STORMBOUND
Van Dusen hurried to the Marion address, where he found Ethel's maid
thoroughly enjoying the vacation that had resulted for her from Doctor
Garnet's action. Using his alias of Jack Scott, Van Dusen explained to
the girl the situation that had developed, which was so perilous to her
young mistress. When the maid had recovered from her first dismay, she
told freely all that she knew, and this was sufficient easily to give
Van Dusen the suspicion that the family physician might be in fact the
guilty man, who was responsible for Ethel's disappearance.
The detective's next visit was to the office of Doctor Garnet. There he
found the physician's secretary much worried over the prolonged and
unexplained absence of his employer. He declared that the last time he
had seen Doctor Garnet was several days before when he had left in
answer to a hurry call from the victim of an accident. The secretary
added that he had made careful inquiries in every possible direction,
but had been unable to find any trace whatsoever of the missing man.
Van Dusen gave only vague answers to the anxious questions put by the
secretary. He stated merely that a client of his was anxious to get in
touch with the physician. Then, without more ado, he hastened to keep
his appointment with Roy. His own face, now he was alone without any
necessity for the mask of indifference, was deeply perturbed.
Consternation was written in his expression. His deductions brought him
face to face with the fact that Garnet was actively concerned in the
mystery. Either the physician was actually guilty of abducting his girl
patient for some evil purpose of his own, or else he himself was also a
victim of the kidnappers along with Ethel. Or, finally, the man had
suddenly become deranged from nerve strain and overwork, and in this
irresponsible condition had stolen away the girl, with what crazy design
none might guess. This possibility was even more dreadful than the
others since there could be no certainty as to what the madman might
intend. Van Dusen realized, with a shudder of horror, that in haste must
lie the only chance of rescuing the girl from some horrible fate. It
seemed to him that the single feasible plan would be to follow down the
coast according to the directions given in Ethel's letter to Roy. While
doing this the wireless on his yacht would keep constantly in touch with
all Southern ports and with the coastwise steamers for news of _The
Isabel_. Then whenever the stolen yacht should be located, if fortune so
favored, it would be pursued with all speed in the hope of effecting a
rescue.
Van Dusen found Roy pacing uneasily to and fro in an outer room at the
agency. He had performed the duties entrusted to him by the detective
and was now wild with impatience for further action. His first glance
into Van Dusen's face stirred him to new excitement.
"Oh, Arthur!" he exclaimed, "I can see by your expression that you have
obtained important information. Tell me!" he insisted. "Tell me! I must
know--even if it's the worst. In these hours of suspense and despair,
I've braced myself to stand any shock. Tell me!"
Van Dusen answered soothingly.
"Roy, old man, the mystery will be solved, I think, and that before
long. That is to say, it will be cleared up unless _The Isabel_ founders
at sea before we can reach it. I have discovered that in all human
probability Miss Marion has been carried away in the yacht by Doctor
Garnet."
"Are you positive about that?" Roy demanded fiercely.
"I am positive this far," came the quiet reply. "Doctor Garnet has not
returned to his office since the time when he answered the call to
attend Miss Marion on the yacht. It is fairly to be deduced from her
message to you that he appeared on board in answer to her summons. I am
of the opinion that Doctor Garnet is the one responsible for this
outrage. He is either the victim of a sudden fit of insanity, or he has
become a man-beast, sacrificing position and honor and every decent
instinct in order to gratify a heretofore smoldering lust, which has
suddenly flamed forth and got beyond his control."
"Your deductings are doubtless right--at least in part," Roy admitted,
though with obvious reluctance in his tone. "But I find it hard to
believe the possibility of Doctor Garnet's being the brute you suggest.
He is universally esteemed not only for his ability, but also for his
manliness and his many deeds of kindness and charity. If he has done
this thing it must have been as you also suggest because he has gone
crazy."
Roy mused for a moment, and then spoke with a new note of excitement in
his voice.
