THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 94, 20 April 1906, Page 6

THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

By WINTHROP Bt HARLAND,

Apttior of "Lady Elgin's Secret;" ; " A Harvest of Shame," ... f■> "Lord;Ashton'aHeir," etc, etc

'■ 7 - CHAPTER XXII." fi THE LETTER FROM ANTWERP. . , The impression that his man had come 'accidentally upon a most import ant clue had fixed itself strongly in' the majors mind. It was but a slight cine, perhaps, if weighed and sifted as'it would be by others, and the soldier thought of tho ' half-derisive smile of incredulity with which Mr. Tletaher and Dr. De Vigne ; would listen to it; but though Joseph 'IXtton bad not been long in his service, he had been long enough for his master Ito know that he was a man whose word could be taken. Frederick Lugard had seen that the ex-waiter of the. CornUrallis was a close observer, carefully, truthful, and strictly honest. The more' I lie thought oi it, the, more he felt conI vinced that Ditton was not likely to be mistaken.

"it was not-by his voice alone that he reminded you of the other man," tho major said; "but there was something in his walk, a certain stride and swagger, as you descrihe it, that was familiar to you!" ~

"Yes. sir; and there was more than that; bis voice struck mc at oiice, and made, mc listen. If I had heard a few words only, I might have thought I had rnado a mistake; but he had quite a little, conversation with the man who served him, and while -he was talking I was slowly filling my pipe and watchinjr. the play of his features in the glass at. the back of the counter. He has rather a taking manner, and spoke as if he likes to make himself pleasant; and when he answers a question he has a way of lifting his eyebrows with a nod and a•jnilc, as if he was surprised that you were not convinced by what he said before, and that was just how he. spoke to mc when he came back to the hotel ufter putting the colonel in the eartriage, I remembpr tho very words.'' ''What were they?"' "He said, "Be sure you don't forget to give Mr. Dacre the eoloneFs note, and see that, his friends have everything they require: and you had better have a fire in the colonel's room."

"Then I said to him. Then you arc coming back, sir?' aud he answered mc with just the nod and the smile, and lifting of the eyebrows this one bad when he spoke in the cigar shop. Of course it would be easy enough to say a dozen other men might have the same peculiarity, and 1 should not care to mention it to anybody but you. 6i'r: though I do think there may be something in it.''

"I?id he. by any glance or movement, see.m to recognise you':"

i ''No. sir; he would not be- likely to. He saw mc in seedy black with a second i day's tie on, and a pale, careworn face. I was never comfortable there, tbe manager did not like mo, and he kept mc lUnrier as much as he could. Now it is fiSerent. I looked another man this uix>*fiysg. I had a good overcoat ou, and straight, instead of crinfring with fc as if I expected a tip."

The major tabled. Evidently Mr. Ditton had been (Kdt-f'if his element, when he wore a waiter's seedy black suit and a dinfa' lie at the Liverpool Hotel. I {

"Ditton." he saidjj after a long pause. "I at first, intended to send you with a. note to "Mr. FletQKjr, and instruct you to tell him what y«r have told mc. *0n reflection, and for t5» present, at least. 1 think it best to keep Shis part, of the business to ourselves. Etcher's hands are full enough, and he fcyiy do some useful work, though I am no* quite satisfied with his way of conducting the case. He has not risen, mentally, touch beyond the lerel of tbe ordinary- poHcc inspector in uniform; he is crochety, and no amount of experience will ever "give him the detective instinct. Darlington, of 'Liverpool, is worth 20 of him."'

''That's my opinion, too, sir.''

''The next point, is that. I cannot take Dr. Do Vigne into my confidence in this particular instance: he might inadvertently mention it to Mr. Dacre, and it would pain him to think that any friend of his was suspected of having a hand in tho colonel's disappearance. Tic would insist upon having- it cleared np, and so put this Captain Crauliss on his guard.''

