THE SILVER DAGGER

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 167, 20 August 1914, Page 2

THE SILVER DAGGER

a=°« By R. A. J. WALLING l=oe=,|

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

[copyright]

CHAPTEE XX. HSi WHICH MR PUDIFIN RECEIVES A CLUE. Having remained with his head in his hands, poring over the telegram for a full half-hour, he made up his mind to do two things. He would send a telegram to the chief at Westporfc, telling him that Granger had disappeared, and. ask for more help. He-would got to Haylands, and see the squire, anfrfind out what had become of the man Wil : ton.

Upon tke whereabouts and actions of Wilton, he was sure, the solution of the present phase of the mystery .depended, for Wilton was- none other than the Eodrigo who was the master of the plot, and had been talking in .the garden that night to Diego when Granger disappeared and he himself was shot. - Upon these two decisions Pudifin acted at once. Having wired to the chief in the sense he had arranged, he pro-

cured a trap and a driver to take him to Haylands. Shortly after noon, he was shown into Hr Hayland *s estate office. He had not been in the rooms three minutes before he perceived that there was news to come. Mr Hayland was troubled in spirit and restless in body.

Pudifin struck the raw when he asked after Margaret. She-was ijuite well, he saili, curtly, but not at home at "present. Pudifin pursued the line lie had mapped out. * " Your visitor;', Mr Wilton —has he gone?" s "Yes," said Mr Hayland', "he lias

genie," : .■:■ •■ "I think it Wjap said," Pudifin continued, "that Mr Wilton was the son ..of an old friend of yours?" "Yes, a very old friend, who went abroad many years ago and made a fortune which Wilton inherited." "He has no local connections, I believe?" "No," said Mr Hayland; "at least —why do you ask?" "It was a question that occurred to me. Now"—Pudifin launched; into his Subject— ' 'l daresay you will think me fey, as we., say in. the West.- «But I want to ask you some strange questions and' to tell you some strange things. The fact of the matter is that my personal interest in this business is convened to the fate of .Miss Torfrey. You know she disappeared. We have been buoyed up by the hope' that she had only gone off on some wild-gpose .chase, from which she would return to laugh at our fears. But all that is; exploded now. How can one doubt that , Torfrey is the victim of a. conspiracy, .and that.it-is in,Bome : way asso&iate ; d ~with, the ancient feud of his ancestors .and the former owners.of the property? You know the story??' ''

I "I've heard something. You asked me about local connections. My old friend Wilton was some connection of the family that used to have Torfrey's place." '-'Eh!" cried Pudifin. "It clears a bit —it clears !" "What on earth do you mean, Charlie?" asked Mr Hayland. "You don't mean to suggest that young Willon -has anything to do with your plot?'I "That's preeiseijr what I do mean," said PtLdiAn. "Fiddlesticks!" exclaimed Mr Hayland.

"Have patienee, sir, and you'll see it's not so absurd. I've been watching this thing from the beginning, and taking a special interest in it since Miss Torfrey vanished. You may not know that I had a regard for her—which she does not return. All her favours are given>fco Diego Holmes. As I say, I took a special interest in the affair on her account, and I went to the trouble of getting a detective to help me to unravel the tangle, finding that the' man who had been brought down by Torfrey with the credentials of a London detective was as big a fraud as the rest of them. It soon became clear that there was one head and centre of tlie plot, a man known to all the others as' 'Eodrigo,' and" that his principal assistant was Diego Holmes. We have found that the man known as ' Eodrigo' is no other than the young Mr Wilton whom you have been " "What!" cried Mr Hayland, leaping from his chair, and confronting Pudifin with : clenched hands. '' What madness is this, Pudifin? You must be mistaken. You can't have any proofs.'' " i Proof down to the ground, sir. That's why I'm here. I've seen Wilton driving with Miss Hayland. I've seen Wilton in conversation with Diego Holmes. I've heard Diego Holmes address him as Eodrigo. I've overheard them inventing terrors for Tor-frey-and all his. Proof!" ' Mr Hayland's face ; underwent a change from red to 'grey as Pudifin spoke.

