THE TWO REPORTS
After dinner the two young men settled themselves in the library:
Stumph served their coffee and they renewed their acquaintance with
the Greek tobacco. After a little time there came a knock upon the
door.
"Come," called Ashton-Kirk.
A short man with remarkable breadth of shoulder and depth of chest
entered; he was smooth shaven and salient of jaw and wore the air of
one who was not easily balked in anything that he undertook.
"How are you, Burgess?" said the investigator.
"Good-evening," returned Burgess. He advanced and laid some neatly
folded sheets at the elbow of his employer. "Fuller was busy and I
thought I'd bring these in myself. It's my report on Hume."
"Ah, thank you."
Ashton-Kirk took up the sheets and began running his eye through them.
"As you get deeper into this record, did Hume keep his promise?"
Burgess smiled.
"As to possibilities, do you mean? Why, yes. Indeed, I rather think
he exceeded them." The man lit the cigar which the investigator handed
him and drew at it appreciatively. "I went it alone on the first day;
but after that I took O'Neill and Purvis on. Between us, we managed to
get at something pretty definite."
"Has Fuller finished with Morris?"
"He is typing his report at this moment. It will be ready in a half
hour, I should think."
"Please tell him to bring it in as soon as it is finished."
Burgess nodded and went out. Ashton-Kirk continued to dip into the
report here and there.
"Among three of them," said Pendleton, "they should have sifted the
man's life and adventures pretty well."
As Ashton-Kirk continued to scan the pages, a peculiar expression
slowly came into his eyes.
"They seem to have done so, indeed. And rather cleverly, too, I think.
Would you care to hear the report?"
"By all means," eagerly.
The sheets were shifted into their proper order once more. Then
Ashton-Kirk read:
"'_A Further Investigation into the Affairs of David Purtell Hume_.
"'No record was to be had of Hume, beyond his settlement in the city
in 1899. People in the same line of business were questioned closely;
and those who knew anything of him at all clung to the idea that he
was an American who had lived for many years abroad.
"'So we had another look at the old passenger lists of the steamships;
but this time we went further back. We knew that the simple ruse of a
fictitious name would cover Hume completely; but it seemed the only
thing to do, and we set at it systematically. In the records of the
steamer _Baltic_ of the Netherlands Steamship Company for the year
1897, we came upon the name of "D. Purtell." Without much hope of
learning anything definite after such a lapse of time, I inquired
after this passenger.
"'Luck was with us in the shape of an old clerk with a long memory. He
faintly recalled something of the man, and after some talk got out
still another book. And there it was! D. Purtell, so it seemed, had
been involved in an attempt to smuggle a quantity of diamonds.
"'Our next step was to visit the customs people. Their records were
very complete. They even had a portrait of Purtell, which proved him
to have been Hume beyond a doubt. Only a trifle of evidence had been
secured against him--not enough to convict--and they were forced to
release him. This seems to have been Hume's specialty.
"'However, through the customs services of other countries, they had
learned quite a lot about him. The authorities of Holland, Spain and
France knew him as one of the leading spirits in a system of smuggling
that had been going on for years. Once Hume had been located in
Antwerp, once at Hamburg, and for a long time at Bayonne. This system
of contraband had been broken up just before he had been arrested by
the United States service. A number of the criminals had been
convicted; but Hume, with his usual luck, had escaped once more,
because of lack of evidence against him.
"'Nothing could be learned of the movements of Hume between his arrest
on the _Baltic_ and his location here as a dealer in the curiosities
of art. And after his going into business here, he kept to himself a
great deal.
"'But the drink habit caused him to frequent certain resorts, and it
was at one of these that he first met Richard Morris, father to Allan
Morris!'"
"Ah!" said Pendleton. "So Hume knew Morris's father."
"I asked Fuller, in giving him his instructions, to have this fact
established, if he could," said Ashton-Kirk. "That both Hume and the
elder Morris were heavy drinkers caused me to think it possible."
"Is that all there is to the report?"
"Almost." The investigator turned to the pages once more, and
proceeded: "'Hume and the elder Morris became quite intimate and were
often seen together. But what it was that formed the bond between
them, no one knows, unless it be a deaf mute named Locke, who was
frequently seen in their society and who seemed upon close terms with
both. But within a year after their first meeting, Hume broke with
Morris. This must have been serious, for it caused a marked enmity to
spring up between them. A number of people recall that Richard Morris
frequently made threats against the other--threats of personal
violence and also of the law. But before anything could come of these,
if he really meant them, he died.
