Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-05-06

said. "And at the, time I must say
, thought it funny. WhenI asked him
his name he began Gideon and then
suddenly corrected himself and said:
Henry Clifford 1 remember wonder
ing whether he was using false name
or not. He booked his passage at the
last moment, and seemed in q great
hurry to get aboard-being afraid he
would miss the boat" NJ
i I questioned him as to the mans gen
eral appearance, and when I had
learned all he had to tell us, I,was per-
fectly satisfied in my own mind that
Hayle was the man who had gone
aboard.
HE didn't lose much time" said Le-
glosse. mark my words, he'll leave
the steamer at Port Said, and will
either come back on his own tracks, or
60 up the Palestine coast to Jaffa, and
thence back to Europe. What do you
think is the best thing to be done?"
"See the agent of the company
here and get him to telegraph to.Port
Said" I answered.. Both to their
agent there and the captain of the
steamer. If the captain ,telegraphs
back that Clifford is our man, we must
wire to the police authorities author
izing them to detain him pending our
arrival. There is a bit of risk at
tached to it, but if we want to catch
him we must not think Of that"
| We accordingly interviewed the
agent and placed the case before him.
We told him who we were, and Lee
glosse explained to him that he held
a warrant for the arrest of one Gid
con Hayle, an individual whom he had
every reason to believe was endeavor-
ing to escape under the assumed name
of Henry Clifford. The clerk was next
called in, and gave his evidence, and
these matters having been settled,
the kilograms were dispatched to both
the captain and the agent.
4 Some four days we knew must GER
tainly elapse before we could receive
a reply, and that time was devoted to
searching the city for Kitwater and
Codd. That they had not booked pas
had sailed, we soon settled to our
satisfaction. In: that case we knew
that they must be domiciled in Ma
Piles somewhere. In the intervals be-
tween our search Leglosse and used
our best endeayors TO make Miss Kit
water enjoy her stay. We took her to
Pompeii, climbed Vesuvius together,
visited Capri, Ischia, the great. mu-
scum, the kings palace, and dined to-
gether every evening. I had not been
acquainted with the girl much more
than fortnight, and yet Il felt as if I
had known her all my life, and the
greater my experience of her was, the
better liked her. AS for Leglosse, he
outdid himself in his devotion. He
made the most extraordinary toilets
in her honor, and on one occa sion
went even so far as to inform me that.
if all Englishwomen were like this
particular specimen, he would say
good-by to his beloved Paris, and 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 message was
received. I 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 themessage presently trans
cribed.
| "This, gentlemen he said at last,
pointing to the telegram, sis 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, "he's
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 LIE.
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 II
was from the captain, and presently
found that we were not destined to
be disappointed. Once more the agent
consulted hismcode, transcribed the
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 &C.
cept passage Colombo. How shall
act?"
We've been done. again." I cried,
bringing my fist down with thump
upon the table. "It's only another
proof of Hayle's cleyerness. 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 a Gideon and
then transfers his ticket to some
body else. suppose he didn't bargain
for ny getting out of that house in
time to follow him, and to telegraph to