Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1902-08-15


the channel never to returnsagain.
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. It
was not, however, until the afternoon
was we'll advanced thata 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, lis from
our agent in Port Said, and is as fol-
lows: i--.
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" I 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 Le-
glosse. IF he didn't go by that boat,
he might have left ny 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,
consulted his code, 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. cts only another
proof of Hayle's cleverness. The in
genious rascal books his passage here,
knowing very we'll that it will be one
Of the first places at which we shall
make inquiries, lets fall Gideon and
then transfers his ticket to some
body else. suppose he didn't bargain
tor 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. - >...,>..~r
And also what has become Of the
blind man and his1companion, = 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 difficult
task" y
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
we'll beaten. -Leglosse's face was the
picture of despair, and I fear mine was
not much better. We inserted adver-
:isements 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
is: In reply to our questions, he in
formed us that he had seen two Eng
ishmen. only the day before, such az
The police were inquiring for; one of
them was blind, the other dumb. In
iced, he was sure of this, for the rea-
ton that he had carried their bag for
hem down to the harbor whence the
Palermo boat hailed. We pricked up
lur ears on hearing this. II his story
vas correct, and Kitwater and Codd
had visited Sicily, then without a
loubt Hayle must have gone there too.
But w had no desire to allow our
lelves to be taken in again. It might
,e another of Haylee tricks, ind for
this reason we questioned the boy
more closely. He adhered however,
70 his story without a variation. His
description of the men was perfect in
every respect, an1 he assured VI most
emphatieally 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, and we rewarded the boy
accordingly. After he had disap-
.peared~ we informed Miss Kitwater Of
the discovery we had made.
3 You will follow them to Pa}ermo?''
II "Assuredly, mademoiselle," II,
CLOSE replied. Il I've my duty to
perform"
Then I must go with you," she an
sswered.. IF he is on the island the
chase must be drawing to = tless, and
= must be present to-pDste& him, II
possible, against h}nself''. ~ Az
81 Accordingly next morning, for the
steamer foE- that day had long >since
sailed. We set out tor the kingdonaaof
Sicily, that gem among, = islands al
Goethe terms it. 1t was the first time
Miss Ktwater had seen the southern
coast, and for this reason made her
promise that she would rise early
next morning in order that she might