sentences with a fighting air, obviously trying to parry suspicion.</p> - -<p>“Don’t know,” answered Heavy, who was feeling that it was rather stupid -of Seadon to act like this, when a search, distasteful though it might -be,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> would clear him at once. “Don’t know. He only signed on this -voyage; we don’t know anything about him.”</p> - -<p>“If you think you c’n switch it off ter me,” said the steward with an -evil grin, “lemme tell you <i>I</i> don’t mind being searched, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said Clement, catching his breath.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the lady acidly. “I don’t see why any man, if he is -innocent, should object to being searched.”</p> - -<p>Clement acknowledged that he could no longer fence off the evil moment. -He turned to the captain with a resigned air. “There are my bags,” -he said. “I haven’t been in the baggage room since I came aboard, as -your baggage master can testify. If that tiara is anywhere it is in -my suitcases.” He pointedly drew attention to his suitcases. He noted -that the steward attended to this fact. For though he searched the -suitcases with great cunning, starting first on the one he <i>had not</i> -put the tiara into, so as to hide his own knowledge, he seemed to have -something on his mind.</p> - -<p>It was very definitely on his mind after he had drawn blank in the -suitcases, had drawn blank in his careful examination of the cabin, and -had reassured himself that the porthole had been locked, anyhow, since -this morning.</p> - -<p>He stood up studying Clement with lowering and evil eyes. He said, “No, -it ain’t anywhere<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> ’ere. Not in the suitcases or anywheres. There’s -only ’imself.”</p> - -<p>“You seem curiously anxious to fix suspicion on me,” said Clement -sharply. “To divert it, I might say.”</p> - -<p>“Well, there’s nowhere else, is there?” snapped the man.</p> - -<p>“Captain Heavy,” said Clement, with an anger that must affect the -captain, “Am I to submit to this outrage any longer? Is this man to fix -suspicion on me for some reason of his own?...”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want ter search ’im, if ’e don’t want it. There’s always th’ -police,” said the steward.</p> - -<p>Clement turned swiftly to the captain. He held his arms out straight. -“Please search me, captain,” he said savagely.</p> - -<p>Captain Heavy with a little shrug, and a “I wish this was merely a -joke, old man,” searched Clement. He did the job in the Scotland Yard -manner. It was complete, it was brilliantly thorough. When he had -finished he stepped back and stared at the steward. He also stared at -the lady. And he said, bitterly, “Well?”</p> - -<p>The lady’s face showed that apoplectical tint that might come to even -the best-nourished woman when she is torn by the two powerful but -contrary emotions, those of groveling apology, and anger with a steward -who had made her look a fool.</p> - -<p>The steward—well, the steward simply goggled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> at Clement. There was -incredulity and also fear showing in his devastated countenance. He had -been ready to pounce at the first glitter of a diamond. He had been -ready to suggest some hiding place overlooked by the captain. He was -sure that the tiara must be on Clement’s person since it was not in his -suitcase—where he himself had put it.</p> - -<p>Captain Heavy glared at him, and snapped, “Well, my man, what have you -got to say? You’ve subjected a passenger on <i>my</i> ship to a disgusting -indignity—for what?”</p> - -<p>“It—it must be on ’im,” said the steward, sullenly backing away, his -mind absolutely bewildered by the unexpected absence of the tiara.</p> - -<p>“Must!” thundered the captain. “Good God! man, do you want me to take -his skin off?”</p> - -<p>“Well, ’e ’as it. Didn’t I see ’im ’angin’ about——”</p> - -<p>“We’ll get to the bottom of this. As I knew, Mr. Seadon did <i>not</i> take -that tiara. Why the devil did you accuse him? I want to know that? And -now.”</p> - -<p>“I think”—said Clement in a cold voice—“I think I have already -suggested why.”</p> - -<p>“Eh, Seadon? You suggested? What did you suggest, my good chap?” cried -the captain, only too anxious for the good of his service to make -amends.</p> - -<p>“I suggested that he was anxious to fix <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>suspicion on some one—some -one other than himself.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—to divert suspicion. That’s it. That’s what you said,” snapped -the lady, who not only had a natural instinct for finding scapegoats, -but who owed the steward something for making her appear so -conspicuously foolish.</p> - -<p>“Ah, divert suspicion,” said the captain, swinging round on the steward -and appreciating his substantial air of villainy for the first time. “I -see. You are this lady’s cabin steward, and——”</p> - -<p>Clement might have helped the good work along. There was no need. The -lady was only too anxious to help the good work along herself.</p> - -<p>“And he had the run of my cabin,” she piped. “<i>He</i> could go in there -whenever he liked, do what he liked, <i>take</i> what he liked.”</p> - -<p>“I never,” snarled the steward, cringing back, glaring hate at Clement. -He felt that this softy-looking young man had turned the tables on him -in some way. He was afraid. But more, he resented the fact that this -dandy fellow, who looked the last person to possess brains in good -working order should be tying him in such a knot. As his wits darted -back over the happenings and the talk in that cabin during the last few -minutes, he saw, blazingly, that its apparent casualness had really -been a net to entangle him. In a desperate effort to beat the brain -working against him, he cried, “I never took nuthin’. If I ’ad, would -I ’ave pushed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> meself forward in this ... brought meself inter the -limelight? I risked sumthin’ accusin’ <i>’im</i>, though it was me duty.”</p> - -<p>Clement might have said something. There was no need. He never believed -in doing work others could do better. The incensed lady did it much -better. She cried, “That was only your vile cunning. Of course it was. -My tiara is missing—who would be the first person I would accuse? The -cabin steward—naturally. And naturally my cabin steward would know it. -If he wasn’t a thief—it wouldn’t matter. If he was—well, he’d do his -best to divert suspicion, as Mr. Sneezedon——”</p> - -<p>“Seadon,” from Heavy.</p> - -<p>“—Seadon said. Oh, I see it. You suggested some one I did not know, -on the other side of the ship, to lead me away. You joined furiously -in the search so that I should be convinced that you, at least, were -honest. Oh, I see it. I see it. You pretended to be honest to cover up -your guilt.”</p> - -<p>“Guilt ... cut out the guilt. I <i>ain’t</i> guilty,” snarled the steward, -backing farther away, and watching Clement all the time. What had -this man who looked so inconsequent, and wasn’t, up his sleeve. “I -didn’t take that terara.” He made another desperate effort in defense. -“An’—an’ why should I pick on this gentleman ’ere, of all passengers. -Why?”</p> - -<p>Clement cut in like a flash. This was his time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> to speak. “Because at -the very beginning of the voyage I kicked you out of this cabin—since -you were in it, and had no right to be in it. Because you tampered with -my private papers during the voyage, and you know I know it, and want -either to prejudice beforehand any report I might make, or to get me -out of the way.... Isn’t that true?”</p> - -<p>“My God!” jerked the man at the mention of the papers, “’ow did you -know that?... I mean I never did.” He stared at Clement, his face -working. If the gang had utilized that stolen letter with great effect -against Clement, he had turned their own weapon against them with -dismaying force. The mere mention of it had staggered the steward. -Already convicted of theft out of his own mouth the steward was at -a loss. It was Captain Heavy who acted next. He rang the cabin bell -imperiously. When Clement’s own steward, Nicholson, answered, he -snapped, “Nicholson, have this man’s effects searched—at <i>once</i>. -Make it a thorough search. A diamond tiara is missing. This fellow -has accused Mr. Clement Seadon of taking it.” Nicholson regarded the -evil-faced steward with a sudden glance in which benevolence was -conspicuously absent. He knew Mr. Clement Seadon. Also Captain Heavy -knew he knew Mr. Clement Seadon. “It’s more than likely that he has -merely accused Mr. Seadon to distract attention from himself. Get to -it.”</p> - -<p>Nicholson got to it. With another unbrotherly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> glance at the steward he -nipped out of the cabin and sped towards the glory hole. The evil-faced -lad attempted an air of insouciance. He even called after Nicholson, -“Search ’ard, me bucky. I’ve already expressed me willingness.”</p> - -<p>The lady who had been so ready to accuse proved herself more than -ready to apologize. Her method of apology was lavish, but particularly -unsatisfactory to the evil-faced steward. It was one long hymn of hate -concerning the steward. His feelings grew more and more disturbed as -the minutes passed.</p> - -<p>He was confident it was all right, it was bound to be all right, he -told himself. He’d been most careful. Nothing could go wrong with ’im. -Nothing ... or anyhow, he thought nothing could go wrong with him. He -saw no reason for feeling scared ... but....</p> - -<p>Nicholson came into the cabin.</p> - -<p>Nicholson looked wisely at Clement; with resignation at his superior -officer; with a certain touch of cheeriness at the evil-faced steward.</p> - -<p>He lifted his right hand. He opened it. Something flamed and flashed.</p> - -<p>“My tiara,” screamed the lady.</p> - -<p>“In the pocket of this,” said Nicholson, lifting up a steward’s white -jacket.</p> - -<p>“My coat—my oath,” blurted the evil-faced steward.</p> - -<p>There was no doubt about it. That dirty coat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> with its yellow -stain—probably rust—on its arm and shoulder was unmistakable. -Everybody recognized it. Clement Seadon had never forgotten it, in fact.</p> - -<p>“A cunnin’ hiding-place,” said Nicholson. “Hunted all through his—his -effects, as ordered, finding nothing. Never thought of looking in his -coat. Never would have thought. Only we see it hanging in the glory -hole.”</p> - -<p>That was where Clement Seadon had seen it hanging last—in the glory -hole when he had dodged in there for cover. He smiled.</p> - -<p>“My oath!” burst out the evil-faced steward, seeing that smile. “My -oath—in my coat pocket. <i>You</i> put it there.”</p> - -<p>He stared at Clement in hate. Clement’s smile was even sweeter.</p> - -<p>“Of course I put it there.” And only he and the steward knew that he -was telling the truth. The others merely appreciated his sarcasm.</p> - -<p>“That settles that,” said Captain Heavy. “Nicholson, take this brute -out, and keep him safe until the police come aboard. Seadon, I can’t -tell you how mad I am that all this has happened. It’s infamous.... If -it’s any consolation, I’ll promise you that this scoundrel will be made -to suffer in full....”</p> - -<p>But the rest doesn’t matter, nor do the voluble apologies of the lady -of the tiara matter. All that matters is that Clement Seadon left the -<i>Empress</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> for the Château Frontenac, just about the time that the -police went on board her to arrest and convey the steward to prison.</p> - -<p>And in the lobby of the Château Frontenac, the first person he saw was -the mountain of a man—Mr. Neuburg.</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg was standing facing the door, and he started perceptibly -as Clement came into the hotel. He betrayed himself by a quick stride -forward and a muttered oath.</p> - -<p>Clement smiled. He said cheerfully, “Oh, were you expecting the <i>other</i> -fellow? Sorry. He took my place—at the last minute. You’ll know where -to find him, I think—or, anyhow, the first <i>policeman</i> will direct -you——”</p> - -<p>The mountain of a man stared across Clement’s shoulder for a moment. In -his usually placid eye there was a red light of rage. His hand, with -fist clenching, lifted to the level of his ribs. He gulped. Without -another sign he swung round and went with his surprising swiftness out -of the lobby.</p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>Clement Seadon went to his room with a certain geniality in his heart.</p> - -<p>When making his reservation at the reception counter he had carefully -studied the room bookings before his name. The clerk had said to him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> -“I’ll give you a nice room on the fifth floor, Mr. Seadon. A good room. -Overlooks Dufferin Terrace and the river. One of the best rooms we’ve -got.”</p> - -<p>“I know it,” said Clement pleasantly. “Ripping view.... Have you -anything on the same gallery as 359? I don’t mind if there isn’t a -view.”</p> - -<p>“Why, yes,” said the clerk, “I can give you 362. It’s round the corner, -but it’s on the same floor and only three doors away. Same view, too. -It’s an intercommunicating bathroom, but locked on your side, of -course. You’ll like that room.”</p> - -<p>Clement Seadon hastily scanned the names above his. Who had room -361—on the other side of his intercommunicating bathroom? His heart -beat. He said,</p> - -<p>“You’re right. I fancy I shall more than like room 362.”</p> - -<p>The name against room 361 was “Adolf Neuburg.”</p> - -<p>The Frontenac has two lifts. As Clement knew this brilliant hotel quite -well, he could choose his lift with cunning and so could get into his -room without being seen on the gallery in which Mr. Neuburg had his -door.</p> - -<p>There was a matter for further satisfaction, and also, it must be said, -for a certain anxiety in this business of rooms. He had had luck in -getting a room next Mr. Neuburg’s. His choice of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>gallery itself -had been deliberate. Heloise Reys had her room on that gallery.</p> - -<p>He had looked for her name at once, before he had sought out the name -attached to room 361. He had seen that the room booked to Heloise -Reys was 359. The room booked to Méduse Smythe, the companion, was -360—it was to be expected. They had rooms together—probably also -with a communicating bathroom. It was only when he had discovered Mr. -Neuburg’s room that a feeling of anxiety crept into his thoughts. For, -obviously, Mr. Neuburg had the room next Méduse Smythe. The gang had -deliberately arranged to group themselves—and their victim—together. -It probably went without saying that Méduse, the Gorgon, and Mr. -Neuburg also had a communicating bathroom. They were all in rooms in -line, the victim, Heloise, the gang, and himself.</p> - -<p>Clement went quickly to his room, left the door ajar, so that he would -not have to call out when the baggage man brought his baggage up—to -call out loud would be to warn Mr. Neuburg—and went very quietly -into his own bathroom. He felt the handle of his own internal door, -found it bolted, slipped the bolt, and carefully opened it. The door -of Mr. Neuburg’s room (there were double doors separating the rooms) -was shut, and it was probably bolted; anyhow, Clement was not going -to attract attention by trying the handle. What mattered was that -there was only a single<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> thickness of door between him and the master -villain. He could hear the mountain of a man moving about quietly -inside his room. He heard him mutter an angry oath—probably directed -at his own (Clement’s) head; then, luck of luck, he heard him use his -telephone. It was of no importance. He was merely demanding his baggage -from the porter, but it gave Clement the knowledge that, unless Mr. -Neuburg whispered, it would be quite delightfully easy to overhear his -conversations. Nothing more happened then, and Clement closed his own -door again—and bolted it—as he heard the baggage man’s trolley coming -along the passage.</p> - -<p>Only when that fellow had gone did he bolt his outer door, slip into -the bathroom, and wait for a conversation he thought was bound to come. -Mr. Neuburg, he felt, must open his bruised heart to the companion -Méduse.</p> - -<p>He had some time to wait, but he did not mind. He was feeling satisfied -with events. He had these devils on the hip. There was no doubt of -that. They had given him definite facts to put before Heloise. He could -go straight to her now and tell her how the lawyer’s letter had been -stolen from him in order that Méduse Smythe could work on her feelings, -and how the rogues had endeavored to get him out of the way with the -business of the tiara.</p> - -<p>They were bold, were they? He was going to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> be bold, too. Heloise -should have the cold facts without apology. He was more than certain -how a clearly honest nature like hers would view the revelations. -Neuburg was done, Méduse was done, Gunning was done—the plot was ended.</p> - -<p>As he decided this in his mind, he heard a sound from the room beyond -the door.</p> - -<p>“Aah ... it is all right, Méduse? You are free.... You are alone for -a few minutes?” ... A deep, slightly muffled voice said these words -curiously close to Clement Seadon’s ear.</p> - -<p>It was Mr. Neuburg speaking. The companion Méduse had come into the -room on the other side of the bathroom door.</p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>“Don’t talk, woman,” said Mr. Neuburg’s voice. “He is here, in this -hotel.”</p> - -<p>“He ... who?” gasped a female voice. It was a little fainter than Mr. -Neuburg’s, who, Clement was delighted to hear, was in that masculine -condition of rage when he must “take it out” on some one.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be a dense fool,” the big man snapped. “He ...! Who ...! The -Englishman, ninny. Is there another?”</p> - -<p>“It is impossible. He has been arrested.”</p> - -<p>“Pah! Do I have to keep on saying it? He is here. He has not been -arrested. He is somewhere<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> in this hotel <i>now</i>. The Englishman, Clement -Seadon, is here. He is free. Do you begin to gather ... just a glimmer, -woman?”</p> - -<p>“But”—the woman’s voice was almost scandalized—“but he was to have -been arrested. Molke was to see to it that he was arrested.”</p> - -<p>“And he is not arrested. It is Molke who has been arrested.”</p> - -<p>Clement heard the creak of a chair. The news had been too much for -the amiable Méduse. She had had to sit down—and sit down hard. He -would have liked to chuckle. He dare not. The snarling voice of the -mountainous Mr. Neuburg said with bitter passion, “Ah, you begin to -see. Something active begins to stir in your head. And you are shocked. -Well, I did not thrill with joy myself.... No, I do not know how it -happened. I only know I set Molke to effect this Englishman’s arrest, -and it doesn’t happen; it is Molke who is arrested instead.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; but that—<i>that</i> Englishman,” protested an incredulous female -voice.</p> - -<p>“Yes—<i>that</i> Englishman. Only, my dear Méduse, say ‘that Englishman’ -with more respect. I assure you, he is like that. He does not look -like intelligence at all. He looks a mere decoration. He looks a mere -easy-going, meaningless, drawing-room young man without any wits of his -own.... And—and it is Molke who is arrested after all. Just appreciate -the fact, my dear. That is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> Anglo-Saxon. He does not look like -anything in particular, and you find him sitting firmly on top of you -just at that moment when you are beginning to rub your hands over the -clever way you have knocked him down?”</p> - -<p>“But—but Molke had him so tight.”</p> - -<p>“So tight,” snarled Mr. Neuburg, “that Mr. Clement Seadon walked -smiling and calm into the lobby of the hotel, and still smiling, still -calm, told me to my face that he had beaten me at my own game.”</p> - -<p>“He—<i>he</i> told <i>you</i> to your face?”</p> - -<p>“In his own way, of course. He told me that he was not in prison, -but that the steward Molke was.... I am not so dull that I did not -understand him completely. But—but, you see what it means?”</p> - -<p>“That—that”—the woman was a little flustered before the bullying -anger of her companion—“that means he is still a danger we have to -contend with.”</p> - -<p>“Women”—said the mountainous Mr. Neuburg—“women are the apostles of -the obvious. Yes, he is a danger we have to contend with, my dear. Only -he is something more. It means that <i>he</i> thinks <i>we</i> are a danger that -no longer counts.... I see I will have to explain. This is truly your -day for being heroically dull. This man who looks foolish is not. He -knows that we have delivered ourselves into his hands. He is going to -strike—strike <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>once and swiftly—and smash us. He will expose us to -Heloise Reys. That is why he is so confident. His sort do not taunt for -the mere sport of the thing.”</p> - -<p>Clement smiled grimly, appreciating the acuteness with which Mr. -Neuburg had sized up the situation. Mr. Neuburg, also, was no fool.</p> - -<p>“Heloise will not speak with him,” said the woman.</p> - -<p>“He will speak with her. It will come to the same in the end. Oh, yes, -I tell you that is what he will do. He is not a man to miss chances.”</p> - -<p>“We will prevent that,” said the woman.</p> - -<p>“We will do our best to prevent that,” said the man.</p> - -<p>Clement knew they would. He knew that to get that ten minutes’ talk -with Heloise would not be an easy matter.</p> - -<p>He listened intently. Since they meant to prevent him speaking to the -girl, they might say how they meant to do it. He might, thanks to his -splendid good luck, overhear their plan for check-mating him. That would -be a crowning triumph. A silence settled down on the other side of the -door. Then, surprisingly, astoundingly, Neuburg growled, “But there is -something else. Gunning has broken loose again.”</p> - -<p>Clement gasped—and so did the woman. But where his gasp was one of -astonishment, that of the woman was one of anger. “Ah, that was what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> -made Joe look so sour on the quayside. I saw he was there,” she gasped. -“Well—what is it now?”</p> - -<p>“It is not revealed,” said Mr. Neuburg, being, apparently, sardonic. -“Nor is it revealed to where he has—vanished.”</p> - -<p>“Vanished—you mean he’s left Sicamous?”</p> - -<p>“My dear Méduse, he always leaves Sicamous. He is behaving, as he -always behaves—the slack-willed, backboneless swine.”</p> - -<p>Clement registered that character reading of Henry Gunning in his mind. -Assuredly fortune was smiling on him to-day with her most genial smile.</p> - -<p>The woman on the other side of the door suddenly showed a flash of -spirit.</p> - -<p>“Just stop being clever, Adolf, and tell me exactly what Joe Wandersun -told you on the quayside.”</p> - -<p>“He told me that Henry Gunning had been Henry Gunning. He got drunk, as -usual. He talked big about his idiot mine claims, as usual. He boasted -about the millionaire he’d be when his soft-hearted English sweetheart -married him—I suppose that’s as usual now. He then got a little -drunker. Told the world that he was going to strike the trail and ‘show -’em all.’ And he struck the trail—and—so—vanished.”</p> - -<p>“And Joe sat down on his hunkers and watched him go?” said Méduse -bitterly.</p> - -<p>“Leave Joe to me, my dear.” There was a nasty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> edge to the big man’s -tone, the position of Joe was not enviable. “Joe says that the brute -sneaked off in the night. Joe left him apparently sleeping the solid -sleep of ‘bootleg’ whisky in his shack. He thought he was safe for -eight hours. When he went there again in the morning Gunning had gone. -He had taken his kit, slipped off somewhere in the dark.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” snapped the woman after a pause. “It doesn’t stop there, does -it? Joe didn’t just sit down and weep, did he? What’s he found out?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg chuckled. “You are unerring, my dear,” he said. “As -you imply, our good Joe did not sit down and weep.... People who -work for Adolf Neuburg know better than to do that. Our Joe has -found out things. Not everything, but something. This sodden and -spineless Gunning struck east. No, my dear, do not spoil your burst -of intelligence by asking the obvious. If I knew exactly where he had -gone I should have mentioned it. You appreciate that? When one fails to -mention things it is because one doesn’t know. But we will know. Siwash -Mike is finding out. He will find out. That is his forte. In a day or -two we shall know where this fool Gunning is.”</p> - -<p>The woman vented an exclamation.</p> - -<p>“Ah, you see that that is the point, my mild Méduse. In a day or two. -That means, perhaps, a day or two longer here in Quebec, with that -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>foolish-looking Englishman, who is far from foolish, on the spot. The -situation is not excellent.”</p> - -<p>The pair were silent for a moment. Clement, with ears straining, wanted -to learn answers to several questions that passed through his head.</p> - -<p>As though his thoughts had been communicated telepathically through the -door, his speculations were immediately answered.</p> - -<p>The voice of the big man boomed abruptly, “This Heloise has gone out to -the postoffice, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Méduse. “She has gone to see if the letter is there.”</p> - -<p>“It is there,” said Mr. Neuburg. “Her agent at Sicamous—our good -Joe—sent it before he left. He showed me a copy. He did quite well. -He informs her that Henry Gunning has left Sicamous on one of his -periodical trips—probably on business. He does not know where Mr. -Gunning has gone, but he will cable when he finds out, or when Mr. -Gunning returns ... as he should in a few days.”</p> - -<p>“That, I suppose, will not make her suspicious,” said the woman.</p> - -<p>“What is the matter with you, Méduse?” snarled the big man with an -oath. “Where is the reason for suspicion? Gunning—the fool—is not -supposed to know she is coming. If he likes to go off, well, it is -merely a natural thing for him to do.... If anything, his going off -destroys the suggestion of a plot, of his being kept there by us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> as a -bait for her. You are a fool, Méduse. This Englishman—he is destroying -your nerve.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is the Englishman. He is too unexpected. I do not like the -idea of our remaining here several days with him about.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you know his capacities; it will help to keep you alert. And we -will deal with him—as best we can.”</p> - -<p>The woman said, “Still—would it not be better to get her away? Would -it be possible?”</p> - -<p>“It would be better, but not possible,” said Mr. Neuburg. “We must -remain here, in touch with the Sault Algonquin; Siwash is to report -there. He is ‘in the air,’ as it were, and that is the only way we can -keep in touch. No, my dear Méduse, it will not suffice that he cables. -He will cable Sicamous, and Joe’s wife will send on the message to -our soft-hearted little girl. But the cable is not good enough for -us. We must know all the details: what Gunning is doing, what is his -condition, and so forth, in order to know how to act. No, we must stay -in Quebec until we see Siwash.”</p> - -<p>“And Joe is staying, too?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, he is at the gluemaker’s in Algonquin. I see what you mean. -He will be an addition to our forces if we have to deal with that -Englishman. Joe is a useful man.... He may be slow at times, but he is -not squeamish.”</p> - -<p>Clement Seadon was glad of the hint. He would adopt a special alertness -for the benefit of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> unknown and unsqueamish Joe. But more than -this, he was exceedingly grateful for the address they had given -him—the gluemaker’s in the Sault Algonquin. He rather fancied he knew -the street. It was one of those in the old town, in that network of -dark and narrow alleys crowded between the water front and the rocky -cliff on which Quebec was piled up. It was good to know the local -headquarters of the gang. Also, Siwash Mike—whoever he was—was to -report there. It would be interesting to hear that report. One might -gather a great deal of useful and destructive information about -Henry Gunning and the plans of the gang from it. The woman Méduse -was saying, “Yes, something must be done about this Englishman. I -assure you, Adolf, I do not feel secure with him about. It is not -merely that apparently his easy-going appearance covers an unnatural -cleverness—but—but—we must not mince matters, he has an effect on -this girl Heloise.”</p> - -<p>There was a pause. Clement felt that the big Mr. Neuburg was impressed -by the significance of the companion Méduse’s words. He knew that he -himself was certainly impressed by the significance of Méduse’s words. -His heart had suddenly leaped. His brain was singing. He could scarcely -restrain himself from calling out, “Say it. Say what you mean plainly.” -And, as before, it was as though the intensity of his own feelings -compelled those in the farther room to be explicit. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Ah,” breathed the mountainous man. “You mean that she is, perhaps, in -love with him?”</p> - -<p>“I mean,” answered the woman, “that it would be very easy for her to -be in love with him. I do not think she knows it yet. But he—he would -quickly make her know the state of her heart.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” Clement almost cried aloud.</p> - -<p>“That is the devil,” said the big Mr. Neuburg, and his was the only -expression that was vocal. “We must certainly deal with him....” And -then came an unexpected happening, the woman hissed.</p> - -<p>“Shiss, one moment.”</p> - -<p>There was a sound of stealthy and swift movement in the room. A -silence. Presently another movement of skirts, as though the woman was -returning from a farther chamber. Then, “It is she. She has returned -from the postoffice. I hear her moving in her room. I must go to her -before she finds the bathroom door locked.” It was the companion -Méduse, speaking softly.</p> - -<p>Again movement. Again silence. A long silence. Clement heard the -scratch of a match. Smelt cigar smoke. Heard a chair complain as a -heavy body dropped into it. Then once more silence.</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg had sat down to think things out.</p> - -<p>Clement shut his own bathroom door noiselessly, noiselessly bolted it.</p> - -<p>The seance of eavesdropping was over.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p>Clement decided that the next item of importance was to arrange for his -talk with Heloise.</p> - -<p>Although he was quite willing—so strong was his case—to say all that -he meant to say in front of Méduse, and even Mr. Neuburg if necessary, -he thought that a ten-minutes’ undistracted conversation with Heloise -would give him a better chance of stating all the facts firmly and -finally.</p> - -<p>How to fix that up was the problem. As he was deciding whether he would -risk telephoning to her room, his eye fell on his wrist watch. It was -close to lunch time, and at once it came to him that not only did he -want lunch himself, but that Heloise, being human as well as a goddess, -would want hers.</p> - -<p>He smiled suddenly as he saw how things might be managed, went down to -the first floor where the great dining room was, and sat in a modestly -remote seat in the lounge. Without being seen himself, he could watch -everybody who came to or went from the dining room.</p> - -<p>He had about twenty minutes to wait. Probably Heloise was telling the -innocent Méduse that there had been a letter from her Sicamous agent at -the Poste Restante, and that they had perhaps to stay a few days more -in Quebec, and the reason why. But after that wait they both came.</p> - -<p>From a safe distance Clement saw the captain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> of the waiters lead them -to a table, noticed that the room was not full, and that there were -plenty of places at the end. Satisfied about this, he went downstairs.</p> - -<p>In the lobby he selected a form, wrote on it, tore it up. Wrote on -another, and then, apparently, thought better of it. But whereas he -threw the first into the waste basket, the second he folded rather -cleverly under cover of that action, and kept it in his hand. Then -having convinced all about him that he wasn’t sending a message, he -waited until he saw a page go upstairs with a caller’s form, went up -himself, and waited at the turn of the stairs for the boy’s return.</p> - -<p>The boy returned alone, fortunately. Clement snapped him up.</p> - -<p>“Want to earn a dollar?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Bettcher life,” said young Canada.</p> - -<p>“Take this call form to Miss Méduse Smythe. She and another lady are -sitting at the fifth table for two on the window side. Call her name, -please, but that’s where she is. Give the form to her, and come away -quick.”</p> - -<p>“Yep,” said the page, grinning.</p> - -<p>“And you don’t know where it came from to anybody—even the lady -herself.”</p> - -<p>“I gottcher,” said the page, grinning more expansively. He took the -dollar and the call form. He went upstairs. Clement went after him. -The page went into the dining room. Clement stepped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> back quietly and -swiftly into a deep passage where the male diners deposited their -coats. He heard the boy calling out, “Miss Smidt—Miss Medoose Smidt.”</p> - -<p>In seventy-five seconds Miss Méduse Smythe came by the end of the coat -passage at a great pace. Clement had thought she would be swift. What -he had written on the call form, in anybody’s handwriting, was:</p> - -<p class="center">“Must see you for ten minutes. At once. <span class="smcap">Joe.</span>”</p> - -<p>The companion might have argued about that handwriting, but how was she -to know that “Joe” did not have to disguise it. Clement had banked on -that idea. And he had scored.</p> - -<p>Miss Méduse Smythe was no sooner out of vision than he was in the -dining room, alongside Heloise’s table, speaking to Heloise. “Miss -Reys,” he said, “will you give me an opportunity to talk to you -privately?...”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Seadon!”</p> - -<p>Heloise’s tone was affronted. Obviously she resented his speaking to -her, but obviously, too, the extreme publicity of the place robbed her -attitude of some of its effectiveness. It is to be feared that Clement -had taken that into his calculations when he had decided on this plan.</p> - -<p>“Miss Reys,” he said, “I want to speak to you—privately—for no -more than ten minutes. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> I want you to understand that it is only -the urgency of the matter that makes me force myself upon you.” She -hesitated, looking up at him, her vivid face showing the keenness of -her emotions. “Do you remember saying that you believed I’d be honest -even against my own interests?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she said. “I did say that, but——”</p> - -<p>“I am honest now. Will you believe that?”</p> - -<p>The girl looked at him quietly for a moment.</p> - -<p>“I believe that,” she said.</p> - -<p>“And will you give me that chance of speaking to you—alone?”