However, he had first to send the despatches. In one Mr. Macrae informed
Gianesi and Giambresi of the condition of their instrument, and bade them
send another at once with a skilled operator, and to look out for
probable tamperers in their own establishment. This despatch was in a
cypher which before he got the new invention, and while he used the old
wires, Mr. Macrae had arranged with the electricians. The words of the
despatch were, therefore, peculiar, and the Highland lass who operated, a
girl of great beauty and modesty, at first declined to transmit the
message.
'It's maybe no proper, for a' that I ken,' she urged, and only by
invoking a local person of authority, and using the name of Mr. Macrae
very freely, could Merton obtain the transmission of the despatch.
In another document Mr. Macrae ordered 'more motors' and a dozen
bicycles, as the Nabob of old ordered 'more curricles.' He also
telegraphed to the Home Office, the Admiralty, the Hereditary Lord High
Admiral of the West Coast, to Messrs. McBrain, of the steamers, and to
every one who might have any access to the control of marine police or
information. He wired to the police at New York, bidding them warn all
American stations, and to the leading New York newspapers, knowing the
energy and inquiring, if imaginative, character of their reporters. Bude
ought to have done all this on the previous day, but Bude's ideas were
limited. Nothing, however, was lost, as America is not reached in forty-
eight hours. The millionaire instructed Scotland Yard to warn all
foreign ports, and left them _carte-blanche_ as to the offer of a reward
for the discovery of his missing daughter. He also put off all the
guests whom he had been expecting at Castle Skrae.
Merton was amazed at the energy and intelligence of a paternal mind
smitten by sudden grief. Mr. Macrae had even telegraphed to every London
newspaper, and to the leading Scottish and provincial journals, 'No
Interviewers need Apply.' Several hours were spent, as may be imagined,
in getting off these despatches from a Highland rural office, and Merton
tried to reward the fair operator. But she declined to accept a present
for doing her duty, and expressed lively sympathy for the poor young lady
who was lost. In a few days a diamond-studded watch and chain arrived
for Miss MacTurk.
Merton himself wired to Logan, imploring him, in the name of friendship,
to abandon all engagements, and come to Inchnadampf. Where kidnapping
was concerned he knew that Logan must be interested, and might be useful;
but, of course, he could not invite him to Castle Skrae. Meanwhile he
secured rooms for Logan at the excellent inn. Lady Fastcastle, he knew,
was in England, brooding over her first-born, the Master of Fastcastle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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