WANTED BY WARNER
“Tired Nature’s sweet restorer” had not been indulgent to the visitors
at Wedwell Hall, the reason perhaps being that they were conscious of
having upset the quiet routine of the Doves by having shaken their
faith in Falcon, but they did not do so designedly to cause mischief,
but rather to expose an outrageous impostor.
The aeronaut was the first to make his appearance the next morning,
before the squire or Miss Dove were astir, and the lady’s maid, Lucy,
took this opportunity of saying a few words to Harry Goodall, her
former employer. Amongst other things, she told him that Miss Dove and
Miss Chain were fairly well, and that they had been talking about him
and saying many sweet things about him; but the aeronaut passed the
matter by and asked if there was any news of the runaway rascals.
“Lor’, sir, haven’t you heard that the men who attacked the cook are
supposed to be burglars, and have taken to flight?”
“No, I had not. Tell me about it. But I want to hear first of all about
the Crystal Palace photograph. How came you to bring that forward,
Lucy?”
“Well, sir, I gave it to Miss Chain for a good motive. I wanted to
endear my mistress to you and to Miss Chain, if the truth must be told;
but don’t you mind what the doctor says, Mr Goodall.”
“I cannot be indifferent to his remarks, Lucy, for he may be in some
way mixed up with Mr Falcon.”
“Not he, sir. I should say that the squire had been taken in by Mr
Falcon in one way and the doctor in another without their knowing it.”
“That’s not a bad idea, Lucy, and in return for it I must tell you, as
I have already hinted to Tom, that I shall very soon make known here
who we are.”
“I am glad to hear you say so, sir.”
“Talking about burglars, Lucy, I thought I heard someone moving about
just now.”
“It is your friend, sir, coming down,” said the girl, as she looked
towards the stairs.
“Come in, captain; I am getting the early news,” whispered his friend
Harry, whilst Lucy left the room.
“And how is the wound?” asked the mariner.
“It is healing like a dog’s!”
“By Jove! You would have been done for if the balloon had not been
hauled down just at the right moment.”
“Yes, I’ve no doubt my life was attempted, but the sudden dip saved me.
Had we remained stationary a second longer, I don’t suppose I should
have been talking to you now.”
“Well, look here, Harry, now that we are alone, I wish to know whether
we had not better declare ourselves before I leave, as you are clearly
on the best of terms with Miss Dove, and more so, I should say, than
if you had introduced yourself to the squire and his daughter as a
merchant’s clerk, according to your uncle’s programme?”
“And my father’s, too, Link; don’t forget that.”
“Quite so.”
“The truth is, captain, we’ve no time this morning to concoct any
definite plan of campaign, as we appear to all intents and purposes to
be the agents of destiny, and I propose that we act and speak simply
according to circumstances as they turn up. I agree, however, that we
ought to make known our names--perhaps something may occur to enable
us to do so with good grace--so now we had better inquire what is the
latest report by Warner and the gamekeeper; we must also see to the
balloon and Trigger.”
“I am at your service, Harry, and by-the-bye, I hope that you don’t
disapprove of my attentions to Miss Chain?”
“That entirely depends, Link, upon four words--‘Do you mean it?’”
“I do, old friend, most certainly.”
“Come along, then, for we’ve a lot to unearth and unravel.”
It seemed that Trigger and Bennet had ascertained that a tall and a
short man had been seen to leave the plantation and go up the lane
towards the Hall when Miss Dove was in the balloon car, soon after
the rifle was fired most likely--afterwards the smaller man was seen
to call at Doctor Peter’s house while he was absent in the park.
This information was obtained after the local policeman and Warner
had failed to find anyone escaping in the direction of Newhaven; but
the fugitives might have gone off in a northerly direction, although
Warner thought that they would without doubt make off in a southerly
direction, with the intention of leaving the country by the mail
steamer--that is, if they did not escape through the air, for they both
answered to the description of two men who had been trying to fly from
Haywards Heath.
Meanwhile Tom Trigger had not been idle in looking to the safety of the
balloon, which had been made snug by attaching heavy weights to the
netting, which he procured from the gasworks, and additional pipes had
been placed on the ground in case a supply of fresh gas was needed.