</p> - -<p>The girl bent her eyes to the table. She was thinking quickly. -“To-morrow morning I will be in the writing room at half past nine. -Will that do? It will not be easy to manage it before then.”</p> - -<p>“It will do admirably. Thank you,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>He left her, and went to the back of the room, where there were a -number of empty tables.</p> - -<p>As he sat and ate his lunch the companion, Méduse came in. She was -flustered, she was even scared. Clement was amused, but he did not -think it mattered very much. She would not, he thought, mention the -reason for her leaving Heloise—though actually there was no reason. -Neither did he think that Heloise would tell her of the appointment she -had made. His insistence upon privacy, the way he had snatched at the -chance to speak to her alone at her table, the way he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> left her, -would all tell Heloise that the companion Méduse was excluded from the -secret.</p> - -<p>And even if she did tell, it would matter very little. Clement would -have his interview with Heloise no later than the next morning, for -Heloise would see to it that it happened, and nothing very much could -occur until that time. The rogues could not whisk her away against her -will. They had to move delicately always.</p> - -<p>And after he had spoken to Heloise, nothing at all could occur. He -would have settled with Mr. Neuburg and his gang once and for all.</p> - -<p>He finished his lunch after the two ladies, watched them out of the -dining room, then he got his hat and stick and walked out through -Quebec. He would take a look at this glue merchant’s in the Sault -Algonquin. It was best to be “well-up” in every particular. Very -cheerfully he walked through the Place d’Armes, and down the steep -street of The Mountain to the huddled network of passageways—they can -hardly be called roads—that crowded under the rocky scarp of the Grand -Battery. He was feeling “good,” as the Canadians would say. Why not? -Hadn’t he all the factors for victory surely in his grasp?</p> - -<p>Possibly he would have felt less “good” if he had been aware of a -little scene between the companion Méduse and the massive Mr. Neuburg -that was even then taking place.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> - -<h3>V</h3> - -<p>Both Heloise and the companion had gone up to their rooms, a prey to -emotions. Heloise’s emotion was not altogether unpleasant. She was -agitated at the prospect of an intimate talk with Clement Seadon on the -morrow; but, like all people who trample on their feelings in order -to bolster up their pride, she felt relief that this condition of -chilly aloofness between them was coming to an end. As Méduse Smythe -had told Mr. Neuburg, Heloise did not know exactly what her feelings -were towards Clement Seadon, but she did know enough to realize that a -renewal of their old companionship would be an extraordinarily pleasant -thing.</p> - -<p>Méduse Smythe’s agitation was of a different order. There was fear -in it. She had received an imperative message from one of the -conspirators; he wanted to see her in the hotel lobby. That fact in -itself was disturbing. She hurried swiftly to the lobby—and there was -no Joe. Nobody was there wanting her. What did it mean? Had Joe been -frightened away? Or—or was it some ruse? She was puzzled, scared. She -felt that her own wits were not capable of dealing with this matter.</p> - -<p>She left Heloise, grappling with the feminine complications of -preparing for a walk, in her room, passed swiftly across her own. She -slipped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> ajar her door of the bathroom that led to Mr. Neuburg’s room, -and scratched stealthily on the inner door. That was the signal. She -repeated it several times. It was not answered. Mr. Neuburg was not in -his room. She half expected that; that might be the reason why Joe had -sent in to her. She closed her own of these double bathroom doors, and -her anxiety was increased. She must see and speak with Mr. Neuburg. It -might be a matter that did not brook of delay. Her agitation developed -steadily until both ladies got down to the lobby again, then, with a -gasp of relief, she said, “Oh, there’s Mr. Neuburg.... Do you mind, -Loise; I do want to speak to him about something before it slips out of -my memory?”</p> - -<p>She went across to Mr. Neuburg, who rose from his chair and bowed -with all the affability of a mere acquaintance. She said, in quite -an ordinary voice, as though discussing the weather, “I am going to -give you a slip of paper. It seems important. Can you take it from me -without being seen?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg, with all the charm of a genial man of the world, and all -the acuteness of a master rogue, bowed at once, led her to the magazine -counter to the right of the lobby. “My dear Méduse, as I select a guide -book for you, lean across me to reach those post cards, then you can -drop your paper.”</p> - -<p>The call form that was supposed to have come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> from the man Joe was -dropped. Mr. Neuburg picked it up with a guide book. He read it. He -opened the guide book, as though in search for some locality, pointed -to a page with his fat finger, and said, “When did you get this, -Méduse?”</p> - -<p>“It was brought to me by a page, just after I had sat down to lunch.”</p> - -<p>“Ha—and you went out at once, and Joe—he was not there, of course. He -would not be there. This is a thing he would not do.”</p> - -<p>“He was not there,” said Méduse.</p> - -<p>“And when you came back from this false call—how was the girl?”</p> - -<p>“She was alone—as I left her. She seemed the same.”</p> - -<p>“She said nothing to you—about anybody speaking to her, I mean?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing at all.”</p> - -<p>“And the Englishman—did you see him in the dining room?”</p> - -<p>“No—I did not see him. But then I did not look very keenly. Surely the -Englishman does not know about Joe?”</p> - -<p>“Somebody knows about Joe,” said Mr. Neuburg. “Somebody knows so much -about Joe that he recognized that the name was enough to get you away -from Miss Heloise into the lobby at a run. Who do you think would pull -off a trick like that, my mild Méduse?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But the Englishman cannot know about Joe,” said the woman sullenly.</p> - -<p>“Certainly this is your day for being triumphantly dull, my dear. This -Englishman has bewitched you.”</p> - -<p>“But how could he know about Joe?”</p> - -<p>“Ah, my mild one, that is a thing that even I cannot tell you without -finding out. It is to be found out. Now go back to the girl with this -guide book, tell her the pleasant Mr. Neuburg has recommended it as the -best of its kind—and remember that if your brain has turned into wool, -you have the support of mine, which is particularly acute. That may -restore and stimulate your wits.”</p> - -<p>When the two ladies had gone out Mr. Neuburg sat and smoked and -considered this unexpected happening deeply. His was a quite -exceptional brain, and he had mastery over his thoughts and his -memories. It was while he was going over his memories that the smoke of -his cigar suddenly ceased to puff. That was the only sign exhibited by -his impressive, placid and genial bulk.</p> - -<p>At once he rose indolently, walked across the lobby to the reception -desk. He asked in his affable way if he could see the room bookings. -He looked through them. He stopped when he came to the name “Clement -Seadon.” He stopped with reason, for he saw that Clement’s room was -next his own. He stared at that number for a moment, said “Thank you” -very politely to the reception<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> clerk, and mounted to the gallery on -which his room stood.</p> - -<p>He went not merely to his own room but walked round the corner of -the gallery to the door of Clement Seadon’s room. As he stood there -regarding it contemplatively, the chambermaid passed by. He looked at -her, or rather across her shoulder, with that smile which was quite -charming, but had not the slightest tinge of human emotion in it, and -he said, “There is, I think, a blind in that room which is making -noises in the wind. It destroys my nap. I have knocked on the door, but -the occupant of the room is not there apparently. Would it be asking -you too much to go in and pull up that blind, so that I can have my -beauty sleep undisturbed?”</p> - -<p>He backed his appeal with the weight of a half-dollar piece.</p> - -<p>The girl smiled and opened the door. With a polite, “Thanks -enormously,” Mr. Neuburg slipped away from her with his extraordinary -swiftness. He went into his own room. He opened his one of the double -doors between his room and Clement Seadon’s bathroom. He listened at -the other door. He did not hear as well as Clement had heard, for the -bathroom was between him and the Englishman’s room. But he heard. He -heard the movements of the chambermaid, heard her rattling at the -windows.</p> - -<p>When the chambermaid came round the corner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> of the gallery to ask if it -was all right now, he was at his door beaming—but this time, perhaps, -with a more natural good humor.</p> - -<p>“Yes, that is satisfactory, <i>very</i> satisfactory.”</p> - -<p>And indeed he thought it was.</p> - -<h3>VI</h3> - -<p>As the massive Mr. Neuburg sat in his room certain that things were -satisfactory, Clement Seadon, with much the same emotions, was -searching for and finding the gluemaker in the Sault Algonquin.</p> - -<p>The street was as unprepossessing as he imagined it would be. It was a -narrow cañon, indescribably gloomy and muddy, between the tall, old, -straight-faced houses that lined it. It was right round beyond the -splendid old seventeenth century hospital, the austere Hôtel-Dieu, and -in the area of the docks, too. From these latter it got some of its -mud, and, perhaps, some of its lowering air. It looked a darkling, -brooding, sinister street. Clement found it quite easy to imagine it -a place where, in the grim old days, bravos quietly and expeditiously -slit throats, or where fur hunters had been lured to be despoiled of -the earnings of long, lonely months of trapping in the virgin wilds.</p> - -<p>In this old and moody street, and in the grim and reticent houses that -bordered it, almost anything might have happened in the early days of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> -Canada—but most of those things, Clement thought, would have been -evil. The street had an aroma of crime. One felt it, as it were, in the -air, just as though centuries of wickedness about its narrow, greasy -sidewalks had saturated it with an essential aura. It was a street -fitted to be the headquarters of Mr. Neuburg and his gang of ruffians.</p> - -<p>It was a short street, and it was easy to find the gluemaker’s. There -were only two other business premises. The gluemaker’s, No. 7, was -a tall, depressing house that was even dirtier than its neighbors. -It had the distinction of keeping all its windows covered with the -latticelike jalousies of France, as though its inmates were determined -to keep themselves to themselves. It had one window on the ground -floor, the shutters were back from this, but as it was filled with -trade samples backed by trade advertisements, a view of the room behind -was impossible. There was no doorway on to the street. Entrance was -effected through a cartway. A heavy wooden gate covered this, with a -smaller door for humans in it. Clement surmised that, having passed -through this gate into the cartway that ran under the house (which -joined to and made one of a block with all the houses on that side), -one entered the house itself by a doorway on the left.</p> - -<p>However, this cartway told him one thing. In spite of the fact that the -cliff seemed to come up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> right behind the house, there must be a yard -at the back of the gluemaker’s. Glancing along the face of the houses -he obtained confirmation of this. There was no iron fire escape stair -in front of this house and its immediate neighbors, although farther -along the street this inevitable disfigurement of western cities -zig-zagged down the faces of the buildings. That meant that the fire -escapes—by law enforced—were at the back, and that there were yards -there into which people could escape.</p> - -<p>Getting round to the back was not easy. He found he had to climb -through distant streets to watch the cliff-top, and when he arrived on -top he had to trespass into a builder’s yard in order to look down on -to the backs of the houses in the Sault Algonquin. As he did not wish -to be disturbed, he hid behind a pile of scrapped rubbish.</p> - -<p>No. 7 was easy to find. It was under the cliff where it sloped down -rather less steeply. Clement noted that. At a pinch an active man -might find a way down there. The yard was a fairly large one, littered -with the rubbish of manufactory, and partly filled by a single-storied -building, of very much later construction than the house itself. -This had a flat roof and square walls, a jet of steam came out of a -thin exhaust pipe—in it, undoubtedly, were carried on the mystical -processes of gluemaking.</p> - -<p>While Clement was studying the house, he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>became conscious that some -one else had entered the builder’s yard where he had hidden himself. -A young, slim man came casually into view, strolling with hands in -pockets towards the edge of the cliff. Clement crouched closer in his -shelter, and prayed that this workman—for that was what the young -man seemed—had no business which would bring him round the pile of -scrapped rubbish sheltering him.</p> - -<p>Then, as he thought this, he noticed two peculiarities about the man. -The first was, that in spite of his casualness, the young man had -no more right to be there than himself. He was throwing keen, swift -glances about him, as though he were doing something that he did not -want other people to see.</p> - -<p>The second thing about him was the color and the outline of his -features, as well as the lithe slimness of his build. His face -had a curious copper brownness that might have been sunburn, only -it was deeper than sunburn. His features had a definite aquiline -clear-cutness, rather individual features they were—like an Indian’s.</p> - -<p>Clement tingled as he thought that. And even as he thought it, the slim -man moved abruptly and swiftly to the cliff, glanced along it, and in a -moment was descending the sloping face of it.</p> - -<p>Clement stared and chuckled. And he muttered, “Siwash Mike. By all -that’s lucky, it’s Siwash<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> Mike come to Quebec to report on the doings -and whereabouts of Henry Gunning.”</p> - -<p>There could be little doubt about it. The newcomer was making his -way, in such a fashion as to escape detection, to the gluemaker’s of -Algonquin, the place where he was to report. From his hiding place, -Clement followed his movements. They were sinuous and swift, veritably -an Indian’s. He wriggled down the cliff by known footholds, reached the -back yard of the gluemaker’s, poised for a moment just above it, and -then sprang lightly on to the flat roof of the building—then that was -possible. Clement saw that there was a ledge along the cliff that made -the take-off for the jump easy.</p> - -<p>Once on the roof, the slim man again adopted his casual air. He was to -all appearances an occupant of the glue factory taking an airing on -the roof. He dawdled about, hands in pockets, looking about him, up -to the cliff, along the backs of the other houses. Then he strolled -towards the house, poised himself on the edge of the roof just by the -fire escape over the cartway. He jumped, caught it, scrambled on to the -landing. Then very calmly, he walked up the iron stairway until he came -to the fourth floor. The window of the fourth floor was shuttered but, -apparently, not bolted, for the slim man opened the shutters without -effort, slid through them into the house, pulled them to after him and -disappeared. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> - -<p>Waiting for a minute or two Clement presently backed away from the -shelter of his scrap heap, and made his way out of the builder’s yard. -He had discovered two very important things. The first, that Siwash -Mike had returned to the gluemaker’s to report the whereabouts of -Henry Gunning. The second discovery was that there was a way into the -gluemaker’s from the back.</p> - -<p>He hurried back to the Château Frontenac. He was anxious to know -what the massive Mr. Neuburg made of the first fact. And how far his -own knowledge of the second fact was going to help him discover Mr. -Neuburg’s future plans.</p> - -<h3>VII</h3> - -<p>While Clement Seadon had been active, Mr. Neuburg had not been idle. -He had sat and smoked for a while. Then having decided upon a plan, he -rose and searched for something in his baggage. When he had found it, -he opened his one of the pair of doors between his room and Clement’s -bathroom, and for several moments did something to the foot of -Clement’s door.</p> - -<p>Having done this to his complete satisfaction, he sat and smoked and -thought again. Three minutes after the time Clement had seen Siwash -Mike enter the gluemaker’s, the telephone bell rang in Mr. Neuburg’s -room. With one glance at the floor near the door he had just shut and -bolted, he rose and answered the ring. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> - -<p>What he heard over the wire gave him apparently a pleasant surprise, -for though his curiously impassive face showed no sign, he said, “Eh, -but you have been quick, I did not expect you for a day or two.... No, -say nothing now.... I will see you this night, about ten o’clock. And -now listen——” And in his slightly purring voice he gave a string of -directions. They were very guarded, for telephones have eavesdroppers, -but quite explicit to understanding ears.</p> - -<p>He hung up the telephone, dropped back into his chair again and thought -and smoked. But after a perceptible minute this curious, immobile-faced -man, allowed himself the luxury of a great laugh. It was a terrible -laugh, but a short one. It was perhaps well it was so, for very quickly -after there came the scratch at the communicating door, which betokened -that Méduse Smythe had returned to her room, and was ready to serve him.</p> - -<p>He sprang up at once, and again glancing at the floor by the other -communicating door, let Méduse in. The woman said, “I have come back by -myself. The girl wished to go for half an hour’s motor drive alone in -the Battlefield Park.... No, the Englishman was not with her. She may -be going to meet him, but I don’t think so.... The whole thing seemed a -sudden thought on her part. Can I do anything?”</p> - -<p>“You will,” he smiled at her with his mirthless grin. “This Seadon may -be meeting her, but even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> if he is or isn’t, I want you to go down -to the lobby, watch for him coming in, and when he comes in, come up -here as swiftly as you can and tell me. No, do not telephone up. Come -yourself. I need you....” She made a step to go. “When you join me in -this room don’t be surprised at anything. When I say things to you, -play up—play up, remember that.”</p> - -<p>It seemed only a few minutes before she was back in the room. Mr. -Neuburg came through the intercommunicating bathroom at the sound of -the key in her door. He looked at her, indicating the necessity for -quiet.</p> - -<p>“He came in just as I reached the lobby,” she said. “He did not see me. -He came up straight to his room, I think.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg caught her by the wrist, and both very stealthily went -back to his room. He led her close to the doors that communicated with -Clement Seadon’s bathroom. He paused, listened. He could hear no sound -from the Englishman’s side of the doors. He looked at her, grinned, and -pointed to the floor near their feet.</p> - -<p>On the floor was a yellow-painted lead pencil. It was lying alongside -a white line Mr. Neuburg had chalked on the floor. The woman Méduse -stared down at it, wondering what on earth it all meant.... And as she -stared down the pencil began to move.</p> - -<p>There was no sound. The silence was profound.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> There was nothing to -indicate a reason for the pencil’s movement. And the pencil moved ... -slowly, stealthily, cautiously it moved away from the chalk mark. It -moved six inches and then it stopped. Mr. Neuburg looked into her face -and grinned. His hand indicated the door leading to Clement Seadon’s -bathroom.</p> - -<p>Then the woman, looking closer at the pencil, understood. Round the -waist of the pencil was a thin line, a line of thread. The thread ran -from the pencil under the closed door. Undoubtedly it was attached -to the inner door of the pair by a piece of wax. She understood at -once that the Englishman was in the other room. Thread and wax would -be invisible in the dim light and in the almost imperceptible space -between the double doors; but as Clement’s door opened, its movement -would be shown by the movements of the pencil.</p> - -<p>The pencil had moved. The Englishman had opened his door. He was at the -opening of the door now—listening for what he might learn through the -closed door of Mr. Neuburg’s room.</p> - -<p>The woman Méduse in a flash understood how the Englishman had learned -the name of Joe, which he had used to get her away from Heloise at -lunch time. Mr. Neuburg, in his brilliant manner, had solved that -riddle.</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg, in his brilliant manner, was going to make the most of -his knowledge. Very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> quietly he led the woman back to the door through -which she had entered. He left her standing there with a soundless -command to silence. He went to his chair and lowered himself softly -into it. He picked up a newspaper and rustled it. He cleared his -throat. He moved so that his chair would creak. He did this for a long -ten minutes. Then abruptly he sprang up, making a definite noise, and -moved towards her. “Ah, you are back, my dear Méduse,” he said aloud. -“Where is the girl?”</p> - -<p>Méduse played up—played up well.</p> - -<p>“She wished to go for a drive alone in the Battlefield Park. No, the -Englishman was not with her. She may be going to meet him, but I do not -think so. The whole thing seemed a sudden thought on her part.”</p> - -<p>“We cannot help it, anyhow,” said Mr. Neuburg, smiling in his sinister -manner. “I do not think, on the whole, her seeing him will have much -effect. I have good news—Siwash Mike has arrived.”</p> - -<p>The companion Méduse was a little startled at that, but she played up. -“But—is that possible? You did not expect him for a day or two.”</p> - -<p>“It is a fact. He has arrived, my mild Méduse. I had a telephone -message from No. 7 Sault Algonquin this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>He said “No. 7 Sault Algonquin” precisely and clearly. He wanted the -Englishman behind the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> door to hear it. Clement Seadon behind the door -heard it, and chuckled silently. He was certainly having great good -fortune.</p> - -<p>“Did—did Siwash say where he had found Henry Gunning? I suppose he has -found him?” The woman was not playing up so well, Mr. Neuburg frowned -bleakly; and yet, swiftly, he made her question serve his ends.</p> - -<p>“Siwash knows better than to talk of matters like that over the -telephone,” he said. “I take it that he has discovered the lurking -place of our besotted friend Gunning. But I shall not know until -to-night. I meet him at Algonquin at 10:30. He will report then.”</p> - -<p>He said the last words very clearly. The Englishman was to hear them. -Clement heard them and congratulated himself.</p> - -<p>There was a pause in Mr. Neuburg’s room, then Clement heard the massive -man speak again, “What are you doing to-night—you and the girl?”</p> - -<p>“O-oh,” said the woman. “We are going to a concert of old <i>habitant</i> -French songs. One of the ladies from the <i>Empress</i> told the girl she -must not miss it for the world, so she booked seats.... But if you -wanted me at Algonquin, I could have a headache.”</p> - -<p>“You will not have a headache,” said Mr. Neuburg, very distinctly. “I -do not want you at Algonquin. I want you by that girl’s side. But, and -attend to this carefully, my dear Méduse, if <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>anything untoward occurs -you must come to the gluemaker’s immediately. Understand that—you must -come yourself. I will not have telephoning. I do not trust a woman -on the telephone in so delicate a business as this. Follow carefully -what I have to say. You may take a taxi, if you like, as far as the -docks, but you <i>must not</i> take it into the Sault Algonquin, or to the -door of No. 7. You understand? No curiosity, particularly that of -the gluemaker’s neighbors, must be aroused. For that reason you will -not knock at the door, which, you know, is in a cart gate, or wait -about outside. <i>All you need do is to push against the little door in -the gate. It will be open. It will purposely be left open.</i> Now you -understand that perfectly?”</p> - -<p>The woman understood that perfectly. She repeated the directions to -show that she had it perfectly. Mr. Neuburg said, “That is good. I do -not think anything untoward will occur, but we must always plan for any -event. And now that you know everything, you had better go back to your -room and await the girl. We cannot risk suspicion of any sort. Let us -hope that Siwash will bring us definite and good news of Henry Gunning, -and that what I hear at 10:30 to-night may mean a speedy finish to our -big scheme.”</p> - -<p>Clement echoed the sentiments. He hoped, in fact he felt certain, that -what Siwash Mike would have to say about the vanished Henry would give -him (Seadon) facts which, in addition to the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> damning material he -had, would enable him to settle the accounts of these rogues swiftly -and for all time when he spoke of them in his talk with Heloise Reys -to-morrow morning.</p> - -<p>He felt, indeed, that it was all part of fate working on his side.</p> - -<p>Siwash Mike’s coming fitted into the situation as neatly as if it had -all been thought out. Clement thought it might have been thought out, -ordained, by Providence.</p> - -<p>And not only had good fortune sent along Siwash Mike to-day, but good -fortune had also stepped in to enable him to make the most of Siwash -Mike. To be present when that rogue reported to his master was not -going to be child’s play, but it was going to be simpler than he -had first thought. The way down the cliffside to the gluemaker’s of -Algonquin was a certain way in, but it would be difficult and dangerous -in the dark. Now, thanks to his abounding good luck, he had overheard -that all he had to do was <i>to push against the little door in the big -cart gate of the gluemaker’s, and it would be open</i>. Good fortune had -favored him with an easy entrance. How could he reject this offer of -good fortune? He could not.</p> - -<p>And Mr. Neuburg, as he sat in his own room and smoked, thought much the -same thoughts. How could this Englishman reject this offer which good -fortune apparently had offered him? No, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>fellow could not.... He -would go to the gluemaker’s of the Sault Algonquin at 10:30 to-night.</p> - -<p>And Clement Seadon went.</p> - -<p>He put on old clothes. He carried an automatic pistol in his pocket. -He also wore rubber-soled brown shoes. His adventure was not going to -be easy and without danger, and he was prepared for all eventualities. -But, on the whole, his great good luck had given him an exhilarating -sense of confidence, and as he passed through the dark streets of -the lower town of Quebec, and into the cañon of lowering and silent -blackness that night made of the Sault Algonquin, he felt sure of his -success.</p> - -<p>There was no one about. He reached the gluemaker’s unobserved. The -face of the house was black, enigmatic. There was no sign of life or -light. He pressed upon the little door in the big cart gate. Yes, it -was yielding ... it was open. With a sharp movement he opened it wide -enough to let his body through, slipped inside.</p> - -<p>Under the arch of the house, the cartway was a cave of almost -impenetrable blackness. Moving very slowly and very easily, Clement -stole to the left. The door of the house must be there. He felt along -the house wall. There was no window ... for yards there was nothing. -Then his hand dropped into the recess of the door, slid across the -woodwork, found the handle.... Softly, gently he turned. The door -answered under pressure—it opened. Clement was inside a pitch black -room. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> - -<p>There was just a faint sound ... something small fell ... something as -small as a pencil.... Only in that terrific silence would he have heard -so small a sound. Then complete silence ... silence bearing down like -a shroud.... Slowly, cautiously Clement closed the door behind him ... -took one, then another, then another step into the room.... Something -tautened and snapped across his instep, a thread.... Things happened....</p> - -<p>A hoarse whisper ... a sudden rush of movement ... a torch clicked, -wavered, struck into his eyes with its brilliant and dazzling light ... -there was a sweep of movement.... Men bore down on him in a terrific -rush....</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>Clement realized at once that he was trapped, and neatly. The thought -did not rob him of activity. The instinctive sense of action which is -in every athlete functioned immediately. He dashed, not at the torch -as every cornered animal or man would, as they expected him to do, but -away from it.</p> - -<p>He swung cleanly on his heel, and jumped as he swung. He sensed that -there were several men in the room, and that they guarded the door. He -neglected the door. He leaped for the window. If he could smash that, -create an uproar in the Sault Algonquin, then he would attract help.</p> - -<p>An oath came from a man as his game was realized. Something whistled -through the air, hit a wall with a soft and terrible thud. “Sandbag,” -registered Clement’s brain. He dodged, and there was another oath and -another miss.</p> - -<p>A shadow, lean and leaping like a cat, shot from the darkness into the -dazzle of the torch. Clement saw a fierce, feline face, and one hand -stretched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> forward to clutch, while the other swung up to club.</p> - -<p>“Siwash,” Clement’s brain signaled. He spurred his body forward with -a quicker drive of his foot, got in under the blow, and punched in -both hands hard and sure. Siwash staggered and his stick went flying -loose over Clement’s shoulder. Clement uppercut with a savage left, -Siwash jerked upward grotesquely, went over wildly into the blackness. -Clement hurdled his body, and his hand was on the advertisement boards -screening the window.</p> - -<p>Adolf Neuburg was on him.</p> - -<p>The mountain of a man with his unexpected and terrible agility swept -down from nowhere. His great hands went out plucking at the young -Englishman. His vast fists were free of weapons, for he was confident -in his enormous strength. And he grabbed at Clement, he did not -hit—that was foolish. His hand closed on Clement’s upper arm and -swung the lighter man round. Then Mr. Neuburg uttered a curious, -staccato yell. As his hand closed on the arm, the arm, instead of being -wrenched away, had closed on the hand, the upper and lower arms coming -together. As the Englishman swung round, his body doubled forward, and -Mr. Neuburg’s arm, caught and twisted, was vilely wrenched. The fact -that Mr. Neuburg endeavored to save his wrist and forearm by exerting -his huge strength only made matters worse—that is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> great truth -underlying Japanese wrestling. But Mr. Neuburg did not know that.</p> - -<p>He snatched his hand away as Clement unhinged, only to receive a -snapping right-hand swing to the side of the head. He bellowed, made a -furious swipe at the Englishman with his left. Clement ducked, slipped -in under it, banged right and left to Mr. Neuburg’s great face. And Mr. -Neuburg went down. He went down not because he had been knocked, but -because Clement had employed a trick he had once seen a shifty boxer -use. As he jumped in to hit, he had slipped his left toe behind Mr. -Neuburg’s heel. The force of the blow sent Mr. Neuburg reeling over -that toe.</p> - -<p>But Mr. Neuburg had served his purpose. He had delayed Clement. Clement -knew it. Directly he had struck the mountain of a man, he darted, not -towards the window now, for the other men—how many were there?—must -be converging on that, but towards the door again, which should have -been left unguarded. The tussle had lasted moments only—but——</p> - -<p>The man who had held the torch had not moved during all the fighting. -It was Joe, who was slow, but enduringly calm. He had seen Siwash go -down and out. He had seen the massive Mr. Neuburg go down. He saw -Clement dart away from the window towards the door. He stood still. His -hand held the blazing torch steady. But his other hand moved. It moved -in a long swinging arc. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> completed its swing at the moment Clement’s -hand touched the door handle. Clement slumped forward against the door, -and then he crumpled nervelessly to the floor. The sandbag in that -swinging hand had reached its mark on Clement’s head with a beautiful -accuracy.</p> - -<p>Joe played the light round Clement’s inert body. Mr. Neuburg scrambled -to his feet, snarling because he tried to help himself up with his -damaged wrist. He came to Joe’s side. Joe put out his hand, clicked on -the electric light. Both rogues stood over the Englishman. He did not -move.</p> - -<p>“Some wildcat,” said Joe. He gazed down with grim admiration. He looked -at Siwash, still prone. He looked at Mr. Neuburg’s palpably damaged -face and wrist. A fourth man, so tall and thin that his bones seemed -loose and rattling, joined the two. He was the only other in the room. -He held a sandbag in his hand, but he had the general air of being a -tradesman. That gave his furtive pose a tone of nervousness. He looked -at Neuburg, moistening his lips in agitation—and did not speak. He -looked at Joe and did. “Dead?” he asked hesitantly. “Dead?”</p> - -<p>“Aw,” said Joe without passion, “you make me tired. A little knock like -that killing any feller.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg looked across the tall, thin man’s shoulder with an -emotionless chuckle. “Since our good Louis took to glue, his morale has -become—shall we say—very sticky?” he said softly. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, mustn’t one preserve appearances, Adolf?” the thin man protested -nervously. “Now mustn’t one? If anything happened to cause trouble -would it help me—any of us? It is by keeping up the appearance of—of -honesty that we—we——”</p> - -<p>“Timidity has given our dear friend Louis a certain wisdom,” said -Neuburg, smiling his creaseless smile. “There is something in what he -says.”</p> - -<p>“That means,” commented Joe without emotion—“that means you ain’t -goin’ to dump this coyote inter the river.”</p> - -<p>“No—no—no!” cried the gluemaker feverishly. “If it got out, that -would——” The man Louis seemed to have a terror of finishing sentences.</p> - -<p>“Aw, you’re crazy,” said Joe. “You make me real tired. Get quit o’ him -once and for all, I says.”</p> - -<p>“The shock of the water would bring him to,” murmured Mr. Neuburg, not -in friendliness towards Clement, but in speculation.