"How do we know that the Doctor was not murdered while on board the
yacht, and that the murderer or murderers then made off with the vessel
and Marion? Or, perhaps, the tender was capsized and he was drowned
along with the caretaker. Afterward the kidnapping may have been done by
others who knew nothing whatever of Doctor Garnet." Roy shook his head
with decision. "Anyhow," he added, "I cannot believe that Doctor Garnet,
in his right mind, could ever have been guilty of such a foul crime."
Van Dusen regarded the young man tolerantly, but his smile was a little
cynical as he replied:
"When you have studied crime as thoroughly as I have during the past few
years, Roy, you will not be so confident of finding nothing but good in
any particular man, no matter how high his reputation may be. I cannot
say with certainty that Doctor Garnet is vile; neither can I say that he
is incapable of vileness. But in the work I have to do, I must entertain
all possibilities if I would solve the problem."
"Well, Arthur," came Roy's reply after a moment of reflection, "I admit
that I am amazed by what you have told me. I do not in the least
understand the turn of affairs by which Doctor Garnet is implicated. But
you are in charge of the case, and I am absolutely in your hands. I mean
not to hamper you in any way--not even by throwing doubts on your
judgment. So, now, just tell me what you mean to do next."
Van Dusen answered authoritatively:
"We must leave at once. On my way here, I sent out wires to Norfolk and
other near-by coast points. These will be sufficient to keep the port
officers on the lookout for _The Isabel_, as well as the coast-guard
crews. I have a wardrobe on board my yacht. Whatever you may need beyond
what's in your bag, I can supply you with. Let's be off."
Van Dusen's yacht was moored near the spot where _The Isabel_ had been
lying. The detective made diligent inquiry at the landing stage in the
hope of picking up some bit of information concerning Doctor Garnet's
presence there, but the effort was fruitless. No one seemed to have
known anything concerning the physician's visit.
Forthwith, then, the two young men went aboard Van Dusen's yacht, and a
few minutes later the vessel was under way, with instructions to the
master to hug the New Jersey shore while keeping a sharp lookout for
_The Isabel_.
The detective operated his own wireless outfit and for several hours at
the outset of the voyage he kept busy, interrogating the different ships
bound up and down the coast, and the shore stations as well, for any
information concerning the stolen yacht. Finally, a tramp steamer
answered that she had passed _The Isabel_ the day before, and that the
yacht at that time was headed down the coast, going slowly, in the
direction of Hampton Roads. At once, on receiving this news, Van Dusen
directed that the yacht's course should be set for Cape Charles and the
Roads.
As a matter of fact, without this information, the yacht must have taken
this same direction for the sake of safety, since the weather soon
became so threatening that none but the most foolhardy would have
ventured to navigate in the open sea a vessel of _The Hialdo_ type.
_The Hialdo_ pushed her nose through the waters of Hampton Roads in the
early morning. Both Roy and Van Dusen were on the bridge, surveying with
their glasses every detail visible of the bays and creeks. They dared
hope to catch somewhere a glimpse of _The Isabel_, for they believed
that she must be secreted somewhere hereabouts in some out-of-the-way
place. They were justified in this by the fact that they had received no
word of the yacht's arrival from the harbor authorities of Norfolk. Yet,
now, their roving scrutiny was of no avail. Nowhere could they find a
trace of aught that could possibly be mistaken for _The Isabel_.... With
the approach of night the violence of the gale became such that perforce
Van Dusen gave orders for the tying up of the _The Hialdo_ at the
Norfolk port, there to await the passing of this southeaster of
hurricane force.
The hours during which the tempest raged were fraught with horror for
Roy Morton. He was in despair now, for he could not believe that _The
Isabel_ would be able to ride out the gale. His imagination pictured for
him with frightful vividness the wreck of the yacht and its carrying
down to death the girl he loved. The young man's agony of spirit was so
evident that Van Dusen became alarmed lest he should break down. The
detective thought to distract Roy from his morbid thoughts by suggesting
that they take a trip into the town to lessen the tedium of waiting
until the storm should wear itself out. His persistence at last won a
reluctant consent, and the two set forth.... In after years, Roy was to
think often with shuddering of what must have been the dreadful result,
had he indeed refused to accompany the detective on that excursion into
the town.