THE YELLOW SEA
I am not sure which, or how many, of us sitting at that table had ever
come into personal contact with a detective--I myself had never met
one in my life!--but I am sure that Mr. Raven's announcement that
there was a real live one close at hand immediately excited much
curiosity. Miss Raven, in the adjoining room, the door of which was
open, caught her uncle's last words, and came in, expectantly--I think
she, like most of us, wondered what sort of being we were about to
see. And possibly there was a shade of disappointment on her face when
the police-inspector walked in followed, not by the secret, subtle,
sleuth-hound-like person she had perhaps expected, but by a little,
rotund, rather merry-faced man who looked more like a prosperous
cheesemonger or successful draper than an emissary of justice: he was
just the sort of person you would naturally expect to see with an
apron round his comfortable waist-line or a pencil stuck in his ear
and who was given to rubbing his fat, white hands--he rubbed them now
and smiled, wholesale, as his companion led him forward.
"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Raven," said the inspector with an
apologetic bow, "but we are anxious to have a little talk with you and
Mr. Middlebrook. This is Mr. Scarterfield--from the police at
Devonport. Mr. Scarterfield has been in charge of the investigations
about the affair--Noah Quick, you know--down there, and he has come
here to make some further inquiries."
Mr. Raven murmured some commonplace about being glad to see his
visitors, and, with his usual hospitality, offered them refreshment.
We made room for them at the table at which we were sitting, and some
of us, I think, were impatient to hear what Mr. Scarterfield had to
tell. But the detective was evidently one of those men who readily
adapt themselves to whatever company they are thrown into, and he
betrayed no eagerness to get to business until he had lighted one of
Mr. Raven's cigars and pledged Mr. Raven in a whisky and soda. Then,
equipped and at his ease, he turned a friendly, all-embracing smile on
the rest of us.
"Which," he asked, looking from one to the other, "which of these
gentlemen is Mr. Middlebrook?"
The general turning of several pairs of eyes in my direction gave him
the information he wanted--we exchanged nods.
"It was you who found Salter Quick?" he suggested. "And who met him,
the previous day, on the cliffs hereabouts, and went with him into the
Mariner's Joy?"
"Quite correct," said I. "All that!"
"I have read up everything that appeared in print in connection with
the Salter Quick affair," he remarked. "It has, of course, a bearing
on the Noah Quick business. Whatever is of interest in the one is of
interest in the other."
"You think the two affairs one really--eh?" inquired Mr. Raven.
"One!" declared Scarterfield. "The object of the man who murdered Noah
was the same object as that of the man who murdered Salter. The two
murderers are, without doubt, members of a gang. But what gang, and
what object--ah! that's just what I don't know yet!"
What we were all curious about, of course, was--what did he know that
we did not already know? And I think he saw in what direction our
thoughts were turning, for he presently leaned forward on the table
and looked around the expectant faces as if to command our attention.
"I had better tell you how far my investigations have gone," he said
quietly. "Then we shall know precisely where we are, and from what
point we can, perhaps, make a new departure, now that I have come
here. I was put in charge of this case--at least of the Saltash
murder--from the first. There's no need for me to go into the details
of that now, because I take it that you have all read them, or quite
sufficient of them. Now, when the news about Salter Quick came
through, it seemed to me that the first thing to do was to find out a
very pertinent thing--who were the brothers Quick? What were their
antecedents? What was in their past, the immediate or distant past,
likely to lead up to these crimes? A pretty stiff proposition, as you
may readily guess! For, you must remember, each was a man of mystery.
No one in our quarter knew anything more of Noah Quick than that he
had come to Devonport some little time previous, taken over the
license of the Admiral Parker, conducted his house very well, and had
the reputation of being a quiet, close, reserved sort of man who was
making money. As to Salter, nobody knew anything except that he had
been visiting Noah for some time. Family ties, the two men evidently
have none!--not a soul has come forward to claim relationship.
And--there has been wide publicity."
"Do you think Quick was the real name?" asked Mr. Cazalette, who from
the first had been listening with rapt attention. "Mayn't it have been
an assumed name?"
