"He did. The little Grand Duchess and the Countess Orloff-Strelwitz are
my guests at Harrod Place.
"Last night I snatched the case containing these gems from Quintana's
fingers. This morning, as I offered them to the Grand Duchess, Quintana
coolly stepped between us----"
His voice became bitter and his features reddened with rage poorly
controlled:
"By God, Jack, I should have shot Quintana when the opportunity offered.
Twice I've had the chance. The next time I shall kill him any way I
can. ... Legitimately."
"Of course," said Stormont gravely. But his mind was full of the jewels
which Eve had. What an whose were they, -- if Quintana again had the
Esthonian gems in his possession?
"Had you recovered all the jewels for the Grand Duchess?" he asked
Darragh.
"Every one, Jack. ... Quintana has done me a terrible injury. I shan't
let it go. I mean to hunt that man to the end."
Stormont, terribly perplexed, nodded.
A few minutes later, as they came out among the willows and alders on
the northeast side of Star Pond, Stormont touched his comrade's arm.
"Look at that enormous dog-otter out there in the lake!"
"Grab those dogs! They'll strangle each other," cried Darragh quickly.
"That's it -- unleash them, Jack, and let them go!" -- he was struggling
with the other two couples while speaking.
And now the hounds, unleashed, lifted frantic voices. The very sky
seemed full of the discordant tumult; wood and shore reverberated with
the volume of convulsive and dissonant baying.
"Damn it," said Darragh, disgusted, "-- that's what they've been
trailing all the while across-woods, -- that devilish dog-otter yonder.
... And I had hoped they were on Quintana's trail----"
A mass rush and scurry of crazed dogs nearly swept him off his feet, and
both men caught a glimpse of a large bitch-otter taking to the lake from
a ledge of rock just beyond.
Now the sky vibrated with the deafening outcry of the dogs, some taking
to water, others racing madly along the shore.
Crack! The echo of the dog-otter's blow on the water came across to
them as the beat dived.
"Well, I'm in for it now," muttered Darragh, starting along the bank
toward Clinch's Dump, to keep an eye on his dogs.
Stormont followed more leisurely.
* * * * *