"You have heard something," he said, withdrawing his gaze slowly. The Chief laughed. This answer, put not as a question, but as a statement of a fact, pleased him. "Yes," he said, "I have heard something. The Englishman is coming back. I have a letter from him. It is somewhat mysterious, but it says that he is on his way here, accompanied by one John Ainsworth." "John Ainsworth?" "Supposed to be the father of the child mentioned in the advertisement from Australia," "Yes; I see." "Well, I _don't_ see anything clearly, except this: These two men will come down upon us presently; they will want to hear something new--" "Their affair is twenty years old; do they expect us to get to the bottom of it in five weeks?" "Well, not that exactly, but I think they will expect us to have organized--to have hit upon some theory and plan of action." "Oh," said Vernet, "as to that, I have my theory--but it is for my private benefit as yet. As to what I have done, it is not much, but it is--" "Something? a step?" "Yes; it is a step. I have found, or I know where to find, one of the ten men who composed that Marais des Cygnes party." "Good! I call that more than a step." "I may as well tell you that I have worked through a 'tracker.' You know how much I am interested in that other affair." "The Sailor business? yes." "It seemed to me," continued Vernet, "that I might succeed there by doing the hard work myself, and that this other matter, in its present stage, might be worked out by an intelligent 'inquirer.' So I adopted this plan. I think my murder case is almost closed. I hope to have my hand upon the fellow soon. Then I can give all my time to this other case." "So!" gazing admiringly at the handsome face opposite him. "I'm glad of your success, Van. I suppose, at the right time, you will let me into the 'true inwardness' of the Sailor business?" "I should have been under obligation to do that long ago, if you had not been so good as to leave it all to my discretion." "True. Well, I find that it's not unsafe to leave these things to you and Stanhope. You both work best untrammelled. Has this fellow given you much trouble?" Vernet smiled. "Plenty of it," he said. "But in playing his last trick, he bungled. He had dodged me beautifully, and had left me under the impression that he had sailed for Europe." "Ah!" "Of course I wired to the other side. He had sailed in company with a lady, handsome and young. He was also good-looking and a young man." "Well?" "When the two arrived on the other side, they turned out to be--an old man aged sixty-five, and a child, aged ten." "Oh!" said the Chief, as though he enjoyed the situation; "a clever rascal!" "Well, I know where to look for him now--when I need him. I want to run down an important witness; then I shall make the arrest."