The assistant had also taken other precautionary measures, in the event
of a strong wind springing up, and he suggested the advisability of his
going up to the Crystal Palace to bring down all the bags and other
tackle for holding down the balloon. At the same time he would try to
find out from the Sydenham police authorities what Warner was to do,
and how long he could stay, as he was trying to be on the track of the
fugitives, though he promised to be back to confer with the squire
after he had organised a sharp lookout down Newhaven way, where he
would not leave a stone unturned in co-operating with the local police.
The squire was in the park much earlier than was his wont, and he was
accompanied by his daughter and Miss Chain, who was better in health,
though she appeared to be very quiet and thoughtful.
Doctor Peters was about this time entering the lower gate of the
park, and he went up to those who were grouped near the balloon and
congratulated his patient on being out so early, and as breakfast time
was drawing near, and the postman was observed on his way to the Hall,
it gave him a good excuse to accompany the party back, and to look at
the aeronaut’s head. When the examination was over, and a favourable
report given, the squire, who had a local morning newspaper in his
hand, said,--
“You had better sit down with us, Peters, for I have just caught sight
of an article about the balloon descent at Wedwell Park. This is what
they say:--
“‘An ascent of an apparently scientific character was made a few
days since from Sydenham by an amateur aeronaut, whose name has not
transpired, accompanied by an officer in the mercantile marine and
a young lady, about whom a great deal of interest had centered, in
consequence of her having been defrauded, as it is alleged, by a
swindling financier, not unknown, too, at a certain Hall in Sussex,
and in other parts of the country. It is also rumoured that the young
lady, as well as the amateur aeronaut, had been shadowed and annoyed
for some time by the same financier in the neighbourhood of the
Crystal Palace.
“‘The aeronauts were at one time in Essex, but owing to a strong
upper current of a north-easterly kind, they were driven towards the
south coast, when they dropped on the estate of a highly-respected
Sussex squire, where the balloon, to please the latter, made some
captive ascents. Then a strange thing happened, for on the occasion
of the last ascent, when the squire’s daughter was in the car, a
rifle was discharged at the amateur aeronaut, the missile passing
through his hat and wounding him on the head. The squire’s medical
attendant pronounced the wound not dangerous, but the question of
motive suggested itself, and there is reason to conclude that the
attack was made by none other than a flighty financier, assisted
probably by a confederate. Colour is given to this supposition, as
this “gentleman” did not keep his appointment of dining with the
squire.
“‘The last information we had was to the effect that the fugitive
financier and his servant were wanted.’
“I am truly glad that the report stops there,” exclaimed the squire.
“And that no names are mentioned,” added Miss Dove.
“Nor the precise locality,” said Miss Chain.
“Still,” cried the squire, “Falcon hasn’t a leg to stand upon; and now,
doctor, you are at liberty to say what you like, but mind what you do
say, in case you have to eat your own words.”
“What I have to say is this,” replied the doctor, still unconvinced,
“You have favoured us, squire, with a most libellous paragraph, for
which the reporter, whoever he may be, deserves to be prosecuted,
as the statements are built on hearsay, and traduces a man whom we
regarded, until the balloonists presented themselves, as a friend; and
how do we know but what the balloonist’s financier is as different from
Falcon as chalk is to cheese?”
“What? After a sight of his photos and his shadows at the Crystal
Palace, besides personal evidence of an uncontrovertible character?”
asked the squire, somewhat irritated.
“Doctor Peters!” exclaimed Miss Dove, “I really haven’t patience with
you! In the face of such evidence as we have had, it is folly to
persist in bolstering up an untenable position.”
“And I will take leave,” said the squire, “in support of my daughter’s
spirited remarks, to put one question to you.”
“Well, let me hear it, squire.”
“Did you send a telegram to Falcon, at Sydenham, after the balloon came
down here?”
“I did, Squire Dove, believing that he was straight and true to you, to
your daughter and to me.”
“Then you have been the victim of an impostor, and why not own to it?”
“I am not going to do that at present, squire, for how do I know but
what Falcon may walk in and scatter like chaff before the wind all the
unfair conclusions that have been arrived at in his absence?”
“Falcon will never appear here again,” said Miss Dove. “However, there
is a knock at the door.”
“Come in,” cried the squire. “Oh, it is the pilot. How now, Trigger?”
“The policeman and Warner have returned, squire.”
