Part 20 (1/2)

Again silence fell on the little group, and then Merriman, who had for some time been lost in thought, made a sudden movement.

”Lord!” he exclaimed, ”but we have been fools over this thing! There's another point we've all missed, which alone proves it couldn't have been faked props. Here, Hilliard, this was your theory, though I don't mean to saddle you with more imbecility than myself. But anyway, according to your theory, what happened to the props after they were unloaded?”

Hilliard stared at this outburst.

”After they were unloaded?” he repeated. ”Why, returned of course for the next cargo.”

”But that's just it,” cried Merriman. ”That's just what wasn't done.

We've seen that boat unloaded twice, and on neither occasion were any props loaded to go back.”

”That's a point, certainly; yes,” Leatham interposed. ”I suppose they would have to be used again and again? Each trip's props couldn't be destroyed after arrival, and new ones made for the next cargo?”

Hilliard shook his head reluctantly.

”No,” he declared. ”Impossible. Those things would cost a lot of money.

You see, no cheap scheme, say of s.h.i.+pping bottles into hollowed props, would do. The props would have to be thoroughly well made, so that they wouldn't break and give the show away if accidentally dropped. They wouldn't pay unless they were used several times over. I'm afraid Merriman's point is sound, and we may give up the idea.”

Further discussion only strengthened this opinion, and the three men had to admit themselves at a total loss as to their next move. The only SUGGESTION in the field was that of Leatham, to inform Scotland Yard, and that was at last approved by Hilliard as a counsel of despair.

”There's nothing else for it that I can see,” he observed gloomily.

”We've done our best on our own and failed, and we may let someone else have a shot now. My leave's nearly up anyway.”

Merriman said nothing at the time, but next day, when they had taken leave of their host and were in train for King's Cross, he reopened the subject.

”I needn't say, Hilliard,” he began, ”I'm most anxious that the police should not be brought in, and you know the reason why. If she gets into any difficulty about the affair, you understand my life's at an end for any good it'll do me. Let's wait a while and think over the thing further, and perhaps we'll see daylight before long.”

Hilliard made a gesture of impatience.

”If you can suggest any single thing that we should do that we haven't done, I'm ready to do it. But if you can't, I don't see that we'd be justified in keeping all that knowledge to ourselves for an indefinite time while we waited for an inspiration. Is not that reasonable?”

”It's perfectly reasonable,” Merriman admitted, ”and I don't suggest we should wait indefinitely. What I propose is that we wait for a month.

Give me another month, Hilliard, and I'll be satisfied. I have an idea that something might be learned from tracing that lorry number business, and if you have to go back to work I'll slip over by myself to Bordeaux and see what I can do. And if I fail I'll see her, and try to get her to marry me in spite of the trouble. Wait a month, Hilliard, and by that time I shall know where I stand.”

Hilliard was extremely unwilling to agree to this proposal. Though he realized that he could not hand over to his superiors a complete case against the syndicate, he also saw that considerable kudos was still possible if he supplied information which would enable their detectives to establish one. And every day he delayed increased the chance of someone else finding the key to the riddle, and thus robbing him of his reward. Merriman realized the position, and he therefore fully appreciated the sacrifice Hilliard was risking when after a long discussion that young man gave his consent.

Two days later Hilliard was back at his office, while Merriman, after an argument with his partner not far removed from a complete break, was on his way once more to the south of France.

CHAPTER 10. MERRIMAN BECOMES DESPERATE

The failure of the attempt to learn the secret of the Pit-Prop Syndicate affected Merriman more than he could have believed possible.

His interest in the affair was not that of Hilliard. Neither the intellectual joy of solving a difficult problem for its own sake, nor the kudos which such a solution might bring, made much appeal to him.

His concern was simply the happiness of the girl he loved, and though, to do him justice, he did not think overmuch of himself, he recognized that any barrier raised between them was the end for him of all that made life endurable.

As he lay back with closed eyes in the corner seat of a first-cla.s.s compartment in the boat train from Calais he went over for the thousandth time the details of the problem as it affected himself. Had Mr. Coburn rendered himself liable to arrest or even to penal servitude, and did his daughter know it? The anxious, troubled look which Merriman had on different occasions surprised on the girl's expressive face made him fear both these possibilities. But if they were true did it stop there? Was her disquietude due merely to knowledge of her father's danger, or was she herself in peril also? Merriman wondered could she have such knowledge and not be in peril herself. In the eyes of the law would it not be a guilty knowledge? Could she not be convicted as an accessory?

If it were so he must act at once if he were to save her. But how?