NEARING THE GOAL.
"I suppose Miss Netta is in bed?" Hilda asked, as she entered the house.
"Yes, miss; she and Miss Purcell went to their rooms soon after ten
o'clock."
Hilda ran upstairs to Netta's room.
"Are you awake, Netta?" she asked, as she opened the door.
"Well, I think I was asleep, Hilda; I didn't intend to go off, for I
made sure that you would come in for a chat, as usual, when you got
back; but I think I must have dozed off."
"Well, if you had been so sound asleep that I had had to violently wake
you up, I should have done so. I have had my chance, Netta. Simcoe and
his friend were in a box opposite to ours, and I have learned where
Walter is."
"That is news indeed," Netta exclaimed, leaping up; "that is worth being
awakened a hundred times for. Please hand me my dressing-gown. Now let
us sit down and talk it over comfortably."
Hilda then repeated the whole conversation that she had overheard.
"Splendid!" Netta exclaimed, clapping her hands; "and that man was
right, dear, in feeling uncomfortable when your glasses were fixed on
his face, though he little guessed what reason he had for the feeling.
Well, it is worth all the four years you spent with us to have learned
to read people's words from their lips. I always said that you were my
best pupil, and you have proved it so now. What is to be done next?"
"We shall need a general council for that!" Hilda laughed. "We must do
nothing rash now that success seems so close; a false move might spoil
everything."
"Yes, we shall have to be very careful. This bargeman may not live near
there at all; though no doubt he goes there pretty often, as letters are
sent there for him. Besides, Simcoe may have someone stationed there to
find out whether any inquiries have been made for a missing child."
"Yes, I see that we shall have to be very careful, Netta, and we must
not spoil our chances by being over hasty."
They talked for upwards of an hour, and then went to their beds. The
next morning Roberts took a note to Dr. Leeds. It contained only a few
lines from Hilda:
"MY DEAR DR. LEEDS: We have found a most important clew, and are
going to have a consultation, at which, of course, we want you to
be present. Could you manage to be at Mr. Pettigrew's office at
three o'clock? If so, on hearing from you, I will send to him to
make an appointment."
The answer came back:
"I congratulate you heartily, and will meet you at three o'clock at
Pettigrew's office."
A note was at once sent off to the lawyer's to make the appointment, and
the girls arrived with Miss Purcell two or three minutes before the
hour, and were at once shown into Mr. Pettigrew's room, where Mr. Farmer
immediately joined them.
"I will wait a minute or two before I begin," Hilda said. "I have asked
Dr. Leeds to join us here. He has been so very kind throughout the whole
matter that we thought it was only fair that he should be here."
"Certainly, I thoroughly agree with you. I never thought that terrible
suspicion of his well founded, but he certainly took immense pains in
collecting information of all sorts about these native poisons, and
since then has shown the greatest desire to assist in any way."
A minute later Dr. Leeds was shown in.
"Now, Miss Covington," Mr. Farmer said, "we are ready to hear your
communication."
Hilda then related what she had learned at the opera.
"Really, Miss Covington," Mr. Farmer continued, "it is a thousand pities
that you and your friend cannot utilize your singular accomplishment in
the detective line. You ought to make a fortune by it. I have, of
course, heard from my partner of the education that you had in Germany,
and of your having acquired some new system by which you can understand
what people are saying by watching their lips, but I certainly had no
conception that it could be carried to such an extent as you have just
proved it can. It is like gaining a new sense. Now I suppose you have
come to us for advice as to what had best be done next."
"That is it, Mr. Farmer. It is quite evident to us that we must be
extremely careful, for if these people suspect that we are so far on
their track, they might remove Walter at once, and we might never be
able to light upon a clew again."
"Yes, I see that. Of course, if we were absolutely in a position to
prove that this child has been kept down near Pitsea with their
cognizance we could arrest them at once; but, unfortunately, in the
words you heard there was no mention of the child, and at present we
have nothing but a series of small circumstantial facts to adduce. You
believe, Mr. Pettigrew tells me, that the man who calls himself John
Simcoe is an impostor who has no right to the name, and that General
Mathieson was under a complete delusion when he made that extraordinary
will. You believe that, or at any rate you have a suspicion that, having
got the General to make the will, he administered some unknown drug that
finally caused his death. You believe that, as this child alone stood
between him and the inheritance, he had him carried off with the
assistance of the other man. You believe that the body the coroner's
jury decided to be that of Walter Rivington was not his, and that the
child himself is being kept out of the way somewhere in Essex, and you
believe that the conversation that you most singularly overheard related
to him.