"Married!" cried Pudifin, starting up. "Married to Wilton! Why—she is engaged to marry Torfrey! " "Was. Didn't you know? Plague on the thing; I can't stand talking about it. Torfrey—you know Martinhe was angry in his jealous way, fancied she was getting too much attention from Wilton—broke off the engagement. We thought it was shabby of him. In this very room Wilton came to me and proposed that he should marry Margaret himself. I gave my consent. Last Friday .they wenf out in the morning, came back, coolly informed me they had been married! I raved and stormed. But that man had a tremendous hold on Margaret. She even laughed at me —I declare she laughed at me. He had some great business in hand; they must be off to the Continent at once. He took her off the same day. And n«w—by heaven! if I could find him! " "If I could . find him!'' echoed Pudifin, a little contemptuous. But he had gone there to get help from HayJand. He repressed his feelings of 'scorn. • ■

"I tell you what, Pudifin—l'm going down to Torfrey's at once, to open his eyes for him* Come with me." ■i Pudifin ■'.reflected' for a moment. 'A-Very well,'' said -.he", " I'll go." . .It. was. the first-;visit he had paid to the"* Villa ■Zamdra since the evening he caught Diego eavesdropping. He and ijayland' were, shown into the library, where !Torfrey fame to them in haste. ; ' TJiey were botli amazed by the change in him. He had looked ill when Pudifin saw him last. He,was ghastly now. Pudifin advanced and held out his hand. '

"You're looking ill, Torfrey. You won't mind our coming?. We've something important to say." "You want me to shake hands? You remember that the last time you were here I ordered you out of the house — almost kicked you out," ' " No, I don't remember, Torfrey,'' said Pudifin,. steadily. •. "By Jove^' Charlie, you are true!' '■ Torfrey ejaculated, and, taking the offered hand, burst into weeping. Pudifin led. him, to a chair.:

"Sir, I implore you to throw away your doubts,'' said Pudifin earnestly. "Yoft..have been; deceived, as we all have been. I don't believe the man you know as Wilton is Wilton at:all. some member of the Gomez family, and if, as you say, the Wiltons' were connected with them, that would account for his knowledge q£ them r an4,his, ability to impose himself ■qn.you. You may depend'upon it,MrHayland, you 've been taken in. And' here is' the solution of the mys-

r "You're upset,". he said. ."What has happened?" "I'm worried, Charlie, that's all — worried .-about some, ..speculations of jjiihe that'ihave'noT turned out as they ought to have. But jnever mind my worries. You have Come to tell me something —you and Mr Hayland —I did not expect"—he looked across to the old man. " Fact is, Torf ery,'' said Mr Hayland, "I was angry when you broke with

tery, or rather, of the motive for the persecution.'' < ' I cannot see it,'' said Mr Hayland. "It's hard to believe, I grant. You don't encounter" much by way of ven : dettas in England at this time of day. But it's clear to me; we have to deal with desperate men possessed by the deepest-cherished animosity of which their race is capable." Mr Hayland sank back in his chair and buried his face in his hands. Pudifin was surprised at the way in whfch he took it. ■"You're deeply affected, sir. What is the matter?" "Matter! Good heavens, man! Margaret was married to Wilton last Friday—gone off to the Continent with him!'*

Margaret—but I see some things now that weren't plain then. Pudifin has told me. We've all been in a false position. We've shown up■ very badly." "Ah," said Torfrey, " that dream has vanished."

There was a knock at the door. Pudifin opened it and went outside, -presently he returned. "I 'm wanted,'' he said. '' You don't mind? I may be away for half an hotir."

Pudifin hastily left the library. Polly was waiting for him in the passage. ''Now, then," said he, "you promised to see me the evening you sent the note, but you did not." "Ah, no, sir; Mr Diego took care of that. But I told you hi the note to take care of yourself, and that's just what you did not do. Instead of taking care of yourself, you rushed into the middle of trouble, and got hurt." "You heard that? Why—great Scot! Have you seen Granger? You know when he is?" cried Pudifin with excitement.