</p> - -<p>“We could fix that—rope him,” said Joe.</p> - -<p>“And that would indicate foul play. So would hitting him over the head, -or shooting him before we slipped him into the St. Lawrence....”</p> - -<p>“I could keep him safe,” put in the timid Louis. “Safe, up at top of -house. In that room he’d never get out. You see.”</p> - -<p>“He’d have to get out sometime,” said Mr. Neuburg. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’d see that he didn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Forever?” put in Joe dryly.</p> - -<p>“Well—for long enough. For days, for a week—until you’ve got things -fixed....”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right,” said Mr. Neuburg with quick decision. “You take -him up to that room of yours and keep him tight. Don’t forget he’s -a cunning one, whatever you do.—I’m not a pleasant person to have -trouble with.” Louis cringed away. “Right; you understand that. In a -few days we’ll telegraph you. Then you can let him free.”</p> - -<p>“To raise hell,” sneered Joe sullenly, puzzled by Mr. Neuburg’s -decision.</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg turned with his silent swiftness on Joe. He gazed bitterly -across Joe’s shoulder. “Do I give orders, Joe, or do you? Do I make -mistakes, Joe, or do you?”</p> - -<p>Joe shuffled his feet anxiously. Mr. Neuburg was not looking at him, -but Joe dropped his gaze to the dirty floor. “Oh, I know you’re the -brains, boss ... but I don’t see ...” he muttered.</p> - -<p>“I’m seeing for you,” sneered Mr. Neuburg coldly. “You’re a bright -feller in a rough-house, but thinking isn’t one of your assets. Just -for that I’ll explain to you. Item one, we don’t want trouble in this -business. Item two, if we can squash trouble it’s wiser to squash it. -Item three, if we can make this fool Englishman feel that he’s played -a losing game, that he’s only butting in where he’s not wanted—by -the girl; that the girl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> is happy and content with what she’s doing, -an’ so on, and so on, well, he’ll stop making trouble right then an’ -there. Item four, given that the girl is what we know she is, and -Gunning being licked up to the scratch, an’ the pair or twain thrown -together—well, she’ll be content. Do you follow now, my friend? This -Heloise girl meets Gunning; Gunning is love’s young dream to her. They -fix it up together. That’s settled. We wire Louis here to release this -feller; he can even let drop where he is to find the girl. He comes -chasing after her. He finds her. She hasn’t a glance for him. She is -all for Gunning; maybe, even, she has married him—I think we can fix -that up, get a reason for the hurry. Anything this Englishman says to -her, he says against Gunning, so it will be an insult. He’ll be simply -out of it. So he goes away quietly, for her sake. Do you get it now?”</p> - -<p>“If he <i>did</i> go away quietly,” said Joe haltingly. “It has a good -sound, what you say, but——”</p> - -<p>“And if he doesn’t go away quietly,” said Mr. Neuburg in a soft, cold -voice, “well, we will be, perhaps, in the wilds; at Sicamous, or -somewhere. Away from cities, from people who ask questions and pry -deeply. In the wilds, <i>accidents</i> have a more plausible air, my good -Joe; dead men are less noticeable—than—say in Quebec!”</p> - -<p>Joe looked at the big mountain of a Mr. Neuburg with a wide-eyed gaze. -“I see, you <i>want</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> him to come out and be killed. You’re a wonder of a -devil, Adolf,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Take his head, Joe, Louis will probably drop him before we get to that -room at the top. Louis, his legs.”</p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>When Clement came to himself he was conscious of extreme darkness, an -agonizing pain in his head where that sandbag had landed, and also -considerable pain where his bonds bit into wrist and leg.</p> - -<p>He also felt from the sounds drifting up to him that he was in a room -at the top of the gluemaker’s house, and probably a lumber room from -the musty smell of it.</p> - -<p>It must be confessed that his first responsible emotion was not -thankfulness for an escape from what should have been death, but a -very hearty disgust at the way he had allowed himself to be captured. -In fact, when he realized how he had thrown away his chance and maybe -delivered Heloise into the hands of Mr. Neuburg and his gang, he lost -his nerve, and with a terrific output of strength tried to free himself -from his bonds.</p> - -<p>He had seen heroes in the “movies” and Mr. Houdini free themselves from -their shackles often enough, and it had seemed a simple matter. The men -who had fixed his bonds, however, would have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> spoiled any movie hero’s -business. Not only could he not throw them off, but the struggle to do -so, so increased the pain of them and that of his head, that in the end -he fainted.</p> - -<p>He was forced back to consciousness by the frightful sensation of blood -recirculating in his limbs. He writhed and moaned. An oath sounded at -his side, something was flung over his head, and handcuffs were snapped -on to his wrists. Clement struggled with the thing about his head, -while shuffling footsteps hurried across the boards but he only got the -rug—that is what it proved to be—away from his eyes in time to see -the legs and back of a tall, thin man flash out of the door. A strong -lock snapped home. Louis, the gluemaker, was not risking identification.</p> - -<p>When he had recovered sufficiently, Clement sat up and took stock -of the situation. He was, as he had thought in the roof room of the -gluemaker’s. It was a big room, crowded with old junk. The room -was lit by a narrow window of the kind known to architects as a -“lie-on-your-stomach,” that is, it rose from the floor boards to end -at the slant of the roof about two feet above. By the light coming in -through the dirty panes the morning was well on, but whether it was -past his hour to see Heloise—9:30—he could not say.</p> - -<p>He was sitting in the center of this room, with some fresh food and -water beside him. The gang then did not want him to starve. He also -saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> that the gang had thought of him in other ways. The thin man who -had just bolted through the door, had been with him for no other reason -than to remove the tight ropes, and substitute manacles of an easier -kind.</p> - -<p>He had snapped a pair of police handcuffs on his wrists, as Clement -knew, but before that he had put another pair on his ankles; these -were linked by a heavy chain to a staple in the wall. The chain was -padlocked.</p> - -<p>Clement lifted the jug of water with both hands, took a long drink, and -then examined the handcuffs on his wrists. In less than a minute one -wrist was free. It was quite simple. These handcuffs were ratcheted to -take several sizes in wrists. In his hurry the thin man had not pushed -the ratchet of the right cuff beyond the first notch. Clement was -what might be called a third notch man—hence he had no difficulty in -slipping his wrist out.</p> - -<p>The leg irons presented a graver problem. Unable to get them off with -his hands, he searched about for some means of removing them. He was -lucky. With difficulty he unearthed from a box full of odd tools, a -hacksaw. With this slowly and patiently, and with his attention always -alert for movements in the house, he sawed through the connecting links -of the ankle irons.</p> - -<p>It was a tedious and painful business. He heard the mid-day “break” -sound from scores of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>factory sirens, but he worked on trying not to -think of what might be happening to Heloise.</p> - -<p>She would remain on in Quebec, he told himself. She could not hurry -away, she would not leave without seeing him. He tried to convince -himself of this. He would see her in spite of this trap. And after he -had talked with her the whole bad business would be ended.</p> - -<p>If he thought of Mr. Neuburg and his cunning, he said to himself, “He -thinks he has me here safely. He won’t attempt to attract attention by -hustling things.”</p> - -<p>It was after two o’clock when he got free. Nobody had come up to him. -He had thought this would be the case since a day’s supply of food had -been left with him. Concealing the ankle cuffs under his socks, and -that on his left wrist up his sleeve, he lay down and looked out of the -window.</p> - -<p>It was overlooking the yard he had studied yesterday from the cliff -behind. In that yard nothing was stirring save the “puff-puff-puff” of -the steam pipe. From this window to the yard was a sheer drop of some -seventy feet. On the other hand, the thin, topmost upright of the fire -escape was two feet away from the window, and level with it—if he -dared risk that.</p> - -<p>He meant to. He forced the dirt-gummed window open, and, laying flat on -his stomach, wriggled his body inch by inch out of the narrow window. -It was soul chilling. To find himself poised there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> half in and half -out of that tube of a window, with nothing to aid him, and with that -horrible drop beneath him, unnerved him. He felt himself slipping, -going. For one moment he seemed to be clawing the empty air, with the -feeling that nothing could save him. He was dropping—</p> - -<p>Then in a flash his nerve came back. He lunged forward and grasped the -slender iron girder of the escape, and there for an agonized moment he -hung swaying, helpless. He made a giant effort. The thin iron of the -fire escape support creaked and appeared to bend toward him. He heard -the structure groan. His feet came away suddenly, and his knees and -thighs struck the iron pole with excruciating pain. But the instinct -of preservation caused his limbs to act almost, it appeared, on their -own initiative. Just as his hands seemed about to be torn loose by -his weight, his legs circled the iron support and gripped. He slid -downward. In a moment he was crouching on the top platform of the fire -escape behind a rain-water barrel.</p> - -<p>He remained there for a few minutes, regaining his breath and his -nerve, surveying the side of the cliff up which he must presently go. -Then he looked downward—and saw a man on the flat roof beneath the -fire escape.</p> - -<p>The man had come out from the window of the house that was flush with -the roof. He stood, a slim, lithe figure, gazing idly about him. He -was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> occupied with nothing more significant than the after-lunch -exercise of picking his teeth. Clement knew who the man was. It was -Siwash Mike. He hoped Siwash Mike was one of those who liked to take an -afternoon siesta on his bed.</p> - -<p>Siwash Mike stood there, easy, feeling, no doubt, that the world was -a good place to live in. Then he apparently decided what he was going -to do. He turned and reentered the house. Clement, thanks to his -rubber-soled shoes, was down another floor on the escape by the time he -emerged again. That was the fourth floor, through the window of which -Clement had seen Siwash himself enter the house yesterday.</p> - -<p>The action of Siwash was now not satisfactory. Siwash was dragging -behind him a deck chair. Siwash—it was horrible to see it—had under -his arm a bundle of magazines with highly colored covers.... Siwash was -going to make an afternoon of it on that roof. An afternoon of it—and -Clement must leap from the escape to that roof, and cross it in order -to reach the cliff.</p> - -<p>It was a bitter moment.</p> - -<p>But Clement meant to get across that roof and up that cliff. And, what -is more, he meant to do it quickly. He could not afford to waste any -more time away from Heloise’s side. Indeed, he dare not waste time -here. At any moment some one might go up to the attic, find him gone, -and raise the alarm.... </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> - -<p>Raise the alarm! The thought flashed through Clement’s mind not with a -thrill of anxiety but with the thrill of a happy idea. With his eyes -on the now reposeful head of Siwash Mike, he felt the jalousies of -the window behind him. As yesterday, they were unfastened. He opened -one, slipped his hand in—yes, the window was wide open also.... In -another moment he was inside that window, and had closed the jalousies -behind him. Before him were the stairs, descending steeply into yawning -darkness. He went to the head of these. With his hands he made a -trumpet about his mouth. He opened his mouth. With the full power of -his lungs he yelled, “Siwash! Siwash!”</p> - -<p>He nipped back to the jalousies. He looked down at Siwash Mike. The -half-breed was standing, glaring towards the house, his body tense and -alert. Clement nipped to the head of the stairs. He yelled again in a -tone of terrific alarm, “Siwash! Help!”</p> - -<p>He heard a tumult below. When he got to the jalousies Siwash was no -longer on the roof. In a flash of seconds Clement was; had swung from -the escape to the flat roof; had dashed along that roof and had leaped -to the ledge of the low cliff. He was three parts up the cliff before -the fierce face of the half-breed appeared at the little window of the -attic.</p> - -<p>The face appeared, scowled ferociously, then the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> right arm shot out. -The automatic in the hand came down, sighting on Clement’s climbing -figure. Clement shut his eyes and felt sick. He was a mark that could -scarcely be missed.</p> - -<p>Nothing happened.</p> - -<p>He opened his eyes.</p> - -<p>Siwash’s face was turned away from him; he appeared to be arguing -vehemently with some one behind him in the attic. As Clement looked, -a long, thin arm with an incredibly bony hand stretched itself past -Siwash’s shoulder, and clutched avidly at the automatic pistol. Clement -did not waste time then. He was up the remainder of the cliff as fast -as his best climbing could take him. He was through the builder’s yard -at a run, though a man yelled at him to know his business.... And in -a near street he caught a taxi and went to the Château Frontenac as -rapidly as petrol could carry him.</p> - -<p>As he went into the lobby he was stopped by the porter. “We’ve -been looking for you, Mr. Seadon,” the man said. “Looking for you -everywhere. A lady was asking for you.”</p> - -<p>“A lady!” cried Clement, stopping in his stride. “What lady?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, the one that left this morning,” said the porter.</p> - -<p>“The one that went this morning?” echoed Clement stupidly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, the one that left for Montreal.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> - -<p>Clement glared at him. “You can’t mean Miss Reys, Miss Heloise Reys, -who was here with a companion?” he cried.</p> - -<p>“That’s the lady I mean,” said the cataclysmic porter. “She was asking -for you right up to the moment she left.”</p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>Clement Seadon was for the moment dazed by the dismaying unexpectedness -of the news.</p> - -<p>He had lost. Mr. Neuburg and his gang had not wasted a moment. They had -whipped the girl out of his reach. They had effectually put a barrier -of distance between him and Heloise.</p> - -<p>He had a bitter vision of Heloise traveling away from him—away through -this vast country where communications were scarce. She was more -completely in the clutches of those terrible and sinister people with -every mile she traveled, and he was less able to help. He stared at the -porter. “She’s gone,” he said. “She—didn’t the lady leave a message?”</p> - -<p>“None, sir. She seemed to expect that you was going to see her.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Seadon. He could understand how bewildered Heloise must -have been when he did not keep his appointment of this morning. “And -you’re sure she went to Montreal?”</p> - -<p>“Yessir,” said the porter. Some one touched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> Clement’s arm, somebody -said, “Seadon, old fellow....” Clement waved this hand aside without -looking round. “Just one minute,” he said. Then to the porter, “You’re -sure it was Montreal? I mean she wasn’t going further? Through to -Sicamous, for example?”</p> - -<p>“Sure, they’re stopping off at Montreal, her and her lady fren’. Didn’t -I check their baggage to Montreal?”</p> - -<p>Clement thought for a moment. What did that mean? Did it mean that -Heloise would stop in Montreal, or did it mean that she was merely -changing trains there in order to go to the place—wherever it -was—where Henry Gunning was lurking at the moment? That seemed the -more likely, and it was the more dismaying. She was going to some -unknown town in the tremendous continent. It filled him with dread even -to think of it.</p> - -<p>His arm was touched again. He thanked the porter, turned, and saw the -captain of the <i>Empress of Prague</i> by his side. “Hello, Heavy,” he said.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been looking for you, old chap,” said the captain. “I want you to -meet The Chief.”</p> - -<p>“The Chief,” echoed Clement vaguely. He saw a man of middle height with -astonishingly thick, square shoulders standing by the captain’s side. -He was a man with a firm, sunburned face in which big bones showed -strongly. His nose was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>powerful and high-bridged, and the skin round -the eyes was dark. The eyes were extraordinarily steady and keen, and, -since he was smiling, his face had a singularly pleasant, indeed, -tender kindness which tempered its undoubted resolution. Clement looked -at this man, and knew him for a staunch and extremely capable friend at -once. He said again, “The Chief?”</p> - -<p>“He’s our policeman,” said the genial captain. “He’s down here to -find out why you weren’t arrested in that diamond tiara affair on the -<i>Empress</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Is he, by Jove?” cried Clement abruptly, glancing at the strong, -intelligent face of The Chief with a sudden feeling of hope.</p> - -<p>“He’s the head of the railway police organization,” explained Captain -Heavy. “Not the Dominion police, mind you. His name, by the way, is -Joseph Fiscal. And, seriously, he’d like a few words with you regarding -that robbery.”</p> - -<p>“He’s the very man I’m wanting myself,” said Clement heartily, to the -surprise of the captain—nothing yet created seemed able to surprise -The Chief. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”</p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p>The three men went into the private sitting room in the manager’s -office. The first thing Clement did was to take his left hand from the -pocket in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> which it had reposed since he escaped from the house in the -Sault Algonquin, pull up his sleeve, shake his arm, and so expose to -The Chief the handcuff still clasping his left wrist.</p> - -<p>That redoubtable man looked at it calmly, fingered it, sat upright -slowly, and turned on Captain Heavy a dry, genial smile. His eyes -scrutinized the puzzled face of the captain for but a moment, then he -turned back to Clement. With the same movement his hand came out of his -pocket, and in the hand was a handcuff key.</p> - -<p>In a moment, and with free hands, Clement was rolling down his socks, -exposing the handcuffs on his ankles.</p> - -<p>The smile of The Chief became broader. “Is your friend quite as honest -as you think, Heavy?” he asked genially.</p> - -<p>“Ab-solutely,” said Heavy in a perplexed tone. “Though he does seem to -have been trying to do Houdini stunts, and failing.”</p> - -<p>“Not altogether failing,” smiled Clement, as The Chief’s key got to -work. “I managed to get out of <i>this</i> trap, just as I managed to get -out of the one on the <i>Empress</i>—the diamond tiara trap.”</p> - -<p>“Ah,” said The Chief, looking up, smiling with his lips, but his eyes -keen. “There <i>is</i> something behind it all?”</p> - -<p>“There is; but first, how soon can I get to Montreal?”</p> - -<p>“Talking to us won’t hold you up,” said The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> Chief with unexpected -penetration. “You can’t go before the night train.”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t there something before that—any means?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said The Chief. He looked at Clement steadily. That look was a -request for information.</p> - -<p>“Well, as I said, I want your help; but it’s going to be a tale, even a -sort of ‘shocker,’ a strange, unbelievable crime and mystery story.”</p> - -<p>“<i>I’ll</i> be able to appreciate it,” smiled The Chief. “Go on, Mr. -Seadon.”</p> - -<p>So Seadon told the whole story from the beginning. He told everything, -indeed, except one thing. That thing was the little lawyer’s suggestion -that he should make love to and marry Heloise, and the fact that he had -himself arrived at the conclusion that the little lawyer had talked -wisdom. He did not talk of it, but perhaps the men who listened were -not unaware of his condition. The Chief smiled even more humanly. -Heavy, with a seaman’s bluntness, cried, “I remember Miss Reys, a -beautiful woman. To think that a pack of scoundrels.... Still, old man, -you’ve got The Chief with you now.”</p> - -<p>Clement thought of Canada and its vastness. Even the most astute -chief of police would find it difficult to track a girl through that -immensity—and do it in time. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Mr. Seadon is not quite sure about The Chief,” smiled the head of the -railway police.</p> - -<p>“Well ... Canada’s such a huge place. It’s easy to vanish without trace -in such a country.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, our system compares with the country,” said The Chief genially. -“That porter told you he’d checked Miss Reys’ baggage through to -Montreal? We’ll begin by confirming that.” He pressed a bell. A girl -came in. “How do, Miss Jeannette. I wonder whether you’d mind asking -Mr. Labage—he’s still at the rail reservation desk, isn’t he?—to step -along. Say, that’s real nice of you.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Labage came in. The Chief said to him immediately, “How are you -keeping, Mr. Labage? That’s good. Now, I’m wondering if you can tell me -if a lady from this hotel and her companion, a Miss Heloise Reys and a -Miss Méduse Smythe, took reservations on any train pulling out to-day?”</p> - -<p>“Sure she did. Both ladies reserved on the <i>Imperial</i>, leaving at 1:15 -for Montreal.”</p> - -<p>“That confirms it, then,” said Clement. The Chief only smiled, he was -after full proof.</p> - -<p>“And say, did another feller, a big feller by name of Neuburg, go out -to-day?”</p> - -<p>“He certainly did,” said the efficient Mr. Labage. “He, an’ a feller -with him, some one outside, had reservations on the morning train.”</p> - -<p>“To Montreal?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> - -<p>“To Montreal.”</p> - -<p>That finished the clerk.</p> - -<p>“And the next move, Chief?” asked Clement, for he knew that there -would be another move. He saw that The Chief had made it certain that -Heloise—and the gang—were going straight through to Montreal, and -were not leaving the train before. He was beginning to appreciate the -calm ability and keenness, yes, and the immense resources, lying behind -the genial smile of this man.</p> - -<p>The Chief put out his hand to the telephone. “I want Montreal, Miss,” -he said into the receiver. “Get me Windsor Station, the Department of -Investigation.” He hung up and turned to Clement. “This feller Neuburg -is new to me. I’ve been thinking about him, but I can’t place him. -He must have come up from the States, or, he may have worked behind -others. The one class of life I am thoroughly acquainted with is bad -men. I know all the leading lights, but I don’t get him.... This -Gunning feller—we’ll get news of easy. And we’ll find out about this -Joe Wandersun. He’s Neuburg’s traveling companion on this trip, since -Siwash stayed, hey? P’raps we’ll trail up Siwash Mike, too. But this -Neuburg.... Give me an idea of him, Mr. Seadon.”</p> - -<p>Clement described Neuburg as pointedly as he could, while The Chief -listened with his smile, as though it were but a good story, but his -level and capable eyes proved his keenness. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> - -<p>Clement had just finished his picture of the master rogue when the -telephone bell rang. The Chief picked up the receiver, “That Mac -speaking? This is The Chief. Who’s about?... Ah, Gatineau’s there. -Call him.... Oh, Xavier, it’s The Chief speaking. I’m in Quebec on the -<i>Empress</i> robbery case.... See here, there is a lady stopping off at -Montreal on <i>Imperial No. 1</i>. She is a Miss Heloise Reys, she has a -companion with her, a Miss Méduse Smythe. I want her trailed. Find out -where she’s stopping, if she stays in Montreal. If she isn’t staying, -find out where she’s going and by what train she goes.—No, don’t -interfere with her, just find out what she’s doing. Got that? Next, I -want you to find out all you can about a feller called Henry Gunning, -and another called Joe Wandersun, both of Sicamous.” He gave the few -details Clement had been able to give of these men. “If you can’t find -out anything about ’em in Records, or from the Dominion police, just -flash through to Sicamous or Revelstoke. Got that? Next isn’t so easy. -I want to hear somethin’ about a man who calls himself Adolf Neuburg.” -He spelled it out. Then he described him with an accuracy which -was amazing, considering he had only had Clement’s not very expert -description. “This feller Neuburg seems to be an out-size bad hat, but -I can’t place him. We haven’t come across him, I know. But just find -out if there’s anything known. You might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> trace him through mining, -or you might pick up something about him in connection with British -Columbia. He pulled out of here for Montreal on the morning train, -see if that helps.... You’ve got all that? Well, if it’s possible, -long-distance me here at the Frontenac about Miss Heloise Reys. The -other stuff can keep. I’m pulling out myself by the night train.”</p> - -<p>As The Chief put down the instrument Clement said enthusiastically, -“That’s splendid, it draws a noose round them. We’re bound to trace -them now.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, there are possibilities in my job,” smiled The Chief. “We’ve got -many means of heading off rogues and finding out things about them.”</p> - -<p>“And I’m going to give you another,” said Clement. “This Sherlock -Holmes business is contagious. Miss Heloise went because she had reason -to go. Yes, I know they must have persuaded her, but, and this is my -point, they wouldn’t have persuaded her unless they had something to -persuade with. At the bottom of this journey there must have been a -message.”</p> - -<p>The Chief stood up, reached for his soft hat. “That’s it. She got the -message she was expecting about this Gunning man. You said she had -letters addressed to her at the post office. Come along, we’ll look at -that message.”</p> - -<p>They went down the hill to the post office—where most of the notices -were in French. The Chief’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> authority took them at once to a -superintendent, who had no difficulty in finding the duplicate of a -wire which Heloise Reys must have received late the night before. The -wire had come from Sicamous. It was signed by Wandersun—that meant -Joe’s wife had sent it. It said tersely:</p> - -<p class="center">“Henry Gunning is present working at Cobalt.”</p> - -<p>“Cobalt,” said Clement, staring down at the flimsy slip. “That’s the -famous silver mining town, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and this Gunning is a miner,” said The Chief. “Well, that’s all -natural enough. You see what’s happened. When Gunning broke loose from -those toughs he came east, meaning probably to hit the high spots. -Somewhere this side of Winnipeg his money ran dry. Being on his uppers, -and being a miner, he’d just naturally think of Cobalt, for Cobalt’d be -the place where he would find his own job and at good money.”</p> - -<p>“And I see how they persuaded Heloise—Miss Reys. They made her feel -that if she did not start for Cobalt at once there’d be every chance of -her missing him again. Gunning would wander off again directly he got -money into his pocket.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and they got her to go by that train because she’d be able to -catch a connection out of Montreal,” capped The Chief. “She’ll go out -by No. 17. It’s one of the few direct trains. She’ll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> get a through -sleeper on that. Cobalt it is, Mr. Seadon.”</p> - -<p>“But Cobalt is an unhandy place to get at.”</p> - -<p>“It’s just as unhandy a place to get out of, too. But it’s Cobalt she’s -gone to, take that as fixed, Mr. Seadon.”</p> - -<p>Before they boarded the night train for Montreal they learned over -the long-distance ’phone that the girl and her companion had taken -reservations for Cobalt on the night train.</p> - -<p>They also learned that a large man, answering unmistakably to the -description of Mr. Neuburg, with a companion, had left Montreal earlier -in the day.</p> - -<p>He, too, had booked through to Cobalt.</p> - -<h3>V</h3> - -<p>All through the night journey Clement was sleepless. He was thinking -of Heloise and the danger she was in. His own adventures with Mr. -Neuburg and his gang had taught him that there was very little these -scoundrels would stop at, and the thought of that slim, beautiful and -fine-tempered girl at the mercy of creatures so base and so cruel was a -thing of terror.</p> - -<p>What would happen to her? What, even now, was happening to her, or was -about to happen? He was tortured by a thousand fears.</p> - -<p>That Neuburg was going on before he knew was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> ominous. He was going to -deal with the inveterate Henry Gunning so that he would appear at his -best when Heloise “found” him. From his own experience Clement felt -that what Mr. Neuburg took in hand would be done thoroughly.</p> - -<p>At Montreal they were met by a slim, pleasant young man, with a quiet -manner and a nearly bald head. A satisfying young man, whose modesty -covered a definite ability to think and do things quickly. He told The -Chief at once that he had reserved accommodation for two on the next -train out to Cobalt.</p> - -<p>“Two?” asked Clement.</p> - -<p>“Xavier Gatineau here is going with you, Mr. Seadon,” said The Chief, -indicating the quiet young man with a nod. “It’s our case, too, you -know. We want to get to the bottom of that tiara business. Now, come -along and have breakfast with me. We have time before your train goes. -Xavier will tell us anything fresh.”</p> - -<p>Over the cantaloupe and ice water and gaspé salmon and superb coffee, -that made the breakfast, the young man told them there was nothing -particularly fresh.</p> - -<p>“The two ladies went through to Cobalt,” he said. “A point is they -traveled light. They took only suitcases. The heavy baggage was left -here—on demand. The baggage master told me that Miss Reys expected to -wire for it to be sent on somewhere.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That means they don’t expect to make a stay in Cobalt. It also means -that if they left in a hurry it wouldn’t be so easy to trail them,” -commented The Chief. “Well, we’re warned anyhow. I’ll take steps, -Xavier. If you lose the trail, or anything goes wrong, get a message to -me. I’ll try and have something at all divisions,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" >[1]</a> too, and I’ll send -a general warning west. Now, about Mr. Neuburg?”</p> - -<p>“He pulled out early on the westbound. He’ll have changed at North Bay, -and so got to Cobalt last night. I haven’t been able to connect up with -Cobalt.—It’s not on our system, you know,” he explained to Clement. -“Neuburg had another man with him. Both only carried suitcases.”</p> - -<p>“Anything through from Sicamous?”</p> - -<p>“Joe Wandersun is a bad hat. We have his record, because he fell foul -of us once over false declarations in way-sheets. He’s got a shack -at Sicamous.... I’ve had a message through from the station master -there. Seems to be living more or less in retirement for the present. -Sicamous, anyhow, is no more than a scattered handful of shacks, no -scope for a man who lives by his wits. That’s what Wandersun has been -doing for years. He’s done a term in prison for fraud; it reads as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> -though it were the confidence trick. He’s a friend of Gunning’s.”</p> - -<p>“Ah,” said Clement. “You’ve heard something about Gunning.”</p> - -<p>“Our chap at Sicamous says he’s a remittance man. That’s a term in -British Columbia for a man who won’t work—a fellow who lives by -sponging. Gunning says he has mine claims, and is a booze artist.” The -young man’s eyes twinkled. “That’s our expression for a man given to -drink, Mr. Seadon.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing against him?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing proven—to our knowledge, but his habits are bad, and his -company shady.”</p> - -<p>“Have you found out anything about Siwash Mike?” asked The Chief.</p> - -<p>“Nothing.”</p> - -<p>“Neuburg?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to hear from the Dominion police—perhaps; or, rather, -they’ll get on to you, sir. They don’t place him. But one of them said -he had an idea that the description you gave was like a man the U. S. -A. police were after. As far as he remembered, this man was wanted in -Oregon, well, considerably more than two years ago. They are going to -look into it, and get in touch with the U. S. A., too.”</p> - -<p>From the way he spoke, Clement thought that the quiet young man was -holding something back.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> Abruptly he leaned across the breakfast table. -“Did they say what he was wanted for?”</p> - -<p>The young man looked at The Chief before answering. The Chief nodded.</p> - -<p>“Murder,” he said quietly.</p> - -<p>Murder! Clement fell back in his chair, staring at the quiet, partly -bald young man who had made the calm statement.</p> - -<p>“As far as the Dominion police could remember—it was a good while -back, you understand—it was a matter of murder, or complicity in a -murder. Something with a lot of money in it, and a man killed. But -they’ll find out the full facts.”</p> - -<p>“Good God! and that girl is in this—this murderer’s power,” gasped -Clement, unable to think of anything else.</p> - -<p>“It may not be the same feller, Mr. Seadon,” said The Chief kindly. -“It’s an old case, and they are only working from memory, not facts.”</p> - -<p>“Are there many men answering to the description of Mr. Neuburg?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said The Chief slowly. “But then I don’t know. An’ when we get -the Oregon description we may find it doesn’t fit him.”</p> - -<p>“A case of money and murder ... that fits Neuburg,” said Clement. “Yes, -he’s a murderer and a thief, and—and that poor girl’s at his mercy. We -must do something.”</p> - -<p>“We can’t do anything until you get to Cobalt,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> Mr. Seadon. Come now, -you mustn’t lose your nerve.”</p> - -<p>But that was a thing easier to talk about than to do. Clement’s nerves, -very decidedly, had become jumpy. The thought that he had to sit -passive while that murderer had his way with Heloise filled him for a -moment with panic.</p> - -<p>He suggested getting through to Cobalt by ’phone or wire and doing -something. It was only the soothing calm of The Chief, who, rightly or -wrongly, trusted only his own system that quieted him in the end. He -felt that there was no good doing anything until he and Xavier Gatineau -got to Cobalt. A false step, a clumsy movement, a hint thrown out by -some one not too sure of his job, and the rogues would take fright and -all their work would be undone.