"It was our little mix-up that started the rumor," said Carroll thoughtfully. "Somebody recognized Perk--Dr. Pruyn."
"When his gla.s.ses fell off," said CLuff. "They"re some disguise."
"He"s Luther Pruyn, sure enough!" said Mr. Sherwen, emerging from the room. "Here"s the proof." He held out an official-looking doc.u.ment. "An order from the Dutch Naval Office, made out in his name."
"What does it say?" asked Carroll.
"I"m not much of a hand at Dutch, but it seems to direct the blockading warship to receive Dr. Luther Pruyn and wife and convey them to Curacao."
"And wife!" exclaimed Cluff loudly. He whistled as a vent to his amazement. "That explains all the talk about a woman--a lady in his quinta on the mountains?"
"Apparently," said Carroll. "May I see that doc.u.ment, Mr. Sherwen?"
The American representative handed him the paper. As he was studying it, Galpy reentered, still scant of breath from excitement and haste. "He"s gone back to the mountains," he announced. "Sent word for you to get to the port before dawn, if you have to walk. See Mr. Wisner there. He"ll arrange everything."
"Will Mr. Perk--Dr. Pruyn be there?" asked Mr. Brewster.
"He didn"t say."
"But he"s gone without his coat!"
"And goggles," said Cluff.
"And his pa.s.s," added Sherwen.
"Trust him to come back for them when he gets ready. He"s a rum josser for doing things his own way. Now, about the train." And Galpy outlined the plan of departure to the men, who, except Carroll, had gathered about him. The Southerner, unnoticed, had slipped into the room where the scientist"s coat lay. Coming out by the lower door, he was intercepted by Miss Polly Brewster. He interpreted the misery in her face, and turned sick at heart with the pain of what it told him.
"You heard?" he asked.
She nodded. "Is it true? Did you see the permit yourself?"
"Yes. Here it is."
"I don"t want to see it. It doesn"t matter," she said, with utter weariness in her voice. "When do we leave? I want to go home. Send father to me, please, Fitz."
Mr. Brewster came to her, bearing the news that the sailing was set for the morrow.
"I"m glad to know that Dr. and Mrs. Pruyn are provided for," she remarked, so casually that the troubled father drew a breath of relief, concluding that he must have misinterpreted the girl"s interest in the man behind the goggles.
On his way to the patio, he pa.s.sed through the room where the scientist had lain. He came out looking perturbed.
"Has any one been in that room just now?" he asked Sherwen.
"Not that I"ve seen."
"The coat and the other things are not there."
Inquiry and search alike proved unavailing. Not until an hour later did they discover that Carroll had also disappeared. Sherwen found a note from him on the office desk:--
Please look after my luggage. Will join the others at the yacht to-morrow.
P. F. F. C.
XII
THE WOMAN AT THE QUINTA
Thanks to his rival"s map, Carroll had little difficulty in finding the trail to the mountain quinta. A brilliant new moon helped to make easy the ascent. What course he would pursue upon his arrival he had not clearly defined to himself. That would depend largely upon the att.i.tude of the man he was seeking. The flame of battle, still hot from the afternoon"s melee, burned high in the Southerner"s soul, for he was not of those whose spirit rapidly cools. Bitter resentment on behalf of Miss Polly Brewster fanned that flame. On one point he was determined: neither he nor the so-called Perkins should leave the mountain until he had had from the latter"s own lips a full explanation.
Coming out into the open s.p.a.ce, he got his first glimpse of the quinta.
It was dark, except for one low light. From the farther side there came faintly to his ear a rhythmical sound, with brief intervals of quiet, as if some one hard at labor were stopping from time to time for breath.
At that distance, Carroll could not interpret the sound, but some unidentified quality of it struck chill upon his fancy. Long experience in the woods had made him a good trailsman. He proceeded cautiously until he reached the edge of the clearing.
The sound had stopped now, but he thought he could hear heavy breathing from beyond the house. As he moved toward that side, a small but malevolent-looking snake slithered out from beneath a bush near by.
Involuntarily he leaped aside. As he landed, a round pebble slipped under his foot. He flung up his arm. It met the low branch of a tree, and saved him a fall. But the thrashing of the leaves made a startling noise in the moonlit stillness. The snake went on about its business.
"Hola!" challenged a voice around the angle of the house.
Carroll recognized the voice. He stepped out of the shadows and strode across the open s.p.a.ce. At the corner of the house he met the muzzle of a revolver pointing straight at the pit of his stomach. Back of it were the steady and now goggleless eyes of Luther Pruyn.
"I am unarmed," said Carroll.
"Ah, it"s you!" said the other. He lowered his weapon, carefully whirled the cylinder to bring the hammer opposite an empty chamber, and dropped it in his pocket. "What do you want?"
"An explanation."
"Quite so," said the other coolly. "I"d forgotten that I invited you here. How long had you been watching me?"
"I saw you only when you came out from behind the house."
"And you wish to know about--about my companion in this place?"
continued the other in an odd tone.
"Yes."
"Understand that I don"t admit that you have the smallest right. But to clear up a situation which no longer exists, I"m ready to satisfy you.
Come in."
He held open the door of the room where the lone light was burning. In the middle of the floor was spread a sheet, beneath which a form was outlined in grisly significance. Carroll"s host lifted the cover.
The woman was white-haired, frail, and wrinkled. One side of her face shone in the lamplight with a strange hue, like tarnished silver. In her throat was a small bluish wound; opposite it a gaping hole.
"Shot!" exclaimed Carroll. "Who did it?"