OCR Text |
Show I rounds liu-tt vessel. She is not the Lola, for yesterday we telegraphed to Lloyd's, in London, und this morning morn-ing 1 received a reply that no such yacht appears on their register, and that the name is unknown. The police ; have also telegraphed to your Fnslish ) police inquiring about the owner, Sig- j The Spy The Mystery of o Silent Love By Chevalier WILLIAM LO QUEUX Author of "The Closed Book," etc. "n, rlj. I hj the Pinal St Pu b t ililn (.1 V- - ..:: U j l:;:J,-llij:!i:;i!i r:':i;N:; i .;!'::; ''-liiil sif' iiiil4Jipi:&'i;: Then the owner of the Lola said: "Yes, they are useful for making ar- rangements and buying things in Ital- ian ports. We have a Spaniard, a i Greek, and a Syrian, all of whom act I as interpreters in di i'feri. nt places." "And make a handsome thing in the way of secret commissions, 1 suppose?" I laughed. "Of course. But to cruise in comfort com-fort one must pay and be pleasant," declared Hornby. "Did you have any trouble with the customs here?" I inquired "They didn't visit us," he said with i a smile, and at the same time he rubbed his thumb an'! " r '-'-ether, the action of feeling paper money. This increased my surprise, for 1 happened to know that the Leghorn customs officers were not at all given to the acceptance of bribes. They were too well watched by their superiors. su-periors. If the yacht had really escaped es-caped a search, then it was a most unusual un-usual thing. Besides, what motive could Hornby have in eluding the customs cus-toms visit? They. would, of course, seal up his wines and liquors, but even if they did, they would leave him out sufficient for the consumption of himself him-self and his friends. No. Philip Hornby had some strong motive in paying a heavy bribe to avoid the visit of the dogana. If he really had paid, he must have paid very heavily: of that I was convinced. Was it possible that some mystery was hidden on board that splendidly appointed craft? Presently the gong sounded, and we went below Into the elegantly fitted saloon, where was spread a table that sparkled with cut glass and shone with silver. Everywhere it was apparent ap-parent that none but an extremely wealthy man could afford such a magnificent mag-nificent craft. Hornby took the head of the table, and we ate one of the choicest and best cooked dinners it has ever been my lot to taste. Chater and I drank wine of a brand which only a millionaire million-aire could keep in his cellar, while our host, apparently a most abstemious man, took only a glass of iced Cin-ciano Cin-ciano water. From his remarks I discerned that, contrary to my first impression, Hyl-ton Hyl-ton Chater was an experienced yachtsman. yachts-man. He owned a craft called the Alicia, and was a member of the Cork Yacht club. He lived in London, he told me, but gave me no information as to his profession. It might be the law, as I had surmised. "You've seen our ass of a captain, Mr. Gregg?" he remarked presently. "What do you think of him?" "Well," I said rather hesitatingly, "to tell the truth, I don't think very "The Safe!" I Cried, Dashing Into Hutcheson's Private Office. nore Hornby, with a like result. There is no such place as Woodcroft Park, in Somerset, and no member ol Brook's club of the name of Hornby." I sat staring at the official, too amazed to utter a word. Certainly they had not allowed the grass to grow beneath their feet. (TO BE CONTINUED.) After dessert had been Berved we rose, and In the summer twilight, when all the ports were opened, Hornby took me over the vessel. As be was conducting con-ducting me from his own cabin to the boudoir we passed a door that had been blown open by the wind, and which he hastened to close, not, however, how-ever, before I bad time to glance within. with-in. To my surprise I discovered that j it was an armory crammed with ril'.es, I revolvers and ammunition It hr.d not been intended that 1 j should see tiiat interior, and the rea- son why the customs officers had been I bri'oi d was now apparent. I I passed on without remark, making believe that I had not discerned any. tiling unusual, and we entered the boudoir. Chater having gone back to the saloon to obtain cigars. The dainty little chamber bore everywhere the trace of having been arranged by a woman's hand, although no lady passenger was on board. Just as we had entered, and I was admiring the dainty nest of luxury, Chater shouted to his host asking for the keys of the cigar cupboard, and Hornby turned back along the gangway gang-way to hand them to his friend, leaving leav-ing me alone for a few moments. I stood glancing around, and as I did so my eyes fell upon a quantity of photographs, framed and unfratned, that were scattered about evidently portraits of Hornby's friends. Upon a small side table, however, stood a heavy oxidized silver frame, but empty, while lying on the floor beneath be-neath a couch was the photograph it had contained, which had