The Diamond and The Lady.

Thames Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 18384, 4 July 1917, Page 5

The Diamond and The Lady.

BY JAMES BLYTH,

Author of J"The Swoop of the Vulture," " The King's Guerdon," etc.

CHAPTER VII. (HAROLD MILBANK continues his Story) | As all who knew Yarmouth at all well acre aware, there is a back exit through the old coaching! ya,rd of the Star which, leads out itio Howard Street. I paid my bill, and, with my bag 1 in my hand, I slipped out past the bar into the yaird' and so into Howard Street. A score of yards or so along this ■narrow way and I turned to the left, downi a row which brought me out just opposite the Haven Bridge, over thei outflow, down the harbour. Taking; notice of no one, I walked in a brisk, business-like wav over the bridge to the station. 'I determined not to endeavour to book through to Amsterdam! from Yarmouth. It would have been wiser had I merely booked 1 to Beccles or somei intermediate station. For when L asked for a ticket to Harwicki (I refrained from naming Parkeston Quay) a well-built, sailorly-looking in»n, about five feet eight in height, with broad, deep chest, andl well-covered frame, with russet face, oily black

Hair, and gold rings xnamugn. Ms -eaa«, : , came "•pushing up against me between the barrier and the ticket office window. I did not pay him great attention, but I was annoyed that the fellow should have pasnod in so hurrddly andi cavalierly when there was no apparent • hunry—for ; there was no. train starting: till nine, in nine minutes' time, and I heard tbe fellow ask' far "Woodbridge retann." I took stock of him when his back was tunned. But I fancied that he had some sea, business *t the old port of Woodbridige, and that he was genuine ienough, in asking, for a return. Despite tibe serious twitches of intuition, I prevented myself from thinking that) this fellow could be amy emyridon of Sayer's of Ellison's. There is nothing more fatal in a detective 1 enterprise than to get suspicion fever and to see an enemy in every unhappy person on whom one's eyes : light. I had seen the nerves of many a good man ruined by this terrible hysteric panic, and I was determined that I would never give in to the folly of entertaining base.- ---; less suspicions. p I - M'Oi'eover, I thought that vVood- ' bridge came before Ipswich, and I should see jf my friend got out at the muddy little town or not.

The train was a corridor train, and I ;teavelled tlikd class. A firstckiss passenger on the Great Eastern ■attiiacts too much lattantion, and the oo'inforts of the third-cjass cmmugea of modern times are equai to-fchose ■of th/a ni-st, and nhe civiatv of tne senviaints of t&e company is as admirable foa- one passeing.©!- ua lua* anocher —with very rare exception, lindeed, 1 had iearnt from la-equent. joiu-neys across tiho Noa-th Sea by tiie Harwich, route that there is no niure comfod-table op. mmr& ladiminabila t-er-vice in- .the" world than tlbat of the Great 'Basterni to the! Hooki of iloilandl. Tlue tickets, or rather books of coupons, issued in connection, with the Dutch lines not only assure the traiTreliler every courtesy and attention on the English lines Lut on the Dutch, and 1 never cease i;eooininend'iwg anyone who wisaas to spand a week or so on the other side oi the North Sea to cross horn Pai-keston Quay to the Hook. In this oivse I do a'ecommeind tirst-class tickets> The change for the book® of coupons is so low, and the extra comfort in- the Dutch, trains is so great, that while no one need take a first-class ticket for the English rails everyone should for the boat and fur the Dutch lines. 'But I am not wiritiiug a disquisition on the advantages of modem travelling facilities. I had wired in 4 pseudonym known to the company's ' Pa.r'keston Quay nraniager, to secure a two-berthed cabin to> myself, and in June had no doubt of securing one. So, now that I had dec!died that I had not been tracked to the railway (and I kept a very sharp lookout for Malmsey Sayer or anyone who eeamdi to 'be looking, out for me) J settledi myself down in the smoking compartment of "the corridor carriage, andi thioupht over the plan of •campai.gin in Holland. Time passes speedily when one's brain is at work, andi although the train stopped at a gi^eat number of stations between Beocles a.nd Woodbridge, the time s occupied in the joiwney dlid not seem long to me. IVIy thoughts 'hadl been busy following Ellison and Peter Blunderfield's diamond, (for I did not doubt that he hadi the stone with him) to Hull, and thience to, Amsterdam, and in evolving! differernt plans (to be used as occasion required) for intercepting! both, the man and the diamond. My attention was 'brought suddenly to the immediate present by tlu* fact that, -although. I watched '■veryone who left the tram at Woodbridge I saw nothing of the man with bridge I saw nothing of.'the man with the gold earrings. Now what was I to mia-ke of that? Surely, had he been on my track- he woulcl! never have been so foolish as to permit me\ .tic iheair hkn take as tidket for ha station at which he did not mean to get out! And yet, was' not this another insfjffioe of the' subtlety. Might not Sayer fove (reasoned that this \ very tihkig would put me off

my guard? Oh, Lord, 1 .wished I i knew more about the capabilities of tbis man Sayer! Ellison I knew to be a shrewd and crafty ? scoundrel. But for Sayer's intellect equal to ! following reason and counter reason, a/nd. laying plans which proved' that }my arguments wore known to him and ■rendered of i.o \ account. [.. j I looked huaridly at tihe time table, (and saw that I could -nther change at Ipswich or Msaainingtree. , I'd' get out at Ipswich, and 1 see if my I euspeofc followed my example. ■■ fle did not, and during the ten minutes', or longer, wait of'-the up train at Ipswich station I stirolted up the platform, with several! London passengers who were stretching their legs. ißuti, though I looked into every .Compartment of every carriage on the train, I could see nothing of th^i man with fhe. gold earrings* •!' ' What did tliis mean? I made up ;my mind tihat it was not my bußWi|«B, 'and when I got aboard for PaVkeston, Quay I had •almost succeeded in persuading myself that I had escaped all espionage from 1 Yaa*moutih.

