Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-12-29


ers assistant, but a man of nerve and
resources, the same, indeed, whom he
had encountered in Mr.. FairbWther's
house, with such disastrous, almost
fatal, results to himself.
The discovery, though an unexpect-
ed one, did not lessen his sense of the
extreme helplessness OF his own posi-
ton. He could witness, but he could
not act; follow Mr.. Grey's orders, but
indulge in none of his own. The de-
tective must continue to be lost In the
valet, though 1t came hard and woke
a sense of shame in his ambitious
breast.
Meanwhile Wellgood had seen them
and ordered his men to cease rowing.
i give way, there" he shouted.
Were for the launch and in a hurry"
There's some one here who wants
to speak to you, Mr.. Wellgood," Sweet.
water called out, as, respectfully as he
could. "Shall i mention your name?"
he asked of Mr.. Grey.
mo, I will do that myself, And
raising his voice, he accosted the
other with these, words Il am the
man, Percival Gree Of Darlington
Manor, England. snould like to say
word to you before you embark"
A change, quick as lightning and al
most as dangerous, passed over the
face Sweetwater was watching with
such painful anxiety. but as the other
added nothing to his words and
seemed to be merely waiting, he
shrugged his shoulders and fnuttered
an order to his rowers to proceed.
In another moment the sterns of the
two small craft swung together, hut in
such a way that, by dint of little
skilful manipulation on the part of
Wellgood's men, the latters back was
toward the moon.
Mr.. Grey leaned toward Wellgood,
and his face fell into shadow also.
BAIL" thought the detective, II
should have managed that myself, But
IL can not see / shall at least hear"
But he deceived himself in this. The
two men spoke In such low whispers
that only their intensity was manifest.
Not a word came to Sweetlater's ears.
"Bah|!' he thought again, "this is
bad
But he had to swallow his disap-
pointment, and more. For presently
the two men so different In culture,
station and appearance, came, as 1t
seemed, to an understanding, and
Wellgood, taking his hand from his
breast, fumbled In one of his pockets
and drew out something which he
handed to Mr.. Grey.
This made Sweetwater start and
peer with stifl greater anxiety at every
movement, when to his surprise both
bent forward, each over his own knee,
doing something so mysterious he
could get no clue to its nature till they
again stretched forth their hands to
each other and he caught the CLEAN of
paper and realized that they were ex-
changing memoranda or notes.
These must have been important
for each made an immediate endeayer
to read his slip by turning it toward
the, moons rays. That both were sat.
isfied was shown by their after move
ments. Wellgood put his slip into his
pocket, and without further word to
Mr.. Grey motioned his men to row
away. They did SO with will, leav-
ing line of silver in their wake. Mr..
Grey, on the contrary, gave no orders.
He still held his slip and seemed to be
dreaming But his eye was on the
shore, and he did not even turn when
sounds from the launch denoted that
she was under way.
Sweetwater, looking at this morsel
Of paper with greedy eyes, dipped his
oars and began pulling softly toward
that portion of the beach where a
small and twinkling light defined the
bboat-house. He hoped Mr.. Grey
would speak, hoped that in some way,
by some means, he might obtain a
clue to his patrons thoughts But the
English gentleman sat like an image
and did not move till slight but sud
den breeze, blowing in-shore, seized
the paper in his hand and carried It
away, past Sweetwater, who vainly
sought to catch 1t as it went fluttering
by, into the water ahead, where #
shone for moment, then softly disaD.
peared.
Sweetwater uttered cry, so aid
Mr.. Grey.
"Is it anything you wanted?" called
out the former, leaning over the bow
of the boat and making dive at the
paper with his oar.
Eyes; but If it's gone, It's gone.r
returned the other with some feeling.
Careless of me, very careless,-but /
was thinking Off,
He stopped. he was greatly agitated
but he did not encourage Sweetwater
in any further attempts to recover the
lost memorandum Indeed, such an
effort would have been fruitless; the
paper was gone, and there was moth
ing left for them but to continue
their way. AS they did so 1T would
have been hard to- tell in which breast
chagrin mounted higher. Sweetwater
had lost a clue ina thousand, and Mr..
Grey-well, no one knew what he had
lost. He said nothing and plainly
showed by his changed manner that
he was in haste to- land now and be
done with this doubtful adventure.
When they reached the boat-house
Mr.. Grey left Sweetwater to pay for
the boat and started at once for the
hotel
The man in charge had the bow of