apparently been taken hastily out, torn first in half and then in half again, and cast away. Curiosity prompted me to stoop, pick up the four pieces and place them together, when I found them to form the cabinet portrait of a sweet-looking and extremely pretty English girl of eighteen or nineteen, with a bright, smiling expression, and wearing a fresh morning blouse of white pique. About the expression of the pictured face was something which I cannot describe a curious look in the eyes which was at the same time both attractive at-tractive and mysterious. In that brief moment the girl's features were indelibly in-delibly impressed upon my memory. I looked at the back of the torn photograph, and saw that it had been taken by a well-known and fashionable firm in" New Bond street. Next second, however, hearing Hornby's returning footsteps, I flung the fragments hastily beneath the couch where I had discovered them. Why, I wondered, had the picture been destroyed and by whom? Afterwards on deck I purposely led the conversation to Hornby's family, und learned from him that he had no children. "You'll get the repairs to your engines en-gines done at Orlando's, I suppose?" I remarked, naming the great ship-building firm of Leghorn. "Yes. I have already given the order. or-der. They are contracted to be finished fin-ished by next Thursday, and then we shall be off to Zante and Chio." For what reason, I wondered, recollecting recol-lecting that formidable armory on board. Already I had seen quite sufficient suf-ficient to convince me that the Lola, although outwardly a pleasure yacht, was built of steel, armored in its most vulnerable parts, and capable of resisting re-sisting a vry sharp fire, It was past midnight when, having bade the strange pair adieu, I was put ashore by the two sailors who had rowed me out and drove home along the sea-front, puzzled and perplexed Next morning, on my arrival at the consulate, old Francesco, who had entered en-tered only a moment before, met me w:ith blanched face, gasping: "There have been thieves here in the night, signore! The signore con sole's safe has been opened!" "The safe!" I cried, dashing into Hutcheson's private room, and finding find-ing to my dismay the big safe, wherein where-in the seals, ciphers and other con'-fidential con'-fidential documents were kept, standing stand-ing open, and the contents in disorder, as though a hasty search had been made among them. Was it possible that the thieves had been after the admiralty and foreign office ciphers, copies of which the chancelleries of certain European powers were endeavoring to obtain? I smiled within myself when I realized how bitterly disappointed the burglars bur-glars must have been, for a British consul when he goes on leave to England Eng-land always takes his ciphers with him, and deposits them at the foreign office for safekeeping. Hutcheson had, of course, taken his, according to the regulations. Curiously enough, however, the door of the consulate and the safe had been opened with the keys which my friend had left in my charge. Indeed, the small bunch still remained in the safe door. In an instant the recollection flashed I across my mind that I had felt the j keys in my pocket while at dinner on I board the Lola. Had I lost them on I my homeward drive, or had my pocket CHAPTER I. ! Hli Britannic Majesty's Service. j "There was a mysterious affair last rilKhl, Hlgnuie." j "Oh!" I exclaimed "Anything that Interests us?" I "Yes, signore. " replied the tall, thin Italian consular clerk, speaking with a strong accent. "An English steam yacht ran aground on the Mi loria about ten miles out, mid was discovered discov-ered by a fishing boat that brought tho news to harbor. The admiral sent out two torpedo boats, which managed lifter a lot of difficulty to bring in the yacht .safely, but the captain of the Jjort lias a suspicion that the crew were trying to make away with the vessel." "To lose her, you mean?" Francesco nodded. "Sounds curious." I re-marked. "Since the consul went away on leave things tieem to have been humming' two stabbing affrays, eight drunken Hrainen locked up, a mutiny on a tramp steamer, and now a yacht being cast away a fairly decent list! And yet some stay-at-home people complain com-plain that British consuls are only paid to be ornamental! They should spend a week here, at Leghorn, and they'd soon alter their opinion." "Yes, they would, signore," responded respond-ed the thin-lipped old fellow with a grin, as he twisted his fierce gray mustache. mus-tache. Franceso Carducci was a well-known well-known character In Leghorn. An honest, good-hearteii, easy-going fellow, fel-low, who for twenty years had occupied occu-pied the same position under half a dozen different consuls. My old friend, Frank Hutcheson, his Britannic majesty's vice-consul at the port of Leghorn, was away on leave In England, his duties being relegated to young Bertram Cavendish, the