dr. cumberly, his face unusually pale, stood over by the window of inspector dunbar's room, his hands locked behind him. in the chair nearest to the window sat henry leroux, so muffled up in a fur-collared motor-coat that little of his face was visible; but his eyes were tragic as he leant forward resting his elbows upon his knees and twirling his cap between his thin fingers. he was watching inspector dunbar intently; only glancing from the gaunt face of the detective occasionally to look at denise ryland, who sat close to the table. at such times his gaze was pathetically reproachful, but always rather sorrowful than angry.
as for miss ryland, her habitual self-confidence seemed somewhat to have deserted her, and it was almost with respectful interest that she followed dunbar's examination of a cabman who, standing cap in hand, completed the party so strangely come together at that late hour.
“this is what you have said,” declared dunbar, taking up an official form, and, with a movement of his hand warning the taxi-man to pay attention: “'i, frederick dean, motor-cab driver, was standing on the rank in little abbey street to-night at about a quarter to nine. my cab was the second on the rank. a young lady who wore, i remember, a woolen cap and jersey, with a blue serge skirt, ran out from the corner of the square and directed me to follow the cab in front of me, which had just been chartered by a dark man wearing a black overcoat and silk hat. she ordered me to keep him in sight; and as i drove off i heard her calling from the window of my cab to another lady who seemed to be following her. i was unable to see this other lady, but my fare addressed her as 'denise.' i followed the first cab to whitechapel station; and as i saw it stop there, i swung into mount street. the lady gave me half-a-sovereign, and told me that she proposed to follow the man on foot. she asked me if i could manage to keep her in sight, without letting my cab be seen by the man she was following. i said i would try, and i crept along at some distance behind her, going as slowly as possible until she went into a turning branching off to the right of cambridge road; i don't know the name of this street. she was some distance ahead of me, for i had had trouble in crossing whitechapel road.
“'a big limousine had passed me a moment before, but as an electric tram was just going by on my off-side, between me and the limousine, i don't know where the limousine went. when i was clear of the tram i could not see it, and it may have gone down cambridge road and then down the same turning as the lady. i pulled up at the end of this turning, and could not see a sign of any one. it was quite deserted right to the end, and although i drove down, bore around to the right and finally came out near the top of globe road, i did not pass anyone. i waited about the district for over a quarter-of-an-hour and then drove straight to the police station, and they sent me on here to scotland yard to report what had occurred.'
“have you anything to add to that?” said dunbar, fixing his tawny eyes upon the cabman.
“nothing at all,” replied the man—a very spruce and intelligent specimen of his class and one who, although he had moved with the times, yet retained a slightly horsey appearance, which indicated that he had not always been a mechanical jehu.
“it is quite satisfactory as far as it goes,” muttered dunbar. “i'll get you to sign it now and we need not detain you any longer.”
“there is not the slightest doubt,” said dr. cumberly, stepping forward and speaking in an unusually harsh voice, “that helen endeavored to track this man gianapolis, and was abducted by him or his associates. the limousine was the car of which we have heard so much”...
“if my cabman had not been such a... fool,” broke in denise ryland, clasping her hands, “we should have had a different... tale to tell.”
“i have no wish to reproach anybody,” said dunbar, sternly; “but i feel called upon to remark, madam, that you ought to have known better than to interfere in a case like this; a case in which we are dealing with a desperate and clever gang.”
for once in her life denise ryland found herself unable to retort suitably. the mildly reproachful gaze of leroux she could not meet; and although dr. cumberly had spoken no word of complaint against her, from his pale face she persistently turned away her eyes.
the cabman having departed, the door almost immediately reopened, and sergeant sowerby came in.
“ah! there you are, sowerby!” cried dunbar, standing up and leaning eagerly across the table. “you have the particulars respecting the limousine?”
sergeant sowerby, removing his hat and carefully placing it upon the only vacant chair in the room, extracted a bulging notebook from a pocket concealed beneath his raincoat, cleared his throat, and reported as follows:
“there is only one car known to members of that division which answers to the description of the one wanted. this is a high-power, french car which seems to have been registered first in paris, where it was made, then in cairo, and lastly in london. it is the property of the gentleman whose telephone number is 18642 east—mr. i. gianapolis; and the reason of its frequent presence in the neighborhood of the west india dock road, is this: it is kept in a garage in wharf-end lane, off limehouse causeway. i have interviewed two constables at present on that beat, and they tell me that there is nothing mysterious about the car except that the chauffeur is a foreigner who speaks no english. he is often to be seen cleaning the car in the garage, and both the men are in the habit of exchanging good evening with him when passing the end of the lane. they rarely go that far, however, as it leads nowhere.”
