We had the jewels located, somewhere, within a radius of fifty feet.
They must be, according to our theory, either on the bank or in the Bay. We can"t go at the water without a boat. Shall we tackle the land at once? or go to town and procure a boat, and be ready for either in the morning."
"I have an idea," said Macloud.
"Don"t let it go to waste, old man, let"s have it!" Croyden encouraged.
"If you can give up hearing yourself talk, for a moment, I"ll try!"
laughed Macloud. "It is conceded, I believe, that digging on the Point by day may, probably will, provoke comment and possibly investigation as well. My idea is this. Do no work by day. Then as soon as dusky Night has drawn her robes about her----"
"Oh, Lord!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Croyden, with upraised hands.
"Then, as soon as dusky Night has drawn her robes about her," Macloud repeated, imperturbably, "we set to work, by the light of the silvery moon. We arouse no comment--provoke no investigation. When morning dawns, the sands are undisturbed, and we are sleeping as peacefully as guinea pigs."
"And if there isn"t a moon, we will set to work by the light of the silvery lantern, I reckon!" said Croyden.
"And, when we tackle the water, it will be in a silver boat and with silver cuira.s.ses and silver helmets, a la Lohengrin."
"And I suppose, our swan-song will be played on silver flutes!" laughed Croyden.
"There won"t be a swan-song--we"re going to find Parmenter"s treasure,"
said Macloud.
Leaving Axtell in camp, they drove to town, stopping at the North end of the Severn bridge to hire a row-boat,--a number of which were drawn up on the bank--and to arrange for it to be sent around to the far end of the Point. At the hotel, they found a telephone call from the Mayor"s office awaiting them.
The thieves had been duly captured, the Mayor said, and they had been sent to Baltimore. The Chief of Detectives happened to be in the office, when they were brought in, and had instantly recognized them as well-known criminals, wanted in Philadelphia for a particularly atrocious hold-up. He had, thereupon, thought it best to let the Chief take them back with him, thus saving the County the cost of a trial, and the penitentiary expense--as well as sparing Mr. Croyden and his friend much trouble and inconvenience in attending court. He had had them searched, but found nothing which could be identified. He hoped this was satisfactory.
Croyden a.s.sured him it was more than satisfactory.
That night they began the hunt. That night, and every night for the next three weeks, they kept at it.
They tested every conceivable hypothesis. They dug up the entire zone of suspicion--it being loose sand and easy to handle. On the plea that a valuable ruby ring had been lost overboard while fishing, they dragged and sc.r.a.ped the bottom of the Bay for a hundred yards around.
All without avail. Nothing smiled on them but the weather--it had remained uniformly good until the last two days before. Then there had set in, from the North-east, such a storm of rain as they had never seen. The very Bay seemed to be gathered up and dashed over the Point.
They had sought refuge in the hotel, when the first chilly blasts of wind and water came up the Chesapeake. As it grew fiercer,--and a negro sent out for information returned with the news that their tents had been blown away, and all trace of the camp had vanished--it was decided that the quest should be abandoned.
"It"s a foolish hunt, anyway!" said Croyden. "We knew from the first it couldn"t succeed."
"But we wanted to prove that it couldn"t succeed," Macloud observed.
"If you hadn"t searched, you always would have thought that, maybe, you could have been successful. Now, you"ve had your try--and you"ve failed. It will be easier to reconcile yourself to failure, than not to have tried."
"In other words, it"s better to have tried and lost, than never to have tried at all," Croyden answered. "Well! it"s over and there"s no profit in thinking more about it. We have had an enjoyable camp, and the camp is ended. I"ll go home and try to forget Parmenter, and the jewel box he buried down on Greenberry Point."
"I think I"ll go with you," said Macloud.
"To Hampton!" Croyden exclaimed, incredulously.
"To Hampton--if you can put up with me a little longer."
A knowing smile broke over Croyden"s face.
"The Symphony in Blue?" he asked.
"Maybe!--and maybe it is just you. At any rate, I"ll come if I may."
"My dear Colin! You know you"re more than welcome, always!"
Macloud bowed. "I"ll go out to Northumberland to-night, arrange a few matters which are overdue, and come down to Hampton as soon as I can get away."
The next afternoon, as Macloud was entering the wide doorway of the Tuscarora Trust Company, he met Elaine Cavendish coming out.
"Stranger! where have you been these many weeks?" she said, giving him her hand.
"Out of town," he answered. "Did you miss me so much?"
"I did! There isn"t a handy dinner man around, with you and Geoffrey both away. Dine with us this evening, will you?--it will be strictly _en famille_, for I want to talk business."
"Wants to talk business!" he thought, as, having accepted, he went on to the coupon department. "It has to do with that beggar Croyden, I reckon."
And when, the dinner over, they were sitting before the open grate fire, in the big living room, she broached the subject without timidity, or false pride.
"You are more familiar with Geoffrey Croyden"s affairs than any one else, Colin," she said, crossing her knees, in the reckless fashion women have now-a-days, and exposing a ravishing expanse of blue silk stockings, with an unconscious consciousness that was delightfully naive. "And I want to ask you something--or rather, several things."
Macloud blew a whiff of cigarette smoke into the fire, and waited.
"I, naturally, don"t ask you to violate any confidence," she went on, "but I fancy you may tell me this: was the particular business in which Geoffrey was engaged, when I saw him in Annapolis, a success or a failure?"
"Why do you ask!" Macloud said. "Did he tell you anything concerning it?"
"Only that his return to Northumberland would depend very much on the outcome."
"But nothing as to its character?"
"No," she answered.
"Well, it wasn"t a success; in fact, it was a complete failure."
"And where is Geoffrey, now?" she asked.
"I do not know," he replied.
She laughed lightly. "I do not mean, where is he this minute, but where is he in general--where would you address a wire, or a letter, and know that it would be received?"
He threw his cigarette into the grate and lit another.
"I am not at liberty to tell," he said.