The colonel nodded, not daring to speak. Here was luck, the greatest in
the world. Nobody would suspect a carpenter, taken from a local firm and
shipped with the captain's goodwill. At seven o'clock the next morning
he was standing on the deck of the _Arabelle Sands_, watching the low
coast-line slipping past. The ship was to make one call at Falmouth and
two days later she reached that port. Boundary went ashore to buy some
wood and a few tools that he found he needed, and pulled back to the
ship in the afternoon. In the evening he accompanied the captain ashore.
"We shan't leave till to-morrow at twelve," said the captain. "You might
as well spend a night on solid earth whilst you can. It will be a long
time before you smell dirt again."
The captain's idea of a pleasant evening was to sit in the bar-parlour
of the Sun Inn and drink interminable hot rums. He had fixed up a room
for himself at the inn and offered Boundary a share, but the colonel
preferred to sleep alone. He secured lodgings in the town, and making an
excuse to the captain returned to his room early. He had purchased all
the newspapers he could find and he wanted to study them quietly. It was
with unusual relish that he read the account of an inquest on himself.
There was no breath of suspicion that he was not dead.
"Old Dan Boundary has tricked them all. Clever old Dan Boundary!"
He chuckled at the thought. He had deceived all those clever men at
Scotland Yard--Sir Stanley Belcom, Stafford King, Jack o' Judgment! Yes,
he had deceived Jack o' Judgment and that seemed the least believable
part of the affair. All the rest of the gang were captured or fugitives.
He wondered whether Lollie Marsh and Crewe had reached Portugal and what
they were doing there and how long their money would last and how they
would earn more. He had his own money well secured. He had managed to
get together quite a respectable sum, for there were other banks than
the Victoria and City--odd accounts in assumed names which he had drawn
upon on the very day of his supposed death.
There was a tap at the door.
"Come in," said Boundary, thinking it was the landlady.
He was in the middle of the room as he spoke, and he went back step by
step as the visitor entered. His tongue clave to the roof of his mouth,
his eyes were starting out of his head.
"You! You!" he croaked.
"Little Jack o' Judgment," said the mask mockingly. "Poor old Jack! Come
to take farewell of the colonel before he goes to foreign parts!"
"Stop!" cried Boundary hoarsely. "I know you, damn you! I know you!"
He pulled back the curtains and glared out of the window. There was no
need to ask any further questions. The house was surrounded. He swung
round again at his tormentor and faced the white mask in a blind fury of
rage.
"You're clever, aren't you?" he said. "Cleverer than all the police! But
you weren't clever enough to save your son from death!"
The masked figure reeled back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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