"Well, sir," replied Scarterfield, "I thought of that. But you must
remember that full descriptions of the two brothers appeared in the
press, and that portraits of both were printed alongside. Nobody came
forward, recognizing them. And there has been a powerful, a most
powerful, inducement for their relations to appear, never mind whether
they were Quick, or Brown, or Smith, or Robinson,--the most powerful
inducement we could think of!"
"Aye!" said Mr. Cazalette. "And that was----"
"Money!" answered the detective. "Money! If these men left any
relations--sisters, brothers, nephews, nieces--it's in the interest of
these relations to come into the light, for there's money awaiting
them. That's well known--I had it noised abroad in the papers, and let
it be freely talked of in town. But, as I say, nobody's come along. I
firmly believe, now, that these two hadn't a blood relation in the
world--a queer thing, but it seems to be so."
"And--this money?" I asked. "Is it much?"
"That was one of the first things I went for," answered Scarterfield.
"Naturally, when a man comes to the end which Noah Quick met with,
inquiries are made of his solicitors and his bankers. Noah had both in
our parts. The solicitors knew nothing about him except that he had
employed them now and then in trifling matters, and that of late he
had made a will in which, in brief fashion, he left everything of
which he died possessed to his brother Salter, whose address he gave
as being the same as his own; about the same time they had made a will
for Salter, in which he bequeathed everything he had to Noah. But as
to the antecedents of Noah and Salter--nothing! Then I approached the
bankers. There I got more information. When Noah Quick first went to
Devonport he deposited a considerable sum of money with one of the
leading banks at Plymouth, and at the time of his death he had several
thousand pounds lying there to his credit: his bankers also had charge
of valuable securities of his. On Salter Quick's coming to the Admiral
Parker, Noah introduced him to this bank: Salter deposited there a sum
of about two thousand pounds, and of that he had only withdrawn about
a hundred. So he, too, at the time of his death, had a large balance;
also, he left with the bankers, for safe keeping, some valuable scrip
and securities, chiefly of Indian railways. Altogether, those bankers
hold a lot of money that belongs to the two brothers, and there are
certain indications that they made their money--previous to coming to
Devonport--in the far East. But the bankers know no more of their
antecedents than the solicitors do. In both instances--banking matters
and legal matters--the two men seem to have confined their words to
strict business, and no more; the only man I have come across who can
give me the faintest idea of anything respecting their past is a
regular frequenter of the Admiral Parker who says that he once
gathered from Salter Quick that he and Noah were natives of
Rotherhithe, or somewhere in that part, and that they were orphans and
the last of their lot."
"Of course, you have been to Rotherhithe--making inquiries?" suggested
Mr. Raven.
"I have, sir," replied Scarterfield. "And I searched various parish
registers there, and found nothing that helped me. If the two brothers
did live at Rotherhithe, they must have been taken there as children
and born elsewhere--they weren't born in Rotherhithe parish. Nor could
I come across anybody at all who knew anything of them in seafaring
circles thereabouts. I came to the conclusion that whoever those two
men were, and whatever they had been, most of their lives had been
spent away from this country."
"Probably in the far East, as you previously suggested," muttered Mr.
Cazalette.
"Likely!" agreed Scarterfield. "Their money would seem to have been
made there, judging by, at any rate, some of their securities. Well,
there's more ways than one of finding things out, and after I'd
knocked round a good deal of Thames' side, and been in some queer
places, I turned my attention to Lloyds. Now, connected with Lloyds,
are various publications having to do with shipping matters--the
'Weekly Shipping Index,' the 'Confidential Index,' for instance;
moreover, with time and patience, you can find out a great deal at
Lloyds not only about ships, but about men in them. And to cut a long
story short, gentlemen, last week I did at last get a clue about Noah
and Salter Quick which I now mean to follow up for all it's worth."
Here the detective, suddenly assuming a more business-like air than he
had previously shown, paused, to produce from his breast-pocket a
small bundle of papers, which he laid before him on the table. I
suppose we all gazed at them as if they suggested deep and dark
mystery--but for the time being Scarterfield let them lie idle where
he had placed them.
