Meanwhile the doctor, upon returning to his office, found Ah Cum in
the waiting room. "Why, hello, Ah Cum! What's the trouble?"
Ah Cum took his hands from his sleeves. "I should like to know
where Mr. Spurlock has gone."
"Did he owe you money?"
"Oh, no!"
"Then why do you wish to know?"
Ah Cum pondered. "I have a client who is very much interested in
Mr. Spurlock. He was here shortly after the young man was taken
ill."
"Ah. What was this man?"
"A detective from the States."
"Why didn't he arrest Mr. Spurlock then?"
"I imagine that Mr. O'Higgins is rather a kindly man. He couldn't
have taken Mr. Spurlock back to Hong-Kong with him, so he
considered it would be needless to give an additional shock. He
asked me to watch Mr. Spurlock's movements and report progress. He
admitted that it would bore him to dally here in Canton, with the
pleasures of Hong-Kong so close."
The doctor caught the irony, and he warmed a little. "I'm afraid I
must decline to tell you. Do you know what Spurlock has done?"
"Mr. O'Higgins did not confide in me. But he told me this much,
that no matter how far Mr. Spurlock went, it would not be far
enough."
A detective. The doctor paced the room half a dozen times. How
easily an evil thought could penetrate a normally decent mind! All
he had to do was to disclose Spurlock's destination, and in a few
months Ruth would be free. For it was but logical that she would
seek a divorce on the ground that she had unknowingly married a
fugitive from justice. McClintock would be on hand to tell her how
and where to obtain this freedom. He stopped abruptly before the
apparently incurious Chinaman.
"Your detective has been remiss in his duty; let him suffer for
it."
"Personally, I am neutral," said Ah Cum. "I wish merely to come out
of this bargain honourably. It would make the young wife unhappy."
"Very."
"There was a yacht in the river?"
"I have nothing to say."
"By the name of _The Tigress_?"
The doctor smiled, but shook his head. He sent a speculative glance
at the immobile yellow face. Was Ah Cum offering him an opportunity
to warn Spurlock? But should he warn the boy? Why not let him
imagine himself secure? The thunderbolt would be launched soon
enough.
"I haven't a word to say, Ah Cum, not a word."
"Then I wish you good night."
Ah Cum went directly to the telegraph office, and his message was
devoted particularly to a description of _The Tigress_. Spurlock
had been taken aboard that yacht with the Kanaka crew, because _The
Tigress_ was the only ship marked for departure that night. Ah Cum
was not a sailor, but he knew his water-front. One of his chair
coolies had witnessed the transportation of Spurlock by stretcher
to the sampan in the canal. There were three other ships at anchor;
but as two would be making Shanghai and one rounding to Singapore
two days hence, it was logically certain that no fugitive would
seek haven in one of these.
But whither _The Tigress_ was bound or who the owner was lay beyond
the reach of Ah Cum's deductions. He did not particularly care. It
was enough that Spurlock had been taken aboard _The Tigress_.
He wisely refrained from questioning the manager of the Victoria.
He feared to antagonize that distinguished person. The Victoria was
Ah Cum's bread and butter.
The telegram dispatched, his obligation cancelled, Ah Cum proceeded
homeward, chuckling occasionally. The Yale spirit!
James Boyle O'Higgins was, as the saying goes, somewhat out of
luck. Ah Cum's wire reached the Hong-Kong Hotel promptly enough;
but O'Higgins was on board a United States cruiser, witnessing a
bout between a British sailor and a sergeant in the U.S. Marines.
It was a capital diversion; and as usual the Leatherneck bested the
Britisher, in seven rounds. O'Higgins returned to town and made a
night of it, nothing very wild, nothing very desperate. A modest
drinking bout which had its windup in a fan-tan house over in
Kowloon, where O'Higgins tussled with varying fortune until five in
the morning.
When he was given the telegram he flew to the Praya, engaged the
fast motor-boat he had previously bespoken against the need, and
started for the Macao Passage, with the vague hope of speaking _The
Tigress_. He hung round those broad waters from noon until three
and realized that he had embarked upon a wild-goose chase. Still,
his conscience was partly satisfied. He made Hong-Kong at dusk:
wet, hungry, and a bit groggy for the want of sleep; but he was in
no wise discouraged. The girl was in the game now, and that
narrowed the circle.
The following morning found him in the doctor's waiting room, a
black cigar turning unlighted in his teeth. When the doctor came
in--he had just finished his breakfast--O'Higgins rose and
presented his card. Upon reading the name, the doctor's eyebrows
went up.
"I rather fancy, as you Britishers say, that you know the nature of
my visit?"
"I'm an American."
