THE SPY.
Three days later, about four o'clock in the afternoon, Jack and Buck
walked into Lincoln's Inn, and knocked at Mr. Buxton's door. They had
been staying at a hotel near at hand, and nothing was said until Jack
had carefully closed the door of the inner sitting-room, where Mr.
Buxton was at work among his papers.
"So you're off to-morrow?" said Mr. Buxton, laying down his pen.
"No, to-night," said Jack.
"What?" returned Mr. Buxton in surprise. "Have you got all your
luggage ready?"
"Yes, sir," said Buck. "We've got it with us."
"Oh, your cab is outside?" he said.
"No, sir," replied Buck, with a twinkle in his eye. "You see it all on
view."
Mr. Buxton scratched his head. "Do you mean to say that you're going
to start for Burmah with an umbrella apiece?"
"We do, Mr. Buxton," replied Jack. "We're going to slip off quietly.
Buck thinks we're being watched."
"Watched!" cried Mr. Buxton. "By whom?"
"Can't say that," said Buck. "But there's someone takin' a deep
interest in us I feel certain. I should venture to spec'late as the
ruby gang want to know what we're up to."
"And you mean to start off for the other side of the world equipped
merely for a stroll through the Park?" cried Mr. Buxton.
"Why not, sir?" asked Buck. "You've found us plenty of money, and we
can rig ourselves out whereever there are shops. Best for us, too, to
pull out on this business with as little show as we can make. If we
don't, we may find ourselves pulled up mighty soon and mighty sharp. I
tell you this is a deep an' cunning gang we've got to fight. An'
they've got a big pull of us. They know us and we know very little of
them. I can tell you there are wily birds east of Suez. They are up to
all the tricks, both of East and West."
The two visitors did not stay five minutes with Mr. Buxton. They
wished their visit to have the air of a mere passing call, and when he
had shaken hands with them and wished them good luck, they left his
rooms, strolled into Chancery Lane, and went gently up towards Holborn
as if they had nothing to do but stare at the sights of the town like
country cousins.
"Jack," said Buck softly, "let's pull up and look at this shop window,
the panes have just got the bulge I want."
Jack, wondering a little what his companion meant, stopped, and they
stared into a print shop where photographs of eminent judges and
K.C.'s were set out in rows.
"Say, this is bully," murmured Buck. "Move a bit on one side, Jack, so
that I can see the street behind us reflected in the glass. Now, come
on, I've seen all I want. Don't turn your own head or you'll spoil the
show."
They walked on together, and Buck muttered in deep satisfaction: "I've
spotted the man following us; a stout chap with a double chin and a
look like a fat policeman out o' work. I reckon I've tumbled to this
game. I've seen him outside our hotel."
"Is it one of the gang?" asked Jack.
"Oh, no," replied his companion. "More likely to be one o' these
private detectives hired to watch us. Now we've got to throw pepper
into his eyes, an' then make a break for the station."
Buck raised his hand and hailed a growler. They got in, Buck said
"Marble Arch," and away trotted the horse. Buck now set himself to
keep a watch out of the little window at the back of the cab, and soon
gave a chuckle of satisfaction.
"He's coming," he said, "he's in a hansom about fifty yards behind.
This makes it a dead cert that he's our man. It would be a bit too
much of a coincidence for him to be outside our hotel last night,
following us up Chancery Lane to-day, and now tracking us along Oxford
Street."
"How will you drop him?" asked Jack.
"As easy as tumbling off a log," replied Buck. "We'll use Connaught
Mansions. Do you remember its two entrances? We'll pop in at one and
out at the other."
Jack laughed, and understood at once. His father had a flat at
Connaught Mansions, a huge block of flats near Lancaster Gate, which
served as Mr. Haydon's London home between his journeys. They had
made no use of it during the few days they had been in town,
preferring a hotel near Mr. Buxton's rooms, but now it would be of
service to their plans.
As they neared the Marble Arch, Buck gave the address to the driver.
He handed up a couple of half-crowns at the same time.
"We may be detained at the place you're driving to," he remarked.
"Wait a quarter of an hour at the door, and then if we don't send any
message to you, you can go."
"Very good, sir," said the cabby, and on rolled the growler, and soon
turned into the courtyard of Connaught Mansions, and pulled up at the
main entrance. Jack and his companion left the cab at once and went
into the lobby, where the porter came out of his office.
"Hullo, Mr. Risley, you are back again," said the porter. Then he
caught sight of Jack, whose face was very well known from frequent
visits to his father. The question which had plainly been on the
porter's lips was at once checked. He had been eager to talk to Buck
about the disappearance of Mr. Haydon, but Jack's presence put a
barrier upon that.
The cloppety-clop of the feet of a passing cab horse now came in
through the open door of the vestibule. Jack glanced out and saw the
stout man passing in his cab. The spy seemed to be very busy reading a
paper, and the whole thing looked as innocent as could be.
"Well, I'll nip upstairs an' get what I want," said Buck to the
porter, and he and Jack rang for the lift, and were shot up to the
fifth floor. Upon this landing there was one projecting window, which
commanded the front of the great building, and the two comrades went
cautiously to it and peeped out.
"There he is, there he is," whispered Jack.
"Sure thing," chuckled Buck.
Far below them they saw their cabman sitting idly on his perch and
waiting for his quarter of an hour to pass. The Mansions looked on to
a square, a long narrow strip of gardens, filled with lofty bushes
rather than trees. The spy's cab had taken a sweep round these gardens
and was now drawing up on the other side, exactly opposite their cab.
As they looked they saw the stout man leave his cab and move to and
fro till he found a space through which he could look across the
gardens and watch the entrance to the great building. From their lofty
standpoint Jack and his companion had a splendid bird's-eye view of
everything.
"Off we go now," said Jack. "For if our cabman makes a move he'll
become suspicious."
"We've got ten minutes yet," murmured Buck; "but as you say, Jack, off
we go."
They turned and crossed the landing swiftly, and ran down the stairs,
flight after flight. They did not wish to call attention to their
movements by ringing for the lift; besides, they were making for the
back of the place, where a smaller entrance opened on a quiet side
street. They gained this and were once more free to strike where they
wished, leaving the baffled spy to watch the main entrance in vain.