The Washington times., 1911-09-21
CHAPTER XIV.
The Steam Launch.

II --~~-~--"
- r. TOM JACKSONS notion Of
M making good his escape by
V means of steam yacht was
an excellent one, so far as II
went; but Theodore Racksole, for his
part, did not consider that 1t went
quite far enough.
Theodore Racksole opined, with Pc
culiar glee, that he now had tangible
and definite clue for the catching OF
the Grand Babylon'5 ex-waiter.
He knew nothing Of the port OF Lon.
don, but he happened &c know good
deal CT the far more complicated.
though somewhat smaltcr, port Of New
no extraordinary difficulty In getting
hold OF Jules steam launch. To those
who arc not thoroughly familiar with Ii,
the River Thames and Its docks from
London bridge 10 Gravesend seem
vast and uncharted wilderness of craft.
wilderness in which 1t would be per-
fectly easy to hide even a three-master
successfully; to such people the idea OF
locking for small steam launch on the
river would be about equivalent to the
OF hay. e..
But the fact is that there are hum
dreds OF men between st. Katharine'e
wharf and Blackwell who literally know
| holder knows his back garden; who nan
! recognize thousands OF ships and put
name to them at a distance Of nalf 4
| mile; who are informed as to every
| movement of vessels on the great
stream; who know all the captains, all
the engineers. all the lightermen. all
the pilots, all the licensed watermen.
and all the unlicensed scoundrels from
the Tower to Grave5end, and lot
| farther.
BY these experts Of the Thames, the
! slightest unusual event on the water is
! noticed and discussed; a wherry can
not change hands but they will guess
shrewdly upon the price paid and the
intentions Of the new owner with regard
to II. They have habit of watching
the river for the mere interest of the
sight, and they talk Of what they sec
like housewives gathered of an evening
around the cottage door.
II the first mate Of Castle liner gets
the sack, they will be able to tell you
what he said to the captain and what
the Old Man said to him, and what both
said to the Board, and, having finished
OFF that affair, they will cheerfully turn
his barge outside the West India No.
by accident or on purpose.
Theodore Racksole had, no satisfac-
tory means Of Identifying the steam
launch which carried away Mr.; Tom
Jackson. The sky had clouded over
soon after midnight and there was also
| slight mist. and he had only been
| able to make out that It was low
craft, ABOUT sixty feet long, probably
painted black
He had personally kept a watch all
through the night on vessels going up
| stream, and during the next morning
he had a man take his place who
| warned him whenever a steam launch
went toward Westminster. At noon,
after his conversation with Prince Ari-
| bert. he went down the river in a hired
| roNboat as far as the custonhouse,
| and poked about everywhere in search
| of any vessel which could by any posi-
| bilitv be the one he was in search Of
| But he found nothing. He was there
/ fore tolerably sure that the mysterious
launch lay somewhere below the Gus
| tomhouse.
At the customhouse stairs he landed
| and asked for a very high oficial-an
official inferior only to a commissioner
whom he had entertained once in
! New York and who had met him in
| London on business at Lloyd's.
In the large but dingy office Of the
great man 4 long conversation took
place. a conversation in which Racksole
| had to exercise a certain amount of
| persuasive power and which ultimately
ended in the high official ringing his
| bell
! Desire Mr.. HAZEL, room No. So, to
| speak to me-" said the official to the
bov who answered the summons. and