CHAPTER VIII. (HAiROLD MILBANtK continues his ' , ■ • Story) DANGER ON THE WAY. We arrived; at the boat platform a little after nine, and, las I hlad no occasion to go to the hotel, I at once, bought a first-class touring book of coupons, for Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Delft, rind several other towns. It was not that- I had any expectation of having either .necessity or desire to go elsewhere than to Amsterdam 1 on this trip. But it was. possible that I might have to travel about Holland in pursuit of Ellison and the stone, and if so I knew that the two pounds three, ox 1 a trifle under, which the tour cost from Harwiok, was less tha^ a very little firstrclass tna.velli.ui"! in Holland would come to. Besides, I had found on ■previous occasions that the holders of these Great Eastern coupons meet with more consideration iiom the Dutch railway officials than Ihe people who only possess ordinary tickets. And the obligingness, or otherwise, of a railway official might mean all the difference between.

success or failure when one 'vas bound on .a hunting expedition such as mine. The two-berthed cabin had been reserved, but the asr«nt at tihe office told me that there was ■not likely to be many crossingl that night, and I should' only- be ca'Vl upon to pay for the privilege of occupyingl the space of two people myself if it transpired that there was insufficient cabin space. I was well known to most of the officials of the company, and I have always found 1 them afford me every facility. I should be less than reasonably igratefuili if I did 1 not take this opportunity to express my obligations in; this respect. The boat for the nigihfr was the Vienna, a fine cnaft of nearly two thousand tons, on which I had made the passage twice or thrice before. There was no hunry to jret 'aboard. I gave my b'ajr. to a porter, and told him to tell the steward to put it in tihe cabin reserved for me (82' and 83 according, to my friend the agent) and then I strolled along the quay back past the hotel towards the place where the twin funnels of the Vienna were belching* iu> the black reek; which toldfe that she was getting up her full steam. for sailing. I counted] eighteen cranes along the quay as I 'walked, and it .interested me to see how neatly^ they swung their burdens up from the wharf and down to the deck of the outgoing craft, or the reverse in the case of the Danish boats which had just come in. Great orates of moat hung and! swung over my head. I should' dearly have liked to go close and see the number of the car which stood as. though hiding against the shed's. Couldl I not, manage to see it through my binoculars from the agent's office? It was worth a tnial, for if it was not a 60h.p. six cylinder :Napiev I never saw one. Tihe agent asked me no questions. He had known me when I was in the force, and' trusted me now far enough, to be sure that I had good reason for asking to be permitted to take a glimpse through my prismatic glasses towards the hotel. Yes; the number could be made out so. It was Sayer's car from Yarmouth! ! Well, if I had been careless so had the enemy. But then tihey could not tell that I knew the number, or had .seen the photograph of tha oar—for the album at Benefe : Hall did not contain a. photograph of thia. They could noti haive guessed that I had seen Both. Sayer and his car in the shop window. That must be tjbeir excuse for the false move. I fea| my mistakes' mostly arose in this case from the carelessness of over-confidence from which many men suffer at. a certain period of their careers. I flatter myself I should! do the same worki with less trouble, and far less risk to my life now. My chief thought on making 1 certain of the car was that I had been 'hoodwinked./ And it was not

difficult to guess at tihe mamaer of at, now that I came to think. Of course the man with tihe gold ear- : flings had gone on to Manningtree, ana there awaited the can- with Sayer. aboard (if ifch© car were not ; already there, for tiie 60 h.p. JNapie-r | could beat the train to that pamcu-' lar place, though it would hardly do so to London); Md left title train at the junction forl Jarkeston Quay, and made it all right with the inspector as respected his surplus , fare from Woodbridge. A little i thought tauglft me where he had hidden while the train was drawn i up at Ipswich platform. Now, if ;. the man were so shrewd and skilful j "as that, could I expect to see him ! with t'lie same appearance if I met I ■him on the wharf or on tih© boat? Ait alii ©vents 1 flattered myself I ' had scored by .seeing and recognising (oa* perhaps identifying wouldl be the j 'better word) the car. But I re- j i coginised something, besides tihe car, I I and that was the fact that the con- | tracti I had' underaken was en a, larger scale than I had at first understood. It was clear that not only i were the men against whom I was j fighting! skilful and experienced in crime and criminal subterfuge and | methods of defence, 'but that there were a good many of them. I , began to believe that the grinning marsaman in Benet Post Office was one, j and that from him tihe first of my. i obstacles had originated. Wdl, j there was ''no help for it. At all j events I knew now that tihe Sayer gang (unless I did the man an injustice, which seemed impossible) was on; my track. But the discovery of the car and tihe thought of my own smartness encouraged me. I laughed to myself as I left- tihe agent's office land strolled aong the busy quay lin the direction of tihe Vienna. A s-aiilway constable on duty on the, wharf warnedl m^ against tihe crane;?. "The company are always afraid of an accident, sir," said ha But I i kuefhed at him. . Susrely I, Harold Miltafc, did not need to be looked after, by a mere officer*—cob even a sergeant. I did not .tell 'him who ' I was"; but I thought how he would I store if I did so! (To be conttiintied.)