Detective and mystery stories; Drug traffic -- Fiction
At a point just above the sweep of Limehouse Reach a watchful river
police patrol observed a moving speck of light on the right bank of the
Thames. As if in answer to the signal there came a few moments later a
second moving speck at a point not far above the district once
notorious in its possession of Ratcliff Highway. A third light answered
from the Surrey bank, and a fourth shone out yet higher up and on the
opposite side of the Thames.
The tide had just turned. As Chief Inspector Kerry had once observed,
“there are no pleasure parties punting about that stretch,” and,
consequently, when George Martin tumbled into his skiff on the Surrey
shore and began lustily to pull up stream, he was observed almost
immediately by the River Police.
Pulling hard against the stream, it took him a long time to reach his
destination—stone stairs near the point from which the second light had
been shown. Rain had ceased and the mist had cleared shortly after
dusk, as often happens at this time of year, and because the night was
comparatively clear the pursuing boats had to be handled with care.
George did not disembark at the stone steps, but after waiting there
for some time he began to drop down on the tide, keeping close inshore.
“He knows we’ve spotted him,” said Sergeant Coombes, who was in one of
the River Police boats. “It was at the stairs that he had to pick up
his man.”
Certainly, the tactics of George suggested that he had recognized
surveillance, and, his purpose abandoned, now sought to efface himself
without delay. Taking advantage of every shadow, he resigned his boat
to the gentle current. He had actually come to the entrance of
Greenwich Reach when a dock light, shining out across the river,
outlined the boat yellowly.
“He’s got a passenger!” said Coombes amazedly.
Inspector White, who was in charge of the cutter, rested his arm on
Coombes’ shoulder and stared across the moving tide.
“I can see no one,” he replied. “You’re over anxious,
Detective-Sergeant—and I can understand it!”
Coombes smiled heroically.
“I may be over anxious, Inspector,” he replied, “but if _I_ lost Sin
Sin Wa, the River Police had never even _heard_ of him till the C.I.D.
put ’em wise.”
“H’m!” muttered the Inspector. “D’you suggest we board him?”
“No,” said Coombes, “let him land, but don’t trouble to hide any more.
Show him we’re in pursuit.”
No longer drifting with the outgoing tide, George Martin had now boldly
taken to the oars. The River Police boat close in his wake, he headed
for the blunt promontory of the Isle of Dogs. The grim pursuit went on
until:
“I bet I know where he’s for,” said Coombes.
“So do I,” declared Inspector White; “Dougal’s!”
Their anticipations were realized. To the wooden stairs which served as
a water-gate for the establishment on the Isle of Dogs, George Martin
ran in openly; the police boat followed, and:
“You were right!” cried the Inspector, “he has somebody with him!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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