"Fine!" said O'Higgins, jovially. "We won't have any trouble
understanding each other; same language. There's nothing on the
card to indicate it, but I'm a detective."
O'Higgins threw out his chest, gave it a pat, and smiled. This
smile warned the doctor not to underestimate the man. O'Higgins was
all that the doctor had imagined a detective to be: a bulky
policeman in civilian clothes. The blue jowl, the fat-lidded
eyes--now merry, now alert, now tungsten hard--the bullet head, the
pudgy fingers and the square-toed shoes were all in conformation
with the doctor's olden mental picture.
"Yes; I know I look it," said O'Higgins, amiably.
The doctor laughed. But he sobered instantly as he recollected that
O'Higgins had found Spurlock once. Journeying blindly half way
across the world, this man had found his quarry.
"I never wear false whiskers," went on O'Higgins. "The only
disguise I ever put on is a dress-suit, and I look as natural as a
pig at a Mahomedan dinner." O'Higgins was disarming the doctor.
"Won't you sit down?"
"I beg your pardon! Come into the consultation office"; and the
doctor led the way. "What is it you want of me?"
"All you know about this young fellow Spurlock."
"What has he done?"
"He has just naturally peeved his Uncle Sam. Now, you know where he
is bound."
"Did Ah Cum advise you?"
"He did pretty well for a Chinaman. But that's his American
education. Now, it won't do a bit of good to warn Spurlock. He
carries with him something that will mark him anywhere--the girl.
Say, that girl fooled me at first glance. You see, we guys bump up
against so much of the seamy side that we look upon everybody as
guilty until proved innocent, which is hind-side-to. The second
look told me I was wrong."
"I'm going to put one question," interrupted the doctor. "Was there
any other woman back there in the States?"
"Nary a female. Oh, they are married fast. What are you going to
tell me?"
"Nothing." But the doctor softened the refusal by smiling.
"For the sake of the girl. Well, I don't blame you on that ground.
If the boy was legging it alone...."
"I'm a doctor. I took him out of the hands of death. Unless he has
killed someone. I sha'n't utter a word."
"Killed someone?" O'Higgins laughed. "He wouldn't hurt a rabbit."
"You won't tell me what he has done?"
"If you'll tell me where he's heading."
"You can give me a little of his history, can't you? Something
about his people?"
"Oh, his folks were all right. His father and mother are gone now.
Rich folks, once. The boy had all kinds of opportunity; but it's
the old story of father making it too easy. It's always hard work
for a rich man's son to stand alone. Then you won't tell me where
he's going?"
"I will tell you six months from now."
"Prolonging the misery. Unless he deserts the girl, he won't be so
hard to find as formerly. You see, it's like this. The boss says to
me: 'Higg, here's a guy we want back. He's down in Patagonia
somewhere.' So I go to Patagonia. I know South America and Canada
like the lines in my hand. This is my first venture over here. The
point is, I know all the tricks in finding a man. Sure, I lose one
occasionally--if he stays in New York. But if he starts a long jog,
his name is Dennis. You may not know it, but it's easier to find a
guy that's gone far than it is when he lays dogo in little old New
York."
"You had Spurlock once."
O'Higgins grinned. "Women are always balling up and muddling clean
cases. If this girl hadn't busted into the game, Spurlock would
still be at the hotel."
The doctor was forced to admit the truth of this. Ruth out of the
picture, he wouldn't have concerned himself so eagerly in regard to
Spurlock's departure.
"I'm sorry, Mr. O'Higgins, but I decline to give you the least
information."
The detective ruefully inspected the scarlet band on his perfecto.
"And I'll bet a doughnut that boy in his soul is crazy to have it
over with. Well-born, well-educated; those are the lads that pay in
full."
"You're a philosopher, too. I'll tell you something. One of the
reasons why I decline to talk is this: that boy's punishment will
be enough."
"That's not my game. They order me to get my man, and I get him.
There ends my duty. What they do with him afterward is off my
ticket, no concern of James Boyle; they can lock him up or let him
go. Say, how about this Ah Cum: is he honest?"
"As the day is long."
"Didn't know but what I'd been out-bid. I offered him a hundred to
watch Spurlock. Fifty in advance. This morning I met him at the
dock, and he wouldn't take the other fifty. A queer nut. Imagine
any one on this side refusing fifty bucks! Well, I'll be toddling
along. Don't feel fussed upon my account. I get your side all
right. H'm!"
Over the desk, on the wall, was a map of the South Pacific
archipelagoes, embossed by a number of little circles drawn in red
ink. O'Higgins eyed it thoughtfully.
"That's your hunting ground," said the doctor.