proconsul. pro-consul. The latter, however, had gone down with a bad touch of malaria, and I, the only other Englishman In Leghorn, Leg-horn, had been asked by the consul-general consul-general In Florence to act as pro-con-Btil until Hutcheson's return. It was mid-July, and the weather was blazing in the glaring sun-blanched sun-blanched Mediterranean town. If you know Leghorn, you probably know the consulate, a large, handsome suite of huge, airy offices facing the cathedral. cathe-dral. The legend painted upon the door, "Ollice hours, 10 to 3," gives one the idea of an easy appointment, but such is certainly not the case, for a consul's life at a port of discharge must necessarily be a very active one. Carducci had left me to the correspondence corre-spondence for a half an hour or so, when he reentered, saying: "There is an English signore waiting wait-ing to see you." "Who is he?" "I don't know him. He will give no name, but wants to see the signore console " "Ail right, show him in," I said lazily, lazi-ly, and a few moments later a tall, smartly dressed, middle-aged Englishman English-man entered, and bowing, inquired whether I was the British consul. When he had sealed himself I explained ex-plained my position, whereupon he said: "I couldn't make much out of your clerk. lie speaks so brokenly, and I don't know a word of Italian. But perhaps I ought to first introduce myself. My name is Philip Hornby," and he handed me a card bearing the name with the addresses "Woodcroft Park, Somerset Brook's." Then he added: "I am cruising on board my yacht, the Lola, and last night we unfortunately went aground on the Meloria. Very fortunately for us a fishing-boat saw our plight and gave the alarm at port. The admiral sent out two torpedo-boats and a tug. and after about three hours they managed to get us off." "And you are now in harbor?" "Yes. But the reason I've called is to ask you to do me a favor and write me a letter of thanks in Italian to the admiral, and one to the captain of the port polite letters that I can copy and send to them. Yo kuow the kind of thing." "Certainly," I replied, the more interested in-terested in him on account of the curious cu-rious suspicion that the port . jthori-ties jthori-ties seemed to entertain. He was evidently evi-dently a gentleman, and after I had been with him ten minutes I scouted the idea that he had endeavored to cast away tho Lola. 1 scribbled tfc i drafts of two letters "Fortt jly, I left my wife in England, Eng-land, or she would have been terribly ter-ribly frightened " he remarked presently. pres-ently. "There was a nasty wind blow-lug blow-lug all night, and the fool of a captain cap-tain seemed to add to our peril by every cru.-r he gave." I exam. tied him critically as he sat facing me. He was abot... forty-five, with a merry, round, -od-natured face, red with the souther . sun. blue eyes, and a short, fair beard. His speech was refined and cultivated. nd as we chatted he gave me the impression im-pression 'hat as an enthusiastic lover of the sea he had cruised the Mediter rauean many times from Gibraltar up to Smyrna. He had. however, never before put into Leghorn. After we had arranged .hat his captain cap-tain should come to me in the after noon rd make a formal report of the accident, v e went out tog'-iher acroos the white sunny piazza to Nasi's "We shall be here quite a week. Ii suppose," he said as we were taking our vermouth. "We're on our way down to the (ireek island, as my friend Chater wants to Bee them. The en gih'-er says there's something strained that we must get mended. But, by the way," he added, "why don't you dino with us nn board tonight? Do. We can give you a few English things that may he a change to you." This invitation I gladly accepted for two reasons. One was because the suspicions of tho captain of the port j had aroused my curiosity, and the oth- ! er was because I had, honestly speak- i lug, taken a great fancy to Hornby The captain of the Lola, a short, thickset Scotsman from Dundee, with a barely healed cicatrice across his left cheek, called at the consulate at two o'clock and made his report, which appeared to me to be a very lame one. lie struck me as being unworthy his certificate, for he was evidently entirely en-tirely out of his bearings when the accident ac-cident occurred. The owner and his friend Chater were In their berths asleep, when suddenly he discovered that the vessel was making no headway. head-way. They had, in fact, run upon the dangerous shoal without being aware of it. A strong sea was running with a stiff breeze, and although his seamanship sea-manship was poor, he was capable enough to recognize at once that they were in a very perilous position. "Very fortunate it wasn't more serious, seri-ous, sir," he added, after telling me his story, which I wrote at his dicta tion for the ultimate benefit of the board of trade. "Didn't you send up signals of distress?" dis-tress?" I