"Don"t tell me they"re not in, you idiot!"
"The servant I paid to be on the lookout is trying to steer away some one that insists on seeing us," whispered Fred Radwin, listening intently.
"Neither of the gentlemen are in, I tell you, sir," replied the hotel servant, doggedly.
"Get out of the way, fellow! I know the number of their suite of rooms, and I"m going to it. I don"t want to hurt you, fellow, but I"m the Chief of Police, and I mean to see Mr. Radwin without delay!"
"The Chief of Police!" gasped Radwin, feeling his knees weaken under him.
He and Rhinds stared uneasily at each other.
"You see him first," whispered Fred Radwin. "I"ve some things in my pockets that I wouldn"t want the chief of police to find. Hold the police fellow by telling him I"ll be right in."
With that Radwin slipped to the door of a connecting room in the suite.
He pa.s.sed through, closing the door noiselessly and slipping the key in the lock.
An instant later John Rhinds opened his door out into the hallway.
"Who is it to see us?" he called.
"It"s I, Ward, time Chief of Police," replied the caller, stepping into the room. "You are Mr.--"
"Rhinds."
"I wish to see your Mr. Radwin. I have a message for him."
"Be seated, Chief," urged the rascal. "Mr. Radwin will be here in a moment."
"Where is Radwin now?" demanded the chief.
"In the next room. He"ll be here in a moment."
"Did he go through that door?" asked Chief Ward.
"Yes."
"Then I"ll see him at once," replied the official.
He stepped over and tried the k.n.o.b of the door. Finding the bolt shot, Chief Ward promptly put his stalwart shoulder to the door. At the second b.u.mp the door yielded. Ward burst into the next room, then on to the third.
"Why did you trick me, Mr. Rhinds?" called the chief, angrily.
"I? Why--I--"
Radwin was not to be found.
The Chief of Police, angry at being baffled in his search for Radwin, went away declaring that he would have an order issued for the arrest of Rhinds as an accessory.
CHAPTER XX
CAPTAIN JACK PULLS A NEW STRING
Radwin did not return.
Though looking outwardly composed, John C. Rhinds pa.s.sed the next few hours in a condition of internal unrest.
Why did Chief Ward want to see Fred Radwin? And why had the latter tricked himself off out of sight?
These questions tormented Rhinds the more because he could not even invent satisfactory answers to them.
"Is the chief of police acting on anyone else"s orders?" quavered the old man. "Has Fred betrayed himself in anything he has done? Is he a fugitive from justice? Oh, mercy! What a situation just when I am trying to put the deals through that shall make the Rhinds Submarine Company the richest concern of its kind in the world!"
By the middle of the afternoon Rhinds heard the newsboys calling something excitedly down in the street.
"What"s that? What"s that?" gasped the old man, holding one hand to his ear. "Sounds like "Dastardly plot--submarine mystery." Can it be anything to injure our chances?"
As he looked down into the street, from the alt.i.tude of the third floor window, Rhinds saw that, whatever the news, the boys appeared to be selling papers fast.
For a few seconds Rhinds wavered. Then he crossed the room to the telephone.
"Send me up the latest editions of the newspapers," he "phoned the clerk in the office. After that he lighted a big, black cigar--and waited, mopping the perspiration from his forehead.
After a few moments there came a knock at the door, and Rhinds opened it. He noticed that the bell-boy looked at him somewhat queerly as the papers were handed over. Then, having closed the door and locked it, John Rhinds sank into a chair, holding up three newspapers, in turn, and scanning the big, black headlines.
Yes; here it all was--the whole story in every essential detail. It told of the mysterious attempt to destroy the "Hastings" at the end of the lightning cruise. The stories contained Lieutenant Danvers"s statement that the "Thor" had been headed toward the "Hastings" just a few seconds before the torpedo pa.s.sed the Pollard boat"s bows.
There was an account of the naval party"s search of the "Thor," and the fact that the latter craft was found to have her full number of torpedoes on board was set forth in all fairness. Oh, yes! The story was fair enough! No newspapermen could have been fairer than had the chroniclers of this exciting submarine news. There were no accusations against Rhinds or his a.s.sociates--nothing but the fair, unbiased telling of facts. And yet, in almost any reader"s mind the opinion would be quick to form that only from the "Thor" could the treacherous torpedo have been fired.
"Oh, it"s--it"s awful!" cried John Rhinds, waving the papers over his head like a madman.
Jack Benson had played his master stroke in this new game.
In former times, when the Pollard boats had been all but unknown, Captain Jack had been quick to grasp the importance of newspaper fame.
As told in the second volume of this series, Jack had once invited a big party of newspaper folks to Dunhaven, to observe some startling performances by the Pollard boat. At that time he had given them a programme so full of excitement that the fame of the Pollard boat had been flashed over the country, and the Navy Department had found public opinion clamoring for the United States Navy to own and control a few of these wonderful craft.
And now, Jack Benson, wholly and absolutely convinced of the guilt of Rhinds and Radwin, had gone to the local daily newspaper offices with his account of what had happened out at sea.
It was a great stroke. Yet Captain Jack had not undertaken it without first having secured the permission of Jacob Farnum. After Jack went to the newspaper offices the Colfax reporters had busied themselves with interviewing naval officers, including members of the naval board.
And now the story was out, for the world to read. Yet it was a statement only of bare, easily proved facts. The newspapers were glad to have such a startling yarn, and it had been told in such a way that John Rhinds did not have a single chance in any suit he might bring for libel.
After the first shock that the discovery caused him, John C. Rhinds began to suspect Jack"s hand in this straight-from-the-shoulder blow.
"It"s that young Benson again!" he raged, silently, rising and stamping on the offending, yet truth-telling, newspapers. "And this will get beyond Colfax! The newspapers of the larger cities will begin to hear of this by evening. To-night this whole yarn will be flashing over the telegraph wires of the country. Tomorrow morning millions of people will be reading this awful stuff. Oh, if I could only tear that young fellow to pieces!"