"It's a whale of a place. Ten thousand islands, and each one good
for a night's rest. Why, that boy could hide for thirty
years--without the girl. She's my meal-ticket. What are those little
red circles?" O'Higgins asked, rising and inspecting the map. A film
of dust lay upon it; the ink marks were ancient. For a moment
O'Higgins had hoped that the ink applications would be recent.
"Been to those places?"
"No. Years ago I marked out an intinerary for myself; but the trip
never materialized. Too busy."
"That's the way it goes. Well, I'll take myself off. But if I were
you, I shouldn't warn Spurlock. Let him have his honeymoon. So
long."
For a long time after O'Higgins had gone the doctor rocked in his
swivel chair, his glance directed at the map. In all his life he
had never realized a dream; but the thought had never before hurt
him. The Dawn Pearl. It did not seem quite fair. He had plugged
along, if not happy, at least with sound philosophy. And then this
girl had to sweep into and out of his life! He recalled
McClintock's comment about Spurlock being the kind that fell soft.
Even this man-hunting machine was willing to grant the boy his
honeymoon.
Meantime, O'Higgins wended his way to the Victoria, mulling over
this and that phase, all matters little and big that bore upon the
chase. Mac's. In one of the little red circles the doctor had
traced that abbreviation. That could signify nothing except that
the doctor had a friend down there somewhere, on an island in one
of those archipelagoes. But the sheer immensity of the tract! James
Boyle was certainly up against it, hard. One chance in a thousand,
and that would be the girl. She wouldn't be able to pass by
anywhere without folks turning their heads.
Of course he hadn't played the game wisely. But what the deuce! He
was human; he was a machine only when on the hunt. He had found
Spurlock. In his condition the boy apparently had been as safe as
in the lock-up. Why shouldn't James Boyle pinch out a little fun
while waiting? How was he to anticipate the girl and the sea-tramp
called _The Tigress_? Something that wasn't in the play at all but
had walked out of the scenery like the historical black cat?
"I'll have to punish a lot of tobacco to get the kinks out of this.
Sure Mike!"
At the hotel he wrote a long letter to his chief, explaining every
detail of the fizzle. Later he dispatched a cable announcing the
escape and the sending of the letter. When he returned to Hong-Kong,
there was a reply to his cable:
"Hang on. Find that boy."
Some order. South America was big; but ten thousand islands,
scattered all over the biggest ocean on the map! Nearly all of them
clear of the ship lanes and beaten tracks! The best thing he could
do would be to call up the Quai d'Orsay and turn over the job to
Lecocq. Only a book detective could dope this out.
What he needed most in this hour was a bottle of American rye-whisky
and a friendly American bar-keep to talk to. He regretted now that
in his idle hours he hadn't hunted up one against the rainy day. The
barmaids had too strongly appealed to his sense of novelty. So he
marched into the street, primarily bent upon making the favourable
discovery. If there was a Yankee bar-keep in Hong-Kong, James Boyle
would soon locate him. No blowzy barmaids for him to-day: an
American bar-keep to whom he could tell his troubles and receive the
proper meed of sympathy.
The sunshine was brilliant, the air mild. The hotel on the Peak had
the aspect of a fairy castle. The streets were full of colour.
O'Higgins wandered into this street and that, studying the signs
and resenting the Britisher's wariness in using too much tin and
paint. This niggardliness compelled him to cross and recross
streets.
Suddenly he came to a stop, his mouth agape.
"Solid ivory!" he said aloud; "solid from dome to neck! That's
James Boyle in the family group. And if I hadn't been thirsty, that
poor boob would have made a sure getaway and left James Boyle high
and dry among the moth-balls! Oh, the old dome works once every so
often. Fancy, as they say hereabouts!"
What had aroused this open-air monologue was a small tin sign in a
window. Marine Insurance. Here was a hole as wide as a church-door.
What could be simpler than, with a set of inquiries relative to a
South Sea tramp registered as _The Tigress_, to make a tour of all
the marine insurance companies in Hong-Kong? O'Higgins proceeded to
put the idea into action; and by noon he had in his possession a
good working history of the owner of _The Tigress_ and the exact
latitude and longitude of his island.
He cabled to New York: "Probable destination known."
"Make it positive," was the brisk reply.
O'Higgins made it positive; but it required five weeks of broken
voyages: with dilapidated hotels, poor food, poor tobacco, and
evil-smelling tramps. It took a deal of thought to cast a
comprehensive cable, for it had to include where Spurlock was, what
he was doing, and the fact that O'Higgins's letter of credit would
not now carry him and Spurlock to San Francisco. The reply he
received this time put him into a state of continuous bewilderment.
"Good work. Come home alone."