"Quite a number. They run out from Chicago harbor now and then."
Orme was meditating.
"Exactly how long ago did this boat pa.s.s?"
"Oh, an hour or more. Why?"
"She seems to have been beached up north here a little way."
"She may have been. Or they"ve been lying to out there."
In Orme"s mind arose a surmise that in this motor-boat Maku and his companion had come from Chicago. The surmise was so strong as to develop quickly into a certainty. And if the j.a.panese had come by this boat, it stood to reason that the one who had the papers was escaping in it. He must have waited some time for Maku and, at last, had pushed off to return alone.
Were these j.a.panese acting for themselves? That did not seem possible.
Then who was their employer?
Orme did not puzzle long over these questions, for he had determined on a course of action. He spoke to the life-saver, who appeared to be listening to the droning conversation which continued within the station.
"The hold-up men may be in that boat," remarked Orme.
"Hardly." A laugh accompanied the answer.
"Well, why not? She came north an hour or so ago and either was beached or lay to until just now."
"You may be right." Then, before Orme knew what was happening, the young man opened the door and called into the station: "Hey, there! Your robber is escaping on that motor-boat out there."
"What"s that?" The policeman strode to the door.
"Don"t you hear that boat out there?" asked the life-saver.
"Sure, I hear it."
"Well, she came up from the south an hour or more ago and stopped a little north of here. Now she"s going back. Mr. Holmes, here"--he grinned as he said it--"Mr. Holmes suggests that the hold-up man is aboard."
The reference to the famous detective of fiction was lost upon the policeman. "I guess that"s about it, Mr. Holmes," he said excitedly; and Orme was much relieved to note that the life-saver"s humorous reference had pa.s.sed for an introduction. The policeman would have no suspicion of him now--unless Maku----
There was an exclamation from within the room. "What"s the matter?" asked the policeman, turning in the doorway.
The voice of Asuki replied: "He say the robber came in a bicycle--not in a boat."
"But I thought he didn"t see the fellow coming."
"He remember now."
The policeman started. "How did he know what we were talking about out here?" he demanded.
"He understand English, but not speak it," replied Asuki readily.
To the policeman this explanation was satisfactory. Orme, of course, found in it a corroboration of his guess. Maku evidently did not wish suspicion directed against the motor-boat.
The policeman re-entered the station, eager to avail himself of the information which Maku was now disposed to give him.
Orme turned to the life-saver. "The j.a.p is lying," he said.
"Think so?"
"Of course. If he understands English so well, he certainly knows how to make himself understood in it. His story of the bicycle is preposterous."
"But what then?"
"Doesn"t it occur to you that perhaps the j.a.p himself is the robber? His intended victim may have got the better of him."
"Yes," said the young man doubtfully, "but the fellow ran."
"That would be natural. Doubtless he didn"t want any notoriety. It"s possible that he thought he had killed his a.s.sailant, and had an unpleasant vision of being detained in the local jail until the affair could be cleared up."
The life-saver looked at Orme searchingly.
"That sounds pretty straight," he said at last. "I guess you know what you are talking about."
"Perhaps I do," said Orme quietly. "In any event I"d like to see who"s in that boat out there."
"There isn"t a boat nearer than Chicago that could catch her. They have run her several miles out into the lake before turning south, or she would have been pretty close to Chicago already. She"s going fast."
The roar of the motor was indeed becoming a far-off sound.
"Why not telephone the Chicago police to intercept her?"
"There"s no evidence against her," replied Orme; "only surmises."
"I know, but----"
"And, as I suggested, whoever was attacked by that j.a.p in there may not want notoriety."
Suddenly the distant explosions stopped--began again--stopped. Several times they were renewed at short intervals--"puh-puh-puh"----"puh-puh"
----"puh-puh-puh-puh"--then they ceased altogether.
"h.e.l.lo!" exclaimed the life-saver. "They"ve broken down."
He picked up a pair of binoculars which had been lying on the veranda near him, and scanned the surface of the lake.
"Make her out?" queried Orme.
"No, she"s too small, and too far off." He handed the night-gla.s.s to Orme, who in turn searched the water vainly.
"Whose boat is that moored to the breakwater?" asked Orme, lowering the gla.s.s.
"Belongs to a man here in town."