"In Sheep's Clothing,"

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 14312, 18 June 1915, Page 7

"In Sheep's Clothing,"

BY HEATON HILL. Author of "Tho Ocean King Mystery," "Tho Sentence of the Court," "The Kiss of the Enemy," "Link by Link," etc. (COPYRIGHT.)

CHAPTER, XVI— Continued

But at the yacht's gangway a severe set-back awaited Bessie. As soon as she reached the deck a man stepped forward, and, raising his cap, introduced himself as tlio captain. , "1 regret to inform you/ he added, "that an hour ago I received a telegram from his lordship, saying that he had been un> avoidably detained, and that he and the other gentlemen would not reach Gravesend till to-morrow morning. ..In tho meantime we were to do everything to make you comfortable, ami I was to be particular to say that the'delay was not due to Mr Carwardine's health." " You sire sure of that;?" said Bessie, choking down a sob of disappointment. ''Can —can I see the telegram?" The captain, a burly, black-bearded man with shifty eyes, seemed for the moment at a loss. "Well, no, madam," he replied, in a gruff manner. "The fact is, I didn't think it .would be asked for, and I tore it up and chucked the pieces over the rail into the river. But it was as I've told you. Here is the steward, madam; he'll show you your cabin, and serve you with supper in the saloon." With which, as though he had said the last word in the matter, he turned on his heel and walked away. There was nothing for it but to bowto the inevitable, and Bessie followed her conductor to a prettily decorate! deck cabin, which showed signs of very careful preparation. The electric light, shone on silken hangings and a. wealth of . ilowers. The steward deftly unstrapped her trunk, but, sorrowfully abandoning the idea of arraying herself in the oven ing blouse upon which she had been so busy, told him that as she was alone she would not make any change in her attire. In the saloon a luxurious meal of several courses was brought to her, and though it enhanced her loneliness it in some vague way increased her sense of security to note that the table was laid for three persons. She had begun to wonder whether she was not the victim of something more sinister thai! unavoidable delay, and it was reassuring to have this proof that the original plan had been provided for by those on board. She remembered, too, the chsuiffeur's alarm at finding that he was late —another proof that the owner's absence was unforeseen. When she had refreshed herself she only lingered on deck a few minutes to watch the twinkling lights on shore and river, and then retired to her cabin. The sooner she got to sleep tho sooner would the morrow come, bringing Will and the termination of an experience not altogether to her liking. The bed in the bunk, was luxuriously soft and comfortable, and being drowsy with her drive she was soon wrapped in deep slumber. So she remained for many hours, till, just as dawn was breaking, she awoke with a start. An instinctive prescience of coming evil filled her with terror, causing her to leap out of bed anil rush to the porthole. The shore, close to which they had been anchored the night before was a mile away. The yacht was steaming steadily down the river towards the open sea on a favouring tide. CHAPTER XVII. GKOPING IN.THE DAEK. 3lr Abraham Biutry, barrister-at-law and special investigator, stood on the pier at Gravesend, watching the yacht's boat fade into the darkness. His chubby face was puckered in perplexity. Finally, with a grunt of dissatisfaction, he turned away and strolled leisurely back to the shore. " I can keep my eye on 'The Dragon' from the window of the coffee room," he muttered. "In the meanwhile I may as well divest myself of these longshore loafer's habiliments, and the sooner the better. So far as I can at present determine, they have served no good purpose." y\v Bintry made his way to tho inn on the river front where he had arrived earlier in the day, and where he had stabled the motor car by which he

had travelled from London. Having changed his disreputable suit of threadbare tweed for more civilised raiment:, he descended to the coffee room and ordered some belated refreshment. He sat at a table by the window, from which the lights of Lord Wargrave's yacht were plainly visible.

"(She can't put to sea without my spotting her, and if she does 1 can't stop her," murmured Bintry ; t s he attacked a plate of cold beef with an .appetite sharpened by five or six hours' dodging about the river front. He was distinctly displeased with himself, for he had expended much time and energy witli a minimum of results. Jn fact, the results were leys than nil, for he had lost trace of the man whom every instinct of his detective soul cried out to him should be kept under observation as the secret iMUMiij' of his friend and client.