</p> - -<p>And after all, as The Chief pointed out, Heloise could not be in danger -for a day or two, and, moreover, it was extremely unlikely that she -could get away from Cobalt before they arrived.</p> - -<h3>VI</h3> - -<p>While they were waiting to catch the connection at North Bay, Clement -Seadon saw a man dodge out of the station telegraph office. He came -out furtively, saw Clement near him, hung hesitating, and then with -the movement of a weasel snapped back into cover behind the telegraph -office door. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> - -<p>Clement walked away, but, always, he watched that door.</p> - -<p>When the train for Cobalt drew up, he handed his bag to the black -porter of his car—and still kept his eyes on the door. The young -detective who accompanied him paused as he entered the train, and -stood watching Clement’s antics. Clement heard him speaking over -his shoulder. He mounted the steps of the train backwards. He said, -“Gatineau, just keep your eyes on the door of the telegraph office, -will you?”</p> - -<p>The train began to pull out. A head appeared round the door of the -telegraph office. The dark, swift eyes in the head scanned the train -and platform.... Clement felt that, shrewd though that glance was, he -and Gatineau were well screened by the side of the train. One look and -the head was followed by a lithe, sinewy figure. This figure crossed -the platform at a swift, loping run, jumped to the steps of a car -farther back, and pulled himself into the train.</p> - -<p>“You saw him?” said Clement. “That was Siwash Mike. He’s traveling with -us to Cobalt.”</p> - -<p>They went to their seats in the train. Clement sat facing back so -that he could see any one who came forward through the train. He -thought Siwash Mike would lie low, but these rogues were so bold and -unscrupulous that he meant to be ready for all emergencies.</p> - -<p>“I was rather startled to see him,” he said to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> Xavier Gatineau, “but, -of course, I should have expected him. He has been following me from -Quebec without a doubt.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, in worrying about other things we forgot him,” admitted Gatineau. -“He complicates matters. He’ll have sent Neuburg word that we are -coming to Cobalt.... He was probably doing that in the telegraph -office.”</p> - -<p>The young detective’s surmise was a natural one. But it happened to be -wrong—as they found out later. Siwash Mike had sent his message of -their coming to Neuburg when they left Montreal. He had gone into the -telegraph office at North Bay for quite another reason. But Clement -and his companion were not to know that. They simply formed their -deductions on the material they had, and as the material they had was -limited, their deductions were wrong.</p> - -<p>“Yes, they’ll know we are coming; they’ll be prepared for us. And we -can do exactly nothing,” said Clement bitterly.</p> - -<p>“Let’s try and think what they’ll do to checkmate us,” said the -detective.</p> - -<p>“That’s easy,” said Clement. “They’ll do what they’ve been doing or -attempting to do ever since this affair began. They’ll get Heloise Reys -out of our reach.”</p> - -<p>“Not easy in a smallish town like Cobalt.”</p> - -<p>“Then they’ll take her outside Cobalt.”</p> - -<p>“But—but can they move her about at their will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> like that? She’s an -intelligent woman. Wouldn’t she object, wouldn’t she see something -wrong in this constant repetition of these tactics?”</p> - -<p>“They’ll be plausible,” said Clement. “Their excuse will be logical. -You must remember that this Gunning fellow is not supposed to know she -is coming to him. However erratic his movements may seem, they’re his -own, or appear to be his own. If they tell her at Cobalt that Gunning -has left the town, gone off to a shack, or a mine in the wilds, she -can’t say anything. That’s the sort of thing he would do, and she has -to adapt herself to him. That’s how they’ll get her away. Gunning will -go off somewhere—and she’ll follow.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a tough problem,” said the little detective. And both men fell -silent, thinking this tough problem out.</p> - -<p>This was a new difficulty to cap the old one. Already Clement had felt -that Heloise would be taken to some place hard to find in Cobalt, and -now he felt that, thanks to Siwash’s message, she would be doubly hard -to discover. And then suddenly, as he began to dwell upon Siwash’s -unpleasant presence on the train he smiled.</p> - -<p>“By Gad,” he cried, “it is just luck after all.”</p> - -<p>The little detective looked at him sharply. Clement answered that look -by saying:</p> - -<p>“From our brother Siwash’s antics do you feel that he thinks <i>we</i> know -he is on this train?”</p> - -<p>“Why, no,” said the detective. “From the way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> he acted I think he -thought we hadn’t seen him, and he hoped we wouldn’t.”</p> - -<p>“That’s my conclusion,” smiled Clement. “He has us under his eye and -expects no guile from us, simply because he thinks us innocent of his -presence. And that’s going to help us.”</p> - -<p>The detective’s eyes showed that he hadn’t grasped what Clement was -driving at.</p> - -<p>“This is what I mean. He, personally, fears nothing from us. He is -confident that he can do his job without any suspicion or threat to -himself. Now, what is his job—it’s to shadow us to Cobalt, see us -safely there, and report. Do you agree with that; I mean do you think -there might be something further for him to do?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said the detective with thought. “I don’t see what more he can -do. They’ll naturally want to hear from him exactly what we’ve been -doing. He’ll probably turn us over to another man, or if, it being the -dead of night, we went to the hotel, he’d judge we were safe for an -hour or so....”</p> - -<p>“And we’ll arrange that he thinks that. But the point is that you agree -he’ll report. And who to?”</p> - -<p>“Why, to Neuburg—the gang.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—he’ll lead us to them,” smiled Clement quietly. The detective -looked at him, and then smiled in return.</p> - -<p>“Say, that’s pretty snappy thinking. Tell me the idea.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It’s based on the fact that he thinks we don’t suspect he’s following -us. Now, this is my plan. When the train stops at Cobalt we’ll delay -getting off until the last.... That’ll thin out the other passengers -who alight ... that’ll make it easier for you to spot him, to fix him -in your mind....”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got him already,” smiled the detective. “That’s our job, you -know, to remember men. I know him. I won’t miss him.”</p> - -<p>“All right. But, anyhow, you’ll get a chance of picking him up easily -if there are fewer people about. When we get on to the platform, and -he has a chance of hearing all we say, I’ll arrange in a loud voice -to have both the bags carried to the hotel. Then you will say to me -(for, remember, we don’t suspect he’s there, we don’t suspect the -gang knows we’ve come to Cobalt), also in a loudish voice, that while -I’m reserving rooms in the hotel, you’ll have a word with the station -master. I’ll agree to wait in the hotel lobby until you come to me.”</p> - -<p>“And Siwash Mike overhears it all?”</p> - -<p>“Siwash Mike overhears it all. And having overheard all that, he’ll do -one of two things, I think. He’ll either shadow me, as the person he’s -most concerned in, to the hotel or put another man on to me to follow -me to the hotel—if there is another person; or he’ll decide that we’re -safe for a short while, and so go off to report to Neuburg.”</p> - -<p>“And I?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You keep your eye on Siwash all the time. You follow him. If he -follows me to the hotel, follow him.... I shall go straight there -unless I get some signal to join you. If I am in the hotel I’ll manage -to keep my eye on the door all the time, so that if he moves off I’ll -take a signal from you and join you at once—I know you’ve an electric -torch. If you shine, then I’ll come out. But I’m rather hoping that if -he feels certain we don’t know he’s here, he’ll go off at once after -hearing our conversation about the hotel, and will trust his luck -about getting his report in before we stir abroad. If that’s the case -then we will both follow him.... We must plan a way for you to call my -attention, should I have already gone towards the hotel....”</p> - -<p>“That should be easy. You have to go up a pretty steep hill to get out -of the station yard. The hotel is just across the road. From the hotel -door you should command the approach; if you’ve not reached the hotel -by the time he goes off, well, I should pass so close that I should -be able to get you a warning.... But—but—he might go by car or by -rig....”</p> - -<p>“That would be the devil ...” began Clement; but the detective cried, -“No, I don’t think it would. If he got right into a car or rig I would -know at once what he was about. I’d take one of the other cars that are -sure to be there, and that steep hill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> in the station yard will check -his car, and enable me to pick you up.”</p> - -<p>They talked out the general line of this plan, and the more they -talked the most satisfactory it seemed. They would get to Neuburg’s -headquarters by following the man who was trailing them, and who felt -secure because he thought they didn’t know he was trailing them. There -were, of course, dangers and difficulties bristling along the line of -their proposed action.</p> - -<p>“What if they do put another man on to shadow you?” the detective asked.</p> - -<p>“We’ll have to deal with him—as the contingency arises,” said Clement -grimly. “It is a risk we can’t avoid.”</p> - -<p>“And we must beware of traps.”</p> - -<p>“We must,” said Clement with a smile that was yet more grim. “Trap or -no trap, I’m going into it. But I’m going in with my eyes open.” He -patted his pocket where reposed a new pistol The Chief had given him. -“I’m going in with my hand on the trigger, ready to shoot. I’m going -in with an electric torch. I’m ready for all tricks—and I’ll have you -with me. Armed, I suppose?”</p> - -<p>The little detective’s hand went down to his pocket. “Automatic. -Brother to the one The Chief gave you. And a good supply of magazine -refills.”</p> - -<p>“The two of us ought to be able to deal with them. But I don’t think -there’ll be a trap. I can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> understand how I tumbled into it before. I -gave the game away, I’m certain, by sending Joe Wandersun’s name in to -Méduse Smythe at lunch. But here—how could there be a trap? As far as -they’re concerned we’re entirely unaware that Siwash is on the train. -There’s no reason or time for them to prepare traps. We’ll simply -carry the day with surprise tactics—and, in any case, <i>is</i> there any -possible other course of action open to us if we are to rescue that -girl effectively and without loss of time?”</p> - -<p>There was no other way. Now that Siwash had warned the rogues—as they -thought he had done by telegraph from North Bay there was precious -little time to lose—the only way to get to Neuburg, and the girl -Heloise, was to follow Siwash, to him. There was no other plan so -swift. And its boldness, Clement thought, must make it effective.</p> - -<p>He would have been less sanguine had he known that in the telegraph -office at North Bay, Siwash had not been sending a message <i>but -receiving one</i>. That he had been fulfilling the instructions in that -message at the moment when he had shown himself deliberately to Clement -outside the telegraph office. If Clement had known all these things he -might have hesitated. But he did not know.</p> - -<p>He did not know. And when a closed car passed him groaning at the steep -grade of the station yard hill at Cobalt, and following that car came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> -another, with Xavier Gatineau, leaning out of it and calling to him, -“Get in, get in, he’s in that car at the front. He’s swallowed our -bait,” he got in joyfully.</p> - -<p>Directly these things happened, Clement gleefully congratulated -himself that their little comedy of deception had proved brilliantly -successful. He fell back into the padded seat smiling. He watched the -red rear light of the closed car in front picking up speed as it wound -through the corkscrew streets of Cobalt. And his heart was saying, “To -Neuburg.... To Heloise.... That car’s leading us to them.”</p> - -<p>And in the front car Siwash Mike was chuckling. He leaned across to -Joe Wandersun, who was driving, and cried, still chuckling, “They’ve -bitten. They’ve bitten. They’re following.”</p> - -<h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a> A division on the C.P.R. varies in length from -approximately 115 miles to 140 miles. All trains change engines and -crews at such divisions.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>The two cars rushed through the night, switch-backing up and down the -strange streets of that strange town. Clement had the queer feeling -that he was passing through a dream city created by some fantastic -fairy tale illustrator. The streets of Cobalt wound haphazard amid -houses built haphazard. The bumpy driveway wriggled between buildings -now on the road-level, now hanging above it on rocky outcrops. Now an -ordinary side road was passed in the dusk. Now a flight of stairs shot -upward in place of a road.</p> - -<p>“We’ve got him,” said Clement cheerfully, looking out at the speeding -car ahead, “and we’ll get Neuburg through him. That is, if your -driver——”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right,” said the detective Gatineau. “He’s game. I put him -wise before I hired him. For twenty dollars and a little excitement -he’ll do all you want him to do.”</p> - -<p>“There may be gunning,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“He knows that. All he said was that the burg<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> had been kind of -sluggish anyhow for the past six months.... This is a mining town, you -know. Don’t you worry, he thrives on excitement.”</p> - -<p>The cars swept out of the town. Between the stiff, rocky hills and the -giant humpings of silver mine workings they were pressing towards the -wild tracts of the open country. The road grew deliriously worse.</p> - -<p>“What about headlights?” asked the detective. “We don’t want Siwash or -his driver to see us.”</p> - -<p>“They haven’t yet,” said Clement. “That rear lamp would go out if they -did. It’s a closed car, anyhow, and unless we were right up to them I -don’t think they would notice our lights. But to be on the safe side -they might be half-switched down, though.”</p> - -<p>He rose and spoke to the genial and husky driver about this.</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said that individual, and he checked down his lights until -there was but a faint radiance on the road before them. “If this wasn’t -such a hell of a trail I’d cut ’em out altogether. Must have some -light. I’ll bump my springs to scrap else.”</p> - -<p>“Put down all repairs to us,” said Clement. “You’re a good scout to -take this on. There may be trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t exactly done tatting all me life meself,” grinned the driver.</p> - -<p>“I guess you haven’t,” smiled Clement, looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> at his burly figure. -“Where are those chaps heading for?”</p> - -<p>“Hudson Bay and the Arctic Belt gen’rally, sh’d say, from the way -they’re hitting it,” grinned the man. “Somewhere fresh t’me anyways. -Not that I mind novelties, only I hope this trail holds to wherever -they’re going.”</p> - -<p>There was, indeed, every indication that the trail would not. It had -become astonishingly rough, so that they bumped and soared on the -padded seats in an astounding way, their only satisfaction being that -Siwash and his companion in front were also feeling the strain, and had -checked their pace down to something more humanly bearable.</p> - -<p>As the road grew rougher the country became more inhospitable and -empty. Its emptiness, in fact, was impressive. They had, some time -ago, left the last vestige of the township behind them. They had -passed the last of the outlying mines—the blank and almost inhumanly -empty grouping of a discarded and probably forgotten working. They -were now heaving and shouldering along this strange trail, where grass -proclaimed a lack of traffic, going always into a bleak, strange land -where not even the bark of a dog gave indication of the dwellings of -man. The enormous emptiness of it weighed on the mind.</p> - -<p>The country over which they had been passing for hours, it seemed, had -been flat. At length it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> became broken up. The hard rock was thrusting -its way up through the thin soil, first in little outcrops, then in -mounds and bluffs that resembled the ground at Cobalt. The trail, which -had gone forward as directly as an arrow, began to twist, worming round -the rocky pockets, forever finding the most negotiable way. Then, in -the midst of his automatic and quite unsplenetic growls at the tricky -steering this new circumstance demanded, the driver said, “Hey, <i>look</i> -at that big Swede. Hey, but just you look at him, hitting it up again.”</p> - -<p>It was a fact. The car in front of them had abruptly increased its -speed. From its steady, but cautious pace, it had suddenly started to -run away.</p> - -<p>“Have they seen us?” asked Clement.</p> - -<p>“Not they,” said the driver. “That’s the explanation.” He pointed ahead -of him towards the trail. Even as he pointed the reason for the change -of speed became obvious. The car ceased its wild and stormy bumping. -They were still pitched about, but the rough trail across country -had ceased; they were on a road. As they wound in and out among the -rocks they could see the fairly even and rutted surface under their -headlights.</p> - -<p>“Where are we? What road?” demanded Clement.</p> - -<p>“I miss my guess,” said the driver, his eyes fixed warily ahead for the -abrupt and surprising<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> twists. “I don’t know more’n you. It’s Nowhere -in the middle of Neverwas.”</p> - -<p>They ran on, twisting and turning along the crooked, rock-dodging path. -Clement’s pulse began to beat with excitement. A made road—that meant -a house. A house meant....</p> - -<p>The driver said abruptly, his expert eye flashing to the side of the -track and back again with a darting glance, “Thought so ... workings.” -He pointed with a stabbing finger. “Stuff taken out of there—see. Ugh! -ye brute, <i>do</i> ye want to go, prospecting wid yer nose?”</p> - -<p>Clement looked to the side of the trail, but saw nothing of the signs -of mining which the driver noted at a glance. But he saw and felt the -road, saw signs of the presence of man in that, and he recognized that -they were coming to the critical point of their ride. He braced himself -alertly, looking ahead. His hand went into his pocket, caught at the -automatic pistol and held it ready.</p> - -<p>“Water, see,” said the driver, jerking left with his ear, to where -something shimmered flatly and; eerily in the dark.</p> - -<p>Ahead of them the red light of the rear lamp swerved and vanished.</p> - -<p>“Hell,” groaned the driver, and working his hands one over the other -like a strenuous pianist, he whipped the car round an “S” curve into a -straight, round another curve, and caught the distant twinkling of the -red light again. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> - -<p>“They’re moving away,” cried the detective, now by Clement’s side.</p> - -<p>“They know the ground, hang ’em,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“There’s the outfit,” stabbed the driver. “You look. Don’t wanter pile -her up....”</p> - -<p>Clement imitated the action he had just seen the driver indulge in. He -bent low down so that he could catch faintly the black silhouette of -the earth against the fainter darkness of the sky. He saw merely masses -of dark shades on shadow—fantastic, indeterminable shades—rocks, no -doubt.... Then ... yes, there was the tall, square shoulder of a mine -building, the frail fret of derrick against the dark, and the humped -mound of slack.</p> - -<p>“I see it,” he cried. “That’s the place, for a certainty.”</p> - -<p>“Seems so,” growled the driver. He swore deeply. He had lost the tail -light. He was laboring round another cruel bend. He straightened out. -“Where in creation....” he began, searching for the red light.</p> - -<p>“There!” cried the detective.</p> - -<p>“There!” cried Clement. “Straight ahead. Why, we’ve got ’em. We’re on -top of ’em. We’ve got ’em sure.”</p> - -<p>There was a sudden and appalling bump.</p> - -<p>“Fer th’ love of Mike....” yelled the driver.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> He wrenched frantically -at the wheel. “We’re off the trail ... off....”</p> - -<p>There was a sudden succession of terrific and violent bumps. The car -seemed to jump. It thrust forward, sank. Kicked again, buried its nose -deep, and threatened to capsize. Then the hind part sank softly and -squarely.... All movement ceased.</p> - -<p>The all-but-buried headlights, the driver instinctively switched full -on, shone on a flat, moist surface that threw back the rays with a -curious, livid shine. The driver swore deeply.</p> - -<p>“Steve,” he cried to Clement. “Steve, we’re done. We’re knocked. We’re -beat.... We’re <i>bogged</i>.”</p> - -<p>In the distance the red light dwindled and dwindled, and abruptly was -lost.</p> - -<p>In the first car Siwash, leaning towards Joe Wandersun, smiled his cold -Indian smile. “They’re in it, pard,” he said. “In it up to the lamps. -That settles <i>them</i>.”</p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>Clement, in rage, tore at the door of the car, opened it and made to -leap out.</p> - -<p>The detective gripped his arm. The driver, leaning back over the seat, -joined the detective in that grip.</p> - -<p>“Here, Steve,” snapped the driver. “You quit that.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> - -<p>“We can get to these buildings in time—but we must hurry,” snapped -Clement angrily, trying to struggle free.</p> - -<p>“You can not,” said the driver. “You can get up to your occi<i>putt</i> in -enduring mud, Steve, an’ that’ll be about the limit o’ your carnal -activities. What we’ve hit is a slime lake. That mine dumped into here, -see? It’s probably a little more solid than water, but more uneasy to -swim in, see?”</p> - -<p>“But—but—man, we must do something....” cried Clement.</p> - -<p>“Sure, Steve, but with circumspuction. As we ain’t sinking no more, we -have a sure base or deepo’ to work from. By workin’ cautious....”</p> - -<p>“And while we are being cautious—with our lights full on—what will be -happening at that mine, my good chap?”</p> - -<p>“Not much,” said the driver. “A coyote prowling round, a bat flutterin’ -hither an’ thither.... Not much more, Steve. This mine is an abandoned -mine, Steve. C’n tell that by the surface o’ th’ slime....”</p> - -<p>“An abandoned mine,” snapped Clement in an edgy voice. “But that’s just -the place....”</p> - -<p>“Moreover, Steve,” said the driver. “Moreover, our pals in the forward -car did not go to or enter said abandoned mine. Take that as law, -Steve. For why—I saw their headlights flash on the building and pass. -I saw them lights turn beyond a big outcrop of rock further on, going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> -away left, Steve, turning their back on that old mine.”</p> - -<p>“They’ve gone on?” gasped Clement, in a tone of despair.</p> - -<p>“They sure have,” said the driver. “An’ it’s no good feelin’ sore about -it. Circumstances is just gone bad on us, an’ that’s that. No call fer -chasing a Hudson Six to Baffin Bay on the unaided feet.”</p> - -<p>Clement, his eyes still fixed on the point in the darkness where the -red light had vanished, dropped back into his seat. “What exactly -happened?” he asked, more in a groan than anything else.</p> - -<p>“We got bogged,” said the driver, with a touch of irony. “I was the -tin horn, an’ well, we got bogged. See how it is? That trail takes a -sharp loop round this lake. I came round in a crazy hurry, missed that -tail light—then I picked it up dead ahead—that was when <i>they</i> picked -up th’ straight again after getting round th’ lake. Me being that tin -horn, I took me eyes off the trail for a fleck and drove right ahead -instead o’ goin’ round. And—and, well, Steve, we was well and duly -bogged.”</p> - -<p>Clement groaned. Again, through the veriest slip, he had lost his -chance of saving the girl Heloise.</p> - -<p>“If they’d planned it, they couldn’t have beat us to it better,” said -the driver, with a curse. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Perhaps they did plan it,” said the detective Gatineau softly and -suddenly.</p> - -<p>“Eh,” gasped Clement; “but, of course, they didn’t do that. How could -they know we....”</p> - -<p>“Then why are they turning back?” said the detective. “There, abreast -of us between those two rocks....”</p> - -<p>Clement and the driver swung their eyes to the left. Between the two -rocks, distantly, they saw the glow of automobile lamps. They shone -steadily. Then the rocks hid them as they moved. Without a word the men -in the bogged car sat staring into the darkness, searching it for those -glowing lights. They came again from behind a rock. Now they were well -to the rear. The significance of those lights was unmistakable.</p> - -<p>“They’ve circled,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“You’re damn right,” said the driver angrily. “They’re heading to cut -the trail behind. They’re going to make Cobalt again by the same road.”</p> - -<p>Before he could say another word Clement was out of the car. He plunged -desperately, slime or no slime. He went down over his knees in the -viscid stuff. He jumped forward. He found a shelf of rock, strode off -it, again up to his knees. He went on. He slipped and half fell in a -deeper pocket, and with the effort of recovery found himself on ground -that was but shin deep. He plunged forward, and a bush whipped his -faces. He was on solid ground at once. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> - -<p>He ran back along the trail until he met the face of the rock where -the turn had been so disastrous to them. At this he sprang, clambering -upwards. It was a hard, steep climb, but he was glad of it. The higher -it was, the more commanding a position it would give him. He knew he -was at the summit by the sudden sight of the departing car lights he -obtained. But even as he scrambled erect those lights disappeared, -leaving a faint, moving glow only.</p> - -<p>Clement followed that steadily with his eyes. Then as the lights -abruptly flamed into view, his hand went up, and the automatic pistol -in it spoke and spoke again. As he fired, the lights disappeared, and -he wondered if he had hit. They came again, and again he fired. He -emptied his clip and jerked out an exclamation of anger as he reached -into his pocket for a fresh magazine. As he did that, the lights -vanished once more.</p> - -<p>He heard a man panting by his side, and the detective Gatineau’s voice -said, “Too far and too dark for fine shooting, Mr. Seadon, I’m afraid. -Also it’s quite illegal.”</p> - -<p>And even as he said that, his own automatic was pumping off, to be -joined at least ten seconds later by the snap of Clement’s pistol.</p> - -<p>But the darkness and the distance were against them. Both men fired -once more when the lights showed, but the car appeared to go steadily -and calmly on its course. Soon it swung into the trail,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> and all -that could be seen of it was the up flung haze of its great lamps. -Presently even that was lost, though they could hear on the almost -preternaturally silent air the drone of the car’s engines as they -dwindled and sank into the distance.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you were right. It was planned and we were deliberately tricked,” -said Clement harshly, as he turned to clamber down to the car, and he -did not, indeed could not, speak again, so hot was his anger against -himself. When he reached the edge of the slime lake, within hailing -distance of the stranded car, he called to the driver. “It was a trap, -after all. A trap to maroon me out here miles away from anywhere——”</p> - -<p>“About forty miles from Cobalt station, anyhow, Steve,” said the -driver. “Forty miles, if it’s an inch.”</p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>“Forty miles away from Cobalt,” gasped the detective Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“I reckon that,” said the driver. “I reckon it; but don’t you ask me -where we are. In the middle of the Sarah Desert of Africa, for all I -know.”</p> - -<p>“And we’re right out of touch of anybody. Miles away from the nearest -house?”</p> - -<p>“Hundreds of miles,” said the driver fervently and with convincing -inaccuracy. “I don’t know of even a shack out this way.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I don’t suppose there is one ... trust Neuburg and his gang for that,” -said Clement bitterly, reviewing the situation and finding its meaning.</p> - -<p>“There may be a telephone in that old mine,” suggested the detective, -with no great conviction.</p> - -<p>“Oh, there may be,” said the driver. “There may be a Packard de luxe -only waiting to take us back. Anyhow, to look won’t mean any harm. An’ -it’ll be an occupation. There’s all the night yet.”</p> - -<p>Clement and the detective went round by the trail to the abandoned -mine. They felt their way carefully with their torches, and they -carried their pistols ready. There was no need for the latter. The mine -was dark and empty, its buildings degenerating into rot, its workings -choked with weeds. There was not a telephone.</p> - -<p>They had left another torch with the driver, and he had spent his -time carefully surveying the position of the car in the rather vague -hope that she might be got out of the slime lake on her own power. As -Clement and his companion returned, he called out to them, “Nothin’ -doing with th’ old girl. It’ll take a team to pull her clear, and an -overhaul in a garage when she is clear an’ back at Cobalt. But she -won’t sink any more, so she’s safe to sleep in.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll send back that team,” said Clement. He turned to the detective. -“Or, rather, I will;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> there’s no need for you to walk in, I’ll send -back another car.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll come along,” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“A hell of a walk on a dark night with a trail bad enough to be easily -missed. You’re risking a lot,” said the driver.</p> - -<p>“We’ve got to,” answered Clement. “You see, the reason we were lured -out here, and marooned, is, as I look at it, that those people in the -car want to get us out of the way and keep us out of the way for a long -time.... Isn’t that the way you see this, Mr. Gatineau?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the only reason in it,” agreed the detective. “I should say -that we got to Cobalt before Neuburg and his lot were ready for us. -They had to decide on this desperate trick to get us out into the wilds -and maroon us. I take it that the man in the car signaled to Siwash -directly he saw him.”</p> - -<p>“I agree in the main,” said Clement, who had been thinking hard. “But -this thing has been well planned. They knew if they could get us out -here we might be landed helpless.... And to get us out here, well, -Siwash must have been the bait. I don’t see how they knew we knew of -his presence on the train——”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps his showing himself at North Bay was deliberate,” said the -detective. “Half-breed Indians with all the tricks of the woods don’t -give<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> themselves away so easily. Although it’s rather late in the day -to remember that.”</p> - -<p>“And the fact is neither here nor there, anyhow,” said Clement. “Our -chief concern is that we are ten or more hours tramp away from Cobalt -on this bad trail, and that during those ten hours Neuburg and his -rogues will be able to do things—things connected,” he meant to -mention Heloise Reys’ name, but he boggled at that, he said instead, -“do things that our presence in Cobalt would have prevented. They have -gained very valuable time.”</p> - -<p>“But they, whoever you’re talking about, <i>have</i> gained it,” pointed the -driver. “You can’t get away from that. That being so, where’s the value -of risking that tramp along a dangerous trail in a dark night? It’s -mortal easy to stray and get lost in these parts.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a risk I think we’ve got to take,” said Clement. “They may be -counting on the fact that we won’t try to follow the trail during the -night; I mean by that they may need more time than those ten hours. -Again, we may have luck, may hit upon a shack or a homestead where we -could get a rig or some conveyance. And always, too, the closer we keep -to their heels the more likely we are to throw their plans out.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know who they are, but these fellers seem a healthy lot of -toughs from the indications thrown off,” said the driver. And as he -voiced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> his ignorance, Clement swung round on him with an inspiration.</p> - -<p>“Do you know a man named Henry Gunning?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“Henry Gunning,” cried the driver. “What, again! Do I know him? Why, -the feller’s an epidemic.”</p> - -<p>Clement, startled by the tone of the man’s voice, simply echoed the -expression, “an epidemic?”</p> - -<p>“He’s certainly that. The whole world’s asking after him.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean by the whole world?” demanded Clement in some -excitement.</p> - -<p>“In a manner o’ speaking, I mean he seemed an ordinary sort of feller -up to a day or so ago. Then a big fat man hits the burg and he and a -feller with him begins to agitate for this Henry Gunning——”</p> - -<p>“That is Neuburg and Joe Wandersun—the big man is Neuburg,” said -Clement.</p> - -<p>“That’s Neuburg,” said the driver. “Well, I can understand your lack of -heartiness about him—a shifty-looking mammoth he is. Well then, they -asked and asked for Henry Gunning, reg’ler raised the burg. And then, -when they’d finished—when the subject might be considered dropped, so -to speak—there came the ladies——”</p> - -<p>“The two ladies,” said Clement quickly.</p> - -<p>“Yep, the queen one, a real swell Jane, and the plain prune one. They -made the burg to-day, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> they asked. The big shark had nothin’ on -them ladies in eagerness for Henry. An’ now here’s you.”</p> - -<p>This seemed all very strange to Clement. If Neuburg had asked -for Gunning, why should Heloise, in her turn, have had to ask so -persistently? He said, “I don’t quite follow this. The big man asked -for Gunning, you say, and then the lady.... Does that mean that Neuburg -did not find Gunning?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he found him. You bet <i>he</i> found him all right, all right.” From -the amusement in the driver’s tone it was evident that there was some -ripe story connected with Neuburg’s discovery of Gunning.</p> - -<p>Clement ignored that. “Well, then—why the lady? Why did she have to -ask for Gunning?”