"'Thinking that Locke might be able to throw some light on this phase
of the case, we have endeavored to locate him. Up to this time we have
met with no success; but we hope to learn something of him at an early
date.'"
Ashton-Kirk laid the sheets down upon the table.
"There follows a list of the names of the people who have supplied
this information and their addresses," said he. "Burgess is very
thorough in his work."
"Outside the fact that Hume was a scoundrel--which we knew
before--and that he was acquainted with Locke and Allan Morris's
father, what does this report tell you?"
There was discontent in Pendleton's voice as he asked this question,
and the investigator smiled as he made answer:
"That Hume knew the elder Morris supplies us with a theory as to the
possible part which the younger Morris has taken in this drama.
Whatever passed between Hume and the father has probably been taken up
by the son."
"Why, yes," said Pendleton. "I hadn't thought of that."
"Another thing," added Ashton-Kirk: "The report has swung like the
needle of a compass, and indicated a fact that my imagination
suggested days ago."
"And that is--"
"That Hume once lived in the French town of Bayonne."
Pendleton frowned impatiently.
"I don't know what ever made you imagine that," he said. "But now that
you find that it is so, of what service is it?"
"We will speak of that later," answered Ashton-Kirk.
Pendleton was about to say something more, but just then Fuller
knocked and entered.
"The report on Allan Morris," said he.
"Ah, thanks." The investigator took the compactly typed sheets, and
then he continued: "Tell Burgess that he need not bother about the man
Locke whom he mentions. Say that I have already located him."
"Very well," and Fuller left the room.
For a space there was no sound save that which came from the street
and the rustle of the pages as Ashton-Kirk went through them.
"Well," asked Pendleton, finally. "What now?"
"Morris," replied his friend, "does not develop like Hume. Fuller
suspected that he'd prove colorless, and so it has turned out.
However, I'll read what he says. It's headed:
"'_A Second Report on Allan Morris_
"'A very careful inquiry failed to uncover anything in connection with
this young man's personal affairs that was not mentioned in my first
report on the same subject. He has led a very even, uneventful life,
attending strictly to business and making every movement count in the
direction of distinction as a marine engineer.
"'However, there has been something in his manner for the last few
years that has attracted the attention of those who knew him best or
came in contact with him. This took the various forms of eagerness of
manner, irritability, long fits of reveries, a feverish desire for
work. At his place of business I learned that he has for some time had
a deep interest in the reports of the patent office. His clerks say
that he'd read these for hours at a time; one of them told me of how
he (the clerk) once forgot to call Morris's attention to the report
until the day after its arrival. Morris has always been very tolerant
with his employees, but that day he burst out in a fury and threatened
to discharge them all.
"'Richard Morris, father to Allan, was a most erratic genius, as my
first report indicated. His propeller, his smoke-consumer, and his
automatic brake were valuable commercial properties, but had all
slipped from his control. Toward the end of his life he engaged in the
perfection of an invention of which he talked a great deal and of
which he declared that he alone would reap the benefit.
"'As Burgess will already have told you, Richard Morris knew Hume. The
latter was a frequent visitor to a shop which the inventor maintained
in the outskirts, as was the mute Locke. I have talked with an old
mechanic who worked for Morris at the time; he told me that the
inventor had made a stubborn fight against the drink habit and seemed
likely to conquer it up to the time that he became acquainted with
Hume. After this, however, he became as much a slave to it as ever.
The invention, or whatever it was, never got beyond the paper stage;
for thereafter Richard Morris spent his days in sleep and his nights
at the once famous Coffin Club.'"
Ashton-Kirk arose eagerly.
"There is more," said he, "but it is scarcely of interest." Placing
the report upon the table, he added: "You have heard of the Coffin
Club, Pen?"
"Of course. It met in an underground place somewhere, didn't it? And
if I remember right, it was fitted up like the Café Au Mort in Paris."
"Something of the sort." The investigator went to a huge card system
and pulled out a drawer labeled "TO." "But I recall it best by the
steward whose philosophy and Irish turns of speech were so frequently
quoted by the newspapers during the heydey of the establishment. Can
you recall his name?"
"I know whom you mean," answered Pendleton, "but the name has slipped
me."
Ashton-Kirk paused in the fingering of the cards.
"It was Tobin," said he. "It came to me that it was, but I wanted to
be sure." He pushed the drawer into place, looked at his friend
inquiringly, and added: "Suppose we go around to the 'Rangnow' and see
him?"