THE SILVER DAGGER

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 154, 5 August 1914, Page 2

THE SILVER DAGGER

®l< —i"r—»i By R. A. J. WALLING i^3°=sl®

Author of " Flaunting Moll," " A Sea Dog of Devon," &c,

[copyright]

CHAPTER VI

IN WHICH A DETECTIVE APPEARS

minutes was lost to view around the point. ■ - t ■ . ~„ '' The vovage is begun,'' sair Pudifin. "I wonder'what it will bring forth?" As he spoke, a streak of light shot up from the opposite hill. ? "A rocket —a signal!" he cried. The point of fire ascended high, and burst into a red star; a second and a third followed. From seaward came a flight of three rockets in reply. . . . "It's as good as the Crystal Palace, said Lucy, iaughing. She was recovering some'of her normal spirits. "Much better, Miss Torfrey: it shows us that there is something to back our opinion. Those signals import something that is not meant to be generally known." "But we have an envoy on board who will discover it,'' said Lucy.

It was,totally dark at evening when a little bustle of excitement at the waterside betokened the impending departure of the yacht Castilian. The splendid vessel lay in mid-stream, blazing with lights from stem to stern, and with a full head of steam. A boat was waiting at the landing-place below Pensilvetta Cottage for the last arrivals.

On. the, other side of the river two people strained their eyes, keeping well back under the trees.

"He's brave," said the girl, "but it's a serious and risky thing." "Trust Hoskings," said the man. "He's a good actor, and keeps a cool Lead. He'll bring the adventure through. I'm not at all excited about him."

In proof of which he fidgeted with his feet, and his hands were twitching. "If the other man should scent a trap?" suggested Miss Torfrey. "He won't," said Pudifin. ''Where have you stowed him?" '' He was here waiting for the old gentleman, who came across to bid Martin adieu once more, and probably to xub out any ugly impression we might have made on him. He had the boat that is now at their slip. I sent Polly flown to him. She trailed him up to the iiouse and into the kitchen, and if he •was not drunk with brandy and Polly's fascinations in a quarter of an. .hour I -don't know what's happened to him.':' i "And the new 'hand?"

"And now, good night. There's nothing more to be done till the detective arrives, I think?" '.'You've forgotten Polly's victim. What are we to do with him?"

"Good gracious! —yes, I had forgotten. It would be a good notion to take liim some dozen mileS away and lose him—that is if he's sufficiently dense to his surroundings. He -would never be able to tell a coherent story."

"A capital notion," Lucy assented. "But who can do it? I dare not go now. Mat would want to know things." Pudifin was heartened by her change of mood. ' ''• *'''■'■';

"Can you rely on -Polly % secrecy ?'' lie 'asked.

i *' The, new hand—-it was a Capital disguise, by the way—took his place in the fcoat. I accompanied Mr Radford down *o the boat when he" left. He got in, saying good-bye to me, and the new hand shoved off and pulled across to the yacht as" though to the manner horn. Since that Mr Radford has gone ashore again to his house, but, so far as I could make out by the gangway light, it was not the same hand. He managed i$ splendidly."

"Then I will'• do- it Don't disturb anybody. I 'll have 'your pony ; and the little dogcart. I know'where to find both. I'll hitch him in while you see about the man. If I drove a dozen miles and dropped him on..the edge of the moor, I expect we, should' hear no more of him." , { ,■'■:.. -. ," Will'/you <lo it,, Mr Pudifin? You are good. A day or two agq I thought I hadn't a friend hi the world, and now I have two noble friends."

*' Halloa! " cried Pudifin. '' They 're off!" The sound of oars in tholes came across the water.

.''Don't thank me, please," said Pudifin, a. little huskily. ,"Go and get the other servantsout*of the way."

"Can you see?" asked Miss Torfrey. "Not very clearly." 4 'There appears to me to be only one man in.the boat.''. "And so to me. Gjdocl heavens! If it has Been discovered!" The watchers still strained their eyes. The boat reached the side of, the yacht. It remained a moment or twp> and'then Teturried. ."What, did it mean? Almost immediately sharp- words of conimand «ame ; Uke "gunshots, and the sound ,• of the' steam-winch .raising the - anchor. Within a-few minutes it was clear, and the engines began to turn: The. yacht immediately gathered speed, and in ten

3 Then minutes after, Pudifin and Polly were dragging an insensible form across the yard. They heaved him into the bottom of the little dog-cart, and covered him with a horse-cloth. Pudifin borrowed a big coat and exchanged his felt hat for a cap. t Polly shut the gates behind him as he' drove out. Driving by winding lanes to avoid the village, he crested the first range of hills, and went quietly' down into the first inland valley. Knowing the country well, he went through by-roads, missing populated places, and.,came, out on the.London highway, at a,settlement