"But, unfortunately, all these beliefs are unsupported by a single legal
fact, and I doubt very much whether any magistrate would issue a warrant
for these men's arrest upon your story being laid before him. Even if
they were arrested, some confederate might hasten down to Pitsea and
carry the child off; and, indeed, Pitsea may only be the meeting-place
of these conspirators, and the child may be at Limehouse or at Chatham,
or at any other place frequented by barges. Therefore we must for the
present give up all idea of seizing these men. Any researches at Pitsea
itself are clearly attended by danger, and yet I see no other way of
proceeding."
"It seems," Dr. Leeds said, "that this other man, who appears to have
acted as Simcoe's agent throughout the affair, took the alarm the other
day, and instead of taking a trap as usual from Tilbury, returned to the
station, took the ferry across to Gravesend, and then, as we suppose,
came up to town again, told Simcoe that he found he was watched, and
that Simcoe must himself take the matter up. Evidently, by what Miss
Covington overheard, he had instructed him where and how to communicate
with this bargeman, or in case of necessity to find him. I should think
that the first step would be to withdraw the men now on watch, for it is
possible that they may also send down men to places in the locality of
Pitsea. In point of fact, your men have been instructed to make no such
inquiries, but only to endeavor to trace where Simcoe's agent drives to.
Still, I think it would be as well to withdraw them at once, as they can
do no further good."
Mr. Pettigrew nodded.
"I know nothing of Pitsea," the doctor went on, "but I do know Hole
Haven. When I was walking the hospital, three or four of us had a little
sailing-boat, and used to go out from Saturday until Monday morning.
Hole Haven was generally the limit of our excursions. It is a snug
little harbor for small boats, and there is a comfortable old-fashioned
little inn there, where we used to sleep. The coastguards were all
sociable fellows, ready to chat with strangers and not averse to a small
tip. Of course the same men will not be there now, nor would it be very
safe to ask questions of them; for no doubt they are on friendly terms
with the men on the barges which go up and down the creek. I might,
however, learn something from them of the ways of these men, and I
should think that, on giving my card to the petty officer in charge, I
could safely question him. I don't suppose that he would know where this
man Nibson has his headquarters. If he lives at Rochester, or Chatham,
or at Limehouse, or Shadwell, he certainly would not know him; but if he
lives at Pitsea he might know him. I fancy they keep a pretty sharp
lookout on the barges. I know that the coastguard told me that there was
still a good deal of smuggling carried on in the marshes between Leigh
and Thames Haven. I fancy, from what he said, that the Leigh fishermen
think it no harm to run a few pounds of tobacco or a keg of spirit from
a passing ship, and, indeed, as there are so many vessels that go ashore
on the sands below, and as they are generally engaged in unloading them
or helping them to get off, they have considerable facilities that way.
At any rate, as an old frequenter of the place and as knowing the
landlord--that is to say if there has been no change there--no suspicion
could fall upon me of going down there in reference to your affair.
To-day is Friday. On Sunday morning, early, I will run down to
Gravesend, hire a boat there, and will sail down to Hole Haven. It will
be an outing for me, and a pleasant one; and at least I can be doing no
harm."
"Thank you very much indeed, Dr. Leeds," Hilda said warmly; "that is a
splendid idea."
On Sunday evening Dr. Leeds called at Hyde Park Gardens to report his
day's work.
"I think that my news is eminently satisfactory. I saw the petty officer
in command of the coastguard station, and he willingly gave me all the
information in his power. He knew the bargee, Bill Nibson. He is up and
down the creek, he says, once and sometimes twice a week. He has got a
little bit of a farm and a house on the bank of the creek a mile and a
half on this side of Pitsea. They watch him pretty closely, as they do
all the men who use the creek; there is not one of them who does not
carry on a bit of smuggling if he gets the chance.
