The Colonel's Enemy.
CHAPTER XXXl.—Continued. i Lugard felt convinced that these injuries had been received in his service, and that they were severe he could tell by De Vigne's serious countenance. I "When was this done?" "Not many hours ago, sir. I was making a short cut from St. James' , Park to Piccadilly when a couple uf men took a fancy to my watch, and we had a tussle for it, and they didn't get it They got clean away, but I shall know them again-" , r - ! "The wonder is," said De Vigne, "that they did not leave you dead. The worst ruffians we read of are never half so brutal when robbery j is their only purpose. This looks to me like a deliberate attempt at murder; no ordinary footpad would have dealt such blows as you have ; had. The marvel is how you escaped." ~ "I cried out, you may be sure, said Ditton, "and they ran away when they heard a policeman's whistle. Two officers came and , picked me up and hound msy head with their own handkerchiefs; it j was very kind of them, and the surgeon st the station did the rest. They wanted me to go to the hospital, but I don't care to be practised on and lectured over; I went on:e when I was in the army, ami no more ior me, thank you." "My good fellow," said De Vigne in kindly reproach, "that is surely an ungrateful thing to say; being practised on, as you call it, merely means that the case is being explained to students by an experienced physician for the benefit of humanity at large." "There is rather to<> much humanity at large, and I do..'t intend it to benefit at my expense," Ditton baid. "1 should die in a hospital, and I wanted to come home. I thought | that even if I was ill, the major j would not mind taking care of me, I and I wanted to bi out again tomorrow." "You are right," said the major, with sclJierly brevity, "and Dr. Dj Vigne will, look after you; but Ido not think you can go out tomorrow." Joseph Ditton thanked his master, and said he must go out. He murmured a few words of acknowledge ment to the doctor, but there was no especial favour of gratitude in them. De Vigne was kindness itself, but the man instinctively disliked or distrusted him. "You will do very well till the morning," the doctor said: "only keep yourself quiet and do not attempt to go out. I have to leave you now, major, it is rather late forme." The major was net sorry; he saw by Ditton's face that the man had something to say as the doctor had, for he took Lugerd with him to the faall. "Your man is badly hurt," he said, "and you will have some trouble in keeping him quiet. He has the vitality of a cat and is as obstinate as a mule. Your authority would keep him in, but if he has set his mind on going out to morrow, keeping him in might do more htr.Ti than good." "Tell me what to do with him, and I will do it," said Lugard, "for the fellow is a great favourite of mine: and in addition to the animal attributes you have mentioned, he has more than the fidelity of a dog. Shall I keep him in? A word will do it." The doctor shook his head doubtfully. "There is a strong case of inward fever at present," he said, "and if he were excited by restraint it
might lead to inflammation, rerhaps you best course will be to let him go till be gives in, and then take all the care of him you can. But do not be surprised if you lose him." "If he dies, you mean?" "Yes." "I am not afraid of that," the major gaid; "1 have seen some men fight on with a dozen wounds in them, while others would faint at the might of blood or the first sensation of pain. "And the man who would fight, in spite of his wounds, had ten to one the best chances of recovery. You will see him in the morning?" "He shall be ny first call, and I hope his assailant will be brought to justice, for a more brutal piece of work I never saw." When Lugard returned, his man was standnig leaning on the back of the major's chair, and he would not seat himself again till his master was gently imperative. "We must consider ourselves comrades in action for the present," Lugard said, "and you have been wounded; in such cases, as you know, there is no ceremony on the field, and now that we are alone, how did you manage to get into this trouble?" "The'wonder is I have kept out of it so long, sir, as you will say when you hear what I have to tell you. This," and he touched his bandaged head, "was done by men who were put on me by Capt. Crauliss." "He must have seen, then, that you were following him?" "He did. I found that he is living close to the World's End at Fulham in a respectable house, where he is looked upon as a regular swell, and, except that he goes to the city regularly, no one knows anything about him in the neighbourhood. He lodges in Norman Grove. I took a front room in a house nearly opposite." "What was your object in that?" "To see what kind of visitors and acquaintances he had at home as well as out of doors, and I was rather surprised to fin'd that one of his visitors was Mr Dacre." "Why should you be?—as he is evidently Mr Dacre's confidential man." ~ "Yts, sir; but gentlemen do not, rule, wait upon their confidential me;;, especially when the man. is
By WINTHROP B. HARLAND. Author of "Lady Elgin's Secret/' "A Harvest of Shame," " Che Elder Son," " Lord Ashton's Heir," Etc.
in the beat of health and the master can hardly put one foot before the other; and it was shortly after one of Mr Dacre's visits, within a few hours, that the raptain went to Antwerp." "You followed him?" the major said, "and it was you I saw at the railway station on my return?" "I saw you, sir. 1 saw you in Antwerp as well; but I kept out of the way. You were with Mr Fletcher, and I did not want him to think I was doing anything in the same line. I dogged Crauliss as closely as I could, and I saw him post a letter. I saw that it was addressed to Miss St. Hilary, Canon Street, Park Lane, London." The major felt a thrill creep through him from the roots of his hair to the ends of his fingers and his feet. Here was evidence on which he could depend, and taken in conjunction with what lie had heard from Darlington, it began to fix one figure in his mind, but he would not name it yet, he could only listen. "The captain did not return until >,ext day," Ditton went on, "and I saw nothing of Mr Dacre for a day or to; then he called on the captain nearly every morning, and he used to stay in the captans' lodgings while the captain went out, I should say on some important business for him." "That, too, is easily explained," the major said. "Miss St. Hilary was dangerously ill. Mr Dacre cnuld not have his usual consultations with his man of business at home, and he could not undergo the fatigue of a journey to the city, so he saw the I man at his place on Norman Grove." j "And sent the captain to the , city for him, you think, sir?" j "That is the most natrual explana- ' tion." "I thought it might be so," said Ditton; "but the captain did not have time to go to the city and back; he was rarely gone more than an hour and a half, at most two hqrus, and ho never went to the city. He always went and returned in a private brougham *hat took him think, toward Hurlingham." "You only think?" "I. only think, sir. The drive of that brougham baffled me. He had a horse, a quiet, handsome animal to look at, but I should say it could trot fiif teen miles an hour without seemI ing to go fast; and once clear of the regular traffic, might aa well have tried to follow it on a brewer's dray as in a hansom. Anyhow, as a hansom would have to gallop itshardest, and we should have been stopped, as we were once, for furious driving, it was only a caution, and my driver said the horse had bolted, but he would not risk it again." "So here is an end of your search so far?" • [to be continued.]
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAG19090408.2.3
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3158, 8 April 1909, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,509The Colonel's Enemy. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3158, 8 April 1909, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Wairarapa Age. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.