CHAPTER XIX
TWO GREAT MEN MEET
"Gone!" Lady Agatha, who had emerged from her stateroom, turned paleand caught at her heart.
They rushed on deck. The young Doctor was right; the box, which hadstood on the larboard side of the cabin, had disappeared.
"It might have been blown into the canal during the storm," suggestedthe Rev. Mr. Calthrop. All of the crew of the Jasper B. knew LadyAgatha's story, and were aware of the importance of the box.
"It was on the lee side of the cabin," objected Dr. Farnsworth, "andwhile it might have been blown flat to the deck, in spite of itsprotected position, it would scarcely have been picked up by the windagain and wafted over the port bulwarks."
"If you was to ask me," said Cap'n Abernethy, who had joined in thediscussion, "I'd give it as MY opinion it's a good riddance of badrubbish."
"Rubbish?" said Miss Pringle. "Rubbish, indeed! I am confident thatthat box contained my plum preserves!"
"It has been stolen!" cried Cleggett, with conviction. "Fool that Iwas, not to have taken it into the cabin!"
"But, if you had, you know," said Lady Agatha, "one would scarcely havecared to stay in there with it."
"Loge has outgeneraled me," murmured Cleggett, well-nigh frantic withself-reproach. "While he made the attack in front, he sent some of hismen to the rear of the vessel and it was quietly made off with while wewere fighting." Had the disappearance of the box concerned himselfalone Cleggett's sense of disaster might have been less poignant. Butthe thought that his own carelessness had enabled the enemy to getpossession of a thing likely to involve Lady Agatha in further troublewas nearly insupportable. He gritted his teeth and clenched his handsin impotent rage.
"No doubt Loge caught sight of it during the early part of theskirmish, by a flash of lightning," said Dr. Farnsworth, "and acted asyou suggest, Mr. Cleggett. But does he believe it to be the box whichcontains the evidence against him? Or can he, by any chance, be awareof its real contents?"
"No matter which," groaned Cleggett, "no matter which! For when heopens it, he will learn what is in it. Don't you see that he has usnow? If he offers to trade it back to us for the other oblong box, howcan I refuse? If we have his secret, Loge has ours!"
But Dr. Farnsworth was not listening. He had suddenly leaned over theport rail and was staring down the canal. The others followed his gaze.
The house boat Annabel Lee, they perceived, had got under weigh, andwas slowly approaching the Jasper B. in the moonlight. They watchedher gradual approach in silence. She stopped within a few yards of theJasper B., and a voice which Cleggett recognized as that of WiltonBarnstable, the great detective, sang out:
"Jasper B., ahoy!"
"Aye, aye!" shouted Cleggett.
"Is Mr. Cleggett on board?"
"He is speaking."
"Mr. Cleggett, have you lost anything from your canal boat?"
Cleggett did not answer, and for a moment he did not move. Then,tightening his sword belt, and cocking his hat a trifle, he climbedover the starboard rail and walked along the bank of the canal a fewyards until he was opposite the Annabel Lee. The great detective, onhis part, also stepped ashore. They stood and faced each other in themoonlight, silently, and their followers, also in silence, gathered inthe bows of the respective vessels and watched them.
Finally, Cleggett, with one hand on his hip, and standing with his feetwide apart, said very incisively:
"Sir, the Jasper B. is NOT a canal boat."
"Eh?" Wilton Barnstable started at the emphasis.
"The Jasper B.," pursued Cleggett, staring steadily at WiltonBarnstable, "is a schooner."
"Ah!" said the other. "Indeed?"
"A schooner," repeated Cleggett, "indeed, sir! Indeed, sir, a schooner!"
There was another silence, in which neither man would look aside; theyheld each other with their eyes; the nervous strain communicated itselfto the crews of the two vessels. At last, however, the detective,although he did not lower his gaze, and although he strove to give hisnew attitude an effect of ease and jauntiness by twisting the end ofhis mustache as he spoke, said to Cleggett:
"A schooner, then, Mr. Cleggett, a schooner! No offense, I hope?"
"None at all," said Cleggett, heartily enough, now that the point hadbeen established. And the tension relaxed on both ships.
"You have lost an oblong box, Mr. Cleggett." The great detectiveaffirmed it rather than interrogated.
"How did you know that?"
The other laughed. "We know a great many things--it is our business toknow things," he said. Then he dropped his voice to a whisper, and saidrapidly, "Mr. Cleggett, do you know who I am?" Before Cleggett couldreply he continued, "Brace yourself--do not make an outcry when I tellyou who I am. I am Wilton Barnstable."
"I knew you," said Cleggett. The other appeared disappointed for amoment. And then he inquired anxiously, "How did you know me?"
"Why, from your pictures in the magazines," said Cleggett.
The detective brightened perceptibly. "Ah, yes--the magazines! Yes,yes, indeed! publicity is unavoidable, unavoidable, Mr. Cleggett! Butthis box, now----"
The great detective interrupted himself to laugh again, a triflecomplacently, Cleggett thought.