“but if you have the telephone number of this man, gianapolis,” cried dr. cumberly, “you must also have his address”...
“we obtained both from the eastern exchange,” interrupted inspector dunbar. “the instrument, number 18642 east, is installed in an office in globe road. the office, which is situated in a converted private dwelling, bears a brass plate simply inscribed, 'i. gianapolis, london and smyrna.'”
“what is the man's reputed business?” jerked cumberly.
“we have not quite got to the bottom of that, yet,” replied sowerby; “but he is an agent of some kind, and evidently in a large way of business, as he runs a very fine car, and seems to live principally in different hotels. i am told that he is an importer of turkish cigarettes and”...
“he is an importer and exporter of hashish!” snapped dunbar irritably. “if i could clap my eyes upon him i should know him at once! i tell you, sowerby, he is the man who was convicted last year of exporting hashish to egypt in faked packing cases which contained pottery ware, ostensibly, but had false bottoms filled with cakes of hashish”...
“but,” began dr. cumberly...
“but because he came before a silly bench,” snapped dunbar, his eyes flashing angrily, “he got off with a fine—a heavy one, certainly, but he could well afford to pay it. it is that kind of judicial folly which ties the hands of scotland yard!”
“what makes you so confident that this is the man?” asked the physician.
“he was convicted under the name of g. ionagis,” replied the detective; “which i believe to be either his real name or his real name transposed. do you follow me? i. gianapolis is ionagis gianapolis, and g. ionagis is gianapolis ionagis. i was not associated with the hashish case; he stored the stuff in a china warehouse within the city precincts, and at that time he did not come within my sphere. but i looked into it privately, and i could see that the prosecution was merely skimming the surface; we are only beginning to get down to the depths now.”
dr. cumberly raised his hand to his head in a distracted manner.
“surely,” he said, and he was evidently exercising a great restraint upon himself—“surely we're wasting time. the office in globe road should be raided without delay. no stone should be left unturned to effect the immediate arrest of this man gianapolis or ionagis. why, god almighty! while we are talking here, my daughter”...
“morbleu! who talks of arresting gianapolis?” inquired the voice of a man who silently had entered the room.
all turned their heads; and there in the doorway stood m. gaston max.
“thank god you've come!” said dunbar with sincerity. he dropped back into his chair, a strong man exhausted. “this case is getting beyond me!”
denise ryland was staring at the frenchman as if fascinated. he, for his part, having glanced around the room, seemed called upon to give her some explanation of his presence.
“madame,” he said, bowing in his courtly way, “only because of very great interests did i dare to conceal my true identity. my name is gaston, that is true, but only so far as it goes. my real name is gaston max, and you who live in paris will perhaps have heard it.”
“gaston max!” cried denise ryland, springing upright as though galvanized; “you are m. gaston max! but you are not the least bit in the world like”...
“myself?” said the frenchman, smiling. “madame, it is only a man fortunate enough to possess no enemies who can dare to be like himself.”
he bowed to her in an oddly conclusive manner, and turned again to inspector dunbar.
“i am summoned in haste,” he said; “tell me quickly of this new development.”
sowerby snatched his hat from the vacant chair, and politely placed the chair for m. max to sit upon. the frenchman, always courteous, gently forced sergeant sowerby himself to occupy the chair, silencing his muttered protests with upraised hand. the matter settled, he lowered his hand, and, resting it fraternally upon the sergeant's shoulder, listened to inspector dunbar's account of what had occurred that night. no one interrupted the inspector until he was come to the end of his narrative.