"'I thought that was almost given up,' I said. 'Oh, no; it is carried
on,' he replied, 'on a much smaller scale than it used to be, but there
is plenty of it, and I should say that there is more done that way on
the Thames than anywhere else. In the first place, Dutch, German, and
French craft coming up the channels after dark can have no difficulty
whatever in transferring tobacco and spirits into barges or
fishing-boats. I need hardly say it is not ships of any size that carry
on this sort of business, but small vessels, such as billy-boys and
craft of that sort. They carry their regular cargoes, and probably never
bring more than a few hundredweight of tobacco and a dozen or so kegs of
spirits. It is doubtful whether their owners know anything of what is
being done, and I should say that it is generally a sort of speculation
on the part of the skipper and men. On this side the trade is no doubt
in the hands of men who either work a single barge or fishing-boat of
their own, or who certainly work it without the least suspicion on the
part of the owners.
"'The thing is so easily arranged. A man before he starts from Ostend or
Hamburg, or the mouth of the Seine, sends a line to his friends here, at
Rochester or Limehouse or Leigh, "Shall sail to-night. Expect to come up
the south channel on Monday evening." The bargeman or fisherman runs
down at the time arranged, and five or six miles below the Nore brings
up and shows a light. He knows that the craft he expects will not be up
before that time, for if the wind was extremely favorable, and they made
the run quicker than they expected, they would bring up in Margate Roads
till the time appointed. If they didn't arrive that night, they would do
so the next, and the barge would lay there and wait for them, or the
fishermen would go into Sheerness or Leigh and come out again the next
night.
"'You might wonder how a barge could waste twenty-four or forty-eight
hours without being called to account by its owners, but there are
barges which will anchor up for two or three days under the pretense
that the weather is bad, but really from sheer laziness.
"'That is one way the stuff comes into the country, and, so far as I can
see, there is no way whatever of stopping it. The difficulty, of course,
is with the landing, and even that is not great. When the tide turns to
run out there are scores, I may say hundreds, of barges anchored between
Chatham and Gravesend. They generally anchor close in shore, and it
would require twenty times the number of coastguards there are between
Chatham and Gravesend on one side, and Foulness and Tilbury on the
other, to watch the whole of them and to see that boats do not come
ashore.
"'A few strokes and they are there. One man will wait in the boat while
the other goes up onto the bank to see that all is clear. If it is, the
things are carried up at once. Probably the barge has put up some flag
that is understood by friends ashore; they are there to meet it, and in
half an hour the kegs are either stowed away in lonely farmhouses or
sunk in some of the deep ditches, and there they will remain until they
can be fished up and sent off in a cart loaded with hay or something of
that sort. You may take it that among the marshes on the banks of the
Medway and Thames there is a pretty good deal done in the way of
smuggling still. We keep a very close eye upon all the barges that come
up here, but it is very seldom that we make any catch. One cannot seize
a barge like the _Mary Ann_, that is the boat belonging to Nibson, with
perhaps sixty tons of manure or cement or bricks, and unload it without
some specific information that would justify our doing so. Indeed, we
hardly could unload it unless we took it out into the Thames and threw
the contents overboard. We could not carry it up this steep, stone-faced
bank, and higher up there are very few places where a barge could lie
alongside the bank to be unloaded. We suspect Nibson of doing something
that way, but we have never been able to catch him at it. We have
searched his place suddenly three or four times, but never found
anything suspicious.'
"'May I ask what family the man has?' I said.
"He shook his head. 'There is his wife--I have seen her once or twice on
board the barge as it has come in and out--and there is a boy, who helps
him on the barge--I don't know whether he is his son or not. I have no
idea whether he has any family, but I have never seen a child on the
barge.'
"All this seemed to be fairly satisfactory. I told him that we suspected
that a stolen child was kept in Nibson's house, and asked him whether
one of his men off duty would, at any time, go with me in a boat and
point out the house. He said that there would be no difficulty about
that. My idea, Miss Covington, was that it would be by far the best plan
for us to go down with a pretty strong party--that is to say, two or
three men--and to go from Gravesend in a boat, arriving at Hole Haven at
eleven or twelve o'clock at night. I should write beforehand to the
coastguard officer, asking him to have a man in readiness to guide us,
and then row up to the house. In that way we should avoid all chance of
a warning being sent on ahead from Pitsea, or from any other place where
they might have men on watch.
