"Show me where Amelia got it?" Eustace saw that the melody of the word had caught the boy's ear, but he could not understand what he meant.
The boy conducted him down one street and up another, till he brought him up against a huge hoarding before some houses in the course of erection. There appeared the huge placard of a Scarlet Bat with outspread wings, as on Frank's arm. Beneath, was printed in gigantic red letters the mysterious word "Tamaroo!"
[CHAPTER XV]
A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
Jarman returned fuming to Wargrove. He was a clear-headed man, who liked to foresee what was coming, so that he might arrange his plans. But at the present moment he could not see an inch before his nose, and rather lost his temper in consequence. The unexpected appearance of the Scarlet Bat, and of the mysterious word "Tamaroo" on London hoardings perplexed him extremely. At first he thought that this might be a new move on the part of the astute Berry, but on consideration dismissed this idea.
"Berry is not anxious for publicity," argued Eustace, when in the train, "as it would attract attention to his underhand schemes to get this money. Again, I don't believe Denham knows anything, not even the meaning of the tattooing on his left arm. He would want to be told why the Bat appeared on posters, if it was Berry's work, and the Captain might not be disposed to furnish an explanation. No, there is some other person taking a hand in this game, and with that person I must come into contact. If the person is an enemy of Berry's we may work together to thwart him. On the other hand, the person who has plastered London with these posters may want the fortune himself, in which case he will be equally an enemy to Frank. He may want him hanged also. But it may be a woman," conjectured. Jarman. "That Balkis seems to be mixed up in the matter, not to mention the negro who called on the lawyers. H'm! I wonder what the barbaric element is doing in this galley?"
He turned and twisted and argued the matter in every way, but by the time he arrived at Wargrove he was as much in the dark as ever. His only chance of making any discovery likely to elucidate the mystery lay in the contents of the sealed letter. Anxious to see Frank and to tell him all his adventures, Jarman walked rapidly to the Shanty. When he reached it, he was surprised to find that it was shut up. Windows and doors were barred, and, not having a key, Eustace could not obtain entrance into his own home. There was no sign of Miss Cork or of his friend.
"What does this mean?" Jarman asked himself. "Can Frank have been arrested? But in that case Miss Cork would still be here."
The situation was puzzling, so Jarman set to work to learn details and make discoveries. He sought out an old gardener who lived in a cottage adjacent to his own house. This ancient, Bowles by name, was a bent, wheezy old creature, very garrulous. Jarman could not have hit upon a better man for information, as Jacob Bowles had the key of the Shanty.
"That dark gentleman, he guv it to me," said Bowles, surrendering the key to its owner. "T'other day he guv it to me--you might call it the day afore yesterday--yes, you might, Muster Jarman. The dark gent, he guv it me sayin' as you'd be back, Muster Jarman, and would be wishful to get into your house like."