He was asked to wait and presently was ushered into the presence of Chief Inspector Edgar. This official had followed the case with Tanner, and he heard Daunt’s story with thinly veiled amazement. ‘It’s the most extraordinary case I have come across for many a year,’ he exclaimed. ‘That makes two suspects, and Tanner’s off to Portugal after a third.’ ‘Good Lord! To Portugal?’ ‘Yes, with an extradition warrant and all complete. Well, Mr Daunt, I needn’t say how grateful we are to you and Miss Drew for what you have done, and you may count on your information receiving the fullest and most careful attention. When Tanner gets back, perhaps you wouldn’t mind calling in and having a chat over the matter with him?’ When Jimmy returned to Lois and told her of the Portuguese expedition she was as utterly amazed as he was. But there was no way of satisfying their curiosity, and they had unwillingly to content themselves to wait till Tanner’s return. CHAPTER XI. A Fresh Start While Lois Drew and her cousin, James Daunt, were pursuing their researches into the movements of Cosgrove Ponson, Inspector Tanner had been far from idle. We may retrace our steps to the day of Austin’s arrest, and follow the detective as he endeavours to complete his case against the accused. Having reached London with his prisoner, and handed him over to the proper authorities, Tanner returned to the Yard and set to work on a statement of the evidence he was prepared to supply to the Crown Prosecutor. But the more he considered this evidence, the less satisfied he became with it. Tanner was an ambitious as well as a naturally efficient man, and he hated giving over a case which was not complete in every detail. Here, though the facts he had learned undoubtedly made a powerful arraignment of Austin, they just stopped short of being conclusive. Always there was the possibility of a plant, with the accused as the innocent victim. At all events Tanner was sure a defence on these lines would be attempted, and he was not quite certain that he could meet it. Another difficulty was his failure to discover the maker of the fifth set of tracks on the river bank. Until this man was identified, and his business there known, the affair would remain unsatisfactory. Tanner determined he could not rest on his oars, but must continue his inquiries in the hope of making his case overwhelming. He recalled the fact that he had intended to follow up Sir William Ponson’s visits to London in the hope of finding that the latter’s business in town had some connection with his death. His attention had been diverted into other channels by the unexpected information given by Lucy Penrose and young Potts of Austin’s movements on the night of the murder. But now his mind reverted to the point, and he decided it remained his most promising clue. Without loss of time, therefore, he began to work on it.