Yet, crest-fallen as he was, Abe Bintry was too just to saddle himself with the entire blame of failure. From his researches in Daisy street he had every reason to believe that Wargravc was on the point of sailing from Gravesend in his yacht; he had even learned the exact hour of departure. He had also, as a man of the world, formed a shrewd surmise as to one of the motives for the cruise—if not the principal one — the motive being embodied in the pretty woman whose trunk he had just carried down the pier.

But what he had not ascertained was the bearing which this professed pleasure voyage had on the interests of Owen -Lipseombc, and on the advice which he had no doubt Wargravo had induced Marian Bourchier to tender to Owen to go into seclusion at Lipsconibc Hall, Grandport. This being so, Bintry had held that to discover the destination of the yacht should he his first aim, and he had therefore abandoned his close watch of Wargravc'"s movements in order to gain this intelligence. He had deserted the heels of his quarry with some reluctance, but with equal confidence that- he would, pick him up again at Gravesend. Hero, however, the events of the lastfew hours had proved him at fault. He had reached the Kentish tewn early in the afternoon, and had hung about the pier and made every possiblo enquiry without being able to get hold of a crumb of information as to where the yacht was going, when she was going, or who was on board her. All he had been able to 'assure himself of was that from two 'o 'clock till the dinghy came off to fetch Mrs Oarwardine there had been no communication between the steamer and the shore. Certainly neither Lord Wargrave nor any other guest hud gone on board. Mr Bintry was more than puzzled. Unless very great issues were at stake Wargrave was not the man to leave the pleastires of London for many unneces-

sary hours to await his guests or guest amid the monotony of a yacht lying :it anchor. Vet he had elicited from ?drs Carwardine that she believed that both her noble host and her husband were already on the yacht, and -if that supposition wore true, his theory brought him back to the deduction that very great issues were at stake, and that Wargrave had gone on board "The Dragon , '' between his abandonment of the immediate trail at ten o'clock that morning and his arrival at Graveseml at two. Though puzzled, Mr Bintry by no means despaired. Jn fact, the mystifying check added zest to his pursuit, and, having finished his meal and told the night porter that ho had business which might make it necessary for him to be out till a late hour, he returned to the rover front. That there had been some alteration in the programme for the sailing of "The Dragon, ,, at any rate as it had been imparted by Wargrave to Mrs Carwardine, was evident. It was now nearly eleven o'clock, and the yacht's lights showed that she still lay 'at anchor'at the same spot. Mr Bintry determined to wait, and watch, So long as there were, people about he avoided remark by walking up and down, but when pedestrian traffic had ceased at the approach of midnight he took up a position near the pier entrance and lighted a cigar. As the town clocks were striking twelve a man came hurriedly across the roadway and passed on to the pier, the lamp at the entrance showing up his face in strong relief. Mr Bintry recognised him at once. He was the chauffeur who had driven Mrs Carwardine down from town, and whom he had observed several times in the last day or two driving Lord Wargrave about London. The man walked fast along the pier, and as he did not come bade it was a fair deduction that he had been met at the landing stops by a boat from the Dragon, and had gone on board. Nearly an hour passed without further incident and Bintry had thoughts of going to bed, when he suddenly loaned forward and concentrated his gaze upon the lights of the yacht. There was no doubt about it; they had swung round a little, and were slowly moving. Tho vessel was leaving her moorings and proceeding to sea.

Mr Bintry heaved a plethoric sigh, partly of disgust at his failure and partly of relief at release from his lonely vigil. He was as ignorant as he had ben when he arrived in the town, but he was free to go and tuck himself between the sheets at the inn. The yacht had sailed, but he could not discover whether Owen Li2>scoml>e's rival and natural enemy was on board hy prowling on the river front any longer. With his knowledge of Lord Wargrave's reputation to guide him, Mr Bintry thought he might fairly conclude that "The Dragon" had not sailed without its owner, though how the voyage, commenced under such mysterious conditions, was to alEect Marian Bourchier's advice to Owen Lipscombe he could Tiot imagine. "Abe, my son, you must have been hunting on a wrong scent, and that noble rip'wasn't-the source of the fair American's inspiration after all," he apostrophised himself as ho started to returne to tho inn. • He had not moved ten paces from his strategic position when ho was nearly knocked down by a human whirlwind who came rushing out of the darkness of tho- night.

(To bo Continued.)