Mr. Ditton. listening- attentively, smiled in silent and respectful approval. "If my theory is the correct one," the major proceeded, "and I think it i.*, this Captain Crauliss is the. prime mover in the matter. I do not believe lie ever held a commission in the army, ana though to stylo himself captain is a harmless imposition of itself, it takes a doubtful aspect in conjunction with other things. A man who dresses well, smokes good cigars, wears a diamond ring, and rides in a hansoni 'on the strength of being an indefinite 'something in the mercantile way,' is open to the imputation of being one of thope plausible confidence men whose doings, while they remain on tho sale side of the law, would hardly bear the light of day."

"I know what they are, sir. I was employed in the business section of the city myself before I went as waiter."

"Then you may find your knowledge useful. Now, to make my story tenable, this Captain Crauliss must be in league with a gang of swindlers, some of whom were concerned in the Crombie frauds, and who would have bean recognised by the colonel had he come to Dondon. Crauliss. who acts as a sort of agent and factotum for Mr. Dacre, no doubt heard from him that the colonel was on his way, and the result was that St. Hilary was lured from the hotel as you know, and since then. Mr. Dacre has, innocently enough, kept Crauliss acquainted with every step we have taken."

! "It seems to mc, sir, that you have got right down to tbe truth of it."

. "I believe we are travelling that way, Ditton, and D9w a great deal will depend on you. I know I can rely on your intelligence and fidelity, and so I shall intrust to you the special duty of looking after Captain Crauliss. Make that , cigar shop your starting point, and you are sure to see him- again. You will keep him in sight from that moment; follow him, find out all you can about him—where he lives, bow he lives, the places he frequents, and the men he

associates with-7-and; I "better that 7%" following this due.-we-sbaU-jcome. tor the. pith of the mystery." "Whether you do or not, sir, you will have the advantage of comparing notes, as all the information comes to you, and what you get from one clue may, throw a light :upon another; but who will attend you, sir, if. late, or, perhaps, all .night?" "Never mind mc. if would rather brush my own clothes and clean my own boots than have your attention drawn away for a moment. You may look upon yourself as a gentleman at large [till you have run this man to earth. I had better give you some money, as you will have to make a show, for I Ijelieve those city adventurers are a spendthrift lot; and if you want to win I their confidence yon must drink your way into if."

"You have got it there, sir, exactly. If you had been in the .midst ot-them all your life you could not have summed I them up better in the same number of I words. A spendthrift lot, some of them —a champagne lunch out of doors, an I ill-used wife and half-starved children at home. Some of them take to it more ' systematically, and keep their money I when they get it, but not many, and the best of them never Last long."

The major gave him some money—2o pounds.

"Do not be afraid of spending it when required." he said. "You must act up to the part you assume: and what part do you intend to play?"

"The man about town, sir, with a bit of money of my own, and no objection to pick up a bit more when I can. They arc clever people in their way, but, like most clever people of a certain sort, they are very easily taken in."

'•'Do not underrate them, Ditton. Kapoleon came to grief because he underrated the rather common-looking, Ro-man-nosed Irishman, who could not make a speech, or write a letter properly, but who could handle an army, and always took care to know what the enemy was doin<r. You will find some veryclever and very dangerous men among this gentleman's companions, and if they once got an inkling of what you \fere after, your life would not be worth, much." ■

'" I can take care, of myself, sir," Ditton said, quietly, "and I had better go on duty atv once. ' The captain goes through Piccadilly on his way to the city, so he livej> somewhere on this line of country—Fulham Way. Kensington, or Brompton. Some of the. cabmen are sure to know, and I shall get it out of them; and yon need not be surprised if 1 am first in the field: it's more than likely that I shall be able to tell you. where to put your finger on the colonel, while these detectives and inquiry men are following the wrong track as hard as they can."

" You will be a. rich man, Ditton, if yon succeed in that."

'' I don't want to be a rich man, sir: I was never so well and happy- in my life as 1 am now, and. anyone who made an alteration would be uo friend to mc. There is just one thing I should like you to promise, sir.".

