THAT LITTLE DECOY.
I stowed the false address in my waistcoat pocket, and after promising
to see the guard again on the next day, a promise which I fully
intended to keep, and exchanging a few friendly but important
sentences with him, we shook hands and separated. We had grown almost
friendly in our manner each toward each, in spite of the fact that
neither knew the name of the other. He had told me where he lodged,
among the number who were housed within the grounds; and we had agreed
to dine together at an early date at a place which he had recommended
in reply to my inquiry after a satisfactory place to dine within the
walls of the Fair. He had dined there regularly, he assured me, and I
was glad to know this, for I foresaw that I might need his help in the
defence of Miss Jenrys and her interests, and I could not know too
much of his whereabouts.
'Till we meet and wine and dine,' I said flippantly, upon leaving him,
little dreaming how soon and in what manner we were to meet again.
As I left the Plaisance the handsome guard was still the subject of my
thoughts. That he had told me the truth concerning his interview with
the brunette I did not doubt, but was it the whole truth?
All that he had rehearsed to me could have been said in much less than
half the time she had spent in brisk conversation with the guard,
whose part seemed to have been that of listener.
Not that I had any right to demand or expect his full confidence;
still, why had he withheld it; and what was it that the brunette had
slipped into his hand at parting?
Another thing, we had planned to dine together soon, and he knew that
I was, or seemed to be, quite at leisure, while he would be relieved
from duty very soon, and yet--well, he had certainly not grasped at
the opportunity.
I did not expect to meet Brainerd until a late hour, and I had decided
to do nothing further in the matter of the Trent disappearance until
we could talk it over. In fact, there was little to be done until I
had seen Miss Jenrys and her aunt, and reported to them, as I had
engaged to do at seven o'clock. At this hour I called and made my
meagre report, which, however, was better than nothing, as the ladies
were good enough to declare.
They had remained at home all day, and late in the afternoon received
a message from Miss O'Neil. The picture, it assured her, would be sent
at once.
A little to my surprise, I found that the ladies were prepared to go
to town in company with Monsieur Voisin, to hear a famous monologue
artist. He had persuaded them, Miss Jenrys said, rather against their
wishes, but they had at last decided that this would be better than to
pass the evening as they had already passed the day, in useless
speculation, discussion, and anxiety.
Of course I agreed with them; but I came away early, not caring to
encounter the handsome Frenchman again, and I re-entered the gates of
the Fair City a little out of tune, and wandered about the
brightly-illuminated and beautiful Court of Honour, finding, for the
first time in this place, that time was dragging, and wishing it were
time to meet Dave, and begin what I knew would be a lively and
two-sided discussion.
At eight o'clock there was music upon the Grand Plaza, and the
band-stand was surrounded by a merry, happy crowd. At nine the band
was playing popular airs, and a picked chorus that had been singing in
Choral Hall in the afternoon was filling the great space with vocal
melody, in which from time to time the crowd joined with enthusiasm.
Coming nearer this centre of attraction, I saw, seated near the
water's edge, and quite close to the great Fountain, the little
brunette and a companion. It was impossible to mistake the brunette,
for she wore the costume of the afternoon--a somewhat conspicuous
costume, as I afterward remembered; but her companion puzzled me. She
was tall and slight, and quietly well dressed, and her face could not
well be seen under the drooping hat which she wore. There seemed, at
the very first, something familiar about this hat. It was
broad-brimmed, slightly curved upward at the sides, and bent to shade
the face and fall over the hair at the back; but long dark plumes fell
at one side, and a third stood serenely erect in front; and suddenly I
remembered that I had seen Miss Jenrys wear such a hat upon the day of
our first meeting. But Miss Jenrys, in a dainty white theatre bonnet,
had gone up town; and there was no monopoly of drooping hats and
feathers--so I told myself.
But I wondered what mischief, new or old, the brunette was bent upon,
and I decided to give her the benefit of my unoccupied attention.
From time to time the two changed their positions, but I noted that
they kept upon the outskirts of the throng, and seemed to avoid the
well-lighted spaces, sitting or standing in the shadow of the great
statues, the columns, and angles.
