By the side of the little chattering stream that flowed through
the bit of woodland where Mr. Nippers and his associates had come
upon them, they found Dollops, with his legs drawn up, his arms
folded across his knees and his forehead resting upon them, sleeping
serenely over the embers of a burnt-out fire. He was still "making
music," but of a kind which needed no assistance from a mouth
harmonica to produce it.
They awoke him and told him of the sudden change in the programme
and of the need for haste in carrying it out.
"Oh, so help me! Them Apaches, eh? And that foreign josser, Count
What's-his-name, too?" said he, rubbing his eyes and blinking
sleepily. "Right you are, guv'ner! Gimme two seconds to get the
cobwebs out of my thinking-box and I'm ready to face marching orders
as soon as you like. My hat! though, but this is a startler. I
can understand wot them Apache johnnies has got against you, sir,
of course; but wot that Mauravanian biscuit is getting after you
for beats me. Wot did you ever do to the blighter, guv'ner? Trip
him up in some little bit of crooked business, sir, and 'did him
down,' as the 'Mericans say?"
"Something like that," returned Cleek. "Don't waste time in talking.
Simply get together such things as we shall need and let us be off
about our business as soon as possible."
Dollops obeyed instructions upon both points--obeyed them, indeed,
with such alacrity that he shut up like an oyster forthwith, dived
into the caravan and bounced out again, and within five minutes
of the time he had been told of the necessity for starting, had
started, and was forging away with the others over the dark, still
moor and facing cheerily the prospect of a thirty-mile walk to
Cumberlandshire.
All through the night they pressed onward thus--the two men walking
shoulder to shoulder and the boy at their heels--over vast stretches
of moorland where bracken and grass hung heavy and glittering
under their weight of dew; down the craggy sides of steep gullies
where the spring freshets had quickened mere trickles into noisy
water-splashes that spewed over the rocks, to fall into chuckling,
froth-filled pools below; along twisting paths; through the dark,
still woodland stretches, and thence out upon the wild, wet moor
again, with the wind in their faces and the sky all a-prickle
with steadily dimming stars. And by and by the mist-wrapped moon
dropped down out of sight, the worn-out night dwindled and died,
and steadily brightening Glory went blushing up the east to flower
the pathway for the footfalls of the Morning.
But as yet the farthermost outposts of Cumberland were miles beyond
the range of vision, so that the long tramp was by no means ended,
and, feeling the necessity for covering as much ground as possible
while the world at large was still in what Dollops was wont to
allude to as "the arms of Murphy's house," the little party continued
to press onward persistently.
By four o'clock they were again off the moors and in the depths of
craggy gorges; by five they were on the borders of a deep, still
tarn, and had called a halt to light a fire and get things out of
the bag which Dollops carried--things to eat and to drink and to
wear--and were enjoying a plunge in the ice-cold water the while
the coffee was boiling; and by six--gorged with food and soothed by
tobacco--they were lying sprawled out on the fragrant earth and
blinking drowsily while their boots were drying before the fire. And
after that there was a long hiatus until Cleek's voice rapped out
saying sharply, "Well, I'll be dashed! Rouse up there, you lazy
beggars. Do you know that it's half-past twelve and we've been
sleeping for hours?"
They knew it then, be assured, and were up and on their way again
with as little delay as possible. Rested and refreshed, they made
such good time that two o'clock found them in the Morcam Abbey
district, just over the borders of Cumberland, and, with appetites
sharpened for luncheon, bearing down on a quaint little hostlery
whose signboard announced it as the Rose and Thistle.
"Well, there's hospitality if you like," said Cleek, as, at their
approach, a cheery-faced landlady bobbed up at an open window and,
seeing them, bobbed away again and ran round to welcome them with
smiles and curtseys delivered from the arch of a vine-bowered door.
"Welcome, gentlemen, welcome," beamed she as they came up and joined
her. "But however in the world did you manage to get over here
so soon?--the train not being due at Shepperton Old Cross until
five-and-twenty past one, and that a good mile and a quarter away as
the crow flies. However, better too early than too late--Major
Norcross and Lady Mary being already here and most anxious to meet
you."
As it happened that neither Cleek nor Mr. Narkom had any personal
acquaintance with the lady and gentleman mentioned, it was so
clearly a case of mistaken identity that the superintendent had
it on the tip of his tongue to announce the fact, when there
clashed out the sound of a door opening and shutting rapidly, a
clatter of hasty footsteps along the passage, and presently there
came into view the figure of a bluff, hearty, florid-faced man of
about five-and-forty, who thrust the landlady aside and threw a
metaphorical bombshell by exclaiming excitedly:
"My dear sir, I never was so delighted. Talk about English slowness.
Why, this is prompt enough to satisfy a Yankee. I never dispatched
my letter to you until late yesterday afternoon, Mr. Narkom,
and--by the way, which _is_ Mr. Narkom, and which that amazing Mr.
Cleek? Or, never mind--perhaps that clever johnnie will be coming
later; you can tell me all about that afterward. For the present,
come along. Let's not keep Lady Mary waiting--she's anxious. This
way, please."
