CHAPTER XI
[ON THE TRAIL]
When Dan, looking rather pale and sick, presented himself at The Moment office late that same evening, the first question Laurance put to him was relative to the accident. "Was your machine tampered with?" asked Freddy in a breathless manner, and the second almost the door was closed. "No, it wasn't," replied Halliday, sinking with a tired sigh into the nearest chair. "I was making a quick turn and the rudder gave way; I put too great a strain on it, and came fluttering to the ground like a shot partridge. That was a few miles beyond Bedford. However, I had the aeroplane dismounted and packed away in a village close at hand, then after a rest caught the express to St. Pancras. You got my wire?"
"Yes, and I fancied this tumble must be the work of the gang."
"Not a bit of it. My bad flying, that's all. Well, I have lost the race, and the man who flew the Zigzag monoplane has won, though he took his own time in arriving at York. A dashed bad machine I think he had, even though it's come out top for the time being. I'm a bit shaken, and feel sick, but a night's rest will put me square."
"Why didn't you go straight home and get it?" inquired Freddy anxiously, for there was no denying that Dan looked considerably fagged. "I read about this death of Durwin in a late edition of an evening paper, and couldn't rest until I knew the truth. The paper only gave a hint. Tell me what you know." Laurance did so, and then handed Halliday a proof of his article on the subject which was to appear in the morning issue of The Moment. He supplemented the same with further information. "I went down to see if there was any scent on the clothes of the corpse," he explained, "it's still at Blackheath, you know, in charge of the Inspector. There's no perfume, anyhow."
"And no fly?"
"No. I asked that the moment I saw Durwin stretched out on the ground. If this crime is the work of the gang, the sign-manual is absent."
"All the same it is the work of the gang, I truly believe," remarked Dan in grim tones. "Durwin has been on the hunt, and very probably, since he discovered the death of Moon first of all, he has been watched. One of the gang got behind him in the crowd, and knifed him in the crush. It would be perfectly easy for the assassin to slip away, without being noticed, since every one was watching the flight of the aeroplanes." Laurance nodded. "I agree with you. But who is the assassin?"
"Well," said Dan reflectively, "I saw Penn on the ground."