"I'll have to tell the story in a sort of sequence," he continued.
"This is what I have pieced together from the information I collected
at Lloyds. In October, 1907, now nearly five years ago, a certain
steam ship, the _Elizabeth Robinson_, left Hong-Kong, in Southern
China, for Chemulpo, one of the principal ports in Korea. She was
spoken in the Yellow Sea several days later. After that she was never
heard of again, and according to the information available at Lloyds
she probably went down in a typhoon in the Yellow Sea and was totally
lost, with all hands on board. No great matter, perhaps!--from all
that I could gather she was nothing but a tramp steamer that did, so
to speak, odd jobs anywhere between India and China; she had gone to
Hong-Kong from Singapore: her owners were small folk in Singapore, and
I imagine that she had seen a good deal of active service. All the
same, she's of considerable interest to me, for I have managed to
secure a list of the names of the men who were on her when she left
Hong-Kong for Chemulpo--and amongst those names are those of the two
men we're concerned about: Noah and Salter Quick."
Scarterfield slipped off the india-rubber band which confined his
papers, and selecting one, slowly unfolded it. Mr. Raven spoke.
"I understood that this ship, the _Elizabeth Robinson_, was lost with
all hands?" he said.
"So she is set down at Lloyds," replied Scarterfield. "Never heard of
again--after being spoken in the Yellow Sea about three days from
Chemulpo."
"Yet--Noah and Salter Quick were on her--and were living five years
later?" suggested Mr. Raven.
"Just so, sir!" agreed Scarterfield, dryly. "Therefore, if Noah and
Salter Quick were on her, and as they were alive until recently,
either the _Elizabeth Robinson_ did not go down in a typhoon, or from
any other reason, or--the brothers Quick escaped. But here is a list
of the men who were aboard when she sailed from Hong-Kong. She was, I
have already told you, a low-down tramp steamer, evidently picking up
a precarious living between one far Eastern port and another--a small
vessel. Her list includes a master, or captain, and a crew of
eighteen--I needn't trouble you with their names, except in two
instances, which I'll refer to presently. But here are the names of
Noah Quick, Salter Quick--set down as passengers. Passengers!--not
members of the crew. Nothing in the list of the crew strikes me but
the two names I spoke of, and that I'll now refer to. The first name
will have an interest for Mr. Middlebrook. It's Netherfield."
"Netherfield!" I exclaimed. "The name----"
"That Salter Quick asked you particular questions about when he met
you on the headlands, Mr. Middlebrook," answered Scarterfield, with a
knowing look, "and that he was very anxious to get some news of
William Netherfield, deck-hand, of Blyth, Northumberland--that's the
name on the list of those who were aboard the _Elizabeth Robinson_
when she went out of Hong-Kong--and disappeared forever!"
"Of Blyth?" remarked Mr. Cazalette. "Um!--Blyth lies some miles to the
southward."
"I'm aware of it, sir," said Scarterfield, "and I propose to visit the
place when I have made certain inquiries about this region. But I hope
you appreciate the extraordinary coincidence, gentlemen? In October,
1907, Salter Quick is on a tramp steamer in the Yellow Sea in company,
more or less intimate, with a sailor-man from Blyth, in
Northumberland, whose name is Netherfield: in March, 1912, he is on
the sea-coast near Alnmouth, asking anxiously if anybody knows of a
churchyard or churchyards in these parts where people of the name of
Netherfield are buried? Why? What had the man Netherfield who was with
Salter Quick in Chinese waters in 1907 got to do with Salter Quick's
presence here five years later?"
Nobody attempted to answer these questions, and presently I put one
for myself.
"You spoke of two names on the list as striking you with some
significance," I said. "Netherfield is one. What is the other?"