</p> - -<p>“Why,” said the driver. “Why, don’t you see, because that Neuburg -feller found him first, see.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see at all.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he found him first, didn’t he. Took him away. Beat it with -him——”</p> - -<p>“What!” cried Clement. “Are you saying Gunning has left Cobalt with -Neuburg?”</p> - -<p>“First train out, sure,” said the man. “This morning, or rather, -yesterday mornin’.”</p> - -<p>“An’ the lady——?”</p> - -<p>“But ain’t I bin tellin’ you all the time Henry was gone when she came -in?”</p> - -<p>Clement stared amazedly at the faint blur of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> white that in the -darkness represented the driver’s face. In the pause the detective -Gatineau said, “Then, Miss Reys, this lady and her companion, are still -in Cobalt?”</p> - -<p>“They certainly are.”</p> - -<p>Clement spoke. “Until the first train out,” he said bitterly. “That’s -why we’re here. We were lured out here so that Miss Reys can be got -away from Cobalt without our meeting or seeing her. They can’t very -well get her out of Cobalt until the morning, so they got me, us, out -of Cobalt instead.”</p> - -<p>Indeed, it was unmistakable. Gunning had been whisked out of Cobalt to -some unconjecturable place, either because he was not in a fit state to -see Heloise, or because, hearing of Clement’s pursuit, Neuburg feared -that his plan might be interrupted. The rest naturally followed.</p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p>It was a good thing that the motor driver came back with them along the -trail to Cobalt. There were times when the track branched deceptively, -and they might have gone astray. It was he who shone his torch on the -dusty earth and said, “This way. There’s the heart-shaped tread of the -new tire I got on me back wheel.”</p> - -<p>Also he enlivened a monotonous journey by his story of the coming of -Neuburg to Cobalt.</p> - -<p>There was that grim humor in it that Clement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> naturally connected with -the mountain of a man and the circumstances.</p> - -<p>Henry Gunning had been in a billiard saloon, “half-canned,” as the -driver said, with “bootleg” whiskey. He had been bragging violently -about the millionaire he’d be in ten minutes after his marriage. -Neuburg had just walked into the billiard dive and looked at him—or -rather looked over his shoulder.</p> - -<p>Gunning had crumpled at once, and, a thing of limp fear had followed -Neuburg “like a dorg.—”</p> - -<p>“Jist like er dorg. Neuburg never said a word, but that Gunning -feller put his moral tail between his hypothetical legs and went out -arter him. When they made the train he was still follering th’ big -man—without a word.”</p> - -<p>The driver also told them about the coming of Heloise. He had been in -that, too. He had heard that she was inquiring for Gunning, and, as he -had seen all that had happened, he had “greased” along to the hotel. -But, of course, he had not been allowed to get near Heloise.</p> - -<p>“A woman with a glacial face handed me the frozen mitt,” he explained. -“She come down an’ saw me in the lobby, and said she was glad to hear -what I tole her, an’ it was very interesting, an’ she’d make a note o’ -it, an’ here’s a dollar fer yer trouble an’ good-by.”</p> - -<p>That was how Heloise had been fenced off from the truth. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> - -<p>By the time the driver had finished they had tramped into the dawn. -About them the land loomed gray and bleak, and full of up-shouldering -masses of rock.</p> - -<p>At the same time they gained a hope of being near homesteads, for the -main trail was now broken by many branching tracks.</p> - -<p>It was while they bent over one of these junctions that the next -manifestation of Mr. Neuburg’s criminal efficiency developed.</p> - -<p>A spurt of earth kicked up almost in their faces. And then another. -They heard the snap of a pistol, and the “whit-whit” of bullets about -them.</p> - -<p>The driver sprang erect with an oath, but Clement caught him and flung -him to the ground.</p> - -<p>“Down on your tummy!” he snapped. “Crawl to cover under those rocks. -There’s a man on that outcrop ahead, and he’s shooting to kill.”</p> - -<h3>V</h3> - -<p>As the three of them huddled to the earth under cover, there came a -sparkle of light from the mound of rock ahead, and a bullet droned -above them. At the flash, the driver darted his hand upward, fired -every chamber of the five-shot revolver he carried. At once above his -head the protecting rock splintered, and on a rock behind a bullet -starred.</p> - -<p>“Better not do that again,” said Clement, hugging cover. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Shootin’ <i>me</i> up,” breathed the driver as he reloaded. “I’ll teach -him.”</p> - -<p>“You won’t that way,” said Clement. “Not without damage to yourself. -That must be the half-breed Siwash planted there to hold us away from -Cobalt as long as possible. He’s up to all the tricks. We won’t be able -to rush him, we’ve got to get him by guile.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t care about guile as long as I can shoot him up.”</p> - -<p>Clement who, in the broadening pallor of light, had been studying the -ground, said crisply, “You shall. Stick your revolver round the farther -end of your rock ... no more than your gun, if you value your arm, -and when you’ve fired, whip it in sharp. No, don’t trouble to aim at -anything. Ready. Now fire.”</p> - -<p>The driver’s revolver spoke. Almost at once there was an answering -sparkle from the rock-cliff, and the rock against which the revolver -rested chipped into flecks of flying particles.</p> - -<p>“Close up,” said the driver. “He’s getting his range pretty.”</p> - -<p>“He is,” said Clement, who had asked the driver to fire so that he -might study their opponent’s position. “Lucky for us his first shots -were mere sighters. But now he’ll get anything of us that shows. Also -he moves after every shot. We won’t get him by pot shooting. We’ve got -to tackle this fellow with some of his own cunning. And we’ve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> got to -do it quickly before the light gets too good?”</p> - -<p>His mind, accustomed in the old days to trench warfare, sized up the -situation quickly and accurately.</p> - -<p>“Will you two crawl over to the left there? And, don’t forget, cover -is life. I want you to get behind those rocks. When I give you the -word, I want one of you to blaze at him and draw his fire. When he -fires back, I want you both to loose off.... Can you fire with the left -hand, Gatineau? Well, do, alternating your shots. I want that lad to be -convinced that he has three men pinned here.”</p> - -<p>“And you’re going to flank him?” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to try to do that.”</p> - -<p>“Not a very safe job with a slim feller like that,” said the driver.</p> - -<p>“I had some practice at it in France.... Great training ground, France. -Also, I’ve done quite a lot of stalking. Anyhow, it’s our only chance -if we’re not to remain here all day.”</p> - -<p>The two men crawled across to their stations and Gatineau fired at -Siwash. The shot was immediately answered, and as immediately a very -hearty fusilade burst from the two behind their rocks. Clement chuckled -at the ardor Gatineau and his companion put into the business. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> -a real early morning “hate.” Not three men but a file seemed to be in -action.</p> - -<p>But though Clement Seadon was grinning, he was also fulfilling his own -part of the plan. Directly the attention of the man on the rock was -occupied, he began to worm his way in a wide circle to the right. He -had good cover, and he made excellent progress. He was also helped by -the clever coöperation of his companions. They went one better than -instructions. Instead of remaining in one place and firing from that, -they worked steadily along the arc to the left, and Siwash—Clement was -certain it was Siwash—in swiveling round to follow them, naturally -turned his back more and more on Clement. They drew fire with all -manner of tricks.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Clement made definite progress. The ground was rocky and made -for stalking. In about half-an-hour he reached a position from which -he could see the fellow as he moved stealthily from point to point. It -was, as he had thought, Siwash.</p> - -<p>Actually, at one time, he had Siwash’s legs and thighs at the mercy of -his pistol, but though the chances were six to one on his hitting, he -decided not to risk it. If he wounded the fellow he might not put him -out, while it would betray the double game they were playing. When he -fired he must do so with absolute certainty of putting an end to this -pistol play. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> - -<p>All the same, he had to fire before he was ready. He had worked round -to a fairly good position, when he saw no more than the hands of Siwash -(the rest was covered) doing a peculiar thing. The hands seemed to be -rolling a cigarette. The hands finished rolling the cigarette, and, -with the utmost cunning, it was lighted. A broad puff of smoke rose -up, and another, immediately drawing a spattering of shots from the -men below. Siwash, hidden, puffed for a minute on the cigarette, then -the hands appeared again, and Clement watched them fixing the wet butt -of the smoke cleverly to the face of a rock. Siwash had calculated the -draught well, for the lighted end gave off a thin thread of smoke, -which occasionally became puffs, in the now advanced light of the -growing day. Directly he had fixed up the cigarette, he appeared and -began to slink away between the rocks.... Then Clement fired.</p> - -<p>He had to fire. He recognized Siwash’s game at once. Siwash meant to -hypnotize the men below with that cigarette smoke. With their eyes -fixed on that, they would not notice the fellow was worming round them. -The first intimation of his tactics they would get would be a shot from -their exposed flank, and that shot would be aimed to kill. Clement -recognized this in a flash, and fired.</p> - -<p>He saw Siwash jerk and dive forward out of sight. He thought he had -hit, but did not waste time speculating on the matter. He nipped -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>forward rapidly to close with the brute. He had covered half the -distance when he heard a shout, and saw the detective Gatineau on the -ground where Siwash had fallen and disappeared. Gatineau stood upright, -but drew no shot. Clement discarded cover and ran, scrambling over the -rocks to join him.</p> - -<p>He reached the spot, found Gatineau, but no Siwash. There was blood on -the ground leading away through the rocks. Clement was about to ask -questions when, with a loud “Got it, Steve,” the driver scrambled into -sight. He had a large automatic in his hand as well as his own revolver.</p> - -<p>“Say, you got him pretty,” shouted the driver. “But where is that bad -man?”</p> - -<p>“We saw him go down ‘smash!’ when you fired,” explained the detective. -“He shot right into sight before dropping out of it; his gun dropped -out of his hand, hit that rock there and went bouncing down to the foot -of the outcrop.... I guess you hit him powerful. I came up here quick -to get him if he wasn’t done, while the driver went for the gun.”</p> - -<p>“An’ I got the gun, but you didn’t get that bad man.”</p> - -<p>“He must be a pretty sick man, anyhow,” said Gatineau, pointing to the -blood. “He can’t be far off.”</p> - -<p>They followed the trail. It wormed in and out of the rocks, and against -some of them was a smear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> of blood. Then suddenly, across an open space -ringed with rocks, they lost it. Siwash had evidently staunched the -flow before he had crossed this place. They stared at the rocks, the -hard surface of which showed no footprints. They could see no sign of -movement.</p> - -<p>“He might be at any point of the compass there,” said Clement. -“We might hunt all day for him, and not find him.... And we don’t -particularly want to find him.”</p> - -<p>“No, the sooner we get to Cobalt the better,” agreed Gatineau. “And his -teeth are drawn anyhow. We can lodge information at the town and the -police there can deal with him—if he remains hereabouts to be dealt -with. We’d better get along.”</p> - -<p>It was another hour and a half before they reached Cobalt. Here they -learned that the tactics of Mr. Neuburg had accomplished all that that -villain desired. Heloise and the companion Méduse Smythe had left. They -had taken tickets to North Bay. By this time they were already beyond -North Bay and any telephone message that could be got there.</p> - -<p>They had vanished into the maze of cross lines that radiated from that -railway junction.</p> - -<h3>VI</h3> - -<p>The journey from Cobalt to North Bay was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> made on one of those skeleton -motor trolleys railway men use to get from place to place. It was the -only means of making the journey.</p> - -<p>It was swift and thoroughly uncomfortable. They had to cling tight -to the center handrail as they rocked and swung through a primitive -country of bare rocks and skeleton like, burnt-out forests. Clement, -bone-tired from his heavy and sleepless night, was saved from pitching -onto the ballast several times by the grip of the motorman or Gatineau.</p> - -<p>At North Bay, they had to walk across goods yards through groups of men -to get to the station offices. This walk, slight though it was, seemed -to have so curious an effect on Clement that he behaved entirely out of -the normal. He refused to go on with Xavier Gatineau.</p> - -<p>The little detective hesitated for a moment, puzzled, and Clement said -quietly, “Go in—I must stay outside, for a reason.” In a louder voice -he cried, “I’ll put these suitcases in the baggage room, and make -inquiries there.”</p> - -<p>Mystified at this strange behavior, Xavier Gatineau went into the -station superintendent alone. When he came out half an hour later he -expected Clement to be missing from the platform, but he was still -there. His eye that caught Gatineau’s said, “Well?”</p> - -<p>“The ladies have gone south,” said the little detective. “They’ve gone -to a place called Orillia.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> It’s a junction town. They can break off -from there anywhere—back to Montreal, or to the West, or even down to -the States.”</p> - -<p>He gave his information in a matter-of-fact tone. He was astonished, in -fact, horrified, when Clement Seadon said in a loud voice, “Orillia! I -see it; it’s like them. They are banking on us rushing straight west -to Sicamous, the dogs! While we scamper west, the meeting between Miss -Reys and Gunning will happen at Orillia, or near it. Good God, it’s a -neat blind. But, thank heaven, we have your organization behind us; -that’s saved us; well steal a march on them to Orillia.”</p> - -<p>Xavier Gatineau was completely mystified as well as aghast at this -attitude. He was aghast that this stupid fellow should talk so that all -the world could hear. He was mystified, because, unless Clement Seadon -had suddenly lost his senses, this dash to Orillia was obviously not at -all the thing to do.</p> - -<p>“I also found out——” he began.</p> - -<p>“You found out the next train to Orillia?” said Clement loudly.</p> - -<p>Gatineau named the time of the train, trying not to feel that this -young man was a fool. The young man exploded.</p> - -<p>“Absurd! We can’t wait all that time. We must find a quicker way of -getting there.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> - -<p>“There isn’t a quicker way,” said the detective tartly.</p> - -<p>“We’ve got to find one. We must take another of those motor trolleys.”</p> - -<p>“No good. There isn’t one.”</p> - -<p>“But, my dear man, we <i>can’t</i> wait hours,” shouted Clement, showing his -anxiety with his waving hands. “Do you realize what may happen in those -hours?” He began to stamp up the platform in his agitation.</p> - -<p>“It can’t be helped,” snapped Gatineau, forced to follow him. “We’ve -just got to wait.”</p> - -<p>Waving his hands, arguing, Clement reached the end of the platform. He -turned and shot a glance along it. He still waved his arms angrily, but -in an even tone he said,:</p> - -<p>“Think I’m acting like a looney, Gatineau? There’s a reason. Tell me -anything more you’ve found out, quick.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve found out that Neuburg and Gunning pulled out from here to the -west. That means the meeting place won’t be in Orillia, but somewhere -west, in Sicamous, likely.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” said the astonishing Clement.</p> - -<p>“But you said....”</p> - -<p>“More than that, I howled it,” said Clement still making wild gestures. -“I wanted somebody to hear it. That thick-set man over there. He’s been -shadowing me ever since we left the motor-trolley. Now play up, my -lad....” He made a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> gesture of resignation, and said aloud, “All right, -then, I suppose there is nothing more for it but to wait. But it’s -awful—ghastly.... What shall we do?”</p> - -<p>“There is a hotel here, we might get a sleep.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! And a bath. I want one. We’d better get reservations to Orillia -first, though,—save the rush at the end. Come along.”</p> - -<p>As they went to their hotel, Gatineau made a point of crossing the road -in front of a great shop window. He chuckled.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he’s following us, that attentive friend of yours. It’s probably -that Joe Wandersun. He’s the only one unaccounted for.”</p> - -<p>“What’s his game?”</p> - -<p>“Easy. He’ll sleuth us to our rooms, then he’ll wire brother Neuburg -somewhere west that we’re here and following hotly the blind trail to -Orillia. You played him princely, Mr. Seadon. We’ll settle him.”</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“Leave it to me. All I ask you to do is to dawdle about in the lobby of -the hotel for five minutes before going to your room. I want to get out -of the back to be ready when he comes out of the front door again.”</p> - -<p>Clement was shrouded in bath towels when the little detective came -back to the hotel. He was all smiles, and sat beaming at Clement as he -fanned his young bald head with his hat. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It was easy as fallin’ off a wall,” he grinned. “That feller went -straight to the station telegraph and filled in a blank. He didn’t even -look round. Here’s the blank.”</p> - -<p>“Good Lord!” cried Clement. “How did you get that?”</p> - -<p>“Our work, we have the pull there.”</p> - -<p>“What an ass,” said Clement. “He ought to have known better than to use -the C.P.R. lines.”</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t help himself. Look at the address, Banff in the Rockies; -we’re the only cable company to serve it. Also, he thinks he’s well -covered. Read it.”</p> - -<p>The wire read:</p> - -<blockquote><p class="right">“<i>Banff Springs Hotel.</i></p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Arthur Newman</span>,</p> - -<p>“Our party reached North Bay from Cobalt. Learned of business in -Orillia. We go there next train.</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Nimmo Bates.</span>”</p></blockquote> - -<p>“Nimmo Bates,” said Clement. “I’ll swear that’s Joe Wandersun.”</p> - -<p>“Why not,” smiled Gatineau, “since Arthur Newman is Adolf Neuburg?”</p> - -<p>“That’s true,” agreed Clement. “Well, this bears things out. The -meeting place is in the west, at Banff probably instead of Sicamous. -In fact it’s lovely. Banff and its beauty will be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>idyllic for a—a -lovers’ reunion. Also it is near Sicamous, and they can get away from -it, as they can get into it, easily. The ladies will be able to work -round behind us and reach there?”</p> - -<p>“Easy,” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“Then we go to Banff. Meanwhile there is this fellow Nimmo, or Joe.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll fix Joe,” said Gatineau grimly.</p> - -<p>“But there’s this telegram. Neuburg will expect reports from -Orillia....”</p> - -<p>“Nope!” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“But of course he will, this telegram....”</p> - -<p>“That telegram <i>isn’t</i> the one that was sent.”</p> - -<p>“Eh?” gasped Clement.</p> - -<p>“This is the one I sent.”</p> - -<p>He handed Clement a carbon duplicate which went:</p> - -<blockquote><p class="right">“<i>Banff Springs Hotel.</i></p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Arthur Newman</span>,</p> - -<p>“Our party reached North Bay from Cobalt. Think business better -done Montreal. We go there next train.</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Nimmo Bates.</span>”</p></blockquote> - -<p>“That quiets brother Neuburg, see?” grinned Gatineau in the face of -Clement’s perplexity. “It tells brother Neuburg we’ve muddled the trail -and cut back to headquarters at Montreal. Quite natural. You see, -like you, I figured Neuburg’d want<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> reports, and he can get them from -Montreal.”</p> - -<p>“Can he? How?”</p> - -<p>“The Chief will see to that. I’ve sent all facts to him, he’ll send -reports to Arthur Newman that will keep Neuburg purring. Trust The -Chief, he’s a bear. Of course Nimmo Bates will sign ’em. Meanwhile we -go comfortably to Banff.”</p> - -<p>Clement roared with laughter.</p> - -<p>“Well, of all the calm, foreseeing, clever little devils.... It’s a -dazzling idea, Gatineau. Neuburg will be certain we’re at a loss in -Montreal, will think he has plenty of time, while all the time we are -overhauling him.”</p> - -<p>“That’s it,” agreed the little detective. “The only thing that worries -me is will the girl—Miss Reys—figure according to plan. I mean if she -has any sense she’ll be suspicious at all this roundabout traveling, -this chopping and changing of plans.”</p> - -<p>“I hope she will be,” said Clement. “But I’m afraid she won’t. She -doesn’t know the country; her companion does. She’s bound to follow -blindly. And then anything can be put down to the erratic movements of -Gunning.”</p> - -<p>“She’ll find him too erratic, I’m thinking,” said Gatineau wisely.</p> - -<p>“I’m hoping that, too,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>Both had the sleep they needed, and a meal, and went to the railway -station in good fettle. Under Gatineau’s instructions, Clement suddenly -turned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> from the platform and entered the booking hall as though making -for the street.</p> - -<p>The man who had shadowed him from the hotel did not hesitate for a -moment, but trailed after him. In the middle of the booking hall the -hand of Xavier Gatineau came down on his shoulder, and he swung round -to find the muzzle of an automatic within six inches of his solar -plexus. He started to put up his hands.</p> - -<p>“What’s the game?” he snarled.</p> - -<p>“I want you, Nimmo Bates,” said Gatineau. “I want you in connection -with the jewel robbery on the <i>Empress of Prague</i>. Cut out the rough -stuff, Joe, and go quietly.”</p> - -<p>As Joe Wandersun stared amazed, three large railway policemen slipped -out of the office.</p> - -<p>“Take him along, boys,” said Gatineau. “The Chief will give you -instructions in Montreal.”</p> - -<p>As the police hustled the half-dazed rogue away, Gatineau went to the -booking window.</p> - -<p>“Say, Jim, got those reservations for Banff on the next westbound? -Good.... She’s on time, I hope.”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>From North Bay to Winnipeg on the run to Banff, Clement was occupied -mainly by monotony and his own anxious thoughts regarding Heloise. But -at Winnipeg they picked up the trail again. Gatineau heard news from -Montreal, and both saw the man with his arm in a sling—Siwash Mike.</p> - -<p>There was actually nothing fresh concerning the ladies, it was obvious -that they had doubled on their tracks in the tangle of railways south -of North Bay; that was the first item Gatineau offered as they sat at -lunch in the Alexandra Hotel.</p> - -<p>“Is that bad news?” asked Clement.</p> - -<p>“Well, no,” said the little detective. “They’re coming along here all -right.”</p> - -<p>“I like the positive sound of that,” smiled Clement. “You <i>are</i> -positive?”</p> - -<p>“Sure. They’ll follow this big rough neck Neuburg, an’ Gunning.”</p> - -<p>“And Neuburg and Gunning?”</p> - -<p>“Gone through to Banff.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s as we expected. Miss Reys will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> join them there—or -rather all of us. We’ll be of the pleasant company, too.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said Gatineau reflectively.</p> - -<p>“Well, then,” said Clement, “all this being as we thought, would you -mind telling me what the bad news is?”</p> - -<p>“Hey?” cried the little detective, looking up from the soup that is -called gumbo.</p> - -<p>“You have the ‘how-can-I-break-it-gently’ air. Out with it.”</p> - -<p>“It’s Neuburg,” said Gatineau quietly.</p> - -<p>“Neuburg?”</p> - -<p>“He <i>is</i> the murderer.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we’ve always felt fairly certain of that,” said Clement, after -the first twinge of horror had run through him. “You mean, the matter -is now decided?”</p> - -<p>“As certain as we can be from the facts on hand. I’ve just read a -message from The Chief. He’s sure. He’s been looking at those old -descriptions provided by the Oregon police. Adolf Neuburg is Albrecht -Nachbar, wanted for murder by U. S. A.”</p> - -<p>“Queer that he should be alliterative in alias,” said Clement. “Arthur -Newman.... Why has he used those initials again, I wonder?”</p> - -<p>“Criminals do strange things,” said the detective. “It’s a kink in him, -I suppose. P’raps Neuburg has a fancy those initials bring luck—that’s -the sort of thing one finds in rogues. Or, it may be an easy way to -keep his gang together; his A and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> N may be so characteristic as to -guard against forgery.”</p> - -<p>“And it may, after all, be mere cleverness. Many people would not -credit him with the daring of using names so similar, and be put off -the trail.... But the fact is that Neuburg is Nachbar.”</p> - -<p>“The Chief is sure; he sends along warning to be mighty spry in dealing -with the feller. He’s a tough nut, is Neuburg.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve already learned it,” said Clement dryly. “Was the crime a bad -one?”</p> - -<p>“Real bad. I kept my mouth shut about it until we could be sure—but -it was real bad. The feller he killed was a rich dude in Oregon. There -was some sort of crazy bucket-shop deal that this feller—his name was -Roberts—was interested in.”</p> - -<p>“Did Nachbar or Neuburg appear in the deal?”</p> - -<p>“He did not.... I see what you mean. His tactics appear to have been -the same as now. He didn’t show up in the open, he merely played the -part of a disinterested adviser to this rich man’s orphan. Fact is, -nobody noticed Neuburg, or Nachbar as he was then, until Roberts died.”</p> - -<p>“And he died—how?” Gatineau looked at him quickly.</p> - -<p>“He went out on a shooting trip——”</p> - -<p>“Yep,” said Gatineau. “That appears to be his method in these -things.... Gets people into the wilds. Well, Roberts goes shooting into -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> wilds and there is a hell of an accident. His gun bursts and he is -killed outright.”</p> - -<p>“And <i>was</i> it an accident?”</p> - -<p>“At the inquest it was. That was the verdict. But when people began -poking round they found it wasn’t. I needn’t go into it all, and, in -fact, I have only the outline of the business, but the things that came -out were these. First, a big, solid block of cash was missing. Second, -Nachbar was linked up with that missing cash. Then people began to hunt -for things.</p> - -<p>“First, they got no change out of Nachbar. He produced letters and -papers by the boxful to show that his dealings with Roberts were -straight—forgeries, no doubt, but good ones, especially since the -victim was a dead ’un—you can bettcher life Nachbar was sound on this. -He’s the real brainy bad man, all right, all right. Things were kind of -tied up until a fellow from the American Department of Justice began to -find the trail of the murder. He found out that Nachbar had been in the -district where Roberts was shooting, at the very time of the murder.”</p> - -<p>Clement was rather startled. “That sounds rather crude for a criminal -of Neuburg’s propensities,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Nope, it wasn’t crude. He traveled by a different railway system to -a different valley. He didn’t even go near Roberts’s camp. But this -detective, who was nosing round, found that he had stayed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> at a hotel -in a neighboring valley for a week end shoot, that he had gone off, -early in the morning of Saturday, the day of Roberts’ death, that he -went out shooting without a guide, and though nobody could tell the -direction he went, he had time to go somewhere close to where Roberts’s -body was found.”</p> - -<p>“There were other clues of course?”</p> - -<p>“They began to come down in a blizzard, once they started. Roberts’s -actions had been unusual on that day. First, he had made his plans -to go out shooting to the west with a couple of guides. Then, early, -he had got a special delivery letter. After reading that letter, he -changed his plans, went out shooting alone, and went east—that is, -towards the hotel where Nachbar was staying. His body was found about -half-way between.”</p> - -<p>“But didn’t all this come out at the inquest?”</p> - -<p>“The inquest was on a man accidentally killed. These points were passed -over as interesting, but not relevant.”</p> - -<p>“But the letter—if it made an appointment——?”</p> - -<p>“That letter was never found. It wasn’t on him when his body was -brought in. Everything on him down to his bootlaces was impounded by -the Court, but no special delivery letter was found. Some one had taken -that letter from his body after his—apparently—lonely death.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It must have been signed for? Didn’t the postoffice know anything -about it?”</p> - -<p>“Nachbar wasn’t the one to slip-up over a detail like that. It had -been sent from Roberts’s home district in a faked name—couldn’t be -connected with Nachbar or the hotel where he was staying for his shoot. -Still, it was a link. And on top of that it was found the gun that -killed Roberts—<i>wasn’t his</i>.”</p> - -<p>“What!” cried Clement in a startled tone.</p> - -<p>“No, it wasn’t his. It looked like his. It was just the sort of -Winchester magazine rifle he used, but the dealer found the number and -proved it wasn’t his. Some one must have swopped guns with him—while -he was out, apparently, alone. And the gun he got in exchange for his -own was a gun meant to burst and kill, an’ <i>did</i> burst an’ kill.”</p> - -<p>“Devilish!” cried Clement. “And his own gun—was that traced?”</p> - -<p>“Did you think it would be? No, it wasn’t. It was proved that Neuburg -had also left his hotel carrying a Winchester magazine—easy to effect -a change, you see, an’ when he came back with the same sort of gun on -his shoulder nobody had reason to suspect it was Roberts’s gun—then. -Moreover, when Neuburg’s rooms were searched, it was found that he -had kindly left an identical Winchester rifle behind—an’ it wasn’t -Roberts’s.”</p> - -<p>“An alibi. He could swear that this gun was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> gun he used on that -murderous weekend.—Has the burst gun been traced?”</p> - -<p>“No. But, of course, it is only a detail. It is obvious that Neuburg or -Nachbar did that murder, though full facts have to be proved.”</p> - -<p>For a moment they sat silent, and Clement, anyhow, was appreciating -the full meaning of this revelation. Roberts’s murder, Heloise Reys’ -case—how they ran parallel. Roberts was a victim because of his -wealth—Heloise Reys was possessed of a million pounds. Nachbar kept -in the background as far as Roberts was concerned. He was an advising -friend; Neuburg played the same rôle to Heloise Reys. Roberts had been -lured into the wilds; Heloise Reys was, even now, being lured into the -wilds. Roberts was killed by a secret, brilliant “accident;” Heloise -Reys ... Clement shivered. He stared at Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“I told you,” said the little detective, “because I think it best to -know exactly the ways and methods of this brute.”</p> - -<p>“I understand,” said Clement. “And then there is the brighter side, -too. It is certain that Neuburg is Nachbar. He’ll be arrested. When?”</p> - -<p>“The Chief tells me he is getting a move on already,” said the little -detective, and Clement caught a hint of hesitation.</p> - -<p>“Does that mean that Nachbar won’t be arrested at once?”</p> - -<p>“Not at once.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But—but that’s incredible. He’s a murderer, and you can arrest -murderers without warrant, surely?”</p> - -<p>“We can—if we’re dead positive they’re murderers.”</p> - -<p>Clement gave vent to a gesture and an exclamation of despair.</p> - -<p>“See here, Mr. Seadon,” broke in Gatineau. “Don’t you condemn the -police in a hurry. Recollect that, keen as we may be, we can’t go about -arresting folk off-hand. We’ve got to be sure we ain’t running innocent -men into jail—an’ disgrace. This is complicated. It’s an old crime. -We don’t know whether the American police have dropped it, or caught -their man, or have definite news that proves Neuburg isn’t the feller -we think he is. Until we can be sure we daren’t move. We’ve got to get -in touch with the U. S. A. before we can hold him.”</p> - -<p>“That’s logical, I suppose, but it is also rather terrible. And it will -take—how long?”</p> - -<p>“A few days at least.”</p> - -<p>A few days! Clement stared at the little detective: what might not -happen in a few days?</p> - -<p>“She’s got us anyhow,” said Gatineau, reading his thoughts.</p> - -<p>“Yes, she’s got us, and it lies with us to keep Neuburg or Nachbar so -that he won’t have time to do anything—critical. But I confess I’m -rather fearful, Gatineau.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> - -<p>And a little later in the day, things appeared even more disturbing.</p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>Clement Seadon and the detective had made their way through the -underground passage that leads from the great hotel to the railway -station. They were to catch the train west to Banff. They were emerging -into the booking hall when Gatineau caught hold of the Englishman’s arm.</p> - -<p>Instinctively Clement looked ahead.</p> - -<p>Seen through the glass swing-doors of the passage a young man passed -towards the platform walking swiftly. He was a slim, lithe young man -with a dark, aquiline face. And he had his right arm in a sling. There -was no mistaking the curious lilting walk, as there was no mistaking -the features of the man.</p> - -<p>“Good God!” said Clement “Siwash Mike! Siwash here—why?”</p> - -<p>“<i>Not</i> trailing us anyhow, I guess,” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“How can you say that?”</p> - -<p>“He hasn’t the air—an’ then, he’s got a grip in his hand. He is going -to catch the westbound to join brother Neuburg at Banff.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” said Clement, remembering how they had been tricked before. -“But why is he in Winnipeg?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That’s easy,” said the detective. “He probably got in here over the -other railway north of Cobalt, and has changed onto our line for Banff. -But we’d better watch him.”