"Yes."' 'VDo not change your mind, and tell anyone about my hearing this gentleman's voice, and thinking I knew it again. H you set two men or more on the same clue they only go blundering against each other, and I should like to have the satisfaction of doing this all by myself."

The major gave him tho promise, and Ditton was gone before it occurred to ■his master that he had better have made a reservation in favour of De Vigne. Strange to say, the soldier had more faith in what Ditton might do, than he had in all that was being done by the others engaged in the apparently hopeless quest. He posted the letter to hia lawyer at Bristol, and returned to Canon-street, j arriving there soon alter four. He

The letter occupied two pages [of notepaper, and ran this:— - -'

found. Dora in tears, - tart they _ bmjib, tears of joy; and before he ctwSi "ask' her what had happened, ate took, snu open latter from hex dress. Ts.. ■: 1.

"It came nearly *n boar aguf* edtej said, "-from my father. He is> at-Anfc-i vpefp,«,hd thinks' of going further—pep-: haps even to America. But, dear ma-, jof, yon will eend «nd ieE.Jmn, not to j go; I. bear it." . '*T a telegram, .Mud fdhm- at myself as fast, as train and boat-can'-take mc," he said; ""and if he has; not already started, I will bring him back." He; read the letter,-and kept his countenance well under control, for;-Dora: was matching him anxiously, with her pretty head oa Mary Walton's shoulder.'

The envelope bore the Antwerp postmark of the;'previons Aa.y, and. had he not had Teason to snspeCfc some fraud. he would have been quite satisfied that the few lines had been penned by St. Hilary's own. handj_ each stroke, -.and curve, and flourish bore the impress of the impetuous dash with which the major -was so-familiar, and irhen?he held it to the light there was no sign* however slight, of 'the tracing pen'iah. that nrnst have been used had it been a careful imitation. If it was not St. Hilary's own workmanship, it had licen done by 1 some one -who had practiced his style till the perfection aitained would have .baffled an expert. "$, . g

'My Own IterUng Bittle Dora: I shall beivithj'ou non- in a few days, unless I have to follow the villain I am, searching for to the other side of the Atlantic. We have-reason to believe he is in the town, and he may try to get "away on one of the North German Lloyds'. If he does I shall be on his track. 'But I will let you know before I saiL You need not reply to this,-as I shall most likely have left before this Teaches you:' and if I do not find Mm l»t the 1 end or this journey, I shall give firm up'for-the present. I hegin to think that a. stran-' ger would have a better chance of finding him than I have, for I dare say he remembers mc, and perhaps laughs in his sleeve when he sees mc looking for him while he is safely hidden behind some disguise or other.

" I am glad Maj. Lugard is with you. You must let him take .my place in everything till I return. lam afraid poor young Dacre thinks himself hardly used, and I wish now I had not asked yon to postpone the marriage; and if you like to make him my son-in-law before I return, I shall not be sorry. Then wo can go down to Ravenskerne together."

The letter ended with a few lond words, and there was,nothing in it that the colonel might not haive written; it was dated from the Hotel de Buy ter, a large establishment in Ta well-known thoroughfare, and except for the suggestion that DoTa need not reply, Major Lugard might have accepted it •as genuine.

"That looks like another subterfuge to gain more time," he said to himself, "and if it is, it will-fail signally. I -will take Fletcher with mc, and if we do not find him at tbe Hotel de Buy ter, we can search the lists of passengers going out by any of the ship? leaving for America; and if we do not find him, then we must offer a- large reward without the delay of a single hour."

'"'You will not let him ga again?" Dora's pathetic voice broke in. "If he must go, let him take mc with himT'

"He shall not go, if I have time to stop him," the major said. "Make, your mind easy on that score, Dora. I shall send a telegram, and follow it without waitirig "forf back 'without him .if.llcanThelp .jt.l','7. ,

Mary knew by the loot JDora gave him. that she was thinking how strong, and brave, and prompt he was, how willing to do anything for her sake; and she foiuid herself" wishing that Leonard could have gone instead. (To be continued duly.)