"That of a Chinaman," he replied promptly, referring to his
documents. "Set down as cook--I'm told most of those coasting steamers
in that part of the world carry Chinamen as cooks. Chuh Fen--that's
the name. And why it's significant to me, when all the rest aren't, is
this--during the course of my inquiries at Lloyds, I learnt that about
three years ago a certain Chinaman, calling himself Chuh Fen, dropped
in at Lloyds and was very anxious to know if the steamer _Elizabeth
Robinson_, which sailed from Hong-Kong for Chemulpo in October, 1907,
ever arrived at its destination? He was given the same information
that was afforded me, and on getting it went away, silent. Now
then--was this man, this Chinaman, the Chuh Fen who turned up in
London, the same Chuh Fen who was on the _Elizabeth Robinson_? If so,
how did he escape a shipwreck which evidently happened? And why--if
there was no shipwreck, and something else took place of which we have
no knowledge--did he want to know, after two years' lapse of time, if
the ship did really get to Chemulpo?"
There was a slight pause then, suddenly broken by Dr. Lorrimore, who
then spoke for the first time.
"Do you know what all this is suggesting to me?" he exclaimed, nodding
at Scarterfield. "Something happened on that ship! It may be that
there was no shipwreck, as you said just now--something may have taken
place of which we have no knowledge. But one fact comes out
clearly--whether the _Elizabeth Robinson_ ever reached any port or
not, it's very evident--nay, certain!--that Noah and Salter Quick did.
And--considering the inquiry he made at Lloyds--so did the Chinaman,
Chuh Fen. Now--what could those three have told about the _Elizabeth
Robinson_?"
No one made any remark on that, until Scarterfield remarked softly:
"I wish I had chanced to be at Lloyds when Chuh Fen called there!
But--that's three years ago, and Chuh Fen may be--where?"
Something impelled Miss Raven and myself to glance at Dr. Lorrimore.
He nodded--he knew what we were thinking of. And he turned to
Scarterfield.
"I happen," he said, "to have a Chinaman in my employ at present--one
Wing, a very clever man. He has been with me for some years--I brought
him from India, when I came home recently. An astute chap, like----"
He paused suddenly; the detective had turned a suddenly interested
glance on him.
"You live hereabouts, sir?" he asked. "I--I don't think I've caught
your name?"
"Dr. Lorrimore--our neighbour," said Mr. Raven hurriedly. "Close by."
I think Lorrimore saw what had suddenly come into Scarterfield's mind.
He laughed, a little cynically.
"Don't get the idea, or suspicion, formed or half-fledged, that my man
Wing had anything to do with the murder of Salter Quick!" he said. "I
can vouch for him and his movements--I know where he was on the night
of the murder. What I was thinking of was this--Wing is a man of
infinite resource and of superior brains. He might be of use to you in
tracing this Chuh Fen, if Chuh Fen is in England. When Wing and I
were in London--we were there for some time after I returned from
India, previous to my coming down here--Wing paid a good many visits
to his fellow Chinamen in the East End, Limehouse way; he also had a
holiday in Liverpool and another at Swansea and Cardiff, where, I am
told, there are Chinese settlements. And I happen to know that he
carries on an extensive correspondence with his compatriots. If you
think he could give you any information, Mr. Scarterfield----"
"I'd like to have a talk with him, certainly," responded the
detective, with some eagerness. "I know a bit about these chaps--some
of them can see through a brick wall!"
Lorrimore turned to Mr. Raven.
"If your coachman could run across with the dog-cart, or anything
handy," he said, "and would tell Wing that I want him, here, he'd be
with me at once. And he may be able to suggest something--I know that
before he came to me--I picked him up in Bombay--he had knocked about
the ports of Southern China a great deal."
"Come with me and give my coachman instructions," said Mr. Raven.
"He'll run over to your place in ten minutes; and while we are
discussing this affair we may as well have as much light as we can get
on it."
He and Lorrimore left the room together; when they returned, the
conversation reverted to a discussion of possible ways and means of
finding out more about the antecedents of the Quicks. Half an hour
passed in this--fruitlessly; then the door was quietly opened and
behind the somewhat pompous figure of the butler I saw the bland,
obsequious smile of the Chinaman.