“Tell them to come in and make their report,” said the squire, and
turning to the men as they entered, he asked, “Have the suspected men
been seen or captured, officer?”
“Not at present, your worship. They have been seen, and may have gone
north, while we took the Newhaven route.”
“You naturally inferred that they were leaving the country by the
Dieppe steamboat. I think that you, Warner, have been in this
neighbourhood before?”
“I have, your worship, but the last time I came down I was with Mr
Falcon and Croft, in the same train with them from Sydenham.”
“But where had you seen them previously?”
“I have seen them at the Crystal Palace more than once, your worship. I
had to lock up Croft for trespass, and his master I found at a doctor’s
house near here in a skeleton cupboard.”
“What do I hear? You are surely romancing, Warner?”
“No, squire, he is not,” cried Doctor Peters. “I admit that last
ludicrous allegation to be true, for Mr Falcon, after he was shot by
a poacher, as he said, came to consult me as to the injury he received
in his back, at the same time this man, Warner, if he really is a
detective, did obtain admission to my consulting-room, and as the
cupboard was not occupied by the skeleton, Falcon stepped in there
instead of going into the next room.”
This statement caused general laughter.
“How very odd, doctor; but you cannot gainsay that Warner was certainly
a detective on that occasion, and a very expert one too. Ha! ha!”
“I think, squire,” said the doctor, “if the poacher who shot at Mr
Falcon could be produced he would throw a different complexion on the
affair.”
“He stands in your worship’s presence!” said Warner.
“Indeed! Who is he?” said his worship.
“Come forward, Trigger,” cried Warner, with a covert smile.
“I am no poacher, your worship,” replied Tom, as he stood forward,
“though I confess to having shot at, and having hit, a man in the Essex
marshes who wilfully fired the gas in my employer’s balloon. And I
assert that that man was Mr Falcon, who at the time was disguised with
spectacles, false beard, sandy wig and reversible coat.”
“How do you know, Trigger, that he was Mr Falcon?” asked his worship.
“He was the same person who had annoyed my master and Miss Chain at the
Crystal Palace, and the same who did _not_ attempt to rescue the lady
from the lake, but left that honour for my guv’nor to perform.”
“Any further evidence?” asked the magistrate.
“Only as to the photo in your dining-room, your worship, besides the
one I gave to Lucy. They are both faithful likenesses of the man I shot
at and hit in the back.”
At this critical moment, when the doctor seemed somewhat confounded and
rose as if he could bear it no longer, two young women, Lucy and the
doctor’s servant, Maria, were disputing as to who ought to catch the
squire’s eye to have the first say after Tom Trigger had done.
“Come forward, Lucy,” cried the squire, who had noticed the
altercation. “What is it you wish to say?”
“If you please, squire, I only wish to say that my Tom is no poacher,
and as to the photo that the doctor turned his nose up at, I can swear
that it was taken on the banks of the Crystal Palace lake, and is a
faithful portrait of Mr Falcon, who made no attempt to rescue Miss
Dove.”
“And please, squire,” said Maria, “may I speak?”
“Certainly; and what have you to say?”
“I ought to have said so before, your worship, Doctor Peters is wanted
immediately by a lady who is very bad.”
“Hurry off, doctor,” said the squire.
After the doctor’s exit, Maria asked, when she saw that her master had
left, whether she could state something that took place at their house
during his absence in the park looking at the balloon. It had been
preying on her mind, but she did not like to make it known, because she
thought the doctor would not believe it, and would blame her.
“As your master has just left, Maria, I would reserve what you have
to state until he is present, and then speak out fearlessly if it is
anything that would concern him or any of us here assembled.”
“I don’t know whether it would amount to much, your worship, but I
will follow your advice--though people will talk about those who are
suspected.”
“Don’t you talk about them, Maria.”
“I don’t know, your worship, whether they are one and the same party.”
“To whom are you now alluding?”
“To these air-flying robbers, squire, who are said to have come from--”
“Stop, my good girl, and pray confine yourself to what can be proved.
Don’t go beyond that. Certainly I have heard with regret that two
insane Dutchmen are supposed to be at large with evil intents.”
“They do seem to have method in their madness, your worship.”
“You may think so, Maria, but your master and others may hold quite
different Views. Here, however, we must stop, and not at present
enlarge our borders.”