Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1902-08-07

gOOd-Dy 10 his beloved BarlS, ana cross
the channel never to return again.
At last the eventful day arrived,
and from nine till twelve we called re-
peatedly at the Office for the telegram
that was to mean so much to us. 1t
was not, however, until the afternoon
was well advanced that a message was
received. / could have taken my stick
to the agent for the slowness with
which he opened the envelope. The
clerk was called in, the code trans
lated, and the message presently trans
cribed.
This, gentlemen" he said at last,
pointing to the telegram, ''is from
our agent in Port Said, and is as fol-
lows:
Clifford, small man, gray hair, and
wears spectacles. No scar on face,
cannot find first-class passenger with
one. Fear you have been deceived"
"Confound the fellow" / cried, hes
done us again. What's worse, we've
wasted four precious days waiting for
this message. What shall we do
now?"
Look for him elsewhere" said Le-
glosse. 'If he didn't go by that boat,
he might have left by another"
We thanked the agent for his cour-
tesy, and were about to leave the of
flee when another telegram was hand
ed in. We waited to see whether it
was from the captain, and presently
found that we were not destined to
be disappointed. Once more the agent
/ t.I I, 40 t-, ,,..il Nod l.a
message, and read it to us.
Have interviewed Clifford, threat
| ened him with the police for using
passage booked by another person. He
confesses having been induced by
stranger such as you describe to ac-
cept passage Colombo. How shall |
act ?'
"We've been done again." I cried,
bringing my fist down with a thump
upon the table. Its only another
proof of Hayle's cleverness. The in
genious rascal books his passage here,
knowing very well that it will be one
of the first places at which we shall
make inquiries, let's fall Gideon and
then transfers his ticket to some
body else. l suppose he didn't bargain
for my getting out of that house in
time to follow him, and to telegraph to
Port Said. Now that we are certain
that he did not go that way, we must
try and find out in what direction he
did proceed"
"And also what has become of the
blind man and his companion" said
Leglosse. "They may be hot upon his
trail, and if we can only discover
them, and keep an eye on them, we
may find out all we want to know.
But it is likely to prove a difficult
task"
We tried the various shipping Offices
without success. We called at every
hotel, important or otherwise, ques-
toned the city police, who assured
us they had seen nothing of the men
we described, and finally were com
PEELED to own ourselves thoroughly
well beaten. Leglosse's face was the
| picture of despair, and | fear mine was
not much better. We inserted adver-
tisements in the papers, but with no
more luck than before. From the mo-
ment the trio had entered Naples, they
| seemed to have vanished entirely.
Then one evening a ragged urchin
called at the hotel and asked to see
us. In reply to our questions, he in
! formed us that he had seen two Eng
| lishmen only the day before, such as
the police were inquiring for; one of
| them was blind, the other dumb. In
deed, he was sure of this, for the rea-
| son that he had carried their bag for
| them down to the harbor whence the
! Palermo boat nailed. We pricked up
our ears on hearing this. If his story
was correct, and Kitwater and Codd
| had visited Sicily, then without n
doubt Hayle must have gone there too.
But we had no desire to allow our
selves to be taken in again. 1t might
be another of HayleS tricks, and for
this reason we questioned the boy
more closely. He adhered, however,
| TO his story without a variation. His
| description of the men was perfect in
every respect, and he assured us most
emphatically that he knew nothing of
any individual with such scar upon
his face as Hayle possessed. At last
we became convinced that his story
| was genuine, anu we rewarded lne DOS
accordingly. After he had disap-
| peared we informed Miss Kitwater of
the discovery we had made.
"You will follow them to Palermo?"
"Assurcdly, mademoiselle," Le-
| glosse replied. II have my duty to
| perform"
Then l must go with you" she an
swered. "If he is on the island the
chase must be drawing to a close, and
| must be present to protect him, if
! possible, against himself"
Accordingly next morning, for the
! steamer for that day had long since
| sailed, we set out for the kingdom of
Sicily, that gem among islands as
| Goethe terms it. 1t was the first time
! Miss Kitwater had seen the southern
coast, and for this reason ! made her
| promise that she would rise early
next morning in order that she might
witness our approach to the far
| famed island. This she did, and side
/ nv giTa ,ys XyotpbaI tho yaee.l Ir., "a.