</p> - -<p>They followed the half-breed cautiously, and saw him follow the crowd -up the steps of Platform 6. There was no doubt that he was watching the -westbound. Like a flash Gatineau did <i>not</i> go up the steps of Platform -6. He nipped up the steps of Platform 4. They arrived on the railway -level just in time to see Siwash gain the platform. They took cover, -and across the station watched him. They seemed astonishingly close, -but it was obvious that he was not suspicious; he did not throw a -glance their way.</p> - -<p>Almost at once Clement said, “There is something more in this than -merely catching the westbound, Gatineau. He’s waiting near the -exit—for some reason.”</p> - -<p>“He’s waiting for somebody, I guess,” said Gatineau. “Somebody who is -stopping off the Montreal train.”</p> - -<p>Clement’s heart jumped. Somebody who was stopping off from the -transcontinental train—who could that somebody be? Heloise? Certainly -his heart fluttered. Perhaps after all this was the end of the chase. -It was more than likely Siwash had received some message from Neuburg -at Winnipeg—he’d know how and where to pick one up, and that message -had warned him to meet this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> train and Méduse and Heloise who came by -it. He thought that quite likely, and then Gatineau said, “But why that -grip?”</p> - -<p>Yes, that was a puzzle. If he was meeting some one, why carry baggage -for a journey?</p> - -<p>With its loudly clanging bell the great train steamed slowly into the -station. Both men watched the half-breed with the keenest attention. He -stood there quite passively as the passengers thronged out of the cars. -He watched them indolently as they passed him in a stream. Then with an -air of casualness he picked up his grip and strolled towards the train.</p> - -<p>“Damn,” grunted Clement. “Nothing at all. He’s just going to board the -train. Look here, we must look slippy, too, if we are to travel by her -also.”</p> - -<p>He picked up his own grip, began to move out to cross the intervening -rails and platforms to the train. Gatineau said suddenly, “Hold -on—ain’t that long scarecrow of a feller interested in our pal?”</p> - -<p>Clement shot a look towards the train. He saw a tall man moving -aimlessly after Siwash. Clement did not recognize this fellow until -suddenly he caught a flash of a skinny leg and arm as the fellow dodged -between the passengers, and he had an abrupt twinge of memory. Where -the devil had he seen that scarecrow before? </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> - -<p>Gatineau caught his arm and lugged him behind a stack of baggage.</p> - -<p>Siwash had walked up to the car in which his seat was reserved. He -handed his grip to the black porter, and then, after pretending to -mount into the car, had turned back as though to take one last look -at Winnipeg. In that moment he swept the whole of the platform with a -searching glance—fortunately he kept his eyes on his own platform. -Satisfied that there were no watchers, he turned and stared straight at -the skinny man. The skinny man was by his side in a moment.</p> - -<p>There was a swift talk between the twain. The skinny one listening -attentively, and nodding his head as if he understood. Then Siwash -took a paper from his pocket, and the other stretched out his long and -skinny arm. And at that gesture, memory came to Clement. He remembered -acutely such an arm stretching out from a small window clutching at the -pistol hand of Siwash. “Heavens!” he breathed. “The fellow from the -glue factory—from the Sault Algonquin at Quebec. Another of the beasts -on the spot.”</p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>The guards were shouting “All aboard.” Siwash turned and sprang into -his car, while the skinny man strode towards the exit. Clement picked -up his bag and went in the same direction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> Gatineau cried softly, -“Say, we can’t monkey about; we’ll miss that train.”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to,” said Clement grimly. “I want to find out why that -fellow is here.”</p> - -<p>“But——”</p> - -<p>“And I don’t like him being here,” said Clement. “I’m not going to -leave anybody here to wait for Miss Reys unless I know the exact why -and the wherefore of his waiting.”</p> - -<p>Gatineau was by his side now; he was smiling. “Yep, I rather want to -look at that paper myself. Say, if you catch hold of this grip I’ll -trail that lad. Best be me—he may have recollections of your outline.”</p> - -<p>An hour later Gatineau rejoined Clement in the lounge of the hotel. -“That’s the sort of job that makes a feller ashamed to draw his pay,” -he grinned, as he sat down. “Easy—made me cry, it was so easy!”</p> - -<p>“You’ve got that paper?”</p> - -<p>“No, sir; I’m not little Xavier miracle worker yet. But I’ve got -him located. He’s in a rooming house in the dark areas off Portage -Avenue—room 163 is his number. And he hasn’t the slightest fear that -evil men like us are here and interested in him. Walked all the way to -his dive without so much as a look round.”</p> - -<p>“That’s good; that means that Siwash don’t know we’re here either. He’s -gone off to Banff<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> and Neuburg without a suspicion. Well, what next?”</p> - -<p>“We just go an’ call on our lean friend—he calls himself Jean -Renadier, he’s a French-Canadian all right, though he says he comes -from Montreal, not Quebec. I’ve got a man there spotting for me -already, one of our local men, an’ I’ve arranged with the police to -pull him on the <i>Empress of Prague</i> robbery charge—in silence. Shall -we go?”</p> - -<p>They went. On the way Gatineau told his plan: “I’ve arranged that we -tackle him first, so that he don’t have any chance of destroying any -paper. Then when we’ve got him, we call in the police. We’ll just walk -up to his room, see? I’ll go in an’ you stay outside, because the sight -of you might make him do things to his papers. When I’ve got him you -can come in. Is that good?”</p> - -<p>The spotter outside the rather dingy rooming house told them that -Renadier had not left the building. As they went into it, he drew in, -ready to help effect the arrest. Walking in boldly, and with a casual, -“Renadier—room 163, ain’t he?” from Gatineau, they were able to mount -to the man’s room as though they were friends of his. It was high up in -the building, and at the dark end of a corridor. Gatineau softly tried -the handle, found the door yielded, strode boldly in, shutting the door -behind him—for the man must not catch a glimpse of Clement.</p> - -<p>He went in, and there was silence. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> - -<p>Clement heard Gatineau say something, and then the silence came down. -It was a curious silence, intense, deep—disturbing. It seemed to draw -itself out. It became full of significance. Clement pressed close to -the door, listened—nothing! What was happening? Why did not Gatineau -give some signal? Why should there be this appalling quiet in that -room? It was uncanny, it was unreal—it was ugly.</p> - -<p>He bent down in a sudden anxiety and put his ear to the keyhole. -Nothing! There was no sound from the room. The room was apparently -dead, vacant—a tomb.</p> - -<p>He put his hand on the door. As he did so, two sounds came from the -room, two soft sounds.</p> - -<p>One was a soft knock—it might have been the heel of a boot kicking -against the carpeted floor. The other was a slow, animal sound, low, -guttural, choking.</p> - -<p>With a spasm of fear Clement dashed open the door.</p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p>An amazing sight met his eyes.</p> - -<p>Gatineau was stretched full length on his back. He was moving -nervelessly, struggling feebly. Squatting over him was a tall, -inexpressibly gaunt man. This fellow crouched over the detective’s -chest with an almost stolid calm. His long, lean<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> arms were stretched -downward. His thin, knotty hands were about Gatineau’s neck. He was -carefully and calmly throttling the life out of the little detective.</p> - -<p>Clement caught one glimpse of the preoccupied face before it -turned upon him. The face of this calmly murderous man was utterly -transfigured with fear—fear that, somehow, did not interfere with the -efficient labors of killing a man. Then the eyes turned to him as he -charged forward. The fear in the fellow’s face leaped to an absolute -panic at the recognition of Clement—and yet the fellow acted with an -astounding calm.</p> - -<p>He simply fell flat. He made no attempt at active resistance; he simply -fell flat upon Gatineau. Then, as Clement jumped forward, he rolled, -quick as lightning, towards him. It was unexpected. Clement in his -stride could not check. His foot caught the lank, rolling body, and he -pitched forward. As he fell, the other leaped to his feet, and jumped -to the door. Clement had shut the door, and he caught at the handle. -That gave Clement time to grab at him. As he fell, Clement twisted as -he had often done on the football field. He did not try to recover, he -let himself go, while trying to fall as near the door as possible. He -succeeded enough to enable him to get his hand to the tall man’s ankle. -He grabbed and held. He braced himself to resist.</p> - -<p>The fellow was astonishing. He did not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>struggle. For a perceptible -instant he stood there at the half-open door, staring down at the -man who held his ankle. The look of devastating fear on his face -was appalling. Clement had never seen any man so afraid. In that -flash—it was no more than a single breath—he felt that the fellow was -theirs—he was nerveless with fear. Then the lank man kicked him.</p> - -<p>He kicked with his free foot coolly and deliberately—an astonishing -kick when Clement recalled the sheer fright on the fellow’s face. So -unexpected was it that Clement had only time to half-check the drive of -the heavy boot with a quick-flung hand—and then his head rang and he -saw a million stars.</p> - -<p>After that, confusion. The lank man wrenched himself free and was -running. Clement, dazed, tried to get up to go after him. He was -knocked sideways by some one rushing by. It was only when he managed to -get into the dark passage—that somehow seemed to be misty (but that -was that fellow’s boot)—that he realized that the man who had bowled -him over was Gatineau. He saw Gatineau running along the passage before -him. Gatineau was groggy but determined. Rather groggy himself, he ran -after Gatineau.</p> - -<p>He had to trust to Gatineau. He couldn’t see the lean man, but Gatineau -seemed to know. Gatineau went upstairs instead of down. Gatineau rushed -across a roof landing instead of going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> through one of three doors, -and flung himself headlong on to a fourth door. That burst wildly open -under his charge, letting in a bewildering flash of daylight. They were -on the roof. Then Gatineau was running across the leads, and Clement -after him—and, yes, there was the lank man running ahead.</p> - -<p>The lank man rushed to the edge of the roof, started back, looked -round with his incredibly fearful look, then dodged at a right angle. -Gatineau could not check in time to head him off. But Clement could. -He cut across the fellow’s path, and, like a fox, the fellow tried to -double again. He dodged round a stack, and found Gatineau ready for -him, pivoted, and ran for the parapet. He scrambled on to the parapet, -and stood swaying, staring about him for a loophole of escape. Between -him and the next roof was a ten-foot alley, but the other roof was -lower, and he seemed to think it was a chance. Clement did not; he -yelled, “Stop that, you fool. You’ll kill yourself.”</p> - -<p>It was too late. The fellow had braced himself, had leaped. He went -through the air in a way that showed he was no jumper. He seemed to -hang in the air for an eternity. Then his feet came down on the parapet -on the opposite side. For a breathless moment he hung there, clawing -wildly, as though seeking to grasp support from the very air; then his -balance went, he sagged backwards,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> fell, went out of sight with an -uncanny abruptness.</p> - -<p>“My God!” cried Clement. “My God!” He felt physically sick. Gatineau -had no time for sentiment. He was already running downstairs. He wanted -to get to the man before the crowd.</p> - -<h3>V</h3> - -<p>Clement Seadon and Xavier Gatineau left Winnipeg by the next -west-bound. Gatineau’s throat was a little sore, and Clement’s soul was -more than sick at the death of the man who had played a part in his -captivity in the gluemaker’s at Quebec; but apart from this they were -little the worse for their experience—and little to the good either.</p> - -<p>The lank man had fallen into a narrow yard between the houses, and his -fall had not been noticed. Gatineau had got to him before anybody else. -He had secured all the papers on the poor dead body, and had then seen -to it that not only were the police informed, but that the matter was -to be kept quiet for the present.</p> - -<p>All they had found on the man was a number of letters making it plain -that he was Louis Penible, a glue manufacturer of the Sault Algonquin, -Quebec. There was also a single telegram signed A. N. bidding him -travel at once to Winnipeg, where he would be met by “some one.” This -telegram was sent off from North Bay. “Before we caught Joe,” said -Gatineau. “It looks as though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> Neuburg was summoning all his forces to -hand rather than anything else.”</p> - -<p>The only other piece of paper—the piece that had cost the wretched man -his life, the piece Siwash had handed him at the station—was merely a -plain sheet containing the address of the rooming house where he had -died, and an address, “A. N., c/o Mrs. Wandersun, Sicamous.”</p> - -<p>“Beyond telling us that Neuburg has gone on to Sicamous—is not -stopping on at Banff—it seems a small thing to have brought about a -man’s death,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“It might have been a big thing,” said Gatineau. “It might prove to be -a big thing now. Neuburg has one man less, that may be useful to us. It -is useful, too, because, so far as we can see, we have the whole gang -under our eyes now—two arrested, the steward and Joe, one dead and the -rest at Sicamous or traveling to it. We know where we are.”</p> - -<p>But they did not know very much. They knew nothing about the -whereabouts of Heloise Reys and her evil companion; they had no inkling -concerning the plot Neuburg, the master-mind, had devised—save that it -was concerned with a great deal of money, and with the luring of the -victim into the wilds—just as it had been in Roberts’s case.</p> - -<p>They passed across the rolling monotony of the prairies thinking the -matter out. They passed through Calgary, a vivid, gold-washed town -amid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> foothills that seemed to cup the sunlight. They heard news of -Neuburg and Gunning going on before them, but no other news.</p> - -<p>From Calgary they climbed to the fairy ramparts of the Rocky Mountains, -austere, snow-cowled, promising immensities and mysteries beyond. They -mounted, step by step, the “benches” of the foothills, besides the -breathless azure of the shining Bow River. Then abruptly the gate of -the mountains was above them, silent, stark, sheer brooding as their -train roared through The Gap, and then they were at Banff.</p> - -<p>They went by car to the wonderful hotel perched like Aladdin’s palace -on a spur amid mighty spurs. It was a peerless place. For the staging -of a love scene one might have gone to the ends of the earth and not -have found a better setting. The exquisite beauty of the surroundings -called to the emotions—and yet Neuburg had rejected this spot and had -gone on to Sicamous after but the shortest stay! Why? Clement thought -the answer to that unspoken question must be an ominous one.</p> - -<p>The Chief had been good at his word. He had sent word along the line, -and the C. P. R. people at the hotel were ready for Gatineau. They had -a thick bundle of telegrams and reports waiting for him—a bewildering -bundle, for it included all Neuburg’s wires to his underlings, Nimmo -Bates (that is, Joe Wandersun) at the Place Viger Hotel, Montreal, -where (thanks to the cunning of The Chief)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> he was supposed to be -staying with Siwash Mike, and others. It contained the wires Neuburg -had received, and it contained reports from The Chief himself, from the -agent at Sicamous, and others. A truly awesome mass of paper.</p> - -<p>“I think I’ll let you disentangle the story,” grinned Clement. “The -very bulk of it frightens me, and I guess you are more used to it than -I am.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” smiled Gatineau. “I’ll go through this and knock some sort of -connected report out of it. You go an’ try a dip in the swimming pool, -Mr. Seadon, an’ leave it to me.” He was running lightly through the -duplicates of the telegrams. “Hullo! One moment, Mr. Seadon; here’s one -to Méduse Smythe at Winnipeg—that must be to await her coming.”</p> - -<p>“What does it say?”</p> - -<p>“It tells her to come on here and await orders; it is initialed A. N.”</p> - -<p>“Here?” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir,” said the hotel manager, who was with them. “Miss Smythe and -Miss Heloise Reys are coming to stay here. There is a suite booked for -them.”</p> - -<p>“And yet Neuburg and Gunning have gone on to Sicamous,” said Clement. -“What does that mean? What is behind that move?”</p> - -<h3>VI</h3> - -<p>Clement had his plunge in the hot sulphur pool<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> under the slope of a -snow-tipped mountain, and, refreshed, went back to Gatineau in the -manager’s office. Gatineau grinned at him.</p> - -<p>“I guess I’ve made a connected yarn out of this jig-saw all right. -In the first place, let me tell you that our dangerous pal Neuburg, -Newman, or Nachbar, seems to be fairly certain that he has been given a -new lease of life—has days on his hands in fact.”</p> - -<p>“What makes you think that?”</p> - -<p>“First place, he had booked here for himself and Gunning for an -indefinite number of days. Then, quite suddenly, he decided to go -off to Sicamous. He sent telegrams to various people—one to meet -Siwash at Winnipeg, one to Nimmo or Joe Wandersun at Montreal, and -another to sister Méduse—telling of the change. And the reason he -feels safe is that you and I are definitely marooned in Montreal. -The Chief has played the game as I expected he would. His fake wires -coming, apparently, from Nimmo (who we know is in jail) are gems. We -are apparently standing baffled in Montreal, hunting about for the -trail. One can read between the lines that Neuburg is sure of that—f’r -instance the mere fact that he wires to Nimmo at the Place Viger Hotel -shows he thinks it all right. Again, his wire to Siwash confirms this. -He tells Siwash to come on to Sicamous, <i>not</i> Banff. He also tells -Siwash to meet Louis the gluemaker of Quebec on such and such a train -at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> Winnipeg and tell him there is no need to stand by and watch trains -for <i>us</i> yet—that was evidently why he was sent for—but to meet -Méduse when she arrives and do as she tells him. Oh, Neuburg is certain -that we are out of the running for the time being, and it’s because of -that, he’s gone off to Sicamous.”</p> - -<p>Clement thought for a moment. “Yes, that sounds logical,” he admitted. -“With us close up on his heels he would have to rush things. Probably -his first plan to checkmate us was a lover’s meeting in this place of -lovers. There would have been a—an affectionate reunion, and then, if -we were threatened, the pair would have been spirited away. And what -would have happened to Heloise Reys when they were lost?”</p> - -<p>His face contracted with pain. It was only after a moment that he went -on.</p> - -<p>“However, what would have happened doesn’t matter. The plan’s changed. -He had gone to Sicamous to prepare a more elaborate and a more certain -plot—we can take that as certain. And—and the women follow after us?”</p> - -<p>“Sure they do that,” put in Gatineau. “They are a day or more behind. -As I thought, they did dodge about in that tangle of railways by North -Bay for the express purpose of throwing us off the trail. Then they -hit the main line behind us, and started west in earnest. They’ll stop -off at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>Winnipeg to pick up news from Neuburg, an’ then they’ll come -straight on here.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a point that baffles me!” admitted Clement. “Why come here? Why -not go straight on to Sicamous?”</p> - -<p>“The rest of the story explains something of that. I should say he -wants time to be sure he’s got his plans perfect. According to the -reports from our Sicamous man, he’s been acting rather strangely at -that end. Our feller at Sicamous has sent on train letters, so his -statements are full. Neuburg and Gunning arrived in due course at -Sicamous station, but instead of going to Gunning’s shack on the lake, -they stayed the night at Joe Wandersun’s house—where, of course, Mrs. -Wandersun is living.”</p> - -<p>“Next morning Neuburg went down to the lakeside and overhauled the big -motor boat that Joe uses on the lake, but instead of going in it, the -three—the woman as well—came to the station and caught a train for -Revelstoke. Revelstoke is the nearest considerable town; they have -to travel back towards Banff to reach it. Our agent at Sicamous is a -real live man; he ’phoned through to one of our fellows at Revelstoke -and caught the same train as Neuburg. Reaching Revelstoke, the trio -did some shopping—shadowed by our men. The proceedings were ordinary -enough, save that they seemed to show a strange passion for buying -medical things. Also, Neuburg, giving Gunning the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> slip, went into a -store where mining outfits are sold <i>and bought several high-explosive -cartridges and a quantity of fuse</i>.”</p> - -<p>Clement made an exclamation at those words. He stared at the little -detective, who said, “No, I don’t see what it signifies, but it is -a matter worth noting. But there is something queerer to come. The -woman and Gunning went off to dinner in a hotel. Neuburg did not go -with them. Instead he went off by himself and found, because he was -looking for it, an obscure sort of hash joint. He sat down and ordered -a meal. Our fellow who was shadowing him walked in casually and got -into a table nearby. Apparently there was nothing odd about Neuburg’s -choice, but presently a young, smart-looking feller pops into this -joint and sits down at Neuburg’s table. Neuburg was reading a paper by -this time, an’ paid not the slightest attention. Soon, though, they got -into conversation, just like two strangers. What they said, of course, -our feller couldn’t hear, but it didn’t appear to amount to much; -soon, too, Neuburg paid his bill and went out with a ‘Well, good-day, -stranger. Glad to have become acquainted. I shall certainly try those -creeks of yours for red fish.’</p> - -<p>“Our feller guessed that Neuburg would go back to the other two—anyhow -he risked it. He followed the smart young stranger instead, when he -left the hash joint later. This feller sneaked round several blocks, -as though he didn’t want people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> to know where he’d been, and in the -end he entered the Grand Dominion Consolidated Bank. In there he went -behind the counter, hung up his hat and settled down to work. <i>He was -one of the employees.</i>”</p> - -<p>There was a very significant pause. Both men looked at each other, and -both men were thinking the same thoughts. They were recalling that -Neuburg as Nachbar had worked through a bucket shop in his plan for -robbing Roberts of Oregon. He was working through a bank now—not, -of course, that the famous bank was acting as his confederate, but -that the smart young man was. This fellow had no doubt figured in the -bucket shop at Oregon, and had managed to worm his way into the bank -at Revelstoke to further Neuburg’s ends—since, obviously, the master -rogue had planned well ahead.</p> - -<p>As Clement reflected on this point he reached for a telegraph form, and -at once wrote the following to The Chief at Montreal:</p> - -<p class="center">“Find out what interests Heloise Reys has in Revelstoke Branch -Grand Dominion Consolidated Bank. Neuburg has confederate there.”</p> - -<p>“That may bring something,” he said, as he handed the message to -Gatineau. “If Miss Reys has any money in that bank it must have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> -transferred from the head office at Montreal. The Chief will be able to -find out, eh?”</p> - -<p>Gatineau said, “Sure,” added a code number to the message, and had it -sent off at once. Then he went on with his story.</p> - -<p>“After this business Neuburg met the other two in the hotel, and they -all went back to Sicamous, where they loaded their purchases into the -big motor boat. They didn’t, as our man thought they would, go on up -the lake then, but went back to Mrs. Wandersun’s house. It was about -one o’clock at night when Gunning and Neuburg actually left for his -shack. A railwayman, who had been on watch, woke our feller, and he -just had time to see them sneak off in the dark. They took an awful lot -of additional packages with them, loading them secretly—a regular sort -of moving day, our man writes, as though they were going to stay in the -wilds for a hell of a time. The two men only got into the boat, and -then, strangely, the boat left, not under power, but rowed.”</p> - -<p>“That was Neuburg covering himself up,” said Clement. “Nobody saw or -heard him leave, nobody can connect him with—with anything that might -happen up at Gunning’s shack in the wilds. I suppose that’s all there -is so far.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all,” agreed Gatineau. “We know their movements to a dotted -‘i,’ an’ we know Miss Reys is coming on here. I suppose we had best -just wait around until she comes?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Clement, “there seems nothing else to do at the moment. -We must wait for a wire from The Chief about that money, anyhow. But -I confess I don’t like waiting. Certainly Miss Reys appears to be -coming here, but with these brutes, with that demoniac intelligence of -Neuburg’s working against us, I am fearful. Who can say what sudden -turn events might take, and—and what terrible crime might be committed -without our being able to interpose?”</p> - -<h3>VII</h3> - -<p>Clement Seadon was manifestly uneasy. Not barring the path which led -from Heloise to the archscoundrel at Sicamous made him feel safe. Not -even the exquisite beauty of this delightful place could tranquilize -him. He felt that some slip, some chance warning to Neuburg, might -bring a calamity. Neuburg, that monster, with his cold, quiet, and -uncannily placid intelligence, would act like a flash. He was, Clement -felt, being so desperately driven that he would not hesitate to act -desperately to attain his ends.</p> - -<p>There was no doubting the fiend’s terrible capacity. Clement was -sure that, in some way, Neuburg had already arranged to get control -of Heloise’s money—or some of her money—through this bank, and his -confederate in the bank, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> Revelstoke. He had already his evil -fingers on that loot. All that he needed was to secure Heloise to make -his control of her money complete. And, at a crisis, he would stop at -nothing to secure Heloise—that meant her silence—in order to get that -money.</p> - -<p>Her silence. Clement shuddered. He saw, again, the mental picture of -how Neuburg, as Nachbar, had secured the silence of Roberts of Oregon. -The dead cannot give evidence.</p> - -<p>Clement tried to quiet his nerves by going for a long tramp through the -deep spruce woods that clung to the sides of the austere mountains, but -half-way through it he became panicky and hurried back to the hotel in -case he might miss some crucial message.</p> - -<p>There was no message. He had to wait hours before anything came. Then -it came from Sicamous. That message, however, was significant enough -for those who could get an inkling of the ominous riddle behind it.</p> - -<p>The agent at Sicamous reported that a young, dark-faced, slim man with -his right arm in a sling had arrived at Sicamous. He had gone to Mrs. -Wandersun’s shack. He called himself Lucas, and looked like a halfbreed.</p> - -<p>“Siwash on the spot,” commented Clement.</p> - -<p>The next fact was that a wire had come through from Méduse Smythe at -Winnipeg, saying she was coming straight through to Banff. Immediately<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> -on receipt of this, things happened. The man Lucas—despite his bad -arm—went off up the lake in a canoe, apparently to Gunning’s shack. On -his return there was a bustle. Mrs. Wandersun, in the language of the -agent, flacked about like a worried hen.</p> - -<p>She had run down to the station and had sent off a train letter to -Heloise Reys—to await arrival at Banff—and also another to Méduse -Smythe.</p> - -<p>Having got rid of these letters, Mrs. Wandersun immediately prepared -herself for a journey. That done, she bounced into her neighbor’s shack -with a lamentable story of a friend taken dangerously ill up the lake. -She said she had wired to his relatives, and she thought they were -coming on. She said she was going to her sick friend with the young man -Lucas to run the power boat for her, and she asked her neighbors if -they would mind telling anybody who might arrive before Lucas returned, -that he was coming back from the sick man in order to take them up to -him.</p> - -<p>Having impressed this upon her kindly friends, she got into the motor -boat with Lucas, and went up the lake. Lucas had not returned yet. The -agent had not pressed his inquiries for fear of stirring up suspicion.</p> - -<p>Clement had listened to the reading of this report with a face grim and -white. When it was finished he said, “This seems to be the first move<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> -in the definite plot. Once she arrives in Sicamous, Heloise Reys will -be spirited away into the wilds. You can see how they have planned it. -Nobody but Lucas is to take her there; they don’t want outsiders to -figure in this.”</p> - -<p>“An’ it seems to me that they don’t want anybody—even Miss Reys—to -get there before they are ready for her,” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“Yes, that seems likely.—Now the letters.”</p> - -<p>The one addressed to Heloise Reys was a simple letter stating that -Henry Gunning had returned to Sicamous and had gone along the lake to -his home. The letter said that Gunning was quietlike, and not quite his -usual self. He said he was going to rest up for a while as he felt sort -of seedy. The writer concluded by giving directions how to find his -shack, and declared himself ready to do all in his power to help Miss -Reys. He signed himself—Joe Wandersun.</p> - -<p>“Joe Wandersun!” cried Gatineau. “Well, I’m gormed! How did he write -that when he’s snug in jail at Montreal?”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t write it. It’s a forgery.”</p> - -<p>“You mean his wife forged that——?”</p> - -<p>“His wife—no. Remember Roberts, man, and how forgery apparently played -its part in that case. The same capable scoundrel forged this.”</p> - -<p>“Neuburg?”</p> - -<p>“Neuburg or Newman or Nachbar, or whatever you like to call him. -Forgery is part of his game.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> And there’s another point. You see it -contains a hint of Gunning’s illness—illness is also part of this -devil’s game.”</p> - -<p>“It says nothing about a dangerous illness.”</p> - -<p>“No. Perhaps they’re going to use that as a weapon of shock, to make -her lose her head at a moment when it will pay them for her to lose her -head. But the other letter—the one addressed to Méduse Smythe?”</p> - -<p>The other letter contained a few lines only. They ran:</p> - -<blockquote><p>“All clear. Have seen Landor at Revelstoke. Break your journey -there for signatures, etc. Be as clever as you are, my dear, for -you are to have a shock at Sicamous. Play up. The Englishman who -does not look brainy is safely interned at Montreal.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>There were no initials even, and the message was written in block -capitals.</p> - -<p>“Bold,” said Gatineau, putting the message down.</p> - -<p>“Not so very bold,” said Clement. “The Englishman who doesn’t look -brainy is interned at Montreal, you understand. He feels quite safe. He -doesn’t think anybody will see that message but Méduse.”</p> - -<p>“And you were right about their springing the dangerous illness upon -Miss Reys at the last <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>moment. That’s what he means by the shock, eh? -And Landor of Revelstoke——”</p> - -<p>“The smart young man in the bank is undoubtedly Landor. It all fits in. -Miss Reys is to call on the bank on her way to Sicamous to register her -signature, and so on. Landor is the man who will interview her. All -that is part of their plan for getting hold of her money. You can see -how the hellish thing is developing.”</p> - -<p>“But how can they get money out of her—how keep her unsuspicious?”</p> - -<p>“How did Nachbar plan to keep Roberts of Oregon from giving evidence?”</p> - -<p>“My God!” muttered Gatineau. Then he said, “But the money. No woman -would transfer a huge sum to a local bank, a bank that may, perhaps, -only be going to serve her for a few days?”</p> - -<p>“I am waiting for The Chief’s telegram,” said Clement. “That will tell -us how much she has in the bank at Revelstoke. It seems illogical that -she should have a large sum—yet I fear——”</p> - -<p>The fear was realized. In the afternoon The Chief’s wire came. It said:</p> - -<blockquote><p>“Heloise Reys deposited sum £20,000 cash and securities extent -£120,000 in Montreal Branch Dominion Consolidated from England -before leaving that country. Same time opened account £5,000 -cash Revelstoke branch. Week ago authority in own handwriting to -transfer all funds <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>securities Revelstoke branch. Most securities -easily negotiable. New message. Neuburg is Nachbar. Warrant being -issued.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Of the whole of that pregnant message one passage, and one alone, stood -out with a terrible significance.</p> - -<p>Neuburg is Nachbar!</p> - -<p>Neuburg was Nachbar, the murderer. Neuburg was the cold-blooded genius -who slew Roberts of Oregon in the wilds, and for the sake of a huge sum -of money. The telegram told that the girl, Heloise, had to hand a great -sum of money, and she was being lured into the wilds—lured towards -Nachbar, the brute who would let nothing stand between him and his -greedy desire.</p> - -<p>Neuburg was Nachbar the murderer—and Heloise was to be his next -victim. Only dimly he heard Gatineau saying, “He wants to get all that -money—£145,000. It’s all under the hand of his tool at Revelstoke. -I see how it is. But what beats me is how any one would think of -transferring——”</p> - -<p>“Did she?” snapped Clement. “Wasn’t it forgery? Nachbar is a forger as -well. Couldn’t he have forged that letter ordering the transfer?”</p> - -<p>Gatineau cried, “Forgery! Yes, that’s it. That’s damn likely. But even -though that letter was forged, I don’t see how they are going to work -it. What’s the game?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> - -<p>Clement suddenly became completely aware of the detective and what he -was saying. He echoed the words, “What’s the game? I don’t know. But -I’m going to find out. I’m going down to Sicamous <i>now</i> to find out.”