“mille tonnerres!” then exclaimed m. max; and, holding a finger of his glove between his teeth, he tugged so sharply that a long rent appeared in the suede.
his eyes were on fire; the whole man quivered with electric force.
in silence that group watched the celebrated frenchman; instinctively they looked to him for aid. it is at such times that personality proclaims itself. here was the last court of appeal, to which came dr. cumberly and inspector dunbar alike; whose pronouncement they awaited, not questioning that it would be final.
“to-morrow night,” began max, speaking in a very low voice, “we raid the headquarters of ho-pin. this disappearance of your daughter, dr. cumberly, is frightful; it could not have been foreseen or it should have been prevented. but the least mistake now, and”—he looked at dr. cumberly as if apologizing for his barbed words—“she may never return!”
“my god!” groaned the physician, and momentarily dropped his face into his hands.
but almost immediately he recovered himself and with his mouth drawn into a grim straight line, looked again at m. max, who continued:
“i do not think that this abduction was planned by the group; i think it was an accident and that they were forced, in self-protection, to detain your daughter, who unwisely—morbleu! how unwisely!—forced herself into their secrets. to arrest gianapolis (even if that were possible) would be to close their doors to us permanently; and as we do not even know the situation of those doors, that would be to ruin everything. whether miss cumberly is confined in the establishment of ho-pin or somewhere else, i cannot say; whether she is a captive of gianapolis or of mr. king, i do not know. but i know that the usual conduct of the establishment is not being interrupted at present; for only half-an-hour ago i telephoned to mr. gianapolis!”
“at globe road?” snapped dunbar, with a flash of the tawny eyes.
“at globe road—yes (oh! they would not detain her there!). mr. gianapolis was present to speak to me. he met me very agreeably in the matter of occupying my old room in the delightful chinese hotel of mr. ho-pin. therefore”—he swept his left hand around forensically, as if to include the whole of the company—“to-morrow night at eleven o'clock i shall be meeting mr. gianapolis at piccadilly circus, and later we shall join the limousine and be driven to the establishment of ho-pin.” he turned to inspector dunbar. “your arrangements for watching all the approaches to the suspected area are no doubt complete?”
“not a stray cat,” said dunbar with emphasis, “can approach limehouse causeway or pennyfields, or any of the environs of the place, to-morrow night after ten o'clock, without the fact being reported to me! you will know at the moment that you step from the limousine that a cyclist scout, carefully concealed, is close at your heels with a whole troup to follow; and if, as you suspect, the den adjoins the river bank, a police cutter will be lying at the nearest available point.”
“eh bien!” said m. max; then, turning to denise ryland and dr. cumberly, and shrugging his shoulders: “you see, frightful as your suspense must be, to make any foolish arrests to-night, to move in this matter at all to-night—would be a case of more haste and less speed”...
“but,” groaned cumberly, “is helen to lie in that foul, unspeakable den until the small hours of to-morrow morning? good god! they may”...
“there is one little point,” interrupted m. max with upraised hand, “which makes it impossible that we should move to-night—quite apart from the advisability of such a movement. we do not know exactly where this place is situated. what can we do?”
he shrugged his shoulders, and, with raised eyebrows, stared at dr. cumberly.
“it is fairly evident,” replied the other slowly, and with a repetition of the weary upraising of his hand to his head, “it is fairly evident that the garage used by the man gianapolis must be very near to—most probably adjoining—the entrance to this place of which you speak.”
“quite true,” agreed the frenchman. “but these are clever, these people of mr. king. they are chinese, remember, and the chinese—ah, i know it!—are the most mysterious and most cunning people in the world. the entrance to the cave of black and gold will not be as wide as a cathedral door. a thousand men might search this garage, which, as detective sowerby” (he clapped the latter on the shoulder) “informed me this afternoon, is situated in wharf-end lane—all day and all night, and become none the wiser. to-morrow evening”—he lowered his voice—“i myself, shall be not outside, but inside that secret place; i shall be the concierge for one night—eh bien, that concierge will admit the policeman!”
a groan issued from dr. cumberly's lips; and m. max, with ready sympathy, crossed the room and placed his hands upon the physician's shoulders, looking steadfastly into his eyes.
“i understand, dr. cumberly,” he said, and his voice was caressing as a woman's. “pardieu! i understand. to wait is agony; but you, who are a physician, know that to wait sometimes is necessary. have courage, my friend, have courage!”