"I mentioned this to the officer, and he said, 'Well, I don't see how
you could break into the man's house. If the child is not there you
might find yourself in a very awkward position, and if Nibson himself
happened to be at home he would be perfectly justified in using
firearms.' I said of course that was a point I must consider. It is
indeed a point on which we must take Mr. Pettigrew's opinion. But
probably we shall have to lay an information before the nearest
magistrate, though I think myself that if we were to take the officer
into our confidence--and he seemed to me a bluff, hearty fellow--he
would take a lot of interest in the matter, and might stretch a point,
and send three or four men down after dark to search the place again for
smuggled goods. You see, he has strong suspicions of the man, and has
searched his place more than once. Then, when they were about it, we
could enter and seize Walter. Should there be a mistake altogether, and
the child not be found there, we could give the officer a written
undertaking to hold him free in the very unlikely event of the fellow
making a fuss about his house being entered."
The next morning Hilda again drove up with Netta to see Mr. Pettigrew.
"We must be careful, my dear; we must be very careful," he said. "If we
obtain a search warrant, it can only be executed during the day, and
even if the coastguards were to make a raid upon the place, we, as
civilians, would not have any right to enter the house. I don't like the
idea of this night business--indeed, I do not see why it should not be
managed by day. Apparently, from what Dr. Leeds said, this Hole Haven is
a place where little sailing-boats often go in. I don't know much of
these matters, but probably in some cases gentlemen are accompanied by
ladies, and no doubt sometimes these boats go up the creeks. Now, there
must be good-sized boats that could be hired at Gravesend, with men
accustomed to sailing them, and I can see no reason why we should not go
down in a party. I should certainly wish to be there myself, and think
Colonel Bulstrode should be there. You might bring your two men, and get
an information laid before an Essex magistrate and obtain a warrant to
search this man's place for a child supposed to be hidden there. By the
way, I have a client who is an Essex magistrate; he lives near
Billericay. I will have an information drawn out, and will go myself
with it and see him; it is only about five miles to drive from Brentwood
Station. If I sent a clerk down, there might be some difficulty,
whereas, when I personally explain the circumstances to him, he will, I
am sure, grant it. At the same time I will arrange with him that two of
the county constabulary shall be at this place, Hole Haven, at the time
we arrive there, and shall accompany us to execute the warrant. Let me
see," and he turned to his engagement book, "there is no very special
matter on for to-morrow, and I am sure that Mr. Farmer will see to the
little matters that there are in my department. By the way, it was a
year yesterday since the General's death, and we have this morning been
served with a notice to show cause why we should not proceed at once to
distribute the various legacies under his will. I don't think that
refers to the bequest of the estates, though, of course, it may do so,
but to the ten thousand pounds to which Simcoe is clearly entitled. Of
course, we should appear by counsel in any case; but with Walter in our
hands we can bring him to his knees at once, and he will have to wait
some time before he touches the money. We cannot prevent his having
that. He may get five years for abducting the child, but that does not
affect his claim to the money."
"Unless, Mr. Pettigrew, we could prove that he is not John Simcoe."
"Certainly, my dear," the lawyer said, with an indulgent smile. "Your
other theories have turned out very successful, I am bound to admit; but
for this you have not a shadow of evidence, while he could produce a
dozen respectable witnesses in his favor. However, we need not trouble
ourselves about that now. As to the abduction of the child, while our
evidence is pretty clear against the other man, we have only the fact
against Simcoe that he was a constant associate of his, and had an
immense interest in the child being lost. The other man seems to have
acted as his intermediary all through, and so far as we actually know,
Simcoe has never seen the child since he was taken away. Of course, if
Walter can prove to the contrary, the case is clear against him; but
without this it is only circumstantial, though I fancy that the jury
would be pretty sure to convict. And now, how about the boat? Who will
undertake that? We are rather busy at present, and could scarcely spare
a clerk to go down."
