“You may be right.” Then, before Orme knew what was happening, the young man opened the door and called into the station: “Hey, there! Your robber is escaping on that motor-boat out there.”
“What’s that?” The policeman strode to the door.
“Don’t you hear that boat out there?” asked the life-saver.
“Sure, I hear it.”
“Well, she came up from the south an hour or more ago and stopped a little north of here. Now she’s going back. Mr. Holmes, here”—he grinned as he said it—“Mr. Holmes suggests that the hold-up man is aboard.”
The reference to the famous detective of fiction was lost upon the policeman. “I guess that’s about it, Mr. Holmes,” he said excitedly; and Orme was much relieved to note that the life-saver’s humorous reference had passed for an introduction. The policeman would have no suspicion of him now—unless Maku——
There was an exclamation from within the room. “What’s the matter?” asked the policeman, turning in the doorway.
The voice of Asuki replied: “He say the robber came in a bicycle—not in a boat.”
“But I thought he didn’t see the fellow coming.”
“He remember now.”