"Granger?" enquired Polly. "Who's Granger?" Pudifin stared at her. "The man. who came to see you that same evening—you remember?"..' "Yes, I remember. A sort of tramp. But he said he was called Jim Porter.'' " Ah! " ..Pudifin was thoughtful. "Have you seen Jim Porter since?" "No', but I've heard about him. I've been trying to worm my way into a secret, and I think I 've done it. Mr Diego—a shameful, nasty, good-for-no-thing, he is—well, I found it easy to get into his confidence. And, putting two and two together, I- found that he was one of the gang that's been doing all the mischief, and that the gang had Jim Porter a prisoner more than a week ago. But what I wanted to tell you, was that the yacht is off in the bay, and ought to be almost in harbour' by this time."

"The yacht!" shouted Pudifin. Good heavens, Polly, why have we been standing here talking? Quick! It's most important not to let the yacht get away without communicating with her. Get some man—<a man we can trust. Who shall it be.-?": • , • •; ■•'■ ■>■ ■.'■•■■ ■ ■•■ v-

"Grey, sir? Or Tom Gannett?" "Yes— yes—find tnem! " Pudifin' strode up and down, went to the terrace, looked,seaward,,to see,only the cliffs'a'nii the'island, blocking' the view of the channel. Hoskings was on the Castilian! That was the great fact. Lucy!—if'any news of" Lucy' was to be had they must get into ' touch with Hoskings. The girl returned with both Grey and Tom Gannett in tow. In answer to his excited enquiries, both professed themselves willing to ' go anywhere and do anything. "I want you," said Pudifin slowly, "to get off to the yacht by some means —get near her if you can." "Yes, sir. And-then— —?" ' ' < That's all, I think," said Pudifin, rapidly calculating-' ' the chances. "There's somebody on board who will almost certainly try to give you some message for me." , • '' Very well, sir. We ain't afraid of they cussed Dagos, are we, Grey?" was Tom's reply,' as* they ; moved away.' Pudifin and the girl w&tftfred them shove a boat off and pull down the river. The curate paced the terrace'for a few minutes,; then ! furiied to Polly and exclaim-

"I can't' Stay here doing nothing. I shall walk aeross to the island and see if the yacht can be made out from there," ' . "Yes, sir. May Igo with you? I've got a sort of feeling tha't : something is going to happen.' - I'can 't rest." ' "Get your' hat arid come alomg, then." : ; As they reached the beach, and before they< began t« walk across the isthmus of sand, the girl pulled her companion's sleeve. "What's that?" she said, pointing to the island. Pudin made out a figure on the topmost point of the eonicalmass of rock. "Signalling, by Jove!" he cried. " Signalling to sea. Yes, Morse signals. What's that?" He took out his pocket-book and dotted down some letters. Presently, the figure on the island disappeared; Pudi : fin spelt out the letters he'had written: "H-E-R-I-b-O."

'•'That's a language,. I don.'t understand. Spanish, I suppose. I wonder what it means? 'Herido' —I can make nothing of it. Come along. We may find out. That man can't, leave the island without our knowledge. Hurry, Polly!" They climbed the grassy landward slope of the island, meeting nobody. They glanced into the ruined chapel and saw nothing within. They went to the top of the rock whence they could look out over the sea. A mile, away, unmistakable by colour and lines, was the Gastllian. She was lying to. They could see that her engines were gently turned now and then "to keep her in position. On all the wide expense of water was nothing else save one small boat. "That's Tom!" cried a Polly. "And, look, sir, he's coming this way.'' "So he is. I wonder why? He's hardly been out to the yacht and back in this time. '' They stood watching the progress of the boat, and presently made out the figures of Tom Gannett and Grey. They were pulling hard. In five minutes they had covered the distance between them and the island, and were close to the racks below, then the boat seemed suddenly to be lifted and tq disappear among the rocks. (To be continued.)