CAPTAIN TANTRELLA ARRIVES
"Grace! What is the matter?" exclaimed a woman's voice, and looking
up Larry saw Mrs. Potter.
"Nothing, mother," replied the girl. "This is Mr. Larry Dexter. He
just brought me some news. Oh, mother, that wasn't papa we saw out
in the street!"
"I knew it, dear, as soon as I saw his face."
Larry felt rather uncomfortable, for Mrs. Potter and Grace showed
signs of emotion.
"I was telling your daughter," he said to Mrs. Potter, "that I think
I have located the man who knows where your husband is."
"Oh, I hope you have," exclaimed Mrs. Potter. "This suspense is
awful. Who is he? Where is he?"
Larry related the circumstances of his chase after Retto, telling
how he had located the man at the hotel.
"I'll go and see him to-morrow," he said, "before he has a chance to
get away. He does not suspect that I know where he is."
"Why not go now?" asked Mrs. Potter.
"I'm afraid he would see no one to-night. It is very late, and he
would suspect something if any one sent up word they wanted to see
him. He would at once connect it with the chase I had after him. But
I think I fooled him. I am sure he can clear up this matter in a
short time, once I get into conversation with him."
"I'll go with you," said Grace, with sudden energy. "I will make him
tell where my father is."
Larry thought he could best deal with Retto alone, but he did not
want to tell Grace so. However, her mother got him out of what might
have been an embarrassing position.
"I'd rather you wouldn't go, Grace," she said. "There is no telling
what sort of a person this Retto is. His name sounds foreign."
They talked for some time about the curious circumstances connected
with the disappearance of the millionaire, and when a clock struck
the hour of one, Larry arose with a start.
"I had no idea it was so late!" he exclaimed. "I must hurry home, or
mother will be worried. I will call to-morrow and let you know what
success I have."
"Do, please," said Mrs. Potter.
"And come early," added Grace, as she accompanied Larry to the door.
"Don't let that horrid man stab you with an East Indian poisoned
dagger," she went on with a little laugh, as she got out of hearing
of her mother.
Larry promised, and then hurried off down the street to the nearest
elevated railway station. He was up early the next morning, and
wrote out the story of the day's events, including the encounter
with Sullivan, and the chase after Retto. He touched as lightly as
possible on his own and Grace's parts in the affair, but there was
enough to make interesting reading, and he knew no other paper would
have it.
"This is good stuff, Larry," complimented Mr. Emberg, when the
reporter had turned his story in at the desk. "What next?"
"I'm going to see Retto," was the answer. "I'll make him tell where
Mr. Potter is."
"You were right about your East Indian friend," admitted the city
editor. "I had no idea there was a story like this connected with
him; least of all that it concerned the missing millionaire. Keep
right after him. Let us hear from you in time for the first edition.
Whatever you learn from Retto will make the leading part of to-day's
account."
"I'll telephone in," said Larry, as he hurried from the city room.
Larry anticipated meeting with some difficulty in getting Retto to
talk. He knew the man must have a strong motive for aiding Mr.
Potter. Probably the millionaire was paying him well to serve him,
to mail letters occasionally, and keep him informed as to how the
search for him was progressing.
"There are lots of ends to this that I don't understand," said Larry
to himself as he was on his way to the hotel where the mysterious
man was stopping. "This mystery seemed to start with the wrecking of
the _Olivia_, yet I don't see how I can connect Mr. Potter with
that. He must have met Retto in New York after the rescued men came
here. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking Mr. Potter is in New York now. He
may be some distance off, and depending on Retto to look after his
interests. If that's so it would explain why the East Indian was
hanging around the house. He wanted to see that Grace and her mother
were well, so he could report to the millionaire.
"Yet if that was so, I can't see how Mr. Potter could write in the
letter, as he did, that I was getting too close to him? Yes, there's
something very strange in all this, but maybe it will soon be
cleared up."
Thus Larry hoped, but he was doomed to disappointment. For, when he
inquired at the hotel desk for Mr. Retto, and said he would like to
see him, the clerk replied:
"Mr. Retto left early this morning. He gave up his room. I don't
know where he went."
"I've got it all to do over again," the young reporter thought as he
strolled out into the street. "I'll never have such luck again. If
he watches the house after this he'll do it in a way that won't give
me a chance to catch him. Well, I've got to go back and tell Grace I
made a fizzle of it. Too bad, when they're hoping so much on the
result of this visit!"
Larry purchased a morning paper from a newsboy on the street, and
glanced at it idly, as he strolled along. His eye lighted on the
column devoted to shipping news, and, almost unconsciously, he saw
among the "arrivals," the _Turtle_, of an Italian line. At once a
train of thought was started in his mind.
"The _Turtle_," he mused. "That's the freight ship that Captain
Tantrella, formerly of the _Olivia_, commands. That's the captain
Retto was inquiring about the day Grace and I made the tour of the
steamer offices. He wanted to meet him. Well, Captain Tantrella is
in now. I wonder if Retto could have left the hotel to go and see
him?"
Larry puzzled over it for a few minutes. Several ideas came to him,
but they were confused, and he did not know which line to follow.
"Why should Retto want to see Captain Tantrella?" he asked himself.
"Is it possible that Retto is a criminal and had to escape from the
sinking ship? It looks so. But if he has done something that would
necessitate him keeping out of the way, how can he aid Mr. Potter?
It's too deep for me. But I know what I'll do. I'll go and see
Captain Tantrella. He'll remember me, for I interviewed him about
the wreck.
"I'll ask him who Retto is. He'll know him, for he was probably one
of the first-cabin passengers. That's what I'll do. I think I'm on
the right track now."