Here--as Mr. Narkom had lost no time in acknowledging his identity,
it being clear that no mistake had been made after all--here he
caught the superintendent by the arm, whisked him down the passage,
and throwing open the door at the end of it, announced excitedly,
"All right, Mary. The Yard's answered--the big reward's caught 'em,
as I knew it would--and here's Narkom. That chap Cleek will come
by a later train, no doubt."
The response to this came from an unexpected quarter. Of a sudden
the man he had left standing at the outer door, under the impression
that he was in no way connected with the superintendent, but merely
a gentleman who had reached the inn at the same time, came down
the passage to the open door, brushed past him into the room,
and announced gravely, "Permit me to correct an error, please,
Major. The 'man Cleek' is not coming later--he is here, and very
much at your and Lady Mary Norcross' service, believe me. I have
long known the name of Major Seton Norcross as one which stands high
in the racing world--as that, indeed, of the gentleman who owns the
finest stud in the kingdom and whose filly, Highland Lassie, is
first favourite for the forthcoming Derby--and I now have the honour
of meeting the gentleman himself, it seems."
The effect of this was somewhat disconcerting. For, as he concluded
it, he put out his hand and rested it upon Mr. Narkom's shoulder,
whereat Lady Mary half rose from her seat, only to sit down again
suddenly and look round at her liege lord with uplifted eyebrows
and lips slightly parted. Afterward she declared of the two men
standing side by side in that familiar manner: "One reminded me
of an actor trying to play the part of a person of distinction, and
the other of a person of distinction trying to play the part of an
ordinary actor and not quite able to keep what he really was from
showing through the veneer of what he was trying to be."
The major, however, was too blunt to bottle up his sentiments at any
time, and being completely bowled over in the present instance put
them into bluff, outspoken, characteristic words.
"Oh, gum games!" he blurted out. "If you really are Cleek----"
"I really am. Mr. Narkom will stand sponsor for that."
"But, good lud, man! Oh, look here, you know, this is all tommyrot!
What under God's heaven has brought a chap like you down to this sort
of thing?"
"Opinions differ upon that score, Major," said Cleek quietly. "So far
from being 'brought down,' it is my good friend, Mr. Narkom here,
who has brought me _up_ to it--and made me his debtor for life."
"Debtor nothing! Don't talk rubbish. As if it were possible for a
gentleman not to recognize a gentleman!"
"It would not be so easy, I fear, if he were a good actor--and you
have just done me the compliment of indirectly telling me that I
must be one. It is very nice of you but--may we not let it go at
that? I fancy from what I hear that I, too, shall soon be in the
position to pay compliments, Major. I hear on every side that
Highland Lassie is sure to carry off the Derby--in fact that,
unless a miracle occurs, there'll be no horse 'in it' but her."
Here both the major and his wife grew visibly excited.
"Gad, sir!" exclaimed he, in a voice of deep despair. "I'm afraid
you will have to amend that statement so that it may read, 'unless
a miracle occurs there will be _every_ horse in it but her'--every
blessed one from Dawson-Blake's Tarantula, the second favourite, down
to the last 'also ran' of the lot."
"Good heavens! The filly hasn't 'gone wrong' suddenly, has she?"
"She's done more than 'gone wrong'--she's _gone altogether_! Some
beastly, low-lived cur of a horse thief broke into the stables the
night before last and stole her--stole her, sir, body and bones--and
there's not so much as a hoofprint to tell what became of her."
"Well, I'm blest!"
"Are you? B'gad, then, you're about the only one who knows about it
that is! For as if that wasn't bad enough, I've not only lost the
best filly in England but the best trainer as well: and the brute
that carried off the one got at the other at the same time, dash him!"
"What do you mean by 'got at' the trainer, Major? Did the man take
a bribe and 'sell' you that way?"
"What, Tom Farrow? Never in God's world! Not that kind of a chap, by
George! The man that offered Tom Farrow a bribe would spend the rest
of the week in bed--gad, yes! A more faithful chap never drew the
breath of life. God only knows when or how the thing happened, but
Farrow was found on the moor yesterday morning--quite unconscious
and at death's door. He had been bludgeoned in the most brutal
manner imaginable. Not only was his right arm broken, but his skull
was all but crushed in. There was concussion of the brain, of course.
Poor fellow, he can't speak a word, and the chances are that he
never will be able to do so again."
"Bad business, that," declared Cleek, looking grave. "Any idea of
who may possibly have been the assailant? Local police picked up
anything in the nature of a clue?"
"The local police know nothing whatsoever about it. I have not
reported the case to them."
"Not reported----H'm! rather unusual course, that, to pursue, isn't
it? When a man has his place broken into, a valuable horse stolen,
and his trainer all but murdered, one would naturally suppose that
his first act would be to set the machinery of the law in motion
without an instant's delay. That is, unless----H'm! Yes! Just so."
"What is 'just so'?" inquired the major eagerly. "You seem to have
hit upon some sort of an idea right at the start. Mind telling me
what it is?"
"Certainly not. I could imagine that when a man keeps silent about
such a thing at such a time there is a possibility that he has a
faint idea of who the criminal may be and that he has excellent
reasons for not wishing the world at large to share that idea. In
other words, that he would sooner lose the value of the animal
fifty times over than have the crime brought home to the person
he suspects."