Part 18 (1/2)

Harranby frowned at him. ”Do you have something to say?”

”I was only thinking, sir,” Sharp said, ”that if it is Greenwich, it's out of our jurisdiction. Perhaps we ought to telegraph the local police and warn them.”

”Perhaps, perhaps. When will you learn to do without that word? If we were to cable Greenwich, what would we tell them? Eh? What would we say in our cable?”

”I was only thinking---”

”Good G.o.d,” Harranby said, standing up behind his desk. ”Of course! The cable!”

”The cable?”

”Yes, of course, the cable. The cable is in Greenwich, even as we speak.”

”Do you mean the Atlantic cable?” Sharp asked.

”Certainly,” Harranby said, rubbing his hands together. ”Oh, it fits perfectly. Perfectly! ”

Sharp remained puzzled. He knew, of course, that the proposed transatlantic telegraph cable was being manufactured in Greenwich; the project had been underway for more than a year, and represented one of most considerable technological efforts of the time. There were already undersea cables in the Channel, linking England to the Continent. But these were nothing compared to the twenty-five hundred miles of cable being constructed to join England to New York.

”But surely,” Sharp said, ”there is no purpose in stealing a cable---”

”Not the cable,” Harranby said. ”The payroll for the firm. What is it? Gla.s.s, Elliot & Company, or some such. An enormous project, and the payroll must be equal to the undertaking. That's our man's objective. And if he is in a hurry to leave on Thursday, he wishes to be there on Friday---”

”Payday!” Sharp cried.

”Exactly,” Harranby said. ”It is entirely logical. Yon see the process of deduction carried to its most accurate conclusion.”

”Congratulations,” Sharp said cautiously.

”A trifle,” Harranby said. He was still very excited, and clapped his hands together. ”Oh, he is a bold one, our friend Simms. To steal the cable payroll--- what an audacious crime! And we shall have him red-handed. Come along, Mr. Sharp. We must journey to Greenwich, and apprise ourselves of the situation at first hand.”

Chapter 37.

Further Congratulations

”And then?” Pierce said.

Miriam shrugged. ”They boarded the train.”

”How many of them were there?”

”Four altogether.”

”And they took the Greenwich train?”

Miriam nodded. ”In great haste. The leader was a squarish man with whiskers, and his lackey was clean-shaven. There were two others, jacks in blue.”

Pierce smiled. ”Harranby,” he said. ”He must be very proud of himself. He's such a clever man.” He turned to Agar. ”And you?”

”Fat Eye Lewis, the magsman, is in the Regency Arms asking about a cracker's lay in Greenwich--- wants to join in, he says.”

”So the word is out?” Pierce said.

Agar nodded.

”Feed it,” he said.

”Who shall I say is in?”

”Spring Heel Jack, for one.”

”What if the miltonians find him?” Agar said.

”I doubt that they will,” Pierce said..

”Jack's under, is he?”

”So I have heard.”

”Then I'll mention him.”

”Make Fat Eye pay,” Pierce said. ”This is valuable information.”

Agar grinned. ”It'll come to him dear, I promise you.”

Agar departed, and Pierce was alone with Miriam.

”Congratulations,” she said, smiling at him. ”Nothing can go wrong now.”

Pierce sat back in a chair. ”Something can always go wrong,” he said, but he was smiling.

”In four days?” she asked.

”Even in the s.p.a.ce of an hour.”

Later, in his courtroom testimony, Pierce admitted he was astounded at how prophetic his own words were, for enormous difficulties lay ahead--- and they would come from the most unlikely source.

Chapter 38.