</p> - -<p>“Now?” gasped Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“Now. I can’t wait here passive. Anything might happen. That girl might -be prevented coming here, might go right through, might be turned -aside. I’m not going to run any more risks. I’m going to Neuburg. Can -we catch a train?”</p> - -<p>“With a car, easy. There’s one due.”</p> - -<p>“Get that car.”</p> - -<p>“But to rush right in like this. Is it wise—safe?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t care. We’ve been passive too long, anyhow. Come along. Find -that car. It’s our turn to attack.”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>The rush to the train was a frantic episode, undertaken with the eye on -the second hand of the watch. As they flashed down through the spruce -woods and over the delightful bridge of the shining Bow, the detective, -Xavier Gatineau, was scribbling a wire on a pad resting on his swaying -knee.</p> - -<p>“To our man at Sicamous,” he explained. “He must meet that train. When -we get to the depot, will you jam that into the telegraph office? I’ll -dive for the station master an’ arrange for accommodation, an’ hold the -train if necessary. Phew! we’re cutting it fine.”</p> - -<p>They were. They heard the train pull in and stop before they could -see it. They saw the guards preparing to send the train away as they -drew up, braking perilously beside the low platform. Clement sprang to -the telegraph office without a word. Gatineau seemed to be half-way -along the platform in the direction of the station master before their -automobile had really stopped.</p> - -<p>The handing in of the wire took no more than a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> few seconds, but short -though that time was, Gatineau was already beckoning him to the rear -car when Clement appeared.</p> - -<p>“Luck all the way,” said Gatineau. “Section superintendent’s private -car hitched on to this train. This is it.... He’ll be here in a -minute——”</p> - -<p>He got no further. Clement suddenly caught his arm. “My God!” he -gasped. “Look there—those women.”</p> - -<p>Two women stood by the edge of the platform watching their suitcases -being put into an automobile.</p> - -<p>It was dark, but the two well-dressed figures could plainly be seen -in the light of an arc lamp. One was a comely, chilly, thick-set, -middle-aged woman—the Gorgon, Méduse Smythe. The other—Heloise.</p> - -<p>No mistaking that slim, upstanding, gallantly poised figure. Even there -in the darkness and newly arrived on a strange railway platform, she -carried herself with a crispness, an air of daintiness, a grace of -candid beauty. No mistaking her at all—and no mistaking the curious -and quite sharp thrill that went through his own being as he looked at -her.</p> - -<p>“Miss Reys?” asked Gatineau in a sharp whisper.</p> - -<p>“Yes—and that she-scoundrel, her companion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> They’ve arrived. Of -course, I should have remembered this would be their train.”</p> - -<p>“Did they see you?” demanded Gatineau, more practically. He had a -sudden, unpleasant vision of the crafty Méduse Smythe sending telegrams -ahead of them, warning Neuburg, upsetting their own hair-brained plan.</p> - -<p>“I’m certain they didn’t,” said Clement. “And—and do you think, from -their attitudes, that they did?”</p> - -<p>Both men had drawn into the cover of their car, and as they looked, it -was quite obvious to them that they had not been seen.</p> - -<p>Uneasiness was not expected from Heloise; still, if she had seen -Clement, with whom she had quarreled, who, on the word of Méduse, she -was also well on the way to love, she must have shown some sort of -nervousness. She showed none.</p> - -<p>The Gorgon companion, who had every reason to show anxiety if she -had, unexpectedly, set eyes upon that enemy who disconcerted her -most—Clement Seadon—showed no anxiety. She was calm and smiling. With -just the right smiling calm—no amount of acting could have given her -precisely that air.</p> - -<p>“No, they haven’t seen us,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“No, they certainly haven’t,” said Gatineau. “All the same——” -he began, and he realized Clement’s intent gaze and stopped, and -smothered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> a grin. Clement would not be fit for comment or reasoning -until the train pulled out.</p> - -<p>Clement gazed hungrily at Heloise. During the days of excitement and -anxiety he had thought incessantly of her, and had, he thought, created -an unreal dream woman. But as he looked at her he saw that she was -better even than his dream. The beauty of her features, the charm of -her movements, the whole crisp, boyish attraction of her came to him, -even now, as a fresh revelation. Her car moved and he moved with it -towards the observation platform.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Seadon,” Gatineau protested. “The light shines upon the platform, -if they turned and saw you....”</p> - -<p>With a sigh Clement relinquished the most desirable sight in the world. -Their own train started.</p> - -<p>Presently he said, “They have arrived at Banff, Gatineau. That horror of -a woman has arrived—and she will ask for a message from Newman. Do you -appreciate that? She’ll go there expecting a message.”</p> - -<p>“She won’t get one,” said Gatineau, grinning. He put his hand in his -pocket. He drew out Newman’s—or Neuburg’s—train letter saying all was -clear, and ordering Méduse to go to Revelstoke. “I brought it along -with me. I thought of that.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Clement. “You thought of that. But did you think of what -would happen when she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> asks for the message she is expecting—and does -not get it?”</p> - -<p>“Hell,” said the little detective explosively.</p> - -<p>“Just that,” agreed Clement. “She’ll raise it. She’ll get panicky. And -she’ll do something.”</p> - -<p>“She just will; she’ll fly to the wire or to the distance ’phone to -Sicamous. She’ll get through to Neuburg. Why, in the name of Mike, -didn’t I think of that?”</p> - -<p>“Why, in the name of Michael, didn’t <i>I</i>?” said Clement hardly. “It was -my idiotic haste. But that doesn’t help. What does help? She’ll get -through to Sicamous and Neuburg; she will warn Neuburg. And—and what -can we do?”</p> - -<p>They stood staring blankly at each other in the swaying car.</p> - -<p>What could they do?</p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>They stood and stared at each other. A night journey away was Neuburg -and Gunning and Siwash Mike and Joe Wandersun’s wife. They were -unsuspecting. They were preparing for some terrible crime perhaps, but -they were unsuspecting.</p> - -<p>Behind them were the two women going in a fast car to the Banff Springs -Hotel. The woman who had most to fear was also unsuspecting. But she -would cease to be so after she had been in the foyer of the hotel -many minutes. She would ask<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> for a message, a letter, or a wire—and -she would not get one. At once because of her fear she would become -anxious. She would communicate with Neuburg. He would be warned. He -would know at once that his letter had gone astray, that something was -wrong, and he would take steps to meet the crisis.</p> - -<p>And the men moving towards him were standing in the saloon of a -moving train, hanging, as it were, between the two danger points in a -traveling isolation. What could they do?</p> - -<p>Gatineau said “Hell” again, and then he said, “She’ll wire, sure.”</p> - -<p>“Or ’phone,” said Clement.</p> - -<p>“Yes, she might.... But who to? Joe’s wife, Mrs. Wandersun, went up to -Gunning’s shack in a motor boat. She left word she wouldn’t be back. -Remember, left word an’ a letter.”</p> - -<p>“Siwash Mike, or Herbert Lucas, as he calls himself, may be there -waiting for the ladies.”</p> - -<p>“Yep, that’s so,” he thought a while. “But their shack might not have a -’phone. It’s unlikely, I think. An’ then ’phoning—would she risk it? -Miss Reys might come in on her as she spoke.”</p> - -<p>“You think she’d wire?”</p> - -<p>“Sure I think she’d wire,” said Gatineau, his face brightening a little.</p> - -<p>“But how does it help? I know if we could get in touch with Sicamous -we could stop it ... but from a moving train.... One of these pocket<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> -wireless sets would be very handy just now.”</p> - -<p>“Got it,” shouted Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“Got what, you little train jumper?” said a large, genial man coming -into the saloon.</p> - -<p>The little detective all but leaped at the superintendent.</p> - -<p>“Walt, have you a train telegraph set in this car?” he cried.</p> - -<p>“Good Lord!” said Walt. “What’s the joke?”</p> - -<p>“I’m asking—have you?”</p> - -<p>“Of course I have,” said Walt. “What’s the answer?”</p> - -<p>He didn’t get an answer. Instead, Gatineau swung round on Clement with -a great laugh. “We’ve got ’em. Walt, here, will stop the train.”</p> - -<p>“Walt, here, will be asked to do it first. Then he’ll think about it,” -said Walt, with just that tinge of asperity that showed he had not been -too neatly handled. Gatineau noticed that tone in a flash.</p> - -<p>“Say, Walt, I guess I’m a bit fresh. We’re rather rattled, Mr. -Seadon and me.... Oh, Walt, meet Mr. Clement Seadon, a friend of The -Chief’s.... We’re on a big thing, a big criminal thing, and we did -something quite stupid back in Banff that we can only put straight by -telegraphing, an’ at once.”</p> - -<p>“It may save a murder,” said Clement, watching the big man.</p> - -<p>“Holy Mike!” cried the big Walt. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, we’re afraid of that,” agreed Gatineau. “You see, we daren’t -wait!”</p> - -<p>“You won’t wait,” said the superintendent. “I’m getting that set.” He -began to run out of the saloon.</p> - -<p>“All right, Walt,” called Gatineau. “We’ve got to figure out that wire -first.”</p> - -<p>He went over to the little writing desk near the rear window. He -switched on the desk lamp and selected cable forms. At once he wrote: -“Hold all wires from Méduse Smythe to Newman or Neuburg.” He looked -up. “Will that do?” he asks. “Our man knows Neuburg; he’ll know what -that telegram means. An’ we mustn’t block other wires. Neuburg may -be expecting one from Nimmo at Montreal, f’rinstance, and might get -anxious if he didn’t get it.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true,” said Clement over Gatineau’s shoulder. “And while we’re -stopping Méduse’s getting to Neuburg by wire, we might stop her getting -to him in person. Write this:</p> - -<blockquote><p>‘Wire Méduse Smythe Banff Springs Hotel as follows: All clear. -Have seen Landor Revelstoke. All will be well. Don’t communicate -him. Will let you know to-morrow or next day when you can come on -here. Wait. No reason anxiety. Englishman who does not look brainy -safely interned Montreal. <span class="smcap">Arthur Newman.</span>’”</p></blockquote> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Do you think that will answer?”</p> - -<p>“It’ll answer fine—if she’s not suspicions.”</p> - -<p>“She won’t be suspicious—if Arthur Newman isn’t. This is from Arthur -Newman.”</p> - -<p>The little detective considered it carefully. “You’re right. It -bears the authentic stamp of Arthur. Wondered why you were putting -in that bit about the foxy bank man, Landor of Revelstoke. But I see -why. Feeling that Newman is the only one to know about him, she’ll -be certain this wire’s from him. An’ she’ll stay quiet at Banff -accordingly.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the idea. You feel confident that your man will send it -correctly—as though it really, did come from Newman, I mean?”</p> - -<p>“Rely on him. Walt, we’re ready if you are.”</p> - -<p>The superintendent had been busy in the saloon with the young man who -acted as his clerk. On the saloon table a telegraph instrument had -been set up, and the young man was active with what looked like a long -bamboo fishing pole that had electric flex instead of fishing line -attached to it, as well as a curious hook at its top end. Walt gave -orders to the youth to stop the train.</p> - -<p>In a minute the long train groaned to a standstill, and at once the -young man dropped from the observation platform at the rear of the -car, and, first hooking the bamboo rod over one of the telegraph wires -beside the track, did various things with electric plugs. Then he -came back to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>saloon and began working the telegraph instrument. -“Through to Sicamous,” he said.</p> - -<p>Gatineau pushed the slip forward, “There’s your message.”</p> - -<p>In a surprisingly short time the young man said, “They’re O.K.ing.”</p> - -<p>“Ask them to repeat,” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>The young man wrote down the message as it clicked back, Gatineau -watching his writing hand. He had written the last word only when the -detective said, “O.K. That’s all.” Then the bamboo pole and the plugs -were disconnected, the instrument dismantled, a guard waved a light and -the train moved on.</p> - -<p>“Five minutes,” smiled Walt. “That’s how it’s done, Mr. Seadon.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you people make the check-mating of rogues seem child’s play,” -smiled Clement, and he went to his bunk almost with serenity.</p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>At Sicamous station a railwayman slipped on board the car and spoke to -Gatineau. Gatineau and Clement left the train at once, walked straight -into the pretty hotel that hangs right above the lake and is the only -considerable structure in the place, and, passing straight through the -lounge, found themselves in the manager’s sitting room.</p> - -<p>A youngish man with the nondescript clothes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> and the air of a -homesteader got up from a rocker-chair and said: “You’re Mr. Gatineau. -Pleased to meet you. And Mr. Seadon. My name is Cager. Plenty of news, -Mr. Gatineau.”</p> - -<p>“You sent the wire I asked?” asked Gatineau. The young man handed over -a cable form. It was the wire to Méduse. “Good. Did the woman send -anything?” Again, without a word, the young man handed over another -cable form. Both men read it. It was to Arthur Newman c/o Wandersun. It -ran:</p> - -<p class="center">“Arrived Banff. No message from you. M. S.”</p> - -<p>“Blocked that, of course,” explained Cager.</p> - -<p>“Any telephone message through, do you think, to Lucas or Siwash at -Wandersun’s shack?”</p> - -<p>“No telephone,” said Cager. “An’ then Siwash isn’t there. That is part -of the news. He went along the lake yesterday—to Gunning’s shack.”</p> - -<p>“What time?” asked Gatineau anxiously.</p> - -<p>“About five.”</p> - -<p>“Before those ladies made Banff,” said Gatineau with relief. “Unless, -of course, they got a message through on the way.”</p> - -<p>“They didn’t,” said Cager. “No wires, no train letters came through. -I’ve been watching Siwash—Lucas, as he calls himself—pretty close. I -guess he didn’t get any sort of message.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not from along the lake?”</p> - -<p>“Not even that. But I don’t know why he went. He just went up in a -canoe. I think he’s coming back. You see he was to meet them ladies, -and the woman, Mrs. Wandersun, hasn’t come back, or Neuburg shown -himself? No—then about those people who had a letter for Siwash when -he came along—I mean those neighbors who were told that he was coming, -and the ladies, too. Are they in this, do you think?”</p> - -<p>“My opinion is, they’re just neighbors. They were here years before the -Wandersuns showed up. My opinion is that they are not in with Neuburg.”</p> - -<p>Gatineau thought a while. “We’ll risk it, anyhow,” he said. “Look here, -Mr. Seadon, you’d better not show, but I will. I’ll go ’long an’ talk -to them.... Got a boat to take us along the lake, Cager?”</p> - -<p>“Not a power boat, just now. You can have a skiff or a canoe.... Skiff? -Well, that’s less dangerous in a scuffle. I’ll get one ready while -you’re going to the Bloss’s.” He went to the window. “That path leading -up hill. It’s one of them two shacks you c’n see. There’s a chintz -settee on the porch.”</p> - -<p>Gatineau was back in half-an-hour, his face was puzzled.</p> - -<p>“Some news, Mr. Seadon,” he said. “Lucas—that’s Siwash, they don’t -know his real name,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> they’re on the square all right—Lucas will be -back to-morrow to meet the ladies.” He glanced deliberately at Clement. -“He’s gone up the lake to sit at the bedside of his dear cousin Henry -Gunning.”</p> - -<p>“What!” cried Clement.</p> - -<p>“Sure thing. Cousin Henry Gunning—he’s lying at death’s door.”</p> - -<p>Clement stared at him in amazement. That Gunning was dangerously -ill seemed incredible.... Suddenly he remembered a passage in the -Joe Wandersun letter to Heloise at Banff. He remembered a passage -in Neuburg’s note to Méduse. He remembered the buying at the drug -stores in Revelstoke, and Mrs. Wandersun’s going to a sick friend. He -smiled grimly. “That’s the shock,” he said. “Remember Méduse was to be -prepared for one, and to play up to it. She won’t expect to learn that -a quite healthy man is abruptly at death’s door.”</p> - -<p>“But I wonder what it means, just how it fits in with the scheme of -that blackguard Neuburg? Don’t you see, it’s saddling that outfit with -a sick man—even though he’s faking.”</p> - -<p>“He’s got more time than he thought,” said Clement. “We’re at Montreal, -don’t forget.”</p> - -<p>“With the long distance wire ever handy. He may have time, but not for -a long, sentimental sickness. I don’t see it fitting in.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Clement reflectively. “A long illness seems barred—but, -look at the effect of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> sudden news of Gunning’s dangerous illness -on a nature like Miss Reys. It’ll bowl her over. Coming at the end of -all these lost trails and excitements, and the end of all the emotions -she’s been bottling up for months, this sudden, dramatic threat at the -last moment will emotionally sweep her right off her feet.”</p> - -<p>“She’ll be crazy with anxiety—I see,” said Gatineau. “She’ll be right -off her guard, not noticing anything but how he is to be looked after, -that’s it. It’s a sweet move on that rotten rogue’s part.”</p> - -<p>“Also,” said Clement, grimly, “Henry will look better in bed—more -presentable. He’s been on the loose, and it probably shows. But what -would look disgusting in a man standing on his feet, will only look -like the ravages of illness in a man lying and moaning on a sick bed.”</p> - -<p>“The pathetic stop,” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“The pathetic stop,” agreed Clement. “And they’ll play it for all -they’re worth to the undoing of that girl.”</p> - -<p>In a very short time Clement Seadon and Gatineau were rowing up the -lake towards Gunning’s shack. To their friends they would have been -quite unrecognizable. Cager, the alert, had provided them with floppy -hats and clothes and fishing tackle. To the world at large they were -two westerners avid for the lake’s celebrated trout.</p> - -<p>They had discussed with Cager the problem of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> getting at Neuburg and -his gang by stealth, and decided that they had best drift up to it -alone under their fishermen disguise. To guard against any eventuality, -a boatload of short, sturdy, and well-armed men followed them.</p> - -<p>These men would wait behind a headland that cut off Gunning’s shack -from the rest of the lake, and at a signal, or if, through glasses, -they saw any signs of foul play, they would dash to the rescue.</p> - -<p>Rowing up the lake, Clement could not repress a shudder at its -ominousness. The great spruce-clad mountains came right down to the -fillet of water, hemming it darkly. As they turned a shoulder, and the -hotel and railway buildings, standing up sharply in this clear air a -mile behind, were cut off from view, they seemed to be plunged at once -into the heart of No Man’s Land. The dark lake was stark and empty and -utterly beyond human touch and help, it seemed. What might not happen -to Heloise in a place like this?</p> - -<p>They went ashore at the headland to spy out the land. From amid the -trees at its crest, Clement looked down on a mountain bay that might -have been the crater of an extinct volcano in the mountains of the -moon. At first it appeared almost terribly empty, then his glasses -picked out a shack well hidden in the trees alongside the lake. He saw -four people about that shack.</p> - -<p>One was a man who sat smoking at his healthy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> ease and reading a paper -on the porch of the shack. One was a woman, who sometimes came out -of the door of the shack with a flutter of garments. She stood for a -moment, always, and looked along the lake. Once she picked up what -obviously were glasses, to stare across the water. She was watching. -She was Mrs. Wandersun; the man reading was undoubtedly Gunning.</p> - -<p>Undoubtedly Gunning—neither of the other two men by the waterside were.</p> - -<p>These two men were in a motor boat. They were obviously working with -some concentration on that motor boat. Only once, as Clement looked, -did they become erect and examine something.</p> - -<p>One of the men was a slight, slim fellow with his arm in a sling. That -was Siwash.</p> - -<p>The other was a big, massive mountain of a man, who sat up and moved -with curiously swift movements. That was Neuburg.</p> - -<p>Neuburg, the murderer, and Siwash, busy over something in a motor boat. -Gatineau looked at Clement.</p> - -<p>“What are they doing?” he asked. “What are they up to in that boat?”</p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p>“The three of them there, an’ the woman,” said Gatineau, as they pushed -out their boat again. “Three to face.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> - -<p>“We’ll see,” said Clement. “When we get there—well, we’ll see.”</p> - -<p>Gatineau, as the least known of the two, stood up, plying his rod; -Clement hunched over the rowing. They drifted round the headland. They -moved slowly along the lake. Gatineau pretended to be dissatisfied -with his sport. He pointed with a long arm, indicating more likely -spots for a bite. Clement rowed languidly—there was a great deal of -power in his rowing and it took the boat nearer and nearer the shack. -Gatineau held up his hand, made a graceful cast, then he said, “Holy -Mike!—vanished.” He did not refer to the fish. He said it softly, not -because the fish might hear, but because in these silent places sounds -carry amazingly.</p> - -<p>“You mean Neuburg and Siwash have vanished?” said Clement in the same -quiet tone.</p> - -<p>“The earth might have swallowed them up. Not a sign of them.”</p> - -<p>“And the woman—and Gunning?”</p> - -<p>“Not a sign of them. Gone from the porch.”</p> - -<p>“They’ve seen us. They’re taking all precautions.”</p> - -<p>Clement glanced back to the headland. It shut them off from the entire -world. They could see no sign of humanity, not even of the three men -in the canoe who were following them so cautiously. Gatineau fished -sedately, partly to throw dust in the eyes of the people in or near the -shack, partly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> to give the men in the canoe time to make the headland. -Always they drifted nearer and nearer the shack.</p> - -<p>Presently—it was part of their plan—Gatineau placed his rod in the -boat and sat down. He sat down facing Clement, facing in the direction -of the shack.</p> - -<p>“Might as well eat,” he said in a loudish, clear voice. Clement said -nothing. It did not matter so much that Gatineau’s voice would carry -across the water to the shack, but his own voice was known.</p> - -<p>Gatineau began munching and surveying the lake. Suddenly he cried, -“Say,” and his arm went out, indicating the shack. Clement, his hat -well down over his eyes, his chin crouched in his shoulder, looked -towards the shack. He said something. Gatineau answered clearly. “No, -it ain’t deserted. Why, there’s smoke coming out of the stack. We sure -can get some coffee there, or some hot water for our’n.”</p> - -<p>He said this loudly, giving warning. If Neuburg and Siwash were in the -shack, they had time to get out of it, to run to the bush and hide. -Undoubtedly they would not want to be seen.</p> - -<p>As they came close in under the shack, the woman appeared on the porch. -She was a tall, wiry woman, as lithe-strung as a cat. She had the -fierce, sharp, haggard air of a woman who had been wrenched from the -more hectic pleasures of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> cities to stagnate in the wilds. She stood in -the break of the door looking down on them, her eyes bright, her face -pale, her hand gripping the doorjamb violently to help her master her -emotions. Gatineau called, “Hello, mother; who’d a thought of seeing a -white woman here?”</p> - -<p>“Hello,” she said in a dry voice. “Fishin’? Had luck?” Her tone -repelled advances.</p> - -<p>“Poor,” said Gatineau. “Say—we was thinkin’—I mean seein’ you had a -fire, we thought as you’d allow us to boil a drop o’ water fer cawfee.”</p> - -<p>The woman’s tongue went over her dry lips. “Better not come here,” she -said in a gasp. “There’s a sick man in this shack.”</p> - -<p>“Say—out here—pore feller.”</p> - -<p>“Infectious,” cried the woman, catching too much kindliness in -Gatineau’s tone. “Turrible infectious.”</p> - -<p>“Still a drop of hot water fer cawfee,” said Gatineau. “We don’t want -to butt in on your trouble, mother. But we’d be mortal obliged if you -could give us a drop of hot water fer our cawfee.”</p> - -<p>“But—but it’s turrible infectious,” said the woman, at a loss.</p> - -<p>“Oh, but I don’t think a drop of hot water fer our cawfee’d matter -much.”</p> - -<p>The woman made a decision. “Here, throw up yer can with the cawfee -in it, I’ll give you that water.” She caught the can deftly. “But -you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> stay there. Don’t you take no risk. I has to notify any risk of -infec’ion.” She turned and went swiftly into the shack.</p> - -<p>Clement and Gatineau were out of the skiff and up the bank in a flash.</p> - -<h3>V</h3> - -<p>The woman turned from the stove with a half-cry of fear as their boots -clumped on the boards of the shack. She dropped the coffee can with a -crash, and her lips clenched tight together as she saw the weapons in -their hands. There was something significant in that sudden gesture of -silence; she had seen pistols in men’s hands before—in the hands of -men who shot regardless of sex.</p> - -<p>Clement felt pity for her and the life she must have led. “We mean no -harm, Mrs. Wandersun. Only you must keep quiet——”</p> - -<p>“And not move,” added Gatineau. “Stand over in that corner there, Mrs. -Wandersun—yes, in the angle of the walls. Now understand, no movement, -no sound.”</p> - -<p>They looked about the room quickly. It was a bare room, with a table -and stove, and one window, next the door, looking on to the porch. -There was a door into an inner room. Gatineau sprang across to it and -looked in. It had a bed and a glassless window and very little else. -The window was shut, the bed had evidently been used by the woman. -Gatineau came out of the room, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>shutting the door. There was no need to -go into that room. What they wanted was in this outer, living room.</p> - -<p>In a corner was a truckle bed. On that bed was a man, his deeply-marked -face pale and unshaven. He looked sick, and he stirred gently and -moaned like a sick man, not opening his eyes to them. Gatineau gave -him one look, then went and stood by the window, which was just by the -foot of the bed. Crouching against the woodwork, the little detective -watched the world outside, his pistol ready.</p> - -<p>Clement acted quickly. From his pocket he took a piece of paper, -unfolded it and put it on the table. He found that ink and pens were -already there and he put the paper near them. It was a confession. He -had drawn it up in the train coming from Banff. It set out the general -lines of the plot as Clement saw it. And he meant Henry Gunning to sign -it. It would frighten Gunning into fleeing the country, as well as an -argument to use when he put the case before Heloise Reys.</p> - -<p>He took a step to the bedside. The man under the blankets moved. It -might have been merely the tossing of a sick body, it might have been -anxiety. Clement looked down at the face, saw its looseness, its -weakness, its degeneration; saw, too, in the outline of good looks how -such a face might carry a fond memory right back to the time when this -man was a fine, upstanding, clean-looking boy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> Oh, yes, that face -would call up memories that might well obliterate the present.</p> - -<p>He said harshly, “Up with you, Henry Gunning. You’re found out. The -game’s up.”</p> - -<p>The man on the bed moaned and stirred. And he made a false move. He -muttered, “Heloise.”</p> - -<p>Clement saw red. “Up, you skunk!” he snapped. His hand went down, -plucking at the blankets. With a twist they were on the floor. Henry -Gunning, with one ineffectual grab at the disappearing clothes, lay -looking up at Clement, his eyes full of fear, his mouth loose. He had -reason for fear. He lay on the bed with his nightshirt on him, but -beneath that were all his clothes (save the boots) he had worn but a -few minutes ago as he sat a healthy man reading his newspaper on the -porch of the shack.</p> - -<p>Clement shifted his pistol to his left hand. “Do you get up yourself?” -he snapped.</p> - -<p>Gunning shakily got up. “Who th’ hell are you?” he demanded thickly.</p> - -<p>“An Englishman like yourself, but a cleaner one,” said Clement with a -strong sense of racial anger.</p> - -<p>And at the name Gunning winced. But he pulled his wits, which were -obviously fuddled, together and he stuttered, “What th’ hell do you -mean by all this? Hey, what the hell——? Look here, I’ll have the law -on you.”</p> - -<p>“The law,” Clement sprang on him. “The law<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> is over there”—he -indicated Gatineau. “That is a detective come to settle with you, my -friend.”</p> - -<p>As expected, Henry Gunning stumbled back at the mere threat of the law. -Terror shone in his face.</p> - -<p>Clement followed up his advantage. “We’re here for you, Henry Gunning. -We know all about you and this plot against Heloise Reys. We know how -you lured her out here, how you want to get hold of her and her million -of money.”</p> - -<p>“Lies! Lies!” cried Henry Gunning. “You don’t bluff me.”</p> - -<p>“Then you lied when you bragged at Cobalt, my friend,” snapped Clement. -“Do you want me to tell you all that you bragged of in the billiard -parlor of Cobalt?” Henry Gunning shrank back against the bed. “I see -you are recognizing we know. Well, understand fully that we’ve got -all the evidence against you. The story of those silver mines, the -details of how Joe Wandersun pretended to act as a bona fide agent, -the way Méduse Smythe became the companion of Heloise Reys, the -meaning of Adolf Neuburg behind it all. We know the whole foul plot, -the love making, the robbing of that girl, with the aid of Landor at -Revelstoke—her murder.”</p> - -<p>“Murder!” said Gunning in a sharp voice.</p> - -<p>“The murder at the hands of Neuburg, or Newman, or Nachbar.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a lie!” snarled Henry Gunning.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> “There isn’t a murder in it. -That’s a lie; that isn’t in it.”</p> - -<p>“It is in it.”</p> - -<p>“Murder. The same sort of murder as Nachbar did in Oregon.”</p> - -<p>There was a sudden movement from the corner. The woman moaned and fell -against the wall. She had swooned—apparently. Only apparently.—As -her body reached the floor her hands moved swiftly. Something flashed -and spat. Clement had taken a step towards her. It saved his life. The -bullet from a tiny pistol struck him in the fleshy part of the right -forearm. He gasped in pain, staggered. Immediately things happened.</p> - -<p>Gatineau had spun round at the sound of the shot. His attention for a -fateful second was torn between the window, Gunning, and the woman. And -Gunning hit him.</p> - -<p>Gunning, unsteady, but still powerful, fell forward across the narrow -gap between him and the unready detective. A great arm flailed, and -his fist took the little man behind the ear. As Gatineau fell, Gunning -fell on top of him, smothering him. Clement acted swiftly. He could -not shoot because of Gatineau underneath. With a lightning gesture, he -transferred his pistol to his right hand again, and grabbed at a chair. -He made a stride forward.</p> - -<p>“Drop it!” snapped a voice. “Drop that chair!” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p> - -<p>A slim man was at the window. A slim man with one arm in a sling, -but whose dark eye shone with steady purpose behind the sights of an -automatic pistol.</p> - -<p>Clement dropped the chair.</p> - -<p>There was a movement by the door. The light from it was darkened by -some huge and bulky figure. Clement turned his head. Smiling, without -the slightest vestige of emotion, and looking steadily not into his -eyes, but over Clement’s shoulder, the mountainous Mr. Neuburg came -into the shack.</p> - -<h3>VI</h3> - -<p>Whatever Mr. Neuburg felt he hid it with the cold, enigmatic -mirthlessness of his smile. But Clement knew that the great brute must -be at a loss. Obviously, he appreciated the fact that if his opponent -was here and not in Montreal, he must know far too much about Arthur -Newman and his doings.</p> - -<p>Clement realized this and meant to make the most of it. He must play -for time. The three men in the canoe must have a chance to get to them, -for, of course, they would have heard the pistol shot.</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg said, “Sophie, take his pistol.”</p> - -<p>The woman came behind the young Englishman and took the pistol from -his injured hand. She pressed the muzzle of her own small weapon into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> -his spine, just to show what any attempt to fight might mean. Then she -stood aside. Henry Gunning stood up and away from the detective, who -lay prostrate. He looked swiftly at the silent Neuburg, and then as -swiftly turned his eyes away. He stared at Clement. He seemed to be -puzzling over Clement. Siwash Mike left the window when Clement was -disarmed. He came round into the room. He bent over the detective, his -pistol held ready; but, satisfied that the little man was stunned, he -picked up the automatic that had fallen to the floor and dropped it -into his pocket. To make sure that Gatineau was not shamming, he kicked -him sharply and savagely in the body. The prone man did not stir or -groan.</p> - -<p>Neuburg, after a speculative stare at Clement said, “You have blundered -in on me again. You are clever, my exteriorly ingenuous young man. But -not quite clever enough. However, clever enough to know that this is a -very awkward situation for you.”</p> - -<p>He waited for Clement to answer. Clement did not answer.</p> - -<p>“Have you anything to say for yourself?” He wanted Clement to show his -hand either by defiance or an attempt to temporize.</p> - -<p>Clement unsatisfyingly said, “Nothing at all.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg blinked at the invisible thing across Clement’s shoulder.</p> - -<p>“I am afraid I want you to say something,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> said Mr. Neuburg with -his smooth suavity. “Yes, I think I must ask you to give me a few -explanations.” He waited. Again Clement did not answer. “Mr. Seadon, -you are a worldly-wise young man; you are no fool. You will, I think, -understand my position. There are certain facts I must have. I mean to -have them.”