"I will not mystify you, Mr. Cleggett, about the box. Mystification isone of the tricks of the older schools of detection. I never practiceit, Mr. Cleggett. With me, the detection of crime is a business--yes,a business. I will tell you presently how the box came into mypossession."
"It IS in your possession?" Cleggett felt a dull pang of the heart.If the box of Reginal Maltravers were in the hands of Logan Black hecould at least trade the other oblong box to Loge for it, and thus saveLady Agatha. But in the possession of Wilton Barnstable, the greatdetective----! Cleggett pulled himself together; he thought rapidly;he recognized that the situation called, above all things else, fordiplomacy and adroitness. He went on, nonchalantly:
"I suppose you are aware of the contents of the box?"
The other laughed again as if Cleggett had made an excellent jest;there was something urbane and benign in his manner; it appeared as ifhe regarded the contents of the box of Reginald Maltravers as anythingbut serious; his tone puzzled Cleggett.
"Suppose I bring the box on board the Jasper B.," suggested the greatdetective. "It interests me, that box. I have no doubt it has itsstory. And perhaps, while you are telling me some things about it, Imay be able to give you some information in turn."
There was no mistaking the fact that the man, whether genuinelyfriendly or no, wished to appear so.
"Have it brought into my cabin," said Cleggett, "and we will discussit."
A few minutes later Wilton Barnstable, Cleggett, Lady Agatha, MissPringle, and two of Wilton Barnstable's men sat in the cabin of theJasper B., with the two oblong boxes before them--the one which hadcontained Loge's incriminating diary, and the one which had caused LadyAgatha so much trouble.
In the light of the cabin the three detectives were revealed asstartlingly alike. Barton Ward and Watson Bard, Barnstable's twoassistants, might, indeed, almost have been taken for Barnstablehimself, at a casual glance. In height, in bulk, in dress, in facialexpression, they seemed Wilton Barnstable all over again. But, lookingintently at the three men, Cleggett began to perceive a differencebetween the real Wilton Barnstable and his two counterfeits. It was thedifference between the face which is informed of genius, and thecountenance which is indicative of mere talent.
"Mr. Cleggett," began Wilton Barnstable, "as I said before, I will makeno attempt to mystify you. I was a witness to the attack upon yourvessel. Mr. Ward, Mr. Bard, and myself, in fact, had determined toassist you, had we seen that the combat was going against you. We lay,during the struggle, in the lee of your--your--er, schooner!--in thelee of your schooner, armed, and ready to bear a hand. We have our ownlittle matter to settle with Logan Black. Why Logan Black shoulddesire possession of this particular box, I am una
ble to state.Nevertheless, at the moment when he was leading his assault upon yourstarboard bow, two of his men, who had made a detour to the stern ofyour vessel, had clambered stealthily aboard, and were quietly pushingthe box over the side into the canal. They let themselves down intothe water, and swam towards the mouth of the canal, pushing it ahead ofthem. We followed in our rowboat, Mr. Ward, Mr. Bard, and myself, at adiscreet distance. We let them push the box as far south as theAnnabel Lee. And then----"
He paused a moment, and smiled reminiscently. Barton Ward and WatsonBard also smiled reminiscently, and the three detectives exchangedcrafty glances.
"Then, to be brief, we took the box away from them. They were soill-advised as to struggle. They are in irons, now, on board theAnnabel Lee.
"But what I cannot understand, Mr. Cleggett, is why these men shouldrisk so much to make off with an empty box."
"An empty box!" cried Cleggett.
"Empty!" echoed Lady Agatha and Miss Pringle, in concert.
The detective wrenched the cover from the box of Reginald Maltravers.
"Practically empty, at any rate," he said.
And, indeed, except for a few wads of wet excelsior, there was nothingin the box of Reginald Maltravers.
"Where, then," cried Lady Agatha, "is Reginald Maltravers?"
"Where, indeed," said Wilton Barnstable, "is Reginald Maltravers?"
"Where, then," cried Miss Pringle, "are my plum preserves?"
"Where, indeed?" repeated Wilton Barnstable. And Barton Ward and WatsonBard, although they did not speak aloud, stroked their mustaches andtheir lips formed the ejaculation, "Where, indeed?"
"We will tell you everything," said Cleggett. And beginning with hispurchase of the Jasper B. he recounted rapidly, but with sufficientdetail, all the facts with which the reader is already familiar,weaving into his story the tale of Lady Agatha and the adventures ofMiss Pringle. Wilton Barnstable listened attentively. So did BartonWard and Watson Bard. The benign smile which was so characteristic ofWilton Barnstable never left the three faces, but it was evident toCleggett that these trained intelligences grasped and weighed andticketed every detail.
While Cleggett narrates, and Wilton Barnstable and his men listen, aword to the reader concerning this great detective.