For nearly an hour the music continued, vocal for the most part, and
the crowd kept in place, singing and applauding by turns. I had been
standing near the east façade of the Administration Building for some
time, having followed the brunette and her companion to that side of
the Plaza, when I saw a group of Columbian Guards, evidently off duty,
place themselves against the wall quite near me. They were strolling
gaily, and after a little, as the singers began a national anthem,
some of them joined in the chorus or refrain. It was amateurish
singing enough, until suddenly a new voice lifted itself among
them--a tenor voice--sweet, strong, high, and thoroughly cultured. I
turned to look closer, and saw that the singer was my friend, the
handsome guard. He was standing slightly aloof from the others, and
when he saw that his music was causing many heads to turn, he suddenly
ceased singing, and in spite of the remonstrances of his companions,
moved away from them, slowly at first, and then with more decision of
movement, until he was out of their sight in the crowd.
'He wants to avoid them,' I said to myself, 'and he seems to be
looking for someone.' And then I turned my attention to the brunette
once more.
At ten o'clock the music had ceased, and the people were scattered
upon the Plaza. The electric fountains had ceased to send up
multi-coloured spray, and some of the lights in the glittering chains
about the Grand Basin were fading out. On the streets and avenues
leading away from the Plaza there was still sufficient light, but the
Wooded Island, which as yet had not participated in the great
illuminations, was not brilliantly lighted. In fact, under the trees,
and among the winding shrub-bordered paths, there were many shadowed
nooks and gloomy recesses.
And yet it was towards the Wooded Island that the brunette and her
companion led me, wondering much, and keeping at a distance to avoid
the glances often sent back by the little adventuress.
I had just stepped off the path to avoid the gleam of light that fell
across it from the light just at the curve, when a quick step sounded
close by, and a tall figure passed me in haste, going the way the two
had taken--the form of the handsome guard.
I had followed them past the east front of the Electricity Building,
and between it and the canal, and then across the bridge opposite, and
midway between the north front of the Electricity and Mines
Buildings, across the little island of the Hunters' Camp, and across
the second bridge, and it was near this last spot that the guard had
passed me.
A few paces beyond me he seemed at a loss, and paused to look about
him; and as he did so, the two women, who had made a short-cut across
the forbidden grass, came out into the path directly between us, and
retraced their steps toward the bridge.
It was past ten o'clock now, and very quiet just here, and the lamps
at the ends of the bridge, the only lights just here, seemed to me
less brilliant than usual. As the two women came toward me, somewhat
slowly, I drew back into the shelter of the bushes, and they passed
me, speaking low. I remember that, at the moment, the thought of our
singular isolation in this spot crossed my mind, and I wondered why we
did not see somewhere a second Columbian Guard on duty.
And now my guard passed me hurriedly, looking neither to right nor
left, and I crept forward across the grass and under the trees. I
could now see that the women had stopped upon the bridge nearest the
island, and on the side facing eastward, and looking over the face of
the lagoon at its widest, and across to the silent and now almost
utterly darkened Manufactures Building, and that the guard had joined
them. Rather, that he was speaking with the brunette, while the other,
with bent head, stood a little aloof.
And then, as I looked and wondered, two figures arose suddenly, or so
it seemed, from the base of the statue at the end of the bridge, just
behind the guard, and as he bent his head toward the little decoy
there was a silent, forward spring, a sudden heaving movement, and a
splash. With a shout for help I bounded forward, tearing off my coat
as I ran. I was conscious of four flying figures that passed me,
hastening islandward, but my thoughts were all for that figure that
had gone over into the lagoon silently and without a struggle.
As I tore down the bank at the side of the pier, I heard low voices,
and could see a boat in the shadow of the bridge; and as I was about
to plunge into the water, a voice said sharply:
'Keep out, mate, we've got him!' And in a moment the boat came out,
and I saw two men were supporting the guard, half in and half out of
the water, and the other pushing the skiff to shore.
As I stepped into the water to their assistance, I saw at one glance
that my friend had fallen into the able hands of two of the emergency
crew, whose duty it was to patrol the lagoons by night, and that he
was insensible.
'He struck our boat in falling,' one of them said to me, 'and I'm
afraid he's got a hurt head. Too bad; if he hadn't fainted we'd 'a'
winged one of that crowd, sure.'