inquired. "No, sir never thought of it." "And yet you knew that you might be lost?" I remarked with recurring suspicion. The canny Scot, whose name was Mackintosh, hesitated a few moments, then answered: "Well, sir, you see the fishing-boat had sighted us, and we saw her turning back to port to fetch help." i "How" long have you been in Mr. Hornby's service?" I inquired. "Six months, sir," was the man's reply. "Before he engaged me, I was with the Wilsons of Hull, running up the Baltic. I've held my master's certificate cer-tificate these fifteen years, sir. I was with the Bibbys before the Wilsons, Wil-sons, and before that with the General Gen-eral Steam. I did eight years in the Mediterranean with them, when I was chief mate." "And you've never been into Leghorn Leg-horn before?" "Never, sir." I dismissed the captain with a distinct dis-tinct impression that he had not told j me the whole truth. Was it possible that an attempt had actually been made to cast away the yacht, and that it had been frustrated by the master of the felucca, who had sighted the vessel cground? How, I wondered, had the captain received that very ugly wound across the cheek? I was half-inclined to inquire of him. That evening when the fiery sun was sinking in its crimson glory I took a cab along the old sea-road to the port where, within the inner harbor, har-bor, I found the Lola, one of the most I magnificent private vessels I had ever ' seen. Her dimensions surprised me. ! She was painted dead white, with shining brass everywhere. At the ; stern hung limply the British flag, at I the masthead the ensign of the Royal Yacht squadron. On stepping on deck Hornby came forward to greet me, and took me along to the stern where, lying in a long wicker deck-chair beneath the awning, was a tall, dark-eyed, cleanshaven clean-shaven man of about forty. His keen face gave one the impression that he j was a barrister. j "My friend, Hylton Chater Mr. i : Gordon Gregg," he said, introducing us, and the clean-shaven man exclaimed, ex-claimed, smiling pleasantly: "Glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Gregg. : j You are not a stranger by any means j I to Hornby or myself. Indeed, we've j 1 got a couple of your books on board. I But I had no idea you lived out here." "At Ardenza," I said. "Three miles j alo"g the. sea-she re. Tomorrow 1 bo:;e j 'you'll both come and dine with tr: " j J "Delighted, I'm sure," declared Horn- j ; by, and tl.en we began chatting about the peril ct the previous night, Horn-; by telling me how he had copied the ! two letters of thanks in Italian and sent them to their respective ad ! dresses. "Well, you certainly did the right i thing to thank the admiral," I said. . "It's very unusual for hit:, to send out torpedo-boats to heip a -."s-sel in dis-: dis-: tress. That is generally left to the ; harbor tug." ' "Yes, I feel that it was most kind J of him. That's why I took all the 1 tiouble to write. I don't understand a word of Italian, neither does Chater." Cha-ter." "But you have Italian's on board?" I remarked. "The two sailors who rowed me out are Genoese, from their accent." Hornby and Chater exchanged glances glances of distinct uneasi ness, I thought. r L rap; ..-..i life j It Was an Armory, Crammed With Rifles and Ammunition. much of his seamanship nor will the board of trade when his report reaches them." "Ah!" exclaimed Hornby. "I was a fool to engage him. From the very first I mistrusted him, only my wife somehow took a fancy to the fellow, and. as you know, if you want peace you must always please the women. In this case, however, her choice almost al-most cost me the vessel, and perhaps our lives into the bargain." i "The captain seems to have had a nasty cut across the cheek." I remarked, re-marked, whereupon my two companions compan-ions again exchanged quick, apprehensive appre-hensive glances. "He fell down the other day," explained ex-plained Chater, with a rather sickly smile, I thought. "His face caught the edge of an iron stair in the en gine room and caused a nasty gash." I sn.iled within myself, for 1 knew too well that the ugly wound in the cap tain's face had never been inflicted by falling on the edge of a stair. But 1 remained silent, being content that they should endeavor to mislead me. been picked? While we were engaged in putting the scattered papers in order the door I bell rang, and the clerk went to at- I tend to the caller. In a few moments he returned, saying: say-ing: "The English yacht left suddenly sud-denly last night, signore, and the captain cap-tain of the port has sent to inquire whether you kuow to what port she is bound." "Left!" I gasped in amazement. "Why, 1 thought her engines were disabled!" A quarter of an hour later I was sitting sit-ting in the private office of' the shrewd, gray-haired functionary who had sent this messenger to me. "Do you know, signore commenda-tore," commenda-tore," he said, "some mystery su- |