"Are you a student?"
"All the crew are students. It helps a good deal, if you are working your way through college."
"Oh, I see. But surely the university hasn"t opened for the fall?"
"No, but there are preliminary exams, for those who have conditions to work off."
Orme nodded. "It"s a fine campus you have--with the groves of oaks."
"Yes."
"Just the place for a quiet evening stroll. I thought I"d walk up the sh.o.r.e."
"There"s a rule against going in there after dark."
"Is there? That"s too bad."
"Something funny happened there just a little while ago."
"So? What was it?" Orme was getting close to the subject he most desired to hear explained.
"Why, one of the cops was walking along the sh.o.r.e and he found a j.a.panese, stunned."
"A j.a.panese!"
"He evidently had wandered in there and somebody had hit him over the head with a club."
"After money?"
"Probably. There"ve been a good many holdups lately. But the slugger didn"t have a chance to get anything this time."
"How so?"
"He was bending over the j.a.p when the cop came up. He got away."
"Didn"t the cop chase him?"
"No, the fellow had a good start, so the cop stayed by the j.a.p."
"And what became of the j.a.p?"
The life-saver jerked his head toward the door beside him. "He"s in there, getting over his headache."
"Is he?" This was a contingency which Orme had not foreseen. Nor had he any desire to come face to face with Maku. But if he betrayed his surprise, the life-saver did not notice it.
"The cop is taking another look through the campus," he continued.
"What does the j.a.p say about it?" asked Orme.
"He doesn"t say anything. It looks as though he couldn"t speak English.
The cop is going to get Asuki."
"Asuki?"
"A j.a.p student who lives in the dormitory."
"Oh," said Orme.
The fact that Maku would not talk was in a measure rea.s.suring. His apparent inability to understand English was, of course, a.s.sumed, unless, indeed, he was still too completely dazed by the blow which Orme had given him, to use a tongue which was more or less strange to him. But what would he say if he saw Orme? Would he not accuse his a.s.sailant, hoping thus to delay the pursuit of his companion?
The danger was by no means slight. Orme decided quickly to get away from this neighborhood. But just as he was about to bid the life-saver a casual good-night, two men came around the corner of the building. One was a policeman, the other a young j.a.panese. Orme un.o.btrusively seated himself on the edge of the little veranda.
"How is he?" asked the policeman.
"All right, I guess," replied the life-saver. "I looked in a few minutes ago, and he was sitting up. h.e.l.lo, Asuki."
"h.e.l.lo, there," responded the little j.a.panese.
"Come," said the policeman, after an unsuspicious glance at Orme, and, mounting the steps, he led his interpreter into the station.
Now, indeed, it was time for Orme to slip away. Maku might be brought out at any moment. But Orme lingered. He was nearer to the solution of the secret if he kept close to Maku, and he realized, for that matter, that by watching Maku closely and, perhaps, following him home, he might be led straight to the other man. If Maku accused him, it should not, after all, be hard to laugh the charge away.
A murmur of voices came from within the station, the policeman"s words alone being distinguishable.
"Ask him," the policeman said, "if he knows who hit him."
The undertones of a foreign jargon followed.
"Well, then," continued the policeman, "find out where he came from and what he was doing on the campus."
Again the undertones, and afterward an interval of silence. Then the policeman spoke in an undecided voice.
"If he don"t know anything, I can"t do anything. But we might as well get a few more facts. Something might turn up. Ask him whether he saw anybody following him when he went into the campus."
Orme had been straining his ears in a vain endeavor to catch the words of Asuki. But suddenly his attention was diverted by a sound from the lake.
It was the "puh-puh-puh-puh" of a motor-boat, apparently a little distance to the northward. The explosions followed one another in rapid succession.
He turned to the life-saver.
"What boat is that?" he asked.
"I don"t know. Some party from Chicago, probably. She came up an hour or so ago--at least, I suppose she"s the same one."
The explosions were now so rapid as to make almost one continuous roar.
"She"s a fast one, all right," commented the life-saver. "Hear her go!"
"Are there many fast boats on the lake?"