VI
Clement had his plunge in the hot sulphur pool under the slope of a snow-tipped mountain, and, refreshed, went back to Gatineau in the manager’s office. Gatineau grinned at him.
“I guess I’ve made a connected yarn out of this jig-saw all right. In the first place, let me tell you that our dangerous pal Neuburg, Newman, or Nachbar, seems to be fairly certain that he has been given a new lease of life—has days on his hands in fact.”
“What makes you think that?”
“First place, he had booked here for himself and Gunning for an indefinite number of days. Then, quite suddenly, he decided to go off to Sicamous. He sent telegrams to various people—one to meet Siwash at Winnipeg, one to Nimmo or Joe Wandersun at Montreal, and another to sister Méduse—telling of the change. And the reason he feels safe is that you and I are definitely marooned in Montreal. The Chief has played the game as I expected he would. His fake wires coming, apparently, from Nimmo (who we know is in jail) are gems. We are apparently standing baffled in Montreal, hunting about for the trail. One can read between the lines that Neuburg is sure of that—f’r instance the mere fact that he wires to Nimmo at the Place Viger Hotel shows he thinks it all right. Again, his wire to Siwash confirms this. He tells Siwash to come on to Sicamous, not Banff. He also tells Siwash to meet Louis the gluemaker of Quebec on such and such a train at Winnipeg and tell him there is no need to stand by and watch trains for us yet—that was evidently why he was sent for—but to meet Méduse when she arrives and do as she tells him. Oh, Neuburg is certain that we are out of the running for the time being, and it’s because of that, he’s gone off to Sicamous.”
Clement thought for a moment. “Yes, that sounds logical,” he admitted. “With us close up on his heels he would have to rush things. Probably his first plan to checkmate us was a lover’s meeting in this place of lovers. There would have been a—an affectionate reunion, and then, if we were threatened, the pair would have been spirited away. And what would have happened to Heloise Reys when they were lost?”
His face contracted with pain. It was only after a moment that he went on.
“However, what would have happened doesn’t matter. The plan’s changed. He had gone to Sicamous to prepare a more elaborate and a more certain plot—we can take that as certain. And—and the women follow after us?”
“Sure they do that,” put in Gatineau. “They are a day or more behind. As I thought, they did dodge about in that tangle of railways by North Bay for the express purpose of throwing us off the trail. Then they hit the main line behind us, and started west in earnest. They’ll stop off at Winnipeg to pick up news from Neuburg, an’ then they’ll come straight on here.”
“That’s a point that baffles me!” admitted Clement. “Why come here? Why not go straight on to Sicamous?”
“The rest of the story explains something of that. I should say he wants time to be sure he’s got his plans perfect. According to the reports from our Sicamous man, he’s been acting rather strangely at that end. Our feller at Sicamous has sent on train letters, so his statements are full. Neuburg and Gunning arrived in due course at Sicamous station, but instead of going to Gunning’s shack on the lake, they stayed the night at Joe Wandersun’s house—where, of course, Mrs. Wandersun is living.”
“Next morning Neuburg went down to the lakeside and overhauled the big motor boat that Joe uses on the lake, but instead of going in it, the three—the woman as well—came to the station and caught a train for Revelstoke. Revelstoke is the nearest considerable town; they have to travel back towards Banff to reach it. Our agent at Sicamous is a real live man; he ’phoned through to one of our fellows at Revelstoke and caught the same train as Neuburg. Reaching Revelstoke, the trio did some shopping—shadowed by our men. The proceedings were ordinary enough, save that they seemed to show a strange passion for buying medical things. Also, Neuburg, giving Gunning the slip, went into a store where mining outfits are sold and bought several high-explosive cartridges and a quantity of fuse.”
Clement made an exclamation at those words. He stared at the little detective, who said, “No, I don’t see what it signifies, but it is a matter worth noting. But there is something queerer to come. The woman and Gunning went off to dinner in a hotel. Neuburg did not go with them. Instead he went off by himself and found, because he was looking for it, an obscure sort of hash joint. He sat down and ordered a meal. Our fellow who was shadowing him walked in casually and got into a table nearby. Apparently there was nothing odd about Neuburg’s choice, but presently a young, smart-looking feller pops into this joint and sits down at Neuburg’s table. Neuburg was reading a paper by this time, an’ paid not the slightest attention. Soon, though, they got into conversation, just like two strangers. What they said, of course, our feller couldn’t hear, but it didn’t appear to amount to much; soon, too, Neuburg paid his bill and went out with a ‘Well, good-day, stranger. Glad to have become acquainted. I shall certainly try those creeks of yours for red fish.’
“Our feller guessed that Neuburg would go back to the other two—anyhow he risked it. He followed the smart young stranger instead, when he left the hash joint later. This feller sneaked round several blocks, as though he didn’t want people to know where he’d been, and in the end he entered the Grand Dominion Consolidated Bank. In there he went behind the counter, hung up his hat and settled down to work. He was one of the employees.”
There was a very significant pause. Both men looked at each other, and both men were thinking the same thoughts. They were recalling that Neuburg as Nachbar had worked through a bucket shop in his plan for robbing Roberts of Oregon. He was working through a bank now—not, of course, that the famous bank was acting as his confederate, but that the smart young man was. This fellow had no doubt figured in the bucket shop at Oregon, and had managed to worm his way into the bank at Revelstoke to further Neuburg’s ends—since, obviously, the master rogue had planned well ahead.
As Clement reflected on this point he reached for a telegraph form, and at once wrote the following to The Chief at Montreal:
“Find out what interests Heloise Reys has in Revelstoke Branch Grand Dominion Consolidated Bank. Neuburg has confederate there.”
“That may bring something,” he said, as he handed the message to Gatineau. “If Miss Reys has any money in that bank it must have been transferred from the head office at Montreal. The Chief will be able to find out, eh?”
Gatineau said, “Sure,” added a code number to the message, and had it sent off at once. Then he went on with his story.
“After this business Neuburg met the other two in the hotel, and they all went back to Sicamous, where they loaded their purchases into the big motor boat. They didn’t, as our man thought they would, go on up the lake then, but went back to Mrs. Wandersun’s house. It was about one o’clock at night when Gunning and Neuburg actually left for his shack. A railwayman, who had been on watch, woke our feller, and he just had time to see them sneak off in the dark. They took an awful lot of additional packages with them, loading them secretly—a regular sort of moving day, our man writes, as though they were going to stay in the wilds for a hell of a time. The two men only got into the boat, and then, strangely, the boat left, not under power, but rowed.”
“That was Neuburg covering himself up,” said Clement. “Nobody saw or heard him leave, nobody can connect him with—with anything that might happen up at Gunning’s shack in the wilds. I suppose that’s all there is so far.”
“That’s all,” agreed Gatineau. “We know their movements to a dotted ‘i,’ an’ we know Miss Reys is coming on here. I suppose we had best just wait around until she comes?”
“Yes,” said Clement, “there seems nothing else to do at the moment. We must wait for a wire from The Chief about that money, anyhow. But I confess I don’t like waiting. Certainly Miss Reys appears to be coming here, but with these brutes, with that demoniac intelligence of Neuburg’s working against us, I am fearful. Who can say what sudden turn events might take, and—and what terrible crime might be committed without our being able to interpose?”