The Colonel's Enemy.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3144, 23 March 1909, Page 2

The Colonel's Enemy.

CHAPTER XXl.—Continued

"No, sir, not quiti. 1 mean to say he is not a gentleman of your kir.d. Of covirse, having been a solider, I have seen gentlemen of all sorts among the officers, and it occurred to roe that if he ever had been a captain he had risen from the ranks."

"The very man," said Maj. Lugard, emphatically. "Capt. Crauliss."

"That's the name, sir. The tobacconist did tell me, and I was trying to think of it. I got as far as Craw, Crawford, Crawshaw and Oaven; but I could not think of Crauliss, and that's the name." "And you, my good fellow, have given me the most intricate puzzle J, have ever had to solve. Your intelligence is beyond all • praise, and it may be that you have furnished us with a singularly useful clug. You will not mention it to anyone?" "Mo, sir; you may trust me for that; and you think it was worth taking noitce of?" "There can be no doubt of that, Ditton."

"I am glad of that, sir, because I feared you might think it was a silly fancy of mine; and what I really did think was that this man might be a brother of the one the colonel went away with, because voices do run alike in families —voices more than anything; and there's something of the same walk, too, a certain kind of stride and swagger that I noticed in the other, and he may be a brother. Don't you think so, sir?" "No," said the major, "I do not. I think he is more likely the man himself, and that would accoflnt for everything. The fellow has worked himself into poor, unspecting Mr Dacre's confidence, and that is how he gets the information which has enabled him to do what he has done."

CHAPTER XXII.

THE LETTER FROM ANTWERP.

The impression that his man had come accidentally upon a most important clue had fixed itself strongly in the major's mind. It was but a slight clue, perhaps, if weighed and sifted as it would be by others, and the soldier thought of the halfderisive smile of incredulity with which Mr Fletcher and Dr. De Vigne would listen to it; but though Joseph Ditton had not been long in his service he had been long enough for his master to know that he was a man whose word could be taken. Frederick Lugard had sepn the ex-waiter of the Cornwallis was a close observer, carefully truthful, and strictly honest. The ir ore he thought ot it, the more he felt convinced that Ditton was not likely to be mistaken. "It was not by his Voice alone that he reminded you of the other man," the major said; "but there was something in his walk, a certain stride and swagger, as you describe it, that was familiar to you?"

"Yes', sir; and there was more than that; his voice struck me at once, and made me listen. If I had heard a f<;w words only. I might have thought I had made a mistake; but he had quite a little conversation with the man who served him, and while he waa talking I was slowly filling, my pipe and watching the play of bis features in the glass at the back of the counteu. He has rather a taking manner, and spoke as if he likes to make himself pleasant; .and when he answers a question he has a way of lifting his eyebrows with a cod and a smile, as if he was surprised that you were not convinced by what he said before, and that was jast how he spoke to me when he came back to the hotel after putting the colonel in the carriage. I remember the very words." "What are they?"

"He said, 'Be sure you don't forget to give Mr Dacre the colonel's note, ard see that his friends have everything they require; and you had better have a fire in the room.'

"Then I said to him, 'Then [you are coming back, sir?' and he answered me with just the nod and the smile and lifting of the eyebrows that one had when he spoke in the cigar shop. Of course it would be easy enough to say that a dozen other men mighn have the same peculiarity, and I should not care to mention it to anybody but you, sir; though I do think there may be something in it." "Did he, by any glance or movement, seem to recongize you?" "No, sir; he would not be likely to. He saw me in seedy black, with a second day's tie on, and a pale, careworn face. I wes never comfortable there, the manager did not like me, and he kept me under as much as he could. Now it is different. I looked another man this murning. 1 had a good overcoat on, and stood up straight, instead of cringing with a stoop, as if 1 expected a tip,." The major smiled. Evidently Mr Ditton had been cut of his element, when he wore a suborinate waiter's seedy black suit and a dingy tie at the Liverpool hotel. "Ditton," he said, after a long pause, "I ?t first intended to send you with a note to Mr Fletcher, and instruct you to tell him what you have told me. On reflection, and for the present, at least, I think it best to keep this part of the business to ourselves. Fletcher's hands are full enough, and he may do some useful work, though I sra riot quite satisfied with his way of conducting the case. He had not; risen, mentally, much beyond the level of the ordinary police inspector in uniform; he is crotchety, and, no, amount perience will ever give him detective i;.et:r.et. Darlirgton, of

$ By WINTHROP B. HARLAND. 5 | Author of "Lady Elgin's Secret," "A Harvest of | £ Shame," " The Elder Son," "Lord j 1 Asliton's Heir," Etc. *)

Liverpool, is worth twenty of him." "That's ray opinion, too, sir."

"The next point is that I cannot take Dr. De Vigns into my confidence in this particular instance: he might inadvertently mention it to Mr Dacre, and it would pain him to think that any friend of his was suspected of having a hand in the colonel's disappearance. He would insist upon having it cleared up, and so put Capt. Crauliss on his guard." Mr Ditton, listening attentively, amited in silent and respectful approval. "If my theory is the correct one," the major proceeded, "and I think it is, this Capt. Crauliss is the prime mover in the matter. Ido not believe he ever held a commission _in the army, and though to style himself Captain is a harmless imposition of itself, it takes a doubtful aspect in co junction with other things. A man who dresses well, smokes good cigars, wears a diamond ring, and rides in a hansom on the stength of being an indefinite 'something in the mercantile way,' is open to the imputation of being one of those plausible confidence men whose doings, while they remain on the safe side of the law, would hardly bear the light of day." "I know what they are, sir. 1 was employed in the business section of the city myself before I went as waiter."

"Then you may find your knowledge useful. Now, to make my theory tenable, this Capt. Crauliss must be in league with a gang of swindlers, some of whom were concerned in the Crombie frauds, and who would have been recognized by the colonel had he come to London. Crauliss, who acts as a sort of agent and factotum for Mr Dacre, no doubt heard from him that the colonel was on his way, and the result was that St. Hilary was lured from the hotel as you know, and since then Mr Dacre has, innocently enough, kept Crauliss acquainted with every step we have taken."

"It seems to me, sir, that you have got right down to the truth of it."

"1 believe we are travelling that way, Ditton, ?nd now a great deal will depend on you. I know I can rely on your intelligence and fidelity, and so I shall intrust to you the special duty of looking atfer Capt. Crauliss. Make that cigar shop your starting point, and you are srue to see him again. You will keep him in sight from that moment; follow him, find out all you can about him —where he lives, how he lives, the places he frequents, and the men he associates with—and I believe that by following this clue we shall come to the pith of the mystery." "Whether you do or not, sir, you will have the advantage of comparing notes, as all the information comes to you, and what you get from one clue may throw a light upon another; but who will attend you, sir, if I am kept out late, or, perhaps, all night?" [to be continued.]