j and quite close to the southern fringe lof Dartmoor. It was nearly midnight, | ami he was ten miles from St. Maurice. iHe took a narrow lane, almost grassi grown, and trending up to the edge of I the uncultivated heath, and emerged | upon a cart track across the common ! under Berrow Beacon. His man was still in a heavy. ' drunken sleep. Pudifin turned to look lat him once or twice as he drove ! across the moor till he reached -a hollow that had once beeu a sand-pit. Then he hauled him out of the trap, and dropped him in a bunch of j bracken, quickly turned the pony's head, and returned the way he had , come. _ ; ! When he reached the main road he ' | decided that there, was*not much chance I of an awkward encounter at that time j of night, and took the nearer and the ! better route home, driving a mile or two to the east before he turned mto the parish roads leading down to the coast. He had almost reached the cross: [where he was to diverge when he heard; a humming sound, rapidly increasing in strength—evidently the noise of a ; motor. There was a glare of lamps, and. a car suddenly turned the corner which;! Pudifin -was about to negotiate, and; came into view, slowing down when the: dogcart was perceived. . i "Pardon me," said a voice from the: blackness behind the glare of lamps. At the sound of that voice, Pudifin, sank his face deeply in the collar ot his borrowed coat. _ "Pardon me, is this the road to westport?" _, ' < Straight on,'' said Pudifin, gruffly. A word was given, the car leapt forward past him, and went down the road at a great pace. , , ] "So," said the curate to himself as he looked after it, "that is the steam yacht Mr Radford travels in, and that is the route to the Mediterranean. I wonder'whether the pyrotechuical dis : play we saw this evening had anything to do with it!'<r" .','.;'. Lucy Torfrey's pony .took him home at a jog-trot, and he found Polly waiting to. unbar the door of the yard for hjm. -V. '... ■ v . . ... . .;.■; The owner of . the Torfrey estates, whose affair was. thus being regulated ; for ■him his two good friends, rose early the .next morning.in -order: to be prepared,, for the reception of .the detective 'wlio,Was coming down to in : vestigatft.'vthV several mysteries that passed the .wit of the local police. But Lucy wasvbefore,him, and was at the breakfast-table already, looking through j the post as usual. , ; ' 'Any!letters for me? " asked Torfrey. He seemed brighter now that help was at hand. | "Yes, Mat; there's one, blue and official-looking, from London. I expect it's about the detective." She passed it over.

"By Jove!" exclaimed Torfrey, as he read it. "The man was to be at the station at 7 o'clock this morning. He travelled by the night train, and there's nobody to meet him, of course. I wonder what he'll do! Kick his heels theref Had we better send?" "Wouldn't it be a good idea to go yourself 1 ?:" asked Lucy. '.Mf you met him on tjie way you,would be able' to have a good quiet chat and tell him all there |is to tell.:?,? 5i "■Yes,>t think I will, and get it over. I want to go to Haylands»this after-

noon. I particularly promised." *< Here's a letter —I think in Mr Hay land's hand," said Lucy. Torfrey tor.e it open and frowned at it.

"What's the matter, Mat?" "Oh, a eoiinfounded nuisance! Hayland says he's got somebody coming today—son of an old friend of his,' who lias just landed at Westport from America. Wants me to be sure to turn up and help to welcome him as a stranger. Hang the stranger!" "I perfectly appreciate your feelings, Mat," said Lucy. "But you will have to go.'' "Of course T shall go. I promised Margaret; but 1 don't quite fancy myself in the capacity of bear-leader." : "What about driving to the station, Lucy?" her brother asked presently. "Your little cart and the pony would be "handiest.'' Lucy made haste to affirm that the pony had gone lame and the near wheel of the cart was loose.

"Take Charles and the brougham, Mat. You'll want all your 1 attention for conversation on the way back, without the distraction of driving.'' Torfrey had set out upon his journey when the curate called at the Villa Zamora.

"Well, Mr Pudifin," saidLiu\v, '.'l hear you were out late last night." '' Do you? Does anybody' else?'' "No, I think not, Where did you drop him ? " ..• "In a little brake undotr Berrow Beacon."

'' Then he's safe not to bother us for a day or two, if he finds his way back at all. He'll never know how he got there."

"In the meantime, I have news." "AVhat is it now?" asked Lucy, all agog: ■?'.'■'"

Pudifin related the adventure, of his meeting with the motor car, his recognition of the voice, .and the enquiry he. answered from the recesses of his coat collar.

"What do you think of the old gentleman now?", he asked. "My suspicions are confirmed, that is all. But it seems.,.a r waste of Mr Hoskings's valuable time to have him on board the vacht if. Radford is not there.'" : ■:•.:....-

"Oh, I don't know," said the curate. ' 'We may trust Dick not to waste his time. Depend, upon him to get some information '.worth^having,, but there does hot seem tq be much to be done h'ene." . '. -1: ,■'.■ ■.

Torfrey saw nothing of the detective on his way to Moss Bridge Station, and had' walked once N :up the platform before seeing anybody who. : would answer to his notion of such a personage, when a tall man of military appearance suddenly appeared and said to him: "Mr Torfrey, I think?" "Yes," said Torfrey, "and you, I believe, are from London and waiting to see me."

"You have the habit I see, Mr Torfrey," said the inan with a bow. "I s have been waiting here, thinking you would come, or I should have taken a carriage and driven down to your place."

"I have a carriage waiting. Come along; we shall be in time for a late lunch, and we can talk as we go." "How far to the Villa Zamora?" "A good ten miles; about two hours on these roads."

"Are there any developments since your letter?" " "None at all."

"Any visitors just now?" ."None at all. Mr Radford left in his. yaeht last night for the Mediterranean. 'The curate's friend, Dr Hoskings," was here, but he also was suddenly called awayJlast night, too." "Ahy" said his companion, "that's a pity. I should; have hear what the doctor hakljto say'.% f l©|i. you know wh|re v "At Westport. > : He is 'in practice there." ':■ ', •

"Good. , Let me send a telegram before we start,; and, asl<; that, the reply be sent to the Villa Zdmora; it should be there by the time we arrive."

"Why do you make such a point about Hoskings? He's only a casual visitor."

"Yes, but he happened;to be here at the time of the attack--upon your man —and he's a friend off the curate."

"As» you please, "said Torfrey. It was nearly two o 'clock, when they pulled up under the porch.,of the house.

"You'll have some lunch before we go on with the business,'' said Torfrey. "I'm sorry that an engagement which I must keep will take meAout this afternoon. But my sister will be here, and you can see the curate, and Tom Gannett and Polly, and interrogate them. I hope you will not be long before you • get some light.'' "Oh, I shall get to work immediately after lunch. But first, is there any answer to the telegram?" (To be continued.)