"We will look after that, Mr. Pettigrew; it is only an hour's run to
Gravesend, and it will be an amusement for us. We will take Roberts down
with us. What day shall we fix it for?"
"Well, my dear, the sooner the better. I shall get the warrant
to-morrow, and there is no reason why the constable should not be at
Hole Haven the next day, at, say, two in the afternoon. So if you go
down to-morrow and arrange for a boat, the matter may as well be carried
out at once, especially as I know that you are burning with anxiety to
get the child back. Of course this rascal of a bargeman must be
arrested."
"I should think that would depend partly on how he has treated Walter,"
Hilda said. "I don't suppose he knows who he is, or anything of the
circumstances of the case; he is simply paid so much to take charge of
him. If he has behaved cruelly to him it is of course right that he
should be punished; but if he has been kind to him I don't see why he
should not be let off. Besides, we may want him as a witness against the
others."
"Well, there is something in that. Of course we might, if he were
arrested, allow him to turn Queen's evidence, but there is always a
certain feeling against this class of witness. However, we needn't
discuss that now. I suppose that we ought to allow an hour and a half or
two hours to get to this place from Gravesend, but you can find that out
when you hire the boat. Of course, it will depend a good deal on which
way the tide is. By the way, you had better look to that at once; for if
it is not somewhere near high tide when we get to Hole Haven there may
not be water enough to row up the creek."
He called in one of the clerks, and told him to go out to get him an
almanac with a tide-table.
"I want to know when it will be high water the day after to-morrow at
Gravesend," he said.
"I can tell you that at once, sir. When I came across Waterloo Bridge
this morning at a quarter to nine the tide was running in. I should say
that it was about half-flood, and would be high about twelve o'clock. So
that it will be high about half-past one o'clock on Wednesday. It is
about three-quarters of an hour earlier at Gravesend. I don't know
whether that is near enough for you, sir?"
"Yes, that is near enough, thank you. So, you see," he went on after the
clerk had left the room, "the tide will be just about high when you get
to Gravesend, and you will get there in about an hour, I should say. I
don't know exactly how far this place is, but I should say seven or
eight miles; and with a sail, or, if the wind is contrary, a couple of
oars, you will not be much above an hour, and I should think that there
will be still plenty of water in the creek. You had better see Colonel
Bulstrode. As joint trustee he should certainly be there."
They drove at once to the Colonel's and found him in. He had not heard
of the discovery Hilda had made, and was greatly excited at the prospect
of so soon recovering Walter, and bringing, as he said, "the rascals to
book."
The next morning they went down with Roberts to Gravesend, to engage a
large and roomy boat with two watermen for their trip. Just as they were
entering Hyde Park Gardens, on their return, a man passed them. Roberts
looked hard at him, and then said, "If you don't want me any more now,
miss, I should like to speak to that man; he is an old fellow-soldier."
"Certainly, Roberts. I shall not want you again for some time."
Roberts hurried after the man. "Sergeant Nichol," he said, as he came up
to him, "it is years since I saw you last."
"I remember your face, if I do not remember your name," the man said.
"I am Tom Roberts. I was in your company, you know, before you went onto
the staff."
"I remember you now, Roberts," and the two shook hands heartily. "What
are you doing now? If I remember right, you went as servant to General
Mathieson when you got your discharge."
"Yes; you see, I had been his orderly for two or three years before, and
when I got my discharge with my pension, I told him that I should like
to stop with him if he would take me. I was with him out there for five
years after; then I came home, and was with him until his death, and am
still in the service of his niece, Miss Covington, one of the young
ladies I was with just now. And what are you doing?"
"I am collector for a firm in the City. It is an easy berth, and with my
pension I am as comfortable as a man can wish to be."
So they chatted for half an hour, and when they parted Roberts received
a hearty invitation to look in at the other's place at Kilburn.
"Both my boys are in the army," he said, "and likely to get on well. My
eldest girl is married, my youngest is at home with her mother and
myself; they will be pleased to see you too. The missus enjoys a gossip
about India, and is always glad to welcome any old comrade of mine."