A JANGLE OF PEALING BELLS
The moon was high up over the tree-tops and the river, when they reached
it, was a shining silver ribbon lying between sloping banks.
Cleek, as they rushed along beside it, leaned forward with his elbow on
the window-ledge and his cheek in his palm, and studied its shining
surface narrowly. Of a sudden, however, he called out sharply "Stop!"
The vehicle ran on for a yard or two and then came to a halt. Cleek,
despite that fact, did not alight at once. Instead, he pulled down all
the leather curtains, switched on the light, and taking out his
note-book, began to write. His stylo travelled rapidly, but even at that
it was a good six minutes before he tore out the leaves he had covered,
switched off the light, and, opening the door, said "Come!" and stepped
out with Mr. Narkom.
Carefully folding the written leaves, he walked round to the front of
the limousine and put the little bundle into Lennard's hand.
"Take that to the vicarage of St. Saviour's, and deliver it to the Rev.
Mr. Saintly," he said. "If he asks you any questions, answer
them--truthfully. After that you may return to Willowby Old Church and
put up for the night. We shall not need you again until to-morrow. Move
lively, lad, and the quicker you get that note into the vicar's hands
and take yourself out of Valehampton, the better I shall be pleased."
"Do both inside of the next five minutes, sir; the river path has
brought us round on the other side of the church--there's her spire just
above those trees to the left. Good-night! I'm off."
And so he was, so swiftly that it might almost be said that at the very
moment he spoke the moonlit landscape held no trace of any living thing
but a silk-hatted Narkom and dapper Cleek standing in the middle of the
road and looking very much out of keeping with their surroundings.
The Superintendent looked at his watch, saw that its hands pointed to
twenty minutes to eleven, and then faced round on Cleek.
"And now what, old chap?" he inquired. The habit of blind obedience to
the lead of his famous ally had become a fixed one with the
Superintendent, who was nevertheless most alert when in charge of
affairs himself. "I suppose you know what you're about, but I don't. It
seems to me that, having sent Lennard off for good, you've done us out
of all hope of finding a bed anywhere to-night. And I'm blest if I
shall relish prowling about the neighbourhood in this sort of a get-up
until morning."
"Oh, don't worry. You will get a bed, I promise you. Indeed, the matter
is the one uppermost in my mind at this minute--the reason for our
presence here--only it happens to be a bed of another colour from the
one you're demanding. It is, in short, the bed of a river--this one
beside us."
"Now what the devil can the bed of a river have to do with the matter in
hand?"
"That is precisely what I am anxious to settle to my own satisfaction.
It is almost the last point in the case which we have to investigate;
and it is an extremely interesting one. Brush up your memory a bit, Mr.
Narkom. Part of that extraordinary prophecy was that the river should
become choked, and, according to the duke, choked it has become."
"Oh, ah! Yes, I remember. Shoals formed, didn't they?"
"Exactly. And I am extremely anxious to discover why. Perhaps we may,
presently. You observe that we are at the point where the stream begins
to narrow perceptibly. As yet, however, I perceive no sign of shoals.
Still, if we follow this narrowing course for a time---- Come on."
They walked on, and for the next ten or fifteen minutes they scarcely
spoke a word, keeping their eyes fixed steadily on the ever-narrowing
stream, but finding nothing to reward them for their diligence.
"It will be a fake, I'm afraid, Cleek."
"Possibly; but I doubt it. It is one of the essential points--a thing so
absolutely necessary that, if it doesn't exist, I'm on the wrong scent,
that's all."
For another two or three minutes they walked on in silence; then Cleek
gave a satisfied grunt and pointed to where the hitherto placid surface
of the stream was broken into a little patch of eddies and ripples that
circled round a clump of trembling river grass.
"We are coming to it, you see!" he said, and moved quickly to a spot
where the eddies played closer to the shore, and the water, obstructed,
encroached upon the land. By the time Mr. Narkom came up with him he had
laid aside his coat and was hastily turning back the cuff of his shirt
sleeve.
In another moment he had gone down the shelving bank and jumped out to
where a half-submerged rock offered a footing and his arm was elbow deep
in the eddying water. For a time his hand remained invisible, groping
and tugging at something, then it came into view again, and Narkom could
see that it held a heavy, sodden lump of something from which the water
trickled in yellowish streams.
"Have a look at that," said Cleek, with an exultant laugh as he threw it
over onto the bank and, dipping in his hand again, fished up another
lump and sent that flying across in the wake of the other. "And there's
a second to show that it isn't merely an isolated specimen."
He whirled his hand round in the water to wash it, then rose, and
jumping back to the shore, began to pull down his sleeve while Mr.
Narkom was inspecting the two slimy lumps.
"Don't trust the moonlight--get out your electric torch and have a good
look at them. They are worth it, Mr. Narkom--the beauties. They are a
rich find all right."
"_Rich?_ Are you off your head, old man? They're nothing but lumps of
common clay."
"Certainly--that is what makes them so valuable."
"Valuable?"
"To be sure," replied Cleek, serenely. "There is a lot more where they
came from, and it's worth in the aggregate something like one hundred
and fifty thousand pounds in gold! If you doubt that----"
Here he stopped, and, reaching round, made a grab for his hat and coat.
Of a sudden the stillness of the night was broken into by a tuneless and
discordant jangle of pealing bells.
The chimes of St. Saviour's had begun their nightly ringing.
"Come!" exclaimed Cleek, excitedly, and started off up the slope and
across the intervening fields and spinneys in the direction of the
churchyard, putting on his coat as he ran.
His pace was so swift that he was already a good twenty yards on his way
before Mr. Narkom could grasp his intention and start after him.