</p> - -<p>Clement did not answer.</p> - -<p>“I think you had better say something,” said Mr. Neuburg. His voice -took on a curious purr.</p> - -<p>“I am not a man who finds stubbornness agreeable. I will have those -facts. Now, how and why are you here? Answer, you dog!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no,” said Clement. “I’m not going to answer.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke, the woman—perhaps something still feminine in her -revolted against the horrors she thought bound to come—stepped to the -table and picked up the paper Clement had put upon it. Neuburg read it -through.</p> - -<p>“A confession. Our bright Henry was to sign it, the girl Heloise -was to read it, and all would be well. An ingenious plan, Seadon. A -well-considered plan. You would have terrorized our backboneless Henry -with threats. Perhaps you would have carried it through, for Henry is a -cur. But you did not. I intervened. So far, then, that was your idea. -But before——”</p> - -<p>Clement, who had been watching Gunning’s face, observing the perplexity -on it, said evenly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> “That certainly was my plan. But I changed it at -the last moment. I was about to change it, that is, when you arrived. I -found an unexpected ignorance in Henry Gunning. I found he knew nothing -about—Nachbar.”</p> - -<p>The big man’s hand moved upwards towards his breast in a startled and -curious gesture. It was an instinctive defense against an unexpected -blow. His breath came in a sudden sharp hiss. His eyes flickered -to Clement’s face with a movement and with a light, startled, yet -unfathomable. And no other sign did he give. Presently, “What is this -talk about Nachbar?” he said, in a quiet, even voice.</p> - -<p>Gunning said explosively, “This fellow said something about this -Nachbar—and about murder. I don’t know what is meant.”</p> - -<p>“They mean the same thing,” said Clement evenly, his attention keenly -on the alert for any movement from the mountainous man, or Siwash, or -the woman. “Nachbar—Albrecht Nachbar—is a murderer, Gunning.”</p> - -<p>“I was speaking to Adolf,” said Gunning, snarling at Clement.</p> - -<p>“Albrecht,” said Clement evenly.</p> - -<p>Gunning gasped, his eyes became wild. “What—who is this Nachbar?” he -cried.</p> - -<p>“You are speaking to him now,” said Clement. “Adolf Neuburg is Albrecht -Nachbar—murderer.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> - -<p>“A murderer!” cried Gunning. He shrank away from Neuburg, his face pale -and working. “A murderer.” There was real disgust and horror in his -tone. He was a real bad hat, but somehow that had touched to horror and -disgust a clean streak in him. Then with a genuine anger he swung round -on the big man. “Give him the lie, Adolf,” he shouted. “Fling the lie -in his dirty face.”</p> - -<p>Neuburg, or rather Nachbar, stood passive, his great face in an awful -inscrutability. Only his right hand moved. It lifted, and its fingers -caressed the flap of his coat pocket, caressed as if eager to get at -something that lay in that pocket. Only when Gunning shouted once more, -“Go on, Adolf, fling the lie in his face,” did he say, “Stop that, -Gunning. Go on, Seadon. Go on.—Don’t stop at that. Let’s have all of -it.”</p> - -<p>He wanted to find out all Clement knew. He ignored Gunning’s horror and -disgust. He was, no doubt, entirely confident of his supremacy over -Gunning.</p> - -<p>Clement, conscious of the play of that eager hand over the pistol -pocket, said evenly: “Gunning, for reasons of his own, for reasons -connected with Heloise Reys, this man has thought best to keep you -ignorant of his real nature. He is Albrecht Nachbar who is wanted by -the Oregon police for murder. He is careful not to deny it.”</p> - -<p>“God!” breathed Gunning, his eyes fixed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> horror on Nachbar. -“God—but you lie, he <i>will</i> deny it.”</p> - -<p>“Go on,” said Nachbar with a deadly evenness. “Go on, Seadon.”</p> - -<p>“He won’t deny it,” said Clement, shooting at venture. “He won’t deny -it—because he feels that, since I have unmasked him, it will be best -for you to know what he intends to do to that girl, Heloise Reys.”</p> - -<p>“Murder her! No—no; we aren’t going to do that. It’s a lie!” cried -Gunning, shrinking in loathing.</p> - -<p>“You are a clever young man,” said Nachbar to Clement. “Too clever. Go -on.”</p> - -<p>“You think he doesn’t mean murder? Ask him. Ask him if he hasn’t made -up his mind to rob a rich young girl, as he made up his mind to rob the -rich young man, Roberts of Oregon. Ask him if he didn’t plan to lure -her to the wilds, just as he lured Roberts into the wilds. Ask him if, -having planned to secure all her money through Landor at Revelstoke, -as he secured all Roberts’s money in Oregon, he does not mean to kill -her—kill her so that his robbery can be covered up, just as the -killing of Roberts covered up that robbery.”</p> - -<p>“Kill her—murder Heloise,” said Gunning in a whisper.</p> - -<p>“It won’t look like murder. It’ll look like an accident. Just as -Roberts’s death looked like an accident. A burst gun barrel while -hunting, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>Gunning—only Nachbar had seen to it that it would burst.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a lie! It’s a lie!” shouted Gunning.</p> - -<p>“Ask him.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a lie! How could they kill her! How would they murder her?”</p> - -<p>Clement had a sudden flashing intuition. “Ask him about the motor boat, -Gunning?”</p> - -<p>And the shot in the dark struck home.</p> - -<p>Siwash Mike loosed an oath. The mountain of a man started as if stung. -His mouth twisted in an ugly snarl. He made a step towards Clement. His -right hand jerked to his pocket. The effect on Gunning was startling. -That chance shot had exploded a definite fact in his mind.</p> - -<p>“Motor boat,” he shouted. “That’s why you wouldn’t let me -help.—Mending a perfectly sound motor boat. You liar! You—you -Nachbar!”</p> - -<p>He jumped forward and faced the big man.</p> - -<p>“Out of the way, you dog. Out of the way!” snarled Nachbar, with a -twisted mouth. His hand had flashed out of his pocket, and in it was a -pistol. “Out of the way, you sot!”</p> - -<p>Gunning flung himself upon him.</p> - -<p>There was chaos in that flimsy shack.</p> - -<p>At the first hint of violence Clement had dropped flat to the ground. -The woman’s pistol snapped as he did so, and her bullet struck the -planking where his chest had been. Nachbar and Gunning staggered in a -wild tangle. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>shoulders of the huge man struck Siwash as, pistol -ready, he jumped round to get at Clement. He was flung back. Even as -he swayed under the impact, the little detective Gatineau, prone and -overlooked on the floor, suddenly came to life. He became abruptly -conscious. His arms went out and plucked at the half-breed’s ankles. -Siwash went down with a bang. As he went down, Gatineau heaved himself -up and forward with an astonishing strength and flung himself on the -fallen man. Siwash screamed as Gatineau twisted his wounded arm, and -his pistol clattered to the ground. Gatineau snatched at that pistol, -and got it.</p> - -<p>Gunning and the mountain of a man went in a long, wild stagger, across -the shack. The table crashed as their writhing bodies smashed into -it. They tripped and thudded into the wall. They stamped and wrestled -clear, went in a writhe across the floor again. The woman failed to -get out of the way. The fighting bodies struck her and she was knocked -across the room. Then Gunning screamed. A huge, fat thumb was pressing, -pressing with monstrous power, up under his jaw-bone beneath his ear. -He screamed and wriggled to break away. Nachbar with his incredible -mobility slipped clear. In the same movement his pistol flickered -towards Gunning’s chest. A report and a scream sounded together, and -Gunning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> tumbled forward into the arms of the man who had shot him.</p> - -<p>With his immense strength Nachbar flung the limp man from him and swept -round to deal with Clement. Clement was ready. As the huge body bunched -and the pistol hand jerked forward, Clement struck at it. As Clement -had risen to his feet, he had grabbed the chair again, and that was -what he struck with. The solid wood of the seat caught Nachbar’s wrist -and arm, and with such force that the pistol was sent flying across the -room. Nachbar bellowed and leaped to finish the young Englishman with -his great hands. Clement dropped the chair in front of him.</p> - -<p>His shins caught the flimsy structure as his huge body stumbled -forward, and at the same time Clement landed with all his force on the -big face. He struck again on the mouth, and then in the excitement -strove to swing to the swaying chin with his injured right. He reached -his mark, but the pain that shot through his arm was so exquisite that -it both robbed the blow of its power and caused Clement to writhe. In -that moment of suspension Nachbar, shaking himself like some giant -beast that had been stung to rage by an insect, leaped on Clement.</p> - -<p>They went down with a crash. Nachbar’s body caught the surface of -the capsized table, and it split and broke under the fierce impact. -Nachbar was on top. Clement strove to twist him off with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> a Japanese -wrestling throw, but the sheer weight of the man bore him down. His -great legs were upon the Englishman’s body, his great knee was grinding -down the injured right arm. A pair of huge hands were tearing away the -Englishman’s left, were clutching at the throat.</p> - -<p>Clement’s head was forced back and back until he felt his spine would -snap. There was a cruel pressure on his gullet, and his blood was -roaring in his ears. He felt that his body was slipping away into -a deep and terrible abyss, and that as it slipped his strength was -dropping swiftly away from him. The great body on him was grinding him -down, crushing him down.</p> - -<p>There was a thumping of heavy boots on the planking of the porch. -Men were running and shouting. A great voice from the window yelled, -“You—the elephant—shove your hands up—lively.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll get hit if he fires,” Clement’s mind registered.</p> - -<p>More stampings. A voice shouted in the door, “Don’t shoot, Paul—t’ -feller underneath.—That’s it, the butt.”</p> - -<p>Nachbar jerked round and looked up. A man was upon him, his hand up, a -pistol swinging by its barrel poised to strike. With his astonishing -mobility, the mountain of a man was on his feet. His arm shot out and -the threatening man thudded into a corner. The murderer was round at -once,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> springing in shack-shaking leaps of bewildering agility for the -door that lead to the inner room. He reached the door, grabbed at the -handle.</p> - -<p>A Winchester banged from the window. Nachbar’s shoulders struck the -door, burst it open. A rifle barked again, and the door crashed to in -an echo of the shot.</p> - -<p>There was a rush of feet across the room; the strong shoulders of two -of the men from the canoe jammed together in its narrow length before -they burst it open. Both men stopped dead, wheeled about.</p> - -<p>“Gone!” yelled one of them. “Jumped clean through that window.” The -three made for the door of the shack.</p> - -<p>“One of you stay,” yelled Gatineau. “There’s the man an’ the woman to -look to. The other two go after him, and shoot on sight.”</p> - -<p>In a minute they heard the two crashing through the spruce on the trail -of Mr. Neuburg.</p> - -<h3>VII</h3> - -<p>Clement, his head feeling bigger and more painful than any human head -had a right to be, heaved himself from the floor, grabbed the pistol -Neuburg had dropped, and made swaying for the door.</p> - -<p>“You stop here, Seadon,” snapped Gatineau, as he handcuffed the woman -(the other man was roping Siwash). “You can’t do anything outside. You -<i>can</i> here. Gunning’s dying.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> - -<p>So while the chase went on up the slope above the lake, Clement watched -Henry Gunning die.</p> - -<p>The fellow opened his eyes in a minute or two, stared dully at Clement, -as though not realizing what had happened, and then suddenly he -understood.</p> - -<p>“Murder!” he choked. “I won’t have murder. I’m a swine, but I won’t -have murder. <i>No!</i>”</p> - -<p>“Take it easy,” said Clement. “Don’t tear yourself to pieces. There -won’t be any murder now.”</p> - -<p>He hoped that was the truth, although Neuburg <i>had</i> got away.</p> - -<p>It was difficult to quiet the dying man, for, in his last hour, the -clean streak in him had come out uppermost, and he was beside himself -in his desire to prevent any hurt coming to the girl, Heloise Reys.</p> - -<p>But he was quieted in the end. Suddenly he seemed to realize that he -was about to die, and he ceased to rave and struggle. Abruptly he lay -quiet.</p> - -<p>“A fool all the time,” he said with a wry grin upon Seadon. “I muddled -my life; I’m going to muddle my death if I’m not careful. Sit down -beside me and listen. I’m going to straighten things out while I can.”</p> - -<p>It was then that Clement heard the full story of the plot against -Heloise Reys. It had been planned very much as he had thought. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p> - -<p>Henry Gunning, a wastrel, had fallen into the power of Adolf Neuburg -and his gang. One day Gunning had read in the paper a notice of the -death of Heloise’s father. He had forgotten all about Heloise, but that -paragraph had recalled their boy and girl affair, and, being the man he -was, he had bragged, declaring that he might marry a millionairess if -he chose.</p> - -<p>Adolf Neuburg had in this way learned the whole story and seen its -possibilities. He had at once begun to plot. He had arranged for the -purchase of worthless mining claims, and had dictated the letter with -which Gunning reawakened the girlhood emotions in Heloise’s heart. Then -he had gone to England, bought out the old companion and seen that -Méduse took her place, and so on through the story.</p> - -<p>But the object all through was money, insisted Gunning. They had meant -Heloise to sign away first the cash and securities she had brought to -Canada, and then they hoped to get hold of the rest of the million. He -was to make love to Heloise, even marry her to attain this end—but -murder her, <i>No</i>!</p> - -<p>He died on that profession of guiltlessness in the major crime. It had -been impossible to argue with him, as well as useless. A muddler of -his sort could not see the logical end to the plot. Could not see that -the simplified end was to <i>kill</i> Heloise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> rather than turn her loose -penniless, as seemed to be Gunning’s vague idea.</p> - -<p>And his ignorance of what was being done to the motor boat supported -his contention.</p> - -<p>What was being done to the motor boat?</p> - -<p>Clement was about to turn to the imprisoned Siwash and demand the truth -about the motor boat when there came a startling interruption.</p> - -<p>From up the hill they heard shouts and shots. Gatineau and Clement -instinctively dived towards the door. Something hit the shack with a -resounding thwack.</p> - -<p>“Christopher!” yelled Gatineau. “They’re shooting up the shack.”</p> - -<p>“Neuburg’s come back,” shouted Clement. “Take the back. I’ll take the -front.”</p> - -<p>The shouts and shots redoubled. Then suddenly across the tumult they -heard another sound. From the lake there came the quick, stuttering -throb of a gasoline engine springing into life.</p> - -<p>With a yell Clement flung himself onto the porch.</p> - -<p>Away across the lake the big motor boat that had been at the -stringpiece was shooting towards Sicamous. Behind it trailed the skiffs -and canoes that had been tied up at the lakeside.</p> - -<p>Clement shot out his arm and began firing. He was too late. The motor -boat had gathered speed and was already covered by the trees.</p> - -<p>He could not hit Adolf Neuburg, who was steering it.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>They rushed to the water’s edge, as the two men who had been chasing -Neuburg came tumbling down the slope through the trees.</p> - -<p>“The feller’s an Indian!” they shouted. “Led us on a faked trail right -up to the top, while he doubled back an’ made for the water. We only -saw him when he’d got way out on it. Sakes, I wantter get that big -feller just to cry quits.”</p> - -<p>“You won’t,” said Clement. “We’re marooned.”</p> - -<p>“No, we ain’t!” shouted another man. “There’s another motor boat—look!”</p> - -<p>“<i>He</i> knew that wasn’t any good,” said Clement, “or he’d taken it.”</p> - -<p>Indeed, the motor boat that had been left behind was the one they had -watched Siwash and Neuburg tinkering with.</p> - -<p>“Let’s have a look at it, anyhow!” cried one man, and he made a run at -it.</p> - -<p>“Not so fast!” snapped Clement, and, as the men stopped, -bewildered—“Fetch out the woman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> and the half-breed. Tell ’em to get -into that boat first.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Wandersun was led out, Siwash following. She glanced round, -hesitated when she saw there were no boats at the stringpiece. A hand -urged her towards the motor boat.</p> - -<p>She screamed.</p> - -<p>“Get in,” said Clement curtly. “We’re in a hurry.”</p> - -<p>“No!” cried the woman. “No!”</p> - -<p>“Shut up, you fool!” cried Siwash.</p> - -<p>“No nonsense! In with you!” snapped Gatineau, as he drew the woman -towards the boat. She struggled.</p> - -<p>“It’s murder!” she shouted. “You know it’s murder!”</p> - -<p>“She’s crazy,” said Siwash, and with a forced calmness walked towards -the boat.</p> - -<p>“She isn’t,” Clement grinned at him. “How was she to know you hadn’t -finished fixing it yet?” As Siwash turned, snarling at the trap into -which he had fallen, Clement said to the men: “All right, get aboard -and see what you can do with her—she’s apparently not quite ready for -killing people <i>yet</i>.”</p> - -<p>In five minutes he was looking at a dynamite cartridge, fixed cunningly -near the gasoline tank. There was a time fuse by it, but not yet -connected up. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> - -<p>“The hand of Nachbar,” said Gatineau, holding up the cartridge.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” agreed Clement, feeling sick. “That was to be the ‘accident’ in -the wilds.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” agreed Gatineau. “Miss Reys was to be sent off in a hurry in -that boat for something. Somewhere, when the time fuse expired—within -sight of Sicamous, prob’bly—the dynamite would send up the gas tank. -Boat and girl would just vanish before the eyes of men in a sheet of -flame—a natural, brilliant, devilish accident.”</p> - -<p>Clement, almost physically ill, shook his fist at the lake.</p> - -<p>“By God!” he cried. “That man must not be allowed to get free! We’ve -got to find him, Gatineau, and settle with him. We’ve <i>got</i> to get him.”</p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>It was more than an hour before they were out on the lake, pushing -towards Sicamous.</p> - -<p>They did not go straight to that place. They had reasoned it out that -Neuburg dare not go there. He would know that Sicamous was warned, and -that only arrest awaited him.</p> - -<p>They cut through the lake at their best speed, searching the shore on -either side, swinging into little inlets and out again, in their search -for the motor boat that had carried Neuburg. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> - -<p>A man in the bow shouted and pointed. They turned their eyes to the -lakeside below a clearing. Piled high, with the boats she towed -knocking at her rudder post, was the motor boat. Above the motor boat -in the clearing was a shack. As they drove towards it, Gatineau rapped.</p> - -<p>“Heck! See the reason? He landed here. There’s a telephone.”</p> - -<p>They made the shore; three of them piled out of their boat; two sat -with guns ready for anything.</p> - -<p>They ran to the shack, calling out, but nobody came to meet them. They -hammered at the door post; there was no answer. They went in through -the door into a living-room. It was empty.</p> - -<p>Here they saw the trail of Neuburg. A cupboard had been forced and -food taken from it, hurriedly, so that other food was scattered. On -the table were two empty cartridge boxes, and several of the shells -had fallen on the floor as the big man had emptied the cartons in a -hurry. The telephone receiver dangled helplessly, and the wire had been -snipped off short.</p> - -<p>They pushed into the two bedrooms, one was stark empty, one seemed so, -but Gatineau heard a whimper. Bending swiftly, he jerked a boy of ten -from under the bed. Even as the little detective yanked the boy to his -feet the kid pulled a gun, and only Gatineau’s agility saved him from a -bullet in the stomach. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> - -<p>Clement grabbed the gun and shouted: “Here, stow that, sonny! You -aren’t Buffalo Bill, you know.”</p> - -<p>“I ain’t a bit afraid of you,” said the kid, pretending that what they -thought crying was merely dust in his eye.</p> - -<p>“No need, kiddo,” grinned Gatineau. “We ain’t the bad men; we’re just -plain policemen.”</p> - -<p>“Ho,” said the kid, visibly disappointed. Then he brightened. “That -other feller wuz bad as bad.”</p> - -<p>“Worse!” chuckled Clement. “He was a robber and a murderer, and -everything.”</p> - -<p>Young Canada swelled visibly with pride.</p> - -<p>“Golly—an’ he might have gunned me any time, ’cos I was here, see? <i>I</i> -didn’t run away.”</p> - -<p>There was an uproar from the front of the shack, men shouting at each -other, threatening. Clement and Gatineau went out. In the clearing was -a wild-eyed homesteader, brandishing a club and threatening to brain -the man they had put on guard. Again Clement played a soothing part.</p> - -<p>“Easy on him, old son!” he shouted. “We don’t mean harm. We’re the -police.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, pop,” said young Canada, leaning over the porch rail. -“You stop being mad; there ain’t no call for it. I’m just putting -things straight with these fellers here. Put up your gun, pard.”</p> - -<p>The manly tone was smothered in a flutter of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> skirts. A woman ran in -from the scrub, yelling: “Jimmy! My Jimmy!” And Jimmy, the gunman, -was in his mother’s embrace. A little girl and a smaller boy followed -timidly.</p> - -<p>Neuburg, they found, had run his boat ashore in the creek under the -homestead while the man was back in the woods working. He had walked -into the living room and held up the woman and her two youngest -children.</p> - -<p>“I was in the bedroom,” said Jimmy, the daring. “I saw what was what, -so I nipped under the bed.”</p> - -<p>Neuburg had stolen the food, packing it in his pockets, found the -revolver, and stolen it and cartridges. Then he had ordered them out of -the house while he spoke on the telephone. They had run straight to the -husband.</p> - -<p>“Then you didn’t hear who he called up on the ’phone?” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“I was under the bed——” began Jimmy.</p> - -<p>The father interrupted angrily. “How could she hear? That’s why he -drove my wife out.”</p> - -<p>“Damn!” muttered Clement. “I’d give a hundred dollars to know who he -called up on that ’phone, and what he said.”</p> - -<p>“Give ’em to me, then,” said Jimmy.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” gasped everybody.</p> - -<p>“I keep on telling yer I was under that bed, an’ heard,” said Jimmy in -contempt. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Magnificent!” shouted Clement. “Who did he ring up?”</p> - -<p>“A Revelstoke number. Ast fer a feller named Locust.”</p> - -<p>“Lucas!” shouted Clement. “What did he say?”</p> - -<p>“Said something about things was all gone bust, and that he, this Lucas -feller, must meet him at the Three Pins with all he could get hold of. -Then he got out.”</p> - -<p>“To the mountains,” said Gatineau.</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“Three Pins is a difficult and little known pass. I know it. A hard -journey, but it can be reached from here-and Revelstoke.”</p> - -<p>“Can we get there quicker than by following Neuburg’s trail?”</p> - -<p>“Sure! But why worry? We can put a cordon round him. We’ve got him.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to see him taken with my own eyes before I believe that. Also -I want to do some of the taking myself. I owe Neuburg something. And -then there’s Lucas ‘with all he can get hold of.’”</p> - -<p>“Well, what about it? What do you think that means?”</p> - -<p>“I think it means £145,000 of easily negotiable securities and cash,” -said Clement. “Remember The Chief’s wire. I’m going to see with my own -eyes that Miss Heloise Reys does not lose it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>A motor trolley jerked them up along the mountain track, and dropped -Clement, the detective and two men at a little wayside station that -seemed to be clinging by sheer strength to the rocks under the -snow-clad crags.</p> - -<p>A guide and horses met them, and they rode off along the mountain -trails, skirting ravines and river gorges by paths that seemed to poise -them on the lip of sickening drops. They climbed up and up until the -air took on the nip of the everlasting snows. They pushed forward until -they seemed lost in a Dantesque hell of bleak gray rock and somber -spruce furred valleys.</p> - -<p>When night came down, they camped fireless for fear of giving the alarm -to the huge, ugly and indomitable rogue who must even then be pushing -his way through the mountain passes in their neighborhood. They had -time on their side. They knew they must be ahead of him.</p> - -<p>In the chill mists of dawn they were up and away again, striking -through the stark, craggy Valleys for the lonely pass under the Three -Pins. Toiling up from the Arrowhead district, on the other shoulder of -the range must be the shady bank clerk, Lucas. Would they be present at -the rendezvous of the two criminals? Would they be there at the right -time and at the right place? </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was noon before the guide pointed to a curious mountain with three -sharp points, the Three Pins. They dismounted and pressed through the -wild and rocky forests with infinite caution. Quite suddenly the guide -put up his hand. They crept to his side.</p> - -<p>There beneath him sat a man.</p> - -<p>He was a young man, lolling on a rock and smoking. He was dressed with -a nattiness that was incongruous amid that bleak scenery. But beside -him was a haversack, and his city-cut clothes showed evidences of rough -wear. It was Lucas.</p> - -<p>One of the men sighted his rifle on him, but Gatineau’s hand went out. -He whispered:</p> - -<p>“Not yet. Wait for Neuburg.”</p> - -<p>They waited, watching the young man in that aching silence, in that -almost startling clearness of air.</p> - -<p>An hour, and suddenly the young man sprang up.</p> - -<p>A bird call had abruptly sounded.</p> - -<p>The young man stood looking about. The call sounded again. He grabbed -his haversack and began to move.</p> - -<p>Clement was impatient to get out at him; again Gatineau checked him.</p> - -<p>“Neuburg’s here. That was his call,” he said. “He’s in hiding. He’s -waiting to see whether Lucas’s movement draws anything.”</p> - -<p>Lucas walked eagerly up the trail, with all eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> watching him. There -was no movement or sound on the mountainside above him. A minute -passed. Suddenly they saw Neuburg standing above the trail.</p> - -<p>He had slipped silently out of the shadow, and was standing quietly -looking round. Lucas changed direction at once, and ran up to him.</p> - -<p>Gatineau, too, began to move. The men with them spread out to form a -half-circle about the little detective, who headed straight through the -spruce, going with the skill of a trapper towards the big murderer.</p> - -<p>They dipped to a hollow, rose to a point where they could see the two -men. Neuburg was talking rapidly. As he talked he put his hand behind -him, raised it with a revolver, and fired straight at Gatineau in cover.</p> - -<p>Gatineau shouted and fell. Two shots rang out. Lucas fell dead and -Neuburg began to run.</p> - -<p>He dived straight for the bush, crashing the branches aside with his -huge figure. In a moment he had plunged into the gloom. Clement was -after him, and one of the men cut across to head the big fellow.</p> - -<p>In front, Clement heard the crashing of the murderer’s passage, and -even at times caught the back swing of the branches. Once he saw the -brute, sighted and fired. Once a revolver spat and a bullet screamed -close to his head. They scrambled into a rocky pocket and out again. -Ahead there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> came a sudden shout, the explosion of two guns close -together, and a great scream of rage and fear.</p> - -<p>Clement broke cover to see a man struggling in the great arms of -Neuburg. Neuburg was trying to break the fellow’s back with knee and -hands. Clement shouted and leaped forward. Neuburg turned, snarling -like an animal, and flung his victim at the Englishman’s knees.</p> - -<p>Clement went down, but was up and running again at once. They were -among rocks now, heading for a small torrent that roared down the -mountain side. Neuburg dodged in and out of the rocks making for the -stream, and there was blood along his trail. That was slowing him; he -was hit.</p> - -<p>By the stream Clement got him in the open and shouted and fired. -Neuburg turned and with blazing revolver came back.</p> - -<p>He charged like a bull. His revolver spat once, twice, but already -Clement had jumped to cover behind a tree. The revolver spoke again, -and then the murderer snarled in rage, dropped it and came on with his -empty hands. Clement fired at his legs twice, apparently missed, and -then flung his own empty pistol at the oncoming brute.</p> - -<p>It struck him in the chest, and he brushed it aside as though it had -been a gnat. Then he closed with Clement.</p> - -<p>They went down, Clement battering with his one useful fist at the gross -face. Neuburg ignored all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> blows and ground him back and into the -earth, held him there, and felt blindly with his right hand for a piece -of rock.</p> - -<p>He found it and struck. Clement just had time to wriggle his head, -and only his hat was crushed in. The great arm went up again with the -huge, jagged splinter of stone. It poised, waiting its certain chance. -Clement tried to struggle, but with knee and arm the giant man held him -rigid. The arm with the rock heaved to strike.</p> - -<p>Some one—the guide—came leaping straight from the blue at the poised -Neuburg. The man simply took a header straight at the murderer. Head -and shoulders and fists struck, and Neuburg went over. Clement wriggled -up like a flash and flung himself on the huge brute.</p> - -<p>Another man limped up at a run and hurled himself into the wriggling -mass.</p> - -<p>They fought and squirmed to hold the bull-like creature down. He shook -them off. They went at him like terriers, clutching at leg or arm. -A great fist flailed out and sent one man backwards into the bush. -Clement shifted and caught him round the neck. He found himself being -lifted into the air. He clung tighter, the other man gripped with -clawing fingers at a thick arm. The arm swung and shook and the man -went into the bushes spreadeagled. The great body whirled and Clement -found himself spun off against a rock. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> - -<p>The first man was at it again, but once more Neuburg was running.</p> - -<p>He ran with a lurching step towards the torrent. They yelled at him to -stop, to throw up his hands. He lumbered onward. When he reached the -torrent, a man fired. Neuburg staggered, steadied himself, then jumped -clear out into the boiling fall.</p> - -<p>They saw him hang swaying amid the welter of white and angry water, his -feet slipping on a slab of rock on the very lip of the fall. Then the -giant arms were flung wide, and he toppled into the stream.</p> - -<p>They saw his body just for one minute, turning over and over in the -torn and angry water at the bottom of the fall, three hundred feet -below. Then it was gone.</p> - -<p>Mr. Neuburg was finished.</p> - -<p>They found Gatineau, by the body of the dead Lucas, making the best of -a flesh wound along the ribs.</p> - -<p>“As you thought, Mr. Seadon,” he said, “Lucas skipped with the -securities. They’re all here, £145,000 pounds worth of them.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that point is cleared up,” said Clement. “We’d better head for -Banff now, and Miss Reys.”</p> - -<p>“<i>And</i> Mrs. Neuburg, alias Méduse Smith,” grinned Gatineau, who had -learned much from the wanderers. “I’m going to arrest <i>one</i> of the -family, anyhow.”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> - -<p>After the arrest of Méduse Smythe, tactfully carried out by Gatineau, -Clement sought out Heloise.</p> - -<p>On the terrace of the Arabian Nights Hotel at Banff, where the lawns -go down in emerald under spruce to meet the shining turquoise waters -of the Bow, and the mountains stand about to cup the beauty of the -exquisite place, Clement found her.</p> - -<p>He walked out amid that divine quiet that the slurring rush of the Bow -falls only makes more delicate, and for a moment he was held by the -glowing beauty of the place. Then he heard a quiet voice cry with a -catch of gladness:</p> - -<p>“Clement!”</p> - -<p>He turned and went to her as she stood against the miracle of a view, -and it was minutes before they realized that, by the rights of things, -they should not hold each other like this.</p> - -<p>Then she stood away from him, blushing. Her eyes for a moment left his -face and for the first time saw his arm. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Clement!” she cried. “Your arm ... I did that?”</p> - -<p>“You—never!” he laughed. “How could you?”</p> - -<p>“I did—it was Neuburg?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he told her. “But how did you guess that?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve been guessing it since Quebec, and now that little detective -has let me know. What a little fool I’ve been, Clement. I’m not fit to -look after myself.”</p> - -<p>“The little lawyer, Hartley Hard, suggested you needed special -protection.”</p> - -<p>“Hartley Hard.... But what sort of protection would be adequate for a -little idiot like me?”</p> - -<p>“He seemed to think marriage might meet the case.”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” she murmured, blushing again.</p> - -<p>“I think it a splendid idea myself. What do you think, Heloise?”</p> - -<p>“I—I—I think my opinion of lawyers has improved enormously,” she -whispered.</p> - -<p>It really was not until the next day that they had a sensible -discussion of all that had happened, and even that was inextricably -mixed up with the plans of a honeymoon.</p> - -<p class="center space-above">THE END</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/ad1.jpg" alt="Popular Appleton Fiction" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/ad2.jpg" alt="Absorbing Adventure and Romance" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<div lang='en' xml:lang='en'> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK <span lang='' xml:lang=''>DOUBLE CROSSED</span> ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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